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"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."
"So, uh, this your first day on the job or what? Y'know, I feel just heaps better knowing that our lives are in your capable hands. ...We're all gonna die."
The good counterpart to the Treacherous Advisor and The Starscream.
A Sarcastic Devotee is a Sidekick who always sticks around The Hero, The Messiah, The Captain, or any other lead role, doubting his orders, making sarcastic, often insulting comments about his actions (if the lead's ego is not strong enough, this may have complications) but never, ever actually betraying or leaving him in need. Deadpan Snarker, The Lancer, and sometimes The Smart Guy commonly fit this description, and a Poisonous Friend may have been this at the beginning. The nastier types of Hypercompetent Sidekick are often this as well. A reluctant Noble Demon may have this type of relationship with its Kid With The Leash. Can also overlap with Lovable Traitor or with Sour Supporter.
See also With Friends Like These and Teeth Clenched Teamwork. If the Sarcastic Devotee tries to deny that he supports the hero, he may be a Stealth Mentor or Noble Demon.
Examples
Anime
- Shinichirou Tamaki, one of Lelouch's lieutenants in the first season of Code Geass, who is nonetheless one of his most useless servants.
 ◊ A more benevolent variation is C.C., who often doubts or mocks Lelouch and his plans, but always goes along with them anyway.
- Shirin Bakhtiar, Marina Ismail's advisor in Gundam 00. Although we never really saw enough of that pair to see what her real deal was, some viewers got the impression that she was stringing Marina along for her own purposes. Plus, she leaves in episode 25 (leaving Marina looking rather upset) but not before the Celestial Being incident is resolved and Azadistan is apparently on its way to solar age.
- To a certain degree, BT in .hack//SIGN.
- Mr. Prospector in Martian Successor Nadesico.
- Kyon would fit, if only he didn't prefer acting against Haruhi Suzumiya's genkiness over just commenting on it.
- Natarle Badriguel in Gundam SEED is a borderline example, as she had a temporary Face Heel Turn late in the series.
- Carl Hutter in Stellvia Of The Universe, though he is actually a Sufficiently Advanced Alien.
- Suleyman in Trinity Blood is a complex case: he really rebelled against the Empress but at the crucial moment, refused to kill her, taking the shot himself.
- Kurogane in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
- Tsume in Wolfs Rain.
- In Naruto, Sasuke fits but subverts it by actually leaving when the lead starts doing things right. Shikamaru fits even better but also subverts it by taking the role of leader himself around the same time.
- The titular character of Soul Eater is like this to his Meister and Vitriolic Best Bud Maka.
- In Mahou Sensei Negima both Kotaro and (to a lesser extent) Evangeline have shades of this.
- Madara in Natsume Yuujinchou.
- Hyuuga ad Wakabayashi sometimes act like this in Captain Tsubasa.
Comic Books
- Strongbow in Elf Quest. Spends a lot of time questioning Cutter's authority as chief, challenges him for leadership and loses, and later even walks out on him for a while. But when he's needed in a crisis...
- In Ultimate Marvel, Tony Stark/Iron Man's butler, Jarvis. Until he, y'know, died.
- Similarly, evil Mojo's butler and right-hand man, Major Domo, often comments on his very dangerous boss' craziness and round phisique.
Film
- A good part of Cube is spent establishing Worth as a villainous character - and he is indeed eventually revealed to have some relation to their predicament - but in the end, he proves to be more heroic than de facto The Captain Quentin.
Literature
Live Action TV
- Agent/Colonel John Casey from Chuck does this exceedingly well. Actually it seems that Adam Baldwin plays this character type well, see: Cobb, Jayne.
- Mr. Spock is very, very much loyal to Captain Kirk. But he doesn't hesitate to point the more "questionable" aspects of Kirk's plans (ala Zoe from Firefly). Sometimes, he does this with a well placed Stealth Insult.
- Bones McCoy, who as Captain Kirk's chief medical officer and close friend is basically the only one on the ship with the license—and the chutzpah—to question Kirk's judgment openly. Spock is more polite and guarded.
- Spike does this in Buffy and Angel.
- Geoffrey Butler, the butler in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Florence, the maid on the The Jeffersons. Both stick with their employers despite hating them and having other options. (Ok, so Geoffry leaves once, but it was just to make a point.)
- Florence left once too but
her spinoff show was cancelled I guess she decided to come back.
- Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me.
- Jayne Cobb from Firefly does this a lot, including plays to take over the ship. This one's subverted in the episode "Ariel," however, when he turns Simon and River, his two least favorite people on the crew, in to the Alliance for the reward money during the hospital heist on the titular planet, but ends up getting arrested himself right along with them and has to bust them both out again. Jayne is almost Thrown Out The Airlock by Mal when he finds out about what he did ("You turn on ANY of my crew, you turn on ME!").
- And, to a lesser degree, Zoe, who is far more loyal to Mal but does have a tendency to point out the flaws in his plans.
- Really, pretty much anyone who sticks around on Serenity becomes one sooner or later because, let's face it, Mal has it coming. Both the devotion and the sarcasm.
- Benson, the Tates' butler on Soap, who only sticks around to take care of Jessica Tate.
- A few of the Doctor's companions will occasionally point out the flaws in his plans, and in extreme cases, question his competence.
- Two words: Donna Noble, with her habit of calling the Doctor "Spaceman".
Theatre
- Dick the Butcher from Henry VI Part 2: During the speech when rebel leader Jack Cade claims he's rightful heir to the throne, Dick gives scathing asides mocking the veracity of these claims. However, after the rebel uprising, he's singled out by Cade for being the man with the highest hit count. The Butcher indeed.
Video Games
- Baird in Gears Of War.
- HK-47, Jolee Bindo, and Canderous Ordo in Knights Of The Old Republic. Also, Atton Rand in the sequel.
- Falco in Star Fox.
- Although less so if the player is doing well. In that case he saves his sarcasm for Slippy.
- A villainous example in The Witcher: Azar Javed's Dragon, The Professor, criticizes Azar in messages and openly berates him in combat, but is always there on command and follows orders, likening himself to a summoned genie. He stops short of being The Starscream in that he never considers betraying Azar, even when he's up against a wall with his life at stake.
- Archer from Fate Stay Night, though he subverts it in Unlimited Blade Works. And on the villain-ish side, Assassin plays this role towards his master, Caster.
Web Comics
- Everyone in Something Positive is like this: they'll snark each other to shreds, but are fiercely loyal to each other.
- Nodwick's title character, as well as the henchmen in general. Although nominally bound to his party due to his draconian labor union laws, Nodwick does actually care for them (mostly, anyway).
- Piffany, at least. If Artax and Yeagar were to let up on the abuse he probably wouldn't cry I want my jerks back anytime soon.
- Just about every sidekick in Girl Genius strays into Sarcastic Devotee territory now and then for comic relief. But Moloch (a soldier and mechanic who's bitterly aware of the life expectancy of sidekicks in this world) and Violetta (a bodyguard who's convinced that her charge is suicidally stupid) are pretty much permanently unimpressed with what the main protagonists are doing.
- Gil Wulfenbach can be like this at times (especially in regards to his father's employee relations methods compared to his own), and he's one of the madmen people sidekick at.
- Reynardine from Gunnerkrigg Court. Textbook example of a reluctant Noble Demon needling the Kid With The Leash.
Western Animation
- Shego of Kim Possible.
- So much that one of the only reasons she sticks with the failure of a villain named Dr. Drakken is that he is pure mocking gold.
- Rattrap in Beast Wars is very critical of Optimus Primal, questioning Primal's leadership skills at and loyalty radar (particularly in relation to Dinobot and Blackarachnia) at various times. However, he would never in a million years betray Optimus or try to usurp command from him.
- His catch phrase is "We're all gonna die."
- Kiff of Futurama sticks behind Zapp Brannigan no matter what (probably because it's his place in the military), but makes it painfully obvious that he hates Brannigan for it. Oddly enough, Zapp is never fazed by Kiff's commentaries.
- Being a moron, it's likely that Zapp isn't aware that he's being mocked.
- That and he just thinks Kiff is a massive coward.
- Haroud of Aladdin The Animated Series to inept thief Abis Mal. Competently villainous in his own right (he sews Carpet to a ship's sail with unrestrained glee), like Kif he follows Abis with very obvious sarcasm.
- The way Iago acts toward Aladdin in the same series is another good example of this trope.
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