Follow TV Tropes

Following

The Fixer

Go To

"And do you know what a fixer does? Allow me to explain. Not only do I finalize transactions. I can accomplish the goddamn impossible. Makin' sure the buyer, supplier, and ever-neglected intermediary not only keep their heads in their games but keep their heads. Period. So don't you ever ask me who, with whom, where, when, why or how."
Wakako Okada to V, Cyberpunk 2077

A con crew role, the Fixer is essentially the stage manager for the crew ... or maybe "properties (props) director" or "set designer" would be better analogies. Either way, this is the person the Con Man goes to if he needs a thing to do his thing. Criminals can't go to a regular rental agency or consultant, because they're planning a crime. So they use a veteran, trusted criminal to source the gear or advice they need.

Call up your Fixer if you need a fake storefront for a day, convincing counterfeit money, squibs for the blow-off, a credible-looking Ming vase to con an art dealer, or a CIA-grade cellphone jammer. You also call them in as a consultant if you need to know how to get fake passports, find a Back-Alley Doctor to do an emergency operation, turn off city power for an entire block or... well, anything else of an illegal nature that needs "fixing". The weirder, the better. Live jackalopes, a specialty.

Compare Knowledge Broker, Friend in the Black Market, and The Scrounger as well as The Engineer in military and other settings. Contrast Clean Up Crew, who may assist by eliminating forensic evidence and bodies after dirty deeds are done.

Alternative uses of the term:

  • Gangster films from the forties called lawyers fixers - see Amoral Attorney, The Consigliere.
  • Big Hollywood studios use fixers to smooth over their movie stars' sex scandals and boozy misadventures. A brown envelope here, a call to a Police Commissioner there, and a few strings pulled at the newspaper and the problem vanishes.
  • A gangland type (sometimes called a Bag Man) who specializes in resolving conflicts between gangs may also be called a fixer.
  • As are people who interface with law-enforcement to put the "fix in."

Thinking of the TV series? You'll want Series.The Fixer. The novel? You'll want Literature.The Fixer


Examples

    open/close all folders 

     Fan Works 

  • Lost in Camelot sees Kenzi essentially take on this role while in Camelot, to the point that she puts together two identical sexy outfits for Bo and Morgana on very short notice.

     Film  

  • This is apparently Felix's day job in The 51st State.
  • Merkel, Lorraine's East Berlin contact, from Atomic Blonde. He arranges fake passports and crowds to shield her from snipers with a single whistle. He later finds and smuggles Lorraine out of East-Berlin, and during the end smuggles a gun into a bucket for Lorraine to use against the Russians and after she's done goes to work in disguise as hotel staff to dispose of the bodies.
  • Eddie Mannix from Hail, Caesar!, based loosely on the real Eddie Mannix who worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
  • In the movie Inception, this could describe either the architect (who creates the mental landscapes they go into) or the chemist (who makes the drugs they use for an inception or extraction).
  • Inside Man gives us Jodie Foster as Madeleine White, halfway between this and a Knowledge Broker. In one scene, she verbally strongarms the Mayor of New York, smiling calmly all the while.
  • Pulp Fiction has Winston Wolf, an unflappable underworld fixer.
    Winston: I solve problems.

     Literature  
  • In The Dresden Files, Harry is an important figure in Chicago because he's the most knowledgeable and neutral consultant there for all things supernatural. (There are more knowledgeable people, but they demand things like souls or political allegiance in exchange for any help they provide.) Want a cure for werewolf fleas? He can do that. Want to get in touch with the mafia? He can do that. Want to kill a child-devouring monster that predates electric lighting? He can do that. This is one reason why his death in Changes causes so much trouble; it's not that Chicago's groups are any less strong individually, but he was the guy keeping them all in contact, and now the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.
  • Several appear in On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett, as Ross Perot and his EDS executives try to get their colleagues out of an Iranian prison.
    • A shady American offers to solve the problem in exchange for a considerable amount of money to be paid into an escrow account (meaning the money isn't handed over till after the deal). After debating the matter, they decide to refuse because they suspect he's an Agent Provocateur setting them up for a bribery charge.
    • An Iranian helps them evacuate most of the EDS staff when the revolution starts, but gets a small tip so refuses to have anything further to do with them. One of the executives makes a formal apology and places a large sum of cash on the table to re-establish relationships.
    • And most importantly, there's Rashid, an Iranian employee of EDS who smooths the way due to his understanding of psychology and gift of the gab.

     Live-Action TV  
  • Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck from The A-Team does this, but like Sam Axe below, he also gets his hands dirty.
  • Breaking Bad. Saul Goodman is this to Walt and Jesse, and Mike is this to Saul.
  • Sam's job in Burn Notice, he provides Michael with the tools he needs to do his work, as well as using his many "buddies" to get info from legal channels. Unlike most fixers, Sam actually does do fieldwork too.
  • CSI: NY has an arc involving a fixer named Ann Steele and a flash drive on which she keeps records of all the movers and shakers in NYC whose problems she makes disappear. She gets killed and someone steals her flash drive from the evidence locker. A sleazy newspaper magnate then begins publishing dirt on various politicians she'd worked for, including the Chief of Detectives. He'd sexually harassed his secretary, who threatened to sue him, Steele had "fixed" it, but word gets out after the theft, and The Chief's wife leaves him over it.
  • Private Walker from Dad's Army is the town spiv, being able to get anything off the black market. He often wrangles the other characters into storing or buying his wares.
  • Daredevil (2015): Wilson Fisk has a few fixers on his payroll. In season 1, the role belongs to James Wesley, who is responsible for intimidating and strong-arming Fisk's enemies and underlings. After Wesley's death at the hands of Karen Page, the fixer duties are given to Felix Manning, who spends season 3 taking on both Wesley's and Leland Owlsley's old duties (as a strongarm and money man, respectively). Though Felix is quick to say when intimidating Karen in her attempt to talk to him that 'fixer' isn't how he thinks of himself.
    Felix Manning: Off the record, you are incorrect. About what I do for a living. I don't fix problems. I make them disappear.
  • This is the role of Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in Hustle. Whatever the team needs to sell the tale, Ash provides: websites, fake antiques, an empty stately home, dead rats, etc.
  • Leverage:
    • None of the characters really do this role exclusively, although all have done elements of this as a part of the various cons that they have been involved in. The most frequent individual for this role is generally Eliot, in contrast to his other major function.
    • Nate's father, Jimmy Ford, was the best fixer in South Boston back in the day.
    • In the sequel series Leverage: Redemption, newcomer Harry Wilson serves this role.
  • Zoe Morgan in Person of Interest. She solves problems, for a price. It gets her in hot water, putting her on the Machine's radar and leading her to cross paths with Reese and Finch. However, they maintain a working relationship, and she pops in every so often to help with the number of the week.
  • Moriarty from Sherlock takes this trope to the next level. It's implied he got bored just crafting a criminal information network and all the standard Fixer activities, so he branched out into stuff like convincing a cancer patient to become a serial killer, blackmailing military/espionage officials, and playing mind games with his Worthy Opponent

     Tabletop Games  
  • The 5th Edition of Blood Bowl introduces the (In)Famous Coaching Staff character Fink da Fixer, a highly intelligent goblin who is renowned for getting his colleagues absolutely anything they want a few seconds before they want it. In-game, Fink's abilities count as three regular assistant coaches and he has the special ability that help with bribing the referee.
  • In Shadowrun, the fixer provides shadowrunners with work by connecting them with contacts from Mega Corps / the underground / where who want dirty work done. Fixers can also help you track down people who can give you the gear you need.
  • Cyberpunk fixers are the ones who can provide you with gear that's illegal, and thus otherwise very hard to get.
  • Mutant: Year Zero fixers are lucrative bargain dealers for PCs with low income.

     Video Games  
  • In Cyberpunk 2077, Fixers are underworld figures who serve as middlemen between mercs and the people who hire them. They serve as a source of side missions for the player character and the story is kicked off by attracting the attention of a particularly prominent Fixer who hires them for a big heist that inevitably goes awry.
  • Genshin Impact: Beidou describes Thoma as a man who possesses all the necessary skills and connections to solve all sorts of problems for people. The Traveler couldn't even get past Ritou's outlander policies were it not for his assistance.
  • A Fixer in the universe of Library of Ruina and Limbus Company is a catch-all term for a specialized contract worker, who is usually trained and combat capable - what they actually do is extremely varied, from mercenary work, intelligence gathering, assassinations, forming and overseeing contracts or acting as private police among others.
  • Maku the Fixer in the Blade of Galadriel DLC of Middle-earth: Shadow of War is an orc who serves as a general troubleshooter and problem solver for other Orcs. For some reason, he decides to throw in with Eltariel and act as her lieutenant, helping her formulate plans and sabotage her enemies.
  • Both Neville and Samson in Need for Speed Carbon are classified as fixers. Neville prevents the heat level of an area from rising after races whereas Samson lowers the heat level of player-controlled territories. They also provide cash bonuses for winning races.
  • Wolf in PAYDAY: The Heist is the canon Technician of the eponymous Payday gang. The Technician class generally specializes in gadgets and technical/engineering aspects of the heists.
  • The main character in Persona 5. His tasks, outside of leading his team, include dealing with ex-yakuza for weapon modifications, cutting deals with back-alley doctors for experimental drugs and manipulating the newspapers.
  • In the online detective game Sleuth, your character's license as a Private Detective will be revoked if you make three wrongful accusations. However, you can go to the shady character who hangs out in the back of the downtown bar and pay them to clear your record to avoid this. The more often this happens, though, the more expensive it gets. The flash version of the game specifically calls this character The Fixer.
  • The Imperial Intelligence in Star Wars: The Old Republic has a division of "Fixer" agents (Fixer One, Fixer Two, etc.) who have various technical expertise and take it to the field to assist more action oriented agents, like the Ciphers. Fixers are usually the ones to provide Ciphers (including the Player Character of the Imperial Agent storyline) with technical means and support for their infiltrations, with companion character Dr. Lokin being a formerly retired Fixer turned Mad Scientist.
  • Watch_Dogs: Aiden's main source of income is 'fixing' problems in the underworld. Fixer car missions involve stealing the right car(s) to prepare a heist or acting like a drunken douchebag so that the police force isn't fixated on the heisters. Assassination missions usually equal Aiden versus a small army. Since fixers can also be defined as criminal engineers/hackers, any thug with a decent hacking skill is now called a fixer in Chicago. In multiplayer, you fight against player-controlled fixers.
    • Aiden himself has Jordi Chin as his personal Fixer to deal with any dirty business that needs doing, such as cleaning up evidence or getting him a vehicle.

     Real Life  

  • Anthony Bourdain wrote of the need for a débrouillard (French for "resourceful person"), an unofficial function within some commercial kitchens whose job it is to get the crew out of the weeds by any means necessary. Questionably sourced ingredients and oddball cooking techniques (deep-fried steaks among them) figure large in the role.
  • In The Naked Eye, Desmond Morris wrote about filming a TV programme on body language in Rome, aided by Furio, a Fixer who was "dangerously good at his job". When Morris, on a whim, mentioned that he would like to film the Pope, Furio obtained permission to film a papal audience the following day, and for an encore he has the Colosseum cleared of tourists and then delays the crew's outgoing flight until a forgotten passport can be retrieved.


Top