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alt title(s): Lancer
The Lancer usually flies Solo. Azazel: I see you are the surly, temperamental one who instigates, Wolverine. You cannot be the leader, then.
The right-hand man and go-to guy for The Hero. He has the same well-rounded skill set as his counterpart, but lacks his pure leadership ability and team spirit. If the hero is The Captain, the Lancer is his Number Two.
The Lancer serves as a foil to the hero, either as a former enemy or as a life long friend. If they are the hero's lifelong friend, often they are almost the same with the lancer being tweaked a certain bit to be more relaxed/comical/amoral.
For example:
- If the hero is an idiot, the Lancer will be The Spock, The Stoic, or The Quiet One.
- If the hero is chaste or celibate, the lancer will be a Handsome Lech or Casanova.
- The Cape or The Messiah will have a Lancer who is an Anti Hero, Ineffectual Loner, or even a Heroic Sociopath.
- If The Hero is Not Good With People, his Lancer is likely to be more levelheaded and a social person, or even the Morality Pet in extreme cases.
- Red Oni Blue Oni are also a popular combination. They know each others' tactics, they know when something is wrong, and they know when the other is Not Himself or saying Something They Would Never Say.
- If the Hero works more from a state of passion when resolving problems, or is inspiring to his team, his Lancer tends to work harder, and in some but not all cases tends to be less popular. The Lancer in this context tends to think his way through challenges and through diligence eventually earns his team's respect for his obvious talents and successes.
This is the member of the Five Man Band who is most likely to not be a team player. He's the one who sneaks off on his own to advance the team's goals independently. He might be jealous of the leader, and think he'd be better for the job. If The Complainer Is Always Wrong and there's a chronic complainer to act as the show's Butt Monkey, it's this guy. He's also the one most likely on the team to go turncoat, and the last one the hero will suspect. Nevertheless, there's a strong chance that his rivalry with the hero may develop into a deep, powerful friendship. This is a frequent source of Ho Yay. The Hero and The Lancer may also be rivals for a love interest, or one of them will have a cute sister whom the other crushes on, only to have the brother say " My Sister Is Off Limits!".
In the event that the hero of the team is unable to lead, or the team temporarily has no Hero, The Lancer steps in. Sometimes, he's forced to take the position against his will. Either way, this plot is used to contrast the hero's leadership style against what the lancer's would be. A frequent ending for this plot is for The Lancer to gladly give up the reins of power while the Hero often notes that the team will be in excellent hands the next time he is absent.
Powers and skills common to the lancer include:
- If there's only one stealthy guy on the team, the Lancer is typically that guy. Sneaky Lancers may fill the Fragile Speedster (or, if lucky, Lightning Bruiser) role, relying on agility and guile rather than brute force. Alternatively, he can be a Glass Cannon, Straight Arrow or gunslinger who relies on firepower and distance. In this case the Lancer may be a Badass Normal in a superpowered Band.
- If The Hero and The Lancer have Elemental Powers, those will be complementary. If The Hero uses flames, The Lancer will probably use ice or water.
- Since he's usually the hero's counterpoint, he may be the one who is willing to do dirty tricks or enter moral gray areas. If there's only one Con Man on a team full of strait-laced heroes, it's this guy.
- Conversely, The Lancer on a less-than-scrupulous or less-than-intelligent team may be its Only Sane Man, trying (often futilely) to keep the chaos under control. This Lancer may resemble a more traditional Hero (or the Team Mom version of The Chick, if acting as a moral compass).
When worst comes to worst, The Lancer is the one person on the team who is likely to die for the cause. He's also the most likely member of the team to pull a Face Heel Turn and get turned to The Dark Side (though this usually doesn't last), or end up Brainwashed And Crazy by the Big Bad or the Evil Genius (and if this happens, either The Chick or The Hero will talk him out of it. The Lancer is an extremely common Ensemble Darkhorse or Draco In Leather Pants, especially if The Hero is of the clean-cut type.
It's becoming more and more common for this character to be female, either merged with, or contrasted with, The Chick. Having the character who is both most like and most unlike The Hero also being the strongest woman can create UST. If not multi-classed with The Chick, she may be in a Love Triangle, acting as the Veronica to The Chick's Betty in pursuit of the object of her secret desire, The Hero. A female Lancer and The Chick may develop into an Odd Couple, and even begin to work as a sub-team. A former Dark Magical Girl almost always becomes The Lancer after her Heel Face Turn.
This Trope is named for the man-at-arms of The Middle Ages, the term for a professional soldier. While the term also encompasses the members of the knightly class, a man-at-arms was not necessarily a knight. They were also men of lesser financial and social status than knights, but were equally trained and equipped to fight on horseback in full armour and with sword and lance, just like their social superiors. In this regard, he is most recognizable as King Arthur's right-hand man, Lancelot (portrayed as a better fighter than even the king in most versions of the myth.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- "Condor" Joe Asakura, a.k.a. G-2 from the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. In the beginning, he's a Heroic Sociopath constantly undermining Ken's authority because he wouldn't let Joe go on the attack. But by the second half of the first series, Joe's the only one who's able to talk Ken down when he MAJORLY Freaks Out after Red Impulse, Ken's long-absent father, is killed, showing they have a Ryu And Ken (the Capcom ones) style respect for each other. From the beginning, he has a serious vendetta against the antagonists of the series since ''his parents are DEEAAAAAAAAD!!'' thanks to them, which drives his Anti Hero tendencies, and true to his role, he's the member that ends up dramatically dying in sacrifice at the end. of the first series at least, subverted in the sequels.
- "Oh no, without Joe we can't fire any bird missiles!" never mind the fact that the method used for firing bird missiles is literally a giant red button with no aiming mechanism at all.
- In the Sailor Moon anime, Rei/Sailor Mars is the Lancer of the team. The English dub exaggerated this into a running subplot of her trying to subvert Usagi's leadership. In the manga, however, the Lancer is Minako/Sailor Venus, the leader of the Senshi in the Silver Millenium and the most seasoned warrior of the group. Rei can be considered as The Lancer in both versions, by some folks, seeing as how Usagi acts more the part of The Chick in a leadership role, while Minako is The Hero put in the role of a Number Two girl.
- Kei Kurono from Gantz was undoubtably The Lancer to The Hero Masaru Katou, his old friend. Then Katou died and Kurono became The Hero instead.
- Rina/Green Pearl Voice from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, and until Character Derailment gets her, Caren.
- Minto Aizawa/Mew Mint from Tokyo Mew Mew is The Lancer to Ichigo Momomiya/Mew Ichigo.
- Fate Testarossa, indeed an ex-Dark Magical Girl, in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. In StrikerS, Vita and Signum become Lancers to Nanoha and Fate, respectively.
- Haruna Kisaragi/Corrector Haruna from Corrector Yui, who was also a Dark Magical Girl for a time. In the second season anime, Control and Synchro/War Wolf are Yui's Lancers when they form a Five Man Band IR and Rescue. Also, Ai Shinozaki/Corrector Ai is often Lancer-like towards Yui.
- In Soukou No Strain, Lottie considers Sara her Lancer up until she realizes Sara's identity. She finally admits that maybe it's the other way around.
- Natsumi/Shiro Loli in Saint October.
- Every team on Digimon had one member who didn't get along with The Hero, escalating every season. To date: Yamato, Takeru, Ken, Ruki, Kouji, Touma.
- Actually, Digimon 02's Takeru was generally affable to The Hero, Daisuke; however Daisuke, being the Hopeless Suitor that he is, becomes jealous of Takeru's close friendship/relationship with Hikari and rebukes Takeru's friendliness. In fact, the only time they actually fight (or rather, almost fight) is early in the season because of Daisuke's ignorance of the situation and the episode's theme of "friendship".
- Kai of Beyblade switched between The Lancer and The Rival. Rei/Ray also had his moments.
- Vegeta from Dragonball Z played both The Lancer and The Rival to Goku after joining forces with the heroes against Frieza on Namek. He's not the only Z Warrior who fits, either: Piccolo can make a good case.
- Previous to that, Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien (and Chi-Chi for about five seconds) all had a run as the Lancer.
- Ishida and Chad in Bleach. Ishida fits the rivalry mould, hating The Hero based on his race (Shinigami) but finding him a decent person other than that. Chad acts as a good parallel with Ichigo's powers, since both have powers that stem from dark sources that they use to protect people. Chad's power is akin to that of a Hollow, which is why - like Hollows - all his abilities have Spanish names. And Ichigo's is half hollow. The difference between them is when Chad discovers this he embraces the power.
- They both also do double duty, with Ishida also being The Smart Guy and Chad being The Big Guy. And partway through the Soul Society arc, Ichigo adds a third Lancer to his group, Renji Abarai.
- But the original lancer to Ichigo was Rukia, who, if it wasn't for her, gave him his shinigami powers. Everytime she comes back in a non Damsel In Distress capacity, she's the Lancer.
- Sanosuke in Rurouni Kenshin. He starts out as Kenshin's rival before quickly becoming his best friend, spent the gap between the revolution and the start of the series as a glory-seeking street fighter rather than an atoning wanderer, and prefers hand-to-hand combat over disciplined sword fighting (although he was skilled with his BFS, which he lamentably only used twice).
- Brock plays Lancer to Ash in the Pokemon anime, though not the games (which are a different universe entirely).
- Go Lion did an interisting bit on this trope. While Isamu Kurogane was named LANCE by Voltron fans, he was not the original Lancer of the team. . . that job was held by Takashi Shirogane (Sven), before he kicked the bucket.
- Erza of Fairy Tail is a stoic, badass Magic Knight and one of the top four mages in the guild. Has become very popular among fans since joining the group and has a rivalry with The Hero Natsu. However, given Natsu's tendency to challenge anyone and everyone more powerful than him, this may be debatable.
- Gray could also be considered a Lancer within the group, given his rivalry with Natsu and their complementary elemental magic (Fire and Ice).
- Natsuki Kuga is Mai's Lancer in Mai-HiME, being both her Foil (Mai is very strait-laced, while Natsuki's willing to break a few rules to meet her personal objective) and opposite number in the Elemental Powers department (Mai uses fire, and Natsuki uses ice).
- Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto fits this in almost every possible sense until his Face Heel Turn. Replaced later by Emotionless Guy Sai.
- Yeah, except for the "lacks [Naruto's] pure leadership ability and team spirit" part. Sasuke was both a better team player, constantly acting as protector, and the one his team looked to for leadership; not Naruto. Naruto was childish and boastful without anything to back him up at first. And while he had his moments, he was NOT the leader. Naruto only started to take on the role of protector during part one, and of being a leader only after timeskip. Meanwhile Sasuke, though he lost it during the VOTE arc, shows these same traits with his new team. Sai, it's been made clear, can't fill Sasuke's spot, except for being a fourth man on the squad.
- Suzumiya Haruhi plays with this, in that the Lancer, Kyon, is in fact both the narrator and the main character... with a little dash of The Hero, something that the flighty and childish Haruhi is definitely not.
- Jet Link aka 002 is Joe Shimamura aka 009's Lancer in Cyborg 009. Albert Heinrich aka 004 and Francoise Arnoul aka 003 sometimes fits in, too.
- Guts filled this role for Griffith in Berserk when he was still part of the Band of the Hawk.
- Snagglebit in the obscure 1990s anime The Littl' Bits fit this trope to a T.
- Eiji Shigure in Gravion may be the main character of the series, but is arguably the Lancer of the Gravion team, and often fills in the role with main pilot Toga. An odd variation of that, as while Toga is definitely the more pure-hearted of the two, he still depends on Eiji to keep him morally grounded in battle.
- Roronoa Zoro in One Piece. Not only is he the straight man to all of Luffy's antics, he is literally the Number Two as Luffy's swordsman. Given the relative specialties of the two (namely Zoro being a swordsman and Luffy with a weakness to being cut) and the outcomes of the times they fight in the series, Zoro could probably beat Luffy in a fight even though Luffy's the more powerful overall.
- Except Luffy is not weak against being cut, he is strong against impacts, BIG difference. He CAN be cut, that does not make it a weakness of any kind.
- One could also make a case for Sanji being the Lancer: a similarly cool personality, like Zoro's, contrasted with Luffy's, but also, as per the "He's the one who sneaks off on his own to advance the team's goals independently" bit in the description, Sanji has done just that on at least four occasions (Little Garden, Alabasta, Water 7 and Enies Lobby).
- There are several (and very different, personality-wise) Lancers in the Mobile Suit Gundam meta series:
- Mobile Suit Gundam, the original: Kai Shiden and Bright Noa, to Amuro Ray.
- Zeta Gundam: Quattro Bejina aka Char Aznable is the Lancer and the Big Brother Mentor to Kamille Vidan. Emma Sheen also is Lancer-ish sometimes.
- Gundam ZZ: Beecha Oleg, to Judeau Ashita.
- Victory Gundam: Odelo Henrik, to Usso Evin.
- Gundam The 8th Platoon: Karen Joshua, to Shiro Amada
- Gundam 0083: Chuck Keith, to Kou Uraki.
- G Gundam: Chibodee Crockett, to Domon Kasshu.
- Gundam Wing: Duo Maxwell, to Heero Yuy.
- Gundam X: Roybea Roy, to Garrod Ran.
- Turn A Gundam: Sochie Heim, to Loran Cehak.
- Gundam SEED: Mwu La Flaga and Athrun Zala, to Kira Yamato.
- Gundam SEED Destiny: Rey Za Burrell, to Shinn Asuka.
- Gundam 00: first Setsuna F. Seiei to Neil "Lockon Stratos" Dylandy, then either Tieria Erde or Lyle "Lockon" Dylandy to Setsuna.
- In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, depending on your point of view either Simon is Kamina's Lancer, or Kamina is Simon's. Upon Kamina's death Kittan gradually qualifes for the role, showing a strong grasp of Kamina's ideals, but lacking the gift with words he and Simon have to express it.
- Rossiu is certainly Simon's Lancer after the timeskip.
- At least until Viral's Heel Face Turn, at which point Rossiu gradually takes upon a more passive role.
- Natsu Tanimoto, a.k.a. Hermit, combines this with a bit of Sixth Ranger to Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple. One of the last to defect from Ragnarok to Shinpaku Alliance, and even then unwillingly, Natsu and Kenichi have the same basic decency but are otherwise polar opposites.
- In sports manga/anime, the sub-captain of the team is likely to be The Lancer to the captain. Either that, or The Rival within the team plays this role for The Hero (who isn not necessarily the captain). Examples:
- The Prince Of Tennis:
- Seigaku: Oishi and/or Fuji, to Tezuka. Momoshiro, to Echizen and later, to Kaidoh
- Fudomine: Kamio, to Tachibana.
- Saint Rudolph: Kaneda, to Akazawa. Mizuki, to Yuuta (as a good example of a sneaky Lancer who uses less-than-ethic methods).
- Hyoutei: Shishido, to Atobe; he actually took one for the team during the yakiniku battle (sacrificing himself by drinking Inui juice so his team could go on). Ohtori, on the other hand, is Shishido's own Lancer (which makes them also a very popular Ho Yay subject, even lampshaded once or twice in the Dating Sims).
- Yamabuki: Sengoku and/or Dan, to Anti Hero Akutsu.
- Rokkaku: Saeki, to Aoi.
- Jyousei: Wakato, to Kajimoto.
- Rikkaidai: Sanada, to Yukimura.
- Higa: Rin, to Kite.
- Shitenhouji: Chitose (also Sixth Ranger), to Shiraishi. Koishikawa was supposed to be The Lancer, but Chitose's appearance shot that to Hell.
- If we count the Tagalong Kids, Tomoka is The Lancer to chicky heroine Sakuno.
- Captain Tsubasa:
- Depending on the team he's playing, Tsubasa can hace several Lancers. Up to date: Ishizaki, Misaki, Wakabayashi, Hyuga, Pepe and/or Rivaul.
- Wakashimazu and Takeshi, to Hyuga.
- Oda, to Matsuyama.
- Müller, to Schneider. Sometimes Schester too, though he's more of The Smart Guy A small subplot in Road to 2002 had Schneider trying to personally recruit Wakabayashi as his Lancer, too.
- Napoleon, to Pierre.
- Pascal, to Juan Díaz
- Kaltz, to Wakabayashi (in the Hamburg team).
- Leo (and briefly, Natourezza), to Santana
- Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho. He's Yusuke's school rival-turned-best friend, frequently teams up with him for tag-team battles, and leads the Team Urameshi almost as often as Yusuke does in the Dark Tournament saga.
- Daisy from Dragon Quest: Legend Of The Hero Abel (a.k.a. the Dragon Warrior anime broadcast in English in The Nineties) is a good example of a female Lancer: a mercenary adventurer who started out more skilled than The Hero, and who seemed to have a crush on him (which got sublimated into her helping rescue the Distressed Damsel).
- If you view the Allied Forces from Axis Powers Hetalia as a Five Man Band, then The Lancer to Idiot Hero Love Freak America is the local Team Dad and his ex-tutor and steward, England.
- Fandom tends to see the East Asian nations as a Five Man Band as well, and in such an environment Japan plays Lancer to The Hero China.
- They also apply these dynamics to the Nordic group, with Sweden as The Lancer to The Hero Finland.
- Mahou Sensei Negima has either Asuna or Setsuna acting as Negi's lancer for the earlier arcs. More recently Kotaro has taken the position.
- Riza Hawkeye is the stern, cool-headed, and female Lancer serving under Roy Mustang. Maes Hughes could be considered an even lazier one.
- Thanks to Yes! Pretty Cure 5's insistence on dual-classing everyone, Nozomi has both Big Lancer Rin and Smart Lancer Karen to contend with. They manage to simultaneously act as foils for both Nozomi and each other.
- In Fushigi Yuugi, Tamahome and Tasuki end up as a Blue Oni Red Oni patterned Hero and Lancer, respectively. Interestingly, they both have a Brainwashed And Crazy incident where one nearly murders the other.
- In Ouran High School Host Club Shadow King Kyouya is The Lancer to Idiot Hero Tamaki, and secretly runs the club behind his back. Everyone else is aware of it though.
- Chrono in Chrono Crusade serves as Rosette's lancer (particularly in the manga where Rosette is firmly the protagonist). While they usually seem eye-to-eye on moral issues, and they are in fact the Official Couple, they often clash and get into arguments—Rosette is hotblooded and determined, while Chrono appears to be calmer and also slips into despair much easier. Rosette is a nun, and Chrono is a demon. Rosette is very open with her emotions, while Chrono tends to try to hide when he's upset.
- Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni has an interesting example in Keiichi. He starts off as a Decoy Protagonist, is a bit paranoid and actually steers into Villain Protagonist territory. In later arcs, the spotlight switches to the actual hero, Rika. Another interesting thing about it is the reversal of the usual optimistic-Hero and cynical-Lancer. Rika behaves cheerfully, but is secretly very cynical and has all but resigned herself to die. Keiichi, after a number of screw-ups caused by not trusting his friends, is optimistic and tells Rika that it is possible to beat the crap out of fate. He's arguably Rika's savior.
- In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Yamamoto and Gokudera combine to become this for Tsuna. And Squalo, for Xanxus.
- Rei is this to Kenshiro, in Hokuto No Ken.
- Lancer, from Robotech, might even be the Trope Namer.
- Lancer is a curious case, as he's less of a traditional Lancer and more of a mix of The Chick (uses his girly, "softer" looks and crossdresses to get the upper hand) and The Smart Guy (is level-headed and sneaky, as well as an Ace Pilot). Arguably, Rand fills in more as Scott's proper lancer.
Comic Books
- Batman fills this role in most incarnations of the Justice League. The darker interpretations fall into the Rival/Anti-Heroic version of this trope, with Superman as The Hero.
- Nightwing is an example of how the Lancer's traits depend on who The Hero is: when he fills this role for Batman, his empathy, idealism, and approachability are played up as a contrast to Bruce.
- In a hilariously fitting Evil Counterpart, The Joker tends to be the Lancer to Lex Luthor on the rare occasions they team up.
- Hawkeye of The Avengers. He tends to chafe under Captain America's leadership, but it's clear how much like Cap he is — he led both his own Avengers franchise and the Thunderbolts for several years.
- As indicated by the page quote, Wolverine of the X-Men.
- He was also the Lancer for Luke Cage when the latter lead the New Avengers.
- Iceman was the Lancer of the original five, with an attitude bigger than Connecticutt and a constant bone to pick with The Hero, Cyclops.
- A solid case could be made for Angel as the Lancer of the original five, actually, right down to being a rival for the affections of The Chick. Not to mention that unlike Iceman, Angel has actually done the leadership thing on occasion.
- It should be noted that Wolverine (and Rogue, under similar circumstances years later) panicked and tried to refuse when ordered into a leadership position (despite proving rather competent in same). Nobody has had the nerve to try that stunt on Iceman.
- In fact, he was even slated to lead Alpha Flight when he ran away to join the X-Men instead (of course, he was also in love with the team's eventual leader's red-headed wife.)
- Therefore, it of course makes perfect sense that Wolverine becomes the new leader in Wolverine and the X Men.
- They did give a plausible justification for this: Cyclops was so emotionally devastated over Jean's disappearance that he wasn't really capable of leading the team. How they will explain this in the second season, now that Jean has returned, remains to be seen.
- Isn't Cyclops actually Wolverine's Lancer in that series?
- Then again Logan does currently lead X-force, with X-23 being the Lancer.
- I dont' know about that, but considering Xavier is the Team Leader in the earlier series, they could BOTH be a different kind of Lancer.
- Moonstone of the Thunderbolts is somewhere between this trope and The Starscream.
- Same thing in Dark Avengers, though Ares also fills this role sometimes.
- Daken too for that matter.
- Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow has often played this role against Robin/Nightwing in the Teen Titans (and later the Outsiders).
- Namor is perhaps the MU's resident Freelancer, having filled the role on every team he has ever been in, and simply filling that role for the MU heroes in general.
- The Huntress was the Lancer to Black Canary's Hero in Birds of Prey, at least until the Canary left.
- At which point she became the Lancer to Oracle's.
- Deadpool would probably be horrified if he realised, but he ends up being this when he teams up with Cable. Sure, he wouldn't be anyone's first choice for a voice of reason, but no-one else can actually stand up to Cable when he's getting way too into the future mutant messiah thing.
- Skywise from Elfquest has a great number of complementary traits with his buddy and heroic leader Cutter. A drinker and womanizer, he is more lively and easygoing than Cutter, who naturally bears a keen sense of responsibility for the tribe. Skywise is a studious, curious dreamer, while Cutter prefers to live in the here and now.
- A more likely interpretation is that among the Wolfriders, Strongbow is the lancer and Skywise is the smart guy. Unlike Skywise, Strongbow makes a habit out of disagreeing with Cutter a lot. In the later series, e.g. Shards, Rayek becomes the lancer.
- For the current New Avengers line-up Hawkeye/Ronin seems to be The lancer for Captain America(Bucky).
- Actually, it's the other way around.
- In Young Avengers, Kate/Hawkeye is the Lancer to Eli/Patriot.
- Donald Duck fills this role nicely for Scrooge in the Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge comics, serving as a practical, pessimistic Foil for the overly-eager treasure hunter, ever ready with either a complaint or a snarky observation.
Film
- Pictured above: Han Solo in Star Wars
- Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.
- Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates Of The Caribbean. He is not, contrary to what gushing fanpeople would have you believe, The Hero.
- Rusty Ryan to Danny Ocean in the Oceans Eleven movies.
Literature
- Ron from the Harry Potter books fits the definition perfectly.
- Commander Vimes from Discworld spins this trope widdershins. He's the protagonist of Watch books, and is the cynical commanding officer of idealistic Hero Carrot. Plus, now that Vimes is Duke of Ankh, he would be Number Two to the king, if Carrot ever decided to actually take the job.
- Also as Commander of the Watch and the richest man in the city, Vimes is effectively the second most influential and powerful man in the city, and often plays the Lancer role to the Patrician, though Havelock Vetinari is hardly the traditional hero.
- Vimes has his own lancers: depending on the situation, other Watchmen (notably Carrot, Colon and Nobby) and occasionally his wife take turns at it.
- In addition, many other Discworld characters have their own lancers: Colon has Nobby, Carrot has Angua, Rincewind has the Luggage, Granny Weatherwax has Nanny Ogg...
- No one has yet agreed on a Five Man Band configuration for the Animorphs, with Tobias, Rachel, and Marco all suggested for the role:
- Tobias is the silent loner compared to Jake, the leader and center of the team.
- Rachel would be a perfect Lancer if she wasn't already The Big Guy. Jake says flat-out he'd rather have her at his back than anyone else and he trusts her both to protect his father and kill his brother. She does the team's dirty work, and has the "challenger/thinks she'd be a better leader" aspects, and still can't quite shake that thought even after being smacked in the head with a Vetinari Paradox. And she was the "someone" in Tonight Someone Dies via Heroic Sacrifice.
- Marco is Jake's best friend. He shares a distinctly different and darker view; in his more serious moments, he presents alternative — even borderline ruthless — options. He thinks very differently than Jake, which can be useful for filling in blanks, and helps in formulating strategies when Jake has trouble doing so.
- Panther from the Genesis of Shannara books "Armageddon's Children" and "The Elves of Cintra".
- In Shannara, pretty much anytime a Leah shows up, it's to play this role for the main Ohmsford.
- Mudge from the Spellsinger novels is the Lancer for Jon-Tom, being cynical and streetwise enough to counterbalance Jon's idealism, and carefree enough to keep Jon from turning maudlin about his exile in another world. Later in the series, Jon-Tom returns the favor, as his Morality Pet example helps Lovable Rogue Mudge adjust to life as (yikes!) a responsible husband and father.
- Lancelot of King Arthur's Court is the original Lancer, both figuratively and literally. He became Arthur's number two immediately after joining and was every bit the socialite that Arthur never could be.
- Bigwig from Watership Down is made of this trope, with some of The Big Guy for flavoring. He's unabashedly the foil to The Messiah Hazel, the cynical tough guy acting as a grouchy but loyal second-in-command to the charismatic, idealistic leader.
- Patroclus of The Iliad fulfils this role to Achilles' The Hero: more thoughtful and level-headed than his best friend, his death is what snaps Achilles out of his proverbial tent.
Live Action TV
- Several Angel characters have Lancer qualities. For most of the series, Wesley fulfilled this role as well as The Smart Guy. Gunn also filled this role for a time late season 3 and early season 4, but was usually The Big Guy. Connor fit for much of season 4. Easily the best fit that doesn't overlap with any other roles is Spike in Season 5.
- Cordelia was Interim Lancer between Doyle's death and Wesley's integration into the main cast, and was always Angel's real foil, despite being The Chick throughout.
- Col. Saul Tigh in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.
- Avon from Blake's 7, even when Blake vanishes/dies and Avon slowly goes Ax Crazy.
- Sam Axe in Burn Notice.
- Willow and Faith can act Lancer-y on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
- Oh, and also Spike, when he starts moving to the side of good. Post-evilness, Spike is basically made of Lancer material.
- Captain Jack filled this role during his short tenure on Doctor Who.
- Top Gear: Richard Hammond to Jeremy Clarkson. Hammond is a head shorter, a decade younger, and physically tough but emotionally fragile compared to Clarkson, yet they are inseparably bonded by a mutual love of fast, powerful cars.
- The third presenter, James May, acts a bit like a Lancer to Clarkson but they are more of an Odd Couple.
- Zoe plays the cool-headed Lancer to the often impulsive Mal in Firefly
- Dr. Wilson plays the Only Sane Man variety of lancer on House MD, alongside the show's eponymous Anti Hero.
- In fact, when Hugh Laurie first read for for the part of House, he was under the impression that Wilson was The Hero, and that House was The Lancer. This was not the case.
- Leo is The West Wing is a dead-on Lancer of the Red Oni Blue Oni type to Bartlet's hero.
- Being The Lancer is also Josh's calling in life, according to Bartlet: "You know the difference between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on." In the later seasons other characters lampshade the fact that Santos, to Josh, is his opportunity to be what Leo was to Bartlet. (It may be that Sam was originally going to be The Hero to Josh; they're friends from before the series started, Sam was originally intended to be the main character to the extent that there was going to be one, and Bartlet and others foretell a significant future in politics for him. But Rob Lowe left, so we'll never know.)
- Several characters have fufilled this role for Jack Shepard over the seasons; also, Bram seems to be The Lancer to Ilana.
- Stephen Hart later Abby Maitland in Primeval.
- Patrick Harper in Sharpe.
- Star Trek: Spock is all over this trope. Indeed, he is by all counts equally as competent as Kirk. But where Kirk will go with guts and daring, Spock will always be cool, calculating, and logical. And yes, when the chips are down, Spock is ready at a moments notice to die for the cause. In fact, he did once....
- Are you out of your Vulcan mind??? Mc Coy played the lancer role far better and more often than Spock. Granted they were both lancers for Kirk but Spock devoted a lot of his screen time as the smart guy.
- Riker from Star Trek The Next Generation was intended to perform the action roles that Picard (as The Captain) really should not be doing. Especially the first season he was pretty much a Kirk Clone. After Growing The Beard, his role on the bridge was to anticipate Picard's orders and issue them so that the captain wouldn't have to.
- Tuvok fulfils this role for Captain Janeway in Star Trek Voyager, and Seven of Nine in later years.
- Owen from Torchwood falls under this fairly well.
- Deputy Jo Lupo to Jack Carter in Eureka.
- Common in Super Sentai due to its reliance on the Five Man Band structure, but special mention goes to Choujin Sentai Jetman's Gai Yuuki (Black Condor) for being a Captain Ersatz of the Trope Codifier, Condor Joe. Indeed, the entire cast of Jetman are Captain Ersatzes of Gatchaman's Five Man Band Trope Codifiers.
- Other Sentai Lancers are well known for being either Boone Companion (Zyuranger's Mammoth Ranger), Rival (Hurricaneger's Kabuto Reiger, whom himself leads the main team's rival group), or the member who swipes The Hero's chances at leadership (White Kakuranger, Black Megaranger and Pink Timeranger).
- Tony Dinozzo in NCIS is The Lancer to Gibbs' leadership, though according to Ducky, Gibbs used to be much like Tony.
Video Games
- Manticore, a signature character in City Of Heroes, is basically their version of Batman, especially among the Freedom Phalanx.
- Kain from Final Fantasy IV: The Hero's best friend, member of the Five Man Band, multiple-time Turn Coat, and in love with (and formerly romantically involved with) The Chick. Plus, wields a lance.
- Shadow from Final Fantasy VI: Advances the plot independantly by joining the enemy, is very fast (able to trap Kefka behind his statues), self-sacrificing (can die if you don't wait for him), has item-based Throw ability like Edgar, a martial arts character like Sabin, with a mysterious identity like Gogo.
- Possibly also Sabin, since he is a counterpart to Edgar who leaves him and eventually rejoins after having trained separately. Both have a variety of elemental ranged attacks, use of shields.
- Celes can be The Lancer to Terra as a main character. Linked to the villain historically, she has complementary powers (Terra's ability amplifies offensive magic, Celes' has her defend against magic).
- Also, Terra naturally learns fire magic when leveling up while Celes learns ice magic.
- Barret Wallace from Final Fantasy VII is a unique mix of Big Guy and Lancer, with bonus Token Minority points thrown in. He even
founded leads the Well Intentioned Extremist organization you start off as part of, and sometimes seems a little too ready to think of himself as The Hero early on.
- In Final Fantasy VIII, the role of the Lancer is filled by the hero's love interest, Rinoa Heartilly, who is not only Squall's foil and opposite number in the argument of Enthusiasm Versus Stoicism, but also the one most likely to run off and take action on her own.
- This troper would argue that the Lancer role is better filled by Zell. His brash and arrogant nature along with his willing attitude to throw himself into a melee makes him a foil to Squall's cold and calculative nature. Also, during the moment where Squall and Rinoa go into space, Zell gains priority over conversations back with the party that remains.
- Kimahri Ronso from Final Fantasy X displays many of these characteristics, and rather appropriately wielded a lance.
- Alternatively, Tidus and Yuna could be one another's lancers, depending on which of the two you view as most important.
- Auron qualifies as the lancer both to his original team members Braska and Jecht while also filling the role for Tidus and Yuna.
- Shara from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the Lancer to Ritz.
- In Final Fantasy XII, just as Ashe is the series most standard hero, Balthier is the most standard lancer.
- Final Fantasy XIII has Lightning backed by Sazh. Being older he may very well have more military experience, but he has less drive as a leader (stepping down from a more active piloting career in order to take care of his son).
- Duke Cuan is both the best friend and The Lancer for Lord Sigurd in the first part of Fire Emblem 4 aka Seisen no Keifu. He also has his Lancer in the form of his protegé Finn.
- In the second part of the game, Ayra's son Skasha is The Lancer to Sigurd's son Celice.
- In Fire Emblem 7, Hector and Lyn *both* fit as Lancers for Eliwood. Just like in FE 6, Straight Arrow Wolt and Magical Girl Lilina are sort-of Lancers for The Hero Roy.
- Hector also has his own Lancer in the figure of General Oswin, and it can be said that Marcus was Eliwood's Lancer before Hector and Lyn stepped in.
- If we're talking about Hector's Route in the game, Matthew the Thief has a short run as Hector's Lancer at the beginning, until Oswin and Serra come in.
- In "Lyndis's Tale", Lyn had Kent as her Lancer since Sain was a bit more of The Big Guy of her Troupe.
- In Fire Emblem 8... The Paladin Seth is The Lancer to either Eirika or Ephraim, depending on the route you take. Innes fits more as Ephraim's Rival than Lancer.
- About Gerik and his mercenaries... Marisa the Crimson Flash fits as his Lancer since she's more of an Action Girl than Tethys, the Team Mom.
- In the case of Joshua, either Gerik, Marisa or Natasha (in a more serious, Staff Chick-y way) cane become his Lancers through supports as he rebuilds Jehanna )
- Rennac is The Lancer in L'Arachel's Power Trio.
- In Gears Of War, Dominic Santiago serves as Marcus Fenix's Lancer.
- In Halo 3, the Arbiter plays the role of Lancer to the Master Chief.
- Protoman (Blues) often fills in this role in the original Mega Man games. Zero in the X series takes it a little bit further, as his antisocial nature has led to more than one physical fight with X. Dex nails the Lancer role in the Battle Network games.
- Dex tries, but he comes off as being the would-be hero that manages to do something right... almost never. Protoman and Chaud claim the role of Lancer all over again, being a far more serious threat to both the enemy and the hero.
- Dex might actually be an inversion. He has nothing but leadership abilities. He's a fantastic leader and motivator, but lacks the competence to back it up, which is all Lan's. This would probably be why he ended up mayor of ACDC Town in the series ending.
- Dex really functions more as a Big Guy of the charismatic Boisterous Bruiser mold. He started out as The Rival, but by the end of the first game Chaud had moved from Sixth Ranger into the Lancer position.
- Knuckles in Sonic The Hedgehog started out as a Lancer, but lately his role has been handed off to Shadow and Knuckles has been relegated to the role of The Big Guy.
- Don't worry, by Sonic Chronicles he's back with a true Lancer attitude! Shadow acts as a backup Lancer as well.
- An early CRPG example: Nazim in The Magic Candle.
- Though they're technically on opposite sides, the prosecutors from the Ace Attorney series often become closer to The Lancer after a few cases against the main character.
- Falco from Star Fox fits this trope like a glove.
- Dio from Ogre Battle 64 as well as Vice from the original Tactics Ogre.
- In Tales Of Symphonia's initial Five Man Band, Genis, Lloyd's best friend, plays the role of the more smart and cynical Lancer to Lloyd's idealistic Idiot Hero. Zelos, who joins later, also takes up the lancer role.
- Tales Of The Abyss has a possibility of 3 different lancers in the party. Luke,the Idiot Hero, has Guy (Childhood friend, Guardian and possible Rival), Jade (Smart Guy, Deadpan Snarker and The Spock) or Tear (Action Chick and another The Spock character).
- Though The Lancer and not The Hero of his Three Amigos, Riku of Kingdom Hearts was the leader by virtue of being one year older and because of his natural drive. He had very clear and strong ideas about what he wanted, and Sora and Kairi followed his lead. Sadly, he was Too Cool To Live, and so fell to The Dark Side. He gets better only after Sora has become clearly much cooler than him.
- After learning of Riku's actions during the time where Sora is locked away in Castle Oblivion, he proves to be a far more competent 'hero' and preforms some sacrifices of his own, mainly giving himself into the darkness to defeat Roxas, a necessary step to Sora's awakening. This Troper believes that while Riku had control over all his actions, Sora was merely led around by his companions, adversaries and by pure blind-stupid luck manages to save the world. Who's the real hero beyond the Player Character role?
- Sora, as he isn't the one who's an angsty Draco In Leather Pants and is far, far more powerful. [[Spoiler: Riku would still be an evil jerk possessed by Ansem if it weren't for Sora.]]
- Junpei Iori, of Persona 3. Eager to prove himself, bitter about the Protagonist being chosen to lead the team over him, brash, loud, poor grades, and a girlchaser.
- And in FES, where Aegis is the Protagonist, Yukari acts as the Lancer to her.
- Yosuke is the lancer in Persona 4.
- Felius is Clarissa's lancer in Wild ARMs XF.
- Etna, vassal of negotiable loyalty to demon prince Laharl in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, probably qualifies as a Lancer, being his go to girl, and the one who cheerfully tells him she will kill him and take over if he doesn't prove himself worthy of being the overlord. Her starting weapon also happens to be a lance. Rozalin (with elements of The Chick later) and Almaz also qualify.
- Lin from Advance Wars: Dark Conflict/Days of Ruin. Possibly combination Smart Guy/Lancer, but definitely a lancer.
- Alicia, from Valkyria Chronicles, is this, with a touch of Team Mom. Possibly also Largo, who is also The Big Guy, and also a member of the "Lancer" class.
- Luigi from the Super Mario Bros series has been increasingly this.
- And oddly enough, when he's thrust into the position of a hero, Bowser can be Mario's Lancer.
- Almost every main character from the numerous chapters of Live A Live has a Lancer to go along with him or her. The most clear example, however, is Straybow, who is both a rival to the chapter's main character Orsted and eventually that chapter's final boss after his Face Heel Turn.
- Grandia II: Millenia is the Lancer and also the Veronica to Ryudo.
- Dogi the Wallcrusher serves this role to Adol in the Ys series.
- Fate Stay Night has a character called 'Lancer', who also fits this trope fairly well; not only is he amongst the most well-rounded of all the Servants (but isn't a protagonist like Saber) but he also plays the role to the hilt when he joins up with the heroes late in Unlimited Blade Works.
- In Mass Effect either Kaidan or Ashley can fill this role for Shepard - as companions, they are more likely to speak up, and the have more dialogue then the other companions. And as Shepard's character is fluid, they can fill the role of different Lancer types. It seems as of Mass Effect 2, Garrus serves as Shepard's de-facto Lancer.
- Alistair is very much your cheerful, goofy Lancer in Dragon Age. Morrigan can have eliments of this as well.
Real Life
- Current pope, Benedict XVI was this for the previous pope, John Paul II - as a cardinal he had never hesitated to say that he disagrees with the pope. People say that now he really regrets a lack of somebody who would be this for him, as a pope.
- Hilary Clinton for Barack Obama.
- Lee Iaccoca strongly recommends all leaders to have at least one Lancer in their staff.
Webcomics
- Humorously enough, the author of Cwen's Quest
 was unaware of this particular trope when he named his character Riddly Lancer. Pretty much fits the bill too, well actually only up to the third sentence of the description that is... but Cwen is definitely the leader between the two characters.
- Vaarsuvius in Order Of The Stick fits this trope. He/She is the person the leader(Roy) consults in many matters(such as talking to his father's ghost). They complete each other. Roy is physically tough and good with people. V is a powerful magician and "book smart". V also feels the party isn't always deserving of him/her.(And is actually jealous of Roy when he's attacked by a mind flayer).
- In Sluggy Freelance, while Torg usually takes center stage and, in his "unique" way, come up with a solution to the big problems, Riff is usually there as well, ready to solve things his own way. Which usually involves laser weapons, giant robots, and blowing stuff up.
- Theo from Shape Quest, who is also The Spock.
Web Original
Western Animation
- Ironically, despite being the title character, Sonic the Hedgehog was actually his team's Lancer.
- Brooklyn in Gargoyles, especially when Goliath promoted him to be his Number Two. He differs that while Goliath is very physical and direct in his methods with a knack for inspiring his clan, Brooklyn is quieter and more calculating at work as a superb tactician who can organize assaults that seemingly can whup anybody. His only major weakness is that he hates Demona with a fury strong enough to attack her on sight, to the frustration of the clan. Brooklyn is the second type of lancer in that he holds Goliath in high esteem and has no desire to challenge his authority, much less replace him. Still, during the extended time that Goliath was absent, Brooklyn was in charge and even old veteran Hudson defered to his authority and there is no question that he is really good at the job.
- In Transformers: Beast Wars, when the Maximals find themselves short one Optimus Primal, it comes to a vote to determine which of the Lancers will lead in his absence - Dinobot, or Rattrap. Dinobot was the big, straightforward warrior type, and Rattrap was the small, underhanded saboteur type. On another occasion, Rhinox started to give the orders, as he was in a Very Bad Mood.
- Cheetor fits the either the lancer or the chick depending on the episode, but is most often the chick. Dinobot is definitely a Sixth Ranger Lancer.
- Cheetor's clearly The Kid, not the Lancer - at least in Beast Wars where he was always hoping to impress "Big Bot." Beast Machines is another story. Rattrap and Dinobot share Lancer duties.
- In the followup Beast Machines, while Primal was absent Cheetor had stepped up to fill the leadership gap, causing him to become The Lancer when Primal returned. This time, it was more the "chafes under his authority, wants to usurp and lead" variety, possibly due to the fact that Optimus had become a damn dirty hippie.
- Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of the most perfect examples of the Lancer.
- In Thundercats, Tygra doubled as Lion-O's Lancer and SmartGuy. The latter is relative since the team's Big Guy, Panthro, was a Genius Bruiser.
- Katara of Avatar The Last Airbender merges the roles of The Lancer and The Chick, being both the romantic interest of The Hero and one of his most reliable combat partners.
- Kevin Levin of Ben 10 Alien Force.
- Sparky from Beethoven The Animated Series is the funny, sarcastic, energetic sidekick of Beethoven, the serious and clean cut The Hero.
- Digeri Dingo from Taz-Mania could count as a lancer for Taz.
- Duke L'Orange in The Mighty Ducks, a former Gentleman Thief turned freedom fighter, contrasts nicely to not only Wildwing but the rest of the team, especially since he's the only one who regularly uses a melee weapon. (a laser sword)
- Shao Lin in Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys is both The Lancer and the Action Girl. She is as cautious as Charlie Simian is not; her The Stoic attitude balances his boisterous, cheerful personality.
- Raven in Teen Titans fits the trope closest, being a Dark Is Not Evil Anti Hero, and having very subdued emotions to contrast Hot Blooded Robin.
- Honestly, Cyborg would be more of a lancer, seeing as how he's taken the reins when Robin is absent and it's just the four of them, and how Titans East nommed him as their leader.
- Prowl of Transformers Animated. A quiet, stoic ninja who is Not Good With People, he contrasts The Cape, Optimus Prime.
- Ramus, and later Nash qualify as the Lancer to Alex's Standardized Leader in the original Lunar.
- Simon Belmont of Captain N The Game Master is how NOT to do the Lancer.
- In Titan Maximum, Gibbs is a Deconstruction of the type of lancer who has issues with the hero's authority. The stress of being the Only Sane Man to a Jerk Jock hero on the previous team as well as having to deal with Palmer's willingness to abandon others for his own petty purposes elevated his own, quieter Jerkass tendencies, causing him to massively Face Heel Turn and making him the Big Bad in the present.
- The wingless cowboy of Silverhawks, Bluegrass fits this trope, as he uses the main controls of the Miraj spaceship.
- Latter member Captain Flashback would fit this as well.
- While Longarm, of COPS, may have the many trates of the average american hero, he is no more then a lancer to Bullitproof.
- Bionic Six has some sort of tossup between the wife (Helen), and the biological son (Eric).
- Speaking of Eric from above, the Dungeons And Dragons cartoon has a cowardly cavileer by that name.
- Shane Gooseman, the genetically engineered Supertrooper of the Galaxy Rangers is a rare inhuman example.
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