Basic Trope: For whatever reason, a powerful ruler uses a humble and simple title instead of a grandiose one.
- Straight: Bob heads the Troperian Empire, but rather than being referred to as Emperor, Tsar, Potentate or any exotic title, he insists on being called "Guide."
- Exaggerated: Bob has no official title or rank, but effectively rules the whole Empire, whether openly or covertly.
- Downplayed: Princeps Bob is just a very influential government officer, but not the only one, which is why he keeps a modest title.
- Justified:
- The Empire operates on a constitutional republican system, meaning that Bob is merely a first among equals, not an absolute monarch.
- Bob is genuinely humble despite his position and really doesn't like fancy titles.
- Bob gets to keep Plausible Deniability by saying, à la Muammar Gaddafi, that he is not in charge, holds no real power and is merely a ceremonial figurehead reflected through his title. This way, he eschews responsibility and accountability as official head of state, while being one de facto with complete dominance over the government.
- Inverted: Bob is the Supreme Overlord of the Troperian Empire, with a truckload of accompanying titles, but is just Authority in Name Only.
- Subverted: Bob takes an page from Napoléon Bonaparte's book and crowns himself Emperor.
- Double Subverted:
- Bob keeps the Guide title for diplomatic reasons when interacting with foreigners.
- Bob just doesn't like the Emperor title and returns to being Guide.
- Parodied:
- Captain Bob rules the Empire, which causes some awkwardness when his technically superior officers are subordinated to him.
- In the Troperian military, the hierarchy of titles that a reader would understand is upside down, with privates, aviators, and ordinary seamen at the top and generals and admirals at the bottom.
- Bob has a long, long list of titles; each alone would seem humble, but reciting the full list is an act of incredible pomposity.
- Anyone dishonoring Humble Unpowered Citizen Bob is sentenced to death.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob keeps the Guide title until he consolidates his power over the Empire, and refers to himself as either Emperor or Guide as convenient. Once he removes all threats to his powers and reforms the Empire to be an absolute monarchy, he will let things fall into place.
- Averted: Bob is known through a multitude of imperial and grandiose titles.
- Enforced: The work satirizes a regime (possibly a People's Republic of Tyranny) led by one or more people who used modest titles relative to the power they wielded.
- Lampshaded:Alice: Uhm, Your Highness...Bob: [Chuckles] No, none of that. Call me "Guide," please.
- Invoked: Bob led a republican revolution against the royal family and managed to change the system of government — necessitating a new title for the head of state — but, somehow, not the name "Troperian Empire."
- Exploited: Bob is trying to keep Plausible Deniability for his position out of fear of being seen as a tyrant or monarch.
- Defied: As soon as he is sworn in as leader, Bob orders the creation of many and/or overlong, self-aggrandizing titles for himself.
- Discussed: "I thought the leader would ask us to call him 'Your Majesty' or something like it."
- Conversed: "Obviously, they couldn't go with the many long titles for this ruler because I heard that actor's going to leave the show soon."
- Implied: Bob is The Ghost and civilians talk about what "the Guide" will dictate.
- Deconstructed: People inside or outside Troperia don't take Bob seriously because he doesn't use a "real" title that people associate with heads of government and state.
- Reconstructed: Bob makes people forget this due to his competence, ruthlessness, or both — and becomes a norm entrepreneur
in the process. - Played for Laughs:
- Bob's title is hilarious, whether in his own language or somebody else's.
- Bob's casual and habitual changing of titles is a Running Gag.
- People keep addressing Bob as "Your Highness", "Your Excellency", "Your Majesty", etc., and he keeps correcting them — "Just say Guide!"
- Played for Drama: An existential threat to Bob's people is loose, and he's focused on changing the constitution for the nth time just to shorten his title.
This is just the root page of our trope.
