Praetorian Guard / Anime & Manga

• The Royal Guards in ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. are very proud of their Undying Loyalty to the royals they protect. They idolize Abend, a guard who died protecting his princess. That's the public story, at least.
• In Aposimz the emperor Nichiko Suou is guarded by two giant spearwomen which are stated to be the strongest of the Rebedoa soldiers.
• The Knights of the Round in Code Geass. Also, the Zero squad. Don't do much difference in battles, but Kallen is very attached to her post as Captain of Zero's personal guard.
• One Piece's Egghead Arc introduces the Holy Knights, royal guards who operate within the Holy Land of Mariejois. They are the true guards of the Holy Land, moreso than CP0, with even the authority to go after the otherwise untouchable World Nobles, and revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon remarks that the real war will begin once they are mobilized, hinting at their potential power.
• Bleach:
  • The Zero Division, the Royal Special Task Force (commonly called the Royal Guard by fans), is tasked with protecting the Soul King. Its members are all captain-class shinigami promoted from the Gotei-13. It's said that the five of them alone are stronger than the entirety of the thirteen divisions.
  • The Big Bad and leader of the Vandenreich, Yhwach, also has a guard of his own, formed by four high-ranked Sternritters named the Schutzstaffel: Gerard Valkyrie, Lille Barro, Askin Nakk Le Vaar and Pernida Parnkgjas. They utterly crush the Royal Guard above.
• The Guardian Senshi (Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter) in Sailor Moon. Their purpose is to protect the future Neo-Queen Serenity. Also, in the manga and likely in the Crystal anime, the Shitennou (Kunzite, Zoisite, Jadeite, and Nephrite), Prince Endymion's former generals; and the Sailor Quartet (Sailor Ceres, Sailor Pallas, Sailor Juno, and Sailor Vesta) Chibiusa's protectors.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn you can measure eliteness by the elaborateness of the mecha sleeves. Sinanju has goldplated sleeves and Frontal's royal guard have the same decorations but in white. They also have spike shoulder armor upgrades. Normal cannon fodder only have stripes. For the Londo Bell, the 12 Jesta units, Ace Custom of Jegans serve as this role as they escort the Unicorn Gundam and handle non-Newtype enemies so the Unicorn can focus on destroying enemy Newtype weapons.
• The men of the Shogun's harem in Ōoku: The Inner Chambers form one as part of their duties. In a Japan decimated by a gendercide plague, they're probably the largest group of armed men available.
  • While this somewhat got forgotten in later years, the original intention was reinforced when the male Ooku was reinstated for Ieyoshi's heir Iesada: on the surface it's to provide her a harem to conceive heirs, in reality they're her bodyguards to protect her from Ieyoshi, who loves Parental Incest a little too much.
• Hunter × Hunter:
  • Meryuem, the Chimera Ant King, has inherited the three Royal Guards Neferpitou, Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi from his mother when she gave him birth and died. Each of the guards is more powerful than the Hunter Committee's Chairman Isaac Netero, and the king is much more powerful than them, of course. Only Neferpitou is killed in combat, while the other two get infected by the poison which is infected on Meryuem when Netero blows up himself with the Miniature Rose. The poison kills all three of them.
  • The Mafia also had the Shadow Beasts, a group of ten highly-trained, highly-skilled fighters with an Animal Motif, one for each of the Ten Dons. The Phantom Troupe kills them all in a hurry—while Uvogin almost perishes through his recklessness, Feitan gets rid of the remaining ones effortlessly.
• FAITH (Fast Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters) in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. They're a ZAFT special ops unit that only answers to Chairman Durandal. While they're not the Chairman's bodyguards full-time, they do end up protecting him during the Armory One attack and serving him during the Battle of Messiah.
• Attack on Titan:
  • The Military Police, whose ranks are made up of only the top ten trainees of each class, count "bodyguard for the king" among their duties. The irony that this means that those with the most skill at fighting titans are kept the farthest away from the fighting is fully lampshaded, although the main character's class is the exception as several of the top ten volunteer for the front line instead. Later it also emerges that the Military Police are hopelessly corrupt.
  • The Military Police's Central 1st Brigade is this for the real Royal family: the Reiss family. They are formed by the most skilled, ruthless, and amoral members of the MP, and have a pinch of Secret Police and State Sec on top of it, as they have unlimited authority given by the true King of the Walls to track down and eliminate people who might threaten the status quo — by inventing new technologies (and thus break the setting's Medieval Stasis), are questioning the government's official positions or are too curious about the world outside the walls, maintaining The Masquerade.
• Dragon Ball Z has Zarbon, Dodoria and the Ginyu Force be this for the galactic warlord Frieza. Zarbon and Dodoria are constantly at Frieza's side, while The Ginyu Force is called in to deal with threats too powerful for Zarbon and Dodoria, but not yet threatening enough for Frieza to personally intervene. In this case, it isn't because Frieza is a Non-Action Guy who needs bodyguards (at this point, he's pretty much the strongest entity in the universe, and leagues beyond Captain Ginyu, who's his strongest subordinate). Frieza takes this trope seriously too, he prefers to wait for the Ginyu Force to arrive rather than deal with the heroes himself, though this is partly because all of his scouters had been destroyed and he had no way of tracking them.
• In Fairy Tail, the Alvarez Empire's ruler has the Spriggan 12, the hand-picked guards of Emperor Spriggan (aka Zeref, the Big Bad), who are all on par with, if not stronger than the Ten Wizard Saints of Ishgal. They also have the benefit of being at the top of the chain of command of Alvarez's military with many of them possessing their own personal squads. They are: God Serena (the former #1 Wizard Saint), Brandish μ, Invel Yura, Ajeel Raml, DiMaria Yesta, Wall Eehto, Bloodman, Neinhart, Jacob Lessio, August, Irene Belserion, and Larcade.
• The Rose of Versailles is a rare example of the protagonist belonging to one: Oscar is part of the Gardes du Corps du Roi (translates as "Bodyguards of the King") and later transfers to the Gardes Françaises (French Guards), both regiments of the Maison Militaire du Roi (Military Household of the King), the royal guards. See below in Real Life for more.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Stardust Crusaders: The Egypt 9 Glory Gods are this to DIO, they're all much stronger than the Tarot Users (except Oingo and Boingo) and are the last obstacle to DIO's hideout in Egypt. Vanilla Ice counts too, being The Dragon and extremely loyal to DIO, he manages to kill two of the heroes.
  • Golden Wind: After the heroes defect from Passione to unveil a way to defeat Diavolo, he sends his Elite Guard squadron to take them out as they attempt to find his identity and weakness before confronting him.
  • Stone Ocean: The Sons of DIO are summoned by Enrico Pucci once he begins finalizing the Evil Plan that'll allow him obtain "Heaven", with each of them taking on Jolyne and the others, serving as the last opponents prior to the final battle with Pucci.
• In Overlord (2012), the Pleiades combat maids serve as Momonga/Ainz's personal bodyguards and the last line of defense of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Though, they're Second-to-last line, actually – the narrative explains that their intended purpose was always only ever to buy time so that the member-players of Ainz Ooal Gown could amass in the throne room for a final counteroffensive. Ultimately zigzagged, however, as Nazarick was never penetrated deeply enough for it to be an issue.
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime:
  • Pretty much every single Demon Lord has one of these, oftentimes made up of their strongest fighters.
    • Guy Crimson has his two maids Misery and Rain. Despite their appearances, they're actually fellow Primordial Demons and it's noted their power is on par with an average True Demon Lord. Guy just so happens to be one of the two strongest Demon Lords in the world and thus is even stronger. Some might make the mistake of believing White Ice Dragon Velzard is part of this group, but they would be wrong; Velzard is explicitly Guy's "partner" rather than subordinate due to her comparable power.
    • Milim Nava originally didn't have a guard (not that she needed it being one of Guy's few rivals) since she's a free spirit whose "territory" wasn't even a nation so much as land she laid claim to that her worshipers of the Dragon Faithful lived on. Once Demon Lords Carrion and Frey abdicate and become her subordinates, however, they and their own guards effectively became hers.
    • Carrion has his Three Beastketeers (Albis, Suphia, and Phobio).
    • Frey has her Twin Wings, Claire and Rucia, who are also her daughters.
    • Dino has his fellow Fallen Angels Pico and Gracia. Similar to Milim, however, Dino doesn't have a "kingdom" and is more of a bum squatting in other territories.
    • Ruminas Valentine has her vampire subordinates Louis and Roy Valentine alongside Gunther and technically the hero Hinata Sakaguchi.
    • Leon Cromwell has the leaders of his Knight Orders.
    • Clayman has his Five Fingers and he himself is technically part of the guard of former Demon Lord Kazaream as one of the four Moderate Clown Troupe.
    • Ramiris originally had no such thing until she got Beretta and Treyni.
    • Rimuru Tempest plays this straight and spoofs it, with his original spoof attempt at the "Big Four" being made up of Benimaru, Shion, Diablo, and Gobta (he won the right via tournament). His actual guard is known as the Twelve Guardian Lords (consisting of Benimaru, Shion, Diablo, Ranga, Geld, Gabiru, Zegion, Kurama, Adalman, Testarossa, Ultima, and Carrera), each with the strength of a True Demon Lord, while Rimuru himself has grown strong enough to challenge and even surpass Guy and Milim as the strongest around. At a glance one might assume Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest to be a part of this group given his deference to Rimuru, but like his sister Velzard with Guy, Veldora is simply Rimuru's "partner" rather than subordinate.
  • Emperor Rudra of the Eastern Empire has the Imperial Guardians, 100 elite warriors chosen for their strength that combined are considered worth the rest of the two million-strong Imperial Army (itself filled to the brim with augmented Super Soldiers). Each one is armed with at least Legendary-class gear (the sort of equipment that in the rest of the world is only owned by the Demon Lords and the strongest humans and monsters). The Single Digits of the Guard are the elite of the elite, not only possessing Legendary-class gear but also a personal blessing from Rudra that gives them a pseudo-Ultimate Skill, and the strongest among even them wielding Mythical/God-class gear. Notable for such a guard, many of them spend time working incognito as observers and spies, whether as agents situated in the other divisions of the Empire or acting aboard to gather intel, while only the Single Digits #3-6 were specifically tasked with guarding the Emperor as his Four Knights/Horsemen. The #2 Single Digit Damrada was even working long-term as a Double Agent in Yuuki's own ranks. Unlike her siblings Velzard and Veldora, it would be accurate to refer to Scorch Dragon Velgrynd as Rudra's strongest subordinate (as she's officially the Marshal of the entire military and only answers to him) rather than just his "partner", though there's another reason for that deference.

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