Praetorian Guard / Video Games

• Mega Man Zero: The Four Guardians serve as the prime enforcers of Copy-X and the generals for each of the armed forces within Neo Arcadia.
• Conqueror's Blade features quite a few units who are bodyguards in-universe: Palace Guards, Silahdars, Shieldmaidens, Varangian Guard, the Modao Battalion (to an extent), and the Orochi Samurai. Most of these units have bodyguard mechanics ingame, too. There are also non-bodyguard units with the Cover Commander order, which makes them follow you around and attack anyone close to you.
• Half-Life 2 has the Combine Elite, the creme de la creme of the Combine Overwatch whose job is essentially as the final line of defence for the Combine regime and its head Dr. Breen. They only start to show up near the end of the game as it becomes clear that you're getting closer to winning.
• In Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, while never seen, there are several mentions of a Lombax elite guard called the Lombax Praetorian Guard.
• The Total War hybrid TBS / RTS series usually gives faction leaders and heirs special "bodyguard" units that accompany them into battle. Rome: Total War, naturally, features the Praetorian Guards as elite heavy infantry.
• Dragon Quest VI introduces the Harmour line, ^note  The other variants include Bad Karmour, Lethal Charmour (Formerly named Dragooner), Charmour, Alarmour, (Which are introduced in Dragon Quest VII) and Guardian Angel, the last of which is a rareified Harmour. (Introduced in Dragon Quest X) which qualify enough to look like the Imperial Royal Guards, fighting alongside the real Murdaw, Blackmar, ^note  Who's flanked by 2 Lethal Charmours and Hootingham-Gore. Of course, they're no slouches in fighting by themselves or with other monsters, using various abilities and spells like Flame Slash, Gust Slash, Lightning Slash, Harvest Moon, Kabuff, Double Up, Dragon Slash, Helm Splitter, Double-Edged Slash, and Multislash.
• Final Fantasy:
  • The Imperial Elites from Final Fantasy VI are Emperor Gestahl's best guards, though they can only be fought during the "ceasefire" dinner.
  • The Knights of Pluto act as the personal guards to the Alexandrian Royal Family in Final Fantasy IX.
  • San d'Oria has the Royal Guard, Windurst has the Patriarch Protectors, Bastok has the Mythril Musketeers, and there are also the Immortals of Aht Urhgan in Final Fantasy XI.
  • In addition to being the supreme commanders of the military, the Judge Magisters from Final Fantasy XII serve as bodyguards to the Imperial family of Archadia.
  • Final Fantasy XIV
    • The Paladin order trace their origins as the Sultansworn, the royal guard of the Sultan or Sultana of Ul'dah. Players who become paladins instead become a Free Paladin.
    • The Gunbreaker traces its origins to the long-lost "Gunnhildr's Blades", the personal soldiers of the queen of Ilsabard. The weapons they bear are named after this order: "Gunblades".
    • The Heavensward are a chosen group of loyal knights and the personal bodyguards of the Archbishop of Ishgard. When the Arcbishop transforms himself into the primal King Thordan, the Heavensward transform into his Knights of the Round.
    • The Schola of The Empire are the personal guards of the Emperor himself, with the twins Annnia and Julia quo Soranus being the ones that guard him in his throne room. However, as Emperor Varis is killed by his son, they come too late to even attempt to stop it.
  • Final Fantasy XV has the Crownsguard, a countermeasure-only defense force for the Royal Lucian Family. Gladio, Ignis and Prompto are members of this order while Cor serves as the leader. There's also the Royal Guard, the predecessors of the Kingsglaive with warping abilities who only appeared as enemies in Episode Ardyn.
  • Final Fantasy XVI
    • The Shields of Rosaria are tasked with protecting the Grand Duchy. Clive becomes the first shield when the Phoenix rejects him in favor of his younger brother Joshua.
    • There is also Holy Order of the Knights Dragoon which are led by Prince Dion Lesage of Sanbreque, the Dominant of Bahamut.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Throughout much of the series and in the Backstory, the Blades act as this for the Emperor of Tamriel. In addition to acting as the Emperor's elite bodyguards, they also act as spies throughout the Empire. You get an opportunity to join them in each game since Morrowind (and in Daggerfall you are technically an agent of the Blades from the intro movie on, even if nothing says you have to remain loyal).
  • The Blades were inspired and influenced by the Akaviri Dragonguard, who were taken on by founder of the Second Tamriellic Empire, Reman Cyrodiil, after he defeated them during their invasion of Tamriel. After using the Thu'um against them during the decisive Battle of Pale Pass, they recognized Reman as "Dragonborn" and swore fealty to him, becoming a Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards as his personal bodyguard.
  • In Morrowind's Tribunal expansion, Almalexia has the elite "Her Hands" High Ordinators in this role. Her rival in the power struggle over Mournhold, King Hlaalu Helseth, has the more Imperial-styled Royal Guards in this role. Helseth also has a Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards situation going on, with his Guard Captain being an Imperial, and his toughest and most loyal bodyguard a Redguard. (He also employs several other Imperials and Redguards among his palace guard.)
  • In Oblivion, Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, has the Valkynaz, the highest caste of Dremora, in this role.
  • Skyrim:
    • With the Blades having been officially disbanded as a term of the White-Gold Concordat (and the survivors ruthlessly hunted by the Thalmor), the Penitus Oculatus has taken over as the Emperor's bodyguard force. While the Blades were essentially One-Man Army katana-wielding Samurai, the Penitus Oculatus are just standard Imperial soldiers wearing darker armor, Subverting the trope.
    • The Dragonborn can help to rebuild the Blades, who are then oath-bound to serve the Dragonborn. However, in practice, they mostly just boss around the Dragonborn and refuse to continue helping them unless the Dragonborn kills Paarthurnax, the Heel-Face Turned leader of the Greybeards who has been a great help to the Dragonborn and to mankind in general.
  • In the Action-Adventure spin-off game The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, two Vermai, a pair of blind and aggressive lesser Daedra serve in this fashion to N'Gasta, the infamous Sload necromancer.
• In World of Warcraft, the most famous royal guards in the game are Warchief Thrall's Kor'Kron Elite. Most other racial leaders just use regular city guards.
  • The Kor'kron in Shadowmoon Village in Outland are a stronger version.
  • Also, the Stormwind Royal Guard for Stormwind and the Royal Guard for Silvermoon are there, There are also Royal Dreadguards in Undercity as well as the Shields of Velen in Exodar, and as of Wrath of the Lich King the Royal Guards are level 80 elites, not to be trifled with.
    • Warcraft III also had the Naga Royal Guards as the most powerful non-hero units in the game, even moreso than the Doomguard.
    • Admiral's Elite Guard, the Chief Petty Officer and the Chief of Chaplains was the Praetorian guard of Admiral Proudmoore.
  • Queen Azshara's High Guard in the Well of Eternity instance
• City of Heroes has Elite Mooks for virtually every faction in the game, and one or two even have a Praetorian Guard. The most noteworthy may be the Council's Ascendants, who are rumored to be the personal bodyguards of the Council's leader, the Center.
  • Then there is the alternate-dimension villain group called The Praetorians, who are the evil version of the Freedom Phalanx hero group.
    • Incidentally, while the region called Praetoria is ruled by these alternate Freedom Phalanx members, who are known as Praetors, they are not Praetorian Guards. Their actual function serves as something between the enforcer and ranking police official. Of course, considering who the emperor is, he hardly needs them.
  • The Bane Spiders are referred to as being Lord Recluse's praetorian guard in their descriptions.
    • Well, one of his attacks summons about six billion of them...
• Halo:
  • Halo 2 featured Honor Guard Elites and Honor Guard Brutes, who served as the personal bodyguards of the Covenant Prophets. Honor Guard Elites generally wielded energy swords or dual plasma rifles, while Honor Guard Brutes were immune to headshots (which were the Brutes' one weakness in Halo 2). They also had very big crown-like headwear that fanned out over a meter long, as opposed to the more practical helmets worn by regular Elites.
  • In Halo 3, the Brute Chieftain enemies are usually protected by a few Brute Bodyguards, who have slightly different-looking armor from the regular Brute soldiers. These Bodyguards supplant the Honor Guards from the previous game.
• Agent 47 faces off against the creatively-named, possibly genetically enhanced Praetorians, the Big Bad's elite bodyguards in the epilogue of Hitman: Absolution. Their names? Aegis, Hoplon and Scutum.
• The equivalent in Lost Souls (MUD) was the Millenarian Guard, imperial guard of the fallen Altrian Empire. Their remaining legacy in the present day of the setting is the spectacularly enchanted armour that was reserved just for them.
• In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, The Ironbloods are this to Osborne, being his most trusted subordinates.
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has the Ocelot Unit, special Spetsnaz troops with distinguishing red berets that are only seen accompanying Ocelot.
  • In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Liquid Ocelot has the FROGs, an elite group of all-female soldiers who protect him and clear paths for him. The Beauty and the Beast Corps are also Praetorian Guards, though they are offensive rather than defensive units. All of the above have power suits that are far superior to normal mooks' battle gear.
• Tales of...
  • Tales of Symphonia has the five Grand Cardinals, who double as bosses. The four Seraphim of Yggdrassil may also count, though at the time of the game all are either dead or rebelling against Yggdrassil, openly or otherwise.
  • The six God-Generals in Tales of the Abyss serve Van and double as bosses as well.
• Gears of War 2 had Theron Palace Guards, a version of the Elite Mooks Theron Guards seen in the original Gears of War. On the human side, Gears of War 3 has the Onyx Guard, who protect the Chairman of the COG as well as perform special operations under his direct command.
• Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark: The Valsharess' precious Red Sisters.
• The Superpowered Mooks Korean Nanosuit Soldiers in Crysis are supposed to be Big Bad General Kyong's personal bodyguards, which explains why they're so incredibly rare in the game (with almost all of them only seen in the level where you encounter General Kyong).
  • In Crysis Warhead, the Korean Nanosuit Soldiers seem to act as bodyguards for the new North Korean leader, Colonel Lee.
• The Superpowered Mooks nano-augmented Elite Guard in Project: Snowblind are General Yan Lo's personal bodyguards, and only encountered in the General's bunker.
• The Sopot Elite Guard in Red Faction 2 serve as totalitarian dictator Sopot's personal bodyguards.
• Dwarf Fortress activates the Royal Guard when the appropriate noble arrives at your fortress. However, they do nothing aside from sparring since their role is only to reassure the nobility that they are in no danger whatsoever.
  • In theory at least, they also accompany the Tax Collector on his rounds.
• Quake II has the Tank Commanders, which guard the Makron's palace. The only difference between them and regular Tanks is extra HP and a wicked red-gold paint job.
• The Legend of Zelda has Darknuts and Iron Knuckles, which qualify in several cases as guardians for Ganon and Vaati.
• Almost every time Slogra and Gaibon appear in the Castlevania series, they are serving as an additional line of defense for Death. Even as bosses.
• The NOL of BlazBlue literally has the Praetorian Guard, which is composed of elite members of other NOL divisions.
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, since it allows you to go to the Vatican, naturally has Papal Guards. They are Kung Fu Proof Lightning Bruisers dressed largely in black, have Badass Capes and use a Sword and Gun.
  • One could argue that the Assassin recruits Ezio acquires throughout the game come to represent this as well, certainly a full force of rank 12 Assassino would qualify as an elite fighting force in their own right. A rare example of the Player Character of a game having an elite guard.
  • Assassin's Creed: Revelations replaces the Papal Guards with the Janissaries, who are equally deadly.
• Fallout: New Vegas gives Caesar several praetorian guards, armed with shotgun fists. Subverted in that the Guards aren't the best soldiers available, they are just extremely devoted to Caesar and his ideals, and Caesar explains that once someone has been selected to join the Guard, they still have to kill a serving member in single combat to join. They're mostly found in Caesar's Tent and serve as an obstacle against the natural inclination to shoot Caesar in the face the moment you meet him.
  • Not to be outdone, the NCR has their elite Rangers to both patrol the Mojave and guard VIPs. Chief Hanlon is so dedicated to the protector role that unless you convince him that doing so is lunacy, he will sacrifice the Rangers to the last man and woman to cover General Oliver's escape from Hoover Dam during the climactic battle—sacrificing fifty Rangers to save thousands of soldiers sent to Vegas on what he considers a fool's errand.
• Dawn of War: Dark Crusade and Soulstorm has the Honor Guard units in the campaign. They are earned by conquering certain territories and are essentially a beefed-up version of regular units^note sometimes; some of them are actually weaker than the regular versions, but they help the player kickstart their economy by capturing strategic points immediately instead of waiting for units to be trained or sometimes (in case of unique and vehicle units) a regular unit that doesn't count into the Arbitrary Headcount Limit.
• Kid Icarus has a rare example of this not belonging to the Big Bad. Palutena has one in the form of the Centurions. Pit, the goddess' most loyal servant, is their leader.
• Dark Souls has the Four Knights of Gwyn, an elite group of warriors that were Gwyn's most trusted soldiers. In the vanilla game, you kill their leader and only remaining living member of this group, Ornstein the Dragonslayer, and a wannabe member, Smough the Executioner. You also rob the grave and kill the Loyal Animal Companion of one of the other ones, Artorias the Abysswalker.
  • In Artorias of the Abyss, you travel to the past when all four of them were still alive, have a pretty awesome boss fight with Artorias himself (who has been corrupted by the Abyss), and meet the other two Knights: Hawkeye Gough and Lord's Blade Ciaran, who thank you for freeing their friend from his torment. Like any neutral NPC, you have the option of killing them too. In fact, it's the only way to get their unique armour sets.
• The Bratgirls from Crash of the Titans act as this for Nina. In Crash: Mind Over Mutant, the Stenches act as this for Cortex.
• The first use of this for the Alien franchise was the Capcom Beat 'em Up Arcade Game Alien vs. Predator (Capcom), though they went by the name of "Royal Guard", while the "Praetorian" moniker would be used in the 1999 First-Person Shooter Aliens vs. Predator. Accordingly, Praetorians are the largest and strongest of the xenomorph castes before the Alien Queen, protecting the latter and the egg chambers from intruders. Their physical characteristics and behavior varies from appearances, but a common trait are the Praetorians' having large, triangular-shaped heads like the Queen, yet slower, but tougher than the average Alien Drone or Warrior. And in some variations, if the current queen dies, one of the praetorians will metamorphose into a new queen to replace her.
• In StarCraft the Overmind is guarded by a collection of Zerg called the "Tiamat Brood", which are red in color and are led by Daggoth, a cerebrate of the said Overmind. The bulk of their forces are air units, but they do provide special hero units in the campaign like the Hunter Killer Hydralisk variant to the player to protect a cocoon entrapping a certain character.
  • In StarCraft II the dictator Arcturus Mengsk deploys the "Elite Guard", also known as the "Royal Guard" or "Imperial Guard". First appearing in the original title as the red Terran faction, in the sequel they consist of modified copies of pre-existing mercenary units, who themselves were buffed variants of regular Terran units the player could hire in the "Wings of Liberty" campaign. The Guards replace the mercs as elite mooks for the Terran Dominion in the "Heart of the Swarm" campaign, and on the final mission "The Reckoning" Arcturus's palace is defended almost entirely by these tougher Guard units, instead of the regular Terran forces. They also appear in the Nova Covert Ops DLC, where a few join the Defenders of Man insurgency to take revenge on Arcturus's son, Valerian Mengsk, for being potentially complicit in Arcturus's death. The more loyal ones can also be seen guarding Valerian as he is making a speech to the public.
    • In Co-op mode where Arcturus is a playable commander, the player can choose to make these Elite Guards - who in addition to receiving updated appearances (complete with gold) are now also able to level up like heroes and gain unique and powerful abilities, which differ from their earlier campaign incarnation either in their gameplay complexity or sheer damage increase. While they are effectively super soldiers at this point, this power comes at a price and as such it is uncommon to see armies comprised entirely of Elite Guards without the "Principal Proletariat" Prestige and "Royal Guard Cost" mastery point power set upgrades being involved.
• The Philip campaigns in the Hegemony Series have the Companion Cavalry, a strong heavy cavalry unit (and the only one for most of the beginning), and the first thing you do is have your king Philip join them.
• The first Homeworld has the Taiidan Imperial Guard, tasked with both defending the emperor and Hiigara and general troubleshooting. Their ships are encountered four times: first a small group tries to kill a defecting Taiidan officer (implied to be a member of the guard due his ship having the same paint job), and the player has to protect him. The second time is at the border of the Hiigara system, when an insane number of frigates with their colours guard the Hyperspace Inibitor, as the emperor was scared that someone could try and attack his prize planet (both ships and Inibitors have been there for years); third time is when they ambush the Exiles by throwing a giant asteroid with engines at the Mothership, with their ships escorting the asteroid; finally they're the final opponent in the last level, forming both the first wave of attackers against the Mothership (other waves have the colours of the regular navy) and the last line of defense of the emperor's own mothership (in the same level the Taiidan Rebellion arrives bringing reinforcements, and their ships have the same paint job).
  • The trope reappears in Homeworld 2, as Makaan's mothership is escorted by the elite of the Vaygr fleet. Sports also a good example, as the player-controlled Mothership Fleet escorts Karan S'jet in her desperate counteroffensive against the Vaygr.
• Might and Magic: Heroes VI allows you to upgrade the Haven faction's Sentinels into Praetorians. The unit description states that they are the personal bodyguards of emperor Liam and can only be promoted during a ceremony that happens once a year; but they have the same recruiting mechanics as any other creature.
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 has the Elite Guard protecting the Kremlin in the final Allied mission, consisting of a number of defensive buildings and 4 elite Apocalypse Tanks that are very hard to take head-on (especially as their stationary, defensive role negates their drawback of being Mighty Glaciers). Since the regular Soviet forces are red, the Elite Guard are jet black.
• March of War has the Immortals of the Shogun Empire. Think fanatically loyal Samurai who worship the Goddess of Death charging into battle clad in steel armor and packing 20mm auto-cannons.
• Ramon Salazar of Resident Evil 4 had with him two "Verdugos" that were his most elite units. They're ghastly creatures with bladed hands and a spiked tail. He sics one of them on you (which he refers to as his "Right Hand") and then absorbs the other when he fuses with the Queen Plaga. Incidentally, Osmund Saddler (the true Big Bad) does not have any sort of elite guard units that accompany him and is often seen standing alone whenever he appears.
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown has the Elite Mutons, who function as both Elite Mooks and this trope. They are tougher and more heavily armed than the regular Mutons. Whenever entering the command area of a UFO where an Ethereal is present, there are almost always several Elite Mutons with it.
• The Sheredyn in Endless Space are the bodyguard of the Emperor and their description compares them to the Praetorians. Since they also handle escorts, they built up significant infrastructure and a powerful economy to equip their ships. They are honor-bound and loyal to the Emperor, but in a radical change, they assisted the ascension of Maximum Zelevas to the throne in exchange for more autonomy, becoming an effectively independent nation. The Sheredyn are an Elite Army, exchanging some of the Empire's economic abilities for combat-based abilities, such as preventing enemies from retreating.
• Each faction has one in Total War: Warhammer. Grimgor Ironhide has a squad of Black Orcs called "Immortulz"—as Grimgor is a 9-foot-tall, 400-pound axe-wielding murder machine himself, this is a case of Bodyguarding a Badass. Thorgrim Grudgebearer, the High King of the Dwarves, is carried into battle by four Thronebearers who can fight very well. The Reiksguard of the Empire also qualify, as a knightly order who serve as the Emperor's personal bodyguard. The Vampire Counts have their own dark counterparts in the form of the Black Knights and the Grave Guard, fallen warriors from long before the time of the Empire reanimated as skeletal puppets to protect and serve their new vampire masters.
• The Banner Saga 2 has the Elite Guard, the guard of King Meinolf. Boasting high stats and the shield wall ability used by most shield-bearing humans, they also come with their own set of unique abilities. All Elite Guards on the field will attack any target in range when King Meinolf uses his King's Will ability, and even take damage on behalf of the king, meaning he can't die as long as at least one guard stands. According to a conversation between Egil and Prince Ludin at the start of the game, you must have a title to apply. Depending on your choices, thy can fight with you, or against you.
• In Tyranny, the Disfavoured have the Iron Guard, Graven Ashe's inner circle who serve as both unit commanders, personal bodyguards, and military advisors to the Archon of War. His counterpart in the Scarlet Chorus, The Voices of Nerat, have their own personal gang known as the Crimson Spears, whose members consist of the Scarlet Chorus' finest fighters.
• AI War: Fleet Command 2: There is a special fleet directly called the Praetorian Guard whose purpose is to safeguard the AI Overlord, and all planets close to it. They're not particularly active until you reach it, but as soon as the Overlord is at risk not only will they pile on the attack, they will also soak up all active ships that were waiting for a chance to strike to throw them at your attacking force, leading to massive battles just to hold the line where it is. And if you're following the Fallen Spire questline, the Praetorian guard gets some ships worthy of the title in the Dragons, powerful vessels that are experts at fending off Spirecraft; they're there to make sure you don't just rush your cruisers in and snipe the Overlord from the start.
• Blasphemous: The Anointed Legion is a pious brotherhood of elite knights and warriors created by decree of His Holiness Escribar to fight in his name and the Church, serving as his bodyguards.
• Queen Ga'ran in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice has her own Royal Guard who carry out her requests or support her decisions, although they seem to be chosen based on devotion rather than actual competence. Although they turn their guns on her as soon as they realize she can't channel spirits.
• In King of the Castle, in the first season after the coronation, the Marshal persuades the King to appoint an elite Honour Guard to personally protect them from assassins and other threats. There are five choices, one from each region: battle-hardened veterans from the March, Viking warriors from the North, Knights of the Drowned Rose from the East, battle nuns from the South, and gladiators from the Coast. Each has divided loyalties to the Crown and their region (and, in the battle nuns' case, to the Church) and may participate in a Bodyguard Betrayal if their nobles' scheme reaches its final stage. The King can also choose to hire foreign mercenaries (who are only in it for the money) or not to hire an Honour Guard at all (which can be disastrous if a story event involves an assassination attempt).
• Horizon Zero Dawn: The Vanguard combine this with Eagle Squadron, being elite Oseram warriors in service to the Carja Sun-King. They're a legacy of the Oseram alliance with Avad during the Carja Civil War, where the Oseram helped Avad overthrow his father, the Mad Sun-King, which is how Avad became the current Sun-King.

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