Comic Books
"The people of Earth are honored by your visit. And should you ever need a puppet dictator to rule on your behalf... well, I am the richest guy in town."
— Mr. Slate, The Flintstones
Fan Works
"I'm not going to be your Quisling while my friends are held hostage in Cargo Bay 2."
— Chakotay, Rocketship Voyager
Film
"My name is Dr. Daniel Paul Schreber. I am just a man. I help the Strangers conduct their experiments. I have betrayed my own kind."
— Dr. Schreber, Dark City
"I'm a policeman now, could you believe it? That's what's hard to believe. It's a good racket, Poldek. It's the only racket here. Look, maybe I could put in a good word for you with my superiors...Come on, they're not as bad as everyone says. Well, they're worse than everyone says, but it's a lot of money, a lot of money."
— Marcel Goldberg, Schindler's List
Literature
"Humankind is being swept away everywhere. Nations fail and vanish. Darkfriends are everywhere, and none of these southlanders seem to notice or care. We fight to hold the Borderlands, to keep them safe in their houses, and every year, despite all we can do, the Blight advances. And these southlanders think Trollocs are myths, and Myrddraal a gleeman's tale. It seemed the only way. We would be destroyed for nothing, defending people who do not even know, or care. It seemed logical. Why should we be destroyed for them, when we could make our own peace? Better the Shadow, I thought, than useless oblivion, like Caralain, or Hardan, or. . . . It seemed so logical, then."
— Ingtar Shinowa, The Great Hunt, The Wheel of Time
Live-Action TV
Kira: When the Cardassians needed a new group of Bajorans to work in the mines, who approved those work orders?
Kubus: The Bajoran government.
Kira: Whose signature was on those authorization forms?
Kubus: [Beat] Mine.
Kira: And you had to know that those authorizations were death sentences. Did you ever once refuse to sign them?
Kubus: No.
Kira: And that's why you can never be allowed to set foot on Bajor again, because if you do, it would dishonor the memory of every person you sentenced to death.
Kubus: The Bajoran government.
Kira: Whose signature was on those authorization forms?
Kubus: [Beat] Mine.
Kira: And you had to know that those authorizations were death sentences. Did you ever once refuse to sign them?
Kubus: No.
Kira: And that's why you can never be allowed to set foot on Bajor again, because if you do, it would dishonor the memory of every person you sentenced to death.
— Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Collaborator"
"I remember the day I heard the news that Cardassia had joined the Dominion. Like everyone else, I rejoiced. We were going to be rulers of the Alpha Quadrant. Instead, we're a conquered people... servants in our own land."
— Gul Rusot, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Changing Face of Evil"
Tabletop Games
"Is it so wrong to want to be on the winning side? Year by year, the Beastmen grow bolder and the Marauders stronger. Year by year, there are more Mutants, and worse, within the borders of the Empire. The Emperor is fighting a losing battle. I am a pragmatist first and foremost; the Empire has made me rich, but Chaos will help me survive when Middenheim is in flames and its people are food for Beastmen or sacrifices to the Blood God. Survive and even prosper. The Master of Fortune is good to those who revere him."
— Klaus Goethe of the Merchant's Guild High Council (Tzeentch Cultist), Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Old World Bestiary - A Compendium Of Creatures Fair And Foul
Video Games
"Is submission not preferable to extinction?"
— Saren Arterius, Mass Effect
"Um, since your rise to power, I have seen the wisdom and beneficence in your actions. You do not mean to cause us harm, but rather to bring us to greater glory by serving a being as perfect as yourself. Please allow me to demonstrate my loyal servitude by giving the location of the human detritus who undermine your 'sanitization': they are in the northeast banquet hall. All I ask in return for this expression of my love is a measure of protection and an opportunity to spread the message of your, uhh, cybernetic holiness."
— Edward Diego to SHODAN, System Shock
Orlok: Tell me, Nufai; your world was once destroyed by our armies. What did it mean to you?
Nufai: Much opportunity, sir.
Orlok: Those are the words of a traitor.
Nufai: But I still live to speak them. The others of my kin do not.
Nufai: Much opportunity, sir.
Orlok: Those are the words of a traitor.
Nufai: But I still live to speak them. The others of my kin do not.
Visual Novels
Max: What part of cooperating with the aliens that attacked us is right?!
Professor Fumino: You simply don't understand! This is the end for us! We allow the aliens to rule, and welcome our chance ot evolve into higher beings!
Max: You think this will save Aya... That it will save your daughter?!
Professor Fumino: There will always be sacrifices made in the name of progress. Humans can't win against the aliens in any case! The end result is all the same!
—Root Letter: Last Answer
Miirage Foster: Cerans are weary of war, Captain Shields. We want peace. Let us join, hand in hand, and work for our common progress. Veniczar Fontana's words do have wisdom behind them.
Kayto Shields: No. When I came here, I passed by a whole lot of big red ships, armed to the teeth with equally large anti-matter bombs. Enough to turn entire continents to hellfire, then glass. This election... it's a sham. Conducted at gunpoint to legitimize a tyrant. And you're a seditionist, collaborating with an occupying foreign power, to gain power equally tyrannical! You talk of equality and bringing people up... but the only person moving up in all of this is Fontana!
Kayto Shields: No. When I came here, I passed by a whole lot of big red ships, armed to the teeth with equally large anti-matter bombs. Enough to turn entire continents to hellfire, then glass. This election... it's a sham. Conducted at gunpoint to legitimize a tyrant. And you're a seditionist, collaborating with an occupying foreign power, to gain power equally tyrannical! You talk of equality and bringing people up... but the only person moving up in all of this is Fontana!
—Sunrider 4: The Captain's Return
Webcomics
Schlock: Can you tell me what a quisling is?
Ennesby: It's a fine choice of possible words, that's what it is.
Schlock: Wrong "what". I want the definitiony kind of what.
Ennesby: A quisling is a traitor, someone who actively collaborates against their people with an occupying force.
Schlock: Oh, that IS a nice word. It means it's okay for me to shoot them.
Ennesby: It's a fine choice of possible words, that's what it is.
Schlock: Wrong "what". I want the definitiony kind of what.
Ennesby: A quisling is a traitor, someone who actively collaborates against their people with an occupying force.
Schlock: Oh, that IS a nice word. It means it's okay for me to shoot them.
Western Animation
Roswellian Traitor: Hello. Let me be the first to welcome you to Roswell-uh, Planet Z-East. Now if you need any assistance subjugating the populace, I can be quite helpful. I'm a military man myself, uh-huh. mild chuckle
Zurg: "You're a spineless turncoat, who would sell out his own planet for a chance to be on the winning side."
Roswellian Traitor: Oh, um... yeah.
Zurg: Promising. Any other bad traits?
Roswellian Traitor: I'm vengeful, cruel, and vain. Oh, I like to make people cry.
Zurg: Mmmmm, yeah well... Sold!
Zurg: "You're a spineless turncoat, who would sell out his own planet for a chance to be on the winning side."
Roswellian Traitor: Oh, um... yeah.
Zurg: Promising. Any other bad traits?
Roswellian Traitor: I'm vengeful, cruel, and vain. Oh, I like to make people cry.
Zurg: Mmmmm, yeah well... Sold!
— Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, "Stranger Invasion"
And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords! I'd like to remind them that as a trusted tv personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves!
Real Life
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
— Cicero
