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Red Baron / Video Games

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People known by memorable epithets in video games.

  • In most Bioware and Obsidian roleplaying games they resort to this trope to avoid having to voice the player's customizable name, mostly using "our leader" or "the Captain" in Neverwinter Nights 2 and the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, and 'you' in Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire.
    • Jade Empire also uses the fact that The Empire doesn't know your character's name or what he/she looks like (no adversaries have survived encounters with you) to have people in the capital giving speeches on the dangers of the Scourge of the South.
    • In Dragon Age, the first game's Player Character is referred to only as the Warden and subsequently as the Hero of Ferelden following the events of the first game. The second game's protagonist is largely referred to by their non-customizable surname, Hawke. Later, however, they are called the Champion of Kirkwall. In the third game the player character start off as the Herald of Andraste before moving on to Inquisitor.
  • Ace Attorney:
    • Surprisingly, this is initially Averted for the "Ace Attorney" Phoenix Wright himself. He does have a few aliases, but most of those belong to another trope. However, post AJ-era he's known as the "Turnabout Terror" and as the "Comeback King". Once he starts picking up his reputation in Khura'in, there he becomes known as "The Fighting Phoenix" by members of the rebellion, or the "Barbed Lawyer" by those who hold a lower opinion of him.
    • Miles Edgeworth picked up the nickname "Demon Prosecutor" for his ruthless actions in court. He's rarely called this after he's finished his Heel–Face Turn, however.
    • Manfred von Karma is known as the "God of Prosecution" due to having a 40-year long win record.
    • Angel Starr, a former detective appearing in one case, was known as the "Cough-up Queen" due to her ability to get even the most hardened criminal to spill information.
    • When Winston Payne is introduced, he is known as the "Rookie Killer". It doesn't last long.
    • His brother, Gaspen Payne, is known as the "Rookie Humiliator". True to form, within the first ten minutes of Athena's second trial, he deliberately triggers her PTSD, forcing Phoenix to object to his shenanigans and take lead of the defense.
    • Simon Blackquill, convict prosecutor, is known as the "Twisted Samurai".
    • Maggey Byrde, a defendant in the second game is known as the "Goddess of Misfortune" and "Lady Luckless" by her peers due to her abysmal luck.
    • Luke Atmey monikers himself "The Ace Detective", although nobody really picks up on it.
  • Typically, about halfway through Ace Combat games, the villains and heroes, beginning to respect your legendary status, begin to give you a nickname.
    • Ace Combat 04: The Ribbon (referring to the Mobius Squadron logo, a mobius strip) AKA The Grim Reaper; Ace Combat 5: The Four Wings of Sand Island (4-pilot squadron), Demons/Ghosts of Razgriz (referring to your pilot's status regarding a myth); Ace Combat Zero: The Demon Lord of the Round Table, Ace Combat X: Nemesis or the Southern Cross; Ace Combat 6: Angels (a blanket term for all allied aircraft); Ace Combat 7: The Pilot with the Three Strikes (The distinctive 3 line markings on your aircraft),
    • Then comes all the enemy squadron names, which are all badass in just the way they sound, even if it just means some color in German (although their are many other languages and themes used), although just being named "Yellow Squadron" seems to make every solider on the opposing army call an all-out retreat with verified results in the amount of kills they take, and being the most famous in the series.
  • Aggressors of Dark Kombat is full of this, since all the characters (including Fuuma) have Badass Boast as nicknames In-Universe. Starting with the Player Character, Joe Kusanagi, "The Red Panther from Honmoku".
  • ANNO: Mutationem: A higher-up of the Factio Pugni calls himself "The Unbeatable" Loki due to his wielding of a BFS. He also has a brother called "The Unbeatable" Tai Long.
  • Kamui Tokinomiya of Arcana Heart, also known as the "Thousand Years Protector".
  • Armored Core has Nineball in the PS2 era games and later White Glint in 4 and For Answer.
  • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear: The leader of the "crusade" approaching from the north is just called the Shining Lady. Much more than that isn't known.
  • Iron Tager from BlazBlue is known to some as the Red Devil, though he's not proud of it.
    • Ragna the Bloodedge, also known as The Grim Reaper and his brother Major Jin Kisaragi, the Hero of Ikaruga.
    • 'The Six Heroes' is this applied to a group; each of them did have their own monikers, like Trintity 'Platinum Alchemist' Glassfield, Jubei 'The World's Strongest Creature', etc. Even Ragna's epithet Bloodedge is one from this period in the series' backstory as a legacy title in spite of the fact that the legacy gets passed to the same guy several decades down the line. Blame Time Travel.
    • Hakumen's Badass Creed, which he recites at least a couple of times per game, begins with 'I am the White Void. I am the Cold Steel. I am the Just Sword.'
  • Continued into BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, where the Blazblue and Persona 4: Arena characters are introduced with cool descriptive titles, for example, Makoto the "Unfaltering Beastkin", Azrael the "Deathbringer" and Nu-13 the "Sword of Hades".
    • The P4A characters get some really fanciful ones. Yu gets "Sister Complex Kingpin of Steel", (and he hates it), Kick Chick Plucky Girl Chie fittingly gets "Spunky Dragon with Deadly Legs", and Boisterous Bruiser Kanji gets the really awesome nickname "The Bloodcurdling Beefcake Emperor".
    • Averted with the Under Night In-Birth cast, who titles are just the names of their EXS abilities. That said, "Unknown Actor" (Hyde) and "Harvester" (Gordeau) are undeniably pretty cool.
    • Also Averted by Unexpected Characters Team RWBY, who just get the title of their Image Songs ("Red like Roses", "Mirror Mirror", "From Shadows" and "I Burn").
  • After killing the dark god ruling their entire organization, the Cabal from Blood refers to Caleb almost exclusively as "The Great Betrayer".
  • In City of Heroes, players can choose from any number of titles gained through achievements, with such fabulous options as Hellbane, Master at Arms, Binder of Beasts, and The Thief of Midnight.
  • The Closer: Game of the Year Edition has Carlos "The Machine" Rodriguez, a power hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals who proves to be a major threat to the Closer and his friends. Justified because Carlos is an Expy of Albert Pujols, a real-life power hitter for the Cardinals who also goes by the nickname "The Machine".
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. In both the Allied and Soviet campaigns the player is told that their actions have caused the terrified enemy to give them an intimidating nickname. The Allied commander is dubbed "The Ghost" for the use of stealth to destroy Soviet bases, while the Soviet commander is named "The Butcher" for the destruction of Paris by transforming the Eiffel Tower into a giant tesla coil.
  • A great many of the bosses in Dark Souls have titles like these, helpfully displayed on their health bars. Sometimes they have them in lieu of names.
    • Dark Souls: Chaos Witch Quelaag, Dark Sun Gwyndolin, Dragonslayer Ornstein, Executioner Smough, Great Grey Wolf Sif, Gravelord Nito, Seath the Scaleless, Artorias the Abysswalker, Black Dragon Kalameet, Manus Father of the Abyss, and finally Gwyn, Lord of Cinder.
    • Dark Souls II: the Last Giant, the Pursuer, the Lost Sinner, Mytha the Baneful Queen, the Old Iron King, Velstadt the Royal Aegis, Prowling Magus, the Dragonrider, Elana the Squalid Queen, Sinh the Slumbering Dragon, the Fume Knight, the Burnt Ivory King, and Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin.
    • Dark Souls III: Iudex (judge) Gundyr, Champion Gundyr, the Abyss Watchers, Aldrich the Devourer, the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, Consumed King Oceiros, the Demon in Pain, the Demon From Below, the Spear of the Church, and the Nameless King.
  • Dillon, the protagonist of Dillon's Rolling Western, is often referred to as the "Red Flash".
  • Dishonored: Daud, the Knife of Dunwall, leader of the Whalers.
  • Creator example: Doom co-creator Romero was nicknamed "The Surgeon" for his proficiency in FPS deathmatch.
    • Doomguy himself receives the honor in Doom (2016); the UAC refer to him as the "Doom Marine", while the denizens of Hell fearfully call him the "Doom Slayer", "Hell Walker", "Unchained Predator", and "Scourge of Hell".
  • Any creature in Dwarf Fortress that makes notable kills can acquire this notoriety, with titles expanding toward Try to Fit That on a Business Card (i.e. Razorpelt the Armored Machine of the Abyss.) Given that these titles are randomly generating, however, you're just as likely to end up as "Urist the Raisin of Shrinking" or something similarly silly. The fandom has multiple characters with some very badass names, most of which are on the Dwarf Fortress page:
    • Cacame Awemedinade, the Immortal Onslaught, Elf King of the Dwarves, an elf born in a dwarf-lead civilization who became a dwarf king because of his sheer hatred of his own species after another elf killed and ate his wife. Something of a Memetic Badass among the fandom, his exploits include killing a dragon with two hits of his hammer, and breaking a human siege on his own.
    • Tholtig Cryptbrain, the Waning Diamonds, a dwarf queen fighting to protect her race from extinction who eventually died undefeated, from old age.
    • Urist Fiercewinds the Omen, a dwarf adventurer.
    • Gedor Puzzlesneak the Knot of Hexes, a demon with the record for most sentient kills ever in a Dwarf Fortress world, with a mind-blowing 87,763 kills.
    • Reg Violenttool, the Basic Luck of Iron, a Legendary hammerdwarf.
  • In the Dynasty Warriors series. We have the "Tiger of Jiang Dong" Sun Jian, the "The Hero of Chaos" Cao Cao, "The Sleeping Dragon" Zhuge Liang, "The Fledgling Phoenix" Pang Tong, "The Little Conqueror" Sun Ce, "Duke of the Beautiful Beard" Guan Yu, Ma Chao "the Splendid", and the absolutely feared, "Flying General" Lu Bu, Zhang Fei doesn't have a pseudoname, but according to the novel, the very mention of his name literally frightened a general to death. (At the battle of Chang Ban)
  • Elden Ring, much like Dark Souls before it, likes to give its bosses (and some secondary characters) badass titles.
    • In the starting area you may stumble upon an optional miniboss called the "Beastman of Farum Azula." Much later on you learn that Farum Azula is actually a location. To be more specific, it's the home of the beastmen, meaning the beastman you fought in the early hours of the game was just a beastman from Farum Azula and not a legendary monster thereof.
    • Radagon, the previous Elden Lord, is known as Radagon of the Golden Order due to his devotion to it. In Japanese the syntax makes it clearer that "the Golden Order" is his actual title rather than "of" indicating that he's simply derived from it; his boss subtitle basically emphasizes him as an Anthropomorphic Personification of the Order itself.
    • Malenia is called "the Severed", the "Undefeated Swordswoman", and "the Goddess of Rot", but she prefers "Blade of Miquella" (Miquella being her physically-frail twin brother) which is her boss title. In the 1.0 version of the game and on some merchandise (e.g. the card that comes with the game's special edition), she's also called "the Arbitress" and "the Red Queen."
    • Miquella himself (despite not being a boss) is called Miquella the Unalloyed; he is famous for the creation of unalloyed gold which due to Alchemy Is Magic being in full force for the game's worldbuilding, he's able to imbue with great powers of healing and life-giving that no other being in the setting can match. The Japanese word for "unalloyed" also doubles as "pure" or "innocent", which is fitting for his benevolent personality. In 1.0 he was also called the Scion Empyrean, a Double-Meaning Title of his status as Marika's heir and his curse of eternal youth (a scion being either a member of a noble family or a young shoot of a plant).
    • Malenia's half-brother Starscourge Radahn, or "the Conqueror of The Stars", so-called because he was such a good Gravity Master that he could stop the movement of the stars and, in so doing, halt the course of destiny itself.
    • Godrick should have "The Golden" as his Red Baron title, being the last of the Golden Lineage, but he's currently better known as "The Grafted" for his habit of dismembering others to attach their limbs to himself.
    • The big cane-wielding Omen who blocks your path in the early game is named Margit, and he's known as "the Fell Omen." Spooky enough, especially since his goal is to kill Tarnished like yourself, but his real name is Morgott, he's a demigod, and he has two other titles: "the Veiled Monarch", which is the moniker most of his subjects know him by, and "the Omen King", his boss subtitle.
    • Mohg styles himself as "the Lord of Blood" due to his invention of Blood Magic, the blood-worshipping cult-turned-dynasty he's formed around it, and his grander scale aspirations.
    • Rykard is called "the Lord of Blasphemy." He actually likes that title, which says a lot about Rykard.
    • Maliketh the Black Blade got his nickname because he wields a black sword that contains the Rune of Death that he took from the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
    • Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing. If you talk to him about the title, he'll say that it's not about what he already is, but what he aspires to be; he's The Spymaster and spends most of his time in his study reading.
    • Elemer of the Briar, for the spiky armor he wears (which deals damage if you roll into targets). He's also known as "the Bell-Bearing Hunter."
    • Renalla, Queen of the Full Moon, so-called for her contributions to the field of Astrology, shifting the teachings of the Academy of Raya Lucaria away from study of the starts alone to study of the Moon, all of it culminating in the creation of her signature spell.
    • Her daughter Ranni is simply "the Witch", but that means a lot more when you take into account that it is by demigod standards.
    • Miniboss Loretta has two titles for her two boss fights: "Royal Knight" (as a white phantom) and "Knight of the Haligtree" (in person).
    • The two Astels you fight are "the Naturalborn of the Void" and "the Stars of Darkness" respectively.
    • Patches' nickname in this game is "The Untethered."
    • The two D twins are "the Hunter of the Dead" and "Beholder of Death."
    • The dragons naturally get cool titles: Lichdragon Fortisax, Ancient Dragon Lanseax, and Dragonlord Placidusax, who once also held the title of Elden Lord.
    • For invaders, we have Mad Tongue Alberich, Festering Fingerprint Vyke (who was once known as Vyke the Dragonspear before his fall from grace), and Anastacia, Tarnished-Eater.
    • Other Tarnished titles include Bloody Finger Hunter Yura (he's dedicated himself to wiping out the Bloody Finger organization), Great Horned Tragoth (his armor does indeed have horns on it), Vagram, the Raging Wolf, Magnus the Beast Claw, and Juno Hoslow, Knight of Blood.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • The series' various divine beings typically have several, in addition to their many actual names. For example, Arkay, the God of Life and Death in the Nine Divines pantheon, is also known as the "Lord of the Wheel of Life", "the Mortal's God", and, more derogatorily, the "Old Knocker" in the old Nordic religion (where he is despised for giving mankind shorter lives than their hated rivals, the Mer (Elves)). The Red Barons of the other deities can be found listed on the series' Divine Beings, Daedra or Other Deities pages.
    • "Ysmir, Dragon of the North" is a title which can be bestowed by the Greybeards on those who prove themselves to be Dragonborn. Wulfharth Ash-King and Talos Stormcrown, aka Tiber Septim, were two examples from the backstory. The player character in Skyrim also earns this title.
    • Wulfharth also had several others. Shor's Tongue, which he earned when (violently) reinstated the Old Nordic pantheon in Skyrim. Breath of Kyne, which he earned when he swallowed a storm cloud to protect his army. Ash-King itself refers to either Shor's ghost remaking Wulfharth from his ashes, or him having been "blasted to ash" by the Greybeards.
    • Jiub, the Ascended Extra recurring character in the series, was proclaimed a saint by the Dunmeri Physical God Vivec for eradicating the Cliff Racers in Vvardenfell. The rest of this title is quite lengthy and mostly self-proclaimed: St. Jiub, the Eradicator Hero of Morrowind and Savior of the Dunmer.
    • Each game in the main series has one of these for the Player Character. While you can choose the actual name for the PC, and that name does appear in some text dialogue and in-game writings in some games, this is done for two reasons: One, especially in the fully-voiced games, so your PC can be referred to in dialogue without having to program and record countless name options and two, so that later games can refer to them in a way generic enough to fit regardless of what kind of a character you might have played (race, sex, class, moral/amoral, etc.) as in that earlier game.
      • Arena has "the Eternal Champion".
      • Daggerfall has simply "the Agent".
      • Morrowind has "the Nerevarine".
      • Oblivion has, most famously, "the Champion of Cyrodiil". (Hero of Kvatch and, following the Shivering Isles expansion, the new Sheogorath).
      • Skyrim has "the Dragonborn". (Also referred to in the language of the Dragons as "Dovahkiin".)
      • Online has "the Soulless One" and "the Vestige".
    • Oblivion:
      • Agronak gro-Malog, the reigning Arena Grand Champion, is better known by his nickname "The Gray Prince".
      • If you complete the Arena questline and become Grand Champion, you get to choose a title from a list of options. The full list is as follows; The Spellslinger, the Butcher, Shadowstep, The Black Arrow, Skullcrusher, the Divine Avenger, the Crimson Blade, the Iron Maiden (female only), Lady Luck (female only), Man o' War (male only), Sir Slaughter (male only), The Tamriel Terror, and Dragonheart.
  • Fable and its sequel allow you to pick your own terrifying nickname. You can be Avenger, Reaper, Deathbringer... Chickenchaser…
  • In Fallout 3, you get a title that changes depending on your level and alignment — a low-level Good character might be called The Vault Martyr, while a high level Evil character might be called The Ravager. To contrast, a high level Good character may be called The Wasteland Savior, and will be depicted in your Pip-Boy as a kind of Messianic figure. Typically, this only comes up when Three Dog is reporting your exploits.
    • The title of The Lone Wanderer could easily be considered this, since the Capital Wasteland is a veritable warzone filled with Super-Mutants, Feral Ghouls and Bandits. People tend to cross only in heavily armed caravans, while the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave will only dare venture into downtown DC with an army at their back. As Three Dog often notes, The Lone Wanderer does all of this solo... and what's even more of a kicker is that they're only nineteen.
  • Legate Lanius of Fallout: New Vegas is known as The Monster of the East. For good reason.
    • His hardier, fiercer and recently made contrite predecessor, Joshua Graham, is known commonly as The Burned Man (no points for guessing how he got it). He was known as the Malpais Legate before that, but it's uncommon knowledge by now.
    • Ulysses is known as "The Flag-Bearer" by the White Legs due to his signature weapon being a flagpole.
    • Caesar himself is known as the Son of Mars to his men as well as "The Conqueror of 86 Tribes".
    • You can even turn your own job title, The Courier, into this by your actions. Saying that you're The Courier will make some people go pale with fear.
      • Plus, if your notoriety level with the Powder Gangers is enough, they refer to you as "The Powder Gangers' Grim Reaper, though there is usually a swear word between Grim and Reaper.
    • If Raul is inspired to take up his guns once again, he becomes known as the Ghost-Vaquero.
    • While it's not often used, Robert House is occasionally referred to as the Ghost-Man of Vegas.
  • Final Fantasy:
  • Fire Emblem has this trope as a time-honored tradition:
    • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade alone has quite a few of these, such as Karel "The Sword Demon" and the entire Black Fang organization (Lloyd the White Wolf, Linus the Mad Dog, Ursula the Blue Crow, Jaffar the Angel of Death, Legault the Hurricane, Uhai the Soaring Hawk, Aion the Owl, Teodor the Shrike). Really, if you're anyone at all in the game, you've got a nickname.
    • It's worth mentioning that this tradition often goes hand in hand with the franchise's usage of Quirky Miniboss Squad. From time to time, those are made out of a specific faction's elite generals and they usually have corresponding titles; for example, the six generals of Grado in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones have titles named after gemstones, like "Duessel the Obsidian".
    • Even if a character doesn't have a title at the beginning of the game, their personal ending has them gaining one. This often carries through to subsequent games; for example, in Fire Emblem: Awakening, it's revealed that Marth from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Mystery of the Emblem has become primarily known even by his own descendants as "The Hero King", with several other famous characters from previous entries (who can be summoned via Paper Talisman) having also become as well-known by their titles as their actual names.
    • Even before the beginning of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the player character already has a reputation as "The Ashen Demon", while their father Jeralt is the legendary "Blade Breaker". Meanwhile, the historical figure Nemesis is also referred to as "King of Liberation" for his part in leading the armies of Fodlan to victory over the wicked gods that were said to rule over the land, at least before he turned on the Goddess and was killed by her Saints.
  • God of War: Kratos, the Ghost Of Sparta. A name the refers to his Mark of Shame, the ghost white ash permanently set into his skin for the crime of murdering his wife and daughter. As of God of War (PS4), he really hates being called that.
  • Tommy Vercetti from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City earned the nickname "The Harwood Butcher" after a particularly nasty incident in Liberty City in 1971. Tommy was quickly gaining power in the city so his boss, Sonny Forelli, sent him to "kill a man" in the Harwood district of Liberty. Turns out, that man was actually 11 hitmen who were sent to kill Tommy. Long story short, Tommy kills each and every one of those hitmen, earning him both the above nickname and 15 years in jail.
  • Imperator Vlaana Azleea in Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus is known throughout the Terran Empire and the Northern Star Alliance as the Butcher of Ariel, after her brutal subjugation of the Ariel colony (the birthplace of NSA).
  • In .hack, this pops up twice. Two of the top players, Orca and Balmung, are known as the Azure Sea and Azure Sky, respectively. After the events of the first quadrilogy of games, Kite becomes known as the Azure Flame. Also, each of the Eight Phases has a title in addition to their name. Some (like The Terror of Death and The Mirage of Deceit) work better than others (The Propagation and The Temptress aren't quite as impressive in comparison).
    • The full list of the Cursed Wave avatars' titles.
    • It pops up a third time. Haseo, in a prophetic coincidence, is nicknamed the Terror of Death by other players. It's later found out he has the Avatar of Skeith the phase who held this title. The other Epitatah users are also referred to by their Phases titles.
      • The Temptress title during is also held by a Bishonen Male Character. Though it's appropriate considering who the player is. Kaoru Ichinose, the player behind Elk, who was best friends with Mia, another form of the Phase Macha: The Temptress.
  • Gordon Freeman of Half-Life, known by labels such as "The One Free Man" or "The Opener of the Way" after his actions during the Black Mesa incident.
    • The Combine views such labels as examples of dangerous and primitive thinking, but that doesn't stop the Overwatch calling him "Anticitizen One".
    • They call Alyx "Vance Subprime". That might count.
  • Halo:
    • The Covenant refer to the Master Chief almost exclusively as "The Demon"; in fact, the expanded universe notes that the Covenant refers to all Spartans as "demons". Additionally, current Arbiter Thel 'Vadam was also sometimes called "Demon" in-game in the original trilogy.
    • ODST Taylor H. "Dutch" Miles is called "Death's Helmet" by some.
  • In Iji, no matter if you take a path of absolute peace or overwhelming violence, the eponymous character is known to the aliens simply as the "Human Anomaly", owing both to her relentless determination and her unprecedented ability to use alien technology.. Doesn't sound quite awesome? The logs you find prove that it's enough to strike all manner of fear into the Tasen...
    • And the Komato. In the final level, there's a log of a commander screaming at their troops for being too afraid to fight properly, because Iji killed (or is assumed to have killed) a legendary Komato soldier who also qualifies, "Iosa the Invincible". Her title is literal.
  • Inazuma Eleven: Naturally for a sports genre, notably skillful characters get titles. For example, Ichinose earns the title "The Magician Of The Field" from the position he is particularly good at (midfielder), Fubuki is known as the "Prince of the Snowfield" for his ice-themed special techniques (and being associated with ice in general), and Gouenji is known as the "Flame Striker" for being an ace striker with fire techniques.
  • Two of Killzone's bosses, Colonel Cobar and Colonel Radec, have the names "White Death" and "Hound of Visari" respectively. Cobar, due to his having a high kill count, and Radec, because he's head of Visari's personal guard unit, loyal and singular to a fault, and he's an extreme disciplinarian.
    • Especially about uniforms.
      • The Dress Code is the foundation of discipline..
  • Knight Bewitched: "The Demon Witch Gwendolyn", which is the name the citizens gave Gwen. She hates it, and claims that the only way anybody could make the name Gwendolyn scary was to add "Demon" to it.
  • Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy: Ratman is the POWERMOUSE OF JUSTICE!
  • League of Legends: Every champion is given a title, ranging from simple ones like Olaf, The Berserker to ones like Mordekaiser, The Iron Revenant or Jarvan Lightshield IV, The Exemplar of Demacia.
  • In certain games in The Legend of Zelda series, when Link proves himself worthy of bearing a title, it is usually "the Hero of X," where X is the element most associated with the installment. For instance, in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, his title is "Hero of Time" and "Hero of Winds," respectively. In games where Link doesn't get an official title, fanon will supply him with one, such as the Hero of Twilight, or the equally badass Hero of the Wild, or the significantly less badass Hero of Trains.
    • Bosses are usually introduced with a title in front of their names; sometimes these titles follow a theme in each game. All of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess's bosses are "The Twilit X", for example. And while Ganondorf has the title "Great King of Evil", Ganon himself is an aversion; his name stands on its own.
    • The Master Sword, being a legend in its own right also has several titles across the franchise including "The Blade of Evil's Bane" and "The Sword that Seals the Darkness".
  • Enforced in Library of Ruina: the best Fixers are awarded the rank of "Color" by the association responsible for rating Fixers, and all Color Fixers are given a unique title involving, well, a color. Examples include "The Red Mist" and "The Blue Reverberation".
  • Like a Dragon:
    • Kazuma Kiryu is known throughout the Japanese criminal underworld as the "Dragon of Dojima", a title he more than earned.
    • Kazuma's Evil Counterpart Goro Majima is known as "the Mad Dog of Shimano", a title which is also well-earned.
    • There's also the other dragon from Yakuza 2, Ryuji Goda, who Hates Being Nicknamed "The Dragon of Kansai", as he feels there should only be one Dragon.
    • In fact, just about EVERY Yakuza's got one nickname from 18-Count Saejima (or the Tiger of Sasai) to The Parasite of Kamurocho Tanimura.
    • Humorously, despite having all the flashy nicknames, nobody is referred to these by the nicknames in the Boss Subtitles. It's always the rank or role, or at times even nothing.
  • Luminous Arc has Sir Heath, "The Cleansing Flame".
  • Zetta from Makai Kingdom might have the most hilariously awesome title in the history of ever: The Most Badass Frickin Overlord in All The Cosmos!
  • In Mass Effect 2, Garrus earns himself the nickname "Archangel" in Omega. Everyone on Omega calls him that exclusively, to the point that even the Illusive Man doesn't know that Archangel is Garrus until you actually find him.
    • If Shepard has the "Ruthless" background, he/she is known as 'The Butcher of Torfan'. "War Hero" Shepard meanwhile is 'The Savior of Elysium'. By the time Mass Effect 3 rolls around, Dr. Chakwas can reference your greatest deeds from each game, dubbing you "The Hero of the Citadel, Conqueror of the Collectors, Savior of the Galaxy".
  • In Medieval II: Total War, your generals (and a number of your agents such as princesses and assassins) can get these sorts of titles. Sometimes it's the normal, awe inspiring names like King Edward the Chivalrous, Prince Louis the Brave, etc. However, if your general has too many of the wrong personality traits, you can get epithets like King Henry the Cuckold, Erik the Lewd, Doge Barbus the Queen, or Prince Hassan the Idiot.
  • Mega Man, the Blue Bomber (a name first given to him by the [now discontinued] Nintendo Power magazine).
  • The Metal Gear series is swimming in Red Barons:
    • Big Boss has a mythology based around him. Big Boss has fought in countless wars and saved the world from nuclear war a total of 3 times over the course of a military career spanning 50 years. The United States used him as a basis for how to model their soldiers and took some of his DNA to genetically modify their soldiers. Other countries marveled at his legendary skills and some even doubted that he existed thinking no one man could accomplish all the things he did. Big Boss rightfully earned titles ranging from The Legendary Mercenary, the man who makes anything possible, One-Eyed Jack, Saladin (referencing the famous commander from the Crusades), and the greatest soldier of the 20th century. Big Boss was shrouded in myth by enemies and allies alike.
    • Solid Snake is often dubbed, "the man who can make the impossible, possible."
    • The members of the various Quirky Miniboss Squads are always referred to by codename or title, as are most protagonists and many villains. There are plenty of characters with given names that populate the series, but the ones with the most screen time go by codename or title.
    • Raiden has a title of his own, "Jack the Ripper", which he earned during his days as a Child Soldier.
  • Metroid:
  • In Monster Hunter, most of the monsters have titles in addition to their given names, with the Elder Dragons getting particularly fearsome ones. Examples include "The King of the Skies" (Rathalos), "The Queen of the Land" (Rathian), and "The Lord of the Seas" (Lagiacrus). Among the Elder Dragons, Fatalis stands out because his primary title is simply "The Black Dragon". Keep in mind that Fatalis is a walking extinction event.
  • Yannick Moreau in the Nexus Clash backstory was nicknamed the "King of Laurentia" for his savvy as a political operator even though Laurentia didn't officially have any nobility or royalty. Several player characters have picked up examples of this trope since.
  • In the indie game Noel The Mortal Fate, Noel is granted this alias when she finally makes up her mind to become a demon (or witch) herself by requesting Caron to help her have revenge against Mayor Burrows, after exchanging her right eye for an arm. The Bomber explains that each demon/witch usually takes an alias, which is given by Caron
  • Paper Mario:
    • In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, all of the Glitz Pit fighters have at least one, such as ; The Great Gonzales (Mario): The Merciless Executioner (first run), The Superstar Sequel (second run), The Goomba Bros.: The Hoppin' Hardheads (first run), The Meteorite Hardheads (second run) and Rawk Hawk: The Feral Nuclear Reactor. Indeed, it's strongly implied that most (if not all) of the fighters fight under a stage name. Mario fights as "The Great Gonzales", and the real name of King K (of the KP Koopas) is later revealed to be KP Pete. Bowser refers to himself as "The Remorseless King of Evil", "The Shadow Thief", or "Koopa Koot".
    • In Super Paper Mario, Mr. L nicknames himself the Green Thunder.
  • Path of Exile: The boss fought at the end of the Upper Prison is known as Brutus, Lord Incarcerator.
  • Project Wingman, a game heavily inspired by Ace Combat, also has its own Red Baron in the form of Monarch, the Player Character, who came to be known as 'The Crown' or 'Crowned Mercenary' over the course of the game as his reputation grows.
  • Players in Ryzom can choose from various titles they've earned as a reward for reaching a certain level in a skill. The high-level titles can be ridiculous, with such options as "Crimson Executioner", "Avatar of Destruction", and "Celestial Guardian" being among them.
  • Invoked in Pokémon Sword and Shield where after doing certain actions or catching a Pokémon that has one you can get marks which can range from, DRAGAPULT THE GALAR CHAMPION, to, Stuffle the early riser
  • Saints Row:
    • The Boss from the third game onwards is known as "The Butcher of Stilwater".
    • Killbane's wrestling nickname is "The Walking Apocalypse".
  • A good deal of the cast of Sengoku Basara. To wit: the One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu (Masamune), the Dragon's Right Eye (Kojyuuro), the Tiger of Kai (Shingen), the Young Tiger (Yukimura), the War-God of Echigo (Kenshin), the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven (Nobunaga), the Demon Queen of the Fifth Heaven (Oichi), the Strongest in the Warring States Mighty Samurai (Tadakatsu), Shimazu the Beast (Yoshihiro), the Sea Devil of the West (Motochika), the Fox of Ushu (Yoshiaki), the Supreme King (Hideyoshi), the Villain of the Warring States (Hisahide), the Strongest Couple in the Land (Toshiie and Matsu), the Maeda Vagabond (Keiji) and the Dark King (Mitsunari).
  • Shin Megami Tensei uses Hello, [Insert Name Here], but usually gives protagonists default names. Those without in-game default names are generally given a title, most notably the Hero and the Demi-fiend. Despite these characters having names in supplemental material, they are referred to in games by their titles.
  • Skies of Arcadia ties this to your Karma Meter, giving the main character Vyse different titles as his fame increases; the best title a player can earn is "Vyse the Legend".
  • Eliza of Skullgirls is known as the Crimson Scourge.
    • There's also the Mafia assassin Black Dahlia, whose real name is unknown.
  • Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves has a chapter in which the team must participate in a dogfighting contest held by a character known as the Black Baron, who turns out to be a disguise used by Penelope, his supposed mechanic, who joins the team without hesitation when Sly beats her on the wing of a spare plane.
  • Karl Fairburne in Sniper Elite III is known as the "Desert Ghost" by German soldiers. In Italy, he's known as "The Shadow", though North Africa veterans still refer to him with the former.
    • Also in Italy, Nazi General Heinz Bohm is known as "The Butcher of Bologna".
  • In the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Shadow is referred to, by himself and others, as the "Ultimate Lifeform". Sonic himself is the "Blue Blur". In tie-in materials, he also gains 'The Fastest Thing Alive'.
  • In Soul Nomad & the World Eaters, Revya in the Demon Path gets called the "Devourlord".
  • Many of the characters from the Souls-series of games have a nickname like this added to their name such as Yurt the Silent Chief, Miralda the Executioner, Black Iron Tarkus or Big Hat Logan.
  • James Raynor of StarCraft fame was once part of a Confederate military unit that earned the nickname of "Heaven's Devils" for their exploits during the Guild Wars. As if the name wasn't metal enough, they made a customized unit patch that consisted of The Grim Reaper holding a chaingun and Sinister Scythe, standing atop a pile of skulls. Some of the tie-in comics go into how they got the name: liberating a Kel-Morian prisoner of war camp using prototype jet-pack-equipped armor, followed by blasting their way out in the Kel-Morians' own vehicles when the mission went south.
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic takes this to the level of an art form. Each of the player character classes are given a nifty code name (Ace for the Smuggler, Cipher 9 for the Agent) or title (Hero of Tython for the Knight, Bar'sen'thor for the Consular) by the end of Act 1 of their Three-Act Structure. Players can also earn titles through certain game events and choices, and you can choose which title you display. Even some NPCs are given nasty titles like Grand Moff Rykus Killran ("The Butcher of Coruscant") or Lord Scourge, ("The Emperor's Wrath"). The Bounty Hunter is more or less a case of Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" since "The Champion of the Great Hunt" is pretty unwieldy.
  • Street Fighter: The Red Cyclone, Zangief. Later on, we'd get the Double Agent Crimson Viper. Other cases include "The Hurricane of the Gulf of Mexico" El Fuerte and Akuma, the Master of the Fist.
    • As a matter of fact, Capcom bothered to give such an epithet to all the characters of the license in the Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia. Ryu and Ken, for instance, are respectively the "Eternal Seeker" and the "Fire of the Rising Dragon", while Crimson Viper is labeled as "Miss Perfect".
      • And then the official Street Fighter V website gave even more of them for the game's entire playable roster.
  • Georg Prime from the Suikoden series has people across two continents calling him "Deathblow" like it's his first name, and you better believe that he can live up to it.
    • Flik from the first two games is know as "the Blue Lightning", because he's fast and wears a blue cloak, and also because he favors lightning runes.
  • Subverted in Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 2 where Ibis Douglas has the badass nickname "Shooting Star"; this is actually an insult as she is a terrible pilot, and the nickname is a reference to the fact that she is constantly crashing her giant robot (in other words, like a shooting star, she's always plummeting to the Earth!). In a parody, her Rival, Sleigh Prestly gains the nickname "The Scarlet Comet" as a joke on Char (partially because Shooting Star is one of Amuro's nicknames).
    • But Ibis proves herself worthy of such a cool name as the game goes on.
    • Alternate universe Kyouske is known as the "Steel Beowulf", partially cause he leads the Beowulfs and is so damn strong.
      • It's actually just "Beowulf", and it's a codename rather than a nickname (Steel Beowulf is the title of Kyouske's Leitmotif). He is, however, inhumanly strong, and plain evil.
    • Calvina Coulange from Super Robot Wars Judgment was known as "White Lynx" before she quit military.
    • Blessfield Ardygun from Super Robot Wars W is also known has "Hawkeye". It was first use by his father-in-law as compliment for seeing through his daughter's male disguise.
    • Rand Travis from Super Robot Wars Z inherited the nickname "The Heat" from his master. Most character recognize him as infamous "The Crusher" though.
    • In the anime, Elzam is known as The Black Tornado.
    • In Super Robot Wars V, Shinn, Kira and Athrun are each given one that they didn't have in their show or supporting media: Shinn is ZAFT's "Blue Lightning," while Kira and Athrun are ORB's "White Gale" and "Red Flash," respectively. Might Senpuuji is often referred by most people as "The Legendary Tough Guy." Ruri Hoshino is often referred by enemies as "The Electron Fairy." The Mycenae Gods refer to the Villkiss as the "Singer of Wings".
  • In Tales of Berseria, as Velvet's Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Abbey progresses, she comes to be known as the Lord of Calamity.
  • In Tales of the Abyss, Colonel Jade Curtiss earns the nickname Jade the Necromancer because he apparently has been caught scavenging corpses from battlefields.
  • Tekken has Sergei Dragunov, "The White Angel of Death" — possibly a nod towards Alfredo Astiz, "The Blonde Angel of Death."
  • In a similar vein to Claymore, all the seven Kaibutsu Lords of Three the Hard Way have this. They include Orrum the "Ravager", Teachy the "Discordian", Clio the "Maledictor", etc.
  • Touhou Project has Remilia Scarlet, otherwise known as "The Scarlet Devil" because her once pure white dress is now dyed red due to her... eating habits.
    • Her Ninja Maid, Sakuya, is likewise known as the Dog of the Devil.
    • Among all beings in Gensoukyou, no other race is as infamous for its physical strength as the oni. Among all oni, the Four Devas of The Mountain are considered the very strongest among them. And among the Four Devas, Yuugi Hoshiguma is otherwise known as Yuugi The Strong. In-universe rumors have it that her footsteps alone are enough to make nearby buildings collapse.
    • Yuuka Kazami said at one point in the past that she thought it'd be "neat" if she reduced her opponent to "a mist of atoms ♥" and stated on another occasion that "genocide is just another game" to her. She also has a friendship level of "worst," a moral code that demands the loss of floral lives to be repaid in kind, and a code of honour that both condemns weaklings who provoke her to death and pushes her towards goading strong adversaries into formal duels. On top of that, she's also, despite the fact that even first stage bosses won better prizes in the Super Power Lottery than her, The Dreaded... quite simply because everyone else need the spoils of their lottery winnings just to even the playingfield with her... All of this combined gained her a nickname in the fanbase: "Ultimate Sadistic Creature".
    • And then there's an inversion in Marisa Kirisame, whose title is... Ordinary Magician. A title that Marisa herself wears with pride specifically because it's mundane and unimpressive, since it implies that in a world of monsters, spirits and living gods, she managed to earn herself a spot amongst the strongest through nothing but hard work and training.
  • Practically almost any character who has made a name for themselves have an alias or two in the Trails Series. But some of the standouts include:
  • The Unreal Tournament verse has dozens of competitors fighting under aliases, especially in the first game. Example: the backstory of one of the competitors — Jesse Davis — explains that he's a "'deep freeze' cold world combat specialist", capable of surviving on melted ice for weeks. Hence the name "Ice Weasel".
  • In the Valkyria Chronicles series, you'll occasionally encounter enemies with names and titles during missions. These are "Aces", stronger enemies with superhuman bullet-dodging skills who will drop unique equipment if killed.
  • Wing Commander:
    • The Kilrathi Aces have a lot of these, not limited to: Bhurak Starkiller, Khajja the Fang/The Machine, Dahkhath (translates to 'Deathstroke'), Bahktosh Redclaw, Kur Human-Killer, Bhuk Bloodmist, Kramm Deathfang, Naijji Fireclaw, and Marjakh Stalker. Many of them double as Luke Nounverber.
    • In Wing Commander III, the Kilrathi call Christopher Blair "The Heart of the Tiger", and see him as the Worthy Opponent to end all Worthy Opponents.
  • In the rebooted Wolfenstein games starting with Wolfenstein: The New Order, BJ Blazkowicz gains a reputation as a feared Nazi Hunter: "Terror Billy". In Wolfenstein: Youngblood, his twin daughters Jess and Soph gain a reputation mirroring their fathers and a title to go with: the "Terror Twins".
  • World of Warcraft allows players to gain numerous titles. From Dragonslayer, the Immortal, and Twilight Vanquisher to Ambassador, Farmer, and the Love Fool.
    • The Klaxxi Paragons each a unique title: The Wind Reaver, The Prime, The Blood Seeker, The Death Caller. The list goes on. In addition, they call you "Awakener", because you've been present for the awakenings of all the Klaxxi warriors.
    • All of the Dragon Aspects are given titles that reflect the duties bestowed on them by the Titans. Alexstrasza the Lifebinder, Malygos the Spellweaver, Ysera the Dreamer(later changed to the Awakened), Nozdormu the Timeless One, and Neltharion the Earthwarder. After going mad, Neltharion would take a new name and title; Deathwing the Destroyer.
    • A number of Racial leaders also have titles they're known by. Varian the Wolf, Sylvanas the Banshee Queen, and Prophet Velen to name a few.
    • All of the Artifact Weapons have special titles as well. (i.e, Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire)
    • The Legendary Weapon Ashbringer, also grants a title. Anyone who caries the holy sword is also known as "the Ashbringer". The sword is actually named after the title, which the first owner got for how good he was as a Paladin.
    • The former Mogu Emperor of Pandaria, Lie Shen, chose his baron title as the Thunder King. As he put it, lightning comes and goes in an instant, but thunder is loud, heralding the lightning's power, and strikes fear into the hearts of men.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3: All of the colony Commanders have badass titles like Silvercoat Ethel and Smouldering Cammuravi. Since they have no concept of family, they have no surnames, and this is the primary way to identify them. In Future Redeemed, Shulk and Rex return, with the titles Godcleaver Shulk and Stoutheart Rex.
  • Yoku's Island Express: Throughout most of the game, the Big Bad is only known by the name of "God Slayer". He's actually your helper and Exposition Fairy Kickback.

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