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    Needs TRS 
List ofpages I'm interested in handling. May or may not best be merged with Tropes Needing TRS instead.

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    Noblesse Oblige 
Laconic: A Heroic Wannabe, to whom being a Blue Blood is Serious Business.

Intro: The Noblesse Oblige redirects to Royals Who Actually Do Something, even though "nobility" and "royals" are not the same thing and not used in the same context, which in turn redirects to Comes Great Responsibility

Description:

The character of the high social class who believes Comes Great Responsibility towards the lower class naturally comes with their status, even if told otherwise. This sense of duty is often called "noblesse oblige" (bonus point if quoted).

A Blue Blood or Fake Aristocrat (or themed like one) that believes it's part of their title to help "less fortunate". This can also extend to aliens, non-humans, or soldiers of an invading faction that don't like how the locals are treated in a derogatory manner.

They'll be typically the only character in the setting to act like this and be the Token Good Teammate to high nobles, who would all be Aristocrats Are Evil and mock them for not using their privileges. Their entire family maybe this as well, or otherwise, they'll be White Sheep. Their reasoning may come off as Innocently Insensitive. May become White Man's Burden, The Needs of the Many, Holier Than Thou, or in extreme cases, Knight Templar. Bad Samaritan or Enlightened Self-Interest can invoke their noble image for a long time to get what they want in the end.

Like any Good Samaritan, they don't think of any benefits for themselves and assume Karmic Jackpot may naturally come to them. If they have the money, they'll be Non-Idle Rich, but even if they're Impoverished Patrician, they'll still feel helping out. Their classic thing to do is to drop a gold coin or a handkerchief to a beggar. If a work focuses on an orphan of any type on the street, high chance they'll soon be Happily Adopted into such a family, alternatively if they were prisoners, bought out, and have Happiness in Slavery. In older literature, they are a literal Knight in Shining Armor.

May act with Honor Before Reason and get in trouble themselves for it, but ask others to Think Nothing of It. Typically it shows Old-School Chivalry, which may or may not actually be "old-school". They're quick to Glove Slap anyone who acts forceful to ladies, even if the opponent is of even higher status.

Very likely to be Born Unlucky or The Atoner and despise the caste system for personal reasons. If their backstory isn't given, they may fall into Prince Charming.

The inversion of Aristocrats Are Evil. See Code of Honour, White Guilt, The Golden Rule, Royals Who Actually Do Something, Pillars of Moral Character, For Great Justice.

Examples:

  • Danganronpa: Students of Hope's Peak Academy have their exceptional talents trained so when they graduate they could use their skills and knowledge for the better of the world. Some graduates do become "hope" as intended, some grew a bit naughty about it, and some were "artificially raised" into this role. All that increased the social segregation between "ultimate" and "ordinary" people and played an important part in the backstory.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester and Ferdinand von Aegir are both from powerful noble families, but believe their upbringing gives them a high degree of accountability.
  • Harry Potter:
  • Helck: Rafaed adopted and raised Helck and Cless when everyone else would treat them like dirt. Unfortunately, he's done so as a member of Ancient Conspiracy.
  • My Hero Academia: ...
  • Noblesse: The Nobles are a race of ancient vampires that declared since the dawn of humanity to protect the lesser species from behind the curtains. The titular Noblesse is the King Incognito, with the authority to execute any Noble or man-made creature that feels entitled to use humans as they please.
  • Elegant Spy x Family

Referenced by...:

  • The NEXT name of some Lynx in Armored Core.
  • Eden of the East: The theme of The Seleção Game run by Mr. Outside. Each of randomly chosen people is given 10 billion yen that they must use to save the country. If any runs out of gash or uses their spendings selfishly, they get killed.
  • An Artifact Set in Genshin Impact.
  • Kamen Rider Gaim: Became sort of the Arc Words:
Takatora Kureshima: Those who own power and privilege have a duty they must fulfill. That's what Noblesse Oblige means. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty in order to do that.
Princess Shine: To shed my blood and the blood of others. I've resolved myself to do that. This red Fairlion is a sign of that!
Archibald Grimes: Noblesse oblige, then? Very well.

    Faking Neutrality 
When in a story with Forever War, a neutral or hidden faction turns out to be the Big Bad. They are definitely The Chessmaster, and their motives can vary between War for Fun and Profit, Vestigial Empire, and Omnicidal Maniac.They don't have to be a part of the conflict and usually resort to Let's You and Him Fight. If they are active participants, they play it as Balance of Power or Neutral No Longer, but actually Playing Both Sides.

If one side of the conflict is presented as villainous, the leader of that faction is Unwitting Pawn and Disc-One Final Boss. Upon defeat, the secret faction comes from the curtains to take matters into their own hand and always show themselves as Eviler than Thou. Upon the reveal, the conflicting sides have to call Enemy Mine. The reasoning for it can be Evil Versus Oblivion, which may lead to Heel Realization when the evil faction realizes their motivation for war has been orchestrated.

Can happen on a lower scale, like if an unrelated person is actually recruited by one member of a Love Triangle.

The good guys can sometimes have deeper ties to them, with the connection kept by Evil Chancellor or Engineered Heroics who's been contacting them in secret.

Can predate all nations as a part of Ancient Conspiracy.

If the audience didn't know they are Evil All Along from the beginning, almost all characters surely don't, resulting in Internal Reveal. If they did show up but their intentions were unknown, they are possibly The Dog Was the Mastermind.

War Is Hell, and not just for the parties involved. The Empire is invading The Good Kingdom, which is a problem for them. But, it's ever a bigger problem for every other nation who don't want to be swallowed by either side the moment they pick another.

Unless the world runs on Black-and-White Morality, they would like to remain independant, and openly declare neutrality and desire to stay out of the conflict.

But in fact, they're really not. They are very aware of the Neutrality Backlash that would follow, when a bigger nation declares them as free resources. So, they keep up a sharade to delay the potential invasion on their territory. Neutral in Name Only, Outside-Context Problem.

Examples (UNMARKED SPOILERS!):

Anime and Manga
  • Blood-C: Fumito Nanahara, the casual cafe owner, is revealed to be the mastermind behind the Elder Bairns' attacks. When it's revealed that the people Saya has been trying to protect are all paid actors, Fumito gets rid of them as well.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist: Amestris's expansionist policy, especially the massacre of Ishval, was all a part of Homunculi and Father's plot. Every soldier beside the high command had no idea what's the wars are for.
  • Getter Robo: The reason why the villains attack Saotome Institue? To prevent the creation of Getter Emperor, which in the future destroyed most of the universe. While Getter Rays are helpful for the heroes in the present, it's clear that they work in self-interest, and humanity one day will get assimilated.
  • Last Exile: The lands of Anatoray and Disith instead of a desparate all-out war use The Guild as a referee for regulated skirmishes. However, the Guild is actually keeping the food and resources they are supposed to share with the world for themselves and keeping the war ongoing for entertainment.
  • Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The Dominion of Fezzan is a Galactic Empire's border planet on paper, but has reached enough economic autonomy that they can freely trade with the Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, as long as they don't get involved in the war. But in fact, they are a front of Church of Terra and have been escalating the conflict through hired puppets.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Kyubey of the Incubators conveniently forgot to tell the Magi that the Witches they are fighting are in fact former magical girls, and the girls themselves are effectively regarded as fuel.

Live-Action TV

  • Kamen Rider Build: The war between Touto, Hokuto, and Seito is kept going by Namba Heavy Industries and Faust. While Juzaburo Namba likes to think of himself as the mastermind, for Evolt to consider him to be just a stepping stone for himself.

Video Games

  • Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2: Edgeworth has to deal with, and successfully brings down a conspiracy between Zheng Fa and Prosecutor's Office. All that, however, what Simon Keyes (Sota Sarushiro), a presumably unfortunate witness, indirectly pushed him to do in the first place.]]
  • Doom Eternal: The demonic invasion is a part of Khan Maykr's plot, as they only need to let demons do their thing and watch Earth be sacrificed for energy. That is until Doom Slayer gets something to say about it.
  • Fire Emblem: You can make a drinking game for every time the ongoing war is caused by a hidden dragon.
    • Fire Emblem Fates: Anankos to Hoshido and Nohr.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: The unification of Fodlan is presented as the ambition of The Adrestian Empire. The real cause actually two ancient conspiracies of Those Who Slither In The Dark / Agarthans and The Church of Seiros.

    Hyper-Protective Sidekick 
Underling with an F in PR?'

When a subordinate demands respect to someone else, by force perhaps, even if the person in reference specifically doesn't mind it. The sentence usually goes as "You cur, how dare you talk to the great X like that!" before being interrupted.

If not interrupted in time, the offender may get beaten up right away or after the conversation. Sometimes the master will stop them after their guest is half-dead, even if their talk will be much more difficult because of that. The case of insubordination will never get punished though.

Usually, the master is someone of real authority and the minions are nameless extras. Not always a villain's trope, as The Hero or The Lancer often feel the need to protect someone's (each other's) honor and has to be stopped before a potential Nice Job Breaking It, Hero.

Especially problematic if 1. the master literally asked for an honest opinion 2. the guest is an enemy and has no obligation to show respect 3. the guest is master's equal or superior.

A case of Undying Loyalty or The Champion.

Examples:

    Always Last Chance 
Theory of Narrative Causality makes it so if more than one attempts can be made, each one will fail until We Only Have One Chance.

The probability of success is directly proportional to the cost of failure. As in, if someone in fiction can take some loss, they will, repeatedly, until the last attempt will really be the last chance.

A supertrope to: Final Battle, Down to the Last Play, Final Girl, One Bullet Left, Time Bomb, Just in Time, Near-Villain Victory, You Can't Thwart Stage One, Crisis Makes Perfect, Million to One Chance

Examples:

    Hospitality with interest 
"You wouldn't even be where you are, if not for me!".
— a common Stock Phrase.

When someone takes care of another for a long time, then gets really offended when they try to leave.

Alt: when the Entitled Bastard thinks their victim is an Ungrateful Bastard because they don't accept their "generosity".

The owner of the house is often an Evil Mentor, Archnemesis Dad, Enemy Within, or some other Bad Samaritan, who, in exchange for housing or training, assumes their protectee would always obey them, or at least show Dude, Where's My Respect?. This typically takes the form of Gaslighting to guilt-trip the victim into staying. The villain may also try to pull a We Can Rule Together on someone going through a Heel–Face Turn to compel them into staying. Can be a case of Wants a Prize for Basic Decency. The trope usually plays at the moment of Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal.

They may also not really be evil and be a case of Obliviously Evil or Blue-and-Orange Morality. Maybe they don't have an Enlightened Self-Interest and genuinely think the person is being ungrateful and they themselves are doing a good thing. They may invoke I Did What I Had to Do if they think the person doesn't understand it's unsafe outside.

Can be an inversion of Stockholm Syndrome, Happiness in Slavery, A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil or The Farmer and the Viper.

Examples:

  • Toriel in Undertale to Frisk.
  • Helgenish to Primrose in Octopath Traveler.
    You're nothing but a stupid whore! You would have died on the street if not for me!
  • Mr. Jawsum to Hero in OMORI.
    You disrespect me, boy. I take you in... a youngin' with no experience... and I turn you into the ultimate employee! You would be nothing if it wasn't for me!
  • Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).
    If not for me, Hamato Yoshi would never have left Japan.
  • Dark Prince in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones.
    Do you think you would be here now if not for me? How many times did I save you?
  • Lord Harkon to Serana, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
    You disappoint me, Serana. You've taken everything I provided for you and thrown it all away for this...
  • Viv, Zebra Girl.
    I know this stuff. If not for me, you'd be eaten.

    Late Game Big Bad 
When the story doesn't have a Big Bad... until much later. This can happen for a few reasons:

Examples:

    Villainous Power Nurturing / Power Farmer 
A specific I Need You Stronger plot where the Life Drinker lets someone grow with the intention of using Power Copying or Cannibalism Superpower in the end.

Related to Fattening the Victim.

Examples:

    Mercy Screen Nuke 
As an Anti-Frustration Feature, some Shoot 'Em Up and Beat 'em Up activate a free Smart Bomb on top of Mercy Invincibility to let the player catch a break without being surrounded by enemies.

Examples:

    Ambiguously Malevolent 
A Sub-Trope to Ambiguously Evil, when it's unknown if the character is Obliviously Evil, insane, fall into Blue-and-Orange Morality or even intelligent. Often happens when Non-Malicious Monster is Not Evil, Just Misunderstood.

Examples:

    Not Leaving This Spot 
Refusal to move in protest.

Examples:

    Chekhov's Event 
Some specific past, present or future event is referenced by the characters, often by a catch name. It has a direct relation to the Myth Arc or Big Bad's Freudian Excuse, but it's not revealed to the audience until much later.

Often When It All Began. If the event is not explained in the end, see Cryptic Background Reference. Related to Great Offscreen War, The Legend of Chekhov and Vagueness Is Coming.

Examples:

    Defensive Alter Ego 
A form of Split Personality that is created intentionally to overcome a difficult situation. A person may believe they wouldn't be able to do it and wish they were someone else, even if temporarly.

A very common concept in Jungian Psychology, which believes that every person creates a mask for every situation in life and takes a role like actors in theatre. Often a result of Inferiority Superiority Complex or Dark and Troubled Past.

For some of positive outcomes see Becoming the Mask and Split-Personality Merge, if the aspects of the tough persona eventually carry over to the main one.

Compare with Enemy Within, into which this can evolve to and is explicitly hostile. See Beneath the Mask, when the person acts tough, but in reality is Small Name, Big Ego.

Examples:

Anime and MangaVideogames

    Studying Together 
A classic montage of school students cramming their exam studies. Common in Japanese media. Almost always followd with a Stock Phrases: "- I don't understand this problem. - You solve it like this. - Oh, I understand now." without showing ever the questions.

Examples:

    Myth-based works 
Work based on a myth. To use an example instead of Myth/ or Useful Notes/ pages, which are not allowed.

Some works are based on the entire panthon or multiple legends. If more than one pantheon is used, it's Fantasy Kitchen Sink.

Examples:

    Recycled One-Shot 
A Manga based off a single-chapter "concept" release. Whule the base idea is the same, typically goes through a lot of Media Adaptation Tropes.

See Recycled: The Series.

Examples:

    Gimmick Franchise 
The main mechanic in every sequel is different.

Examples:

    Shibuya 10 X 

Fictional alternatives to "Shibuya 109" strore.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing is an iconic location in Tokyo, and the 109 is an iconic department store, a typical landmark in Japanese media. However it's also a trademarked name, so more often than not this building says something else.

Related to Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe.

A subtrope of Bland-Name Product. See Spoofs "R" Us for a westen counterpart.

Examples (add appearance as context):

Aversions (109):

    Cute Tiny Hat 

    Offscreen Group Study 

    Psycho Psychic 
  • Tatsumaki
  • Akira

    Ghost Phobia 

    Prophecy Enforcer 

    New Gimmick Per Installment 
  • Kamen Rider
  • Franchise/Pokemon
  • Super Sentai
  • Umineko: When They Cry: In each game, Beatrice introduces a new rule to go against Battler's logic.
    • Battler's main defence against "magic culprit" in Episode 1 is "Devil's Proof", though it's only named in the next game. If he can provide a plausible theory for the "human culprit", he wins, but if he can't resolve the impossible crimes, Beatrice wins. He doesn't have the burden of providing the correct culprit or the method, only to show that the "magic culprit" isn't the only explanation.
    • In Episode 2 Beatrice gets tired of Buttler making things up and introduces Red Truth. Everything said in Red is to be treated as a partial confession and is not arguable. The opponent has no burden of explanation. This serves to invalidate the "human culprit" arguments and to avoid a stalemate.
    • Episode 3 brings up "Hempel's Raven", which while isn't a game rule, is used in Episode's arguments as a logical extension of "Devil's Proof". If the current "human culprit" theory is invalidated by Red, the Human side needs to present a different one or it will be considered as an admission of the "magic culprit".
    • Episode 4 introduces Blue Truth. Previously, the opponent had no obligation to use the Red Truth right away or at all. When the one side makes an argument in Blue, if the other side refuses to use Red they'll get physically penalized and the Blue statement can be regarded as factual until invalidated later.
    • Episode 5 adds Gold Truth. The meaning of it is not explained in this Episode. These represent true statements about how the scenes were interpreted by all observers, though not necessarily factual.
    • Episode 6 brings up the "Detective's Authority", meaning by the time of the debate, it's confirmed that the Human party has full knowledge of the crime scenes and no evedience was destoryed by the Witch's party.
    • Episode 8 has Purple Truth. By anyone who isn't the culprit, this works analogous to Red, but the culprit can speak in Purple with no pentalty. As the culprit's idendity is unknown, this means someone's account is false.

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