Merge Da Chief and Big Good: Da Chief

They're pretty much the same roles; the leaders of the organization of which The Hero is a part of.

Not really, Da Chief might be a related to but it has a lot of specific stereotypes connected to it that Big Good doesn't as well as not being the highest rung on the tree.

edited 27th May '11 12:29:26 PM by Raso

These are not the same.

Big Good: "the Big Good is the cornerstone of any heroic organization. This character is explicitly stated to be a counterpart to combat the forces of evil, likely calling all the shots in the organization and is normally the highest ranking or the absolute most powerful."

Da Chief: "The Cowboy Cop's eternally put-upon superior. Always strict and by-the-book... Frequently worried that the mayor or district attorney will have his ass (and pension) for whatever destruction was caused. ... and exist only to have their authority stepped over while they bluster."

These are definitely not the same. It may be possible for a character to be both Da Chief and the Big Good, but I can't really think of any examples of that kind of overlap off the top of my head. On the other hand, I can think of plenty of characters who are Da Chief but not anything resembling a Big Good, and vice versa.

edited 27th May '11 7:09:51 PM by JoieDeCombat

The closest I can think of might be Commissioner Gordon. He's Da Chief, and he doesn't really have to answer to anyone in particular in his role as the top good guy in the GCPD. But he's not really the most useful good guy in Gotham... maybe in the GCPD though.

I still wouldn't pigeonhole him as the Big Good. Either way, they're not the same trope at all, and I'm having a hard time seeing how you could think they were...

edited 28th May '11 10:11:08 PM by savage

I can see how they could overlap, but they're definitely distinct.

Agreed, if there is a Da Chief in a work a lot of the time he will be a Big Good but most cases of Big Good aren't Da Chief. Da Chief is almost always exclusive to police forces and the like.

I think your confusion might come from the fact that the Big Good page says they are the head of an organization for good. But this can be any kind of organization, even an army or the side of good in general.

edited 28th May '11 10:28:04 PM by NoirGrimoir

I disagree, actually. If a character is Da Chief he is likely to -not- be the Big Good. There -can- be overlap but there's not -usually- overlap.

It's possible that Big Goods have a tendancy to also be Da Chief, but I don't think it works in reverse.

edited 28th May '11 10:34:25 PM by savage

Doesn't really matter. All I'm saying is there's overlap between the two but neither necessarily automatically imply the other.

edited 28th May '11 10:43:17 PM by NoirGrimoir

Da Chief looks completely different to me; much lower on the heirarchy and more... I don't know, concrete? The Big Good can be kind of informal, more of a representation of the forces of good. Da Chief is more like a regular position of authority. Plus the two tropes are treated differently within the work.

Here's the rule of thumb I use when I'm looking at a merge.

Pick two or three of the clearest examples of each trope being considered. How well do those examples fit into the other trope?

Gandalf is a Big Good. He sure isn't Da Chief. Same for Dumbledore. Same for Aslan. Princess Ozma and Glinda sure aren't Da Chief, but they're both legitimately Big Goods.

So not all Big Goods are Da Chief.

Does it work the other way?

Inskipp in The Stainless Steel Rat series. Da Chief, but he's not the Big Good. That series doesn't really have a Big Good. Same for the chief in the Dirty Harry movies. NCIS: Director shepard. Hell, no she wasn't the Big Good.

So Da Chief doesn't have to be the Big Good, either.

There's no reason to merge them — while they may occasionally overlap, far more often, they don't come anywhere near each other.

edited 31st May '11 11:37:44 AM by Madrugada