History AFatherToHisMen / LiveActionTV

*** King Robb Stark's leadership style, as seen in "The Old Gods and the New," where he takes the time to mingle with the rank and file. He explains that he inherited this mentality from his father, Ned. As for Ned, you don't fuck with his bannermen; when confronted by Jaime at the end of "The Wolf and the Lion", he tries to talk his way out of the situation. It was only when his guards were killed did he bring out his sword.
---> '''Robb:''' "He once told me that being a lord is like being a father, except you have thousands of children and you worry about all of them. The farmers plowing the fields are yours to protect. The charwomen scrubbing the floors, yours to protect. The soldiers you order into battle." This is a major alteration from Book!Ned. Jon Snow in ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' remembers Ned telling him and Robb that a Lord shouldn't be too close or fraternize too well otherwise that would complicate TheChainsOfCommanding, namely that they are the ones commanding those beneath them to fight and die for House Stark and that being a Lord or a leader meant responsibilities, loneliness, distances and no true equals.

* ''Fanchise/PowerRangers'';

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** King Renly Baratheon and Queen Daenerys Targaryen are shown to be caring and affable commanders towards even the lowliest soldier in their army.
** King Robb Stark's leadership style, as seen in "The Old Gods and the New," where he takes the time to mingle with the rank and file. He explains that he inherited this mentality from his father, Ned. As for Ned, you don't fuck with his bannermen; when confronted by Jaime at the end of "The Wolf and the Lion", he tries to talk his way out of the situation. It was only when his guards were killed did he bring out his sword.
--> '''Robb:''' "He once told me that being a lord is like being a father, except you have thousands of children and you worry about all of them. The farmers plowing the fields are yours to protect. The charwomen scrubbing the floors, yours to protect. The soldiers you order into battle." This is a major alteration from Book!Ned. Jon Snow in ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' remembers Ned telling him and Robb that a Lord shouldn't be too close or fraternize too well otherwise that would complicate TheChainsOfCommanding, namely that they are the ones commanding those beneath them to fight and die for House Stark and that being a Lord or a leader meant responsibilities, loneliness, distances and no true equals.
** Lord Commander Mormont is also this as much as he can be to an ArmyOfThievesAndWhores.
** While Jon Snow does not start as an authority figure, many of the low-ranking Night's Watch men do look up to him. Averted at the end of Season 5, when he is betrayed and murdered by most of his own men.
** For all his flaws, Jaime cares for the soldiers under his command, and tries to offer emotional support to Dickon after he has seen his first true battle. When Daenerys starts raining fire on his army, he is horrified at the sight of his soldiers being burned alive.

** Averted in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' with the decidedly [[ManipulativeBastard un-cuddly]] [[TheCorruptor Captain]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Lorca]]. However, his [[spoiler: replacement, Captain Pike]] plays this trope magnificently, gloriously straight.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Colonel Potter to the 4077th M* A* S* H. His predecessor, Henry Blake, is less so for the unit as a whole, but is very much this to Radar. In Henry's final episode, Radar actually explicitly tells Henry he sees him this way, as his own father died when he was very little. [[McLeaned Poor Radar]].

%% This list has been alphabetized. Please put examples in their proper positions.

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'': Mac Taylor, especially with Lindsay and Danny at various times, and Flack, Hawkes and Adam every now and then. He's pulled Danny back on track multiple times, given both him and Lindsay advice lots of times, comforted sobbing Danny after Danny's brother got beaten and left in a coma, was the only thing that kept Flack from committing career suicide and losing himself drinking after Angell's death, let Hawkes use his spare room after he found out Hawkes got swindled and was homeless, had a sincere heart-to-heart with Adam about Adam's father's abuse of him as a child, and ended up as godfather to Danny and Lindsay's daughter, Lucy. The only reason Stella and Jo don't factor in much is because they're older, more like TeamMom alongside him toward the younger ones.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Lieutenant Miklo Braca is introduced to the series as a subordinate of Crais, and after Crais defects and Scorpius seizes control of his Command Carrier, shifts his loyalty to Scorpius. Although for much of season 2 this puts him firmly as an antagonist, by season 3 we come to see that he has become quite the ReasonableAuthorityFigure as commander. This becomes much clearer in the fourth season, when his respect for his officers and willingness to actually ''listen'' to what his subordinates tell him contrasts sharply with the far less forgiving [[TheNeidermeyer Grayza]]. When Grayza has her VillainousBreakdown at the end of season four, Braca relieves her of command and not ''one'' of the crew present are the least bit inclined to follow Grayza's orders to gun him down.

** He does at one point refer to Josh as 'my son' - [[spoiler:while telling off God for Josh's near death a year earlier...]]

* An [[EvilVirtues evil example]] would be Brigadier-General Loup in ''[[{{Series/Sharpe}} Sharpe's Battle]]''. Loup is leading an extremely brutal anti-guerilla campaign in the Spanish countryside. When Sharpe threatens to execute two of his men for an attempted rape, he immediately drops what he's doing and does everything short of begging on his bare knees to have his men spared, stating that he promised to see them home safe. When Sharpe goes through with his threat, Loup becomes [[TranquilFury icily livid]] and swears vengeance on Sharpe.

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'': Mac Taylor, especially with Lindsay and Danny at various times, and Flack, Hawkes and Adam every now and then. He's pulled Danny back on track multiple times, given both him and Lindsay advice lots of times, comforted sobbing Danny after Danny's brother got beat, was the only thing that kept Flack from committing career suicide and losing himself drinking after Angell's death, let Hawkes use his spare room after he found out Hawkes got swindled and was homeless, had a sincere heart-to-heart with Adam about Adam's father's abuse of him as a child, and ended up as godfather to Danny and Lindsay's daughter, Lucy. The only reason Stella and Jo don't factor in much is because they're older, more like TeamMom alongside him than the younger ones.

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'': Mac Taylor, especially with Lindsay and Danny at various times, and Flack, Hawkes and Adam every now and then. He's pulled Danny back on track multiple times, given both him and Lindsay advice lots of times, comforted sobbing Danny after Danny's brother got beat, was the only thing that kept Flack from committing career suicide and losing himself drinking after Angell's death, let Hawkes use his spare room after he found out Hawkes got swindled and was homeless, and ended up as godfather to Danny and Lindsay's daughter, Lucy. The only reason Stella and Jo don't factor in much is because they're older, more like TeamMom alongside him than the younger ones.

* ''ThievesOfTheWood'': Unusually for the early 18th century, the upper class French general knows each of his men by name and has vowed to safely bring all the survivors home.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': Gil Grissom, especially when dealing with the younger members of the team, most visibly Greg, Nick and Warrick ([[spoiler:especially right before Warrick gets killed, and afterwards]]).Jim Brass has also been this at times, and with Grissom now gone, DB Russell is stepping into the role sometimes.

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'': Mac Taylor, especially with Lindsay and Danny at various times, and Flack and Hawkes every now and then. He's pulled Danny back on track multiple times, given both him and Lindsay advice lots of times,comforted sobbing Danny after Danny's brother got beat, was the only thing that kept Flack from committing career suicide and losing himself drinking after Angell's death, let Hawkes use his spare room after he found out Hawkes got swindled and was homeless,and ended up as godfather to Danny and Lindsay's daughter, Lucy. The only reason Stella and Jo don't factor in much is because they're older, more like TeamMom alongside him than the younger ones.

** King Robb Stark's leadership style, as seen in "The Old Gods and the New", where he takes the time to mingle with the rank and file. He explains that he inherited this mentality from his father, Ned. As for Ned, you don't fuck with his bannermen; when confronted by Jaime at the end of "The Wolf and the Lion", he tries to talk his way out of the situation. It was only when his guards were killed did he bring out his sword.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Colonel Potter to the 4077th M* A* S* H. His predecessor, Henry Blae, is less so for the unit as a whole, but is very much this to Radar. In Henry's final episode, Radar actually explicitly tells Henry he sees him this way, as his own father died when he was very little. [[McLeaned Poor Radar]].

** Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, full stop. This probably has something to do with the horrible death of his wife and daughter stealing his chance to be a literal father. It's most notable with Abby, while Tony seeks his approval in a manner reminiscient of a WellDoneSonGuy (and, in the later seasons, actually gets the 'Well Done'). Ziva, who is the same age as Gibbs' daughter would have been had she lived, has explicitly stated that Gibbs is more of a father to her than her real father, distant {{Chessmaster}} Eli David. Especially now that [[spoiler:Eli is dead]].