History Main / BehindEveryGreatMan

Related to MoustacheDePlume, where the masculine "front" identity is fictional. NeverASelfMadeWoman gives us the reverse ''situation'' (a famed woman is that way because of a male connection) but has a lot of the same underlying assumptions. LadyMacbeth may be (but doesn't have to be) an example. See also PuppetKing if the wife is a consort whose influence is strong enough that she effectively rules the kingdom.

* In "Red Christmas" (a Creator/SteveHockensmith short story collected in ''Literature/NaughtyNineTalesOfChristmasCrime''), Santa Claus has magical abilities and is the sweetest man in the world, but the brain behind operations at the North Pole is Mrs. Claus (who also heads the investigation into the murder of an elf and saves her husband from being kidnapped in the story's climax).

Related to MoustacheDePlume, where the masculine "front" identity is fictional. NeverASelfMadeWoman gives us the reverse ''situation'' (a famed woman is that way because of a male connection) but has a lot of the same underlying assumptions. LadyMacbeth may be (but doesn't have to be) an example. See also PuppetKing if the wife is a consort whose influence is strong enough that she effectively rules a nation.

* The Vorin church of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' believes in this setup, with strictly defined gender roles. The ideal Alethi husband would go out and wage war, while his wife would clerk and record for him. Since only women are supposed to be literate, men rely on female relations to ensure his legacy.

Related to MoustacheDePlume, where the masculine "front" identity is fictional. NeverASelfMadeWoman gives us the reverse ''situation'' (a famed woman is that way because of a male connection) but has a lot of the same underlying assumptions. LadyMacbeth may be (but doesn't have to be) an example. See also PuppetKing if the wife is a consort whose influence is strong enough that she effectively rules the nation.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Queen Mylene is this to King Roland. He forces as much of the work of ruling onto her as he can while he plays around with an ever growing list of concubines and plays hero in disguise as ''The Masked Knight''. At least Roland shows signs of being BrilliantButLazy.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has a variation: while Asgore Dreemurr is [[OneHundredPercentadorationRating loved and respected]] by (almost) all monsters in the underground, according to [[CoolOldGuy Gerson]], the queen was the brains behind the throne and everything went downhill when she left. [[spoiler:She's later revealed to be [[GodWasMyCopilot Toriel]], who left the day Asgore declared war on humanity after having lost their biological son and their adopted human child in one night.]]

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E2Power Power]]" is [[ValuesDissonance derided by fans for its misogynistic overtones]] involving a literal BattleOfTheSexes between a primitive male tribe and a technologically-advanced [[StrawFeminist female tribe that hates men]]. However, the chief of the male tribe Gunn Sarr is portrayed as [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority strong but somewhat dim-witted]] with his wife (a [[AMatchMadeInStockholm captured former leader of the female tribe]]) implied to be secretly running things behind the scenes.

Related to MoustacheDePlume, where the masculine "front" identity is fictional. NeverASelfMadeWoman gives us the reverse ''situation'' (a famed woman is that way because of a male connection) but has a lot of the same underlying assumptions. LadyMacbeth may be (but doesn't have to be) an example. See also PuppetKing if the wife is a consort whose influence is strong enough that she effectively rules a nation through him.

* Walter Keane was widely known for his paintings of large-eyed children...that had been painted by his wife Margaret. Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Keane#Biography states]] that Walter locked Margaret in a room and forced her to paint pictures that he then sold under his name. After a "paint-off" in court in the 1980s, a federal judge ruled that Margaret had the rights to those paintings.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': The Mayor of Townsville had Ms. Sara Bellum who true to her Punny Name was clearly the brains behind the duo.

-->-- '''Creator/AmySchumer''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDk5wDBR3hA Foodroom]]," ''Series/InsideAmySchumer''

-->-- '''Creator/AmySchumer''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDk5wDBR3hA Foodroom]]," ''Inside Amy Schumer''

TheManBehindTheMan is not a DistaffCounterpart, since that can still be a woman and the two overlap. The woman in this trope ''specifically'' cannot claim credit for her own work ''because'' she is a woman. Additionally the TheManBehindTheMan is far more often the puppetmaster, this trope can still have the man being a dominant role if the woman is way too shy or otherwise unwilling to be in the spot, or he is actively stealing her work and gender roles prevent her from resisting this treatment.

Related to MoustacheDePlume, where the masculine "front" identity is fictional. NeverASelfMadeWoman gives us the reverse ''situation'' (a famed woman is that way because of a male connection) but has a lot of the same underlying assumptions. LadyMacbeth may be (but doesn't have to be) an example. See also PuppetKing if the wife is a consort whose influence is strong enough that she effectively rules the nation through him.

* Author-editor Henri Gauthier employed many ghostwriters. His young bride Gaby wrote racy stories of SchoolgirlLesbians, HotForTeacher, etc. He would lock her up daily until she'd produced a certain number of pages. "His" first novel by her sold in the millions, affecting fashions, spawning sequels, and a stage play. Gaby ultimately got a divorce, dating both men and women afterward, and worked independently. The novel was ''Claudine at School'', the author was [[{{Film/Gigi}} Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette]], and nobody today knows or cares who Gauthier was.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', this applies to [[spoiler:[[GodWasMyCopilot Toriel]]]]. According to [[TurtlePower Gerson]], she was the brains behind the throne and [[spoiler:everything went downhill when she left]].

* This trope became a motive for murder in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': a tenured male professor plagiarizes the work of one of his female students, telling her point blank that nobody would've taken her paper seriously if she'd published it under her own name.

** Cersei is the Queen Regent when her son is on the throne, but it's an open secret that she's the one running the show. However, it's subverted the moment he becomes king and goes OffTheRails.
** Olenna Tyrell, Mace Tyrell's elderly mother, is strongly implied to be the real brains in Highgarden. This is made much more explicit in the TV show, where Olenna is the one Tywin Lannister respects as an equal, while Lord Mace is viewed with all the relevance of a child.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Without [[BodyguardCrush Riza Hawkeye]], [[ColonelBadass Roy Mustang]] would have been nothing. She's the one who entrusts the secrets of Flame Alchemy to him, thus making him the WorldsBestWarrior and sticks by his side as his adjuntant for every step of his way until he reaches his goals. Roy is perfectly aware of this, and wants to do his best for her too; in case of going off the deep end and losing the sight of his dreams, he asks her to kill him. She's definitely his LivingEmotionalCrutch and MoralityChain, to the point this gets used against Roy over and over again throughout the series. It's still [[MoralityChain ''thanks to her efforts'']] that he doesn't fall for those traps.

Or in about a hundred variations is a StockPhrase referring to how people rarely achieve greatness without support structures that go generally unappreciated, and said support structure is a traditionally female role via being the wife, mother, or sometimes another relation. This trope is specifically about a man who is credited with something important, but owes much of his success to the woman in his life.

TheManBehindTheMan is not a DistaffCounterpart, since that can still be a woman and the two overlap. The woman in this trope ''specifically'' cannot claim credit for her own work ''because'' she is a woman. Additionally the TheManBehindTheMan is far more often the puppetmaster, this trope can still have the man being a dominant role if the woman is say too shy or otherwise unwilling to be in the spot, or he is actively stealing her work and gender roles prevent her from resisting this treatment.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* This trope became motive for murder in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': a tenured male professor plagiarizes the work of one of his female students, telling her point blank that nobody would've taken her paper seriously if she'd published it under her own name.

* ''Animation/RunningMan'': Liu is the player with the most wins in the game, but other players such as Popo knew that Liu isn't the champion of his home tribe. Liu admitted that the first champion is actually his [[spoiler: older sister named Jean, who mysteriously 'died' and Liu took her place for this reason]].

[[folder: FanWorks]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/AMostViolentYear'': Anna manages all of Abel's personal accounts and is a shrewd businesswoman herself. This ultimately saves his skin in the shipping terminal deal, as she's been skimming enough money from his accounts and setting it aside over the years to cover what his loans cannot. Abel isn't pleased at her secrecy; she isn't pleased that he's been taking the credit for her hard work over the years.

[[folder: Folklore ]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'': Helena G. Wells is actually the one responsible for writing ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' and ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'', but she gives her brother the credit so that she can work on her scientific endeavors in peace.
* In the final episode of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' it is revealed that [[spoiler:Lucille was behind the Bluth Company all along, not George Sr]].
* ''Series/RemingtonSteele'': Laura Holt opens her own PrivateDetective agency, but nobody will hire a female detective. She invents a boss "Remington Steele" and puts his name on the company. Then a conman swoops in and pretends to actually be Steele.
* In the first series of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' it's strongly implied that the queen is actually manipulating things behind the scenes using witchcraft, so she's the one in power rather than her husband Richard IV.
* ''Series/GreysAnatomy'':
** A variation. Meredith comes up with a method to attempt to cure a specific kind of brain tumor with a viral injection. She enlists Derek's help, and the two perform clinical trials on patients who have exhausted all other options. While most of their patients die, they are able to successfully cure one and publish their findings. Derek ends up being the one who gets all the credit for inventing the "Sheppard method". Meredith is pissed for not even being mentioned in the article. Derek chides her for acting emotional and immature, claiming credit doesn't matter. Besides, he is the attending doctor, while she was just a resident. As such, all the risk was his, so it would make sense that the reward would be his as well. After Bailey confronts him about this, she explains that Meredith doesn't really care about her name in the article, only that Derek acknowledge that her help was invaluable. He does it, and the matter is never brought up again.
** This parallels the Christina/Burke situation. After Burke's gunshot wound and surgery, he loses some fine motor control in his hands. He keeps it a secret from everyone, as he would lose his job and status as the best heart surgeon in the state. Christina offers to be present on all his surgeries and take over for him when his hands start to shake under the guise of him teaching her the methods. Eventually, his hands fully recover, and they prepare to get married. He leaves her at the altar (claiming she's not ready for marriage) and moves out. The next big mention of Burke is him winning a prestigious award, which devastates Christina. She gives the Chief a tirade about how none of what she did for Burke appears to matter now. He wouldn't have won the award if not for her helping him get past his crisis and keeping it quiet, and yet he's the world-famous surgeon, and she's still where she was before he left.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E2Power Power]]" is [[ValuesDissonance derided by fans for its misogynistic overtones]] involving a literal BattleOfTheSexes between a primitive male tribe and a technologically-advanced [[StrawFeminist female tribe that hates men]]. However, the chief of the male tribe Gunn Sarr is portrayed as [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority strong but somewhat dim-witted]] with his wife (a [[AMatchMadeInStockholm captured former leader of the female tribe]]) implied to be secretly running things behind the scenes.
* Ferengi women in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are forbidden from engaging in any sort of business. But in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' Quark's mom is a financial genius who bucks the law and tradition to make a sizeable profit for herself under several aliases. Meanwhile, the Grand Nagus, leader of the empire, is starting to go senile. So when the two of them get romantically involved, it only makes sense that she winds up secretly running the entire Ferengi economy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''Literature/FullDisclosure:'' Mrs. Bannerman only has one scene in the book, but is a calculating political thinker who is deeply supportive of her more impetuous husband and jokingly compares herself to Lady Macbeth.

* In Maupassant's novel ''Bel Ami'', Mme. Forestier actually writes the articles published by her journalist husband, and starts doing the same for the VillainProtagonist Duroy after he's hired by her husband and seeks her help. Following M. Forrestier's death, she marries Duroy and continues to do a lot for him behind the scenes, even as he becomes increasingly smug about his own abilities.

* In Loretta Chase's ''Mr. Impossible'', Daphne is a translator of Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Her brother pretends he's the one translating for proprieties' sake. This backfires horribly when he is kidnapped for his translating skills, and has absolutely no clue.

* Downplayed in ''Literature/XanthippicDialogues'', where Xanthippe is a good philosopher in her own right, and her husband discusses things with her a lot. It's just she's so ahead of her time (and Athens were kind of mysogynistic), so her legacy doesn't survive.

[[folder: Religion ]]

* In Judaism, the classic example is the Wife of Valor from the Literature/BookOfProverbs: a strong woman keeping the household while her husband runs the state mattets.

[[folder: Theater ]]

* In the Creator/NoelCoward play ''Nude With Violin'' recently deceased modern artist Paul Sorodin admits in his will that he never painted anything - instead he claimed credit for works by two mistresses and a (male) Jamaican Seventh-Day Adventist.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', both Queen Anora and her father, [[WellIntentionedExtremist Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir]], assert that whilst ruling alongside [[UpperClassTwit Cailan Theirin]], she was the actual stateswoman. It's actually also the reason why she [[spoiler: objects to marrying Alistair if certain conditions haven't been met earlier in the story; she fears that his reign would be very similar to the late King Cailan's]].

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

--> '''Mary Beard''': "One-man rule often brings women into greater prominence, not because they necessarily have any formal power but because, when one person takes key decisions of state in private, anyone with close access to that person is perceived as an influential too. The woman who can whisper in her husband's ear wields more power de facto, rather is often alleged to, than the colleague who can only send official requests and memos. On one occasion, Augustus acknowledged in a letter to the Greek city of Samos that Livia had been putting a good word for it behind the scenes.''
* In ''The Secret History of the Mongol Queens'' author Jack Weatherford's basic thesis is more/less that this trope writ large was the case for UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's ''entire empire''. Mongol women were traditionally expected to manage wealth and run matters while the men were at war (they owned the carts and yurt tents for example) and this was applied through Genghis Khan's daughters and wives of his sons. While all the men were off conquering the world, women held key administrative posts and exercised considerable influence in matters of succession. All perhaps stemming from the circumstances of Genghis Khan's own upbringing where his mother Hoelun was the only reason he lived to adulthood after his minor chieftain father was poisoned and his followers abandoned the family, leaving him with considerable respect for women.
* After UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson's stroke, his wife [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Bolling_Galt_Wilson#Unofficial_acting_presidency Edith]] is commonly thought to have invoked this trope. The 25th Amendment did not exist yet, so there was no mechanism requiring transfer of power from an incapacitated president, and the current VP was considered of lackluster ability anyways in keeping with [[KickedUpstairs American Tradition]]. All she would ever admit to was sorting matters into "Worth bothering Woodrow about" and "Let it wait." And even then, she would summarize documents in the first category so Woodrow wouldn't have to read them himself. And maybe she ''didn't'' make decisions as if she were President herself, but by controlling the flow of information to and from the Oval Office, she had a lot of control over Presidential decisions.
* Wilson's immediate predecessor, UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft, was another case as Helen "Nellie" Taft was a far more natural politician then her husband who, as a devoted lawyer, dreamed only of sitting on the Supreme Court (which he eventually did do, becoming the only person to ever have served as President and Chief Justice). She once claimed in her youth she the man she would marry [[{{Foreshadowing}} would be the President of the United States.]] Sadly this time it was the wife who suffered the debilitating stroke and never recovered completely.

* Author-editor Henri Gauthier employed many ghost writers. His young bride Gaby wrote racy stories of SchoolgirlLesbians, HotForTeacher, etc. He would lock her up daily until she'd produced a certain number of pages. "His" first novel by her sold in the millions, affecting fashions, spawning sequels and a stage play. Gaby ultimately got a divorce, dating both men and women afterward, and worked independently. The novel was ''Claudine at School'', the author was [[{{Film/Gigi}} Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette]], and nobody today knows or cares who Gauthier was.

* Film/The Stepford Wives|2004}}: The town mayor is leading the task of remaking all the women in the city. [[spoiler:The mayor himself is a cyborg, created by his wife, who feels ambitious women ruin a marriage]].

* Literature/TheStepfordWives: The town mayor is leading the task of remaking all the women in the city. [[spoiler:The mayor himself is a cyborg, created by his wife, who feels ambitious women ruin a marriage]].

* Lions are this trope in animal form. Male lions and their majestic manes have been romanticized and symbolized for pretty much all of human history, but by predator standards, they're lazy as sin. It's the ''females'' of the pride that do most of the hunting, while the male is a glorified gigolo who rarely helps with prey. There's a hilarious and woefully-accurate meme where a lioness tries and fails to take down a cape buffalo, while the male lion offers no help whatsoever ''[[AManIsAlwaysEager then tries to mate with her]]''.