History Main / InspectorJavert

%%%* Detective Harvey Bullock of ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' and ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (to a lesser extent in the latter). ''Batman'' himself can sometimes fall into this.

* ''BatmanBeyond:'' Barbara tends to come off as such towards Terry. It's shown to its greatest extent in "Eyewitness," in which Spellbinder uses his illusion technology to make Barbara believe that Batman had murdered Mad Stan in cold blood. When he is exposed and promptly arrested, Spellbinder takes the time to taunt Barbara:

* Numerous characters from the ''LawAndOrder'' universe go through this from time to time, but the most egregious examples have been Jack [=McCoy=] and Elliot Stabler, both of whom have done things during cases that should have gotten them fired or even locked up.

%%%* Inspector Russell Flint in Tom Sharpe's novel ''Wilt''. He's even worse in TheMovie based on the book.

* Paula Myo from the ''PandorasStar'' series by Peter F. Hamilton is genetically engineered to be an Inspector Javert, to the point where she turns in [[spoiler:her parents, who kidnapped her at birth]] for their crimes. When circumstances force her to decide between arresting the WellIntentionedExtremist and saving the human race from extinction, she suffers a near-fatal nervous breakdown.[[note]]Technically a direct homage to ''Literature/LesMiserables'', since Javert DOES suffer a nervous breakdown [[spoiler: (and commits suicide),]] when Valjean's compassion forces him to confront the reality that [[ToBeLawfulOrGood morality and law are not the same thing]].[[/note]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** The Ministry of Magic much of the time, especially under the Fudge administration -- especially in Book Five, or with Sirius Black in general.
** Umbridge initially seems to be this, in her first appearance by Book 5. By ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', though, she has more of a LawfulEvil alignment, as it's clear that the law is more just a way to quench some sadistic and power-hungry impulses (whereas, an InspectorJavert follows the law to the letter because they believe in the ''moral'' rightness of it).

* OlderThanRadio: ''Literature/LesMiserables'' named the trope with the original Inspector Javert. In his face, the narrator describes seeing "what could be called [[PureIsNotGood all the evil]] [[LawfulGood of good]]." Javert subverted the trope of maniacal lawfulness once in the book: during the street brawl of Fantine and Monsieur Bamatabois, he thought her guilty of everything and refused to hear how she had been attacked, because she was a prostitute. A character true to the spirit of the trope would have accused both of them. This may be more of a display of idealism than [[LawfulStupid stupidity]]--Fantine, being a prostitute, was already a law-breaker, whereas Monsieur Bamatabois was 'innocent.' Similarly, he refuses to accept that Jean Valjean was not necessarily in the wrong when he stole a loaf of bread.
* John Mandrake, from ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy'', is a fairly high-ranking government official charged with wiping out the Resistance. He genuinely believes the Government to be in the right, [[spoiler: and continues hunting down the final member of the Resistance until the government collapses and demons attack London.]]
%%%* Inquisitor Thaddeus in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel "Bleeding Chalice".
* The Furies in the first ''PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' book, which makes sense as this is essentially their function in ClassicalMythology, particularly in Theatre/TheOresteia, where the Furies relentlessly pursue Orestes.
%%%* Jan Bublanski in ''[[TheMillenniumTrilogy The Girl Who Played with Fire]]''.

%%%* Chauvelin of ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' -- hmmm... must be a French thing.
* In the ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Blood Pact'' Inquisitor Rime seems too eager to see Gaunt guilty of being a Chaos agent. When [[spoiler: it turns out that Rime is really a Chaos officer]], things suddenly make so much sense.

* The FBI agents in the DaleBrown novel ''A Time for Patriots'' are obsessed with putting Patrick [=McLanahan=] away, convinced that he's a RightWingMilitiaFanatic.

** To be fair, she's absolutely right.

* Played with in "DeathNote". The master-detective [[GoodIsNotNice L]] appears to be this in the eyes of the other characters, particularly Chief Yagami, in his absolutely relentless pursuit of VillainProtagonist [[LightIsNotGood Light]] [[AGodAmI Yagami]], as he has no real reason to believe that Light is guilty and his methods are extreme. Subverted in that he's actually right about Light, who really is a brutal SerialKiller... Then L becomes this for real during the Yotsuba arc when [[spoiler: Light's [[MemoryGambit memory is erased]]]], since Light is no longer Kira at that time and L continues to pursue him passionately. However, once [[spoiler: Light's memory is restored]], Light is guilty again and L's actions become justified, bringing him back to SympatheticInspectorAntagonist status.

* Played with in "DeathNote". L becomes this during the Yotsuba arc when [[spoiler: Light's [[MemoryGambit memory is erased]]]], since Light is no longer Kira at that time and L continues to pursue him relentlessly. However, once [[spoiler: Light's memory is restored]], Light is guilty again and L's actions become justified.

** Umbridge initially seems to be this, in her first appearance by Book 5. By ''DeathlyHallows'', though, she has more of a LawfulEvil alignment, as it's clear that the law is more just a way to quench some sadistic and power-hungry impulses (whereas, an InspectorJavert follows the law to the letter because they believe in the ''moral'' rightness of it).

* Noel In {{Blazblue}} is this when she comes across Ragna, the highest bounty criminal wanted by her organisation NOL.

* The cops and prosecutors from ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' are similar to the ones in ''PerryMason''... well, except for [[spoiler:Manfred von Karma]] in the first game, [[spoiler:who knows damn well who the real killers are, being one of them himself.]]

* The cops and prosecutors from ''PerryMason''. This is a slight variant in that they believe the hero's clients to be guilty, rather than the hero himself.

* Eric Finch from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', to the point that he goes to where V was created and takes LSD in an effort to get into V's mindset. Subverted slightly in that, 1. he is one of most decent people in the book, and 2. V isn't as much "heroic" as he is a "psychotic anarchist".

* Paula Myo from the ''Pandora's Star'' series by Peter F. Hamilton is genetically engineered to be an Inspector Javert, to the point where she turns in [[spoiler:her parents, who kidnapped her at birth]] for their crimes. When circumstances force her to decide between arresting the WellIntentionedExtremist and saving the human race from extinction, she suffers a near-fatal nervous breakdown.[[note]]Technically a direct homage to ''Literature/LesMiserables'', since Javert DOES suffer a nervous breakdown [[spoiler: (and commits suicide),]] when Valjean's compassion forces him to confront the reality that [[ToBeLawfulOrGood morality and law are not the same thing]].[[/note]]

* John Mandrake, from the ''Bartimaeus'' trilogy, is a fairly high-ranking government official charged with wiping out the Resistance. He genuinely believes the Government to be in the right, [[spoiler: and continues hunting down the final member of the Resistance until the government collapses and demons attack London.]]

* Emile Severin from ''[[http://www.sire.smackjeeves.com Sire.]]'' He rescues Susan and Anna, only to slug Susan for her own brutality, then takes them to his boss. It's apparent that he couldn't care less about them, so long as each gets what they deserve. It doesn't hurt that [[spoiler:He's related to the actual Javert,]] [[http://sire.smackjeeves.com/comics/746546/chapter-3-page-5/ either.]]

* L of "DeathNote" becomes this during the Yotsuba arc when [[spoiler: Light's [[MemoryGambit memory is erased]]]], since Light is no longer Kira at that time and L has no real reason to suspect him anymore.

* [[Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman Gatchaman]] [[{{Expy}} Expies]] the S-Force[[note]]A pun on "G-Force", one of the three English dubbed versions of the show[[/note]] from ''MegasXLR'' come to Earth to fight Coop because they think he's a bad guy. So does their regular arch-nemesis, who wants to [[WeCanRuleTogether team up with him]]. Coop's attempts to prove that he is a good guy don't work out very well.

* Klaus Wulfenbach from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. He's chasing down Agatha when she hasn't done anything yet...but he has ''very good reason'' to not want an "untried Heterodyne heir" running amok through Europe. He also believes her to be The Other, given that the last time he met Agatha she was possessed by The Other. In the current arc, he'd be willing to ignore his grievous injuries and knock down Castle Heterodyne to get at her...if his own son wasn't in there too.

* ''Literature/TheFearIndex'' has Leclerc who by the end is completely convinced that Alex is mentality unhinged and tries to stop him.

--->'''Hobbs:''' Give me those documents. *throws them aside* All I care about is that Toretto is a name on a list!

Inspector Javert is the well-intentioned law enforcement officer (or detective, or BountyHunter) who honestly (if sometimes wrongly) believes that the hero is a bad guy and doggedly pursues him in a SternChase, seeking to get him.

He does not realize that the hero is either [[ClearMyName Wrongly Accused]], or has already redeemed himself for crimes done long ago. Inspector Javert may be the reason the hero has to keep moving among AdventureTowns. Often the only way to slow him down is to defeat other violent criminals, then leave them for the Inspector to arrest and process before he can resume the chase.

* Detective Heinrich Runge in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' takes this to the point that [[DeconstructedTrope he knowingly destroys his life.]] To Runge's credit, he eventually learns the truth of the situation, apologizes to Tenma, [[spoiler:takes down Roberto]], and eventually [[spoiler:reconnects with his daughter.]]

* Detective Heinrich Runge in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' takes this to the point that [[DeconstructedTrope he knowingly destroys pretty much his entire life.]] To Runge's credit, he eventually learns the truth of the situation, apologizes to Tenma, [[spoiler:takes down Roberto]], and eventually [[spoiler:reconnects with his daughter.]]

** It's also pretty much confirmed that [[BadassGrandpa Vice-Admiral Garp]] was this to Gold Roger. [[spoiler:He still agreed to raise Roger's son, at the other's request.]]

%%%* Pretty much every other detective that goes after ''LupinTheThird'' aside from [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Inspector Zenigata]].

* When it comes to hunting down the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]], General Ross slides between this, GeneralRipper and KnightTemplar. Of course HeWhoFightsMonsters comes into play [[spoiler: literally as in his pursuit of destroying the Hulk he himself becomes the RedHulk.]]

* All forms of law enforcement in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' are after the brothers for the various crimes they have committed and been framed for over the course of their demon hunting careers. At one point when they realise that the FBI has an entire division working on their case they just sit, stare at each other and realise just how royally screwed they are if anyone catches them.\\

* Bilar Crais from ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' is a combo if this and ItsPersonal, spending pretty much all of Season 1 being the BigBad, trying to bring to justice/get revenge on John for accidentally causing the death of Crais' brother.

** In the Mage path and if Hawke is a Mage, she believes that in addition to orchestrating the rebellion, they're using BloodMagic to corrupt her fellow Templars and turn them against her. She becomes even ''more'' convinced of this when Knight-Captain Cullen finally has enough of her tyranny and tells her that if she wants to arrest Hawke, she has to [[GoThroughMe go through him]] first. Of course at that point in the game it's obvious that she's [[spoiler: been driven kind of insane by the Lyrium Idol.]]

* Miko Miyazaki from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' at first, until she pretty much [[ObstructiveZealot goes off the deep-end]] thinking she is the 12 gods' vessel.

* Agent James Bennet in ''TheZetaProject'' genuinely believes that Zeta has been turned against them and is a threat. Despite the number of times he has saved people, the comments of his own team, not to mention the time Zeta saved his own son.\\

* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}} WALL•E]]'': The Microbe Obliterator (M-O) takes great pride in his work. Whatever contaminants enter his domain are throughly purged with the efficiency only a robot can have. He sees WALL•E as a cancer upon the great Axiom, as the trash-compacting robot unintentionally leaves filth and pestilence in his wake. M-O knows not and cares not for why WALL•E has come to the Axiom. He only knows that WALL•E must be cleansed. Nothing will distract him from his goal. Not distance, not danger, not even the rules that he has lived by his entire life. The road is long, for he must purge the filth that serves as his trail to the heretic. But when he finds WALL•E, he will be at his weakest. He will be at his mercy. And he will be ''cleansed''. [[spoiler: And then they'll become BFF. [[hottip:*: For those without a sense of humor, M-O is pretty much the most adorable example ever. He's actually after WALL•E because WALL•E is threatening his germ free domain. After giving WALL•E a thorough clean-up, they become best buds.]]]]

** Completely subverted in the case of [[spoiler: Chloe O'Brien]] in the final season. [[spoiler: Chloe]] initially doesn't believe Jack's claims that [[spoiler: The Russian government is really behind all the attacks on New York since she's worried he's snapped after the murder of Renee Walker.]] She's wrong about them not being involved. [[spoiler: She's right about everything else. In the end Chloe now has to expose the Russians as the real villains and simultaneously [[SaveTheVillain keep Jack from killing them and starting an international crisis]], instead making her a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist.]]

* ''JudgeDredd'': Old Stone Face can go here. Oh how he can go here.
* Eric Finch from ''VForVendetta'', to the point that he goes to where V was created and takes LSD in an effort to get into V's mindset. Subverted slightly in that, 1. he is one of most decent people in the book, and 2. V isn't as much "heroic" as he is a "psychotic anarchist".

* Maiev Shadowsong is a subversion in ''{{Warcraft}} III: The Frozen Throne''. After all, the man she's hunting -- Illidan Stormrage -- had already slaughtered entire Elven villages and burned them to the ground.