History Main / MoleInCharge

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Technically the case in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', which notes that there is a secret organization where [[CityOfSpies every single member is a mole for some other secret organization]]. Which must, logically, include the guy at the top.

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Simply put, this is when TheMole (or ReverseMole) somehow ascends to the position of actually running the organization they have infiltrated. In effect, they try to cause the organization or group to self-destruct, work for their agenda, or [[BecomingTheMask they go completely drunk on the power this new position gives them and corrupt it for their own purposes]]. One variant is for the heroes to wind up in charge of the NebulousEvilOrganization they've been fighting, where they try to steer legions of PsychoForHire types to good ends... usually with mixed results.

* At the end of the first ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' book, [[TheStoic Marsh]] becomes the head of the [[CorruptChurch Steel Ministry]], despite openly being a ReverseMole. Marsh infiltrated the Ministry on behalf of the rebellion, impressing the [[HumanoidAbomination Inquisitors]] so much that they forcibly recruited him into their ranks. Right before [[ActionGirl Vin]] kills him, the Ministry’s god [[GodEmperor the Lord Ruler]] put the Inquisitors in charge of the Ministry, and since Marsh killed all the other Inquisitors, he’s left in charge. The other priests support him either because it was the Lord Ruler's last order, or because he's now [[TheDreaded one of the most terrifying beings in the Final Empire]].

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_P._Laurel José P. Laurel]], the 3rd President of the Philippines, was, unlike the others on this list, a ReverseMole (for the exiled government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines), with a good measure of PromotedToScapegoat thrown in. A ReverseMole who was supposed to be at the top, at that (so, he was TheQuisling too, albeit subverted).

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', Anna names Prince Hans regent while she goes off to look for Elsa. [[spoiler:At this point, his status as a villain hasn't been revealed yet.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has probably the ultimate version of this [[spoiler: when Lelouch becomes Emperor in the final act of season 2, all with the intent of making ''everyone'' hate him and the Britannia policies so much they will turn away from it once he's assassinated.]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' ends with [[spoiler: COBRA agent Zartan having replaced and imprisoned the real U.S. President]], and it continues on into its sequel, ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation''.

* ''Film/RoboCop2014'': Crime boss Antoine Vallon has both the lead DPD detectives investigating him, [[spoiler:as well as the Detroit Chief of Police]] on his payroll.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* One episode of ''Series/YesPrimeMinister'' revolved around the revelation that a former head of MI5 had, during his time in office, been a Russian agent.

** ''Literature/TinkerTailorSoldierSpy'' does this, [[spoiler:more or less. TheMole is nominally the number 2 member of the organization, but actually in control of it.]] It was inspired by the unearthing of the Cambridge Five, who included Kim Philby (see below).

* Yu Han Sung and Augusgus from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' are test directors of the regime of Jahad, supervising two of the most important floors of the Tower, yet in secret, [[spoiler: they are working for the terrorist syndicate FUG and know how to use their positions to their advantage.]]

* Yu Han-Sung and Augusgus from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' are test directors of the regime of Zahard, supervising two of the most important floors of the Tower, yet in secret, [[spoiler: they are working for the terrorist syndicate FUG and know how to use their positions to their advantage.]]

** ''Literature/TheQuestForKarla'': ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'' does this, [[spoiler:more or less. TheMole is nominally the number 2 member of the organization, but actually in control of it.]] It was inspired by the unearthing of the Cambridge Five, who included Kim Philby (see below).

** ''Literature/TheQuestForKarla'': ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy]]'' does this, [[spoiler:more or less. TheMole is nominally the number 2 member of the organization, but actually in control of it.]] It was inspired by the unearthing of the Cambridge Five, who included Kim Philby (see below).

Unlike LesCollaborateurs, the Mole In Charge keeps those loyalties secret. He does not need to be the single mole in the organization, there may be many others at strategic locations within it. This gives the hero a big problem, because some members of the organization '''are''' what they are supposed to be, and others are villains who [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse Look Just Like Everyone Else]]. By force, the hero goes paranoid at any given member of the organization, unable to know if he's one of the good or bad guys.

* ''Fanfic/OutOfTheCornerOfTheEye'' has Director Joseph White. Nominally [[WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures Captain Black's]] superior, administrative leader of Section 13 and head of its psychological division, he's also a servant of the [[Literature/CthulhuMythos Outer Gods]] (in fact, he's implied to be a member of the [[Literature/TheDunwichHorror Whateley]] family).

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In the prequel trilogy, Senator Palpatine becomes Chancellor of the Republic and [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] is the mastermind behind [[Film/ThePhantomMenace the invasion of Naboo]] and [[Film/AttackOfTheClones the Separatist Crisis]], which turns into [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars the]] [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Clone]] [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Wars]]. They're the same person, whose ultimate goal is the downfall of the Republic and destruction of the Jedi Order, to be replaced with his own Empire. [[TheBadGuyWins This succeeds.]] It then evolves into the conflict of the Galactic Civil War in the original trilogy (Episodes IV-VI).

* Creator/DavidWeber is ''very'' fond of this trope. The third book in Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes has it. The taking over of Literature/{{Safehold}} by the staff of the colony ships. ''Wind Riders Oath'' in the [[Literature/TheWarGods Bahzell]] series has ''several'' of them. Much of the backstory and the conclusion of ''Literature/PrinceRoger''. The ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books managed to avoid them for quite some time, but then the Mesans, with an entire multi-generational network of moles, appeared. The entire Legislaturalist class were Alpha lines.

* In [[{{Literature/Lensmen}} The Lensmen Chronicles]] ''Second Stage Lensman'', Lensman Kinnison goes undercover into the enemy military and [[KlingonPromotion works his way up]] to become a military dictator, Tyrant of Thrale, to find out who TheManBehindTheMan is and to sabotage an upcoming battle.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'' novel ''Mercy Kill'', the A-plot follows a team of Wraiths assembled under Face Loran at the behest of his boss, General Maddeus, head of Galactic Alliance Intelligence. Their job is to look into the head of the army, General Stavin Thaal, and see if he has any connection to the "Lecersen Conspiracy", a plot by hard-line loyalists to return power to the Empire. It transpires that [[spoiler: not only is Thaal part of the conspiracy, but ''so is Maddeus''. He was worried that evidence might link them to the other known conspirators, so he sent Face to find it and report back to him, allowing him to tip off Staal before the Wraiths could catch him. Then, he would eliminate both Face and the leaks he had revealed. Face [[KansasCityShuffle outmaneuvers him]] by arranging for two teams of Wraiths [[FeedTheMole while reporting on the actions of a third, fictitious, team]]; when Maddeus tries to warn Thaal about the fake Wraiths, his cover is blown.]]

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan is this [[DoubleAgent twice over]] -- hired by the Clark government to spite the Minbari because of their perception of him as a war criminal, but actually a highly placed member of LaResistance, sent to determine the B5 crew's loyalty or lack thereof to the increasingly fascist EarthGov.

* Lena Smith in ''Series/{{Covert Affairs}}''.
* On ''Series/CriminalMinds'' the BAU team have been called in by the CIA to find a mole in their ranks, [[spoiler:the mole was the Deputy Director.]]
** In addition, in the episode "Amplification", the BAU is looking for someone who unleashed an anthrax attack onto a group of people in a park. The person who did it turns out to be a [[spoiler:high-ranking researcher for a government anti-terrorism agency. He unleashed the attack because he wanted the American populace to take terrorism more seriously and to demonstrate vulnerabilities in his agency's methods.]]

* In ''Series/TheHour'' , the rumoured Soviet mole in Creator/TheBBC ultimately turns out to be [[spoiler:Clarence]].
* On ''Series/{{Intelligence 2006}}'', a seasons-spanning storyline involved the discovery of a CIA mole in the highest echelons of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and its fallout.
* The series finale of ''Series/{{Intelligence 2014}}'' revealed that [[spoiler: Weatherly, the Director of Central Intelligence]] was a deep-cover Iranian mole.
* ''Series/MacGyver2016'' has [[spoiler: Patricia Thorton, who was trying to stop Mac from finding out about Nikki being a deep cover agent trying to expose Patricia.]]

* Happens twice in ''Series/TheSandbaggers'', complete with references to Philby. [[spoiler: Burnside makes sure they are both killed.]]

* During his tenure as President of the Screen Actors Guild, [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Ronald Reagan]] was a secret FBI informant who got many of his colleagues [[UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist blacklisted]] for alleged or proven Communist sympathies.