History Main / MysteriousEmployer

* The eponymous ship's crew in MissionLevity works for a person only known as "Boss". Throughout the first episode, they don't even know [[spoiler:her]] gender.

* This is an entire category of characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', known in the biz as a "Mr. Johnson." They tend to work for a MegaCorp, and act as liaisons between the legitimate face of a company and our less than legal protagonists. One of the major mysteries behind each mission, for those who care to find out, is exactly ''who'' they are working for and what their motive is. Generally speaking, the first step of any given job is hacking the Johnson's comlink.

** In sixth edition, Saeder-Krupp has started calling its Johnsons "Herr Brackhaus". Veteran runners ask if "Herr Brackhaus" has long silver hair and golden eyes, running for the hills if the answer is "Yes". [[spoiler:In that case, Herr Brackhaus is [[TheDreaded Lofwyr]] in his metahuman form.]]

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', three out of five brigade members each have their own.

* Early in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Mr. Incredible works for a mysterious employer who contacts him through Mirage. [[spoiler:Said mysterious employer is actually Syndrome, AKA Buddy Pine, who wants to kill supers -- especially Mr. Incredible.]]

** In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', the Undersiders are employed by a mysterious person who orders them to do various dramatic crimes. Taylor tries to stay with them as a spy long enough to find out who it is and report back to the heroes. [[spoiler: It turns out to be Coil.]]

** In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', the Undersiders are employed by a mysterious person who orders them to do various dramatic crimes. Taylor is trying to stay with them as a spy long enough to find out who it is and report back to the heroes. [[spoiler: It turns out to be Coil.]]

** In ''Literature/Worm'', the Undersiders are employed by a mysterious person who orders them to do various dramatic crimes. Taylor is trying to stay with them as a spy long enough to find out who it is and report back to the heroes. [[spoiler: It turns out to be Coil.]]

** ''Literature/

* During the ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' storyline "True Believers", the super hero support group Excelsior had a mysterious benefactor who wanted them to rein in the kids. Turns out that it was [[spoiler:Rick Jones, former sidekick to the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica]]. It's subverted, though, when the group got their own comic ''ComicBook/TheLoners'', somehow losing their support.

* In Greg Egan's ''Literature/{{Quarantine}}'', Nick is hired to investigate Laura's disappearance by an anonymous client. While Nick goes on to uncover [[spoiler:the causal foundations of the universe]], he never discovers who his client was.

* [[VoiceOfTheLegion Mr.]] [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Administrator]] of ''WebVideo/EchoChamber'' [[TheFaceless deliberately conceals his identity]] and motivations from the people he hired to create the Wiki/TVTropes vlog, as well as the audience. None of the people working for him have ever met him. [[spoiler:Except Zack, who has apparently been meeting with him for some time, and hiding the fact from Tom and Dana.]]

** ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' has the "Teacher", a mysterious figure who enlists the help of both Bishop Aringarosa and [[EvilAlbino Silas]] in hunting the Holy Grail.

* Ernst Stavro Blofeld is this in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', ''{{Film/Thunderball}}'', and the first half of ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''

* Charlie of ''Series/CharliesAngels''.

* This is an entire category of characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', known in the biz as a "Mr. Johnson." They tend to work for a MegaCorp, and act as liaisons between the legitimate face of a company and our less than legal protagonists. One of the major mysteries behind each mission, for those who care to find out, is exactly ''who'' they are working for and what their motive is. Given the existence of twenty-first century cosmetics, hackers, counter-hackers, and possibly magic, many players would rather just get on with it.

* In the unfinished Dirk Gently novel, ''Literature/TheSalmonOfDoubt'', Dirk's employer is definitely mysterious. Especially because [[AuthorExistenceFailure the book was never finished]].

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* [[OriginalCharacter Trent]] from the S.D. Perry novelization of ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' was written specifically to fill the various PlotHoles between the games (which didn't have a concrete continuity at the time) and to tie up loose ends (he was the one who hired Ada Wong, rather than the "unknown organization" of the games) and operates like this, being ''loaded'' with cash and having intimate knowledge of Umbrella. [[spoiler:His entire motivation is to tear the organization apart as payback for the company having killed his parents]].

* Gordon Freeman's sponsor in ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' is implied to be the G-Man, of which almost nothing is known, but it's pretty clear he isn't human.

* The Commissioner in ''ComicBook/SamAndMax''.
* Miranda Zero in ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency''.
* Mr. Pilgrim from ''ComicBook/SteelgripStarkeyAndTheAllPurposePowerTool''.

* Early in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Mr. Incredible works for a mysterious employer who contacts him through Mirage. [[spoiler:Said mysterious employer is actually Syndrome, AKA Buddy, who wants to kill supers -- especially Mr. Incredible.]]

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': The show invokes this InUniverse when first introducing the audience to Wilson Fisk. It's not Fisk we first meet, but rather his right hand James Wesley, who always makes clear he speaks on behalf of his employer and insists on his employer's name never being said out loud whenever Vladimir tries to use it. Fisk is only heard in voiceover in the first episode, talking to Wesley on a car phone as they do damage control from the Union Allied scandal. It's only at the end of episode 3, after John Healy kills himself upon giving up Fisk's name to Matt, that Fisk physically is introduced to the audience.
* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': There's an InUniverse case when it comes to Luke's arc. Luke is asked by Misty to look into a string of murders that are being committed of young black men who are being recruited by some mystery employer to do dirty work and then get killed off, and to help Cole Miller (whose sister Candace was murdered by Shades on Mariah Dillard's orders a few months ago) before he gets killed. Luke manages to get out of [[ButtMonkey Turk Barrett]] that the new recruit is a player who only calls himself White Hat. White Hat turns out to be Sowande, one of the Hand's leaders. After Cole gets arrested due to Luke and Danny running into one another while trying to interrogate him, Luke goes to jail to try to get some more info out of Cole, but it's clear Cole doesn't know much about his employers at all. Nor their reach, as the Hand have him killed to prevent him from snitching.

* In the ultra-violent WII game ''VideoGame/MadWorld'', Protagonist Jack is sponsored by a shadowy figure with a thick eastern European accent who calls himself "13". As the story progresses he reveals bits of information relevant to the ultimate purpose of "[=DeathWatch=]".

* Somewhat differently, the [[spoiler:Luteces]] from ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', the first people you meet in the game. Who are they? What relevance do they have to the plot? Why do they act so ''weird?'' All of this becomes gradually clearer throughout in the game, and is ''extremely important.''

* Played with in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 2'' series, where the initially quite ordinary boss gradually comes to seem more and more mysterious as the plot thickens.
* Gordon Freeman's sponsor in ''VideoGame/HalfLife''; still no {{reveal}} as to who it is.
** Also the G-Man, unless, [[EpilepticTrees of course]], they are the same person.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': RED and BLU are the mysterious employers, and it's revealed in para-game materials that [[spoiler:the same Administrator runs both teams]].

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* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has the sidequest-giving group known as the Friends of Red Jenny. In the first game, the Warden can deliver them a "small painted box" from the office of Ferelden's [[TheArchmage First Enchanter]]. Asking what they want with it gets the door shut in your face without payment. In the second, a woman known only as "A Friend" can hire Hawke to wipe out nearly a dozen small gangs for them; you only learn who you're working for after the last quest. In the third, one of your rogue companions is a member. She explains that the "Friends" are a loosely-organised group of little people exchanging favours, and the name is a convenient bogeyman; she doesn't actually know if there ever ''was'' a Red Jenny.