History Main / NoOneSeesTheBoss

* The BigBad of the fifth part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', [[spoiler: Diavolo]], is this trope embodied, to the point where he uses the name 'the Boss' [[TheParanoiac and is absolutely obsessed with remaining unseen]]. This trope is basically what the character is based around. [[spoiler:This is deconstructed in the non-canon ''LightNovel/PurpleHazeFeedback'' after he's killed. [[TheHero Giorno]] takes over as boss, and pretends that he was the boss all along. [[ElCidPloy Turns out that if no one knows what you look like, anyone can impersonate you...]]]]

* The BigBad of the fifth part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', [[spoiler: Diavolo]], is this trope embodied, to the point where he uses the name 'the Boss' [[TheParanoiac and is absolutely obsessed with remaining unseen]]. This trope is basically what the character is based around. [[spoiler:This is deconstructed in the non-canon ''LightNovel/PurpleHazeFeedback'' after he's killed. [[TheHero Giorno]] takes over as boss, and pretends that he was the boss all along. Turns out that if no one knows what you look like, anyone can impersonate you...]]

* The Big Bad of the fifth part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', [[spoiler: Diavolo]], is this trope embodied, to the point where he uses the name 'the Boss' and is absolutely obsessed with remaining unseen. This trope is basically what the character is based around. [[spoiler:This is deconstructed in the non-canon ''LightNovel/PurpleHazeFeedback'' after he's killed. Giorno takes over as boss, and pretends that he was the boss all along. Turns out that if no one knows what you look like, anyone can impersonate you...]]

* ''Series/Loki2021'': The [[TimePolice Time Variance Authority]] is run by "The Time-Keepers", three mysterious beings who oversee the proper flow of time. While they appear in artwork throughout the TVA's offices and orientation videos the only person allowed to meet with them in person on a regular basis is Judge Ravonna Renslayer. After being captured Loki and Sylvie are finally granted an audience with the mysterious beings. The Time-Keepers turn out to be [[RoboticReveal elaborate animatronics]] acting as a front for [[spoiler: "He Who Remains", a Variant of [[Characters/KangTheConqueror Kang the Conqueror]]]] who's the [[TheManBehindTheCurtain real creator]] of the TVA.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]

* Another ''Pyramid'' article, [[http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=2177 "A Fistful of Tunes You Can Whistle"]] for ''TabletopGame/DiscworldRoleplayingGame'', is set in a SpaghettiWestern style town run by the barking mad Varozag family. The head of the family is never seen, but "Don Dominguo orders it!" is the standard justification for their odder demands. The article suggests that an actual encounter with the Don could serve as the climax of a scenario -- live or stuffed.

* None of the Elder Powers from ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' have been seen or heard from in person since the final chapter of the first game. The [[ChurchMilitant Guilds]] dedicated to them that players can join aren't even run by the Powers directly, but by intermediaries. Some of those intermediaries hold to pretty [[WordOfDante narrow]] interpretations of their patron Power's goals, and there's a lot of disagreement both among player characters and backstory characters as to what each Power actually wants.

** Similarly, the head honchos of ''WesternAnimation/CoolMcCool'' and ''[[Creator/{{Terrytoons}} James Hound]]'' are heard but never seen.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' tries to talk to the U.S. President in "The Statue Of Liberty Caper," but the Commander-In-Chief is surrounded by Secret Service agents.
-->'''Danger Mouse:''' Uh...nice to have almost met you!

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The Big Bad of the fifth part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', [[spoiler: Diavolo]], is this trope embodied, to the point where he uses the name 'the Boss' and is absolutely obsessed with remaining unseen. This trope is basically what the character is based around. [[spoiler:This is deconstructed in the non-canon ''LightNovel/PurpleHazeFeedback'' after he's killed. Giorno takes over as boss, and pretends that he was the boss all along. Turns out that if no one knows what you look like, anyone can impersonate you...]]
* ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'' has this secret international organization of bug-themed assassins which is managed by front man Suzumebachi. Its members believe he is in fact the boss, but he states the real boss is already overseeing the Arachnid Hunt contest inside the Ouran High School. We soon learn that the boss is the local StudentCouncilPresident, a creepy young girl named Sara. However, [[spoiler:it turns out neither she nor the one she is revealed to be a servant of are really the boss. The actual boss is Yoriko, the heroine's supposed first friend. She has been in control of Japan for the past century thanks to a condition that makes her ageless for as long as she is able to mantain absolute mental control over somebody]].

* There was a story arc in ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' newspaper comic where the Phantom busted a gang whose leader spoke to his underlings via radio from a secret location and had never been seen. He turned out to be the mousy-looking accountant type who collected the gang's takings.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'': (Captain) Jack believes this to be the case when no one has seen the captain or heard him, instead taking orders from the first mate (his purported daughter), and starts a mutiny by getting the crew to realize it. Unfortunately, this backfires when it turns out Blackbeard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szUEkiRPQwQ is in fact very much present and in command.]]
* The mysterious boss in Fritz Lang's ''Film/TheLastWillOfDrMabuse'' who gives out his orders from behind a curtain.
* The unseen head of SPECTRE in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' and ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', whose identity is concealed even from his own criminal executives (but not his RightHandCat). The following film ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' had Blofeld's identity revealed to the audience, and he works among hundreds of mooks who see his face without a care.
* Dr Vulcan in the 1949 Republic FilmSerial ''King of the Rocket Men'', seen only as a voice and a shadow on the wall. He's later exposed as one of the scientists our hero is working with.
* ''Film/RioLobo'': Ever since first establishing his hold over the area, sinister land baron Ketcham rarely ventures off his well-guarded ranch, leaving Sheriff Hendricks to oversee his interests, and rule over the townspeople. This is implied to be motivated by cowardice, given the number of enemies he has.
* ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'': Mr. Wilford, the head of the train, never leaves the engine room and passes up most to all opportunities to speak to the train over the intercom. Until the last twenty minutes of the movie the audience could be forgiven for wondering whether or not he's an InventedIndividual.
* In ''Film/TheSleepingCardinal'', Holmes explains that none of Moriarty's underlings know what he looks like, meaning none of them can implicate him if they are caught. He is shown delivering his threats to Roland Adair from behind a portrait of "[[TitleDrop The Sleeping Cardinal]]" and giving orders to the forger Godfrey through a speaker in the ventilator.

* The Creator in ''Literature/SwordOfTruth''. While the earlier books almost flat out show that he exists, later books start to imply that he's a figurative entity that has no actual consciousness, but is the essence of all good and righteousness. The same is ''NOT'' true of his [[GodOfEvil opposite]], [[DevilButNoGod the Keeper of the Underworld.]]
* In ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday'', the BigGood who hired all the policemen to infiltrate the anarchists has never actually been seen, allowing each policeman only one brief conversation in a darkened room. Meanwhile, no one seems to have met the BigBad Sunday at all. [[spoiler: They're the same person.]]

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'':
** Sir from the fourth book constantly has his face surrounded by a cloud of cigar smoke, so even though he frequently occupies the same room as the protagonists, they never actually see him, at one point making them wonder if he is Count Olaf in disguise.
** Babs in the eighth book has the belief that "Children should be seen and not heard", therefore as she an adult, she should be heard and not seen. Because of this, she communicates with all of her employees of an intercom system, even going as far as to never enter her own office, and instead places a intercom on her desk to speak to whomever enters.

* In the ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogy, no one has ever seen the BigBad living GodOfEvil Jupiter, not even the rats who worship him. He can see things anywhere through an extension of himself in [[FortuneTeller Madame Akkikuyu's]] CrystalBall. It turns out the reason he never lets his rat minions see him because [[spoiler:he's actually a monstrous ''[[CatsAreMean cat]]''.]]
* In the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse Section 31'' novels, the eponymous organisation is run by a figure called Control, who only appears to the Directors, and even then only as a {{Sinister Silhouette|s}} generically-humanoid hologram with a disguised voice. It's generally believed by the Directors that one of them could eventually succeed to the position, but further research suggests that this has ''never'' happened. [[spoiler: Control is actually a three-hundred-year-old AI data monitoring program that decided "report any suspicious activity to appropriate authorities" wasn't enough of a response.]]
* In ''Literature/BridgeOfBirds'', nobody communicates with the current Duke of Qin except through his assistant, a timid little man called the Key Rabbit, who serves as an intermediary and holds the keys, as the name suggests. [[spoiler:This is because he is in fact the Duke, UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi himself, having become immortal and apparently less recognizable than the portraits would suggest.]]

* ''Literature/FoundationAndEmpire'', by ''Creator/IsaacAsimov'', revolves around the enigmatic Mule- a galactic conqueror who orchestrates a takeover of the entire galaxy. Despite the Mule's description being revealed in the very first words of the book, this is later discounted. Throughout the story, the Mule himself, his appearance, and the equally mysterious power that enabled him to overthrow the galactic authorities so quickly, are kept under absolute secrecy by his forces. And then, at the end, [[spoiler:It turns out he was with the main characters the whole time.]]
* ''Literature/AccidentalDetectives'': In ''Sunrise at The Mayan Temple'', Señor Castillo, the owner of the archeological site, is constantly away on business while his assistant Roderick Kay manages things. Many of the locals believe Castillo to to be the embodiment of a god demanding HumanSacrifice, while Kay claims that there are rumors that Castillo is dead; having been sacrificed to that very God, and the local police consider him a person of interest in smuggling operations. [[spoiler:It eventually turns turns out that Castillo is an InventedIndividual and [[ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetMaster Kay is the real boss]]]].
* ''Literature/DontCareHigh'': The Principal has abandoned any effort to exert authority over the school, and the students don't even know his ''name''. He just spends all day in his office, working on PA announcements which emphasize the SuckySchool nature of the place and which he reads off like comedy sketches while doing his best to avoid dealing with anyone or anything else.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', this trope is the reason that Heaven is so screwed up. Apparently only four angels have ever actually seen God, which doesn't include Joshua, the only angel He seems to really ''talk'' to. As a result, half of the angels don't even believe God exists and some of them have decided that there's no point trying to obey their [[ParentalAbandonment errant father]] and that they might as well do [[TheHedonist whatever they want]]. The few who do believe in their Father and are loyal to Him express it [[WellDoneSonGuy in]] [[TheDutifulSon different]] [[OnlySaneEmployee ways]], and the whole situation eventually degenerates into an outright civil war.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': In one episode, [[spoiler:the errand boy]] is actually the boss, but nobody realises because the real boss was around, but is now [[spoiler:in a coma]]. Another episode centers around a street gang whose leader only communicates with one lieutenant via email, [[spoiler:because the lieutenant murdered him and has been emailing himself to become the gang's de facto leader.]]

* In the first half or so season of ''Series/{{Soap}}'', the head of the Mafia was like this. (He later appeared, negating his [[BuffySpeak this-trope-ness.]])
--> "Nobody sees Mr. Lefkowitz. Not even ''Mrs.'' Lefkowitz."
* Number One in ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'', until the final episode anyway. [[spoiler:[[MindScrew Except not]]. [[GainaxEnding Maybe]].]]

* ''Series/InPlainSight'', the US Marshals transport a man who is the go-between for a mysterious female assassin known as "Lola", who agreed to inform on her after being caught in a sting. It turns out [[spoiler: There is no "Lola", he is the assassin, and he let himself be caught just so he could get at a target in the jail he was being held at, confident his lieutenants would free him from the marshalls.]]
* ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'' gave us Management, who never emerges from his caravan and has his orders relayed by Samson. Once Jonesy works up the courage to enter the caravan only to find it empty. Samson claims that Management has the power to make himself incorporeal, but Jonesy naturally thinks Samson is just pulling the fake boss trick on them. At the end of the episode however, Samson enters the caravan and gets spoken to by Management directly. He still remains TheFaceless until Season 2, where it's revealed that his self-isolation is mainly because [[spoiler:he lost an arm and both legs during World War One.]]
* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': The mysterious mastermind behind Project Centipede, known only as The Clairvoyant. He seems to live up to the name, staying several steps ahead of the SHIELD agents as if he can read their minds and foresee their actions. The Clairvoyant never meets anyone in person, giving orders to Centipede operatives only by telephone or text message. [[spoiler: In reality, he is a turncoat SHIELD agent with high-level security clearance, which he uses to read SHIELD's files (including the psychological profiles, mission reports, and planning documents of other agents).]]
* In one episode of ''Series/MissionImpossible'', the IMF infiltrate a conspiracy of former Nazi leaders intent on establishing a Fourth Reich, allegedly lead by a bedridden official from Hitler's original Third Reich, whose bed is obscured by a curtain and who always gives orders through his [[TheDragon Dragon]]. [[spoiler: When it turns out the leader is just a dummy and a series of tape recordings, Rollin poses as the official (claiming to be recovering from his illness) in order to drive a wedge between the dragon, who knows the man doesn't exist and that Rollin can only be an impostor, and the rest of the conspiracy, who do not, and believe that the dragon is irrationally attacking their beloved leader.]]

* In ''Series/ColdCase'', a circus is ostensibly run by "Management". When pressed, the little person, who manages the carnies, replies that it's a group of investors from various parts of the world. [[spoiler:It actually turns out to be the circus's resident giant, who is actually smarter than he lets on and is the real killer]].
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Wilson Fisk likes to keep everything about his syndicate hidden and buried, and that extends to having the majority of his henchmen get their orders from an intermediary rather than from Fisk directly. In the first season, this is handled by James Wesley. In the third season, Fisk is under "house arrest", so the only ones who take direct orders from him are the corrupt FBI agents ostensibly "guarding" him. Everyone else gets their orders from Felix Manning.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the Shadow Broker has never been seen by anyone--not even his closest operatives. [[spoiler:Turns out that the Broker is a yahg, a primitive species that are pretty much good at ''anything'' they care to try. He's later killed by Shepard and Liara, and to cement how good he was at his job, [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt Liara takes his place without anyone knowing there was a change.]] In fact, this is exactly how the yahg took control from the previous Broker.]]

* The leader of the Enclave in VideoGame/Fallout3, President Eden, is unseen, with [[TheDragon Dragon]], Colonel Autumn, being the only one who know's his true identity. he seems to spend his time broadcasting messages about the glory of pre-nuclear holocaust America on the Enclave's radio station. [[spoiler:Eden is later revealed to be the maintenance system for Raven Rock, who took over the Enclave after the previous leader was killed.]]

-->-- ''Film/{{Revolver}}''

* Sam Gold in ''Film/{{Revolver}}''. He ''does'' exist. Kinda. [[spoiler:But he's all in your head. Sorta. He's in ''everybody's'' heads. MetaphoricallyTrue. And he's also {{Satan}}. Maybe. [[MindScrew This movie is weird like that.]]]]

* The Big Bad of the fifth part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', [[spoiler: Diavolo]], is this trope embodied, to the point where he uses the name 'the Boss' and is absolutely obsessed with remaining unseen. This trope is basically what the character is based around. [[spoiler:This is deconstructed in the non-canon ''LightNovel/PurpleHazeFeedback'' after he's killed. Giorno takes over as boss, and pretends that he was the boss all along. Turns out that if no one knows what you look like, anyone can impersonate you...]]

* In ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', Mr. Grizz in the Salmon Run mode is portrayed as just a bear statue with an antenna on it, as we never get to see who is ''really'' speaking through said statue.

* The Shadowy Figure of ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'' is always shown as a silhouette, even during Level 10 when he becones a recurring enemy. He finally subverts this in his boss fight, where he reveals himself as [[spoiler:Z Sabre, the 20X6 version of Coach Z]].

* The villain of ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'' is always shown as a silhouette, but since that game actually doesn't have a final level, this means that we will ''never'' get to see what he really looks like. The general guess from fans is that he’s the 20X6 version of Coach Z, but we don’t have any concrete evidence.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Wilson Fisk likes to keep everything about his syndicate hidden and buried, and that extends to having the majority of his henchmen get their orders from an intermediary (James Wesley in season 1, Felix Manning in season 3) rather than from Fisk directly.

* In ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'', the "Father" who runs the entire dystopian society is revealed to have been dead for years, and his son now effectively controls everything.

* L from ''Manga/DeathNote'' counts, at least for the first book. For all intents and purposes he fits as a BigGood version, but his character is pretty much fully introduced in only the second of twelve books (his name remains a mystery). Kira himself counts as this at first, since no one is sure what the hell is going on in the beginning.

The point is, if it's not being done in-universe, it's not this trope. Usually, the audience doesn't even know themselves, but this tends to vary depending on its importance as a PlotTwist. See also ShadowDictator.