History Main / OrcusOnHisThrone

Named for a line in the Third Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' Manual of the Planes, where it mentioned that Orcus, the lord of the undead, might once more be on his throne, one bony hand [[AccidentalInnuendo clutching his terrible rod]]. The original justification for this was based in the way ''[=D&D=]'' works; by not having Orcus (or any other given major villain) actively doing anything, but prepared to strike out against the forces of good, the dungeon masters who were buying the source books and playing the game could have the villains do whatever they wanted or needed them to do for their custom-built campaigns.

* ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'': Norman Osborn was introduced very late in the game. He doesn't even enter the picture until all of his subordinates have been snuffed out, apart from the Scriers (who later came to his rescue after he was captured by Spider-man). He explains that he'd been living sumptuously in Europe and rubbing elbows with the Scriers, spending years gradually usurping the organization and converted it into a tool for personal revenge.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', Mr. Dark originally comes to Earth to wreak revenge on the Fables who he thinks have abused his power. But after he discovers they have fled their New York place of residence, he decides to build his domain there and wait for the Fables to come looking for him. However, this trope is subverted in [[spoiler:issue #100. After Frau Totenkinder has learned [[SealedEvilInACan how to Box him]], she comes to New York to face Mr. Dark, and almost defeats him — but not quite. This near-defeat makes Mr. Dark finally abandon his throne and come after the Fables, who are forced to flee Earth altogether.]]

* ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar'': ComicBook/SuperboyPrime sits on the Moon watching Earth for much of the conflict. When he finally gets involved, he does whatever he wants including punking his own teammates. The only reason Sinestro picked Superboy-Prime as a teammate, plus two other Omnicidal Maniac, at all, was that he knew they'd eventually try to kill each other but not before advancing their own plans by hurting their mutual enemies.
* Empress Gandelo spents most of ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'' storyline doing nothing but sending her minions after ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and complaining when they are unable to kill her as they were instructed to.

* In Simon Furman's ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries'', Nova Prime and the other Dead Universe inhabitants need to eventually kill Optimus Prime for their evil plan to work. However, Nova hangs back and works behind the scenes through agents in Real Space instead of using his immense power to easily do so. This is because Dead Universe inhabitants can only survive for brief periods outside of it, so he doesn't want to risk ruining the plan to take out a single enemy. [[spoiler: Except that's just what Nova tells his henchmen to avoid looking weak. In reality, he could easily kill Optimus and be back within the time limit, but he's scared that if he faces the guy directly than the Dead Universe will see Optimus as a better physical avatar and abandon Nova in favor of possessing Prime's body. When the two finally fight by necessity [[ProperlyParanoid that's exactly what almost happens]].]]
* ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'': Yahn Rgg sends killbots and soldiers to attack, but he does not do much of anything by himself. By the time the heroes get to him, he has locked himself into a escape pod, ready to start the self-destruct behind him.

* [[TheCaligula High Lord Kalarus]], a major villain in the middle three books of ''Literature/CodexAlera'', develops a bad case of this is book four, ''Captain's Fury'', despite having been a highly active and proactive villain in the previous two volumes. [[spoiler:Completely justified. He survived the fight he got into with Bernard and Amara at the end of the previous volume, in which they dropped him out of a high-speed midair chase [[WatchOutForThatTree directly into a dense forest]], and it’s strongly implied he was no longer in good enough physical shape to be getting out and about under his own power.]]

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Voldemort puts world conquest on the back burner for a year while he tries to get hold of the prophecy. Averted from the end of that book onwards, however: though of course most of the "grunt" work goes through his minions, Voldemort starts kicking ass [[spoiler:after he is revealed to the wizarding world]] and doesn't stop (notably, tracking down and killing a few witches and wizards his Death Eaters might find troublesome, like [[spoiler:Amelia Bones]]). The only times he gets "lazy" are when he's a powerless ghost and when there's a job he has a good reason to avoid doing. In the case of ''Order of the Phoenix'' this is also justified: since Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge is running a [[MaliciousSlander smear campaign]] against Dumbledore and Harry as part of his HeadInTheSandManagement, Voldemort decides it is within his best interest to allow Fudge to weaken his enemies.

** Sauron is actually a subversion, if you look at his life story in chronological order. In the First Age he is a powerful, active Enemy, at least until he's defeated by Huan the elvish hound - after that he flees and hides for the rest of the First Age. In the Second Age he takes an active role in forging the Rings of Power and personally corrupts the Numenoreans. However, he loses a ''lot'' of his power in the fall of Numenor, and after his defeat by the Last Alliance (and the loss of [[SoulJar the One Ring that holds much of his power]]), he becomes an EvilCripple, able to watch events and influence events with his will, but unable to actually ''do'' anything.
** Although he's the weakest of the three Enemy warlords, Saruman manages to avert this, staying active until his death. Even just days before his fall from power, he's still leaving Isengard on occasion. After his armies and Isengard are destroyed, he leaves Orthanc, travels to the Shire and tries to ruin it with his ruffians.

* Fulbert from ''Literature/{{Malevil}}'' sits in his fortified manor in La Roque. He tricked the villagers into letting him keep the food and weapons, there isn't much they can do but suffer his abuse and cruelty. For the most part he is content to live a lazy life of post-Apocalypse "decadence" at the expense of others. He also takes no real action against Malevil itself, [[spoiler: until the end when he convinces a rogue military commander who captured La Roque that the castle would make a better base of operations.]]

* [[EvilOverlord The Lord Ruler]] from ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'' seems to have a bad case of this, hanging around in his palace and not exerting himself even when his whole capital is going up in flames. [[spoiler:Justified because he's a borderline PhysicalGod so powerful the rebellion was never a threat to him at all. The SequelSeries show just how absurdly powerful Compounding a single metal is, and he has the ability to do so with ALL of the metals. He could easily put down an entire army of regular Allomancers himself, and has historically allowed his minions to fight among themselves or get killed in revolts for awhile before acting, [[MagnificentBastard just to remind them why they needed him]].]]

* ''Literature/WorldsOfShadow'': Shadow. For most of the series, Shadow's exact nature is not even known to the heroes, and never leaves the palace. Though some monsters are sent out to stop the heroes, Shadow never just intervenes to crush them personally. It turns out that [[spoiler: she]] is bored and doesn't view them as a threat, concentrating on conquering another universe, with [[spoiler: her]] power on the world of Faerie basically absolute, so this is not surprising.

* Arthur Petrelli from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' gained practically godlike power in the first few episodes he appeared in. After that he spent most of his time sitting in his base, drawing pretty pictures and sending out his incompetent minions occasionally. You'd think an unkillable guy with power over time and space could be a bit more proactive. Admittedly he thought he already had everything he needed for his master plan, and when he found out that he was lacking the last component of the formula for the SuperSerum he wanted to make... he and the rest of the cast were BroughtDownToNormal that same episode, so he couldn't use his powers to get it.

** Lord Zedd from ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' is one of the most egregious examples of this; he's been shown to be capable of clobbering [[PopularityPower Tommy]] with little effort, but spends most of his time sending ineffective minions after the rangers and yelling at everybody.

** Daimaou of ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' has a good reason for usually not fighting himself. While he is the most powerful villain in the show, by the time he is revived the rangers are already strong enough that they are capable of defeating him, and they actually do beat him several times when he takes to the battlefield, and only survives due to being tough enough to only be wounded by attacks that would kill any other monster.

** You know we said about Master Xandred above? His ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'' counterpart, Chimatsuri Dokoku, is the same, only he's not taking medicine -- that's ''sake'' and he spends all his time [[DrowningMySorrows drinking himself into a stupor]] instead of commanding his minions, ''without'' the excuse of constant pain from the previous generation's attempt at permanently sealing him.

** Boccowaus from ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'' spends most of the series as just a face and an arm sticking out of wall. While he apparently is powerful and feared, he doesn't take to the battlefield himself because he can only move around on tracks in his base. Mostly he just gives orders and pounds on the ground when he is mad. It isn't until he is completely fed up with his minions failing and finds out that the rangers are spying on him that he decides to power himself up into form that can move freely. During his transformation into his battle form it is revealed that the giant wall wasn't his real body and his real form inside is tiny until he powers up.

** Asmodeus' was badly wounded during his fall from heaven, so his avatar can't go far from the hells for long periods of time, and he is enough of a MagnificentBastard that he doesn't have to do leave hell to be the dangerous creature in in the multiverse. 4e offers another justification for Asmodeus; [[SealedEvilInACan Hell is his prison]] and he can't leave. It's worth noting that he wasn't imprisoned there to protect the mortal world from him, but to protect the other gods from him. He became a god through deicide, and the other gods are scared shitless of him (and potential copycats).
** Orcus' arch rival Demogorgon tends to do the same thing. His excuse is that he considers the wars with devils and other demons a necessary annoyance, and his true interest is researching the nature of the Abyss. For the record? Demogorgon is said canonically to be more powerful than Orcus, and at least in some versions, was the demonic equivalent of Asmodeus himself.
** Many, many Darklords in the ''TableTopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' setting. The most extreme example is Soth, who spent decades literally just sitting on his throne because he didn't care any more. It has been theorized that the Dark Powers let him escape Ravenloft because he ceased to be of any interest, in contrast to Darklords like Strahd, Drakov, or Azalin whose existence is a constant cycle of YankTheDogsChain. Ironically, the original ''Ravenloft'' module completely [[DefiedTrope defied]] this trope -- the vampire lord Strahd has spies looking out for you when you invade his castle, and if he knows where you are and you linger too long in one area, he ''will'' attack you and try to kill you rather than wait for you to find him, and on top of that the game randomises where the final battle with him is supposed to take place so rather than finding him on his throne, [[ParanoiaFuel you have no idea when and where you will run into him]]. He'll also have multiple social interactions with the party long before then, safe in the knowledge they're no real threat to him.

** The Superiors from both sides, to varying degrees. Yves, Archangel of Destiny, Kronos, Demon Prince of Fate, or [[TheChessmaster Malphas]], Demon Prince of Factions, prefer to work through others.

** Kevoth-Kul, the Black Sovereign of Numeria, is a justified example of this trope. He's a powerful and dangerous barbarian king who conquered the throne of Starfall by force, but these days he never leaves his palace because the ''real'' power in Starfall, the Technic League, keep him drugged and distracted so they can run the show. The game's second edition reveals that after the Technic League's destruction in ''Iron Gods'' he becomes a much more proactive and effective ruler.

** The Emperor is effectively sustained by life support on his throne, and has been for ten millennia. He's ''less'' of a villain, [[EvilVersusEvil but this is WH40K we're talking about]].
** [[GodOfEvil The Chaos Gods]], when they aren't stuck in their literally eternal EnemyCivilWar, rely on their [[TheHeartless daemons]] and mortal followers to cause havoc in the Materium. In their case, they're just '''so''' powerful that [[PowersThatBe they physically can't manifest in or influence the Materium in any way]]. Their ultimate goal is to permanently merge the Materium and Immaterium, which would give them free reign over everything.

** Asdrubael Vect, ruler of the Dark Eldar, is an ''in-game example''. His model is a floating open-topped tank, which he's had a throne installed on, and while there are rules for him leaving the vehicle he's very expensive, so doesn't get to go out in person much. In the lore he's TheChessmaster and EvilOverlord, so it's justified that he doesn't get stuck in all that often.

** The Director of Project Freelancer and the man behind all the atrocities said operation committed, never directly confronts the heroes, even when they storm his hideout, he just lets his [[spoiler: army of robot Agent Texas doppelgangers]] deal with them. [[spoiler: Justified, as he is revealed to have become a washed up shell of his former self by the time the series gets to him, who's ''[[DrivenToSuicide ready to kill himself]]'' by the time Agent Carolina and Church finale confront him face to face.]]

** Later subverted when it's revealed that Redcloak manipulated Xykon to spend more time in the city they'd conquered since Redcloak was trying to turn it into a new goblin citystate and needed time to get it to where it could handle Redcloak being gone. Xykon eventually gets sick of waiting after his favorite prisoner to torture is broken out and forces Redcloak to get ready to leave to get going on the rest of their quest for the gates.
** Subverted again when they arrive at the desert gate. Xykon is furious to see that the heroes beat them there and the gate is destroyed, and decides to just kill the whole party then and there. However, The Monster in the Darkness recognizes the party as friends of his friend O'Chul, and tricks Xykon into letting them live and hurrying on to the next gate instead.

* In ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'', Jahad, the King of the Tower, is gradully revealed to be more and more of an evil ruler, but in the meantime, all he himself does is hibernate or something. You have to look in the background material to know even this, and that there are people called the Three Lords who rule in his stead. [[spoiler: Until he becomes aware of the protagonist's existence, and the heroes are suddenly faced with a whole army division sent just to get them.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBotsMaster'': CorruptCorporateExecutive Leon Lewis Paradim, despite being the BigBad, has his CoDragons Dr. Hiss and Lady Frenzy deal with the heroes rather than doing things himself, to the point where he appears in less episodes than they do.

** In the Season 2 finale, Hawk Moth finally leaves his hideout and appears in public, because he managed to boost his own power to make an army of supervillains made from his previous victims, and is on advantage, which was his ultimate plan, even when the whole army is defeated, it's shown that he can fight against the heroes on his own.

* Emperor Belos from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' rarely leaves his palace, partially due to [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport suffering from a rare affliction that he's trying to cure]]. [[spoiler:At least until "Hollow Mind" revealed that the actual reason is because he is a WitchHunter with a genocidal hatred for witches, thereby indicating that he stays in his castle to have as little interaction with the witches and demons of the Boiling Isles as possible.]]

* General Mudula fills this role in ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'', sending monsters and mooks after the protagonists but not bothering to go after them personally. However it's quite justified since he's too busy managing his new empire and crushing rebellions to be bothered to chase after three measly enemies, regardless of how important they are.

%% No real life examples, please.

!!Examples:

** Another lazy villain is Ginis of ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger''. He spends most of the series drinking and sitting on his throne, which, very fittingly, is actually part of his body. He is content to watch his minions fight for him for most of the series because his main motivation is entertainment he doesn't care if his minions win pre lose. It turns out however that his power is greatly reduced outside of his ship and it is eventually revealed that he acts like this because he is deeply ashamed of his origin and is doing everything he can to make everyone see him as a superior life form.

** Another lazy villain is Ginis of ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger''. He spends most of the series drinking and sitting on his throne, which actually is part of his body. He is content to watch his minions fight for him for most of the series. He does however have the weakness that his power is greatly reduced outside of his ship. It is eventually revealed that he acts like this because he is deeply ashamed of his origin and is portraying himself as a superior life form.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'' we learn that Unseen University was more or less created to invoke the trope because the plural of wizard is war. The university exists to give wizards something to do other than trying to kill each other, or at least ''structure'' the killing to reduce collateral damage. Wizards are forbidden to marry (and are implied to be bound to chastity) because the eighth son of an eighth son is a wizard, but the eighth son of the eighth son of an eighth son is a Sourcerer with access to magic as far beyond wizards as wizards are beyond, say, CMOT Dibbler. Sourcerers eventually fall into Orcus-on-his-throne-itude because reality pretty much reshapes itself around their whims so they don't ''have'' to do anything, and those that aren't killed by their peers wind up just getting bored and going ... elsewhere.

The BigBad might also be spending all their time offscreen searching for a PlotCoupon (LostSuperweapon, ArtifactOfDoom, etc.) that would render conventional means of conquest [[GoldenSnitch unnecessary]]. Why waste time and effort commanding the LegionOfDoom when you could conquer/corrupt/destroy the kingdom/world/galaxy with the push of a button? Still, it's easier to send [[{{Mooks}} their minions]] out to do this instead, which is probably another reason they never have to leave the castle. In the case of a NonActionBigBad, the villain acts like this because personally, they ''don't'' have power, or at least not the sort that would be [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking useful in direct combat]], and they primarily work through their subordinates. It could also be that the hero is [[XanatosGambit already doing something the villain wants]], so why interrupt the enemy when they're making a mistake?

* The Gorma Emperor of ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger is a lazy ManChild who spends almost all of his time playing with toys. He hardly does anything in the story besides one time he takes action to resurrect a single minion he particularly liked even though he probably could have revived far more. There is no real reason why he never bothers to fight the rangers himself since he is as powerful as all the rangers combined. [[spoiler:It later turns out that the Gorma Emperor had died a long time ago and been replaced by a duplicate made of clay. The duplicate may have had its personality altered to make him easier to manipulate.]]

** Thanos shows up in the stinger to ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' to reveal that he was the unseen backer of Loki's attempt to take over earth, and ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' shows that he is also behind Ronan the Accuser and is seeking the Infinity Stones. Despite being TheDreaded, at least to those who know of him, he has yet to take any direct action. For bonus trope points, in most scenes featuring him in the above films, he's actually sitting on a throne.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'', Jahad, the King of the Tower, is gradully revealed to be more and more of an evil ruler, but in the meantime, all he himself does is hibernate or something. You have to look in the background material to know even this, and that there are people called the Three Lords who rule in his stead. [[spoiler: Until he becomes aware of the protagonist's existence, and the heroes are suddenly faced with a whole army division sent just to get them.]]

* Mumm-Ra, in the original ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'', rarely leaves his citadel, except when powered up into Mumm-Ra the Everliving, and even then he can't bear to spend much time away from it. Justified when it turns out that the "Ancient Spirits of Evil" are either bound by unbreakable arcane laws or else major-league {{jerkass}}es; they will grant the power that Mumm-Ra uses to become Mumm-Ra the Everliving to ''anyone'' who stands in the mystical chamber and invokes them in the proper manner. As proven when ''[[SidekickCreatureNuisance Snarf]]'' does so and becomes "Snarf-Ra the Everliving". Also, Mumm-Ra cannot survive outside of his coffin for more than 24 hours.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': This is how Salem prefers to act. Despite [[spoiler:being [[CompleteImmortality literally impossible to kill]]]], she stays in the shadows using her underlings to carry out her plans; humans for the subterfuge and infiltration, Grimm for fighting larger battles. She and Ozpin initially prefer the status quo where her existence is kept secret, but her reasons for doing so are unknown, like her true endgame. In the volume 6 finale, she begins personally crafting some new Grimm shock troopers, and after Ironwood reveals her existence to Atlas, she personally travels to Atlas at the head of an army, flying on the back of a massive Grimm whale... only to spend the first half of the next volume hanging around inside said whale and still sending out her underlings. When she finally does fight the heroes head on when they infiltrate said whale, Ozpin disintegrates her with a massive magical blast, and she only recovers shortly after [[TheHeavy Cinder]] accomplished her goals in Atlas by (seemingly) having killed many of the heroes and recovered the relics. Fanon, which recent volumes have hinted to be correct, is that she intends to gain the relics to summon the gods, dividing humanity in the process in the hopes that they will wipe out all of humanity for failing their "test," hopefully including [[(WhoWantsToLiveForever (finally)]] her, and revealing herself would give humans a common enemy to unite against.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': This is how Salem prefers to act. Despite [[spoiler:being [[CompleteImmortality literally impossible to kill]]]], she stays in the shadows manipulating events so that when everything goes haywire, her enemies don't realize she was behind everything and can only blame each other. When she needs to act more directly, she has human minions and endless armies of Grimm. Her exact reasons for not revealing herself are not made clear, but both she and Ozpin prefer the status quo where her existence is kept secret. In the volume 6 finale, she begins personally crafting some new Grimm shock troopers, [[spoiler:and in the volume 7 finale (after Ironwood revealed her existence to Atlas) she arrived at the head of an army, flying on the back of a massive Grimm whale]]. It turns out the reason she hasn't just wiped out all of humanity herself [[spoiler:is because doing so [[WhoWantsToLiveForever would do nothing about her hated immortality]], so she needs to go the subterfuge route to keep humans and Faunus fighting each other so that when she gathers the four Relics and summons the [[PowersThatBe Brother Gods]] back to Remnant for the final judgement, they'll see that HumansAreBastards still applies and destroy everything including the world, which will ''hopefully'' fulfill the terms of her curse and let her finally die.]]
** [[spoiler: [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], it probably ''won't'' fulfill the terms of her curse; she was cursed to become immortal until she understood the sanctity of life and death, rather than upon the summoning of the Brother Gods!]]

** Morgoth fights Tulkas personally at the dawn of time, and later personally destroys the Two Trees and steals the Silmarils. He also personally handles the corruption of the first Men. But after he's been beaten by Tulkas, then nearly killed by [[EldritchAbomination Ungoliant]], he becomes something of a coward. The last time he appears in public is when he duels the elvenking Fingolfin, who leaves him severely wounded. In the War of Wrath, he flees into the deepest of his mines and begs for pardon rather than fighting the Valar.
** Sauron comes out to fight Huan the elvish hound in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', takes an active role in forging the Rings of Power in the Second Age, and personally corrupts the Numenoreans. However, like his master he seems to lose power with every defeat: after getting humiliated by a glorified dog, he flees and hides for the rest of the First Age. He loses a ''lot'' of his power in the fall of Numenor, and after his defeat by the Last Alliance he becomes largely throne-bound. As the rhyme says,
-->''One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne\\
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.''
** Although he's the weakest of the three Enemy warlords, Saruman manages to avert this, staying active until his end. Even just days before his fall from power, he's still leaving Isengard on occasion. After his armies and Isengard are destroyed, he leaves Orthanc, travels to the Shire and tries to ruin it with his ruffians.

** Emperor Palpatine in the Original Trilogy (not so in the prequel trilogy, where he's TheChessmaster PlayingBothSides [[MagnificentBastard for his own benefit]]). But then, [[DystopiaIsHard he's got an Empire to micromanage]] [[TheChessmaster and plots to set in motion]]; he has [[TheDragon Darth Vader]] to do the in-person chasing after of Rebels.

* Creator/JRRTolkien does this with his villains in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', but only towards the ends of their careers -- he had a theme of deliberate VillainDecay and TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget, with smart people with real goals turning to evil but evil itself corrupting them and gradually turning them into cardboard cutouts. Together with this, they start out going out and kicking ass by themselves (e.g. Morgoth fights Tulkas personally at the dawn of time, Sauron comes out to fight Huan in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'') but eventually becomes throne-bound. Might have to do with how Morgoth got utterly owned by Tulkas, and Sauron got humiliated by a Glorified Super Dog. Often after one too many of such direct interactions had a painful outcome (e.g. Morgoth after his duel with the elven king Fingolfin, though killing him, was left permanently wounded, Sauron after his defeat/half-death and loss of the Ring in the War of the Last Alliance). As the rhyme says,

In some cases, the Big Bad has already suffered an utterly costly defeat. They may have depleted their power base and it will take some time before they are ready for [[WeWillMeetAgain a rematch]]. In such cases, they may be working behind the scenes and sending lesser villains to do their work.

Being a supervillain isn't cheap. So Orcus's figurative throne might just be his business office where he spends most of his time trying to figure out the logistics and budgets for that ElaborateUndergroundBase, his mook army, the services of the local ResearchInc or MurderInc, [[EveryManHasHisPrice numerous bribes]], and his WickedCultured lifetyle. Not to mention figuring out how to dodge his creditors, because [[CutLexLuthorACheck even supervillains need to take out a loan at some point]]. Maybe Orcus is funding this whole evil operation by being an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil businessman]] or by being TheDon (in which case, convention requires him to not be too visible) and he needs to spend most of his time in business administration just to keep the money coming in.

** ''Operation Overdrive'''s Flurious seems to be in keeping with ''Boukenger'', in which Gajah (the villain Flurious essentially [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute replaced]]) mostly winds up hanging back, only really doing anything of significance after one of the other factions has one of their plans fail, in at least one case using the flaming wreckage of the failed plan as the foundation for his own. This ends up proving to his benefit however as he ultimately outlasts all the other members of the BigBadEnsemble and becomes the FinalBoss.

* ''Literature/BuffyTheVampireSlayer: Blackout'': Due to his large number of vampire enforcers, it has been a long time since [[TheDon Moses "Reet" Weldon]] needed to do his own fighting and dirty work (his right-hand man hasn't even seen his GameFace in a decade). Consequently, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he is out-of-shape and highly outmatched during his battle against Spike.]]

** Dark Specter might be the worst example of this in the series. He's portrayed as the UltimateEvil and TheManBehindTheMan for all of the Zordon-era villains (Rita, Zedd, The Machine Empire, Divatox, Astronema, etc.). Sadly, he never once fights the Power Rangers, and he never ''does anything'' other than give orders/make idle threats, and spends the entire season being unknowingly plotted against by his subordinates. In Part 1 of the GrandFinale, he's killed by TheStarscream, though to his credit he at least [[TakingYouWithMe takes him down too]].

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

* Fire-Human, from the ''Machinima/WaterHuman'' series, spends the entire series sitting on his throne and playing UsefulNotes/NintendoDS games. When TheHero is captured and delivered to his fortress, he just sends the captors away because he's too busy playing, and never realizes whom they brought.

** Averted with all the major villains of the SequelSeries, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''; Amon of Season 1 and Zaheer of Season 3 were both terrorists who get stuck in frequently, Unalaq from Season 2 makes several trips to the Spirit World to try and free his ally [[GodOfEvil Vaatu]] [[spoiler: and personally goes to destroy Republic City as the Dark Avatar]], and Kuvira from Season 4 is a FrontlineGeneral who boasts that she is willing to take on any challenge that her soldiers would face on the battlefield.

** Lampshaded in ''Literature/ReturnOfTheKing'' by Denethor, who comments that all great lords rule and fight by using others as their weapon. That is why he sends his sons to fight and die for him. He predicts that Sauron will only appear for the final battle when all else has been conquered.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife I'll deal with that hero]] after I've read Wiki/TVTropes."]]

Being a supervillain isn't cheap. So Orcus's figurative throne might just be his business office where he spends most of his time trying to figure out the budgets for that ElaborateUndergroundBase, his mook army, the services of the local ResearchInc or MurderInc, [[EveryManHasHisPrice numerous bribes]], and his WickedCultured lifetyle. Not to mention figuring out how to dodge his creditors, because [[CutLexLuthorACheck even supervillains need to take out a loan at some point]]. Maybe Orcus is funding this whole evil operation by being an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil businessman]] or by being TheDon (in which case, convention requires him to not be too visible) and that's where he needs to spend most of his time to keep the money coming in.