History Main / OurFounder

* In ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', it was Leon Belmont who traveled from France to Wallachia to continue his hunt against Dracula and other creatures of the night. In the Belmont Hold, the armory, library, and headquarters of the Belmont family, Leon's portrait hangs proudly in the stairwell leading to the Hold.

** Sokka has a statue on top of a tiered fountain in front of the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center. It features him holding aloft his [[ContinuityNod trusty]] [[WeaponOfChoice boomerang]].

* A well-known example is "Partners", the statue found in most Disneyland-style Ride/DisneyThemeParks of Creator/WaltDisney and Mickey Mouse.

* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' has a replica of the Disneyland statue, but with Oswald the Rabbit instead of Mickey, as Oswald is Wasteland's ruler.

* Whenever [[TheMeanBrit Mad Mod]] shows up in an episode of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' animated series, you can be sure his likeness will soon get plastered over almost everything: busts, portraits, statues, posters, ''et cetera''. He himself often (inexplicably) [[ArtShift metamorphoses into strange alternate (and usually British pop culture-themed) designs]], such as the Blue Meanie from ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' and God from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. This counts as Our Founder because one time he used a grand-scale hypnotic trick to reclaim America in the name of Jolly Old England, proclaiming himself its first King.

[[quoteright:300:[[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fd1bacdc_f5ba_49e6_9188_5d7514688b6f.jpeg]]]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/john_harvard_8862.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[-John [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Harvard]], Founder, 1638 (Sorta)-] ]]

* Nicaragua was governed between 1979 and 1990 by a party called the "Sandinistas" named after Augusto C. Sandino, who fought against a US occupation of his country in the 1930s and died at the hands of the dictator whose son the Sandinistas toppled four decades later. While in power, the Sandinistas put Sandino on currency, their campaign material, and countless tacky T-shirts. When they were voted out in 1990, they put a silhouette of him on top of one of the highest mountains in the capital, Managua, incidentally the site of the former presidential palace and not too far from where Sandino was assassinated. When the Sandinistas returned to power in 2006, the Sandino imagery came back, though much less pronounced. Only one banknote (and none of the coins) today has any relation to him, and it doesn't bear his image but rather a picture of the hut he was born in. Students still have to learn the details of his life, though.

A universal trope, spotted as often in [[RealLife reality]] as it is in fiction. Our Founder is a statue of the founder of something, possibly a FounderOfTheKingdom, be they a brave pioneer who established a colony in the New World, a missionary traveling the land building communities for his faith, a conqueror on his way to fame and riches, or a big-shot mogul who struck Big Business and got a nice-size stone replica of himself for his efforts. These are often to be spotted at crossroads, communal plazas downtown, or at parks, with some nice benches with old ladies feeding pigeons on them.

* There's a statue of the protagonist of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII''.

* In many ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' platformers (and even some spin-offs such as ''VideoGame/MarioKart''), the world is littered with stone depictions of BigBad Bowser. Most of them are actually in his castle, though, along with big portraits of him and doors carved in his image.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': The Goddess Hylia throughout the series. Mount Hylia, Hylia River, the Hylian people, and even the Kingdom of Hyrule itself are named after her; the Sheikah Shrines in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' where Link acquires new abilities are dedicated to her; and a statue of her can be found in the ruins of the [[VideoGame/OcarinaOfTime Temple of Time]].
* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', New Pork City has a giant Porky statue which serves as a bonus boss.

** Two examples from ''VideoGame/SonicCD'' are the EasterEgg at Wacky Workbench, and the giant statue at Stardust Speedway.
** Act 2 of Panic Puppet Zone from ''VideoGame/Sonic3DBlast'' revolves around climbing a path that surrounds an Eggman statue.
** Hang Castle of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''. Sonic calls attention to an Eggman statue at a certain point in the stage. [[spoiler:And then it flips over to show [[{{Foreshadowing}} Metal Sonic]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', Medina Village was founded by Ozzie after Magus lost the Fiend-Human War in 600 AD. His descendant is the town's mayor, and after you defeat Magus, they dance around Ozzie's statue (because Magus is no longer quite so inspiring). Defeat ''Ozzie'', however, and all of this vanishes -- the fiends, without anyone to stir up antihuman resentment, founded the town themselves, and Ozzie's descendant is now a janitor. The change is reflected by the attitude of the townsfolk and the background music. Prior to defeating Ozzie, the townsfolk are hostile to outsiders, the music is dark and foreboding and creepy chanting fills the main square. After kicking Ozzie's ass, the townsfolk are friendly and the music is cheerful and upbeat sans chanting.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': The Goddess Hylia throughout the series. Mount Hylia, Hylia River, the Hylian people, and even the Kingdom of Hyrule itself are named after her; the Sheikah Shrines in ''VideoGame/BreathOfTheWild'' where Link acquires new abilities are dedicated to her; and a statue of her can be found in the ruins of the [[VideoGame/OcarinaOfTime Temple of Time]].

* ''Anime/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'': Arle Heinessen, founder of the Free Planets Alliance has a huge statue of himself towering over the capital, bearing a close resemblance to Rio de Janeiro's "Christ the Redeemer".

* Arle Heinessen, founder of the Free Planets Alliance has a huge statue of himself in the ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'', towering over the capital, bearing a close resemblance to Rio de Janeiro's "Christ the Redeemer".
* One of these serves as a plot point in the fifth episode of ''Anime/{{Kaiba}}''.

* At the end of ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke: [[WesternAnimation/LaBalladeDesDalton The Ballad of the Daltons]]'', a statue of the late Henry Dalton is seen next to the orphanage that was built thanks to his money. More specifically, it's a statue of Henry Dalton on a horse and ''about to be hanged''.

* In TheFilmOfTheBook ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'', there is a statue of Helm Hammerhand in Helm's Deep, though it is not named in the dialogue. It may be mentioned in the director's commentary, though. They don't directly name the statue, but his horn is explicitly named at least once.

* In many ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros.'' platformers (and even some spin-offs such as ''VideoGame/MarioKart''), the world is littered with stone depictions of BigBad Bowser. Most of them are actually in his castle, though, along with big portraits of him and doors carved in his image.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', New Pork City has a giant Porky statue which serves as a bonus boss.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** Act 2 of Panic Puppet Zone from ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland 3D Blast]]'' revolves around climbing a path that surrounds an Eggman statue.

* ''VideoGame/BioShock'':

** ''{{VideoGame/BioShock|1}}'' also opens with a large bust of Andrew Ryan above the Bathysphere that takes you to Rapture.

* Inside the Gold Saucer in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', there's a golden statue of its founder, Godbert Manderville, wearing nothing but his smallclothes (which is his [[BriefsBoasting choice of attire]], mind you). The man who runs the counter across the statue has this to say:

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' has Cave Johnson, founder of Aperture Science. Rather than statues, he gets a couple of paintings depicting his slow descent into insanity.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'': President [=ShinRa=], the founder and CEO of [[MegaCorp The ShinRa Electric Power Company]], has (what appears to be a solid gold) statue of himself in the company's headquarters. It's the centerpiece of a museum exhibit about himself.

* Arle Heinessen, founder of the Free Planets Alliance has a huge statue of himself in the ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', towering over the capital, bearing a close resemblance to Rio de Janeiro's "Christ the Redeemer".

* Much like Atatürk, [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]] used to be everywhere not just as the icon of Soviet Union, but also an icon of the socialist revolution worldwide. TheGreatPoliticsMessup caused a significant amount of these statues to be taken out as part of the [[HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection Decommunization]] process in former Eastern Bloc countries; however, many still remain in Russia and Belarus where even some new ones have been erected.[[note]]While no longer remotely Communist, those nations tend to have fonder memories of the Soviet Union than most other former Soviet republics, as a result of nostalgia for being one of the two superpowers of the world.[[/note]] Until 2015, Ukraine also had thousands of Lenin statues, but only two remain after stricter decommunization laws were passed. Both in [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone]]. Though not all the statues were destroyed, some were instead [[https://time.com/4086228/ukraine-lenin-darth-vader/ altered to depict other subjects]].

* Inside the Gold Saucer in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', there's a golden statue of its founder, Godbert Manderville, wearing nothing but his smallclothes. Which is just [[BriefsBoasting an every day occurrence for him]], mind you. The man who runs the counter across the statue has this to say:

* In ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', after completing the Real Estate or Cabaret Club storyline, the player character (who brought the business BackFromTheBrink and freed the towns from the tyranny of its rival company) can purchase a golden statue of themselves for the building for 10 million Yen. The others will immediately point out how gaudy it looks.

* Inside the Gold Saucer in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', there's a golden statue of its founder, Godbert Manderville, wearing nothing but his smallclothes. Which is just [[BriefsBoasting an every day occurance for him]], mind you. The man who runs the counter across the statue has this to say:
-->'''Reymanaud''': Sometimes I think the owner stationed me here just so I'd be forced ot ever gaze upon the battle of the buldge waged beneath that shimmering statue's smallclothes.

* In ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', after completing the Real Estate or Cabaret Club storyline, you can purchase a golden statue of the player character (who brought the business BackFromTheBrink and freed the towns from the tyranny of its rival company) for 10 million Yen. The others will not hesitate to point out how gaudy it looks.

[[caption-width-right:300:[-John Harvard, Founder, 1638 (Sorta)-] ]]

* Papa John's Pizza followed in Wendy's footsteps, using founder John Schnatter as its main corporate spokesman for most of the 2010s. That ended when a 2017 dispute between Schnatter and the company's board led to Schnatter's departure as CEO, and turned into an OldShame in 2018 when a racial comment Schnatter made to the company's advertising agency became public, soon leading to his departure from the mostly ceremonial role as chairman of the board.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': In the chapter "Jägermonsters to the Rescue", it turns out that [[spoiler:in Agatha's two-year absence, Gil has topped Mechanicsburg's city walls]] with towering statues of Agatha. While not its founder, Agatha ''is'' the Heterodyne, and therefore the rightful ruler. Dimo describes them as being over 150 meters tall. For the non-metrically inclined, that's ''500 feet''. Agatha is... less than pleased.
-->'''Agatha:''' I... I am going to '''kill''' him.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': there's a statue of Prince Kael'Thas at the entrance of Silvermoon City. While he did not create the capital city of the High Elves (now Blood Elves), he rallied what was left of Elven warriors in the kingdom of Quel'Thalas, chased the Scourge away from the city and had it rebuilt, ensuring the survival of his kingdom and race. Despite his fall from grace, the statue is still there.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Dale Dimm, the founder of Dimmsdale.

->''"The plaque for Burbank was filed in May first, 1887, by Dave Burbank, a dentist from the East Coast who got a wild hair up his ass one day and said, 'I'm gonna go west and form a town', and indeed he did! End of story! That's it, that's all that happened... Burbank was all like, 'Hey do you mind if I, uh, form a town here?' 'Sure, go ahead!' The end!"''

* Oslo has two statues of its "founder", Christian IV (the area was already a population center, but Christian planned and rebuilt it properly across the river and renamed the city Christiania after a fire). The first is in Stortorvet, depicting Christian pointing at the ground where he intends to rebuild the city, and the second is in Christian's Torv, depicting just his hand pointing at the ground where he supposedly declared it.

* The founding of Norway is semi-historically attributed to Harald Fairhair, who got his epithet from vowing that he would not cut his hair until he ruled all of Norway. Obviously, the historical Harald never ruled all of Norway, but he ''did'' do the second best thing by conquering all the major trading ports. If he existed, historians are split on that. Also, because Norwegian skalds have never encountered a story they couldn't make more dramatic, Harald was first moved to unite Norway after his sweetheart refused to marry him.