History Main / RiskingTheKing

** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor puts himself at personal risk to entice the Rebels to attack the second Death Star and convert Luke to the Dark Side. This inevitably backfires when he's killed by the redeemed Vader (and even if that hadn't happened, he'd still may have died when the Rebels blew up the Death Star). Also, his plan to turn Anakin in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' involved nearly being killed by Mace Windu.

** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor puts himself at personal risk to entice the Rebels to attack the second Death Star and convert Luke to the Dark Side. This inevitably backfires when he's killed by the redeemed Vader (and even if that hadn't happened, he'd still may have died when the Rebels blew up the Death Star). Also, his plan to turn Anakin in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' involved nearly being killed by Mace Windu, though it's [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation debatable]] whether he actually planned that part or not.

* Creator/MarvelComics superspy ComicBook/NickFury was nominally the ''director'' of a covert agency called ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, but from UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} to UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, he behaved more like the main field agent. Despite S.H.I.E.L.D. having dozens or hundreds of agents DependingOnTheWriter, Fury was typically depicted working solo on commando missions, infiltrations, and so forth. Though liberal use of [[RobotMe Life Model Decoys]] allowed Fury to seem to be doing this even when he actually wasn't. This has become an AvertedTrope in recent years, especially with his [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]] incarnation. ComicBook/IronMan did much the same during the brief period when he became Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[[folder: Comic Book]]

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', if you side with the [[LaResistance Stormcloaks]], [[RebelLeader Ulfric Stormcloak]] himself will lead the charge in the final battle. Again, Justified because he is capable of using the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], an immensely powerful weapon to have.

* ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker:'' Just like in the Adventure Path the game is based on, the Player Character tames a fantasy land and are then given a charter to rule it. They and their companions (many of whom are likely serving positions in the Player's royal court) are the first ones to any battle to protect that kingdom, which features a lot of dungeon crawling. Somewhat {{Justified}}, as the whole reason they got the position in the first place is by taking it from a ruthless bandit-king who had previously proclaimed himself the region's ruler, and many of the problems that the player deals with are the ones that they and their party are genuinely the most well-suited for.
** ''VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous:'' The player character is the leader of the fifth crusade into the Worldwound, a blasted wasteland crawling with demons. They are also consistently sent into dangerous situations leading strike teams and battles against the demons. Once again this is {{Justified}}, as the main character's [[UniqueProtagonistAsset Mythic Power]] is a massively useful asset in the war which is instrumental in taking down many of the most dangerous threats to the crusade.

->'''Kirk:''' I'm going down there.
->'''[=McCoy=]:''' Khan could be down there!
->'''Kirk:''' He's been there, hasn't found what he wants. Can you spare someone? There may be people hurt.
->'''[=McCoy=]:''' I can spare me.
->'''Saavik:''' Begging the Admiral's pardon, General Order 15: "No flag officer shall beam into a hazardous area without armed escort."
->'''Kirk:''' There's no such regulation.
->(''Saavik glares at him'')
->'''Kirk:''' (''smirks'') All right, join the party. Mister Spock, the ship is yours.
->'''Spock:''' Jim, be careful.
->'''[=McCoy=]:''' ''We'' will!

* In ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'', Ryuuki, the Emperor of Saiunkoku, puts himself in harm's way on several occasions - mostly to protect Shuurei. The most notable example comes when he leaves the capital city entirely to make sure that Shuurei and Eigetsu aren't attacked by assassins on their way to take office in Sa Province, which he has to do in secret and incognito for the obvious reason that, as the Emperor, he's not supposed to be doing anything of the kind.
* A justified example is Rias in the arena combat Ratings Games in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD''. As the [[ChessMotifs King]], she's expected to stay in the base, defending it and keeping herself out of trouble. However, while Issei being worth all eight of her Pawns gives her the power of an extra superior piece in the field even before he promotes, it leaves her [[BlessedWithSuck with serious manpower issues]], and she often has to leave the base just to compensate for her side being outnumbered almost two to one.

** ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' is notorious for this. As the show's resident ActionHero, Captain Kirk has to lead the away teams on dangerous missions, even when it would make more sense to send someone with more specialized training that would actually be useful. This usually leads to Kirk being taken prisoner (alone or with other crew members) and having to devise a way to escape.
** In many cases, Kirk takes along most of the senior officers, risking a decapitation of the command structure if the away team is lost. The most extreme case of this is the episode "Catspaw", which begins with Scott and Sulu being taken prisoner. Kirk organizes a rescue team consisting of himself, Spock, and [=McCoy=], leaving command of ''Enterprise'' to Assistant Chief Engineer [=DeSalle=], an obscure character who only appears in three episodes of the series ([[BadassNormal though he did a good job]], considering the circumstances). (Why not Uhura? [[StayInTheKitchen Good question]].)

The trope codifier, as implied above, is the original ''Star Trek'' series, where ''every'' crucial command officer would regularly be assigned to the away team for some dangerous new environment. In ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', an effort was made to avert the trope by keeping the captain on the bridge and having him delegate responsibility for away missions; but even then, [[DownplayedTrope the away teams almost always included extremely high-ranking officers who were often placed directly in harm's way]]. You could be forgiven for thinking that maybe there were only about 20 or 30 people on the entire ship.