History Main / TheCreon

* Ser Kevan Lannister, non-ambitious yet highly competent younger brother to the powerful Lord Tywin, is this, both in ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones'', the HBO adaptation. Set up as a yes-man with no ambition, but it is revealed he followed Tywin because he believed his decisions were mostly right.

* Ser Kevan Lannister, non-ambitious yet highly competent younger brother to the powerful Lord Tywin, is this, both in ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones'', the HBO adaptation.

To qualify as a Creon, the character must have had at least one chance to take all the power for himself, and actively refused to do so, whether for altruism, cowardice, disinterest in leadership, or any other personal reason. If there was no other choice, and the Creon did in fact have to take the top spot, he must have relinquished it ''voluntarily'' as soon as the actual leader returned. The Creon always gravitates back to the second spot on his own accord, rather than being forced to stay there by circumstances, etiquette or regulations.

* Faramir from ''TheLordOfTheRings'', especially in the books. He rejects the power of the Ring, in contrast to his brother who desired it, and is more than content to be Steward ''under'' the king, as opposed to his family, who ruled as Stewards, but coveted the kingship.

** Part of the purpose of the 3,000-year highly oppressive reign of Leto II was to force the Bene Gesserit to get out of the shadows and take over. Millennia later, they have started to do so, controlling dozens of worlds directly. Herbert's notes (thoroughly ignored by the "sequel" writers, which sequels were in turn [[FanonDiscontinuity ignored by devotees]]) indicate that the Bene Gesserit were to form the nucleus of a new democratic galactic government.

** In [[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]], Chakotay starts out as the captain of his own ([[DeathByOriginStory doomed]]) ship, making his position as Commander something of a demotion. Nevertheless, he immediately becomes one of Captain Janeway's strongest supporters, and even makes it clear to his Maquis that he doesn't want them even thinking about mutiny.

** This is fairly standard for first officers in Star Trek. In [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]], Major Kira starts out quite irate that the Federation placed one of their own people in charge after her people had spent decades fighting the Cardassians. She eventually turns around and becomes extremely loyal to Sisko, and not just because he's technically TheMessiah of her religion.

** Before Riker, Spock was this on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. He did become Captain of the Enterprise at the start of ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', but relinquished command as smoothly as humanly possible - and not just because Kirk outranks him either.

* Faramir from TheLordOfTheRings, especially in the books. He rejects the power of the Ring, in contrast to his brother who desired it, and is more than content to be Steward ''under'' the king, as opposed to his family, who ruled as Stewards, but coveted the kingship.

* Cid in VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII. While he's older than Cloud, far more learned than Cloud (e.g. a science education and an accomplished pilot as compared to Cloud's InformedAbility) and arguably shouldn't have given Cloud leadership back after Cloud's incident... decided to do so anyway because being TheLeader wasn't his thing.

* Watch-Commander Vimes in Literature/{{Discworld}} to King-in-hiding (for a certain value of "hiding") Captain Carrot. The twist is Carrot doesn't want to rule either and is content to be a good copper, and Vimes's own second-in-command, while Lord Vetinari actually runs the city.
* Gekkei from Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms is a DoubleSubversion of this trope. Firstly, although he is initially portrayed as loyal to the king, he later leads a rebellion and kills him. The subversion is doubled because [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it was what he needed to do]], and once the revolution is succesful he rejects the other officers' pleas for him to take the throne, and is even about to quit his charge after the incident. He then reconsiders and stays in charge - not because he wants to, but because if there's nobody in charge, the kingdom will fall (literally, since each kingdom is ruled by a FisherKing. He is just faithfully holding the throne for the next true ruler.
* In TheWestWing, Leo [=McGarry=] describes himself and Josh Lyman as not wanting to be the guy, but instead being the guys that that guy depends on.
* Cyclonus from {{Transformers}} is smart, strong, and sane enough to rule the Decepticons outright or as a power behind the throne, but instead dedicates his life to carrying out Galvatron's every whim.

* Alistair from ''DragonAge: Origins''. First, he gives up leadership of your group (he actually never brings up the leadership issue, despite being the senior Grey Warden still alive in Ferelden). But much more than that, he refuses to inherit ''the kingdom'' because leadership is not his thing.
** Seneschal Varel from ''DragonAge: Origins - Awakening''. He is effectively the ruler of Amaranthine while the Warden-Commander (you) is off adventuring, yet maintains his subordinate position.

* Watch commander Vimes in Literature/{{Discworld}}.

** On the Autobots' side, we have Optimus's second-in-command, Ultra Magnus. Strong, brave, respected, and honorable to a fault, he's naturally the dying Optimus Prime's first choice to succeed him as leader. Magnus accepts the post very reluctantly, feeling he isn't worthy--and sure enough, he actually doesn't do a very good job because he's too inflexible. Yet when Rodimus becomes leader, Magnus goes back to being second-in-command and excels at it.

* Cyclonus from {{Transformers}} is smart, strong, and sane enough to rule the Decepticons outright or as a power behind the throne, but instead dedicates his life to carrying out Galvatron's every whim.

* The TropeNamer is Creon of Thebes, a character who appeared in several Ancient Greek Dramas. In ''Theatre/OedipusRex'' he actually says quite frankly that he's not interested in being king, and finds it much more pleasant to be the one with the power and not the responsibility. However he does become leader of Thebes in ''Antigona'', and sure enough, doesn't do very well.

* In TheWestWing, Leo [=McGarry=] describes himself and Josh Lyman as not wanting to be the guy, but instead being the guys that that guy depends on.

* Saul Tigh from the new BattlestarGalactica. He is forced to take command of the fleet briefly [[spoiler: when Boomer shoots Adama]] but it doesn't go very well and he happily returns command to Adama.
* Zoe from {{Firefly}} fits this trope perfectly - she's always supportive of Mal.

* In TheWestWing, Leo McGarry describes himself and Josh Lyman as not wanting to be the guy, but instead being the guys that that guy depends on.

* Cid in VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII. While he's older than Cloud, far more learned than Cloud (e.g. a science education and an accomplished pilot as compared to Cloud's InformedAbility) and arguably shouldn't have given Cloud leadership back after Cloud's incident... decided to do so anyway because being a leader wasn't his thing.

* The TropeNamer is Creon of Thebes, a character who appeared in several Ancient Greek Dramas. In ''OedipusRex'' he actually says quite frankly that he's not interested in being king, and finds it much more pleasant to be the one with the power and not the responsibility. However he does become leader of Thebes in ''Antigona'', and sure enough, doesn't do very well.

* Cid in FinalFantasyVII. While he's older than Cloud, far more learned than Cloud (e.g. a science education and an accomplished pilot as compared to Cloud's InformedAbility) and arguably shouldn't have given Cloud leadership back after Cloud's incident... decided to do so anyway because being a leader wasn't his thing.

* Faramir from TheLordOfTheRings, especially in the books. He rejects the power of the Ring, in contrast to his brother who desired it, and is more than content to be Steward ''under'' the king, as opposed to his family, who ruled as Stewards, but coveted the kingship.
* Watch commander Vimes in {{Discworld}}.
* Gekkei from Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms is a {{Double Subversion}} of this trope. Firstly, although he is initially portrayed as loyal to the king, he later leads a rebellion and kills him. The subversion is doubled because [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it was what he needed to do]], and once the revolution is succesful he rejects the other officers' pleas for him to take the throne, and is even about to quit his charge after the incident. He then reconsiders and stays in charge - not because he wants to, but because if there's nobody in charge, the kingdom will fall (literally, since each kingdom is ruled by a {{Fisher King}}. He is just faithfully holding the throne for the next true ruler.

* Gekkei from Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms is a {{Double Subversion}} of this trope. Firstly, although he is initially portrayed as loyal to the king, he later leads a rebellion and kills him. The subversion is doubled because [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it was what he needed to do]], and once the revolution is succesful he rejects the other officers' pleas for him to take the throne, and is even about to quit his charge after the incident. He then reconsiders and stays in charge - not because he wants to, but because if there's nobody in charge, the kingdom will fall (literally, since each kingdom is ruled by a {{Fisher King}}. He is just faithfully holding the throne for the next true ruler.

* Gekkei from {{The Twelve Kindoms}} is a {{Double Subversion}} of this trope. Firstly, although he is initially portrayed as loyal to the king, he later leads a rebellion and kills him. The subversion is doubled because [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it was what he needed to do]], and once the revolution is succesful he rejects the other officers' pleas for him to take the throne, and is even about to quit his charge after the incident. He then reconsiders and stays in charge - not because he wants to, but because if there's nobody in charge, the kingdom will fall (literally, since each kingdom is ruled by a {{Fisher King}}. He is just faithfully holding the throne for the next true ruler.

* Commander Riker of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is another famous example of this. During the many seasons and movies he's been repeatedly offered his own command of various starships, yet chose to remain as second-in-command on the Enterprise regardless.
** Before Riker, Spock was this on ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. He did become Captain of the Enterprise at the start of ''Star Trek II: TheWrathOfKhan'', but relinquished command as smoothly as humanly possible - and not just because Kirk outranks him either.
** In the ''[[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]]'' episode "Mirror, Mirror", alternate Spock is this too: claiming to have no desire for the Captaincy, for the same reasons as the original Creon did.

** In the ''[[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series'' episode "Mirror, Mirror", alternate Spock is this too: claiming to have no desire for the Captaincy, for the same reasons as the original Creon did.