History PlayingWith / YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness

* '''Discussed''': "Of course he's not gonna kill you. Why do you think he would do that after he invited you to that top secret meeting yesterday?"

** Word gets out about this little habit, and Evulz's minions stop trusting him. Some [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal even begin to conspire against him and/or help the heroes defeat him]]. After all, what’s the point of working under a death threat if you’re just gonna get killed anyway? For doing what you were ''supposed to do'' no less?

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz plans to have him killed him so the more competent Duke Vile can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Vile and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available lieutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon in order to [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou force Evulz to spare him]].

%%* '''Implied''': ???

** Word gets out about this little habit, and Evulz's minions stop trusting him. Some [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal even begin to conspire against him and/or help the heroes defeat him]]. After all, what’s the point of working under a death threat if you’re just gonna get killed anyway? For doing what you were supposed to do no less?

** Word gets out about this little habit, and Evulz's minions stop trusting him. Some [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal even begin to conspire against him and/or help the heroes defeat him]].

* '''Straight''': Emperor Evulz kills [[MookLieutenant Lord Bad]] after Lord Bad finished carrying out an order from him.

** Evulz is rather paranoid about his minions becoming a SpannerInTheWorks.

** Lord Bad is a DeathSeeker who [[ICannotSelfTerminate cannot self-terminate]]. Evulz killing him ''is'' the promised reward, and since Evulz [[IGaveMyWord made a promise]], [[ShootTheDog he keeps it]].

** Emperor Evulz kills Lord Bad, telling him to "serve me in the afterlife". Lord Bad then discovers a prestigious new position for him, serving Evulz [[TheManBehindTheMan true master]], the Lord of Darkness.
** After Lord Bad does Evulz' bidding, everyone expects Evulz to kill him. Evulz, however, sets up Lord Bad with a cushy retirement package as an incentive for his other minions.

** Emperor Evulz was lying.
** Emperor Evulz changes his mind and has Lord Bad killed.

** Emperor Evulz sends Lord Bad on a suicide mission once he has no more use for him; once Lord Bad comes back from ''that'', however, Evulz is genuinely impressed and decides to keep him around.
* '''Averted''': "Finished already, Lord Bad? Don't worry, I have a rather 'explosive' surprise waiting in the helicopter with you. That's right, I'm paying you in cash, hope to work with you again."

** The writer finishes their first draft and realizes they forgot about Lord Bad after he finished carrying out Evulz order. Not wanting to make Lord Bad a [[KarmaHoudini karma houdini]], the writer opts to simply have Evulz shoot him.

* '''Invoked''': Sergeant Worse hates Lord Bad, so he lies to Evulz and tells him that Bad is planning a betrayal, provoking Evulz to kill Bad after his current mission.

** Emperor [[PragmaticVillainy Pragmatically Villounous]] invades Emperor Evulz' domain knowing that none of Emperor Evulz' mooks are willing to fight for him.

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to have him killed him so the more competent Duke Vile can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Vile and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available liutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon in order to [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou force Evulz to spare him]].

** Later on, [[RemovingTheCrucialTeammate another situation comes up in which Lord Bad's skills would be very helpful. But he's dead now. Oops.]]

** Emperor Evulz doesn't kill off his minions directly. Rather, he cuts off loose ends through [[UriahGambit Uriah Gambits]] or [[SetAMookToKillAMook carefully-crafted infighting]]. The targets never realise what's going on until it's too late. [[UnwittingPawn As a result, his (surviving) minions remain loyal to the end as they never realise this trope is in play.]]

I am done with you, so go to YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness, and don't ever call me again.

** Later on, another situation comes up in which Lord Bad's skills would be very helpful. But he's dead now. Oops.

* '''Exaggerated''': Every minion who works for Emperor Evulz will be killed when completing the order.
** Emperor Evulz is a {{necromancer}} who kills his minions when he no longer has use for them, then brings them back to life or reanimated if he finds uses for them.
** Emperor Evulz's subordinates are of the HiveMind type who have no right to say, think and do whatever they wish, literally as their altered physiology by Emperor Evulz prevents them to oppose him; when they are finished, he kills them when he has no use for them, even if they carry out all of his orders flawlessly and without complaints, and brings them back to life or reanimated when he has any use for them, repeating the cycle.

** Emperor Evulz fires Lord Bad after doing an order for him.

** Emperor Evulz demotes Lord Bad.

** Evulz is fully aware of that [[TheStarscream Lord Bad is planning to usurp him]].

** Evulz [[KickTheDog kills his own minions]] [[ForTheEvulz because he just likes being evil]].
** Lord Bad is [[ChaoticEvil rebellious type]] who may be useful to Evulz during his rise to power, but a potential liability once Evulz becomes one of the [[LawfulEvil authority figures]] that Lord Bad despises.
** Evulz has fundamentally changed his plans or objectives in a way that Lord Bad would refuse to follow, thus making it better to get rid of him before getting started on them.

** Emperor Evulz gives Lord Bad a legitimate and genuine reward for his success.

** Emperor Evulz dies, but the minion remains and must continue serving in some way

** The writer received large amounts of fanmail wishing Lord Bad would be killed of for being [[TheScrappy relentlessly annoying.]]

** The writer finishes their first draft and realizes they forgot about Lord Bad after he finished carrying out Evulz order. Not wanting to make Lord Bad a [[KarmaHoudini karma houndini]], the writer opts to simply have Evulz shoot him.

** Four words: LonelyAtTheTop.
** Emperor Evulz does this a few times too many, and his minions begin to stop trusting him; some [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal even begin to conspire against him and/or help the heroes defeat him]].
** Turns out Lord Bad is a bit too tough to easily dispose of. The Emperor either uses up valuable minions and resources in the process, or makes yet another enemy in the now-betrayed Lord Bad. He succeeded in his previous task(s) for a reason, after all.
** Later on, another situation comes up in which Lord Bad's skills would be very helpful. But he's dead now.
** Word gets around about this habit of Evulz's, so his minions all start trying to get VetinariJobSecurity in order to never have their usefulness end. Nobody will allow their personal skills/resources/whatever to be replicated, which encourages infighting and makes everything Evulz does a KeystoneArmy. [[GuileHero Alice]] is able to cripple Evulz by targeting these "essential" minions, who are easier to get to and will take a large part of the empire's warmaking capacity with them when they die.

** Turns out Lord Bad is a bit too tough to merely dispose of. The Emperor either uses up valuable minions and resources in the process, or makes yet another enemy in the now-betrayed Lord Bad. He succeeded in his previous task(s) for a reason, after all.
** It's rather short-sighted to kill your minions because you don't need them ''now'': Lord Bad's skills were useful once and they may be useful again- but Evulz doesn't have that option now that Lord Bad is dead.
** Everyone knows that Evulz likes to "[[DeadlyEuphemism downsize his organization]]" with people he deems not useful enough; this results in a lot of backstabbing and politicking as all his minions try to get themselves VetinariJobSecurity. This weakens Evulz's side, since nobody will allow their personal methods/skills/whatever to be mass-produced in fear that they'll be killed, which limits supply and permanently makes everything Evulz does a KeystoneArmy; [[GuileHero Alice]] is able to cripple Evulz by targeting these minions, who are easier to get to than Evulz and will take a large part of Evulz's warmaking capacity with them when they die.

** While Emperor Evulz is only too willing to kill off minions as soon as they lose usefulness, he is also a HiddenVillain and TheChessmaster, a ManipulativeBastard extraordinaire. He usually picks off loose ends through [[UriahGambit Uriah Gambits]] or [[SetAMookToKillAMook carefully-crafted infighting]] rather than getting his hands dirty. His minion never realise theye are about to be killed off until it's too late. [[UnwittingPawn As a result, his (surviving) minions remain loyal to the end as they never realise this trope is in play.]]

** Emporer Evulz is subordinates are of the HiveMind type who have no right to say, think and do whatever they wish, literally as their altered physiology by Emperor Evulz prevents them to oppose him; when they are finished, he kills them when he has no use for them, even if they carry out all of his orders flawlessly and without complaints, and brings them back to life or reanimated when he has any use for them, repeating the cycle.

* '''Averted''': "finished already, Lord Bad? Don't worry, I have a rather 'explosive' surprise waiting in the helicopter with you. That's right, I'm paying you in cash, hope to work with you again."

* '''Averted''': "You've done well. However, I have no further use for you. Here's the $1,000,000 we agreed upon; and your severance package. Pleasure doing business with you."

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to have him killed him so the more competent Duke Vile can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Vile and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available liutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon in order to [[TooDesperateToBePicky force Evulz to spare him]].

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to have him killed him so the more competent Duke Vile can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Vile and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available liutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon in order to [[TooDesparateToBePicky force Evulz to spare him]].

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to have him killed him so the more competent Duke Vile can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Vile and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available liutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon in order to force Evulz to spare him.

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to have him killed him so the more competent Sergeant Worse can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Worse and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available liutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon in order to force Evulz to spare him.

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to have him killed him so the more competent Sergeant Worse can take his position as liutenant. In response, Bad has Worse and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, deliberately making himself the only available liutenant Emepror Evulz can rely upon; thus, Evulz is grudgingly forced to spare Lord Bad.

** Lord Bad realizes that Emperor Evulz, having no further use for him and seeing him as a liability, plans to kill him so the more competent Sergeant Worse can take his position. In response, Bad has Worse and every other potential candidate discreetly assassinated, forcing Emperor Evulz to spare Lord Bad by making himself the only available liutenant Evulz can rely upon.

** The writer finishes their first draft and realizes they forgot about Lord Bad after he finished carrying out Evulz order. Not wanting to make Lord Bad into a [[KarmaHoudini karma houndini]], the writer opts to simply have Evulz shoot him.

** The writer gets Evulz to kill Lord Bad after he gets a wave of fanmail badgering him to kill him off for whatever reason.

** Lord Bad sees the betrayal coming and has a plan to either escape or kill Evulz first; it works splendidly.

*** Not only that, but his subordinates are of the HiveMind type who have no right to say, think and do whatever they wish, literally as their altered physiology by Emperor Evulz prevents them to oppose him; when they are finished, he kills them when he has no use for them, even if they carry out all of his orders flawlessly and without complaints, and brings them back to life or reanimated when he has any use for them, repeating the cycle.