Some voices of authority will break the rules to seek their own ends. Others will do it for the perceived greater good. And then there's the Lawful Pushover, who defies protocol because some random layperson asked them to.
It has very little to do with undermining an Obstructive Code of Conduct, or even being a Reasonable Authority Figure (though they may very well aspire to be one). The Lawful Pushover just shrinks back at the tiniest perception of assertion. They may have had a Knight Templar Parent or two, or maybe they were bullied growing up; or maybe they're still just the rookie in their profession. They simply cannot say "no" in the moment.
This pushover knows they will be in trouble. They are already anticipating the big chew-out. Or perhaps they hold a teaching position, or they are the boss, and they are left to decide how they act towards their students or underlings. Either way — there will be consequences, and this doormat is used to facing them.
A pun on the names of Character Alignments on the "Lawful" side of the x-axis (i.e. Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil), as found in tabletop role-playing games.
More developed Lawful Pushovers may also apologize a lot, or kick themselves afterward for not growing a spine. Super-Trope of Pushover Parents. See also Shrinking Violet; compare Extreme Doormat, Police Are Useless. Contrast Bothering by the Book and Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help.
Examples:
- Nichijou: High-school English teacher Izumi Sakurai is a prime example of this, buckling in the face of any small adversity from students, or even from an unexpected reaction. Despite her numerous attempts to fight through the pressure, the only student she has successfully chastized is her live-in younger brother... once.
- Megumi Sakura, teacher and club advisor of School-Live!, seems to be an Extreme Doormat / Butt-Monkey version of this. Her students call her "Megu-nee" instead of "Sakura-sensei"; they continually interrupt her; and they even take her keys and car without her permission (or a license, for that matter). It's like they can't even see her!...Oh, yeah, about that...
- Miko's gullibility in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War makes it very easy for others to trick her into letting them get away with things. She also tends to stand down if others insist on pushing back against her attempts to enforce the rules.
- Trigger Warning: Kelton College's administration is described as being like this, seeming to cave in to even the slightest demands from student activists. One example given is when administrators agree not to demolish an abandoned warehouse with a rainbow painted on its side, due to students accusing the decision of being "bigoted".
- On M*A*S*H, this is Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's defining trait. He lets his Bunny-Ears Lawyer doctors run riot and reveals that the army gave him, and him specifically, special instructions never to surrender without orders.
- Dungeons & Dragons: In the module OA7 Test of the Samurai, the player characters arrive in the mysterious realm of Qui, only to be immediately confronted by its current Officer — an indecisive, panicky oriental unicorn named Chanii. She initially orders them to leave, but when they insist on seeing Za-Jikku, she backs down and leads them to see his statue. Should they return to Qui later, she will again ask them to leave; however, if they continue to press her, she will let them stay for up to four hours.
- The Tragic Flaw of police officer Cole Phelps in L.A. Noire is his refusal to confront morally objectionable behavior from his fellow officers (e.g.: bigotry from his partner; people who defend drug abuse), despite his prerogative to do so. His reasons for inaction are sympathetic, however, since refusing to indulge in anti-Japanese sentiment in the war lost him the confidence of the men under his command, and ultimately got him shot.
- Silent Hill: Officer Cybil Bennett seems to exude assertion at first, but she doesn't take much convincing to let the civilian protagonist go first through a newly-uncovered hole in the wall.
- Monika in Doki Doki Literature Club!. Despite being the club president (and a Manipulative Bitch), she cannot assert herself towards her club members. This changes in the second half of act II, presumably from a combination of frustration and a desire to present herself to the player as the Only Sane Man. She continues to lament her non-assertiveness in act III.
- Comic #639 of El Goonish Shive:
Susan: Your narcs don't have the guts!
Security Woman: She's right; we don't.
Security Man: She's a scary lady! - Iron Violet: The Shy Titan chronicles the protagonist's evolution from this to Asskicking Leads to Leadership.
- The Simpsons: Seymour Skinner, principal of Springfield Elementary School, is an Extreme Doormat to many forces of humanity, and his school regularly reflects that. Evil schemers in need of a Home Base? Principal Skinner turns a blind eye to it all. Insubordinates conquering and inappropriately renaming parts of the institution? Expect him to honor the name change with a wince. A teacher turning one of his top students into the target of a bullying campaign that has turned her life into a living hell? As long as the bullying doesn't involve physical contact, he doesn't give a crap — otherwise, the Teachers' Union will be on his ass.
- Sheriff from Squidbillies. Even before Dan Halen replaced him with pliant clones, he was generally willing to look the other way in regards to Early's shenanigans. It generally takes only the slightest convincing to get him to look the other way in the face of blatantly criminal acts.
