Basic Trope: Jerkass who mistreats the heroes, yet expects them to drop everything and help when the Jerkass is in trouble.
- Straight: Wesley, an Upper-Class Twit, likes to mock and belittle The Hero Lucas and his friends Bianca, Marcy, and Pike for being lower class. Yet when Emperor Evulz's forces attack, he screams for them to "Save me first! Get me out of here, you bumbling idiots!"
- David is a cruel civilian who constantly complains about the evils in government, politics and especially sneers at those who tries to do their best to make things better, whether they be an Internal Reformist or outright willing to work outside of the law to try to make things better. If he doesn't accuse the Internal Reformist of being part of the establishment and thus equally as guilty, he's complaining about the vigilantes for not obeying the law and not being as cynical and smart as him for "hating everyone and not caring because everyone else is beneath him". Yet when push comes to shove, he'll NEVER take part in any sort of democratic process to even attempt to make anything better, while demanding others to do it for him while mistreating them every step of the way.
- Exaggerated: Wesley goes out of his way to make the heroes' lives utterly miserable, making their work far harder than it has to be — yet when the real enemy attacks, he expects them to protect him and him alone, and even screeches at them for daring to try and help anyone else when they should be saving him.
- Downplayed:
- After insulting them using Passive-Aggressive Kombat and Stealth Insults and making subtle sarcastic remarks at their expense, Wesley expects them to help him with his laundry.
- After hiring the heroes to escort him across dangerous territory, Wesley spends the entire time demanding the heroes to perform various menial task that are not explicitly part of the contract, simply because they never agreed not to perform them. When it comes time to pay, Wesley hesitates, only doing so to maintain his image.
- Justified:
- Wesley happens to be related to a powerful local lord, who would make an even more powerful enemy with a very personal grudge against the heroes if he thought they'd just let Wesley die.
- Wesley's instrumental to defeating Evulz, and letting him die will doom the world.
- Wesley is extremely spoiled and selfish. To him, whether he deserves help or not is irrelevant, as long as he gets what he wants.
- David initially had a justified reason for this, having become disillusioned by the system to the point that he believes that he's better off not caring. However, eventually he begins to take it too far, choosing to actively sabotage the situation in order to make himself feel morally superior to those still trying to make a difference, but in truth doing so because he doesn't want the moral discomfort of actually having to dirty his own hands to accomplish anything, especially if it doesn't give him instant gratification.
- Inverted:
- Offended by an Inferior's Success
- Wesley is an Extreme Doormat that, intentionally or not, keeps getting mistreated by Lucas' party, and always insists for them to "Save yourselves! I'll only slow you down!" each time that they're attacked by Evulz' forces. Due to the party actually caring about his well-being despite how they normally act, they never do as he says.
- Wesley is an unentitled person. He had neither any privilege nor right to mistreat anyone he likes, including the heroes. He also lacks a belief that he should have an opinion on everything and everyone, behaving like a humble prisoner and a slave to the heroes, even when in trouble. Likewise, he doesn't expect anything and finds no point of complaining.
- Subverted:
- When Wesley is threatened, he whimpers to Lucas that "I know I've treated you poorly in the past, and that I shouldn't expect you to help me now..."
- Despite seeming like a buffoonish Jerkass, Wesley is surprisingly capable of taking care of himself and doesn't have to ask the heroes for help.
- Wesley's father Lord Robert has become very grateful to Lucas and his friends for constantly saving his son's sorry hide. He is also becoming increasingly fed up with his son's ridiculous sense of entitlement, which is causing Lord Robert all kinds of diplomatic headaches. When Wesley lashes out at them one too many times, Lord Robert finally has enough and starts yelling at his son to either start showing some proper gratitude to Lucas and his friends or grow a pair and start taking better care of himself.
- Double Subverted:
- "...But DO IT ANYWAY!"
- Though better than expected, Wesley's pride eventually means he gets into a situation he can't fight his way out of, and starts demanding aid from the heroes instead.
- Parodied: Wesley is so spoiled and conceited that he inadvertently causes a peasant revolution when he belittles Lucas and Co. in front of the armed villagers they previously saved. With his titles revoked and his upper class in jail, Lucas and co. free him on bail and have him do demeaning menial service for them.
- Zig Zagged: Wesley flips back and forth on whether or not he actually expects the heroes to protect him after the way he's mistreated them. In some cases, he even outright rejects their help, insisting he and his guards can take care of matters himself. This doesn't stop him, however, from tongue-lashing them in public for not protecting him, simply because he wants to hurt their image.
- Averted: Wesley has enough sense about him to realize that Lucas and co. are not cowering peasants, and outrageous demands won't help his tenuous hold on their help.
- Enforced: The story is a commentary on Upstairs Downstairs type class tension, so most nobles are like Wesley.
- Lampshaded: "If Wesley (or any of our other noble clients) were actually grateful, they wouldn't be the target of so many uprisings and kidnappings, and we'd be out of a job."
- Invoked: Wesley's father encourages him to look down upon the heroes "because they're expendable commoners, while you were born to greatness."
- Exploited: General Scarlett has learned from her spies that Wesley treats the heroes poorly, and decides to stage a very public attack on his household, as part of a ploy to discredit Lucas and the rest.
- Defied: Wesley refuses to call for their help, out of Pride. He'll deal with this situation alone or die trying, but he won't make a fool of himself by calling on "those cretins!"
- Discussed: "When you have generations of 'noble breeding' and rich upbringing, the result is usually a joyful pairing of ingratitude and entitlement."
- Conversed: "I'll bet the Emperor wants to kill Wesley because he used to work for him. I know I would."
- Deconstructed:
- Wesley is emblematic of an out of touch ruling class, and his progressively shriller and more heartless demands lead Pike and Lucas to violently disagree on just how much they're supposed to put up with. Once the team disbands, the Emperor's forces meet no resistance.
- Alternatively, the heroes leave Wesley to his fate (or at least seriously consider it before deciding that since they're heroes, they'll save him anyways.)Lucas: Shouldn't we leave him behind?
Bianca: Well, he probably won't thank us, sooo...
Marcy: Nah, we ditch him.
Pike: HAH! Ya think he'd be grateful after we grab his ass and save him!? Hell no! Let's bounce! Drinks on me! - Because of his entitlement, it turns out that in a major vote that could have fixed some serious problems (or started to fix anything at the very least), it fails by several votes - David and his group's votes. And then they immediately start pointing fingers at everyone else, while proclaiming their own moral purity. David and his gang are ultimately subjected to a vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech by everyone around him for being such a flagrant hypocrite, constantly preening about his own moral superiority while actively obstructing or standing by doing nothing. David refuses to internalize this, and his followers are just as selfish and cruel as he is. He and his gang end up becoming pariahs as a result.
- Reconstructed: Marcy and Bianca notice how Wesley is dividing his protectors, and use a mix of threats, persuasion, and blackmail to teach him a lesson and get him to shut up and stay quiet for the sake of their chances of success.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Lucas realizes that he suffers from Samaritan Syndrome and he has been easily forgiving of Wesley's behavior. While he doesn't want Wesley to come to harm, he's been enabling Wesley by putting up with him and keeping Pike, Bianca and Marcy from harming him or telling him off. Lucas decides the best thing he can do for Wesley is teach him the error of his ways by dumping him in a real life situation where no one knows who he is, and his titles mean nothing.
- Played For Laughs: Wesley teases the others, yet squeals to be saved from a mouse in his bedchamber.
- Played For Drama: Marcy and Pike have been flirting with taking a slide down the slippery slope into darker territory, and have been discussing doing so. During an attack on the city, they're separated from their comrades, and discover an injured, pinned Wesley — who, upon spotting them, starts demanding their help. With no other obvious witnesses around, No one will ever know if they just... leave him to his fate. Or maybe even help him along...
Pike: (Hesitant) Iunno, Marcy... This li'l runt mighta' been a prick in our sides, but... Should we?
Marcy: Yeah. I'm sick of him. Let's leave this little shit to his fate.
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