Playing With / Main Character Final Boss

Basic Trope: The main character also plays the role of the final boss within the same story.

• Straight: After all the events throughout the story, Bob ends up becoming the final boss, causing the other party members to either fight him off before returning to normal or being forced to kill him.
• Exaggerated
  • All of the main characters can potentially become the final boss depending on your choices.
  • Bob is the True Final Boss of the story, requiring a set of specific circumstances that requires you to Earn Your Bad Ending.
• Downplayed
  • The final boss is an alternate version of Bob, his future or past self or an alternate universe version of Bob.
  • Jekyll & Hyde
• Justified:
  • The story is about mental health issues and the consequences of letting them go unchecked, hence why Bob is both the main character and final boss of the story.
  • Years of fighting and putting his life in danger, in addition to Bob's personal trauma, fears and life issues causes Bob to undergo Sanity Slippage and later become a threat stronger than Emperor Evulz or King Kontroller.
  • Bob is either dealing with a Superpowered Evil Side or The Corruption, and his corruption allows for a more personal finale compared to either Emperor Evulz or King Kontroller as the final boss.
  • Bob's role as the final boss is the logical conclusion where Bob either has Protagonist-Centred Morality, Moral Myopia or he's a Tautological Templar.
• Inverted:
  • Play as a Boss
  • At one section of the game, you assume control of Claidheamh, who's been a Recurring Boss for a while now, with his schtick being that he ambushes Bob at the end of a dungeon. This time, Bob ambushes Claidheamh after the latter completes a dungeon of his own.
• Subverted:
  • Enemy Without
  • Mirror Boss
  • Bob is only the first part of the final boss and the rest of it is either against King Kontroller or Bob's own issues made manifest.
• Parodied: Any main character in the series that Bob's work is from that succumb to this will be labelled as pulling a "Bob", even if it's a prequel that has no character even having any name closely related to "Bob".
• Averted: Bob isn't the final boss, with Emperor Evulz playing the role of final boss instead.
• Enforced:
  • The developers wanted the players to engage with Bob's party members, and as such decide to make it so that if you make it to The Very Definitely Final Dungeon with all of Bob's Relationship Values at 0 (or less) for all party members, You Lose at Zero Trust and Bob himself becomes the final boss who you fight with your remaining party members.
  • Alternately, you're allowed to pick every dialogue choice that makes Bob into an absolute Jerkass and engage in Video Game Cruelty Potential at every turn. Your reward? Bob turns against the party and you get to fight him as the final boss.
• Invoked: Emperor Evulz and King Kontroller realize that Bob has untapped power and realize that even if they fail, they can at least drive Bob over the edge and have him destroy everything he's worked so hard to protect. (And if all else fails, King Kontroller can at least possess Bob and then kill his friends.)
• Exploited:
  • King Kontroller -close to death's door- decides to pull one last of act of Demonic Possession, intending to use Bob's new body to kill the other heroes.
  • Emperor Evulz continuously drives Bob to the brink of madness, rage and despair. When Bob's issues finally spill out, Emperor Evulz either escapes or is killed by the transformed Bob depending on the story.
• Defied:
  • Bob manages to get a grip on himself before his issues spill over and cause him to become a threat to the world.
  • Bob cottons onto Emperor Evulz and King Kontroller's plans for him and at the first chance he gets, kills them both.
  • Bob talks things out with his party members, allowing him to cope with the various trials ahead far better than if he didn't.
• Discussed:
  Bob: So much carnage... so much bloodshed. And all for a world where people die no matter what they do with their lives...
  Alice: Bob, wait. I get that it's been hard but these people deserve to be free to make their own choices.
  Bob: What, so they can continue this pointless cycle. Emperor Evulz got where he was because the people chose him and King Kontroller to control every aspect of their lives instead of taking responsibility. They chose to be controlled yet they claim that the old gods were unfair because they expected worship and dedication!
  Alice: Bob, what the hell are you even saying?!
  Bob: What is the difference between a hero and a god? Ha ha, as I've finally figured out. (*activates his Adaptive Armour, wings jutting out*) THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!
• Conversed:
  Charlie: It's funny actually. In a lot of these shows and games, the main character has so many nifty powers that they're practically gods.
  Flynn: It's actually a good thing that the hero is such a good guy, otherwise he'd be the biggest threat the world has ever known.
  Charlie: That's... very true actually.
• Deconstructed:
  • If Bob's party members do manage to free Bob from his corruption, Bob still has to be wary of his dark side and/or his personal issues. If he's caused any damage during his rampage, he's going to have to earn back the trust of the people whose lives he's destroyed due to them feeling betrayed at Bob causing untold damage.
  • Despite Bob's ranting and raving about how unfair he's had it, his party members decide that Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse. Bob had every opportunity to connect with others and make his life better but now he's become a monster due to his own poor decisions. As much as it pains them, his former allies cut Bob down like any other monster due to the threat he now poses to the world.

• Reconstructed: After much struggle, Bob's allies are finally able to get through to Bob, ending the fight with a Cooldown Hug. Any damage Bob did cause in his corrupted state is dealt with and Bob is allowed time to work through his issues now that Emperor Evulz and King Kontroller have been defeated.
• Played for Drama: After defeating Emperor Evulz and King Kontroller, the party turn on Bob because they're sick of his cruelty and Jerkass behavior, causing Bob to lash out because he can't stand them either. With no common enemy, Bob and the party turn on each other with the ending decided by who wins the final fight.