Basic Trope: The role of Big Good is filled by a shady character with mysterious goals.
- Straight: Bob's fight against Big Bad Alice is aided by intelligence and equipment provided by "Oreh Itna", a mysterious figure who seems to have his own agenda.
- Exaggerated: Bob's fight against Alice is aided by powers Alice openly gave him herself specifically to oppose her.
- Downplayed: Bob accepts the help of an Anti-Hero even though he doesn't agree with his methods and considers him an Evil Mentor because it's the only way to stop the far greater threat Alice poses.
- Justified: Alice is a threat to everyone and has many traitorous underlings so there's any number of reasons someone who wouldn't want to openly show themselves to the heroes would aid them. Including Alice herself (hey, just ruling unopposed would be boring).
- Inverted: Bob's Knight Templar Big Bad Friend Alice remains his best friend, but still believes in her cause strongly enough that she won't back down.
- Subverted: The mysterious figure steps out of the shadows and explains everything after the hero completes his first mission and can be trusted.
- Double Subverted: ...but where does Oreh get all that tech and intelligence from in the first place?
- Parodied: Bob begins each episode waiting patiently for his Mysterious Informant to give him a call to get the plot going.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: The show just has an outright Big Good, or Bob and his friends are on their own.
- Enforced: The executives want to keep things dark and gritty, so an outright Big Good's right out. This trope is used to explain where Bob gets his backing from.
- Lampshaded: "Behold! I am the mysterious, all powerful leader who will set you on your quest!"
- Invoked: Bob insists all aid be provided anonymously to protect his supporters from Alice's reprisals.
- Exploited: Alice notes how cynical this world is and tries to get Bob to doubt Oreh.
- Defied: Bob refuses to trust Oreh and finds some other source of funding.
- Discussed: "So...can we trust this guy?" "Well there's plenty of legit reasons he wouldn't want to support us openly and we need all the help we can get."
- Conversed: "Is this the bit where the phone rings and it cuts to a guy in the shadows telling him about Alice's Evil Plan?"
- Deconstructed:
- Bob has a hard time trusting Oreh, especially when he catches him executing a prisoner.
- Oreh Itna is really just another bad guy strengthening Bob just enough to remove Alice as a threat before he embarks on his own campaign. When the truth comes out, Bob's reputation and self-confidence are severely damaged by the revelation.
- Reconstructed: Bob still can't do anything without Oreh's help and has no choice but to trust him. Plus the execution was more of a Mercy Kill, given what Alice does to her mooks
- Played For Laughs: Oreh Itna is shown putting a great deal of effort into appearing mysterious, but doesn't quite pull it off at times (shouting at his roomate to stop grinding coffee while he's on the phone, for example).
- Played For Drama: Can Bob's source be trusted? Will he betray them? What's his motive? Could he prove even more of a threat than Alice?
Who am I? That doesn't matter; This link will take you back to Mysterious Backer. May it serve you well and please don't ask any questions....
