I Control My Minions Through...: Difference between revisions

 

See also [[Stock Evil Overlord Tactics]].

 

* In the Manga (and once it catches up, probably the anime) of ''[[Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas|Saint Seiya the Lost Canvas]]'', you have almost all of the above represented in Hade's army. Notably, Garuda Aiacos lead his soldiers/sailors through fear of him, and routinely killed them over minor failures or to fuel his attacks. Hades himself uses Agenda to lead Kagaho Benu, and a combination of Agenda and Birthright for most of the other Spectres. The garden variety named Spectres after their conversion via Corruption, usually do it for Sadism. Charon is motivated by money, and is in fact [[Lawful Neutral]] enough to honor a deal with the Saints and ferrying them to the shore... ''despite'' having previously betrayed them by {{spoiler|giving their payment for said crossing (Athena's hair) to Hades, allowing him to [[Brought Down to Normal|seal her powers]].}}

* Bishop Mozgus from ''[[Berserk]]'' keeps a handful of deformed sick, and dying orphans, who he took in when no one else would and turned into his torturing, murdering inquisitorial hitmen, making them a combination of Acceptance, Kindness and Indoctrination.

** Griffith himself back in his Hawks days mainly worked through Respect, with Casca's recruitment being a case of Kindness and Guts' recruitment being a case of Power. Following his {{spoiler|reincarnation as Griffith again in the mortal realm after becoming Femto}}, he gains a new set of demonic minions who follow him because {{spoiler|he is the fifth member of the Godhand}}, making this a combination of Authority and Divine Right. Zodd becomes Griffith's personal [[The Dragon|Dragon]] after being defeated by him, making this another case of Power.

** Baron Kelvin in turn uses fear in the form of outright extortion.

 

* DIE! DIE! DIE FOR [[Darkseid]]! And the people of Apokolips obey, out of a combination of Fear, Sadism, Power, Divine Right, and Indoctrination.

 

* The Red Queen of Hearts in the 2010 ''[[Alice in Wonderland (film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (and in most other incarnations, really) leads through a combination of Fear and Birthright.

* Destro in the 2010 ''[[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra|G.I. Joe the Rise of Cobra]]'' film has minions via: Mind Control, Money, and Sadism.

* M. Bison in ''[[Street Fighter (film)|Street Fighter]]: [[The Movie]]'' uses money and Agenda to motivate his forces. And, had the process not been tampered with, brainwashing for Blanka.

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Space Jam]]'' used Fear to back up Authority. Once Fear went away ...

{{quote|''"What lies or threats led him to forsake his home? And would he not have rather stayed there?"''}}

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Banlieue 13]]'', Taha Ben Mahmud rules purely through money. His deep and far-reaching pockets manage to buy him a literal army of roid-fed gunmen complete with vehicles and a fully-functioning fortress. His being a [[Bad Boss]] is mostly being endured by his underlings due to the sheer amount of cash he doles out. Before the climax of the movie, [[The Government]] managed to drain all his overseas account. The minions promptly kill him after learning that.

* And sometimes no one knows. In "A Boy And His Dog" Vic (the boy) and Blood (the dog) see the leader of a roving gang go nuts and stomp one of his own men to death. Through their telepathic link Vic asks why anyone would follow a lunatic like that. Blood (clearly the brains of the operation) answers "I don't know. Charisma?"

 

* As it's about [[The Illuminati]], almost all of the above techniques are represented in ''[[Duumvirate]]'' to some extent. Although we never see excerpts, the title characters own a "big book of control techniques". Normals are controlled through Authority, Money, Fear, Indoctrination, Power, and Divine Right, unwitting normal power-holders are usually controlled through Corruption (of the political, not supernatural, variety) and presumably Money, and for servants, [[Mind Control]] implants are used instead of Fear and Power strategies, but instilling true Indoctrination/Kindness/Love-based loyalty is considered best. [[The Illuminati]] also have a tendency to use Power and Love on each other along with various flavors of deception. The Duumvirate themselves rule through Authority, Birthright, Power, and Agenda.

* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', Voldemort uses different motivations for different minions; Fear (Pettigrew), Agenda (the Malfoys, most Death Eaters), Sadism (Bellatrix, Fenrir, Dementors), Loyalty (Bellatrix again), Acceptance (Giants, Werewolves).

* The Empire in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', having leaders who range up and down the villain scale, checks off all of the above with a flourish. Specific leaders include:

** [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Grand Admiral Thrawn]], [[A Lighter Shade of Grey|less evil than the others]], used Money for mercenary types, Authority on some Imperials and the Noghri, Indoctrination on clones, Fear on the Noghri and sometimes his Imperials, Sadism (sort of) with C'baoth, and for the others... Respect. He knew that it's best to be feared ''and'' loved, and put a high value on people who were both loyal and competent.

* In ''[[The Stand]]'' Randall Flagg mostly rules his people through fear (it helps that he's an [[Eldritch Abomination]] in human form and that just looking at his face sends people into paroxysms of terror). Only Lloyd, Nadine, and the Trashcan Man seem to be genuinely devoted to him.

* [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]] primarily uses fear, with a dash of [[Mind Control]] (more than a dash in the case of the Ringwraiths), sadism (Orcs enjoy killing things, Sauron gives them lots of stuff to kill), and of course power (he's a demigod).

* The Boskonian Empire of the [[Lensmen]] universe uses a combination of fear and greed. If you're not good enough to stop your minions from killing and supplanting you and taking all your stuff, too bad for you. Meanwhile, on Boskonian warships, the lash is used to keep men at their posts in combat (and when the good guys realise this, they start adapting their combat tactics to make use of it).

 

** The Imperium is [[The Empire|an empire]] of vast proportions ([[Black and Gray Morality|and have a slight bit of 'good' and/or sympathy, along with everyone else.]]) and they have ''Indoctrination'' from birth toward the [[God-Emperor]] of Mankind's Divine Right (perceived by his empire, he specifically said he wasn't. [[Horus Heresy|It's a long story.]]), him being seen as a god. ''Fear'' is exploited to its subjects in line also. The [[God-Emperor]] arguably started his empire from ''Power''.

** The forces of Chaos come from hope that the ''Divine Right'' of the Chaos Gods with see fit to empower and better their lot as part of their ''Agenda''. Or...

*** [[Sarcasm Mode|Possibly]] ''Sadism'' also.

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'', it is revealed that LeBlanc keeps her minions with kindness, helping them when they were down-and-out. This only partly explains why they risk their lives in battle for her, of course.

** [[President Evil|President Shinra]] of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' rules through Money. After he's violently retired by [[Big Bad|Sephiroth]], his son Rufus takes over, and a new rule of Fear begins. (He actually [[Lampshade Hanging|references this]] in his introductory speech!)

* Fawful in [[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]] rules the kingdom by simply mind controlling everyone into obedience, then presumably somehow altering their appearance to match his. In contrast though, Bowser himself controls his army by simple loyalty, his troops actually want to work for him.

 

* Ferretina of ''[[Girl Genius]]'' controlled the lapinemoths by offering them {{spoiler|free insurance}}. And it worked.

** Jägermonstern [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110318 vehemently insist] that they serve Heterodynes "freely, out of luff" (at least for "[[Blood Knight|fun]] vunz") and ''loyalty''. Though between themselves mentioned "[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050620 the ancient contract]" as a [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050624 clear allusion] to this service. Either way, becoming near-immortal [[Super Soldier]]s was their choice, and Jägers take their obligations seriously.

** [[Big Bad|The Other]] uses [[Mind Control]] on her [[And I Must Scream|revenants]].

 

* Lex Luthor in ''[[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman the Animated Series]]'' led mostly through the power of Money, though he did use Kindness to get Mercy to be his assistant and [[Bodyguard Babes|bodyguard]]. Of course, Lex being Lex, he left her to die one episode when Brainiac attacked.<ref>(Superman saves her, of course.)</ref> [[Mook Face Turn|She did not take it well.]]

** Actually, she's using more than one. She's the daughter of the Fire Lord (and fighting his war with his armies), who in turn has an [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] philosophy he may or may not really believe himself, and the Fire Nation propaganda is indoctrinated into the citizens early on. Mai is not really a sadist, but her reason for joining Azula was escaping the boredom which kinda counts too.

{{quote|'''Azula''' to her [[Elite Mooks]]: If I sense any disloyalty, any hesitation, any weakness at all, I will snuff it out.

* In an episode of ''[[Sealab 2021]]'' Sparks reveals his group of minions, and tries to recruit Marcos.

* ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'': From the example of two FOWL eggmen in "Switching Faces", it seems FOWL itself leans on Sadism. Even its hippies are evil!

* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien|Ben 10 Ultimate Alien]]'', a corrupt prince controls his army through mind control devices. When Ben shuts off the mind control, the soldiers all take a walk.

* ''[[Hurricanes]]'' [[Big Bad]] Stavros Garkos uses mostly Authority and Money.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]