History Main / AlmightyJanitor

** Chief Warrant Officer Thurl. On paper he ranks barely over the grunts on payroll, in practice he is more vital than [[TheCaptain Tagon]] in the day-to-day running of the mercenary company and is the oldest and most experienced member of the crew. He is more adept than several of the actual [=COs=] in negotiation and command, and has invaluable contacts with old military and mercenary buddies. He also threatens to quit the moment somebody saddles him with a higher rank.

** [[spoiler:Albert, Death's cook]] is actually Alberto Malich, one of the most powerful wizards in the history of the Disc, and the founder of the Unseen University.
** Every [[TimePolice History Monk]] knows that Lu-Tze is their greatest agent ever; few know that he is in fact the head sweeper, and not officially a History Monk at all. Additionally, every time Lu-Tze is somewhere in history, he will just start to work at a place that will be relevant for the history and no-one ever wonders about that, because he's just there and takes care of janitor stuff.

** The true heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork, who keeps the peace, inspires the populace to be half-decent every now and then, and [[FisherKing alters the place to his will]]. [[spoiler:Captain Carrot of the City Watch.]] In this case, ''everyone'' knows it. It's just in everyone's best interest to keep it that way, which he encourages. The exception is ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' where he uses the authority to Vimes's great annoyance.

** Mrs. Evadne Cake. A medium (verging on a small). She's feared by virtually every religious institution outside of [[LandDownUnder Fourecks]] and the Agatean Empire ([[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the Ankh-Morpork Post Office]]). This is a result of her habit of volunteering with every temple she can find ([[TempleOfDoom including the ones with spike traps lost in the jungles of Klatch]]), and gradually taking over the cleaning, the sacrifices, the prayer rotas, the Vestigial Virgins, and generally becoming this trope, before having a falling out with the relevant High Priest over her habit of talking with the dead and leaving, throwing the entire temple into disarray.
** ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' has Commander Sir Samuel Vimes end up in the past, occupying the role of Sergeant-at-Arms John Keel ("that's like 'sergeant with all the trimmings.'") where he combines his years of knowledge of police work in Ankh-Morpork, knowledge of future events (to a point) and his own deviousness to become a pivotal figure in the revolution, to the point that once Snapcase is the new patrician he deems Vimes to be too much of a threat because if the thought entered his head to over throw the government, Snapcase would be powerless to stop him.

** Sergeant Jackrum from ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment''. He is introduced as a simple, fat sergeant who is part of the last recruitment party in the ass end of nowhere. He soon makes it clear to his squad that a sergeant must be more competent than any officer if they want to keep their men alive and must manipulate the officer into making the correct positions. We then later find out that he is also TheDreaded to all opposing forces and has saved the lives of over a third of the top brass making him the most powerful soldier in the army. He has also had over 50 years to learn every trick in the book and add a few of his own ideas to said book making him also the most competent soldier as well.

*** When Polly first sees Commander Vimes, Duke of Ankh-Morpork and second only to the Patrician in terms of power in and around Ankh-Morpork she assumes he is simply a grubby sergeant making rude faces behind Lord Rust. This is made more amusing as the events of Monstrous Regiment take place shortly after ''Night Watch''.

* For ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' it's Link. In fact in the beginning he is really just a kid, [[VideoGame/HyruleWarriors sometimes a]] [[VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity soldier]]. As it turns out he's actually the legendary hero, [[TheChosenOne the only one worthy of wielding the Master Sword]]. Each game's Link gets stronger and earns the almighty title, and by the end of the game he's [[OneManArmy tearing through Ganon's Army like it's tissue paper]], before [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu throwing down with the King of Evil himself]]. [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold Few people realise afterwards that Link is the person that saved everyone]].

* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' : Sun Wukong, one of the strongest warriors in existence, gets assigned the job of Heavenly... Stable Boy. When he finds out how low of a position this is, he's pissed and goes on a rampage. This becomes a ChekhovsSkill later in the story because all horses gain an innate respect/fear for Wukong because of this. In response to the rampage, [[KickedUpstairs they give the inversion of this]], giving him the title of "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" -- a very impressive-sounding and high-ranking job, but one that gives no power or responsibility.

** Despite not having the rank of S-Class, Natsu and Gray have consistently taken down opponents that are S-Class themselves.
** However, the Fairy Tail S-Class mages seem to be on an entire different level than S-Class mages from other guilds. Juvia and Gajeel were an S-Class mage and TheAce second only to Master Jose himself in Phantom Lord respectively, but they both had to pass the S-Class Trial of Fairy Tail to become a S-Class mage again ([[spoiler:Juvia failed in the first round, while Gajeel passed but the test was interrupted by Grimoire Heart]]). Natsu and Gray are actually on par with Erza (an S-Class Fairy Tail mage) when it comes to fighting ability, but it takes ''more'' than strength to become an S-Class mage in Fairy Tail.

-->-->"Toilets and boilers, boilers and toilets, including that one boilin' toilet. Fire me if'n you dare."

** Said clone's adoptive mother (well, [[HasTwoMommies one of them]]) holds the rank of 1st Air Captain. Under normal circumstances this would be considered high, but she's one of if not the most skilled aerial mages and combat instructors in the entire [[TheFederation TSAB]], so she should be ''at least'' three ranks higher (the ''[=StrikerS=]'' epilogue mentions that she turned down multiple promotions).

* Shirley in ''LightNovel/EvenThoughImAFormerNobleAndSingleMother'' is an adventurer powerful enough to fight ''gods'', but stays at B-rank because being promoted to a higher rank would force her to leave her daughters unattended for extended periods of time, as emergencies capable of threatening the country happen multiple times a week, and occur ''all over the kingdom''. Adventurers of A-rank or higher are required by law to go face them, regardless of their circumstances.
* Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière of ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' is considered a screw-up in every sense of the word in the magic academy and her family, since her spells blow up in everybody's faces. It turns out that she is the wielder of the supposedly extinct [[ElementNumberFive fifth element]], Void, which lets her do [[AntiMagic all]] [[MasterOfIllusion sorts]] [[ThinkingUpPortals of things]]. The eponymous familiar, Saito Chevalier de Hiraga, is also considered a wash at first, with no redeeming abilities at all, until you find out that he is actually the second coming of a legendary familiar capable of wielding any weapon, from the magic world or his own, real, world, with great expertise. With weapon being in the very loosest sense of the word, to the point where he can expertly fly a fighter jet because it's a "weapon."

* ''Fanfic/TheWorldsGreatestChuninExamTeam'' is basically a {{Deconstruction|Fic}} CrackFic set after the Fourth Great Shinobi World War where Naruto, B, and Gaara all enter the exam as one team. Despite being S-rank shinobi, heroes of the war, and (in the case of Gaara) a ''Kage'', all of them are eligible to participate due to still being genin (a Kage retains the rank they had before gaining their title). Naturally, HilarityEnsues.

** Subverted in the Season 4 premiere where, after the ducklings have all quit or been fired, House starts using the janitor to bounce ideas off of, even having him pretend to be "Dr. Buffer" and deal with the patient's family. HilarityEnsues.

* Before her elevation as the Ministry of Agriculture, Beelzebub in ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'' had been voluntarily staying at the bottom-tier of the ministry and apparently had this kind of reputation among ministry staff. Her elevation is because every other potential candidate for the position was corrupt in one way or another.

-->"Toilets and boilers, boilers and toilets, including that one boilin' toilet. Fire me if'n you dare."

* For ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' it's Link. In fact in the beginning he is really just a kid, [[VideoGame/HyruleWarriors sometimes a]] [[VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity soldier]]. As it turns out he's actually the legendary hero, [[TheChosenOne the only one worthy of wielding the Master Sword]]. Each game Link get's stronger and earns the almighty title, by the end of the game he's [[OneManArmy tearing through Ganon's Army like it's tissue paper]], and few realise that Link is the person that saved everyone.

* UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was given the role of "General Secretary" by the other members of the Politburo of the newly-formed Soviet Union, because from their point of view, it was a menial functionary position within the Cabinet with little relevance to the political moving-and-shaking of the government. Stalin, however, discovered that this allowed him to staff the key positions in the Soviet government with people who were loyal to him and/or consequently owed him favours; when the inevitable power-struggles came after Lenin's death, Stalin had a power-base to work with that the key theorists and political figures of the party, such as Trotsky, didn't. We all know how that worked out.