History Main / AlmightyJanitor

When the Janitor really is the Almighty, see GodWasMyCopilot, and when a person in power simply styles themselves "Janitor," it's JustTheFirstCitizen. If they used to be of high rank, they were probably GracefullyDemoted. Not to be confused with our former [[Tropers/{{Janitor}} almighty admin]]. See also TheAllegedBoss.

Also compare MagicalHomelessPerson.

** Starting in Season 3, it was revealed that the entire profession of air conditioning repairmen collectively fulfills this role, dating back to the days of slaves using palm fronds to fan Egyptian Pharaohs.

* The Henituse territory in ''Literature/TrashOfTheCountsFamily'' has a large number of these in the general population. [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld Cale]] notes that any random old man on the street could secretly be a MasterSwordsman. He eventually recruits people for an assassin/information network from an art festival.

*** Vice Admirals Gion and Tokikake, like Garp, were once considered for promotion to Admiral. They were passed over in favor of Issho and Aramaki (Admirals Fujitora and Ryokugyu, respectively), but the fact that they were considered at all shows that they should not be underestimated.

** While technically Nami's position is only the navigator, her word is law on all matters related to sailing, finance and the day-to-day management of resources, thus making her the unofficial quartermaster. At this point, even ''she's'' quite a bit stronger than her initial 16,000,000 and 66,000,000 bounties (at the end of Wano arc, her bounty rose to 366,000,000) would imply thanks to the massive and dangerous upgrades she made to her Clima Tact. This is TruthInTelevision: In RealLife pirate ships, outside of battle, the quartermaster [[https://www.pirateshipvallarta.com/blog/pirate-stories/pirate-ship-quartermaster held just as much, if not more, power]] than the ship's captain.

** Tony-Tony Chopper is the Straw Hat Crew's [[TheMedic doctor]], but has the ridiculously low bounty of 1000 berries (and even that's a relatively recent development; it used to be 50 and then 100) while his teammates are all in the tens- or hundreds-of-millions. This is because he has been mistaken by the Marines as the Straw Hat Crew's [[TeamPet mascot]]. In truth, he is [[SuperStrength monstrously powerful]] and a vital member of the team.

* One of the four playable heroes in ''VideoGame/CrisisBeat'' is Yan Fei-shu, a teen karateka and part-time janitor dragged into a terrorist plot. Who gets to kick tons and tons of ass using her mop as a BroomstickQuarterstaff.

** Suzaku is one of the top two Knightmare pilots in the entire world and controls an unstoppable SuperPrototype, but is treated like dirt by the Britannia military because of the fact he is Japanese. This continues even after he is [[spoiler:knighted]] by his love interest and only changes after [[spoiler:he is made one of the twelve highest ranked warriors in Britannia]].
** Lelouch himself. He's only ranked 11th Prince of [[TheEmpire Britannia]] (which, considering his mother's status as 6th consort out of Charles' 108 wives and his many, ''many'' half-siblings, is pretty good), and is even exiled at age 10. Despite this, he is not only second to Schneizel himself in terms of strategy, but builds his own revolutionary organization from near-scratch (taking a small group of [[LaResistance Shinjuku terrorists]] and making them an army). He's also only Vice-President of the Ashford student council (any rank below President Milly is a glorified slave).

** You encounter [[DemBones a skeleton]] named Sans. He's supposed to be on the lookout for humans but he decides he'd rather help you fool around with his brother. Any appearance of him later is usually him loafing off. Then you find him in [[spoiler:the chapel, where he will judge your actions, proving himself to be TheDragon all along. And if you have done a No Mercy run, you have to battle him, where he proves to be the strongest monster ''in the game'' by ignoring your MercyInvincibility, dodging your attacks, and even attacking your cursor when it's your turn!]]
** Said brother, Papyrus, is introduced as a HarmlessVillain and a bumbling fool who tries to capture the player character so he can become a member of the [[PraetorianGuard Royal Guard]], but fails repeatedly because his traps constantly fail or backfire in his face. When you finally face him in combat, as expected, he is a ZeroEffortBoss. [[BewareTheSillyOnes Until]] he reveals his ability to '''[[SoulPower physically manipulate your SOUL]]''', the first character in the game to pull off such a feat, and proves to be one hell of a WakeUpCallBoss. Undyne, the leader of the Royal Guard he's trying to join, eventually confesses that he is extremely strong and should by all accounts have made it in a long time ago. She keeps "training" him as she doesn't have the heart to tell him he'll never make it in... [[AllLovingHero because he couldn't bring himself to kill a fly, much less a human]]. There are also hints that, should the gloves ever come off, he might truly be the most dangerous monster. [[spoiler: Flowey notes a suitably irritated Papyrus killed him a number of times in previous saves before Frisk took the ability away from Flowey and the developer confirmed his orignal ultimate attack was a Gaster Blaster his brother uses in his fight. It's quite stunning how strong this otherwise all loving goof is but the player never gets to truly see it.]]

** TheRival Nemona is [[TheAce the strongest Trainer in the region]] (excluding the PlayerCharacter), but like everyone else who defeats a League she's ''a'' Champion and not ''the'' Paldea League Champion, as she's still just a student like you while Geeta's an adult who has to do the hard work of administering the region (when she's not [[TripleShifter delegating to poor Larry]]). As a result of being at the same level as everyone else while leagues above them in skill, she ends up being LonelyAtTheTop until you come along.

** Sanji's constantly doing more covert work for the crew, and is one of the top 3 fighters, but lacked even a bounty until the Enies Lobby Arc. His 177 million bounty after the Dressrosa arc isn't even the third-highest. It's the fourth, right behind Usopp's bounty of 200 million, despite being near equal strength to that of Zoro and Luffy, both of whom have bounties that are in the ''hundreds'' of millions. [[note]]Given that bounties are based on the overall threat a pirate presents to the World Government, with strength in a fight being only one factor in judging that threat, if the Government knew of Sanji's skill as an infiltrator and saboteur it's very possible that he'd end up with a higher bounty than Zoro.[[/note]] Then you add in that horrible sketch they put as his first bounty picture, which makes him near unrecognizable, and that's when you figure out why fans call "Black Leg" Sanji TheChewToy of ''One Piece''. [[spoiler:However, as of the end of the Wano arc, Sanji's bounty has shot up to 1,032 billion, making his bounty the fourth highest in the entire crew, behind Luffy's, Zoro's, and Jinbei's. Not to mention in Egghead arc Sanji is able to fight Admiral Kizaru who almost killed NumberTwo Zoro just two years ago]]

** Roche’s status may actual hint towards the fact that the SOLDIER ranking system isn’t all its cracked up to be, especially when it’s revealed that [[spoiler:Cloud (who was a grunt infantryman, not even a SOLDIER) could defeat [[TheAce Sephiroth]] (a PersonOfMassDestruction and First Class SOLDIER) by running him through with the Buster Sword and throwing him into the Nibel Reactor even after Sephiroth had impaled him. Granted, Cloud did have personal factors [[UnstoppableRage empowering him]] (Sephiroth had killed his mom, slashed up his childhood sweetheart and set fire to his hometown), but [[ThisCannotbe even Sephiroth couldn’t believe it]] as Cloud overpowered him. Regardless, Cloud’s willpower alone shows he probably should've passed his SOLDIER training, and even after [[CameBackStrong coming back stronger]] Sephiroth doesn't take this blow to his reputation lying down, [[EvilIsPetty going out of his way to torment Cloud whenever he can in retaliation]]]].

** Sanji's constantly doing more covert work for the crew, and is one of the top 3 fighters, but lacked even a bounty until the Enies Lobby Arc. His 177 million bounty after the Dressrosa arc isn't even the third-highest. It's the fourth, right behind Usopp's bounty of 200 million, despite being near equal strength to that of Zoro and Luffy, both of whom have bounties that are in the ''hundreds'' of millions. [[note]]Given that bounties are based on the overall threat a pirate presents to the World Government, with strength in a fight being only one factor in judging that threat, if the Government knew of Sanji's skill as an infiltrator and saboteur it's very possible that he'd end up with a higher bounty than Zoro.[[/note]] Then you add in that horrible sketch they put as his first bounty picture, which makes him near unrecognizable, and that's when you figure out why fans call "Black Leg" Sanji TheChewToy of ''One Piece''. [[spoiler:However, as of the end of the Wano arc, Sanji's bounty has shot up to 1,032 million, making his bounty the fourth highest in the entire crew, behind Luffy's, Zoro's, and Jinbei's. Not to mention in Egghead he’s able to fight Kizaru who almost killed NumberTwo Zoro years ago]]

** Roche’s status as this may actually hint towards the fact that the SOLDIER ranking system is ultimately worthless, especially when it’s revealed that [[spoiler:Cloud (who was a grunt infantryman, not even a SOLDIER) could defeat [[TheAce Sephiroth]] (a PersonOfMassDestruction and First Class SOLDIER) by running him through with the Buster Sword and throwing him into the Nibel Reactor even after Sephiroth had impaled him. Granted, Cloud did have personal factors [[UnstoppableRage empowering him]] (Sephiroth had killed his mom, slashed up his childhood sweetheart and set fire to his hometown), but [[ThisCannotbe even Sephiroth couldn’t believe it]] as Cloud overpowered him. Regardless, Cloud probably should've passed his SOLDIER training, and even after [[CameBackStrong coming back stronger]] Sephiroth doesn't take this blow to his reputation lying down, [[EvilIsPetty going out of his way to torment Cloud whenever he can in retaliation]]]].

** Roche’s status as this may actually hint towards the fact that the SOLDIER ranking system is ultimately worthless, especially when it’s revealed that [[spoiler:Cloud (who was a grunt infantryman, not even a SOLDIER) could defeat [[TheAce Sephiroth]] (a PersonOfMassDestruction and First Class SOLDIER) by running him through with the Buster Sword and throwing him into the Nibel Reactor even after Sephiroth had impaled him. Granted, Cloud did have personal factors [[UnstoppableRage empowering him]] (Sephiroth had killed his mom, slashed up his childhood sweetheart and set fire to his hometown), but [[ThisCannotbe even Sephiroth couldn’t believe it]] as Cloud overpowered him. Regardless, Cloud probably should've passed his SOLDIER training, and even after [[CameBackStrong coming back stronger]] Sephiroth doesn't take this blow to his reputation lying down, and [[EvilIsPetty goes out of his way to torment Cloud whenever he can in retaliation]]]].

** Roche’s status as this may actually hint towards the fact that the SOLDIER ranking system is ultimately worthless, especially when it’s revealed that [[spoiler:Cloud (who was a grunt infantryman, not even a SOLDIER) could defeat [[TheAce Sephiroth]] (a PersonOfMassDestruction and First Class SOlDIER) by running him through with the Buster Sword and throwing him into the Nibel Reactor even after Sephiroth had impaled him. Granted, Cloud did have personal factors [[UnstoppableRage empowering him]] (Sephiroth had killed his mom, slashed up his childhood sweetheart and set fire to his hometown), but [[ThisCannotbe even Sephiroth couldn’t believe it]] as Cloud overpowered him. Regardless, Cloud probably should've passed his SOLDIER training, and even after [[CameBackStrong coming back stronger]] Sephiroth doesn't take this blow to his reputation lying down, and [[EvilIsPetty goes out of his way to torment Cloud whenever he can in retaliation]]]].

** Roche’s status as this may actually hint towards the fact that SOLDIER ranking system is ultimately worthless. Especially when it’s revealed [[spoiler:Cloud who was a grunt infantryman, not even a SOLDIER, could defeat Sephiroth TheAce PersonOfMassDestruction First Class SOlDIER running him through the Buster Sword and throwing him into the reactor (even after Sephiroth had impaled him). Granted Cloud did have personal factors [[UnstoppableRage empowering him]], Sephiroth had killed his mom, slashed up his childhood sweetheart and set fire hometown ablaze —but even Sephiroth couldn’t believe it as Cloud was overpowering him. Regardless Cloud probably should’ve passed his SOLDIER training and CameBackStrong Sephiroth certainly doesn’t take to this blow to his reputation lying down tormenting Cloud whenever he can]].

** Sanji's constantly doing more covert work for the crew, and is one of the top 3 fighters, but lacked even a bounty until the Enies Lobby Arc. His 177 million bounty after the Dressrosa arc isn't even the third-highest. It's the fourth, right behind Usopp's bounty of 200 million, despite being near equal strength to that of Zoro and Luffy, both of whom have bounties that are in the ''hundreds'' of millions. [[note]]Given that bounties are based on the overall threat a pirate presents to the World Government, with strength in a fight being only one factor in judging that threat, if the Government knew of Sanji's skill as an infiltrator and saboteur it's very possible that he'd end up with a higher bounty than Zoro.[[/note]] Then you add in that horrible sketch they put as his first bounty picture, which makes him near unrecognizable, and that's when you figure out why fans call "Black Leg" Sanji TheChewToy of ''One Piece''. [[spoiler:However, as of the end of the Wano arc, Sanji's bounty has shot up to 1,032 million, making his bounty the fourth highest in the entire crew, behind Luffy's, Zoro's, and Jinbei's.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'': Roche is a SOLDIER Third Class, which is odd to see considering that he's very skilled and capable of holding his own against Cloud. All other similarly-ranked [=SOLDIERs=] you encounter are barely better than the usual Shinra mook. It's likely that his WildCard nature and frequent team-killing in pursuit of a good fight keeps him from rising the ranks.

** In another episode when Timmy wishes everyone in the world was super but then later was forced to wish that there were no superheroes, turning everyone normal except the supervillains, the only way to defeat the supervillains is for all the kids and other "normal" people, including a janitor, to team up and use their "normal people powers" to defeat them.

* In an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Gargoyles}}'' first comic run, Xanatos meets with various members of the Illuminati. David Xanatos, billionaire industrialist, is one of the ''lowest''-ranked members at Thirty-six(out of thirty-six). His errand takes him to the White House, where he meets an old butler. This old man, who's served presidents since Lyndon Johnson, is ranked ''Two''.

** If Tali is exiled fromt the Migrant Fleet and survives the SuicideMission in the second game, by the third game she's personally asked by the Admiralty Board to help them reclaim Rannoch due to her invaluable expertise on the [[MechanicalLifeforms Geth]]. Because she's officially an exile, however, she can only lend them her assistance in secret. If she wasn't exiled, however, [[YouAreInCommandNow she's appointed an Admiral herself]].

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': Maki Zenin is a Grade 4 Sorcerer, the lowest level of sorcerer in Jujutsu society. Not due to a lack of strength, mind you: in fact, despite having almost no [[{{Mana}} Cursed Energy]], she has in exchange the SuperStrength and SuperSpeed to take on Grade 1 Curses and Sorcerers. Her low rank is due to [[AbusiveParents her family]] intentionally crippling her chances of promotion to her rightful rank out of spite for her not having a Innate Technique and [[StrawMisogynist being a woman]]. Toji Fushiguro, who came from the same clan, also has Maki's condition, and despite being able to soundly defeat [[WorldsStrongestMan Satoru]] [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable Gojo]], he is written off as a "[[{{Muggle}} Non-Curse User]]", not even a threat.

*** Turns out the pilot you stole your license from was [[spoiler: (or rather, [[NotQuiteDead is]])]] also one of these, as BossBanter with the PCA's Cataphract unit reveals that despite their bottom-of-the-barrel arena rank, they were responsible for [[spoiler: leaking the intel that brought the corportations back to Rubicon after the Fires of Ibis supposedly destroyed it, and they turn out to be quite the formidable pilot when they [[ConfrontingYourImposter confront you]] to see if you're worthy of taking the name "Raven," after all]].