History Main / EvilChancellor

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Tywin Lannister deconstructs the trope quite thoroughly. Despite being very much a terrible father and TheUnfettered, he is also extraordinarily competent and committed to doing what he thinks is best for the dynasty he shares with his king.

* While UsefulNotes/CardinalRichelieu doesn't really fit this role in the original ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', being more of an AntiVillain with the best interests of France at heart (more or less) and no inclination to depose his conveniently manipulable king (which is probably quite historically correct), some of [[DerivativeWorks/TheThreeMusketeers the many adaptations and derivative works]] [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade simplify things]] by giving him ambitions towards the throne.

** In a flashback shown in the manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'', the undead King Gustaf's backstory includes an advisor who killed him in an effort to take the Light Force.

Sometimes called the Evil (Grand) Vizier instead, in which case he will spend a lot of time [[FingerTenting tapping his fingertips together]] and calling everyone "effendi". The "Evil HighPriest" is a closely related phenomenon, with some SinisterMinister and CorruptChurch thrown in. In stories set in Presidential democratic societies, an Evil Vice President may play the same role, although it is a lot less common. [[note]]In the American political system in particular, there is a fairly legitimate reason why the vice president is an illogical position to be filled by someone evil: by default, the vice president (generally) has very little actual power, unless the president is incapacitated or has delegated significant amounts of formal authority to the vice president. However, if the Vice President is planning to have the President assassinated or the President is an easily controlled fool, this trope would easily apply. However, the opposite applies in the French political system; while the Prime Minister of France doesn't assume presidential authority if the President's dead or incapacitated (that would be the President of the Senate's job), he does a lot more say over the day-to-day operation of the government than the American Vice President. And South Korea's presidential system is the best of both worlds - for an Evil Chancellor, that is: the South Korean Prime Minister both has day-to-day authority over the Government like his French counterpart, while also being the President's designated constitutional successor.[[/note]] "Evil Regent" is another variant; see RegentForLife.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': Magon Coifer, adviser to Lord Torgamous the Warlord of Mercia, in "The Stormbreaker Saga". He has Torg (main character of the comic and time traveler from the future) pretend to be the warlord ostensibly to ease the tensions created by his continued nonappearance due to being sick, but really so that he can give him bad advice that will give support to a rebellion he is funding and secure his ascension to the throne. He's pretty stereotypical about it.

* In ''Film/{{Anonymous}}'' there's William Cecil and his son and successor Robert Cecil, who in RealLife were the chancellors in all but name to UsefulNotes/ElizabethI and James I, respectively, portrayed here as wicked, self-interested schemers who torpedo Elizabeth's chosen successor in order to safeguard their own power.

Sometimes it's the monarch[=/=][[PresidentEvil Head of State]] who's the EvilOverlord. And sometimes there's this trope, where instead of the Head of State being the person who has malicious intent, it's his adviser, assistant, second-in-command, or Head of Government (that is if the Head of State and Head of Government are separate positions, e.g. having both a President and a Prime Minister respectively). Most of the time he's actively scheming to discredit or usurp the throne, and may even be an agent sent for this purpose by an outside power. In other cases, he's perfectly content to be TheManBehindTheMan and keeps the ruler around primarily as the figurehead for the ignorant masses and as the fall guy if something goes wrong. He can also tend to have more actual power and real influence than the Head of State, especially in cases where the government is a parliamentary system or a constitutional monarchy.

* Archbishop Lazarus from the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series was this to King Leoric of Khanduras. He was corrupted by Diablo long ago, and not only influenced him for the worse when the archdemon in question tried to take him over but was responsible for many of the knights of Khanduras being killed in a war with Westmarch, the luring of many adventurers into the Tristram Cathedral to be murdered by the demonic Butcher, and the kidnapping of Prince Albrecht, Leoric's youngest son, to be a vessel for Diablo.
** Chancellor Eamon from ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', in contrast, was very much TheGoodChancellor, who tried his best to save lives when the Darkening was going down but was accused of being this by the people, resulting in his death when King Leoric fell.

* In ''Videogame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', [[Characters/TNOTaboritsky Sergei Taboritsky]] quickly shows his true colors in becoming one of these to Tsar Alexei Romanov, meaning to clear the ground for him and imposing an ordered empire for him to step into. Oddly for the trope, he's anything but antagonistic to Alexei. The problem is that [[spoiler: Sergei Taboritsky is ''[[TheCaligula completely and unfathomably batshit insane]]'' as Alexei has been dead for fifty years no matter how much Taboritsky [[HesJustHiding claims otherwise]]. He also thinks the ideal Holy Russian Empire is a ''borderline omnicidal'' nightmare run according to the Orwellian [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans Burgundian System]] that he imposes at all costs even as thousands are killed every week for everything from [[AllCrimesAreEqual disproportionate death sentences]] to essentially declaring WarOnThePoor. The strain of denying reality will eventually kill him if he wins and will result in Russia collapsing forever as his empire of nightmares quite literally begins to cave in on itself the second he dies]].

* The Vizier to the King of Sodom in the movie ''Film/YearOne'' definitely counts.
** He never seems to actually ''do'' anything evil, apart from opportunistically grabbing the crown and then putting it down and running for his life. He's a parody of stock evil vizier traits, but without the actual villainy. The princess even keeps him around.

* ''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'': Sauron is taken as a hostage and driven to Númenor after his army is defeated. Since he is a master manipulator, though, he becomes King Ar-Pharazôn's chief advisor and high priest before long. Using Ar-Pharazôn's greed and ambition, and the Númenoreans fear of death and envy of the Elves' immortality, [[spoiler: he convinces them to worship the fallen Vala Morgoth and to attack the Valar's sanctuary of Valinor, resulting in Eru sinking Númenor.]]

** Gríma Wormtongue of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' succeeds in effectively ruling Rohan by manipulating the ailing King Théoden... for a while.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Sauron becomes this to the last King of Númenor. Using the Númenóreans fear of death and envy of the Elves' immortality, [[spoiler: he convinces them [[ReligionOfEvil to worship]] the fallen Vala [[BigBad Morgoth]] and to attack the Valar's sanctuary of Valinor, resulting in Eru (God) sinking Númenor.]]

* While UsefulNotes/CardinalRichelieu doesn't really fit this role in the original ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', being more of an AntiVillain with the best interests of France at heart (more or less) and no inclination to depose his conveniently manipulable king (which is probably quite historically correct), some of [[Franchise/TheThreeMusketeers the many adaptations and derivative works]] [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade simplify things]] by giving him ambitions towards the throne.