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* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' plays it straight with Lelouch vi Britannia, a white man leading a war to drive out evil white men from Japan, but also inverts it with Suzaku Kururugi, a Japanese man who is the best [[HumongousMecha Knightmare Frame]] pilot in the white man's army. Both examples are somewhat justified, however, since Lelouch had been scheming to take down the Empire since his mother was killed, while Suzaku's physical skills are effectively a CharlesAtlasSuperpower.

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* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' plays it straight with [[Characters/CodeGeassLelouchLamperouge Lelouch vi Britannia, Britannia]], a white man leading a war to drive out evil white men from Japan, but also inverts it with [[Characters/CodeGeassSuzakuKururugi Suzaku Kururugi, Kururugi]], a Japanese man who is the best [[HumongousMecha Knightmare Frame]] pilot in the white man's army. Both examples are somewhat justified, however, since Lelouch had been scheming to take down the Empire since his mother was killed, while Suzaku's physical skills are effectively a CharlesAtlasSuperpower.
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*Series/Shogun2024 - As per the book, the series looks like it might be going in this direction but over time it subverts it completely. John Blackthorne has his moments - he really is a great sailor and is generally a useful and resourceful guy - but he's unremittingly manipulated by the Japanese nobles around him, even (especially!) by the ones who like him. Even the Portuguese, who have a lot more agency and influence than Blackthorne, are very much not in charge.

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* Subverted in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003''. Edward thinks he saved Lior, whose citizens are brown-skinned in the 2003 anime (but white in [[RaceLift the original manga]]) after he exposes their religious leader as manipulating them. The homunculus kill Cornello and [[ShapeShifter Envy]] impersonates him which helps cause a violent civil war. When the soldiers come around, they only make [[RapePillageAndBurn things worse]] and it becomes something of a parallel to the Ishval War. So basically Edward caused an entire town to go from prosperous to a war zone within months of him 'saving' it, which [[spoiler:also caused Rose, a girl he met there, to have a ChildByRape which also causes her to go from a MamaBear to a mute BrokenBird]].

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* Subverted in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003''. Edward thinks he saved Lior, whose citizens are brown-skinned in the 2003 anime (but white in [[RaceLift the original manga]]) after he exposes their religious leader as manipulating them. The homunculus kill Cornello and [[ShapeShifter [[ShapeShifting Envy]] impersonates him which helps cause a violent civil war. When the soldiers come around, they only make [[RapePillageAndBurn things worse]] and it becomes something of a parallel to the Ishval War. So basically Edward caused an entire town to go from prosperous to a war zone within months of him 'saving' it, which [[spoiler:also caused Rose, a girl he met there, to have a ChildByRape which also causes her to go from a MamaBear to a mute BrokenBird]].



* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a HistoricalInJoke to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.
* Averted hard in ''Film/{{Balibo}}''. The film focuses on several white journalists who enter East Timor to provide coverage of the ongoing Indonesian invasion, intending to attract worldwide attention. Not only are they respectful of East Timorese culture, but [[spoiler:they are all executed by the Indonesian military and fail to accomplish their objective.]] The only one to actually come close to making any progress is native East Timorese politician José, and even that comes at a great personal cost.

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* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties The80s named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a HistoricalInJoke to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.
* Averted hard in ''Film/{{Balibo}}''. The film focuses on several white journalists who enter East Timor to provide coverage of the ongoing Indonesian invasion, intending to attract worldwide attention. Not only are they respectful of East Timorese culture, but [[spoiler:they are all executed by the Indonesian military and fail to accomplish their objective.]] objective]]. The only one to actually come close to making any progress is native East Timorese politician José, and even that comes at a great personal cost.



* Tony in ''Film/ThePumaman'' is supposed to be this, with him (and his father before him) apparently being the greatest protector of the Aztec people despite being white. In practice, he's an [[IdiotHero whiny idiot]], and Vadhinio, his Aztec sidekick, is a far better hero than him.

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* Tony in ''Film/ThePumaman'' is supposed to be this, with him (and his father before him) apparently being the greatest protector of the Aztec people despite being white. In practice, he's an a [[IdiotHero whiny idiot]], and Vadhinio, his Aztec sidekick, is a far better hero than him.



* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler:after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]

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* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler:after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]advantage]].



* Ransom had some ideas of becoming something like this in C. S. Lewis's ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', but the closest he came was contributing to a hunt for a monster, and even then, he didn't do more to succeed in that hunt than his martian companions did. He also didn't have superior scientific or technical knowledge to the martians, as he was a CunningLinguist rather than a scientist, plus the martians actually had surprisingly advanced scientific knowledge for how little technology they showed. In fact, when the martian scientists sat down to get as much scientific data about Earth as they could from Ransom, ''they'' figured out some scientific knowledge that Ransom himself ''didn't know'', and they managed this by inferring it from information Ransom gave them about other scientific topics that he hadn't realized were related, making this something of an inversion.

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* Ransom had some ideas of becoming something like this in C. S. Lewis's Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', but the closest he came was contributing to a hunt for a monster, and even then, he didn't do more to succeed in that hunt than his martian companions did. He also didn't have superior scientific or technical knowledge to the martians, as he was a CunningLinguist rather than a scientist, plus the martians actually had surprisingly advanced scientific knowledge for how little technology they showed. In fact, when the martian scientists sat down to get as much scientific data about Earth as they could from Ransom, ''they'' figured out some scientific knowledge that Ransom himself ''didn't know'', and they managed this by inferring it from information Ransom gave them about other scientific topics that he hadn't realized were related, making this something of an inversion.



* [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] had ''evil'' takes on this trope with Mexican America. Among the group's goals were to prove the superiority of the "Mexican race" but the best wrestler in the group, Wrestling/{{Sar|ahStock}}ita, [[FakeNationality was not of Latin American or Hispanic descent, but a Canadian]]. Even ignoring {{kayfabe}}, when the group was about to be defeated by [[Wrestling/JamesStorm Beer]] [[Wrestling/RobertRoode Money]] they [[VillainTeamUp were saved]] by Wrestling/{{AAA}} Mega Champion Wrestling/JeffJarrett, a non Mexican trying to prove he was in fact "The King Of Mexico".

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* [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling [[Wrestling/TotalNonstopActionWrestling TNA]] had ''evil'' takes on this trope with Mexican America. Among the group's goals were to prove the superiority of the "Mexican race" but the best wrestler in the group, Wrestling/{{Sar|ahStock}}ita, [[FakeNationality was not of Latin American or Hispanic descent, but a Canadian]]. Even ignoring {{kayfabe}}, when the group was about to be defeated by [[Wrestling/JamesStorm Beer]] [[Wrestling/RobertRoode Money]] they [[VillainTeamUp were saved]] by Wrestling/{{AAA}} Mega Champion Wrestling/JeffJarrett, a non Mexican trying to prove he was in fact "The King Of Mexico".



* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'': Parodied with the song "I Am Africa", in which the ''white'' Mormon missionaries sing about how they represent Africa. It's ultimately subverted, since none of the missionaries are actually able to inspire the Ugandans, who have to deal with a dangerous warlord, AIDS, and maggots in their scrotum. [[spoiler:Even Arnold's stories aren't actually believed by the Ugandans, but provide good life lessons]]. By the end, [[spoiler:the missionaries succeed in repelling (and eventually converting) a violent warlord and inspiring hope in the Ugandans, but don't seem to actually fix any real problems]].

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* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'': Parodied with the song "I Am Africa", in which the ''white'' Mormon missionaries sing about how they represent Africa. It's ultimately subverted, since none of the missionaries are actually able to inspire the Ugandans, who have to deal with a dangerous warlord, AIDS, and maggots in their scrotum. [[spoiler:Even Arnold's stories aren't actually believed by the Ugandans, but provide good life lessons]]. lessons.]] By the end, [[spoiler:the missionaries succeed in repelling (and eventually converting) a violent warlord and inspiring hope in the Ugandans, but don't seem to actually fix any real problems]].



*** It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Yayois are growing weaker due to inbreeding and that Tsubaki's the first child to survive. Her general lack of talent compared to most caused her to take a sealed weapon that causes her FaceHeelTurn.]]

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*** It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Yayois are growing weaker due to inbreeding and that Tsubaki's the first child to survive. Her general lack of talent compared to most caused her to take a sealed weapon that causes her FaceHeelTurn.]]FaceHeelTurn]].



* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' is a double subversion. Max, who has moved to Sao Paulo to work security for the Branco family, repeatedly fails to stop local GangBangers from making off with his principal's wife. As we reach the end, though, he stops the [[spoiler:large-scale OrganTheft of Sao Paulo's poor]], destroys the paramilitaries and [[spoiler:{{Dirty Cop}}s]] responsible and brings down [[spoiler:the CorruptPolitician exploiting the whole operation to fund his mayoral campaign.]]
** Lampshaded when Neves, one of the masterminds behind [[spoiler:the OrganTheft scheme]], sarcastically calls Max "The Great American Savior of the Poor" (which is also used as [[TitleDrop the title]] of that particular chapter).

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* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' is a double subversion. Max, who has moved to Sao Paulo to work security for the Branco family, repeatedly fails to stop local GangBangers from making off with his principal's wife. As we reach the end, though, he stops the [[spoiler:large-scale OrganTheft of Sao Paulo's poor]], destroys the paramilitaries and [[spoiler:{{Dirty Cop}}s]] responsible and brings down [[spoiler:the CorruptPolitician exploiting the whole operation to fund his mayoral campaign.]]
**
campaign]]. Lampshaded when Neves, one of the masterminds behind [[spoiler:the OrganTheft scheme]], sarcastically calls Max "The Great American Savior of the Poor" (which is also used as [[TitleDrop the title]] of that particular chapter).



* Ken in the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' Universe is born to a rich white father and a Japanese mother. Compared to his best friend and rival Ryu, he is the most out-going and coolest. However, it's how he's portrayed in the American animated TV series that qualifies him for savior status. By the final season, Ken is given the title greatest martial artist of all time and the only one who can beat Akuma. Interestingly enough, the Anime motion picture would avert this, by making Ken a victim of Bison, and Ryu being the only one who can save him. And let's not forget the live motion picture, which portrays Guile - played by Jean Claude Van Dam - as the hero and savior, when in the fighting game universe, he's not a main character (though it is he, and not Ryu or Ken, who has the biggest personal beef against the BigBad). Ken and Ryu, who are the main characters, are portrayed as traveling con-artist who get in over their heads.
** Ryu spends every moment of his life wandering the world to challenge the greatest fighters he can find and hone his martial arts. He breathes, eats, sleeps, and craps his style 24 hours a day. Ken, on the other hand, spends a wild time in American nightlife, gets married, has a kid, and lives life like a rich guy. He practices martial arts to avoid getting rusty, but nowhere near the level Ryu does. When Ken and Ryu fight, it's often described that Ryu is better... but not by a whole much, and Ken can give Ryu a serious workout.

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* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
**
Ken in the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' Universe is born to has a rich white father and a Japanese mother. Compared to his best friend and rival Ryu, he is the most out-going and coolest. However, it's how he's portrayed in [[WesternAnimation/StreetFighter the American animated TV series series]] that qualifies him for savior status. By the final season, Ken is given the title greatest martial artist of all time and the only one who can beat Akuma. Interestingly enough, the Anime motion picture would avert this, by making Ken a victim of Bison, and Ryu being the only one who can save him. And let's not forget [[Film/StreetFighter the live motion picture, picture]], which portrays Guile - played by Jean Claude Van Dam Damme - as the hero and savior, when in the fighting game universe, he's not a main character (though it is he, and not Ryu or Ken, who has the biggest personal beef against the BigBad). Ken and Ryu, who are the main characters, are portrayed as traveling con-artist who get in over their heads.
** Ryu spends every moment of his life wandering the world to challenge the greatest fighters he can find and hone his martial arts. He breathes, eats, sleeps, and craps his style 24 hours a day. Ken, on the other hand, spends a wild time in American nightlife, gets married, has a kid, and lives life like a rich guy. He practices martial arts to avoid getting rusty, but nowhere near the level Ryu does. When Ken and Ryu fight, it's often described that Ryu is better... but not by a whole much, and Ken can give Ryu a serious workout.



* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Last of the Meheecans" where Butters, dressed up as a Mexican for a game with Cartman, [[BadassUnintentional unintentionally inspires and leads]] hundreds of immigrated Mexicans-Americans back into their home country to the point where America loses its prosperity to Mexico.

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* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Last of the Meheecans" where Butters, dressed up as a Mexican for a game with Cartman, [[BadassUnintentional unintentionally inspires and leads]] hundreds of immigrated Mexicans-Americans back into their home country to the point where America loses its prosperity to Mexico.



* ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior'' features something of [[InvertedTrope a reversal]]: the cultured Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan leaves his country with some Vikings to go north. The Vikings don't expect him to be very useful, but he learns their language, fights alongside them, and amazes them with his literacy, though he does not surpass the Vikings in any of the skills they teach him. In fact, the Vikings treat him a bit like a child, calling him "Little Brother". He is ultimately a secondary figure in the big picture behind their leader Buliwyf. The story, taken from Creator/MichaelCrichton's book ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', is very loosely based on the accounts of the real Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, spiced up with a non-magical retelling of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''

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* ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior'' features something of [[InvertedTrope a reversal]]: the cultured Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan leaves his country with some Vikings to go north. The Vikings don't expect him to be very useful, but he learns their language, fights alongside them, and amazes them with his literacy, though he does not surpass the Vikings in any of the skills they teach him. In fact, the Vikings treat him a bit like a child, calling him "Little Brother". He is ultimately a secondary figure in the big picture behind their leader Buliwyf. The story, taken from Creator/MichaelCrichton's book ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', is very loosely based on the accounts of the real Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, spiced up with a non-magical retelling of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''.
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In fantasy works, PlanetaryRomance and LostWorld stories are likely to have a similar theme, where the hero from Earth ends up being a better [[Franchise/FlashGordon Mongonian]] or [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDC Skartaran]] or [[Film/{{Avatar}} Pandoran]] than the natives themselves (often the alien world will have lighter gravity, hence making the Earth guy a HeavyWorlder with SuperStrength). Many alien [[SuperHero super heroes]] provide a variation in that they usually come from some more advanced society, [[GoingNative go native]] on primitive Earth, and become heroes here. [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] stories will often feature something similar, especially if it's set in an RPGMechanicsVerse, with the hero from Earth receiving skills and abilities that far exceed those of the natives because they're TheChosenOne and not due to any actual skills or talent on their part.

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In fantasy works, PlanetaryRomance and LostWorld stories are likely to have a similar theme, where the hero from Earth ends up being a better [[Franchise/FlashGordon Mongonian]] or [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDC [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDCComics Skartaran]] or [[Film/{{Avatar}} Pandoran]] than the natives themselves (often the alien world will have lighter gravity, hence making the Earth guy a HeavyWorlder with SuperStrength). Many alien [[SuperHero super heroes]] provide a variation in that they usually come from some more advanced society, [[GoingNative go native]] on primitive Earth, and become heroes here. [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] stories will often feature something similar, especially if it's set in an RPGMechanicsVerse, with the hero from Earth receiving skills and abilities that far exceed those of the natives because they're TheChosenOne and not due to any actual skills or talent on their part.



* Travis Morgan got stranded in a LostWorld (originally depicted as BeneathTheEarth, later declared to be an AlternateDimension) called Skartaris, learned its ways, and became [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDC the Warlord]], its greatest hero. Travis is white, and while there are white-looking folks in Skartaris (including the villain Deimos), the Warlord's best friend in Skartaris is Machiste, who is black.

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* Travis Morgan got stranded in a LostWorld (originally depicted as BeneathTheEarth, later declared to be an AlternateDimension) called Skartaris, learned its ways, and became [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDC [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDCComics the Warlord]], its greatest hero. Travis is white, and while there are white-looking folks in Skartaris (including the villain Deimos), the Warlord's best friend in Skartaris is Machiste, who is black.


* ''Literature/{{Winnetou}}'': The narrator/protagonist embodies this trope.

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* %%* ''Literature/{{Winnetou}}'': The narrator/protagonist embodies this trope.
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* In Fanfic/TheVictorsProject, white 'Settler' Bovina spent sixty years being worshiped as a goddess in human form by the Anasazi natives, because her victor's winnings provided food and medicine. Compounding this is that the Settlers of District 10 believe anyone Reaped must have been disloyal, and thusly even her own family rejected her. She marries an Anasazi man and by the time of the first Quarter Quell, Bovina believes that both tributes voted in by the district should be Settlers, so they can "save one of their own".

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* In Fanfic/TheVictorsProject, ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'', white 'Settler' Bovina spent sixty years being worshiped as a goddess in human form by the Anasazi natives, because her victor's winnings provided food and medicine. Compounding this is that the Settlers of District 10 believe anyone Reaped must have been disloyal, and thusly even her own family rejected her. She marries an Anasazi man and by the time of the first Quarter Quell, Bovina believes that both tributes voted in by the district should be Settlers, so they can "save one of their own".
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Lyse is Ala Mhigan. Ala Mhigo is an ethnically diverse city-state with a variety of skin tones from light to dark. Her father has dark skin. Her being light-skinned does not make her a Mighty Whitey.


* While the actual situation is much more nuanced, Lyse from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'''s second expansion, ''Stormblood'' has been criticised as this. The main plot of ''Stormblood'' is leading a rebellion against the Garlean Empire so that Gyr Abania and Yanxia are no longer part of it. One of the central characters, Lyse, has been criticised as being this trope, but also had a few defenders:
** Proponents of this criticism point out that Gyr Abanian people are [[https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Highlander primarily Highlanders]] and thus, a big source of black and brown people in the game. Lyse also spends the first act or so criticising the people of Gyr Abania for ''not'' standing up [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic not knowing that they are outnumbered and outgunned]] and have been so for decades. Meanwhile, she has lived ''outside'' Gyr Abania for so long and can't exactly relate. What also isn't helping is that she is [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/2/29/FFXIV_Lyse.png/revision/latest?cb=20170930235532 very fair skinned and blonde]], and when Ala Mhigo ''is'' finally freed, is placed in a leadership position along with a council of others.
** Others however point out that Lyse doesn't really count - because Highlanders ''are'' diverse - in fact Blonde haired and blue eyed Highlanders aren't uncommon (Minfilia is in fact a Highlander herself.) and plenty of Gyr Abanian [=NPCs=] are also portrayed as "White". She herself is also ''from'' the land, which itself doesn't really count as she is only viewed as an outsider in the sense an immigrant may be. Additionally, ''Stormblood'' was ''her'' source of CharacterDevelopment - with her growing out of her UnintentionallyUnsympathetic tendencies and not being portrayed as inherently superior or "more skilled" than the natives ''of'' Ala Mhigo but ''learning'' from her failures, and only being a ''part'' of the rulers.
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No the Avatar example isn't downplayed at all. The films white savior narrative is something it took heat for.


* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill the trope until his consciousness is put in a half-human, half-alien body, but after that happens, he eventually learns the Na'vi ways and embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the planetary consciousness to fight to push back the humans, and eventually transforming permanently into a Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in that the main threat facing the Na'vi are his own kind, so it's more understandable why he's the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.

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* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill the trope until his consciousness is put in a half-human, half-alien body, but after that happens, he eventually learns the Na'vi ways and embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the planetary consciousness to fight to push back the humans, and eventually transforming permanently into a Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in that the main threat facing the Na'vi are his own kind, so it's more understandable why he's the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.
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* Played straight in ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger.'' The strongest of the Chinese warriors is Luo Long, who is a six-foot-tall blonde-haired blue-eyed man. [[spoiler:Possibly the main character, Nanashi/Nameless as well. He has red hair but is otherwise indistinguishable from a normal Japanese person. It's theorized that he is of mixed race.]]



* Subverted in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003''. Edward thinks he saved Lior, whose citizens are brown-skinned in the 2003 anime (but white in [[RaceLift the original manga]]) after he exposes their religious leader as manipulating them. The homunculus kill Cornello and [[ShapeShifter Envy]] impersonates him which helps cause a violent civil war. When the soldiers come around, they only make [[RapePillageAndBurn things worse]] and it becomes something of a parallel to the Ishval War. So basically Edward caused an entire town to go from prosperous to a war zone within months of him 'saving' it, which [[spoiler:also caused Rose, a girl he met there, to have a ChildByRape which also causes her to go from a MamaBear to a mute BrokenBird]].



* Subverted in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003''. Edward thinks he saved Lior, whose citizens are brown-skinned in the 2003 anime (but white in [[RaceLift the original manga]]) after he exposes their religious leader as manipulating them. The homunculus kill Cornello and [[ShapeShifter Envy]] impersonates him which helps cause a violent civil war. When the soldiers come around, they only make [[RapePillageAndBurn things worse]] and it becomes something of a parallel to the Ishval War. So basically Edward caused an entire town to go from prosperous to a war zone within months of him 'saving' it, which [[spoiler:also caused Rose, a girl he met there, to have a ChildByRape which also causes her to go from a MamaBear to a mute BrokenBird]].



* Played straight in ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger.'' The strongest of the Chinese warriors is Luo Long, who is a six-foot-tall blonde-haired blue-eyed man. [[spoiler:Possibly the main character, Nanashi/Nameless as well. He has red hair but is otherwise indistinguishable from a normal Japanese person. It's theorized that he is of mixed race.]]



* {{Inverted|Trope}} in the early-'80s comic ''Arak: Son of Thunder'', in which a Native American crosses the Atlantic to become the greatest swordsman in Scandinavia.
* ''[[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix and Obelix]]'' come to mind in ''Asterix and the Great Crossing'' and its animated adaptation ''Asterix Conquers America'', since they quickly excel at everything the natives challenge them at, though it certainly helped that they were aided by the [[SuperSerum magic potion that gives superhuman strength and speed]].
* Deconstructed with White Wolf, archenemy and adopted brother of ComicBook/BlackPanther. He was raised by T'Chaka the former king of Wakanda and has always loved the country. However Wakanda is a fairly xenophobic country, so he was never accepted or treated with respect by people outside his family due to being white. Add T'Challa generally being treated far better than him by both their father and the people of Wakanda, and the result is a deep resentment of his brother combined with [[IJustWantToBeSpecial a desperate desire to be loved by others]]. All he wants is to help Wakanda and gain the acceptance of his adoptive culture, but his desperation to do so and the natives' constant refusal of his help drove him into supervillainy.
%% That's twice I've deleted a ''ComicBook/Fables'' entry which is Administrivia/NotAnExample for reasons previously stated. If you want to make a case for it, take it to the Discussion page. Do NOT add it back without discussion.
* Both parodied and played straight in the comic book ''Charisma Man'', produced for English-speaking expatriates in Japan. The title character was a dorky Canadian unsuccessful with women in his own country - until he arrives in Japan where he instantly becomes suave and supercool, admired by all the locals and able to pick up any girl he wants. His mortal enemy is "Western Woman", the only one aware of what a loser he really is.
* Creator/DCComics Western hero Firehair subverts the mold -- he's a white man raised by Blackfoot Native Americans, taught to be a great hunter, fighter, tracker, and survivalist like all the other men in the tribe, but neither the white settlers nor the Blackfoot ever truly accepted him as one of theirs. This caused him to start WalkingTheEarth in search of a place to call home.
* ComicBook/DoctorStrange. A wealthy, spoiled, arrogant DrJerk travels from Manhattan to the Far East seeking a cure for his injured hands, meets The Ancient One, and within a matter of years, he has surpassed all other students in The Ancient One's temple to become the next Sorcerer Supreme. In both the comic and animated adaptation, the ''second''-best student is consumed with jealousy and becomes [[RivalTurnedEvil Baron Mordo]]. In later years, the mighty whitey implications have been softened. His replacement as Sorcerer Supreme was Doctor Voodoo, a Haitian psychologist.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Although Leetah is definitely TheChiefsDaughter, Cutter and the Wolfriders mix pretty thoroughly with the Sun Folk and their cultures support each other relatively equally (and the white Wolfriders are considered the NobleSavage types). It's ''further'' subverted with Dart, who teaches the Sun Folk warfare as a child, but it's because he's lived in the village all his life; he stays living there for most of the rest of the series.
** The story of ''Little Patch'', Tyleet´s adopted human son, plays it more straight, although Patch was raised by the wolfrider elves. Because of his woodland skills and other skills, he swiftly "out-hunts and outgraces" everyone in the human village, and eventually becomes their chief. In this story, the ''elves'' have the role of cultural superior beings.



* Snake Eyes, in the Marvel comics ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series, is an interesting example, as he was essentially invited to adopt another culture by Tommy Arashikage AKA Storm Shadow, a friend who was doing much the same thing himself at the time (being a traditionally-trained ninja then serving in the US Army), nor did he excel his friend in skill and ability, but rather became his equal (though the one is said to be slightly better with a blade, the other with a bow).



* {{Inverted|Trope}} in the early-'80s comic ''Arak: Son of Thunder'', in which a Native American crosses the Atlantic to become the greatest swordsman in Scandinavia.

to:

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in In the early-'80s comic ''Arak: Son Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Daniel Lyons was chosen by a Blackfeet Indian chief to be a champion of Thunder'', in justice, after besting 100 challengers by outrunning a deer, outswimming a salmon upstream, hitting the bullseye while blindfolded and then catching arrows that were fired at him, and then wrestling a bear, finally winning by breaking its neck with his bare hands. He was given a longbow into which he carved a Native American crosses notch whenever he performed a good deed. When he had attained 100 notches, would be judged worthy of having taken the Atlantic to become mantle of the Black Marvel.
* The title character of ''ComicBook/RichardDragon'' was a white punk who ended up being trained into one of
the greatest swordsman in Scandinavia.martial artists of the DC Universe.
* ''ComicBook/SheenaQueenOfTheJungle'' is a fairly conventional 'white woman RaisedByNatives' example.



* Snake Eyes, in the Marvel comics ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series, is an interesting example, as he was essentially invited to adopt another culture by Tommy Arashikage AKA Storm Shadow, a friend who was doing much the same thing himself at the time (being a traditionally-trained ninja then serving in the US Army), nor did he excel his friend in skill and ability, but rather became his equal (though the one is said to be slightly better with a blade, the other with a bow).
* ComicBook/DoctorStrange. A wealthy, spoiled, arrogant DrJerk travels from Manhattan to the Far East seeking a cure for his injured hands, meets The Ancient One, and within a matter of years, he has surpassed all other students in The Ancient One's temple to become the next Sorcerer Supreme. In both the comic and animated adaptation, the ''second''-best student is consumed with jealousy and becomes [[RivalTurnedEvil Baron Mordo]]. In later years, the mighty whitey implications have been softened. His replacement as Sorcerer Supreme was Doctor Voodoo, a Haitian psychologist.
* Both parodied and played straight in the comic book ''Charisma Man'', produced for English-speaking expatriates in Japan. The title character was a dorky Canadian unsuccessful with women in his own country - until he arrives in Japan where he instantly becomes suave and supercool, admired by all the locals and able to pick up any girl he wants. His mortal enemy is "Western Woman", the only one aware of what a loser he really is.
* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Daniel Lyons was chosen by a Blackfeet Indian chief to be a champion of justice, after besting 100 challengers by outrunning a deer, outswimming a salmon upstream, hitting the bullseye while blindfolded and then catching arrows that were fired at him, and then wrestling a bear, finally winning by breaking its neck with his bare hands. He was given a longbow into which he carved a notch whenever he performed a good deed. When he had attained 100 notches, would be judged worthy of having taken the mantle of the Black Marvel.
* ''[[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix and Obelix]]'' come to mind in ''Asterix and the Great Crossing'' and its animated adaptation ''Asterix Conquers America'', since they quickly excel at everything the natives challenge them at, though it certainly helped that they were aided by the [[SuperSerum magic potion that gives superhuman strength and speed]].

to:

* Snake Eyes, in Played with regarding [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Roy]] [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Harper]] and the Marvel comics ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' series, few times his Native American upbringing is discussed. In all of Roy's origin stories, they involve him being orphaned at an interesting example, as early age and then looked after by a Native caretaker. Devin Grayson's take on Roy's backstory was a humanized version of his Post-Crisis origin, wherein Roy was raised on a Navajo reservation after the death of his father. In this case, Roy spent his formative years not realizing he was essentially invited to adopt another culture by Tommy Arashikage AKA Storm Shadow, a friend who was doing much the same thing himself at the time (being a traditionally-trained ninja then serving in the US Army), nor did he excel his friend in skill and ability, but rather became his equal (though the one is said to be slightly better with a blade, the other with a bow).
* ComicBook/DoctorStrange. A wealthy, spoiled, arrogant DrJerk travels from Manhattan to the Far East seeking a cure for his injured hands, meets The Ancient One, and within a matter of years, he has surpassed all other students in The Ancient One's temple to become the next Sorcerer Supreme. In both the comic and animated adaptation, the ''second''-best student is consumed with jealousy and becomes [[RivalTurnedEvil Baron Mordo]]. In later years, the mighty whitey implications have been softened. His replacement as Sorcerer Supreme was Doctor Voodoo, a Haitian psychologist.
* Both parodied and played straight in the comic book ''Charisma Man'', produced for English-speaking expatriates in Japan. The title character was a dorky Canadian unsuccessful with women in his own country -
white until he arrives in Japan where he instantly becomes suave turned 13 while English was a second language to him. As an adult, Roy receives a second naming ceremony and supercool, admired by all a tattoo symbolizing he's an official member of the locals Navajo but that's as far as it went. While incredibly knowledgable and able respectful of his Navajo upbringing, to pick up any girl he wants. His mortal enemy is "Western Woman", the only point Roy passed on a lot of teachings to his daughter Lian, and considered one aware of what a loser he really is.
* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Daniel Lyons
them despite his skin, Roy was chosen by a Blackfeet Indian chief ''never'' considered to be a potential savior or lauded for being a better Navajo than those around him. Sioux woman Dakota Jamison was left speechless after she assumed Roy's tattoo was tacky disrespect against actual Native people.
-->'''Dakota''': Your tattoo should've tipped me off you that don't know the first thing about respect. You even known what those markings mean to ''actual'' Native Americans?
-->'''Roy''': Yeah, they mean I'm an officiated member of the Navajo Tachini clan.
-->(''Dakota looks as if she's done a DoubleTake'')
* Franchise/{{Tintin}} had a notorious example in the album ''Tintin in the Congo'', in which the boy reporter goes to the Belgian Congo, bests the childlike natives in both physical and mental prowess and explains to them about their homeland, which is here identified as Belgium. Later versions of the album would remove some of the more extreme stuff. Current English editions feature a prominent disclaimer, having spent many years out of print. In fairness to Hergé, he acknowledged this as OldShame, and the trope is (mostly) absent from later albums.
* An inversion in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', where the fascist regime has eliminated all non-whites from the British Isles and the ShowWithinAShow ''Storm Saxon'' is a cringingly racist and {{narm}}y serial where the eponymous white hero fights evil black savages. After V takes out the government's PropagandaMachine, forcing them to use different announcers, he claims the show had better writing.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Violine}}'', the doctor is treated like this by the pygmies, who proclaim him their world
champion of justice, after besting 100 challengers by outrunning a deer, outswimming a salmon upstream, hitting the bullseye while blindfolded and then catching arrows that were fired at him, and then wrestling a bear, finally winning by breaking its neck with his bare hands. He was given a longbow into they see him perform "magic" (blowing bubbles which he carved a notch whenever he performed a good deed. When he had attained 100 notches, would be judged worthy of having taken shrink their heads in the mantle of the Black Marvel.
* ''[[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix and Obelix]]'' come to mind in ''Asterix and the Great Crossing'' and its animated adaptation ''Asterix Conquers America'', since
reflection, significant because they quickly excel at everything are headhunters). Van Beursen, a Western CorruptCorporateExecutive, tries to invoke this on the natives challenge them at, though it certainly helped that of Zongo, but they were aided by the [[SuperSerum magic potion that gives superhuman strength and speed]].reject this.



* Subverted in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Although Leetah is definitely TheChiefsDaughter, Cutter and the Wolfriders mix pretty thoroughly with the Sun Folk and their cultures support each other relatively equally (and the white Wolfriders are considered the NobleSavage types). It's ''further'' subverted with Dart, who teaches the Sun Folk warfare as a child, but it's because he's lived in the village all his life; he stays living there for most of the rest of the series.
** The story of ''Little Patch'', Tyleet´s adopted human son, plays it more straight, although Patch was raised by the wolfrider elves. Because of his woodland skills and other skills, he swiftly "out-hunts and outgraces" everyone in the human village, and eventually becomes their chief. In this story, the ''elves'' have the role of cultural superior beings.
* Creator/DCComics Western hero Firehair subverts the mold -- he's a white man raised by Blackfoot Native Americans, taught to be a great hunter, fighter, tracker, and survivalist like all the other men in the tribe, but neither the white settlers nor the Blackfoot ever truly accepted him as one of theirs. This caused him to start WalkingTheEarth in search of a place to call home.
* ''ComicBook/SheenaQueenOfTheJungle'' is a fairly conventional 'white woman RaisedByNatives' example.
* Franchise/{{Tintin}} had a notorious example in the album ''Tintin in the Congo'', in which the boy reporter goes to the Belgian Congo, bests the childlike natives in both physical and mental prowess and explains to them about their homeland, which is here identified as Belgium. Later versions of the album would remove some of the more extreme stuff. Current English editions feature a prominent disclaimer, having spent many years out of print. In fairness to Hergé, he acknowledged this as OldShame, and the trope is (mostly) absent from later albums.
* Deconstructed with White Wolf, archenemy and adopted brother of ComicBook/BlackPanther. He was raised by T'Chaka the former king of Wakanda and has always loved the country. However Wakanda is a fairly xenophobic country, so he was never accepted or treated with respect by people outside his family due to being white. Add T'Challa generally being treated far better than him by both their father and the people of Wakanda, and the result is a deep resentment of his brother combined with [[IJustWantToBeSpecial a desperate desire to be loved by others]]. All he wants is to help Wakanda and gain the acceptance of his adoptive culture, but his desperation to do so and the natives' constant refusal of his help drove him into supervillainy.
%% That's twice I've deleted a ''ComicBook/Fables'' entry which is Administrivia/NotAnExample for reasons previously stated. If you want to make a case for it, take it to the Discussion page. Do NOT add it back without discussion.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Violine}}'', the doctor is treated like this by the pygmies, who proclaim him their world champion after they see him perform "magic" (blowing bubbles which shrink their heads in the reflection, significant because they are headhunters). Van Beursen, a Western CorruptCorporateExecutive, tries to invoke this on the natives of Zongo, but they reject this.
* An inversion in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', where the fascist regime has eliminated all non-whites from the British Isles and the ShowWithinAShow ''Storm Saxon'' is a cringingly racist and {{narm}}y serial where the eponymous white hero fights evil black savages. After V takes out the government's PropagandaMachine, forcing them to use different announcers, he claims the show had better writing.
* Played with regarding [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Roy]] [[ComicBook/TeenTitans Harper]] and the few times his Native American upbringing is discussed. In all of Roy's origin stories, they involve him being orphaned at an early age and then looked after by a Native caretaker. Devin Grayson's take on Roy's backstory was a humanized version of his Post-Crisis origin, wherein Roy was raised on a Navajo reservation after the death of his father. In this case, Roy spent his formative years not realizing he was white until he turned 13 while English was a second language to him. As an adult, Roy receives a second naming ceremony and a tattoo symbolizing he's an official member of the Navajo but that's as far as it went. While incredibly knowledgable and respectful of his Navajo upbringing, to the point Roy passed on a lot of teachings to his daughter Lian, and considered one of them despite his skin, Roy was ''never'' considered to be a potential savior or lauded for being a better Navajo than those around him. Sioux woman Dakota Jamison was left speechless after she assumed Roy's tattoo was tacky disrespect against actual Native people.
-->'''Dakota''': Your tattoo should've tipped me off you that don't know the first thing about respect. You even known what those markings mean to ''actual'' Native Americans?
-->'''Roy''': Yeah, they mean I'm an officiated member of the Navajo Tachini clan.
-->(''Dakota looks as if she's done a DoubleTake'')
* The title character of ''ComicBook/RichardDragon'' was a white punk who ended up being trained into one of the greatest martial artists of the DC Universe.



* All of the '30s through '50s "Jungle" movies and a standard trope is a white woman having been adopted as a goddess to the native Africans. This trope was used because 1) white, and 2) a female would be subservient to the men coming to rescue her, and she wouldn't try to subjugate the tribe that's worshiping her. See ''Film/WhiteGoddess'' as Example A.
%%* ''Film/JungleGoddess'' is another example that answers to this description. There isn't any obvious reason for the Zambezis to worship Greta; apparently just being unusual makes her worshipful.
* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' (1962) is one of the most well-known examples of this in cinema, with an Englishman leading the Arabs in a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. It's based on the real Lawrence. By the end of the film, however, it becomes a subversion, as Lawrence is (and, in real life, was) unable to secure Arab independence, instead seeing the Middle East carved up into European colonies, nor able to unite Arabs in a sense of national unity over traditional loyalties.
* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' franchise plays with this trope, playing it straight (Belloq and the [[BarbarianTribe Hovitos]]), inverting it (bumbling Marcus Brody, given extra comedy by Indy's describing him as the ultimate Mighty Whitey, immediately cutting to his being hideously out of his depth in only-barely-non-Western Turkey), and subverted, inverted and played straight at various times with Indy himself. As the movies are inspired by the tone of old adventure serials, this was probably intentional.

to:

* All of In ''Film/{{Aelita}}'', a 1924 film from the '30s through '50s "Jungle" movies and Soviet Union, a standard trope is group of stranded Soviet astronauts on Mars lead a communist revolution by technologically advanced, but ideologically backwards masses against the ruling class of that planet!
* In ''Film/TheAirUpThere'',
white woman having been adopted as a goddess to basketball coach Jimmy visits the native Africans. This trope was used because 1) white, and 2) a female would be subservient Winabi in Kenya to recruit the men coming to rescue her, and she wouldn't try to subjugate player Saleh. When the Winabi bet their land in a basketball game against a TyrannicalTownTycoon's team, Jimmy is initiated into the tribe that's worshiping her. See ''Film/WhiteGoddess'' as Example A.
%%* ''Film/JungleGoddess'' is another example that answers to this description. There isn't any obvious reason for the Zambezis to worship Greta; apparently just being unusual makes her worshipful.
* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' (1962) is one of the most well-known examples of this in cinema,
so he can play basketball with an Englishman them, complete with painful InitiationCeremony, and coaches the team to victory.
* A little-known film called ''Film/AmericanGuerrillaInThePhilippines'', wherein the titular American soldiers are stranded in the Philippine Islands during World War II and end up
leading the Arabs in a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. It's based on the real Lawrence. By the end of the film, however, it becomes a subversion, as Lawrence is (and, in real life, was) unable to secure Arab independence, instead seeing the Middle East carved up into European colonies, nor able to unite Arabs in a sense of national unity over traditional loyalties.
*
Japanese. The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' franchise plays main character even meets and falls in love with this trope, playing it straight (Belloq a white woman who went native, and the [[BarbarianTribe Hovitos]]), inverting it (bumbling Marcus Brody, given extra comedy by Indy's describing him as the ultimate Mighty Whitey, immediately cutting to his being hideously out of his depth she falls in only-barely-non-Western Turkey), and subverted, inverted and played straight at various times love with Indy himself. As the movies are inspired by the tone of old adventure serials, this was probably intentional.him after her Filipino husband dies.



* In ''Film/TheProposition'', Arthur Burns is essentially the evil version of this. He lives up in the hills, and the Aborigines are terrified of him and think he's a werewolf.

to:

* In ''Film/TheProposition'', Arthur Burns ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is essentially implied in a HistoricalInJoke to have introduced RockAndRoll to the evil version of this. He lives up world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the hills, song.
* Averted hard in ''Film/{{Balibo}}''. The film focuses on several white journalists who enter East Timor to provide coverage of the ongoing Indonesian invasion, intending to attract worldwide attention. Not only are they respectful of East Timorese culture, but [[spoiler:they are all executed by the Indonesian military and fail to accomplish their objective.]] The only one to actually come close to making any progress is native East Timorese politician José, and even that comes at a great personal cost.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Film/{{Bananas}}'', in which Creator/WoodyAllen gets mixed up with a revolution in a [[BananaRepublic fictional Latin American country]]. Of course, since he's [[TheFool Woody Allen]], he isn't exactly competent, but when the revolution succeeds
and the Aborigines are terrified Great Leader immediately [[TheCaligula goes crazy]], his underlings get rid of him and force Woody Allen to become the new dictator because Woody Allen is an "educated American."
* Parodied in ''Film/BeverlyHillsNinja'' where Creator/ChrisFarley's character is adopted by a tribe of ninjas who
think he'll be the prophesied Great White Ninja. As it turns out, Farley is a blundering klutz, who is far outmatched by his Japanese brother. Though they do end up playing it straight in the end.
* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'' subverts this by presenting Jack Burton, a big, brawling, two-fisted white guy who ''thinks''
he's the hero, but who often gets his ass handed to him in the battle against the BigBad. The ''real'' hero of the movie is Jack Burton's competent, martial-arts savvy, Chinese-American "sidekick," Wang Chi. That said, Jack ''is'' the one who kills the BigBad, to even his own surprise. According to [[WordOfGod the DVD commentary]] both the director and the star wanted to make the subversion more obvious but ExecutiveMeddling prevented it.
* ''Film/BlackRain''. The Japanese PoliceAreUseless, it's up to the white American protagonists to catch the criminal. Neither side is portrayed as flawless, but in the end, the white guy wins after persuading an [[HonorBeforeReason up]][[PillarsOfMoralCharacter tight]] sympathetic local officer to loosen up
a werewolf.little.
* ''Film/BlindFury'' has a dash of this, with Creator/RutgerHauer playing a Vietnam veteran who gets blinded and adopted by a local tribe. Under their tutelage, he becomes a MasterSwordsman despite being [[BlindWeaponmaster blind]].



* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Played completely straight and criticized for having [[WhiteMaleLead Dunbar]] be the reason why the Lakota defeat the army despite the Lakota historically doing so alone.
* This is a common criticism of ''Film/EightMile'', in that the white rapper Rabbit is a uniquely gifted rapper whose friends are virtually all black, and that the climax of the movie shows him beating a succession of black rappers. However, the movie addresses this by making Rabbit reluctant to battle out of anxiety that he is seen as a tourist or [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy appropriator]]. The final battle also ends with Rabbit winning against a violent black bully by pointing out that his opponent comes from a middle class family, goes to a private school, and likes to slum it in the hood to feel like a gangster - indicating that despite Rabbit's race, he is still part of an oppressed working class through which he can authentically connect with hip-hop culture. Also, Rabbit is played by Music/{{Eminem}}, who ''is'' a uniquely gifted battle rapper, and the film is inspired by his own background.
* ''Film/FarewellToTheKing'': The blond, blue-eyed American Learoyd [[DangerousDeserter deserts his command]], flees into the Borneo jungle, winds up with a tribe there, slays their best warrior in a duel, marries a beautiful princess, and becomes their chief.
* In the [[CulturalTranslation Americanized]] [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action version]] of ''Film/FistOfTheNorthStar'', [[TheHero Kenshiro]] and [[RivalTurnedEvil Shin]], who are both inheritors of secret assassination styles, are played by white actors Gary Daniels and Costas Mandylor, whereas Julia, Bat, and Lynn, the {{Love Interest|s}} and the two [[KidSidekick kid sidekicks]] respectively, are played by Asians. Moreover, Kenshiro's OldMaster, Ryuken, is played by another white man, Creator/MalcolmMcDowell.
* 2013's ''Film/FortySevenRonin'' is a very, ''very'' loose adaptation of the original story, but with fantasy elements and a character played by Creator/KeanuReeves, a half breed who nonetheless charms his samurai lord's daughter, wins a spot of honor among his fellow samurai, and all but orders all the Japanese men around him about in the second act.
* ''Film/TheGhostAndTheDarkness'', a pair of lions are killing scores of local tribesmen, so two white men, Patterson and Remington, go off to kill them. Patterson is the one who survives, and he's just a military engineer by trade. The film is based on a true story and actually makes Patterson less badass than he really was. Patterson was an experienced hunter and took both lions down himself (though the only record is Patterson's own journal, and he was a [[UnreliableNarrator known self-promoter]] so there's a question of just how much help he had from other people).
* In ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'', Snake Eyes is a white street urchin in Hong Kong who fights Storm Shadow to a draw on their first meeting, even though presumably Storm Shadow has been combat-trained since he could walk, by virtue of [[ImprovisedWeapon throwing every object he can get his hands on at Storm Shadow]]. After being accepted into the dojo, it takes Snake Eyes only a short time to surpass Storm Shadow's skills, though it seems Storm Shadow retains the edge with a Katana--in their climactic fight, Storm Shadow disarms Snake Eyes and breaks his Katana, and the Joe is only able to win after switching to bladed tonfas.
* ''Film/{{Hidalgo}}'' has the underdog whitey beating Arabs and Bedouins in their race, on their own lands, which he had never before visited. He gets the bonus points for having a good chance with the Sheik's daughter, whom ''he'' rescued. Then again, it's ''almost'' a subversion because the hero is supposed to be part American Indian - but in RealLife, [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie this turned out to be a lie]]). The whole movie is based on the RealLife Hopkins' bullshit stories he told as a performer.
* The title character of ''Film/HisMajestyOKeefe'' starts out as an EvilColonialist, but becomes a Mighty Whitey after being shown the error of his ways and undergoing a HeelFaceTurn. [[FairForItsDay Hey, it was made in the '50s.]]
* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' franchise plays with this trope, playing it straight (Belloq and the [[BarbarianTribe Hovitos]]), inverting it (bumbling Marcus Brody, given extra comedy by Indy's describing him as the ultimate Mighty Whitey, immediately cutting to his being hideously out of his depth in only-barely-non-Western Turkey), and subverted, inverted and played straight at various times with Indy himself. As the movies are inspired by the tone of old adventure serials, this was probably intentional.



* In ''Film/TheQuest'', Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme plays a street criminal who is shanghaied and sold into slavery to a Thai boxing camp. Without any past training as a fighter, within two years he is one of their top-ranked members, despite the native boxers having trained from early childhood. And this just from watching the classes on the beach...

to:

* In ''Film/TheQuest'', Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme plays a street criminal who is shanghaied All of the '30s through '50s "Jungle" movies and sold into slavery to a Thai boxing camp. Without any past training standard trope is a white woman having been adopted as a fighter, within two years he is one of their top-ranked members, despite goddess to the native boxers having trained Africans. This trope was used because 1) white, and 2) a female would be subservient to the men coming to rescue her, and she wouldn't try to subjugate the tribe that's worshiping her. See ''Film/WhiteGoddess'' as Example A.
%%* ''Film/JungleGoddess'' is another example that answers to this description. There isn't any obvious reason for the Zambezis to worship Greta; apparently just being unusual makes her worshipful.
* Used uniquely in ''Film/KillBill''. Pai Mei is an elderly Chinese kung fu master and also a ''colossal'' {{Jerkass}}. He hates white people, women, blondes, the Japanese, and Americans. So when the Bride - a skinny, white, blonde American woman who tries to impress him by speaking Japanese and claiming to be a great fighter with the katana - comes to his secluded temple to learn under him, his notorious TrainingFromHell becomes all the harsher. [[spoiler:Becomes heartwarming when you find out that she was his favourite student, and he taught her alone the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.]]
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' has a scene where Balian, fresh
from early childhood. And this Europe, has to teach a bunch of lifelong desert-dwellers how to dig a well. The scene is vague enough that he may just from watching the classes on the beach...be upgrading their existing system; he ''is'' an engineer after all.



* ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' is an excellent example of Mighty Whitey in traditional American literature and, hence, in classic movies. Imitations and similar characters appear in Westerns. Although Chingachgook is just as much of a badass as Hawkeye -- and he's the one who kills the main antagonist in many adaptations and he's the guy who the entire book/movie is named after. The 1992 film at least subverts it in that Nathaniel identifies as Native American and eschews white civilization, even giving a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about it to Cora.
* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' has many elements of this. After being captured by the samurai leader, [[Creator/TomCruise Nathan Algren]] adopts their ways, falls in love with the widow of one of the men he killed and becomes a key advisor for those he was originally ordered to defeat. However, he's never really shown to be any better than the Japanese. As a career soldier, after lengthy training he's finally shown to only bring his trainer to a draw (and even then after several losses in a row), and he was an advisor mainly because he trained the people they were going to fight (in that case simply due to his familiarity with the weapons). Algren even states in his journal that the Japanese treat him mostly with "mild neglect." Even when they begin to begrudgingly respect his combat skills, one samurai jokes that even if he has gotten better, he's "still so ugly".
** Might qualify as an inversion, as the white man is instead '' saved'' by the alien culture he joins, without reforming it [[spoiler:and his attempts to save the samurai way of life from modernity ultimately does not work]]. Algren was an alcoholic with a [[DeathSeeker genuine death wish]] at first, but the beauty and meaning of the Japanese culture causes him to back away from that destructive mindset.
* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' (1962) is one of the most well-known examples of this in cinema, with an Englishman leading the Arabs in a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. It's based on the real Lawrence. By the end of the film, however, it becomes a subversion, as Lawrence is (and, in real life, was) unable to secure Arab independence, instead seeing the Middle East carved up into European colonies, nor able to unite Arabs in a sense of national unity over traditional loyalties.
* In the 1970 Western ''Film/AManCalledHorse'', Creator/RichardHarris plays English aristocrat John Morgan who is captured by the Sioux. After various trials and tests, he becomes not only a tribe member but eventually its leader.
* Exploited in ''Film/TheManWhoWouldBeKing''. Our antiheroes are two conniving ex-soldiers who decide that it will be a snap to go to Kafiristan and become kings because, after all, they're Britons! With the aid of 20 rifles and their military experience, the pair do in fact conquer all of the local tribes and become kings. One of them is worshiped as the son of Alexander the Great, the last Mighty Whitey to steamroll through the region.
* ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' is more an [[GreenAesop environmentalist fable]] than anything else (if a particularly demented one), but Creator/StevenSeagal's character puts it upon himself to speak for the Inuit who are being screwed over by the oil companies. Because, well, the Inuit have no voice. There's even a scene where undergoes a VisionQuest to essentially ''purge himself of white guilt''.



* In ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'', Snake Eyes is a white street urchin in Hong Kong who fights Storm Shadow to a draw on their first meeting, even though presumably Storm Shadow has been combat-trained since he could walk, by virtue of [[ImprovisedWeapon throwing every object he can get his hands on at Storm Shadow]]. After being accepted into the dojo, it takes Snake Eyes only a short time to surpass Storm Shadow's skills, though it seems Storm Shadow retains the edge with a Katana--in their climactic fight, Storm Shadow disarms Snake Eyes and breaks his Katana, and the Joe is only able to win after switching to bladed tonfas.
* The French film ''Film/WhiteMaterial'' looks like it's heading in this direction. Taking place in an unnamed African country torn by a rebellion, Maria, a fierce and fearless white woman, refuses to abandon her coffee crops and to acknowledge the danger to which she is exposing her family. Maria puts the farm in even more danger when she looks after a wounded rebel officer known as 'The Boxer'.
* The title character of ''Film/HisMajestyOKeefe'' starts out as an EvilColonialist, but becomes a Mighty Whitey after being shown the error of his ways and undergoing a HeelFaceTurn. [[FairForItsDay Hey, it was made in the '50s.]]
* ''Film/BlackRain''. The Japanese PoliceAreUseless, it's up to the white American protagonists to catch the criminal. Neither side is portrayed as flawless, but in the end, the white guy wins after persuading an [[HonorBeforeReason up]][[PillarsOfMoralCharacter tight]] sympathetic local officer to loosen up a little.
* SaveOurStudents movies with a white teacher in minority classrooms:
** ''Film/DangerousMinds'' has ex-Marine and sassy white girl Creator/MichellePfeiffer inspiring a classroom full of angry ethnic minority teens to learn (and, in one scene, kicking their asses). Based on a true story, though the Hollywood treatment given to the story isn't reflective of reality in many ways.
** ''Film/FreedomWriters''
** ''Film/ThePrincipal''
** ''Film/MusicOfTheHeart''
** ''Film/{{Conrack}}''



* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'' subverts this by presenting Jack Burton, a big, brawling, two-fisted white guy who ''thinks'' he's the hero, but who often gets his ass handed to him in the battle against the BigBad. The ''real'' hero of the movie is Jack Burton's competent, martial-arts savvy, Chinese-American "sidekick," Wang Chi. That said, Jack ''is'' the one who kills the BigBad, to even his own surprise. According to [[WordOfGod the DVD commentary]] both the director and the star wanted to make the subversion more obvious but ExecutiveMeddling prevented it.
* ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' is an excellent example of Mighty Whitey in traditional American literature and, hence, in classic movies. Imitations and similar characters appear in Westerns. Although Chingachgook is just as much of a badass as Hawkeye -- and he's the one who kills the main antagonist in many adaptations and he's the guy who the entire book/movie is named after. The 1992 film at least subverts it in that Nathaniel identifies as Native American and eschews white civilization, even giving a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about it to Cora.
* In the [[CulturalTranslation Americanized]] [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action version]] of ''Film/FistOfTheNorthStar'', [[TheHero Kenshiro]] and [[RivalTurnedEvil Shin]], who are both inheritors of secret assassination styles, are played by white actors Gary Daniels and Costas Mandylor, whereas Julia, Bat, and Lynn, the {{Love Interest|s}} and the two [[KidSidekick kid sidekicks]] respectively, are played by Asians. Moreover, Kenshiro's OldMaster, Ryuken, is played by another white man, Creator/MalcolmMcDowell.
* ''Film/FarewellToTheKing'': The blond, blue-eyed American Learoyd [[DangerousDeserter deserts his command]], flees into the Borneo jungle, winds up with a tribe there, slays their best warrior in a duel, marries a beautiful princess, and becomes their chief.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Film/{{Bananas}}'', in which Creator/WoodyAllen gets mixed up with a revolution in a [[BananaRepublic fictional Latin American country]]. Of course, since he's [[TheFool Woody Allen]], he isn't exactly competent, but when the revolution succeeds and the Great Leader immediately [[TheCaligula goes crazy]], his underlings get rid of him and force Woody Allen to become the new dictator because Woody Allen is an "educated American."
* ''Film/TheGhostAndTheDarkness'', a pair of lions are killing scores of local tribesmen, so two white men, Patterson and Remington, go off to kill them. Patterson is the one who survives, and he's just a military engineer by trade. The film is based on a true story and actually makes Patterson less badass than he really was. Patterson was an experienced hunter and took both lions down himself (though the only record is Patterson's own journal, and he was a [[UnreliableNarrator known self-promoter]] so there's a question of just how much help he had from other people).
* Parodied in ''Film/BeverlyHillsNinja'' where Creator/ChrisFarley's character is adopted by a tribe of ninjas who think he'll be the prophesied Great White Ninja. As it turns out, Farley is a blundering klutz, who is far outmatched by his Japanese brother. Though they do end up playing it straight in the end.
* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'': Played completely straight and criticized for having [[WhiteMaleLead Dunbar]] be the reason why the Lakota defeat the army despite the Lakota historically doing so alone.



* ''Film/{{Hidalgo}}'' has the underdog whitey beating Arabs and Bedouins in their race, on their own lands, which he had never before visited. He gets the bonus points for having a good chance with the Sheik's daughter, whom ''he'' rescued. Then again, it's ''almost'' a subversion because the hero is supposed to be part American Indian - but in RealLife, [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie this turned out to be a lie]]). The whole movie is based on the RealLife Hopkins' bullshit stories he told as a performer.

to:

* ''Film/{{Hidalgo}}'' has In ''Film/TheProposition'', Arthur Burns is essentially the underdog whitey beating Arabs evil version of this. He lives up in the hills, and Bedouins in their race, on their own lands, which he had never before visited. He gets the bonus points for having Aborigines are terrified of him and think he's a good chance with the Sheik's daughter, whom ''he'' rescued. Then again, it's ''almost'' a subversion because the hero werewolf.
* Tony in ''Film/ThePumaman''
is supposed to be part this, with him (and his father before him) apparently being the greatest protector of the Aztec people despite being white. In practice, he's an [[IdiotHero whiny idiot]], and Vadhinio, his Aztec sidekick, is a far better hero than him.
* In ''Film/TheQuest'', Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme plays a street criminal who is shanghaied and sold into slavery to a Thai boxing camp. Without any past training as a fighter, within two years he is one of their top-ranked members, despite the native boxers having trained from early childhood. And this just from watching the classes on the beach...
* The 1991 Creator/DolphLundgren/Creator/BrandonLee buddy cop movie ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo''. A blond, tall, muscular
American Indian - but cop raised in RealLife, [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie this turned out Japanese culture slaughters an army of {{Yakuza}} and is physically and martially superior to anyone, including his comic relief half-Asian partner. His sexual prowess is commented on while the Yakuza boss is implied to be impotent unless he beats women and he romances an Asian woman whom the boss had kidnapped and previously raped.
* ''Film/StraightOuttaCompton'' ends up subverting this trope twice, and in
a lie]]). unique way.
** Jerry Heller, Music/{{NWA}}'s manager, seems like he's honest in helping the group become HouseholdNames. He even defends the group when they're harassed by the police during recording sessions. However, once they become a national sensation, Heller resorts to dirty tactics to rip the band apart, by giving Music/EazyE more money and favoritism than his fellow bandmates. [[spoiler:Heller's deception backfires on him when Eazy E discovers Heller's been stealing money, causing him to find out about the deceit. Eazy E doesn't take his supposed plea for forgiveness seriously and terminates him.]]
** A more clear subversion with Bryan Turner, the head of N.W.A.'s label, Priority Records. He tries to withhold royalties from Music/IceCube for his album, ''[=AmeriKKKa=]'s Most Wanted''. [[FreakOut It doesn't go so well]] [[RageBreakingPoint for Turner]].
* ''Film/TheTimeMachine2002'':
The whole movie is based on film (probably inadvertently) has this effect by the RealLife Hopkins' bullshit stories he told as a performer. Eloi all being AmbiguouslyBrown with Alex being the WhiteMaleLead, him rescuing them from the evil Morlocks who prey upon them, which they can't do (having been culled to stop any resistance). Sure enough, he's soon getting close with one of their women, Mara, and sacrifices his time machine to protect them, happily staying with the Eloi.



* ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' is more an [[GreenAesop environmentalist fable]] than anything else (if a particularly demented one), but Creator/StevenSeagal's character puts it upon himself to speak for the Inuit who are being screwed over by the oil companies. Because, well, the Inuit have no voice. There's even a scene where undergoes a VisionQuest to essentially ''purge himself of white guilt''.
* ''Film/BlindFury'' has a dash of this, with Creator/RutgerHauer playing a Vietnam veteran who gets blinded and adopted by a local tribe. Under their tutelage, he becomes a MasterSwordsman despite being [[BlindWeaponmaster blind]].
* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' has many elements of this. After being captured by the samurai leader, [[Creator/TomCruise Nathan Algren]] adopts their ways, falls in love with the widow of one of the men he killed and becomes a key advisor for those he was originally ordered to defeat. However, he's never really shown to be any better than the Japanese. As a career soldier, after lengthy training he's finally shown to only bring his trainer to a draw (and even then after several losses in a row), and he was an advisor mainly because he trained the people they were going to fight (in that case simply due to his familiarity with the weapons). Algren even states in his journal that the Japanese treat him mostly with "mild neglect." Even when they begin to begrudgingly respect his combat skills, one samurai jokes that even if he has gotten better, he's "still so ugly".
** Might qualify as an inversion, as the white man is instead '' saved'' by the alien culture he joins, without reforming it [[spoiler:and his attempts to save the samurai way of life from modernity ultimately does not work]]. Algren was an alcoholic with a [[DeathSeeker genuine death wish]] at first, but the beauty and meaning of the Japanese culture causes him to back away from that destructive mindset.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' has a scene where Balian, fresh from Europe, has to teach a bunch of lifelong desert-dwellers how to dig a well. The scene is vague enough that he may just be upgrading their existing system; he ''is'' an engineer after all.
* A little-known film called ''Film/AmericanGuerrillaInThePhilippines'', wherein the titular American soldiers are stranded in the Philippine Islands during World War II and end up leading the rebellion against the Japanese. The main character even meets and falls in love with a white woman who went native, and she falls in love with him after her Filipino husband dies.
* 2013's ''Film/FortySevenRonin'' is a very, ''very'' loose adaptation of the original story, but with fantasy elements and a character played by Creator/KeanuReeves, a half breed who nonetheless charms his samurai lord's daughter, wins a spot of honor among his fellow samurai, and all but orders all the Japanese men around him about in the second act.
* The 1991 Creator/DolphLundgren/Creator/BrandonLee buddy cop movie ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo''. A blond, tall, muscular American cop raised in Japanese culture slaughters an army of {{Yakuza}} and is physically and martially superior to anyone, including his comic relief half-Asian partner. His sexual prowess is commented on while the Yakuza boss is implied to be impotent unless he beats women and he romances an Asian woman whom the boss had kidnapped and previously raped.
* In the 1970 Western ''Film/AManCalledHorse'', Creator/RichardHarris plays English aristocrat John Morgan who is captured by the Sioux. After various trials and tests, he becomes not only a tribe member but eventually its leader.
* Exploited in ''Film/TheManWhoWouldBeKing''. Our antiheroes are two conniving ex-soldiers who decide that it will be a snap to go to Kafiristan and become kings because, after all, they're Britons! With the aid of 20 rifles and their military experience, the pair do in fact conquer all of the local tribes and become kings. One of them is worshiped as the son of Alexander the Great, the last Mighty Whitey to steamroll through the region.
* ''Film/StraightOuttaCompton'' ends up subverting this trope twice, and in a unique way.
** Jerry Heller, Music/{{NWA}}'s manager, seems like he's honest in helping the group become HouseholdNames. He even defends the group when they're harassed by the police during recording sessions. However, once they become a national sensation, Heller resorts to dirty tactics to rip the band apart, by giving Music/EazyE more money and favoritism than his fellow bandmates. [[spoiler:Heller's deception backfires on him when Eazy E discovers Heller's been stealing money, causing him to find out about the deceit. Eazy E doesn't take his supposed plea for forgiveness seriously and terminates him.]]
** A more clear subversion with Bryan Turner, the head of N.W.A.'s label, Priority Records. He tries to withhold royalties from Music/IceCube for his album, ''[=AmeriKKKa=]'s Most Wanted''. [[FreakOut It doesn't go so well]] [[RageBreakingPoint for Turner]].
* In ''Film/{{Aelita}}'', a 1924 film from the Soviet Union, a group of stranded Soviet astronauts on Mars lead a communist revolution by technologically advanced, but ideologically backwards masses against the ruling class of that planet!
* Used uniquely in ''Film/KillBill''. Pai Mei is an elderly Chinese kung fu master and also a ''colossal'' {{Jerkass}}. He hates white people, women, blondes, the Japanese, and Americans. So when the Bride - a skinny, white, blonde American woman who tries to impress him by speaking Japanese and claiming to be a great fighter with the katana - comes to his secluded temple to learn under him, his notorious TrainingFromHell becomes all the harsher. [[spoiler:Becomes heartwarming when you find out that she was his favourite student, and he taught her alone the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.]]
* In ''Film/TheAirUpThere'', white basketball coach Jimmy visits the Winabi in Kenya to recruit the player Saleh. When the Winabi bet their land in a basketball game against a TyrannicalTownTycoon's team, Jimmy is initiated into the tribe so he can play basketball with them, complete with painful InitiationCeremony, and coaches the team to victory.
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a HistoricalInJoke to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.
* This is a common criticism of ''Film/EightMile'', in that the white rapper Rabbit is a uniquely gifted rapper whose friends are virtually all black, and that the climax of the movie shows him beating a succession of black rappers. However, the movie addresses this by making Rabbit reluctant to battle out of anxiety that he is seen as a tourist or [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy appropriator]]. The final battle also ends with Rabbit winning against a violent black bully by pointing out that his opponent comes from a middle class family, goes to a private school, and likes to slum it in the hood to feel like a gangster - indicating that despite Rabbit's race, he is still part of an oppressed working class through which he can authentically connect with hip-hop culture. Also, Rabbit is played by Music/{{Eminem}}, who ''is'' a uniquely gifted battle rapper, and the film is inspired by his own background.
* ''Film/TheTimeMachine2002'': The film (probably inadvertently) has this effect by the Eloi all being AmbiguouslyBrown with Alex being the WhiteMaleLead, him rescuing them from the evil Morlocks who prey upon them, which they can't do (having been culled to stop any resistance). Sure enough, he's soon getting close with one of their women, Mara, and sacrifices his time machine to protect them, happily staying with the Eloi.
* Averted hard in ''Film/{{Balibo}}''. The film focuses on several white journalists who enter East Timor to provide coverage of the ongoing Indonesian invasion, intending to attract worldwide attention. Not only are they respectful of East Timorese culture, but [[spoiler:they are all executed by the Indonesian military and fail to accomplish their objective.]] The only one to actually come close to making any progress is native East Timorese politician José, and even that comes at a great personal cost.
* Tony in ''Film/ThePumaman'' is supposed to be this, with him (and his father before him) apparently being the greatest protector of the Aztec people despite being white. In practice, he's an [[IdiotHero whiny idiot]], and Vadhinio, his Aztec sidekick, is a far better hero than him.

to:

* ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' is more The French film ''Film/WhiteMaterial'' looks like it's heading in this direction. Taking place in an [[GreenAesop environmentalist fable]] than anything else (if a particularly demented one), but Creator/StevenSeagal's character puts it upon himself to speak for the Inuit who are being screwed over unnamed African country torn by the oil companies. Because, well, the Inuit have no voice. There's even a scene where undergoes rebellion, Maria, a VisionQuest to essentially ''purge himself of fierce and fearless white guilt''.
* ''Film/BlindFury'' has a dash of this, with Creator/RutgerHauer playing a Vietnam veteran who gets blinded
woman, refuses to abandon her coffee crops and adopted by a local tribe. Under their tutelage, he becomes a MasterSwordsman despite being [[BlindWeaponmaster blind]].
* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' has many elements of this. After being captured by
to acknowledge the samurai leader, [[Creator/TomCruise Nathan Algren]] adopts their ways, falls in love with danger to which she is exposing her family. Maria puts the widow of one of the men he killed and becomes a key advisor for those he was originally ordered to defeat. However, he's never really shown to be any better than the Japanese. As a career soldier, farm in even more danger when she looks after lengthy training he's finally shown to only bring his trainer to a draw (and even then after several losses in a row), and he was an advisor mainly because he trained the people they were going to fight (in that case simply due to his familiarity with the weapons). Algren even states in his journal that the Japanese treat him mostly with "mild neglect." Even when they begin to begrudgingly respect his combat skills, one samurai jokes that even if he has gotten better, he's "still so ugly".
** Might qualify
wounded rebel officer known as an inversion, as the white man is instead '' saved'' by the alien culture he joins, without reforming it [[spoiler:and his attempts to save the samurai way of life from modernity ultimately does not work]]. Algren was an alcoholic with a [[DeathSeeker genuine death wish]] at first, but the beauty and meaning of the Japanese culture causes him to back away from that destructive mindset.
'The Boxer'.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' has a scene where Balian, fresh from Europe, has to teach a bunch of lifelong desert-dwellers how to dig a well. The scene is vague enough that he may just be upgrading their existing system; he ''is'' an engineer after all.
* A little-known film called ''Film/AmericanGuerrillaInThePhilippines'', wherein the titular American soldiers are stranded in the Philippine Islands during World War II and end up leading the rebellion against the Japanese. The main character even meets and falls in love
SaveOurStudents movies with a white woman who went native, teacher in minority classrooms:
** ''Film/DangerousMinds'' has ex-Marine
and she falls in love with him after her Filipino husband dies.
* 2013's ''Film/FortySevenRonin'' is a very, ''very'' loose adaptation of the original story, but with fantasy elements and a character played by Creator/KeanuReeves, a half breed who nonetheless charms his samurai lord's daughter, wins a spot of honor among his fellow samurai, and all but orders all the Japanese men around him about in the second act.
* The 1991 Creator/DolphLundgren/Creator/BrandonLee buddy cop movie ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo''. A blond, tall, muscular American cop raised in Japanese culture slaughters an army of {{Yakuza}} and is physically and martially superior to anyone, including his comic relief half-Asian partner. His sexual prowess is commented on while the Yakuza boss is implied to be impotent unless he beats women and he romances an Asian woman whom the boss had kidnapped and previously raped.
* In the 1970 Western ''Film/AManCalledHorse'', Creator/RichardHarris plays English aristocrat John Morgan who is captured by the Sioux. After various trials and tests, he becomes not only a tribe member but eventually its leader.
* Exploited in ''Film/TheManWhoWouldBeKing''. Our antiheroes are two conniving ex-soldiers who decide that it will be a snap to go to Kafiristan and become kings because, after all, they're Britons! With the aid of 20 rifles and their military experience, the pair do in fact conquer all of the local tribes and become kings. One of them is worshiped as the son of Alexander the Great, the last Mighty Whitey to steamroll through the region.
* ''Film/StraightOuttaCompton'' ends up subverting this trope twice, and in a unique way.
** Jerry Heller, Music/{{NWA}}'s manager, seems like he's honest in helping the group become HouseholdNames. He even defends the group when they're harassed by the police during recording sessions. However, once they become a national sensation, Heller resorts to dirty tactics to rip the band apart, by giving Music/EazyE more money and favoritism than his fellow bandmates. [[spoiler:Heller's deception backfires on him when Eazy E discovers Heller's been stealing money, causing him to find out about the deceit. Eazy E doesn't take his supposed plea for forgiveness seriously and terminates him.]]
** A more clear subversion with Bryan Turner, the head of N.W.A.'s label, Priority Records. He tries to withhold royalties from Music/IceCube for his album, ''[=AmeriKKKa=]'s Most Wanted''. [[FreakOut It doesn't go so well]] [[RageBreakingPoint for Turner]].
* In ''Film/{{Aelita}}'', a 1924 film from the Soviet Union, a group of stranded Soviet astronauts on Mars lead a communist revolution by technologically advanced, but ideologically backwards masses against the ruling class of that planet!
* Used uniquely in ''Film/KillBill''. Pai Mei is an elderly Chinese kung fu master and also a ''colossal'' {{Jerkass}}. He hates
sassy white people, women, blondes, the Japanese, and Americans. So when the Bride - girl Creator/MichellePfeiffer inspiring a skinny, white, blonde American woman who tries to impress him by speaking Japanese and claiming to be a great fighter with the katana - comes to his secluded temple classroom full of angry ethnic minority teens to learn under him, his notorious TrainingFromHell becomes all the harsher. [[spoiler:Becomes heartwarming when you find out that she was his favourite student, and he taught her alone the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.]]
* In ''Film/TheAirUpThere'', white basketball coach Jimmy visits the Winabi
(and, in Kenya to recruit the player Saleh. When the Winabi bet one scene, kicking their land in asses). Based on a basketball game against a TyrannicalTownTycoon's team, Jimmy is initiated into true story, though the tribe so he can play basketball with them, complete with painful InitiationCeremony, and coaches the team to victory.
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a HistoricalInJoke to have introduced RockAndRoll
Hollywood treatment given to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is story isn't reflective of reality in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.
* This is a common criticism of ''Film/EightMile'', in that the white rapper Rabbit is a uniquely gifted rapper whose friends are virtually all black, and that the climax of the movie shows him beating a succession of black rappers. However, the movie addresses this by making Rabbit reluctant to battle out of anxiety that he is seen as a tourist or [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy appropriator]]. The final battle also ends with Rabbit winning against a violent black bully by pointing out that his opponent comes from a middle class family, goes to a private school, and likes to slum it in the hood to feel like a gangster - indicating that despite Rabbit's race, he is still part of an oppressed working class through which he can authentically connect with hip-hop culture. Also, Rabbit is played by Music/{{Eminem}}, who ''is'' a uniquely gifted battle rapper, and the film is inspired by his own background.
* ''Film/TheTimeMachine2002'': The film (probably inadvertently) has this effect by the Eloi all being AmbiguouslyBrown with Alex being the WhiteMaleLead, him rescuing them from the evil Morlocks who prey upon them, which they can't do (having been culled to stop any resistance). Sure enough, he's soon getting close with one of their women, Mara, and sacrifices his time machine to protect them, happily staying with the Eloi.
* Averted hard in ''Film/{{Balibo}}''. The film focuses on several white journalists who enter East Timor to provide coverage of the ongoing Indonesian invasion, intending to attract worldwide attention. Not only are they respectful of East Timorese culture, but [[spoiler:they are all executed by the Indonesian military and fail to accomplish their objective.]] The only one to actually come close to making any progress is native East Timorese politician José, and even that comes at a great personal cost.
* Tony in ''Film/ThePumaman'' is supposed to be this, with him (and his father before him) apparently being the greatest protector of the Aztec people despite being white. In practice, he's an [[IdiotHero whiny idiot]], and Vadhinio, his Aztec sidekick, is a far better hero than him.
many ways.
** ''Film/FreedomWriters''
** ''Film/ThePrincipal''
** ''Film/MusicOfTheHeart''
** ''Film/{{Conrack}}''



* Both used and subverted in Elizabeth Peters' Literature/AmeliaPeabody mysteries. Amelia and her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren are all white and regarded with awe, admiration, and dread by the Egyptians they work with, but one of the causes they champion is equal rights for Egyptians, and they cultivate some impressive Egyptian sidekicks (though none in their own league). In ''The Last Camel Died at Noon'', Amelia and family visit a LostWorld, where Amelia is irritated to discover that the heroic native prince believes in the Mighty Whitey trope.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Relkin takes this role when meeting the primitive, oppressed Ardu people. He ends up not only liberating them from slavery, but teaching them how to fight their tormentors effectively and helping them establish a more organized society.



%%* Played mostly straight in ''Literature/TheBlueSword'', although it takes place in a fantasy setting.
* Played with in Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian. A few of the stories are about black people getting defeated by a quasi-Celtic white guy, who is [[NobleSavage pretty savage]]. He also recurrently fights against the Picts, described as having white skin but not considered white by their neighbors for being [[CannibalTribe painted, cannibalistic savages]]. Many of his longer-term enemies were also Stygian (Egyptian equivalent), not least Thoth-Ammon, with more than a handful of clashes against white Hyboreans to even the scales. And the lily-white [[HornyVikings Vanir]] are the Cimmerians' worst blood enemy, whom they'd gladly cross a glacier to kill, though Conan eventually becomes more tolerant of a ''few'' of them. Played tiresomely straight when the ([[FantasyCounterpartCulture Shemitish]] but very pale) pirate queen Belit takes him as a lieutenant and lover after seeing him outclass all her black crewmen, and that time when he was chief of the not!Afghani bandits and it turned out that while the not!South Asian people were inherently vulnerable to mesmeric Eastern magic, Conan is immune because Westerners, by virtue of their sensible rationalistic culture, are inherently resistant to hypnotism [[FridgeLogic (despite evil wizards being ten a penny everywhere in the Hyborian Age).]]
* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'': This is deconstructed with Ignatius. On some level, he sympathizes with the poverty-stricken black community of New Orleans, but he has no genuine respect for their humanity or needs, looking at them through his incredibly skewed pro-Renaissance worldview. His "rally" of the black factory workers is not done out of any desire to help them, but to serve his crazed and selfish desires. The black workers at Levy Pants think of him as a hilarious fool, while Burma only associates with Ignatius for his own schemes.
* Subverted in the Creator/HGWells story ''The Country of the Blind'', where the outsider assumes his ability to see will automatically make him the ruler of a primitive blind tribe. But the blind villagers have adapted perfectly to their environment, and fail to see why they should do anything the newcomer says when their own ways make more sense. They have been blind for such a long time that they've forgotten what sight is, and think that the man is insane.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler:after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]
* Kylie Chan's ''Literature/DarkHeavens'' trilogy in which a young, white Australian nanny with no previous training develops superhuman martial-arts skills and magic qi powers in just a few years, beats up demons and generally proves herself an equal to Chinese gods, never mind mere mortals. Then she gets upstaged by a half-American, half-Chinese six-year-old. [[spoiler:Justified to an extent as the most recent book has revealed that this is largely a result of her half-Shen heritage.]]
* Genially deconstructed at Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' short story "The Dead Man", the seemingly impossible life and death of Benjamín Otalora, a courageous Argentinean White Guy hoodlum who emigrated to the Brazilian frontier and became the leader of a band of racially mixed smugglers in only three years. [[spoiler:All the Native smugglers are pulling a scam to mock Otalora, who is naive enough to fall for it and is murdered by them]].
* The long-running pulp serial ''Literature/TheDestroyer'' is predicated on a prophecy that a white man will become the greatest master of the phlebotinum-laden Korean martial art of Sinanju. Main character Remo Williams is not just the prophesied white Sinanju master, he's also the incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva.
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' has Paul Atreides who is born from the waterworld Caladan, son of a duke, trained by the best swordsmen and tacticians in the galaxy and trained as a Mentat human computer. He and his pregnant mother went into hiding from their enemies, the Harkonnens, who killed his father, and met the natives of Arrakis, the Fremen, who also hate the Harkonnen. They managed to win the favor of the Fremen, [[GoingNative learned their culture]] and Paul fell in love with a Fremen girl (but she's not a full-blooded Fremen because her grandfather is a former Planetologist of the Emperor [[GoingNative who went native]]). He's also destined to be the Messiah which the Fremen had been waiting for due to his prophetic powers and at the end of the novel, he led the Fremen against the Harkonnens and the Emperor and took over the throne by marrying the Emperor's eldest daughter while keeping his Freman lover as his concubine. However, this example is both a deconstruction and exploitation, as Paul's abilities and the prophecy itself are just part of the Bene Gesserit's machinations, and Paul knows he will become a tyrant who will unleash his diehard followers into the entire galaxy, causing chaos and destruction in his name. He hates it but can't do anything about it because it's part of his destiny.



* The long-running pulp serial ''Literature/TheDestroyer'' is predicated on a prophecy that a white man will become the greatest master of the phlebotinum-laden Korean martial art of Sinanju. Main character Remo Williams is not just the prophesied white Sinanju master, he's also the incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva.
* Played with in Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian. A few of the stories are about black people getting defeated by a quasi-Celtic white guy, who is [[NobleSavage pretty savage]]. He also recurrently fights against the Picts, described as having white skin but not considered white by their neighbors for being [[CannibalTribe painted, cannibalistic savages]]. Many of his longer-term enemies were also Stygian (Egyptian equivalent), not least Thoth-Ammon, with more than a handful of clashes against white Hyboreans to even the scales. And the lily-white [[HornyVikings Vanir]] are the Cimmerians' worst blood enemy, whom they'd gladly cross a glacier to kill, though Conan eventually becomes more tolerant of a ''few'' of them. Played tiresomely straight when the ([[FantasyCounterpartCulture Shemitish]] but very pale) pirate queen Belit takes him as a lieutenant and lover after seeing him outclass all her black crewmen, and that time when he was chief of the not!Afghani bandits and it turned out that while the not!South Asian people were inherently vulnerable to mesmeric Eastern magic, Conan is immune because Westerners, by virtue of their sensible rationalistic culture, are inherently resistant to hypnotism [[FridgeLogic (despite evil wizards being ten a penny everywhere in the Hyborian Age).]]
* The ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' novel series averts this trope. While the 2000-era Americans do have far superior technology and want to spread American ideals, history teacher Melissa Mailey quickly points out, after finding a 1632-era doctor is fluent in at least a dozen languages, "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter'' than these people, did you?" In addition, the most respected American doctor is the African-American James Nichols, who is instantly trusted because, in 17th century Germany, the best doctors were usually Moorish.
* Kylie Chan's ''Literature/DarkHeavens'' trilogy in which a young, white Australian nanny with no previous training develops superhuman martial-arts skills and magic qi powers in just a few years, beats up demons and generally proves herself an equal to Chinese gods, never mind mere mortals. Then she gets upstaged by a half-American, half-Chinese six-year-old. [[spoiler:Justified to an extent as the most recent book has revealed that this is largely a result of her half-Shen heritage.]]

to:

* The long-running pulp serial ''Literature/TheDestroyer'' {{Literature/Flashman}} discusses this trope in ''Flashman and the Redskins,'' and points out the ridiculousness of it (with a clear TakeThat at ''Film/KingSolomonsMines'' as an example of the trope). While he does best an Apache warrior, it is predicated on a prophecy made very clear that Flashman chose to fight using a weapon he knew he could handle better than the warrior, and the warrior in question is indicated to be generally mediocre. Having been accepted, he is not held in any high regard and, indeed, is on the whole less skilled than the rest of the tribe.
* ''Literature/GoodOmens'' has a member of the Witchfinder Army who served in Britain's African forces in the colonial era, who didn't so much learn to live with the natives as he did terrify them into submission by countering whatever magic they had.
--> "Sergeant Narker, whose striding, bellowing, six-foot-six, eighteen-stone figure, clutching an armor-plated Book, eight-pound Bell, and specially-reinforced Candle, could clear the veldt of adversaries faster than a Gatling gun."
* Madi in ''Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles'' is a rare villainous example. Japanese Iron Guard are considered badass if they can survive taking up to five [[PowerTattoo kanji brands]]. Madi, a white man, has ''thirteen'' and is second only to the BigBad in power. That said, there ''are'' other white people in the Iron Guard and none of them are as badass as Madi or the Japanese members.
%%* Subverted in Creator/JosephConrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''. Kurtz is an extremely talented and intelligent
white man will become ("all Europe contributed to the greatest master making of [him]") who ventures into Africa to make a fortune from the phlebotinum-laden Korean martial art of Sinanju. Main character Remo Williams is not just ignorant savages he finds there. However, Africa awakens the prophesied darkness in his heart, turning him into a monster [[spoiler:who dies an ignominious death]].
* Saul Bellow's ''Literature/HendersonTheRainKing'' plays this trope brazenly straight. Eugene Henderson is a disaffected middle-class American who goes to Africa and quickly impresses the local tribe enough for him to have the title honor bestowed upon him.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/HiddenEmpire'' spends pretty much 70% of its length dealing with well-meaning
white Sinanju master, he's also Americans saving Africa from itself. There's even a scene where the incarnation male lead has to instruct Nigerian natives on how to treat an aggressive strain of cholera, which you'd think they'd know all about.
* ''Literature/InGreekWaters'', a group of white Brits sail to
the Hindu god Shiva.
Ottoman Empire to aid the revolting Greek minorities against the Turks. The British protagonists are described as superior in strength, morality, skills, and intelligence than the Greeks and Turks, who are seen as savage, ignorant, violent and incompetent without the Brits. At best, a few Greeks and Turks get the NobleSavage treatment a couple of times.
* Played with in Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian. A few Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', an extended ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' reference. Some of the stories are about black people getting defeated (overtly racist) Ankh-Morporkian generals refer to Klatchians as the finest soldiers in the world - provided they're led by a quasi-Celtic white guy, who is [[NobleSavage pretty savage]]. He also recurrently fights against officers - but it's quite clear that the Picts, described as having white skin but not considered white by their neighbors for being [[CannibalTribe painted, cannibalistic savages]]. Many of his longer-term enemies were also Stygian (Egyptian equivalent), not least Thoth-Ammon, with more than a handful of clashes against white Hyboreans to even the scales. And the lily-white [[HornyVikings Vanir]] seasoned Klatchian leaders are the Cimmerians' worst blood enemy, whom they'd gladly cross a glacier to kill, though Conan eventually becomes more tolerant of a ''few'' of them. Played tiresomely straight when the ([[FantasyCounterpartCulture Shemitish]] but very pale) pirate queen Belit takes him as a lieutenant and lover after seeing him outclass all her black crewmen, and that time when he was chief of the not!Afghani bandits and it turned out that competent, while the not!South Asian people were inherently vulnerable nobles leading Ankh-Morpork's hastily-assembled forces think an ideal landing spot is a desert peninsula three days' march from anything but a Klatchian fortress. On the other hand, once he visits Klatch, the white Carrot almost immediately starts fitting in and is able to mesmeric Eastern magic, Conan is immune order around a fearsome tribe of desert nomads, but that's more because Westerners, by virtue of their sensible rationalistic culture, are inherently resistant to hypnotism [[FridgeLogic (despite evil wizards being ten a penny everywhere in the Hyborian Age).]]
* The ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' novel series averts this trope. While the 2000-era Americans do have far superior technology and want to spread American ideals, history teacher Melissa Mailey quickly points out, after finding a 1632-era doctor is fluent in at least a dozen languages, "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter''
[[TheAce he's Carrot]] than these people, did you?" because he's white. In addition, the most respected American doctor is the African-American James Nichols, Carrot's specific case nobody really thinks of him as 'white' in-universe because he's culturally a dwarf (he's adopted; it's complicated).
* Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' has a white character
who is instantly trusted because, in 17th century Germany, the best doctors were usually Moorish.
* Kylie Chan's ''Literature/DarkHeavens'' trilogy in which a young, white Australian nanny with no previous training develops superhuman martial-arts skills and magic qi powers in just a few years, beats up demons and generally proves herself an equal to Chinese gods, never mind mere mortals. Then she gets upstaged by a half-American, half-Chinese six-year-old. [[spoiler:Justified to an extent as the most recent book has revealed
masters forms of combat that this is largely the natives have been trained in since childhood, while the natives can't touch a result of her half-Shen heritage.]] rifle without it exploding.



* Discussed in ''Literature/LegendOfTheAnimalHealer''. Martine wonders why of all the people in Africa, it's a foreign biracial girl who has the power to heal animals. Grace says that it's her heart that led to her being chosen, and the animals themselves don't see a difference. (Note that TheChosenOne is prophecied to save all sorts of animals, not just African ones.)
%%* ''Literature/TheLordsOfCreation'':
%%** Present to a limited degree in ''The Sky People''. Justified not only by Venus' lower gravity but by the fact that the only Earthlings who make the cut to go to other planets are literally the best, brightest and strongest that Earth has to offer. Also contains Cynthia, who is perhaps the first Black example of this trope.
* Shows up in ''Literature/LostHorizon'', which is notably progressive for featuring a modern Mighty Whitey in the 1930s, when the old-fashioned version was still in vogue. When a plane full of white passengers finds themselves in Shangri-La, the mostly Chinese and Tibetan monks there prove themselves to be wise, intelligent, competent, and well-rounded characters. However, the white Conway turns out to be better at being a monk than the best of the Tibetans, and it turns out that [[spoiler:the founder and leader of the monastery is a European who arrived in the 15th century]].



* Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' has a white character who instantly masters forms of combat that the natives have been trained in since childhood, while the natives can't touch a rifle without it exploding.
* Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''Literature/{{She}}'' features an immortal white queen, "She Who Must Be Obeyed", who rules over a primitive tribe of Africans and has magical powers due to her ancient wisdom. She is of Arab origin, and the book implies that white people made up the oldest civilizations.
* Both used and subverted in Elizabeth Peters' Literature/AmeliaPeabody mysteries. Amelia and her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren are all white and regarded with awe, admiration, and dread by the Egyptians they work with, but one of the causes they champion is equal rights for Egyptians, and they cultivate some impressive Egyptian sidekicks (though none in their own league). In ''The Last Camel Died at Noon'', Amelia and family visit a LostWorld, where Amelia is irritated to discover that the heroic native prince believes in the Mighty Whitey trope.
* Played with in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', an extended ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' reference. Some of the (overtly racist) Ankh-Morporkian generals refer to Klatchians as the finest soldiers in the world - provided they're led by white officers - but it's quite clear that the seasoned Klatchian leaders are very competent, while the nobles leading Ankh-Morpork's hastily-assembled forces think an ideal landing spot is a desert peninsula three days' march from anything but a Klatchian fortress. On the other hand, once he visits Klatch, the white Carrot almost immediately starts fitting in and is able to order around a fearsome tribe of desert nomads, but that's more because [[TheAce he's Carrot]] than because he's white. In Carrot's specific case nobody really thinks of him as 'white' in-universe because he's culturally a dwarf (he's adopted; it's complicated).

to:

* Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' has In ''Literature/TheMysteryOfUrulgan'' by Creator/KirBulychev, Douglas Robertson is a white character who instantly masters forms deconstruction of combat that the natives have been trained in since childhood, while the natives can't touch a rifle without it exploding.
* Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''Literature/{{She}}'' features an immortal white queen, "She Who Must Be Obeyed", who rules over a primitive tribe of Africans and has magical powers due to her ancient wisdom. She is of Arab origin, and the book implies that white people made up the oldest civilizations.
* Both used and subverted in Elizabeth Peters' Literature/AmeliaPeabody mysteries. Amelia and her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren are all white and regarded with awe, admiration, and dread by the Egyptians they work with, but one of the causes they champion is equal rights for Egyptians, and they cultivate some impressive Egyptian sidekicks (though none in their own league). In ''The Last Camel Died at Noon'', Amelia and family visit a LostWorld, where Amelia is irritated to discover that the heroic native prince believes in
the Mighty Whitey trope.
* Played with in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', an extended ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' reference. Some
Whitey. He can hunt well, but he is violent, rude, arrogant, racist, cowardly, vain, and responsible for a lot of the (overtly racist) Ankh-Morporkian generals refer to Klatchians as the finest soldiers trouble in the world - provided they're led by white officers - but it's quite clear that the seasoned Klatchian leaders are very competent, while the nobles leading Ankh-Morpork's hastily-assembled forces think an ideal landing spot is a desert peninsula three days' march from anything but a Klatchian fortress. On the other hand, once he visits Klatch, the white Carrot almost immediately starts fitting in and is able to order around a fearsome tribe of desert nomads, but that's more because [[TheAce he's Carrot]] than because he's white. In Carrot's specific case nobody really thinks of him as 'white' in-universe because he's culturally a dwarf (he's adopted; it's complicated).story.



* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'': This is deconstructed with Ignatius. On some level, he sympathizes with the poverty-stricken black community of New Orleans, but he has no genuine respect for their humanity or needs, looking at them through his incredibly skewed pro-Renaissance worldview. His "rally" of the black factory workers is not done out of any desire to help them, but to serve his crazed and selfish desires. The black workers at Levy Pants think of him as a hilarious fool, while Burma only associates with Ignatius for his own schemes.
* Subverted in the Creator/HGWells story ''The Country of the Blind'', where the outsider assumes his ability to see will automatically make him the ruler of a primitive blind tribe. But the blind villagers have adapted perfectly to their environment, and fail to see why they should do anything the newcomer says when their own ways make more sense. They have been blind for such a long time that they've forgotten what sight is, and think that the man is insane.
%%* ''Literature/TheLordsOfCreation'':
%%** Present to a limited degree in ''The Sky People''. Justified not only by Venus' lower gravity but by the fact that the only Earthlings who make the cut to go to other planets are literally the best, brightest and strongest that Earth has to offer. Also contains Cynthia, who is perhaps the first Black example of this trope.
%%* Played mostly straight in ''Literature/TheBlueSword'', although it takes place in a fantasy setting.

to:

* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'': This is deconstructed with Ignatius. On Ransom had some level, he sympathizes with ideas of becoming something like this in C. S. Lewis's ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', but the poverty-stricken black community of New Orleans, but closest he has no genuine respect came was contributing to a hunt for their humanity a monster, and even then, he didn't do more to succeed in that hunt than his martian companions did. He also didn't have superior scientific or needs, looking at technical knowledge to the martians, as he was a CunningLinguist rather than a scientist, plus the martians actually had surprisingly advanced scientific knowledge for how little technology they showed. In fact, when the martian scientists sat down to get as much scientific data about Earth as they could from Ransom, ''they'' figured out some scientific knowledge that Ransom himself ''didn't know'', and they managed this by inferring it from information Ransom gave them through his incredibly skewed pro-Renaissance worldview. His "rally" about other scientific topics that he hadn't realized were related, making this something of the black factory workers is not done out of any desire to help them, but to serve his crazed and selfish desires. The black workers at Levy Pants think of him as a hilarious fool, while Burma only associates with Ignatius for his own schemes.
an inversion.
* Subverted Deconstructed in the Creator/HGWells story ''The Country of the Blind'', where the outsider assumes his ability to see will automatically make him the ruler of "Pale Blue Memories" by Creator/TobiasBuckell. Human explorers are MadeASlave after landing on a primitive blind tribe. But the blind villagers have adapted perfectly to alien planet. All their environment, attempts to convince the authorities of who they are, impress them with their knowledge, work their way to a higher position, escape, or lead a slave revolt fail. The protagonist (who's been hiding his Afro-American ancestry from his white crewmates) warns them against this trope, but they don't listen. The story ends with the protagonist doing the only thing he can do, passing on his knowledge to his son in the hope that [[HistoryMarchesOn one day the system of slavery will collapse as it has on Earth]].
%%* Ephraim Longstocking, the father of Pippi Longstocking in Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' series.
* Peekay in ''Literature/ThePowerOfOne'', who acquires a cult of personality with the black prisoners at Barberton Prison when he is still just a small kid - because of his multilingualism, boxing prowess
and fail the sophistication of the smuggling system he helps to set up for the prisoners, they start to see why they should do anything the newcomer says when their own ways make more sense. They have been blind for such a long time him as some kind of saviour. Slightly subverted in that they've forgotten what sight is, and think that said cult of personality is mainly due to how prisoner Geel Piet keeps talking up & promoting him with the man is insane.
%%* ''Literature/TheLordsOfCreation'':
%%** Present to a limited degree in ''The Sky People''. Justified not only by Venus' lower gravity
other prisoners, but by the fact that the prisoners buy into it is a case of Mighty Whitey.
* ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' presents several examples, including the historical character of James Brooke. Yanez is the most prominent, both for being the co-protagonist and the
only Earthlings white man who make was captured by the cut to go to other planets are literally Tigers of Mompracem and lived without paying a ransom.
** Yanez's improbable survival of his initial encounter with
the best, brightest and strongest pirates is lampshaded when he himself explains Kammamuri that Earth the Tigers of Mompracem never spare white men and Kammamuri notes that Yanez, while white, has to offer. Also contains Cynthia, just led the pirates that attacked the ship he was on. Yanez replied he was a special case.
* Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''Literature/{{She}}'' features an immortal white queen, "She Who Must Be Obeyed",
who rules over a primitive tribe of Africans and has magical powers due to her ancient wisdom. She is perhaps of Arab origin, and the first Black example of this trope.
%%* Played mostly straight in ''Literature/TheBlueSword'', although it takes place in a fantasy setting.
book implies that white people made up the oldest civilizations.



* Saul Bellow's ''Literature/HendersonTheRainKing'' plays this trope brazenly straight. Eugene Henderson is a disaffected middle-class American who goes to Africa and quickly impresses the local tribe enough for him to have the title honor bestowed upon him.
%%* Subverted in Creator/JosephConrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''. Kurtz is an extremely talented and intelligent white man ("all Europe contributed to the making of [him]") who ventures into Africa to make a fortune from the ignorant savages he finds there. However, Africa awakens the darkness in his heart, turning him into a monster [[spoiler:who dies an ignominious death]].

to:

* Saul Bellow's ''Literature/HendersonTheRainKing'' plays The ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' novel series averts this trope brazenly straight. Eugene Henderson is a disaffected middle-class trope. While the 2000-era Americans do have far superior technology and want to spread American who goes to Africa and ideals, history teacher Melissa Mailey quickly impresses points out, after finding a 1632-era doctor is fluent in at least a dozen languages, "You didn't actually think you were ''smarter'' than these people, did you?" In addition, the local tribe enough for him to have most respected American doctor is the title honor bestowed upon him.
%%* Subverted
African-American James Nichols, who is instantly trusted because, in Creator/JosephConrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''. Kurtz is an extremely talented and intelligent white man ("all Europe contributed to 17th century Germany, the making of [him]") who ventures into Africa to make a fortune from the ignorant savages he finds there. However, Africa awakens the darkness in his heart, turning him into a monster [[spoiler:who dies an ignominious death]].best doctors were usually Moorish.



* Madoc in ''Literature/ASwiftlyTiltingPlanet'', though he has completely abandoned his Welsh homeland. He is still admired for his spiritual wisdom and prowess as a warrior and is on the verge of marrying TheChiefsDaughter.
* Averted to an almost shocking degree in a short story by Creator/TaisTeng published in an anthology. The main character is a loser hunter who grew up in a Viking settlement in Greenland, and both he and the rest of his Norse neighbors are perfectly cognizant that the native tribes are far more ferocious and knowledgeable of the land than they can ever appreciate. He's driven to go on a [[BearsAreBadNews suicidal hunt for a frickin' polar bear]] to win the favor of the prettiest girl in town, only to be tricked by an [[MagicalNativeAmerican indigenous shaman]] into killing one of his rivals (who had transformed himself into a polar bear) after being given an enchanted spear. The ghost of the dead shaman returns and orders the Inuit to exterminate the entire Norse settlement in retribution.
* ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' repeatedly subverts this trope in Lawrence and Temeraire's travels across the world.
** In ''Empire of Ivory'', Lawrence is captured by the Tswana people of the modern Zimbabwe and discovers that they have already successfully replicated European military technology with no friendly white people to help; all they want Lawrence to do is to improve their map of Europe. Later, Lawrence, Temeraire, and their squadron are completely unable to save Cape Town from the Tswana army.
** While Temeraire, as a Celestial, gets a lot of respect in China, Lawrence doesn't really have much to offer and is looked down upon by the Chinese.



* Peekay in ''Literature/ThePowerOfOne'', who acquires a cult of personality with the black prisoners at Barberton Prison when he is still just a small kid - because of his multilingualism, boxing prowess and the sophistication of the smuggling system he helps to set up for the prisoners, they start to see him as some kind of saviour. Slightly subverted in that said cult of personality is mainly due to how prisoner Geel Piet keeps talking up & promoting him with the other prisoners, but the fact that the prisoners buy into it is a case of Mighty Whitey.
* Shows up in ''Literature/LostHorizon'', which is notably progressive for featuring a modern Mighty Whitey in the 1930s, when the old-fashioned version was still in vogue. When a plane full of white passengers finds themselves in Shangri-La, the mostly Chinese and Tibetan monks there prove themselves to be wise, intelligent, competent, and well-rounded characters. However, the white Conway turns out to be better at being a monk than the best of the Tibetans, and it turns out that [[spoiler:the founder and leader of the monastery is a European who arrived in the 15th century]].
* Madoc in ''Literature/ASwiftlyTiltingPlanet'', though he has completely abandoned his Welsh homeland. He is still admired for his spiritual wisdom and prowess as a warrior and is on the verge of marrying TheChiefsDaughter.
* Madi in ''Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles'' is a rare villainous example. Japanese Iron Guard are considered badass if they can survive taking up to five [[PowerTattoo kanji brands]]. Madi, a white man, has ''thirteen'' and is second only to the BigBad in power. That said, there ''are'' other white people in the Iron Guard and none of them are as badass as Madi or the Japanese members.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/HiddenEmpire'' spends pretty much 70% of its length dealing with well-meaning white Americans saving Africa from itself. There's even a scene where the male lead has to instruct Nigerian natives on how to treat an aggressive strain of cholera, which you'd think they'd know all about.
* In ''Literature/TheMysteryOfUrulgan'' by Creator/KirBulychev, Douglas Robertson is a deconstruction of the Mighty Whitey. He can hunt well, but he is violent, rude, arrogant, racist, cowardly, vain, and responsible for a lot of trouble in the story.
* ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' repeatedly subverts this trope in Lawrence and Temeraire's travels across the world.
** In ''Empire of Ivory'', Lawrence is captured by the Tswana people of the modern Zimbabwe and discovers that they have already successfully replicated European military technology with no friendly white people to help; all they want Lawrence to do is to improve their map of Europe. Later, Lawrence, Temeraire, and their squadron are completely unable to save Cape Town from the Tswana army.
** While Temeraire, as a Celestial, gets a lot of respect in China, Lawrence doesn't really have much to offer and is looked down upon by the Chinese.
* ''Literature/{{Winnetou}}'': The narrator/protagonist embodies this trope.



* {{Literature/Flashman}} discusses this trope in ''Flashman and the Redskins,'' and points out the ridiculousness of it (with a clear TakeThat at ''Film/KingSolomonsMines'' as an example of the trope). While he does best an Apache warrior, it is made very clear that Flashman chose to fight using a weapon he knew he could handle better than the warrior, and the warrior in question is indicated to be generally mediocre. Having been accepted, he is not held in any high regard and, indeed, is on the whole less skilled than the rest of the tribe.
* Genially deconstructed at Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' short story "The Dead Man", the seemingly impossible life and death of Benjamín Otalora, a courageous Argentinean White Guy hoodlum who emigrated to the Brazilian frontier and became the leader of a band of racially mixed smugglers in only three years. [[spoiler:All the Native smugglers are pulling a scam to mock Otalora, who is naive enough to fall for it and is murdered by them]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler:after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]
* ''Literature/InGreekWaters'', a group of white Brits sail to the Ottoman Empire to aid the revolting Greek minorities against the Turks. The British protagonists are described as superior in strength, morality, skills, and intelligence than the Greeks and Turks, who are seen as savage, ignorant, violent and incompetent without the Brits. At best, a few Greeks and Turks get the NobleSavage treatment a couple of times.
%%* Ephraim Longstocking, the father of Pippi Longstocking in Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' series.
* Deconstructed in "Pale Blue Memories" by Creator/TobiasBuckell. Human explorers are MadeASlave after landing on a primitive alien planet. All their attempts to convince the authorities of who they are, impress them with their knowledge, work their way to a higher position, escape, or lead a slave revolt fail. The protagonist (who's been hiding his Afro-American ancestry from his white crewmates) warns them against this trope, but they don't listen. The story ends with the protagonist doing the only thing he can do, passing on his knowledge to his son in the hope that [[HistoryMarchesOn one day the system of slavery will collapse as it has on Earth]].
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' has Paul Atreides who is born from the waterworld Caladan, son of a duke, trained by the best swordsmen and tacticians in the galaxy and trained as a Mentat human computer. He and his pregnant mother went into hiding from their enemies, the Harkonnens, who killed his father, and met the natives of Arrakis, the Fremen, who also hate the Harkonnen. They managed to win the favor of the Fremen, [[GoingNative learned their culture]] and Paul fell in love with a Fremen girl (but she's not a full-blooded Fremen because her grandfather is a former Planetologist of the Emperor [[GoingNative who went native]]). He's also destined to be the Messiah which the Fremen had been waiting for due to his prophetic powers and at the end of the novel, he led the Fremen against the Harkonnens and the Emperor and took over the throne by marrying the Emperor's eldest daughter while keeping his Freman lover as his concubine. However, this example is both a deconstruction and exploitation, as Paul's abilities and the prophecy itself are just part of the Bene Gesserit's machinations, and Paul knows he will become a tyrant who will unleash his diehard followers into the entire galaxy, causing chaos and destruction in his name. He hates it but can't do anything about it because it's part of his destiny.
* ''Literature/GoodOmens'' has a member of the Witchfinder Army who served in Britain's African forces in the colonial era, who didn't so much learn to live with the natives as he did terrify them into submission by countering whatever magic they had.
--> "Sergeant Narker, whose striding, bellowing, six-foot-six, eighteen-stone figure, clutching an armor-plated Book, eight-pound Bell, and specially-reinforced Candle, could clear the veldt of adversaries faster than a Gatling gun."
* Averted to an almost shocking degree in a short story by Creator/TaisTeng published in an anthology. The main character is a loser hunter who grew up in a Viking settlement in Greenland, and both he and the rest of his Norse neighbors are perfectly cognizant that the native tribes are far more ferocious and knowledgeable of the land than they can ever appreciate. He's driven to go on a [[BearsAreBadNews suicidal hunt for a frickin' polar bear]] to win the favor of the prettiest girl in town, only to be tricked by an [[MagicalNativeAmerican indigenous shaman]] into killing one of his rivals (who had transformed himself into a polar bear) after being given an enchanted spear. The ghost of the dead shaman returns and orders the Inuit to exterminate the entire Norse settlement in retribution.
* ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' presents several examples, including the historical character of James Brooke. Yanez is the most prominent, both for being the co-protagonist and the only white man who was captured by the Tigers of Mompracem and lived without paying a ransom.
** Yanez's improbable survival of his initial encounter with the pirates is lampshaded when he himself explains Kammamuri that the Tigers of Mompracem never spare white men and Kammamuri notes that Yanez, while white, has just led the pirates that attacked the ship he was on. Yanez replied he was a special case.
* Ransom had some ideas of becoming something like this in C. S. Lewis's ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', but the closest he came was contributing to a hunt for a monster, and even then, he didn't do more to succeed in that hunt than his martian companions did. He also didn't have superior scientific or technical knowledge to the martians, as he was a CunningLinguist rather than a scientist, plus the martians actually had surprisingly advanced scientific knowledge for how little technology they showed. In fact, when the martian scientists sat down to get as much scientific data about Earth as they could from Ransom, ''they'' figured out some scientific knowledge that Ransom himself ''didn't know'', and they managed this by inferring it from information Ransom gave them about other scientific topics that he hadn't realized were related, making this something of an inversion.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Relkin takes this role when meeting the primitive, oppressed Ardu people. He ends up not only liberating them from slavery, but teaching them how to fight their tormentors effectively and helping them establish a more organized society.
* Discussed in ''Literature/LegendOfTheAnimalHealer''. Martine wonders why of all the people in Africa, it's a foreign biracial girl who has the power to heal animals. Grace says that it's her heart that led to her being chosen, and the animals themselves don't see a difference. (Note that TheChosenOne is prophecied to save all sorts of animals, not just African ones.)

to:

* {{Literature/Flashman}} discusses ''Literature/{{Winnetou}}'': The narrator/protagonist embodies this trope in ''Flashman and the Redskins,'' and points out the ridiculousness of it (with a clear TakeThat at ''Film/KingSolomonsMines'' as an example of the trope). While he does best an Apache warrior, it is made very clear that Flashman chose to fight using a weapon he knew he could handle better than the warrior, and the warrior in question is indicated to be generally mediocre. Having been accepted, he is not held in any high regard and, indeed, is on the whole less skilled than the rest of the tribe.
* Genially deconstructed at Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' short story "The Dead Man", the seemingly impossible life and death of Benjamín Otalora, a courageous Argentinean White Guy hoodlum who emigrated to the Brazilian frontier and became the leader of a band of racially mixed smugglers in only three years. [[spoiler:All the Native smugglers are pulling a scam to mock Otalora, who is naive enough to fall for it and is murdered by them]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler:after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]
* ''Literature/InGreekWaters'', a group of white Brits sail to the Ottoman Empire to aid the revolting Greek minorities against the Turks. The British protagonists are described as superior in strength, morality, skills, and intelligence than the Greeks and Turks, who are seen as savage, ignorant, violent and incompetent without the Brits. At best, a few Greeks and Turks get the NobleSavage treatment a couple of times.
%%* Ephraim Longstocking, the father of Pippi Longstocking in Creator/AstridLindgren's ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' series.
* Deconstructed in "Pale Blue Memories" by Creator/TobiasBuckell. Human explorers are MadeASlave after landing on a primitive alien planet. All their attempts to convince the authorities of who they are, impress them with their knowledge, work their way to a higher position, escape, or lead a slave revolt fail. The protagonist (who's been hiding his Afro-American ancestry from his white crewmates) warns them against this trope, but they don't listen. The story ends with the protagonist doing the only thing he can do, passing on his knowledge to his son in the hope that [[HistoryMarchesOn one day the system of slavery will collapse as it has on Earth]].
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' has Paul Atreides who is born from the waterworld Caladan, son of a duke, trained by the best swordsmen and tacticians in the galaxy and trained as a Mentat human computer. He and his pregnant mother went into hiding from their enemies, the Harkonnens, who killed his father, and met the natives of Arrakis, the Fremen, who also hate the Harkonnen. They managed to win the favor of the Fremen, [[GoingNative learned their culture]] and Paul fell in love with a Fremen girl (but she's not a full-blooded Fremen because her grandfather is a former Planetologist of the Emperor [[GoingNative who went native]]). He's also destined to be the Messiah which the Fremen had been waiting for due to his prophetic powers and at the end of the novel, he led the Fremen against the Harkonnens and the Emperor and took over the throne by marrying the Emperor's eldest daughter while keeping his Freman lover as his concubine. However, this example is both a deconstruction and exploitation, as Paul's abilities and the prophecy itself are just part of the Bene Gesserit's machinations, and Paul knows he will become a tyrant who will unleash his diehard followers into the entire galaxy, causing chaos and destruction in his name. He hates it but can't do anything about it because it's part of his destiny.
* ''Literature/GoodOmens'' has a member of the Witchfinder Army who served in Britain's African forces in the colonial era, who didn't so much learn to live with the natives as he did terrify them into submission by countering whatever magic they had.
--> "Sergeant Narker, whose striding, bellowing, six-foot-six, eighteen-stone figure, clutching an armor-plated Book, eight-pound Bell, and specially-reinforced Candle, could clear the veldt of adversaries faster than a Gatling gun."
* Averted to an almost shocking degree in a short story by Creator/TaisTeng published in an anthology. The main character is a loser hunter who grew up in a Viking settlement in Greenland, and both he and the rest of his Norse neighbors are perfectly cognizant that the native tribes are far more ferocious and knowledgeable of the land than they can ever appreciate. He's driven to go on a [[BearsAreBadNews suicidal hunt for a frickin' polar bear]] to win the favor of the prettiest girl in town, only to be tricked by an [[MagicalNativeAmerican indigenous shaman]] into killing one of his rivals (who had transformed himself into a polar bear) after being given an enchanted spear. The ghost of the dead shaman returns and orders the Inuit to exterminate the entire Norse settlement in retribution.
* ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' presents several examples, including the historical character of James Brooke. Yanez is the most prominent, both for being the co-protagonist and the only white man who was captured by the Tigers of Mompracem and lived without paying a ransom.
** Yanez's improbable survival of his initial encounter with the pirates is lampshaded when he himself explains Kammamuri that the Tigers of Mompracem never spare white men and Kammamuri notes that Yanez, while white, has just led the pirates that attacked the ship he was on. Yanez replied he was a special case.
* Ransom had some ideas of becoming something like this in C. S. Lewis's ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', but the closest he came was contributing to a hunt for a monster, and even then, he didn't do more to succeed in that hunt than his martian companions did. He also didn't have superior scientific or technical knowledge to the martians, as he was a CunningLinguist rather than a scientist, plus the martians actually had surprisingly advanced scientific knowledge for how little technology they showed. In fact, when the martian scientists sat down to get as much scientific data about Earth as they could from Ransom, ''they'' figured out some scientific knowledge that Ransom himself ''didn't know'', and they managed this by inferring it from information Ransom gave them about other scientific topics that he hadn't realized were related, making this something of an inversion.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Relkin takes this role when meeting the primitive, oppressed Ardu people. He ends up not only liberating them from slavery, but teaching them how to fight their tormentors effectively and helping them establish a more organized society.
* Discussed in ''Literature/LegendOfTheAnimalHealer''. Martine wonders why of all the people in Africa, it's a foreign biracial girl who has the power to heal animals. Grace says that it's her heart that led to her being chosen, and the animals themselves don't see a difference. (Note that TheChosenOne is prophecied to save all sorts of animals, not just African ones.)
trope.



* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': During the Joel era, when films like ''Film/JungleGoddess'' or ''Film/RocketshipXM'' were experiments, Joel would inevitably roll his eyes and say something along the lines of, "Thank you, Mr. White Male Reality!"
** This comes back in the Jonah era with ''Film/TheBeastOfHollowMountain'' as the main character is a white, male American in a cast of numerous Mexicans. At one point, the character whistles at his two Mexican companions like they were dogs, prompting Tom Servo to groan, pretending to be one of the two, that "Now, granted, I've got problems, but I'm a human being! And in front of my SON?!"

to:

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': During Parodied in ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow'' with the Joel era, when films like ''Film/JungleGoddess'' or ''Film/RocketshipXM'' were experiments, Joel would inevitably roll his eyes arrogant Dr. Tia ("I live in Botswana, saving lives- do ''you''?"). He sees himself as a much-loved figure among the Botswana natives and say something along is [[https://ghostarchive.org/archive/CKT0u oblivious to the lines of, "Thank you, Mr. White Male Reality!"
** This comes back
fact that they all hate him]].
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' plays with this trope
in the Jonah era with ''Film/TheBeastOfHollowMountain'' as third season. Oliver takes on the main character League of Assassins, a Middle Eastern guild of warriors who all take Arabic titles, where his superior skills lead to him essentially playing out this trope: He becomes the next in line for leadership and is a set to marry the leader's daughter. However, the leader himself is white, male American in having been a cast of numerous Mexicans. At one point, the character whistles at his two Mexican companions like they were dogs, prompting Tom Servo to groan, pretending Mighty Whitey himself who took leadership centuries ago, who seems to be one of the two, invoking this trope by electing to position Oliver, an outsider, as his heir, and forces his daughter, who is a lesbian, to marry Oliver against her will to ensure that "Now, granted, I've got problems, the eventual heir is still a blood descendant. In the end, [[spoiler:it's Malcolm, another white outsider, who takes leadership... but I'm not through his own skill, but rather through LoopholeAbuse and making a human being! And in front of my SON?!"deal with Oliver.]]



* The final scene of the third season of ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Lily-white Daenerys Targaryen has just liberated a city's slaves, and they come out to hail her as "Mother." In the book, the slaves were all kinds of races, but in the show, the scene was filmed in Morocco with the crowd made of entirely of locals.



* ''Series/StargateSG1''.
** Colonel Mitchell is captured by the Sodan tribe, "the best Jaffa warriors ever", who are offshoots of humans and dark-skinned. He's taught their fighting style prior to a ritualistic one-on-one deathmatch. Mitchell rapidly learns their fighting style, and even uses it in later episodes to easily dispatch Jaffa {{Mooks}}. However, both his teacher and Teal'c (who in addition to being non-human, also happens to have dark skin) still effortlessly beat him on multiple occasions.
** The first season episode, "The First Commandment," had a rogue SG team set themselves up as gods to a primitive tribe on a world they had been sent to explore, exploiting the natives for their own benefit.
** In the eighth season episode, "It's Good To Be King," former NID agent -- and thorn in SG-1's side -- Harry Maybourne had been exiled to a remote planet. He used his knowledge of future events (from his ability to read the notes left behind by a time-travelling Ancient) to elevate himself to command of the local population. He turned out to be a benevolent ruler who truly improved the lot of the people under his rule so much that when they found out about the con that had placed him in command, they chose to keep him.
* 1984 TV series ''[[Series/MasterNinja The Master]]'': Lee Van Cleef plays a man who stayed in Japan after [=WW2=] to learn the ways of the ninja, and became the head of a ninja clan. He abandoned it to search the US for his daughter. Naturally, the ninja clan thought his abandoning them was dishonorable, and sent his best student after him to exact revenge.

to:

* ''Series/StargateSG1''.
** Colonel Mitchell is captured by
The Marvel Netflix show ''Series/IronFist2017'', based on the Sodan tribe, "the comic of the same name, actually serves as a deconstruction of the concept. The only reason Danny was able to become the best Jaffa warriors ever", who are offshoots of humans and dark-skinned. He's taught their fighting style prior to a ritualistic one-on-one deathmatch. Mitchell rapidly learns their fighting style, and even uses it in later episodes to easily dispatch Jaffa {{Mooks}}. However, both his teacher and Teal'c (who in addition to being non-human, also happens to have dark skin) still effortlessly beat him on multiple occasions.
** The first season episode, "The First Commandment," had a rogue SG team set themselves up as gods to a primitive tribe on a world they had been sent to explore, exploiting the natives for their own benefit.
** In the eighth season episode, "It's Good To Be King," former NID agent -- and thorn in SG-1's side -- Harry Maybourne had been exiled to a remote planet. He used his knowledge of future events (from his ability to read the notes left behind by a time-travelling Ancient) to elevate
fighter at K'un-Lun was that he dedicated himself to command nothing but training to cope with the trauma of being orphaned and marooned there after his family's plane crash. Additionally, the other students of K'un-Lun, all of whom are indigenous to the region, are ''furious'' that not only did an outsider of a different race best them and obtain the power of the local population. He turned out to be a benevolent ruler who truly improved the lot of the people under his rule so much Iron Fist, but that when they found out about the con that had placed him in command, they chose to keep him.
* 1984 TV series ''[[Series/MasterNinja The Master]]'': Lee Van Cleef plays a man who stayed in Japan after [=WW2=] to learn the ways of the ninja, and became the head of a ninja clan. He
he abandoned it to search the region to return to America at the first opportunity, effectively forsaking the duty and tradition of the post. In the second season it's further revealed that [[spoiler:Danny didn't win the powers of the Iron Fist because he was the strongest or most worthy candidate, but rather because the actual strongest, Davos, had the all-important duel rigged against him, thus meaning that Danny simply happened to be in the right place at the right time]]. Though it does become a ZigZaggingTrope since Danny ''did'' have to become strong enough to face-off and defeat [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Shou-Lao]], a creature described as infinite, in order to gain the Iron Fist.
* General John Doe from the ''Series/KraftSuspenseTheatre'' episode "Jungle of Fear" is a villainous example. He's a white 19th century American who claims to have been raised in China, although it's more likely that he's a
US Navy deserter who jumped ship there to escape hanging for his daughter. Naturally, murder. By 1850, he's a general in the ninja clan thought his abandoning them was dishonorable, Chinese army and sent his best student after him the chief adviser to exact revenge.the Emperor's brother, and he plans to make the brother Emperor so he can [[TheManBehindTheMan rule behind the scenes]] as an EvilChancellor.



* Parodied in ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow'' with the arrogant Dr. Tia ("I live in Botswana, saving lives- do ''you''?"). He sees himself as a much-loved figure among the Botswana natives and is [[https://ghostarchive.org/archive/CKT0u oblivious to the fact that they all hate him]].

to:

* Parodied 1984 TV series ''[[Series/MasterNinja The Master]]'': Lee Van Cleef plays a man who stayed in ''Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow'' Japan after [=WW2=] to learn the ways of the ninja, and became the head of a ninja clan. He abandoned it to search the US for his daughter. Naturally, the ninja clan thought his abandoning them was dishonorable, and sent his best student after him to exact revenge.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': During the Joel era, when films like ''Film/JungleGoddess'' or ''Film/RocketshipXM'' were experiments, Joel would inevitably roll his eyes and say something along the lines of, "Thank you, Mr. White Male Reality!"
** This comes back in the Jonah era
with ''Film/TheBeastOfHollowMountain'' as the arrogant Dr. Tia ("I live main character is a white, male American in Botswana, saving lives- do ''you''?"). He sees himself as a much-loved figure among cast of numerous Mexicans. At one point, the Botswana natives and is [[https://ghostarchive.org/archive/CKT0u oblivious character whistles at his two Mexican companions like they were dogs, prompting Tom Servo to groan, pretending to be one of the fact two, that they all hate him]]."Now, granted, I've got problems, but I'm a human being! And in front of my SON?!"



* General John Doe from the ''Series/KraftSuspenseTheatre'' episode "Jungle of Fear" is a villainous example. He's a white 19th century American who claims to have been raised in China, although it's more likely that he's a US Navy deserter who jumped ship there to escape hanging for murder. By 1850, he's a general in the Chinese army and the chief adviser to the Emperor's brother, and he plans to make the brother Emperor so he can [[TheManBehindTheMan rule behind the scenes]] as an EvilChancellor.

to:

* General John Doe ''Series/OffTheMap'' is a MedicalDrama about American doctors working on a remote village in South America, so naturally this tropes is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the title of the Pilot episode, "Saved by the Great White Hope". Mostly {{averted|Trope}}, however; most of the patients are treated with native medicine and plants as opposed to medicine brought from the ''Series/KraftSuspenseTheatre'' episode "Jungle of Fear" is a villainous example. He's a white 19th century American who claims to have been raised in China, although it's more likely that he's a US Navy deserter who jumped ship states, and there to escape hanging for murder. By 1850, he's a general in are many people who refuse treatment because they don't trust the Chinese army and the chief adviser to the Emperor's brother, and he plans to make the brother Emperor so he can [[TheManBehindTheMan rule behind the scenes]] as an EvilChancellor. doctors.



* The final scene of the third season of ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Lily-white Daenerys Targaryen has just liberated a city's slaves, and they come out to hail her as "Mother." In the book, the slaves were all kinds of races, but in the show, the scene was filmed in Morocco with the crowd made of entirely of locals.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' plays with this trope in the third season. Oliver takes on the League of Assassins, a Middle Eastern guild of warriors who all take Arabic titles, where his superior skills lead to him essentially playing out this trope: He becomes the next in line for leadership and is set to marry the leader's daughter. However, the leader himself is white, having been a Mighty Whitey himself who took leadership centuries ago, who seems to be invoking this trope by electing to position Oliver, an outsider, as his heir, and forces his daughter, who is a lesbian, to marry Oliver against her will to ensure that the eventual heir is still a blood descendant. In the end, [[spoiler:it's Malcolm, another white outsider, who takes leadership... but not through his own skill, but rather through LoopholeAbuse and making a deal with Oliver.]]
* The Marvel Netflix show ''Series/IronFist2017'', based on the comic of the same name, actually serves as a deconstruction of the concept. The only reason Danny was able to become the best fighter at K'un-Lun was that he dedicated himself to nothing but training to cope with the trauma of being orphaned and marooned there after his family's plane crash. Additionally, the other students of K'un-Lun, all of whom are indigenous to the region, are ''furious'' that not only did an outsider of a different race best them and obtain the power of the Iron Fist, but that he abandoned the region to return to America at the first opportunity, effectively forsaking the duty and tradition of the post. In the second season it's further revealed that [[spoiler:Danny didn't win the powers of the Iron Fist because he was the strongest or most worthy candidate, but rather because the actual strongest, Davos, had the all-important duel rigged against him, thus meaning that Danny simply happened to be in the right place at the right time]]. Though it does become a ZigZaggingTrope since Danny ''did'' have to become strong enough to face-off and defeat [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Shou-Lao]], a creature described as infinite, in order to gain the Iron Fist.



* ''Series/OffTheMap'' is a MedicalDrama about American doctors working on a remote village in South America, so naturally this tropes is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the title of the Pilot episode, "Saved by the Great White Hope". Mostly {{averted|Trope}}, however; most of the patients are treated with native medicine and plants as opposed to medicine brought from the states, and there are many people who refuse treatment because they don't trust the doctors.

to:

* ''Series/OffTheMap'' ''Series/StargateSG1''.
** Colonel Mitchell
is captured by the Sodan tribe, "the best Jaffa warriors ever", who are offshoots of humans and dark-skinned. He's taught their fighting style prior to a MedicalDrama about American doctors working ritualistic one-on-one deathmatch. Mitchell rapidly learns their fighting style, and even uses it in later episodes to easily dispatch Jaffa {{Mooks}}. However, both his teacher and Teal'c (who in addition to being non-human, also happens to have dark skin) still effortlessly beat him on multiple occasions.
** The first season episode, "The First Commandment," had a rogue SG team set themselves up as gods to a primitive tribe on a world they had been sent to explore, exploiting the natives for their own benefit.
** In the eighth season episode, "It's Good To Be King," former NID agent -- and thorn in SG-1's side -- Harry Maybourne had been exiled to
a remote village in South America, so naturally this tropes is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in planet. He used his knowledge of future events (from his ability to read the title notes left behind by a time-travelling Ancient) to elevate himself to command of the Pilot episode, "Saved by local population. He turned out to be a benevolent ruler who truly improved the Great White Hope". Mostly {{averted|Trope}}, however; most lot of the patients are treated with native medicine and plants as opposed to medicine brought from the states, and there are many people who refuse treatment because under his rule so much that when they don't trust found out about the doctors.con that had placed him in command, they chose to keep him.



* Music/{{Rammstein}}: Parodied in the music video for ''Auslander''. The band is a bunch of missionaries who visit an African village and try to act like this trope, but they're actually just a bunch of ignorant rubes who act more like college students on spring break and party with the villagers.
* Music/{{Eminem}}'s need to avoid this trope is part of the reason why he rarely does unironic [[BoastfulRap braggadocio]]. Rappers are expected to claim they're the greatest rapper alive -- even in his strongest boasts, Eminem will only ever claim he ''feels'' like he's the best rapper alive, or that he's ''one of'' the best ''rappers'' alive, frequently placing rappers who influence him ahead of himself on his rankings. He ''does'' occasionally claim to be the best ''white'' rapper alive, though, an opinion which is not quite as controversial.



* Music/{{Rammstein}}: Parodied in the music video for ''Auslander''. The band is a bunch of missionaries who visit an African village and try to act like this trope, but they're actually just a bunch of ignorant rubes who act more like college students on spring break and party with the villagers.
* Music/{{Eminem}}'s need to avoid this trope is part of the reason why he rarely does unironic [[BoastfulRap braggadocio]]. Rappers are expected to claim they're the greatest rapper alive -- even in his strongest boasts, Eminem will only ever claim he ''feels'' like he's the best rapper alive, or that he's ''one of'' the best ''rappers'' alive, frequently placing rappers who influence him ahead of himself on his rankings. He ''does'' occasionally claim to be the best ''white'' rapper alive, though, an opinion which is not quite as controversial.



* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'''s Amonkhet set, the all-white cast travels to the fantasy version of Egypt and fights against the local death-seeker culture.



* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'''s Amonkhet set, the all-white cast travels to the fantasy version of Egypt and fights against the local death-seeker culture.



* ''VideoGame/{{X}}: Beyond the Frontier'' (and pretty much the entire X series, for that matter) takes this trope and HumansAreSpecial and runs with it. In the first game, displaced human Kyle Brennan (a white man) is stranded in the X universe and, over the course of the series, contributes to the near-defeat of a race of genocidal robot ships, builds up a massive and influential R&D company in the hopes of finding a way back to Earth, uncovers the true nature of the Kha'ak, and through his actions eventually sets in motion the reunion between Earth and the rest of the universe. Terran Conflict plays this trope in a mechanical sense in that Terran ships -- which are often faster, better shielded, and more destructive than anything else in the X universe -- range from a bright polished platinum color to near-pure white.



* ''VideoGame/{{X}}: Beyond the Frontier'' (and pretty much the entire X series, for that matter) takes this trope and HumansAreSpecial and runs with it. In the first game, displaced human Kyle Brennan (a white man) is stranded in the X universe and, over the course of the series, contributes to the near-defeat of a race of genocidal robot ships, builds up a massive and influential R&D company in the hopes of finding a way back to Earth, uncovers the true nature of the Kha'ak, and through his actions eventually sets in motion the reunion between Earth and the rest of the universe. Terran Conflict plays this trope in a mechanical sense in that Terran ships -- which are often faster, better shielded, and more destructive than anything else in the X universe -- range from a bright polished platinum color to near-pure white.



* [[http://listverse.com/2011/11/29/10-brilliant-examples-of-intellectual-hip-hop/ This]] Listverse entry that purports to highlight the ten most "intellectual" rappers. Fewer than 25% of the artists mentioned are people of color, while people of color make up [[SarcasmMode somewhat]] more than 25% of all rap artists.



* [[http://listverse.com/2011/11/29/10-brilliant-examples-of-intellectual-hip-hop/ This]] Listverse entry that purports to highlight the ten most "intellectual" rappers. Fewer than 25% of the artists mentioned are people of color, while people of color make up [[SarcasmMode somewhat]] more than 25% of all rap artists.



* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Last of the Meheecans" where Butters, dressed up as a Mexican for a game with Cartman, [[BadassUnintentional unintentionally inspires and leads]] hundreds of immigrated Mexicans-Americans back into their home country to the point where America loses its prosperity to Mexico.



* In Creator/BruceTimm's ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'' Bruce Wayne is considered by his martial arts master, Yoru, to be his best student. This creates the friction between Wayne and Kyodai Ken who constantly refers to Wayne as "Rich Man's Son" (since this is a kids' show, race never comes up).



* In ''WesternAnimation/JourneyToSaturn'', sergeant Arne Skrydsbøl says "We are the white gods" to the aliens when landing on Saturn. The aliens do (presumably) not understand Danish, but it does not end well.



* In Creator/BruceTimm's ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'' Bruce Wayne is considered by his martial arts master, Yoru, to be his best student. This creates the friction between Wayne and Kyodai Ken who constantly refers to Wayne as "Rich Man's Son" (since this is a kids' show, race never comes up).
* In ''WesternAnimation/JourneyToSaturn'', sergeant Arne Skrydsbøl says "We are the white gods" to the aliens when landing on Saturn. The aliens do (presumably) not understand Danish, but it does not end well.

to:

* In Creator/BruceTimm's ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'' Bruce Wayne is considered by his martial arts master, Yoru, to be his best student. This creates Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Last of the friction between Wayne Meheecans" where Butters, dressed up as a Mexican for a game with Cartman, [[BadassUnintentional unintentionally inspires and Kyodai Ken who constantly refers to Wayne as "Rich Man's Son" (since this is a kids' show, race never comes up).
* In ''WesternAnimation/JourneyToSaturn'', sergeant Arne Skrydsbøl says "We are the white gods"
leads]] hundreds of immigrated Mexicans-Americans back into their home country to the aliens when landing on Saturn. The aliens do (presumably) not understand Danish, but it does not end well.point where America loses its prosperity to Mexico.



* In ''Literature/{{Homage to Catalonia}}'' George Orwell describes the Spanish militiamen he fought alongside viewing him as Mighty Whitey. Despite Orwell's total lack of training or familiarity with soldiering, his compatriots were thrilled that an educated Englishman had joined up with their cause.



* Happened again in China in the late 19th century, during the Taiping Rebellion. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Victorious_Army The Ever Victorious Army]] consisted of Chinese soldiers trained, armed and led by European and American officers and fought on behalf of the Qing dynasty against the rebels. Their efforts are generally considered instrumental in the Qing dynasty's eventual victory. Most notably, the most famous commander of the group, the British officer Charles George Gordon ("Chinese Gordon") was lavished with honors by the Qing for his service.
* According to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicle_of_Fredegar Chronicle of Fredegar,]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samo Samo]] was a Frankish merchant who united a number of West Slavic tribes against the raiding Avars (called Huns in the chronicle), was acclaimed as their king, and led the resulting empire successfully against an invasion from his fellow Franks.
* In ''Literature/{{Homage to Catalonia}}'' George Orwell describes the Spanish militiamen he fought alongside viewing him as Mighty Whitey. Despite Orwell's total lack of training or familiarity with soldiering, his compatriots were thrilled that an educated Englishman had joined up with their cause.
* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' tells of T. E. Lawrence. It would be an exaggeration to say he alone put together a loose band of irregular tribesman that threw back the better-armed, better-equipped, much-more-powerful Ottoman Turks by mastering desert warfare on a level that amazed even his Arab irregulars, and thus was directly responsible for weakening the Ottoman Empire critically and thus changing the entire strategic balance in the First World War... but it would not be a ''gross'' exaggeration.
* Subverted by the "Mad Khan", UsefulNotes/RomanVonUngernSternberg. He was a Russian-German Count, a very colourful person, eccentric to the point of lunacy, and known for his wanton cruelty. In the turmoil of the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Revolution,]] he carved himself a state in Outer Mongolia, claiming to be "the Last Khan" and reincarnation of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan. He managed to keep the Mongols down and the Chinese out, but things went south quickly when the Soviets came and he was defeated, captured and executed.
* Came about in China during the late medieval era, when the Mongol hordes (famously led by Genghis Khan) overran most of the Middle Kingdom and subjugated the Chinese people. They soon found themselves having to establish a bureaucratized government for the sake of continuity with the "Mandate of Heaven" (the ruling authority of all of China's imperial dynasties)... but being basically barbarians up to this point, the Mongols had none of the experience - and very little of the knowledge - necessary to serve as government leaders. Nor could they conscript ethnic Chinese to fill the role of civil servants, for the Chinese people were sullen under their conquerors and would surely try to sabotage their rule. So the Mongols [[TakeAThirdOption Took A Third Option]]: while a Mongol Khan continued to reign as Emperor of China, he filled his government offices with people who were neither Mongolian nor Chinese - and sometimes were not even Asian. Quite a few European traders, explorers, and missionaries wound up working as Chinese bureaucrats.
* In 1511 a Spanish ship sunk off the coast of the Yucatan. Those who didn't die in the shipwreck or from thirst before reaching the coast were enslaved by the natives, sacrificed or worked to death, except for a friar, Gerónimo de Aguilar, and a soldier, Gonzalo Guerrero. Guerrero won his freedom after [[IOweYouMyLife saving his owner from a crocodile]], [[GoingNative embraced Mayan culture and religion]], and rose rapidly in rank until he married TheChiefsDaughter. When UsefulNotes/HernanCortez passed through the place on his way to Mexico and offered the two men to join his army, Aguilar readily took the offer but Guerrero [[IChooseToStay chose to stay]] with his wife and three children. By the beginning of Francisco de Montejo's UsefulNotes/SpanishConquestOfTheMaya in 1528, Guerrero was the ''Nacom'' (general) of the army of Chetumal. Montejo tried to win Guerrero to his side but once again he refused, and instead led the Mayas to several victories using both Mayan surprise guerrilla tactics and Spanish anti-cavalry phalanx tactics that he had learned while serving in Italy decades before. He was killed in battle in Honduras in 1536, of an arquebus shot to the chest. Given his ridiculously {{troperiffic}} life, it is incredible that Guerrero's story has never been adapted to film.



* In 1511 a Spanish ship sunk off the coast of the Yucatan. Those who didn't die in the shipwreck or from thirst before reaching the coast were enslaved by the natives, sacrificed or worked to death, except for a friar, Gerónimo de Aguilar, and a soldier, Gonzalo Guerrero. Guerrero won his freedom after [[IOweYouMyLife saving his owner from a crocodile]], [[GoingNative embraced Mayan culture and religion]], and rose rapidly in rank until he married TheChiefsDaughter. When UsefulNotes/HernanCortez passed through the place on his way to Mexico and offered the two men to join his army, Aguilar readily took the offer but Guerrero [[IChooseToStay chose to stay]] with his wife and three children. By the beginning of Francisco de Montejo's UsefulNotes/SpanishConquestOfTheMaya in 1528, Guerrero was the ''Nacom'' (general) of the army of Chetumal. Montejo tried to win Guerrero to his side but once again he refused, and instead led the Mayas to several victories using both Mayan surprise guerrilla tactics and Spanish anti-cavalry phalanx tactics that he had learned while serving in Italy decades before. He was killed in battle in Honduras in 1536, of an arquebus shot to the chest. Given his ridiculously {{troperiffic}} life, it is incredible that Guerrero's story has never been adapted to film.



* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' tells of T. E. Lawrence. It would be an exaggeration to say he alone put together a loose band of irregular tribesman that threw back the better-armed, better-equipped, much-more-powerful Ottoman Turks by mastering desert warfare on a level that amazed even his Arab irregulars, and thus was directly responsible for weakening the Ottoman Empire critically and thus changing the entire strategic balance in the First World War... but it would not be a ''gross'' exaggeration.
* Came about in China during the late medieval era, when the Mongol hordes (famously led by Genghis Khan) overran most of the Middle Kingdom and subjugated the Chinese people. They soon found themselves having to establish a bureaucratized government for the sake of continuity with the "Mandate of Heaven" (the ruling authority of all of China's imperial dynasties)... but being basically barbarians up to this point, the Mongols had none of the experience - and very little of the knowledge - necessary to serve as government leaders. Nor could they conscript ethnic Chinese to fill the role of civil servants, for the Chinese people were sullen under their conquerors and would surely try to sabotage their rule. So the Mongols [[TakeAThirdOption Took A Third Option]]: while a Mongol Khan continued to reign as Emperor of China, he filled his government offices with people who were neither Mongolian nor Chinese - and sometimes were not even Asian. Quite a few European traders, explorers, and missionaries wound up working as Chinese bureaucrats.
* Happened again in China in the late 19th century, during the Taiping Rebellion. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Victorious_Army The Ever Victorious Army]] consisted of Chinese soldiers trained, armed and led by European and American officers and fought on behalf of the Qing dynasty against the rebels. Their efforts are generally considered instrumental in the Qing dynasty's eventual victory. Most notably, the most famous commander of the group, the British officer Charles George Gordon ("Chinese Gordon") was lavished with honors by the Qing for his service.
* Subverted by the "Mad Khan", UsefulNotes/RomanVonUngernSternberg. He was a Russian-German Count, a very colourful person, eccentric to the point of lunacy, and known for his wanton cruelty. In the turmoil of the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Revolution,]] he carved himself a state in Outer Mongolia, claiming to be "the Last Khan" and reincarnation of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan. He managed to keep the Mongols down and the Chinese out, but things went south quickly when the Soviets came and he was defeated, captured and executed.
* According to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicle_of_Fredegar Chronicle of Fredegar,]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samo Samo]] was a Frankish merchant who united a number of West Slavic tribes against the raiding Avars (called Huns in the chronicle), was acclaimed as their king, and led the resulting empire successfully against an invasion from his fellow Franks.



* Pick just about any RealRobotGenre HumongousMecha series you can think of. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series really tends to point it out: For so many supposedly international organizations, there sure are a hell of a lot of Japanese people compared to any other ethnicity.
** And they sometimes double up on it, with a large percentage of the non-Japanese characters being American. Some games in the series, such as ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Compact 2/Impact]]'', will pair the two together.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' is making a habit of making the "better" OriginalGeneration pilots be German as well. Sanger Zonvolt and Elzam V. Branstein come to mind. FridgeBrilliance can also elevate Elzam's brother Raidese to this level as well (And their cousin Leona, though she's mostly out of focus). See also Arado and Seolla.
*** Not to mention Latooni (... well, Latun, as a proper romanization of the way her name is written), who is one of the best pilots in the game (can easily compete with Raidiese for 'ace of the younger generation') - she's ''Russian''. Or at least her name is since her backstory makes it rather hard to figure out her ethnicity and nationality...

to:

* Pick Likewise in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', ActionGirl, 3D combat prodigy, and all-around badass Mikasa also just about any RealRobotGenre HumongousMecha series you can think of. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series really tends so happens to point it out: For so many supposedly international organizations, there sure are a hell be the only surviving person of a lot of Japanese people compared to any Asian descent on Earth (the other ethnicity.
** And they sometimes double up on it, with a large percentage of the non-Japanese characters
survivors being American. Some games apparently European).
* ''Manga/{{Dragonball}}'''s Goku fulfills this trope
in the series, such as ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Compact 2/Impact]]'', will pair the two together.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' is making a habit of making the "better" OriginalGeneration pilots be German as well. Sanger Zonvolt and Elzam V. Branstein come to mind. FridgeBrilliance can also elevate Elzam's brother Raidese to this level as well (And their cousin Leona, though she's mostly out of focus). See also Arado and Seolla.
*** Not to mention Latooni (... well, Latun,
same way that Superman, listed below, does. He's an alien from another planet but upon beginning his wanderings as a proper romanization of the way her name is written), who is child he quickly becomes one of the best pilots strongest fighters in the game (can easily compete with Raidiese for 'ace of the younger generation') - she's ''Russian''. Or at least her name is since her backstory makes it rather hard to figure out her ethnicity world and nationality...only improves as time goes on.



* In ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'' two very successful rulers (and two noble kirin) are from Japan. In fact, a rival ruler is trying to prevent one of them from rising to power because he fears the success that he believes is inevitable if the rival nation is ruled by someone from Japan.

to:

* ''Anime/JewelpetTwinkle'': the heroine Akari Sakura is the only Japanese kid in the magic school she attends; her classmates and the students from other schools are all white (though Sara is half-Japanese, but doesn't live in Japan). Additionally, she is the last one to enroll, but that doesn't stop her from surpassing everyone, solving all the problems in Jewel Land and becoming the most powerful wizard by the end of the show.
* In ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'' two very successful rulers (and two noble kirin) are from Japan. In fact, a rival ruler is trying to prevent one of them from rising to power because he fears ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', the success that he believes brilliant, long-suffering, [[IncorruptiblePurePureness morally]] [[MessianicArchetype infallible]] main character is inevitable if the rival nation is ruled by someone from Japan.a lone Japanese man among Europeans.



* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', the girl who carries on the story of the Hittite Empire... is Yuri Suzuki, who is a full-blooded Japanese.



* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', the girl who carries on the story of the Hittite Empire... is Yuri Suzuki, who is a full-blooded Japanese.
* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', the brilliant, long-suffering, [[IncorruptiblePurePureness morally]] [[MessianicArchetype infallible]] main character is a lone Japanese man among Europeans.
* Likewise in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', ActionGirl, 3D combat prodigy, and all-around badass Mikasa also just so happens to be the only surviving person of Asian descent on Earth (the other survivors being apparently European).
* ''Manga/{{Dragonball}}'''s Goku fulfills this trope in the same way that Superman, listed below, does. He's an alien from another planet but upon beginning his wanderings as a child he quickly becomes one of the strongest fighters in the world and only improves as time goes on.
* ''Anime/JewelpetTwinkle'': the heroine Akari Sakura is the only Japanese kid in the magic school she attends; her classmates and the students from other schools are all white (though Sara is half-Japanese, but doesn't live in Japan). Additionally, she is the last one to enroll, but that doesn't stop her from surpassing everyone, solving all the problems in Jewel Land and becoming the most powerful wizard by the end of the show.

to:

* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', the girl who carries on the story Pick just about any RealRobotGenre HumongousMecha series you can think of. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series really tends to point it out: For so many supposedly international organizations, there sure are a hell of the Hittite Empire... is Yuri Suzuki, who is a full-blooded Japanese.
* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', the brilliant, long-suffering, [[IncorruptiblePurePureness morally]] [[MessianicArchetype infallible]] main character is a lone
lot of Japanese man among Europeans.
* Likewise in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', ActionGirl, 3D combat prodigy, and all-around badass Mikasa also just so happens
people compared to be the only surviving person of Asian descent on Earth (the any other survivors ethnicity.
** And they sometimes double up on it, with a large percentage of the non-Japanese characters
being apparently European).
* ''Manga/{{Dragonball}}'''s Goku fulfills this trope
American. Some games in the same way that Superman, listed below, does. He's an alien from another planet but upon beginning his wanderings series, such as ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Compact 2/Impact]]'', will pair the two together.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' is making a habit of making the "better" OriginalGeneration pilots be German as well. Sanger Zonvolt and Elzam V. Branstein come to mind. FridgeBrilliance can also elevate Elzam's brother Raidese to this level as well (And their cousin Leona, though she's mostly out of focus). See also Arado and Seolla.
*** Not to mention Latooni (... well, Latun,
as a child he quickly becomes proper romanization of the way her name is written), who is one of the strongest fighters best pilots in the world and only improves as time goes on.
* ''Anime/JewelpetTwinkle'': the heroine Akari Sakura is the only Japanese kid in the magic school she attends; her classmates and the students from other schools are all white (though Sara is half-Japanese, but doesn't live in Japan). Additionally, she is the last one to enroll, but that doesn't stop her from surpassing everyone, solving all the problems in Jewel Land and becoming the most powerful wizard by the end
game (can easily compete with Raidiese for 'ace of the show.younger generation') - she's ''Russian''. Or at least her name is since her backstory makes it rather hard to figure out her ethnicity and nationality...
* In ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'' two very successful rulers (and two noble kirin) are from Japan. In fact, a rival ruler is trying to prevent one of them from rising to power because he fears the success that he believes is inevitable if the rival nation is ruled by someone from Japan.



* The ''ComicBook/AdamStrange'' comics used a concept nearly identical to the ''John Carter of Mars'' books. On Earth, Adam is just an archaeologist, but he uses his jetpack to make himself the hero of the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment space planet]] Rann. Popular comic author Creator/AlanMoore later subverted this by having the Rannians still treat Adam with contempt because they have superior intellects. Note that Moore's interpretation was a RetCon, and has been ignored since.
* ''ComicBook/DeCapeEtDeCrocs'' has a race flip where a black former slave ends up on the shores of an island populated by white savages who dress like Literature/RobinsonCrusoe. Because they'd never seen black skin before, they took him for a god, but he was quick to insist that he was just a man (he is their chieftain, however).



* ''ComicBook/DeCapeEtDeCrocs'' has a race flip where a black former slave ends up on the shores of an island populated by white savages who dress like Literature/RobinsonCrusoe. Because they'd never seen black skin before, they took him for a god, but he was quick to insist that he was just a man (he is their chieftain, however).



* The ''ComicBook/AdamStrange'' comics used a concept nearly identical to the ''John Carter of Mars'' books. On Earth, Adam is just an archaeologist, but he uses his jetpack to make himself the hero of the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment space planet]] Rann. Popular comic author Creator/AlanMoore later subverted this by having the Rannians still treat Adam with contempt because they have superior intellects. Note that Moore's interpretation was a RetCon, and has been ignored since.



* ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior'' features something of [[InvertedTrope a reversal]]: the cultured Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan leaves his country with some Vikings to go north. The Vikings don't expect him to be very useful, but he learns their language, fights alongside them, and amazes them with his literacy, though he does not surpass the Vikings in any of the skills they teach him. In fact, the Vikings treat him a bit like a child, calling him "Little Brother". He is ultimately a secondary figure in the big picture behind their leader Buliwyf. The story, taken from Creator/MichaelCrichton's book ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', is very loosely based on the accounts of the real Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, spiced up with a non-magical retelling of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''
* ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'': Chong Wang (played by Creator/JackieChan), a Chinese palace guard from the Forbidden City, travels to Wild West Nevada to rescue Imperial Princess Pei Pei. Although a FishOutOfWater in the western setting, his superior fighting skills impress a Native American chief who tricks him into marrying his daughter, Falling Leaves. Chong subsequently teams up with outlaw Roy O'Bannon (played by Creator/OwenWilson) and gains notoriety as the "Shanghai Kid" on a WantedPoster without even trying, causing Roy to gripe that the bounty on Chong's head is already bigger than his even though he's been committing crimes for years.

to:

* ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior'' features something Indian movies are also capable of [[InvertedTrope a reversal]]: the cultured Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan leaves his country playing this trope straight, with some Vikings an upper-caste Hindu playing the Mighty Whitey role to go north. The Vikings don't expect him other Indian people: according to be very useful, [[https://www.vox.com/23220275/rrr-netflix-tollywood-hindutva-caste-system this]], the hit action film ''RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt)", a heavily mythologized version of the story of two RealLife Indian heroes of the struggle against British colonialism with no pretenses of historical accuracy, Rama Raju plays the upper-castw Mighty Whitey while Komaram Bheem and the other Adivasi characters are reduced to darker-skinned NobleSavage stereotypes.
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill the trope until his consciousness is put in a half-human, half-alien body,
but after that happens, he eventually learns their language, fights alongside them, the Na'vi ways and amazes them with his literacy, though he does not surpass embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Vikings in any of Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the skills they teach him. In fact, planetary consciousness to fight to push back the Vikings treat him a bit like a child, calling him "Little Brother". He is ultimately a secondary figure in the big picture behind their leader Buliwyf. The story, taken from Creator/MichaelCrichton's book ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', is very loosely based on the accounts of the real Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, spiced up with a non-magical retelling of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''
* ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'': Chong Wang (played by Creator/JackieChan), a Chinese palace guard from the Forbidden City, travels to Wild West Nevada to rescue Imperial Princess Pei Pei. Although a FishOutOfWater in the western setting, his superior fighting skills impress a Native American chief who tricks him
humans, and eventually transforming permanently into marrying his daughter, Falling Leaves. Chong subsequently teams up with outlaw Roy O'Bannon (played by Creator/OwenWilson) and gains notoriety as the "Shanghai Kid" on a WantedPoster without even trying, causing Roy to gripe Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in that the bounty on Chong's head is already bigger than main threat facing the Na'vi are his even though own kind, so it's more understandable why he's been committing crimes for years.the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.



%%* At the end of ''Film/MistressOfTheApes'', Susan ends up becoming the leader of the Near Men, who are established as being a tribe of ''Homo habilis''.%%zce



* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill the trope until his consciousness is put in a half-human, half-alien body, but after that happens, he eventually learns the Na'vi ways and embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the planetary consciousness to fight to push back the humans, and eventually transforming permanently into a Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in that the main threat facing the Na'vi are his own kind, so it's more understandable why he's the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.

to:

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'': Chong Wang (played by Creator/JackieChan), a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill Chinese palace guard from the trope until Forbidden City, travels to Wild West Nevada to rescue Imperial Princess Pei Pei. Although a FishOutOfWater in the western setting, his consciousness is put in superior fighting skills impress a half-human, half-alien body, but after that happens, he eventually learns the Na'vi ways and embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the planetary consciousness to fight to push back the humans, and eventually transforming permanently Native American chief who tricks him into marrying his daughter, Falling Leaves. Chong subsequently teams up with outlaw Roy O'Bannon (played by Creator/OwenWilson) and gains notoriety as the "Shanghai Kid" on a Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in WantedPoster without even trying, causing Roy to gripe that the main threat facing the Na'vi are bounty on Chong's head is already bigger than his own kind, so it's more understandable why even though he's the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.been committing crimes for years.



%%* At the end of ''Film/MistressOfTheApes'', Susan ends up becoming the leader of the Near Men, who are established as being a tribe of ''Homo habilis''.%%zce
* Indian movies are also capable of playing this trope straight, with an upper-caste Hindu playing the Mighty Whitey role to other Indian people: according to [[https://www.vox.com/23220275/rrr-netflix-tollywood-hindutva-caste-system this]], the hit action film ''RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt)", a heavily mythologized version of the story of two RealLife Indian heroes of the struggle against British colonialism with no pretenses of historical accuracy, Rama Raju plays the upper-castw Mighty Whitey while Komaram Bheem and the other Adivasi characters are reduced to darker-skinned NobleSavage stereotypes.

to:

%%* At * ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior'' features something of [[InvertedTrope a reversal]]: the end of ''Film/MistressOfTheApes'', Susan ends up becoming cultured Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan leaves his country with some Vikings to go north. The Vikings don't expect him to be very useful, but he learns their language, fights alongside them, and amazes them with his literacy, though he does not surpass the Vikings in any of the skills they teach him. In fact, the Vikings treat him a bit like a child, calling him "Little Brother". He is ultimately a secondary figure in the big picture behind their leader Buliwyf. The story, taken from Creator/MichaelCrichton's book ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', is very loosely based on the accounts of the Near Men, who are established as being a tribe of ''Homo habilis''.%%zce
* Indian movies are also capable of playing this trope straight,
real Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, spiced up with an upper-caste Hindu playing the Mighty Whitey role to other Indian people: according to [[https://www.vox.com/23220275/rrr-netflix-tollywood-hindutva-caste-system this]], the hit action film ''RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt)", a heavily mythologized version non-magical retelling of the story of two RealLife Indian heroes of the struggle against British colonialism with no pretenses of historical accuracy, Rama Raju plays the upper-castw Mighty Whitey while Komaram Bheem and the other Adivasi characters are reduced to darker-skinned NobleSavage stereotypes.''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''



* In Creator/RudyardKipling's ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', Mowgli, a native of India RaisedByWolves, is implied to be superior to the vast majority of Indians because his upbringing under "The Law of the Jungle" [[UnfortunateImplications gives him a set of moral values that are closer to Europeans]] [[FridgeLogic (which makes absolutely no sense if you think about it)]]. This is particularly noticeable in "[[http://www.junglebook-collection.nl/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.InTheRukh In The Rukh]]", the first Mowgli story to be written although chronologically the last.



* Hermione Granger from ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' only learns that magic exists at the age of eleven, but becomes the best in her year from the start although most of the students come from a culture where magic is common and have parents who do magic.
* In the world of ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', many kings of fairy kingdoms have actually been humans who were stolen into fairy. The footnotes indicate that while fairies like the idea of being kings, they also tend to be highly capricious, irrational, and easily distracted. Humans are much better at the actual business of ruling, and thus constitute a disproportionate percentage of long-reigning monarchs within fairyland.
* In Creator/RudyardKipling's ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', Mowgli, a native of India RaisedByWolves, is implied to be superior to the vast majority of Indians because his upbringing under "The Law of the Jungle" [[UnfortunateImplications gives him a set of moral values that are closer to Europeans]] [[FridgeLogic (which makes absolutely no sense if you think about it)]]. This is particularly noticeable in "[[http://www.junglebook-collection.nl/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.InTheRukh In The Rukh]]", the first Mowgli story to be written although chronologically the last.
* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', four British, human children travel to Narnia - a world inhabited by talking animals and mythical creatures - and learn that a prophecy declares that four humans will become the rightful rulers of Narnia. When the White Witch is defeated, the natives joyfully accept the children as their kings and queens.
* Played with in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. The Sindar and Númenoreans 'are' superior to the Sylvan elves and Rohirrim respectively: but the Sylvan and Sindar elves are distant relatives, and the same is true for the Númenoreans and the Rohirrim. Although culturally distinct, these groups are all tenously related by blood: which somewhat changes the dynamic of the interaction. It's more like if your cousin goes off to college and then comes home and fixes your computer without asking. Kinda rude but like... they were trying to be nice? Also like... in both cases the "invaders" are themselves refugees, so it's a little bit more of an Israel/Palestine situation than a Britain/South Africa situation (especially in the case of the Númenoreans, whose culture is more than a little bit Judaic in flavor). Also there is kind of a good reason to appoint the most powerful guy as ruler, since there is a clear and present threat to everyone's lives (in the form of the Dark Lord Sauron).



* Not strictly a non-white example, but not conventional: In Patrick Rothfuss's ''The Wise Man's Fear'', Kvothe is a white man who learns the martial art of the ''white'' natives in a ridiculously short time. He does not become better than his teachers, but it is implied that, with a few more months of training, he would surpass his native friend (who has spent a lot more time practicing).



* At least ''six'' different bearers of the mantle of Faerie Queen in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' ([[spoiler:Maeve, Lily, Sarissa, Molly, Mab, and (by implication) Titania]]) were originally mortals, albeit mostly changelings (half-human/half-fey).



* In the world of ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', many kings of fairy kingdoms have actually been humans who were stolen into fairy. The footnotes indicate that while fairies like the idea of being kings, they also tend to be highly capricious, irrational, and easily distracted. Humans are much better at the actual business of ruling, and thus constitute a disproportionate percentage of long-reigning monarchs within fairyland.
* At least ''six'' different bearers of the mantle of Faerie Queen in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' ([[spoiler:Maeve, Lily, Sarissa, Molly, Mab, and (by implication) Titania]]) were originally mortals, albeit mostly changelings (half-human/half-fey).
* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', four British, human children travel to Narnia - a world inhabited by talking animals and mythical creatures - and learn that a prophecy declares that four humans will become the rightful rulers of Narnia. When the White Witch is defeated, the natives joyfully accept the children as their kings and queens.
* Hermione Granger from ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' only learns that magic exists at the age of eleven, but becomes the best in her year from the start although most of the students come from a culture where magic is common and have parents who do magic.
* Played with in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. The Sindar and Númenoreans 'are' superior to the Sylvan elves and Rohirrim respectively: but the Sylvan and Sindar elves are distant relatives, and the same is true for the Númenoreans and the Rohirrim. Although culturally distinct, these groups are all tenously related by blood: which somewhat changes the dynamic of the interaction. It's more like if your cousin goes off to college and then comes home and fixes your computer without asking. Kinda rude but like... they were trying to be nice? Also like... in both cases the "invaders" are themselves refugees, so it's a little bit more of an Israel/Palestine situation than a Britain/South Africa situation (especially in the case of the Númenoreans, whose culture is more than a little bit Judaic in flavor). Also there is kind of a good reason to appoint the most powerful guy as ruler, since there is a clear and present threat to everyone's lives (in the form of the Dark Lord Sauron).

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* Not strictly a non-white example, but not conventional: In Patrick Rothfuss's ''The Wise Man's Fear'', Kvothe is a white man who learns the world of ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', many kings of fairy kingdoms have actually been humans who were stolen into fairy. The footnotes indicate that while fairies like the idea of being kings, they also tend to be highly capricious, irrational, and easily distracted. Humans are much better at the actual business of ruling, and thus constitute a disproportionate percentage of long-reigning monarchs within fairyland.
* At least ''six'' different bearers
martial art of the mantle of Faerie Queen in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' ([[spoiler:Maeve, Lily, Sarissa, Molly, Mab, and (by implication) Titania]]) were originally mortals, albeit mostly changelings (half-human/half-fey).
* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', four British, human children travel to Narnia - a world inhabited by talking animals and mythical creatures - and learn that a prophecy declares that four humans will become the rightful rulers of Narnia. When the White Witch is defeated, the
''white'' natives joyfully accept the children as their kings and queens.
* Hermione Granger from ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' only learns that magic exists at the age of eleven,
in a ridiculously short time. He does not become better than his teachers, but becomes the best in her year from the start although most of the students come from a culture where magic it is common and have parents who do magic.
* Played
implied that, with in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. The Sindar and Númenoreans 'are' superior to the Sylvan elves and Rohirrim respectively: but the Sylvan and Sindar elves are distant relatives, and the same is true for the Númenoreans and the Rohirrim. Although culturally distinct, these groups are all tenously related by blood: which somewhat changes the dynamic of the interaction. It's a few more like if your cousin goes off to college and then comes home and fixes your computer without asking. Kinda rude but like... they were trying to be nice? Also like... in both cases the "invaders" are themselves refugees, so it's months of training, he would surpass his native friend (who has spent a little bit lot more of an Israel/Palestine situation than a Britain/South Africa situation (especially in the case of the Númenoreans, whose culture is more than a little bit Judaic in flavor). Also there is kind of a good reason to appoint the most powerful guy as ruler, since there is a clear and present threat to everyone's lives (in the form of the Dark Lord Sauron).time practicing).



* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has "Jeramiah Crichton". Stranded on a primitive planet populated by dark-skinned natives, John builds a number of labour-saving devices and is romanced by the chief's daughter. He actually lives a ways out from their village in an attempt to avoid this, but it sucks him in anyway.



* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has "Jeramiah Crichton". Stranded on a primitive planet populated by dark-skinned natives, John builds a number of labour-saving devices and is romanced by the chief's daughter. He actually lives a ways out from their village in an attempt to avoid this, but it sucks him in anyway.



* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth''. It's done with humans and beastmen rather than people of any skin colour but hey. [[TheAce Milhaust]] is the only Huma ''and'' the only non-Force user of the main villains and, wouldn't you know it, he's also TheAce of it. [[spoiler:It's his being so incredible and awesome that causes [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Agarte]] to fall in love with him. However, because she believes that he could never love her due to them being from different races, she gets it in her head that she needs to get herself a Huma body.]] Cue the events of the entire plot that [[spoiler:ends in Agarte ''dying'' and Milhaust revealing [[DyingDeclarationOfLove that, actually, he felt the same way about her]]; thereby making everything she did to win his heart [[ShaggyDogStory completely pointless]]]].
* Played with and deconstructed in ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. Delving into Rook Island's background and paying attention to the players involved in the current story indicates that it's less of a case of Mighty Whitey and more of a case of Mighty Outsider-In-General. Rook Island has a history of outside individuals coming to the island and taking control of it, only to go mad and be killed by another outsider. The Chinese general who took over the island and left many of the ruins, only to be killed by his superiors, the Japanese who took over only to go mad and be killed by each other, and now Jason and Vaas/Hoyt (as well as Citra). Depending on the ending, either [[spoiler:Citra is killed by Dennis or Citra kills Jason after he kills his friends. in either case, it's another example of an outsider effectively dominating the island being killed by another outsider]]. Even the mythological background of the island involves an outsider (the "prince from the northern kingdom") slaying another malevolent outside power (the giant).
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' sees a massive colonization fleet from the Milky Way arrive at the Heleus Cluster, a region of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy that's home to a native alien species called the angara. Within a few months at most, [[PlayerCharacter Ryder]] then instantly masters the use of ancient precursor technology none of the angara ever managed to control despite centuries of effort, chalks up some major wins in their decades-long HopelessWar against ScaryDogmaticAliens, recovers priceless artifacts of their lost empire, founds colonies on some of their worlds and revives the entire dying star cluster.



* Played with and deconstructed in ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. Delving into Rook Island's background and paying attention to the players involved in the current story indicates that it's less of a case of Mighty Whitey and more of a case of Mighty Outsider-In-General. Rook Island has a history of outside individuals coming to the island and taking control of it, only to go mad and be killed by another outsider. The Chinese general who took over the island and left many of the ruins, only to be killed by his superiors, the Japanese who took over only to go mad and be killed by each other, and now Jason and Vaas/Hoyt (as well as Citra). Depending on the ending, either [[spoiler:Citra is killed by Dennis or Citra kills Jason after he kills his friends. in either case, it's another example of an outsider effectively dominating the island being killed by another outsider]]. Even the mythological background of the island involves an outsider (the "prince from the northern kingdom") slaying another malevolent outside power (the giant).
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' sees a massive colonization fleet from the Milky Way arrive at the Heleus Cluster, a region of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy that's home to a native alien species called the angara. Within a few months at most, [[PlayerCharacter Ryder]] then instantly masters the use of ancient precursor technology none of the angara ever managed to control despite centuries of effort, chalks up some major wins in their decades-long HopelessWar against ScaryDogmaticAliens, recovers priceless artifacts of their lost empire, founds colonies on some of their worlds and revives the entire dying star cluster.
* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth''. It's done with humans and beastmen rather than people of any skin colour but hey. [[TheAce Milhaust]] is the only Huma ''and'' the only non-Force user of the main villains and, wouldn't you know it, he's also TheAce of it. [[spoiler:It's his being so incredible and awesome that causes [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Agarte]] to fall in love with him. However, because she believes that he could never love her due to them being from different races, she gets it in her head that she needs to get herself a Huma body.]] Cue the events of the entire plot that [[spoiler:ends in Agarte ''dying'' and Milhaust revealing [[DyingDeclarationOfLove that, actually, he felt the same way about her]]; thereby making everything she did to win his heart [[ShaggyDogStory completely pointless]]]].



* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has a subversion in "Jack in Africa.' The boy that would grow into Jack (who's Japanese), still a pre-teen, goes to train with a native African village, which is attacked by a different village, and all the inhabitants bar Jack are captured. Jack adapts to the superior weapons that the opposing village has, and fights against them, but, while Jack can fight off one or two, the reason he wins is that he frees the other villagers, who prove that the enemies' better weapons are no match for their own better skills. The BigBad is not defeated by Jack, but by Jack's mentor, and the day is won by both Jack ''and'' the villagers.



* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', a semi-sentient [[GeniusLoci planet-sized organism]] called the Balmera has been taken over by TheEmpire and its inhabitants, the Balmerans, enslaved. The Balmerans can telepathically commune with the Balmera, allowing their entire species to communicate with one another across the entire planet; exceptional individuals are also shown to be able to directly ask the Balmera for help. When the Voltron Force shows up and resolves to free the enslaved natives, it turns out that off-worlder Princess Allura can not only commune with the Balmera as easily as Balmerans who've been doing it their entire lives, she can also perform a ritual restoring the injured planet's LifeEnergy. For bonus points, the ritual involves Allura being surrounded by a ring of Balmerans who prostrate themselves, presumably before the Balmera itself, but the imagery certainly makes it look as though they're bowing in worship of Allura.


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* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has a subversion in "Jack in Africa.' The boy that would grow into Jack (who's Japanese), still a pre-teen, goes to train with a native African village, which is attacked by a different village, and all the inhabitants bar Jack are captured. Jack adapts to the superior weapons that the opposing village has, and fights against them, but, while Jack can fight off one or two, the reason he wins is that he frees the other villagers, who prove that the enemies' better weapons are no match for their own better skills. The BigBad is not defeated by Jack, but by Jack's mentor, and the day is won by both Jack ''and'' the villagers.


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* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', a semi-sentient [[GeniusLoci planet-sized organism]] called the Balmera has been taken over by TheEmpire and its inhabitants, the Balmerans, enslaved. The Balmerans can telepathically commune with the Balmera, allowing their entire species to communicate with one another across the entire planet; exceptional individuals are also shown to be able to directly ask the Balmera for help. When the Voltron Force shows up and resolves to free the enslaved natives, it turns out that off-worlder Princess Allura can not only commune with the Balmera as easily as Balmerans who've been doing it their entire lives, she can also perform a ritual restoring the injured planet's LifeEnergy. For bonus points, the ritual involves Allura being surrounded by a ring of Balmerans who prostrate themselves, presumably before the Balmera itself, but the imagery certainly makes it look as though they're bowing in worship of Allura.
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** Jerry Heller, Music/{{NWA}}'s manager, seems like he's honest in helping the group become household names. He even defends the group when they're harassed by the police during recording sessions. However, once they become a national sensation, Heller resorts to dirty tactics to rip the band apart, by giving Music/EazyE more money and favoritism than his fellow bandmates. [[spoiler:Heller's deception backfires on him when Eazy E discovers Heller's been stealing money, causing him to find out about the deceit. Eazy E doesn't take his supposed plea for forgiveness seriously and terminates him.]]

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** Jerry Heller, Music/{{NWA}}'s manager, seems like he's honest in helping the group become household names.HouseholdNames. He even defends the group when they're harassed by the police during recording sessions. However, once they become a national sensation, Heller resorts to dirty tactics to rip the band apart, by giving Music/EazyE more money and favoritism than his fellow bandmates. [[spoiler:Heller's deception backfires on him when Eazy E discovers Heller's been stealing money, causing him to find out about the deceit. Eazy E doesn't take his supposed plea for forgiveness seriously and terminates him.]]
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* ''ComicBook/TheGhostRider'': Carter Slade, the original Ghost Rider, was given his equipment by the medicine man of an Indian tribe, chosen by a prophecy to become their champion. [[DownplayedTrope However]], Slade mostly protects ''everyone'' who is victimized by criminals, not just indians, and isn't regarded as any sort of cultural hero or anything.

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* ''ComicBook/TheGhostRider'': Carter Slade, the original Ghost Rider, was given his equipment by the medicine man of an Indian tribe, chosen by a prophecy to become their champion. [[DownplayedTrope However]], Slade mostly protects ''everyone'' who is victimized by criminals, not just indians, Indians, and isn't regarded as any sort of cultural hero or anything.
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* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' is careful to downplay this trope. Boba Fett is played by Maori actor Temuera Morrison, and he instructs the Tusken tribe who adopts him on how to use outside technology that they are unfamiliar with. When he's taught the use of a gaderffii stick, he eventually becomes good enough to disarm his instructor, only for the instructor to put Boba on the ground moments later.

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* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' is careful to downplay this trope. Boba Fett is played by Maori actor Temuera Morrison, and he instructs the Tusken tribe who adopts him on how to use outside technology that they are unfamiliar with. When he's taught the use of a gaderffii stick, he eventually becomes good enough to disarm his instructor, only for the instructor to put Boba on the ground moments later. The series did still face some criticism along these lines though, for relying on stereotypes of a native culture that is completely helpless against a technologically superior opponent until [[WhiteMansBurden someone from the opponent's culture helps them]], and for later [[StuffedIntoTheFridge slaughtering the entire native tribe off unceremoniously to advance the main hero's story]].
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* Played straight in ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger.'' The strongest of the Chinese warriors is Luo Long, who is a six-foot-tall blonde-haired blue-eyed man. [[spoiler: Possibly the main character, Nanashi/Nameless as well. He has red hair but is otherwise indistinguishable from a normal Japanese person. It's theorized that he is of mixed race.]]

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* Played straight in ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger.'' The strongest of the Chinese warriors is Luo Long, who is a six-foot-tall blonde-haired blue-eyed man. [[spoiler: Possibly [[spoiler:Possibly the main character, Nanashi/Nameless as well. He has red hair but is otherwise indistinguishable from a normal Japanese person. It's theorized that he is of mixed race.]]



* Played with in the final volume of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. Shara is an isolationist empire, at least partially populated by dark-skinned people (Sharans of varying shades are described), who accept the pale-skinned foreigner [[spoiler: Demandred]] as their Messiah and happily march to war under his overlordship. [[spoiler: Of course, Demandred is a manipulative, vengeful villain and Shara is a brutally repressive slaver society both pre-and-post Demandred, so this is a very dark take on the trope and the association doesn't make either side look that good. Not to mention that Demandred's mightiness comes from his being an immortal who dates back to a golden age millennia ago and was the considered the second-most badass person on the planet even then, so he's mighty next to just about ''everyone''- Shara just happened to be where they had prophecies about him.]]
** Not to mention the more general one of Rand going to the Aiel Waste, [[spoiler: becoming their Car'a'Carn, bringing water back to their ancient city, and the Aiel for all intents and purposes becoming his personal army for the rest of the saga.]] On top of that, [[spoiler: he also 'gets the girl' Aviendha, who, even more in line with this trope, is the first Aiel we readers meet.]] Of course, this is slightly averted in that Rand [[spoiler: is Aiel by birth, so he's not really the white man coming and taking over the savages. However, he does identify as a Two Rivers man throughout.]] Also averted by the fact that the Aiel themselves are described as having European features like red or blond hair and blue eyes.

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* Played with in the final volume of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. Shara is an isolationist empire, at least partially populated by dark-skinned people (Sharans of varying shades are described), who accept the pale-skinned foreigner [[spoiler: Demandred]] [[spoiler:Demandred]] as their Messiah and happily march to war under his overlordship. [[spoiler: Of [[spoiler:Of course, Demandred is a manipulative, vengeful villain and Shara is a brutally repressive slaver society both pre-and-post Demandred, so this is a very dark take on the trope and the association doesn't make either side look that good. Not to mention that Demandred's mightiness comes from his being an immortal who dates back to a golden age millennia ago and was the considered the second-most badass person on the planet even then, so he's mighty next to just about ''everyone''- Shara just happened to be where they had prophecies about him.]]
** Not to mention the more general one of Rand going to the Aiel Waste, [[spoiler: becoming [[spoiler:becoming their Car'a'Carn, bringing water back to their ancient city, and the Aiel for all intents and purposes becoming his personal army for the rest of the saga.]] On top of that, [[spoiler: he [[spoiler:he also 'gets the girl' Aviendha, who, even more in line with this trope, is the first Aiel we readers meet.]] Of course, this is slightly averted in that Rand [[spoiler: is [[spoiler:is Aiel by birth, so he's not really the white man coming and taking over the savages. However, he does identify as a Two Rivers man throughout.]] Also averted by the fact that the Aiel themselves are described as having European features like red or blond hair and blue eyes.



* Genially deconstructed at Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' short story "The Dead Man", the seemingly impossible life and death of Benjamín Otalora, a courageous Argentinean White Guy hoodlum who emigrated to the Brazilian frontier and became the leader of a band of racially mixed smugglers in only three years. [[spoiler: All the Native smugglers are pulling a scam to mock Otalora, who is naive enough to fall for it and is murdered by them]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler: after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]

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* Genially deconstructed at Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' short story "The Dead Man", the seemingly impossible life and death of Benjamín Otalora, a courageous Argentinean White Guy hoodlum who emigrated to the Brazilian frontier and became the leader of a band of racially mixed smugglers in only three years. [[spoiler: All [[spoiler:All the Native smugglers are pulling a scam to mock Otalora, who is naive enough to fall for it and is murdered by them]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheCumerianUnraveling'' trilogy by Jason Letts. When one of the characters is stranded in an impoverished foreign city, she is told she must be the savior of that city, and for a time she believes it. However, [[spoiler: after [[spoiler:after her family discovers large deposits of mineral wealth, they decide it would be best to let the citizens bring themselves out of poverty than to "help" them and use it for their own advantage]]



* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' plays with this trope in the third season. Oliver takes on the League of Assassins, a Middle Eastern guild of warriors who all take Arabic titles, where his superior skills lead to him essentially playing out this trope: He becomes the next in line for leadership and is set to marry the leader's daughter. However, the leader himself is white, having been a Mighty Whitey himself who took leadership centuries ago, who seems to be invoking this trope by electing to position Oliver, an outsider, as his heir, and forces his daughter, who is a lesbian, to marry Oliver against her will to ensure that the eventual heir is still a blood descendant. In the end, [[spoiler: it's Malcolm, another white outsider, who takes leadership... but not through his own skill, but rather through LoopholeAbuse and making a deal with Oliver.]]

to:

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' plays with this trope in the third season. Oliver takes on the League of Assassins, a Middle Eastern guild of warriors who all take Arabic titles, where his superior skills lead to him essentially playing out this trope: He becomes the next in line for leadership and is set to marry the leader's daughter. However, the leader himself is white, having been a Mighty Whitey himself who took leadership centuries ago, who seems to be invoking this trope by electing to position Oliver, an outsider, as his heir, and forces his daughter, who is a lesbian, to marry Oliver against her will to ensure that the eventual heir is still a blood descendant. In the end, [[spoiler: it's [[spoiler:it's Malcolm, another white outsider, who takes leadership... but not through his own skill, but rather through LoopholeAbuse and making a deal with Oliver.]]



* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'': Parodied with the song "I Am Africa", in which the ''white'' Mormon missionaries sing about how they represent Africa. It's ultimately subverted, since none of the missionaries are actually able to inspire the Ugandans, who have to deal with a dangerous warlord, AIDS, and maggots in their scrotum. [[spoiler: Even Arnold's stories aren't actually believed by the Ugandans, but provide good life lessons]]. By the end, [[spoiler:the missionaries succeed in repelling (and eventually converting) a violent warlord and inspiring hope in the Ugandans, but don't seem to actually fix any real problems]].

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* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'': Parodied with the song "I Am Africa", in which the ''white'' Mormon missionaries sing about how they represent Africa. It's ultimately subverted, since none of the missionaries are actually able to inspire the Ugandans, who have to deal with a dangerous warlord, AIDS, and maggots in their scrotum. [[spoiler: Even [[spoiler:Even Arnold's stories aren't actually believed by the Ugandans, but provide good life lessons]]. By the end, [[spoiler:the missionaries succeed in repelling (and eventually converting) a violent warlord and inspiring hope in the Ugandans, but don't seem to actually fix any real problems]].



*** It's revealed that [[spoiler: the Yayois are growing weaker due to inbreeding and that Tsubaki's the first child to survive. Her general lack of talent compared to most caused her to take a sealed weapon that causes her FaceHeelTurn.]]
** [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Arakune]] [[spoiler: aka Lotte Carmine]] provides our inversion. [[spoiler:He couldn't stand the fact that [[CatGirl Koko]][[MadScientist noe]] was [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter constantly bettering him]] (the fact that she is a JerkAss of the highest order probably didn't help matters) and so he sought [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow forbidden knowledge]] from beyond the Boundary. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation His body couldn't handle what he discovered there]] and so he turned into an EldritchAbomination.]]

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*** It's revealed that [[spoiler: the [[spoiler:the Yayois are growing weaker due to inbreeding and that Tsubaki's the first child to survive. Her general lack of talent compared to most caused her to take a sealed weapon that causes her FaceHeelTurn.]]
** [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Arakune]] [[spoiler: aka [[spoiler:aka Lotte Carmine]] provides our inversion. [[spoiler:He couldn't stand the fact that [[CatGirl Koko]][[MadScientist noe]] was [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter constantly bettering him]] (the fact that she is a JerkAss of the highest order probably didn't help matters) and so he sought [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow forbidden knowledge]] from beyond the Boundary. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation His body couldn't handle what he discovered there]] and so he turned into an EldritchAbomination.]]



* At least ''six'' different bearers of the mantle of Faerie Queen in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' ([[spoiler: Maeve, Lily, Sarissa, Molly, Mab, and (by implication) Titania]]) were originally mortals, albeit mostly changelings (half-human/half-fey).

to:

* At least ''six'' different bearers of the mantle of Faerie Queen in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' ([[spoiler: Maeve, ([[spoiler:Maeve, Lily, Sarissa, Molly, Mab, and (by implication) Titania]]) were originally mortals, albeit mostly changelings (half-human/half-fey).



* Played with and deconstructed in ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. Delving into Rook Island's background and paying attention to the players involved in the current story indicates that it's less of a case of Mighty Whitey and more of a case of Mighty Outsider-In-General. Rook Island has a history of outside individuals coming to the island and taking control of it, only to go mad and be killed by another outsider. The Chinese general who took over the island and left many of the ruins, only to be killed by his superiors, the Japanese who took over only to go mad and be killed by each other, and now Jason and Vaas/Hoyt (as well as Citra). Depending on the ending, either [[spoiler: Citra is killed by Dennis or Citra kills Jason after he kills his friends. in either case, it's another example of an outsider effectively dominating the island being killed by another outsider]]. Even the mythological background of the island involves an outsider (the "prince from the northern kingdom") slaying another malevolent outside power (the giant).

to:

* Played with and deconstructed in ''VideoGame/FarCry3''. Delving into Rook Island's background and paying attention to the players involved in the current story indicates that it's less of a case of Mighty Whitey and more of a case of Mighty Outsider-In-General. Rook Island has a history of outside individuals coming to the island and taking control of it, only to go mad and be killed by another outsider. The Chinese general who took over the island and left many of the ruins, only to be killed by his superiors, the Japanese who took over only to go mad and be killed by each other, and now Jason and Vaas/Hoyt (as well as Citra). Depending on the ending, either [[spoiler: Citra [[spoiler:Citra is killed by Dennis or Citra kills Jason after he kills his friends. in either case, it's another example of an outsider effectively dominating the island being killed by another outsider]]. Even the mythological background of the island involves an outsider (the "prince from the northern kingdom") slaying another malevolent outside power (the giant).
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crosswicking

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* Discussed in ''Literature/LegendOfTheAnimalHealer''. Martine wonders why of all the people in Africa, it's a foreign biracial girl who has the power to heal animals. Grace says that it's her heart that led to her being chosen, and the animals themselves don't see a difference. (Note that TheChosenOne is prophecied to save all sorts of animals, not just African ones.)
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* Ken in the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' Universe is born to a rich white father and a Japanese mother. Compared to his best friend and rival Ryu, he is the most out-going and coolest. However, it's how he's portrayed in the American animated TV series that qualifies him for savior status. By the final season, Ken is given the title greatest martial artist of all time and the only one who can beat Akuma. Interestingly enough, the Anime motion picture would avert this, by making Ken a victim of Bison, and Ryu being the only one who can save him. And let's not forget the live motion picture, which portrays Guile - played by Jean Claude Van Dam - as the hero and savior, when in the fighting game universe, he's not a main character. Ken and Ryu, who are the main characters, are portrayed as traveling con-artist who get in over their heads.

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* Ken in the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' Universe is born to a rich white father and a Japanese mother. Compared to his best friend and rival Ryu, he is the most out-going and coolest. However, it's how he's portrayed in the American animated TV series that qualifies him for savior status. By the final season, Ken is given the title greatest martial artist of all time and the only one who can beat Akuma. Interestingly enough, the Anime motion picture would avert this, by making Ken a victim of Bison, and Ryu being the only one who can save him. And let's not forget the live motion picture, which portrays Guile - played by Jean Claude Van Dam - as the hero and savior, when in the fighting game universe, he's not a main character.character (though it is he, and not Ryu or Ken, who has the biggest personal beef against the BigBad). Ken and Ryu, who are the main characters, are portrayed as traveling con-artist who get in over their heads.
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* The original ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' (Carter Slade) was given his equipment by the medicine man of an indian tribe, chosen by a prophecy to become their champion. [[DownplayedTrope However]], Slade mostly protects ''everyone'' who is victimized by criminals, not just indians, and isn't regarded as any sort of cultural hero or anything.

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* The ''ComicBook/TheGhostRider'': Carter Slade, the original ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' (Carter Slade) Ghost Rider, was given his equipment by the medicine man of an indian Indian tribe, chosen by a prophecy to become their champion. [[DownplayedTrope However]], Slade mostly protects ''everyone'' who is victimized by criminals, not just indians, and isn't regarded as any sort of cultural hero or anything.
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* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' plays with this trope in the third season. Oliver takes on the League of Assassins, a Middle Eastern guild of warriors who all take Arabic titles, where his superior skills lead to him essentially playing out this trope: He becomes the next in line for leadership and is set to marry the leader's daughter. However, the leader himself is white, having been a Mighty Whitey himself who took leadership centuries ago, who seems to be invoking this trope by electing to position Oliver, an outsider, as his heir, and forces his daughter, who is a lesbian, to marry Oliver against her will to ensure that the eventual heir is still a blood descendant. In the end, [[spoiler: it's Malcolm, another white outsider, who takes leadership...but not through his own skill, but rather through LoopholeAbuse and making a deal with Oliver.]]

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* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' plays with this trope in the third season. Oliver takes on the League of Assassins, a Middle Eastern guild of warriors who all take Arabic titles, where his superior skills lead to him essentially playing out this trope: He becomes the next in line for leadership and is set to marry the leader's daughter. However, the leader himself is white, having been a Mighty Whitey himself who took leadership centuries ago, who seems to be invoking this trope by electing to position Oliver, an outsider, as his heir, and forces his daughter, who is a lesbian, to marry Oliver against her will to ensure that the eventual heir is still a blood descendant. In the end, [[spoiler: it's Malcolm, another white outsider, who takes leadership... but not through his own skill, but rather through LoopholeAbuse and making a deal with Oliver.]]



* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' tells of T. E. Lawrence. It would be an exaggeration to say he alone put together a loose band of irregular tribesman that threw back the better-armed, better-equipped, much-more-powerful Ottoman Turks by mastering desert warfare on a level that amazed even his Arab irregulars, and thus was directly responsible for weakening the Ottoman Empire critically and thus changing the entire strategic balance in the First World War...but it would not be a ''gross'' exaggeration.
* Came about in China during the late medieval era, when the Mongol hordes (famously led by Genghis Khan) overran most of the Middle Kingdom and subjugated the Chinese people. They soon found themselves having to establish a bureaucratized government for the sake of continuity with the "Mandate of Heaven" (the ruling authority of all of China's imperial dynasties)...but being basically barbarians up to this point, the Mongols had none of the experience - and very little of the knowledge - necessary to serve as government leaders. Nor could they conscript ethnic Chinese to fill the role of civil servants, for the Chinese people were sullen under their conquerors and would surely try to sabotage their rule. So the Mongols [[TakeAThirdOption Took A Third Option]]: while a Mongol Khan continued to reign as Emperor of China, he filled his government offices with people who were neither Mongolian nor Chinese - and sometimes were not even Asian. Quite a few European traders, explorers, and missionaries wound up working as Chinese bureaucrats.

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* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' tells of T. E. Lawrence. It would be an exaggeration to say he alone put together a loose band of irregular tribesman that threw back the better-armed, better-equipped, much-more-powerful Ottoman Turks by mastering desert warfare on a level that amazed even his Arab irregulars, and thus was directly responsible for weakening the Ottoman Empire critically and thus changing the entire strategic balance in the First World War... but it would not be a ''gross'' exaggeration.
* Came about in China during the late medieval era, when the Mongol hordes (famously led by Genghis Khan) overran most of the Middle Kingdom and subjugated the Chinese people. They soon found themselves having to establish a bureaucratized government for the sake of continuity with the "Mandate of Heaven" (the ruling authority of all of China's imperial dynasties)... but being basically barbarians up to this point, the Mongols had none of the experience - and very little of the knowledge - necessary to serve as government leaders. Nor could they conscript ethnic Chinese to fill the role of civil servants, for the Chinese people were sullen under their conquerors and would surely try to sabotage their rule. So the Mongols [[TakeAThirdOption Took A Third Option]]: while a Mongol Khan continued to reign as Emperor of China, he filled his government offices with people who were neither Mongolian nor Chinese - and sometimes were not even Asian. Quite a few European traders, explorers, and missionaries wound up working as Chinese bureaucrats.

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Of course, these writers might also just be doing the respectable thing, and be [[WriteWhatYouKnow writing what they know]]. Perhaps not in the 'I'm a badass AdventurerArchaeologist' sense, but in the 'I'm used to the cultural norms of my race/gender and would be terrified of offending people with incorrect cultures cues' sense. Or in the '[[WriteWhatYouKnow What I know]] has been mostly informed by what has already been established in fictional story-telling and I'm subconsciously perpetuating those same pas' sense. Often involves a strong element of wish fulfillment for the First World writer and First World audience, in the sense of, "I'll bet I could be a great hero if I could just [[BorninTheWrongCentury escape this straight-laced and boring 'civilized' world I'm stuck in.]]" Or it might be a combination of their or the audience's preference for a protagonist that looks like themselves combined with the natural desire to see the protagonist become the ChosenOne.

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Of course, these writers might also just be doing the respectable thing, and be [[WriteWhatYouKnow writing what they know]]. Perhaps not in the 'I'm a badass AdventurerArchaeologist' sense, but in the 'I'm used to the cultural norms of my race/gender and would be terrified of offending people with incorrect cultures cues' sense. Or in the '[[WriteWhatYouKnow What I know]] has been mostly informed by what has already been established in fictional story-telling and I'm subconsciously perpetuating those same pas' sense. Often involves a strong element of wish fulfillment for the First World writer and First World audience, in the sense of, "I'll bet I could be a great hero if I could just [[BorninTheWrongCentury escape this straight-laced and boring 'civilized' world I'm stuck in.]]" Or it might be a combination of their or the audience's preference for a protagonist that looks like themselves combined with the natural desire to see the protagonist become the ChosenOne.
TheChosenOne.



** This is {{Lampshaded}} in ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'', where Hazmat (who is of Japanese descent) refers to him as "Mr. I Wish I Was Asian".

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** This is {{Lampshaded}} {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'', where Hazmat (who is of Japanese descent) refers to him as "Mr. I Wish I Was Asian".



** The trope gets {{Inverted|Trope}} and/or [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] in the case of the Iron Fist of [[PrecursorHeroes Thor's original team of Avengers]] shown in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers (2018)'', who is [[ComicBook/SubMariner Atlantean]] and thus of an entirely different minority altogether.

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** The trope gets {{Inverted|Trope}} {{inverted|Trope}} and/or [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] played with]] in the case of the Iron Fist of [[PrecursorHeroes Thor's original team of Avengers]] shown in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers (2018)'', who is [[ComicBook/SubMariner Atlantean]] and thus of an entirely different minority altogether.



* B'wana Beast, originally appearing in the DCU's ''Showcase #66'' (1967), is called "the White God of Kilimanjaro". During Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' (1989), he passes the title to a [[AffirmativeActionLegacy (black)]] successor, who rechristens the character "Freedom Beast".
** Averted in his ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' incarnation, where he [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers lucks into his powers by drinking from a radioactive waste-tainted stream]]. The locals are surprised by his weird new ability, but that's all (before they were watching him wrestle-- and lose to-- a gorilla).

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* B'wana Beast, originally appearing in the DCU's ''Showcase #66'' (1967), is called "the White God of Kilimanjaro". During Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' (1989), he passes the title to a [[AffirmativeActionLegacy (black)]] successor, who rechristens the character "Freedom Beast".
**
Beast". Averted in his ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' incarnation, where he [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers lucks into his powers by drinking from a radioactive waste-tainted stream]]. The locals are surprised by his weird new ability, but that's all (before they were watching him wrestle-- and lose to-- a gorilla).



* ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', a generational line of more than ''twenty'' white males who protect the first South Asian, then African jungle, including tribes of native Africans. Partially justified in that the twenty-first Phantom was originally written as a Batman/Bruce Wayne type of superhero, and when Falk decided he should instead be [[LegacyImmortality the descendant of a long line of Phantoms]] they didn't change the design. This was back in 1936, and today it seems the Phantom mostly gets by on GrandfatherClause..

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* ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', a generational line of more than ''twenty'' white males who protect the first South Asian, then African jungle, including tribes of native Africans. Partially justified in that the twenty-first Phantom was originally written as a Batman/Bruce Wayne type of superhero, and when Falk decided he should instead be [[LegacyImmortality the descendant of a long line of Phantoms]] they didn't change the design. This was back in 1936, and today it seems the Phantom mostly gets by on GrandfatherClause..GrandfatherClause.



* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', in which Colonel Kurtz becomes the leader of a native tribe, but in doing so goes absolutely bonkers. This subversion originates in Creator/JosephConrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', where a white trader had made himself god to an African tribe before losing his marbles.

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* {{Deconstructed}} {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', in which Colonel Kurtz becomes the leader of a native tribe, but in doing so goes absolutely bonkers. This subversion originates in Creator/JosephConrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', where a white trader had made himself god to an African tribe before losing his marbles.



* Deconstructed in ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland'', in which the white protagonist Nicholas Garrigan is at first presented as a likable young man who wins the favor of Ugandan leader UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, but descends into FallenHero territory as he allows himself to be seduced by the power and luxury Amin offers (even as the evidence of Amin's brutality mounts). When Garrigan finally has his HeelRealization and decides to resist Amin, he's laughably out of his depth, and nearly every Ugandan who aids or gets involved with him is punished horribly for it. For all this, the movie ends with Garrigan [[spoiler:getting on a plane out of the country, as happened in real life. His whiteness is part of the reason he gets saved by the local doctor, because the international community will believe the atrocity of Amin's regime if told by a white, British citizen.]]

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* Deconstructed in ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland'', in which the white protagonist Nicholas Garrigan is at first presented as a likable young man who wins the favor of Ugandan leader UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, but descends into FallenHero territory as he allows himself to be seduced by the power and luxury Amin offers (even as the evidence of Amin's brutality mounts). When Garrigan finally has his HeelRealization and decides to resist Amin, he's laughably out of his depth, and nearly every Ugandan who aids or gets involved with him is punished horribly for it. For all this, the movie ends with Garrigan [[spoiler:getting on a plane out of the country, as happened in real life. His whiteness is part of the reason he gets saved by the local doctor, because the international community will believe the atrocity of Amin's regime if told by a white, British citizen.]]citizen]].



** ''Film/DangerousMinds'' has ex-Marine and sassy white girl Michelle Pfeiffer inspiring a classroom full of angry ethnic minority teens to learn (and, in one scene, kicking their asses). Based on a true story, though the Hollywood treatment given to the story isn't reflective of reality in many ways.

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** ''Film/DangerousMinds'' has ex-Marine and sassy white girl Michelle Pfeiffer Creator/MichellePfeiffer inspiring a classroom full of angry ethnic minority teens to learn (and, in one scene, kicking their asses). Based on a true story, though the Hollywood treatment given to the story isn't reflective of reality in many ways.



* In the [[CulturalTranslation Americanized]] [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action version]] of ''Film/FistOfTheNorthStar'', [[TheHero Kenshiro]] and [[RivalTurnedEvil Shin]], who are both inheritors of secret assassination styles, are played by white actors Gary Daniels and Costas Mandylor, whereas Julia, Bat, and Lynn, the LoveInterest and the two [[KidSidekick kid sidekicks]] respectively, are played by Asians. Moreover, Kenshiro's OldMaster, Ryuken, is played by another white man, Creator/MalcolmMcDowell.

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* In the [[CulturalTranslation Americanized]] [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action version]] of ''Film/FistOfTheNorthStar'', [[TheHero Kenshiro]] and [[RivalTurnedEvil Shin]], who are both inheritors of secret assassination styles, are played by white actors Gary Daniels and Costas Mandylor, whereas Julia, Bat, and Lynn, the LoveInterest {{Love Interest|s}} and the two [[KidSidekick kid sidekicks]] respectively, are played by Asians. Moreover, Kenshiro's OldMaster, Ryuken, is played by another white man, Creator/MalcolmMcDowell.



* The 1991 Creator/DolphLundgren/Brandon Lee buddy cop movie ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo''. A blond, tall, muscular American cop raised in Japanese culture slaughters an army of {{Yakuza}} and is physically and martially superior to anyone, including his comic relief half-Asian partner. His sexual prowess is commented on while the Yakuza boss is implied to be impotent unless he beats women and he romances an Asian woman whom the boss had kidnapped and previously raped.

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* The 1991 Creator/DolphLundgren/Brandon Lee Creator/DolphLundgren/Creator/BrandonLee buddy cop movie ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo''. A blond, tall, muscular American cop raised in Japanese culture slaughters an army of {{Yakuza}} and is physically and martially superior to anyone, including his comic relief half-Asian partner. His sexual prowess is commented on while the Yakuza boss is implied to be impotent unless he beats women and he romances an Asian woman whom the boss had kidnapped and previously raped.



* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a gag to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.

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* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a gag HistoricalInJoke to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.



** Similarly, the ''Literature/{{Amtor}}'' series features a white Earth man thriving on Venus, among {{Human Alien}}s described as resembling humans from the Middle East.

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** Similarly, the ''Literature/{{Amtor}}'' series features a white Earth man thriving on Venus, among {{Human Alien}}s HumanAliens described as resembling humans from the Middle East.



** ''Literature/TrickstersDuet'': The white protagonist goes to the Copper Isles and becomes the spymaster of a developing rebellion by the native, dark-skinned raka against the white-skinned luarin conquerers. Granted, Aly was raised by Tortall's spymaster. It's also stated that they need a TokenWhite on the rebel side to stop a general slaughter of luarin, but given that their own ChosenOne is half-luarin and loves that side of her family, it's possible she could do that on her own. The other rebel leaders are mostly raka, but spying and clever plans are shown as being basically the most important thing. In the second book (and likely as a result of complaints about the first), it attempts to show that Aly is still only a small cog in a rebellion that represents generations of work by the raka.

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** ''Literature/TrickstersDuet'': The white protagonist goes to the Copper Isles and becomes the spymaster of a developing rebellion by the native, dark-skinned raka against the white-skinned luarin conquerers. Granted, Aly was raised by Tortall's spymaster. It's also stated that they need a TokenWhite on the rebel side to stop a general slaughter of luarin, but given that their own ChosenOne Chosen One is half-luarin and loves that side of her family, it's possible she could do that on her own. The other rebel leaders are mostly raka, but spying and clever plans are shown as being basically the most important thing. In the second book (and likely as a result of complaints about the first), it attempts to show that Aly is still only a small cog in a rebellion that represents generations of work by the raka.



* Played with in the final volume of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. Shara is an isolationist empire, at least partially populated by dark-skinned people (Sharans of varying shades are described), who accept the pale-skinned foreigner [[spoiler: Demandred]] as their Messiah and happily march to war under his overlordship. [[spoiler: Of course, Demandred is a manipulative, vengeful villain and Shara is a brutally repressive slaver society both pre-and-post Demandred, so this is a very dark take on the trope and the association doesn't make either side look that good. Not to mention that Demandred's mightiness comes from his being an immortal who dates back to a golden age millennia ago and was the considered the second-most badass person on the planet even then, so he's mighty next to just about ''everyone''- Shara just happened to be where they had prophecies about him]].

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* Played with in the final volume of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. Shara is an isolationist empire, at least partially populated by dark-skinned people (Sharans of varying shades are described), who accept the pale-skinned foreigner [[spoiler: Demandred]] as their Messiah and happily march to war under his overlordship. [[spoiler: Of course, Demandred is a manipulative, vengeful villain and Shara is a brutally repressive slaver society both pre-and-post Demandred, so this is a very dark take on the trope and the association doesn't make either side look that good. Not to mention that Demandred's mightiness comes from his being an immortal who dates back to a golden age millennia ago and was the considered the second-most badass person on the planet even then, so he's mighty next to just about ''everyone''- Shara just happened to be where they had prophecies about him]].him.]]



* 1984 TV series ''Series/TheMaster'': Lee Van Cleef plays a man who stayed in Japan after [=WW2=] to learn the ways of the ninja, and became the head of a ninja clan. He abandoned it to search the US for his daughter. Naturally, the ninja clan thought his abandoning them was dishonorable, and sent his best student after him to exact revenge.

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* 1984 TV series ''Series/TheMaster'': ''[[Series/MasterNinja The Master]]'': Lee Van Cleef plays a man who stayed in Japan after [=WW2=] to learn the ways of the ninja, and became the head of a ninja clan. He abandoned it to search the US for his daughter. Naturally, the ninja clan thought his abandoning them was dishonorable, and sent his best student after him to exact revenge.



* ''Series/OffTheMap'' is a MedicalDrama about American doctors working on a remote village in South America, so naturally this tropes is {{Lampshaded}} in the title of the Pilot episode, "Saved by the Great White Hope". Mostly {{averted}}, however; most of the patients are treated with native medicine and plants as opposed to medicine brought from the states, and there are many people who refuse treatment because they don't trust the doctors.

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* ''Series/OffTheMap'' is a MedicalDrama about American doctors working on a remote village in South America, so naturally this tropes is {{Lampshaded}} {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the title of the Pilot episode, "Saved by the Great White Hope". Mostly {{averted}}, {{averted|Trope}}, however; most of the patients are treated with native medicine and plants as opposed to medicine brought from the states, and there are many people who refuse treatment because they don't trust the doctors.



* Also {{Discussed|Trope}} and ''[[TakeThat mocked to hell]]'' by ''Creator/BillBurr'' not only in being tired of feeling guilty about segregation against [[SeriousBusiness ping-pong]], but also directly mocks SaveOurStudents films like ''Film/DangerousMinds'' in wishing that the teacher gets [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere harassed out of town]].

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* Also {{Discussed|Trope}} {{discussed|Trope}} and ''[[TakeThat mocked to hell]]'' by ''Creator/BillBurr'' not only in being tired of feeling guilty about segregation against [[SeriousBusiness ping-pong]], but also directly mocks SaveOurStudents films like ''Film/DangerousMinds'' in wishing that the teacher gets [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere harassed out of town]].



* ZigZagged in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'''s backstory. The Primarchs were the Emperor's twenty clone-sons, who were scattered across the galaxy and became (with the exception of [[BlackSheep Angron]]) legendary leaders on their adopted homeworlds. But when someone is a gene-enhanced demigod with physical, intellectual and in some cases psychic powers well beyond those of mortal men, this is only to be expected. The degree to which the Primarchs integrated into their homeworlds also varied - Fulgrim reversed a dying world's decline and allowed a cultural renaissance, Leman Russ and Jaghatai Khan became barbarian conquerors, Guilliman simply led an already spacefaring civilization into a golden age of expansion, while Konrad Curze was little more than a vigilante killer who ruled the populace by fear. As an aside, while most of the Primarchs were white, several had darker skin tones, two were freakishly pale, Vulkan's skin was pitch black, and Magnus the Red, [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation well...]]

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* ZigZagged ZigZaggingTrope in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'''s backstory. The Primarchs were the Emperor's twenty clone-sons, who were scattered across the galaxy and became (with the exception of [[BlackSheep Angron]]) legendary leaders on their adopted homeworlds. But when someone is a gene-enhanced demigod with physical, intellectual and in some cases psychic powers well beyond those of mortal men, this is only to be expected. The degree to which the Primarchs integrated into their homeworlds also varied - Fulgrim reversed a dying world's decline and allowed a cultural renaissance, Leman Russ and Jaghatai Khan became barbarian conquerors, Guilliman simply led an already spacefaring civilization into a golden age of expansion, while Konrad Curze was little more than a vigilante killer who ruled the populace by fear. As an aside, while most of the Primarchs were white, several had darker skin tones, two were freakishly pale, Vulkan's skin was pitch black, and Magnus the Red, [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation well...]]



** First up, we have [[JerkAss Jin Kisaragi]], who despite his very Japanese-sounding name is actually an EvilBrit. He was adopted into the Kisaragi family and soon proved to be better than any of the real children at pretty much anything, including [[KatanasAreJustBetter iaido]], although constantly having to put up with their jealousy is one of the contributing factors that led to him becoming a big-time NietzscheWannabe. By the time of the sequel, he admits that he's "given up on life (and) the world" and that he believes the only "truth" is death.

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** First up, we have [[JerkAss Jin Kisaragi]], who despite his very Japanese-sounding name is actually an EvilBrit. He was adopted into the Kisaragi family and soon proved to be better than any of the real children at pretty much anything, including [[KatanasAreJustBetter iaido]], although constantly having to put up with their jealousy is one of the contributing factors that led to him becoming a big-time NietzscheWannabe.StrawNihilist. By the time of the sequel, he admits that he's "given up on life (and) the world" and that he believes the only "truth" is death.



*** The Gindran Liberation Front aren't a full use of this trope but have ''some'' strange racial politics going on. The group's highly talented JoanOfArchetype, Sophie N'dram, is mixed Boia-French and apparently passes for white enough that Snake mistakes her for his white American female ally, Chris Jenner. The actual leader of the group, Augustine Eguabon, preaches sovereignty for the Boia despite not being Boian or even from Gindra, and it's stated he owes most of his ability to the mentorship he got from Big Boss.

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*** The Gindran Liberation Front aren't a full use of this trope but have ''some'' strange racial politics going on. The group's highly talented JoanOfArchetype, JeanneDArchetype, Sophie N'dram, is mixed Boia-French and apparently passes for white enough that Snake mistakes her for his white American female ally, Chris Jenner. The actual leader of the group, Augustine Eguabon, preaches sovereignty for the Boia despite not being Boian or even from Gindra, and it's stated he owes most of his ability to the mentorship he got from Big Boss.



* ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}''

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* ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}''''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'':



* ''VideoGame/RedSteel''

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* ''VideoGame/RedSteel''''VideoGame/RedSteel'':



* The blog ''Smart Bitches Read Trashy Books'' warns [[http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/books/extras/top-ten-signs-youre-reading-a-very-bad-romance-novel against this]] trope.
-->''If the heroine is a noble white maiden and the hero is a member of an indigenous Native American tribal people, AND the title contains the words "half-breed," "savage" or both, then you’ve got the makings of a really, really bad romance. Apocalyptically bad, even. In fact, if these romances could ride horses, they could probably substitute for War and Plague all by their little selves. If the plot of that romance involves the heroine taming the hero's wild ways while he teaches her to listen to the music of the rhythm of the night wind, and he’s not referring in any way to flatulence or El DeBarge, then you’ve definitely embarked on a bad romance.''

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* The blog ''Smart Bitches Read Trashy Books'' warns [[http://smartbitchestrashybooks.[[https://web.archive.org/web/20120529012535/http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/books/extras/top-ten-signs-youre-reading-a-very-bad-romance-novel against this]] trope.
-->''If the heroine is a noble white maiden and the hero is a member of an indigenous Native American tribal people, AND the title contains the words "half-breed," "savage" or both, then you’ve got the makings of a really, really bad romance. Apocalyptically bad, even. In fact, if these romances could ride horses, they could probably substitute for War and Plague all by their little selves. If the plot of that romance involves the heroine taming the hero's wild ways while he teaches her to listen to the music of the rhythm of the night wind, and he’s not referring in any way to flatulence or El DeBarge, [=DeBarge=], then you’ve definitely embarked on a bad romance.''



* Pick just about any RealRobot HumongousMecha series you can think of. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series really tends to point it out: For so many supposedly international organizations, there sure are a hell of a lot of Japanese people compared to any other ethnicity.

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* Pick just about any RealRobot RealRobotGenre HumongousMecha series you can think of. The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series really tends to point it out: For so many supposedly international organizations, there sure are a hell of a lot of Japanese people compared to any other ethnicity.



* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' has a whole actually tends to play with this by having their heroes not technically be Japanese[[note]]Domon Kasshu from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' was from a Japan RecycledInSpace[[/note]] but rather Spacenoids. If a character is considered TheAce and can fly rings around more experienced mobile suit pilots, pick up the ability quickly or get that series version of a SuperMode then they are likely from space. In fact in the thirty plus history of Gundam only three franchises have main characters are not Spacers ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' and of those two of them are not Japanese (Garrod Ran[[note]]American[[/note]] and Setsuna F. Seiei[[note]]Middle Eastern with a Japanese codename[[/note]]).

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* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' has a whole actually tends to play with this by having their heroes not technically be Japanese[[note]]Domon Kasshu from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' was from a Japan RecycledInSpace[[/note]] JustForFun/RecycledInSpace[[/note]] but rather Spacenoids. If a character is considered TheAce and can fly rings around more experienced mobile suit pilots, pick up the ability quickly or get that series version of a SuperMode then they are likely from space. In fact in the thirty plus history of Gundam only three franchises have main characters are not Spacers ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' and of those two of them are not Japanese (Garrod Ran[[note]]American[[/note]] and Setsuna F. Seiei[[note]]Middle Eastern with a Japanese codename[[/note]]).



* The ''ComicBook/AdamStrange'' comics used a concept nearly identical to the ''John Carter Of Mars'' books. On Earth, Adam is just an archaeologist, but he uses his jetpack to make himself the hero of the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment space planet]] Rann.
** Popular comic author Alan Moore later subverted this by having the Rannians still treat Adam with contempt because they have superior intellects. Note that Moore's interpretation was a RetCon, and has been ignored since.

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* The ''ComicBook/AdamStrange'' comics used a concept nearly identical to the ''John Carter Of of Mars'' books. On Earth, Adam is just an archaeologist, but he uses his jetpack to make himself the hero of the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment space planet]] Rann. \n** Popular comic author Alan Moore Creator/AlanMoore later subverted this by having the Rannians still treat Adam with contempt because they have superior intellects. Note that Moore's interpretation was a RetCon, and has been ignored since.



* ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'': Chong Wang (played by Creator/JackieChan), a Chinese palace guard from the Forbidden City, travels to Wild West Nevada to rescue Imperial Princess Pei Pei. Although a FishOutOfWater in the western setting, his superior fighting skills impress a Native American chief who tricks him into marrying his daughter, Falling Leaves. Chong subsequently teams up with outlaw Roy O'Bannon (played by Owen Wilson) and gains notoriety as the "Shanghai Kid" on a WantedPoster without even trying, causing Roy to gripe that the bounty on Chong's head is already bigger than his even though he's been committing crimes for years.

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* ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'': Chong Wang (played by Creator/JackieChan), a Chinese palace guard from the Forbidden City, travels to Wild West Nevada to rescue Imperial Princess Pei Pei. Although a FishOutOfWater in the western setting, his superior fighting skills impress a Native American chief who tricks him into marrying his daughter, Falling Leaves. Chong subsequently teams up with outlaw Roy O'Bannon (played by Owen Wilson) Creator/OwenWilson) and gains notoriety as the "Shanghai Kid" on a WantedPoster without even trying, causing Roy to gripe that the bounty on Chong's head is already bigger than his even though he's been committing crimes for years.



* The movie ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill the trope until his consciousness is put in a half-human, half-alien body, but after that happens, he eventually learns the Na'vi ways and embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the planetary consciousness to fight to push back the humans, and eventually transforming permanently into a Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in that the main threat facing the Na'vi are his own kind, so it's more understandable why he's the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.
* ''Film/SisterAct'' racially inverts the trope. Protagonist Deloris, played by Whoopi Goldberg, goes into hiding as a nun, and is the only black woman in the convent. She also ends up saving the choir by educating them on how to sing. On a larger scale, it's she who brings the neighborhood together in doing so.

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* The movie ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a paralyzed human. A bit unconventional since he doesn't fulfill the trope until his consciousness is put in a half-human, half-alien body, but after that happens, he eventually learns the Na'vi ways and embodies this trope by doing several things: [[spoiler:marrying the Princess, becoming a legendary chief, getting the planetary consciousness to fight to push back the humans, and eventually transforming permanently into a Na'Vi]]. It's also downplayed in that the main threat facing the Na'vi are his own kind, so it's more understandable why he's the one who leads them in the fight against humans. Additionally, he [[spoiler:needs to be saved by his Na'vi ActionGirlfriend Neytiri]] near the end of the story.
* ''Film/SisterAct'' racially inverts the trope. Protagonist Deloris, played by Whoopi Goldberg, Creator/WhoopiGoldberg, goes into hiding as a nun, and is the only black woman in the convent. She also ends up saving the choir by educating them on how to sing. On a larger scale, it's she who brings the neighborhood together in doing so.



* Hermione Granger from Franchise/HarryPotter only learns that magic exists at the age of eleven, but becomes the best in her year from the start although most of the students come from a culture where magic is common and have parents who do magic.
* Played with in ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''. The Sindar and Númenoreans 'are' superior to the Sylvan elves and Rohirrim respectively: but the Sylvan and Sindar elves are distant relatives, and the same is true for the Númenoreans and the Rohirrim. Although culturally distinct, these groups are all tenously related by blood: which somewhat changes the dynamic of the interaction. It's more like if your cousin goes off to college and then comes home and fixes your computer without asking. Kinda rude but like... they were trying to be nice? Also like... in both cases the "invaders" are themselves refugees, so it's a little bit more of an Israel/Palestine situation than a Britain/South Africa situation (especially in the case of the Númenoreans, whose culture is more than a little bit Judaic in flavor). Also there is kind of a good reason to appoint the most powerful guy as ruler, since there is a clear and present threat to everyone's lives (in the form of the Dark Lord Sauron).

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* Hermione Granger from Franchise/HarryPotter ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' only learns that magic exists at the age of eleven, but becomes the best in her year from the start although most of the students come from a culture where magic is common and have parents who do magic.
* Played with in ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''.''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. The Sindar and Númenoreans 'are' superior to the Sylvan elves and Rohirrim respectively: but the Sylvan and Sindar elves are distant relatives, and the same is true for the Númenoreans and the Rohirrim. Although culturally distinct, these groups are all tenously related by blood: which somewhat changes the dynamic of the interaction. It's more like if your cousin goes off to college and then comes home and fixes your computer without asking. Kinda rude but like... they were trying to be nice? Also like... in both cases the "invaders" are themselves refugees, so it's a little bit more of an Israel/Palestine situation than a Britain/South Africa situation (especially in the case of the Númenoreans, whose culture is more than a little bit Judaic in flavor). Also there is kind of a good reason to appoint the most powerful guy as ruler, since there is a clear and present threat to everyone's lives (in the form of the Dark Lord Sauron).



* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth''. It's done with humans and beastmen rather than people of any skin colour but hey. [[TheAce Milhaust]] is the only Huma ''and'' the only non-Force user of the main villains and, wouldn't you know it, he's also TheAce of it. [[spoiler:It's his being so incredible and awesome that causes [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Agarte]] to fall in love with him. However, because she believes that he could never love her due to them being from different races, she gets it in her head that she needs to get herself a Huma body.]] Cue the events of the entire plot that [[spoiler:ends in Agarte ''dying'' and Milhaust revealing [[DyingDeclarationOfLove that, actually, he felt the same way about her]]; thereby making everything she did to win his heart [[ShaggyDogStory completely pointless]].]]

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* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth''. It's done with humans and beastmen rather than people of any skin colour but hey. [[TheAce Milhaust]] is the only Huma ''and'' the only non-Force user of the main villains and, wouldn't you know it, he's also TheAce of it. [[spoiler:It's his being so incredible and awesome that causes [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Agarte]] to fall in love with him. However, because she believes that he could never love her due to them being from different races, she gets it in her head that she needs to get herself a Huma body.]] Cue the events of the entire plot that [[spoiler:ends in Agarte ''dying'' and Milhaust revealing [[DyingDeclarationOfLove that, actually, he felt the same way about her]]; thereby making everything she did to win his heart [[ShaggyDogStory completely pointless]].]]pointless]]]].



* Parodied, and ultimately deconstructed, with the ''[[WesternAnimation/{{StarTrekLowerDecks}} Star Trek: Lower Decks]]'' episode "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption." An embittered military medic, hiding in a low-tech village to avoid punishment for desertion, introduces the locals to modern medicine and saves several lives, in the process [[TookALevelInKindness growing more open and less cynical]], [[LoveRedeems finding love with the chieftain's child]], and ultimately [[GoodFeelsGood saving the whole village from]] [[LetsGetDangerous an invading force]]. The deconstruction? [[spoiler:The medic deliberately called in the invading force so she could fend them off, fake being a hero, and return to the culture she ''actually'' wants to live in [[VillainWithGoodPublicity under the guise of being redeemed by her efforts]]. That is, she's doing what lost European explorers most typically did with locals: [[MoralMyopia selfishly exploit them and then ditch them without a shred of actual empathy]].]] The parody? The medic is Ensign Peanut Hamper, a [[StarfishRobots non-humanoid]] [[MechanicalLifeforms utility robot]] who looks like an expressionless metal egg on skis and is voiced by a very snarky Creator/KetherDonohue.

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* Parodied, and ultimately deconstructed, with the ''[[WesternAnimation/{{StarTrekLowerDecks}} ''[[WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks Star Trek: Lower Decks]]'' episode "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption." An embittered military medic, hiding in a low-tech village to avoid punishment for desertion, introduces the locals to modern medicine and saves several lives, in the process [[TookALevelInKindness growing more open and less cynical]], [[LoveRedeems finding love with the chieftain's child]], and ultimately [[GoodFeelsGood saving the whole village from]] [[LetsGetDangerous an invading force]]. The deconstruction? [[spoiler:The medic deliberately called in the invading force so she could fend them off, fake being a hero, and return to the culture she ''actually'' wants to live in [[VillainWithGoodPublicity under the guise of being redeemed by her efforts]]. That is, she's doing what lost European explorers most typically did with locals: [[MoralMyopia selfishly exploit them and then ditch them without a shred of actual empathy]].]] The parody? The medic is Ensign Peanut Hamper, a [[StarfishRobots non-humanoid]] [[MechanicalLifeforms utility robot]] who looks like an expressionless metal egg on skis and is voiced by a very snarky Creator/KetherDonohue.
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* Parodied, and ultimately deconstructed, with the ''[[WesternAnimation/{{StarTrekLowerDecks}} Star Trek: Lower Decks]]'' episode "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption." An embittered military medic, hiding in a low-tech village to avoid punishment for desertion, introduces the locals to modern medicine and saves several lives, in the process [[TookALevelInKindness growing more open and less cynical]], [[LoveRedeems finding love with the chieftain's child]], and ultimately [[GoodFeelsGood saving the whole village from]] [[LetsGetDangerous an invading force]]. The deconstruction? [[spoiler:The medic deliberately called in the invading force so she could fend them off, fake being a hero, and return to the culture she ''actually'' wants to live in [[VillainWithGoodPublicity under the guise of being redeemed by her efforts]]. That is, she's doing what lost European explorers most typically did with locals: [[MoralMyopia selfishly exploit them and then ditch them without a shred of actual empathy]].]] The parody? The medic is Ensign Peanut Hamper, a [[StarfishRobots non-humanoid]] [[MechanicalLifeforms utility robot]] who looks like an expressionless metal egg on skis and is voiced by a very snarky Creator/KetherDonohue.
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* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a gag to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.

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* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', a white kid from TheEighties named Marty [=McFly=] travels back to 1955 and is implied in a gag to have introduced RockAndRoll to the world by playing "Johnny B. Goode" at a school dance where Music/ChuckBerry's cousin is in attendance, three years before Chuck wrote the song.

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