History Main / MilesGloriosus

The Miles Gloriosus (pronounced [[GratuitousLatin "ME-lace glor-ee-OH-sys"]], not "MYLES GLOR-ee-oh-SUS") claims to be some sort of mighty warrior or doer of the impossible. A soldier, GreatWhiteHunter, GentlemanAdventurer, HunterOfMonsters, {{Superhero}} or other dangerous occupations are all possible. He is full of boasts about his many adventures, making himself out to be the ultimate badass. But when real danger rears its ugly head, Miles reveals what's BeneathTheMask and proves to be a DirtyCoward, anything ''but'' what his stories make him out to be, leaving whoever was foolish enough to be taken in by them to fend for themselves.

* Naturally the usual characterization of Gilderoy Lockhart in ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fanfiction. Note however an interesting subversion in ''Fanfic/LikeARedHeadedStepchild'', where [[spoiler: he ends up actually believing his own stories due to MindRape gone wrong, and actually delivering on his usual bragging.]]

* In ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'' Ormuz Vandire is a Naval Admiral commanding a battlegroup that hasn't seen battle in one hundred and fifty years. Despite this he boasts that his fleet could wipe out Taylor's battle-hardened fleet in just an hour. When Ormuz is actually deployed to defend Cadia against a Black Crusade, he suffers a panic attack when [[spoiler:Magnus]] engages his fleet and has to be forcibly relieved of command. As a result of the delay in orders, the battlegroup suffers the most severe losses of any Imperial element in the battle.

The Miles Gloriosus (pronounced [[GratuitousLatin "ME-lace glor-ee-OH-sys"]], [[NoPronunciationGuide not "MYLES GLOR-ee-oh-SUS"]]) claims to be some sort of mighty warrior or doer of the impossible. A soldier, GreatWhiteHunter, GentlemanAdventurer, HunterOfMonsters, {{Superhero}} or other dangerous occupations are all possible. He is full of boasts about his many adventures, making himself out to be the ultimate badass. But when real danger rears its ugly head, Miles reveals what's BeneathTheMask and proves to be a DirtyCoward, anything ''but'' what his stories make him out to be, leaving whoever was foolish enough to be taken in by them to fend for themselves.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The [[BlatantLies deadly, unstoppable]] [[http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=79487 Mall Ninja]] lands squarely in this category. The term "mall ninja" is a pejorative term for someone who is boastful about their abilities in martial arts and/or hand-to-hand weapon skills (especially [[InternetJerk online]]), but who never has any experience in an actual fight. [[http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/ Here are the exploits of one example of the species]].
* Military impostors have existed for as long as there have been professional armies; throughout history, people have claimed to have served with [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome Roman legions]], with UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington at [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution Valley Forge]], or with any other fabled military unit of the recent past. For a modern example, the FBI [[http://www.extremesealexperience.com/Fake-Navy-Seal-Verification_Scourge-Of-Seal-Imposters-1 estimates]] that, for every genuine former UsefulNotes/{{Navy SEAL|s}} alive today (about seven thousand, not counting active-duty servicemen), there are about three hundred impostors.
** In America, it's legal to make such claims due to the First Amendment's protections on free speech. But if the faker then tries to also dress the part or gain any material benefits from their supposed military status, they're in legal trouble, because that's fraud. Plus, even if the liar doesn't try to gain any benefits besides bragging rights, actual military veterans tend to humiliate this kind of liar as payback. The term for it in American military culture is "stolen honor", and it's one of the few things that almost every American soldier comes down hard on.
* North Korea. Despite constantly making threats against other countries and singing about their own amazing badassery and power, they have probably one of the worst military strengths in the world, and hide behind China every time someone might actually bother retaliating. The only reason North Korea hasn't collapsed in on itself is because China props it up, and even the Chinese are getting sick of the act.
* The [[ForumSpeak Internet Tough Guy]] is essentially this. They'll go on spectacularly long rants and speeches about how they'd kick their opponent's ass if they met in person, than crumple like wet paper the second something potentially dangerous or scary appears - see the aforementioned Navy SEAL copypasta.
* The infamous Westboro Baptist Church. They'll provoke, insult, and piss off anyone from average citizens to hardened soldiers, but the second someone retaliates they fall apart begging for help and file a FrivolousLawsuit. Many believe that they do this intentionally; since they're hated by basically everyone, the only way they can get money is to play the WoundedGazelleGambit and provoke people into attacking them so they can then sue for damage.
* General George [=McClellan=] of the Union forces during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar has been described like this. While he was rightly praised as talented at raising and training armies for battle, [=McClellan=] has also been lambasted as an incompetent, insubordinate braggart who was so cowardly as a fighting commander that he directly prolonged the war. UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln once famously asked if he could borrow the army for a short while, since [=McClellan=] [[TakeThat didn't seem to be doing much with it]].
** Several of the commanders of the Army of the Potomac (the same army raised and trained by [=McClellan=]) also turned out to be this. General Joseph Hooker, for example, boasted that he would bring victory, but was manhandled by Robert E Lee. One of the things that allegedly made Ulysses S Grant popular with the rank-and-file is that he ''didn't'' make such promises.
** Future Union General William Tecumseh Sherman (at the time a colonel who helped set up what would become the Louisiana State Seminary) felt that many of the Southerners clamoring for war with the North were this. He outright stated as such during a dinner with many of prominent Southern politicians and personages when invited to present his views on the increasing turmoil between the North and South.
* Hugues De Vermendois, younger son of Henry I of France, Count of Vermendois, and leader of a [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Crusader]] army during the First Crusade. He was a terrible soldier and military leader, but thought very highly of himself; he fits this trope so much that Website/TheOtherWiki described him as 'an ineffectual leader and soldier, great only in his boasting.' He sent this laughably arrogant letter to the Eastern Roman Emperor Alexius I Comnenus demanding a proper welcome to the Byzantine Empire:
--> [[SmallNameBigEgo Know, Emperor, that I am the King of Kings, the greatest of all beneath the heavens. It is fitting that I should be met on my arrival and received with the pomp and ceremony appropriate to my noble birth.]]
** While sailing across the Adriatic Sea, Hugues had his fleet hit by storms, sinking most of the ships and throwing his own ship upon the shore. He quickly came under the control of Alexius, who persuaded him to become his liegemen and wouldn't let his small force of Crusaders go anywhere until he swore not only to restore to the Byzantine Empire all the territories conquered by the Turks, but to let him have all the land he took in his conquests become his fiefs (essentially, in order to possess them, they would have to swear allegiance and enter into service to Alexius). He then tried to persuade Godfrey of Bouillon, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, to pledge allegiance to the Emperor; when Godfrey pointed out that Hugues was now basically a slave, Hugues said that they wouldn't be able to progress any further without his protection.
** Later, he was sent back to Alexius to appeal for reinforcements to siege Jerusalem; Alexius was uninterested, so Hugues went back to France, where he was promptly hated for achieving basically nothing as a Crusader, and threatened with excommunication for his failure. Throughout all of this, Hugues was convinced he was a brilliant military leader.
* Dan Bilzerian, son of jailed '80s corporate raider Paul Bilzerian, [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/10/03/what-a-macho-gun-packing-instagram-star-did-when-he-was-caught-in-the-las-vegas-shooting/?utm_term=.a02effe3b4dd exposed himself as one of these]]. A washout from Navy SEAL school, he ran a popular Instagram feed showing off, in addition to things like sports cars and attractive women he was allegedly dating, his vast gun collection, with captions like "My biggest fear is that someone will break in and I won't be able to decide which of my guns to shoot them with." He might not have been joking. Caught in the middle of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, the deadliest in U.S. history, he started running back to his house, ostensibly to pick the right gun out and go back to save the day, passing many mortally wounded victims along the way, only to stop at a police car when he realized the shooting was over. And then he ''posted a video of this to his feed''.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rogers_(video_game_player) Todd Rogers]] is the world's first professional videogame player, and used to hold many high-scores in videogames, most of them given to him in the 80s. He didn't have any sort of photo or video proof of these scores, but they were still accepted by the organization Twin Galaxies, a partner of the Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords. A lot of these records were either impossible, way higher than the second place, or would take [[BottomlessBladder days of constant play]] to achieve. He never managed to repeat his feats near cameras when asked. And his most infamous record is 5.51 in ''Dragster'' even though analysis of the code claims the lowest time possible is 5.57. He had fans that claimed anyone who questioned his records was just jealous, as well as people in Twin Galaxies making sure his records stayed valid. In 2018, all his records were removed and he was banned from Twin Galaxies. Here's a list of his [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12r8Hi8QuIedNKsyrVIyjw4S8194YtnEiGVZxqEx-b7U/edit#gid=0 suspicious records]].
* [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/08/18/the-rise-and-humiliating-fall-of-charlottesvilles-starring-fascist/ Neo-nazi Chris Cantwell]] appeared at the "Unite the Right" white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he gave media interviews bragging about how he's always armed and ready for a fight, dismissed all the violence at the event, and even seemed to be wishing for more. He's also previously been featured on The Colbert Show for his brave defense of freedom in Keane, NH, which consisted of him and his buddies harassing parking enforcement officers. Then he found out there was a warrant for his arrest and the video of his InelegantBlubbering quickly went viral, gaining him the nickname "the Weeping Nazi".
* A lot of young doctors in hospital, who have just started from university, are often stereotyped as this. They will talk about the years of education they've been through and how they'll keep calm and collected in an emergency. When said emergency happens, they conveniently remember they have to be somewhere else.
--> "When the emergency buzzer goes off, clear a path for the new doctor, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere so he can run the other way]]."
[[/folder]]

Particularly annoying subtrope of FakeUltimateHero and particularly egotistical subtrope of TheMunchausen (the latter of whom can actually back it up). Inverse of the CowardlyLion. Similar to LordErrorProne. If the plot ever forces him to stand and actually act like the badass he claims to be, then it's BecomingTheBoast. Villainous versions may overlap with HeroismAddict. May be inclined to say NobodyCallsMeChicken... right before saying ScrewThisImOuttaHere

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rogers_(video_game_player) Todd Rogers]] is the world's first professional videogame player, and used to hold many high-scores in videogames, most of them given to him in the 80s. They didn't have any sort of photo or video proof but were still accepted by the organization Twin Galaxies, a partner of the Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords. A lot of these records were either impossible, way higher than the second place, or would take [[BottomlessBladder days of constant play]] to achieve. He never managed to repeat his feats near cameras when asked. And his most infamous record is 5.51 in ''Dragster'' even though analysis of the code claims the lowest time possible is 5.57. He had fans that whenever someone came and dared question his records, called that person just jealous and he had people in Twin Galaxies making sure his records stayed valid. In 2018 all his records were removed and he was banned from Twin Galaxies. Here's a list of his [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12r8Hi8QuIedNKsyrVIyjw4S8194YtnEiGVZxqEx-b7U/edit#gid=0 suspicious records]].

* Hugues De Vermendois, younger son of Henry I of France, Count of Vermendois, and leader of a [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Crusader]] army during the First Crusade. He was a terrible soldier and military leader, but thought very highly of himself; he fits this trope so much that Wiki/TheOtherWiki described him as 'an ineffectual leader and soldier, great only in his boasting.' He sent this laughably arrogant letter to the Eastern Roman Emperor Alexius I Comnenus demanding a proper welcome to the Byzantine Empire:

Compare SmugSuper, NominalHero, and PhonyVeteran.

The Miles Gloriosus (pronounced [[GratuitousLatin "ME-lace glor-ee-OH-sys"]]) claims to be some sort of mighty warrior or doer of the impossible. A soldier, GreatWhiteHunter, GentlemanAdventurer, HunterOfMonsters, {{Superhero}} or other dangerous occupations are all possible. He is full of boasts about his many adventures, making himself out to be the ultimate badass. But when real danger rears its ugly head, Miles reveals what's BeneathTheMask and proves to be a DirtyCoward, anything ''but'' what his stories make him out to be, leaving whoever was foolish enough to be taken in by them to fend for themselves.

--> "When the emergency buzzer goes off, clear a path for the new doctor, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere so he can run the other way]]"

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* This is the traditional personality of a {{heel}} in ProfessionalWrestling. They talk a good game about how badass they are, and usually love to smack around the lower level guys, but they turn into a DirtyCoward when facing the top-tier faces (or sometimes even when the lower level ones put up too much of an even-handed fight), revealing that all their talk was a bunch of hot air. In the territorial days, this was an EnforcedTrope in Memphis.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]

The Miles Gloriosus (pronounced "ME-lace glor-ee-OH-sys") claims to be some sort of mighty warrior or doer of the impossible. A soldier, GreatWhiteHunter, GentlemanAdventurer, HunterOfMonsters, {{Superhero}} or other dangerous occupations are all possible. He is full of boasts about his many adventures, making himself out to be the ultimate badass. But when real danger rears its ugly head, Miles reveals what's BeneathTheMask and proves to be a DirtyCoward, anything ''but'' what his stories make him out to be, leaving whoever was foolish enough to be taken in by them to fend for themselves.

The Miles Gloriosus ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY pronounced]] "ME-lace glor-ee-OH-sys") claims to be some sort of mighty warrior or doer of the impossible. A soldier, GreatWhiteHunter, GentlemanAdventurer, HunterOfMonsters, {{Superhero}} or other dangerous occupations are all possible. He is full of boasts about his many adventures, making himself out to be the ultimate badass. But when real danger rears its ugly head, Miles reveals what's BeneathTheMask and proves to be a DirtyCoward, anything ''but'' what his stories make him out to be, leaving whoever was foolish enough to be taken in by them to fend for themselves.

* [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/08/18/the-rise-and-humiliating-fall-of-charlottesvilles-starring-fascist/ Neo-nazi Chris Cantwell]] appeared at the "Unite the Right" white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he gave media interviews bragging about how he's always armed and ready for a fight, dismissed all the violence at the event, and even seemed to be wishing for more. He's also previously been featured on The Colbert Show for his brave defense of freedom in Keane, NH, which consisted of him and his buddies harassing parking enforcement officers. Then he found out [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome there was a warrant for his arrest]] and the video of his InelegantBlubbering quickly went viral, gaining him the nickname "the Weeping Nazi".

* [[GeneralFailure General Ironwood]] of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fits this to a T; he spends the series A) boasting about how strong and capable his army is, B) putting himself in positions of ultimate authority, C) getting completely outmanuevered by the villains and D) withdrawing his forces from any conflict where he doesn't have a clear, overwhelming advantage. It's not that Ironwood is a weakling, it's just that he completely overestimates what he's capable of, underestimates what the baddies can do, and even when he does fight, it's always against relatively weaker opponents. [[spoiler: Near the end of Volume 7, he learns that Salem has CompleteImmortality, and that she's on her way to attack Atlas personally. He then makes the pragmatic decision to raise Atlas higher into the sky to escape her forces, while endangering the people still needing to be extracted from a freezing Mantle and hordes of Grimm.]]

->''"[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech I hear you been tellin' about how you killed all them Jenkins brothers. With one bullet, wasn't it? Ain't that right? All these good folks here believe your little stories, don't they? Why, they believe you're just a stone killer, don't they? Seems these folks trust you. They think you're gonna save their little town. They think you're gonna save their little souls! But we know better, don't we]]?"''

->''"[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech I hear you been tellin' about how you killed all them Jenkins brothers. With one bullet, wasn't it? Ain't that right? All these good folks here believe your little stories, don't they? Why, they believe you're just a stone killer, don't they? Seems these folks trust you. They think you're gonna save their little town. They think you're gonna save their little souls! But we know better, don't we?]]"''

->''"I hear you been tellin' about how you killed all them Jenkins brothers. With one bullet, wasn't it? Ain't that right? All these good folks here believe your little stories, don't they? Why, they believe you're just a stone killer, don't they? Seems these folks trust you. They think you're gonna save their little town. They think you're gonna save their little souls! But we know better, don't we?"''

The Miles Gloriosus ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY pronounced]] "ME-lace glor-ee-OH-sys") claims to be some sort of mighty warrior or doer of the impossible. A soldier, GreatWhiteHunter, GentlemanAdventurer, HunterOfMonsters, {{Superhero}} or other dangerous occupations are all possible. He is full of boasts about his many adventures, making himself out to be the ultimate badass. But when real danger rears its ugly head, Miles reveals his TrueColors and proves to be a DirtyCoward, anything ''but'' what his stories make him out to be, leaving whoever was foolish enough to be taken in by them to fend for themselves.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Chauvin Nicolas Chauvin]] is a probably mythical soldier who served in the First Army of the [[UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution French Republic]] and later in ''La Grande Armée'' of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte. He is said to have been very loyal and dedicated to Napoleon despite having been wounded 17 times in his nation's service, resulting in his severe disfigurement and maiming, as well as Napoleon himself awarding him a Sabre of Honor and a pension of 200 francs, as well as ridicule after Napoleon was brought down and the Bourbon Restoration started. His last name is the origin of the word "chauvinism", originally meaning extreme nationalism, nowadays meaning any kind of extreme bigotry where one's group is considered superior and others are inferior.