History Main / ReasonableAuthorityFigure

* [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' had an Archdeacon to clean up the church's name after Judge Frollo's KickTheDog moment where he contemplates killing the deformed baby Quasimodo. Sadly, he’s not around for the rest of the film where Frollo does things that are arguably even worse than that (and when he does stand up to Frollo after he violates the rule of sanctuary (a ''big'' no-no) by ramming down the door, the latter responds by (non-fatally) [[MoralEventHorizon throwing him down the stairs]]).

* ComicBook/JudgeDredd. He's tough, but he's fair. As long as you're a citizen of Mega-City One, you're under his full protection and he'll risk life and limb for you, and if you commit a crime, he will use the exact amount of force necessary to turn you in and give you the exact sentence you've earned. [[IncorruptiblePurePureness He is also thoroughly, almost supernaturally incorruptible]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Mala is the warden on Reformation Island and is more than reasonable with her wards, a large group of whom chose to dedicate themselves to her due to how well she cared for them and helped their rehabilitation.

* The Emperor in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', who is clearly the wisest and most level headed person in the movie, especially when contrasted with Chi Fu, his obnoxious, opinionated advisor.
* [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' had an Archdeacon to clean up the church's name after Judge Frollo's KickTheDog moment where he contemplates killing the deformed baby Quasimodo. Sadly, he’s not around for the rest of the film where Frollo does things that are arguably even worse than that (and when he does stand up to Frollo after he violates the rule of sanctuary (a ''big'' no-no) by ramming down the door, the latter responds by (non-fatally) [[MoralEventHorizon throwing him down the stairs]]).
* General Rogard in ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'' attempts to understand the situation and not assume the worst when confronted with a giant alien robot. Unfortunately, the FBI agent on the scene happens to be a complete bigot (and a DirtyCoward to boot), and goes out of his way just to provoke the Iron Giant into retaliation.

* La Muerte from ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'', is the OnlySaneWoman among the Gods and [[spoiler:said it was fair to return Manolo back to life since Xibalba cheated]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Despite [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter his]] [[{{Manchild}} flaws]], the Sultan is generally a worthy ruler knowing when to put his power to good use. In ''[[WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves The King of Thieves]]'', he agrees to drop all charges against Aladdin for busting Cassim free because Aladdin only did so out of love and [[HonorBeforeReason willingly came back to accept the consequences of his actions]] (plus he does like and respect Aladdin). That's on top of changing the law so that Jasmine can MarryForLove.

* After years and years of the WWF being run by unscrupulous heels like Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH who screwed the faces at any chance, a bit of fresh air surfaced when Wrestling/MickFoley became Commissioner in 2000 and actually treated everybody equally. It was a nice if brief change of pace to watch a heel like Triple H finally get his just deserts-- at the hands of the man he forcefully retired, no less. Besides Triple H, Foley's actions would frequently anger Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/{{Christian}}, and Wrestling/KurtAngle. Wrestling/ChrisBenoit got it the worst when two of his world title victories were overturned by Foley due to the referees making bad calls. Still, Mick's reasonableness didn't save him from getting booed when backed into a corner by Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin.

* There are a few officials in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' who fit this trope, such as Literature/CiaphasCain, [[Literature/GauntsGhosts Ibram Gaunt]], and a handful of their fellow officers. Warmaster Horus was one, at least [[FaceHeelTurn before the heresy.]] Unfortunately, they are very much in the minority. To be fair, this is not entirely unjustified in a setting where having an open mind is practically an invitation to [[EldritchAbomination Chaos]].
** Post-[[WhamEpisode Cicatrix Maledictum]], the role has been definitively claimed by Roboute Guilliman, who's even somewhat willing to cooperate with aliens, in stark contrast to the AbsoluteXenophobe Imperium.

* ''In TabletopGame/InNomine'', the player characters are often angels reporting to Archangels. The books give directions for the GM to play these Archangels as anything from KnightTemplar fanatics to Reasonable Authority Figures. Their counterparts, the Demon Princes, not so much.

* Alex Cyprin in ''VisualNovel/AstoriaFatesKiss'', the protagonist's boss, has immense faith in her and backs her up as much as they can even when she's acting well outside the auspices of the organization they both work for. Higher up the chain of command, Hades is an even better example: in the best ending of Hydra's route, once Hades hears what Hydra and the protagonist have to say about what's going on he puts an end to [[spoiler:Hercules]]'s plans immediately, and one gets the impression that the whole trouble could have been avoided by simply going to Hades about it from the beginning.

* [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' had an Archdeacon to clean up the church's name after Judge Frollo's KickTheDog moment where he contemplates killing the deformed baby Quasimodo. Sadly, he’s not around for the rest of the film where Frollo does things that are arguably even worse than that.

** The Prince. He doesn't want the feud to tear the city apart and is doing everything he can to keep the two sides from going too far.

# Despite giving the hero's a fair chance to prove themselves circumstances, or bad luck, have lead to the hero's inability to provide sufficient proof of their claim and the authority figure ultimately refusing to help until better proof can be provided. This usually comes with a sympathetic explanation that they want to help, but that it would be unreasonable of them to spend so much money or to put other's at risk without sufficient proof of the necessity of the action.

It should be noted that a reasonable authority figure isn't somebody who simply says yes to all of their subordinate's requests. It may be that they have a good reason to deny a request, perhaps because it would interfere with the big picture and throw off some other more important task that must be completed, or that there is a morally ambiguous situation and while he has sympathy for his subordinate's position he can't agree with it due to conflicting ethics. This often crops in ToBeLawfulOrGood situations. It may also be that while he personally believes his staff when they come to him with an outlandish story, he's aware that his own superiors may not and would require proof, and therefore must refuse their requests on that basis. Conversely a leader who lets his subordinates do whatever they please may not be a good leader at all, but may be completely ineffectual, or even possibly malevolent, for example by making his subordinates so loyal to him that they willingly and eagerly hurl themselves into situations for him that more guarded people would realise were insane. In other words, a reasonable authority figure doesn't always have to support his underlings if he has good reasons not to, and somebody who does always back his subordinates up isn't always a reasonable authority figure.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Mala is the warden on Reformation Island and is more than reasonable with her wards, a large group of whom chose to dedicate themselves to her due to how well she cared for them and helped their rehabilitation.

'''This position means that they can [[AnthropicPrinciple end the story quickly]] unless other obstacles intervene. Which means [[JustForFun/HowToStopTheDeusExMachina they usually do intervene]].'''

** Cobra Bubbles is this as well; rather than remove Lilo from Nani's custody right away, he listens carefully to the evidence, gives Nani a chance to prove herslf, and ultimately tries to do what he feels is best for Lilo's wellbeing. [[spoiler: The ending reveals he was also a CIA member. The thing about mosquitoes being endangered was something he made up to deter an alien invasion.]]

** Cobra Bubbles is this as well; rather than remove Lilo from Nani's custody right away, he listens carefully to the evidence and ultimately tries to do what he feels is best for Lilo's wellbeing. [[spoiler: The ending reveals he was also a CIA member. The thing about mosquitoes being endangered was something he made up to deter an alien invasion.]]

* After years and years of the WWF being run by LawfulEvil heels like Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH who screwed the faces at any chance, a bit of fresh air surfaced when Wrestling/MickFoley became Commissioner in 2000 and actually treated everybody equally. It was a nice if brief change of pace to watch a heel like Triple H finally get his just deserts-- at the hands of the man he forcefully retired, no less. Besides Triple H, Foley's actions would frequently anger Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/{{Christian}}, and Wrestling/KurtAngle. Wrestling/ChrisBenoit got it the worst when two of his world title victories were overturned by Foley due to the referees making bad calls. Still, Mick's reasonableness didn't save him from getting booed when backed into a corner by Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin.

Noteworthy because, if the hero does manage to convince them, they can help in the fight but they may have to ShootTheDog as part of their position. Being in a position where you are responsible for millions and do not think that AMillionIsAStatistic can be hard.

* It was common in the past for ''all'' authority figures in the pro wrestling business to be depicted this way when they showed up on television, acting as a {{Foil}} for the antics of the heels and the zanier faces. Jack Tunney is a good example. It wasn't until the nineties that the CorruptCorporateExecutive version of the authority figure rose to popularity (in the form of Vince [=McMahon=] in the then-WWF and Eric Bischoff in WCW).

'''This position means that they can end the story quickly unless other obstacles intervene. Which means [[JustForFun/HowToStopTheDeusExMachina they usually do intervene]].'''

%%* George Washington in ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''. The other Founding Fathers? Not so much.

* The Emperor in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'', who is clearly the wisest and most level headed person in the movie, especially when contrasted with Chi Fu, his obnoxious, opinionated advisor.
* [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' had an Archdeacon to clean up the church's name after Judge Frollo's KickTheDog moment where he contemplates killing the deformed baby Quasimodo. Sadly, he’s not around for the rest of the film where Frollo does things that are arguably even worse than that.

* The Grand Councilwoman from ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' is rather reasonable for being the head of the [[TheFederation Galactic Federation]], although like most aliens, she believes Pleakly when he tells her to spare Earth from destructions because mosquitos are endangered.

* ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'': Despite [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter his]] [[{{Manchild}} flaws]], the Sultan is generally a worthy ruler knowing when to put his power to good use. In ''[[Disney/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves The King of Thieves]]'', he agrees to drop all charges against Aladdin for busting Cassim free because Aladdin only did so out of love and [[HonorBeforeReason willingly came back to accept the consequences of his actions]] (plus he does like and respect Aladdin). That's on top of changing the law so that Jasmine can MarryForLove.

* {{ReasonableAuthorityFigure/Webcomics}}

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers,'' the leader of the [[YellowPeril Mongol Empire]] turns out to be a surprisingly reasonable man, once the heroes have gotten past the EvilChancellor to speak to him. When he [[VillainRealization realizes]] how horribly his corrupt subordinates have tyrannized TheEmpire, he [[HeelFaceTurn releases]] North America from the Empire.
[[/folder]]