History Main / TheLancer

Not to be confused with the recurring character title of the ''Franchise/FateSeries'', nor [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Lancer]] in ''Videogame/{{Deltarune}}'', or the [[{{TabletopGame/Lancer}} RPG of the same name]].

* Shelly from ''Webcomic/FindingYourRoots'' is a foil to the main protagonist Cedar. Shelly has a completely different attitude towards the FantasticalRacism in that she wishes she ''weren't'' born a minority race, while Cedar embraces that part of her identity when she could easily pass as the MasterRace. Cedar is also outgoing and adventerous, while Shelly is skeptical and avoidant.

* UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton from ''Webcomic/TheDreamer'' is definitely the Lancer.

* Theo from ''WebComic/GoldCoinComics'', who is also TheSpock.

* Where the hero [[CloseRangeCombatant gets up close]] with a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]], the Lancer picks [[LongRangeFighter opponents off at range]] with [[ArcherArchetype with projectiles]] and [[TheGunslinger guns]], or pole weapons making for a literal lancer. See ShortRangeGuyLongRangeGuy and GunsVsSwords. If everyone is a ranged fighter then expect the Lancer to be the best shot, or an AcePilot.

* [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] is perhaps the MU's resident [[IncrediblyLamePun Freelancer]], having filled the role on every team he has ever been in, and simply filling that role for the MU heroes in general.

* ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} of ''Comicbook/TheAvengers''. He tends to chafe under ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's leadership, but it's clear how much like Cap he is -- he led both his own Avengers franchise and the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} for several years.

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} would probably be horrified if he realised, but he ends up being this when he teams up with Comicbook/{{Cable}}. Sure, he wouldn't be anyone's first choice for a [[TalkativeLoon voice]] [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud of]] [[MediumAwareness reason]], but no-one else can actually stand up to Cable when he's getting [[WellIntentionedExtremist way too into]] the [[CrystalDragonJesus future mutant messiah thing]].

* In ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'' Nico was originally this to Alex. These days [[TheSmartGuy Gert]], [[SixthRanger Victor]], and [[BadassNormal Chase]] have all been known to alternate the role amongst themselves.

* [[ComicBook/MilesMorales Spider-Man]] usually takes the unofficial role as second in command within the [[ComicBook/Champions2016 Champions]] when team leader, [[ComicBook/KamalaKhan Ms. Marvel]] is unable to. Even when Ms. Marvel is leading on the field, he will at times act as a co-leader, becoming the main support for the overall mission. He also often acts as a voice of reasoning and calm for the team as a whole, being the one to de-escalate rising tensions between members and calling themselves out to reflect on their mistakes when they make them no matter how uncomfortable.

** DependingOnTheWriter, Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} can also be an all-purpose Lancer. Particularly on ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''.
* Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow has often played this role against Robin/Nightwing in the ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' (and later the ''Outsiders'').

** Same thing in ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'', though Comicbook/{{Ares|Marvel}} also fills this role sometimes. {{ComicBook/Daken}} too for that matter.

* Wolverine of the ''Comicbook/XMen''.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O'Neal from their generation of the LA Lakers. The seasoned Shaq was TheBigGuy and the captain, while the rambunctious Kobe was the rookie. Their relationship was frequently punctuated by feuds played out in the press. Once Shaq left for Miami, Kobe's became the face of the Lakers, with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum sharing the role of the Lancer.
* When they were both on the Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippen was seen as a lancer for UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan. He even got promoted to TheLeader during Jordan's brief retirement, holding the ship well if not enough to continue the dynasty.
* Russell Westbrook, the cocky Red Oni, to Kevin Durant, the collected Blue Oni. Unlike Kobe and Shaq, Durant and Westbrook were HeterosexualLifePartners.
* Dwyane Wade to Usefulnotes/LeBronJames in the Miami Heat. James is the theatric champion on the court; Wade is the leader and the face of the team.
* The Chicago Blackhawks are led by young superstars Jonathan Toews, nicknamed "Captain Serious", and Patrick Kane, who does not exactly carry the same reputation.
* Alex Rodriguez to Derek Jeter after he joined the New York Yankees.
* Bobby Bonilla to Barry Bonds, during the competitive 90s Pittsburgh Pirates, before their downward spiral to becoming one of the worst teams in over a decade. Bobby Bonilla would go with coach Jim Leland and win a world series with him on the Florida Marlins. Barry Bonds would go to the San Francisco Giants and put up great career numbers. But he would never win a World Series and then you have the steroids accusations.
* UsefulNotes/FormulaOne teams use this concept very often, with the driver taking this role being called the "Number Two". They are mostly expected to fight and hold back drivers from other teams while the "Number One" driver tries to take the car to where they are expected to be.
* Klay Thompson is TheLancer of Usefulnotes/StephenCurry, a duo known as "Splash Brothers" for their ImprobableAimingSkills.
* Music/TheWho is an interesting example. Pete Townsend was the band's artistic leader, but was also violent and dealt with depression. He wasn't the band's frontman, though. He left that up to "second-in-command", Roger Daltrey who was more reserved in comparison and often served as the more mature member of the group.
* Music/TheBeatles are another interesting variation: Music/JohnLennon started out as TheHero, with Music/PaulMcCartney as the Lancer. And as time went on, they switched.
* Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} has Music/KeithRichards as The Lancer to Music/MickJagger.
* Beanie Sigel, during the early 2000s, was The Lancer to Music/JayZ. It [[RageAgainstTheMentor didn't work out in the end]].
* Speaking of Jay-Z, Music/KanyeWest is his Lancer on ''Watch the Throne''.
** In West's own crew, GOOD Music, Pusha T is the Lancer to West's hero.
* AcePilot Staff Sergeant Nils Katajainen (36 kills) to Captain Hans Wind (78 kills) in the Finnish Air Force in WWII. They usually flew as a pair. ''Both'' were awarded the Mannerheim Cross, roughly the Finnish equivalent of Victoria Cross or Congressional Medal of Honor.
* Michael Vick to Donovan [=McNabb=] in the Philadelphia Eagles. [=McNabb=] was the calm, collected quarterback leader with a passion for the sport, while Vick was the "bad-boy" second-in-command who was in legal troubles, especially with the dog-fighting.
* UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton. Hamilton served as UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's NumberTwo during the Revolutionary War and Washington's time as president. While Washington was stoic, deliberative, and against bare knuckle politics, Hamilton was brash, quick witted, and famously one of the most vicious political fighters of his generation. This proved useful to Washington, who relied on Hamilton's intricate thinking and writing skills to serve as his Army chief of staff and most trusted secretary, much to the annoyance of others on Washington's staff.
* Likewise Rahm Emanuel. A [[JerkAss dirty]], armtwisting guy from UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, who was once a senior advisor to UsefulNotes/BillClinton, as he was to UsefulNotes/BarackObama. Did you know he studied ballet?
* Shuuichi Ikeda to Toru Furuya; they voiced for the main antagonist and the main protagonist of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' respectively.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Wittmann Michael Wittmann]], one of the most successful armored commanders of all time, had [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balthasar_Woll Bobby Woll]] as his gunner. They were so in tune that, eventually, all Wittmann had to do was give Woll a direction where enemy tanks could be found and let Woll do the rest. Luckily for Woll, he wasn't with Wittmann when the latter's [[InTheBack luck ran out]] in August, 1944.
* General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, to General Robert E. Lee once Lee earned command of the Virginian forces in 1862. When Jackson was killed, accidentally shot by his own men at Chancellorsville, Lee said "He had lost his left arm, but I have lost my right."
** General James Longstreet is arguably a better example of Lee's Lancer. Lee described him as the "staff in my right hand" after the Seven Days' Battles, an series of engagements in which Longstreet performed well and Jackson did not. Longstreet rather than Jackson was the official second-in-command of the army. Where Lee shared personality traits with Jackson, including general reserve, an explosive temper when pressed, and a deep religiosity, Longstreet had a more laid-back, fun-loving personality, and did not share Lee and Jackson's objections to drinking and gambling. Despite that, Lee more often spent time at Longstreet's headquarters than Jackson's, apparently preferring the atmosphere there. He also served as more of a foil to Lee in a military sense as well. Jackson usually embraced Lee's offensive strategies and tactics. Longstreet on the other hand repeatedly opposed Lee's decisions and argued for alternative tactics, such as at Gettysburg, and he criticized many of Lee's decisions in his memoirs. For all of that, he and Lee were personally good friends, and on campaign, where Jackson was often sent out for detached duty, Longstreet would more often remain with Lee and serve as his principal subordinate and adviser.
** On the Union side, William Tecumseh Sherman was the Lancer to UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant. "Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk. Now, we stand by each other always." [[note]] They also represented the "differing personalities/ approaches" aspect of this trope. Sherman once observed that he was more experienced and more better learned of the two (in fact, just before the war began Sherman had helped set up a military academy in the South, and bitterly warned anyone who asked that secession was [[CassandraTruth a terrible idea]]), but where he allowed himself to [[ImproperlyParanoid be wracked with anxiety what the enemy was up to]], Grant had a simpler approach: if you don't know where the enemy is, find him. Once you find him, fight him. If you win, move on to your next objective. If you lose, move on to your next objective anyway, because then the enemy is forced to respond to ''your'' movements instead. [[/note]] Grant entrusted Sherman to handle the Western theater of the Civil War while Grant assumed command in the East to fight Lee. It worked. Philip Sheridan, a fiery and aggressive Union commander and cavalryman, also played this role for Grant in the East in Sherman's absence.
* Allan Kuhn, the assistant manager of Aalborg BK, is a good example of the lancer. He took over management in [=AaB=] in 2008 as caretaker after Bruce Rioch was sacked, and didn't lose a single match for the remainder of the fall (which includes a draw at home against Villarreal and away against Manchester United). In the beginning of the 2009 season, he took over the manager seat at Midtjylland, which he left in the late 10/11 season due to him finding the work of a manager incompatible with his family life. Since that, he has been assistant manager.
* A very important role in professional cycling. It's very hard to win any race without a good lancer, who would usually play the role of TheSmartGuy and/or taking on a very offensive role to wear down the rider from other teams. Lancers are nearly employed in nearly every discipline of road race cycling
** The most obvious example is the lead-out rider for a sprinter. The lead-out rider's role is to deliver the sprinter in the right position at the right pace to sprint to the line. A good lead-out can make the difference between finishing first and off the podium in an even field, and make the best sprinter look invincible.
** In a stage race or hard one day race, the lancer can take attention by attacking and having other teams exert themselves for the captain to drive it home, by grinding down competition by holding a high and steady pace up a mountain, Or by attacking from a distance, be ignored by the other teams and win the race.
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* Where the hero [[CloseRangeCombatant gets up close]] with a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]], the Lancer picks [[LongRangeFighter opponents off at range]] with [[ArcherArchetype with projectiles]] and [[TheGunslinger guns]], or pole weapons making for a [[BladeOnAStick literal lancer]]. See ShortRangeGuyLongRangeGuy and GunsVsSwords. If everyone is a ranged fighter then expect the Lancer to be the best shot, or an AcePilot.

This {{trope}} is named for the man-at-arms of TheMiddleAges, the term for a professional soldier. While the term also encompasses the members of the knightly class, a man-at-arms was not necessarily a knight. They were also men of lesser financial and social status than knights, but were equally trained and equipped to fight on horseback in full armour and with sword and [[BladeOnAStick lance]], just like their social superiors. In this regard, he is most [[TropeCodifier recognizable]] as Myth/KingArthur's greatest warrior and right-hand man, Sir Kay, according to the source Welsh legends (and who was later DemotedToComicRelief).

Occasionally, the lancer and the dragon will fight each other at some point, being the second-most prominent characters to their respective teams; see LancerVsDragon when that happens.

* Usefulnotes/FormulaOnes team Ferrari has been using this, with Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barichello and Felipe Massa playing the lancer to Michael Schumacher. Massa continued as the lancer for Fernando Alonso. Will probably be subverted in the 2014 season with Alonso being paired with Kimi Räikkönen. This trope is also evident in the Red Bull team with Sebastian Vettel being paired with Mark Webber and now Daniel Riccardo.

TheChick is usually the mediator between TheHero and the Lancer, making for a PowerTrio (as well as a set-up for a LoveTriangle). If it's a LoveTriangle, the Lancer can either be the Hero's romantic rival or a potential love interest to [[BettyAndVeronica contrast]] TheChick.

** A solid case could be made for Angel as the Lancer of the original five, actually, right down to being a rival for the affections of TheChick. Unlike Iceman, Angel has actually done the leadership thing on occasion.

* Azazel from ''Literature/AesirCrossWars'' is this to Azrael. He is the HotBlooded NumberTwoForBrains with [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[DishingOutDirt Earth]], and [[CastingAShadow Darkness]] powers, to contrast Azrael's MellowFellow BadassBookworm with [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], [[AnIcePerson Ice]], and [[LightEmUp Light]] powers. They're also a case of PolarOppositeTwins, FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling, and an inversion of RudeHeroNiceSidekick.