History Main / TokenEnemyMinority

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Considering that Daenerys is at war with the Lannisters, [[spoiler:Tyrion]] has this role in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' after they both met and he becames one of her closer advisors.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* Gerd, the Norse goddess of sex and Frey’s wife, is a [[OurGiantsAreBigger Jotun]], the normally antagonistic race of creatures enemies of the Aesir and Vanir. Skadi, the goddess of the Sky and wife of the sea god Njord is also a giant. Loki on the other hand is only half-Jotun.
[[/folder]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[Film/{{Ghostbusters}} Cats and dogs living together?]] Is that a sign of the incoming [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt End of Times]]?"]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' has Iago, former servant of BigBad Jaffar and, although seemly rehabilitated, still pretty much the nastier of the team having more in common with most villains of the show than the heroes.

* Two good tomatoes in ''WesternAnimation/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes''; Tara and F.T. Tara looks humans if not expose to salt whilst F.T. is so obvious a tomato (albeit fuzzy and with legs) that is incredible how is pass for a dog.

* OlderThanSteam: In Shakespeare's ''Theatre/HenryV'', Henry is accompanied in his French war by (fictional) Scottish, Welsh, and Irish soldiers. It is Macmorris the Irish captain who really fits this trope, as ''HenryV'' was written in 1599 in the middle of a very bloody English war against Irish rebels.

* The ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' game ''Rising Sun'' has the heroes fighting Japanese soldiers in WWII. The main villain is Masataka Shima (Mako Iwamatsu), a high ranking officer for the Imperial Japanese Army. The protagonist works with Ichiro Tanaka, a brave and loyal Japanese-American OSS agent.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime]]

* Kira from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' was treated as one - being a coordinator piloting a Gundam on an EAF vessel. At least, for as long as the series focused on the Archangel's journey to Earth (and then Alaska).
** In the X Astray Manga, his "brother" Canard was this as well - a coordinator serving with Eurasia (a member of the Earth Alliance.)

* Pvt. Eric Koenig in Sgt. Fury's ComicBook/HowlingCommandos was a defector from the Nazi military.

* Rampart in Creator/ChrisClaremont's ''ComicBook/{{Gen 13}}'' (Arab Muslim during the War on Terror). Noble gesture, but unfortunately a bit CaptainEthnic; the guy said "Oh Allah!" so many times you'd think it was his CatchPhrase.
* Golden Girl in ''ComicBook/TheInvaders'' (Japanese during World War II--note that she's a {{Retcon}} hero; real World War II comic books didn't do this).

* Colossus in ''Comicbook/XMen'' (Russian during the Cold War).

* The ComicBook/BlackWidow in ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' was a hero, despite being a Russian spy. She [[HeelFaceTurn started out as a villain]], before embracing capitalism.
** Similar stories for Darkstar of the Champions and Red Guardian of the Defenders during the 1970s. This Red Guardian costume-wise modeled herself on the Black Widow's late husband.
* Red Star from the 1960s ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' comics, although he was not a regular character.
** Averted during the time when he WAS a regular (1991-1994), as the USSR ceased to exist around the time.

* Hammer Films' SpaceWestern ''Film/MoonZeroTwo'' had an American pilot hero with a Russian engineer sidekick (and a British everything else, but that's another trope entirely) as part of its philosophy that space exploration would dissolve all the old Earth prejudices.
-->'''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive 100% Hubbard]]''': Your engineer... what nationality is he?
-->'''Captain Kemp''': He's a foreigner.
-->'''Hubbard''': That's not quite what I meant...
-->'''Kemp''': We're ''all'' foreigners up here.

** One of the Howling Commandos is Jim Morita, a Japanese-American man played, again, by Kenneth Choi. When another soldier comments on his race, Morita indignantly says "I'm from Fresno, Ace". And indeed, there [[ShownTheirWork were a number of Japanese-American soldiers in World War 2]], though they also served in segregated units (as did all racial minorities then).

* ''Film/AcesIronEagleIII'' has an old British UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo pilot working alongside old UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo pilots...who are German and Japanese.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Mythology & Folklore]]

* In ''VideoGame/HomeFront'', [[LaResistance Resistance]] member Hopper Lee is Korean-American. He mentions that anyone who looked even slightly Asian had been getting lynched when he left Oakland, and he was "lucky" to only have his home burnt down.
** Oddly, its a better example than most because Hopper is surprisingly understated about the horrific treatment he's received. The Resistance Fighters are pretty stunned about it when he does mention it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', one of the playable characters is Krieg, who is a Psycho. In gameplay, you will kill hundreds of Psychos - every two-bit bandit gang seems to have a bunch of them to run around throwing axes at you. Krieg is the only one who's semi-consistently portrayed in a relatively positive fashion.

* Two good tomatoes in ''WesternAnimation/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes''; Tara and F.T. Tara looks humans if not expose to salt whilst F.T. is so obvious a tomatoe (albeit fuzzy and with legs) that is incredible how is pass for a dog.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' uses the fantastic version, with "ex-"Predacon Dinobot on the Maximal side. "Ex-" in quotes because despite officially changing allegiances, Dinobot [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy still holds on to his ideals of Predacon honor.]]

* Marsala in ''ExoSquad'' is a Neosapien working with humans in a Human-Neosapien war.

* Nova, the [[TokenHuman Human Girl]] in ''Film/WarOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', in a setting were HumansAreBastards.

* Leonard on ''Series/{{Community}}'' is this trope played for laughs: despite appearing in every way to be an elderly American

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1508907680038870000
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

* Pvt. Eric Koenig in Sgt. Fury's HowlingCommandos was a defector from the Nazi military.

* Colossus in ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' (Russian during the Cold War).

* Contessa [=DeFontaine=] for ''[[ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} S.H.I.E.L.D.]]''. At least for a while...
* In ''BeforeWatchmen: Minutemen'', the WWII-era Minutemen briefly included Bluecoat and Scout, a Japanese-American father-son duo. Unfortunately for them, their heroic deeds (preventing a terrorist attack on American soil) ended up getting expunged from public record because the government didn't want anyone to find out how close New York had come to being irradiated.

* Leonard on ''Series/{{Community}}'' is this trope played for laughs: despite appearing in every way to be an elderly American male and Korean War veteran, it is later revealed that he fought on the North Korean side.
* If it wasn't for the presence of Steven Gomez, one might think the writers of ''Series/BreakingBad'' are bigoted against Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Hispanics in general.
* Tara in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' is a [[spoiler:former]] follower of The Governor [[spoiler:living with Rick's people]].
* German police drama GSG 9 – Ihr Einsatz ist ihr Leben, based on the real life anti-terrorist German Special Police deals constantly with the threat of Islamic terrorists, yet one of the members of the team is a moderate Muslim of Turkish descent.
* Considering that Daenerys is at war with the Lannisters, [[spoiler:Tyrion]] has this role in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' after they both met and he becames one of her closer advisors.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology & Folklore]]
* Gerd, the Norse goddess of sex and Frey’s wife, is a [[OurGiantsAreBigger Jotun]], the normally antagonistic race of creatures enemies of the Aesir and Vanir. Skadi, the goddess of the Sky and wife of the sea god Njord is also a giant. Loki on the other hand is only half-Jotun.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* OlderThanSteam: In Shakespeare's ''Theatre/HenryV'', Henry is accompanied in his French war by (fictional) Scottish, Welsh, and Irish soldiers. It is Macmorris the Irish captain who really fits this trope, as ''HenryV'' was written in 1599 in the middle of a very bloody English war against Irish rebels.
* In ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', George Read is the only anti-independence member of the Delaware delegation, which leads to a critical deadlock during the independence vote that can only be broken by bringing back the absent Caesar Rodney on an eighty-mile ride during a thunderstorm. (Which was TruthInTelevision, albeit a little [[RuleOfDrama more dramatic]] in the show. The feat is depicted on the back of the Delaware quarter.)

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/HomeFront'', [[LaResistance Resistance]] member Hopper Lee is Korean-American. He mentions that anyone who looked even slightly Asian had been getting lynched when he left Oakland, and he was "lucky" to only have his home burnt down.
** Oddly, its a better example than most because Hopper is surprisingly understated about the horrific treatment he's received. The Resistance Fighters are pretty stunned about it when he does mention it.
* The ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' game ''Rising Sun'' has the heroes fighting Japanese soldiers in WWII. The main villain is Masataka Shima (Mako Iwamatsu), a high ranking officer for the Imperial Japanese Army. The protagonist works with Ichiro Tanaka, a brave and loyal Japanese-American OSS agent.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', one of the playable characters is Krieg, who is a Psycho. In gameplay, you will kill hundreds of Psychos - every two-bit bandit gang seems to have a bunch of them to run around throwing axes at you. Krieg is the only one who's semi-consistently portrayed in a relatively positive fashion.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', you choose which of the two warring countries to side with, and so, who the TokenEnemyMinority is depends on which version you're playing. Hoshidan Ninja Kaze and Nohrian Cavalier Silas will join the Avatar character no matter which side you choose (though under different circumstances in different routes). If you choose Nohr, Kaze is the TokenEnemyMinority, due to overhearing how the Avatar wishes to end the conflict by reforming Nohr from within [[spoiler:and his latent guilt for not preventing their kidnapping in the first place]]. If you choose Hoshido, it will be Silas and the Avatar's servants, Jakob and Felicia, whose personal loyalty to the Avatar trumps their nationalism. Silas in particular has to deal with a lot of anti-Nohrian suspicion in his interactions with his Hoshidan comrades, while Kaze's easygoing charm spares him the worst of it. Both are considered extremely trustworthy and likable by both sides.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' has Iago, former servant of BigBad Jaffar and, although seemly rehabilitated, still pretty much the nastier of the team having more in common with most villains of the show than the heroes.
* A similar case of Fencer is Tyger in the animated series ''WesternAnimation/FievelsAmericanTails'', series base in Creator/DonBluth's movie ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', Tyger is Fievel's friend and the only good cat in a town full of villain cats.
* Two good tomatoes in ''WesternAnimation/AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes''; Tara and F.T. Tara looks humans if not expose to salt whilst F.T. is so obvious a tomatoe (albeit fuzzy and with legs) that is incredible how is pass for a dog.
* Considering that the Fire Nation are the main antagonists of the series, then [[spoiler:Zuko]] will fulfill this role after he joins Team Avatar in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' uses the fantastic version, with "ex-"Predacon Dinobot on the Maximal side. "Ex-" in quotes because despite officially changing allegiances, Dinobot [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy still holds on to his ideals of Predacon honor.]]
** [[spoiler:Black Arachnia]] takes the role after [[spoiler:Dinobot's death]] although unlike Dinobot, she never consider herself a Maximal and even protests if is not call a Predacon.
* Marsala in ''ExoSquad'' is a Neosapien working with humans in a Human-Neosapien war.
* Fencer the Cat in ''WesternAnimation/{{Foofur}}'', the only cat in a gang of dogs in a series were CatsAreMean (with some exceptions).
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGetAlongGang'', a show where all the good guys are mammals and the main villains are reptiles, they had one unique friendly reptile recurring character name Breaker the Turtle, describe in the show's Wiki as "the token minority".
* Razer the Red Lantern in ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', after his FaceHeelTurn the Green Lantern Corps is trying to reform him.
* FantasticRacism example on ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Benders and non-Benders are at war. Non-Bender Asami Sato joins the New Team Avatar, [[spoiler:fighting against her father]].
* Slimer in ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostBusters'', yes the series shows that not every ghost is evil and some ghosts can be very cooperative with the Ghostbusters, but that doesn't change the fact that Slimer is a ghost helping the [=GHOSTbusters=]. He was call a traitor for several spirits, like Samhain. Naturally he has a similar role in the successor series ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters''.
* Garahl nar Hhallas in ''WesternAnimation/WingCommanderAcademy'', the animated series based in the game of the same name. Hhallas acomplishes more or less the same role of Hobbes in the aforementioned game.
[[/folder]]

----

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/CodeGeass http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_knights.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The leader of the Japanese [[LaResistance rebels/terrorists]] trying to [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry overthrow]] [[TheEmpire Britannia]] is... a Britannian. Did we mention that ''another'' Britannian is the head of PR?]]

* Chopper the Sharptooth in the ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' sequels is another example.

In SpyFiction, [[JustifiedTrope this makes a lot of sense]]; operatives with a background in the enemy's culture can [[DeepCoverAgent go undercover much more easily]]. Questions will almost certainly arise about whether or not this character is a DoubleAgent.

* Tyger in ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', the only good (and vegetarian) cat in a world were CatsAreMean. This was intentional from DonBluth as he didn't want to show [[AlwaysChaoticEvil an entire species of bad animals]].

* A similar case of Fencer is Tyger in the animated series ''WesternAnimation/FievelsAmericanTails'', series base in DonBluth's movie ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', Tyger is Fievel's friend and the only good cat in a town full of villain cats.

* A similar case of Fencer is Tyger in the animated series ''FievelsAmericanTails'', series base in DonBluth's movie ''AnAmericanTail'', Tyger is Fievel's friend and the only good cat in a town full of villain cats.

* In addition to Lelouch/Zero himself, [[TheEmpire Britannian]] TV producer Diethard Ried from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fits this trope for The Black Knights, [[LaResistance the Japanese rebels/terrorists]] that are trying to [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry overthrow Britannia]]. Instead of believing in their cause, Diethard is a WildCard who joins because he worships Zero and he finds amusement in them. As for Zero, the Black Knights are aware that he isn't Japanese, but don't realize that he's actually Brittanian (Lelouch revealed his identity to an extremely high-ranking Japanese man well-trusted by the Black Knights, who assured them that Zero was on their side).

** One of the Howling Commandos is Jim Morita, a Japanese-American man played, again, by Kenneth Choi. When another soldier comments on his race, Morita indignantly says "I'm from Fresno, Ace". And indeed, there [[ShownTheirWork were a number of Japanese-American soldiers in World War 2, though they served in segregated units (as did all racial minorities then).]]

* The action BMovie ''Desert Thunder'' shows a team of outcast former American soldiers and an Iraqi defector going into a mission in Iraq to destroy a nuclear bomb.
* Fred "Ogre" Palowakski becomes this for the Nerds in ''Film/RevengeOfTheNerds II Nerds in Paradise'' after he defects [[JerkJock The Jocks]] when he protests for them abandoning the Nerds in a desert island. He even joins the Lambda-Lambda-Lambda fraternity and appears as a “nerd” in the following movies.

* Illya Kuryakin in ''Series/TheManFromUncle'', who turned out to be a friendly Russian spy. {{Justified|Trope}} because the agency they worked against [[EnemyMine was hated by both the free world and the communist bloc]]. Quickly promoted to joint protagonist after positive fan reaction, so ceased to be 'token'.

** One of the Howling Commandos is Jim Morita, a Japanese-American man played, again, by Kenneth Choi. When another soldier comments on his race, Morita indignantly says "I'm from Fresno, Ace". And indeed, there [[ShownTheirWork were a number of Japanese-Americans soldiers in World War 2.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', you choose which of the two warring countries to side with, and so, who the TokenEnemyMinority is depends on which version you're playing. Hoshidan Ninja Kaze and Nohrian Cavalier Silas will join the Avatar character no matter which side you choose (though under different circumstances in different routes). If you choose Nohr, Kaze is the TokenEnemyMinority, due to overhearing how the Avatar wishes to end the conflict by reforming Nohr from within [[spoiler:and his latent guilt for not preventing their kidnapping in the first place]]. If you choose Hoshido, it will be Silas and the Avatar's personal servants, Jakob and Felicia.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', you choose which of the two warring countries to side with, and so, who the TokenEnemyMinority is depends on which version you're playing. In both ''Conquest'' and ''Birthright'', Hoshidan Ninja Kaze and Nohrian Cavalier Silas will join the Avatar. If you side with Nohr, Kaze will defect from Hoshido after he overhears the Avatar explain how they want to effect change from within. If you side with Hoshido, Silas will be sent to attack the Avatar at Fort Jinya, and will defect from Nohr after the battle, due to his affection for the Avatar.

In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', you choose which of the two warring countries to side with, and so, who the TokenEnemyMinority is depends on which version you're playing. In both ''Conquest'' and ''Birthright'', Hoshidan Ninja Kaze and Nohrian Cavalier Silas will join the Avatar. If you side with Nohr, Kaze will defect from Hoshido after he overhears the Avatar explain how they want to effect change from within. If you side with Hoshido, Silas will be sent to attack the Avatar at Fort Jinya, and will defect from Nohr after the battle, due to his affection for the Avatar.

* In addition to Lelouch/Zero himself, [[TheEmpire Britannian]] TV producer Diethard Ried from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fits this trope for The Black Knights, [[LaResistance the Japanese rebels/terrorists]] that are trying to [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry overthrow Britannia]]. Instead of believing in their cause, Diethard is a WildCard who joins because he worships Zero and he finds amusement in them.

* Illya Kuryakin in ''Series/TheManFromUncle'', who turned out to be a friendly Russian spy. {{Justified|Trope}} because the agency they worked against [[EnemyMine was hated by both the free world and the communist bloc]]. Quickly promoted to joint protagonist after positive fan reaction, so ceased to be 'token'. He later moved to Scotland, went to medical school, became a medical examiner and works for ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' (actor David [=McCallum=] really is Scottish).