History Main / TokenEnemyMinority

* ''Film/TheBeastOfWar'', set during the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, features Samad as the Afghan interpreter in an otherwise all Soviet/Russian tank crew. However, this ends up being deconstructed, as the crew's leader Daskal, who [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain dislikes Afghan people and the Muslim faith]], suspects him of somehow aiding the [[LaResistance mujahideen]], and [[UnfriendlyFire ultimately executes him]]. Soon afterwards, the main protagonist Konstantin Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal for it, and is left for dead. Wanting justice, and revenge, the Soviet soldier Koverchenko himself becomes this to the Afghan mujahideen, using his knowledge of the enemy to aid them in the final act.

* ''Film/TheBeastOfWar'', which is set during the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, features Samad as the Afghan interpreter in an otherwise all Soviet/Russian tank crew. However, this ends up being deconstructed, as the crew's leader Daskal, who [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain dislikes Afghan people and the Muslim faith]], suspects him of somehow aiding the [[LaResistance mujahideen]], and [[UnfriendlyFire ultimately executes him]]. Soon afterwards, the main protagonist Konstantin Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal for it, and is ultimately left for dead. Wanting justice, and revenge, the Soviet soldier Koverchenko himself becomes this to the Afghan mujahideen, using his knowledge of the enemy to aid them in the final act.

** 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).

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

** ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'': Gwyndala is a Vau N'Akat, technically not an enemy of the Federation (yet) but turns out [[spoiler:in the future after first contact with the Federation the Vau N'Akat society will be split in a bloody civil war between pro and anti-Federation factions, she comes from the anti-Federation faction that travel in time to destroy Starfleet and prevent such events.]]

** Worf in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is an in-universe example as a member of what was the main BigBad alien race in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|the Original Series}}'', showing that relations with them are no longer hostile. This gets more complex as the show goes on and the state of the Klingon Empire becomes an ongoing subplot.

* ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' has Hugo Stiglitz, the only non-Jewish German in a Nazi-killing unit (Aldo Rayne is of course not Jewish, but he isn't German, either). In Stiglitz's case, it's unclear as to why he kills Nazis, aside from a flashback of him being flogged.

* 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 ''Theatre/HenryV'' was written in 1599 in the middle of a very bloody English war against Irish rebels.

** [[spoiler:[=BlackArachnia=]]] takes the role after [[spoiler:Dinobot's death]] although unlike Dinobot, she never consider herself a Maximal and even protests if is not called a Predacon. [[spoiler: Only after her Transmetal 2 upgrade does she fully become a Maximal.]]

* [[spoiler:Isaac]] becomes this in ''Series/TheOrville'' after his people start a war against the Union. [[spoiler:He remains part of the ''Orville'''s crew after he has a change of heart during the ship's occupation by the hostile Kaylon extermination force traveling to Earth.]]

* Herald Alberich of Karse in Mercedes Lackey's ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series was the Token Enemy Minority Herald, until he got two entire books as the protagonist and stopped being just a token. Then there're three other books (published earlier, taking place chronologically later) with a Karsite priest as one of the protagonists. As of the chronologically latest books in the series, Karse is now allied to Valdemar, but for centuries they were very bitter enemies fighting a perpetual war.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's story ''Literature/SixthColumn'' was a reworking of a Creator/JohnWCampbell story where the YellowPeril invades America. Heinlein wrote that he had to remove racist elements from the original story, and the final story has a Japanese-American as one of the good guys. Assuming this was an addition by Heinlein (which seems likely), it may be unique as an example of the trope used for a Japanese character during World War II.
* The trope is {{Invoked}} by Jacobson in Creator/JoWalton's ''[[Literature/SmallChange Half a Crown]]'', who is prominently the only Jewish member of The Watch, a sinister StateSec organization that is more-or-less a British gestapo. The remaining British Jewish population perceive him as a [[TheQuisling Collaborator Figurehead]], not knowing Jacobson is running a ZeroApprovalGambit and is [[RageWithinTheMachine using his resources within The Watch]] to help run a large-scale UndergroundRailroad.

* Most of Literature/{{Alatriste}}'s enemies are aristocrats, but he is also friends with an aristocrat, the Count of Guadalmedina. In ''Corsairs of the Levant'', Alatriste joins the Spanish galleys fighting the Muslims in the Mediterranean and is accompanied by Gurriato, a Muslim auxiliary from Wahran (now in Algeria, part of the Spanish Empire at the time of the novels).
* If you consider the Slytherins to be basically the bad guys in the Literature/{{Harry Potter}} universe (aside Death Eaters that are mostly Slytherins) then there are at least two Slytherins helping the heroes in their war against Voldemort, Slughorn and [[spoiler:Snape]]. Also at the end of book seven [[spoiler:the Malfoys]] do a discrete defection.

* ''Literature/TheWordForWorldIsForest'' was published in 1972 and includes Vietnamese characters, Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin having written it as a response to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob'': Myc Celium belongs to a HiveMind race of sentient fungus who wants to rule the Earth but he at the end remained loyal to his friends/coworkers.

** [[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.

* The ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorRisingSun'' 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.