Klingon Promotion / Live-Action TV

• Angel:
  • Lilah Morgan does this to her boss in the premiere episode of Season 4. With the permission of the Senior Partners, of course.
    Linwood: This is outrageous! Are you actually telling me that you went over my head?
    [Lilah touches her palm-pilot; a blade whips out of the backrest on Linwood's chair slicing quickly and neatly through his neck]
    Lilah: Just under it, actually.
  • Wesley became Illyria's de facto consort after shooting the first one.
• In a late Season Two episode of Babylon 5, Vir and Londo receive a prophecy that both of them will become Emperor of the Centauri at some point in the future, with one of them being the other's successor. At the end of the episode, they're each visibly wondering if the other is going to kill him for the title. In the following season, it is revealed that Vir takes the throne after Londo's assisted suicide.
  • In another example, both of them follow the reign of the mad Emperor Cartagia, who died at Vir's hand as a result of Londo's plotting.
• Battlestar Galactica: Zarak, believing Adama has been derelict in his duties by becoming too close to the rebel Cylons, leads a mutiny to give himself a Klingon Promotion. It doesn't end well for Zarak, as he and poor Mr. Gaeta who'd been trying to keep everyone alive ends up in front of a firing squad.
• Deconstructed when Blackadder's cousin MacAdder announces he'll kill the Prince Regent and take his place. Blackadder points out he'd simply be arrested for regicide.
• Defied in Breaking Bad, when Mike warns Walt, after the latter has arranged the murder of drug lord Gustavo Fring, that "Just because you killed Jesse James, don't make you Jesse James." He is, in the end, right. After taking over Gus' meth operation, Walt's drug profits take a huge nosedive, and it's not long at all before Walt has alienated or murdered most of his co-conspirators (including Mike himself), and Hank and the DEA catch up with him and force him to go on the run.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Faith kills Mr Trick, and then goes directly to the mayor to point out he now has "a job opening".
• This trope is an inherent rule of the Carnivàle universe. One of the rules of being an Avatar (no, not that one; or that one) is that one generation's Avatar can only claim the full measure of his power after personally murdering the previous generation's Avatar—even though an Avatar frequently serves as The Mentor to his successor, and an Avatar's successor may be his own son. Interestingly, a generation's Avatar of Light is just as subject to this rule as his generation's Avatar of Darkness, reinforcing that Light Is Not Good.
• Doctor Who uses this a few times.
  • "Doctor Who and the Silurians": The Leading Elder Silurian is killed by the Young Silurian, who becomes Leader, apparently with no opposition among the rest.
  • The Fifth Doctor becomes President of Gallifrey by default at the end of "The Five Doctors" when Borusa's quest for immortality isn't what anyone (except the First Doctor) thought it would be. Of course, the Doctor runs off in his TARDIS... again.
  • "Ghost Light": The not-very-bright initial alien villain Josiah assumes that killing Queen Victoria will automatically make him ruler of the British Empire.
  • "The End of Time": The Master invokes this, pointing out that if the Doctor kills President Evil Rassilon he could lead the Time Lords.
• Invoked in an episode of Farscape by Zhaan in an effort to stop an aggressive alien from attacking Moya.
• Firefly: Heavily implied in the episode "Safe":
  The Patron: [in a calm, kindly voice] You're not a witch, are you? I'm the patron here. Do you know what that means?
  River: Yes. You're in charge. Ever since the old patron died.
  The Patron: That's right.
  River: He was sick. And he was getting better. You were alone in the room with him— [cue Burn the Witch!]
• In an episode of the short-lived Flash Gordon TV series, Ming forces Flash and Barin to fight to the death for Princess Aura. Barin easily beats Flash (Flash isn't much of a fighter) but then turns around and throws the poisoned weapon at Ming. Ming falls over and is presumed dead. Both combatants are imprisoned, but Aura (who is currently in charge) lets them go and reveals that she had replaced the poison with a sedative that temporarily mimics death, so Ming will soon wake up. After Ming comes to, he's disappointed that Aura hasn't followed this trope, claiming she's unworthy to be a leader. In the last episode before the series cancellation, Aura and her brother have captured Ming, and he's being led to a gas chamber to be executed. As he speaks with his daughter for the last time, Aura (with tears in her eyes) tells him that it's necessary. Ming's last words? He tells her he can finally be proud of her. He doesn't die.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Daario Naharis kills his captains Mero and Prendahl to take control of the Second Sons.
  • House Bolton, House Frey, and House Tarly betray their liege lords to seize their former titles.
• MacGyver (1985): Anyone who screws up their duties in the highly competitive and murderous assassin's guild of H.I.T. (Homicide International Trust) is subject to be killed by someone more adept at doing their job then they were.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Adar killed Sauron off-screen and took control of the Orcs, who are very loyal to him.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Attempted in Luke Cage (2016). After Shades becomes a liability by questioning him a few times too many, Willis "Diamondback" Stryker decides to have him removed. So he promises Zip an opening in his gang, which he will fulfill by killing Shades. Diamondback then has Shades bailed out of police custody. Zip and two of Diamondback's new hires pick up Shades and haul him into a freight elevator, at which point Zip decides to try strangling Shades while his two henchmen stand by and do nothing. Shades manages to grab a gun, kills both of Zip's men, and then Zip after getting him to confess to acting on Diamondback's orders.
  • The Defenders (2017): After sending Elektra off ostensibly to kill Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen (whoever he is), Alexandra is reminding Madame Gao, Bakuto and Murakami that she's kept the Hand's most important operation running while they were so busy infighting among each other...until she's cut off mid-sentence by Elektra abruptly impaling her from behind with one of her sais.
    Elektra Natchios: His name is Matthew.
    [pulls her sai out of Alexandra's back, letting her body fall to the floor]
    Elektra Natchios: And my name... is Elektra Natchios. You work for me now.
    [She swiftly decapitates Alexandra's corpse with her remaining katana, then looks up to face the remaining Fingers]
    Elektra Natchios: Any questions?
• In The Mandalorian whoever wields the Darksaber has the right to rule Mandalore. Defeating the current owner in a duel confers ownership of the weapon but there doesn't seem to be any requirement that the original owner needs to die. Though there is no rule against it either.
• Murder in the First: Sugar Cascade's second in command tries to take control of his gang this way.
• Used for a comedic effect in Disney's Pair of Kings. Cousin Lannie would have become king of the island nation of Kinkou, had not the eponymous brother kings have been found. He keeps trying to set up their deaths (or sometimes just abdication) so he can advance to king. Once, he succeeded by making it so they were going back to Chicago, but they came back and were re-instated (It Makes Sense in Context).
• Non-lethally subverted, by the heroes, no less, in Power Rangers S.P.D.: The season's Rangers are the "B-Squad" of the eponymous galactic police force, and after they defeat and capture the "A-Squad", who were thought missing in action but had actually switched sides offscreen to work for the Big Bad, their commander offers the entire team promotion to "A-Squad". They decline.
• Red Dwarf's episode "Holoship" had this; the eponymous vessel had a full complement, and the only way for Rimmer to join is "dead man's boots" by defeating another crew member in intellectual combat. His opponent had fallen in love with him and she resigned from the combat to give him his dream, effectively committing suicide. When he found out, he promptly resigned from the ship and returned to Red Dwarf to bring her back to life.
• In Smallville, Lex Luthor finally goes from Anti-Villain to Big Bad by throwing his father out a window.
  • Interestingly, the Alternate Universe version of Lionel Luthor expresses disappointment that his adopted son, Clark, has not done this to him.
• How Clay became President in Sons of Anarchy.
• Stargate:
  • Stargate SG-1
    • The series has the rite of joma secu, where a Jaffa commander can be challenged by another Jaffa to a duel to the death. The victor gets the commander's position. First seen in "The Warrior".
    • In "Bounty", SG-1 points out to Bounty Hunter Odai Ventrell that Netan's position as leader of the Lucian Alliance is tenuous at best and that if somebody managed to kill him they could probably take over the entire organization. Three guesses what Ventrell does next. Of course, Ventrell is never seen again after last seen pointing his gun at Netan. When we see the Lucian Alliance in Stargate Universe, there is another member of the Alliance played by the same actor with no relation to Ventrell.
  • In Stargate Atlantis, Major John Sheppard became the military leader of the Atlantis expedition by shooting his immediate superior, Colonel Sumner. However, Sheppard wasn't looking for a promotion; he shot Colonel Sumner as a Mercy Kill since he was being fed on by a Wraith Queen and was almost dead anyway.
  • This is how Wraith promotions work. So, in "The Queen", when the Wraith "Todd" kills the Primary Queen and gives the credit to Teyla, who's currently disguised as a lower-ranking Wraith queen, Teyla becomes the new Primary. This allows Todd to take over the entire hive by giving orders on behalf of his "reclusive" queen who doesn't actually exist. It's limited in that this only works for Queens. A male can't take a Queen's place by killing her, especially since they'd lose their reproductive line.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series:
    • This actually started for the franchise with the Mirror Universe episode "Mirror, Mirror". Chekov is planning to kill Kirk for treason (because he balked at destroying a helpless planet's cities, as per standard procedure), and he mentions everyone else would advance in rank. It's later mentioned that the mirror Kirk killed Pike to get the captaincy.
    • Mirror-Spock specifically mentions that he doesn't want to become captain of the Enterprise over Kirk's body, as Mirror-Kirk has many friends in the fleet, and Spock's command (and life) would be extremely short. He does, however, state that he will kill Kirk if he fails to take decisive action against the Halkans, but only because these are his orders from Starfleet Command.
    • Mirror-Spock also cautions Sulu, who rightfully points out that the order would fall on him next should Spock fail to carry out his orders. Mirror-Spock's operatives would certainly avenge his death. "And some of them are Vulcans." Klingon promotion is definitely not as simple as it sounds.
    • This actually happens very briefly in the episode "Amok Time", though not on purpose. We are led to believe that Spock has killed Kirk, and McCoy tells him that, as strange as it seems, he's in command now. Of course, Spock doesn't want to be the captain, and is planning to hand over command to Scotty and turn himself in to the authorities until he finds out Kirk is alive after all.
    • The Capellans from "Friday's Child" also run their society like this, and a subordinate assassinates the leader and takes over for him during the negotiation with the Enterprise crew and the Klingons.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation is the Trope Namer and has many examples among the Klingons.
    • In the episode "Reunion," the current Chancellor is poisoned, and Picard must help investigate the murder as well as ceremonially choose the successor to the High Council. The whole reason there's controversy in the Klingons' eyes is that the Chancellor's killer used a cowardly method like poison, instead of fighting him in a duel.
    • In the TNG episode "A Matter of Honor," where Riker serves aboard a Klingon ship in an officer exchange program, the subject of Klingon Promotion comes up; it's the accepted way to remove a captain who is unsuitable for command. Later, when the Klingon captain's misunderstanding threatens the Enterprise, Riker finds a way to exploit this rule, though in a rather more humane and less bloody manner. He contrives a way to get the captain transported off the ship, then engages in a standoff so they can force the Enterprise to "surrender" and stop the hostilities. When the captain is beamed back, Riker takes a punch from him to let them save face, getting the crew's respect for understanding Klingon proprieties.
      Riker: Let me get this straight: as first officer, one of my duties is to assassinate the captain?
    • In a case of Early-Installment Weirdness, in the episode "Skin of Evil", Worf actually bristles at the idea of being made head of security when Armus kills Tasha Yar. However, this may have been because he honestly felt she was more qualified for the position, not to mention being a friend that he genuinely respected.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
    • In the episode "Tacking into the Wind," the new Chancellor from TNG "Reunion," Gowron, is screwing things up during the Dominion War, mismanaging the Klingon battle efforts due to his jealousy of the glory that General Martok is gathering on the battlefield. Worf decides to challenge Gowron. He wins and becomes the next Chancellor, but almost immediately passes the torch to his friend and mentor, General Martok.
    • In "Soldiers of the Empire", Dax explains the intricacies after hearing O'Brien and Bashir talk about the trope, canonizing the caveats previously established in the Expanded Universe. Only a direct subordinate can make the challenge, and only after a severe infraction (cowardice, extreme failure, dereliction of duty). In the same episode, Worf challenges Martok for fleeing the Jem'hadar. It's a ploy not unlike Riker's, as Martok had been badly affected by his experience as a Dominion prisoner—being challenged and defeating Worf restores Martok's fighting spirit and that of the demoralized crew. Once he realizes that Worf was trying to help him, Martok declares him a sworn brother of his House.
    • Ferengi society really frowns on taking power this way, as shown in one episode. Quark is made leader of the Ferengi, and the last leader's son tries to take power this way. The capitalistic Ferengi, who would have respected him if he undermined Quark's power-base and accumulated all the real power behind the scenes (becoming The Man Behind the Man), just call him an idiot for thinking it would work. The whole thing is a setup, as the previous leader is still alive, having faked his death to test his son's worthiness to be his real successor. Needless to say, his son fails. Interestingly, Quark is impressed by Rom's ruthlessness (he helps Zek's son), even commenting that their father would have approved. Zek seems to be impressed as well... which is why he names Rom the new leader when he retires.
    • Quark managed to end up the head of a Klingon House when the former leader accidentally died while drinking in Quark's bar, and in his attempts to not get knifed, he had to play up the idea that he accomplished this.
  • Star Trek: Voyager:
    • In the episode "Coda", Janeway jokes that Chakotay could try William Telling with a phaser as a talent demonstration.
      Chakotay: Sounds great! If I miss, I get to be Captain.
    • In another episode, a Kazon boy wishes to become a man by killing Chakotay. He fails. He then explains that killing a person is the rite of passage for the Kazon. Apparently, killing a clansman is also acceptable in some cases. At the end of the episode, instead of killing Chakotay (who hopes that the Doctor can make him better), he turns the weapon onto his maj (clan leader). Before the maj's Number Two can execute him, the boy swears loyalty to him as the new maj. After a few seconds, the new maj accepts.
  • The Star Trek: Enterprise Mirror Universe episode has Mirror!Archer deposing Mirror!Forrest, who is the captain of the ISS Enterprise, then assassinating Admiral Black. Subsequently, Mirror!Hoshi poisons him, and not only moves on to Captain but also takes the recovered Prime-Universe's 23rd century Defiant and uses it to declare herself the new Terran Empress. Talk about a promotion...
  • In Star Trek: Discovery, Mirror!Connor attempts to kill Michael Burnham, who is pretending to be her Mirror Universe double, hoping that this would prevent her taking back the ISS Shenzhou and will finally get the crew to respect him. Despite him getting the drop on her, Burnham manages to kill him, which only serves to solidify her status in the eyes of the crew. And, of course, there's Lorca trying to kill Emperor Phillipa Georgiou to claim the Terran throne.
• On Teen Wolf, the most common way for a Beta or Omega werewolf to ascend to the status of Alpha is to kill an existing Alpha.
• Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: In the season 1 finale, Atticus, having snapped, kills his father the Hooded Leader and seizes control of the Satanic Society by force. He then spends most of season 2 proving just how inadequate he is at the position he now has.
• Diana pulls this off twice near the end of the second V (1983) miniseries, killing both Pamela and John within a day to usurp control of the alien fleet. What makes it stand out in particular is that she's clearly breaking protocol — while intrigue and political scheming is expected among the Visitors' higher ranks, flat-out murdering superiors in cold blood is not. Neither target even saw it coming.
• In The West Wing episode "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics", it becomes necessary for political reasons to remove the ambassador to Bulgaria (he's having an affair with the Prime Minister's daughter). To remove him requires a sequence in which the ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia is promoted to be ambassador to Paraguay, so that the ambassador to Paraguay can be promoted to be the ambassador to Bulgaria, easing out the troublemaker. President Bartlett is quite keen on the plan because, as he comments, "Hey, I like this. Of course, if everybody keeps moving up one, then I get to go home."

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