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Reasonable Authority Figure

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The Governor: Parasitic aliens are invading Earth. And my husband is controlled by one.
Marco: Yeah. Basically, that's the story.
The Governor: Thank God. I was beginning to think something much, much worse was happening. Aliens we can fight.
Animorphs #51: "The Absolute"

Heroes like the Ignored Expert have a hard enough time dealing with idiotic peasants, but their deepest problems invariably come from the antagonistic local authorities, who are dead set on ignoring their warnings and running them out of town because it's politically expedient. This makes the existence of the Reasonable Authority Figure all the rarer.

Fully aware that Machiavelli Was Wrong, they'll listen to those "crazy kids" when they say there's a fugitive nearby, and logically consider their arguments instead of dismissing them outright. However, their openness to the heroes' ideas doesn't mean they'll follow Agent Mulder's crazy ideas blindly. Often, they'll ask for proof and facts rather than follow baseless accusations, but even then, they'll usually humor the heroes and go check out their theories; whether it pans out or turns into a dead end depends on how far along the story is.

Usually Lawful Good and the person characters must Bring News Back to. They are the chain of command that goes past the basic Command Roster. The Rebellious Rebel is motivated by loyalty to him.

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

May present The Hero and his companions with valuable gifts before The Quest or as a reward afterward.

This position means that they can end the story quickly unless other obstacles intervene. Which means they usually do intervene.

  1. They're made inaccessible by the Obstructive Bureaucrat and Evil Chancellor who has it in for the heroes, trying to stop them getting an audience or outright lying to destroy their arguments and reputation. Barring this, the Reasonable Authority Figure might just be busy, overworked, or under-funded and might not have the time or resources to adequately solve the hero's problem as quickly as he or she would like.
  2. A young ruler (usually hereditary) may have difficulty either getting to the heroes to listen, or asserting his theoretical authority. Usually they are surrounded by manipulative "guardians" out to start pointless wars.
  3. The Reasonable Authority Figure will inevitably be displaced when a Tyrant Takes the Helm, leading to a 10-Minute Retirement.
  4. If he is not the absolute ruler, Interservice Rivalry and Divided We Fall can be a problem even after you persuade him. Indeed, that you speak with this character may induce his rivals to regard you as an enemy or to undercut you in hopes of ensuring that their favorites succeed in your place.
  5. If he needs approval from the Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering to take action, the chances that he can convince them to agree about anything are less than favorable.
  6. Despite giving the heroes a fair chance to prove themselves, circumstances or bad luck have led to the heroes' 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 others at risk without sufficient proof of the necessity of the action.
  7. The hero's claim appears to be so patently false/unbelievable (despite actually being true) that the authority figure doesn't believe them for a moment, but humours them by at least trying to verify the claim, with an obvious lack of success.
  8. While sympathetic, the Reasonable Authority Figure's aims do not align with or are in some way opposed to that of the heroes and they are reluctant to help them in a directly meaningful manner without further persuasion. After all, the RAF has a duty to their faction first, regardless of whether the fate of the world is supposedly at stake.
  9. Of course, sometimes the threat is so overwhelmingly catastrophic that even his help merely upgrades the heroes' situation from "completely hopeless" to "fighting chance".

A common subversion is to have this character turn out to be the Treacherous Advisor. Sometimes, also, they will merely have a Treacherous Advisor, and be undermined because they listen to him too much.

It should be noted that a reasonable authority figure isn't somebody who simply says yes to all of their subordinates' 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 up in To Be Lawful or Good 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. The key word here is reasonable, after all, and that means logically assessing a situation and choosing a course of action based on how the available information describes the circumstances.

The type's opposite is Head-in-the-Sand Management. Also contrast the Clueless Boss, who means well but is desperately out of touch with things in his own organization and possibly incompetent. If male, the Reasonable Authority Figure may be The Patriarch and A Father to His Men, or Da Chief, or a Benevolent Boss. If female, the Reasonable Authority Figure may be an Iron Lady or The High Queen.

In school-type shows featuring the Sadist Teacher (or possibly a strict dean or vice-principal), it's usually the principal that fills this role. Mind you, sometimes this is just elaborate Good Cop/Bad Cop.

See also In Its Hour of Need. A Corrective Lecture is often the hallmark of a Reasonable Authority Figure trying to curb bad behavior without being overly harsh.


Examples:

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    Comic Books 
  • America vs. the Justice Society: Congressman Phillips remains reasonable and impartial throughout the hearings. Phillips' colleague Congresswoman Vasquez is more hostile toward the JSA. Still, she does ultimately agree that the hearings should be canceled after the star witness (an imprisoned super villain) demonstrates his untrustworthiness by trying to use the hearings as an opportunity to escape.
  • Astro City: Commander Flint of E.A.G.L.E., who comes to one of Winged Victory's facilities to investigate it when she's under accusation. He hears her out, respects her wishes, and tells her he's not there to arrest her. When he gets word that a warrant's being put out for her arrest, he gives her a warning.
  • The Avengers: The Avengers are usually stuck with superhuman-hating Henry Peter Gyrich as their official government liason. For a while, though, they got Duayne Freeman, a genuine fan and supporter of the team. They didn't always agree on everything and Freeman was no pushover, but he was a solidly responsible official who saw the Avengers as a force for good in the world. Sadly, he made a Heroic Sacrifice to help save the day during one of the team's fights; after which they were stuck with Gyrich again.
  • This is one way to describe the relationship between Batman and Commissioner James Gordon, who, let's face it, is really sticking his neck out as a policeman and a city official by consistently trusting in a shadowy, anonymous vigilante who dresses up as a giant bat to beat up criminals. In Frank Miller's run, and The Dark Knight Trilogy, this is justified as the rest of Gotham's police force are corrupt cops.
  • Batman: Gordon of Gotham: After The Conspiracy cover their tracks and discredit Gordon, his superior makes it clear that he believes Gordon’s version of what happened and calls in a favor to get him a fresh start in Gotham City.
  • BouncyBallMan: Cody Dillon hates working for Topsy Turvy Toy Company but he finds Walden the CEO reasonable. It helps that he bailed him out of jail and ultimately leaves the decision of whether to be a superhero up to him.
  • Harleen: Dr. Matthews, Harley's boss at Arkham. She's well aware that Harley slept with one of her college professors, which caused a scandal as everyone assumed it was a Sextra Credit situation. However, she hires her anyway, pointing out that Harley's grades were impeccable in every single class she took. For her to have slept her way through med school, she would've had to be sleeping with the entire faculty—so, it's far more likely that Harley actually liked the guy and didn't need his help to get good grades. She then says that she sees the whole thing as water under the bridge; everyone makes mistakes, and if she didn't believe people could learn and move on from their past, she'd be a lousy psychologist.
  • Judge Dredd. 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. He is also thoroughly, almost supernaturally incorruptible.
  • Ka-Zar: Of all the individuals who claim dominion over the Savage Land, Ka-Zar's easily the most rational and capable.
  • MonsterVerse:
    • Shaw in Godzilla: Awakening. He trusts Eiji Serizawa and his judgment, looking to him for information, and he's not straight-up dismissive of Eiji's beliefs about Godzilla like the rest of the fledgling Monarch were. He refuses to support Eiji's pursuit of Godzilla because there's no evidence of the creature's existence and because it goes against the top brass's decision, but he doesn't stop Eiji from doing it on his own. He also admits he wishes he could believe Eiji when the latter protests to the Nuclear Option being used against Godzilla and Shinomura, but he refuses to call off the measure's use based solely on Eiji's hunch while Godzilla is headed towards a population centernote .
    • Miles Atherton in Godzilla: Aftershock. He's concerned about how clandestine Monarch has been for decades, and he privately shares his concerns about Emma Russell's mental state with his superiors, but he doesn't do anything that would obstruct Emma and Tarkan's ongoing efforts to investigate a rampaging Titan. After learning just how destructive it would be to the entire world if the MUTO Prime succeeds in its goals; Miles hesitantly supports Emma's efforts to manipulate the creature with artificial bio-acoustics once it becomes clear Monarch have no better solutions, he goes out of his way to vouch for Emma to the U.N. Security Council, then when the Security Council make a stupid ass decision about the threat, he uses his pull to illegally get the ORCA prototype's remains to Emma.
  • Hank Pym is this towards the Runaways. After Nico Minoru casts a spell that enables him and Tigra to see things from the kids' perspectives, he finally ends the Avengers' longstanding policy of trying to forcibly disband the Runaways, in exchange for the Runaways reporting to Avengers Academy once a month so that he can be assured that they're all still alive, and rather than ask them to bring Molly and Klara to teach them actual school classes, he created a robot to do that for them. Admittedly, he had some selfish motivations for this change in policy: one of the Runaways is technically his grandson.
  • Spider-Man: Although less famous than Gordon, there are a few cops that see past J. Jonah Jameson's rants and recognize Spidey for the hero he is, and give him whatever help they can. Notable examples include George Stacy, Jean DeWolff, Lou Snider, and William Lamont. (In terms of "obstacles intervene", two of them are dead.)
  • In Supergirl (Rebirth), Cameron Chase is Director of Department of Extra-normal Operations, a Government agency created to neutralize hostile alien threats. She doesn't trust her newest agent Supergirl, but she's willing to work with her and give her a chance to earn her trust. She is also pretty indulgent towards her subordinates.
  • Transformers:
    • The Transformers: Till All Are One: Windblade forces Starscream to make a Council of Worlds with all of the planets they get together with in an effort to curb the absolute power he'd claimed for himself. Obsidian, the delegate from Carcer, immediately starts trying to overhaul all the corruption in the system starting with appointing an honest third party security company to administer over the current police force. Of all the delegates it's Obsidian whom Starscream sees as his biggest threat.
    • In The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, this job falls to Megatron, of all people. That said, when the other high-ranking crew on the Lost Light are Rodimus, a Hot-Blooded Glory Hound Manchild who pretends to be dead to get out of difficult conversations, and Ultra Magnus, a By-the-Book Cop to such an extent that he once threw someone in the brig for typographical errors on a sign.
  • Usagi Yojimbo: Katsuichi is the biggest example, being a respected swordsman and fair, if stern, teacher. Inspector Ishida is a kind and pleasant old policeman, and Usagi's firm friend, never once falling under Inspector Javert. This trope is usually played with in the many towns Usagi visits, often meeting the magistrate or other headman. Sometimes the result is friendly, where one magistrate and the police force sided behind Usagi against a team of bandits. Sometimes they're corrupt, like Magistrate Oda, who taxed people heavily and killed several who oppose him. Sometimes they just don't like the main character, but are otherwise not villainous.
  • Wonder Woman 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.
  • X-Men:
    • During the early stories, before mutant hysteria started running rampant, FBI Agent Fred Duncan was their official government contact. Once the government shifted to an anti-mutant viewpoint and they started ignoring him when he said mutants should be judged individually and the X-Men were trustworthy, he resigned, though not before shredding his files on them as a "security precaution." He's appeared a handful of times since then, always supporting the X-Men.
    • When the team were based out of Utopia (an artificial island off the coast of San Francisco) the mayor of San Francisco practically went beyond "reasonable" and into "pushover" territory. She basically deputized them and declared the city a safe haven for mutants.

    Comic Strips 

    Film — Animated 
  • Aladdin: Despite his flaws, the Sultan is generally a worthy ruler knowing when to put his power to good use. In 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 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 Marry for Love.
  • La Muerte from The Book of Life, is the Only Sane Woman among the Gods and said it was fair to return Manolo back to life since Xibalba cheated.
  • A Bug's Life: By and large, the Queen is a fair leader, diplomatically pointing out the unfairness of Hopper's demands to harvest double the food ("Since it's almost the rainy season, we need this time to gather food for ourselves."), and acknowledging Flik's merits where such credit is due (she notes that he has "a lot of spunk" when he first volunteers to leave the island to find help, and admits that she's impressed by the "warriors" he brought back). She also does her best to boost her nervous daughter Atta's confidence during her training as regent.
  • Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame had an Archdeacon to clean up the church's name after Judge Frollo's Kick the Dog 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) throwing him down the stairs).
  • Green Lantern: Beware My Power: The leaders of Rann quickly believe Strange when he reveals that the war with Thanagar was caused by a False Flag Operation. They also help him try to stop their weapons developers from carrying out genocide against the Thanagarians in spite of how brutal the war has been.
  • The Incredibles: Dicker's complaints about having to fix Bob's messes over and over again have merit. It's not that Rick doesn't care, it's that he realizes always jumping in with super-heroics isn't sustainable. As he says "Someone's always in trouble" but even though frustrated at Bob's actions, he still offers to help Bob just once more "for old times' sake". Later when Syndrome is revealed as a super-villain and terrorist, Rick takes the pragmatic action of immediately freezing all of his assets.
  • General Rogard in The Iron Giant 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 Dirty Coward to boot), and goes out of his way just to provoke the Iron Giant into retaliation.
  • Kung Fu Panda: Oogway is this and a Bunny-Ears Lawyer. He advises Shifu that trying to stop Tai Lung from escaping prison may lead to Shifu causing the escape, while showing sympathy about Shifu's anguish. When he chooses Po as the Dragon Warrior, the tortoise goes to comfort the panda after his disastrous first day and encourages him not to give up or worry about his future. Before he dies, Oogway makes Shifu promise to train Po and believe in him.
  • Lilo & Stitch:
    • The Grand Councilwoman is rather reasonable for being the head of the Galactic Federation, although like most aliens, she believes Pleakly when he tells her to spare Earth from destructions because mosquitos are endangered. She's also willing to give Stitch a chance to speak for himself when he's initially introduced at Jumba's trial, rather than outright condemning him. Then at the end of the film she expresses regret at having to take Stitch in after he's shown to have calmed down and matured somewhat, and seems rather satisfied when Lilo provides a loophole as to why the Grand Councilwoman can't take Stitch.
    • 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 herself, and ultimately tries to do what he feels is best for Lilo's wellbeing. 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.
  • Monsters University: Dean Hardscrabble, though some of her decisions are a tad personal. She holds an understandable grudge against Mike and Sulley for breaking her scream canister and she's often unpleasant to Mike about his endeavors. Still, she enforces fair punishment and still permits them a chance of redemption at the Scare Games and does not let Oozma Kappa suffer for the actions of Mike and Sulley.
  • Mr. Peabody & Sherman: Principal Purdy doesn't want Peabody and Sherman to be separated, but he has to follow the law. He also takes into account the fact that Penny provoked Sherman. Unfortunately, he's too meek to stand up to Ms. Grunion.
  • The Emperor in Mulan, who is clearly the wisest and most level headed person in the movie, especially when contrasted with Chi Fu, his obnoxious, opinionated advisor.
  • Ratatouille:
    • Played With with Colette, although her initial demeanor was harsh and unforgiving, this is due to her uphill battle to become a chef while facing sexist standards. However, her advice helps Rémy and Linguini improve in the kitchen, when she could have easily "let them drown" as she points out later.
    • It's implied that Gusteau was one, given that his motto is "Anyone can cook!" and his entire staff is full of colorful characters united by their ability to cook.
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: One of Miles' teachers makes it clear to him that she knows from how he got a 0 score that he intentionally tanked the test trying to get out of his new school, as he'd only be able to do that if he knew the right answers, and she responds by assigning Miles a personal essay about his own expectations which will help him work himself out.
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Eccentric, aloof and at first unwilling to help the Mushroom Kingdom he may be, Cranky Kong is willing to make a deal with Mario, a person lower in social class than him, the minute the latter challenges him, simply because he was impressed by his bravado despite laughing at his presence earlier. When Mario defeats his son, Donkey Kong, as part of the deal, he takes it in stride and upholds his end of the bargain by helping the Mushroom Kingdom.

    Music 
  • The title character of "Good King Wenceslas" represents the Christian ideals of charity and caring for the meek.
    • Though the real Wenceslas seems to have been more pious than competent and might have been better as a cleric than a king.
  • Kids Praise:
    • Psalty himself whenever he acts as an authority. In one of the Li'l Praisers videos, it begins raining outside, and Psalty uses that as a song cue for the song about the Wise Man and the Foolish Man, and he has the kids put on their raincoats. One kid points out that they're indoors, and while other adults might scold the kid for questioning orders, Psalty just explains that they're costumes.
    • God as well: at times, even Psalty makes mistakes, but every time God intervenes, He's understanding and forgiving.

    Podcasts 
  • Satan from Brimstone Valley Mall seems to be this, from what we see in the first season finale. All through the season, the main characters are utterly terrified of what will happen to them if they can't locate the missing Hornblas by Y2K, since he's needed to summon all the other demons for the Apocalypse. Their direct supervisor makes it clear that if they don't find him and the summoning doesn't happen, they will pay very dearly for it. However, come the season finale, Hornblas is nowhere to be found... but all the demons get summoned anyway, revealing he is around there somewhere, the main characters just weren't able to locate him for some reason. Satan decides to let it slide, since the summoning is what really matters, and lets the gang go — even giving them some free drink tokens and encouraging them to kick back and enjoy the party.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • 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 Corrupt Corporate Executive version of the authority figure rose to popularity (in the form of Vince McMahon in the then-WWF and Eric Bischoff in WCW, though even they would often be this trope during their sporadic runs as Faces).
  • After years and years of the WWF being run by unscrupulous heels like Vince McMahon and Triple H who screwed the faces at any chance, a bit of fresh air surfaced when Mick Foley 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 Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle. Chris Benoit 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 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
  • Teddy Long, a former long-suffering general manager of WWE's Smackdown brand, is apparently a little too reasonable for Vince McMahon's tastes; one of his storylines had him being put on probation, ostensibly for being too bland and not having any major accomplishments, but implied to be more because he didn't give special consideration to Vince's favorite wrestlers (Heels one and all).
    • Case in point; Drew McIntyre ignored repeated warnings by Teddy to stop attacking an injured Matt Hardy, so Teddy stripped him of the IC title and fired him. The next week, McMahon reversed the decision, much to the dismay of Long and Kofi Kingston, who won the IC belt while McIntyre was gone.
  • Booker T was this during his time as the Smackdown general manager.
  • In Progress Wrestling, Jim Smallman and Glen Joseph come across as this; their other business partner Jon Briley most likely is as well, he just doesn't really get involved publicly.
  • It should be noted the baby face "promoter" used to be the default mode of every authority figure ever. Even before kayfabe was broken, most owners, staff, athletic commissions, governing bodies, TV executives, sponsors and the like used to find the idea of the fans turning on them—and by extension, the product—nightmarish. Even when there was an evil boss, said boss would always be below the 'real' boss in authority. A good example is Victor Quiñones leading W*iNG and IWA Japan against FMW. Everyone from Ray Gonzales to Savio Vega to Carlito Caribbean Cool to Jeff Jarrett tried to take over whatever was the biggest promotion in Puerto Rico at the time, but would always end up dismissed.
  • Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins became one in a public relations move to try and save TNA (and later NWA). It was not a ratings stunt, this was real. On-screen, he's a pretty neutral character, something the business sorely needs. His involvement and visibility was a positive for TNA because the actual chairman, Dixie Carter, looks like a Real Housewife from central casting. (After 8 years of running TNA she had no idea what kayfabe was.)
  • Even when Eric Bischoff and the nWo were running roughshod over WCW, they still had to answer to "Ted Turner", who frequently came down hard on them.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Cardfight!! Vanguard: Keter Sanctuary is a classist dictatorship where the elites live in affluence above the clouds while the masses live in squalor on the Earth below. However, the Captain of the Cloud Knights, Bastion, seems to genuinely care about the people he's purportedly meant to protect. The lore of Apex-surpassing Sword, Bastion Prime has him preach the value of charity to his subordinate and actively protest his Gallows Ball match with Bruce being interrupted because he knows that it will only serve to increase the already intense disquiet among the masses and the likelihood of insurrection.
  • Examples from the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, Forgotten Realms: Alustriel of Silverymoon; Khelben Blackstaff, leader of the heroic breakoff organization from the Harpers; Piergeiron the Paladinson, one of the Lords of Waterdeep; and both the late King Azoun IV of Cormyr and his son, Azoun V. Given the scale of the setting, many, many others exist.
    • Similarly, many of the men and women who rule the nations of Eberron are reasonable. Even King Kaius III, a freakin' Lawful Evil vampire, can occupy this role, as can Keeper of the Flame Jaela Daran, King Boranel of Breland and so forth.
  • Paragons (people who have a high Obligation in Genius: The Transgression) radiate a sense of trustworthiness and knowledge. As a result, they get a nice bonus to social rolls when they act like this.
  • In Nomine: The player characters are often angels reporting to Archangels. The books give directions for the GM to play these Archangels as anything from Knight Templar fanatics to Reasonable Authority Figures. Their counterparts, the Demon Princes, not so much.
  • Princess: The Hopeful: While all five of the Radiant Queens qualify as this, the Queen of Hearts stands out because this trope is one of the primary components of her Court's philosophy. Hearts teaches that "A Crown Is A Symbol That Must Be Honored", meaning both that you have a duty to trust in your proper superiors and follow their directions, but also that if you have authority, you have a duty to use it for the benefit of those who owe your their allegiance.
  • Pretty much every authority figure in Ptolus has a reason they're in the position in the first place, are well-respected, and haven't been enveloped by the city by the spire's intense politics. DMs are given advice to not trot the players to these people for no reason, and to treat the encounters with gravity.
  • There are a few officials in Warhammer 40,000 who fit this trope, such as Ciaphas Cain, Ibram Gaunt, and a handful of their fellow officers. Warmaster Horus was one, at least 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 Chaos. Post-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 Absolute Xenophobe Imperium.

    Theatre 
  • John Hancock as president of Congress in 1776. He's an independence man like John Adams, although he doesn't actively participate in debate or voting (except in case of deadlock, which Adams is quick to remind him of). He breaks one of those ties in favor of Dickonson's motion that a vote on independence must be unanimous and explains that not doing so would tear the country apart right from the get-go. Later, he offers to go beyond his authority to help the cause of independence when it looks sunk, but Adams tells him he needs to stay as this trope.
  • Hamilton: George Washington is portrayed this way, both as a general and as a President. He is easily the most benevolent, humble, competent and level-headed figure in the play and does his best to keep the petty infighting of his subordinates under control. Even his wartime opponent King George III begrudgingly respects him and is disappointed at the thought of anyone else replacing him as President.
  • Marat/Sade: Both averted and played straight. The Director of the Charenton insane asylum, Coulmier, obviously is acting as the censor for the inmates' play-within-the-play, in addition to being a Napoleonic lackey. However, he is too dim to notice the amount of subversive messages both Marat and Sade can slip into their speeches. Throughout the course of the play, the Herald must add various speeches praising how the masses must listen to the wise leader's advice so they won't become a mob. However, the end of the play shows that for all of Coulmier's faults, he does have a somewhat legitimate point.
  • Romeo and Juliet:
    • Prince Escalus. 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.
    • Lord Capulet, depending on the production. He doesn't take the feud as seriously, and when Romeo crashes a party, his response is to just shrug because Romeo has a good reputation. When his younger relatives are raving about how Romeo's crashing the party, Capulet tells them to just leave Romeo alone because he's not done anything wrong. Some play it like him trying to avoid trouble, seeing as the Prince's relatives are also at the party and the Prince made it clear that he wouldn't put up with any more feuding nonsense.

    Visual Novels 
  • Ace Attorney is lacking in these, but there are a few.
    • The Judge is a rather goofy figure who is easily distracted and intimidated, but he is quite fair and will not let any legitimate contradiction be pushed aside in his court. For example, during the parrot testimony incident, despite being pushed around earlier by Manfred von Karma, he believes Phoenix when Phoenix notes connections between things the parrot said and DL-6, allowing Phoenix to continue his argument and ultimately prove the identity of the true murderer.
    • Miles Edgeworth becomes one after his Heel–Face Turn, when he stops worrying about his record and starts sincerely pursuing the truth. He takes it upon himself to play Devil's advocate with Phoenix specifically to get him riled up and working at his best. Then he becomes Chief Prosecutor and reinstates Phoenix after he was disbarred just so the two of them can team up and dispel the Dark Age of the Law.
    • Klavier Gavin is the only prosecutor who starts his game completely and totally on the level, without caring about his win record, attacking the defense attorney for personal reasons, or anything else like that. He's even willing to prosecute his own friends and family if need be.
    • Ambassador Colias Paleano never once lies to, hinders, insults, annoys or ignores Edgeworth. He always gives all the help and information he can to the best of his ability, even when said aid would be inconvenient for himself or his country (for example, admitting that Babahl's Primidux statue is the fake). It is refreshing for both players and Edgeworth to have a genuinely helpful witness for once.
    • The judge gets an upgrade in Dual Destinies, such as when he's confronted with a choice over whether to allow Athena to use analytical psychology on Detective Fulbright. The argument is made that emotions are not evidence, and cannot be used in court. The judge declares this is exactly right, but also says that the process has, in the past, helped uncover the truth, and allows it to go forward regardless, as court cases should be less about legal technicalities and more about the truth.
    • In Spirit of Justice, the Khura'inese Court Judge is surprisingly fair to Phoenix despite defense attorneys being regarded as devils in Khurai'in, even giving him a chance to step away from the defender's bench after Phoenix learns of the Defense Culpability act. And lastly, when the crown princess of Khura'in makes a scene in his courtroom, he actually has her removed by a bailiff.
    • The Japanese judge from The Great Ace Attorney. He allows Ryunosuke a fair chance to prove his own innocence despite the politicians wanting a convenient scapegoat for the murder of a foreign national on Japanese soil, and later allows Susato to defend a case disguised as a man despite women not being allowed to be lawyers in Meiji Japan. The former example becomes particularly interesting when the final case of the duology reveals that he orchestrated the murder in the first place and had everything to gain from throwing Ryunosuke under the bus to protect himself and his assassin.
  • Alex Cyprin in Astoria: Fate's Kiss, 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 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.
  • The protagonist of Daughter for Dessert is this at his diner. In particular, he doesn’t give up on Lily, even when she’s slow to learn how to cook the dishes on the menu.
  • Double Homework:
    • Mr. Adler offers the protagonist a second chance at summer school after getting kicked out of Dr. Mosely’s program. Plus, he figures out the protagonist’s relationship with Johanna and Tamara, but promises not to tell anyone.
    • Subverted with Dr. Mosely/Zeta. Although she ostensibly has the best interests of the students at heart, she’s actually using them for her own purposes, and doesn’t hesitate to arrange for their deaths once they become “liabilities.”
  • Hank Sharp from Melody admits his own mistake in giving Bethany access to the title character's instruments, and gives the protagonist more control over her career to avoid repeating this mistake. Plus, if Melody gets pregnant, he doesn’t immediately terminate her contract, even though he would be within his legal rights to do so.
  • Officer Ooe attempts to be one towards Akira in Spirit Hunter: NG, approaching him in her free time and making it clear that she's willing to hear him out on matters that the other cops wouldn't believe, but he dismisses her. When he finally does let her in on what's going on, she keeps the rest of the police off his back while he's investigating spirits.


Alternative Title(s): Reasonable Authority Figures

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We Want Our Freedom

The inmates of Charenton clamor for freedom (in two senses of the word) while acting out their play under the direction of the Marquis de Sade.

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Main / PrisonerPerformance

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