Life is so unnerving
For a servant who’s not serving
He’s not whole without a soul to wait upon
For a servant who’s not serving
He’s not whole without a soul to wait upon
— Lumiere, "Be Our Guest," Beauty and the Beast
Tropes about servants, serving, and sidekicks. See also A Slave to the Index.
Servants:
Subcategory:
- Adopt-a-Servant: Adopted children who are treated as servants rather than family members.
- Battle Butler: A butler who is willing to fight on his employer's behalf.
- Battle Thralls: Slaves used for combat.
- Bodyguard Babes: Attractive female bodyguards.
- Bodyguard Legacy: Bodyguarding is passed down from parent to child.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Someone has a bodyguard even though they're perfectly capable of defending themselves.
- Bond Creatures: Animals or monsters who spiritually bond with another being.
- Boxed Crook: A condemned criminal is offered freedom in exchange for performing a task.
- Butlerspace: Servants appearing out of nowhere when needed.
- Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards: A group of foreign soldiers or mercenaries serve as a character's protectors.
- Cincinnatus: A character who gains a vast amount of political power and willingly gives it to someone else later on.
- Claimed by the Supernatural
- Conditioned to Be Weak: A powerful character is only docile and submissive because they are conditioned to follow orders and/or fear their leader.
- Creepy Housekeeper
- Crusty Caretaker
- Divine Delegation
- Ethnic Menial Labor
- Evil Minions: The villain's underlings.
- Familiar: A mage's magic pet.
- Genie in a Bottle
- Girl Friday
- Guardian Angel: An angel or other spirit who watches over a mortal.
- Guardian Entity: A supernatural being who protects a ward from harm.
- The Help Helping Themselves: A household servant steals or otherwise uses their master's property without permission.
- Henchmen Race
- Hero Secret Service
- The Igor: The short, deformed assistant of the Mad Scientist.
- The Jeeves: An impeccable and hypercompetent butler, manservant or valet.
- Kindly Housekeeper
- Lady-In-Waiting
- Legacy of Service
- Maid
- Muggle in Mage Custody
- Old Retainer
- Personal Mook
- Praetorian Guard
- Private Tutor
- The Renfield: A vampire's loyal human servant.
- The Roadie
- Servant Race
- Step Servant: The character is made a servant/slave to the rest of the family.
- Undead Laborers
Often used characterization tropes:
- Bumbling Sidekick
- Haughty Help
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: The subordinate is smarter and more competent than their boss.
- Loyal to the Position
- Professional Butt-Kisser
- Servile Snarker: The servant isn't above making remarks at their master's expense.
- Sycophantic Servant
- Wager Slave
- Yes-Man: The aide always agrees with everything their boss says.
Servant-related tropes:
- Afterlife of Service: Being buried with your employer so your soul can serve theirs.
- The Bait
- Bargain with Heaven
- Bodyguard Betrayal
- Bodyguard Crush
- The Butler Did It: It turns out a butler committed the crime.
- Chores Without Powers: Someone with magical abilities, superpowers, etc. does menial labor without using said powers, usually as a punishment.
- Deal with the Devil
- Defeat Means Menial Labor
- Ditch the Bodyguards
- Hired Help as Family
- Human Pack Mule
- I Owe You My Life
- Lady and Knight
- Leonine Contract
- Let the Bully Win: When playing a game with the boss, you must let them win.
- Lost Him in a Card Game
- Magically-Binding Contract
- Marry the Nanny
- Mistaken for Servant: Someone is mistaken for being a servant.
- Mistress and Servant Boy
- Nice to the Waiter
- No Badass to His Valet
- No Hero to His Valet
- Subordinate Excuse
- Swapped Roles
- Taking the Bullet
- Too Important to Remember You: Someone powerful can't be bothered to remember the name of someone less important than them, including servants.
- Too Important to Walk: Someone has servants whose only jobs are to carry the person around so they don't have to walk.
- We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future
- With Due Respect
- Working for a Body Upgrade
- Work Off the Debt: Someone can't pay and ends up working for the business they owe money until they've earned every cent they owe.
