Basic Trope: A character is a bodyguard to someone much more powerful than them.
- Straight: Bob bodyguards Alice, even though she's a superhuman and he's just a random police officer assigned to protect her while she gives evidence.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is The Chosen One; not only is she much more capable of dealing with threats than Bob, but she's actually the only one capable of doing so at all.
- Alice is an Nigh-Invulnerable Physical God, her bodyguard is a Badass Normal.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is a well-trained, experienced officer... but so is Alice.
- Alice is stronger than Bob, but not by a very wide margin. In a fight that Alice can not win on her own, Bob is very useful.
- Justified:
- Bob's bosses don't quite trust Alice. He's there to keep an eye on her as much as he is to watch her back.
- Alice is an important person who knows that protecting herself will distract from her main business whether or not she is capable of it.
- Bob's bosses accept that Alice is a badass. However they know she has a dangerous job and think even she is not enough of a badass.
- While Alice's abilities are incredibly versatile and powerful, they also are limited to a certain number of uses, and once spent there's no way to replenish them. So, she must rely on bodyguards to deal with the "lesser" emergencies while she handles the greater crises.
- Bob has other skills Alice finds useful, and having him as a bodyguard ensures that he's always nearby when Alice needs or wants him to use them.
- Alice does not believe in the Inverse Ninja Law, and thus reasons it's better to have backup as skilled as she is.
- Even a Badass needs to sleep sometimes...
- Alice is a Glass Cannon and needs someone who can prevent her from getting hit herself.
- Bob is specifically trained to spot assassins and threats before they can get off an Alpha Strike.
- Alice may be Unskilled, but Strong - a lot of raw power or talent, but not enough training for it to be reliable. Bob has less raw power, but a lot more skill and experience, and is there to train her as well as guard her.
- And reduce the risk of violating the legal limits on self-defense in the meanwhile.
- Alice is wealthy/famous/both and is socially expected to have bodyguards because of that, even if she can protect herself just fine.
- Sergeant Major Alice is participating in a (perhaps self set up) civilian escort training exercise as one of the 'civilians'.
- Alice is prone to inflicting Disproportionate Retribution on her attackers when she loses her temper. Bob has the unenviable but highly appreciated task of preventing her fights from escalating to that point by subduing her aggressors before she uses them to paint the town red.
- Alice likes having Bob around and/or wants to spend more time with him as a companion rather than a bodyguard.
- Inverted:
- Bob has an Escort Mission on his hands.
- Weak Boss, Strong Underlings
- Subverted: Alice isn't invulnerable, eventually she needs Bob's help to get her out of a sticky situation.
- Double Subverted: ...that is, she needs someone to hold her coat so it doesn't get dirty, and she could do with a coffee after kicking this guy's ass.
- Parodied: Once an Episode Bob tries to pull a "You'll have to go through me!" on the Monster of the Week, only to be tossed aside.
- Zig Zagged: Bob suffers from a severe case of Strong as They Need to Be.
- Averted: Alice is assigned a bodyguard who's strong enough to be useful to her.
- Enforced: Bob is added to serve as a character the audience can identify with.
- Lampshaded: "You're giving me a bodyguard? You did see me one-shot that monster with my bare hands, right?"
- Invoked: Bodyguarding Alice is a mission given to guards who need to be eased back into the workforce after an injury, as well as training rookies in a low-risk situation.
- Exploited: Alice gets herself a bodyguard so she can use him as a servant.
- Defied: Alice refuses to co-operate if they try to force a bodyguard on her.
- Discussed: "Why do you keep following me around? You're only getting in the way!" "It's my job."
- Conversed: "I wonder why they bothered giving Alice a police bodyguard. What's he going to do? Threaten to arrest the Monster of the Week for a breach of the peace?"
- Implied: Inverse Ninja Law does not apply in this universe, and while Alice is shown as perfectly capable of going toe to toe with the Big Bad, there's still The Dragon and an army of Mooks, meaning Alice is not going to be able to solo the mission, no matter how badass she is.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice frequently ditches Bob to keep him out of the way.
- Alternately, Bob may begin feeling doubtful about his own skills and role, which will affect his work and life.
- Bob loses his job after it comes to light how redundant he is.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob is still competent in his own right and occasionally manages to catch up to save the day.
- Alice ends up getting hurt and Bob ends up functioning as effective backup.
- Played for Laughs: Bob insists on following and guarding Alice even though he's almost useless.
- Played for Drama: Bob's in way over his head and his dedication to his job could get him killed.
Back to Bodyguarding a Badass.
