Basic Trope: The Big Bad's right-hand man (or woman), often has a vital role in the story.
- Straight: General Drake leads Emperor Evulz's armies into battle, and is more willing to get his hands dirty than his boss.
- Exaggerated:
- Evulz has almost no control over his minion, who is all but running the show through sheer force of badassery. Drake is the one The Hero needs to defeat.
- Evulz has his right hand man, Drake, who takes the more direct role in fighting the heroes. Drake, in turn, has his right hand woman, Faye, who sends her enforcer, Gustave, who foists the job of fighting the heroes to his second in command, Heimlich, each of whom are portrayed as The Dragon to another Dragon.
- Downplayed: Mook Lieutenant.
- Justified:
- Emperor Evulz has terminal cancer, and General Drake was simply the most capable candidate to carry out his will.
- Emperor Evulz and General Drake are friends, and Drake doesn't mind doing the fighting.
- Drake is a mercenary hired just for that purpose.
- Drake believes in Evulz' cause, and volunteers for the job.
- Evulz is too busy running The Empire and has to delegate these things.
- Inverted:
- The Lancer
- The Hero, if there is a Big Good to oppose the Big Bad.
- Subverted:
- General Drake is a member of La Résistance and trying to help the heroes overthrow Evulz.
- General Drake doesn't exist, or has been dead for some time. He is just a propaganda device used by Evulz as an image of terror.
- General Drake is a Legacy Character- he is killed frequently, and Evulz promotes some random Mook to take his name and his place each time.
- Drake is not the Dragon; he and Evulz are in a Big Bad Duumvirate.
- Drake is not the dragon; he is ''the boss'', or otherwise the actual villain. But Evulz isn't his dragon either, just a harmless flunky, or even an innocent good guy all along. Drake has been using his name as an excuse to do evil.
- Double Subverted: Ah, but General Wolfenstein, on the other hand, he is the real deal.
- Parodied:
- General Drake is frequently sent down by Emperor Evulz to hassle the Five-Man Band, despite him having a zero percent success rate with the heroes.
- General Drake is a literal dragon.
- Zig Zagged: General Drake may or may not be The Dragon. He could be The Man Behind the Man, or secretly a member of La Résistance, but its ambiguous and the story goes back and forth on this.
- Averted: Evulz has no dragon. He either has a bunch of faceless Mooks, none of whom stand out, or he is a one-man war machine all on his own.
- Enforced: "We need to stall for time before the heroes face the Ultimate Bad Guy. Let's write this guy in."
- Lampshaded: "Say hello to General Drake of the Seven Swords. If you expect to meet me in combat, you must face him."
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz decides to promote the toughest Mook he can find to Curb-Stomp Battle our heroes and help him stall for time to activate his sinister scheme.
- Exploited: Drake proves his skills in combat and "loyalty" to Emperor Evulz so he can get close enough to overthrow him.
- Defied:
- General Drake's attempt to block our heroes is thwarted when he's brutally tossed off a bridge.
- Evulz considers hiring a dragon, but decides against it.
- Discussed: "Wait. Our trek here was too easy. Isn't this where someone nasty comes before us?"
- Conversed: "I've noticed a lot of villains have this one guy that does their dirty work."
- Deconstructed:
- General Drake knows that he's number two to a sick and feeble man, and hates every minute of it. Thus, he devotes his spare time to finding a way to put his boss down.
- General Drake knows that he is working for a sick, twisted, despicable madman and thinks The Empire would be better off without him, or just desires to leave his employ.
- General Drake is the top enforcer of his master and the guy who is constantly fighting the heroes, taking charge of wars and being the face of terror in The Empire- unsurprisingly, he is killed early on doing such dangerous work.
- Reconstructed:
- Emperor Evulz brutally reminds him of the status quo whenever Drake decides to plot against him.
- Evulz kills Drake, and replaces him with a loyal new dragon.
- Drake is killed, and Evulz replaces him with a more cautious and Genre Savvy new dragon.
- When you're a One-Man Army, is there really much need for caution? Drake is perfectly capable of going up against the heroes despite being an easy target, so they decide not to mess with him.
- Played For Laughs:
- Drake is Evulz's only underling, and no matter how incompetent he is, Evulz has to keep using him to fight the heroes.
- All Evulz ever makes Drake do is make his coffee for him, despite Drake's constant complaints.
- Played For Drama: Drake serves Evulz because if he doesn't, Evulz will kill him.
Back to The Dragon, my lord.
