Basic Trope: The Big Bad's treacherous second-in-command (or occasionally lower in the ranks), who plots to overthrow him and take his place.
- Straight: General Drake Halgar is Emperor Tyranus Evulz's Dragon, but secretly plans to betray him when he's vulnerable and take his place.
- Exaggerated:
- Halgar is obviously trying to murder Emperor Tyranus whenever he can. Emperor Tyranus trusts Halgar too much to notice.
- Halgar tries to usurp Tyranus every 5 minutes, never succeeding.
- Halgar plans to usurp Tyranus. Skullgar plans to usurp Halgar. Terillian plans to usurp Skullgar. and so on, and so forth, through Vyshe in middle management all the way down to Rekkr, the trash man, whose dog plots to take over from him.
- All of Tyranus’s underlings are independently scheming to depose him and seize power for themselves.
- Downplayed:
- Halgar and Tyranus get into a fight, and Halgar wins; he hasn't been plotting before now, but exploits Tyranus' current incapacity.
- Halgar has fantasies about being Emperor himself, but doesn’t actively plot against Tyranus.
- Justified:
- Emperor Tyranus is unable to defeat the heroes, most of the time revealing his plans to them, giving them the key to thwart his plans. Halgar wants to get rid of him, since he thinks that he will be a much better Emperor.
- Emperor Tyranus is incompetent and completely crazy. Halgar opposes him because he is disgusted with Halgar's excesses / he sees these excesses as destabilizing the empire.
- Emperor Tyranus tolerates Halgar's treacherous tendencies, because that's what fathers do.
- Having The Dragon scheming keeps Emperor Tyranus on his toes and prevents him from becoming complacent.
- As second-in-command, Halgar is privy to far too much sensitive information that the heroes could use against Emperor Tyranus if they ever swayed him to their side or captured and interrogated him. Thus, the Emperor keeps Halgar close to keep an eye on him and his knowledge.
- Emperor Tyranus knows Halgar is plotting against him, but he also knows that until Halgar makes his move, he's far too valuable an ally to get rid of.
- Emperor Tyranus physically and/or verbally abuses Halgar on a regular basis. If Halgar didn't want to kill Tyranus when he first signed on, he does now.
- In the past, Emperor Tyranus killed Halgar's family. Tyranus doesn't remember Halgar's face, but Halgar sure remembers Tyranus. To get his revenge, he took on a false identity and made sure he'd rise through the ranks and get close enough to Tyranus that the Emperor would have his guard down to assume his position.
- Tyranus suffers from a case of Evil Cannot Comprehend Good. He hires Halgar, who's prone to disloyalty, because selfish ambition he can at least predict; his lieutenant Skullgar, who is genuinely loyal because of his principles, has screwed up Tyranus's plans by accident simply because he doesn't throw others under the bus for his own game.
- Halgar is actually an agent for a rival evil faction.
- Halgar has his own goals, which directly conflict with Tyrannus’s.
- Inverted:
- Sycophantic Servant, Undying Loyalty, My Master, Right or Wrong, etc.
- Emperor Tyranus is plotting to abdicate his position and force Halgar to take his place.
- Lance plans to betray Hiro for his position as the Big Good.
- Halgar is much more comfortable being a minion and does not want to be Emperor.
- Halgar actively seeks a demotion to a faraway province, reasoning he would have more authority if his boss wasn't looking over his shoulder.
- Emperor Tyranus actually loathes Halgar, and is waiting for an opportune moment to get rid of him.
- Subverted:
- Halgar seems to plot against Emperor Tyranus, but it's just a trick to lure out other minions who do want to overthrow the Emperor.
- Halgar's loyalty seems to be faltering, and it looks like he's starting to think maybe he could do a better job... But before Halgar decides it's time to take matters into his own hands, Emperor Tyranus notices his increasing disloyalty and kills him.
- Double Subverted:
- But now that he got rid of competition and earned the Emperor's trust in the process, Halgar plans to betray him for real.
- But Halgar comes Back from the Dead and kills Tyranus, taking his place in the process.
- Parodied:
- Halgar carries a freshly sharpened knife at all times that's inscribed with the words "Insert Between Emperor Tyranus' Shoulder Blades".
- Emperor Tyranus laughs at the villagers for being so willing to trust him and asks how can someone be so stupid to do that. Then he talks about how incredibly trustworthy Halgar is despite his well-known Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
- Halgar attempts to usurp Tyranus yet again. Tyranus is so used to this that he's got the dates of Halgar's uprisings marked on his calendar.
- Zig Zagged: Halgar is genuinely conflicted about whether or not to overthrow the Emperor, and switches between secretly carrying out usurpation plans and being fully loyal.
- Averted: Halgar is fully loyal to the Emperor.
- Enforced:
- "A rag tag bunch of misfits fighting the Evil Empire is fine for our kiddie audience. The older demographic wants something more realistic. How about a twist where the general has been sabotaging the emperor's plans to undermine the military's confidence in him in preparation for a coup. Then we could move into a three-way-war plotline."
- "We need a good way to dispose of the old villain and introduce the new one. How about an usurper?"
- The work in question is part of the Transformers franchise, and features the Trope Namer himself, due to corporate mandate and/or fan expectations.
- Lampshaded:
- "Many long to be emperor. It wouldn't be odd if one of his underlings planned to usurp his power."
- "Why did I even hire that backstabbing asshole?"
- Invoked: The Empire encourages disloyalty in underlings, on the grounds that an underling who is strong, ambitious, and clever enough to overthrow the Emperor has every right to the throne, and fending off those who think they're strong, ambitious, and clever enough will help keep him sharp.
- Exploited:
- The heroes know about Halgar's ambitions, and make sure to always let him escape. After all, a house divided cannot stand.
- The heroes let Emperor Tyranus know of Halgar's plans, sparking an Enemy Civil War.
- Defied:
- Halgar proves that he's loyal to the Emperor whenever he can.
- Halgar discusses with a minion the possibility of him taking the Emperor's place. He gets a Dope Slap, and the minion reminds him that Evulz has magnitudes more experience in leadership than he does, even if he seems less tact, and to overthrow him and take on his job in a day is nowhere near practical.
- Discussed:
- "So, you are just waiting for an opportunity to kill me and get in charge, don't you?" ("Uhm, uh - no?!")
- As above, but Halgar's reply is a knife to the chest, a sly smile, and the words "Not any more."
- Conversed: "Why is everyone in the Emperor's inner circle such a backstabber? You'd think he'd want minions he could count on."
- Implied:
- Tyranus is always on guard around Halgar, and Halgar is often involved with the plans of Tyranus that end up backfiring, but there's no concrete evidence that Halgar is actually trying to kill or discredit Tyranus.
- Halgar is doing things behind Tyranus' back, but it not clear if he wants to overthrow Tyranus, is doing what Tyranus is not willing to do for the sake of of the Empire, or simply wants some extra money on the side.
- Halgar seems to plot against the Emperor, often even talking with other minions about getting rid of him, but he never tries to overthrow him.
- Deconstructed:
- After killing the Emperor, Halgar proves to be a much better tactician and soon has the heroes in retreat. But before he can lead the final assault, he's stabbed to death by Skullgar, his long-loyal Lieutenant who felt Halgar was getting too much of the credit. Then Terillian tries to overthrow Skullgar, Vyshe and Rekkr executes their own plans and create their own factions against each other, and eventually the entirety of The Empire collapses in an Enemy Civil War.
- Halgar's plans to overthrow the Emperor (even if they were justified) actually help the heroes to defeat both of them in the process. Halgar then learns that, if he kept his lust for power in check and remained loyal to the Emperor, the heroes would be crushed.
- Halgar manages to overthrow the Emperor and defeat the heroes, but he has no idea how to rule the empire, and so economic failures and civil wars ravage the lands, and in the end, Halgar himself is overthrown.
- Halgar succeeds in overthrowing Tyranus, but he's not the strategic planner that Tyranus was, turning his attempt at killing the heroes into an even bigger fail than what would happen if Tyranus had led the attack.
- Emperor Tyranus has Halgar executed for his disloyalty.
- Halgar's schemes are causing Tyranus to become paranoid, leading to Sanity Slippage and taking it out on his subjects.
- Reconstructed:
- Halgar comes Back from the Dead and comes out on top in the Enemy Civil War, establishing a new empire under his absolute rule.
- Tired of seeing the Emperor losing time after time to the heroes, and putting down all his suggestions and plans, Halgar kills the Emperor and becomes the new Emperor himself. Under his new leadership, the Empire becomes a major threat to the heroes.
- Halgar realize that Emperor Tyranus is mentally insane and a incompetent ruler and decide that he should be disposed. Halgar does it, takes over The Empire and, surprising, makes a truce with the heroes, which end the war. Halgar then clean up the mess Tyranus made and The Empire becomes a prospering, successful nation. Halgar also create several diplomatic and economic relationships and alliances with the other neighbour nations. The heroes, who were first suspicious at Halgar, accept that Halgar is a good leader and actually become his allies.
- Played For Laughs: Halgar's schemes to overthrow Tyranus are laughably incompetent, and it always ends with him suffering an Epic Fail.
- Played For Drama: Halgar is portrayed as a legitimate threat who could feasibly overthrow the emperor, leading him to become as much of a threat to the heroes as Tyranus.
Back to The Starscream, before he betrays you.
