Trope Talk: The Right-Hand Man

Everyone loves a good bodyguard, and everyone ESPECIALLY loves a bodyguard with *spicy chemistry* with the person they're bodyguarding! Today let's talk about the marvelous diversity of badass right-hand men and their dynamics with their boss!
This video could've been nothing but Fullmetal Alchemist examples. I heroically battled this temptation into submission. You're welcome.

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Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.

[earnestbrown]

Dragon: "Boss I'm your best friend right?"
Evil Boss: "Yes, Of course."
Dragon: "And we are the baddies right?"
Evil Boss: "Yes, Of course. Why are you asking?"
Dragon: "Oh Good. Those heroes were monologuing that bad guys can't know the Power of Friendship."
Evil Boss: "Sad that their world view is so small. That will change after we rule the world."

[AskMia]

Azula’s spiral is also kicked off by the betrayal of HER right hand women. Mai betraying her to save Zuko, and Ty Lee betraying her to save Mai. This rocks her foundation so much that when her father leaves her behind, her mind shatters as she starts seeing treachery EVERYWHERE, because if Mai and Ty Lee- the only real friends she’s ever had- would betray her, then ANYONE could betray her.

[Gboyify]

My favorite variant of this trope is “The Secretary”. While the boss is the one doing all the cool flashy big picture stuff, the Secretary is the one working behind the scenes, handling the logistics of the boss’ plans and cleaning up any messes the boss may have left behind both metaphorically and literally.
These ones are great to explore because they clearly have a much higher bullshit tolerance than most and it’s interesting to find out why these people are working themselves to the bone just to ensure the boss can go forward with their plan unimpeded.
It’s especially fun when it turns out these guys who we thought were purely desk workers are actually incredibly capable in a fight but only resort to that when all other options are exhausted.
Also they are always a good set up for any workaholism jokes.

Examples: Ms. Pauline from Team Fortress 2, Owen from Gargoyles and Smithers from The Simpsons.

[DrVella]

"We good?"
"you tell me, boss"
I can feel the fanfiction already forming and these are stick figures

[cartoonishidealism]

I’m so glad this video didn’t come out like, 5 years ago because this comment section would have been FILLED with Hamilton references

[CarbonMage]

Some of these slides are truly excellent. "We good?" "You tell me, boss" and CRIME *fistbump* are just plain fun

[smaug]

My favorite version of the dragon ascending trope is when the dragon feels that the villain has lost sight of their original evil goal and usurps them.

[jbreality]

red delivering the line "it's probably a natural consequence of spending so much time and energy protecting someone. you either fall in love with them or you eventually kill them yourself" completely straight, like it's a circumstance your average person would run into all the time, made me snort laughing.

[Andrewtr]

I love how Starscream has become his own trope. He's treacherous and self-serving and it basically flips the idea of the groveling subservient role he pretends to be.

[ExeloMinish]

On the topic of the "Dragon" name being weird, it's just a classic case of definition drift. TVtropes originally had the term mean a major physical threat the protags would have to go through to reach the (often less mighty in terms of raw power) big bad. So it was called that because it would and could often be just some kind of giant monster (not always, though, see Vader for instance). But then, with time and people trying to shoehorn their favorite shows into every page, the definition went from that to a less specific "the second to last boss" to "the big bad's second-in-command".
So yeah, like in most languages the name makes no sense because the sense went away over time.

[jjkthebest]

"Giving a villain a kid to take care off is one of the tradition fast tracks to redemption arcs"

Arcane: hold my beer

[paulweyer]

Hawkeye and Mustang competitively trying to sacrifice themselves for each other was so endearing. When the mcu did the same thing for a scene with a character named hawkeye, I couldn't help but chuckle

[Truck-kun]

I think a Trope Talk: Dynamic Duos would be interesting.
(Sonic and Tails, Batman and Robin, Mario and Luigi, etc...)

[almondisanut]

Red's discussion of the bodyguard tropes in the media adds to how intriguing they already are.
Also, props to Red for being able to resist the urge to use only Fullmetal Alchemist examples cause it's harder than it seems.

[Iamtk]

As an aromantic, this trope has always been a favorite of mine, because it is one of the rare times that you will see a platonic relationship that is seen as the paramount relationship of someone's life. And when they are asymmetrically romantic (specifically righthand man to boss), the platonic righthand-man element of the relationship is often seen as more important than the crush.

[tzisorey]

Heroes: <Defeat The Dragon>
BBEG: "YOU HURT MY KITTEN!!"
The dragon: 8' tall 20' long sentient chimera lion that the boss raised from 8 weeks of age, after finding it in the rubble of his own trauma-forming event

[bobaoriley]

What’s cool is having a bunch of dragons with one boss.Using FMA, Mustang is loyal and caring to all of his colleagues no matter how expendable the seem. With the hommonculi, some are blindly loyal, some want to usurp, and some (Greed) want to completely revolt. Also, mark FMA off your bingo cards folks.

[kingsadvisor]

Potential Trope Talk: The Last of their Kind.
So many ways to approach this topic. From the noble hero that represents ideals long gone and a morality that is implied to be dying in the modern era, to the evil of the past coming back to an unprepared era, to even honest conversations about the evils of the past decimating entire civilizations and the preservation of culture such as protecting isolated people like the North Sentinelese.

Characters that this could apply to
Aang (Avatar the Last Air Bender)
Optimus Prime
Scar (FMA)
Conan the Barbarian
Red Sonja
Elric of Melnibone
Gamora (MCU)
Thanos (MCU & comics)
Geralt of Rivia

Edit: Below, in the replies, you will find many more examples but here are a few more I've remembered.
Megatron
Daenerys Targaryen
Dracula (several iterations)
Ra's Al Ghul
Vandal Savage
Ganondorf
Spear & Fang (Gendy Tartakovsky's Primal)
Josey Wales
The remaining Tarnished in Elden Ring
The player character in either Dark Souls or Bloodborne\
Link and/or Zelda in some timelines
The Predacons (Transformers Prime)
and finally... Aragorn, son of Arathorn

[damedesuka]

I'm a simple gal, I see Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye on the thumbnail, I click.

They're my favorite anime pair of all time. And the fact that the author didn't push the romance subplot between them too hard is part of why I love them. They never got together romantically because they got bigger fish to fry than settling down and start a family, but they're together in their own way.

[spazzyshortgirl]

Arguably chess is has the truest right hand man: the queen (the powerhouse bodyguard) and the king (leadership).

It’s also why the right hand man is the #1 origin of villains: the Jafar/Sultan, Viren in Dragon Prince, etc