...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Mysterious Employer
- 359 statements
- 69 feature instances
- 52 referencing feature instances
| Mysterious Employer | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Mysterious Employer | label |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer | page |
MysteriousEmployer | |
| Mysterious Employer | comment |
A mysterious character who hides in the background and employs or somehow directs the heroes, villains or both. Mysterious Employers tend to stay uninvolved themselves, preferring to use money, MacGuffins, or some other way of rewarding their employees for carrying out desirable actions. Can be a Super-Trope of Big Bad or Big Good, but more often than not the Employer is a neutral party who benefits from pushing the heroes/villains down a particular path. Of course, there is a non-zero chance that this archetype is actually the villain, who was playing the heroes like a fiddle all along. Very frequently The Chessmaster or, in the event of a group, the Omniscient Council of Vagueness. It is often the case that No One Sees the Boss. Especially common if the heroes/villains in question are Hired Guns. Compare Anonymous Benefactor and Mysterious Backer. Subtrope of Mysterious Stranger. If they stop being so mysterious, they might join up as The Team Benefactor. Note that the identity of the Mysterious Employer is sometimes left secret; his identity itself, as well as his motivations, can be a substantial Reveal... if there is a Reveal at all. |
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| Mysterious Employer | fetched |
2024-04-13T17:01:27Z | |
| Mysterious Employer | parsed |
2024-04-13T17:01:27Z | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to KnowledgeBroker: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to MagnificentBastard: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to MegaCorp: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to OriginalCharacter: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to SdrawkcabAlias: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to VoiceOfTheLegion: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | processingComment |
Dropped link to lampshadehanging: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Mysterious Employer | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_10d303a2 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_10d303a2 | comment |
Shin Megami Tensei IV has Sister Gabby of the Monastery. She's said to be virtually ageless and will issue missions with apparent previous knowledge of places sealed centuries beforehand. That's because she's the disguised form of the Archangel Gabriel, who has plans for you and your friends... | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_10d303a2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_10d303a2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shin Megami Tensei IV (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_10d303a2 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1367cea0 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1367cea0 | comment |
In Worm, the Undersiders are employed by a mysterious person who orders them to do various dramatic crimes. Taylor tries to stay with them as a spy long enough to find out who it is and report back to the heroes. It turns out to be Coil. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1367cea0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1367cea0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Worm | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_1367cea0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_18d2338d | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_18d2338d | comment |
Played with in A Scanner Darkly, in which everyone knows they work for the police... but none of the police know one another's actual identities. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_18d2338d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_18d2338d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| A Scanner Darkly | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_18d2338d | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1aacbbc9 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1aacbbc9 | comment |
Dragon Age has the sidequest-giving group known as the Friends of Red Jenny. In the first game, the Warden can deliver them a "small painted box" from the office of Ferelden's First Enchanter. Asking what they want with it gets the door shut in your face without payment. In the second, a woman known only as "A Friend" can hire Hawke to wipe out nearly a dozen small gangs for them; you only learn who you're working for after the last quest. In the third, one of your rogue companions is a member. She explains that the "Friends" are a loosely-organised group of commoners exchanging favours, and the name is a convenient bogeyman; she doesn't actually know if there ever was a Red Jenny. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1aacbbc9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1aacbbc9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dragon Age (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_1aacbbc9 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1adee40d | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1adee40d | comment |
In The World Ends with You, the Composer directs the Reapers from an unknown location, and only the Conductor ever gets to see him or speak to him. As such, the latter is necessarily tasked with acting as a representative of the former. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1adee40d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_1adee40d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The World Ends with You (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_1adee40d | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_20409a0a | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_20409a0a | comment |
The Defenders (2017): Luke is asked by Misty to look into a string of murders that are being committed of young black men who are being recruited by some mystery employer to do dirty work and then get killed off, and to help Cole Miller (whose sister Candace was murdered by Shades on Mariah Dillard's orders a few months ago) before he gets killed. Luke manages to get out of Turk Barrett that the new recruit is a player who only calls himself White Hat. White Hat turns out to be Sowande, one of the Hand's leaders. After Cole gets arrested due to Luke and Danny running into one another while trying to interrogate him, Luke goes to jail to try to get some more info out of Cole, but it's clear Cole doesn't know much about his employers at all. Nor their reach, as the Hand have him killed to prevent him from snitching. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_20409a0a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_20409a0a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Defenders (2017) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_20409a0a | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2101f81a | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2101f81a | comment |
Charlie of Charlie's Angels. You only ever get to hear his voice, but you never get to see his body, make alone his face. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2101f81a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2101f81a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Charlie's Angels | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_2101f81a | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2250e67e | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2250e67e | comment |
The Suliban Cabal in Star Trek: Enterprise was directed by a mysterious employer who communicated with them via a hologram that disguised their face, voice and even species. All that was known about them was that they were an agent of one of the factions of the Temporal Cold War opposed by Agent Daniels. One of the various plot threads that went unresolved was who exactly were they and what was their ultimate end goal. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2250e67e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2250e67e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek: Enterprise | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_2250e67e | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_227431b6 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_227431b6 | comment |
During the Runaways storyline "True Believers", the super hero support group Excelsior had a mysterious benefactor who wanted them to rein in the kids. Turns out that it was Rick Jones, former sidekick to the Hulk and Captain America. It's subverted, though, when the group got their own comic The Loners, somehow losing their support. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_227431b6 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_227431b6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Runaways (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_227431b6 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2379c677 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2379c677 | comment |
Abel Magwitch in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2379c677 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2379c677 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Great Expectations | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_2379c677 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_26674ed5 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_26674ed5 | comment |
Played with in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, where the initially quite ordinary boss gradually comes to seem more and more mysterious as the plot thickens. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_26674ed5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_26674ed5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_26674ed5 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2675c915 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2675c915 | comment |
On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a number of bad guys in the early episodes work for a mysterious figure known only as the Clairvoyant. The Clairvoyant's identity is a mystery to his followers, as well as to SHIELD and the viewers. Finally, in "The End of the Beginning," Skye and Coulson figure out that the Clairvoyant is a high-ranking SHIELD operative; the next episode reveals that it's Agent Garrett, who is also revealed to be one of many HYDRA agents in SHIELD. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2675c915 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_2675c915 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_2675c915 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_32422cb3 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_32422cb3 | comment |
Similarly, Robin Masters on Magnum, P.I. was a famous but reclusive writer, and later seasons played up the idea that Magnum et al. had never actually seen him. (The first season had Magnum hanging out with Masters in an episode that became Canon Discontinuity.) Wasn't there a running gag that Thomas Magnum came to suspect Higgins was actually Robin Masters (really wrote the books and owned the estate and the Ferrari) because no one had actually seen Robin Masters, with the person heard but not seen being a hired actor? If memory serves, Higgins made a confession of sorts near the series' end to a comatose Magnum in an ICU after a car wreck—so of course said confession could be disavowed later. Higgins confessed outright to Magnum close to the end of the series, in the final few minutes of the last episode Higgins tells Magnum "I lied." with a giant grin on his face. |
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| Mysterious Employer / int_32422cb3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_32422cb3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Magnum, P.I. | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_32422cb3 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_327f503 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_327f503 | comment |
In Eden of the East, we have Mr. Outside who isn't seen in the anime at all, it's not until the movie we get to see his face. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_327f503 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_327f503 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Eden of the East | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_327f503 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_341a1fd2 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_341a1fd2 | comment |
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated - the team is given cryptic clues by a "Mr. E". Took a long time before we ever saw what he looks like. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_341a1fd2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_341a1fd2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_341a1fd2 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34768535 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34768535 | comment |
In the ultra-violent Wii game MadWorld, the protagonist Jack is sponsored by a shadowy figure with a thick eastern European accent who calls himself "13". As the story progresses he reveals bits of information relevant to the ultimate purpose of "DeathWatch". | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34768535 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34768535 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| MadWorld (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_34768535 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34fd3cf6 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34fd3cf6 | comment |
Aqua Teen Hunger Force parodies this in the episode "Der Inflatable Fuhrer". | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34fd3cf6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_34fd3cf6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Aqua Teen Hunger Force | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_34fd3cf6 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39c15180 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39c15180 | comment |
Angels & Demons has Janus, the mysterious leader of The Illuminati and the one who employs the Hassassin to carry out their grand plan for revenge against the Catholic Church. In fact, he's actually a member of the Church who orchestrated the event as a way of renewing faith in God. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39c15180 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39c15180 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Angels & Demons | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_39c15180 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39f32df7 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39f32df7 | comment |
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is this in From Russia with Love, Thunderball, and the first half of You Only Live Twice. He was behind the Big Bad of each film, all while staying behind the scenes and only being referred to as "Number One". | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39f32df7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_39f32df7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| From Russia with Love | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_39f32df7 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_3b7abee2 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_3b7abee2 | comment |
Gordon Freeman's sponsor in Half-Life is implied to be the G-Man, of which almost nothing is known, but it's pretty clear he isn't human. And he in turns speaks of employers of his own, of which even less is known, other than some disagreements and the general sense they wish history "nudged" towards certain outcomes. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_3b7abee2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_3b7abee2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Half-Life (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_3b7abee2 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_44127c7c | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_44127c7c | comment |
A few Power Rangers seasons did this, though it's very, very rare. Most notably the first few episodes of Power Rangers RPM with Dr. K (though she stopped being so mysterious relatively early on.) | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_44127c7c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_44127c7c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Power Rangers (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_44127c7c | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_510a425b | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_510a425b | comment |
So is Sunday in G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_510a425b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_510a425b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Man Who Was Thursday | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_510a425b | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_518b056d | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_518b056d | comment |
The Da Vinci Code has the "Teacher", a mysterious figure who enlists the help of both Bishop Aringarosa and Silas in hunting the Holy Grail. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_518b056d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_518b056d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Da Vinci Code | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_518b056d | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5425ce75 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5425ce75 | comment |
Grand Theft Auto is big on this trope from time to time. The main characters of most of the games will likely run into a pay phone in which an anonymous employer offers assasination jobs to the player's character. Features in Vice City, Grand Theft Auto IV and possibly several others. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had C.J. being led around by a mysterious voice on a loudspeaker who reveals himself to be the thought-dead Mike Toreno. |
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| Mysterious Employer / int_5425ce75 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5425ce75 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Grand Theft Auto (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_5425ce75 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5624d3dc | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5624d3dc | comment |
For pretty much all of the novel Thieves Like Us, almost nothing is known about the benefactor Nathaniel Coldhardt, who employs the teenage criminal protagonists. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5624d3dc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5624d3dc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Thieves Like Us | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_5624d3dc | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5ae0bec6 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5ae0bec6 | comment |
The mysterious general manager of WWE Raw, the "Anonymous RAW GM" "hired" after Bret Hart was fired from the position. S/he communicates in text messages that are read by Michael Cole. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5ae0bec6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5ae0bec6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| WWE (Wrestling) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_5ae0bec6 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5b686581 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5b686581 | comment |
In Sonic Heroes, Team Chaotix is thrust into the adventure by a client sending a radio to them and requesting they do missions for him, promising a huge reward. The voice on the radio is very squeaky and hamstery, but as the story goes along, thanks to all of his strange reactions along with blatant foreshadowing in a mid-story FMV, it becomes fairly obvious that he's Dr. Eggman long before they actually find him. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5b686581 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5b686581 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sonic Heroes (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_5b686581 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5c897f4a | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5c897f4a | comment |
Schlock Mercenary has several of these; Petey/the Fleetmind is the most notable. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5c897f4a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_5c897f4a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_5c897f4a | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_607f6b7 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_607f6b7 | comment |
Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget was so mysterious he and his nemesis Gadget never actually met (though Gadget heard his voice a few times and noted it 'sounds familiar'). The underlings he sent to kill Gadget usually only spoke to him via telescreens. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_607f6b7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_607f6b7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Inspector Gadget | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_607f6b7 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_637554db | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_637554db | comment |
O2STK in The Middleman. Wendy at first mistakes it for the name of a real organization, before Ida explains it's an acronym for "Organization Too Secret To Know." One of the previous Middlemen used "WTHWWF": "Whoever the Heck We Work For" |
|
| Mysterious Employer / int_637554db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_637554db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Middleman | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_637554db | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_66394ca4 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_66394ca4 | comment |
Wintermute in Neuromancer. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_66394ca4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_66394ca4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Neuromancer | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_66394ca4 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6873fde2 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6873fde2 | comment |
In Doctrine of Labyrinths, a magically-disguised Kekropian agent coerces Mehitabel into spying on the Marathine government. She doesn't discover his true identity until she catches him off-guard at a party; he turns out to be Isaac Garamond, Lord Felix's lover. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6873fde2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6873fde2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Doctrine of Labyrinths | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_6873fde2 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6c1d09b3 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6c1d09b3 | comment |
According to the Fallout 3 official game guide, the Talon Company mercenaries are working for an unknown wealthy client to keep the Capital Wasteland a lawless place, and thus will hunt down any player with a positive Karma Meter. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6c1d09b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_6c1d09b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fallout 3 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_6c1d09b3 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_72a1ac51 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_72a1ac51 | comment |
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had C.J. being led around by a mysterious voice on a loudspeaker who reveals himself to be the thought-dead Mike Toreno. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_72a1ac51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_72a1ac51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_72a1ac51 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_755fadab | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_755fadab | comment |
In Haruhi Suzumiya, three out of five brigade members each have their own. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_755fadab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_755fadab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Haruhi Suzumiya | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_755fadab | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_791fca44 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_791fca44 | comment |
The hero of BioShock's Mission Control: There ain't no Atlas, kid. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_791fca44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_791fca44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| BioShock (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_791fca44 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7aefccf3 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7aefccf3 | comment |
Just who is the main character of Hotline Miami working for? He receives seemingly mundane pseudonymous messages on his answering machine, instructing him to go to a specified location, where he renders his "services". By collecting secret collectibles scattered throughout the levels and playing through the epilogue, the ending reveals them to be a neo-nationalist organization with the intent of taking down the "Russo-American Coalition". | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7aefccf3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7aefccf3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Hotline Miami (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Mysterious Employer / int_7aefccf3 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7cfd7215 | type |
Mysterious Employer | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7cfd7215 | comment |
Mr. Hadden from The Lost Crown. Not only are his motives unclear, but it becomes apparent that he's got Nigel under constant surveillance, possibly via supernatural means, and may not even be directing events from the same decade as Nigel. | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7cfd7215 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Mysterious Employer / int_7cfd7215 | featureConfidence |
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The eponymous ship's crew in Mission: Levity works for a person only known as "Boss". Throughout the first episode, they don't even know her gender. | |
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Lost: After Sayid leaves the island, he becomes an assassin who is revealed to be working for Ben. | |
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Marethyu in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel prefers to stick to the shadows and manipulate both the heroes and Elder Gods through prophecies, cryptic secrets, and unidentified phone calls. | |
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Management in the first season of Carnivà le | |
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The Rossum Corporation in Dollhouse, which by Season 2, is revealed to run multiple dollhouses, and have a super-secure headquarters in New Mexico, the whole corporation was masterminded by Boyd Langton, who had been in the series the whole time | |
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In the unfinished Dirk Gently novel, The Salmon of Doubt, Dirk's employer is definitely mysterious. Especially because the book was never finished. In fact, not only does Dirk not know who is employer is, he doesn't even know what he was hired for. He just reads his bank statement and discovers that somebody's been paying him a generous weekly retainer for more than a month without any explanation why. |
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Daredevil (2015): Wilson Fisk operates from the shadows, with most people only ever meeting with James Wesley, who always makes clear he speaks on behalf of his employer and insists on his employer's name never being said out loud whenever Vladimir tries to use it. Fisk is only heard in voiceover in the first episode of season 1, talking to Wesley on a car phone as they do damage control from the Union Allied scandal. It's only at the end of episode 3, after John Healy kills himself upon giving up Fisk's name to Matt, that Fisk physically is introduced to the audience. | |
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In No Good Deed..., after Elsabeth and Hieronymus inadvertently spoil the Prince-Bishop of Bremen's investigation into Father Garnerius, they are approached by one of his agents, identified only as the Hooded Man, whose features are disguised by a cloak and hood and careful use of the shadows, and who hires them to finish the job they interfered with. It's later revealed that the Bishop's agent is actually Lord Cuncz, who has his own agenda. | |
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Splatoon 2 has Mr. Grizz, who speaks to the players through a bear statue and is never seen in person. Until Splatoon 3 anyway. | |
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The Truth: Mr Pin and Mr Tulip are working as hired muscle for one of these throughout the book: They know who their orders are coming from -Amoral Attorney Mr Slant- but he's clearly a middleman and they know nothing about who's giving his orders, which Mr Pin becomes increasingly concerned about once he realises the scale of what he's mixed up in. He does eventually squeeze some more details out of Slant, but it doesn't really help him. | |
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Assassins: Robert Rath is a hitman who never meets his employer face to face, communicating only by text through a secured connection. Apparently it's the same deal with all his employees. His identity turns out to be Nikolai, Rath's old mentor whose "death" still haunts him. | |
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In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the League is employed by a mysterious figure known only as M who only interacts with them through Campion Bond. Mina guesses that M is Mycroft Holmes; he turns out to be James Moriarty. | |
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In The Wise Man's Fear, Denna is working for a mysterious patron who Kvothe nicknames "Master Ash", who hires her to research ancient events and recast a mythical villain as a hero for unknown reasons. | |
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The Associates of Mister Morden in Babylon 5. He even calls them that after the whole galaxy knows exactly who they are. Their reason to stay hidden and never act openly is that their goal is not to conquer the galaxy, but to prove to their rivals that their method of cultural and technological progress is superior. They merely encourage younger species to follow their methods and ideology and then smile smugly as they watch them destroy the followers of the Vorlons way. | |
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Digital Fortress has "North Dakota", the mysterious partner of a disgruntled NSA operative who designed the unbreakable "Digital Fortress" code. After his partner is found dead, North Dakota attempts to sell off the code to a Japanese tech company for profit. In fact, he's not the NSA operative's partner at all, but the NSA's deputy director who sought to sell the code with a backdoor that would allow the NSA to spy on anyone using it. | |
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Early in The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible works for a mysterious employer who contacts him through Mirage. Said mysterious employer is actually Syndrome, AKA Buddy Pine, who wants to kill supers — especially Mr. Incredible. | |
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This is an entire category of characters in Shadowrun, known in the biz as a "Mr. Johnson" (this name changes by region and is almost always a stereotypical and extremely common surname, such as "Tanaka-san" in Japan, "Herr Schmidt" in Germany, "Mr. Wu" in China, and so on). They tend to work for a MegaCorp, and act as liaisons between the legitimate face of a company and our less than legal protagonists. One of the major mysteries behind each mission, for those who care to find out, is exactly who they are working for and what their motive is. Generally speaking, the first step of any given job is hacking the Johnson's commlink. The fact that these individuals are universally known as "Mr. Johnson" was lampshaded and utterly averted in one supplement with a "Mr. Johnson" who, in defiance of the tradition of never revealing who they really are, tells the player characters that her name really is Angelita Johnson, so why bother hiding her identity. Of course, she might have been lying. By the Sixth Edition the MegaCorp Saeder-Krupp has begun using the surname "Herr Brackhaus" for their Johnsons whenever they don't bother being coy about who is employing the Shadowrunners. "Hans Brackhaus" is the not-so-secret identity of their CEO, the great Dragon Lofwyr, whenever interacts with someone while shapeshifted into a human form. Due to Lofwyr's well-known reputation for micromanagement this always leaves a little room for ambiguity about whether or not the runners are now dealing with the dragon directly. |
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Team Fortress 2: RED and BLU are the mysterious employers for the mercs, and it's revealed in para-game materials that the same Administrator runs both teams. | |
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The Fourth Man in Planetary, who also happens to be the protagonist Elijah Snow; the rest of the group only pretend that their leader is an example of this trope so that he doesn't find out. Before his Laser-Guided Amnesia, Elijah used to take a very active part in the fieldwork of his organization. | |
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Person of Interest. Harold Finch starts off this way (though he acknowledges that his new employee ex-CIA hitman John Reese will be doing his best to resolve that issue); a chessmaster billionaire living under various identities who invented the Machine whose nature is also ambiguous. Even by the end of the series there are some things that we never discover, like what crime caused Finch to go into hiding in the first place. | |
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In Quarantine (1992), Nick is hired to investigate Laura's disappearance by an anonymous client. While Nick goes on to uncover the causal foundations of the universe, he never discovers who his client was. | |
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Somewhat differently, the Luteces from BioShock Infinite, the first people you meet in the game. Who are they? What relevance do they have to the plot? Why do they act so weird? All of this becomes gradually clearer throughout in the game, and is extremely important. There's also the people who Booker owes his gambling debts to, and have offered to wipe them in exchange for bringing them Elizabeth, for whom they have unknown intentions. This turns out to be a fabrication of Booker's mind dealing with the cognitive dissonance of crossing universes, cobbled together from numerous experiences in order to justify his journey to Columbia. |
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Greg and Tamara of Once Upon a Time work for a group referred to as The Home Office, which is dedicated to destoying magic in our world. Turns out that the Home Office was actually Peter Pan, who was only concerned with getting his hands on Henry and had them killed after they had accomplished this for him. | |
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Mr. Wednesday in Neil Gaiman's American Gods is an excellent example of this trope. He hires Shadow, seemingly knows everything about him, and yet tells the guy nothing about his role in everything until almost the very end. | |
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Towards the end of Season 2 and the beginning of Season 3, The Mayor is foreshadowed as an unseen but feared superior of Principal Snyder and Sunnydale's Chief of Police. | |
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Battletech The second mission of the campaign is set up like one of these, with someone offering your characters a hefty fee through a middle-man to take on a dangerous assignment... and then averted immediately afterwards because The Reveal happens in the post-mission cutscene. | |
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StarCraft II: Jim Raynor jumps back into action after being informed by his old friend Tychus that the "Moebius Foundation" is purchasing Xel'Naga artifacts from anyone who can find them for a hefty price. The Foundation is eventually revealed to be owned by Valerian Mengsk, son of Arcturus, so he can use the assembled artifacts to cure Kerrigan. Furthermore, the head scientist of the foundation is named Dr. Narud. |
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Moriarty to Irene Adler in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. | |
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Total Distortion features your mysterious government agent, Mr. Red - so named because of his hair. Nothing is explained about him in-game, apart from being the person responsible for teleporting you in and out of the Distortion Dimension. He also mocks you for setting the game's difficulty at low settings. | |
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The name of the client in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" is never given. He only interacts with Holmes through an intermediary. Holmes and Watson independently figure out who it is (Watson by spying the client's coat of arms, Holmes by unknown means), but all that is ever revealed to the reader is that the client is a very influential nobleman. | |
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Carla is a little like this in Burn Notice. So is "Management" | |
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