Bodyguarding a Badass/Playing With

Basic Trope: Someone is a bodyguard to someone much more powerful than them.

• Straight: Bob bodyguards Alice even though she's a fully trained martial artist 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.
• Downplayed: Bob is a well trained, experienced officer...but so is Alice.
• Justified:
  • Bob's bosses don't quite trust Alice. He's there to keep any 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.
• Inverted: Bob has an Escort Mission on his hands.
• Subverted: Alice isn't invunerable, eventually she needs Bob's help to get her out of a sticky situation.
• Double Subverted: ...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.
• Deconstructed: Alice frequantly ditches Bob to keep him out of the way.
• Reconstructed: Bob is still competant in his own right and occasionally manages to catch up to save the day.
• 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?"
• 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?"
• Exploited: Alice gets herself a bodyguard so she can use him as a servent.
• 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.

---

Click here to go back to Bodyguarding a Badass.