Entitled Bastard/Playing With

Basic Trope: Jerkass who mistreats the heroes, yet expects them to drop everything and help when the Jerkass is in trouble.

• Straight: Wesley, an Upper Class Twit, likes to mock and belittle The Hero Lucas and his friends Bianca, Marcy, and Pike for being lower class. Yet when Emperor Evulz's forces attack, he screams for them to "Save me first! Get me out of here, you bumbling idiots!"
• Exaggerated: Wesley goes out of his way to make the heroes' lives utterly miserable, making their work far harder than it has to be -- yet when the real enemy attacks, he expects them to protect him and him alone, and even screeches at them for daring to try and help anyone else when they should be saving him.
• Justified: Wesley happens to be related to a powerful local lord, who would make an even more powerful enemy with a very personal grudge against the heroes if he thought they'd just let Wesley die.
• Inverted: Pike treats Wesley, who can't fight very well like his own personal Butt Monkey, but when the heroes need more money for equipment he expects Wesley to foot the bill.
• Subverted:
  • When Wesley is threatened, he whimpers to Lucas that "I know I've treated you poorly in the past, and that I shouldn't expect you to help me now..."
  • Alternately: Despite seeming like a buffoonish Jerkass, Wesley is surprisingly capable of taking care of himself and doesn't have to ask the heroes for help.
  • Alternately: Wesley's father Lord Robert has become very grateful to Lucas and his friends for constantly saving his son's sorry hide. He is also becoming increasingly fed up with his son's ridiculous sense of entitlement, which is causing Lord Robert all kinds of diplomatic headaches. When Wesley lashes out at them one too many times, Lord Robert finally has enough and starts yelling at his son to either start showing some proper gratitude to Lucas and his friends or grow a pair and start taking better care of himself.
• Double Subverted:
  • "...But DO IT ANYWAY!"
  • Alternately: Though better than expected, Wesley's Pride eventually means he gets into a situation he can't fight his way out of, and starts demanding aid from the heroes instead.
• Parodied: Wesley is so spoiled and conceited he inadvertently causes a peasant revolution when he belittles Lucas and Co. in front of the armed villagers they previously saved. With his titles revoked and his upper class in jail, Lucas and co. free him on bail and have him do demeaning menial service for them.
• Deconstructed:
  • Wesley is emblematic of an out of touch ruling class, and his progressively shriller and more heartless demands lead Pike and Lucas to violently disagree on just how much they're supposed to put up with. Once the team disbands, the Emperor's forces meet no resistance.
  • Alternatively, the heroes leave Wesley to his fate (or at least seriously consider it before deciding that since they're heroes, they'll save him anyways.)
• Reconstructed: Marcy and Bianca notice how Wesley is dividing his protectors, and use a mix of threats, persuasion, and blackmail to teach him a lesson and get him to shut up and stay quiet for the sake of their chances of success.
• Zig Zagged: Wesley flips back and forth on whether or not he actually expects the heroes to protect him after the way he's mistreated them. In some cases, he even outright rejects their help, insisting he and his guards can take care of matters himself. This doesn't stop him, however, from tongue-lashing them in public for not protecting him, simply because he wants to hurt their image.
• Averted: Wesley has enough sense about him to realize that Lucas and co. are not cowering peasants, and outrageous demands won't help his tenuous hold on their help.
• Enforced: The story is a commentary on Upstairs, Downstairs type class tension, so most nobles are like Wesley.
• Lampshaded: "If Wesley (or any of our other noble clients) were actually grateful, they wouldn't be the target of so many uprisings and kidnappings, and we'd be out of a job."
• Invoked: Wesley's father encourages him to look down upon the heroes "because they're expendable commoners, while you were born to greatness."
• Exploited: General Scarlett has learned from her spies that Wesley treats the heroes poorly, and decides to stage a very public attack on his household, as part of a ploy to discredit Lucas and the rest.
• Defied: Wesley refuses to call for their help, out of Pride. He'll deal with this situation alone or die trying, but he won't make a fool of himself by calling on "those cretins!"
• Discussed: "When you have generations of 'noble breeding' and rich upbringing, the result is usually a joyful pairing of ingratitude and entitlement."
• Conversed: "I'll bet the Emperor wants to kill Wesley because he used to work for him. I know I would."
• Plotted A Good Waste: Lucas realizes that he suffers from Samaritan Syndrome and he has been easily forgiving of Wesley's behavior. While he doesn't want Wesley to come to harm, he's been enabling Wesley by putting up with him and keeping Pike, Bianca and Marcy from harming him or telling him off. Lucas decides the best thing he can do for Wesley is teach him the error of his ways by dumping him in a real life situation where no one knows who he is, and his titles mean nothing.
• Played For Laughs: Wesley teases the others, yet squeals to be saved from a mouse in his bedchamber.
• Played For Drama: Marcy and Pike have been flirting with taking a slide down the slippery slope into darker territory. During an attack on the city, they're separated from their comrades, and discover an injured, pinned Wesley -- who, upon spotting them, starts demanding their help. With no other obvious witnesses around, No One Will Ever Know if they just... leave him to his fate. Or maybe even help him along...

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