Sarcastic Devotee

"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."
—Zoe Washburne, Firefly

The good counterpart to the Treacherous Advisor and The Starscream.

The Sarcastic Devotee is a Sidekick who always sticks around The Hero, The Messiah, The Captain, or any other lead role, doubting his orders, making sarcastic, often insulting comments about his actions (if the lead's ego is not strong enough, this may have complications) but never, ever actually betraying or leaving him in need. Deadpan Snarker, The Lancer, and sometimes The Smart Guy commonly fit this description, and a Poisonous Friend may have been this at the beginning. The nastier types of Hypercompetent Sidekick are often this as well. A reluctant Noble Demon may have this type of relationship with its Kid with the Leash. Can also overlap with Lovable Traitor or with Sour Supporter.

According to the theory of Dramatica, two archetypal roles are "Sidekick" and "Skeptic". The Sidekick supports you no matter what, and conveys positive feedback (you can do this, everything's gonna be okay). Conversely, the Skeptic (who may still support you) conveys mostly negative feedback (this'll never work, you've screwed it all up, we're all gonna die)[1] and not so strictly balanced against a more positive role. Sometimes this pessimism can batter down and demoralize the hero; at other times, it keeps him grounded, helps him remember the stakes, and even strengthens his resolve for the long journey ahead.[2] The negative commentary may contain useful warnings against mistakes the hero would otherwise make; also, learning to put up with some booing from the home crowd can ensure that the Hero doesn't fold once the Big Bad starts his little mind games.

See also Servile Snarker, With Friends Like These... and Teeth-Clenched Teamwork. If the Sarcastic Devotee tries to deny that he supports the hero, he may be a Stealth Mentor or Noble Demon.

Examples of Sarcastic Devotee include:

Anime and Manga

  • Sebastian is this from Black Butler. Sebastian makes life difficult for his master Ciel at times supposedly to train or help him when it is just to get back at Ciel.
    • Once when Sebastian was in disguise, he gave Ciel a slip of paper supposedly containing an explanation for him to read to his guests. It was blank so Ciel had to improvise.
  • Joe, The Lancer of the Five Man Band from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
    • He's also this as Jason in Battle of the Planets. Mark definitely deserves sarcasm. Sometimes one wonders about the devotion.
  • Shinichirou Tamaki, one of Lelouch's lieutenants in the first season of Code Geass, who is nonetheless one of his most useless servants. A more benevolent variation is C.C., who often doubts or mocks Lelouch and his plans, but always goes along with them anyway.
  • Shirin Bakhtiar, Princess Marina Ismail's advisor in Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Although we never really saw enough of that pair to see what her real deal was, some viewers got the impression that she was stringing Marina along for her own purposes. Plus, she leaves in episode 25 (leaving Marina looking rather upset) but not before the Celestial Being incident is resolved and Azadistan is apparently on its way to solar age.
  • To a certain degree, BT in .hack//SIGN.
  • Mr. Prospector in Martian Successor Nadesico.
  • Kyon would fit, if only he didn't prefer acting against Haruhi Suzumiya's genkiness over just commenting on it.
  • Natarle Badriguel in Gundam Seed is a borderline example, and even had a temporary Face Heel Turn late in the series.
  • Carl Hutter in Stellvia of the Universe, though he is actually a Sufficiently Advanced Alien.
  • Suleyman in Trinity Blood is a complex case: he really rebelled against the Empress but at the crucial moment, refused to kill her, taking the shot himself.
  • Kurogane in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
  • Tsume in Wolf's Rain.
  • In Naruto, Sasuke fits but subverts it by actually leaving when the lead starts doing things right. Shikamaru fits even better but also subverts it by taking the role of leader himself around the same time.
  • The eponymous character of Soul Eater is like this to his Meister and Vitriolic Best Bud Maka.
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima both Kotaro and (to a lesser extent) Evangeline have shades of this.
  • Madara in Natsume Yuujinchou.
  • Hyuuga and Wakabayashi sometimes act like this in Captain Tsubasa. Hyuuga even more so, as Wakabayashi lays down the snark a little when he grows up.
  • Manjoume Jun in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX insults Judai's stupidity all the time, but follows Judai to other dimensions and listens to him.
  • Atsuyu from The Twelve Kingdoms is the governor of En's biggest and richest province, and is rather cynical in regards to the new king Shoryuu. Horribly subverted when we learn that he's not a devotee, but a Smug Snake who wants to depose Shoryuu and become king.


Comic Books

  • Hawkeye of The Avengers embodies this trope so thoroughly, he's almost a better example of The Starscream. For years, he served under the leadership of Captain America (comics) and disputed every judgment call wing-head made; no matter how trivial, and never failed to punctuate his complains by claiming that he would make a much better leader. Even after Hawkeye got to lead his own team of Avengers, these arguments still cropped up every time he had to step back into a supporting role.
  • Batman's trusted butler (and surrogate father) Alfred is perhaps one of the most infamous of such characters.
  • Strongbow in Elf Quest. Spends a lot of time questioning Cutter's authority as chief, challenges him for leadership and loses, and later even walks out on him for a while. But when he's needed in a crisis...
  • In Ultimate Marvel, Tony Stark/Iron Man's butler, Jarvis. Until he, y'know, died.
  • Similarly, evil Mojo's butler and right-hand man, Major Domo, often comments on his very dangerous boss' craziness and round physique.
  • Captain Haddock often makes sarcastic remarks about Tintin's goody twoshoesness (and the trouble it sometimes gets them into), but will never abandon him.
  • In X-Men, Wolverine serves this role towards Cyclops. For a while in Wolverine's own book, Jubilee was his very own Sarcastic Devotee.


Films -- Live-Action


Literature

  • Discworld: Angua is basically this (with benefits) to Carrot.
  • Sancho Panza, who is constantly picking up after Don Quixote's misadventures.
  • Bartimaeus, not that he has much choice in the matter
  • Grantaire of Les Misérables is about as cynical as they come, yet follows Enjolras to revolution despite his disparaging remarks.
  • Savitri in The Last Colony / Zoë's Tale is so snarkily devoted she changes planets for her boss.
  • Ron Weasley in Harry Potter. He's among the most loyal characters in the entire series, but it takes very little for him to complain or snark about whatever they're doing.
  • MacPhee from That Hideous Strength.
  • Kragar to Vlad Taltos, back when he was a mob boss.
  • Mat from The Wheel of Time
  • Captain Hastings, Hercule Poirot's early Watson. Once Poirot failed to solve a mystery involving a box of chocolates. After that affair, Poirot tells Hastings that if he ever acts too conceited, he should use the words "chocolate box" to bring him down a peg. Poirot isn't amused when Hastings uses the code words a minute and a quarter later.
  • A truly odd example from the Artemis Fowl series. Opal Kobai can apparently mind control the doctor in The Time Paradox, but while it does make him follow her orders, he snarks and complains the whole time.
  • Biff, Josh's best friend, in Lamb
  • Jeeves to Bertie in Jeeves and Wooster, though he always encases his sarcasm in polite language. Also a Servile Snarker.
  • Don Quixote: Deconstructed by Sancho Panza: What happens in Real Life to the employee that cannot say anything about his master without being sarcastic? Why, Sancho is beaten by Don Quixote at chapters XX and XXX of Part I, and gives him a hurricane of insults at chapter XLVI.

On hearing this Sancho, who had been listening with great attention, cried out in a loud voice, "Is it possible there is anyone in the world who will dare to say and swear that this master of mine is a madman? Say, gentlemen shepherds, is there a village priest, be he ever so wise or learned, who could say what my master has said; or is there knight-errant, whatever renown he may have as a man of valour, that could offer what my master has offered now?"
Don Quixote turned upon Sancho, and with a countenance glowing with anger said to him, "Is it possible, Sancho, there is anyone in the whole world who will say thou art not a fool, with a lining to match, and I know not what trimmings of impertinence and roguery? Who asked thee to meddle in my affairs, or to inquire whether I am a wise man or a blockhead? Hold thy peace; answer me not a word; saddle Rocinante if he be unsaddled; and let us go to put my offer into execution; for with the right that I have on my side thou mayest reckon as vanquished all who shall venture to question it;" and in a great rage, and showing his anger plainly, he rose from his seat

Live-Action TV

  • Agent/Colonel John Casey from Chuck does this exceedingly well. Actually it seems that Adam Baldwin plays this character type well, see: Cobb, Jayne.
  • Mr. Spock is very, very loyal to Captain Kirk, but he doesn't hesitate to point the more "questionable" aspects of Kirk's plans, sometimes with a well-placed Stealth Insult.

"Captain, you are an excellent starship commander, but your driving leaves much to be desired."

    • It would seem unflinching loyalty wrapped in deadpan snark is one of the Vulcans' many hats. T'Pol and Tuvok are both like this as well.
    • Bones McCoy, who as Captain Kirk's chief medical officer and close friend is basically the only one on the ship with the license—and the chutzpah—to question Kirk's judgment openly. Spock is more polite and guarded.
  • Spike does this in Buffy and Angel.
  • Geoffrey Butler, the butler in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Florence, the maid on the The Jeffersons. Both stick with their employers despite hating them and having other options. (Ok, so Geoffrey leaves once, but it was just to make a point.)
    • Florence left once too but her spinoff show was cancelled I guess she decided to come back.
      • Although she and George don't get along she and Louise are close. Deep down she and George also like each other but never admit it.
  • Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me.
  • Jayne Cobb from Firefly does this a lot, including plays to take over the ship. This one's subverted in the episode "Ariel," however, when he turns Simon and River, his two least favorite people on the crew, in to the Alliance for the reward money during the hospital heist on the eponymous planet, but ends up getting arrested himself right along with them and has to bust them both out again. Jayne is almost Thrown Out the Airlock by Mal when he finds out about what he did ("You turn on ANY of my crew, you turn on ME!").
    • And, to a lesser degree, Zoe, who is far more loyal to Mal but does have a tendency to point out the flaws in his plans.
      • Really, pretty much anyone who sticks around on Serenity becomes one sooner or later because, let's face it, Mal has it coming. Both the devotion and the sarcasm.
      • In fact, all of them do it except maybe Kaylee who is too sweet and River, who is River. Zoe is the best example because of the amount of devotion she has and her deadpan delivery.
  • Benson, the Tates' butler on Soap, who only sticks around to take care of Jessica Tate.
    • And then, Benson keeps doing it when he goes to work for the governor in Benson.
    • And so does Maxwell's butler in The Nanny. I think I see a trend...
  • A few of the Doctor's companions will occasionally point out the flaws in his plans, and in extreme cases, question his competence. This seems especially prevalent in the new series, as basically all the companions have done snarking on the Doctor's behalf.
    • Two words: Donna Noble, with her habit of calling the Doctor "Spaceman".
    • Amy Pond on the Doctor being a Time-Lord; "That's just what they're called, it doesn't mean he knows what he's doing."
    • Averted by Katarina in "The Dalek's Master Plan" and likely the reason why she was quickly bumped off. A Companion who views the Doctor as a god isn't any good for the series.
  • Toby Ziegler on The West Wing, whose snarking and complaining are actually things that President Bartlet highly value.
  • Future!Castiel from Supernatural.

[Future!Dean has just suggested a suicide attack, and objected to Cas's description of it as "reckless".]
Future!Cas: If you don't like "reckless", I could use "insouciant", maybe.
Future!Dean: Are you coming?
Future!Cas: Of course.

  • This is Avon from Blake's 7 to a T - even after Blake disappears.
    • Debatable. Avon shows some traits of this, but on numerous occasions he goes beyond sarcasm and into power games, trying to undermine the crew's support for Blake. He also takes the ship away to protect himself more than once, when Blake is counting on him to teleport them to safety.
    • He seems to be tied to this trope by a piece of elastic; the farther he stretches (taking the Liberator away) the harder he comes back (and ends up rescuing everybody). It depends how seriously you take his intentions—it is worth noting that when his actions did have bad consequences for the others (and Blake) he actually felt guilt about them.
  • The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: DS Barbara Havers to DI Thomas Lynley. She will follow him to the ends of the earth, snarking and poking holes in his case theories all the while.
  • Dark Oracle: Simone is one of these to Vern, whom she may or may not have a crush on. No matter how moronic Vern's plans are, Simone sticks by him, mocking him the entire time. She finally leaves when he goes completely overboard and orders her to get lost.


Theatre

  • Dick the Butcher from Henry VI Part 2: During the speech when rebel leader Jack Cade claims he's rightful heir to the throne, Dick gives scathing asides mocking the veracity of these claims. However, after the rebel uprising, he's singled out by Cade for being the man with the highest hit count. The Butcher indeed.


Videogames

  • Baird in Gears of War.
  • HK-47, Jolee Bindo, and Canderous Ordo in Knights of the Old Republic.
    • Also Carth, for the inital part of Taris until he gets over his trust issues like all the other bioware characters with trust issues
      • Not if you agree to join Bastilla.
    • Atton, in the second game, starts as a subversion. He sticks around because Kreia's blackmailing him. He's pure snark, though.
  • Alistair in Dragon Age is brimming with sarcastic remarks. However, Morrigan, Sten, and Shale can also get pretty snarky given the situation.
    • In fact, the only one who DOESN'T have strong shades of snark in this game is Dog...the dog.
  • Falco Lombardi in Star FOX.
    • Although less so if the player is doing well. In that case he saves his sarcasm for Slippy.
  • A villainous example in The Witcher: Azar Javed's Dragon, The Professor, criticizes Azar in messages and openly berates him in combat, but is always there on command and follows orders, likening himself to a summoned genie. He stops short of being The Starscream in that he never considers betraying Azar, even when he's up against a wall with his life at stake.
  • Archer from Fate/stay night, though he subverts it in Unlimited Blade Works. And on the villain-ish side, Assassin plays this role towards his master, Caster.
  • Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, has Rennac, a mercenary employed by L'Arachel, the Princess of Rausten. It's pointed out in the ending that he doesn't actually try very hard to escape her service despite his comments towards her actions.
  • In Mass Effect, the ship's pilot, Joker, resembles this. There's no doubt he's snarky, but he's got the commander's back.

"Oh, another dangerous alien aboard, Commander. Thanks. Why can't you collect coins or commemorative plates or something?"

    • Garrus has stuck with Shepard through thick and thin, snarking all the while.
  • Etna from Disgaea is the only one of the late king's vassals willing to serve Laharl, and she's quite sarcastic to him, since he's a Royal Brat. Even though she uses him as bait to stop Maderas, she genuinely feels guilty about doing so, since she promised the king, the only person to ever show her kindness, that she'd protect his son.
    • In the sequel, she leaves him after a fight, but she returns to him after Flonne gets them to make up and apologize.
    • Pink in Dark Hero Days constantly makes thinly veiled insults towards Axel, but he's completely oblivious to them. Fenrich in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten also makes insulting remarks towards his master Valvatorez, but he doesn't seem to care, either.
  • In Persona 3, Shinjiro Aragaki is brusque and standoffish with the male protagonist, telling him not to try to tell him how to fight and snarking at him in combat when, for example, the protagonist heals him ("Tch. I don't need your help.") or gives him an order ("Who does he think he is?"). It's mostly a front (and he's noticeably less belligerent toward the female protagonist).
  • Guillo from Baten Kaitos Origins, especially the sarcastic part.
  • Tails has mild shades of this in recent Sonic the Hedgehog games, he makes the odd bewildered or exasperated remark towards Sonic's wackiness but otherwise is a devoted friend and right hand man.
  • Lydia is one of the strongest followers in Skyrim, but sarcastically says "I am sworn to carry your burdens" whenever you use her as a pack mule.


Webcomics

  • Everyone in Something*Positive is like this: they'll snark each other to shreds, but are fiercely loyal to each other.
  • Nodwick's title character, as well as the henchmen in general. Although nominally bound to his party due to his draconian labor union laws, Nodwick does actually care for them (mostly, anyway).
    • Piffany, at least. If Artax and Yeagar were to let up on the abuse he probably wouldn't cry I want my jerks back anytime soon.
  • Just about every sidekick in Girl Genius strays into Sarcastic Devotee territory now and then for comic relief. But Moloch (a soldier and mechanic who's bitterly aware of the life expectancy of sidekicks in this world) and Violetta (a bodyguard who's convinced that her charge is suicidally stupid) are pretty much permanently unimpressed with what the main protagonists are doing.
    • Gil Wulfenbach can be like this at times (especially in regards to his father's employee relations methods compared to his own), and he's one of the madmen people sidekick at.
  • Reynardine from Gunnerkrigg Court. Textbook example of a reluctant Noble Demon needling the Kid with the Leash.
  • Krep from Spacetrawler heaps abuse on his captain and crewmates, but he'd sooner be eaten by a Glathsrean Mihrrgoot than turn his back on any of them.
  • The Adventures of Shan Shan: The backpack.
  • Schlock Mercenary has a few, including Kevyn (to Kaff Tagon), and Ennesby - though the boy-band-turned-maracabot is always like this. And now also Tess.

Western Animation

  • Shego of Kim Possible.
  • Rattrap in Beast Wars is very critical of Optimus Primal, questioning Primal's leadership skills and loyalty radar (particularly in relation to Dinobot and Blackarachnia) at various times. However, he would never in a million years betray Optimus or try to usurp command from him. His living quarters are fair game, though.
    • His Catch Phrase is "We're all gonna die."
      • Of course, since he was elected as Optimus' second should something happen, this makes his loyalty to Optimus as much self-preservation as anything.
  • Kiff of Futurama sticks behind Zapp Brannigan no matter what (probably because it's his place in the military), but makes it painfully obvious that he hates Brannigan for it. Oddly enough, Zapp is never fazed by Kiff's commentaries.
    • Being a moron, it's likely that Zapp isn't aware that he's being mocked.
      • That and he just thinks Kiff is a massive coward -which, to be fair, isn't far off the mark.
    • It seems to go beyond his line of work, even when they were both fired from their ranks (almost entirely because of Zapp) Kif still acted like his usual submissive (but sarcastic) self towards Zapp despite no longer having any power around him.
  • Iago of Aladdin The Animated Series to Aladdin.
  • Toph From Avatar: The Last Airbender.
    • Sokka is arguably the better example because it's actually part of his Character Development. Throughout the first 2 seasons, he constantly questions both Aang's and Katara's judgements, making sarcastic quips concerning their Chronic Hero Syndrome and their reliance on Bending and anything mystical. By the third season he almost completely grows out of this, coming to fully trust in Aang.
  • Noah from "Total Drama Island to his allies, such as Cody and Owen.
  1. ↑ The Skeptic role is also used in the Master Characters system, where it's called the Pessimist
  2. ↑ Consider Puddleglum in The Silver Chair.
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