History Main / RiskingTheKing

->''"There is an unknown threat on that unstable derelict ship, capable of wiping out an entire Starfleet crew. I could send a fully armed squad of trained security personnel, but instead I will send a team comprised of my chief science officer, my only physician, and myself, the captain of the ship." ''
-->-- '''Liberally paraphrased from Captain Kirk''', ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''

Subtrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality. This is sometimes a SisterTrope to AuthorityEqualsAsskicking. If an actual king is risking his neck, it's RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething. The opposite of OrcusOnHisThrone and ArmchairMilitary.

** Played straight with King Cailan, who takes the battlefield hoping to win glory, despite his advisor Loghain (among others) clearly warning him against it, with Cailan pulling rank to do what he wants. Justified in-universe by Fereldan culture havingjust something of a tradition of AuthorityEqualsAsskicking that it's only begun to grow out of, and Cailan having absolute faith in their strategy and the [[BadassArmy Grey Wardens]]. When the big battle arrives, Loghain, in charge of leading backup troops in a pincer attack, uses the confusion to [[EvilChancellor withdraw instead and claim they were too outnumbered to help]], allowing him to take over the throne[[note]]Though the main character, their companions Alistair and Morrigan, and Morrigan's mother Flemeth know that Loghain withdrew to betray Cailan, it's made clear that Loghain's claim was believed by most of the people in Ferelden, suggesting that the odds were close enough that even with the reinforcements charging in, they might still have lost or suffered ''massive'' casualties[[/note]]. The consequences of this trope are one of the central plot points, severely impacting the country politically--Cailan having died without children, leaving behind only a wife, the line of succession is pulled into question. The options for succession are Cailan's wife, the daughter of a near-universally adored war hero but not a direct descendant of the royal line, and your companion Alistair, Cailan's illegitimate half-brother with zero political pull and even less interest in the position. If you start with the Human Noble origin, [[TakeAThirdOption you can also nominate yourself]], as the scion of one of the country's foremost and beloved noble families.
** In the Dwarven Noble origin, King Aeducan and all three of his children participate in a Deep Roads expedition knowing they risk encounters with Darkspawn. It ends badly though not really due to this trope. Like with Fereldan, its again justified by a culture that somewhat indulges AuthorityEqualsAsskicking, though in this case its ritualized combat and you're not obliged to do the asskicking yourself if you can call on a champion to fight for you.

* In the ''{{Literature/Temeraire}}'' series, Laurence is unwilling to put his men at a risk he's not willing to share. An admirable sentiment in a ship's captain, but not for a dragon's captain. If he is hurt or killed Temeraire is likely to go [[BerserkButton berserk]], and if he is captured [[IHaveYourWife so is Temeraire]]. Granby spends a lot of time reminding him of this.

* In the ''{{TableTopGame/Pathfinder}}'' Adventure Path Kingmaker, the Player Characters tame a fantasy land and then are given a charter to rule it. They're the first ones to any battle to protect that kingdom, which features a lot of dungeon crawling.

The trope codifier, as implied above, is the original ''Star Trek'' series, where ''every'' crucial command officer would regularly be assigned to the away team for some dangerous new environment. In ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', an effort was made to avert the trope by keeping the captain on the bridge and have him delegate responsibility; but even then, [[DownplayedTrope the away teams almost always included extremely high-ranking officers who were often placed directly in harm's way]]. You could be forgiven for thinking that maybe there were only about 20 or 30 people on the entire ship.

The trope codifier, as implied above, is the original ''Star Trek'' series, where ''every'' crucial command officer would regularly be assigned to the away team for some dangerous new environment. (It was somewhat averted in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' where the captain would often stay on the bridge while dedicated away teams would be put together for specific trips, but even then the away teams almost always included extremely high-ranking officers who were often placed directly in harm's way. You could be forgiven for thinking that maybe there were only about 20 or 30 people on the entire ship.)

->''"There is an unknown threat on that unstable derelict ship, capable of wiping out an entire Starfleet crew. I could send a fully armed squad of trained security personnel, but instead I will send a team comprised of my chief science officer, my only physician, and myself, the captain of the ship." ''[[note]]"Oh fine, I'll take [[RedShirt Ensign]] [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Ricky]] too." "Ah, crap."[[/note]]

** On the one hand, it's played straight with King Cailan, who takes the battlefield hoping to win glory. On the other hand, many around him are reluctant to do so and their fears are proven valid when he falls. The consequences of this trope are one of the central plot points. Also justified by Fereldan culture which has something of a tradition of AuthorityEqualsAsskicking that it's only begun to grow away from and which will come into play during the game.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay''. The U.S. President, an ex-fighter pilot, decides to participate in the final aerial attack against an alien ship even though his top military adviser doesn't want him to. {{Justified|Trope}} because if the mission fails, the human race will be wiped out and he'll have no one left to lead, and he's one of the very few people available with actual aerial combat experience. Literally everybody in the area who has even the slightest piloting experience was sent out, because they had more planes that pilots at the base.

* In ''LightNovel/SaiunkokuMonogatari'', Ryuuki, the Emperor of Saiunkoku, puts himself in harm's way on several occasions - mostly to protect Shuurei. The most notable example comes when he leaves the capital city entirely to make sure that Shuurei and Eigetsu aren't attacked by assassins on their way to take office in Sa Province, which he has to do in secret and incognito for the obvious reason that, as the Emperor, he's not supposed to be doing anything of the kind.

The trope codifier, as implied above, is the original ''Star Trek'' series, where ''every'' crucial command officer would regularly be assigned to the away team for some dangerous new environment. (It was generally averted in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' where the captain would often stay on the bridge while dedicated away teams would be put together for specific trips, but even then the away teams almost always included extremely high-ranking officers who were often placed directly in harm's way. You could be forgiven for thinking that maybe there were only about 20 or 30 people on the entire ship.)

The trope codifier, as implied above, is the original ''Star Trek'' series, where ''every'' crucial command officer would regularly be assigned to the away team for some dangerous new environment. It was largely averted in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' where the captain would stay on the bridge and dedicated away teams would be put together for specific trips.

* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: A player can invoke this trope. One such example is the Bongcloud Attack, which is the chess opening 1. e4 e5 2. [=Ke2=]. Basically speaking, the person playing White puts their king in unnecessary danger when they should be advancing the rest of their army.

* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: A player can invoke this trope. One such example is the Bongcloud Attack, which is the chess opening 1. e4 e5 2. Ke2. Basically speaking, the person playing White puts their king in unnecessary danger when they should be advancing the rest of their army.

Sometimes a story-teller has [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything the main characters do everything]]; sometimes the writer simply wants to hurry up and bring about a climactic fight. Regardless of the reason, story-tellers will often have crucial characters [[InHarmsWay run pell-mell into dangerous situations]] when more qualified (or, at least, more appropriate) people are perfectly available, much like sending your king out to capture your opponent's pieces in chess.

The trope codifier, as implied above, is the original ''Star Trek'' series, where ''every'' crucial command officer would regularly be assigned to the away team for some dangerous new environment. It was largely subverted in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' where the captain would stay on the bridge and dedicated away teams would be put together for specific trips.

Subtrope of AcceptableBreaksFromReality. This is sometimes a Sister Trope to AuthorityEqualsAsskicking. If an actual king is risking his neck, it's RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething. The opposite of OrcusOnHisThrone and ArmchairMilitary.

* This actually can be done in chess when one or more rooks, one or more bishops, and both knights are out of the way. (Why both knights? Because in order to get close enough to the queen to take her out - and even then, she has to put you in check first - you have to be something like two over and one up, and she has to be otherwise threatened by your pieces.)
** Needless to say, if you actually pull this off, it's immensely satisfying since your opponent is probably completely demoralized at this point, so you can wipe the board clean through cheap moves.
** Employing the king as an active chess piece is considered a proper strategy in the endgame. At that point, the lack of pieces on the board eliminates the danger of a forced checkmate. Kings have also been put to use during some rare middle games, but the king has always been safe from attack in those positions.

* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'': The Son's levels have him enter dangerous territory and clear out floors of armed enemies all by himself (one level has two henchmen assist him, though he still does most of the killing) even though he's the leader of the Russian Mafia. It's implied that this is due to him having a [[DeathSeeker death wish]].

->''"There is an unknown threat on that unstable derelict ship, capable of wiping out an entire Starfleet crew. I could send a fully armed squad of trained security personnel, but instead I will send a team comprised of my chief science officer, my only physician, and myself, the captain of the ship." ''

** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Emperor puts himself at personal risk to entice the Rebels to attack the second Death Star and convert Luke to the Dark Side. This inevitably backfires when he's killed by the redeemed Vader (and even if that hadn't happened, he'd still probably have died when the Rebels blew up the Death Star). Also, his plan to turn Anakin in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' involved nearly being killed by Mace Windu, though it's [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation debatable]] whether he actually planned that part or not.

* Princess Sally Acorn (and sometimes the other Acorn monarchs) in ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', with varying attempts at story justification.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In response to criticism of the "Captain in distress" plots, Creator/GeneRoddenberry established a new Starfleet protocol that barred the Captain from going on away missions. Instead, leading away teams is first officer Riker's job, and he's responsible for preventing Captain Picard from putting himself at risk. In practice, the writers often found excuses for Picard to go anyway, usually for reasons of diplomacy or protocol that require the captain's presence. In the first couple of seasons, Riker argues strongly against this, but usually loses. Eventually, he gives up and lets Picard do what he wants. Pretty much everyone else in the main cast routinely partakes in dangerous missions, not always for convincing reasons. The most extreme case is the two-part episode "Time's Arrow", in which Picard, Riker, Data, Worf, [=LaForge=], Crusher, and Troi all travel into the past, leaving ''Enterprise'' commanded by . . . O'Brien? Data's cat Spot? We never find out.

* Creator/MarvelComics superspy ComicBook/NickFury was nominally the ''director'' of a covert agency called ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, but from UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} to UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, he behaved more like the main field agent. Despite S.H.I.E.L.D. having dozens or hundreds of agents DependingOnTheWriter, Fury was typically depicted working solo on commando missions, infiltrations, and so forth. This has become an AvertedTrope in recent years, especially with his [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]] incarnation. ComicBook/IronMan did much the same during the brief period when he became Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay''. The U.S. President, an ex-fighter pilot, decides to participate in the final aerial attack against an alien ship even though his top military adviser doesn't want him to. {{Justified|Trope}} because if the mission fails, the human race will be wiped out and he'll have no one left to lead, and he's one of the very few people available with actual aerial combat experience.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' had a bad case of this, regularly sending the main cast to do jobs even when, logically, the larger organization should have had people who were ''better'' at that particular job than they were (e.g. sending O'Neill to do a diplomat's job). Even General Hammond himself once went away to help rescue the team.[[note]]Although this overlapped with ExactWords, since he had been ordered not to risk any of his teams to rescue SG-1. So he went ''himself'' to rustle up some allies.[[/note]]

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In response to criticism of the "Captain in distress" plots, Creator/GeneRoddenberry established a new Starfleet protocol that barred the Captain from going on away missions. Instead, leading away teams is first officer Riker's job. In practice, the writers often found excuses for Picard to go anyway, usually for reasons of diplomacy or protocol that require the captain's presence. In the first couple of seasons, Riker argues strongly against this, but usually loses. Eventually, he gives up and lets Picard do what he wants. Pretty much everyone else in the main cast routinely partakes in dangerous missions, not always for convincing reasons. The most extreme case is the two-part episode "Time's Arrow", in which Picard, Riker, Data, Worf, [=LaForge=], Crusher, and Troi all travel into the past, leaving ''Enterprise'' commanded by . . . O'Brien? Data's cat Spot? We never find out.
* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}:'' Prince Arthur is often sent on all sorts of dangerous but relatively unimportant missions. Season five, however, subverts this since ''King'' Arthur is forced to spend most of his time inside the castle while the knights go on missions without him.

* A justified example is Rias in the arena combat Ratings Games in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD''. As the [[ChessMotifs King]], she's expected to stay in the base, defending it and keeping herself out of trouble. However, while Issei being worth all eight of her Pawns gives her the power of an extra superior piece in the field even before he promotes, it leaves her [[BlessedWithSuck with serious manpower issues]], and she often has to leave the base just to compensate for her side being outnumbered almost two to one.