"Hey, what gives? Why are you still...? You aren't... someone who talks back like this..."
— Soya Sazanami to his younger brother Hakuri, Kagurabachi
Some people expect absolute obedience from others. They could be a Control Freak, a Big Bad, a bully, a boyfriend/girlfriend, a spouse, a king/queen, a dictator, a CEO, admiral, or other high-ranking type, or even a(n) (overprotective) parent (especially a mother). They want others to listen and obey whatever they say without question, and they won't let them follow their own lives, have any say, or even just want things to go their way, and they make sure they won't say "no". And the submissive person (perhaps a mook, a servant, or an Extreme Doormat) complies. But what they can't stand the most is defiance.
Imagine if the follower desires any freedom whatsoever, or questions the "boss's" orders. Well, whenever somebody defies the controlling person on anything, the controlling one will lose it. They want control and order, Can't Take Criticism, and defiance goes against their wishes. They may even inflict punishment on the disobeying person in any way, or may make sure they are Incapable of Disobeying, such as via a Restraining Bolt or mind control. This can be a reason for Abuse Escalation — any defiance causes the abuse to grow.
Many a Commander Contrarian, when given the opportunity to lead, will reveal themselves as hypocrites by revealing they cannot tolerate the same behavior from others.
See also Can't Take Criticism, where somebody can't accept criticism.
Contrast I Love You Because I Can't Control You. Also contrast with Insurrectionist Inheritor, where the superior is favorable to a defiant subject. Compare Drill Sergeant Nasty.
A No Recent Examples, Please! rule applies to all Real Life examples of this trope, which shouldn't be added for at least 50 years after the relevant event.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Assassination Classroom: Nagisa Shiota's mother Hiromi Shiota never got the chance to experience her whole childhood or achieve all her life goals, so she raised her son as a girl because she wanted a daughter so she can live vicariously through her to start over, she even forced him to keep his hair long to look feminine. She refuses to listen to a word against her or her plans, not even from Nagisa. What sets Hiromi off is being defied by others, and whenever it happens, she flies in a race, going from red faced to accelerating the volume and speed of her voice, talking non-stop to resorting to violence. It doesn't matter to her whether or not it's unintentional of their part. Nagisa is often a victim of her attacks. That way, Hiromi makes sure her son remains her mindless puppet.
- Dandadan: While Jiji's parents are hospitalized following their suicide attempt, the Kito family (who own the house his family has been living in) essentially takes custody of Jiji. When they come by his house, they make it clear they will not tolerate him bringing any mediums to investigate the house's weirdness… and then beat him and Okarun savagely when they realize he brought Okarun and Momo to investigate.
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: To Muzan, even being contradicted by his minions is a crime worthy of death, and he's so egotistical he views his cruelty as akin to a natural disaster, and honestly thinks that the Demon Slayers are the ones in the wrong/"abnormal" ones for trying to hunt him down and make him pay for his crimes against their loved ones.
- Fairy Tail: Leo/Loke's former owner Karen Lilica often uses her Celestial Spirits as tool to get whatever she wants, even going as far as to use Aries, her number 1 victim, as a shield to protect herself from any harm, or a distraction for her male fans. She makes sure her spirits are not allowed to disobey her or else, they face her wrath. When the Blue Pegasus Guild Master Bob confronts her about her abuse, even threatening that she will suffer the consequences if she doesn't put a stop to it, Karen resorted use Aries as a punching bag, thinking she ratted out on Master Bob, she even tries to force her to stay on the Human World for a time, until Loke intervened and decided to take Aries' place to teach Karen a lesson.
- The Island of Giant Insects:
- Chuujou Marika—one of the few surviving teachers—is extremely strict, hates being contradicted, and expects absolute obedience from her students. As such, she utterly refuses to believe that the entomology-obsessed Oribe Mutsumi is better equipped than she is to ensure everyone's survival simply because Oribe is a second-year student—telling her and her friends to shut up and obey her orders. She lets Kamijo and Misuzu—who had attempted to rape and murder the others—go free when they claim to have been wrongly taken prisoner; and when one of the boys in Marika's group attempts to rape Oribe, she believes his claims of innocence and shuts down Oribe's friends' attempts to come to her defence. Her uncompromising incompetence and refusal to listen to advice from those she considers beneath her ultimately gets almost everyone in her group killed, including herself.
- Aoyama Nozomi is introduced as being fanatically loyal to Marika, who saved her from another teacher who had been sexually abusing her, and anyone who dares to disagree with Marika or disobey her orders earns Aoyama's fury. Ironically, Aoyama accidentally gets Marika killed while trying to rescue her from a giant spider, blames Oribe—who had been the most vocal about disagreeing with Marika—and puts everyone in danger (including herself) attempting to avenge her beloved sensei.
- Food Wars!: Azami Nakiri is a perfectionist Control Freak of a parent who has a goal to create the "perfect gourmet" and is bent on a successful life for his family, especially Erina, and is quick to threaten or dole out extreme punishments at the slightest sign of his daughter acting out. He is essentially the reason why Erina never received any of Alice's letters, and why she is the perfectionist Angry Chef she is today. When Erina tries to protest against him firing secretary Hisako, who as well tries to protest against his decision, who was the closest thing she had to a real friend, Azami refuses to listen to a word, insisting on keeping her on a leash so he can use her as a tool for his goals.
- Kagurabachi: Soya Sazanami started to brutally abuse his younger brother Hakuri after he failed to showcase sorcery and became a disappointment in the eyes of their clan. Soya would spend years outright torturing him and developing a fixation on him as an easy target due to his own deep insecurities as heir. When Hakuri is eventually exiled, he sets out to bring him back but finds Hakuri willing to stand up to him thanks to being around people who treat him with unconditional kindness. He grows increasingly frustrated at not being kowtowed to until he finally tries to kill Hakuri for no longer being "cute and lovable".
- Gundam:
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Downplayed and justified example in the case of Bright Noa. Early on, he has repeated clashes with Gundam pilot Amuro Ray, most famously leading to Amuro deserting from the White Base and taking the Gundam with him (and encountering Ramba Ral for the first time). Bright doesn't give Hayato and Kai (who pilot the Guntank and Guncannon respectively) anywhere near as much grief, partially because they tend to just go along with his orders and at most grumbling about it. Amuro in comparison even straight up refuses to deploy. This is justified by Bright being under enormous stress: the only reason he's in command of the White Base despite simply being an ensign is because he's the only officer left of the ship's original complement of officers. Following the White Base being reorganised into the 13th Autonomous Unit, Bright and Amuro no longer clash as much, developing a close friendship and faith in each other that lasts until Amuro's death in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED:
- Muruta Azrael is the de facto leader of the Earth Alliance despite his public image as "merely" being Director of the National Defense Industry Association, thanks to also being leader of the secret organisation Blue Cosmos. This power goes to his head, and so he gets enraged when he gets defied. This winds up being his undoing: he becomes so infuriated with Natarle Badgiruel countermanding his orders that he shoots her, and as a result the bridge crew of the Dominion are so disgusted they abandon him to be incinerated by the Archangel.
- Patrick Zala is Muruta's opposite as leader of the PLANTS, and is similarly easily riled up by anything less than total obedience. When his own son Athrun tries to talk him down during the final battle of the war, he tries to kill him.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Muruta's successor as leader of Blue Cosmos is Lord Djibril, who in terms of power is almost equal to Muruta. However, unlike Muruta Djibril is a complete sociopath and so has no concept of empathy. Worse, any sort of defiance to his will is met with overwhelming violent force, and his inability to realise that this costs him allies and support makes him cross over into Stupid Evil.
- One Piece: This is pretty common with a lot of villains in the series:
- Arlong, the villain of the Cocoyashi arc, views humans as an inferior species and basically is projecting over the loss of his captain, Fisher Tiger, as well as being scarred by his experience as a slave to the Celestial Dragons; but unlike his former crewmate Jimbei, he ended up hating humans and becoming no better than the Celestial Dragons when dominating various islands in the East Blue. So when any of the inhabitants of Cocoyashi actually start fighitng back against him, he isn't afraid to kill them if he needs to.
- Eneru views himself as the true god over the land of the Skypiea and any act of rebellion from its inhabitants as an "affront" to him. Then again, he comes to view Skypiea as unnatural and his end game is to destroy all of the island regardless.
- Doflamingo is a special case as he's a former World Noble and, even after his family left Mary Geoise, didn't care much for the common folk in the first place which is the usual attitude of a lot of World Nobles. Naturally, he's not afraid to harm or kill anyone who doesn't fall in line with his rule.
- St. Jaygarcia Saturn, one of the Five Elders will accept nothing less then obedience, be it from those who work under him to those that he forces to do so and even those he deems as pests just for living. Kuma quickly became his arch enemy because he managed to eat one of the Devil Fruits that originally were meant as prizes for the World Noble's Native Hunting Competition on God Valley and used that to help the slaves escape. Years later, after Kuma became a Revolutionary, he was forced to become a Warlord when Saturn got wind of him coming to Vegapunk to find a cure for Bonney's Sapphire Scales illness that claimed her mother (Saturn later admits he caused it by inflicting it on Ginny, Kuma's love interest, which was then passed on to Bonney after she was born) and used that to force him under his command. Saturn then ordered Vegapunk to have Kuma converted into a cyborg and his mind wiped, all out of a petty vengeance for his defiance, despite Kuma agreeing to do this sacrifice for his daughter's welfare (which Saturn scoffed at). Even Vegapunk found this deplorable and installed a failsafe so that the Pacifistas, which were based on Kuma, would follow Bonney' command as the highest authority should she give the order. Naturally, when Saturn realized this, he killed Vegapunk immediately.
- But none more so than Imu, the secret ruler of the world and the cause of a lot of corruption via the World Nobles and their heinous actions as well as those of plenty of corrupt Marines. Imu is utterly selfish, hates freedom and co-existence between species, and wants the world to dance to their whims. The moment someone opposes them, they'll try to have the upstart snuffed out. And if that opposer can actually hurt them, they'll start getting more frantic in their actions to stop them.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Marik's father is a strict tomb keeper who values protecting the Pharaoh's tomb above his own family. He forces them to follow outdated traditions without caring if they disagree, punishing them harshly for disobedience. Despite Marik's protests, he makes him undergo the tomb keeper initiation ritual, leading to the creation of Dark Marik, and refuses Rishid's offer to take Marik's place, angered that Rishid would mark his own face. He keeps his children underground to prevent the outside world from distracting them, and when he learns they've gone to the surface, he plans to punish them and either kill or banish Rishid, depending on the dub. Ultimately, his fate is sealed when Dark Marik takes over and kills him, his anger at his son's defiance turning into horror.
Comic Books
- Absolute Universe (DC Comics)
- Absolute Green Lantern: As a Psycho Supporter to Sinestro and one of the most prominent and dutiful member of the Blackstars, Mogo heavily dislikes any sign of resistance against them. He is driven to annihilate a planet and its billions of inhabitants just because they didn't immediately obey the Blackstars' orders.
- Absolute Wonder Woman: Veronica Cale is beyond pissed off that Dr. Poison worked behind her back, and the sole reason why she doesn't punish her severely for her insubordination is because she begrudgingly admits that she's far too valuable an asset to give up. On a broader sense, the idea that peple would turn away from the authorities and put their trust on outlaw heroes makes her furious, as she's a Broken-System Dogmatist and a massive Control Freak.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Clutch the Opossum has very little patience for failures and defiance. While working for Clean Sweep Inc. as the company's agents in the Restoration, Surge and Kit eventually try to quit. Their boss, Clutch, counters this by pointing out how he basically made them heroes in the eyes of the public… and can easily make them monsters if they try to quit.
- Star Wars: Darth Vader (2020): The series starts out with Palpatine sensing Vader's wavering from the Dark Side. Palpatine is LIVID at this development because it means Vader is defying the ways of the Sith and starting to go back to the light and that is the biggest insult one can give to Palpatine as a Sith Lord.
- The Transformers (Marvel):
- Zigzagged with Megatron. He does not like being talked back to, with one of the major reasons for his animosity with Shockwave being that the cyclopean Decepticon is one of the few who can match him physically and so is not afraid to talk back to him. He can be calmed down with a good enough reason or even a respectful enough tone, but it's a toss-up whether that works or not.
- This was one of the factors that led the Autobots to turn on Grimlock following his stint as Autobot commander. Following Optimus Prime's death, the Autobots voted Grimlock as their new leader thanks to believing he had a good combination of power, intelligence, courage and compassion. Grimlock even managed to accomplish something Optimus couldn't in getting the Autobots' spaceship base space-worthy again. However, he also became unwilling to tolerate anything less than total obedience, to the point that he sent out hunting parties to track down the AWOL Blaster and even threatened to murder a group of children if Blaster didn't turn himself in. When Fortress Maximus arrived from Nebulous with his own group of Autobots, Grimlock immediately began insulting him and demanding he submit to his authority, even challenging him to a duel over it.
Fan Works
- Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus: Chloe Cerise's long time bully, Sara Diktaylis, is a Rich Bitch who hates how Chloe doesn't bend to her whims nor refuse to give her and the classmates Pokémon (as Chloe is the daughter of a Professor), and no matter how many times Sara and the classmates bully her, Chloe doesn't bend. Even when Sara obtains the power of the Unown, it does nothing. Chloe momentarily has a meltdown, but she then bounces back and proceeds to kick ass. Even Sara's former "friends" are treated this way. When Patricia, the (not so) Innocent Beta Bitch decides to stand her ground, Sara uses her new Unown attack dog to strangle her and throw her to the wall with enough to crack Patricia's skull.
Films — Animation
- America: The Motion Picture: King James is such a tyrant, he finds it inconceivable that someone would really willingly defy his rule. When told about how George Washington and his band of rebels are resisting him, he has to make sure that they aren't illiterate and that his rules are posted properly. Once it's confirmed their defiance is deliberate, he REALLY gets mad.
- Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie: The film version of Principal Krupp is just as much a strict disciplinarian with a hatred of George and Harold's pranks as his book counterpart, but this version extends his low tolerance for defiance to his faculty as well; when the science teacher asks to be excused from the mandatory Saturday Science Fair to spend time with his family, Krupp responds by firing him.
- The Emperor's New Groove: Emperor Kuzco begins the movie as basically a spoiled brat who uses his title and the power that comes with it to get his own way. When Pacha protests his intentions to demolish his village to build a vacation home, he just has his guards throw him out. When Yzma tries to do his job behind his back, he has her fired. And when he finds himself stuck as a llama in Pacha's village when Yzma's attempt at retaliation goes wrong and Pacha refuses to help him unless he cancels the demolition, he just yells that he does not make deals with peasants.
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney): Judge Frollo is a cruel fundamentalist with no tolerance for defiance. He responds to Phoebus refusing an order to basically murder an innocent family by ordering his execution and responds to Esmeralda's refusal of his advances by having her burned at the stake.
- Kung Fu Panda 2: Lord Shen is a brutal, impatient task master who berates his men for hesitation and barks orders with furious anger. When the Boss Wolf refuses an order to fire on Po and company on the grounds that it would kill their own men too, Shen immediately kills him.
- The LEGO Movie: President Business is such a perfectionist control freak who has little patience for people not following instructions and causing chaos that he plots to use an artifact called the Kragle (Krazy Glue) to freeze the Lego universe in place forever.
- Robots: Ratchet, the new head of Bigweld Industries. During his introduction, when a subordinate immediately contradicts his order to not discuss Bigweld or his whereabouts, Ratchet immediately has the poor sap dropped down a trap door.
- Spider-Man: Spider-Verse
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: Wilson Fisk (AKA Kingpin) is portrayed as a hot-tempered hulking mob boss with very little patience for bad news or defiance who even shoots Aaron Davis (AKA Prowler) for not killing Spider-Man as ordered once Davis realizes the Spidey he was about to kill was his nephew Miles.
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of Earth-928 and leader of the Spider Society, considers Miles a threat to the multiverse not only for his interference in a "canon event" in one reality and his determination to prevent another, but the fact that he was a Spider-Man who was never supposed to exist. When Gwen tries to stand up for Miles late in the movie, Miguel angrily kicks her out of the Society and returns her to her home universe.
- Wish (2023): King Magnifico is considered a wise, kind, and gracious king by the subjects who entrust their wishes to him, but when Asha questions his methods and modus operandi of wish granting, he decides to build up her hopes that he will grant her grandfather's wish, only to dash them and subtly tell her that neither his wish nor her mother's will ever be granted.
- Zootopia 2: The Lynxley family is essentially a pack of entitled bullies willing to hurt and even kill anyone who goes against them. For starters, they demand Judy and Nick look the other way while they kill Gary and have them framed when they try to save him. Milton Lynxley later threatens Mayor Windancer when he hesitates to have Nick and Judy hunted down by the police force.
Films — Live-Action
- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple: Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal, leader of a band of Satanist manchildren called the Jimmies. Normally, he is in a state of sadistic calm as his “fingers” commits his atrocities, but he is quick to lose his temper when one of his men disobeys an order and equally quick to panic when his men’s belief in his power is threatened. Not to mention he kills Dr. Kelson, whom he had forced to pretend to be Satan in a ruse for his men, when the doctor tries to use the performance to turn the men against Crystal.
- Carry-On (2024): Traveler tries to coerce Ethan into letting him get a bomb, filled with a neurotoxic gas, onto a plane. Ethan proves to be very defiant and difficult to control, even with a sniper watching his pregnant girlfriend. While he tries to dismiss the rebellion at first, he soon decides to introduce "consequences" by murdering a guard, who is also Ethan's friend, and then blames it on Ethan for refusing to listen. As Ethan continues to try and defy him, Traveler keeps pushing back, like almost killing Nora or nearly strangling him to death in the bathroom. After yet another act of defiance, he then seems to decide that Ethan is too much of a liability and orders the much more compliant Mateo to kill him, resulting in Mateo's own death as Ethan catches on and manages to evade him.
- Day of the Dead (1985): Captain Rhodes considers each and any act of defying him - including such banal things as civilians not following his barked orders to sit down - as acts worth a summary execution. His attitude manages to escalate the situation in the base from "tense" to "complete collapse" in just three days after he takes over command as the senior officer.
- Duck Soup: Played for Laughs. President Firefly nearly takes his whole country to war over being called an upstart by Ambassador Trentino.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: The High Evolutionary likes to consider himself a sophisticated genius with a vision for the future of the universe, but in reality, he's just an overgrown child who will bark and throw tantrums at his subordinates when they try to talk back or contradict him, or wait in anticipation of his experiments escaping so he can shoot them dead.
- The Housemaid (2025): Although seemingly charming and level-headed in comparison to his wife, Andrew Winchester is actually a serious Control Freak who responds to his romantic partners ignoring his subtle demands and instructions by locking them in a room in an attic with only a limited supply of water. He only releases them after they follow specific instructions for self-mutilation.
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle: Under Poppy's overly cheerful facade, she's violent and psychotic, seeking power and abusing her underlings. In her first scene, she throws one of her dealers into a meatgrinder to feed to her new recruit as a test of loyalty, based solely on her own random claim of betrayal... only to kill the new guy a day later when he breaks her rule and gives drugs to Elton John, who she's holding prisoner. Elton himself isn't treated any better, as he's forced to perform for her amusement and is given an electric shock when he refuses. Later, when he joins Harry in defeating her Robot Dogs, Poppy commands him to stop and when he doesn't, she orders said dogs to kill him.
- Rocketman (2019): John already proved to be an emotionally abusive boyfriend towards Elton regardless, but things ramp up significantly when Elton becomes much more defiant and argumentative. He tries to force him to come out to his parents and mocks him for being scared of his mother, and when Elton snaps, obeys furiously, and does so while jeopardizing a concert, John snaps in kind, ignoring his post-call distress to shout at him and warn him to never do it again. Elton justifiably pushes him off, which results in a hard slap and another warning. After they're broken up, John continues to be controlling as his manager, showing up to yell at him one day for not making music, only to insult him and claim that he doesn't care if Elton makes music as soon as Elton starts arguing back. He even acts like this with others, shown when he demands Elton have extra concerts and is quick to dismiss the person he's talking to when he's questioned over it, even hanging up.
- Scrooged: In the beginning of the film, when Elliot Loudermilk objects to his fearmongering-based ad for a live Christmas Carol performance, Corrupt Corporate Executive Frank Cross pretends to take the criticism… and then has Elliot fired when his back is turned.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Film Series): The film iteration of Dr. Robotnik is so smugly secure in his high intellect, he views all other humans as lesser. So he’s more than a little annoyed in the first movie when Tom manages to trick him and blow his cover story… and then deeply offended when Tom punches him in the head when he and Sonic first escape him, leading him to vow to ruin Tom’s life.
- Star Wars:
- In the cruel leadership of the Galactic Empire, Darth Vader is famously intolerant of both failure and defiance.
- Rogue One: When Vader summons Orson Krennic to his Castle on Mustafar to answer for the destruction of Jedha, the Director tries to use the meeting to badger the Sith Lord for an audience with Emperor Palpatine and to remain in command of the Death Star instead of Tarkin. Vader is deeply unsympathetic and ends the meeting with a Force-choke.
- A New Hope: When his adherence to the ways of the Force is dismissed by Admiral Conan Antonio Motti as outdated dogma, he Force-chokes the offending officer in retaliation.
- Likewise, Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious has no tolerance for defiance or being told no. In Return of the Jedi, when Luke refuses to bow before him and join the Dark Side, Palpatine abandons all pretenses of friendliness and starts frying him to death with Force Lightning. Hell, when someone steps out of line with his plans, such as Padmé Amidala retaking Naboo back without the Senate's involvement, Sidious tries to have her and her forces wiped out by the Trade Federation.
- In the cruel leadership of the Galactic Empire, Darth Vader is famously intolerant of both failure and defiance.
- The Suicide Squad: As always, Amanda Waller has bombs implanted in each supervillain recruited into Task Force X and will not hesitate to use them when they disobey orders. Near the end of the film, she actually loses her cool as the team ignores her orders to fall back, instead opting to try to save Corto Maltese from Starro. The only thing that stopped the raging Waller from detonating their bombs is a blow to the head from a golf club. In the post-credits, Harcourt and Economos bemoan how helping Task Force X pretty much prompted Waller to assign them to Peacemaker’s team as retribution.
- TENET: Andrei Sator in general. Between his emotionally and physically abusive relationship with his estranged wife Kat Barton and his plans to end the world by delivering the algorithm to the future, it's clear that Andrei is a cruel, manipulative, and nihilistic man who sees any deviation or interference as an existential threat.
Literature
- Captain Underpants: Principal Krupp is a strict disciplinarian and Child Hater with an especially short fuse when it comes to George and Harold's rebellious pranks and subversive comics.
- Discworld, In The Truth, William De Worde mentions that his abusive father is a man who hates defiance and escalates his abuse to full brutality if anybody tries to stand against him. When William pulls a Not Afraid of You Anymore moment at the climax, the only reason it does not leads to retaliation from his father is because William (unknown to him) has a vampire as backup.
William: Men like my father are bullies and they're the worst kind because they aren't cowards and if you stand up to them they only hit you harder.
- Flawed: When we first meet Judge Crevan, he's friendly on a personal level to Celestine, and tries to present himself as reasonable. This is despite running the Guild, a tyrannical organization that enforces the Fantastic Underclass, and how he's constantly finding more extreme ways to punish the Flawed. When Celestine is arrested for trying to help a Flawed man, he tries to make her follow his script and apologize publicly. When she goes off script and instead tries to defend her choice, he becomes openly cruel to her, not only ruling her as Flawed, but that she get the maximum number of brands... And in the branding chamber he decides to give her an illegal sixth brand on her spine, furiously taking over the process personally when the staff refuse to comply and ignoring that Celestine's anesthesia is wearing off. When Celestine goes on the run, he becomes obsessed with finding her, and when multiple members of the Flawed community rally behind her, he reacts by forcefully rounding all the Flawed up, and marching them in revealing clothes through the street.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Being the bully and tyrant she is, Dolores Umbridge cannot stand others defying her or bypassing her authority, becoming enraged and throwing tantrums many times when Dumbledore, McGonagall, Harry and other students defy her or do things outside of her knowledge and control such as when Harry had an interview about Voldemort's return for the Quibbler, when Dumbledore named Firenze the new Divination teacher before she could name a new teacher, and allowed Harry and the Weasley children out of Hogwarts after Nagini's attack on Arthur Weasley, or when he told her and Fudge he had no intention to go to Azkaban, when Hogwarts refused to acknowledge her as Headmistress, or when Snape told her that he hadn't any Veritaserum left and that it would take time to create new one.
- The Little Prince: Played for laughs. When the Little Prince visits planets inhabited by peculiar grown-ups, the first planet he visits is inhabited by a king, who reigns over everything, commands total obedience, and tolerates no insubordination; but because he is a good king, he only gives reasonable orders. The Little Prince is disappointed that the king will not order the sun to set for him there and then, because it is not the right time of day.
King: If I ordered a general to turn himself into a sea bird, and the general did not obey, that would not be the general's fault; that would be my fault.
Little Prince: May I sit down?
King: I order you to sit down.
Little Prince: May I ask you a question?
King: I order you to ask me a question. - The Locked Tomb: Gideon Nav's irreverent attitude towards the Ninth House and her constant disrespect and escape attempts are a regular annoyance towards the house's leadership, particularly Reverend Daughter Harrowhark Nonagesimus and Marshall Crux, both of whom take great pleasure in foiling her escapes, punishing her, and reminding her she is the house's property.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Lord Tywin Lannister may allow some advice and critique from those closest to him, but he is very rarely a fan of independent thought from subordinates or vassals. Any hint of insubordination and he's quick to send a harpist to remind them of what happened to the Reynes and Tarbecks.
- A Wrinkle in Time: As Doctor Murray later explains, IT's primary goal is to absorb every mind in the universe, with those from dark worlds (like Camazotz) being particularly susceptible. He points out that because an entire planet surrendered their minds to IT without much hesitation (and new children are born each year already absorbed), IT is not used to being defied. So when Doctor Murray, then Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace resisted, IT wasn't as able to absorb them as easily as IT might once have. Unfortunately, this just makes IT want to absorb them even more, and even manipulates Charles Wallace into surrendering his mind to IT.
Live-Action TV
- The Boys (2019): Homelander is a mentally unstable narcissist of an egomaniac who does NOT process defiance or criticism well. His punishments range from forcing Sister Sage into the public eye for disagreeing with him to outright murdering a protester at a rally for himself.
- Game of Thrones: King Joffrey Baratheon, the young despot who controls Westeros for the early part of the series, is entitled, cruel, and bad-tempered. A good way to get on his bad side - and a particularly nasty punishment - is to question or undermine his authority. When someone beyond his power to punish undermines his authority, such as his grandfather Tywin or his uncle Tyrion, it typically results in a temper tantrum.
- House of Anubis: A recurring theme of the antagonists.
- Victor, in general, is a temperamental grouch who likes to be in control. When someone breaks one of his rules or openly defies him, whether it's one of his followers or one of the kids, he's prone to fits of rage and harsh punishments. For instance, when Mr. Sweet refused to immediately expel Mara for her expose on Vera, Victor slammed his fist down and tried to demand he do so, provoking Mr. Sweet to shout back and prove that he Grew a Spine. According to Victor's Dark and Troubled Past, he likely got this from his father, who threatened to send him to the orphanage if he didn't help him get the Cup from Sarah.
- Rufus craves power, and wanting full control over his followers is one part of that. This proves problematic when he's working with Patricia and Jerome, both of whom are very rebellious and argumentative people. Patricia breaking his rule about using his real name, even if it was for someone who already knew him, made him snatch her phone away. Jerome quickly became a target of his rage for failing to help him get the puzzle pieces. His other followers aren't any better; he put an excessive amount of pressure on Jasper to steal artifacts for him and threatened him (and Fabian) when he failed. Even Vera was threatened when she tried to talk him out of his quest to become a god.
- Senkhara enjoyed having full control over Nina and flexed that power regularly, just out of general sadism. Nina's eventual attempt to stand up to her caused Senkhara to lash back in the worst way possible, cursing Nina to curse her friends (such as by making Alfie de-age or making Patricia unable to speak). When Nina is captured in a game of senet, Senkhara almost kills all of her curse victims; Fabian furiously demands that he give them time to save her first, which she does agree to, but only gives them a time limit of three days.
- Peacemaker (2022): As a follow up to The Suicide Squad this still goes strong with Amanda Waller. In the series premiere’s recap, there is an added scene of the woman who knocked her out with a golf club being dragged out of the office by security guards. Later, in the second season, she more or less has Hartcourt black listed from government work due to her involvement in her daughter Adebayo’s exposure of Task Force X to the public.
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023): A number of the Greek Pantheon, especially Zeus, are portrayed as being extremely prideful and quick-tempered towards acts of mortal defiance. When Percy sends the Gods Medusa's severed head in an act he openly admits is impudence, they respond by allowing monsters to attack them at the Gateway Arch, which is supposed to be a safe haven from monsters. Later, when Percy criticizes Zeus for ignoring his warnings about Chrono's return, the god loses his temper and nearly kills Percy, only relenting due to Poseidon's intervention. In season 2, it is revealed that Zeus turned his own daughter into a tree in response to her own defiance.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition: Paladins who take the Oath of Conquest are required to crush any dissent against their rule or risk losing their powers.
Your word is law. Those who obey it shall be favored. Those who defy it shall be punished as an example to all who might follow.
Video Games
- Blue Archive:
- Beatrice has ruled over Arius for years, turning the students there into her personal army by instilling them with fear and hatred. When Sensei and the Arius Squad go against her, she becomes outraged that her former pawns are turning on her, and that the adult she thought she could win over rejects her and expresses nothing but contempt for her.
- When Kaya succeeds in ousting Rin and taking over the GSC, she soon finds out she can't properly wield the power the office gives her. Her inability to handle anyone not giving her the respect she demands or causing her issues quickly grinds away at her as more and more problems pop up during her reign. It eventually reaches the point where she decides to have a warhead detonated underneath Kivotos, if it means it'll scare everyone into line.
- Final Fantasy XIV: During the Arcadion raid quest series, the Warrior of Light's ninth opponent is Vamp Fatale, who plays herself up as a sadist who demands obedience from people. As your battle against her continues, she gets more and more frustrated that you refuse to fall to your knees, her attacks getting wilder as she keeps going.
- Genshin Impact: Nefer is a humorously Mean Boss to Jahoda, who she ensures she obeys on whatever she says to her, and takes it as an offense when the girl contradicts her orders or disobeys her whatsoever, even if any of it was unintentional on her part.
- God of War Ragnarök: Big Bad Odin is a Control Freak of the highest order, ensuring that everything lines up with his wishes and schemes alone. Anything he can't control often ends up dead by his hands. Brok found out the hard way when he called out all the inconsistencies of Odin's "Tyr" disguise. Not even his own family is safe, as when Thor responds to his demands to kill Kratos with a simple "no", Odin runs him through on the spot.
- Injustice: Gods Among Us: Regime Superman, having been driven to darkness by grief over the death of Lois and having basically conquered the Earth, has gone mad to the point where he believes anyone who is not with him is against him, and will outright kill anyone who dares to question or criticize him.
- Persona 5: The first boss of the game, the abusive gym coach Kamoshida, initially takes pleasure in tormenting the protagonist and his new friend Ryuji simply for kicks and giggles, but when the two confront him over his implied rape of Shiho leading her to throw herself off the school roof, he decides to have them expelled to show them how powerful he is and how powerless they are.
- Twisted-Wonderland: The dorm leader of Heartslabyul, Riddle Rosehearts is a Control Freak who has every single one of the dorm's 810 rules memorised and follows them obsessively, and expects his dorm residents to do the same. If they are unwilling to obey or they just break even the most obscure, inconsequential rule, he goes ballistic, often retaliating by using his unique magic Off With Your Head on them. It culminates to him succumbing to his Overblot. Even after he comes to his senses and loosens up, he still can't stand the idea of anyone breaking rules or simply things not going his way.
- XCOM 2: The Elders are psionic aliens of immense power who direct their troops through a pseudo-Hive Mind to eliminate The Evils of Free Will. The Chosen, however, possess greater individuality and autonomy on account of having once been human, and their arrogance, infighting, and propensity to backtalk are things that infuriates the Elders to no end.
Web Animation
- The Amazing Digital Circus: Caine is a goofy, Benevolent A.I. who can be considered annoying at worst. But as the series goes on and he undergoes a gradual Sanity Slippage, he begins to respond to Zooble’s snark, criticism, and refusal to go on his adventures with more and more angry outbursts.
- El Guapo vs The Narco Vampires: Chupi of the Vampire Cartel is a smug, cruel sonavabitch who takes great pleasure in tormenting El Guapo, either through blackmail, intimidation, or straight-up torture and mutilation. But when El Guapo stands up to him and refuses his demands to use human corpses for taco meat, suddenly Chupi takes him deathly serious and even threatens to shoot him.
- Knights of Guinevere: When Frankie defies him and steals the Gwen robot meant to be sold off, Sparky confronts her and Andi at the entrance to the lab with the threat of pulling out her teeth if she doesn't stand down.
- Red vs. Blue: Played for Laughs. Griff has been a snarky lazy Commander Contrarian for so long, Sarge makes it a point to try to incorporate his death into his battle strategies.
- RWBY: James Ironwood, while initially one of the big goods of the series, develops an inability to accept defiance or questions to his authority as the series goes on, to the point where he attacks Oscar in response to his criticisms of his action and murders an Atlas council member who demands answers.
- Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers: This incarnation of Princess Peach has very little tolerance for Mario's stupidity, and even less for his backsass, which she often responds to with violence.
Webcomics
- SHELTER: Brock is a controlling, image and revenge-obsessed abuser of an uncle and brother-in-law who keeps his family on a leash and uses them as tools for a means on an end for his goals. ESPECIALLY Ruka, and is quick to threaten or dole out extreme punishments at the slightest sign of his sister-in-law and nephew acting out. He even has the latter trained like a dog with a bell to bring him back in line.
- unOrdinary: John turns out to have this problem following The Reveal. He is a self-absorbed Blood Knight who eventually becomes a king back in New Boston and then in Welston High, who controls both schools with an iron fist and keeps other students on a leash. Especially, Serafina, any of the Royals, and of course Cecile, and is quick to threaten or dole out extreme punishments at the slightest sign of any of them or any other student acting out. He won't even let any of them leave his presence, saying he has the right to decide that. He even forces Cecile to spread nasty rumors about the Safe House on the school news despite her protests. He even tried to force Cecile to publish an even nastier rumor to end the Safe House. When she refused, he goes balistic and even went as far as to give her a beat down for her latest act of defiance against him.
Websites
- Ask A Manager: One reader
asked about a manager's reaction to a bumper sticker reading "Question Authority" on the writer's personal vehicle.
Writer: My manager hounded me for weeks about how I needed to remove that sticker because he found it offensive, how it demonstrated I had a terrible attitude, and how important it was that I never question his authority.AAM: Did your manager not realize how much he was revealing about himself there? He needs his own bumper sticker that says "insecure authoritarian". Anyone who deserves to hold authority should want to be questioned and should be suspicious of people who don’t examine things too deeply. - SF Debris characterises Star Trek: Voyager Captain Kathryn Janeway as a crazy psychopath, prompting the following exchange when reviewing the episode "Thirty Days":
Janeway: You have to be extra strict to enforce discipline on a starship.
Tom: Strict?! You didn't even sentence Suder to solitary confinement!
Janeway: Well, of course. All he did was murder a man for no reason, but you! You defied me! You're lucky I don't have you flayed.
Western Animation
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: If there’s one thing that best defines this incarnation of Dr. Robotnik, it’s his unprecedented level of hatred towards Sonic, the teenaged hero who constantly thwarts his attempts to conquer the planet, to the point he has a pair of robots built specifically to take out the defiant hedgehog.
- Adventure Time: The Earl of Lemongrab has this problem when we meet him. He expects things to go his way or just in order. Or else, he throws a screaming hissy fit, finding everything around him unacceptable. When he arrives to the Candy Kingdom to temporarily take the aged down Princess Bubblegum's place as their ruler until she is over eighteen again, he finds the castle in disarray due to throwing a party there, he proclaims the castle is in an unacceptable condition, sending anyone who don't meet his expectations or comply to his demands to a dungeon, even for a long amount of time. In his second appearance, when the Pup Gang, a trio of juvenile delinquents consisting of Jamaica, Toughy, and Blombo, temporarily move into his castle due to a lack of citizens, Lemongrab immediately goes into a rage because Blombo ignored his order to take off his headphones so he can follow his instructions. When the Pup Gang fails to meet his expectations, Lemongrab uses his Sound Sword to knock them unconscious and lock them down in the "reconditioning chamber" (an electric torture chamber), declaring that "unfit citizens of Lemongrab must be reconditioned". He did redeem himself at first after Princess Bubblegum created Lemongrab 2 to make him company, but eventually, he got even worse when he becomes the tyrannical "Fat Lemongrab" after he ate his brother. note He puts all the Lemon Children over a leash, especially his brother and Lemonhope, who he considers ugly. He takes it as an offense when they try to exercise their own independence or try to act out, and even uses shock collars to ensure their obedience. When Lemongrab 2 gives out part of his bread to a Lemon Child his brother stole from. Lemongrab naturally makes a major fuss and an argument breaks out. If it isn't enough, when Lemongrab 2 frees Finn, Princess Bubblegum, and Lemonhope, who were imprisoned for attempting to prank Lemongrab in order to save the latter, to invite them all to a dance, Lemongrab goes ballistic and proceeds to eat his brother whole, he even makes sure Lemongrab 2 stays in his stomach when he briefly broke free to remove the shock collars from the Lemon Children and ensure Lemonhope's escape.
- The Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise:
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In Prince Zuko's backstory, he is punished by his father, Fire Lord Ozai, for speaking out of turn in a war meeting to protest a general's plan to sacrifice soldiers in a battle by entering a duel with what Zuko believes to be the general but is actually his father. When Zuko refuses to duel Ozai, the Fire Lord punishes him further by scaring his face and banishing him from the kingdom. Later, during a war council meeting, Ozai decides that the best way to deal with the minor rebellions around Fire Kingdom-controlled territories in the Earth Kingdom is to use their Sozin's Comet-enhanced firebending to completely incinerate the Earth Kingdom.
- The Legend of Korra: Kuvira, the Big Bad of Book 4. She can come across benevolent and calm most of the time, but any subordinate who questions or criticizes her will be met with cold threats to their health.
- Gravity Falls: The Northwest parents are so strict with their daughter Pacifica, they take it as an offense when she tries to exercise her own independence and have her trained like a dog with a bell to bring her back in line, as seen in "Northwest Mansion Mystery".
- The Mighty Nein: Lord Robert Sharpe is Nicodranas' resident Caligula - a nobleman known for executing anyone who dares say "no" to him - a fact he uses to wrangle an appointment with the Ruby of the Sea. When Jester humiliates him in a public prank, he immediately orders her execution, as well as Fjord's for aiding her.
- Miraculous Ladybug:
- Gabriel Agreste cannot stand when those underneath him - whether it's his assistant, his driver, or his son - disobeys him. This is on full display when he's Hawk Moth. A contributing factor to his Villainous Breakdown in season 5 is the fact that Adrien increasingly refuses to follow his orders and starts demanding to have his own life.
- Tomoe Tsurugi is almost as bad as Gabriel, wanting to keep her daughter, Kagami, firmly under her control. In the fifth season, she arranges an engagement between Kagami and Adrien, and goes ballistic when Kagami instead pursues Adrien's disreputable cousin, Felix.
- My Adventures with Superman: Brainiac is constantly frustrated with Kara Zor-El's general willfulness and disobedience of his commands, often berating her, erasing her memories, and using her brainwashing to control her more closely.
- The Owl House:
- Odalia Blight is an image and money-obsessed Control Freak of a parent who is bent on a successful life for her family, ESPECIALLY Amity, and is quick to threaten or dole out extreme punishments at the slightest sign of her daughter acting out. When Amity refuses to end her friendship with Willow, Odalia threatens to make sure Willow never gets into school. When Amity blows an Abomiton demonstrations to save a photo she took with her friends, Odalia has those friends EXPELLED and tells Amity that it is the price for her failures.
- Emperor Belos. When Hunter discovers Belos' crimes — and that he's actually a magically created clone of Belos' brother — the Emperor makes it clear that the other Golden Guards were eliminated when they came to oppose him. And when Luz refuses to join Belos in his genocidal crusade against witches or even accept his worldview that witches are inherently evil, Belos resorts to using deadly force upon Luz until she is either dead or is forced to accept his views.
- Phineas and Ferb: In "Toy to the World", the boys pitch their concept for a "Perry Inaction Figure" - literally a wooden replica of Perry that does nothing - to the CEO of a toy company. The CEO is enamored with the concept, but when one board member raises his objections, the CEO drops him down a trap door where he is promptly eaten by alligators.
- The Simpsons:
- One of the show's most famous running gags is the hot-headed Homer Simpson's tendency to strangle Bart in retaliation for his many pranks, jibes, and general mockery and disrespect for his father.
- Played for Laughs in "Homer Goes to College"; Mr. Burns attempts to use his influence on the admissions board of a local college to enroll Homer. When one of the board members bluntly tells him no, Burns attempts to beat the man to death ala Al Capone in The Untouchables. Key word being "attempts", given Burns is so weak he can barely lift the bat.
Board Member: What are you doing?
Mr. Burns: (already pained and struggling) I'm giving you the beating of your life!
Board Member: Look, if— Stop that. If you wanted him that badly, why didn't you just say so?
(Burns collapses)
Mr. Burns: Smithers, dismember the body and send his widow a corsage.
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: A constant headache for Captain Carol Freeman and the senior staff of the U.S.S. Cerritos is her daughter, Ensign Beckett Mariner, and her flippant, disrespectful attitude towards them, the chain of command, and Starfleet protocol. They even have a hard time disciplining her because she can make menial tasks enjoyable and is used to the brig. It comes to a head in Season 3 when Freeman has Mariner transferred to Starbase 80 when she believes her daughter went behind her back to give an unflattering account of the crew to a reporter, only to learn she was actually the most flattering interview out of everyone.
- Star Wars Expanded Universe:
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Master and General Pong Krell is utterly remorseless in his abuse of his clone troopers, freely forcing them to execute fatal battle strategies, berating the troopers who object, and imprisoning those who try less suicidal tactics against his wishes. Part of this may be due to him having fallen to the Dark Side and planning to defect to the Separatists.
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch: A recurring theme in the show is how Imperials in the Empire dislike the Clone Troopers defying their unethical orders, first seen in "Aftermath", where Tarkin has Clone Force 99 arrested for refusing to kill Saw Gerrera and his proto Partisans and Grotton threatened to punish Cody for refusing to kill Tawni Ames during "The Solitary Clone", only not doing so when Crosshair kills her. It's also a reason why the Empire has Stormtroopers replace the Clones, since they're unquestionably loyal to enforcing the peace Palpatine's Empire achieved at the end of the Clone Wars.
- Steven Universe: The Diamond Authority rules over the Gem Homeworld with absolute control and no tolerance for disobedience or anything that defies their customs. Breaking these rules is a one-way ticket to getting poofed or straight-up shattered. This is especially true of White Diamond, who will gladly use her powers of mind control to bring defiant gems directly under her control, even her fellow diamonds.
- Superman: The Animated Series:
- Lex Luthor expects everyone to bend to his whims, using his wealth and political influence to do so. The main reason he hates Superman is that he's the only one who openly defies him and publicly calls him out for the criminal he actually is.
- Darkseid, the ruler of Apokolips, expects any world he sets his eye to conquer obey him unquestionably, and after his takeover of Earth is thwarted by the intervention of New Genesis, he sets out to destroy it. After that last plan is foiled, he manages to brainwash Superman to conquer Earth, and after Superman recovers his memories, he decides to confront Darkseid once and for all, and when Superman manages to score a hit on Darkseid, the latter responds with disgust over being struck.
Real Life
- Genghis Khan, his generals, and his successors infamously had this attitude towards their conquest targets: if you surrendered peacefully, they left you mostly unharmed, even if taxed heavily; but if you dared to resist or, worse, to kill a Mongol (whether envoy or warrior), your entire city would be slaughtered and razed to the ground. Case in point: Samarkand and Baghdad resisted and were sacked so thoroughly, they took centuries to recover to pre-Mongol population levels.
- Three Kingdoms – Shu, Wei, Wu:
- Discussed in Cao Ren's historical bio, which mentions an occasion where Cao Cao arrived at a city and demanded its surrender. When the inhabitants refused, Cao promised that when he took said city he would have every inhabitant killed. Months later as the siege dragged on Cao Ren observed that since Cao had promised to kill everyone, the inhabitants had nothing to lose by resisting. Cao was swayed when Cao Ren quoted Cao's own personal hero Sun Tzu by pointing out that putting an enemy in a hopeless situation was a mistake as they would then fight to the death. When Cao rescinded his promise to exterminate the city's inhabitants, the city surrendered.
- This was the downfall of Lu Bu when he was besieged at Xiapi Castle. As the combined Cao Cao-Liu Bei force diverted a nearby river to flood the castle he forbade any sort of merriment or serving of alcohol, fearing that such things would be a distraction at a critical moment. One of his officers held a small celebration after successfully recovering some horses from the enemy, and in an attempt to placate Lu so that it didn't seem like he was deliberately undermining his authority sent Lu some wine from the banquet. Lu was enraged at this defiance of his explicit orders and nearly executed the man before being talked down to simply having him flogged. Unfortunately for Lu part of the reason the banquet was held was to try to shore up flagging morale, and after Lu's treatment of the officer as could be expected his men's loyalty evaporated. In the aftermath, Lu was executed while many of his officers held small offices under Cao Cao's administration.
- The historical Zhang Fei was a violent brute note who did not take any sort of refusal well, especially when it came to people he considered below him (his own master Liu Bei pointed out that "You're polite to your equals, but harsh to your inferiors. This will lead you to disaster!"). When tasked with protecting Liu Bei's stronghold of Xu province, he got into an argument with popular local official Cao Bao and brutally murdered him, resulting in a peasant uprising that drove Liu's forces out of the city. Years later, Zhang Fei commanded two of his subordinates to equip his forces with white robes to demonstrate mourning for the fallen Guan Yu. His subordinates requested more time to prepare enough of the material, and in a rage Zhang beat them almost to death. In retaliation, his men murdered him in his sleep, beheaded him, and fled along with his head to the rival state of Wu.
- Deliberately invoked by Cao Pi. Upon becoming the Emperor of Wei, he sought to punish the official Bao Xun for, among other things, publicly disagreeing with him and admonishing him. Bao was known to be outspoken and possessed a strict morality, but only the Emperor's mother had the explicit right to publicly admonish him while officials had to couch their criticisms via innuendo and allegory. Some of Cao's ministers, remembering how Bao's father Bao Xin had been key to Cao's father Cao Cao's early successes and even pulled a You Shall Not Pass! to aid Cao Cao in escaping at the cost of his own life, quietly negated Bao's punishment. Cao learned of this and ordered a heavier punishment, and the ministers again intervened. Enraged at this undermining of his authority, Cao had Bao executed. note
- Oda Nobunaga: Zigzagged; Nobunaga was known to admire and respect those who demonstrated a certain level of audacity, such as the time he dawdled at sending reinforcements to Tokugawa Ieyasu so much that Ieyasu threatened to switch sides if he didn't hurry (Nobunaga was amused by the threat, but did speed to Ieyasu's aid). However, this seemed to depend on whether or not the other person knew when to yield. The Honganji monks of the Ikko-ikki sect not only refused to surrender to him, Nobunaga also knew they had a reputation of feigning fealty when on the backfoot, only to reestablish their independence once they had regained their strength. As a result, he wiped out their main monasteries and slaughtered as many of their adherents as he could, mercilessly burning down their fortresses with everyone inside: warrior, peasant and non-combatants alike. This permanently destroyed them as a political force.
- Big reason why the Chinese Civil War (and before it, the Warlord Era) played out so bloody and with attempt to utterly obliterate the other side was that Mao and Chiang just couldn't stand the very concept there was some other man defying either their command or political will, throwing often excessive resources to just get rid of the other - along with any underlings they percieved as not loyal enough.
- The Warlord Era rather quickly evolved to the point where the main cliques were actively suppressing anything and anyone they could within their "realm". Some did it for self-preservation, but most of it was about the ego of the leaders, who, if they couldn't claim the lead of the nation, then at least wanted to make sure they were in full charge of their territory.
- Chiang-Kai Shek was infamous for his extensive use of Uriah Gambits. Each and every time he had a troubling element in his army or command structure, he simply gave them suicide missions - be it during the various encirclement operations or, past the nominal unification of the country, to fight the Communists or the Japanese. Even if they somehow survived, their reputation and powerbase were in ruin, since they've just lost a major engagement. Chiang saw communists in general and Mao in particular as his personal nemesis for the fact they remained entirely outside of the KMT structures and would rather fight them than the Japanese - even at the eve of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- Probably the most known of Chiang's hatred toward defiance was his treatment of Zhang Xueliang after the Xi'an Incident. Seeing Zhang as a traitor, Chiang made sure he was in prison and then house arrest for decades, even when the situation of the Nationalists was beyond dire. He went as far as making sure Zhang was evacuated to Taiwan, just so he could keep him locked up. Zhang wasn't released until 1990, 54 years after the incident and 25 years after Chiang's death - and only because the KMT was defeated in elections, paving way for democratic reforms and the release of political dissidents.
- Probably the most known of Chiang's hatred toward defiance was his treatment of Zhang Xueliang after the Xi'an Incident
- Likewise, Mao Zedong came out on top of the communist leadership not because he was the strongest, the smartest or the one with the most support - he was a second-rank nobody when the KMT decided their "alliance" with CCP was over. What he had was the sheer ambition to seize the power after the Long March and suppress anyone who would even suggest Mao isn't in full control once the dust settled. Including forcing other surviving leaders (often at a gunpoint) to Join or Die his new Soviet in Shaanxi. This paved way to his later Cult of Personality once he became the "unifier of all of China" and by then, nobody (sans for Marshal Peng Dehuai, well-known for his boldness and aware of the power of his position and fame) even dared to question Mao's orders, since everyone who tried up until then was at best Un-person, and usually simply dead.
