This type of character is also known as a 'jobsworth' in British slang, named for their tendency to deny a perfectly reasonable request with 'That's more than my job's worth.' In the US, this character can also be a member of Congress (usually a senator) who is investigating the heroes. For a civil servant who's outright crooked, see Corrupt Bureaucrat. For a bureaucrat who can actually get things done, see Badass Bureaucrat. This sort of Obstructive Bureaucrat can be drawn into a Heel–Face Turn or Freak Out more readily than one who does know and just feels it's none of his business (a fella's gotta eat).įor a character who isn't so much obstructive as much as overworked, see Beleaguered Bureaucrat.

If he has no idea that the job he's doing is evil, he may be a Clueless Deputy. In another sense, where the Knight Templar is the extreme leader, the Obstructive Bureaucrat is the extreme follower. He's not just prone to Just Following Orders: as long as the orders match the rules he thinks it's his job to enforce and follow, Just Following Orders is what he is all about. The Knight Templar does horrible things for some greater good, whereas the Obstructive Bureaucrat has no concept of 'greater good', and cares only about following procedure, or rather believes that procedure is equivalent to the 'greater good'. Note that this is not the same as the Knight Templar, another type of Well-Intentioned Extremist. In short, he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist whose overriding motivation is being Employee of the Month. He is likely to be a murderer and/or a torturer who defends himself by saying 'I'm just doing my job'. This trope also has a darker version, where the character is still a government employee concerned with the bottom line, but what he does in daily work probably violates the Geneva Convention. They then turn into the Obstructive Bureaucrat and use Bothering by the Book to slow down the workload or get revenge on the people who make unreasonable demands. The employees are often overworked, underpaid, lack resources, and suffer the public’s wrath.

The tropes: Beleaguered Bureaucrat, Department of Child Disservices, and Social Services Does Not Exist overlap since they all involve the same problems. Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy (see above) is always in effect. Almost all this form-filling out serves no useful purpose for the hero to put in a list that will allow him access to a facility, for instance, is a very rare subversion. Many a surreptitious entry into, or exit from, a location, or requisition of supplies, is needed because it would take too long to get by him. A benevolent Obstructive Bureaucrat may go and obstruct the villain by actively devising regulations to impede and hinder him, and then, with the same mindless fervor as any other bureaucrat, insist on their being followed to the letter.Ī common cause of Divided We Fall. Threat of force, or actual force, may be needed to get by him. He and his colleagues often contribute to Head-in-the-Sand Management, refusing to do anything to help the situation. On the other hand, sometimes he is obstructing a Matter of Life and Death. Failing that, you may be able to use his respect for Exact Words against him. Sometimes he can be restored to humanity by uncovering the secret dream buried deep beneath his efficient exterior. In disaster movies and other works that lack a real villain (or whose villains are too cool to effectively hate), expect this guy to be the work's resident Hate Sink. His job, storywise, is to get in the way of whatever the heroes need to do, sometimes because what the heroes are doing is against some form of regulations, but other times because the character is a Jerkass who just doesn't like the heroes and is using 'regulations' to make their lives difficult. Works for any and all bureaucracies, including Department of Child Disservices, banks and possibly even your own afterlife. He's an unlikeable Punch-Clock Villain with a bad temper and a sizable streak of callousness. This guy is the ultimate pencil pusher from a government agency or corporation, and he creates the red tape that normal citizens hate, wielding the Stamp of Rejection like a weapon. The Iron Law of Bureaucracy, as formulated by Jerry Pournelle

Marshmallow dual status clock