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Intellectually Supported Tyranny
This references a general idea that intellectuals are supposed to be responsible in their social and political opinions, but has a more general application to the phenomenon of such people becoming (at best misguided) sympathizers of the Evil Overlord du jour. In fiction, this is a good variation on Not Brainwashed. Given that they tend to reference actual totalitarian governments, dystopian works often have the heroes interacting with this type, who tends to have power in a paradoxically anti-intellectual state.



Anime and Manga
  • Kiyomi Takada has this kind of vibe in Death Note, being an important example of a sane Kira supporter who is established to be on the same intellectual level as Light (albeit only academically). In her profession as newscaster, rather than helping to secure society against the Kira-cult, she becomes one of its major propagandists.
  • Diethard in Code Geass is another journalist example of this type, becoming a propagandist for Anti Hero with Good Publicity Lelouch/Zero. He's motivated by discontent with the entrenched Britannian aristocracy, but ends up as a more negative version as ultimately, he's really looking for an interesting Magnificent Bastard to follow and thus defects to the side of Prince Schneizel, who is even more so a Villain with Good Publicity / Devil in Plain Sight.


  • Aldous Huxley's Brave New World has a rare example of this character as the Evil Overlord himself, in Mustapha Mond. Also unique though is that he comes across as more complex/likely to be right than other examples.
  • Fahrenheit 451 has Beatty, who is Da Chief for the Firemen and typically of a dystopian novel, is a well-read intellectual devoted to his job of burning books. It's implied in the novel and more explicit in some adaptations that at heart, Beatty hates himself for what he has become.
  • This type is very common in literary works with 19th-century anarchist characters, the originators of the Terrorists Without a Cause idea. This character is generally someone with a good knowledge of chemistry who applies it to arm the anarchists with explosives.
    • The play The Firebugs (also translated as The Arsonists) has the title pyromaniacs aided by a character identified only as Professor.
    • In Ragtime, one of the sons from the main family of wealthy WASPs starts out by making fireworks and ends up in this role in the actual anarchist movement (e.g. with Emma Goldman), but is presented sympathetically, more along the lines of He Who Fights Monsters. This contrasts with other "Professor" characters who lean in the direction of simply enjoying things going boom despite a basis in radical politics.
  • In The Wheel of Time, the leader of the Forsaken was once a philosopher - and since the Dark One will destroy time forever if he succeeds and gets to keep trying until he manages, decided to throw his lot in with the winner.
    • Keep in mind that these are the surviving Forsaken, during the original War of Power the term Forsaken was used to describe any Channeller who sided with the Dark One. These thirteen Forsaken survived out of sheer luck, being in Shayol Ghul when it was sealed.
  • Atlas Shrugged has a handful of 'intellectuals' supporting the People's States, although the overwhelming majority are unwilling to put forward works stating anything more than uncertainty. Dr. Ferris, author of Why Do You Think You Think and political force behind creating Project Xylophone with a range focused within the continental United States, is the most overt of that branch. Dr. Stadler is the more conventional intellectual, and his brilliance lends to a couple Pet the Dog moments, before we discover exactly what he was willing to sell his word and his soul for.

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Insufferable GeniusAdministrivia/No Real Life Examples, Please!Interactive Narrator
Insane Equals ViolentVillainsInterim Villain

alternative title(s): Treason Of The Intellectuals; Trahison Des Clercs
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