List of fictional dictators
Appearance
In fiction, dictatorship has sometimes been portrayed as the political system of choice for controlling dystopian societies in books, video games, TV and movies. Below is a list of fictional dictators.
Character | Location | In | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Adam Susan (called Sutler in the film version) | England possibly Scotland, too. | V For Vendetta | Dictator and High Chancellor in the V for Vendetta graphic novel and movie. Came to power as a result of a massive terror attack, which in fact was orchestrated by him. Is a homophobe, racist and totalitarian. Resembles Adolf Hitler. |
Napoleon | Farm | Animal Farm | A group of animals overthrow their abusive farmer, Mr. Jones, and try to establish an equal society of animals. And later, Napoleon, paralleled to Joseph Stalin seizes power and is repressive. Clearly resembling the October Revolution in Russia. |
President Snow | Panem | The Hunger Games | In the future North America has become a dictatorship, divided into 12 districts. Every year, two children from each district are forced to fight each other in The Hunger Games |
President Maximilian II and later Thorne | Unknown country | Land of the Blind | A satirical depiction of dictatorship. Maximilian II was a brutal dictator overthrown by Thorne, played by Donald Sutherland who later turned out to be a worse one. This film parallels Iranian Revolution, as Maximilian resembles Shah of Iran and Thorne resembles the Supreme Leader. |
Digimon Emperor | Digital World | Digimon | An evil, despotic alter-ego of the boy genius Digidestined Ken Ichijouji. Abuses and treats his fellow Digimon like slaves, building Control Spires to assert total control over the Digital World, and using a whiplash to whip Digimon who protest his tyrannical reign of terror. |
Arcturus Mengsk | Terran Dominion | StarCraft | Overthrows the Terran Confederacy and crowns himself Emperor of the newly formed Terran Dominion, uniting the Koprulu Sector under one sovereign rule for the first time. |
Emperor Palpatine | Galactic Empire | Star Wars | Chancellor a reference to Hitler and the establishment of the "Galactic Empire" probably reference to Napoleon's transformation to an empire.[citation needed] |
Lyndon LaRouche | United States | Sliders episode, "Time Again and World" | Lyndon is an absolute ruler in this alternate United States series, the Sliders. |
Big Brother | Oceania | Nineteen Eighty-Four | Ruler of the totalitarian continent. Reference to the USSR. |
Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip | United States | It Can't Happen Here | Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a charismatic and power-hungry politician, is elected President of the United States on a populist platform, promising to restore the country to prosperity and greatness, and, more importantly, promising each citizen five thousand dollars a year. Once in power, however, he becomes a dictator; outlawing dissent, putting his political enemies in concentration camps, and creating a paramilitary force called the Minute Men who terrorize the citizens. One of his first moves as president is to make changes to the Constitution which give the President sole power over the country, rendering Congress obsolete. This is met by protest from the congressmen as well as outraged citizens, but Windrip declares a state of martial law and, with the help of his Minute Men, throws the protesters in jail. As Windrip dismantles democracy, most Americans either support him and his Corpo Regime wholeheartedly or reassure themselves that fascism cannot happen in America (hence the book's title). |
Ex-Soviet dictator | Novistrana | Republic: The Revolution | Dictator of a fictional post-USSR independent nation in the video game, "Republic: The Revolution" |
Denzel Crocker | Unknown country | The Fairly OddParents: Abra-Catastrophe! | Dictator of the world |
Sheldon Plankton | Bikini Bottom | The Spongebob Squarpants Movie | Overlord of Bikini Bottom |
Vicky the babysitter | Unknown country | Channel Chasers | Dictator of the World |
Libby Folfax | Unknown country | The Tomorrow Boys | Dictator of the world |
Sheen Estevez | Unknown country | Sheens Brain | Dictator of the world |
Ned Flanders | Earth | Treehouse of Horror V | Dictator of the World |
Shredder | New York City | Sheredderville | Dictator of New York City |
Venomous Snaptrap | World | Watch Dog | Dictator of Petropolis |
Darkwing Duckaka "Darkwarrior Duck | St Canard | Time and Punishment | Dictator of St Canard |
Dr. Doofenshmirtz | Tri-State Area | Phineas and Ferb (Quantum Boogaloo) | Candace Flynn busts her brothers in the future, creating an alternative universe where Perry the Platypus gets injured. Because he gets injured, he can't defeat Dr. Doofenshmirtz, therefore Doofenshmirtz uses the opportunity to take over the Tri-State Area as the "Supreme Emperor". |
Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen | Republic of Wadiya | The Dictator | Dictator of a fictional country in North Africa called Wadiya, he is known to hold anti-semitic, misogynous, and anti-western attitudes. Aladeen is loosely based on the late leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. |
Nehemiah Scudder aka The Prophet Incarnate | United States | "Revolt in 2100" and "If This Goes On . . ." | Part of Robert Heinlein's Future History time line. Scudder was initially elected, then established a religious quasi-mystical dictatorship. |
Jake Featherston | Confederate States of America | Southern Victory Series | An analogue of Adolf Hitler in Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory Series, in which the Confederacy won the American Civil War in 1862, Featherston rises to power after the Central Powers-aligned United States defeats the Entente-allied Confederacy in the Great War. Under him, African-Americans are subject to heavy racial discrimination and are later genocided (a parallel to the Holocaust). |
President Isaac Ngotelute | Republic of Boriade | An Ancient African Kingdom | A satirical depiction of President Isaac Ngotelute, an enlightened, cruel and brutal ruler, antagonist in "Under the Umbrella: An African Tale" by Manu F. Manun'Ebo from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This first time novel published in English in the UK in November 2011 (ISBN 978-0-9569316-0-3), weaves delightful humour into apparent light-hearted moments of extreme violence. It portrays a mythical country wounded by cruelties of dictatorship in post-colonial Africa.
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Andrew Ryan | City of Rapture | BioShock | Founder of Rapture, Ryan built Rapture as a utopia to remain isolated from the "outside world", as well severing connections with outside of the city. However, his rule reaches a climax when rival, Frank Fontaine, defies Ryan's objectives, becoming a catalyst for the civil war in Rapture. |
Zachery Hale Comstock | City of Columbia | BioShock: Infinite | Also known as "Father Comstock", he is the messianic leader of the flying city of Columbia and the leader of the ultra-nationalist organization of "the Founders", whom are involved in a civil war against the militant organization Vox Populi, as well as stopping the "false shepherd" Booker Dewitt, the protagonist. Comstock is capable of seeing the future with the help of technology developed in his city. |
Dr. Wallace Breen | City 17 | Half-Life 2 | Former administration of Black Mesa Research Facility, Dr. Breen is the appointed chancellor of City 17, while Earth is ruled by the Combine and serves as the main antagonist of Half-Life 2. Breen is presumed dead after failing to escape the planet. |
Scolar Visari | Helghan Empire | Killzone | Scolar Visari is the former ultra-nationalist ruler of the planet Helghan from the Killzone series, who united the planet with rhetoric and violence. Rose to power after the first failed war against the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance by weakened Helghan troops, and vows vengeance for the empire. Visari is based heavily on Adolf Hitler and fascist ideals, but has a cult personality similar to that of Joseph Stalin and Kim Il Sung. |
Queen Myrrah | Hollow of Planet Sera | Gears of War | Leader of the locust horde, Myrrah holds great contempt for the human race living on the planet Sera for allegedly forcing the locust underground. She holds a racist view towards humanity, seeing them as inferior, and inevitably leads a genocidal war against Serans. |
El Presidente | Island of Tropico | Tropico | Unnamed player character of the Tropico series, El presidente, depending on the actions of the player, can choose to become a totalitarian dictator aligned with any political party, or a democratic ruler of the island nation of Tropico. |
President John Henry Eden | Capital Wasteland and the former United States | Fallout 3 | President Eden is the leader of the Enclave forces of the game, made up by the remnants of the American government. However, rather than attempting to rebuild the United States, President Eden attempts to create a pure race of Americans opposed to the surviving wastelanders and persuades the player to sabotage his/her father's project: project purity, a project to eradicate radiation from water. |
The Governor | Woodbury, Georgia | The Walking Dead | The Governor, serves as the self-declared leader of a small survivalist encampment located in Woodbury, Georgia in the post-apocalyptic setting of The Walking Dead, fighting both zombies and the survival group led by the story's protagonist Rick Grimes. |
Premier Alexander Romanov | Soviet Union | Red Alert 2 | Leader of Soviet forces in an alternative universe involving a war between the western Allied forces and the Soviets, he is accompanied by his companion Yuri, who later betrays him by killing him. However, Romanov returns back to life after the commander of the Red Army travels back in time and stops Yuri. |
Sauron | Mordor, Middle-Earth | The Lord of the Rings | The main antagonist of the series, Sauron is the leader of the orc army of Mordor attempting to achieve domination of Middle-Earth, only to be weakened by Isildur. Sauron attempts to regain his ring stolen by Isildur, which later recovered by Bilbo Baggins and in the possession of his nephew Frodo Baggins, to return to power, only to be completely defeated after the ring is dropped into Mount Doom. |
President Greg Stillson | United States | The Dead Zone | Although only running for president, the main character, Johnny Smith, has a vision that predicts Senator Greg Stillson will lead a nuclear holocaust on Russia, despite opposition from his aides and military generals. To prevent Stillson from becoming president, Johnny attempted to assassinate him but fails, only to successfully tarnish Stillson's political career and, eventually, lead him to suicide. |
The White Witch | Narnia | The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe | Ruler of Narnia, the White Witch is known to rule the land with endless winters and preventing Christmas from coming, as well as using minions to keep the land under her control, who serve as a secret police force. |
Hiram Burrows | City of Dunwall, Gristol | Dishonored | After being involved in a coup between an elite cadre of politicians and nobles in the city of Dunwall, during a time of a massive plague outbreak, Hiram Burrows orchestrates an assassination on the city's empress and frames the protagonist, Corvo Attano, for the murder in order to avoid any resistance. Rather than helping the ailing citizens of Dunwall, he constantly places the city under martial law and imposes extreme measures to avoid dissent. |
Vaas Montenegro | Rook Islands | Far Cry 3 | Although not a politician and an actual dictator, Vaas is one of the main leaders in control of a small island the main protagonist, Jason Brody, incidentally lands on; however, because Vaas is known to be brutal towards the island's native tribe, the Rakyat, where his men constantly engage in ethnic cleansing incidents because of their opposition, he is engaged in a war against the tribe's insurgents. |
George Washington | United States | Assassin's Creed III | He is a central character and an ally of the Assassin; Ratonhnhaké:ton AKA, Connor in the video game Assassin's Creed III. However, in the alternate reality DLC entitled The Tyranny of King Washington, Washington becomes mad with power and declares himself King of America, becoming a megalomaniacal dictator. |
Lord Voldemort | The Wizarding Community of Great Britain | Harry Potter | The main villain of the series, he is an evil wizard who takes over the government of Great Britain's Wizarding Community, using one of his followers as a figurehead. |
Pagan Min | Kyrat, | Far Cry 4 | He is the self-appointed leader over a nation named Kyrat, located in the Himalayan Mountains. |
Jamal al-Fayeed | Abbudin, | "Tyrant" | He is the successor to his father as president of Abbudin, a Middle Eastern nation. |
Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in | Khura'in | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice | She is the queen and former Minister of Justice of the Himalayan kingdom of Khura'in. She attempted to assassinate her sister Amara and usurped the throne for her, leading her to become queen and serve for the next twenty-three years, despite having no spiritual power. Ga'ran passed the Defense Culpability Act, which stated that the sentences for defendants who were found guilty are also placed upon their lawyers, leading to many executions. |
Desta Rahal | Bahari | Scorpion | He is the leader of the North African country of Bahari. He lives luxuriously despite his nation's extreme poverty, but brings himself attention when a leftover Nazi "Sun Gun" is found. Rahal acts politely to outsiders but does not respond well to what he views as being "slighted". |