# Fictional characters you'd like/trust as World Overlord? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593 "2009-04-19T03:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/1 "2009-04-19T03:56:05Z")
(Slightly more succinct than “you’d trust to rule the world,” and catchier to boot) Well, as Mark Twain said in _Connecticut Yankee_, “An earthly despotism would be the absolutely perfect earthly government, if the conditions were […] namely, the despot the perfectest individual of the human race, and his lease of life perpetual.”\* So I figure; where better to find someone to meet such criteria than in the illimitable realms of fiction? Thus I’m asking you, fellow Dopers: Who would _you_ trust to appoint ruler of the world? The two I can come up with, right off the bat, are: •Atticus Finch Everyone picks Atticus in situations like this. A good man, and a stalwart paragon of honest virtue. Not the man to throw his weight around needlessly to impose his Will, or go on skull-piling rampages. Eh? Optimus Prime 😃 What can I say? Functionally, he’s like King Arthur—just with fewer relationship problems to spill over into his professional life. And he’s a giant robot. (That, uh, is important because of the charisma factor. And he’d be able to crush tanks with his bare hands) So…anyone else? \*Or, for the despot-chooser, someone who shares our particular sets of biases and still possesses proper factors of health, intelligence, and a cross-section of necessary skills. Emphasis on the biases. But hey, that’s jus’ me. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/2 "2009-04-19T04:21:43Z")
Havelock Vetinari. I assume if he can keep Ankh-Morpork running smoothly, it should scale up to the entire world fairly well. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/3 "2009-04-19T04:51:03Z")
**Silophant** beat me to it. Another vote for Vetinari. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/4 "2009-04-19T05:55:05Z")
Me three! I opened this thread with the specific purpose of casting my vote for Lord Vetinari. 😃 Well, to be completely honest, I guess maybe “trust” is too strong a word to apply to a guy like Havelock Vetinari. I don’t know if I’d _trust_ him in any specific capacity, but I feel I could have complete confidence in his rationality and ability to do a damn good job as World Overlord. Better than anyone else I can think of off the top of my head, anyway. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/5 "2009-04-19T06:05:00Z")
Actually, I wouldn’t choose Vetinari for World Overlord - I’d chose Carrot, with Vetinari as his Chief of Staff. Carrot to inspire and provide a moral core, and Vetinari to actually run things. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/6 "2009-04-19T06:35:57Z")
Leto Atreides II. What? He’d do what needed to be done. It’d be painful, but it’d be the right thing, whatever it was. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/7 "2009-04-19T06:56:07Z")
I was also going to pick Vetinari. I’d also pick Granny Weatherwax but I don’t think she’d take the job. Too many opportunities to start cackling when you’re World Overlord. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/8 "2009-04-19T07:25:11Z")
Miles Vorkosigan. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/9 "2009-04-19T07:56:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Actually, I wouldn’t choose Vetinari for World Overlord - I’d chose Carrot, with Vetinari as his Chief of Staff. Carrot to inspire and provide a moral core, and Vetinari to actually run things. Hmm. A compelling alternative, but I wonder how long that arrangement would last. It seems to me that Carrot is a bit too honest and forthright to feel comfortable being a figurehead. He’d probably figure that he could handle providing inspiration and a moral core whether or not he was head of state (his claim to the throne notwithstanding), and leave the noble titles to Vetinari. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/10 "2009-04-19T08:10:08Z")
I support the suggestion of Optimus Prime. He’s trustworthy, and being a robot he won’t be slowed down by things like sleep, old age or assassination attempts. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/11 "2009-04-19T08:17:48Z")
Superman, natch. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/12 "2009-04-19T08:50:54Z")
James T. Kirk, specifically Kirk of Star Trek the original series vintage. He’s young,energetic, very bright,and he has a good heart. Give him a continuous supply of hot babes to seduce and he’ll be focused and awesome as World Overlord. And I can’t believe I’m the first to mention Jed Bartlett. He has vast executive experience, a brain the size of a planet, a huge heart and good instincts. We’d have to deal with the whole MS issue, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/13 "2009-04-19T09:49:57Z")
To get a bit obscure, the AI called The Colligatarch from _The Eye Inside_. Mainly because it WAS essentially “World Overlord”, and was secretly working to wean humanity off of needing or wanting one. It was programmed to work for the benefit of humanity, you see, and for once in sci-fi the programming actually worked. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/14 "2009-04-19T13:33:17Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > James T. Kirk, specifically Kirk of Star Trek the original series vintage. He’s young,energetic, very bright,and he has a good heart. Only if he has both Spock and McCoy as his senior advisors. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/15 "2009-04-19T14:23:48Z")
Galadriel. Has the added benefit of a “lease of life perpetual”. Aragorn would do. One of Robert Heinlein’s wise old codgers. Henry Fonda. (Did any of his fictional Presidents ever have names?) E.G. Marshall. Sort of a poor man’s Henry Fonda. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/16 "2009-04-19T14:25:32Z")
Oh, c’mon. All this way and no mention yet of Clancy’s Jack Ryan? He has been designed, from the beginning practically, to be the single greatest possible political leader. He’s so set up that it would be literally impossible to vote against him. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/17 "2009-04-19T14:30:07Z")
I was going to say Ozymandias from _Watchmen_, but I must admit, Vetinari is a very strong pick. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/18 "2009-04-19T14:32:04Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Henry Fonda. (Did any of his fictional Presidents ever have names?) > > E.G. Marshall. Sort of a poor man’s Henry Fonda. They are fictional? I once heard Peter Fonda say that the character his father most closely resembled was Colonel Thursday from _Fort Apache._ By no means an evil guy but not the guy I want as an Overlord. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/19 "2009-04-19T14:35:57Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Oh, c’mon. > > All this way and no mention yet of Clancy’s Jack Ryan? He has been designed, from the beginning practically, to be the single greatest possible political leader. He’s so set up that it would be literally impossible to vote against him. He’s anti-abortion, a major turnoff for many. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593/20 "2009-04-19T15:11:11Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > They are fictional? I once heard Peter Fonda say that the character his father most closely resembled was Colonel Thursday from _Fort Apache._ By no means an evil guy but not the guy I want as an Overlord. I was not talking about the real-world actors. I was talking about the characters they played. Fonda in _Fail-Safe_ and _Meteor_, Marshall in _Superman II_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-characters-youd-like-trust-as-world-overlord/493593.md?page=2)