Seeking a General & Lieutenant Pair
March 8, 2011 12:45 PM   Subscribe

Trying to think of any well-known pairs of people (fictional or real) where one person is the fire-up-the-troops general who leads the soldiers into battle and the other is the cooler-headed lieutenant who plans most of the actual strategy behind the scenes. I've used military terms here, but really any analogous scenario would work (sports, politics, etc.). The key idea is that each player is important to the other, and both need to perform their roles in order for their efforts to achieve success. Any source material (history, film, literature, etc.) is fine. Thanks!
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell to Grab Bag (44 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Kirk and Spock.
Buffy and Giles.
posted by Sticherbeast at 12:50 PM on March 8, 2011


The last president and vice-president, who I shall not call by name.
posted by Aquaman at 12:51 PM on March 8, 2011


Chuck D and Flavor Flav.
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:54 PM on March 8, 2011


Avon Barksdale & Stringer Bell (The Wire)
posted by 2bucksplus at 12:54 PM on March 8, 2011 [8 favorites]


Jeeves and Wooster
Aubrey and Maturin
posted by ghharr at 12:58 PM on March 8, 2011


Belushi in Animal House, and Otter and Boon(?) in Animal House
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:59 PM on March 8, 2011


Moses and Aaron.
posted by valkyryn at 1:01 PM on March 8, 2011


Brian Clough & Peter Taylor.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:02 PM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


According to the Social Network, Sean Parker and Mark Zuckerberg.

According to Never Say Never, Scooter Braun and Justin Bieber

According to my dad, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
posted by Kololo at 1:02 PM on March 8, 2011


Aragorn & Gandalf (Lord of the Rings)

King Arthur & Merlin?
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:03 PM on March 8, 2011


Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, NBA coaches.
posted by auto-correct at 1:03 PM on March 8, 2011


Just finished reading the Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony, Hope and Spirit Hubris are definitely a pair as described.
posted by zug at 1:03 PM on March 8, 2011


Zapp Brannigan and Kif Kroker? Although Kif doesn't stop Zapp from doing various stupid things on occasion, my impression is he's generally running the ship.
posted by GastrocNemesis at 1:03 PM on March 8, 2011 [4 favorites]


Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton
posted by Good Brain at 1:04 PM on March 8, 2011 [9 favorites]


Similar to what auto-correct said: NBA coaches Doc Rivers and Tom Thibodeau. However, Thibodeau is thriving on his own with the Chicago Bulls this year.
posted by LouMac at 1:05 PM on March 8, 2011


Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel.
posted by Stagger Lee at 1:06 PM on March 8, 2011


Gabriel Dumont & Louis Riel.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:11 PM on March 8, 2011


Patton and Bradley in North Africa (see the movie Patton)
posted by Jahaza at 1:15 PM on March 8, 2011


Hummel and Howe.
posted by jayder at 1:15 PM on March 8, 2011


In Parks and Recreation, the characters Chris Traeger and Ben are like this. Ben actually spells out their distinct but equally-necessary roles at the very end of Season 2.
posted by meese at 1:16 PM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) and White House Chief of Staff A.J. MacInerney (Martin Sheen) in American President.
President Andrew Shepherd: Because it occurs to me that in twenty-five years I've never seen your name on a ballot. Now why is that? Why are you always one step behind me?

A.J.: Because if I wasn't, you'd be the most popular history teacher at the University of Wisconsin!
President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer) on The West Wing.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:17 PM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


Cyrano and Christain?
posted by Jahaza at 1:18 PM on March 8, 2011


Emerson and Thoreau
posted by one_bean at 1:24 PM on March 8, 2011


Ray Smuckles and Roast Beef
posted by Jorus at 1:28 PM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


at the Great Outdoor Fight of course.
posted by Jorus at 1:28 PM on March 8, 2011


Cyclops and Wolverine, Cyclops and Professor X, or Cyclops and Magneto, depending on where you're standing on the Marvel timeline.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 1:38 PM on March 8, 2011


Mel Gibson & Danny Glover as Riggs and Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon franchise.
posted by ps_im_awesome at 2:09 PM on March 8, 2011


Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
posted by eggplantplacebo at 2:13 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


Barack Obama and David Plouffe in the 2008 election campaign.
posted by lunasol at 2:25 PM on March 8, 2011


Wallace and Gromit

Inspector Gadget and Penny / Brain the dog

Hong Kong Phooey and Spot
posted by dforemsky at 2:26 PM on March 8, 2011


the two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak)
posted by at at 2:37 PM on March 8, 2011


Norm Peterson & his fictitious 'General', Anton Kreizer - Cheers
posted by Flashman at 2:38 PM on March 8, 2011


[I'm trying to figure out how to fit the mods into this formula--little help here?]

There are a couple of pairs sort of like this in Marlowe's Edward II, with Edward and Gaveston working this way for a while and the opposition similarly divided between schemers and hotheads. Come to think of it, in Marlowe's Dr. Faustus you could see Faustus and Mephistopholes in this light as well.
posted by Mngo at 3:03 PM on March 8, 2011


Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for but great chemistry between them.
posted by zardoz at 3:41 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


Keith Richards and Mic Jagger, come on Keith did write all the hits.
posted by Max Power at 4:06 PM on March 8, 2011


Madonna and her longtime publicist, Liz Rosenberg
Tom Cruise and David Miscavige
posted by invisible ink at 4:37 PM on March 8, 2011


FDR and Louis Howe.
posted by jgirl at 4:45 PM on March 8, 2011


Dangermouse and Penfold.
posted by elizardbits at 4:57 PM on March 8, 2011


Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
posted by mfoight at 5:13 PM on March 8, 2011


Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye come to mind.
posted by patheral at 5:42 PM on March 8, 2011


Che and Fidel.
posted by RedEmma at 7:22 PM on March 8, 2011


Bush and Rove.

sorry
posted by polyglot at 2:53 AM on March 9, 2011




Moses and Aaron in the bible? Aaron does the talking to the masses while Moses takes care of the backend.
posted by eytanb at 9:11 AM on March 17, 2011


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