Biography
Heroes like the Ignored Expert have a hard enough time dealing with idiotic peasants, but their deepest problems invariably come from the antagonistic local authorities, who are dead set on ignoring their warnings and running them out of town because it's politically expedient. This makes the existence of the Reasonable Authority Figure all the rarer.
Fully aware that Machiavelli Was Wrong, they'll listen to those "crazy kids" when they say there's a fugitive nearby, and logically consider their arguments instead of dismissing them outright. However, their openness to the heroes' ideas doesn't mean they'll follow Agent Mulder's crazy ideas blindly. Often, they'll ask for proof and facts rather than follow baseless accusations, but even then, they'll usually humor the heroes and go check out their theories; whether it pans out or turns into a dead end depends on how far along the story is.
Usually Lawful Good and the person characters must Bring News Back to. They are the chain of command that goes past the basic Command Roster. The Rebellious Rebel is motivated by loyalty to him.
Noteworthy because, if the hero does manage to convince them, they can help in the fight but they may have to Shoot the Dog as part of their position. Being in a position where you are responsible for millions and do not think that A Million Is a Statistic can be hard.
May present The Hero and his companions with valuable gifts before The Quest or as a reward afterward.
This position means that they can end the story quickly unless other obstacles intervene. Which means they usually do intervene.
They're made inaccessible by the Obstructive Bureaucrat and Evil Chancellor who has it in for the heroes, trying to stop them getting an audience or outright lying to destroy their arguments and reputation. Barring this, the Reasonable Authority Figure might just be busy, overworked, or under-funded and might not have the time or resources to adequately solve the hero's problem as quickly as he or she would like.
A young ruler (usually hereditary) may have difficulty either getting to the heroes to listen, or asserting his theoretical authority. Usually they are surrounded by manipulative "guardians" out to start pointless wars.
The Reasonable Authority Figure will inevitably be displaced when a Tyrant Takes the Helm, leading to a 10-Minute Retirement.
If he is not the absolute ruler, Interservice Rivalry and Divided We Fall can be a problem even after you persuade him. Indeed, that you speak with this character may induce his rivals to regard you as an enemy or to undercut you in hopes of ensuring that their favorites succeed in your place.
If he needs approval from the Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering to take action, the chances that he can convince them to agree about anything are less than favorable.
Despite giving the heroes a fair chance to prove themselves, circumstances or bad luck have led to the heroes' inability to provide sufficient proof of their claim, and the authority figure ultimately refusing to help until better proof can be provided. This usually comes with a sympathetic explanation that they want to help, but that it would be unreasonable of them to spend so much money or to put others at risk without sufficient proof of the necessity of the action.
The hero's claim appears to be so patently false/unbelievable (despite actually being true) that the authority figure doesn't believe them for a moment, but humours them by at least trying to verify the claim, with an obvious lack of success.
While sympathetic, the Reasonable Authority Figure's aims do not align with or are in some way opposed to that of the heroes and they are reluctant to help them in a directly meaningful manner without further persuasion. After all, the RAF has a duty to their faction first, regardless of whether the fate of the world is supposedly at stake.
Of course, sometimes the threat is so overwhelmingly catastrophic that even his help merely upgrades the heroes' situation from "completely hopeless" to "fighting chance".
A common subversion is to have this character turn out to be the Treacherous Advisor. Sometimes, also, they will merely have a Treacherous Advisor, and be undermined because they listen to him too much.
It should be noted that a reasonable authority figure isn't somebody who simply says yes to all of their subordinates' requests. It may be that they have a good reason to deny a request, perhaps because it would interfere with the big picture and throw off some other more important task that must be completed, or that there is a morally ambiguous situation and while he has sympathy for his subordinate's position, he can't agree with it due to conflicting ethics. This often crops up in To Be Lawful or Good situations. It may also be that while he personally believes his staff when they come to him with an outlandish story, he's aware that his own superiors may not and would require proof, and therefore must refuse their requests on that basis. Conversely, a leader who lets his subordinates do whatever they please may not be a good leader at all, but may be completely ineffectual, or even possibly malevolent, for example by making his subordinates so loyal to him that they willingly and eagerly hurl themselves into situations for him that more guarded people would realise were insane. In other words, a reasonable authority figure doesn't always have to support his underlings if he has good reasons not to, and somebody who does always back his subordinates up isn't always a reasonable authority figure. The key word here is reasonable, after all, and that means logically assessing a situation and choosing a course of action based on how the available information describes the circumstances.
The type's opposite is Head-in-the-Sand Management. Also contrast the Clueless Boss, who means well but is desperately out of touch with things in his own organization and possibly incompetent. If male, the Reasonable Authority Figure may be The Patriarch and A Father to His Men, or Da Chief, or a Benevolent Boss. If female, the Reasonable Authority Figure may be an Iron Lady or The High Queen.
In school-type shows featuring the Sadist Teacher (or possibly a strict dean or vice-principal), it's usually the principal that fills this role. Mind you, sometimes this is just elaborate Good Cop/Bad Cop.
See also In Its Hour of Need.
