Who is Mr. Big Bad's Commander-in-Cheif?

The Commander-in-Chief serves as the de-facto Big Bad of the story. Though he's nominally subordinate to the "real" Big Bad, he's just so much smarter, stronger or skillful (and almost always scarier) that it's clear who's really the bigger menace. He tends to have almost no respect for Mr. Big Bad due to their comparative lack of vision, courage or common sense. Mr. Big Bad, for his part, either seriously or fatally overestimates The Commander's loyalty, or is just too afraid of him to be able to do much. In a nutshell, the Commander-in-Chief is the main villainous driving force behind the plot, even if he or she did not initiate it.

The defining feature of a Commander-in-Chief is that Mr. Big Bad's plans completely fall apart without them; essentially, the main story ends with the Commander's defeat. The Hero turns out to be way too much for Mr. Big Bad to handle, and The Commander is really the only significant threat in his arsenal. Typically, he and The Hero come from the same place, the same (usually violent) world and not the kind of environment in which Mr. Big Bad normally operates. The Commander and The Hero may have heard of each other by reputation, brewing a rivalry between the two. Alternatively, The Hero might have been after The Commander to begin with, such as for revenge for a past misdeed. In either case while Mr. Big Bad might stake all his fortune and dreams in the outcome of the fight, The Commander and The Hero see Mr. Big Bad as nothing more than an annoyance who should stay out of the way. Often Mr. Big Bad's only hope of survival is that these two destroy each other.

Because of their disrespect, there are few straight Commanders amongst Commander-in-Chief: They are either have a different agenda, a more dangerous Treacherous Subordinate, or just a more inevitable ascendant to throne (and don't be surprised if they are fought after Mr. Big Bad's Demise). The Comander with an agenda type will probably be using Mr. Big Bad for his own ends, working as a mercenary to fund his own projects that usually turn out to be much more threatening (or interesting) than Mr. Big Bad's goal.

If one of the other kinds, then they will probably be complaining about how Mr. Big Bad runs things — typically, they think that Mr. Big Bad either lacks ambition, or is just an idiot. These ones are often junior partners in Mr. Big Bad's business: After years of hard (but fun) living as a dangerous felon, he has found himself steady employment with Mr. Big Bad and hopes to take over the business some day or retire on the fortune made from his latest Master Plan. This is when he starts to complain about his unambitious or just plain incompetent way of running things, though Mr. Big Bad might retort that his way is from experience and The Commander's ways will ultimately lead to ruin. Occasionally, their warnings turn out to be right.

The most important thing is that Mr. Big Bad is just not a significant factor if this Commander is gone. This Big Bad must be much more manageable and less dangerous than their underling, or less likely to make a splash. The Commander-in-Chief is either the main villain or the star of the show in his own right, and the actual Big Bad ends up relegated to supporting villain status. The Commander can became the real Big Bad, while the theoretical Big Bad, would be moved to the position of the Evil Genius.

Excellent write up. for the first time a guide on the characters who are not the heros of the story

The image you used Darth Vader-good choice. This image is universally known among young and old.

In the future it would be cool to write a formula
CC Plus Big Bad plus another character +x. To put it algorithm form

Really good writing-infomative and entertaining.

I enjoy your writing style-great set up