A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|You talk too much, as always. I always liked you. Those dumb jokes. Your eccentric poems. But no more. It's different now. You're not my teacher. You're nothing. Just a tool. A tool to make Muhyo feel pain.

 

A mentor once had a student, ''who used to be a good person'', and perhaps the mentor's most promising and skilled student ever. But that student had a flaw, a seed of villainy that just needs a trigger. Usually it's arrogance about his/her skills or impatience at not being taught the final skills that the mentor has yet to teach. Then the student [[Face Heel Turn|becomes a villain]], even the [[Big Bad]].

 

'''Do not put examples unless it was clearly stated the pupil was good beforehand. If it turns out the pupil wasn't, that's [[Deceptive Disciple]].'''

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Alice 19th]]'', Darva was originally Master Lotsuan's disciple.

*** He was also always Hiruzen's favorite, just to drive in the Sasuke parallel, so the old Professor can't have suspected ''too'' much.

***** He suspected, but he thought that since it was a time of war a kid with malice and ambition might end up being useful, so long as he could be guided and controlled. He later admitted he let his pride blind him. Oro only left the Leaf after commiting a series of brutal murders and human experiments, and being caught, so he was definitely bad before he outright defected.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' pulls a variation, in that Homunculus kind of mentored Slave #23 from the day he gave him his name...but recognized Van Hohenheim as 'his father.' Given his entire identity is later molded around the fatherly role, this concept is clearly significant to him.

** Thus Hohenheim's part in the finale manages to combine [[The Obi-Wan]] role here with [[Calling the Old Man Out]]. And Ed gets to be the [[Master Apprentice Chain|third party]] and be 'the lead' when they off his big brother.

* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', the Turtle Hermit states that the Crane Hermit used to be a fellow student of the mighty Mutaito, who underwent a [[Face Heel Turn]] after seeing the might of [[Big Bad|Piccolo Daimao]], having apparently decided that [[Being Good Sucks]].

* In episode 10 of ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', the gang meets up with a friendly monk who turns out to have been a former martial arts teacher who once taught Shoryuu, the villain of the episode. He had encouraged Shoryuu to travel and hone his skills, but this went horribly wrong, when after learning an amazing technique, Shoryuu became obsessed with proving his greatness by challenging and killing any martial artist he could find.

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''[[Doctor Strange]]'' titles, it's not quite clear whether the Ancient One's other disciple Baron Mordo was this or a [[Deceptive Disciple]]. Maybe a little of both.

* A slight variation in ''[[The Amazing Screw On Head]]'': Emperor Zombie used to be Head's manservant until he turned to evil.

 

* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', Tai Lung was not only Shifu's first pupil, but also his [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid|adopted son]]. Tai Lung's [[Face Heel Turn]] was a direct result of their screwed up relationship.

** In [[Kung Fu Panda 2|the sequel]], this can be said of Lord Shen and the Soothsayer, who raised him.

* [[Trope Namer|Named]] for a line in ''[[Star Wars]] Episode IV: [[A New Hope]]'', about how Obi Wan describes Darth Vader.

** And in the backstory, Qui-Gon Jinn had Xanatos, of the [[Jedi Apprentice]] novels, a downright nasty little psychopath and [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] post-[[Face Heel Turn]].

* Betelgeuse in the movie ''[[Beetlejuice]]'', worked for afterlife case worker Juno before he became a "freelance bio-exorcist."

* In ''[[X-Men: First Class|X Men First Class]]'', the mutants all train together as part a CIA team to fight [[Big Bad|Sebastian Shaw]], but Angel Salvadore decides to join with Shaw, shortly after she is recruited by the program. At the end of the film Erik (Magneto) and Raven (Mystique), after defeating Shaw become the new Big Bads and turn against Charles Xavier, whose ideas about Mutant-Human relations differ from the ones they have, to form the Brotherhood.

* The plot of ''[[The Hunted]]'' involves [[Tommy Lee Jones]]'s character being asked to hunt down his former pupil, played by [[Benicio Del Toro]], who has gone rogue.

 

== Literature ==

* Inverted in ''[[The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel]]''. [[William Shakespeare]] was a pupil of John Dee (the [[Big Bad]] of the series) but turned to good. Or at least, turned to an ally of the Flamels. [[Black and Gray Morality|How good this makes him is not that clear]].

* The Darklord Lorthas, former student of High Wizard Aemon in ''[[Boundary's Fall]]''. [[Anti-Villain|He's still not entirely bad.]]

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Played word-for-word straight by Jarrod in ''[[Power Rangers|Power Rangers: Jungle Fury]]''. His counterpart in ''[[Juken Sentai Gekiranger]]'' follows roughly the same path, but there is no single trigger that causes him to switch: he simply becomes dissatisfied with the progress he's making under the good guys.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. Elminster isn't really into it, but he taught a lot of wizards in his years, and the main requirement was the talent, not moral qualities - Mystra has priorities stated very clearly, and it's not like her own avatars never acted downright villainous. So... Sammaster - though after being "certified" by Mystra and before fully going nuts. The Shadowsil - became an evil archmage, worked in late Sammaster's little club, with virgin sacrifices and all that. Raerlin - has a dubious achievement of saying "Death has come for you at last, Old Mage" twice: once while alive, once as a lich. And so on, and on.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Tekken]]'', [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Feng Wei]], whose design is actually ''based'' on evil kung fu villains of the 70's wuxia flicks.

* Uther Lightbringer and Arthas Menethil in ''[[Warcraft]] III'' were much like Obi-Wan and Anakin.

 

* ''[[Weregeek]]'' has it [[Played for Laughs]] by [http://www.weregeek.com/2011/03/17/ Dustin and Joel].

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', Thomas Stratus was one of [[Big Bad|Brian Souballo's]] old magic teachers back before Brian went all megalomaniacal.

* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'', as usual, picked on ''[[Star Wars]]'': [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1879.html it's not like Obi-Wan failed worse than others], indeed.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]