Eccentric Mentor: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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Combines aspects of [[Cool Old Guy]], [[The Obi-Wan]], [[Old Master]] (sometimes), [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]], [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]], often [[Cloudcuckoolander]], and [[Zen Survivor]] into one cranky, tough old biscuit. They may fill any of a number of mentor roles, such as [[Trickster Mentor]] or [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], related to their personality and their role in the story. As such, no matter how much power they have, they want the heroes to solve the problem...
...which [[The Hero
Compare with [[The Wonka]].
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Kisuke Urahara, the self-described "mere honest, handsome, perverted businessman." But don't let his sanguine disposition, odd dress-sense or shameless self-promotion fool you; beneath it all lurks the soul of a true badass. A former Shinigami Captain and founder of the Soul Society Research Institute, Kisuke became a legend in the Seireitei after mastering
* Shinigami-sama of ''[[Soul Eater]]'' hides his frightening power and appearance behind a cartoonish mask, goofy antics, and childish speech. This is so he doesn't frighten the students at his [[Extranormal Institute]]. About halfway through the series, it's revealed that he can't leave the city because he bonded his soul to it in order to keep the Kishin [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed in its can]], which is why he needs others to go do the heroing for him. {{spoiler|Not that being unable to leave the city ultimately [[Humongous Mecha|slows him down much]].}}
** Shinigami is far more knowledgeable about the history of the current conflict than he lets on, having been previously involved in every known side of it (witches, the Gorgons, Asura and his fellow Eldritch Abominations). He's genuinely nice, but his staff and students are right to be genuinely wary of him at times.
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**** Zifnab is very different from Fizban in at least one major way, though- Fizban is {{spoiler|a god}} using [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], whereas Zifnab is genuinely insane with only occasional moments of lucidity. He's still incredibly powerful, but it takes some serious effort (usually from his dragon) to get him to reveal important information rather than, say, going off on a [[Cloudcuckoolander|long rambling monologue]] about how he's really [[James Bond]]. Or [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|Dorothy Gale]].
** And also from the same authors is [[Significant Anagram|Zanfib]] of the ''Starshield'' series. {{spoiler|However, he's insane only due to [[Back From the Dead|a slightly flawed resurrection.]] Oh, and he's [[Evil Mentor|an agent for the]] [[Big Bad|Sentinels.]] }}
* Lu-Tze shows up in several [[Discworld]] books, playing the
** Remember Rule One: [[Old Master|Never act incautiously when confronting a little old bald wrinkly smiling man]]. (And, of course, Rule Nineteen: Never forget Rule One)
** Also from the Discworld, a [[Rare Female Example]]: Nanny Ogg.
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* ''[[The Once and Future King]]'' version of Merlin, aided by his... [[Merlin Sickness|unique situation]].
* Most [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] books featuring Yoda make him entirely serious, but ''Yoda: [[Dark Rendezvous]]'' portrays him as very ''odd'' when things aren't too serious. The kind of character that you could see fighting with R2 over a flashlight in [[The Empire Strikes Back]].
** He rolls around incognito in a fake R2 shell and steals a small child's soda. Very odd indeed. And then, he gets into a fight with the cafeteria droid, who doesn't accept Yoda's self-made food as even "edible." And ''then'', he wipes out an army of battle droids without breaking a sweat, and [[Hannibal Lecture
* Master Wu of ''[[The Gone-Away World]]'' is an [[Old Master]] (and {{spoiler|founder of a secret society of kung fu mimes}}) who runs a martial arts school that the protagonist trains at. He teaches moves with names like "Walk Like Elvis", gets into arguments about the location of the moon, and cheerfully admits to making up ancient wisdom on the spot.
* Julian Morrow, the Classics professor in ''[[The Secret History]]''. He accepts no payment, practically has his own building on campus, and the few students he accepts must take nearly all their classes with him. Later becomes a [[Broken Pedestal]].
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Benjamin Franklin]] was the
* [[Richard Feynman]]. Aficionado of the bongos (not to mention [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKTSaezB4p8 mad songs about orange juice]), player of epic practical jokes, irreverent, completely unconcerned with the mores and manners of polite society, and the inventor of branches of particle physics you would never understand if you studied for several lifetimes. He's also the guy who demonstrated the fatal flaw in the O-ring design that led to the Challenger disaster. He also chose to do so [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qAi_9quzUY in the most humiliating way possible] to ensure that the press would drag those responsible over the coals.
* [[G. K. Chesterton]]. Anyone who's read his books will know he's actually much funnier than any philosopher/theologian has a right to be, and in books like ''Orthodoxy'', he states a great many things about Christianity that makes him look...a bit odd. However, he influenced the likes of [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] and [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]], two of the biggest names in popular Christian literature.
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