Hermit Guru: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{trope}}
[[File:Guru_956.jpg|link=Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|right]]
[[File:Guru_956.jpg|link=Avatar: The Last Airbender|right]]


The [[Hermit Guru]] lives on a mountain, in an ancient temple, or anyplace suitably remote. The guru is usually a male, but even the wise witch that lives in a cave could be considered a [[Hermit Guru]].
The [[Hermit Guru]] lives on a mountain, in an ancient temple, or anyplace suitably remote. The guru is usually a male, but even the wise witch that lives in a cave could be considered a [[Hermit Guru]].
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== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
* [[Old Master]] Dohko from ''[[Saint Seiya]]''.
* [[Old Master]] Dohko from ''[[Saint Seiya]]''.
* Muten Roshi of ''[[Dragonball]]'' fame starts out as this. He eventually gets a turtle, then a woman with alternate identities, then finally one of his students as room mates.
* Muten Roshi of ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' fame starts out as this. He eventually gets a turtle, then a woman with alternate identities, then finally one of his students as room mates.
* In the ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime, when he isn't opening a can on anyone who opposes him as a member of the Elite 4, Bruno trains alone up in the mountains and tries to catch strong Pokemon, such as his massive Onix.
* In the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime, when he isn't opening a can on anyone who opposes him as a member of the Elite 4, Bruno trains alone up in the mountains and tries to catch strong Pokemon, such as his massive Onix.
* Tibet in the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' webcomic. He's replaced by [[Pandaing to The Audience|a talking panda]] in the anime [[Too Soon|for obvious reasons]].
* Tibet in the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' webcomic. He's replaced by [[Pandaing to the Audience|a talking panda]] in the anime [[Too Soon|for obvious reasons]].
* Annerose von Grunewald from ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'' is a female example.
* Annerose von Grunewald from ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'' is a female example.


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== [[Literature]] ==
== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[Mostly Harmless (Literature)|Mostly Harmless]]'', Douglas Adams describes a whole colony of Hermit Gurus- one of whom replies to most questions by running off a copy of her biography, advising that if you read it and do the exact opposite of her choices, you won't end up living alone in a cave, on a mountain, answering dumb questions.
* In ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Mostly Harmless|Mostly Harmless]]'', Douglas Adams describes a whole colony of Hermit Gurus- one of whom replies to most questions by running off a copy of her biography, advising that if you read it and do the exact opposite of her choices, you won't end up living alone in a cave, on a mountain, answering dumb questions.
* There are several in [[Discworld]].
* There are several in [[Discworld]].
** One in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Soul Music|Soul Music]]'' is yer quintessential hermit, dispensing advice and vague, heartwarming platitudes with a meaningful glance towards the begging bowl.
** One in ''[[Discworld/Soul Music|Soul Music]]'' is yer quintessential hermit, dispensing advice and vague, heartwarming platitudes with a meaningful glance towards the begging bowl.
** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'' also features St. Ungulant (whose first initials are actually "S.T."), who lives up a pole in the middle of the desert, and is stark raving mad. But don't say that to his [[Imaginary Friend]] Angus! Ungulant also makes an appearance in the second Discworld PC game. S.T. Ungulant is also very proud of being a self-taught hermit, although he admits that trying to apprentice yourself to an older hermit "ruins the point of herming."
** ''[[Discworld/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'' also features St. Ungulant (whose first initials are actually "S.T."), who lives up a pole in the middle of the desert, and is stark raving mad. But don't say that to his [[Imaginary Friend]] Angus! Ungulant also makes an appearance in the second Discworld PC game. S.T. Ungulant is also very proud of being a self-taught hermit, although he admits that trying to apprentice yourself to an older hermit "ruins the point of herming."
** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' and ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'' both address the question: If people seek wisdom from old men on mountains because wisdom seems wiser when it's a long way away, where do the people who already live on the mountains go to seek wisdom? Answer: To Ankh-Morpork to learn from a working-class housewife.
** ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'' and ''[[Discworld/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'' both address the question: If people seek wisdom from old men on mountains because wisdom seems wiser when it's a long way away, where do the people who already live on the mountains go to seek wisdom? Answer: To Ankh-Morpork to learn from a working-class housewife.
* In one short fantasy story, a rich [[Jerkass]] decides he is going to be the first to climb an extremely dangerous peak in Nepal. He runs across a "wise man" in one of the villages at the base of the mountain and makes some comment about how the stupid natives admire the dirty, lazy, almost naked old man, the natives thinking the old man is wise. When {{spoiler|the [[Jerkass]] finally, after a great deal of effort, reaches the top of the mountain, he finds the Wise Man there. When the Wise Man asks how he got there, the stunned [[Jerkass]] just waves his arm, indicating the climb. The Wise Man says, "You walked??!?"}}
* In one short fantasy story, a rich [[Jerkass]] decides he is going to be the first to climb an extremely dangerous peak in Nepal. He runs across a "wise man" in one of the villages at the base of the mountain and makes some comment about how the stupid natives admire the dirty, lazy, almost naked old man, the natives thinking the old man is wise. When {{spoiler|the [[Jerkass]] finally, after a great deal of effort, reaches the top of the mountain, he finds the Wise Man there. When the Wise Man asks how he got there, the stunned [[Jerkass]] just waves his arm, indicating the climb. The Wise Man says, "You walked??!?"}}
* In the [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] poem ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Literature)|The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'', the eponymous Mariner visits a hermit in order to beg forgiveness for shooting the Albatross.
* In the [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] poem ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'', the eponymous Mariner visits a hermit in order to beg forgiveness for shooting the Albatross.
* In the ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' series, there is the Good Magician Humphrey, a reclusive gnome-like man who lives alone in a castle, south of the more civilized regions of Xanth. He allows anybody who makes it to his castle (and past a series of tests) the right to receive the answer to any single question, in exchange for a year of servitude (or an equivalent bargain).
* In the ''[[Xanth]]'' series, there is the Good Magician Humphrey, a reclusive gnome-like man who lives alone in a castle, south of the more civilized regions of Xanth. He allows anybody who makes it to his castle (and past a series of tests) the right to receive the answer to any single question, in exchange for a year of servitude (or an equivalent bargain).
* A staple character of the folklore of Asia. In one such tale, The Tiger's Whisker, a young woman seeks the aid of a wise old mountain hermit after her husband has returned psychologically damaged from war. She begs him for a spell to return her husband to his old, loving self, from the cold violent man he's become. The hermit says she must bring the whisker from a living tiger as an ingredient for such a spell. The young woman spends months gaining the tiger's confidence with food and patience before snipping its whisker. When she returns to the hermit he throws the whisker in the fire and when she protests, tells her that if she can use such patience to tame a tiger, surely she can do the same for her husband?
* A staple character of the folklore of Asia. In one such tale, The Tiger's Whisker, a young woman seeks the aid of a wise old mountain hermit after her husband has returned psychologically damaged from war. She begs him for a spell to return her husband to his old, loving self, from the cold violent man he's become. The hermit says she must bring the whisker from a living tiger as an ingredient for such a spell. The young woman spends months gaining the tiger's confidence with food and patience before snipping its whisker. When she returns to the hermit he throws the whisker in the fire and when she protests, tells her that if she can use such patience to tame a tiger, surely she can do the same for her husband?
* The eponymous prophet of ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' by [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] lives as a hermit in the mountains for ten years. The framing narrative begins when he descends to civilisation again, intent on spreading the wisdom he has acquired during his long contemplation. He is less than warmly received by the masses.
* The eponymous prophet of ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' by [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] lives as a hermit in the mountains for ten years. The framing narrative begins when he descends to civilisation again, intent on spreading the wisdom he has acquired during his long contemplation. He is less than warmly received by the masses.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* K'anpo Rimpoche/Cho Je from the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Planet of the Spiders'' (also mentioned in ''The Time Monster'') was a hermit who the Doctor approached in his youth at what was at that point the worst day of his life.
* K'anpo Rimpoche/Cho Je from the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Planet of the Spiders'' (also mentioned in ''The Time Monster'') was a hermit who the Doctor approached in his youth at what was at that point the worst day of his life.
* A female version appears in ''[[Black Adder]]'', in the form of 'The Wisewoman'.
* A female version appears in ''[[Blackadder]]'', in the form of 'The Wisewoman'.
{{quote| '''Blackadder:''' I seek information about a Wisewoman.<br />
{{quote| '''Blackadder:''' I seek information about a Wisewoman.<br />
'''Young Crone:''' Ah, the Wisewoman... the Wisewoman.<br />
'''Young Crone:''' Ah, the Wisewoman... the Wisewoman.<br />
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* Eudy and Nessiah in ''[[Blaze Union]]''. It's played with, as neither of them is really isolated by choice.
* Eudy and Nessiah in ''[[Blaze Union]]''. It's played with, as neither of them is really isolated by choice.
* Does [[Knights of the Old Republic|Jolee Bindo]] count? The old Jedi did live in the Shadowlands for at least twenty years more or less by choice. [[Retired Badass|And he isn't rusty in the slightest]].
* Does [[Knights of the Old Republic|Jolee Bindo]] count? The old Jedi did live in the Shadowlands for at least twenty years more or less by choice. [[Retired Badass|And he isn't rusty in the slightest]].
* The first weapon you can (and must) get in ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' is stolen from a character conveniently named Hermit Gunsmith, who lives in a room in the further end of a hidden cave. If you come back to him, he will take that weapon (if you still have it) and turn it in the best one of the game.
* The first weapon you can (and must) get in ''[[Cave Story]]'' is stolen from a character conveniently named Hermit Gunsmith, who lives in a room in the further end of a hidden cave. If you come back to him, he will take that weapon (if you still have it) and turn it in the best one of the game.
* [[Fantasia (Disney)|Yen Sid]] takes this role whenever he appears in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. In this universe, he's a [[Retired Badass]] who lives in a [[Mage Tower]] on an island floating in space, but offers advice to anyone who can actually find him.
* [[Fantasia|Yen Sid]] takes this role whenever he appears in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. In this universe, he's a [[Retired Badass]] who lives in a [[Mage Tower]] on an island floating in space, but offers advice to anyone who can actually find him.


== [[Western Animation]] ==
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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== [[Real Life]] ==
== [[Real Life]] ==
* The [[wikipedia:Stylites|pillar hermits]] from late Antiquity would live atop a column of stone for years at a time. The most famous one lived on a pillar for 37 years until his death. So this is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Rather ironically, they rarely succeeded very well at the "hermit"-bit. People from all over the nation tended to come to them pestering them with all sorts of holy questions, and sometimes threw rocks if they didn't like the answers.
* The [[wikipedia:Stylites|pillar hermits]] from late Antiquity would live atop a column of stone for years at a time. The most famous one lived on a pillar for 37 years until his death. So this is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Rather ironically, they rarely succeeded very well at the "hermit"-bit. People from all over the nation tended to come to them pestering them with all sorts of holy questions, and sometimes threw rocks if they didn't like the answers.
** St. Anthony of the Desert spent most of his life living, well, [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|in the desert]] trying to devote his life entirely to God. It worked so well that people kept coming to him for advice and he wound up basically forming an early monastic community, much to his chagrin.
** St. Anthony of the Desert spent most of his life living, well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|in the desert]] trying to devote his life entirely to God. It worked so well that people kept coming to him for advice and he wound up basically forming an early monastic community, much to his chagrin.
** This has continued in eastern Christianity. A Russian equivalent is the ''starets'', the elder who lives as a hermit and grows in wisdom and holiness, until he is sought out for his guidance (and by then, is usually willing to break his isolation).
** This has continued in eastern Christianity. A Russian equivalent is the ''starets'', the elder who lives as a hermit and grows in wisdom and holiness, until he is sought out for his guidance (and by then, is usually willing to break his isolation).
** In the eighteenth and nineteenth century non-religious hermits were employed by the owners of stately homes in order to provide a living feature to a folly. Some hermits are still employed today for the purpose of novelty.
** In the eighteenth and nineteenth century non-religious hermits were employed by the owners of stately homes in order to provide a living feature to a folly. Some hermits are still employed today for the purpose of novelty.
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