Jerk with a Heart of Gold/Literature: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* [[Sherlock Holmes]], making this [[Older Than Radio]].

* Commander Sam Vimes, of the ''[[Discworld]]'' City Watch, is reputed as a hard-faced, hardheaded, cynical, foul-tempered, arrogant thug. Yet even the most dangerous mob boss in the city respects him as a straight-arrow, unbribeable (and though this is helped by his being the wealthiest man in the city, he was giving half his pay before that to the widows and orphans of the Watch), almost painfully-upright man who ''always'' does the right thing and never lets the Watch overstep its authority. He is, in fact, one of the most powerful authorities in the city, who hates and distrusts authority -- as the Patrician says, "practically Zen".

** [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] and demolished with regards to Albert, Death's manservant. "And it's no good thinking you can appeal to my better nature under this here crusty exterior, 'cos my interior's pretty damn crusty as well." {{spoiler|He ''was'' the head of Unseen University at its most cutthroat, after all.}}

* There are many, many world-weary, cynical characters in Boris Strugatsky's ''The Powerless Ones of this World''. While one of them is a genuine [[Jerkass]], the others, despite having grown to be nasty old men that had explicitly given up on trying to achieve anything good or worthwhile with their superpowers, do at least come through to [[Big Damn Heroes|rescue]] the main character Vadim (a fellow pupil of [[Trickster Mentor|"the Sensei"]]) from a tight spot.

** Ford Prefect veers in and out of this trope - he's something of an asshole, but he ''did'' save Arthur from certain death and is passionately opposed to cruelty to any animal but geese.

** Despite this, he did at one point (while trapped on Earth thousands of years in the past) take up cruelty to animals as a hobby, and has hinted that he is responsible for the shape of the giraffe's neck.

* Mat Cauthon in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''. Also, everyone else to a lesser extent.

* Severus Snape of the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series perhaps walks the line between this and all out [[Jerkass]]. He's ridiculously biased towards Slytherin, he has a particularly nasty grudge against Harry Potter and his associates {{spoiler|due to the actions of Harry's father}}, and holds a nearly-homicidal grudge against {{spoiler|Sirius Black for his childhood antics}}. And yet, in the end, he {{spoiler|was in fact fanatically devoted to Dumbledore, saving Harry's life and eventually getting himself killed by Voldemort}}.

** While not a jerk, Horace Slughorn seems to be rather more concerned about his influence and knowing famous people than being a decent person, as well as being a bit 'old fashioned' (He seems to find the idea of muggle-borns being really good witches novel but to his credit doesn't hold it against said witches and seems to like such a surprise). However, {{spoiler|his terrible guilt over what he revealed to the young Tom Riddle as well as his willingness to personally fight Voldemort in the final book}} show that there's more to him than connections and influence.

** Possible inversion- The LEP files of the time specifically state that Artemis case file was being investigated by social services, possibly just a case of misinformation by the propaganda machine

** He also kept half...making his heart pretty low-carat at best.

* Henny in ''[[All of a Kind Family]]'' is devious and likes to cause trouble for people, but nonetheless cares deeply for her sisters and baby brother. She was also quick to defend Guido, a young orphan boy who was being harassed by a shopkeeper, and when she conned a doll from a charity, she ended up giving it to a homeless girl.

* [[Hercule Poirot]] frequently comes over as a vain, arrogant, egotistical jerkass, but underneath it all has a genuinely kind, decent heart.

* Rosa Hubermann of ''[[The Book Thief]]''.

* Gilbert Blythe of ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' starts off the series this way. He calls the girls names and pins their braids to their seats, but always apologizes for going too far (like [[Berserk Button|calling a certain red-head "Carrots"]]). Eventually, he outgrows the jerk side.

** There are also Mr. Harrison and Norman Douglas.

* [[Zig Zagged Trope|Zig-Zagged]] with [[Jerkass Woobie|The Hound]] from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. He's basically a [[Psycho for Hire]] who does whatever he's told to, but he has a good [[Freudian Excuse]] and has a soft spot for [[Morality Pet|the Stark sisters]]. But then he does something like {{spoiler|kill a child}} or {{spoiler|[[Near-Rape Experience|almost rape]] said [[Morality Pet]]}} which makes you really doubt it. Overall, he's more of a [[Psycho for Hire]] with a [[Downplayed Trope|very, very tarnished heart of bronze.]]

* Sachar in ''[[Oblomov]]''. But he doesn't show his good side {{spoiler|until his master, the title character, dies.}}

* James Adams in the [[CHERUB]] series fits this trope nicely.

* [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Booster Terrik]] is very much this. To most people, and in most situations, he's very much a [[Jerkass]] (''especially'' to Corran Horn). He's got a big soft spot [[Papa Wolf|for his daughter Mirax and adopted son Wedge]], though. And generally when we see Booster, one or the other (if not both) is either present or involved in the same situation.