Mysterious Protector: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"Oh look, it's the mysterious powerful ally that follows us around but doesn't really join our group!"<br />

"That's right, I am the mysterious powerful ally that follows you around but doesn't join your group!"|'''[http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/jrpg Boy and Robot's Epic jRPG Quest]'''}}

A common element in [[Shojo]] stories, particularly of the [[Magical Girl]] variety: the secretive figure who appears in a moment of need, aids the heroine, and then vanishes again. He doesn't always do much -- amuch—a word of advice or encouragement, or a single attack that distracts the enemy for a critical instant -- norinstant—nor does he even have to be even as powerful as the heroine. But his interventions are critical to her survival or the maintenance of her morale.

While his true name and nature are usually concealed in the beginning, the heroine eventually finds out who he is about two-thirds of the way through the series. Subsequently, he often becomes her [[Bodyguard Crush|love interest]]. For some reason, he usually gets [[Brainwashed and Crazy|possessed]] or otherwise has to work against her for a time. As [[Distressed Dude in Distress|his rescue]] is inevitable, he becomes a little prize for the heroine's hard work.

== Anime &and Manga ==

* Haji during a good part of ''[[Blood Plus+|Blood+ ]]''.

* Mihara Oujirou in ''[[Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer]]'' is a shounen example, although the main character ''is'' still a cute girl.

* Haku in ''[[Spirited Away]]'' certainly counts, although his development happens over the course of a single movie rather than a TV series.

* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] A's]]'', a mysterious masked man shows up to protect, err, the villains. From Nanoha. {{spoiler|He wasn't actually a man either, he was shapeshifting twin catgirls.}} But that's a detail. {{spoiler|He didn't have their best interests at heart, either.}}

* Female {{spoiler|[[Robot Girl|-ish]]}}, non-shoujo example: Miyu from ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' has helped Arika out of a jam or three before simply disappearing to goddess-knows-where.

** Nakago briefly plays this role for {{spoiler|Yui}} after he swoops down and {{spoiler|saves her from being gang-raped by a bunch of thugs}} when she was searching for Miaka. {{spoiler|Subverted, however, because he lets her believe that something ''did'' happen to her so that she would be more willing to accept the role of Priestess of Seiryuu and do his bidding.}}

* Invoked in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''; when Negi was a (younger) child, he viewed his father like this, to the point of getting himself in trouble so that his father would come save him. {{spoiler|The one time that things [[Doomed Hometown|truly do get serious]], his father does show up to save him. And then he has to leave again.}}

** {{spoiler|Negi's cousin Nekane}} sorta takes this role in one of the animated series.

* Meta Knight from the ''[[Kirby]]: [[KirbyRight ofBack theat Stars|animeYa!]]'', at least for the protecting part.

* a Shonen example would be Phoenix from ''[[Metal Fight Beyblade]]'', who is later revealed to be {{spoiler|Ginga Hagane's though to be dead father, Ryusei}}

* Kakeru, the protagonist of the sports manga ''[[Area no Kishi]]'', stopped playing [[Footy Rules|football]] in grade school after injuring another player, and has been unable to bring himself to play again since. After being chewed out by his [[Big Brother Mentor|older brother]] Suguru for holding himself back, Kakeru encounters a mysterious masked football player in a nearby park, who challenges him to a one on one night game. Though Kakeru was unsure of the player's identity after leaving, the challenge helped to re-awaken his love for playing the sport.

* ''[[Speed Racer]]'': Racer X.

* ''[[Honey Honey no Suteki na Bouken]]'' has Phoenix, a [[Gentleman Thief]] with a [[Domino Mask]] not dissimliar to Tuxedo Kamen -- butKamen—but much earlier; he shows up to help Honey in the nick of time during her wacky adventures, [[Tsundere|not that she always wants to help.]]

* Although he didn't make a habit of it, Dragon from ''[[One Piece]]'' was introduced as Luffy's [[Mysterious Protector]] before {{spoiler|it was revealed that [[Luke, I Am Your Father|he was Luffy's father]].}}

* Homura from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' self-consciously tries for this trope. That and the [[Stealth Hi Bye|Batman entrance/exit syndrome.]]

* [[Heroic Sociopath|Yami Yugi]] is this for Tea at the start of the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' manga - for a long time, due to the circumstances, she never saw his face, [[Love Before First Sight|and she ended up falling in love with his voice.]] It was only later that she realised that he was actually [[Loves My Alter Ego|the alter-ego of her childhood friend.]] Also, he can count as this for Yugi as well - in the early chapters, Yami would possess Yugi when he was needed and he'd deal with the threat...meaning that to Yugi, he would suddenly black out and wake up to find that whatever problem was stressing him out is gone somehow.

* In a rather odd variation, odder for being in one of the [[Gorn|bloodiest]] and [[Mind Screw|mindscrewy]] [[Seinen]] out there, Ran and Ichise from ''[[Texhnolyze]]'' are this from each other. Ran, resident [[Mysterious Waif]], is the more traditional version, distant and mysterious, appearing to guide or help Ichise out suddenly at pivotal and critical moments, before fading away into the background, remaining almost anonymous until at least halfway through the anime. Ichise, on the other hand, is [[The Stoic|dark and quiet]] [[Determinator]] who tends to show up mysteriously at the right moments through more sheer luck than anything else (while all of Ran's appearances are intentional, as far as we know).

* In ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise]],'' Ultra Magnus is this, though his attitude toward them is less mysterious and more "I don't like the Autobots but... I guess I shouldn't let them get vaporized."

* ''[[Code Geass|Zero]]'': Zero fulfills a similar role for Nunnally in her manga spinoff: ''[[Nightmare of Nunnally]]''... sort of. He shows up out of nowhere whenever Nemo is in the middle of a battle, and usually brings about chaos, allowing Nemo to win or escape. It can be seen most obviously near the end, where Zero acts as a [[Supporting Leader]] along with Euphie, Suzaku, and their combined armies.

* Lo, from ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' plays to this nicherole admirably in an early fight sequence. He obviously lacks the firepower to stop any of the major fighters of the setting, but he only needs to provide a few seconds of distraction to allow his love, [[Action Girl]] Jen Yu, to escape.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', this trope is possibly subverted. A major, presumed dead antagonist from the previous game actually plays this role to the hilt with the new protagonist, Micaiah. {{spoiler|The Black Knight almost takes this role to ludicrous levels, never being content to just simply make a normal entrance: he always uses magic to directly teleport to his destination -- which is often right next to his charge. His statistics are so broken in terms of gameplay that using him almost ensures victory, making him stand out from members of this trope that can only act in a supporting capacity.}}

** ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' also has 'Miss Fortune', essentially a female version of the Mysterious Stranger dressed in a Vegas Showgirl getup, and causes collossallycolossally bad luck to occur to a foe instead of outright killing them.

*** Maybe that's because if he appears when you fire a shotgun or an explosive in tight quarters you often hit HIM ''him''.

** Early on in ''New Vegas'', if the player is having trouble, Victor the robot cowboy will show up to help fight off your enemies. While he accredits this to being a generally good-natured robot, the truth is that [[The Chessmaster|Mr. House]] is using him to make sure that you make it to Vegas.

** ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'', like the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' example above, is shown through the eyes of the [[Mysterious Protector]] himself. This occurs as he (Mega Man Geo-Omega) has to protect Luna Platz from danger. This is [[Subverted Trope|reversed three times]]. First, in the first game as she merges with one of the evil FM-Ian warriors, [[Fighting Your Friend|forcing him to battle her]]. Then in the second game when the OOPart turns him into a wild EM wave being, causing him to attack her (he gains control over the object). {{spoiler|Then in the third game where [[Scary Black Man|Joker]] [[Disney Death|kills her]] before he (Geo-Omega) can save her}}.

** Unfortunately, the chances of him appearing in later fights goes down every time he rescues you. If he's saved your ass once or twice, he's unlikely to do it again, possibly because he's becoming too worn out between world-traveling and fighting (though again, it's a gameplay mechanic, so it's possible that the programmers simply didn't want to promote too much laziness as he is rather powerful and it is sometimes better suited to the fight then Sora and Co. He can't actully kill anything however, his move list lacks a finishing move which is required for the final blow on bosses, planting him even further into this troupe.

* One shows up during one of the first missions of ''[[X (video game)|X2]]: The Threat]]'', if your ship takes too much damage.

** Somewhat attracted to him? This is Emiya Shirou we're talking about; [[Memetic Sex God|EVERY''every'' female is attracted to him]].

== [[Web Comics]]Original ==

[[Category:Mysterious Protector{{PAGENAME}}]]