Old Retainer: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Many servants are deeply attached to the person (or family) they work for. The old retainer is indeed often elderly, and his service has often been long, but the essential trait is his loyalty and propriety. He identifies his interests with those of his employer, regards himself as slighted by any injuries to him, and strives mightily to keep things going properly.

 

 

 

 

 

Common in such feudal societies as [[Feudal Future]], where, indeed, [[Legacy of Service|his family may have worked for the employer's for generations]].

 

[[Sister Trope]] of [[The Jeeves]], [[Battle Butler]], [[Crusty Caretaker]], [[Creepy Housekeeper]], [[Matron Chaperone]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Baaya, the Fujiwara family's maid in ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]''. Having watched Hazuki's mom grow up, she's been able to help mother and daughter work things out.

* Ohatsu and Katou from ''[[Sakura Gari]]'' are pretty tragic versions of the trope, as they're first-rate witnesses of all the tragedies surrounding the Saiki clan. {{spoiler|Sakurako's tragic suicide [[Despair Event Horizon|throws Katou over the edge]], as he was ''her'' caretaker and servant much more than the family butler... so he stabs Souma few afterwards. And Ohatsu doesn't have it much easier, as she did know about Sakurako's mom abusing Souma but couldn't denounce her because of what it'd do to the family, and ''that'' left her an emotional wreck.}}

** And in regards to Katou, {{spoiler|he actually was ''Sakurako's father'', since he was involved with Sakurako's mom when young. No wonder he's '''pissed''' when the kid commits suicide.}}

 

== Ballads ==

* In some variants of [[Child Ballad]] 5, ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch005.htm Gil Breton]'', Billie Blin, the family [[The Fair Folk|household sprite]], advises Gil Breton that his bride is pregnant. {{spoiler|Though not that he himself is the father.}}

* In some variants of [[Child Ballad]] 53 ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch053.htm Young Beichan]'', the family household sprite Belly Blin warns Isobel that her lover is about to marry another woman. (Yes, there ''is'' a certain pattern to those names.)

 

== Comic Books ==

* Pneumann (from [[Alan Moore]]'s ''Tom Strong'' comic) was built by Tom's father, and helped raise Tom from infancy. Now he helps the Strong family fight crime and perform acts of derring-do.

** Particularly impressive in the Robots of Doom where {{spoiler|Pneuman essentially shrugs off a 70-year old robotic lobotimization because his "first loyalty will always be to you."}}

** He continues to refer to Bruce and Dick as "Master Bruce" and "Master Dick" mostly as a term of affection; he still sees them as his boys, rather than grown men.

* [[Superman]]'s Kryptonian robot servant Kelex, inherited from Jor-El by way of the Phantom Zone, tends the Fortress of Solitude and worries in a detached way about the master. Until Steel's niece reprograms him with a hip-hop attitude...

* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark's]] butler Jarvis, especially when he is put in charge of maintaining [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers Mansion]]. He opts to remain in Tony's service, even after being severely injured in a vicious attack by the Masters of Evil.

* ''[[Doctor Strange]]'': Wong has remained his manservant from the beginning. He also instructed Strange in the martial arts; as Strange declared at one point(referring to his learning martial arts from Wong), "In some ways, Wong is my servant. In others, he is my master."

 

== Fairy Tales ==

* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/116.htm The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen]'', it is an old servant woman who tells the knight that {{spoiler|the thief's last tale is true, and furthermore that the knight is the baby he saved during it}}.

 

* [[Undocumented Features|For every Dessler, there is a Dragonaar]].

 

== Film ==

* Hobson in ''Arthur''. In fact, when {{spoiler|Hobson dies, Arthur says his father died}}.

* ''[[Fearless (film)|Fearless]]'': The personal servant Huo Yuanjia had as a child is still there to tend for the abandoned family estate when Huo comes back after years of self-imposed exile.

* Clifton, faithful valet to down-on-his-luck movie star George Valentin in ''[[The Artist]]''. {{spoiler|He remains steadfast to Valentin even after being hired by Peppy Miller.}}

 

== Literature ==

** Kurik also has quite a few prejudices against knights, most prominently that they always place [[Honor Before Reason]], have no common sense, and in general couldn't find their own arses with both hands and a map if he wasn't there to tell them where to start looking.

*** Also, at the peak of her time as Duchess of Erat, [[Belgariad|Polgara]] had a family of servants for several generations.

* NDR-113, better known as Andrew, serves several generations of the Martin family before gaining emancipation in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s story, "The Bicentennial Man" (expanded to novel-length as ''The Positronic Man'' by Asimov and [[Robert Silverberg]], and adapted to film as ''[[Bicentennial Man]]'', starring [[Robin Williams]]).

*** Actually, Igor was willing to tolerate it up to a point, but when Count Magpyr started his [[Villainous Breakdown]] Igor decided it was time to bring back the old count.

* Butler of ''[[Artemis Fowl]]''. The Butlers have worked for the Fowls for generations, and Butler also has a strong personal loyalty to Artemis.

* In ''[[The Secret Garden]]'', Ben Weatherstaff, the gardener. His mistress Lillias had asked him to take care of her roses; after her [[Death by Childbirth]], his master had locked up the garden, but he climbed the wall to do it.

* Probably the one of the more famous example of this trope is Hoke from the play ''[[Driving Miss Daisy]]'', who becomes one to the titled Miss Daisy. Also, Aedelia from the same play.

** Miles Teg and Patrin. It's implied that their relationship isn't platonic, though.

* In Mary Stewart's ''Arthurian'' series, a character called Ulfin is rescued from effective slavery as a boy by King Uther. He repays this with absolute loyalty and rises to be Uther's most trusted servant, going on to a similar position with King Arthur after Uther dies. He's also the ''only person'' who actually seems to mourn Uther's death.

* In [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''The Bell At Sealy Head'', Lady Eglatyne's cook is distraught as the lady is dying. She can find another place, but she had served Lady Eglatyne since she was a little girl.

* Good old Gabriel Betteredge from Wilkie Collins' ''[[The Moonstone]]''.

* Kostas Matsugae from the ''Empire of Man'' series. It's [[Backstory|Backstoried]] that Kostas has been assigned to generally look after Prince Roger for most of Roger's life, and it's implied - and then later outright stated - that Kostas is a father-figure to Roger (who never knew his father, growing up, {{spoiler|and is not terribly impressed when he finally does meet the man}}). Kostas actually does mention how proud he is of Roger, once the prince starts pulling his head out of his arse and taking on the responsibilities he needs to. So when {{spoiler|Kostas is killed by a damncroc}}, Roger's [[Heroic BSOD]] is only natural - as is the depression he sinks into, for some time afterwards.

* Variation in [[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]. [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Santa Sofi­a de La Piedad]] is actually the mother of three of the Buendias (Remedios The Beauty and thwe twins Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo), but she's always treated and seen as a maid. Even more, Santa Sofia not only doesn't mind it, but she ''likes'' such a treatment since it lets her help the family from the shadows, which is her speciality.

* Arguably, Mac from the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series. He is one of the few people in the galaxy who can make her give in to something, although unlike many other examples he didn't come into her service until she was an adult.

** This attitude seems to be standard for stewards in the RMN.

* [[Sassy Black Woman|Mammy]], the house slave from [[Gone with the Wind]], loyally [[Unfortunate Implications|stays with the main character]] even after [[The American Civil War|emancipation]].

* Mr. Amos (among others) in ''[[Chrestomanci|Conrad's Fate]]''. Subverted at the end, when it turns out that {{spoiler|he is actually the [[Impoverished Patrician|Count himself]] gone undercover to maintain the family fortunes}}

* Grigory Vasilievich in ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'' initially was a serf on the Karamazov estate who acted as his house servant, but even after the serfs were emancipated and his wife suggested the possibility of using their savings to start a shop in the city, he proudly declared that it was his duty to serve the Karamazov estate, even if his wife could not comprehend the duty. If he had a master other than [[Complete Monster|Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov]] this might be understandable.

* Aerin's nurse Teka in ''The Hero and the Crown'', a prequel to ''[[The Blue Sword]]''.

* Hannah in Louisa May Alcott's ''[[Little Women]]''.

* Coram in the [[Tortall Universe|Song of the Lioness]] quartet was this to the Trebond family. He served as Alanna's man-at-arms while she was a page and for the first couple of years of her knighthood, and acted as steward when Alanna's father died. In the last book, ''Lioness Rampant'', Buri reveals that her family has served [[Rebellious Princess|Thayet's]] mother's family for generations.

* In [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Persuasion]]'', after Louisa's injuries in Lyme, the old family nursemaid goes to nurse Louisa.

 

* Baldrick to [[Blackadder|Lord Blackadder]]. [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|Naturally]], this earns him no favours whatsoever:

'''Blackadder''': So has syphilis, now get out. }}

** Nursie from ''Blackadder II'', who was Queen Elizabeth's nurse as a child. Now quite addlepated (and was probably addlepated back then too), she's still got a chair next to the Queen in Her royal chambers.

* Uncle Pete from [[Damages]]. Tom introduces him as "the one who really runs things around here" which is the kind of patronage you'd expect from a law firm partner towards someone from the domestic staff. But as it turns out, it may actually be true. Not only is he in on every plot and scheme that goes down, but he talks to Patty in a way that suggests that he actually has some dominance over her.

* Mrs. Hall the loyal housekeeper from ''[[All Creatures Great and Small]]''

* ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs]]'' is practically made of this trope. But especially notable are Mr Hudson and Mrs Bridges.

* Jiiya, from ''Kamen Rider Kabuto'', fits this role.

* Niles from ''[[The Nanny]]''. His father was the butler for the previous generation of the Sheffield family. Niles grew up alongside Max, and even followed him to America.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* [[Tabletop Roleplaying Games]] set in the [[New World of Darkness]] allow a merit called "Retainer", which may well be this depending on when the player purchases it. Depending on how many dots they put into the merit said retainer can range in competence from [[The Jeeves]] to [[Bumbling Sidekick]].

 

* Anfisa, in [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''Three Sisters'' is too old and feeble to be much good as a servant anymore, but is kept on out of loyalty, until the brother's new wife starts running the house.

* Same goes to Firs in ''The Cherry Orchard''. {{spoiler|He's left behind after Madame Ranevskaya and Co. have to go, and actually ''dies'' onstage as the orchard trees are cut down.}}

* Zazu in [[The Lion King]], even more so than in the original animation. At one point he consoled Mufasa regarding Simba's rebellious streak; "I seem to recall a young lion cub, more willful than wise. And ''he'' achieved some prominence."

* A standard trope in Greek tragedy (appears in e.g. [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[The Libation Bearers]]'' and [[Euripides]]'s ''[[Medea]]''. A direct line exists from these to characters such as [[Romeo and Juliet|Juliet's Nurse]].

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' has a few of these, such as Oswin for Ostia in the seventh installment and Marcus in the sixth and seventh installments.

** Mind you, Oswin is [[Younger Than They Look|only in his 30s]] and ''really'' dislikes being called old, so he comments he'd rather be called a gentleman than an old man in a support with Hector. Compared to bona fide geezer Marcus, who in that game is at least in his 40's...

*** Unless they're of the "Oifaye" archetype like Seth from ''Sacred Stones'', Titania from ''Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn'' and Oifaye himself from ''Holy War''. They're all in their 30's too.

* Mr. Nakamura, butler of the Daidouji family for at least two generations in ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]''.

* In ''Animamundi: Dark Alchemist'', Sebastain is set up to look like a reliable Old Retainer - having helped [[Villain Protagonist|Georik]] raise [[Morality Pet|Lillith]], and the two referring to him as [[Honorary Uncle|Uncle]]... and then immediately [[Subverted Trope|subverts the trope]] by having him immediately sell out Lillith to [[Burn the Witch|Witch Hunters]] and revealed that he's a spiteful little coward.

 

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Elders]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]