Papa Wolf/Literature: Difference between revisions
→top: Replaced redirects
prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:PapaWolf.Literature 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:PapaWolf.Literature, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
(→top: Replaced redirects) |
||
(17 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]s in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
* This is the entire premise behind [[John Grisham|John Grisham's]] ''A Time To Kill.'' After a brutal first chapter detailing the rape of his 10-year-old daughter by a couple of rednecks, Carl Lee Hailey (played by none other than [[Samuel L Jackson]] in [[The Movie of the Book]]) goes berserk on the two and opens fire on them with an assault rifle (even though they were already on trial), catching a court deputy in the process. {{spoiler|The deputy forgives him, as does the jury when they acquit him of murder charges by reason of "temporary insanity."}}▼
▲* This is the entire premise behind [[John Grisham|John Grisham's]] ''A Time To Kill.'' After a brutal first chapter detailing the rape of his 10-year-old daughter by a couple of rednecks, Carl Lee Hailey (played by none other than [[Samuel L. Jackson]] in [[The Movie of the Book]]) goes berserk on the two and opens fire on them with an assault rifle (even though they were already on trial), catching a court deputy in the process. {{spoiler|The deputy forgives him, as does the jury when they acquit him of murder charges by reason of "temporary insanity."}}
* Woe betide whoever dares to abduct [[Stephen King|Popsy's]] grandson.
* [[Conan the Barbarian]]: Although being mostly an [[Anti
* ''[[The Jungle Book (
* ''[[War of the Dreaming
* The father in Cormac McCarthy's ''[[The Road]]'' is exclusively defined as his role as this.
* Sam Vimes in ''[[
** Sergeant Jackrum from the earlier book ''[[
** Subverted in ''[[
* An [[Older Than Radio]] example comes from Hector Malot's ''Sans Famille''. The travelling musician Vitalis practically purchased lead character Remi Barberin as his apprentice, but he genuinely cared for the boy and became his [[Old Master|mentor and example]]. His "Papa Wolf" side shows more strongly when {{spoiler|he discovers that the old man whom he was going to ask to look out for Remi in the winter actually abuses his protegees and forces them to steal for him}}, and later when {{spoiler|he protects Remi from dying in a snowstorm... in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}. And he was also hinted to be one in his first apparition, when he "buys" Remi... after witnessing how horribly his abusive stepfather Jerome treats him, therefore choosing to "purchase" Remi half to have an apprentice and half to protect him.
* Individual names are not given but in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''Worldwar Tetralogy'', the Alien Fleetlord is amazed at reports of suicidal Tosevite (read: Human) attacks by both genders on his forces. Its stated that the few humans that actually survive indicate their actions are because of harm done to a Mate or Hatchling by his forces
* [[Amelia Peabody]]: Dr. Radcliffe Emerson, Egyptologist-detective husband of Amelia Peabody, who is always short-tempered and becomes absolutely volcanic at any threat to his family. Since he is regularly described by his narrator-wife as "Herculean" in build, the results are impressive. For that matter, his son Ramses inherits this trait. Guess what? Their wives are definite [[Mama Bear|Mama Bears]]; it's a close-knit family.
* ''[[
** Not to mention that we have yet to see his reaction {{spoiler|to the latest atempt by Mesa to kill one of his daughters.}} The foreshadowing in ''At All Cost'' might give some clues.
** And don't forget Anton's best buddy Victor Cachat and Victor's mentor Kevin Usher, {{spoiler|who got off their asses and did something about the corrupt Havenite ambassador, because of Zilwicki's daughter kidnapping.}} Honor herself [[Mama Bear|has her moments -- the surest way to get her to kill you, is to mess with somebody in her care]]. In fact the whole series is full of Papa Wolf and [[Mama Bear]] moments, from the lowly Aubrey Wanderman to the Queen herself, to the whole nation of Grayson which are all, 2 billion of them, a bunch of Papa Wolves.
Line 18 ⟶ 20:
*** And treecats as a whole can be this when one of their own is threatened. Bear in mind that one [[Not So Harmless]] treecat outnumbers six gunmen; when a hexapuma, an apex predator from the treecats' homeworld, corners one 'cat and the human he'd adopted, his clan's answer to his [[Gondor Calls for Aid|distress call]] is a [[Zerg Rush]] which turns that predator into hamburger. In ''Mission of Honor'', {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad|Mesan Alignment]] kills an entire treecat ''clan'' via a [[Colony Drop]]. [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|The other treecat clans are strongly hinting they want in on the counterattack.]]}}
*** And all Sphinxians are in turn [[Mama Bear|Mama Bears]] and [[Papa Wolf|Papa Wolves]] to Treecats in general.
* In [[Perry Moore]]'s ''[[Hero (
* Burrich in both the ''[[Robin Hobb|Farseer]]'' and ''Tawny Man'' trilogies. Just how awesome can a grumpy old man be? {{spoiler|Trek across a glacier and kill a deranged stone dragon for the adopted son who let you think he was dead for 15 years, that's how awesome.}}
* [[Raptor Red]]'s consort pulls a Papa Wolf to save one of Raptor Red's nieces from an acrocanthosaur. He has mixed feelings about doing so: he gets several cracked ribs, the chick isn't related to him, and Raptor Red didn't even see his heroic actions. It does, at least, mend his relations with Raptor Red's sister for a time.
* Most [[David Eddings]] characters fall into this at some point: if you go after their wives, kids, fiancees, or friends, they begin throwing around phrases like "boiling oil," "wring him out until his hair bleeds," and "kill him just a little bit." Then they catch you. Then you discover this was them ''being nice''.
{{quote|
'''Belgarath''':''{{spoiler|I can imagine. He's done something that offended me. I want to talk with him about it, and he'd rather avoid that conversation -- since it's very likely to involve my hanging his entrails on a fence someplace}}.'' }}
{{quote|
'''Sparhawk''': Well said. }}
* In ''[[Dresden Files]]'', although Harry is grown, and was his apprentice for only two years, Ebenezar McCoy is capable of this on occasion. In ''Summer Knight'', he is so indignant that Harry is to carry out Mab's request without even knowing it that it takes Harry two tries to get through that, yes, he does know it. {{spoiler|And he dropped a Russian satellite on the headquarters of a vampire who had threatened and fought with Harry.}}
Line 45 ⟶ 47:
*** Hell, he spends most of that book playing Papa Wolf to Molly, as her boyfriend would attest.
** An odd example from the series is "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone, the local Mafia boss who is essentially a Papa Wolf to ''every child in Chicago''. If Marcone catches you doing anything to hurt children in his city, he will personally execute you. [[Authority Equals Asskicking|You]] [[Knife Nut|don't]] [[Badass Normal|want that.]]
* In ''[[Danny, the Champion of
* [[Adrian Mole]], upon finding that his little sister {{spoiler|has been knocked up by her boyfriend.}}
* Becomes a major turning point in ''[[The Outsiders]]''. Johnny {{spoiler|stabs a Soc who was going to kill Ponyboy.}} Beware the nice ones, oh GOD [[Beware the Nice Ones]]!
** Let's not forget Dallas' reaction to {{spoiler|Finding out Johnny was dying from his burns.}} Mind you, by this point the reader already knows how dangerous Dallas can be, but seeing him threaten to put {{spoiler|the doctor}} in the emergency room for barring him access to {{spoiler|Johnny's hospital room}} seems to be a bit of a case of [[Disproportionate Retribution]].
* A slightly twisted variant occurs in ''[[Dexter|Dexter By Design]]'': Dex, of course, is already a [[Serial Killer]] masquerading as Just a [[Nice Guy]], but it wasn't until relatively recently that he decided that he had feelings of love-ish for his stepfamily and foster sister (or, you know, ''anyone''). So, when a rival slasher decides to mess with [[
* Adam Hauptman, from the ''[[Mercy Thompson]]'' series. Bonus points for being a literal papa werewolf; mess with his daughter Jesse and ''you. Will. '''Die.'''''
** The above also applies to Mercy. To make it worse, Adam runs a private security firm, so when he got worried about Mercy's safety, he installed an expensive security system in her house without asking her permission.
* Waylander the Slayer from the ''Waylander'' series of books by David Gemmell is a rather evil version of this. Having returned home from the war to find his wife and child killed, he spends the rest of his life and wealth hunting down the eight men responsible and killing them in ways that'd make even the most villainous of villains shriek.
* In ''
* One of the recurring themes in ''[[
* There are some of these in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]].
** In ''[[Shadows of the Empire]]'', set some time before ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', the real villain of the book, [[Smug Snake|Prince Xizor]], [[The Rival|does not get along well at all]] with Darth Vader. But they don't start to openly oppose each other until Vader finds that Xizor is trying to arrange for Luke Skywalker's death.
** By the time of [[Legacy of the Force|a civil war between Corellia and what used to be the New Republic]], Wedge Antilles is [[Badass Grandpa|about sixty years old]] and has a pair of twenty-something daughters, Syal and Myri. Myri gets to stay with him on the Corellian side, where he spends about half of the series, but Syal is on the other side. And Wedge respects this, although it saddens him. [[Heartwarming Moments
{{quote|
'''Wedge''': "Absolutely."
'''Thrackan''': "And?"
'''Wedge''': "Go to hell."
'''Thrackan''': "Antilles, you've refused a direct order given during a military crisis, and I have it on record. Should I choose to, I can have security agents haul you away right now. I can conduct your trial within the hour and have you executed by morning."
'''Wedge''': "Of course you can. You could also have me assassinated in a time of peace for having nicer hair than you. If I worried about that sort of thing, I'd never get any sleep." }}
** Woe to you if you mess with anyone in Mandalorian Kal Skirata's biological or adopted family.
*** Speaking of Mandos, Boba Fett in ''Bloodlines'' is this. So is Han. They team up.
*** Speaking of Boba Fett, he was never a very good father (or husband), but he did his best to get close to his granddaughter, Mirta Gev. When he learns that a young Mandalorian is planning to marry Mirta, he gives his assent, but warns "Break her heart and I'll break your legs."
** This is part of the reason why Jacen Solo turned to the Dark Side and became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, in addition to the [[Well
* [[Howl's Moving Castle (
* Sadrao from Ursula Vernon's ''[[
* [[The Acts of Caine
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** This is beautifully demonstrated when, being the [[Complete Monster]] that she is, Dolores Umbridge shakes Marietta Edgecombe violently in an effort to make her spit out enough info to get Harry expelled. Dumbledore magically pushes her away, jumping suddenly from [[Tranquil Fury|calm and polite to highly angry]]. "I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores."
** This is also demonstrated when Barty Crouch, Jr. attempts to kill Harry after the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore [[Sarcasm Mode|doesn't take it very well]].
{{quote|
** Papa Wolves are fairly prevalent in this series: Sirius Black does ''not'' like seeing Harry hurt, and neither does Remus Lupin.
** Mess with [[Jerkass|Draco Malfoy]] when he's at school, and the next person you'll have to deal with is his favourite teacher and godfather-of-sorts Severus Snape, or worse still, Lucius Malfoy, his actual dad, with the power of the school governors, as well as the Ministry of Magic behind him (and not to mention, Lucius's love for his family is pretty much [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|his]] ''[[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|only]]'' [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|good trait]]).
** Arthur Weasley, while usually overshadowed by his [[Mama Bear]] wife, in ''[[
** Xenophilius Lovegood was ready to [[Despair Event Horizon|hand Harry to the Death Eaters]] if it meant having Luna back.
** And Harry's Uncle Vernon who- though he often falls into the categories of [[Abusive Parents]] (toward Harry, of course),
** James Potter as well. It may not have worked, but he ''was'' willing to risk certain death against Voldemort if it gave Lily and Harry time to run. He would also do anything to help his friends in his school days, even if he ''was'' a [[Jerk Jock]] to everyone else at the time.
* ''[[Twilight (
* Don Pendleton's ''[[The Executioner]]'' series has [[Badass Normal|Mack Bolan]] wipe out major crime families with dozens of thugs at their disposal after most of his family is killed due to the Mafia. When his girl-friend and younger brother are kidnapped by another crime family to try to get to him, he goes absolutely coldly berserk, terrifying even his friends and allies who have seen him in action many times.
* [[Matthew Reilly]]'s ''Huntsman'' series. The adopted daughter of Jack West Jr. is threatened many times by many powerful people over the course of the books. Many people have died very graphic, painful deaths.
* In the [[Backstory]] of [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene
{{quote|
* [[Catherine Webb]]'s Horatio Lyle. He is not related to Tess or Thomas by blood, but hurt either of them and he will come after you with his pockets full of explosive chemicals, his home-made tazer, and, if all else fails, his frenzied but anatomically-precise application of teeth, nails, and knees.
* [[Robert Crais]]'s Elvis Cole. Kidnap the son of his girlfriend? Elvis and his [[Psycho Sidekick]] Joe Pike will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and back again.
* In [[Aaron Allston]]'s ''Galatea [[In 2 D]]'', C. J. gets into the fight because his son is in danger.
* Good ol' Jim Davenport in ''Triggerfish Twist''. Lets everyone push him around. But {{spoiler|point a gun at his child and you will be very, very sorry, but not for very, very long.}}
* Rao is this to Shakuntala in [[Belisarius Series]]. As he was hired by Shakuntala's father to teach her how to be a [[Badass Princess]], that would make her father an indirect [[Papa Wolf]].
* Nastily subverted in Rick Hautala's ''The Mountain King.'' The protagonist sees his daughter {{spoiler|torn apart and eaten by monsters, but is too terrified to leave his hiding place.}}
* ''[[In Death]]'': Detective Sergeant Frank Wojinsky from ''Ceremony In Death''. When his granddaughter Alice Lingstrom told him that she had been drugged and sexually exploited by an entire coven of Satanists and she had witnessed the leaders murder a young boy, he went [[Papa Wolf]] to try to take down the coven. Unfortunately, it made him sloppy and the leaders used the drugs Digitalis and Zeus on him, resulting in him dying of cardiac arrest.
* Marcus, of [[
** As soon as he finds out Margo's his granddaughter, Kit becomes very protective of her. Skeeter, having tried to scam Margo before anyone knew, walks very, very shy around both ever after.
* The short story '''Monsters Tearing Of My Face''' has a particularly gruesome one. At the climax of the story, the little girl who drew the true picture of blue monsters tearing off her face turns out to really be a blue monster in a human disguise...when her mother tears it off of her, while her father tears the flesh from the bones of the foster parents who were about to rape her.
* Buster Beasely in ''[[
* Shellheart of ''[[
{{quote|
* In Felix Salten's ''Bambi's Children'' (yes, it's that Bambi), he sees a poacher taking aim at his son, and attacks.
* In Tim Dorsey's novel ''Electric Barracuda'' {{spoiler|it turns out that Serge Storms is a father. Hint to the child molester on the playground: you really don't want to try to entice the child of a serial killer.}}
* Charles Leeds, the husband and father of the second family of victims in ''[[Red Dragon]]'', had his throat slashed in his sleep by Francis Dolarhyde. As he and his wife lay bleeding to death, Dolarhyde went down the hall to kill the children. With his throat cut open, artery spraying his lifeblood on the wall with every step he took, Leeds ran down the hallway after the killer and fought with him to protect his children.
* Aral Vorkosigan does this rather cleverly for Miles in [[Vorkosigan Saga]]. He convinces the council of counts to charge Miles with treason rather then raising a private army in ''The Warriors Apprentice'', knowing that the penalty for both is death but actual treason was in fact impossible to prove(he was guilty of raising a private army; that is he got out of a tight situation by manipulating his enemies into defecting to him).
** Aral does this less subtly in ''Barrayar'' by ordering his private [[Heroic Sociopath]], Bothari to protect Miles against Aral's ''own father''. This caused an estrangement between them that lasted several years.
* Lieutenant Panga in ''[[Someone
* Atticus in ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]];'' not a violent man most of the time, but the way he uses his rifle makes Ewell hesitant to go near Jem and Scout. When he ''does,'' {{spoiler|Boo Radley fills the role.}}
* In the ''[[Cthulhu Mythos]]'' novel ''[[The Transition of Titus Crow]]'', the title character describes a past event where Cthulhu itself fit the Trope, its rage when its daughter Cthylla was injured by Project X ''even worse'' than what happened in the original story ''[[The Call of Cthulhu]]''. Although given the important role Cthylla has in the Great Old Ones' plan, whether this was due to genuine concern for its daughter is debatable.
{{tropesubpagefooter}}
|