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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Okay, Dave, I'm gonna teach you to swim. Now don't be a wussy! (throws Dave into the lake) That's it. One arm over the other. Uh...Crap! Christopher, go save your brother. (throws Christopher in)"''|'''Ken Titus''', ''[[Titus]]''}}
The good news? There's no [[Training
The
Well, maybe that's a bit extreme. This character can exist in any type of setting, and it's unlikely that an accountant or receptionist would have lives depending on them. They might walk in the door only to be thrown an important project though, and be warned that a major client is relying on its completion.
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Occasionally justified in that the main character needs to be able to cope in that kind of situation in order to progress with his vocation; a dragon slayer who needs constant instructions is going to be turned into a kebab before he can say "Now what?" Sometimes, though, it seems as if the mentor is just stoking his own ego, forcing his student to prove themselves "worthy" of their tuition. Generally, however, a benevolent mentor will remain close by during the test-crisis, ready to assist when the students get in over their heads (but not a second before). If they're really feeling generous, the mentor will craft their own realistic crisis simulation so that the students can be tested without any undue risk (naturally, [[Danger Room Cold Open|the student will be unaware of that detail until the end]]).
Usually, after the initial crisis is resolved, the real [[Training
Sometimes overlaps with being a [[Trickster Mentor]] or a [[Fair Weather Mentor]]. In the case of the latter, chances are that the poor student won't last long. He'll be tested so constantly that he's bound to fail at some point, in which case he'll be disowned. Their reliance on testing their student secretly means that a [[Stealth Mentor]] can easily be mistaken for one of these, until they reveal that they haven't just been throwing them to the wolves. See Also, [[Die or Fly]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Lisa Lisa from ''[[
* ''[[Bleach]]'' overlaps this with [[Training
▲* Lisa Lisa from ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'' puts Joseph Joestar through a number of grueling exercises, including placing a "breathing correction" mask that forces him to either breathe in the proper manner required to use [[Ki Attacks|Hamon]] or suffocate, and kicking him down a pit and forcing him to climb up an oil-drenched pillar.
▲* ''[[Bleach]]'' overlaps this with [[Training From Hell]], while Ichigo trains with Urahara. The only difference is that rather than having real enemies trying to kill him, Urahara and his associates attempt to do it themselves. First lesson: defeat an opponent who will kill you if she manages to land a single punch. Second lesson: We'll separate your soul from your body, chuck you in a hole, bind your arms, and make you climb out before you turn into a Hollow. By the way, if you fail, we have to kill you for safety reasons. Third lesson: Knock my hat off with your sword. Of course, I'll be trying to kill you with my sword the whole time. Urahara's reasoning is apparently that if Ichigo fails here, he'd end up getting killed anyway, so he doesn't have anything to lose.
** However, they didn't have time for traditional training, having only two weeks to invade Soul Society single-handedly and rescue Rukia, so the more extreme "do or die" method of training was warranted.
* {{spoiler|Eriol}} from ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' combines this with the [[Stealth Mentor]] trope.
* ''[[Gravitation]]'': K and Tohma, while not really mentors in the strictest sense of the word, figure that the best way to promote Bad Luck and inspire Shuichi is to throw the band in front of television cameras at the first available opportunity. This continues well into Shuichi's career, with most of the jobs that K lines up for him being done on the spur of the moment. Perhaps [[Justified Trope|justified]] (or at least [[Lampshaded]]) by both K and Tohma's assertion that a true star should be able to cope with this kind of pressure all the time.
* Kalos Eidos in ''[[Kaleido Star]]'' subjects Sora to extremely hard [[Training
* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', pretty much every single mentor [[Butt Monkey|Tsuna]] has had? It ''does'' tend to pay off, though - each time Tsuna goes through a life and death situation, he tends to come out with more badass weaponry.
* Meta Knight in the ''[[Kirby]]'' [[Kirby:
* In ''[[The Law of Ueki]]'', the rules say that a god candidate (the mentor) can't help their student in battle. If they do, [[Mentor Occupational Hazard|they get sent to Hell]]. The end result: A bunch of junior high school kids with [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|relatively useless or restricted supernatural powers]] running around, who are essentially making things up as they go along.
** Kobayashi more so than the others. He didn't tell Ueki anything about the tournament until the poor kid had already gotten into a fight, and even then he only spilled because Mori and Ueki broke into his house.
*** To be fair, though, Koba-sen did say he only participated in the first place to test Ueki's sense of justice, and {{spoiler|energetically told Ueki to drop out of the tournament and live his own life the way he wanted to before suffering the [[Mentor Occupational Hazard]]}}.
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'': Evangeline foists this on Asuna to get her to use her [[Yin-Yang Bomb|Kanka]] ability correctly. She dumps Asuna in the Himalayas, essentially forcing her to figure out the technique or freeze to death.
** The scary part is that this was the [[Secret Test of Character|admissions test]]. Asuna was left with a (presumably) enchanted bell with which to "tap out", and her [[Determinator|refusal to do either that or die of exposure]] was what convinced Evangeline to start [[Training
** To be fair, although Asuna thought she had to learn Kanka or die, [[Noble Demon|Evangeline]] stayed in the mountains for the entire time, just in case something went wrong (presumably something along the lines of Asuna passing out from cold before being able to ring the bell).
*** However, Asuna ''did'' pass out from cold before ringing the bell. Twice. The first time her repressed memory of how to use Kanka saved her, but by all rights she should never have woken up the second time. When she did wake up she was covered in ice, unable to move, barely able to think, almost too far gone to reactivate the kanka and save herself. Chachazero even said "she was almost dead, too!" If Eva had actually been there to save Asuna, that would have been the point to pull her out.
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** It should also be noted said friend was a {{spoiler|''mountain bandit''}}. He was asking for it, really.
** Dracule "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk seems to have become one for {{spoiler|''Zoro,'' [[Worthy Opponent|of all people.]]}}
* ''[[Ranma ½
** Consider the ever-so-brilliant martial arts teacher, Genma Saotome. Genma's shown methods of training his son have included hurling a nest of agitated wasps at him and watching the poor bastard fend for himself, dragging him to a cursed training ground simply on the basis that it was dangerous and without finding out why it was considered dangerous, and reminiscing about how, when Ranma was a child, he routinely forced him to fight for every scrap of food he got, remorselessly eating Ranma's food if he couldn't defend it. He also admitted that he tried to "cure" Ranma's [[Unstoppable Rage|Neko]]-[[Harmful to Minors|Ken]] induced cat phobia by throwing him into the pit of starving cats again. When told about some of this, even the borderline sociopathic Nabiki disapproves, proving that sometimes [[Even Evil Has Standards]]. Coupling this with his willingness to simply [[Sins of Our Fathers|throw Ranma into trouble and expect him to sort things out]], often with barely any idea what's going on or why it's happening, he could border on [[Fair Weather Mentor]]. If it weren't for his moments of [[Idiot Savant
** Cologne is just as bad, even if she ([[Chaotic Neutral|sometimes]]) means well. The training for the Bakusai Tenketsu (swinging multi-ton boulders at the trainee until he can make them explode with a finger) and the Hiryu Shouten Ha (wrapping the person in "memory-metal" that will shrink, seize up, and lock down, turning him into a human pretzel if he sheds the slightest amount of heat) would be deadly if these people weren't [[Made of Iron]], and if they end up knocked unconscious from the blows, or drowning in a hot spring, well, that's their fault. Only by learning the fundamentals of these techniques ''on their own'' can the trainee even withstand the training itself.
** Interestingly, as Ranma's mentors are either this or a [[Fair Weather Mentor]], Ranma himself seems to take the Sink or Swim method. For example, in the Fine Dining arc, his needs to learn to [[It Makes Sense in Context|jab accurately and quickly with his utensils]], and his training plan involves setting up buckets and pots of hot and cold water so that if he fails, he turns back into a man in a very restrictive iron corset. Granted, the iron corset part wasn't voluntary, but the point still stands.
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== Film ==
* Robert De Niro's character in ''[[Men of Honor]]'' is quite literally a
▲* Robert De Niro's character in ''[[Men of Honor]]'' is quite literally a [[Sink or Swim Mentor]], as he is the trainer at the Navy's Deep Sea Diving School. He sets out to purposefully make Carl Brashear's (played by Cuba Gooding) life miserable and force him to quit Diving School. This makes complete sense since he's a racist. Of course, this harsh brow-beating is what makes Carl refuse to quit until he becomes a master diver.
* Denzel Washington's corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in ''[[Training Day]]'' could've been the [[Trope Namer]] considering all the many times he left Jake Hoyt (played by Ethan Hawke) out to sink or swim or get shot.
* In ''[[Wanted]]'', Fox puts herself in front of a shooting target, forcing the protagonist to either bend his shot or shoot her, which is kinda an inversion. A straight example was earlier, when she put a gun at Weasley's head and threatened to shoot unless he shoots wings off some flies.
* Henri Ducard/{{spoiler|Ra's Al Ghul}} in ''[[Batman Begins]]''. They duel with ''real swords'' and in one scene beats the hell out of him.
* During [[X-Men (film)|X-Men: First Class]], Charles and Erik attempt to teach Banshee how to fly. At first, they let him jump out of a second-story window, into some bushes, and he forgets to scream. Their next attempt is to have him jump off of an enormous satellite dish. Charles assures him that he doesn't have to do anything he's not comfortable with... Erik disagrees. Justified in that he could, theoretically, control the metal of Banshee's uniform if anything ''really'' dangerous came along.
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== Folklore ==
* A Zen parable tells of a burglar who promised to teach the trade to his son. He takes the son to a rich and well-guarded house and shows him the way into the center of the house. Then the father excused himself, went outside, and promptly raised the alarm, alerting the entire house to the intruder - and sauntered on home. At dawn his son arrived, panting and exhausted but alone. "Why did you ''do'' that to me? I had to use all of my wits to get out of there!" The father said, "And that was our ''first'' lesson on burglary."
== Literature ==
* In P.N. Elrod's ''Quincey Morris, Vampire'' ([[Better Than It Sounds]]), [[Dracula]] is the epitome of the Sink Or Swim Mentor when Quincey wants to know how to turn into mist like Dracula does. The Vampire simply tossed Quin off the castle. When asked why, Dracula admits to the reader that's how ''his'' father taught him how to swim as well.
{{quote|'''Dracula:''' Well, I was remembering that when I was a child my father decided to teach me how to swim by grabbing me and throwing me into the river.}}
* [[Discworld]]'s Granny Weatherwax is often the benevolent version, especially with Tiffany Aching. According to Granny "witching school" (ie the world) gives you the exam ''first'', and then you spend the rest of the time finding out whether you passed. And everything is a test.
** Early in ''[[
** Also note Assassins' Guild tutor Alice Band, who punishes overconfidence in her students by sending them on missions to observe Sam Vimes. In ''[[
* From [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Lensman]]'' series, the appropriately named Mentor of Arisia is an example of this trope. Though Mentor does relent and give the protagonist some training in psychic combat, he generally avoids directly aiding his students and criticizes them for asking him for help or advice when they don't really need it. And since he's effectively omniscient, he ''always'' knows whether or not they really need it.
** Mentor's psychic combat training is a perfect example of this trope. He "trains" Kinnison how to defend himself psychically by ''continuously psychically attacking him''. The justification is that every mind is unique, so each person must develop his own method of defense. And the best way to develop callouses is to hit the tender part over and over. Though he does scale his attacks to Kinnison's ability to survive them.
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== Live Action TV ==
* The Doctor from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' tends to treat his companions like this sometimes. Especially Doctor number 1 played by William Hartnell.
* Claude, from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', while trying to teach Peter Petrelli how to use his powers, pushed him off the roof of a skyscraper to try and activate his flight ability. It didn't work, but [[Healing Factor|he got better]].
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== Theater ==
* In the musical ''[[Camelot (theatre)|Camelot]]'', [[Merlin|Merlyn]] is taken away from [[King Arthur|Arthur]]'s fledgling throne very early in the play, leaving Arthur alone to sort out the founding of the Round Table, his impending marriage, and the general prosperity of the kingdom. As Merlyn is leaving with the nymph [[Merlin and Nimue|Nimue]], he bemoans that he cannot even remember if he warned Arthur about {{spoiler|Lancelot and Mordred}}.
== Video Games ==
* Suzu-sensei, in ''[[LifeSigns: Surgical Unit|Lifesigns]],'' has a nasty habit of springing operations on the player character. As if that wasn't bad enough, she's also a [[Fair Weather Mentor]] complete with [[Yandere]] traits...which raises the question of why she's still ''employed,'' never mind left in charge of other doctors.
* [[Dwarf Fortress]] - you can only learn something by doing it. Need some crucial task done, but have no qualified labourers? No problem - throw the unqualified labourers at it, until they learn, or get eaten by fish. This applies to all skills and professions, starting with mining (Here's a pick, get going.), through hunting (Chasing down prey and wrestling it to death? Sure.) to fighting. (No, the ultra-mighty champion wrestlers are under no compunction not to crush your throat in your first sparring session. Deal.)
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** Kiritsugu didn't even teach Shirou he didn't need to create a new magic circuit (something that could have killed him every single time he did it) every time he wanted to use magic.
** And from the [[Spin-Off]], ''[[Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya|Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya]]'', although usually played for laughs. How should we teach Miyu how to fly? Throw her out of a helicopter and see if she can figure it out before impact!
== Web Comics ==
* Klaus Wulfenbach from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' shows aspects of this towards his son. It could be seen as [[Training
▲* Klaus Wulfenbach from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' shows aspects of this towards his son. It could be seen as [[Training From Hell]], but the tests aren't training; they're a blatant attempt to kill Gilgamesh if he can't take the heat. And [[Badass Bookworm]] Gilgamesh is up to the challenge.
** To be fair to Klaus, he'd...well, he'd ''probably'' be sad if Gil couldn't hold up.
* Jones of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' plainly [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=394 told her student] she's going to instruct, but not spoon-feed ready solutions. Maybe this only means she doesn't feel it's her right to, but the detached precision is so much in her style that Annie suspected Jones is a robot and some [[Wild Mass Guessing|fans suspect]] she's a ''[[Physical God|goddess]]''.
* In ''[[Panthera]]'', you could argue that this is the relationship between [[Action Girl|Tigris]] and [[Naive Newcomer|Onca]]. There's distinctly more "Sink Or Swim" than "mentor", though.
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' had moments. When they made Liz (Nick's girlfriend) a specialist lieutenant, she got two of these in a row: "you are an officer now!" lesson from [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-12-13 Tagon Senior], and then [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-12-30 Schlock's flight belt qualification]. Both times this backfired a bit, in the first incident it turned out that her blank cheque includes Karl Tagon's own time, in the second she used Schlock as training equipment (not that it inconvenienced him too much).
== Western Animation ==
* Jake the Dog in ''[[Adventure Time]]''. Played quite literately too.
* [[Xavier: Renegade Angel]], remembering his own youth, decides to alter his old childhood memories by imagining meeting his older self back then. He ends up being this to himself. It makes as little sense as it sounds.
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