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Retired Badass: Difference between revisions
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How well do you know your neighbors, shop keepers, the old guy down the street with all the little mementos from around the world? If you haven't known them your whole life there's a chance they may be a badass.
Just as [[Badass|badasses]] come in many different varieties, so do retired badasses. Some are happily retired from adventuring, sports, fighting, or whatever they used to do and are content to [[Home, Sweet Home|live a normal life in a normal little town]], or even the simple life in [[Arcadia]]. Some have become shopkeepers who just do a little work to keep in touch with people and get by in their old age. Some get promoted within their organization to a [[Desk Jockey]] supervisory role. Often, they spend all their time [[Call to Agriculture|tending a field]]. Some of them never really get into retirement because every time they start to settle into it they [[Ten-Minute Retirement|get jolted back out]]. Maybe they have [[In Harm's Way|a secret longing to get back into the game]], (whatever it may be) or regrets about the past. [[Heroic Neutral|Often they're perfectly happy in their retirement]] and are pointedly ignoring events of the outside world until the evil [[Mooks]] of whatever [[Big Bad]] that is looking to take over the world come in and wreck his shop, then laugh at him because, after all, what can an old man do about it? It doesn't take long for the asskickery to commence.
Their personalities often break down into two broad categories; some are [[Zen Survivor]] types who've made peace with their past and the fact that they are no longer [[The Hero]], and now just want to get on with their life. Other times, bitter and cynical with age, they turn into a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] after being put on the [[Scrap Heap Hero|scrap heap of life]].
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** Nenji Kashiwazaki aka Okina, the former mentor of Kenshin's [[Worthy Opponent]] Aoshi, works along with other former [[Ninja]] as the owner and manager of an inn. He still has contacts among spies in Kyoto that he uses to aid Kenshin. Aside from a fight with Aoshi, however, when he sees that his former pupil has gone a little too [[Darker and Edgier|dark and edgy]] for his taste, he mostly stays on the sidelines, acting more as [[The Strategist]] and advisor from now on. (Although considering the HUGE wounds Aoshi inflicted on him, it's well justified. no wonder poor Misao, who saw Aoshi almost kill Okina, was more than a bit disturbed).
** In a filler episode from the anime, it is revealed that a former first rate swordsman who fought Kenshin in the revolution now works as a children's teacher, having given up the sword. An old student who turned into an assassin tries to recruit him nonetheless.
*** That plot was recycled for the ''Ishinshishi e no Requiem'' movie, where one of the main characters (Takimi Shigure) was an ex-samurai who became a school retainer and the caretaker of his best friend's sister {{spoiler|whom Kenshin killed in the war}}.
** The title character himself is a [[Retired Badass]], and would very much like to stay that way. Of course plot always intervenes.
* ''[[Bleach]]''
** Ryuuken Ishida is supposed to be a doctor who turned his back on his family's quincy heritage long ago. Turns out he's not only still got the power, but he's officially carrying the Quincy Cross and, the one single time he uses his power, his abilities make his son look weak.
** Isshin Kurosaki voluntarily gave up his powers a long time ago but willingly comes back out of retirement once he regains his powers.
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* Though much younger than most, Nanjiroh Echizen from ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' fits quite well.
* Joseph Joestar in Part 3 of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''. It's worth noting that he looks quite a bit like Sean Connery in his later years, and Connery tends to play [[Retired Badass]] character quite a bit.
* Cologne from ''[[Ranma ½|[[Ranma
* {{spoiler|Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald}} becomes one of this after the ''[[Code Geass]]'' [[Grand Finale]]. {{spoiler|(Prosperous [[Brick Joke|orange farm]] and Anya as his partner and/or adoptive daughter included)}}.
* Maria from ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' is a retired Otome who works as an administrator and [[Stern Teacher]] at Garderobe Academy, temporarily un-retiring when it comes time to take back her school near the end of the main series. Natsuki, Shizuru, Mai and the other Meisters are amazed to see her in action, and also by the fact that [[I Was Quite a Looker|she used to be a hottie]].
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Gran'ma Ben and Lucius Down from the ''[[Bone]]'' comic book series.
* In ''[[W.I.T.C.H.]]'', Hay Lin's grandma Yan Lin fits, as (when she as younger) ''she'' had her granddaughter's place in the Kandracar [[Five-Man Band]].
* ''[[Dark Knight Returns]]''. The entire thing was about Batman retiring, dealing with his retirement and returning to the job, despite problems with his age.
** Also, [[Batman]]'s majordomo Alfred. Several of his origins highlight his retired bad ass status. RAF, Special Forces... the job title he's retired from varies [[Depending On the Author]], but they're all [[Badass]] military positions.
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* Brutally subverted in ''[[Watchmen]]'' - a reader accustomed to this trope, as I was on first reading the series about 20 years ago, might expect Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, to fight off the street gang that breaks into his place with ease. This, to say the least, is not how it plays out.
** Less subverted in the director's cut of [[Watchmen (film)|the film version]], where Mason does fight back, with the blows cutting to brief flashbacks of him landing punches on masked villains when he was in his prime, but in the end there's just too many thugs for him to take on at once. There's even a brief [[Hope Spot]] for him (and an [[Oh Crap]] for the thug) right at the start, where he ''catches'' the first punch before laying out the thug.
* Sam's Granny Ruth, from ''[[Sam and Max]]''. She ran a Jail much like Alcatraz during the Cold War.
* [[Lady and the Tramp|The Tramp]], once something of a legendary figure among other dogs, is perfectly happy to live a lazy family life. Not that he can't be provoked into showing some of his skills every so often. Just as long as Lady doesn't find out.
* The titular characters of ''[[The Highwaymen]]''.
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* ''[[A History of Violence]]'' has some scary people who suspect [[Viggo Mortensen]]'s character is this rather than the [[Heroic Bystander]] he claims to be after he defends his cafe from serial killers. {{spoiler|They are so horribly right. Even though they came looking for revenge on him, they may well wish that they were wrong because they're all be dead by the end.}} Real good acting on Mortensen's part {{spoiler|depicting transitions from nice guy Tom to [[Retired Monster]] Joey.}}
* The movie ''[[Taken (film)|Taken]]'', with [[Liam Neeson]] playing a retired government operative forced out of retirement to save his daughter, centers on this trope.
** Arguably it centers more on [[Papa Wolf]], but this trope plays a role too.
* The Waco Kid in ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', until befriending the main character/new sheriff.
* Yoda of the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy.
* Hattori Hanzo from the ''[[Kill Bill]]'' movies.
* Anthony Hopkins' [[Zorro]] from the 1998 ''[[The Mask of Zorro]]'' is a borderline example, as he is the original Zorro that is captured for decades until training a new Zorro, his protégé Alejandro, years later. Straddles the line with an [[Older and Wiser]] mentor.
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*** While Cohen averted the trope, it was played straight in ''The Last Hero'' with Vena.
** And while we're talking about Discworld, how is it that no-one has mentioned the main storyline in ''Reaper Man'', where {{spoiler|Death}}is forced into retirement.
** And then later, we have Death ''choosing'' retirement to leave things to his granddaughter (and heir apparent) Susan. [[Superpowerful Genetics|She]] [[Refusal of the Call|was not happy about it]]. [[The Call Knows Where You Live|REALLY not happy about it]]. ([[Beware the Nice Ones|And it's not a good idea to piss her off]]). Unfortunately, no matter how many times she quits, [[You Can't Fight Fate]] and she still keeps getting dragged back in.
** Lu-tze. He's just your average sweeper. Who can {{spoiler|kick the anthropomorphic representation of time's ass!}}.
** Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg would also count. They're supposedly permanently retired. ... Apparently. ... [[Got the Call on Speed Dial|yet they always find their way to the center of, well, everything]].
* The badass who refuses to retire is played straight with Ser Barristan Selmy in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', who at the age of sixty-something is forced into retirement against his will and is so annoyed by it that he kills two heavily-armed men half his age sent to arrest him before crossing half the planet to join forces with a rival ruler, in whose service he later swims through a foul sewer into the heart of a heavily-fortified city to open the gates from inside.
* In ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' the children of mild mannered lawyer Atticus Finch were unaware of his [[Badass]] marksmanship, until a dangerous mad dog wanders into town and someone needs to be able to safely put it down.
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* Leatherstocking of ''[[The Pioneers]]'' fulfills this trope, and makes it [[Older Than Radio]].
* Rather common in fantasy fiction. Many fantasy authors will return to the same setting again and again, progressing the time line, cranking out more novels, and retiring earlier heroes to give newer generations their own chance to shine. And it's particularly common in novels franchised from games like Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer 40K, where you'll have multiple authors all progressing the plot in the one setting. Sometimes it gets to the stage where you can't move for kindly old priests, world-weary old nobles, and rough-around-the-edges old innkeepers who were asskicking adventurers five or six books ago. And if the new crop of heroes ever needs a seasoned adventuring veteran to show them the ropes and give them a hook to connect with an existing storyline, they can't swing a cat without hitting at least one gruff mysterious stranger who turns out to be the famous heroic whatsisname in the flesh.
** This is cited as one of the reasons [[Forgotten Realms]] was moved forward a good century! Drizzt and Elminster are just about the only two still around, and they're both very, very busy.
* Coll from ''The [[Prydain Chronicles]]''. Taran is quite surprised to learn his bald, peace-loving, pig-tending father figure is not only considered a hero, but responsible for rescuing a certain pig from the [[Big Bad]]'s lair. (It was a very special pig.)
* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga]]: [[Action Girl|Cordelia]] [[Action Mom|Vorkosigan]] retired after a legendary [[Mama Bear]] incident and has been [[Yamato Nadeshiko|happily]] [[Warrior Therapist|mentoring]] the younger generation ever since. Somewhat inverted in that she's never needed to come out of retirement, barring a few well-deserved verbal smackdowns.
** Aral Vorkosigan hasn't retired; he's physically unable to. That said, he has gone from being Prime Minister and an active voice in the Council of Counts to the Viceroy of Sergyar, with Miles taking over the Council duties. With Aral, that's as close as he'll get.
* Sammy's friend Hudson in the ''[[Sammy Keyes]]'' books. Nobody knows if he worked for the CIA or the NSA or what, but he knows stuff like safecracking and cryptography. Or maybe he's just a [[Cool Old Guy]].
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** The book ''Toll the Hounds'' almost goes into meta overload by having a bunch of badasses from the first three books in the series having literally retired to run an inn but are then called back into action again.
* The heroine of [[Patricia C. Wrede]]'s ''Caught in Crystal'', a middle-aged innkeeper with two young children, is a retired swordswoman. She's dragged out of retirement when both her former employers and their enemies come looking for information about her last disastrous mission.
* [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''Tawny Man Trilogy'' starts with the main character being called back from his retirement from being an assasin, a spy and king's man, to serve and teach the new generation.
* Kit Carson of [[Time Scout]] was forced into retirement by math. If he had continued to work, he would have died. Full stop.
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* Shepherd Book of ''[[Firefly]]'' fame is a relatively kindly old preacher whose mission in life is to guide the flock he's found on the good ship ''Serenity.'' Sometimes, said flock gets in trouble, and when that happens, the same kindly old preacher starts blasting men in the knees, knocking a cop senseless with his bare hands, and slicing apart battle droids with a giant curved machete.
* O'Neill begins ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' in retirement, but doesn't stay that way long once Apophis comes to town. SG-1's [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], General Hammond, had also ''planned'' on retiring before the Stargate mission began, though he wasn't retired yet...and didn't retire for many years afterward, as he was having ''too much goddamn fun''.
* Sam Axe in ''[[Burn Notice]]''. He's a former... <s> something or other (it's not explicitly mentioned what he was)</s> Navy SEAL Commander with buddies in seemingly every major US Agency. At the beginning of the show, he was making a living mooching off retired women in Miami. When his friend Michael comes back to town, however, he proves himself to be just as [[Badass]] as he ever was.
** Lampshaded in "Friends Like These" when the [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|supposedly bad guy]] Sam's interrogating is actually Serbian intelligence. He proceeds to try and psych Sam out by asking him what he used to do before he was an "errand boy" and figures out Sam is ex-military. He insults the SEALs to bait Sam into coming closer, then knocks Sam down and disarms him.
{{quote|'''Milovan''': Navy SEALs? Little girls! You've gone soft! How stupid are you? * goes to fire, and the gun clicks uselessly*
'''Sam''': * drawing a second gun and getting up* Not stupid enough to let you near a loaded gun. Now sit down. * fires an inch from Milovan's foot* Please. }}
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** Unless he's [[Running Gag|stranded in Peru]].
** It doesn't take any great leap of the imagination to see the First Doctor companion Ian Chesterton as belonging here. People often remark on the incongruity of a Secondary School science teacher apparently being able to nonchalontly kick various kinds of arse. Glance at a calendar and do some mental arithmetic, and you'll realise that, as a man in his late-30's/early-40's in 1963, Ian [[World War II|probably had quite an important event tucked away in his backstory.]] You can bet that not even the mental kids acted up in ''his'' class.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'''s Rupert Giles, the [[Smart Guy|bookish demon expert]] of the group, has a hinted-at past as rebellious badass "Ripper", but now all he does is sit around in the library and help out a few kids. Except for, you know, when he ''charged into the Big Bad's headquarters'', no support, ''completely'' alone, with a flaming baseball bat. And kicked vampire ass.
* King Uther Pendragon of ''Merlin'', played by the same guy as Giles, has handed over most of the combat to his extremely Badass son. He spends most of his time being a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] (unless magic is involved) and [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] against any magic he encounters (he genuinely believes it is evil) and by series 4 he is bed/chair bound and in a permanent bout of [[Heroic BSOD]]. Try and hurt [[Papa Wolf|his son or his people and he will kill you]]. He once held off his own son, who is pretty much unmatchable with a sword, refusing to attack, and took out an assassin during the 4th series bout of [[Heroic BSOD]].
* Claude Rains, the Invisible Man from [[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]] is a variant of this. Subverted somewhat, as he's less of a Retired Badass and more of a Screw-This-I'm-Outta-Here Badass.
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* Although we haven't seen him cut loose it's implied that Zeke from ''[[Parenthood (TV series)|Parenthood]]'' is this.
* Samuel Colt of [[Supernatural]], as shown in one of the Time Travel episodes. When two demons come knocking, he tells them quite politely to walk away, he's retired. When they refuse, he kills both of them in the span of two seconds, and only laments that they knocked over his bottle of whiskey.
* On [[Leverage]], [[Gentleman Thief|Archie Leach]] is this. He is also [[Classy Cat Burglar|Parker's]] mentor and father figure. With a [[Stun Gun|taser]] built into his cane.
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** This can also be said of everyone who was part of the Cobra Unit in WWII. No one knows what happened to them after the war, (With the expetion of The Fury, who got crisped in space.) but The Boss manages to bring them all back together.
* Quercus Alba of ''[[Ace Attorney|Ace Attorney Investigations]]'' was given an ambassadorial position after becoming a highly decorated general in the Cohdopian military. {{spoiler|And he still managed win a knife fight with a man half his age, then arrange a complex plot to smuggle his corpse into the Bahbalese embassy to make it look like he was killed somewhere completely different with a different weapon.}}
* Laike from ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete|Lunar: Silver Star Story]]'' is still an adventurer despite being retired from heroism. He just does it for kicks.
* In the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series, Yen Sid used to be a Keyblade master on par with Eraqus and Xehanort. But he retired and passed his knowledge onto Mickey, which [[Memetic Badass|turned out well.]]
* Garcia from ''[[Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones]]'' retired from Renais's army when his wife died. He was talked into coming out of retirement by his son Ross after helping Eirika's army ward off bandits who were attacking their village.
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* Played with in [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/6/25/ this] example of [[Catch Phrase|dreaded continuity]] from ''[[Penny Arcade]]''.
* Shiné and Shaedo in ''[http://www.newrem.com NewRem Comics]''. Both characters had played major parts in saving the world, the former even having at one point been made the world's goddess, before moving on to lives of internet-trolling and video-game playing, respectively.
* In ''[[Bruno the Bandit]]'', the protagonist's mother Eunyce is eventually revealed to be one of these. Before that, she's entirely retired; afterward, she comes out of retirement more or less permanently, ready to use her skills whenever necessary.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' gave us:
** Old Man Death, who ran with the Jägers in his youth and [[Badass Grandpa|Never. Lost.]] [[Made of Iron|A.]] [[Punched Across the Room|Fight]]. After being "ravished by a wild princess" he married her, gave up his old life and opened a deli. However, he can still hold his own in a fight with a science-magically modified super-soldier.
** Carson von Mekkhan, Seneschal to Bill and Barry Heterodyne, also rode with the Jägers in his youth, an occupation described as something for people who liked to drink and fight and mess people up, and didn't care if they lived or died. When we first encounter him, he is sitting in a rocking chair and discussing dinner plans with his granddaughter. He is still badass enough to go toe-to-toe with the Castle and win regularly.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Jeong Jeong is a former admiral of the Fire Nation who, disillusioned with the war and killing, deserted the navy, turned into something of a pacifist, (and not the [[Technical Pacifist|technical]] kind either), and soon had a group of followers with no apparent goal other than to keep from getting caught or killed until Aang showed up. Jeong Jeong reluctantly taught him some rudimentary firebending, but disappeared at the end of the episode and did not return.{{spoiler|..until the finale.}}
** Iroh might also count as a temporary example. Although not really active anyway through the first two seasons, he is genuinely willing to chuck all other concerns to run a tea house in Ba Sing Se.
** Piandao is similar to Jeong Jeong, minus the pacificism. It's [[All There in the Manual]] that after he left the military for similar reasons he wandered around the world and studied under several masters before moving to his house. Then the Fire Nation sent one hundred soldiers, and he ''[[Badass|beat them all himself]]''. After that they pretty much left him alone.
** It's worth noting that all of the above are, along with Pakku and Bumi, {{spoiler|revealed to be members of the Order of the White Lotus, which is pretty much a secret society of retired badasses.}}
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* One of the youngest examples is [[Wise Beyond Their Years|10-year-old]] [[Afro Asskicker|Huey Freeman]] from ''[[The Boondocks]]''. Retired from Domestic Terrorism.
{{quote|'''Huey:''' Eh. I'm retired.}}
* In ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'', [[Captain America (comics)]] fought on a team of six other superheroes, who are drawn back into Nazi fighting when they are in their 70s.
* The Chief in ''[[Tuff Puppy]]'' used to be T.U.F.F.'s top agent and able to take out a legion of villains singelhandedly. He comes out of retirement in one episode to catch the Chameleon with Dudley. While things don't go very well at first, after some encouragement from Dudley, he shows he's still got enough [[Badass]] in him to get them out of a jam, then beat the stuffing out of the Chameleon.
* In ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'', Grandpa Phil, notorious for his tall tales, claims to have beaten Hitler in a fistfight in WWII. He quickly takes this back... only to reveal on a strikingly serious note that he ''did'' beat up [[Propaganda Machine|Goebbels]].
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* Edward Teach aka Blackbeard retired from piracy after ditching most of his crew and settled down to live as a country gentleman in South Carolina. Of course, this didn't keep him from taking the old ship out every once in a while and indulging in some piracy when he got bored. Bribes to the governor and local judges ensured that the authorities looked the other way.
* John L. Burns was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. At the ripe old age of 68, he was constable of Gettysburg PA. The Civil War Battle of Gettysburg began a few months shy of his 70th birthday, and Burns snagged his old flintlock and walked out to the battle lines. His ass-kicking abilities undiminished by age, he joined the Union soldiers (who were mostly a third or a quarter of his age) and showed them how it was done, even shooting a Confederate officer off his horse. Neither you or I will be this cool when we're 70.
* Buzz Aldrin--former NASA astronaut, decorated Air Force fighter pilot, second man to walk on the moon, MIT doctoral degree holder, and well...you get the idea--had enough of conspiracy theorist crackpot Bart Sibrel's heckling and punched him right in the kisser [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU on video] when he was [[Badass Grandpa|72 years old]] And despite taking place in September 2002, the incident is ''still'' the second suggested result when "Buzz Aldrin" is typed into Google search.
* Cinncinatus, the retired Roman general, came out of retirement and saved Rome from invaders. Then he retired back to his farm rather than submitting to the temptation to use his fame to make himself an [[Evil Overlord]]. In doing so he was held up to Roman Schoolboys for ages after as an example of faithful public service.
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