Jerk with a Heart of Gold/Literature: Difference between revisions

** Ford Prefect veers in and out of this trope - he's something of an asshole, but he ''did'' save Arthur from certain death and is passionately opposed to cruelty to any animal but geese.

** Despite this, he did at one point (while trapped on Earth thousands of years in the past) take up cruelty to animals as a hobby, and has hinted that he is responsible for the shape of the giraffe's neck.

* Mat Cauthon in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''. Also, everyone else to a lesser extent.

* Severus Snape of the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series perhaps walks the line between this and all out [[Jerkass]]. He's ridiculously biased towards Slytherin, he has a particularly nasty grudge against Harry Potter and his associates {{spoiler|due to the actions of Harry's father}}, and holds a nearly-homicidal grudge against {{spoiler|Sirius Black for his childhood antics}}. And yet, in the end, he {{spoiler|was in fact fanatically devoted to Dumbledore, saving Harry's life and eventually getting himself killed by Voldemort}}.

** While not a jerk, Horace Slughorn seems to be rather more concerned about his influence and knowing famous people than being a decent person, as well as being a bit 'old fashioned' (He seems to find the idea of muggle-borns being really good witches novel but to his credit doesn't hold it against said witches and seems to like such a surprise). However, {{spoiler|his terrible guilt over what he revealed to the young Tom Riddle as well as his willingness to personally fight Voldemort in the final book}} show that there's more to him than connections and influence.

* ''[[Artemis Fowl]]''. He successfully manages to {{spoiler|extort a metric ton of gold from the fairies, and he gives up half of it to help his clinically depressed mother recover from the apparent death of his father}}.

* Henny in ''[[All of a Kind Family]]'' is devious and likes to cause trouble for people, but nonetheless cares deeply for her sisters and baby brother. She was also quick to defend Guido, a young orphan boy who was being harassed by a shopkeeper, and when she conned a doll from a charity, she ended up giving it to a homeless girl.

* [[Hercule Poirot]] frequently comes over as a vain, arrogant, egotistical jerkass, but underneath it all has a genuinely kind, decent heart.

* Rosa Hubermann of ''[[The Book Thief]]''.

* Gilbert Blythe of ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' starts off the series this way. He calls the girls names and pins their braids to their seats, but always apologizes for going too far (like [[Berserk Button|calling a certain red-head "Carrots"]]). Eventually, he outgrows the jerk side.

** There are also Mr. Harrison and Norman Douglas.

* Jayfeather from ''[[Warrior Cats]]''.

* [[Time Scout]]'s Skeeter Jackson is a thief and a [[Con Man]] who ruined people's vacations, even lives. Of course, he had a little bit of an excuse, but, in the end, he was just drifting. He stole, he gambled, he drank, and he gave most of his money to charity. Wait, charity?

* [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Booster Terrik]] is very much this. To most people, and in most situations, he's very much a [[Jerkass]] (''especially'' to Corran Horn). He's got a big soft spot [[Papa Wolf|for his daughter Mirax and adopted son Wedge]], though. And generally when we see Booster, one or the other (if not both) is either present or involved in the same situation.

* Marcia Overstrand in ''[[Septimus Heap]]''. While most of the time she is an annoying bossy complainer, she cares deeply about Jenna and Septimus when they're in trouble.

* Nathan Hillary in ''[[Kill Time or Die Trying]]'' is arguably this. His behaviour seem to be the result of an effort to keep things interesting rather than genuine malice.

 

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