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Evil Mentor: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:devil_keanu_4494.jpg|link=The
{{quote|'''Peter Petrelli:''' Do you know me?<br />
'''Adam Monroe:''' Of course I know you. It's me, Adam. Don't you remember? You and I are going to change history.|''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', "Out of Time"}}
[[The Hero]], or a member of the [[Five-Man Band|heroic band]], finds a [[Mentor]] with new secret techniques to teach. The student eagerly signs on, only to learn later that there's a catch -- the mentor is evil, has a hidden agenda of his or her own, and those new abilities are seriously nasty (though certainly not [[Useless Superpowers|useless]]). The student may feel [[My God, What Have I Done?|"soiled"]] by having learned these [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|techniques]] and might swear off ever using them again, or they might have to [[Evil Feels Good|wrestle with temptation]] against using them regularly. Of course, the audience fully expects that there will come a time of great need, and [[Chekhov's Skill|out will come the evil technique]] because [[
The Evil Mentor might teach the character [[Black Magic]], a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]], how to use a [[Deadly Upgrade]] (while downplaying the costs), advanced [[Psychic Powers]] like [[Mind Rape]] or [[Brainwashed|Mind Control]], and generally introduce them to abilities or substances that are [[This Is Your Brain
The Evil Mentor's motivation for this are similar to those of an [[Old Master]], but with a [[Zen Survivor]]'s more elitist air: they're looking for someone to carry on their legacy, warts and all, and usually ''against'' the pupil's wishes because only ''they'' are "worthy enough" to learn it. This usually entails actively [[More Than Mind Control|corrupting the hero]], not just to spread evil and [[Fallen Hero|deny good a powerful champion]], but also netting him a personal [[The Dragon|Dragon]]. The Evil Mentor is also patient enough to wait, hoping that if attempts to actively corrupt fail at forcing a [[Face Heel Turn]], then more passive temptation will do their work for them. Also, people who easily [[Face Heel Turn]] also easily [[Heel Face Turn]]. If you want quality in your minion, do it the long way.
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* ''[[Gundam]]''
** [[Dark Messiah|Paptimus Scirocco]] of ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'' ends up serving as a mentor for several other characters. Naturally, his harem of newtype pilots comes to mind most easily, but Scirocco also mentors [[Jerk Jock|Jerid Mesa]] and [[Blood Knight|Yazan Gable]] throughout the course of the series.
** Ali Al-Saachez from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' served as a [[Complete Monster]] mentor to Kurdish [[Child Soldiers]], going as far as to instruct them to become [[Self-Made Orphan|Self Made Orphans]] in the name of "god". One of those children, Soran Ibrahim, eventually became Setsuna F. Seiei, [[The Hero]] of the series.
** Master Asia of ''[[G Gundam]]'' [[Training From Hell|trained]] [[The Hero|Domon]] since childhood (''before'' he became evil, though), and is revealed to be the [[Big Bad]]. He remains so for a good part of the show.
* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Basilisk]]'', {{spoiler|Tenzen Yakushiji}}, takes a boy in ( {{spoiler|Koushirou Chikuma}}) and trains him as his apprentice and [[The Dragon|right hand]], years before the events of the series start.
* ''[[Kenichi:
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' plays a lot with this one, with Negi becoming apprentice to Evangeline, who holds a reputation as the most powerful, evil, undead vampire mage alive. Negi is fully aware of this, but trains with her anyway after deciding that [[Anti-Villain|she's not really]] ''[[Anti-Villain|that]]'' [[Anti-Villain|evil]]. And he seems to be right, regardless of [[Noble Demon|how evil she claims to be.]]
** Her case for villainy is definitely not helped by the fact that, aside from one or two [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lectures]] and an [[The Vamp|attempted seduction]], her most evil deeds have been being a [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] and [[Sink or Swim Mentor]]-ness.
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* [[Code Geass]] R2 has Schneizel El Britannia playing this role, towards {{spoiler|Nina Einstein.}}
* Makoto Shishio from [[Rurouni Kenshin]], towards Soujirou Seta. And even ''then'', he was kinder towards Soujirou [[Abusive Parents|than his abusive stepsiblings]] [[The Unfavorite|ever were to him]].
* Dr. Umatarō Tenma from ''[[Astro Boy (
* Orochimaru from ''[[Naruto]]'' seems to collect apprentices, and most of them wind up either evil and/or slavishly devoted to him.
** Madara picked Sasuke up a while after he split from Orochimaru and did an even better job at this. The contrast between emo boy and the blank-faced teen who stabbed Naruto on his first appearance after the time skip was impressive, but the contrast between the shinobi who told his two minions 'no unnecessary killing' when they assaulted a whole fortress and the psycho who decided to off an entire village and threw away three loyal subordinates without blinking is also pretty wow.
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* In Wee Tian Beng's ''The Celestial Zone'', Xue Wu runs across one of these near the end of the series. Given that his insane competitiveness has been pushing him down the slippery slope, and that a villain recently gave him the [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him|If You Kill Me You Will Be Just Like Me]] speech right before he kebabed her, it doesn't end well.
* Slade of the DCU does this as a hobby. He once acted as an [[Evil Mentor]] to Terra, before he realized too late that she was even more evil than him. He also tried to turn Nightwing evil in the "Renegade" storyline, but Nightwing turned that around by acting as a ''Good'' Mentor to Slade's daughter Rose which led to her [[Heel Face Turn]]. He also founded an [[Evil Counterpart]] to the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] ''twice''. Slade in general has a disturbing interest in corrupting the next generation of superbeings.
* Prometheus, also of the DCU, gives this a brief shot when he takes in a young sociopath named Chad Graham. He intends Chad to be his Robin, but the kid turns out to be a huge disappointment. Eventually he [[Kill It
* Talon of the Fraternity of Raptors plays with this trope a bit. In [[War of Kings]], he tells Starhawk the origin of his powers, omitting that the powers are actually for intergalactic espionage and assassination.
* The Scarecrow has tried this a couple of times, encouraging young victims of bullying toward bloody revenge. He's had various degrees of success--one of his "students" prevented him from stabbing [[Batman]], but kept and used a can of his fear gas.
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* Subverted in [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1644645/1/Harrys_Savior Harry's Savior], when Voldemort is actually turned back to the light.
* While we're on the subject, {{spoiler|Quirrelmort}} in ''[[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality (Fanfic)|Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]]''. Rather than try to kill Harry, he's instead trying to bring him around to his point of view.
* Lama Nawang in ''[[
* ''[[
* The ''[[
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* Los Angeles Narcotics Detective Alonzo Harris from ''[[Training Day]]'' is THE poster boy of this trope.
* Henri Ducard / {{spoiler|Ra's al Ghul}} in ''[[Batman Begins]]''.
* Sebastian Shaw in ''[[X
* John Milton in ''[[The
== Literature ==
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** Mayor Wilkins represents an Evil Mentor / [[Parental Substitute]] to Faith, the series' renegade Slayer. While not directly causing her [[Start of Darkness]], he genuinely cares for Faith very deeply. Perversely, Wilkins is the closest thing to a father that Faith has.
** Also Gwendolyn Post, Faith's treacherous Watcher. Faith ''really'' can't catch a break...
* ''[[
* Averted with Zhaan in ''[[
* In Season 2 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', [[Big Bad]] Adam Monroe takes under his wing resident [[Idiot Hero]] Peter Petrelli, successfully [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulating]] him into furthering his plans to release an apocalyptic virus upon the Earth.
** In the same season, Sylar acts as a mentor to Maya, teaching her how to control [[Walking Wasteland|her power]] without the help of her brother. And in late Season 3, Sylar himself meets up with his father, a [[Retired Monster]] who used to be just like him and who convinces him that he needs to stop hunting "small game" and go after real power. This eventually inspires Sylar to {{spoiler|try to kill the President and take his place using [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]}}.
* Ruby of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', even if her intentions are good ({{spoiler|which they aren't.}})
** Specifically, she spends a season being mysterious and helpful before Dean dies, and then provides the bereaved Sam with emotional support, and encourages him to develop his [[Psychic Powers]], which are [[Bad Powers, Bad People|of demonic origin]], in order to avenge Dean. Even though he'd promised Dean he wouldn't use them. {{spoiler|She gets him hooked on [[Psycho Serum|demon blood]], a power booster that turns out to be [[Drunk
*** It's notable that even though he showed a lot of [[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]] markers, he never got further than rather lukewarm [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]...unless he actually ''exsanguinated'' that poor nurse, Cindy, I guess, but that ''was'' a once-off. He trespasses rather badly against his family, but almost all of it is either under [[Mind Control|siren venom]] or in the throes of withdrawal. Sam is actually a really good guy, but no one [[Death Seeker|including Sam]] really believes that even a little for much of season five.
** The Yellow-Eyed Demon, Azazel, fancied himself this and sort of managed it, in a ham-handed way, with the rest of his specials, but Sam has a personal grudge and [[Heroic Willpower]] and a big brother, so it never really worked. {{spoiler|Ruby's the follow-up.}}
** Lucifer toyed with the role as well. These fucktards will ''not'' leave Sam ''alone''. On the other hand, [[Came Back Wrong|Soulless Sam]] in six didn't need Samuel's influence to be a cold sonuvabitch.
** Alistair to Dean. Plays up the avuncular thing kind of the way Azazel used to. Thankfully no signs of [[Stockholm Syndrome]], at least not that survived his resurrection.
** Season six {{spoiler|Crowley to Cas}}, a bit. Not that the latter isn't the more powerful, but the former leads him by the nose with the hope of knowledge he can use to end the war, and his [[Deal
* On ''[[Burn Notice]]'', we learn that Larry Sizemore, the man who trained Michael Westen in most of what he knows, eventually faked his own death and went freelance. He's now a [[Psycho for Hire]] who enjoys using poisons and knives way too much, and thinks [[Kill
* On ''[[The Wire]]'', Chris and Snoop, Marlo Stanfield's top enforcers, tutor {{spoiler|Micheal}} in the ways of the game.
* Similar to the ''[[Batman Begins]]'' example, the mentor of ''[[Smallville]]'''s version of [[Green Arrow]] is a cold-blooded murderer and looks down on Ollie for becoming a superhero. In Season 5, [[Robotic Psychopath|Brainiac]] begins as one for [[The Hero|Clark]].
* It's revealed late in ''[[Babylon
{{quote| '''Mr. Morden:''' It's like knocking over an ant-hill. Every new generation gets stronger, the ant-hill gets redesigned, made better. A few get lost along the way, yes, and that's unfortunate. I don't think it was ever easy, but you can't let that get in the way of the dream.}}
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* Goutetsu in ''[[Street Fighter]]'', who taught a form of martial arts that used murderous intent in every move. Two of his students were Gouken and Akuma; Gouken purged the murderous aspects of the martial art and went on to teach this form to his students [[Ryu and Ken]], while Akuma used the form as it was intended. Akuma used it to kill Goutetsu (who died happy, knowing his legacy would carry on through his student) and later tried to pass it on to Ryu.
** The manga adaptation of ''Street Fighter Alpha'' by Masahiko Nakahira deviated from this back-story by making Goutetsu the one who purged the ''Satsui no Hadou'' from the art itself.
* Houzuki from ''[[
* The Baron in ''[[Amnesia:
* A book in [[Oblivion]] talks about how Nocturnal's cowl was stolen. A young thief tries to steal from a master thief, who summarily catches her but lets her be his protege. Eventually they plan a heist to [[Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?|steal the cowl of Nocturnal]]. The young thief is to wait in a nearby tree, wait for Nocturnal to remove her cowl, then let the elder make a distraction. When the distraction never comes, the young thief attempts to steal the cowl without help. After she is caught, she looks over to realize that Nocturnal's cowl is gone. When asked who she is, she says, [[Ironic Echo|"I'm the distraction."]]
* {{spoiler|[[The Master|Al Mualim]]}} in ''[[Assassin's Creed]].''
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== Western Animation ==
* Malchior in ''[[Teen Titans (
{{quote| '''Raven:''' It's dark magic! You've been teaching me dark magic!<br />
'''Malchior:''' Is it dark, or is it simply misunderstood... like you? }}
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** Slade and Brother Blood, too, at various points. Heck, Blood does this ''for a living''.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Katara meets Hama, a waterbender from their South Pole tribe, who uses her waterbending to take control of other peoples' bodies by "bending" the water inside their blood, and uses this power on innocent people in the Fire Nation town where she lives in revenge for her tribe being imprisoned by the [[The Empire|Fire Nation]]. Katara is horrified and refuses to learn, but in the end must resort to using it on the Evil Mentor in order to save Sokka and Aang.<br />Before being sent away, Hama "congratulates" her for using it and [[Evil Laugh|laughs]]. Katara was understandably upset. Ironically she used it on a Fire Nation soldier whom she thought killed her mother, but she's likely angry at Hama for teaching her bloodbending in the first place.
* Chase Young of ''[[
* [[Psycho for Hire]] Lockdown plays this for Prowl in one episode of ''[[Transformers Animated]]''.
* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'': Franz Hopper's diary accidentally becomes an evil data disk for Jérémie when he tries a technique... that almost kills him.
* During one episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|Shego]] became the [[Evil Mentor]] for Señor Senior, Jr. It worked very well, he transformed from [[Minion
* This is exactly what [[Big Bad]] Vlad Masters wants to accomplish with Danny in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. He only mildly succeeds because Danny [[Myth Arc|goes through a]] [[Start of Darkness|dark arc]].
* Marathon loves this one. Diana Lombard had an evil mentor in ''[[Martin Mystery]]'' {{spoiler|which ended up with her turned into a [[Cute Monster Girl|lizard-esque creature]]}}, and a minor character became "Admiral Admirable" with the help of one in ''[[Totally Spies]]!''
* In the finale season ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'', [[Big Bad|V.V. Argost]] offers to teach Zak how to control his {{spoiler|Kur}} powers. Being Argost, he admits to Zak right at the start that he intends to kill him in the end and {{spoiler|take his Kur Powers for himself}}. And Zak still accepts...
* [[Evil Sorceror|The Archmage]] was this to [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Demona]] on ''[[Gargoyles]]''
* In ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' {{spoiler|Eddy's Brother was this to Eddy}}.
** And Eddy to Jimmy.
* In ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' (and its prequel book, ''[[Transformers Exodus]]''), Megatron was this to Optimus Prime back when they were Megatronus and Orion Pax. {{spoiler|Megatron eagerly resumes this role once Optimus loses his memory of having become a Prime.}}
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