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Line 2: {{quote\|"I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had who was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will ever tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you when he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on, I am your teacher."\|'''Mazer Rackham''', ''[[Ender's Game]]''}} The polar opposite of the [[Treacherous Advisor]], the [['''Stealth Mentor]]''' is a [[Trickster Mentor]] who poses as an antagonist for much of the story but ultimately reveals that all of their actions have been a sneaky way of forcing the hero to become stronger. A subtrope of the [[Reverse Mole]], can overlap with the [[Mysterious Protector]]. This character type will inevitably be an [[Enigmatic Minion]] to the heroes at ''some'' point prior to their reveal. [[I Let You Win\|Any losses will be revealed to be intentional.]] This can take a couple of forms: either giving the aspiring hero a taste of what he's going to be up against in the big leagues because it's [[The Only Way They Will Learn]], or encouraging a budding rebel by [[Reverse Psychology\|giving him something to push against]]. Expect generous helpings of [[Reverse Psychology]]. The [['''Stealth Mentor]]''''s motives may vary: some genuinely have the hero's best interests at heart, but others may be grooming him as a [[Worthy Opponent]] - in the most lethal scenario this may be part of a plan in which [[My Death Is Just the Beginning]]. This is the [[Training From Hell]], and then some, because the hero really believes that this guy is out to get him. If the [['''Stealth Mentor]]''''s actions could plausibly have gotten the hero killed (and the [['''Stealth Mentor]]''' cares enough for this to be a problem), this is a form of [[Xanatos Roulette]]... but the hero survived, as the [['''Stealth Mentor]]''' knew he would, so this falls under the [[Omniscient Morality License]]. If a recurring antagonist or [[Aloof Big Brother]] is a popular [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], expect lots of Fan Speculation to this effect. It also doubles as a convenient [[Hand Wave]] to the question "if he's such a nice guy, why does he keep trying to brutally kill me?" Line 31: * It's possible that Bartholomew Kuma in ''[[One Piece]]'' may be this and not as [[Lawful Neutral]] as he lead you to believe. It wasn't so much that he spared the Straw Hats, but his next encounter with them, which wasn't too long after their first battle with them, {{spoiler\|he teleported all of them to different islands where they could learn and/or improve their skills.}} ** {{spoiler\|Confirmed in chapter 591.}} * Ovan from ''[[.hack\|.hack Conglomerate]]'' is a [[Stealth Mentor]] of sorts to Haseo. All his actions in the story are directed at making Haseo stronger than himself {{spoiler\|so that Haseo can ''kill him''. No Ovan isn't really [[The Atoner]] but his death ''would'' really set many things right. And he knows it. Too bad he is virtually unkillable... and that's where Haseo joins the game (pun unintended).}} ** Just a side note, Ovan was a straight up mentor for Haseo before their mutual (and very close) friend, Shino, fell into a coma. * During the Bount arc of ''[[Bleach]]'' {{spoiler\|Urahara constructs three modsouls and has them torment the main cast to prepare them for the appearance of the Bount.}} Line 45: == Comic Books == * This is allegedly Zoom (the second Reverse Flash)'s modus operandi. He claims that he wants to make the Flash stronger. Mostly he just goes around killing ~~people -- which~~people—which is, as luck would have it, exactly what his philosophy calls for. Zoom wants to, as he would put it, "make Walllllly abetterhero thrrrrough tragedyyyy", or by forcing him to ''deal with'' tragedy. * Mr. Mxyzptlk, [[Reality Warper\|reality warping]] enemy of [[Superman]], is sometimes implied to be one of these, [[Depending on the Writer]]. Line 89: * In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', [[Final Fantasy IV\|Golbez]] is given this role, because it would be extremely awkward if after all that happened in his original game {{spoiler\|about him making peace with Cecil in the end of the game (as well as being revealed as his brother)}}, he'd willingly turn his back and smack Cecil around [[For the Evulz]]. He's also the only villain who has a different 'death' cutscene, in which he doesn't [[Everything Fades\|vanish with dark energy]], but just retreats. * Nero from ''[[My World, My Way]]'' is a mentor-in-secret to the game's [[Spoiled Brat]] protagonist. The player can even choose what type of "help" he gives her at the end of each level (usually in the form of a quickie boss battle). * In the first ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' game, {{spoiler\|pretty much ''every'' villain}} is a [[Stealth Mentor]]. In particular, [[Large Ham\|Sanger Zonvolt]] is particularly unsubtle that this is his plan, to the extent that none of his teammates ever ''really'' think he's betrayed them. ** {{spoiler\|Ingram}} is another particularly interesting example, in that he actually begins as a mentor character before [[Broken Pedestal\|betraying the party]] and revealing that he only helped train the heroes so that they'd be more useful when they were [[Brainwashed and Crazy\|brainwashed and integrated into the Aerogaters' army]]. He even admits that he's continuing to train them by being their enemy. {{spoiler\|Of course, he's actually counting on them winning.}} * Waka from ''[[Ōkami\|Okami]]''. Line 102: == Visual Novels == * Arguably, Archer from ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' is this to ~~Shirou -- in~~Shirou—in the anime at least, and in the visual novel. {{spoiler\|Even though he REALLY is intent on killing him so he won't repeat his own mistakes, he DOES give pretty helpful advice to him in the form of spiteful comments, and ultimately helps Shirou awaken his powers. No best stealth mentor than your aloof [[Future Badass]] self. It also should be noted that in one scenarios, he discards his personal vendetta in face of a greater threat, and because at this point Shirou will most likely never, ever, turn into Archer.}} Line 113: * Scavenger in ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' takes this role for a while. During which he helps the Decepticons get their hands on a superweapon (and even makes sure Megatron will use it personally!), which is probably the only reason they believed he was on their side, given that his behavior towards Hot Shot would be downright bizarre if he wasn't secretly an Autobot. ** It was also pretty cleverly done in terms of the character's physical design. In the [[Transformers Generation 1\|G1]] series, Scavenger was a Decepticon and transformed into a green and purple construction vehicle. In Armada, Scavenger was a (fake) Decepticon and transformed into a green and purple construction vehicle. The [[Genre Savvy]] denizens of the other side of the fourth wall would, of course, jump to the conclusion that he was a Decepticon in homage to the G1 character. * Chase Young in ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' ~~-- but~~—but he's trying to convert Omi to evil, so he's not a [[Reverse Mole]]. * Proto Man in the ''[[Mega Man (animation)\|Mega Man]]'' cartoon might be considered one at few times but it's highly debatable (maybe if it would have been finished one could judge reliably.

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