The Master (trope): Difference between revisions

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Beware of any character whose name is simply "The Master." They're often in charge of things (duh) but most often these things include a reclusive mansion in the middle of nowhere, or a castle, or a laboratory, or all three! If they don't rule in the periphery of civilization like an old-school noble, they may rule right under our noses in civilized society. Whatever they're up to, expect them to have a big mustache, a great dining hall, and any number of [[Evil Plan]]s.
 
Note that characters who have a name to go with "Master" are exempted from this—for example, Master So-and-So who teaches martial arts. Often a student will simply refer to their teacher as "Master," but that's also an exemption.
 
See also [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]], [[Spell My Name with a "The"]], [[Just the First Citizen]].
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** Despite not being a villain, he's still pretty scary in his own way, when you consider that the devil himself comes to Earth just to find him, and he seems to be channeling the consciousness of a biblical figure who's been dead for 2,000 years...
* In ''The Master of the World'' by [[Jules Verne]], the titular character is the inventor/pilot of the speedboat/submarine/automobile/aircraft called "The Terror" (it was 1904, folks).
* One of the titles of [[The Dragon|Gerridon]] from the [[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]] is "The Master of Knorth", usually shortened to just "the Master".
* ''[[The Stone Dance of the Chameleon]]'' features an ''entire race of people'' called the Masters, and they are ''terrifying''.
* The villain from [[Garth Nix]]'s story "Hope Chest" is called [[The Master (trope)|The Master]]. He's a Hitler-like character in an alternate America.
* A "stale beer with a martini olive" [[Spy Fiction]] series by William Garner featured a British [[The Spymaster|intelligence chief]] who was referred to and occasionally addressed only as the Master. The main character had been one of his agents before the series began, and sometimes wound up reluctantly working for him again.
* ''[[The Strain]]'' has an ancient evil vampire simply called The Master.
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* The recurring villain from ''[[Doctor Who]]'', '''[[Large Ham|THE]] [[Magnificent Bastard|MASTER]]'''!
** On the rare occasions anyone's asked what he's the master ''of'', his response has been that he's "the master of all matter" or simply "The Master of All." By the same token, the Doctor is "a doctor of many things" or "The Doctor of Everything" plus a couple of less-used versions referring to time-travel.
** ''[[Doctor Who]]'' also had "The Master of the Land of Fiction" from ''The Mind Robber'', who was usually called the Master for short. He wasn't a villain, though. [[Double Subversion|However,]] he was controlled by a computer called the MASTER Brain.
** On at least two occasions in the Second Doctor's run, the Doctor is told that "The Master" wants to see him (on one occasion it's the Master of the Land of Fiction, and on the other it's Professor Maxtible). In each case he reacts with alarm. Since the Master proper hadn't been invented then, his misgivings can only be down to [[Genre Savvy|his knowledge of this trope]] (in-universe, in the character's debut story, "Terror of the Autons", a Time Lord informs that the Doctor that the Master has taken to referring to himself by that title; though the Doctor knew the character before this, he is apparently unaware of the change in his moniker). After the Master proper had already been established, the Fifth Doctor, while playing cricket, was informed he played as well as "the Master", and got progressively more nervous until the other man clarified that he was talking about "the other Doctor -- [[wikipedia:W. G. Grace|W. G. Grace]]".
** He's also a very interesting foil of the Doctor himself.
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** He shows up again in Season 8.
* The Master is the name of the [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] of ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]''.
* The Master of Lonsdale College in the [[Inspector Morse]] episode "Death is Now My Neighbour" is a very nasty piece of work.
* In ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'', ''Death in Disguise'' the Master is actually a very nice guy who wants to look after people and help them.
* Aversion: Even though Lee Van Cleef was "[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly|The Bad]]", his titular character in the TV series ''[[Master Ninja|The Master]]'' (a.k.a. ''Master Ninja'' to ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' fans) was a good guy.
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== Music ==
* In the world of the metal band GWAR, "The Master" is a giant pair of buttocks.
* The [[Rammstein]] song "Der Meister" (=The Master) is about the apocalypse.
 
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* ''[[Mega Man Legends]]'' 2 has "The Master" {{spoiler|The last human being with everyone else in the game being robots or clones or robot clones.}}
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', the leader of the [[Career Killers|assassins]] is named Al Mualim, literally 'The Master'. {{spoiler|Turns out at the end of the game that he was just using you to give him undisputed control of the Piece of Eden, an ancient artifact capable of brainwashing the world.}}
* ''[[Act RaiserActRaiser]]'' subverts convention. You ''are'' the Master and you're not at all evil.
** That is, in the Western version. In the Japanese version, the Master is known as '''God'''.
* The villain from ''[[Evil Twin: CypriensCyprien's Chronicles]]'' is known as simply "The Master".
* Ditto for ''[[Heart of Darkness (video game)|Heart of Darkness]]''.
* The Master Hand from the ''[[Super Smash Brothers]]'' series
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[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
[[Category:The Master]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Master (trope), The}}