The Obi-Wan: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"[[Genre Savvy|Well, as an older mentor figure]], the most likely scenario is that [[He's Back|I'd return]] [[Back for Thethe Dead|only to be]] [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him|randomly killed]] by an enemy of yours so that you can [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|cradle my dying body]] while [[It's Personal|swearing revenge]] -- so don't take it personally if I say that I sincerely hope we never cross paths again."''|'''Julio Scoundrél''', ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]''}}

A [[Mentors|mentor]] who travels with the main character and often has some sort of magic powers or at least a brilliant mind. Even though this character is better skilled, faster and [[Older and Wiser|more experienced]] than the protagonist, they aren't [[The Hero]], either because they are not [[The Chosen One]] or because they have already [[Retired Badass|grown too old for the task]]. Their role is to [[Chekhov's Skill|introduce a new skill]] or [[Training Fromfrom Hell|sharpen the current skills]] of the protagonist, often hoping to [[Passing the Torch|pass the torch]] because they know their career is [[End of an Age|coming to an end]]. Expect him to have a very calm attitude as if he has wisdom that he will give out in his own due time.

This character [[Mentor Occupational Hazard|will almost always]] [[The Plot Reaper|die]] so that the protagonist can [[In the End You Are Onon Your Own|learn to stand on his own two feet]]. Their death will also be a great motivator as it gives the protagonists [[It's Personal|a chance for vengeance]]. Afterwards, they'll usually become a [[Spirit Advisor]], either as a literal "spirit" or in [[Flash Back|flashbacks]]. If they ''don't'' die, they will stick around giving advice, but [[Non-Action Guy|not actively adventuring]] (unless [[Gondor Calls for Aid]]).

== Anime &and Manga ==

* Roy Focker from ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]]'' and its Robotech dub is one of the most famous examples of a classic variation of this trope -- thetrope—the "Veteran Ace Pilot".

* {{spoiler|Baron Zepellin}} in the first part of ''[[JojosJoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' not only dies, but admits he knew it would happen, because [[You Can't Fight Fate]].

* Gennai from ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' acts as the mentor and [[Mr. Exposition]]. In his younger days (and post-revitalization in ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]''), Gennai also bears a striking resemblance to Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Episode I''.

** Also in ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', but to a limited extent, Wizardmon plays the Obi-Wan. It's his friendship and wisdom that results in Gatomon's [[Heel Face Turn]]. Oh, {{spoiler|and then he dies. [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. And comes back as a spirit in Season 2 to warn the protagonists.}}

* Of all of ''[[Kenichi: theThe Mightiest Disciple]]'''s six masters, "The Philosophical Jujutsu User" Koetsuji Akisame best fits the description of The Obi-Wan. Other eligible candidates are [[Dirty Old Man|Ma Kensei]] and [[Badass Grandpa|Hayato Fuurinji]].

* Parodied in ''[[Excel Saga (Animeanime)|Excel Saga]]'' when [[Author Avatar|Nabeshin]] appears to give [[Genki Girl|Excel]] the technique needed to defeat a [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|bowling-themed terrorist]], complete with [[Training Montage]]. Afterwards, Excel gives the typical speech that one gives over the body of a fallen mentor, despite Nabeshin's protests that he isn't dead.

{{quote| "You're not actin' much like a main character, are you? You're one of those characters who dies holding off the enemies three chapters before the end of the series!"}}

* In ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', "Hot Ice" Hilda served as lead character Gene's mentor until her [[Heroic Sacrifice]] against Tao Pirates, which she did by [[Badass|using a bomb to blow up the safety line keeping the pirates (and herself) from falling into a star]].

* Shouyou-sensei in ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'' taught Gintoki, Katsura and Takasugi as children. They had extremely different reactions to his death, though.

* Arguably, ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'''s {{spoiler|Soichiro Yagami is this for Touta Matsuda.}}

** Piccolo plays this somewhat in the first arc where he decides to train Gohan, not only to get him ready for the Saiyans who were coming, but also because he sensed his death is near and wants someone to pass on his knowledge to. {{spoiler|He's brought [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]]}}.

* With the exception that he merely makes his swords and doesn't train him in using them, since he's a [[The Blacksmith|blacksmith]], and he doesn't travel along with him, this is Godo from ''[[Berserk]]'' and how he acts toward Guts. He lets Guts stay with him for a year to train, gives him all sorts of neat weapons and equipment, and gives him plenty of insight on personal ambitions and life in his own way. He's the only guy that actually manages to make Guts [[What the Hell, Hero?|shut up and think about his actions for once]] and puts him in his place, something that the Skull Knight can't even succeed in doing. This is one of his last great feats {{spoiler|before he dies of old age, [[Your Days Are Numbered|something that he is well aware of]]. He [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this when Guts comes back to his house for the first time in two years to check on Casca.}} Because of all of this, Godo's in [[Cool Old Guy]] territory.

* Kero (Small form) from [[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]].

* Magi Lune is The Obi-Wan to Crysta in ''[[Fern Gully|FernGully: The Last Rainforest]]''.

* When composing the song "Son of Man" for Disney's ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'', Phil Collins said that he thought of Tarzan's (human, birth) father watching over him as if he were Obi-Wan and the song was about all the things Lord Greystoke (that's his name in [[Edgar Rice Burroughs|Burroughs]]'s books) would've liked to say to him.

** Obviously, the [[Trope Namer]] is Obi-Wan Kenobi, who mentored Luke until he died at the end of Act 2 of the original film -- andfilm—and [[Spirit Advisor|a while after that]].

* Fr. Merrin in ''[[The Exorcist (Film)|The Exorcist]]'' is The Obi-Wan to Fr. Karras, showing up with a wealth of experience and skill and then dying in time for Karras to finish the demon all on his own. {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice|It doesn't end up too well for Karras either...]]}}

* Blatantly played straight in ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron: Legacy]]'' through Kevin Flynn. Right down to a copy of the outfit.

* In the ''[[Highlander (Film)|Highlander]]'' movie, Connor MacLeod's Obi-Wan is Ramirez, played by Sean Connery. He's killed by the Kurgan, leaving Connor himself to face him more than five hundred years later.

* ''[[The Godfather (Film)|The Godfather]]'': Vito Corleone is a type of Obi-Wan to his son Michael.

* Mickey in the first three ''[[Rocky (Filmfilm)|Rocky]]'' movies.

* In J.J. Abrams [[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|2009 reboot of]] ''[[Star Trek]]''

* In ''[[Judge Dredd (Filmfilm)|Judge Dredd]]'', Chief Justice Fargo has most of the qualities of The Obi-Wan (mentors Dredd, dies partway in to give him a motive for revenge, provides [[Exposition]], etc.).

* In ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'' (and to a lesser extant in ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]''), Shepherd Book is this trope to the letter for our [[Big Damn Heroes]], {{spoiler|and he appropriately dies for his troubles}}.

* In ''[[The Men Who Stare Atat Goats]]'', Lyn Cassady, a self-proclaimed Jedi played by George Clooney, acts as The Obi-Wan to Bob Wilton, played by Ewan MacGregor who was Obi-Wan in the ''Star Wars'' prequels.

* Kambei of ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' goes so far as to appear dressed as a priest and with his head shaven. He is definitely the spiritual leader and oldest of the samurai as well as their conscience. Also, [[Wild Mass Guessing|Lucas was a huge fan of Kurosawa...]]

* The film ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Filmfilm)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and the recap from the [[Buffy]] series had Merrick, her first watcher.

* Timothy Spall's character (a mentor to Mark Wahlberg) in Rock Star. On the DVD commentary (Word of God), the director describes him as "a demented Obi-Wan Kenobi."

* Dr. Abraham Erskine in ''[[Captain America: theThe First Avenger]]'', who advises and encourages the young weakling Steve Rogers in his efforts to be heroic because he hopes to turn him into a super-soldier. {{spoiler|Moments after Steve gets his powers, Dr. Erskine is shot by assassins. As he dies, he points to Steve's heart as a final reminder that he must act the way he always did, despite his new abilities}}.

* Yinsen in ''[[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]]'' is an interesting example as he acts more as Tony Stark's [[Morality Pet|conscience during Tony's captivity in Afghanistan]] and inspires him to become a better person. {{spoiler|Naturally he dies protecting Tony during their escape and tells him to not waste his life as he did before, setting Tony on his path to becoming a hero.}}

* Dr. Gillespie is this initially in the ''Dr. Kildare'' series of films, as Kildare's crusty bit wise mentor who is dying of a then-uncurable disease. But that subplot was dropped over time, and the last few films in the series were renamed after him because Dr. Kildare's actor left.

* Master Po in the flashbacks in ''[[Kung Fu (TV)|Kung Fu]]''.

* ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]''

* Godbold, the wise old hermit reincarnated as a plumber is Adam's Obi-Wan in ''[[The Wanderer (TV)|The Wanderer]]''. In addition to being the only one who seems to understand what's going on he is a mean wrestler. But he doesn't die.

* John Winchester (the father) to his sons the Winchester Brothers on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. We never see him training them, but we know that he taught them everything they know about hunting.

* [[Trickster Mentor|Claude]] [[Invisibility|Rains]] to Peter Petrelli on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', until he was [[Put Onon a Bus]].

* Chin often plays this role to his cousin Kono in the new ''[[Hawaii Five -O]]''. Suitable since he's an experienced if disgraced cop, and she is just coming up to graduation to the HPD at the start of the series.

* Polk the teamster, in the novels ''[[White Plume Mountain]]'', ''[[Descent Into The Depths Of The Earth]]'', and ''[[Queen Of The Demonweb Pits]]'' is both a literary example and a rare subversion of the trope -- atrope—a drunken porter who follows the grim, hardened Justicar around under the delusion that he can pass on the wisdom of the ages. He dies in the second book -- notbook—not making a heroic last stand, but reloading the crossbow for the character who ''is'' -- and—and is promptly reincarnated as a badger, his ego even further inflated by the experience.

* ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'': Dumbledore, the wise wizard who usually dispenses a few pieces of advice just before the hero needs it, then shows up in the epilogue to tie up any loose ends. This has started to be called the "Dumbledore Explains It All" scene. {{spoiler|Dumbledore dies at the end of book six in a seven-book series, leaving one final story for the hero to avenge his death.}} In ''Deathly Hallows'', {{spoiler|Dumbledore gets to explain it all ''one last time'', as he and Harry have a chat in an afterlife train station. Talk about sticking to the trope.}}

* In Christopher Paolini's ''[[Inheritance Cycle (Literature)|Inheritance Cycle]]'', Brom (an obvious clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi) fills this role until his death midway through ''[[Inheritance Cycle (Literature)|Eragon]]''; in ''Eldest'', Oromis takes over the role. Oromis might be more The Obi-Wan than Brom was, since he {{spoiler|got killed by [[The Dragon]] to the [[Big Bad]] at the end of the third book.}} A memory of Brom turns up late in ''Brisingr'', which would send him straight back to the Obi-Wan territory if he ever left it.

* The old priest in ''[[Nation]]''. Subverted by the fact that the young hero, Mau, doesn't want to hear a damn thing he has to say -- insay—in the wake of the tsunami that devastates their area of the Great Pelagic Ocean, the old priest is clinging to his faith, while Mau violently rejects it... [[Flat Earth Atheist|despite being continually harassed by the spirits of his ancestors and Locaha, the god of death]]. Played straight, though, in that he helps Mau become the leader the refugees desperately need, and is killed at the end of the second act.

* Doctor Morgenes of [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory, SorrowandSorrow, and Thorn]]'' plays this role for Simon, taking the wayward kitchen boy under his tutelage and giving him some rudimentary schooling. He's really a member of the League of the Scroll, a group of scholars dedicated to preventing the [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|return]] of the [[Big Bad|Storm King]], and Simon isn't [[Moses in Thethe Bulrushes|quite what he seems either]]. Then, Morgenes dies in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to allow Simon to escape from [[Evil Sorcerer]] Pryrates. True to the trope, he continues to appear to Simon in [[Dreaming of Things to Come|dreams]], attempting to warn him of the [[Prophetic Fallacy]] that is about to befall the heroes.

* DCI Nightingale in ''[[Rivers of London]]'' is an example of [[The Obi-Wan]] who doesn't die, although his near fatal shooting serves the same function in forcing inexperienced DC Grant to go it alone and realise his own potential. He gets better by the end of the book, after the [[Big Bad]] has been defeated.

* Henry Sturges, the ethical vampire who teaches Abe his vocation, fills this role in ''[[Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter]]''. Unusually, not only does Henry not die, {{spoiler|he eventually turns Abe into a fellow-vampire, and the two are fighting evil blood-suckers to this day.}}

* Mia Fey from ''[[Ace Attorney (Visual Novel)|Ace Attorney]]'' is a rare female example. She dies in the second case of the first game, only to return as a spirit, channeled by either Maya or Pearl, who gives advice in later chapters and installments.

* Dr. Light to X in the ''[[Mega Man X]]'' games (amusingly enough, he's got the whole "force ghost" thing happening via hologram messages). Zero acted like this until X became more of an equal, and it came full circle in the ''[[Mega Man Zero|Zero]]'' series, where X is Zero's Obi-Wan.

* Peppy from ''[[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Star Fox]]'', as he is stated to be the oldest one on the team, was a member of the original Star Fox crew with Fox's father and also acts somewhat as a mediator between the more hot-headed Falco and the other teammates.

* When one thinks Mentors from ''[[Pokémon]]'', the Profs spring to mind. But a better example is Cynthia, the Champion from the Sinnoh games. Aside from acting as a local [[Deus Ex Machina]], she seems to have to taken a shine to you, and supplies you with hints and helpful [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s and [[Plot Coupons]]. In Platinum, this becomes very pronounced when you go into the Distortion World with her. Unlike the darker examples of this trope, where the Hero kills The Obi-Wan, when you defeat her at the end of the game, she says she's proud of you. This is Pokemon, after all.

* {{spoiler|Master Eraqus}}, from ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]''. [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Amusingly]], his English voice actor is [[Mark Hamill]].

** Just to further drive the [[Star Wars]] [[Mark Hamill]] irony home, {{spoiler|Master Eraqus}} is struck down by a former pupil who, thanks to an [[Evil Mentor]], has embraced [[The Dark Side]], though he eventually sides with good when he needs to protect a loved one.

* Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles the Mole from the [[Banjo -Kazooie]] series.

* [[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Ezio]] [[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|Audi]][[Assassin's Creed: Revelations (Video Game)|tore]] is this to Shao Jun is ''Assassin's Creed Embers''.

* Massively lampshaded in ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'', when, shortly after he helped Elan [[Took a Level Inin Badass|Take a Level in Badass]], the [[Genre Savvy]] Julio Scoundrél [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0392.html knowingly hopes he never meets the bard again lest he suffer a mentor-death], providing the page quote.

* The clone Ben Franklin in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''.

* Dr. Herb from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20171212154432/http://www.goldcoincomics.com/ Gold Coin Comics]''.

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': In the future, Batman, the ultimate badass (and still an elder badass if forced by circumstances), became an Obi-Wan to a new younger Batman, giving adviseadvice by radio.

* Grandpa Max, in ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'', was a [[The Men in Black|Man in Black]] when he was younger, and retired to have some peace and quiet, spend time with his grandkids... Once the [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] the show revolves around latches onto his grandson's wrist, Max's experience is indispensibleindispensable. {{spoiler|''Alien Force'' has Max go to The Obi-Wan's inevitable fate.}}

* Jaga from ''[[Thunder CatsThundercats]]''.

* Cathy's Grandpa from ''[[Monster Buster Club (Animation)|Monster Buster Club]]''.

* Tux Dog from ''[[The Problem Solverz]]''.

* The Airbending monk, Gyatso, from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Like a true Obi-Wan, he is a kind mentor to protagonist Aang, then eventually {{spoiler|dies. When Aang discovers his death [[It Makes Sense in Context|100 years later]], it sends him into [[Heroic BSOD]] mode and awakens the Avatar State}}.

[[Category:The Obi -Wan]]