Wandering Minstrel: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

The wandering minstrel is a classic fantasy character and a frequent feature in many [[Ensembles]]. He wanders the land, making music for money. Generally carries a lute, (or sometimes a [[Magical Flautist|flute]]) and always has a song in his heart.

In a [[Five-Man Band]], this guy is [[The Chick]] and rarely has any fighting ability. Occasionally, he will have [[Magic Music]] that makes him slightly more capable in battle.

 

 

There's also the French tradition of the troubadour/trouvere from the Middle Ages; singers and lutists that would wander around and compose songs of courtly love. They were one of the first groups to take music from the sacred to the secular realm.

 

 

Not to be confused with [[Spoony Bard]] or [[William Shakespeare|The Bard]]; and especially not with a [[Once-Acceptable Targets|Minstrel Show]].

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Marvel 1602]]'', [[Daredevil|Matt Murdock]] is a travelling bard.

 

== [[Film]] ==

** [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]].

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[The Black Cauldron]]'' has Fflewddur Fflam, an inept minstrel whose lute is constantly breaking

* Thom from ''[[The Wheel of Time]]''.

* Phyllis Eisenstein's Alaric the Minstrel fits the bill perfectly. (He can teleport back to any place he's ever been, but not anywhere he hasn't, so wandering widens his teleport range.)

* On [[Gor]] the Caste of Poets (or Singers) is basically this. They can go from town to town and spread news as well as poetry/songs, despite the normally xenophobic nature of many City-States.

* In the ''[[Dragaera]]'' novel ''Athyra'', Vlad encounters a female one of these from the house of Issola (Issola are often courtiers, but it's suggested that this would be the typical job of a lower ranking Issola), and a later novel, Iorich, suggests he might have had an [[Interspecies Romance|affair with her]] at some point.

* Jon Tom from ''[[Spellsinger]]'' is this plus [[Magic Music]].

* Bards can be this in the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series, but due to superior training and a touch of [[Magic Music]], they are seldom allowed to be just entertainment. Ordinary traveling minstrels wander The 'Verse, occasionally writing songs about the protagonists (to their embarrassment and/or irritation).

* In [[Mikhail Akhmanov]]'s ''Envoy from the Heavens'', Ivar Trevelian travels to a planet populated by [[Human Aliens]] whose culture has been stuck at Middle Ages for centuries with no push for progress or discovery (there's a whole continent waiting to be settled, but the population believes the world is flat). His job is to find out about this stagnation. He disguises himself as a member of the Rhapsod Brotherhood, a society of highly-respected wandering bards. He soon finds out they're much more than that, when a group of rhapsods wipes out a mercenary squad three times their number suffering only two casualties. Apparently, they also enact justice when [[The Empire]] fails to do so, usually when a nobleman is involved. They turn into vengeful warriors, all of them expert swordsmen and archers. After that, they return to their lutes and songs.

 

* Cantus in ''[[Fraggle Rock]]'' is a mystical example.

 

== [[Music]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

* Like in the film that inspired it, [[Blatant Lies|brave, brave]] Sir Robin of Camelot has an entire band of minstrels follow him wherever he goes in ''[[Spamalot]]''.

* In ''[[Henry IV]] part 2'', Hal and a friend disguise themselves as minstrels to get into Falstaff's house and prank him.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The main character of ''[[Dragon Quest IX]]'' poses as one/becomes one near the beginning of the game.

** Dubious, its the jack of all none class you get after you fall to Earth. Also it seems your hero has that it as their class because the first person you meet mistakes you for a bard.

* In ''[[King's Quest IV]]'', Rosella encounters a wandering minstrel who is terrible at making music. She helps him by giving him a book of [[Shakespeare]], which leads him to decide he wants to be an actor instead.

* Leliana from ''[[Dragon Age]]'', at least in her life before the Chantry. Of course, "bards" are more often than not professional spies, but their job still involves considerable amounts of musical entertainment. In Orlais it's apparently an exciting spice to a party to know that the performing bard might be spying on you, or planning to assassinate you. Appropriately for a bard, Leliana is the most [[Genre Savvy]] person in your party.

* Toyed with in ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral]]''. Levin ''pretends'' to be one of these in the first part of ''Seisen'' when in reality he's a [[King Incognito]], whereas Homeros from ''Thracia 776'' is more of the real deal. Both of them are also [[Blow You Away|Wind Magic users.]]

** Played somewhat straighter in ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe]]'', with Elphin and Nils. {{spoiler|The first is ''another'' [[King Incognito]], hiding after an assassination attempt; the second is a [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] half-dragon boy.}}

* ''[[Okami]]'' introduces [[Mr. Exposition|Issun]] as "Wandering Minstrel Issun".

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* On ''[[Muppet Babies]]'', during a [[Medieval European Fantasy]] sequence, Rowlf took the role until Piggy could take no more of his music.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Characters]]

[[Category:Music Tropes]]