History Main / CynicalMentor

** Master Yu is an expert earthbender, but an unscrupulous teacher who only cares about making money. He "advertises" his school by having his students beat up untrained strangers, then mentions he ranks their expertise mostly by how much a student pays him. Yu was technically Toph's earthbending mentor, but only taught the very basics her rich OverprotectiveDad allowed, never bothering to notice Toph was already ''more powerful than him''.

* Jeong Jeong, Aang's first firebending teacher, is so cynical he refuses to even train Aang at first, until one of his past lives intervenes to force Jeong Jeong's hands.

* [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTophBeifong Toph Beifong]] is this to both [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]] [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] and his [[SequelSeries successor]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Avatar]] [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra Korra]].

* Achilles Davenport is this when Connor first meets him at the beginning of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', as by this time he's a bitter old man who is still haunted by the destruction of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins (of which, by that point, he was [[LastOfHisKind quite literally, the sole remaining member of]].) He chastises Connor's dreams of heroism as nothing more than a fool's errand nd refuses to train. It's only after he rescues Connor from a pair of bandits on his property that he decides to train him, and even then, he's only doing it reluctantly at first. This gradually changes as the game progresses.

* Achilles Davenport is this when Connor first meets him at the beginning of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', as by this time he's a bitter old man who is still haunted by the destruction of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins (of which, by that point, he was [[LastOfHisKind quite literally, the sole remaining member of]]. He castises Connor's dreams of heroism as nothing more than an impossible dream and refuses to train. It's only after he rescues Connor from a pair of bandits on his property that he decides to train him, and even then, he's only doing it reluctantly at first. This changes over the course of the game as he sees the progress Connor makes in combating the Templars and rebuilding the Brotherhood all throughout the Revolution, and by the end of the game, Achilles admits that Connor had given him hope again.
** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue'' (which is set several decades before ''III''), we learn that the reason why Achilles is so bitter and cynical is because of the multiple, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero|large and costly mistakes]] that occur as a result of his hubris. He sends Shay Cormac on a mission to recover an artifact that he doesn't have sufficient understanding of, which results in a catastrophic loss of thousands of lives in Lisbon, Portugal. This sets in motion a [[DisasterDominos domino effect]], resulting in Shay defecting to the Templars, which in turn leads to the near extinction of the Colonial Brotherhood. In the end Achilles [[HeelRealization comes to the realization that Shay had been right all along]], and spent decades [[AllMyFault blaming himself for the destruction of the Assassins]], so his bitterness can chalked up largely to shame.

* Achilles Davenport is this when Connor first meets him at the beginning of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', as by this time he's a bitter old man who is still haunted by the destruction of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins (of which, by that point, he was [[Last of His Kind|quite literally, the sole remaining member of]]. He castises Connor's dreams of heroism as nothing more than an impossible dream and refuses to train. It's only after he rescues Connor from a pair of bandits on his property that he decides to train him, and even then, he's only doing it reluctantly at first. This changes over the course of the game as he sees the progress Connor makes in combating the Templars and rebuilding the Brotherhood all throughout the Revolution, and by the end of the game, Achilles admits that Connor had given him hope again.

* Toph Beifong is this to both [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]] [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] and his [[SequelSeries successor]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Avatar]] [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra Korra]].

* Azmuth of the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' franchise is openly ''very'' displeased that his ChosenOne MissedTheCall and only grudgingly allows his incredibly powerful invention to remain with a kid/teenager. Just because he knows the Omnitrix is best off with Ben doesn't mean he has to like it.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick Sanchez is this to his grandson Morty, naturally. There actually is well-meaning behind some of it, such as him advising Morty to not get involved with love, and instead focus on science, wanting to spare Morty heartache.

* Saul Ranasinghe from ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard''. While he does seem to be very fond of Richard, he mostly calls him an idiot and if Richard hadn't blossomed with the potential he saw in Richard, it seems clear he would've abandoned him as useless.

A cousin to the TricksterMentor and the SinkOrSwimMentor, the Cynical Mentor doesn't really care whether TheHero succeeds or fails, and he/she often believes it will be the latter. Unlike the SinkOrSwimMentor, there ''will'' be training, and it's usually TrainingFromHell. This particular brand of mentor uses his cynicism to anger the hero and get him to fight back/harder for what he wants and/or believes in. This mentor helps the hero very, ''very'' grudgingly (most likely because he/she was bored and/or had nothing better to do). Never gives encouragement or compliments, except maybe right before the hero's final test/battle, and even then it might be a longshot.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Meti ten Ryo, Maya's ([[PosthumousCharacter long-dead]]) sword teacher, was a Cynic philosopher and also quite cynical in outlook: Her teachings were intentionally self-contradictory, mostly boiled down to "trying to solve problems with a sword makes you an idiot", and her highest hope for her student appears to have been to annoy her sufficiently into quitting the sword altogether and becoming a noodle vendor. Maya, at the present stage in her life, seems to have taken up Meti's outlook and is annoyed she didn't listen: She mainly seems to stay a wandering swordmaster [[spoiler:simply on the off chance it lets her encounter and kill Incubus.]]

* By the time of ''Fractured'' in the Creator/SetaSuzume ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fanficiton universe, District 5's eldest victor, Shy Everett, is a downplayed version.
--> ''People thought she wasn't doing enough to save their tributes. Well, it wasn't enough most of the time, but it wasn't like she was purposely holding back. She did what she could. She brought back Valse, hadn't she? You couldn't win them all. You couldn't win most of them. It was intended that way, and Shy wasn't login to break herself over impossibilities like Pal (earth accept hsi weary body and sky his weary soul).''

* Phil from ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' is initially reluctant to train Hercules since all the heroes he trained before eventually suffered humiliating defeats and fell out of public favor.
* Master Shifu in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. He does ''not'' think that Po is the Dragon Warrior and doesn't want him in the Jade Palace, but he puts up with him, tricking Po for a while with TrainingFromHell. Then, he finally starts training him correctly using food as the motivator, and even then it seems a bit cruel. But that's when he (like [[Franchise/{{Rocky}} Mick]]) gets upgraded to CoolOldGuy.

* Evangeline from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', to a frightening degree. TrainingFromHell aside (of which there is much), one of her major lessons for the main lead is that no act in this world can be completely good like he [[WideEyedIdealist thinks/hopes]], and that being evil comes naturally as a part of living. She also treats him like crap. Of course, she turns out to be partially right in that during Mahorafest [[spoiler: Negi admits that he can't really justify fighting Chao, and that he might just be the bad guy this time around]]. Despite this, Eva still seems to be sliding into AntiVillain territory, and has to [[NobleDemon convince herself that she's still evil]], which Negi isn't buying. Seems like Negi and Eva are starting to rub off on each other.

* Captain Malcolm Reynolds acts this way towards Simon and River Tam in the first few episodes of ''{{Series/Firefly}}''. He lets them stay on Serenity so that the Alliance doesn't catch them, but he doesn't want much to do with them as long as they don't get in the way, and when he does talk to them, he's pretty cynical.

* Javanshin in Webcomic/OverlordofRavenfell is a sarcastic bastard that has his doubts as to whether Razin can actually become a competent Overlord, a fact he often decides to point out.

* Azmuth of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' franchise is openly ''very'' displeased that his ChosenOne MissedTheCall and only grudgingly allows his incredibly powerful invention to remain with a kid/teenager. Just because he knows the Omnitrix is best off with Ben doesn't mean he has to like it.

Compare SourSupporter, ZenSurvivor; contrast MentorInSourArmor. May result from APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil.

Compare SourSupporter, ZenSurvivor. May result from APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil.

* Evangeline from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', to a frightening degree. TrainingFromHell aside (of which there is much), one of her major lessons for the main lead is that no act in this world can be completely good like he [[WideEyedIdealist thinks/hopes]], and that being evil comes naturally as a part of living. She also treats him like crap.
** Of course, she turns out to be partially right in that during Mahorafest [[spoiler: Negi admits that he can't really justify fighting Chao, and that he might just be the bad guy this time around]]. Despite this, Eva still seems to be sliding into AntiVillain territory, and has to [[NobleDemon convince herself that she's still evil]], which Negi isn't buying. Seems like Negi and Eva are starting to rub off on each other.
* Hijikata from ''Manga/PeacemakerKurogane'' towards Tetsunosuke. He appears pretty strict and cynical towards Tetsunosuke (not really directly teaching Tetsunosuke fighting, and mainly having Tetsunosuke serve him tea). However, deep down, it's suggested numerous times that he ''does'' care about Tetsunosuke.

* Mick, Rocky's trainer from the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' film series, at least in the [[Film/{{Rocky}} first movie]]. He constantly mocks Rocky until towards the end, when he finally comes around and gets upgrade to CoolOldGuy, which is where he remains until he [[spoiler: dies in ''Film/RockyIII'']].

* ''Film/MishimaALifeInFourChapters'': Kashiwagi is this to Mizoguchi in the Beauty segment of the movie.
* ''Film/TheGuardian2006'': Senior Chief Randall. He seems determined to get Jake Fischer to quit and go home.
* Midshipman Lieutenant 1st Class Matthew Cole in ''Film/{{Annapolis}}'' tells the protagonist Jake Huard from the beginning that Jake is not good enough to serve in the Navy and is determined to kick out anyone who, in his mind, is not worthy to wear the uniform. Naturally, he becomes DrillSergeantNasty. By the end, Jake wins Cole's respect by nearly besting him in the boxing ring (Cole only wins by points). The final scene has Cole raising the bar on Jake by daring him to join the Marine Corps.
* Jimmy Dugan, Creator/TomHanks' character in ''Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', is a cross of this and the ObsoleteMentor.

* The Dealey Lama, A.K.A [[spoiler:Gruad Greyface]] from ''Literature/TheIlluminatusTrilogy''.
** You can't exactly blame the man. [[spoiler:He ''invented'' Good and Evil 50,000 years ago, and then watched people misunderstand and screw up his ideas. He's been trying to destroy his creation and myth ever since. He made himself the [[{{Satan}} Devil-figure]] of all the world's religions in order to get people to renounce him, yet there are still people who would follow at the footsteps of the monster he made himself to be.]]

* Ash-dan in ''[[Literature/WarchildSeries Warchild]]'' is this to Jos, his older brother's student. How he treats his own student, Hadu, is never addressed, but he likely wasn't as cynical.
* ''Literature/TheHeartsWeSold'': The Daemon qualifies. He's a KnightInSourArmor to the nth degree, looks down on humanity as a whole, and is mostly just interested in getting his job done -- which shows in his interactions with the heartless troop, whom he mainly treats as particularly unruly employees. He gives them the bare minimum of information and help so they don't die, but is very, ''very'' "hands-off," to put it lightly, though Dee suspects he does care about them, at least a little bit.
* ''Literature/SpySchool'': Murray Hill serves as one to Ben in the first book, showing him some of the ropes while advising him about the realties of the spy game and advocating a desk job over going into the field.

* Claude Rains, the [[{{Invisibility}} invisible hobo]] on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', as mentioned above. He appears to despise Peter and uses their "training sessions" as chances to beat the crap out of him. He also has several other quotes about the general unreliability and undesirable qualities of humanity, and he [[TrainingFromHell pushed Peter Petrelli off a 30-story building]].
* [[KnightInSourArmor Dr. Cox]] to [=J.D.=] in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. He is [=J.D.=]'s guide of sorts, but he is completely sarcastic and seems to detest [=J.D.=].
* [[Series/{{House}} Dr. House]] has taken on this role in several episodes in addition to being a MagnificentBastard.

* [[KnightInSourArmor Colonel Kira]] takes on this role for [[AProtagonistShallLeadThem Legate Damar]] during the final arc of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', putting him and his soldiers through hell and back to ensure they'd come out of the war with a free Cardassia prepared to avoid the mistakes of the past.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Stick is cynical to the point that he considers Matt Murdock's idealism and belief things can get better to be a ''character flaw.''
** As a seasoned reporter, Ben Urich admits to Karen that he's a lot more cynical these days compared to when he first started out, trying to discourage her from making the mistakes he did.

* Renius, the gladiator who trains the two lead characters in Conn Iggulden's ''Emperor'' series. He goes as far as having their final exam be [[spoiler:a battle to the death between him and Gaius.'']]
* Xaldin for Roxas in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' (contrast with [[BigBrotherMentor Axel]]).

* By the time ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' rolls around Leliana is burnt out and distressed over the threat and upset over Justinia's death, and her grooming of The Inquisitor leans towards the ruthless to the point where threatening assassination of their family is legitimate tactics. She can also be asked about being a bard: Leliana offers to train you which mainly consists of non too subtle hints not to take this path.

* Wildcat in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', originally towards Batman and then to the Outsiders.
* Toph Beifong is this to both [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]] [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] and his [[SequelSeries successor]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Avatar]] [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra Korra]].

* Senior Chief Randall in ''Film/TheGuardian''. He seems determined to get Jake Fischer to quit and go home.

* Toph Beifong is this to both [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]] [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] and his [[SequelSeries successor]] [[WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra Avatar]] [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra Korra]].

* Phil from ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' is initially reluctant to train Hercules since all the heroes he trained before eventually suffered humiliating defeats and fell out of public favor.

* [[KnightInSourArmor Dr. Cox]] to [=J.D.=] in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. He is [=J.D.=] guide of sorts, but he is completely sarcastic and seems to detest [=J.D.=].

* Literature/{{Discworld}}'s
** The Disc's very own OldMaster AlmightyJanitor, Lu-Tze, who acts as TheMentor to Lobsang in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime''. It is, of course, lampshaded:

** The Great God Om, incarnated as a tortoise in ''Discworld/SmallGods'', is a mentor to Brutha, his only actual believer, while making it quite clear he would much rather his only believer was almost anyone else. Also lampshaded, when Om explains the reason he's cynical is that TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has a slightly-milder example in Haymitch Abernathy. It's only after Kantiss gets fed up with his pessimistic attitude that he even considers helping her and Peeta, but after that he becomes a lot more helpful and supportive then most Cynical Mentors, though he's still a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold sarcastic jerk]].

* ''FanFic/SugarPlums'': Zabuza is this to, well everyone honestly, but especially to Ume which is saying something since she's already [[KnightinSourArmor incredibly cynical]] to begin with. This leads to a lot of [[SnarktoSnarkCombat funny exchanges]] between the two of them.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* Phil from ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' starts out as this.
* Master Shi-Fu in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. He does ''not'' think that Po is the Dragon Warrior and doesn't want him at the Academy, but he puts up with him, tricking Po for a while with TrainingFromHell. Then, he finally starts training him correctly using food as the motivator, and even then it seems a bit cruel. But that's when he (like [[Franchise/{{Rocky}} Mick]]) gets upgraded to CoolOldGuy.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick Sanchez is this to his grandson Morty, naturally. There actually is well meaning behind some of it such as him advising Morty to not get involved with love and instead focus on science, wanting to spare Morty heartache.