History Main / TheBard

* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'' makes Bard a court position. There are no classes in Changeling, so it's not a class, though some kiths are more likely to fit the role.
* The Fianna tribe in ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' are often the bards of their race, as are werewolves born under the "galliard auspice," meaning under a gibbous moon.

* Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil has [[HeroAntagonist Almorava of Symra]], [[BewareTheSillyOnes The Wandering Bard]]. An Ashuran hero who joins The Lone Swordsman's party before the rebellion begins in southern Callow. Ridiculously dressed, constantly throwing back enough alcohol to kill a herd of livestock and a less-than-competent musician and singer, The Bard at first appears to be little more than comic relief. The jury's still out on how much of her silliness is an act, but there's certainly more to Almorava of Symra than meets the eye. She has the [[GenreSavvy Genre Savvy]] that is the hallmark of her profession, with an understanding of the workings of fate rivaled only by the [[BlackKnight Black]] [[MagnificentBastard Knight]]. She has a tendency to appear (literally) whenever anything particularly plot-relevant is going on; no matter how much violence is directed her way she always manages to escape just in time; she seems to know intimate details of events she should be far too young to have witnessed and if nothing else, her liver must be superhuman. [[spoiler: The epilogue of Book 2 reveals that The Wandering Bard is actually some kind of body-hopping immortal entity that has lived since long before elves arrived on Calernia. The precise nature of this entity is still mysterious but it seems to always exist as a storytelling-based Name and although it switches bodies and identities it retains all of its memories. It's also apparently scary enough to bully the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Forever King]]. At the conclusion of Book 2 Almorava of Symra dies (apparently of alcohol poisoning) and the name passes on to a new host named Aoede of Nicae.]]

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': For a while Gabrielle wanted to be a traveling bard. She also met Creator/{{Homer}}, who it turns out is called "blind" because he closes his eyes when he recites.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has both Bards, who are the traditional court performers, and Gleemen, who are WanderingMinstrel types.

* Bards feature in Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series, though much less prominently than the Heralds.

* Norna-Gest, the protagonist of "Literature/TaleOfNornaGest", is an accomplished harp-player and singer who knows many ancient songs.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, Beedle the Bard was known for his collection of magical fables.
* Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil has [[HeroAntagonist Almorava of Symra]], [[BewareTheSillyOnes The Wandering Bard]]. An Ashuran hero who joins The Lone Swordsman's party before the rebellion begins in southern Callow. Ridiculously dressed, constantly throwing back enough alcohol to kill a herd of livestock and a less-than-competent musician and singer, The Bard at first appears to be little more than comic relief. The jury's still out on how much of her silliness is an act, but there's certainly more to Almorava of Symra than meets the eye. She has the [[GenreSavvy Genre Savvy]] that is the hallmark of her profession, with an understanding of the workings of fate rivaled only by the [[BlackKnight Black]] [[MagnificentBastard Knight]]. She has a tendency to appear (literally) whenever anything particularly plot-relevant is going on; no matter how much violence is directed her way she always manages to escape just in time; she seems to know intimate details of events she should be far too young to have witnessed and if nothing else, her liver must be superhuman. [[spoiler: The epilogue of Book 2 reveals that The Wandering Bard is actually some kind of body-hopping immortal entity that has lived since long before elves arrived on Calernia. The precise nature of this entity is still mysterious but it seems to always exist as a storytelling-based Name and although it switches bodies and identities it retains all of its memories. It's also apparently scary enough to bully the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Forever King]]. At the conclusion of Book 2 Almorava of Symra dies (apparently of alcohol poisoning) and the name passes on to a new host named Aoede of Nicae.]]

* Hraik from ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'' is a half-elf bard in one of the pubs in the city of Displacing. He's also a badass and fiendishly intelligent, being the only person who worked out that Shelena is a werewolf with no explicit clues.
* Creator/MercedesLackey has an entire series, ''Literature/BardicVoices'', set around the conflict between the Free Bards and the Bardic Guild. Several have MagicMusic.

* It can be argued that Tom Bombadil from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is indeed a bard, the figure known for singing songs that hold power over not only people, but the more ancient denizens of Middle Earth.
* In ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'', Deth serves this function as the High One's harpist. Yrth seems to have as well, given that he was known as the Harpist of Lungold. [[spoiler:It really shouldn't come as a surprise that they're the same person, but, well.]] There are mentions of other harpists as well, such as Tirundeth, from whom Deth got his name, but they aren't as relevant.
* In ''Literature/TheDinosaurLords'', Rob makes living this way whenever he's not "officially" hired as Dinosaur Master. He even composes some songs, and they seem to be somewhat popular with people.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has both Bards, who are the traditional court performers, and Gleemen, who are WanderingMinstrel types.

* Geoffrey Chaucer is a hilarious one in ''Film/AKnightsTale''.

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* Hurdy in ''FanFic/TheTaintedGrimoire'' is such. He tells stories and is capable of using his music to various effect in combat or support roles.
* ''FanFic/KyoshiRising'' has Sun, a WanderingMinstrel from a long line of Wandering Minstrels. He meets Kyoshi early in her journey and does his best to help her achieve her potential.

* Cacofonix of ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' fame is the village's resident bard. However, he's universally considered to be a [[DreadfulMusician horrible singer and musician]] by the other Gauls of his village, so he's also the resident ButtMonkey.

* Elan from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', as seen in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0004.html this scene from early in the comic.]]
* In ''Webcomic/FarOut'', [[http://kimiq.com/farout/en/2013/02/13/farout-page-24/ Chapter 1 ends with one singing about the events in it.]]

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Susan plays a game that includes a NPC bard that [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-044 looks like Ellen]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Sburb/Sgrub has 12 different classes for players that set their character arc, one of them being the Bard, a counterpart to the prince class that serves to passively destroy or corrupt, while a prince actively destroys. What a bard destroys depends on its aspect, such as [[EruditeStoner Gamzee]] [[AxCrazy Makara]], a Bard of Rage.

* Cacofonix of ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' fame is the village's resident bard. However, he's universally considered to be a horrible singer and musician by the other Gauls of his village, so he's also the resident ButtMonkey.

* Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil has [[HeroAntagonist Almorava of Symra]], [[BewareTheSillyOnes The Wandering Bard]]. An Ashuran hero who joins The Lone Swordsman's party before the rebellion begins in southern Callow. Ridiculously dressed, constantly throwing back enough alcohol to kill a herd of livestock and a less-than-competent musician and singer, The Bard at first appears to be little more than comic relief. The jury's still out on how much of her silliness is an act, but there's certainly more to Almorava of Symra than meets the eye. She has the [[GenreSavvy Genre Savvy]] that is the hallmark of her profession, with an understanding of the workings of fate rivaled only by the [[BlackKnight Black]] [[MagnificentBastard Knight]]. She has a tendency to appear (literally) whenever anything particularly plot-relevant is going on; no matter how much violence is directed her way she always manages to escape just in time; she seems to know intimate details of events she should be far too young to have witnessed and if nothing else, her liver must be superhuman. [[spoiler: The epilogue of Book 2 reveals that The Wandering Bard is actually some kind of body-hopping immortal entity that has lived since long before elves arrived on Calernia. The precise nature of this entity is still mysterious but it seems to always exist as a storytelling-based Name and although it switches bodies and identities it retains all of its memories. It's also apparently scary enough to bully the [[OurElvesAreBetter Forever King]]. At the conclusion of Book 2 Almorava of Symra dies (apparently of alcohol poisoning) and the name passes on to a new host named Aoede of Nicae.]]

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"The Bard" is also commonly used to refer to Creator/RobertBurns in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, and to Creator/WilliamShakespeare throughout the broader Anglosphere.

* Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil has [[HeroAntagonist Almorava of Symra]], [[BewareTheSillyOnes The Wandering Bard]]. An Ashuran hero who joins The Lone Swordsman's party before the rebellion begins in southern Callow. Ridiculously dressed, constantly throwing back enough alcohol to kill a herd of livestock and a less-than-competent musician and singer, The Bard at first appears to be little more than comic relief. The jury's still out on how much of her silliness is an act, but there's certainly more to Almorava of Symra than meets the eye. She has the [[GenreSavvy Genre Savvy]] that is the hallmark of her profession, with an understanding of the workings of fate rivaled only by the [[BlackKnight Black]] [[MagnificentBastard Knight]]. She has a tendency to appear (literally) whenever anything particularly plot-relevant is going on; no matter how much violence is directed her way she always manages to escape just in time; she seems to know intimate details of events she should be far too young to have witnessed and if nothing else, her liver must be superhuman. [[spoiler: The epilogue of Book 2 reveals that The Wandering Bard is actually some kind of body-hopping immortal entity that has lived since long before elves arrived on Calernia. The precise nature of this entity is still mysterious but it seems to always exist as a storytelling-based Name and although it switches bodies and identities it retains all of it's memories. It's also apparently scary enough to bully the [[OurElvesAreBetter Forever King]]. At the conclusion of Book 2 Almorava of Symra dies (apparently of alcohol poisoning) and the name passes on to a new host named Aoede of Nicae.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Sburb/Sgrub has 12 different classes for players that set their character arc, one of them being the Bard, a counterpart to the prince class that serves to passively destroy or corrupt, while a prince actively destroys. What a bard destroys depends on it's aspect, such as [[EruditeStoner Gamzee]] [[AxCrazy Makara]], a Bard of Rage.

* A Bard College existed in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', while you can join it and train your speech, you cannot learn how to play musical instruments whatsoever.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Sburb/Sgrub has 12 different classes for players that set their character arc, one of them being the bard, a counterpart to the prince class that serves to passively destroy or corrupt, while a prince actively destroys. What a bard destroys depends on it's aspect, such as [[EruditeStoner Gamzee]] [[AxCrazy Makara]], a Bard of Rage.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Sburb/Sgrub has 12 different classes for players that set their character arc, one of them being the bard, a counterpart to the prince class that serves to passively destroy or corrupt, while a prince actively destroys. What a bard destroys depends on it's aspect, such as [[EruditeStoner Gamzee]] [[AxCrazy Makara]], a bard of rage.

* Numerous Greek and Roman poets and writers were portrayed this way, especially as they were romanticized in the early modern era. True to the page quote, the tales they told fed into later high culture, art, music, occultism, pop culture, fantasy, and sci-fi, coloring the opinion of later peoples because of how the something was portrayed by classic writers. For a (simplified) example, Ba'al and Beelzebub started as terms for a punic deity, but Rome won the war and now Ba'al almost certainly represents something wicked when used in fiction.

->''"The bards were feared. They were respected, but more than that they were feared. ...If you'd pissed off some witch, then what's she gonna do, she's gonna put a curse on you... no big deal. You piss off a bard, and forget about putting a curse on you, he might put a satire on you. ''

->''"And if he was a skillful bard, he puts a satire on you, and it destroys you in the eyes of your community... and if it's a particularly good bard, and he's written a particularly good satire, then three hundred years after you're dead, people are still gonna be laughing, at what a twat you were."''

->''"And if he was a skilful bard, he puts a satire on you, it destroys you in the eyes of your community... and if it's a particularly good bard, and he's written a particularly good satire, then three hundred years after you're dead, people are still gonna be laughing, at what a twat you were."''