History Main / TreacherousAdvisor

* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', [[spoiler: your guide throughout most of the game, former revolutionary figurehead Atlas, turns out to be mobster Frank Fontaine, who was thought dead according to the back story. You're [[TomatoInTheMirror a genetically-altered and hypnotically-conditioned assassin]] created by Fontaine as part of his scheme to seize control of Rapture from Andrew Ryan, and Atlas's CatchPhrase "Would you kindly..." was actually [[WordsCanBreakMyBones the command phrase to make you obey his orders.]]]]

* Chauncy in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. This is also a big part of how [[OurDemonsAreDifferent the Fallen]] operate: If you pick up one of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Blackened Denarii]] you get an ancient, superintelligent and ridiculously powerful SpiritAdvisor who'd be happy to show you how to solve any problem you run into -- until you're so dependent on its help that it can control you completely.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Bruct, who gets elevated into the position after ComicBook/WonderWoman captured A'iir, tried to kill the emperor of the Sangtee Empire at the first sign that things might go south, clearly stating that it's because she's a woman and he despises her. He apparently missed that bit where she just made it clear traitors will not be suffered to live even if they're betraying one of her enemies to her benefit.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}:''

The dead giveaway for this character type is accepting the heroes theories with a complete lack of skepticism. If it were anyone else, the first thing out of their mouth would be, "Why should I believe you?" If the character says "[[HaveYouToldAnyoneElse Have you told anyone else]]?" or "It's a good thing you came to me." be warned: they're either about to give TheReveal or planning on making some calls and starting a massive cover-up as soon as the hero leaves the room.

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* [[spoiler:Haazen]] in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. He manipulates [[KnightTemplar Lucien Draay]] into doing some truly nasty things -- including ordering the deaths of several of his colleagues apprentices and trying to kill his own -- because that was supposed to prevent the return of the Sith. [[spoiler: Turns out Haazen was Sith himself, and was aiming to both control the Jedi through Lucien and generally spit on the grave of Barrison Draay, Lucien's father and Haazen's one-time friend-turned-rival]].

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* ''Fanfic/LostInCamelot'' casts [[spoiler:Kilgharrah]] in this role; [[spoiler:his actions were always questionable in canon, but here he explicitly reflects that he wants to drive a wedge between Bo, Merlin and Morgana so that he can be Merlin's only magical ally]].

** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': [[spoiler:Quentin Beck, also known as ComicBook/{{Mysterio}},]] introduces himself as a kind, more experienced superhero. Peter welcomes this father figure into his life, especially on the heels of Tony Stark [[LateArrivalSpoiler succumbing to]] the MentorOccupationalHazard in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. He raises the boy's spirits at critical moments and even gives him advice in asking out his crush MJ. [[spoiler:Then as soon as Peter gives him what he wants, Beck shows his true colors as a murderous egomaniac willing to kill hundreds of people, [[WouldHurtAChild Peter and his classmates included]], as part of his EngineeredHeroics scheme.]]

* In ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' [[spoiler:HAL 9000]] is supposed to be omniscient guide for the rest of the Discovery crew, but after Frank Poole's death it is clear he no longer wants Dave alive.

* In ''Film/{{Jungle}}'', Kurt proves to be nowhere near the seasoned jungle guide he claims to be. The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that he was wanted by the police, and that the lost tribe he claimed to know did not exist. Hi motives for leading Yossi, Marcus and Kevin into the jungle remains a RiddleForTheAges.

* In Boris Akunin's ''Fiction'', we have Ivan Panteleevich, leader of an elite Soviet sports club. Sergei Dronov, one of the superpowered protagonists, was discovered and saved by him early in the book, and has followed "the Sensei's" advice ever since, leaving the life of crime and becoming a sports celebrity and a powerful businessman during the Perestroika. In the end, it turns out that the Sensei was [[spoiler:working for the GovernmentConspiracy all along -- and indeed is one of its leaders. What's more, Dronov remains loyal to him and is all too happy to join a secret superhero team for the conspiracy. To this we may add that, under the pseudonym of Alexander Aleksandrovich, he is also the father of another protagonist's daughter (becoming something of an advisor to him as well, though not nearly as trusted as in the first case), and brings that protagonist in as well, though he is more skeptical after being told the truth.]] Mind you, he's not ''necessarily'' evil, inasmuch as he seems to genuinely want to help Dronov and is mostly concerned with [[spoiler: fighting off an alien conspiracy that runs counter to the government conspiracy.]]

** Claire has been hiding from her father the fact that she heals incredibly fast. She finally can't take the pressure anymore and decides to tell him... and he tells her he already knows, and asks her whom else she's told. Subsequently, every person she mentions has their memories of it wiped, and Claire herself is targeted for a wipe.

** "Doc" (played by Joel Grey), seems to be a strange but mostly harmless old sorcerer/demon willing to help Dawn out, but turns out to be the closest thing to TheDragon to Glory's BigBad role in Season 5.

* Subverted in "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS02E09Aurora Aurora]]", an episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': When visiting the ruins of a ship that had the crew both in stasis and believing that they were still flying the vessel in a virtual reality setting, the second in command apparently was planning to do something against her boss. However, its later revealed that the actual second in command was killed long before the events of the episode by a Wraith, and a Wraith (presumably the same one that killed her) was impersonating her.

** Exaggerated in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Chrom randomly introduces a never mentioned character with a [[PaletteSwap re-colored]] {{Mook}} [[ReusedCharacterDesign design]], the Hierarch, in chapter 7. Chrom says the Hierarch was his elder sister Emmeryn's advisor and caretaker when she was young. Less then a Minute after this, the Hierarch walks over unseen to the enemy commander, tells him he led Emmeryn and her friends into an ambush, [[spoiler:the enemy commander then [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves rewards him with death]].]] This event, and the Hierarch are both [[AbortedArc never mentioned again]], which becomes odd as the characters never learn he betrayed them in the first place, but [[ForgottenFallenFriend just forget about him]].

* Subversion in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'', especially on Mizal Touval, the Shura Advisor (because, he is not on the player's side all the time). He actually had plans on his own, that is to overthrow the BigBad and usurp his power on his own. But he never got lucky in his endeavor, because: [[spoiler:He either gets killed before he could pull the treachery off (''Compact 3''), or said BigBad is dead first, and his successor killed him before he could do anything else (''Original Generation Gaiden'').]]

%% ** [[spoiler: When the dizzy, cute, HaremNanny April turns out to be stone cold evil... [[DissonantSerenity and doesn't change her mannerisms or expression!]]]]
%% ** Or [[spoiler:not. Ending suggests she was good all along, and possibly the heroes strongest ally. She might have been lying, of course, she was certainly capable of that]].

* In ''VideoGame/WarioLand 3'', Wario gets advice from a sealed away mysterious figure, who will apparently give him riches and power if released. But sadly for him, it turns out this figure is actually Rudy the Clown, a MonsterClown who conquered said pocket universe the game is set in, and transformed all the people into monsters.

* In The Settlers 7 campaign, Princess Zoe is sent by her father to save the kingdom of Tandria from the evil Lord Wolverine who usurped the good King Balderus. She is assisted by a kind old barkeep who [[spoiler: is actualy [[BigBad King Balderus]] in disguise. As added insult to injury, Wolverine usurped Balderus because he was a Tyrant and Balderus told Zoe that she was helping to free the people from Wolverine's evil rule.]]

* Luigi has [[HeroOfAnotherStory an offscreen adventure]] in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' where he collects the pieces of The Marvelous Compass to rescue Princess Eclair under Minister Crêpe's guidence. [[spoiler:Minister Crêpe reveals himself to be an EvilChancellor who set up the princess's kidnapping to [[MacGuffinDeliveryService make Luigi rebuild the compass]] for his own nefarious purposes.]]

** Amethos seeks to kill off the younger princess of the kingdom, so that he can marry the ruling princess and take over. This happens in basically the first ten minutes of the game, so it's not really a spoiler.

** The troll Yeh'kinya guided players through deciphering a prophecy about the return of Hakkar the Soulflayer and how to seal him away. Under his guidance players confronted the weakened soul of Hakkar and sealed it in an ancient vessel, supposedly to bind him. In fact Yeh'kinya knew that sealing Hakkar into the vessel was a necessary step to allow his rebirth, leading to Hakkar's rise in Zul'gurub.
** Drakuru in Grizzly Hills seems like a reasonable troll compared to his bloodthirsty kin so helping him in fighting them off seems like the smart move. In fact his directions resulted in the trolls losing control of their main defense against the Scourge, hastening their empire's fall and gaining Drakuru praise from the Lich King.

** On the Timeless Isle Kairoz had players empower his Vision of Time to see visions of the future if either the Horde or Alliance proved victorious. In a subsequent novel Kairoz used the Visions to allow Garrosh's escape to Draenor, intent on using the Vision to build an army across multiple timelines.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': For aiding Hyrule and its people, the King appoints Agahnim to be his chief adviser. Then Agahnim gets rid of the king, brainwashes the soldiers and makes Hyrule Castle his base of operations.

* ''VideoGame/TheTiamatSacrament'': Ry'jin was once a scholar and adviser to King Khytiel, but eventually formed a coup against him. As "Faen", he acts as an advisor to Az'uar and Xandra in the first half of the game and helps them find the Soul Gems of the Great Seven Dragons. This is all a plot for him to steal the power of the Great Seven from Az'uar.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'': [[spoiler:It's revealed in "[[Recap/NinjagoS11E125Corruption Corruption]]" that the BigBad Ice Emperor is the [[AnIcePerson ice ninja]] Zane after having his memory erased, and that his advisor [[MeaningfulName Vex]] manipulated him into thinking he was a disgraced ruler so that Vex could take control of the Never-Realm.]]

[[folder: Fan Fic]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

** ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan had Jean De Wolffe. Her regular 616 Marvel universe counterpart was a by the book cop who had a soft spot for Spider-Man, and whose death was a tragedy. Her UltimateUniverse counterpart seemed to be shaping up to be similar, sending Spider-Man to potential bad guys' hideouts but in the end turned out to be working for the [[BigBad Kingpin]] and unceremoniously shot by ThePunisher because he knew she was a bent cop.

** In a variation, in '''three out of four''' ''Metal Gear Solid'' games, [[spoiler:TheDragon, Revolver Ocelot]], is advising and betraying the game's BigBad on behalf of a singular third party. How does he keep getting away with this? [[MagnificentBastard Impressively]].

** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Radiant Dawn]]'', [[spoiler: Izuka combines this with EvilChancellor and tricks [[NaiveEverygirl naive Prince Pelleas]] into selling out his country to the greedy Begnion senators. Those same Senators, in turn, betray and attempt to murder their own Empress for passing policy they don't approve of. Except for Sephiran, her closest and most trusted advisor and guardian... who betrays her for a ''different'' reason]].

* [[spoiler:Haazen]] in ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. He manipulates [[KnightTemplar Lucien Draay]] into doing some truly nasty things -- including ordering the deaths of several of his colleagues apprentices and trying to kill his own -- because that was supposed to prevent the return of the Sith. [[spoiler: Turns out Haazen was Sith himself, and was aiming to both control the Jedi through Lucien and generally spit on the grave of Barrison Draay, Lucien's father and Haazen's one-time friend-turned-rival]].

* The original ''{{Mercenaries}}'' has Josef oust Sergei as leader of the Mafia near the end of the game; probably not all that surprising, since 1) this is TheMafiya we're talking about, 2) Sergei is an airheaded SmallNameBigEgo, 3) Josef is ex-KGB, and 4) Sergei tried to have the player character ''and'' Josef taken out by the North Koreans first, which obviously failed 5) they foreshadow the hell out it by showing Josef having practically undisguised contempt for Sergei's bumbling and snotty attitude.

Unfortunately, this trusted expert is secretly one of the bad guys. Sometimes they may even be the BigBad! What makes them different from your average [[TheMole Mole]] is the degree to which the heroes require thier assistance -- they’re not a regular part of TheTeam, but they’re the only person who can give exactly the help needed.

** ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'': In the Kree military, AmnesiacHero Carol's commander and mentor [[spoiler:Yon-Rogg]] teaches her how to control her powers and her emotions. [[spoiler:In fact, her memories and powers are tied to her emotions. He tries to get her to suppress them because if Carol were to ever learn the truth discover her [[StoryBreakerPower full potential]], Yon-Rogg (who killed Carol's true mentor, kidnapped Carol, and suppressed her memories to begin with) knows he'd have hell to pay.]]

* [[spoiler:Obadiah Stane]] from ''Film/IronMan1''. Not a big secret to those who know his history from the comics, but in the film, [[spoiler:he founded Stark Industries with Tony's dad and pretends to be Stark's friend and mentor, but when the film begins, he pays to have Tony killed while on a trip showing off some of his new weapons (they don't, because they weren't told who he was). Later, he ends up building his own armor suit. Which he powers with the power source he pulls out of Tony's chest. Which was all that was keeping him alive.]]
* Several of the sorcerers at Kamar Taj in ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'' view [[spoiler:the Ancient One]] as this for using forbidden magics (specifically, the Dark Dimension) to fuel [[spoiler:her immortality]].

Not to be confused with the EvilChancellor. Contrast SarcasticDevotee and DeceptiveDisciple. Compare BigBadFriend and RegentForLife. Despite its name, the EvilMentor and this trope rarely overlap as the Evil Mentor will not try to hide their true nature.

* ''Film/NowYouSeeIt'': Max approaches Danny and convinces him to become his wizard apprentice, promising him that he'll help him gain control over his powers. However, his true motivations are soon revealed to be much more sinister- he wants to kill Danny and forcibly steal his powers. In fact, [[DeceptiveDisciple he killed his own mentor this way.]]

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1346790386098960100
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

* Gil Graham in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs''.

* [[spoiler:Kabuto]] in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'''s Chuunin Exam TournamentArc.
* [[spoiler: Colonel Urube Ishikawa]] in ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam''.
* [[spoiler: Kirei Kotomine]] in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', though neither Rin nor Shirou trust him very much anyway.

* ''SpiderMan''

* In ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'', [[spoiler:AIQ Squared]] is this to Siphon and the Pantheon. Mildly subverted in that he is legitimately looking out for IQ Squared's best interests.

* In the ''Fanfic/BlackCrayons'' series, one of the installments ''A Child's Innocence'' has [[spoiler: Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime's mentor, revealed to be EvilAllAlong.]]
* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' has [[spoiler: Quirrell/Voldemort who was one of the few adults Harry felt he could almost trust]]

* The main antagonist in ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime''.

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade.'' Both [[spoiler: Walter Donovan and Dr. Elsa Schneider]] would qualify.

* Los Angeles Narcotics Detective Alonzo Harris from ''Film/TrainingDay'' is THE poster boy of this trope.
* Palpatine is like a father to Anakin in the Franchise/StarWars prequel trilogy -- he's also Darth kriffing Sidious.

* [[spoiler:Leigh Teabing]], the central villain (out of many candidates) in ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode''.
* Saruman in the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' books (and especially in the movies). Grí­ma Wormtongue also qualifies.
* Captain Dudley Smith in ''Literature/LAConfidential''.
* Chauncy in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.
** This is also a big part of how [[OurDemonsAreDifferent the Fallen]] operate: If you pick up one of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Blackened Denarii]] you get an ancient, superintelligent and ridiculously powerful SpiritAdvisor who'd be happy to show you how to solve any problem you run into -- until you're so dependent on its help that it can control you completely.
* J.K. Rowling really likes this trope in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books.
** [[spoiler:Professor Quirrel]] in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]''.
** [[spoiler:Tom Riddle aka Young Voldemort]] in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber Of Secrets]]''.
** Subverted in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' when [[spoiler:it looks like Lupin is one of these as well]].
** Although not canon, many fanfiction writers speculate that [[spoiler:[[TheQuisling Peter Pettigrew]] was the one who planted suspicions of Remus's loyalty in Sirius's mind.]]
** [[spoiler:Alastor Moody (Barty Crouch, Jr. disguised as him, to be precise)]] in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'', whom Harry and co. frequently consult for help solving the mysteries.
** ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' [[spoiler:makes it look like Snape is one, too, only to invert it in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]].]]

* In ''Literature/TheKingdomsOfEvil'': De Macabre for certain, and possibly everyone else in Skrea.
* [[spoiler:Dusk]] in Laini Taylor's ''[[Literature/FaeriesOfDreamdark Silksinger]]''.
* From ''Provost's Guard'' in the Literature/TortallUniverse, [[spoiler: Tunstall]], though only for the second half of the final book. He didn't ''want'' it to go so far, but it got out of hand, quickly.

* ''[[Literature/DeltoraQuest Deltora Quest]]'' has a textbook example with [[spoiler:Mother Brightly]] in its TournamentArc, the Rithmere Games.

* In ''Literature/TheDragonHoard'', the sorceress Maligna arranges to become one to the heroes in order to prevent their quest from succeeding.
* In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', it eventually turns out that [[spoiler:Lenette]] has been poisoning her queen for years and is in fact a DeepCoverAgent for the Immortal Empress.
* In ''Literature/AScholarOfMagics'', [[spoiler:the apparent reasonable authority figure the Earl of Bridgewater turns out to be the villain behind the entire plot]].

* From ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Claire has been hiding from her father the fact that she heals incredibly fast. She finally can't take the pressure anymore and decides to tell him... and he tells her he already knows, and asks her whom else she's told. Subsequently, every person she mentions has their memories of it wiped, and Claire herself is targeted for a wipe.

* [[spoiler:Boyd Langton]] from ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}''
* ''[[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]]'': [[spoiler:Dr. Wells turns out to be the Reverse Flash AKA the Man in Yellow. He is later revealed to be Eobard Thawne, who used a device to kill the real Dr. Wells and [[FaceStealer steal his identity]]]].
* [[spoiler:Digger]] in ''Series/JohnDoe''. However, WordOfGod is that it's a RedHerring ([[spoiler:it's not Digger but an enemy after a plastic surgery]]).
* [[spoiler:Harry Wolfe]] in Season 2, ep. 2 of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''.

* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': [[spoiler: Cyrus, though he does have good intentions at times]].

* [[spoiler: The Elder]] in Terranigma. Also [[spoiler: Yomi or dark side Yomi.]]
* From ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'' [[spoiler: Al-Mualim is not only a Templar himself, but the BigBad.]]
* [=GLaDOS=] from VideoGame/{{Portal}}. "The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that you will be baked and then there will be cake."
* In both ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', the player-hero receives advice via radio [[spoiler: much of which is revealed to come from each respective game's BigBad.]]

*** ''Subverted'' in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''. Drebin [[spoiler:was put in place by the AncientConspiracy...in order to help Snake defeat the BigBad]]. He also makes it clear from the beginning that he [[WildCard works for everyone who can pay him]], and is telling the truth when he says he won't betray his customers, Snake included. He even saves the man's life on occasion.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' features a variation; in both games, the Time Count provides useful services -- ones that can't be gotten anywhere else in Eternal Punishment. He turns out to actually be an avatar of Nyarlathotep, the BigBad. Unlike most examples, it's not part of some overarching scheme -- being a trickster and manipulator, he decided it'd be more fun this way, and arrogantly believed that even if he helped them, the heroes couldn't possibly defeat him.

* In ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', [[spoiler:the voice of Dr. Janice Polito is played by very special guest star... [[OhCrap SHODAN]].]]
** [[spoiler:Who then forms a [[EnemyMine fragile alliance with the player and guides them against]] [[BodyHorror The Many]]. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder No prizes for guessing how this one ends]].]]
* ''VisualNovel/PrincessWaltz'' features a [[NightmareFuel really disturbing one]], [[spoiler:when the dizzy, cute, HaremNanny April turns out to be stone cold evil... [[DissonantSerenity and doesn't change her mannerisms or expression!]]]]
** Or [[spoiler:not. Ending suggests she was good all along, and possibly the heroes strongest ally. She might have been lying, of course, she was certainly capable of that]].

* King Lemele in ''VideoGame/The7thSaga''. [[spoiler:Or, rather, the ''BigBad'' Gorsia, who had already killed Lemele and was impersonating him when the game started.]]

* [[spoiler: Kor]] in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' is the Metal Head Leader.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', [[spoiler: Coach Oleander]] is the real Big Bad behind Doctor Loboto.

* ''Many'' of these in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'', but the gold medal goes to [[spoiler:the ''entire'' staff of the eponymous agency. There's no [[TheMole mole]]; ''everyone'' was complicit in the decision to abandon and kill you in Saudi Arabia.]]
** Well, actually, [[spoiler:there was a mole. Said mole was a mole against the entire remaining staff and saved your life by declaring you rogue and thus forcing you to fight the agency and Halbech.]]

* Ghaleon in ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar'', who turns out to be the BigBad.
* A variation in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': Since the theme of the game is GrayAndGrayMorality, the main antagonist N is the hero whose advisor turns out to have been using him all along, rather than the player character.

* Amethos from ''VideoGame/UnluckyHero'' seeks to kill off the younger princess of the kingdom, so that he can marry the ruling princess and take over. This happens in basically the first ten minutes of the game, so it's not really a spoiler.

* Glade from ''VideoGame/BeyondTheBeyond'', full stop. His character portrait makes him look so transparently evil that the only people who probably didn't see it coming were under the age of 10, or maybe it was their first RPG or something. Bonus points for him losing his shit and transforming into a monster before the also-obvious boss battle.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'''s "Rune Mysteries" quest, [[spoiler: Ariane's]] kindly and supportive mentor [[spoiler: Wizard Ellaron]] has been stringing her along in order to use her to blow up the Wizards' Tower.

* ''VideoGame/PonyIsland'': [[spoiler:Subverted. The Daemons tell you the Hopeless Soul isn't to be trusted, and if you collect all the tickets...he still does absolutely nothing to seem he isn't on the up-and-up, he just decides to become the TrueFinalBoss to give a satisfying conclusion to the completionist run.]]
** Played straight, actually. [[spoiler: After you beat the game then tamper certain variables in the save file, come back into the game and hit continue will lead you to a screen where the typical 'devil head' sprite will appear blue and talk first with the sound effect of Lucifer, berating the player messing with game files, but afterwards switching to the sound......of the Lost Soul. Then it will let you in on a secret -- sometimes he talks "in different voices", and he asks you to "not to tell [[{{God}} dad]]".]]
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' the troll Yeh'kinya guided players through deciphering a prophecy about the return of Hakkar the Soulflayer and how to seal him away. Under his guidance players confronted the weakened soul of Hakkar and sealed it in an ancient vessel, supposedly to bind him. In fact Yeh'kinya knew that sealing Hakkar into the vessel was a necessary step to allow his rebirth, leading to Hakkar's rise in Zul'gurub.

* Miranda West in ''Webcomic/TheWotch'' may qualify for this, given that she's keeping some very big secret from protagonist Anne and that she's willing to totally destroy the lives of a few people in order to make sure nobody interferes.
* ''Webcomic/{{Panthera}}'' has Reynder/Ari, who turns out to be [[BigBad Oosterhuis]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', Barca plays this role in his attempts to get Halis to assassinate Simbacca.

* ''{{Series/Merlin}}'' has Agravaine as a good example of this. Arthur's uncle and advisor, as well as TheMole. Merlin and the rest eventually figure him out, but Arthur takes the longest to quit trusting him.

** Subverted in : Daitokouji-sensei, Judai's teacher and ally, was revealed to be TheMole, and then later TheMole for the good guys.

So the {{heroes}} consult a {{mentor|archetype}} when they're battling TheEmpire, digging up an AncientConspiracy, battling demons, or something of the sort, and have hit a dead end. Surely they’re in a position to be helpful? After all, they’re the scholar/politician/military person/whatever, and just likely to have the information they need. Not to mention they can keep a secret.