He's big, muscular and angry looking. He might even be an actual monster. People are often fearful of him. But he's got a heart of gold. He loves children and puppies, and frequently abhors unnecessary violence. He probably has a few unexpected hobbies. He's the Gentle Giant. However, when push comes to shove, he's great to have on your side in battle.
This is a subversion of common sense that has become an archetype in its own right. We are all used to thinking of big people and giant creatures as frightening and mean. Starting back as far as Frankenstein's monster or earlier, the seven-foot shambling hulk of a man is almost always gentle inside, and misunderstood by society at large.
This archetype is so common it's probably more surprising for the musclebound hulk to turn out to be an irreconcilable jerk or bloodthirsty killer. Unless he'sblack.
Two out of three examples of The Big Guy from the Five-Man Band are likely to be this type. (The other is usually a Genius Bruiser.)
The typical Gentle Giant is quiet and, while not "book smart" (and sometimes outrightstupid), is usually Closer to Earth. An occasional subversion of this is to make him the most intelligent member of the group, either as a scientist and tech guy or as a cynic. He may also like things that other guys will think of as "un-manly", and woe to you if you mock him for that.
If someone manages to push him too far, bad things will happen.Truth in Television. Generally, anyone over 6'2'' is either gonna have to be this or a thug (and this becomes more true the taller the person is). Anyone that tall and naturally strong, just to lead a normal life, must have gentle tendencies.
Compare The Grotesque. Contrast The Napoleon. Not to be confused with the British progressive rock band named Gentle Giant.
Examples
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According to this commercial, Flo from Progressive is one.
Anime and Manga
Narumi of Karakuri Circus qualifies; he's a massive martial artist, and even has a rough attitude and temper, but he will never harm someone who doesn't deserve it in the utmost.
The half-human, half-horse demon Jinenji from the InuYasha episode "Jinenji, Kind yet Sad" probably fits the bill as well.
Don't forget Sesshomaru's two-headed demonic steed, Ah-Un. Despite the fact it can shoot energy from its (their?) mouths and shoot beams of lighting, Ah-Un is shown to be very gentle to the human girl Rin, Sesshomaru's adoptive daughter and Morality Pet.
Muay Thay god of Death Apachai Hopachai, from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, has this trope´s name carved in his forehead.
Just about any Zentradi on Macross after the original series.
Especially shown in Frontier, seeing as the majority of Zentradi tend to be average people while having average people look like dolls next to them. A specific example being Alto and Sheryl hanging out with Klan, while having to be on a third story just to talk to face to face.
Alphonse from Fullmetal Alchemist. When he does get riled up, he's at least as good a fighter as his brother... but his mind and soul are still those of a young boy. The giant suit of armor makes it easy to forget that.
Major Armstrong also fits this role like a glove. Despite his immense raw power and efficiency on the battlefield, ultimately, it's Armstrong's compassion for the enemy that's preventing him from ever being promoted.
Sakaki in Azumanga Daioh is a Huge Schoolgirl who's often perceived as brooding, scary and unapproachable, when in reality she's just shy, self-conscious and absorbed in thinking about stuffed animals and other girlish matters. Although she has little interest in sports, she is a natural athlete who almost always wins when asked to compete.
Takashi "Jumbo" Takeda from the Yotsuba&! manga is a reallybig guy, but he's friendly and quite harmless... except when he feels he's been exploited or tricked, like when he asked Yotsuba to invite Asagi to a water park but she only brings Fuka and Ena, causing an angry outburst when Fuka tries to take the flowers he had brought for Asagi. He's never actually tried to hurt anyone, but he can be kinda scary...
Android 16 in Dragon Ball Z. He seems to be between 10-11 feet tall, has massively broad shoulders, wears chunky green armor, and has harsh facial features and a mohwawk. But he gets a couple of Pet The Bird moments, drops his homicide mission in order to try to kill the main villain, Cell, and eventually attempts a Heroic Sacrifice, which turns out to be futile, except for pushing Gohan into enough of a rage to go Super Saiyan 2.
Geronimo Jr./005 from Cyborg 009. He's HUGE, has a mohawk and possesses super strength and stamina even bigger than 009's, yet he's a very level-headed and soft-spoken pacifist and very often is the voice of reason in the team.
A harsher version is Gin Ishida from the Shitenhouji team. Tall, muscled, shaved bald, fearsome, ruthless in tennis... as well as very honor bound, always bowing quietly before a match and facing Takashi Kawamura at full strength to honor his rival's fierce resolution to finish the match despite a Game Breaking Injury. His younger brother Tetsu, who plays for Fudomine, is a very soft-spoken and amiable young man who becomes quite Hot Blooded in game.
Kabaji is the Ur Example in this franchise, actually. He is 193 cms at age 13, but he's very quiet and polite, and in one of the anime specials he was very depressed when his dear older sister announced her marriage. He's also said to be very good at domestic stuffin the info books.
Yasutora "Chad" Sado of Bleach. Huge, powerful, and completely unwilling to use his power to defend himself, but will readily bring the pain to anyone who wants to hurt his friends. And he's obsessed with cute things.
He only quite subverts the not-so-intelligent part, being 11th in the top 50 Freshmen grades (out of almost 400 students), and having some quite smart plans of himself; but then again, in Bleach, everybody is a nerd. Sort of...
From the Shinigami side, according to the data books, Komamura Sajin apparently owns a dog he called 'Goro' and takes it for a walk whenever he has free time. He's a Nice Guy (well, nice wolf man) when off-duty, very amiable to his squad, and likes watching dog shows.
There's also Hachigen Ushoda of the Vizards. He's a huge cuddly man-mountain with pink hair, and a Barrier Warrior who prefers to use kidou rather than wave a sword around.
Senri, a bear-man (well, he can turn his arm into a bear arm, at least), from the manga + Anima. He's extremely large and powerful, but his personality is probably best summed up by his character data. "Likes: small flowers." No, really. He likes to press them and use them as bookmarks in his diary. He's also The Quiet One.
Most giants in One Piece take after the Vikings in their behavior. However, we have an exception in Jaguar D. Saul, a giant Nico Robin met in her childhood. Though he still had a fighting role as a Marine vice-admiral, he was a fair and compassionate individual overall. Just as the trope describes, when he finally got angry, he began tossing around battleships.
Even the leaders of the Giant Pirate crew, Dorry and Broggy, can be considered examples of this trope. Outside of battle, they are incredibly nice, jovial fellows, only getting angry when their sense of honor or friends are threatened.
And then of course there's Franky and Brook, the two largest members of the Straw Hat pirates. The former is a massive, super-manly cyborg who cries easily and the latter is a giant human skeleton who hasn't got a mean bone in his body (yohohoho).
Fudoh of Fist of the North Star. A giant Goshasei warrior that towers over even Raoh. Oh, and he's the gentle and loving caretaker of many orphaned children.
Fudoh goes on to prove not only in size is he the bigger man, but is the first to truly instill fear in Raoh. This troper is not sure of the exact quote, but the conversation that Foudoh has with Raoh is to the effect of him showing that his (Fudoh's) children are his REAL treasure and as such Raoh, whom believes that by the power of his Ken (fist) only the world will be changed.
Shuh and Toki also follow this trope to a less obvious degree, although not quite as tall.
In Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Batou claims that shooting guns and hand to hand combat aren't really his strength, but that he really specializes in negotiation. Although this is not backed up by what we see in the series so it's more than likely that he was being sarcastic.
Which becomes Hilarious in Hindsight if you consider his and Togusas visit to the Yakuza to "just talk" in Innocence. Less than ten seconds into the scene he start blowing the place apart with a belt-fed machine gun.
Although to be fair, he has more than his fair share of Pet the Dog moments. Big guy almost tears up a few times and his relationship with the Tachikomas, combined with babying them with natural oil, is implied to be what gives them ghosts.
Well, considering the fact that he helps babysit Vivio in the anime, that's not hard to believe.
And as the Yagami family-centric M4 Sound Stage shows, he spends his free time playing around with the neighborhood kids and teaching them magic or martial arts. This is also the only time he's out of his wolf form after he joined the TSAB.
Ryu "The Owl" Nakanishi in Gatchaman. Ditto for his other incarnations (Tiny Harper, Hoot Owl and Ollie Keeawani).
Tatsuya's boxing buddy Shohei Harada in the manga/anime Touch. He's big, tough, intimidating, and isn't into anything gentle or "feminine" but he has a real heart of gold.
Jason Ozma from Hajime No Ippo looks like a huge Scary Black Man, but is extremely gentle and polite even to his rivals... Which leads to a hilarious scene in his introduction to Ippo.
Kurita from Eyeshield21. His teammates are terrified... of his hugs.
Subverted with Kurita's rival Gao, while having Kurita's size (spread out differently of course) is definitely Blood Knight of the series.
The main character from Slam Dunk, Hanamichi Sakuragi. He's an ex delinquent and looks really scary, but he's very gentle and respectful towards women and, if he likes you, he'll be your friend through thick and thin. Just make sure to not hit his Berserk Buttons and you can't have a better friend than him.
There's also Mikio Kawata, whose frequently scolded for not being agressive enough.
In Zatch Bell, one of the book keepers is a huge guy, whom Kiyomaro initially thinks of as the "demon". Turns out he's a nice, shy boy being manipulated by the demon (who turns out to be the nice looking boy and wants to blow up the big guy's old school) because the big guy was picked on as a kid and didn't have the personal strength to stand up to his bullies.
Let's not forget Growlmon and Antylamon from Digimon Tamers.
And Whamon from the original series, too.
The Daidarabochi from Hell Teacher Nube is a literal giant, over ten stories tall, with the supernatural ability to rearrange the topography of a region as though it had always been like that. Miki Hosokawa, one of Nube's students, is able to call on it for a little while in order to improve the landscape of Domori to her liking: such as widening the streets to make them safer, moving a construction site so it won't deprive some flowers of sunlight, and taking a communications tower from the city out to the countryside just so the baby birds nesting there have a better environment to grow up in. Unfortunately for her sanity, she's the only one who remembers the previous look of the city, so nobody (not even Nube) believes the story of Daidarabochi, at least until it saves her from falling when she tries to climb up to the nest herself.
Belle from Meiken Jolie (Belle and Sebastian) is a female example: an enormous white dog who is incredibly gentle and loves kids, but can easily make a short work of a pack of wolves threatening her boy Sebastian, unfortunately she is also actively hunted by the authorities (who call her The White Demon) because they believe her to be dangerous.
Rocket from Ginga Densetsu Weed. While not buff, he's very tall and one of the sweetest dogs in Weed's pack after his Heel Face Turn
Ben also qualifies, as do the massive Fighting dogs Weed recruits to his team. In fact almost all the larger dogs on Weed's side qualify as this, while the smaller ones like Silver tend to be Tiny Terrors.
Also Gantetsu from the anime-only Shinobazu arc. Chouza Akimichi (Chouji's dad) also qualifies; he's one of the bigger characters in Naruto and is a Badass on the battlefield, but off it, he's very kind and gentle.
Chouji himself counts, being a somewhat dim and very bottomless yet also extremely loyal boy who is NOT FAT, JUST BIG BONED! He still has room to physically grow even more, since he's just 14-15 right now.
Mori might fit this, too, since he's tall and stoic, although no one really finds him scary. In any case, Mori loves animals and takes care of a little chick and later an orphaned tanuki in the manga.
In his true form, Chrono from Chrono Crusade behaves rather like this. Although he has a violent temper when pushed too far, he genuinely doesn't want to hurt anyone and is often shown regretting the battles he takes a part of.
The Laputan robots from Castle in the Sky can be extremely dangerous (They can shoot lethal laser from their eyes), but care for innocent birds' nests and put flowers on an ancient grave.
From Pokémon, Ash's Muk is a foul-smelling Blob Monster that loves to hug people (especially Professor Oak, its primary caretaker).
The Dragonite in Blackthorn City. It's really friendly, but is still a dangerous fighter, as the episode Great Bowls of Fire will tell you.
In Charizard's Burning Ambition, the largest Charizard in the Charicific Valley was said to be the most docile, until Ash's own Charizard tried to pick a fight with it.
Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon is a Huge School Girl, The Big Gal in her Five Woman Band, and is very, very strong. The way the fandom talks about her, you'd think she was an aggressive, snarky, trash-talking delinquent. Then you actually watch/read the series, and find out just how sweet and gentle she really is.
Not to mention being a Chef of Iron (Ordinary type), a good housekeeper (just look at how quickly she made short work of Motoki's messy flat!), and a Mama Bear (don't you DARE bully her friends! and if you're an enemy, do NOT touch her 'band!).
Ooshima, the huge high school athlete from Emerging. Exemplified by his shy/loving relationship with his girlfriend Misaki whose only about half as tall and wide as the shoulder as her boyfriend, this couple make a very cute Huge Guy, Tiny Girl couple.
Rashid Kurama from Gundam Wing is the very tall, very badass, and very devoted leader of Quatre's group, the Magnac Corps.
Also, Argo Gulskii from G Gundam. Very smart, quiet, scary-looking - and the most level-headed, gentler of the Shuffle Alliance.
Mana from Superdreadnought Girl 4946 is just under 50m in height, but is still just a teenage girl on the inside.
Wolfgang Grimmer, from Monster; huge (primarily in height, but he is clearly very strong as well) and also an incredibly sweet-natured Woobie. Just... don't make him angry.
Banbi from Ai Ore Love Me is a large, muscular teenager with a bad reputation and a scar on his face. He's actually a pretty gentle and sweet guy though.
Card Games
In the Magic: The Gathering storyline, Karn the Silver Golem was so physically powerful he could kill a giant with his bare hands... and suffered a Freak Out after the first time he beat a man to death, after which point he became a pacifist (the kind that actually refuses to harm any other living thing, and "fights" by grabbing people and holding them still without so much as a bruise... not that other kind of pacifist). Except against Phyrexians. Those he annihilates with extreme prejudice.
Whether this actually counts as a violation of his pacifism is debatable, though. Most of them are undead cyborgs, and thus not technically living. The remainder include Artificial Humans, biomechanical plague weapons, robots, undead, and horrors — which is a catch-all term for anything too bizarre and, well, horrific to fit neatly into the above categories. Also, they're Always Chaotic EvilComplete Monsters to the last, having been created by a deranged madman to embody his corrupt and horrifying worldview.
Comic Books
Hank "The Beast" McCoy from X-Men is a good example of the super-intelligent giant subversion.
Similarly, Piotr "Colossus" Rasputin is a young mountain of a man even before he turns into steel, but at heart is a gentle-souled artist unless brain-damaged or subjected to Complete Monster levels of provocation.
Ben Grimm, aka The Thing is a hulking rock monster capable of lifting tanks with one hand... and just about the sweetest guy you're even likely to meet, and a great uncle to boot. Even before his transformation he counted (albeit in a less extreme way.)
Nuklon/Atom Smasher in The DCU started out this way... until he did a brief Face Heel Turn and helped Black Adam invade Khandaq, murdering a bunch of people along the way, frequently by stomping on them. He's back on the right track, though.
Obelix from the Astérix comics is huge, has superhuman strength, and terrifies all the bad guys. He's also a sweetie that often gets described as "a big kid". Sure, he beats up Romans all the time, but he sees it as a game and is surprised because they don't seem to like it.
Just don't hurt his dog, or imply anything about his weight, and you'll be fine.
And don't touch the wimpy blonde kid he's trying to train to be a great warrior, or he will enter Papa Wolf mode and will wipe the floor with your entire village, even if Vikings are "Much more fun than the romans! We should invite them to invade our village sometime!". Essentially, don't threaten anyone he likes or is protecting, because he will mess you up.
Calibretto, the bird loving War Golem from the comic Battle Chasers.
The Hulk can sometimes be the epitome of this trope. Sometimes. It usually depends on the age group the particular story is aimed at.
Guido Carosella a.k.a. Strong Guy from X-Factor. Overbulging with muscles due to malfunctioning superpowers. Has to sit on the floor a lot because he's just too tall to function in most rooms. Brainwashing had him kill a man and he took it horribly bad until the victim's own wife forgives him. Like the others in this sub list, nice and sweet until innocents/his friends are threatened, then things get smashed.
He's also in pain most of the time, but conceals it by joking around so people won't take pity on him.
Some comic book characters are gentle giants bynecessity. Captain Britain is contanstly aware that a slip-up could turn a handshake into a crushed hand. Superman, when he was ill and not thinking straight, warns several squishy villains not to proceed, since at that point in time he is unsure whether his punches would take their heads off.
Kuga the Lion Killer from Jack Kirby's Satan's Six. The name might be off-putting, but he secretly loves animals far too much to harm them or let any harm come to them.
Many characters played by the late John Candy fit this trope. Del, Uncle Buck, Irv, and Barf the mog from Spaceballs and Del from Planes, Trains and Automobiles deserve an honorable mention here. Ditto for John Goodman.
In the movie adaptation of Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Hellboy is given a Gentle Giant side, in that he is very fond of cats, and in his "semi-unrequited" (i.e., he gets the girl in the end) love for fellow BPRD team-member Liz Sherman. One scene from the first movie shows him desperately fighting an icky monster to save not only subway goers but a box of mewling kittens. In the comic BRPD, he is also shown in flashback being kind, where no one else would, to Liz, as well as to Abe Sapien.
The second movie furthers Hellboy's Gentle Giant status in a Crowning Moment of Funny. He, Abe and Krauss are following an old lady (actually a monster in disguise) that would lead them to The Underground. All is going well until the old lady threatens to eat a box full of kittens. Hellboy goes nuts, afraid that she would eat the poor kitties and immediately blows their cover, despite Krauss's protests.
John Coffey from The Green Mile is perhaps the quintessential example of this trope, in both movie and book.
As is the actor who portrays him in The Movie, Michael Clarke Duncan.
Chewbacca from Star Wars. While he has his moments of Wookie rage, mostly he is a very loving and gentle creature, even snuggling with Han during Return of the Jedi. Performer Peter Mayhew explained that this is largely due to his own experience, because as a large person he was always taught to be nice to people smaller then him.
Tank Girl. Booger, the title character's Ripper love interest with the mind of a child.
Though it may be worth noting that Mothra sometimes seems to be one of the smallest Kaiju in the series.
Pictured above: In The Iron Giant, the eponymous giant is a rather pensive, sweet robot who is horrified when a deer dies in front of him, declares himself not a gun, and gets a lesson on souls from his young human friend, Hogarth. However, threatening to attack him or hurting Hogarth is not advised, as he can very well be a walking arsenal.
King Kong, especially in the remake. Showing just how tender- and so close to human- the great ape could be makes the ending even more tragic.
Dagonet from the film King Arthur. Ray Stevenson is a very big and scary man, but he also comes across as the most thoughtful and gentle of the knights. It helps that he also seems to be The Medic.
Dagonet: (To a small boy he's just rescued) "You must not fear me."
My Giant is about a man who is really like this, but ends up becomming famous by playing evil characters. The story was apparently inspired by Andre the Giant.
Shrek deserves a mention here. He's a misanthropic loner, but never actually hurts anyone unless they really really deserve it.
The short film Dennis fits the bill with Kim Kold, a professional bodybuilder, playing a very shy man who lives with his mother.
Frankenstein's Monster has been portrayed this way in many movies, though in the original source material bitterness at being rejected by his creator and fearful responses from the Muggles turned him bitter and vengeful.
Frankenbeans from Beetleborgs on the other hand is a total idiot.
Inverted HARD with Stitch, short, destructive, and so doggone cute and fluffy to boot.
The aptly named Rock Biter from The Neverending Story is absolutely massive, but has a Tear Jerker scene where he laments not being able to hold onto his tiny friends.
The Giant of Thunder Mountain's title character easily fits this trope. He's massive enough to take on a giant bear that previously killed both his parents with his bare hands in order to protect a little girl he's befriended-Non-romantically fulfilling the Huge Guy, Tiny Girl trope- and while he doesn't work very well in social situations, it's purely from inexperience because he grew up all alone in the woods, he's as gentle and kind as can be as long as his Berserk Button doesn't get pushed. Namely, if you don't want a mega-sized Papa Wolf giving you a beatdown like nothing you've ever seen before-don't mess with the little girl. You will regret it.
Hercules (aka The Beast) from The Sandlot. The kids spend most of the movie assuming he's a crazed kid-eating dog, when he's just this trope who really likes baseballs.
The eponymous character of the 1920 silent move The Golem suddenly turns into this in the end, just after going on a rampage and nearly incinerating the town — thus revealing that he is, after all, only a misunderstood Non-Malicious Monster.
Though he's very much not one in his first appearance, Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother, learns by Hagrid's patient and determined example to be a Gentle Giant, at least when dealing with people. If the people he cares for are hurt or killed, he is the first to utterly break down crying. He's much more tender and caring than any of the main characters.
The Giant Squid living in the Hogwarts lake seems to be a friendly monster- it's first introduced putting an overboard student back in the boat, and Fred and George have been seen tickling it. Although Harry still hopes not to see it when he swims in the Hogwarts lake.
Roald Dahl's title character in The BFG. All the other Giants are evil though.
Somewhat subverted, actually. By Giant standards, the BFG is very small.
Played straight with Hodor of A Song of Ice and Fire, who is about seven feet tall but has the mind of a young child and is completely incapable of defending himself. Sandor Clegane, a massive and ferocious man, is described as being "not ungentle" when dealing with the innocent Sansa. He'll still chop most men in half for looking at him cross-eyed, though. There are a number of other huge men who are quite cruel, the cruelest and largest of whom is Sandor's older brother Gregor. Actual giants are not particularly gentle.
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld, or at least in Ankh-Morpork, many civilized trolls adopt a Gentle Giant demeanour when dealing with other, more breakable races, but mostly out of convenience, not niceness. One member of the City Watch, though, a troll constable named Bluejohn, is the largest the commander of the Watch has ever seen, much bigger even than normal trolls, and "like many big people" is really quite gentle and diffident. He's so massive and tough he can function as an impromptu riot shield for a squad of coppers. However, this is by no means universal, as plenty of trolls find employment as hired goons, and there are more that a few troll criminal masterminds who operate out of the meat refrigeration areas.
Also, Captain Carrot is six-feet-six, broad-shouldered, and immensely strong due to growing up in a dwarven mine, but he's just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet.
Lady Sybil Ramkin is an unfailingly polite and gracious Valkyriesque dragon breeder who, by the fact of being large and kind, is sometimes misinterpreted as being "stupid" (or "deaf").
Constable Dorfl is a golem, and has chosen to be nonviolent. So far he is also quite possibly the strongest person/thing on the watch, as golems have been described as capable of ripping trolls in half. While golems in general are this way because they have the functional equivalent of the Three Laws embedded in their heads, Dorfl does not, and is very specifically nonviolent by choice alone.
Jason Ogg, son of Nanny Ogg and Lancre's premier blacksmith, is huge and strong (so that it is hard to believe he was born and not, say, constructed), and definitely a gentle giant, though this doesn't stop the local pub owner from calling on him to break up drunken brawls by knocking the combatants together "in the friendliest way possible."
That is, holding one of the combatants off the floor in each hand, then knocking their heads together.
From Glen Cook's Garrett series we have seven- (or nine, if you ask Garrett) foot-tall imposing black man named Playmate, who does not have "a mean bone in his body" and Saucerhead Tharpe who, while earning a living as a strongarm specialist, is very civil to the people he knocks out.
The Giants in The Fionavar Tapestry are so pacifistic that they won't fight back against people actually killing them. The reason is complicated, but it involves an ancient curse.
The Giants in C. S. Lewis's Narnia are usually depicted as dumb or evil (especially in The Silver Chair), but in the second book (The Lion, The Witch And the Wardrobe) we meet a very gentle and polite one: Rumblebuffin, who was Taken for Granite by Jadis the Witch especially because of this. Aslan revives him and he joins the cause of the Pevensies immediately.
The Giants in the Silver Chair are ironically the ones referred to as 'Gentle Giants'. While they are far gentler and more refined then their brutish cousins, few of them show qualms against eating weaker, sentient beings.
Joe from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations fits this trope. He doesn't hurt anyone, except Orlick who he knocks out in one punch after Orlick kept insulting his wife.
The Ents of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings are, like trees, stolid, slow to move, and strong enough to crack rocks. They're eventually rallied into war, but it takes a lot of talk.
The Hork Bajir in Animorphs qualify. Despite being 7 feet tall, covered in blades, and being used as alien brain slugs' foot soldiers, they have no aptitude for fighting, and use their blades to slice and eat tree bark.
In Simon Spurrier's Warhammer 40,000Night Lords novel Lord of the Night, Cog. As long as Mira isn't threatened and you don't call him an ogryn.
In Ken Follet's novel World Without End, Mark Webber, the Kingsbridge weaver, is regularly described as a gentle giant.
In Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures series, one of the members of M.Y.T.H. Inc., is Chumley, a huge green-furred troll. Although he works as muscle-for-hire under the persona of 'Big Crunch,' he's actually the most erudite and poetic of the M.Y.T.H. Inc. crew.
In Roger Zelazny's novel Roadmarks, Mondamay is a large alien robot with the power to obliterate entire planets, but finds himself left behind by his creators due to a malfunction. He becomes a potter and lives a peaceful life until reactivated by an assassin and ordered to kill a friend.
Gunnar a ten foot tall anthropomorphic giant ground sloth, is very calm and placid, but can be provoked to violence. He often acts as the voice of reason to his extremely aggressive and bloodthirsty companion Spite, who is an anthropomorphic weasel and about three feet tall.
Don Quixote: The giant Morgante is one of Don Quixote Alonso Quixano’s favorite characters, because despite being a giant, (and in the chivalry books all giants are arrogant and angry), he is affable and well bred… the whole point is that Alonso Quixano think’s this kind of character is original of his beloved chivalry books, but really it’s not. This trope was a cliché even when Don Quixote was written, in 1605, as we can see at Part I, Chapter I, Alonso Quixano:
"… approved highly of the giant Morgante, because, although of the giant breed which is always arrogant and ill-conditioned, he alone was affable and well-bred."
Lowbacca from the Young Jedi Knights series is Chewbacca's nephew and a promising Jedi apprentice. Like his uncle, he's huge and intimidating, but is actually uncomfortable and shy when he arrives at the Jedi Praxeum, being unfamiliar with everyone. He takes to going off into Yavin IV's jungle alone until the Solo twins get him to open up to them.
In Death: Leonardo is very much this. Dr. Mira even refers to him as such in Vengeance In Death.
In Stephen King's The Stand there is the character of Tom Cullen: a big, strong, friendly man with a mild case of mental retardation. Tom is so gentle that he would never dream of commiting violence, and possesses a child-like sense of innocence and wonder.
Longinus Podbipięta from With Fire and Sword. He fits the Giant part because he's a two meter tall Lithuanian toting a BFS so heavy no one else can wield it in combat. And he fits the Gentle part because he's friendly and loyal unto death to his friends but Tranquil Fury for his enemies. When he was young, he made an oath that he won't walk to the altar with a woman until he repeats a Crowning Moment of Awesome one of his ancestors did (decapitating three heathens in one swing) in order to prove himself worthy of his name.
Who could forget The Big Guy Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond ? He's massive, hulking, sometimes seen as dull-witted but actually very smart in many situations, became a cop, and is one of the gentlest guys you will ever meet, both in the show and reality.
Mr. T's character B.A. on The A-Team had a Gentle Giant side, in which his fear of flying forced the others to drug him whenever they needed to get him on a plane. He was also revealed as a Genius Bruiser in episodes that featured his skills as an electronics and gadgetry whiz.
He also showed the gentle side in any episode dealing with kids. Of course, this is also true of the actor in real life, so it fits.
Willy on Mission: Impossible mostly fits, although it can be assumed he was just as intelligent as the others.
One could argue that David Palmer in 24 is an example of this trope. He does act that way at times and he's not particularly vicious.
Nick Stokes, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Evident when Greg Sanders was attacked in the episode "Fannysmackin'"; normally a gentle soul, Nick went berserk at the kids who were taunting him. For a few seasons, some fans joked that the constantly tormented Nick would have his "Day of Justice."
Olag Gan from Blake's 7, who is also a Technical Pacifist due to having his brain altered by the Federation.
The massive Detective Vera from Cold Case fits this trope. Despite being snarky, he's amazingly good with children and as Rush tells a rape victim: "He only looks like a Neanderthal."
Subverted in a recent episode of Cold Case. The Circus Giant everybody thought was mentally retarded and a gentle soul, was actually highly intelligent and a cold blooded murderer.
Hoss Cartwright from Bonanza fits the trope; in addition, he is quite naďve.
Abraham Benrubi, the actor for Larry "Kube" Kubiak often plays this role, and is noted in the Real Life section for also being this in, obviously, Real Life.
Marshall from How I Met Your Mother. He's played by 6'4" Jason Segel, but he's the most sentimental (and sympathetic) male character on the show, but winds up coming in handy when Ted and Barney try to pick a fight outside the bar.
Toberman from the Doctor Who story The Tomb of the Cybermen.
Condo from The Brain of Morbius. His Berserk Buttons are his missing arm (Which his Mad Scientist superior uses to blackmail him), and that time that Solon effectively betrayed him by offering him up as a replacement sacrifice to the Sisterhood of Karn in exchange for the Doctor's life (Or, at least, his head).
Dagwood from Sea Quest DSV/2032 was a failed prototype of a brand of genetically engineered soldiers. Not only was his intelligence lower than his creators expected, he was so gentle that when the rest of the crew had their aggression heightened, he remained the same because there was "not a mean bone" in him.
D'Argo of Farscape. Though he was primarily a Warrior Poet, he tended to be very much a gentle giant around children- his friendship with Cyntrina in "DifferentDestinations" being the most obvious example.
Matt from Operation Repo (minus the the "don't push him" part). The guy is a big bald dude with tree-trunk arm who runs and hides at the first sign of trouble. At one point he began crying after being shot with pepper spray (actually crying, as in "boo-hoo".)
The giant at the beginning of the season 2 of Twin Peaks.
Nurse Jackie has this in the form of Thor, a tall, imposing dude who is sweet as sugar, cute as a button, and gay as a glittery top hat. Calling out "Thor!" in an early episode brings him looming, scaring off the creep, and when Jackie says "Thank you," he spins around with a perky "No problem!"
Archie "Snake" Simpson from Degrassi. Minus the "not book smart" part in this case (one of the smart kids in the '80s version, he comes back as a teacher and makes principal well before age 40).
Eliot Spencer on Leverage. He's not big heightwise but he's solid muscle and a powerful fighter, which is what makes him such an effective "hitter" for the merry band of do-gooding criminals. "Mushy" attributes include a love of cooking (he's a Master Chef), a fondness for children, and proclaiming his favorite movie is Casablanca.
There is a reason Finn from Glee has been called Frankenteen.
Herman Munster of The Munsters, definitely. Body of a Frankenstein, personality of a Bumbling Dad.
Really, most anyone played by Fred Gwynne qualifies. His 6'5" frame, baritone voice, and pleasant, shy nature made him a natural for these parts.
Big Bird on Sesame Street. His foreign counterparts play the trope straight (Abelardo from Plaza Sesamo, Pino from Sesamstraat, Moshe the giant meerkat from Takalani Sesame, Boombah the lion from Galli Galli Sim Sim, and Sesamstraße's Samson averting the Everything's Worse with Bears trope.)
Jaime Palillo from Carrusel. Big, strong, loud, gluttonous- but friendly towards everyone, laid back, and always in a good mood.
Its In the Blood, actually: his parents are seen on-screen, and both Mr. and Mrs. Palillo are just as large and kind-hearted as their son.
Frankie on Boy Meets World is ultimately revealed to be one when he has a good influence.
Conrad from Wild Boys. The biggest of the bushrangers, he is the only one who isn't an outlaw at heart; having being forced to give up an honest trade (farrier) and turn criminal when he was framed for a crime he did not commit.
Music
From They Might Be Giants' "Particle Man": "Universe Man, Universe Man, size of the entire universe man. He's usually kind to smaller man..."
Not a song, but a performer: Barry White. The Walrus of Love was a huge guy, but as easygoing and loving as you could find.
Mythology
Older Than Print: According to the Golden Legend (c. 1260 C.E.), Saint Christopher became one of these after years of being an arrogant Genius Bruiser who'd only serve the greatest king ever. When he decides that the greatest king ever is Jesus, specifically Baby Jesus, his perspective changes a bit.
Surprisingly, this has been used on occasion in pro wrestling. When Andre The Giant got older and couldn't really wrestle anymore because of his gigantism, he became this trope. Also, the Oddities (Golga, Kurrgan, and Silva) from the late 90s WWF were pretty much this trope after their Heel Face Turn from a Circus of Fear to a bunch of happy-go-lucky lets-have-fun dudes.
Also, the APA appeared to care more about drinking beer and playing cards in their "office" than wrestling. That is, until you hired them. Or spilled their beer.
The Great Khali post face turn. You still wouldn't want to fight him though.
Even the Big Show has dabbled into this trope on occasion whenever he's teamed with the smallest guys on the roster such as Spike Dudley or Rey Mysterio. Harshly adverted as a heel.
Tabletop Games
Cloud giants in Dungeons & Dragons are literally Gentle Giants who mostly care about philosophy and the arts, but woe to the evildoer who pisses one off.
Prior to 4th Edition, storm giants were also generally very pleasant people in most settings.
While the Ogre Seeming from Changeling The Lost has the reputation of being violent, they can some times simply be gruff.
Video Games
Claude from Shining Force 2 is a golem that served the ancients even before you get the chance to add him to your party, the turtle pet you can get can also evolve into a "monster" that's actually kind and helpful... and has a gamebreaking fire-breath attack.
Doshin the Giant for the GameCube. The whole game is about a giant helping islanders build small cities and even mix races with different-colored islanders.
Video game example: Zhong the Ox carrier from Jade Empire, an ogre — a member of a normally brutal and territorial race - that ran away from home because he accidentally killed one of his master's oxen. Another example is Chai Ka; a demon that inhabits the body of a little girl.
Potemkin in the Guilty Gear series is an example; he also has mild Genius Bruiser leanings, being highly intelligent and rather philosophical, although sometimes rather naive.
Subverted in the game Sly Cooper 3. During the preceding game, Murray was quite fond of destruction, being a big bruiser. In the third, he had taken to the path of peace ... until his friends help justify destroying things (here, pumps that spew sludge into Venice's canals). Eventually ... The Murray returns true to form.
Generally, the characters belonging to the Fighter, Warrior and/or Berserker classes (all of them axe users) in Fire Emblem are sort-of different subversions of the Gentle Giant. The closest are:
The Knight Arden and General Hannibal (FE 4);
The Knight Bors, the Bandit Gonzales and the Warriors Geese and Bartre (FE 6)
The Berserkers Hawkeye and Fargus, the Warrior Geitz, Dart the Pirate; a young Bartre and his best friend Dorcas, both Axefighters: the Hot Blooded Lord Hector (actually one of the main characters) (FE 7);
Garcia the Axefighter and his son Ross the Journeyman, Dozla the Berserker (FE 8).
Nolan is the philospher and is Team Mom of La Résistance. Brom is a Closer to Earth farmer who is also heavily decked in armor when he's forced to fight, and his daughter Meg is a kindhearted girl who follows on her father's footsteps in the second game. (FE 10).
Shigen of the Last Blade series is extremely large and powerful, and, with his stone abilities, he can partially become an even more powerful Living Statue. Despite his fearsome appearance, he's a dutiful father to his adopted daughter Kotetsu.
Tae, the Bear God of Lusternia. Hulking and powerful but simple-minded and little-appreciated by his peers, his relationship with his best friend/mate Bollikin is one of the most Sweet Dreams Fuel-inducing parts of the otherwise bleak Elder Wars. When Tae splinters his essence, the mortal race that results - the Tae'dae, or bearfolk - carry this trait on, known as much for their compassion and charisma as their legendary strength and girth.
Also, the Igasho race. The tallest (averaging nine feet or more) and hardiest mortal race, they tend to be solitary wanderers, but are generally courteous in their dealings with the outside world.
The Big Daddies of BioShock are enormously gentle and overprotective of the Little Sisters they've been programmed to safeguard, to the point where the Little Sisters consider them close friends, and the worst they'll do to anything not a direct threat to it or the Little Sister (including you as long as you don't attack it or the Sister) is either shove it out of the way or try to intimidate it by basically shouting at it. This makes the immensely violent and destructive shift they undergo when the Little Sister is in danger all the more shocking and disconcerting.
Boman Delgado from Rival Schools. He looks like a Scary Black Man at first, but the game reveals he's actually religious and hates unnecessary fighting.
If you get to know him, Gan Isurugi becomes this too. The Gedo ending in the first game has him cheerfully carrying Akiraon his shoulder, and according to his profile he's a Country Mouse with a very large family.
Victor von Gerdenheim of the Darkstalkers series is a kind-hearted Frankenstein's Monster who loves his "father" and his Dead Little Sister Emily. Basically the only reason he fights is to find a way to revive Emily, which he eventually does by sacrificing his own life.
Huitzil/Phobos also has traits of this. On the first game he's often seen with birds perching on him, while on the second game he looks after a little boy named Cecil.
Super Mutants Fawkes and Uncle Leo from Fallout 3.
O'Hanrahan from Fallout: New Vegas, as one of the tallest humans in the game he states that his mother used to tell him, "You're the biggest and strongest of us, so you mind yourself" he also cites this as the reason behind his tendency towards pacifism and diplomacy. Easily one of the politest NPCs in game, his method for solving the quest he's in yields the best results in the epilogue. Also, there's Mean Sonofabitch, the Super Mutant protector of Westside.
WarCraft's tauren are nearly an entire race of Gentle Giants. No, you'd be best not to trust those vicious promotional images they gave you. Trust me.
The uncorrupted draenei introduced in The Burning Crusade are sort of Alliance tauren, really. Only both more humanoid and weirder-looking. And blue.
Both races, however, can be fearsome in battle, especially against a foe like the Burning Legion or the Scourge. On the whole, neither group is looking to start a fight, but they know how to finish one if it finds them.
MASK De Smith of killer7. A huge, burly man in a suit, cape and wrestling mask, armed with two grenade launchers that burn his enemies to the ground, but he's a surprisingly nice, mellow guy under the mask.
Like a hibernating bear, the Heavy appears to be a gentle giant. Also like a bear, confusing his deliberate, sleepy demeanor with gentleness will get you ripped limb from limb. Though he speaks simply and moves with an economy of energy that's often confused with napping, the Heavy isn't dumb, he's notyour big friend, and he generally wishes you'd just shut up before he has to make you shut up.
Technically a Double Subversion, if Poker Night at the Inventory is to be believed, which reveals several aspects of his personality not previously seen in his game of origin. For instance, as a child, he buried a dead sparrow out of sorrow for it after another kid had killed it with a throwing knife at a training camp.
In-game, the Heavy is more of a Boisterous Bruiser. He also enjoys telling his teammates that they are "credit to team" and is often heard saying "I love this doctor!" when a Medic heals him.
According to his entry in the Mega Man and Bass robot database, Guts Man is one of these. Specifically, it states that he is sentimental, hates arguments, and likes karaoke.
Steelheart Massimo fills this trope nicely. He's a massive reploid from Mega Man X: Command Mission in equally massive armor, wielding an equally massive beam-axe. Though not "dumb", his primary function (was?) is combat, but he has a great personality, once you get past his scaredy-cat nature. Notable acts range from hurling a Maverick larger/denser then Flame Mammoth across a room with one arm, as well as using his body as a shield to cover a covert- and nurse-type reploid from a really really big gunship's heavy laser cannons. Despite acts of great strength and defense, he's oftentimes heard whining about how things can't be done peacefully.
Snorlax from Pokémon is enormous, but is also said to be so gentle (unless if it's hungry) that small children can actually play on its massive belly.
Dragonite is a large, towering dragon that can learn powerful moves like "Outrage" but is quite docile and friendly. Its Pokédex entries often say that it helps guide people who are lost, especially those who were involved in shipwrecks.
Aggron. Incredibly aggressive, extremely territorial and will beat intruders into a pulp without hesitation, but will go out of its way to restore any part of its own territory damaged by nature through planting trees and hauling in topsoil.
Torterra is a giant turtle that looks intimidating at first, but it's Pokédex entry states that it lets smaller Pokémon live on its back.
Tangrowth is essentially a 218-pound heap of vines that happens to very stupid and very friendly.
Haxorus, a ferocious-looking dragon with axes for tusks that are unbreakable and can slice through steel beams with one blow. However, its Pokédex entry states that it is a kind Pokémon, albeit territorial.
Heck, due to the Nature (i.e. personality) aspects added to the more recent games, it's possible to get any large Pokémon with a "Docile" or "Gentle" nature. Examples include Dialga, Lugia, Onix, and yes, even your Skitty-loving Wailord.
Chunky Kong of Donkey Kong 64. He has a rather childlike demeanor, and yet he's the biggest and burliest of the playable kongs. A further example of his gentleness is the fact that his musical instrument is the triangle.
Will Powers from the Ace Attorney series. When people first meet him, they look at his face and presume he's guilty. After spending five minutes with him, they'll insist he's innocent.
And Terry Fawles from the third game. Despite his stature and scarred face, he's a childlike, sensitive man who happens to be Dahlia Hawthorne's ex-boyfriend. When he's Driven to Suicide, the player often weeps.
Xu Zhu in Dynasty Warriors 5. In his ending he is shown to be tossing a giant boulder away from some land for some farmers.
In real life too. He was nicknamed "stupid tiger/tiger fool/other translations", because he was simple-minded and honest outside of battle, but he was as ferocious as a tiger in it.
Minsc from the Baldur's Gate series. Easier to provoke than most of these examples, though.
It's rare to have a Boisterous Bruiser who fits this trope, but then again, few examples of any trope get distracted from a lecture on serving nature with dignity by the sight of squirrels playing.
He's also not not dumb despite many a misguided fan's opinion.
T-Hawk from Street Fighter. He is a 7 foot tall Native American fighter who fights to save his village from Shadaloo and also doesn't go anywhere without his pet Eagle as seen in his victory pose.
King from Tekken is a pro-wrestling priest who is gentle and kind to the children of his small town in Mexico, despite his massive size and intimidating jaguar mask.
Zaalbar from Knights of the Old Republic is a painfully shy and quiet fellow, despite being two meters of very intimidating walking fur. His partner-in-crime refers to him as a "big ol' softie." It seems his only Berserk Button is if someone harms Mission.
A villainous example, Lexaeus from Kingdom Hearts sort of fits this trope, as outside of battle he is shown to be a calm and disciplined schemer.
He's not the greatest example of this trope, considering he does try to kill Riku when he figures out that he can't manipulate him. Most of the Organization are literally heartless, emotionless beings who do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. He's quiet and strong, sure, but he's also just as cool and calculating as all of the others.
Yeto, the mountain-dwelling cook and snowboard enthusiast in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, is shown to be one of these. His wife Yeta also fits the bill, when she isn't possessed by the soul-eating powers of a piece of the Mirror of Twilight.
Vigk Vagk the Troll in Ninety Nine Nights is a massive beast captured by the Orcs and a miniboss in the other characters' campaigns. When he becomes unlockable, he's actually shown as a gentle creature at nature who befriends a weak-willed Goblin soldier.
To some extent, Sten in Dragon Age: Origins. While on the outside he's a Stoic Deadpan Snarker he's shown to have a definite soft side, such as a love of baked goods, an appreciation of art and a tendency to pick flowers and play with kittens when no one is looking. However he's also atoning for the massacre of a family in a fit of rage over his own failure of duty.
Hank from Trauma Team is The Big Guy who loves flowers, has a soft spot for a young patient of his, and performs operations requiring precision and caution rather than speed.
Guy from Final Fantasy II is the original Gentle Giant in the Final Fantasy series. He's simple-minded, doesn't talk much, and can talk to animals. Most significantly with beavers.
Also there's Ward from Final Fantasy VIII who, after losing his voice, only conveys his thoughts through his emotions. Apparently Laguna and Kiros understands what he tries to say.
Sabin is a Bare Fisted Monk, and well-muscled enough that Terra initially mistakes him for a bear; yet he's easily one of the most upbeat and forward-thinking characters in the party.
The Longest Journey has a former circus performer, Q'aman. Not surprisingly, his official circus nickname is "The Gentle Giant." It could not be more appropriate.
Edgar from Psychonauts is a gigantic bearded Spaniard with bigger arms than Chris Redfield. He's also pleasant and soft-spoken, loves art and is in fact a painter, and wouldn't need to refer to his sensitive side as a side. He only breaks away from being possibly the second nicest character in the game when he's pissed. Fittingly, he has a bull motif going on.
Linda the lungfish turns out to be this way as well. It turns out her kidnapping of children was a result of mind control.
Kintoki from Otogi Myth Of Demons is very kind and soft spoken. This is despite being a 7 foot tall behemoth of a man, with enough raw strength to grab and pick up demons twice his size with one hand and throw them through buildings. Not to mention his BFS sized axe which he swings around with ease. He is by far the physicly strongest member of the good guys, but he only fights in order to save the land and help his friends.
Dark Souls has the giant blacksmith of Anor Londo who is better at smithing than talking, but he's happy about the company and perhaps the nicest NPC in the game.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has tribes of giants, who are quite peaceful, and won't attack anyone unless provoked. They're also very powerful, and are known to kill even dragons if they come too close.
Shadow of the Colossus has Phalanx. It is the only Colossus that will never attack Wander, even when he begins shooting arrows at it and stabbing its weak spots. Avion might also qualify, since it will not attempt to attack Wander at all unless he provokes it first.
The "Monster in the Darkness" is a gentle giant played straight. Terribly powerfull and scary, but turns out to be a nice guy.
Adam from Girl Genius (also known as Punch) is a mute Frankenstein's Monster style creature, often depicted as a lumbering moron in plays and stories. People who know him however describe him as a wise and gentle soul who spent his spare time making toys for orphan children.
Also Dr. Dim, who is actually stupid, but harmless, and makes and cherishes his teddy bears.
He's not exactly stupid—it's implied that Klaus Wulfenbach lobotomized him.
And that can't have made him stupid?
Could have, but lobotomy usually dimishes the ability to make decisions, not intelligence itself.
Ruby from Ruby's World , who keeps her kind nature after her transformation ( unless provoked )
Justin from El Goonish Shive, from Rhoda's point of view. She's normally scared of people bigger than her (and his 6' to her 5' is quite a difference), but also knows that he's friends with Nanase, and that Nanase wouldn't be friends with anyone bad.
Also Greg, who is 6'10, may fall under this. Although he is a martial arts master he has never been shown to be violent.
Nate and Chadling, from Bob and George are devils in the vein of the yellow devil from the Megaman series (Nate is actually yellow, while Chadling is purple), taking the form of a giant demon or changeable size in battle while actually being nice guys (especially Nate).
Ultra-Man, a stalwart member of the Global Guardians is a bit of a mix between the Gentle Giant and the Genius Bruiser. Regardlesss, he is the moral compass of the team.
Marzgurl. She's about the tallest female contributor on That Guy With The Glasses and is sometimes depicted as rather strong, but she is a rather nice person in real life.
Marcus Roddy of Survival of the Fittest - he is absolutely massive, yet wouldn't hurt a fly. However, due to various exceptions, it's easier to say that when dealing with very large characters in Survival of the Fittest, roughly half are subversions of this trope, and the other half are played straight. Vesa Turunen started as straddling the border between playing this straight and subverting it, but eventually turned into a Blood Knight and Death Seeker.
Craig Hoyle in season four of Survival Of the Fittest also certainly counts. He's one of the tallest students at Bayview High and probably the heaviest, at 6'7" and well over 300 pounds. His main interest? Drawing. Craig joined the football team, but only beause he wanted to be more popular; to boot, he's quite horrible at any part of the game besides being a wall of meat.
The giantess fetishism is divided in two branches: "gentle" and "violent". The "gentle" side of macrophilia derives sexual pleasure simply from a woman growing to giant size, or the giantess having sex with a regular-sized male (and yes, this is possible). The "violent" side of macrophilia has the giantess destroying cities, stepping on people or eating them.
Raocow said in one video that he's 6'5". Yet he has such a gentle, easygoing personality (among other things, he's a Kindhearted Cat Lover and frequently promotes a positive attitude).
Eduardo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends; he was created by a little girl who lived in a bad neighborhood and needed an imaginary friend who was scary-looking enough to frighten off thugs and bullies, but gentle enough to help her throw tea parties for her baby brother. Later, she realized her subconscious had a secondary purpose in inventing Eduardo's personality: he's such a coward that she eventually had to find her own inner courage and step up to protect him. (She was later shown to have grown up to be a police officer.)
PJ from Goof Troop is what you get when the 'Giant' is 11 years old and yet to hit his growth spurt - a Gentle Giant In Training. He's not too bright, overdominated, insecure - and can bench-press 150lbs, punch out bullies and does most of his dad's manual labour. He seems pretty unaware of how strong he really is.
Manfred the mammoth from Ice Age and its sequel Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. As well as sloth-like creature Cholly from Ice Age 2. Momma T Rex from Ice Age 3 could count as well, as long as you aren't whoever she wants for dinner...
Modo from Biker Mice From Mars is a very fine example of this, although Limburger's dimwitted henchman Grease Pit could also count.
The difference between his job persona and his amiable personality is pulled off very well; when we've become used to him as an Ugly Cute fatherly figure, it's quite a shock to see him in full-on scare mode, where he is terrifying.
Grin from The Mighty Ducks, an ardent follower of Zen philosophy.
Rhinox from Beast Wars, also a Genius Bruiser and both a tech-head and a spiritual guru. Push him just that one inch too far, though, and you'll find out just how tough he really is.
Bulkhead in Transformers Animated. He causes a lot of collateral damage despite his best efforts, though, mostly do to clumsiness, and it makes him kinda self-conscious. He's also voiced by the guy who voiced Patrick.
He also turns out to be something of a Genius Bruiser, in that he's somehow the foremost expert on space bridges.
Like the Discworld example above, most Autobots tend to use Gentle Giant mannerisms when dealing with humans. Decepticons...not so much.
Mikey from Recess is much larger than the other kids - yet loves poetry and wouldn't hurt a fly. And has a singing voice exactly like Robert Goulet. In one episode though a rumour started that Mikey had pushed a boy into the girls' bathroom, which everyone believed.
A rumour he started himself, mind. He was tired of people pushing him around, and the story took on a life of its own...
Chin-Po from Disney's Mulan is soft spoken, talks an angry friend into chanting to control his emotions, but his strength comes in handy when needed.
Ed from Ed, Edd n' Eddy. He has an obsession with chickens, but he seems to like all animals. He also tends to carry his friends around.
In some episodes, Ed is seen defending his younger sister, Sarah.
First mate Mr. Arrow from Treasure Planet. He's an enormous creature apparently made out of rock, yet he's the most approachable member of the crew. Until he gets killed, that is.
To an extent, old Silver himself from the same movie, though his level of "gentleness" is questionable, given that he's something of a villain character. He's not the most villainous character in the movie, though. That'd be Scroop, the scorpion...thing.
Gor from Captain Simian And The Space Monkeys. He really hates to fight, and often does so only if his friends are in danger. His pacifistic nature causes him to try and talk to the villains, but it rarely works (except in one Aesop episode); and there have been occasions where his own friends goaded him into transforming into Gormungus, a hulk-like creature, to win battles or save a crew member, usually Spydor.
He actually managed to talk several gladiators (at least one on screen) out of their job in the episode where he received his Gormungus mutation- up until then, pushing his Berserk Button resulted in something more like an Unstoppable Rage.
In one episode of The Backyardigans (appropriatedly called "A Giant Problem"), Tasha is one. Literally.
DJ from Total Drama Island. He's the largest and most muscular of the males but wouldn't hurt a fly.
Owen would also qualify.
Cindarr from Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, always eager to Pet the Dog and in general gives the vibe of playing for the wrong team. It seems he persists to be a Darkling Lord only because of his oath to Darkstorm.
Junko from Storm Hawks is a textbook example, as he's a Class 2 Big Guy who towers over most humans, but is considered a wussy weakling by his own kind. Despite this,he's more than capable of beating the crap out of any human (including The Brute Snipe) with his bare hands when pushed too far.
Nathan Explosion of Metalocalypse isn't quite a textbook example, but he is a lot more warm-hearted and amiable than his intimidating appearance and reputation would have one believe.
Roadblock from G.I. Joe: Renegades, while looking like a stereotypical Scary Black Man, is actually one of the most laid-back and easy-going members of the team. He's more than willing to use his size to intimidate an enemy though.
The Megas XLR episode "Department of Megas Violations" has the villain's Giant Mooks turn out to be significantly more peaceful and civilized than the show's main character, and were forced to fight by the alien bounty hunter who was the main villain of the episode. When the main control collar on their leader is broken, they proceed to help Megas up, apologise for the carnage, grab the villain so she can stand trial, and leave, with classical music playing.
In the animated TV show X-Men Evolution, The Blob was this towards Jean through most of his introductory episode, as she was the only person who bothered to show him any kindness, while most laughed at him and used him for their own entertainment, despite the fact that he could easily crush them in the palm of his hand. When a tantrum he's thrown over being made fun of in the school cafeteria causes a building to collapse, he tries to protect her by shielding her with his own body, but she still gets struck in the head and knocked out, at which point he gently picks her up and takes her to an abandoned building, where he ties her up 'to keep her safe', and promises to take care of her, setting up a candle-lit dinner for her and bringing her flowers and an old-fashioned gramophone to play soothing music for her, at which point Xavier's other students, most notably Cyclops (in angry protective boyfriend mode) blasts their way in to rescue her. The Blob ends up as a villain of the show, joining the Brotherhood, but every once in a while you still see a gentler, warmer side shine through, if only for a moment.
Big Macintosh from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic is "very gentle", according to his blind-bag toy. On the show, he's shown to be fairly soft-spoken and level-headed, but is seen shrugging off a huge dog-pile of other ponies in "Lesson Zero". He also apparently likes dolls.
Pretty much any big creature in the show that Fluttershy interacts with. This could be due to her natural connection to animals, but hardly any seemingly dangerous giant creature stays angry for long with Fluttershy around.
The "big, shaggy and kind of slobbery" Niblet from the 2010 version of Pound Puppies. Not the brightest dog you'll ever meet. Or the bravest. But friendly he has down pat.
Mighty Manfred from Tom Terrific. Tom always touts him as a brainy intellect and fierce fighter, but all Manfred would rather do during the duo's adventures is sleep.
Goliath in Gargoyles looks like a hulking, fanged, clawed, glowing-eyed monster, is big even by gargoyle standards, and is a Badass in battle. He's also a Warrior Poet who reads Dostoyevsky and doesn't like killing people, whose greatest wish is peace between gargoyles and humans.
Even more so, his friend and companion Broadway. He's as gentle as he's huge, unless he's VERY pissed off.
Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo`ole, a Hawaiian singer famous for his hit cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", was incredibly fat, and was also a kind, happy person; as a result, he was known as "the Gentle Giant".
Brett Dennen, a folksinger from Oakland, CA, fits this trope to a T. He's about 6-foot-7 and largely built, yet possesses a heartbreakingly sweet voice and writes sensitive, happy, socially-conscious tunes, and is just as happy and sensitive himself. This song's called "Follow Your Heart".
John Candy. This man was tall, weighed somewhere around 300 lbs., and had a very sweet lovable caring nature. He was also a great dad. He played this type of role in some if not most of his films.
André the Giant. With the exception of when he acted as an "evil wrestler" (who wasn't that evil, by the way) he had always been adored by fans and wrestlers alike for his kind, gentle nature. William Goldman, a wrestling fan, based the character Fezzik in his novel The Princess Bride on Andre.
In a documentary about him, the people from his childhood village in France recalled that he was the sweetest, kindest man they had ever known. Many actors and wrestlers who worked with him cannot speak of him without fighting back tears.
The crew for the comedy movie Without a Paddle described character actor Abraham Benrubi (6'7" and built like a padded bank vault) as one of the best-natured actors they'd ever worked with. His character in the film was a hulking thug.
Nature's examples:
The Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar, the largest caterpillar in North America and larval form of the regal or royal walnut moth, is five inches long, covered in menacing-looking spines from head to end, and yet it's completely and totally harmless. Also doubles as an inversion of Killer Rabbit.
The Whale Shark. Not only the biggest shark, but the biggest fish alive today, period, at forty feet long. Gentle towards human divers—indeed, one of the most docile and gentlest marine animals any diver would have the fortune to encounter, and friend to all living things except its natural prey - plankton. The Megamouth Shark also qualifies. You see, not everything is worse with sharks.
Manta rays. Huge, harmless, and beautiful to watch.
A smaller example is the Mola Mola, aka Ocean Sunfish. These odd-looking creatures grow to about the size of a car, but subsist entirely on jellyfish and crustaceans, and are very curious and gentle, often examining divers and even letting them touch them.
Many large dog breeds, like St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, Old English sheepdogs, etc., are quite playful and friendly - in fact, much training involves teaching them that no matter how happy they are to see you, they still shouldn't knock you over.
Played straight with Asian elephants (usually), but averted with African elephants.
Giraffes.
Crane flies. Several species can grow to large sizes, between 1.5 and 3 inches due to the large diameter of their legs, and they look like gigantic mosquito. But the worst a crane fly can do to someone is when their larvae do some damage to your lawn.
The Blue Whale, Very docile but can and will become defensive if in trouble.
Averted with moose. They actually cause more animal-related deaths in the United States than bears.
Robert Wadlow was a 7 + foot boy scout at one point, and the tallest human on record in his adulthood.
Also, maine coon cats. They can weigh upwards of 20 pounds and are actually sometimes called "gentle giants."
Ragdoll cats. Along with the Maincoon, this breed of cat is regarded as a Gentle Giant because it can grow three times the size of other cats, yet are one the most docile, mellowest cats among any breed. Their are rumours that they even lack the instinct to fight back due to their overwhelming gentle and innocent nature.
Great Danes and Saint Benards are some of the friendlist dogs on Earth.
Country Music singer Don Williams was nicknamed the "gentle giant" because, despite being six feet and change, he has a soft, gentle singing voice and often sings quiet midtempos suited for it.
Stephen Fry. The guy's about 6'5" and is otherwise large, yet comes across as a particularly erudite teddy bear.
Actor Michael Clarke Duncan, Hollywood's go to guy for any Scary Black Man role is, by all accounts, THE nicest and most gentle person you are ever likely to meet. He owns several cats and a chinchilla (which he carries pictures of them with him), and many of the people he's worked with say that he tends to treat everyone and everything as if it was made of fine china.
Tor Johnson, a professional wrestler and actor in several of Ed Wood's opuses, was by all accounts an extremely gentle and friendly man, despite the fact that, as Tom Servo says, he could snap your neck like celery.
According to his Twitter account, Mike Tyson. Yeah, that Mike Tyson. Apparently, Islam changed him a lot.
Best seen in The Hangover, where he's described by the characters as "kind of a sweetheart".
In recent years he's taken to breeding pigeons, and on the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, despite every single joke about him being punctuated with "Please don't kill me," he took everything surprisingly well.
Wikipedia reports nothing of this sort. Quite on the contrary: 2006 almost crashed into police vehicle & arrested for drug posession, 2009 arrested after scuffle with photographer. So - apparently twitter accounts of celebrities arent really reliable sources for the character of these celebrities. Who would have guessed !
New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia. 6-foot-7 and upwards of 300 pounds, he's an imposing presence on the mound, but is well known for giving back to his hometown of Vallejo, CA.
A surprisingly large percentage of Badass Bikers are this, rescuing animals and defending people who are threatened by robbers and other unpleasant types, or simply giving someone who's lost directions or even guiding them where they need to go themselves.
Stephen Merchant. He's 6 ft 7 in. tall, and people who have met him admit they're pretty shocked when they first meet him due to his height. However, he's also said to be quite shy.
The politician Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japanese Socialist Party in The Sixties, was nicknamed "speech-making farmer" and "human locomotive" for his huge height and Hot Blooded speech patterns, but was very well-loved by people due to his his frugal and kind behavior. Too bad he suffered one HELL of atelevised/photographed death.
Mr T is infamous for his Bad Ass tough-guy persona, and for being pretty huge. Interviews with him, however, reveal him as a very Nice Guy, bordering on The Messiah - he once actually expressed genuine pity forSatan (apparently, the Devil is the foo' he pities most of all, because "he's all about the hate" and "he aint got nothin' good goin' for him.").
