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alt title(s): Ghostly Advisor Character which can only be perceived by one or a small number of other characters. This character's purpose is most often to provide advice, act as a moral compass (see also Closer To Earth, Noble Savage) or substitute for Mr Exposition. This character may also sometimes act as a Trickster, however; if so and he has super-powers then he's usually The Great Gazoo. In many cases he also acts as Mission Control. If there are two with opposing viewpoints, then you're probably dealing with Good Angel Bad Angel instead.
Ironically, the Spirit Advisor is almost never The Ghost (even if he is an actual ghost).
See also Waif Prophet, Warrior Poet, He Who Must Not Be Seen, Dead Person Conversation, Multitasked Conversation, I See Them Too, Non Human Sidekick and The Harvey.
Examples
Anime
Comic Books
- The DCU hero Firestorm was created by atomically merging student Ronnie Raymond and scientist Martin Stein. In practice, this essentially resulted (at least initially) in a super-powered Ronnie with Stein acting as a Spirit Advisor.
- John Wayne appears as Jesse's Spirit Advisor in Preacher, helping him survive his childhood ordeals and become a Knight In Shining Armor.
- The protagonist of Paul Pope's graphic novel, Heavy Liquid, sees a "shadow self" whenever he uses a drug made from the titular material. It guides his escape from the spook that captures him at the end of the story, and soon after, S concludes that the shadow is a non-corporeal extraterrestrial's attempt to communicate. S refers to the alien as a "radiowave spaceman" and the Heavy Liquid as his "little metal car".
Film
Literature
- John in the webnovel John Dies at the End
 serves this role when his best friend David starts becoming aware of the supernatural and questioning his own sanity. John can't appear for David directly, and thus communicates by broadcasting his words through a cell phone, a bratwurst, and a dog, in that order.
- In The General series by S.M. Stirling and David Drake, General Raj Whitehall is advised by Center, a pre-collapse-of-civilization computer (originally a traffic-control computer, but its abilities go far beyond).
- In later books of the series set centuries later, Whitehall's consciousness has joined with Center's, and now they both act as Spirit Advisors on other barbarian planets - Center as the logical fount-of-knowledge and Whitehall as the wise voice-of-experience. This puts their protege in the position of being the moderator of a Power Trio.
- The Mademoiselle loads a beta-level sim of herself into Ana Khouri's brain implants in Revelation Space.
- Lasciel in the later books of The Dresden Files series. Although Harry's bound the magical trinket Lasciel resides in, a psychic echo of her still appears in his mind and offers him power and advice. While Harry doesn't necessarily want the help of a fallen angel who's playing a long game on him so that he ends up in Hell's coffers, the things he encounters require him to make use of her Hellfire and other talents.
- The Archangel Uriel also qualifies, as does the air elemental Bob the Skull.
- Effie and later Marlan in Karen Miller's Godspeaker Trilogy.
Live Action TV
- Heroes subverts this in its third season - Linderman appears to have come back as a spirit advisor to various characters, but he's actually a hallucination created by Maury Parkman.
- In the first season, an Indian kid (East) named Sanjog has people visit him in their dreams. He fulfills his role as an unhelpful guide sputtering cryptic messages rather well. Then there's Usutu from season four.
- Number Six in the new Battlestar Galactica series is usually invisible to anyone but Gaius Baltar. Her appearances are carefully crafted so that she can be seen as a figment of Gaius's imagination, although she seems to be able to physically manipulate Gaius's clothing and person, and gives Gaius information that could be interpreted as foreknowledge. In one episode, Gaius Baltar appears to a resurrected Number Six, and plays the part of her Spirit Advisor. Interestingly, neither the "real" Baltar or Number Six have any knowledge of their Spirit Advisor counterparts. At least until a recent episode, where Baltar's Spirit Advisor counterpart appears to Baltar.
- Recently, Kara's father showed up to teach her two thousand year old Earth music.
- Mr. Ed in Mister Ed.
- Al in Quantum Leap.
- Appropriately enough, God in Joan Of Arcadia might be the ultimate Spirit Advisor.
- Marty Hopkirk in Randall And Hopkirk Deceased was a Spirit Advisor whom only his partner-in-detection Jeff could see.
- Ed Chigliak of Northern Exposure has a literal Spirit Advisor, an ancestral Indian spirit named One-Who-Waits.
- Bob, formerly Hrothbert of Bainbridge, in The Dresden Files TV series, is a prime example of the trope. This character is a Spirit Advisor several times over. He not only gives Harry advice on what kind of magic to do in any given situation, he assists in many cases, thanks to his spectral abilities. He also started teaching Harry magic when Harry was eleven. He was also Spirit Advisor to a number of other wizards down through the centuries, including Harry's evil uncle, Justin Morningway.
- Oliver in Slings And Arrows.
- Seems to happen a lot on Lost.
- Boone appeared to Locke in the sweat lodge.
- Charlie and Anna-Lucia have appeared to Hurley and given him advice, much to his dismay. Mr. Eko has also played chess with him.
- Christian Shepard, Jack's father, has appear before various people on the island.
- Jacob, leader of the Others, of which only Ben and Locke have really intacted with
- Cassie in The4400. She is Kyle Baldwin's promicin-derived ability.
- Snow White in The Tenth Kingdom. She calls herself a fairy godmother, but also freely admits she is actually dead (something which is never really stated about fairy godmothers). Only Virginia and Wendell (the latter either because he's gone doggy at the time or because he's her grandson) can see and speak with her—Tony cannot. She later appears in Virginia's dreams.
- Merlyn of American Gothic. While Caleb is not the only person who can see and speak to her, she does appear for the most part only as a ghost who advises her brother on how to stay on the straight and narrow. The others who catch sight of her or even interact with her (apart from her brief stint as a mortal in "Rebirth") are Buck (who even aside from being the Big Bad has a lot more powers at his disposal than the average resident of Trinity) and Ben Healy. In the latter's case, this is only because Merlyn herself chooses to appear to him and haunt his dreams, since he knows the truth about how she died and she's trying to appeal to his conscience so he can break free of Buck's influence. No one else, like Gail (who is her cousin as well as Caleb's) or Mrs. Holt, ever sees her.
- Essentially subverted in Farscape with Harvey, a neural clone of Scorpius jammed into John Chriton's head, who eventually does provide some advice... after several seasons of trying to completely screw with Chriton's head and causing several character deaths.
- Due South: Benton Fraser actually got to know his father much better after the latter's death (in the series pilot) than he ever had in life, thanks to Bob Fraser's insistence on hanging around and offering (frequently irritating and unwelcome) personal and professional advice. Fraser Sr. even sets up extradimensional living quarters (so to speak) in his son's office closet.
- John Scott serves as SA for Olivia on Fringe resulting from their Psychic Link, despite some obvious trust issues between them.
- In an episode of The Mighty Boosh, "The Chokes", Howard Moon is saved from stage fright by the apparition of his acting coach, Montgomery Flange.
Videogames
- Videogame example: In Prey, the main character's grandfather, Enisi, is a wise Indian who keeps scolding the protagonist for his rebellious nature. Soon after the aliens attack, Enisi kicks the bucket as an alien machine eviscerates him. From there on he is the protagonist's Spirit Advisor.
- The Shadow Hearts series both plays with the trope and uses it straight. In the first game, the Spirit "Advisors" are the Four Masks, fiendish entities who torment and mock those who can see them, plotting to steal their souls. Later, in Covenant, Jeanne plays the role straight for Yuri. A past Big Bad also appears in a dodgy Heel Face Turn.
- In both Covenant and From the New World, the Ring Soul appears, a being with power over fate. This being Shadow Hearts, the main character quickly gets past their formality and makes friends with them.
- Pharos from Persona 3 is a very, very creepy example.
- In the video game Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords, one of the last subquests involves Sunspear the Minotaur going off to die in battle against an elder frost dragon. When you follow his instructions and return to your departure point, he rejoins your party as a spirit (with his Red Mana bonus now extending to battles with the undead as well as other minotaurs) It's never mentioned whether any of the other party members can see him.
- Mia Fey, The Obi Wan, performs this function in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games. Made easier by the fact that Phoenix's Sidekick is a Spirit Medium and Mia's little sister, whose job description is speaking on behalf of dead people. (Actually, this often happens involuntarily, as Maya's abilities for the first game and a half are a bit hit-or-miss, and Mia's a definitely forceful personality). Later on, usually when Maya is unavailable, their Medium-prodigy cousin Pearl does similar helpful channeling.
Western Animation
- Avatar Roku in Avatar The Last Airbender, the previous incarnation of the Avatar and Aang's immediate past life. He serves in much the same capacity as a guardian to Aang, guiding him through the difficult process of becoming a fully realized Avatar. Though a deep relationship has not yet been established, each knows the other instinctively, and both are pleased to communicate with one another when the opportunity arises.
- Also, although to a much lesser extent, Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Kuruk, and Avatar Yangchen. And potentially every one of these◊, should Aang call upon them.
- Thoughtfully spoofed in The Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer", where Homer hallucinates after eating "the Merciless Peppers of Quetzlzacatenango". His Spirit Advisor is a coyote◊, the trickster spirit of a number of Amerindian tribes. The distinctive voice of Homer's spirit guide is provided by legendary singer Johnny Cash. This sequence eventually leads to the infamous line "In your face, space coyote!"
- In Thundercats, the soul of team mentor Jaga comes Back From The Dead so he can continue giving sage advice to Lion-O.
- In the cartoon, Bionic 6, the spirit of Karate 1's biological father would occasionally appear to him, to give him a quick pep talk or to Deus Ex Machina him free of the bad guy's trap. Usually both.
- In Transformers: Cybertron, Vector Prime has a brief stint in this role after his death in "Guardian".
Newspaper Comics
Theatre
- In Wagner's Götterdämmerung, Big Bad Alberich appears as Spirit Advisor to his son Hagen.
- In the play (and miniseries) Angels In America, Ethel Rosenberg appears to Roy Cohn after he is diagnosed with AIDS, though it's mainly just to torture him while he's on his deathbed (It's stated that he illegally influenced the verdict in her trial to get her executed). She fits this trope more traditionally when she helps Louis recite the Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) after Roy dies. Prior's ancestors fit this trope too.
- In Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro, Joe's grandmother and mother appear occasionally as Spirit Advisors to him after their deaths, though the Greek Chorus serves as his all-purpose Spirit Advisor throughout the show.
Mythology
- Believers in ancestor worship, such as Chinese folk religions, Shintō and Native American religions often believe that this literally happens. Who's to say that it doesn't? We're tolerant here. For that matter, according to The Bible, Jesus Christ appeared in his "Holy Spirit" form to his disciples to instruct them one last time before returning to Heaven.
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