Basic Trope: An unusual entity, such as a Talking Animal, that guides and informs The Hero.
- Straight: Bob the magical badger teaches Alice about her new powers and threats she'll face.
- Exaggerated: Bob, a blatantly unnatural badger, has to teach Alice just about everything.
- Downplayed: Bob gives Alice advice and warnings, but doesn't actively teach her things.
- Justified:
- Teenager Alice is clueless about the magical world, thus Bob provides her aid whilst also avoiding parental complications by being a cute animal.
- Bob is included with Alice's new powers, essentially a sentient instruction manual.
- Bob used to be the human (or humanoid) warrior charged with battling the forces of evil, but was cursed with a badger form, and needs Alice to do the fighting for him while he imparts his knowledge of the existing threat.
- Inverted:
- Bob is actively harmful to Alice's well-being, exploiting her to his advantage and utterly leaving her a wreck.
- Bob learns from Alice about the mundane world and how to blend in.
- Subverted:
- Though Bob claims to know useful information, his knowledge is frequently valueless or even so bad Alice knows less as a result.
- Bob's supposed 'knowledge' is so blatantly nonsensical Alice is just left confused.
- Double Subverted:
- ...However it turns out Bob was operating under an entirely different system, thus when properly applied his advice is suddenly extremely helpful.
- ...But that's only if taken at face value, as Bob's knowledge needs to be decoded to be understood.
- Parodied: Bob is obviously an ugly old man just wearing badger accessories, his advice utterly out there because of senility.
- Zig Zagged: Sometimes Bob is helpful, sometimes not, clearly painting his knowledge is limited but growing nonetheless.
- Averted: Alice has to work out everything herself.
- Enforced: "We need more characters to sell. Hey! Let's just give Alice a magical mentor, it'll be normal anyways."
- Lampshaded: "Wait, how does a magic badger know so much about advanced magical theory and obscure monsters?"
- Invoked: Alice deliberately hunts for a cute magical mentor, ultimately hiring Bob to fill that role.
- Exploited: Queen Eviloverlordia deliberately targets Bob to cripple Alice's long-term capacity.
- Defied: Alice intensely studies the magical so she won't need Bob at all.
- Discussed: "Why do you have a badger for a mentor instead of a person?" "Well being smaller I can take him everywhere anyways, and another person would make me stand out."
- Conversed: "The presence of cute animal mentors actually stands out a lot ya know?" "Sure, but in a magical setting a normal person would dismiss a talking badger."
- Implied: Alice, not known for owning pets, is always covered in fur after reappearing with new knowledge.
- Deconstructed: Bob, though not malicious, ultimately thinks he can do a better job if he had Alice's powers. Thus Bob very specifically guides Alice into doing things his way, causing her to underuse abilities and forsake options he sees no value in.
- Reconstructed: Though Bob believes he could do things better then Alice, he simply explains what he would do whilst aiding Alice. Thus Alice is able to find uses for her abilities and reach new conclusions, without being tied down by Bob's beliefs.
- Played For Laughs: Alice is terribly allergic to badgers, thus Bob isn't able to impart his lessons because of her loud sneezing.
- Played For Drama: Bob being Alice's source on all things magical, she grows too dependent and is thus lost for ideas when Bob is unable to help.
- Played For Horror: Bob is an Evil Mentor, guiding Alice to her self-destruction through his advice for his own benefit.
Back to Mentor Mascot.
