History Main / MerlinAndNimue

[[folder: Arthurian Stories]]

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'':
** The Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, both the cards and their Ancient Egyptian counterparts. They are rather closer in age than most, with there being only about a 10 year age difference. The Dark Magician Girl becomes more powerful if a Dark Magician is in either player's graveyard and this has two interpretations: either she gains magic power from his being dead, or she [[ThePowerOfLove became stronger on her own to avenge him]]. (Or maybe ''he'' helps ''her'' from beyond the grave. Yugi's duel with Pandora, where she first appeared, seemed to suggest this; both Yugi ''and'' Pandora's Dark Magician were contributing to her Score, and it was obvious that the spirit of Pandora's Dark Magician was angry at Pandora for betraying him.)
** After the "Dawn of the Duel" arc, the first option seems very unlikely; it is revealed there that Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are spiritual embodiments of Mahad and Mana, respectively, close friends and allies of Pharaoh Atemu. Mana was indeed Mahad's apprentice, but the loyalty they had towards each other was genuine.
** One of the movies suggests that Dark Magician takes young, attractive, female apprentices on a regular basis, as Yugi's roster now includes a whole ''team'' of Magician Girls of varying ages and strengths, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Choco_Magician_Girl Choco ]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Apple_Magician_Girl Apple]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Lemon_Magician_Girl Lemon]],[[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Berry_Magician_Girl Berry]] and [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Kiwi_Magician_Girl Kiwi]], all of which can support each other and other Spellcasters with powerful synergy.
** Possibly the case with Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Girl, two Spellcasters used by Yuma in ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL''. While Gagaga Girl is less powerful and a lower Level and the two cards do form a powerful combo (if both are used for an Xyz Summon, her effect can reduce an opposing monster's Attack Score to zero) there's no direct evidence as yet that she's his apprentice. There ''was'' a subtle hint in the manga that she's his girlfriend.
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', the first guild master and founder of the eponymous guild, Mavis Vermillion, learned magic from [[spoiler:Zeref, a Really700YearsOld dark wizard who would eventually become the BigBad. Mavis was his OnlyFriend, and the only person who had ever brought him happiness -- after she was cursed like him, [[RelationshipUpgrade their relationship deepened]], and (for an all-too-brief moment) they became lovers. When Mavis "died", Zeref lost it, spiraling even further into darkness and despair and eventually resolved himself to wipe out humanity. Mavis, who still loved him but nonetheless recognized the threat he posed, declared him to be an enemy Fairy Tail would exterminate]].

* In Clamp's ''Manga/XxxHolic'' we have a witch / male apprentice version of this: Yuko and Watanuki, with the witch Yuko [[ParentalSubstitute very much being a mother figure towards orphan Watanuki.]] Later there's also a bonus of some indication that there may be feelings on Watanuki's end that [[MentorShip go further]] than that of a child towards a parent.
* Elias and Chise, the titular characters of ''Manga/TheAncientMagusBride'', have this relationship. Title aside, Chise is much more of a student than a romantic interest to Elias, despite his stated intention to make her his bride.

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[[folder: Literature]]

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[[folder: Western Animation]]

** In fact a lot of apprentices Strange takes on are younger women with occasional romantic undertones. It's shown as a sign of character development when his latests ones remain platonic.

* In ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'', the relationship between El-Melloi II and his apprentice Grey is a platonic version of this - though [[MentorShip that may not be the case for much longer]].

* {{Downplayed}} or {{Averted}} in ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin;'' young Merlin meets Nimue (who's actually a few years older than him) in the second book; she flirts to distract him while she steals his MagicStaff, but is only a minor antagonist. In the fourth book a {{Time Travel}}ing adult Nimue is the main villain; she still looks young, despite coming from a time period when Merlin looks old, but there doesn't seem to be any mentorship or romance between them.

* Elminster and his former apprentice "The Shadowsil" in Ed Greenwood's ForgottenRealms novel ''Spellfire''. In the backstory she left him to take up a life of evil.

** Rumple also had this with Zelena. She arrived in the Enchanted Forest with raw power but no knowledge. He taught her how to control her powers, but she fell in love with him. As this was against his plans[[note]]He was teaching Regina to cast the Dark Curse. In order to cast the curse, the caster needs to sacrifice the heart of the thing they love most. With he himself being who Zelena loves most, that would be counter-productive.[[/note]], he dismissed her. She got her own back by becoming the Wicked Witch of the West and eventually [[spoiler: getting his son, his entire reason for casting the curse, killed]].

* In ''LightNovel/LordMelloiIICaseFiles'', the relationship between El-Melloi II and his apprentice Grey is a platonic version of this - though [[MentorShip that may not be the case for much longer]].

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', the first guild master and founder of the eponymous guild, Mavis Vermillion, learned magic from [[spoiler:Zeref, a Really700YearsOld dark wizard who would eventually become the BigBad. Mavis was his OnlyFriend, and the only person who had ever brought him happiness -- after she was cursed like him, [[RelationshipUpgrade their relationship deepened]], and (for an all-too-brief moment) they became lovers. When Mavis "died", Zeref lost it, spiraling even further into darkness and despair and eventually resolved himself to wipe out humanity. Mavis, who still loved him but nonetheless recognized he needed to be stopped, declared that Fairy Tail would wipe him out instead]].

The TropeNamer and probable TropeMaker is [[Myth/KingArthur the Arthurian Mythos]], where Myth/{{Merlin}} had a habit of teaching magic to younger women. In the oldest stories his pupil/lover's name was Nynave, (but this is often changed to Nimue and sometimes changed again to other names, with Vivien/Vivianne being the most common) and she eventually betrayed him and [[SealedGoodInACan bound Merlin in a tree, a rock or a cave]], depending on the version of the story you're reading or watching. (As a small note, if you're not an expert on Arthurian legend and are wondering why you don't hear about this character all that often, these days she is [[CompositeCharacter often combined]] or interchangeable with either the Lady of the Lake, Morgan le Fay, or Morgan's sister Morgause, the mother of Mordred.)

** Also from Creator/DavidEddings, [[{{Belgariad}} Belgarath and Polgara]] might be a UST-less father-daughter example. And Sparhawk and his goddess? That just gets weird, man.

* In the ''Anime/FateZero'' spinoff Lord El-Melloi II Case Files light novel series, the relationship between El-Melloi II and his apprentice Grey is a platonic version of this - though [[MentorShip that may not be the case for much longer]].

Now, if the relationship is being looked at closely, obviously there are a lot of potential tropes that could come into play for various factors, including the possibilities for communication difficulties with [[GrumpyOldMan two people]] of [[BrattyHalfPint different age groups]], different genders, not to mention all the possible [[LoveTropes love]] and [[SexTropes sexuality tropes]] [[BattleCouple that]] [[SheIsAllGrownUp can]] [[RelationshipUpgrade potentially]] [[HandsOnApproach come]] [[OneThingLedToAnother into]] play. (Including [[FatherIWantToMarryMyBrother some]] [[JailBaitWait quite]] [[WifeHusbandry squicky]] [[ParentalIncest ones]].)

Oh, and there's one more thing we forgot to mention: there's a good chance that [[BastardUnderstudy one]] [[DeceptiveDisciple member]] [[EvilMentor of]] [[BrokenPedestal this]] [[TreacherousAdvisor team]] [[TheStarscream will]] [[FaceHeelTurn betray the other]], usually for [[DealWithTheDevil greater power]], in order to learn the legendary DangerousForbiddenTechnique, or to TakeOverTheWorld. In the process of doing so they often either become the story's BigBad or TheDragon, or the other character's personal ArchEnemy. Which rather puts a damper on their relationship...

* If you take Connor [=MacLeod=]'s remark in the [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} films]] that Immortals are "a kind of magic" at face value, this comes up in an episode of the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' TV series. A female Immortal (portrayed by Music/JoanJett) takes the approach of preying on older and more experienced male Immortals, seducing them under the guise of being new to the Game so they will teach her their skills, which she then uses against them to take their heads. It works pretty well for her until she tries to pull this on the more GenreSavvy Duncan, who wisely holds back one of his techniques and uses it to defeat her (fortunately for her, Duncan is a bit more merciful and lets her keep her head).

* ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'' doesn't make any real use of this trope but does contain a ShoutOut to the {{Trope Namer}}s--the main character is a woman named Nimue who, upon being "reincarnated" as a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, takes on the identity of a man named Merlin.

** This also comes up in regards to Wardens Lucio and Morgan, whose relationship was very similar, [[UnresolvedSexualTension one-sided UST and all.]] Also of note is Ebenezer [=McCoy=] and [[spoiler: Margaret Dresden, Harry's mother. Is it still this trope when they're father and daughter?]]
*** [[spoiler: Yes, but without the UST.]]
** Lucio, in particular, implies this is the case for ''almost all'' apprentices (presumably she means the ones who both fit the opposite gender requirement and are not related to their teacher), and muses aloud, "do any of them ever grow out of it?"
*** Lucio falls under BiTheWay, so it's very likely even some of her [[LesYay female]] students gained crushes on her.

** The most recent movie seems to suggest that Dark Magician takes young, attractive, female apprentices on a regular basis, as Yugi's roster now includes a whole ''team'' of Magician Girls of varying ages and strengths, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Choco_Magician_Girl Choco ]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Apple_Magician_Girl Apple]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Lemon_Magician_Girl Lemon]],[[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Berry_Magician_Girl Berry]] and [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Kiwi_Magician_Girl Kiwi]], all of which can support each other and other Spellcasters with powerful synergy.
** Possibly the case with Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Girl, two Spellcasters used by Yuma in ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL''. While Gagaga Girl is less powerful and a lower Level and the two cards do form a powerful combo (if both are used for an Xyz Summon, her effect can reduce an opposing monster's Attack Score to zero) there's no direct evidence as yet that she's his apprentice. There ''was'' a subtle hint in the manga that she's his girlfriend, however.

* This is the stated relationship between {{Big Bad}}s Mondain and Minax in the first two ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' games, although without betrayal; Minax is so distraught over her mentor and lover's death that she screws up all time and space.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Zelretch and Rin. [[CanonSue Dude is an immortal, dimension-hopping vampire mage capable of magic-beyond-magic]], and also [[{{Tsukihime}} Arcueid]]'s grandpa-figure.

* In ''Blood and Iron'' by Elizabeth Bear, "Merlin" is not an individual, but a title for a quasi-messianic avatar of magic that is born every few centuries to advise an equally quasi-messianic "Dragon Prince", and the Nimue gambit is the method by which TheFairFolk attempt to gain control of this individual and ensure that the momentous events set in motion by the Merlin's coming are resolved to their benefit.

* Amora the Enchantress, a recurring enemy of ''TheMightyThor'', learned a lot of what she knows by seducing tutors.

* Merlin is a character in the {{Nightside}} series. The legend is presented as truth here, with Nimue betraying Merlin and stealing his heart, causing him to be trapped beneath the world's oldest bar. Then [[spoiler:protagonist John Taylor goes back in time to when Merlin and Nimue were still together. Taylor needs strong magic to get even ''further'' back in time, so he winds up being the one who actually steals the heart. He accidentally kills Nimue in the process, too, which explains why no one in the present can manage to find out where she hid the heart. It's in a Roman garbage dump.]]

* In [[FairyTail Fairy Tail]] the first guild master and founder of the eponymous guild, Mavis Vermillion learns magic from [[spoiler: Zeref, a Really700YearsOld dark wizard who turns out to be the BigBad]].

* If you take Connor [=MacLeod=]'s remark in the [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} films]] that Immortals are "a kind of magic" at face value, this comes up in an episode of the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' TV series. A female Immortal (portrayed by JoanJett) takes the approach of preying on older and more experienced male Immortals, seducing them under the guise of being new to the Game so they will teach her their skills, which she then uses against them to take their heads. It works pretty well for her until she tries to pull this on the more GenreSavvy Duncan, who wisely holds back one of his techniques and uses it to defeat her (fortunately for her, Duncan is a bit more merciful and lets her keep her head).