History Main / TheSvengali

* ''Music/TheHumanLeague'''s "Don't You Want Me" is a dialogue between a Svengali and his increasingly rebellious protégée.

* Colonel Tom Parker is typically depicted as this towards Music/ElvisPresley. Parker maintained an iron grip on the direction of Presley's career, including steering him into the increasingly mediocre movie-musicals he became known for in the bulk of the 1960s and his Vegas residency in the 1970s, and at one point 50% of what Presley was earning was going straight to Parker, well in excess of the industry-standard 25%. Parker also heavily discouraged Presley from touring outside of the the US; the only such tour was a 1957 tour in Canada. Parker was actually an illegal immigrant, and didn't want to risk exposing himself by applying for a passport. [[note]]In 1957, US citizens did not require a passport to enter Canada.[[/note]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Creator/JosefVonSternberg is often claimed to have been this to Creator/MarleneDietrich.

* ''Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths'': Malkar is this to Felix. He really screws that boy up.

* This is one interpretation of Littlefinger's treatment of [[spoiler:Sansa Stark]] starting late in the third volume of Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire.

* [[spoiler:Master Li]] in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', so very much.

** Darth Vader was this to [[VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed Starkiller]].

* There was a ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' episode called "Svengali's Cat".

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', All For One is shown to be manipulative, performing a 'caring' attitude towards the young Tomura Shigaraki when All For One takes him in, and telling him that he will be All For One's successor.[[spoiler: It is later revealed that All For One planned to take control of Tomura's body once it was suitably prepared for him, and that Tomura's conditioning as his successor was a means to do so.]]

* [[BitchInSheepsClothing Ichiryuusai Madarame]] from ''VideoGame/Persona5'', is a juggernaut of the art world who maintains his position of prominence by [[{{Gaslighting}} systematically abusing his live-in pupils,]] [[PlagiarismInFiction plagiarizing their work,]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and discarding them when they begin to question him.]] He keeps his only current student, 16-year-old Yusuke Kitagawa, in a state of impoverished semi-starvation while he secretly lives in grandeur, and his Shadow [[spoiler: later reveals [[MurderByInaction that he allowed Yusuke's mother,]] another of his former students, to die from an epileptic seizure so that he could take credit for her masterwork, the ''Sayuri'', which became the painting that launched him to international superstardom.]]

* ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'' revolves around the protagonist being molded into a jazz legend byb his SadistTeacher, Fletcher, at the cost of everything else.

* Creator/PeterOToole played a (relatively) [[ShooTheDog benign]] version of this to Creator/JodieFoster in ''Svengali'', a movie inspired by but ''not'' based on Du Maurier's novel.

* Series/{{Frasier}}'s evil agent, Beebee.

The Svengali is a frequent, even near-inevitable, cause of RageAgainstTheMentor. Since The Svengali's job is usually to provide their ward with worldly success and AmbitionIsEvil, WhatHaveIBecome moments (where applicable) tend to turn into What Have You Made Me moments, kind of like IHateYouVampireDad but with fewer fangs. A less malicious version is a MoochingMaster, who might take advantage of his student, but he still genuinely cares for him and doesn't actually utilize him as a pawn beyond simple personal gains.

* The shady agent Monkey Saruyama (known as Mr. Shroud in the dub) from ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was this to Kaiser Ryo, convincing him that his failures were due to respecting his opponents and turning him into the selfish, brutal Hell Kaiser. But it worked only too well. Kaiser didn't even show any gratitude towards Saruyama, and when he felt he didn't need him anymore, fired
him.
* in my hero academia
At first, even if he' s the big villain, All for One seems to care a little about Tomura Shigaraki, reconforting jim when he loose. He even say that he want Tomura to become the new him. [[spoiler: we discover that's true, literally when All for One take control of Tomua's body, what he planned to do from the begining.]]

* '' Manga/my hero academia''
At first, even if he' s the big villain, All for One seems to care a little about Tomura Shigaraki, reconforting jim when he loose. He even say that he want Tomura to become the new him. [[we discover that's true, literally when All for One take control of Tomua's body, what he planned to do from the begining.]]

* The shady agent Monkey Saruyama (known as Mr. Shroud in the dub) from ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was this to Kaiser Ryo, convincing him that his failures were due to respecting his opponents and turning him into the selfish, brutal Hell Kaiser. But it worked only too well. Kaiser didn't even show any gratitude towards Saruyama, and when he felt he didn't need him anymore, fired him.

* The subject of the QuoteSource for this page, [[BitchInSheepsClothing Ichiryuusai Madarame]] from ''VideoGame/Persona5'', is a juggernaut of the art world who maintains his position of prominence by [[{{Gaslighting}} systematically abusing his live-in pupils,]] [[PlagiarismInFiction plagiarizing their work,]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and discarding them when they begin to question him.]] He keeps his only current student, 16-year-old Yusuke Kitagawa, in a state of impoverished semi-starvation while he secretly lives in grandeur, and his Shadow [[spoiler: later reveals [[MurderByInaction that he allowed Yusuke's mother,]] another of his former students, to die from an epileptic seizure so that he could take credit for her masterwork, the ''Sayuri'', which became the painting that launched him to international superstardom.]]

* Colonel Tom Parker is typically depicted as this towards Music/ElvisPresley. Parker maintained an iron grip on the direction Presley's career, including steering him into the increasingly mediocre movie-musicals he became known for in the bulk of the 1960s and his Vegas residency in the 1970s, and at one point 50% of what Presley was earning was going straight to Parker, well in excess of the industry-standard 25%.

* Inverted in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' Erik "Killmonger" Stevens works for Ulysses Klaue and learns how to be a mercenary and thief, but he real goal is to reclaim the throne of Wakanda. [[spoiler:Stevens turns on and kills Klaue, and uses his corpse to gain access to the otherwise secretive and reclusive Wakanda]].

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Emperor Palpatine. Though it isn't clear with Darth Maul, he clearly used Dooku's death as part of his plan to turn Anakin to the Dark Side, and then intended to use Anakin's death to turn Luke. Had his master plan worked out, the last part hinged on sacrificing Luke to make himself immortal.

* In the Season 2 episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' titled "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?", Col. Bud Manstrong angrily calls Brock Samson "Svengali" when the colonel finds his mother passed out in Samson's lap.

* The Crane Hermit (Tsuru Sen'nin) in ''Manga/DragonBall'' incites his students to lead a life of crime and murder, which they carry out mainly in a sign of respect for him in the case of Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu; in the end, only his younger brother Mercenary Tao still followed in his treacherous footsteps.

* Tenkei Iwafune is this to Nagare Hisui, the Green King, in ''[[Anime/{{K}} K: Return of Kings]]''. [[spoiler: He found a dead child at the site of [[SuperpowerMeltdown Kagutsu's Damocles Down]] and witnesses the Slates revive the child by awakening him as the Green King. He then essentially raises Nagare from that point on, with [[JadeColoredGlasses his philosophy]], nurturing Nagare's plans to release the Slates to the world...]].

* While originally a BigGood, ''Franchise/XMen'' founder ComicBook/ProfessorX has taken a slow but steady descendant into one of these since the [[DarkerAndEdgier Dark Age]] of the '90s. While never attempting to use his students for ''financial'' gain (because he doesn't need to, being a member of Marvel's Fiction500), he has [[ManipulativeBastard manipulated them]] [[BecauseYouCanCope seven ways]] [[MoreThanMindControl from here to Sunday]], ranging from garden-variety emotional manipulation to outright memory repression, all in the name of keeping as many of his students in their X-uniforms as possible.

* Pitch Black serves as this to his "ward" Jack Frost in FanFic/{{Zastruga}}, though some of his methods are [[LivingBattery considerably more direct]] than others.

* ''StarWars'': Palpatine. Though it isn't clear with Darth Maul, he clearly used Dooku's death as part of his plan to turn Anakin to the Dark Side, and then intended to use Anakin's death to turn Luke. Had his master plan worked out, the last part hinged on sacrificing Luke to make himself immortal.

* Peter O'Toole played a (relatively) [[ShooTheDog benign]] version of this to Creator/JodieFoster in ''Svengali'', a movie inspired by but '''not''' based on Du Maurier's novel.
* Josef von Sternberg is often claimed to have been this to Creator/MarleneDietrich.
* In the 1950 movie ''Film/AllAboutEve'', the character Bill Simpson (played by Gary Merrill) says to Eve Harrington (played by Anne Baxter), after she tries to seduce him, "Names, I've been called — but never Svengali."
* In a Film/TheThreeStooges short film "Hokus Pokus" (and Flagpole Jitters), Moe (Moses Horwitz, AKA Moe Howard) introduces actor Jimmy Lloyd, who was portraying a magician, as, "Svengarlic: He'll take your breath away!"
* In the 1946 film ''Film/Deception1946'', composer Alexander Hollenius (Creator/ClaudeRains) is the musical mentor of Christine Radcliffe (Creator/BetteDavis). He is none too pleased when Christine suddenly decides to marry a cellist (Paul Henreid), and he invokes their mentor relationship when begging her to return to him. When that doesn't work, he puts the couple through a series of vicious mind games.
* Inverted in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' Erik "Killmonger" Stevens works for Ulysses Klaue and learns how to be a mercenary and thief, but he real goal is to reclaim the throne of Wakanda. [[spoiler:Stevens turns on and kills Klaue, and uses his corpse to gain access to the otherwise secretive and reclusive Wakanda]].

* The TropeNamer, from Du Maurier's ''Literature/{{Trilby}}'' a hypnotist who makes the eponymous protagonist, tone-deaf without him, into a famous singer.
* This is one interpretation of Littlefinger's treatment of [[spoiler: Sansa Stark]] starting late in the third volume of Literature/{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}.

* Tedrin in ''Literature/EdenGreen'' infects two young women with his alien needle symbiote and attempts to recruit them into his battle against the horrifying monsters invading their city, with mixed results.]

* In Terry Kay's ''Literature/ShadowSong'', the deceased Avrum Feldman may be seen as this to the protagonist, "Bobo" Murphy. While he was a friend, the older Avrum is also shown to be a manipulator whose influence over Bobo's relationships stems from his desire to live vicariously through him and see his unfulfilled romantic fantasies play out for someone else.

* In an episode of the sitcom ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', entitled "The Wallet", Elaine refers to her psychotherapist boyfriend as a "Svengali" because he wields a powerful mental influence over her. She mispronounces the word as 'svenjolly', causing Jerry and George to mock her.
* TheMaster in Series/DoctorWho occasionally takes on "companions" in the same way as the Doctor, but views them solely as pawns in his schemes and usually ends up personally killing them. The most overt examples are Kassia in "The Keeper of Traken", Midge in "Survival", Chang Lee in "Doctor Who: The Movie", Lucy Saxon in his Tenth Doctor appearances, and unknowingly [[spoiler:Bill in "World Enough and Time"/"The Doctor Falls"]]. (Lucy reverses things, as she ends up [[TheDogBitesBack killing him]]. [[JokerImmunity For a while.]])

* Season 9, Episode 6 of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' is appropriately called "Svengali," and has the team dealing with a SerialKiller who has inspired a fan of his, who has fallen in love with him, to continue his murderous work.
* Series/{{Frasier}}'s evil agent, Beebee.
* Randall Fuller, the self-help guru with a generous helping of MoreThanMindControl in the ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' episode "Con-Text."

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Rumpelstiltskin appears to have been this to Regina. He seemed like a typical EvilMentor at first, teaching her magic, pushing her to the dark side, and even designing the curse that was central to her master plan... but it was eventually revealed that [[spoiler: he needed her to unleash the curse so he would be exiled to Earth, but he also needed Emma to thwart Regina's plans and break the curse, so he could finally be reunited with his son.]]
* Derren Brown named one of his acts "the Svengali", where he uses a clockwork puppet to hypnotize and possess members of the audience.
* UnscrupulousHero Malcolm Tucker in ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' fits this archetype perfectly, although instead of mentoring a specific person like this, he obsessively controls his entire Party. His VillainousBreakdown in Series 4 even involves him screaming at someone objecting to his plan, because he is doing it all for the Party, and no-one should dare ever question what he would do for the Party.
* In ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'', Khlyen trained Dutch from an early age to be an assassin. Though his methods may be despicable, his motives (at least as of the end of season 2) appear to be more ambiguous.

* Malcolm [=McLaren=] cast himself as this to the Music/SexPistols, and later to Music/BowWowWow.

* [[spoiler:Master Li]] in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', so very much.
* Lucan in ''VideoGame/MagicAndMayhem'' in hindsight. While presenting himself as your average EccentricMentor, he keeps concealing vital information from [[TheHero his own nephew]] and tricks him into making great sacrifices [[spoiler:like his ''youth'']] for his own ends without so much as giving him a choice.
* Strongly implied to be Van's relationship with Asch in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', especially with AllThereInTheManual information taken into account. Given that the RageAgainstTheMentor starts not long after the beginning of the game, that aspect their relationship is never explored on-screen; however, interviews state that Van kept Asch isolated and uninformed in order to keep him pliable. The LimaSyndrome aspect is implied and twisted up; Van fully believes he "needs" Asch to pull off his plan [[spoiler: ignoring the replica with the same powers he himself made that, until the WhamEpisode, had UndyingLoyalty to him.]] Despite Asch repeatedly saying he would never work with him, Van is convinced he will.
* Manfred von Karma is this to Miles Edgeworth in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' until the end of case 1-4 in the first game.
* [[spoiler:Atlas/Frank Fontaine]] to the player character in ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. Interestingly, he seems to at least partly [[BelievingTheirOwnLies believe his own lies about being a mentor]]; during the climax, he has the audacity to call you ungrateful and even claims that he’s the closest thing to family you have.
* Harlan Fontaine to Courtney Sheldon in ''VideoGame/LANoire''. Not only does he shamelessly manipulate and use Sheldon for his EvilPlan, but [[spoiler:he outright ''kills him'' the second [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he outlives his usefulness]].]]
* Dōman Ashiya is this in ''{{VideoGame/Kuon}}''. He has set out to sacrifice the lives of his disciples ([[ArchnemesisDad along with that of his own daughter]]) [[EvilSorcerer in his own pursuit of power, through the]] [[TheNamesake eponymous]] [[TheDarkArts forbidden ritual]]. He had thus set out for the haunted mansion where he would perform the ritual, claiming to be merely investigating it; and waited for them to come find him.

* In the Season 2 episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' titled "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?", Col. Bud Manstrong angrily calls Brock Samson "Svengali" when the colonel finds his mother passed out in Samson's lap.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has Svengallop, the [[MeaningfulName unironically named]] manager of pop star Countess Coloratura in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E24TheManeAttraction "The Mane Attraction."]] True to the character he was named after, he controls almost every aspect of her life to live in luxury and be a {{Jerkass}} to everyone.

* In the ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comics, Jodafra to his niece Destrii, who he acts as a father-figure to but uses as a pawn in his schemes. When he first appears, he looks like a LovableRogue, Destrii's only non-abusive parental figure, and possibly the nicest person in an incredibly corrupt and vicious DeadlyDecadentCourt. But as things continue, his true evil nature becomes apparent, and he finally ends up beating her viciously and leaving her for dead after she stops him feeding a group of kidnapped children to an EldritchAbomination in exchange for powers.

* In the 1946 film ''Deception'', composer Alexander Hollenius (Claude Rains) is the musical mentor of Christine Radcliffe (Bette Davis). He is none too pleased when Christine suddenly decides to marry a cellist (Paul Henreid), and he invokes their mentor relationship when begging her to return to him. When that doesn't work, he puts the couple through a series of vicious mind games.

The Svengali is a frequent, even near-inevitable, cause of RageAgainstTheMentor. Since The Svengali's job is usually to provide their ward with worldly success and AmbitionIsEvil, WhatHaveIBecome moments (where applicable) tend to turn into What Have You Made Me moments, kind of like IHateYouVampireDad but with less fangs. A less malicious version is a MoochingMaster, who might take advantage of his student, but he still genuinely cares for him and doesn't actually utilize him as a pawn beyond simple personal gains.

** Master Happosai who used his students Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome to steal underwear and take the punishment for it.
** Genma is this to his own son and student Ranma, as he has cheated a great amount of people in Ranma's name.

* The shady agent Monkey Saruyama (known as Mr. Shroud in the dub) from ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was this to Kaiser Ryo, convincing him that his failures were due to respecting his opponents and turning him into the selfish, brutal Hell Kaiser. But it worked only too well. Kaiser didn't even show any gratitude towards Saruyama, and when he felt he didn't need him any more, fired him.

* The TropeNamer, from Du Maurier's ''Literature/{{Trilby}}'' a hypnotist who makes the eponymous protagonist, tone deaf without him, into a famous singer.

* Wilfred in ''Series/{{Wilfred}}'' casts himself as a trusted friend, confidante and mentor to Ryan, but in almost every episode he seems to be also working some selfish angle. The overall mystery of the show is figuring out what Wilfred is and whether he's actually good for Ryan or not.

* Music/TheBeatles went to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's [[note]]Born Mahesh Prasad Varma; the term "Maharishi" is a Sanskrit honorific title meaning "great seer", and "yogi" is a term given to a teacher/practitioner of yoga[[/note]] retreat in Rishikesh, India in 1968 at the urging of electronics engineer Alexis Mardas to study Transcendental Meditation. When they got there, Mia Farrow told some of the students the Maharishi made a pass at her by stroking her hair; in her 1997 memoirs, she described an encounter when he tried to put his arms around her in his private meditation cave. The allegations of Pattie Boyd, Music/GeorgeHarrison's wife, caused life at the retreat to go horribly wrong. At Mardas's urging, Music/JohnLennon became convinced when [[{{Hypocrite}} the Maharishi, who said he was celibate, was involved in an affair with one of the young female students]]. In response, John composed "Sexy Sadie", a RomanAClef song denouncing the Maharishi's actions, which was included on the second part of Music/TheWhiteAlbum, a.k.a. "The Beatles".

* The fans who attended Future Of Wrestling's shows ''never'' trusted Fabulous Frank, but there was a steady stream of talented yet gullible baby{{face}}s ready to take on his managerial services. While Frank would, naturally, take credit for any success any of his clients achieved in spite of his lack of help, he was often more interested in using the innocent as distractions, scapegoats or pawns in his own personal schemes, which ranged from assault to petty larceny.

* The aforementioned Fagin in ''Literature/OliverTwist'' takes in street urchins and teaches them how to become accomplished thieves. He profits greatly from their thefts and simply writes them off when they get caught and executed.