Misused: Mentor Ship

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010

#1: Mar 4th 2020 at 2:21:59 PM

I'm looking at the page for Mentor Ship, and it's in the main section, but the description points out that it's a common dynamic for shipping. Is it a work trope or should it be moved to YMMV, because what it's describing and how it's currently being used is closer to Audience Reactions?

The examples themselves seem to be a mix of canonical examples of canonical romances with that dynamic or at least a case of a mentee crushing on a mentor/vice versa (thus a work trope) and in-universe dynamics that make the character prone to such shipping and fan pairings with that kind of dynamic by audiences. So which one is it supposed to be?

It appears to be a case of either two separate tropes, one which overlaps with Teacher/Student Romance which deals with canonical examples of attraction between a mentor and a mentee, and one which is a ship dynamic (YMMV examples of an Unequal Pairing). If Mentor Ship is an in-universe trope then the YMMV examples need to be purged, and the main definition updated to remove this ambiguity.

Looking through the main page examples:

Main Page Anime and Manga

Anime and Manga
* Nanoha and Subaru from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, thanks to the latter's squeeing and blushing over the former. ZCE. Needs deleting regardless because they're not an official couple and thus it's YMMV.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Asuka has an insane crush on her first guardian Kaji. Then there's the interesting relationship between Shinji and his trainer/captain/guardian Misato... and implied relationship between Rei and her boss Gendo... On second thought, let's not get into this. Objective example. Keep but delete the Natter.
- Maya's crush on Ritsuko. ZCE. Delete.
  - And Fuyutsuki's feelings for his former intern Yui. Objective.
Bleach: Yoruichi has been the Sexy Mentor for Byakuya, Soifon and Ichigo. Byakuya and Ichigo were equally horrified by her teasing personality whereas Soifon comically adored the attention. The fandom adores all three examples. YMMV. The Ship Tease is heavy but Soifon is Ambiguously Gay. It's not a confirmed case.
D.Gray-Man:
- If For can count as Allen's mentor (at least for that section where they were sparring together every single day), their relationship is definitely shipped by quite a few fans. Quite a bit of their chemistry was obviously on purpose, however, including a rather tender moment where she acts like a very shy and flustered Tsundere around him. And then there's how the dialogue and actions of her Heroic Sacrifice played it like they were lovers... YMMV.
- There's also General Cross and Allen, but considering that Cross is a Trickster Mentor so tricky that he qualifies Allen for an honorary mention on the page for Abusive Parents, that falls into deeply, deeply creepy areas. If the one scene where he displays parental affection for him qualifies them for a ship, it would be a No Yay one. YMMV.
Guts and Farnese from Berserk. With Farnese crushing majorly on Guts, who is her role model, "savior," and the person who will "guide her." Except... she can't help but feel jealous when Guts has romantic moments with his canon love interest Casca. Objective, one-sided crush.
Hellsing has Alucard/Seras as a popular in the English fandom thanks mostly to the influence of the Gonzo anime that changed the dynamics between Integra, Alucard and Seras and omitted Pip Bernadotte's existence. There's some hints of it in the beginning and towards the end with Alucard's motive to turn her being her eyes reminding him to Integra's when she was younger according to the Word of God whereas in the original manga there's absolutely nothing to support them as a pair in a romantic or sexual way. YMMV.
- In the OVAs, there is actually support for them as a pair, though it's just in the beginning, where Alucard transforms Seras into a vampire and acts like a predator to her... Yes, that kind of predator. YMMV.
  - It's kind of squicky, because he also holds her hand and answers her call when she asked for her parents, then OVA team insists she's like his cute daughter figure when asked. All their ambiguous scenes aren't present in the Manga. It looks like it's again the producer Yasuyuki Ueda who was also behind the TV series. YMMV, Natter.
  - In the manga Alucard calls Seras "my beloved servant," though. YMMV, Natter.
Lal Mirch and Tsuna in Katekyō Hitman Reborn!. Of course, since Tsuna is paired with everyone, this should come to little surprise. ZCE, YMMV.
- Though one pairing (which is actually more common) that falls into far creepier areas is Reborn/Tsuna. YMMV, Natter.
- Dino and Hibari...It doesn't help that their weapons are a whip and a pair of handcuffs respectively, and that their training sessions are always very physical. Make of that what you will. YMMV.
In Full Metal Panic, there's the shipping of Kalinin with Sousuke. A bit unnerving, considering that he actually held Sousuke when Sousuke was a baby. And he's around 40-50 years old. And he legally adopted Sousuke. But since many people tend to see Ho Yay in close bonds, there's definitely an abundance that can be found between them.
In Mahou Sensei Negima!, it's been revealed Negi's martial arts master, Ku Fei, has grown to like him in that way (this example inverts the implied Unequal Pairing though; Negi rapidly outstrips Ku-Fei in martial arts skill and by the end of the series is hilariously more powerful than her). Eva, his magic training mentor, also frequently seduces him, (or at least tries to), though it's presumably due mostly to his bearing a strong resemblance to the his father, the man she loves. On the flip side, Negi is the teacher of a class of 31 girls, enough of whom have shown interest in him that Chamo-kun keeps a running tally of the various dimensions of their affection for him. Objective.
- Asuna loves Takahata-sensei, whom Negi replaced. His supplanting of Takahata was a major source of tension between Negi and Asuna in the early chapters. Objective.
In Peacemaker Kurogane, there's the shipping of Tetsunosuke with Hijikata. Looking past the disturbing aspect of how Tetsunosuke looks like he's six years old and Hijikata looks to be in his late 20s-30s, the pairing isn't exactly unfounded. They love digging at each other, and are constantly bickering over petty things. Yet it's made clear that they both have a deep (albeit grudging) affection for each other. It's definitely helped that both are incredibly good looking. YMMV.
In Naruto, Kakashi/Sakura has gained quite a fan following, despite the fact that it has no evidence whatsoever from the manga or anime to support it. YMMV, Natter.
- To say nothing of the Kakashi/Naruto or the Kakashi/Sasuke shippings. YMMV, ZCE.
- ...or the Gai/Rock Lee, Kurenai/Hinata, and Kurenai/Shikamaru shippings YMMV, ZCE.
- Orochimaru has this with just about everyone of his many disciples. Especially Anko and Kimimaro. YMMV, ZCE.
- Chojuro and Mei Terumi. YMMV, ZCE.
- On the other hand, Neji/Hinata has become this in the moment Neji started mentoring and training her, when she requested him to, right after his Heel–Face Turn. Despite having no support (or slight support, if it's taken into account that Neji seemed to have a child crush on her when they were little) in the official manga, they do have subtext in spin-offs and alternate movies like Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth and Road To Ninja. YMMV
In ×××HOLiC, there's a small but dedicated fan following for the pairing of Yuko and Watanuki. It definitely helps that Watanuki is cute and Yuko is incredibly sexy. And the official art of them together certainly◊ teases◊ at◊ it◊. YMMV.
- And CLAMP is certainly making this pairing more and more anvilicious as time goes on, to the point where Haruka pretty much comes out and gives Watanuki a little speech that remarkably resembles an If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... talk ( "If you truly believe you and she will meet again, then you must not do anything that will make her cry."). To this, Watanuki promptly angsts and reminisces over her while saying her name and holding her precious pipe. YMMV, perhaps Objective depending on if Word of God confirmed it was more than Ship Tease.
Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: Meta Knight is a mentor to both Kirby and Fumu. Guess what two of the series' most popular ships are. YMMV.
Axis Powers Hetalia. America and England, anyone? ZCE.
- In the same vein, there's China/Japan, Canada/France, Germany/Prussia, Greece/Turkey, and the almost-canon Spain/S.Italy. ZCE.
The eponymous Zettai Karen Children and their handler Minamoto. ZCE.
In Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple we have Kenichi and Shigure ZCE.
There are a surprising number of people in Dragon Ball Z fandom who ship Piccolo with Gohan in spite of the fact that Piccolo is an adoptive father to Gohan, not to mention canonically sexless. YMMV, Natter.
Maka Albarn of Soul Eater is paired with her teacher (and mad scientist) Dr Stein. YMMV.
Attack on Titan: A very popular ship in the fandom is Erwin/Levi. Erwin is Levi's commanding officer as well as being one of the few people he really trusts - even if none of them display that many outward signs of it. YMMV.
- There's also Eren/Annie, though this really only applies to their manga relationship; while they were still implied to be friends in the anime, in the manga Annie actually trains Eren in hand-to-hand combat and is his constant sparring partner. (In the anime, it seems to be limited to Annie demonstrating her signature take-down. Which makes it somewhat less reasonable that Mikasa expects Eren to recognize that the Female Titan has the same fighting style as Annie.) YMMV.
In Kyo Kara Maoh, Yuuri and his favorite of his mentors, Conrad, have a relationship that can be taken several different ways, but there's enough subtext to make them the most popular ship in the Japanese fanbase. More blatantly, Yuuri's teacher Gunter has an over-the-top one-sided crush on him that is frequently played for laughs. YMMV.
In Little Witch Academia, Akko's fangirling over her idol Shiny Chariot, who is disguised as a teacher in Luna Nova, lead to some people shipping the two. YMMV.
In Witch Hunter, Tasha and Edea's relationship was close enough that one would figure this was the case. Both had very strong feelings that teetered between platonic and romantic from the dialouge alone. YMMV.
My Hero Academia is no stranger to Teacher X Student, or even Pro Hero x Student ships, given the nature of the show. YMMV.
In Pokémon, two of the most popular shippings are Advanceshipping and Pearlshipping, that pair Ash Ketchum with May and Dawn, two girls he mentored during his travels. They both get several moments of Ship Tease with him. YMMV.
One of the main premises of The Ancient Magus' Bride to the point that it's not only the main couple that has this dynamic, but a secondary mentor-student pair as well. Although it is one-sided as the mentor in that relationship sees her as a daughter, considering he picked her up when she was 12-13 and suffering from drug withdrawal. Objective.

Main Page Comic Books

Maybe you've heard of a book called Seduction of the Innocent. ZCE, YMMV.
When introduced, Mia Dearden (the new Speedy) had a fairly obvious crush on her mentor Green Arrow. And on his son, Green Arrow. Objective, one-sided.
It's a fairly common plot device in comics when a hero and a sidekick are opposite genders. During Nightwing's fake Face–Heel Turn, Ravager had a crush on him, and in Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Strikes Again", Catgirl and Batman ended up with some very romantic undertones. YMMV.
Wolverine and his young female sidekicks, particularly Rogue. They aren't particularly rare ships... YMMV.
- Although Wolverine/Rogue shipping is mostly due to the first X-Men movie, since in the comics Wolverine tended to mentor Kitty Pryde and Jubilee (the latter being practically defined as a character by her run as Wolvie's sidekick) a lot more and there were few scenes where Rogue appeared in situations that could be interpreted as her acting as his sidekick. YMMV, Natter.

Main Page Fan Works

This Vaarsuvius x Aarindarius fic on the Crack Pairing thread. It's not very happy. Objective.
Child of the Storm firmly nixes this between Harry and Betsy Braddock when she's teaching him about his Psychic Powers. While it sometimes necessitates a Hands-On Approach, she's relatively young, being in her early 20s, and very attractive (which, to Harry, who's mostly just realising he's attracted to girls, is very distracting), she's also about ten years older than he is. Accordingly, she's very much against it, and as an Ethical Slut, sees the concept as wrong. Instead, she sees him as more of a little brother type figure, and is fondly amused by his earnestness and absolute mortification at his, ahem, thoughts and his crush on her (she grew up with a psychic link to her twin brother, so has pretty much Seen It All), gently teasing him about them, but emphatically no more. Objective, one-sided.
- In the sequel, a year later (in real time - Harry's body, thanks to a stint in another dimension, has aged 18 months overall), when he looks older than he is (he can usually pass for 18 quite easily) and is starting to actively seek out romance, she steps back on the mentoring precisely because a) she thinks that people will start to get this impression, when that is emphatically not the case, and b) she doesn't want to 'get in his way', so to speak. Objective, one-sided.
Miss Alice Band (teacher) and Jocasta Wiggs (former pupil) in a significant strand of Discworld fiction. Although Alice only took Jocasta as both mentoree and lover after she graduated from the School and ceased to be a pupil. Objective.
TRON: Endgame Scenario: Jet Bradley and Mercury. Complicating matters is that while she is the mentor, he is technically a deity over her (albeit an incredibly reluctant one). Objective.
For We Should Grow Too Fond Of It (part of the Masterverse) has a Double Subversion: After Admiral Alcott takes Commander Kanril Eleya on as something of a protege, Captain Sandra Pickens asks him out of nowhere if they're sleeping together. Alcott is aghast at the question and points out Kanril is young enough to be his daughter. Satisfied, Sandra, an old shipmate who is nearly his age, propositions him herself. Objective.
The MLP Loops: Discussed but subverted in Loop 194.5. Twilight herself states that she finds the idea of a romantic relationship between herself and Princess Celestia to be odd, since she normally views Celestia as a second mother to her. Defied.

Main Page Films — Animated

Alfredo Linguini and his assigned haute cuisine mentor Colette Tatou in Ratatouille. ZCE.
2 x 5 of Shane Acker's 9, anyone? ZCE, YMMV.

Films — Live-Action

In Star Wars, both Qui Gon Jin/Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan/Anakin have big followings. Their playful banter makes it very easy to see as either a father/son relationship, or this. In the Revenge of the Sith Novelization, Obi-Wan and Anakin are specifically and repeatedly stated to love each other dearly, to the point where Anakin actually has to hesitate when choosing if he loves his wife more. YMMV.
- "A student must always love his teacher."—Palpatine to Dooku, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous YMMV.
- "Kiss Tahiri for me."—Anakin to Jacen. In Allies, we learn that Jacen obliged, and more. YMMV.
- Jaina and Kyp are canon! Objective, Natter.
"We have to stop seeing each other like this."
"I know."
"It's just so wrong, but I can't help it."
Fate of the Jedi: Allies
- Vergere and Jacen. Vergere comes right out and says "What, no hug? No kiss for your friend Vergere?" in Traitor. YMMV.
- Mara Jade agreed to a reciprocal apprenticeship with Kyle Katarn because she thought it was a sexual position. Objective, one-sided.
- Luke is speculated to do this with all his apprentices, but especially of note are:
  - Kyp Durron. Kyp is regularly described as handsome by everyone, suggesting Stupid Sexy Flanders. YMMV.
  - Tionne, just because of KJA's Epic Fail in implying Luke's dating her in Young Jedi Knights. YMMV, played with in canon.
  - Prince Isolder. They were in a polyandrous marriage, and Isolder did reflect on the possibility of Luke having sex with his mom. Objective, one-sided.
  - Callista. Not exactly the mentor part, but fits this in spirit, and is canon. Objective.
  - Jem Ysanna, in Dark Empire. Though she was almost immediately assassinated. ZCE, Objecitve.
  - In some fans' eyes, The New Rebellion suggests this with Brakiss. Certainly Brakiss is obsessively emotional over his old master, with his new master once dryly telling him "You don't hate Skywalker. You hate the way he makes you feel." And Luke does mention finding Brakiss attractive. YMMV.
- Looking at the Star Wars EU page for Ho Yay, nearly everyone obsessed with Thrawn is or has, at some point, been his underling and unofficial student. YMMV.
In Star Trek (2009) fandom, Pike/Kirk is quite popular. The interesting thing is that while Pike is Kirk's mentor in the film, he was actually Spock's mentor in TOS.
- In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Menagerie", Spock willingly risked the death penalty to save Pike. One could build a case that this was out of more than pure loyalty. YMMV.
X-Men: Days of Future Past: There has been a small, but noticeable increase in "Xavierine" (Xavier/Wolverine◊) shippers thanks to James McAvoy and Hugh Jackman sharing a lot of screentime together. It's a Mentor Ship that works both ways because Logan counsels the younger Charles in this movie, but Professor X is Wolverine's mentor in the original trilogy. YMMV.
A canon example in A Million Ways to Die in the West, where Anna trains Albert in how to shoot properly. Objective.
Kill Bill: Bill has struck up relationships with several of the female assassins he's trained, including Elle Driver and the Bride herself. YMMV.
Hannie Caulder: It's implied that Hannie and Price fall in love with each other (see: the scene where they walk on the beach holding hands), Price being the one who teaches Hannie to handle a gun. Price dies before this can go anywhere. Objective.

Literature

Harry and Dumbledore. Even Rita Skeeter thought so. When you think about it, in book six, you felt it was a good thing Harry was a boy, because else, what would people have said about all the time they spend together. Then Word of Gay came... Of course we actually see Harry and Dumbledore's interactions and know it is, if not entirely appropriate— Dumby is grooming a sixteen-year-old boy to fight Wizard Hitler, after all— it is at least not inappropriate in any kind of sexual way. YMMV, Natter.
Lucy Maud Montgomery (of Anne of Green Gables fame) once wrote a story about this. So Guy A and Guy B are competing over the same woman. Guy A loses and goes away. Guy B and the woman get married, have a daughter, then the father dies. Guy A assumes godfather responsiblities for the daughter, but they fall in love. Guy A didn't want to, in fact he tried to set up his nephew with the girl, but apparently True Love conquers all, even in 19th century Canada. Objective, Discussed.
Tamora Pierce seems to be fond of this one. Daine and Numair from the Immortals quartet are the most obvious examples. Objective.
The Dresden Files:
- Donald Morgan and Anastasia Luccio are a canonical (if one-sided) example. He loved her, and the two had a sexual relationship that ended badly when Morgan realized she didn't love him. Luccio thought they were just Friends with Benefits, and didn't know he felt so seriously. Objective, one-sided.
- Another, equally one-sided, example is Molly and Harry. Although Harry has been under the impression that Molly's feelings were a passing adolescent crush, Susan has pointed out that Molly is genuinely in love with Harry. Harry's self-conscious awareness of Molly's attractiveness makes it all the more awkward (and imply that the ship isn't quite out of the question, either). Molly is also Harry's best friend Michael's daughter, which just makes things even more awkward. Objective, one-sided.
  - Especially considering how long wizards live. When Molly is 40, Harry will probably have fewer issues with the fact that he taught her when she was a teenager. Natter.
  - It helps that, after the events of Cold Days enough time has passed in-universe that Molly's an adult, and certain plot events have made her Harry's equal- if not superior- in magical power. It's not confirmation by any means, but the shippers were pleased. Then again, the same plot events mean she's higher up in Winter's hierarchy than him, and Harry has problems with authority figures, so you still get this trope, just flipped, and all the issues that come with it. Natter.
  - The fact that the Mantles of Winter are also slowly but surely changing Harry and Molly into fundamentally different people further complicates matters. Natter.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, Petyr Baelish is probably hoping for things to turn out this way between him and his ~~daughter Alayne~~ trainee Sansa, and a small chunk of the fandom would be happy to see it as well. The rest of the fandom is too Squick'd out by his clear transference of affection for Catelyn onto her daughter, not to mention him being her uncle, semi-adoptive father, and twice her age. Plus his being partially responsible for her father's death, a resultant nationwide civil war, and numerous other murders, as well as Jeyne Poole's terrible fate. Objective, Natter, out-of-date as it's been confirmed.
In Havemercy, the world-weary exile Royston tries very, very hard to fight his feelings for Hal, an innocent young country boy whose interest in literature Royston fosters and promotes. He fails. But Hal doesn't mind in the slightest. Objective, one-sided.
A lot of fans of Mistborn read a lot of subtext in Kelsier's relationship with Vin, a fact which was referenced and denied by Vin in the second book. However, Word of God says she probably did have a crush on him, even though he saw her as more of a daughter. YMMV that became Objective, one-sided.
In Vampire Academy, Rose and Dimitri are this trope. He returns Rose's feelings, but doesn't act on them because she's a minor. (And they're both Lissa's bodyguards- he and Rose becoming a couple would interfere with their duty to protect Lissa.) The first book's Big Bad actually taunts him about this. They Do, and eventually earn their happy ending years after that. An unusually realistic example in that both characters act their age, and have arguments based on this. Objective.
Kvothe has a brief and platonic affair with his mentor in The Wise Man's Fear. Objective.
In Warrior Cats, Cherrytail has the kits of her mentor Sharpclaw, though this is long after she becomes a warrior and is no longer mentored by him. Aversion.
In Elminster: The Making of a Mage Elminster and his teacher Myrjala Darkeyes end up in a relationship after she comes after him and rescues him from a more experienced wizard. This relationship continues for a short time after he finds out she's really an avatar of the goddess of magic. Objective.
In Home from the Sea, Mari Prothero falls in love with the Selch man sent to be her magic teacher instead of the four men sent to court her. Objective, one-sided.
In The Lark and the Wren, Rune/Lark gradually falls in love with Talaysen/Wren, the head and founder of the Free Bards, after he becomes her teacher/mentor. Objective, one-sided.
Dreamblood Duology: In The Shadowed Sun, Hanani's perspective reveals that everyone thinks Ehiru and Nijiri were lovers. Considering Nijiri is truly in love with his mentor Ehiru during The Killing Moon and is doing his utmost to make the latter understand that without outright confessing, that's not too far off, but Ehiru never sees Nijiri as more than his apprentice whom he is very fond of. Objective, one-sided.
A big source of angst for Seregil in the second book of the Nightrunner series^note, as he falls in love with his at this point probably 17-year-old thieving/spycraft apprentice Alec (whom he even introduced to society as his ward as part of their cover identities). He keeps his feelings to himself for many months precisely because he knows it would be an Unequal Pairing and he fears "corrupting" the youth the same way he was corrupted as a boy by a near-adult older "friend". It doesn't help that Seregil is also about 40 years older than Alec, and has spent all that time sexually active, even if his own people would still not consider him quite old enough to marry at 58, while Alec is still near-virginal and apparently never had a sexual thought until that year.^note However, this being a pseudo-medieval High Fantasy setting, nobody else sees a problem with this potential relationship.^note Least of all Alec, who eventually resorts to bullying Seregil into admitting his feelings because he returns them and doesn't want to wait. Objective, Natter.

Live-Action TV

In Doctor Who the Doctor and any number of companions. Shipping was rife even in the Classic Series, which had a policy of No Hanky-Panky in the TARDIS; Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen joked that the Doctor and Sarah Jane were probably boinking all over the TARDIS. The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald pairing was perhaps a bit more direct in terms of relating to the trope as the Doctor was explicitly depicted as being Clara's mentor (as opposed to a travelling companion who learned stuff along the way). YMMV.
Giles/Buffy had a number of followers. In fandom. The two times someone (a werewolf hunter and Spike) suggested such a thing on the show, Buffy was Squicked. As was Giles in the first instance. He wasn't there in the second.
- Giles/Willow also had followers. In one scene in the episode "Faith, Hope, & Trick", when Faith describes Giles as cute, Willow has an impish grin on her face. She even says she used to have a crush on him in "Where The Wild Things Are" YMMV.
"Young ingénue" Cameron's crush on her "gruff, older mentor" House is plain to see. His own feelings for her, though somewhat more complicated, are clear enough. This one's got a bit of Reality Subtext to it, insofar as Jennifer Morrison has stated that one of the ways she grew in her craft while working on the series was to watch Hugh Laurie (and, from the other direction, Laurie is plainly flustered when he offers his thoughts on Morrison during his appearance on Inside The Actors' Studio). Objective, one-sided.
The Middleman:
- There is a sizable portion of the fandom who ship the Middleman and Wendy, his protégé. Their relationship is more of a partners dynamic than a boss-employee one, but Wendy has said that since her father's disappearance, the Middleman is the closest thing she's had to a father. YMMV.
- In the Episode 13 comic, it is revealed that the love of the Middleman's life was his Middlewoman, Raveena Rao. Objective, ZCE.
In NCIS:
- Gibbs mentored Jenny Shepard in their early days at NCIS; they later became partners. She vanished for about a decade, and then turned up as Director in the beginning of season three, neatly reversing the dynamic (as there is still plenty of UST there). YMMV.
- Tony's rather glaring puppy-like devotion to Gibbs. It doesn't help that nobody else can control him. YMMV.
  - Now that we've met Tony's playboy father it's more explicit Tony and Gibbs is more Tony DESPERATE for a "Well Done, Son" Guy from SOMEONE vaguely parental. YMMV.
Canon example: Ziggy and Doctor K from Power Rangers RPM, although the mentor (K) is actually younger than the Ranger. Objective.
Jesse and Shelby from Glee could also count. That hug at the end of Regionals...and the hand-holding...and the kiss on the cheek. And, oh yeah, he helped her find her biological daughter and all that. YMMV.
- Also seems to be heading this way in regards to Kurt and Blaine. They're both very gay, and Blaine IS Kurt's Sexy Mentor / Big Brother Mentor... Objective given the following.
- Kurt/Blaine is canon as of 2.16 - but by this point, it's not really a Mentor Ship, they're on pretty equal footing. Aversion.
Michael and Nikita from Nikita, due to the uncontrollably large amount of Unresolved Sexual Tension between them that eventually culminates in a Relationship Upgrade after "Covenants", much to the fans' delight. Objective.
Garak and Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Justified to some extent, as the relationship between mentor and student among Cardassians is extremely important and emotionally (though not necessarily romantically or sexually) intimate. And it's canon on Garak's end. Objective, one-sided.
Kara Danvers/Supergirl and Mon-El in Supergirl, with the romance with James fizzling out, season 2 sees Kara training Mon-El, and a mutual attraction forming between the two, complete with The Big Damn Kiss by a slowly dying Mon-El due to the affects of the Medusa Virus, only for him to have forgotten the kiss between the two when cured. Objective.

Professional Wrestling

Mildred Burke and Billy Wolfe, who initially refused to train her until he saw her body slam the man he sent to get rid of her when she kept asking. Objective.
Beth Phoenix dated on her trainers, half of the All Knighters tag team, Joey. Objective.
Inverted between Micah and Tracy Taylor. He did eventually train her to wrestle, but they had been seeing each other before he became a pro wrestler. Aversion.
Pro wrestling's hottest couple...ever, Santana Garrett going from Chayn Rance's pupil, to girlfriend to tag team partner. Objective.

Tabletop Games

Twilight Sparkle's Secret Shipfic Folder takes the Celestia/Twilight ship and plays it to a hilt, with three cards having Twilight dress up other ponies as Celestia and the one with Celestia portrayed as an incredibly sappy tango romance. Then again, there might be some author bias... Objective.

Video Games

Ace Attorney:
- Mia Fey and Phoenix Wright. Well, before The Plot Reaper shows up. ZCE, YMMV.
- There's also Mia and her mentor Diego Armando, which is Canon. Objective.
- A slightly less popular ship, but Kristoph/Apollo. YMMV.
Advanced V.G. II: Japanese fans often pair Yuka with her student, Tamao, due to the latter being an obsessive fangirl of her "Sempai", to the point of seeming to have a canonical girl crush on her (seen at 0:27-0:54). YMMV.
In Metal Gear, Naked Snake is sometimes paired with his mentor The Boss, despite it being implied that the latter still holds a torch for her deceased lover. YMMV.
- There's also the occasional fic involving Solid Snake and either his Big Brother Mentor Gray Fox or his sort-of-protégé Raiden. YMMV.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 has the mentor system, which allows the player character to mentor under nearly all the heroes and/or villains from Dragon Ball Z and onward. This has naturally led to fans sometimes pairing their Player Character with their mentor of choice. YMMV.
Dynasty Warriors 5 has Zhao Yun acting as something of a mentor to Xingcai, and the two are often paired despite the games themselves seeming to focus more on the latter's relationships with Guan Ping and Liu Shan. YMMV.
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years has one between Palom and the Epopt trainee Leonora. Objective, one-sided.
Final Fantasy VII : Playing with this trope is half of the appeal between the fangirls who pair slash parings between Cloud Strife and Sane!Sephiroth. Or less commonly, Zack and Cloud. YMMV.
Fire Emblem fandom has some followings for these pairings (even the ones that can't actually happen in-game):
- There's Jeorge and his apprentice Gordin from Mystery of the Emblem/New Mystery of the Emblem ~Heroes of Light and Shadow~. YMMV.
- Cecilia with either Roy (which can actually happen in-game) or Lilina (which can't), whom she respectively taught swordsmanship and magic to, in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Objective former, YMMV latter.
- Pent and his protégé Erk, Marcus and his former student Isadora, and Karel and his would-be student Guy in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. YMMV.
- Ewan and his tutor Saleh, and General Seth and the young knight Franz in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. YMMV.
- Shinon and his former student Rolf, as well as Ike and his mentor Titania, in Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. YMMV.
- In Fire Emblem: Awakening, Sully and her former instructor Frederick can easily fall into this territory. Additionally, Miriel's and Ricken's potentially romantic supports have the latter acting as something of a lab assistant to the former. Objective.
- And this can happen in Fire Emblem Fates with the player character in the mentor role if they S-Support with Caeldori. Objective.
Kid Icarus: Uprising: Of the many characters Pit has been shipped with, the most popular by far seems to be his goddess/mentor, Paluntena. Likely because of her depiction in Uprising, so there's loads hentai art of them being together. YMMV.
Luke and Van from Tales of the Abyss. Luke and Tear as well. Also Asch and Van. ZCE.
In Breath of Fire III, there's Ryu and Deis/Bleu (who he's heavily implied to have a crush on). She can also become a mentor that you learn spells from. Canonically, he expresses some of the most romantic interest in her (compared to others) considering how he is through the entire game (including one of the few dialogue choices, where both choices imply his attraction to her). And then there was one of the few instances that he showed extreme emotion, which involved him turning bright red when he first saw her awaken. Objective.
Mass Effect has some rare examples of the hero being the mentor:
- Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian]] if Shepard is female.
- If Shepard is a male, then Shepard and Ash or Shepard and Tali could also count. ZCE, Objective.
- A Shepard of either sex can be eventually paired with Kaidan Alenko. ZCE, Objective.
Another case of "hero as mentor" comes in the second Knights of the Old Republic, if Exile cross-classes his/her love interest. Double this with a female Exile and Mical, who was supposed to be her Padawan to begin with. ZCE, Objective.
Occurs for every Force-using class in Star Wars: The Old Republic, if you're playing a male character: ZCE, Objective.
- Kira and the male Jedi Knight. ZCE, Objective.
- Ashara and the male Sith Inquisitor, though in this case she isn't officially his apprentice. ZCE, Objective.
- Jaesa and the male Sith Warrior, though only if she's been pushed to the Dark Side. ZCE, Objective.
- Nadia and the male Jedi Consular in the latter part of the game. ZCE, Objective.
In Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd/Raine can be made possible in the sequel. ZCE, Objective.
- Many thought this of Kratos/Lloyd before The Reveal. And some people still do. YMMV.
Yuri/Nia in Infinite Space, as Nia taught Yuri many things regarding his life in space. Sadly, it was sunken by the end of Act 1 following Nia's Heroic Sacrifice. YMMV.
In the Metroid series, Samus and her former commanding officer Adam Malcovich, who she considers a father figure (not that they care), is heading into this direction... At least that's better than Samus x Ridley. YMMV, Natter.
Luke/Layton of the Professor Layton series is quite popular, although it is also shota and sometimes crosses over into father figure-son territory. Plenty of people also like Flora/Layton, although she's an apprentice in the same way that Luke is, but is Layton's adopted daughter. YMMV.
In Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, one of Shinjiro's possible romances on New Game Plus is Ratchet, who remains his direct superior until near the end of the game. Objective.
Ensemble Stars!: Due to the large cast and high focus on Sempai/Kouhai relationships, Enstars has a lot, but the popular ships which best fit this trope include:
- Wataru/Tomoya, with Wataru mentoring the latter in acting and seeing Tomoya as one of the few people who can truly understand him or his process. (Wataru/Hokuto is a little less popular but has a similar feel.) YMMV.
- Leo/Tsukasa, with Leo mentoring Tsukasa generally as an idol, and with Tsukasa also life the previous example being one of the few people who ends up able to understand him. YMMV.
- Rei/Kouga, where Kouga looked up to Rei very highly during his first year and even tried to act like him; he later became disillusioned by him and their relationship in the present year is much more belligerent, but he still admires him highly as his unit leader deep down. YMMV.
- Shu/Mika, in which Mika literally refers to Shu as 'mentor' as his standard title, and feels Undying Loyalty towards him due to his mentorship YMMV.

Web Comics

Used constantly in morphE. Amical is wildly flirtacious and makes passes at his students constantly. Billy has been humoring him and leading him on to get a more powerful position in the group and Tyler is swept off his feet very easily making him a prime target for his mentor's affection. Adrestia was flattered but unreceptive to his advances and Amical would never attempt anything with the 15 year old Curio. Asia however is impervious to his advances. Objective.

Web Original

RWBY canonically teases Pyrrha/Jaune. They're the same age, but she teaches him to fight and helps him survive the minefield that is Beacon Academy. In particular, the words Pyrrha uses to unlock Jaune's magical ability sound like some sort of archaic marriage vow. Objective.

Western Animation

It's canonically stated in Batman Beyond that Bruce and Barbara had a relationship. Confirmed by Word of God (Bruce Timm). Objective.
- There are Batman Beyond fics pairing Bruce Wayne and Terry. Depending on the viewer, recall the revealing twist in "Epilogue" and the Ship becomes No Yay (if it wasn't already). YMMV, Natter.
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!:
- Some people ship Chiro/Antauri. Interspecies Romance, anyone? ZCE, YMMV.
- There's also Nova/Offay out there. YMMV.
Aang of Avatar: The Last Airbender gets shipped with all 3 of his Bending teachers — Katara, Toph, and Zuko. He ends up with Katara. Objective mixed in with YMMV.
- Fic suggesting he was Gyatso's catamite obviously exist due to the inherent derangement of the Internet. YMMV.
Well before Sequel Series The Legend of Korra aired, shippers pairing Aang's teenaged Reincarnation Korra with her Airbending mentor Tenzin (Aang's son) manifested, despite the implicit May–December Romance the pairing would require. News of Tenzin being Happily Married with three children and a bun in his lovely wife Pema's oven caused most to Abandon Shipping. Most, but not all. YMMV.
9s resident LOATS woob 5 gets this a lot with 2, to the point that some are actually arguing for its canonocity. YMMV.'
The animated adaption of Teen Titans has inspired such a ship in the form of Slade/Terra, the former being a Manipulative Bastard and the latter being his apprentice. It also doesn't hurt that they were a canon item in the original comic storyline. YMMV with a side of Objective.
- There's also Slade/Robin; much the same, but a lot less consensual. YMMV.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Twilight Sparkle/Princess Celestia is a popular pairing because of the former's adoration of the latter and the latter treating her as more than just another subject. YMMV.

As you can see from the main page there's a recurrent issue with both in-universe and fandom examples getting put on the same page, even though the trope in its current namespace is meant for in-universe examples only. Likewise there's immense amounts of Natter and ZCE that also need to be cleaned up.

Regarding a sampling of wicks:

Tropes I to P: YMMV in the main work page.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Objective, one-sided.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - The Assassins: Objective.
Assassin's Pride: Objective.
Bakuman。: Possibly Objective, possibly YMMV with major goggles.
Black Butler: Seems like a case of Ambiguously Gay at best, probably YMMV.
Blood Revolution Aoshigumi: Objective (note that it's fanfic).
Blood Revolution Kenshingumi: Objective (note that it's fanfic).
Blue Hour: YMMV.
Doctor Strange: Objective.
Anime & Manga: YMMV, fan dynamics.
Nagasarete Airantou: ZCE.
×××HOLiC: YMMV in the main work page.
Witch Hunter: YMMV in the main work page.
Podcast/Oakpodcast: 'ZCE.
Anime & Manga: YMMV, fan dynamics.
Anime & Manga: YMMV, fan dynamics.
Live-Action TV: YMMV, fan dynamics.
Web Original: YMMV, fan dynamics.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: YMMV in the main page.
Attack on Titan: YMMV, fan dynamics, assumption the trope is for YMMV.
Banana Fish: YMMV, fan dynamics.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night: YMMV, fan dynamics.

Little Witch Academia: YMMV, fan dynamics.

While there are correct uses of the trope as an objective descriptor of romances between a mentor and mentee, a lot of instances are also just cases where people are using it to mean they want to see a romance between a mentor and mentee, or fan couples between characters who may or may not be mentors in canon but which have a mentorship dynamic in fandom. Perhaps it would be less ambiguous if the trope was renamed to Mentor Mentee Romance instead.

Edited by AlleyOop on Mar 4th 2020 at 7:12:31 AM

Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love

How sweet it is

#2: May 3rd 2020 at 5:12:24 AM

Sorry for the wait, ~Alley Oop. Opened.

Perhaps we can split off the In-Universe examples and make the trope YMMV...

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season

Nobody Here

#3: May 3rd 2020 at 7:45:47 AM

Split them, yes. Are there enough wicks from each to do that?

Edited by FernandoLemon on May 3rd 2020 at 11:45:57 AM

I'd like to apologize for all this.

Discar Since: Jun, 2009

#4: May 3rd 2020 at 9:28:03 AM

Not sure. Here are the stats:

Found in 304 articles, excluding discussions.

Since January 1, 2012 this article has brought 4,930 people to the wiki from non-search engine links.

Isn't the objective version mostly covered under Student/Teacher Romance? I mean, that trope kind of implies they have to be literally teacher and student rather than just an informal mentor relationship, but I still think it fits.

Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu

#5: May 3rd 2020 at 9:38:27 AM

I think Teacher/Student Romance should be flexible enough to cover informal partnership like mentor/mentee.

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)

#6: May 3rd 2020 at 12:07:35 PM

I wish the wick check had more wicks so we could really be sure, but FWIW, 41/304 of the wicks are YMMV pages. Conceptually, I agree with making this a YMMV about shipping characters with their mentor figures and moving objective examples to Teacher/Student Romance.

WarJay77 Discarded and Feeling Blue (Troper Knight)

Discarded and Feeling Blue

#7: May 3rd 2020 at 12:26:29 PM

Yeah, it sounds like a good idea to me. Student/Teacher Romance should be able to count the in-universe examples.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Brainulator9 Short-Term Projects herald from US Since: Aug, 2018 Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...

Short-Term Projects herald

#8: May 3rd 2020 at 2:11:28 PM

Move In-Universe examples to Student/Teacher Romance and make Mentor Ship YMMV.

Contains 20% less fat than the leading value brand!

FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season

Nobody Here

#9: May 3rd 2020 at 2:23:54 PM

Since the possible split trope already exists, I agree with what everybody's saying; make Mentor Ship YMMV, and move all in-universe examples to Student/Teacher Romance.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me

Sounds good on paper (he/him)

#10: May 3rd 2020 at 6:21:23 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

ADrago Since: Dec, 2015

#11: May 3rd 2020 at 11:42:54 PM

Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love

How sweet it is

#12: Jun 3rd 2020 at 8:35:53 PM

I'll start up a single-prop.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Berrenta MOD How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love

How sweet it is

#13: Jun 7th 2020 at 6:55:29 AM

Votes are unanimous. Calling in favor of YMMV + move In-Universe examples to Teacher/Student Romance.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love

How sweet it is

#14: Jun 7th 2020 at 7:02:51 AM

YMMV classification is done. Time to start moving the wicks.

Only 303 wicks to move/reclassify.

Edit: 302 now due to fixing a case of Linking to an Article Within the Article.

Edited by Berrenta on Jun 7th 2020 at 9:06:05 AM

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)

#15: Jul 2nd 2020 at 11:10:42 AM

Went through Main/, remaining ones are now in reference to the trope as a ship.

Discar Since: Jun, 2009

#16: Jul 7th 2020 at 7:37:28 PM

We lost a bit to the crash, so we should probably recheck that everything is still in order. I had reworded the Mentor Ship description to make it more obvious that Teacher/Student Romance was the canon version (rather than just "see also"), but that got lost, and with the editing freeze I can't fix it again yet.

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)

#17: Jul 7th 2020 at 7:40:54 PM

Yeah, bummer — I'd gotten through most of Characters/ yesterday.

WarJay77 Discarded and Feeling Blue (Troper Knight)

Discarded and Feeling Blue

#18: Jul 7th 2020 at 7:44:20 PM

There's a chance that some of the edits are actually viewable when logged out. Try checking the pages again; you might be able to archive it before the cache updates. Project here.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season

Nobody Here

#19: Aug 4th 2020 at 7:25:19 AM

This thread is going to get a clock soon, but should be starred, since we reached a consensus. Currently 217 wicks left, though I'm not sure how many are YMMV.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

tyrekecorrea Miss, not ma'am Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form

Miss, not ma'am

#20: Aug 4th 2020 at 7:28:32 AM

Has anybody posited that it might make more sense to make Mentor Ship objective and Teacher/Student Romance subjective?

FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season

Nobody Here

#21: Aug 4th 2020 at 7:29:21 AM

No, I personally think the other way around is better, since "Ship" is a YMMV term, after all.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Aug 4th 2020 at 11:29:38 AM

I'd like to apologize for all this.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu

#22: Aug 4th 2020 at 8:09:16 AM

Besides, the audience reaction to Teacher/Student Romance would more likely fall under No Yay.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season

Nobody Here

#23: Aug 4th 2020 at 8:29:34 AM

We already made Mentor Ship YMMV, all that's left is moving all incorrect uses to Student/Teacher Romance.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

naturalironist from The Information Superhighway Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life

#24: Aug 4th 2020 at 12:35:36 PM

I think Mentor Ship needs a description change to clarify that it's a shipping trope, not an in-universe one.

Edited by naturalironist on Aug 4th 2020 at 3:36:58 PM

"It's just a show; I should really just relax"

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)

#25: Aug 4th 2020 at 1:16:05 PM

I've been doing some cleaning for this on and off, and I have to ask...is Unequal Pairing a hard requirement for Teacher/Student Romance? There are examples that don't really cleanly fit into Teacher/Student Romance, or even other tropes like Sempai/Kōhai (which I use for some of the "friendly upperclassman who shows her around the school") examples. Like if it's someone close in age teaching their friend to fight with a sword, and they have Ship Tease. There's no real difference in authority, age, or seniority that would make it unequal. What to do with such examples?

SingleProposition: MentorShip

3rd Jun '20 8:36:10 PM

Crown Description:

Mentor Ship was used as a shipping trope, when an In Universe trope exists as Teacher Student Romance. This crowner decides whether Mentor Ship must be classified as YMMV.

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