History Main / EvilMentor

TheHero, or a member of the heroic band, finds a {{Mentor}} with new secret techniques to teach. The student eagerly signs on, only to learn later that there's a catch -- the mentor is evil, has a [[EvilPlan hidden agenda of their own]], and those new abilities are seriously nasty (though certainly not [[UselessSuperpowers useless]]). The student may feel [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone "soiled"]] by having learned these [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique techniques]] and might swear off ever using them again, or they might have to [[EvilFeelsGood wrestle with temptation]] against using them regularly. Of course, it's only a matter of time until there's a great need, and [[ChekhovsSkill out will come the evil technique]] because ItsTheOnlyWay. Cue the evil mentor's SoProudOfYou and the hero's YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame.

* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', [[spoiler:Sir Crocodile offers Vivi the tutelage of improving her Logia abilities to fight in the New World during the 2 years time skip, knowing that the Straw Hat Pirates' chaos will always leave him new opportunities. While enraged at the destruction Crocodile had brought before, Vivi accepts. But she makes it clear that when she is strong enough, [[IllKillYou she will kill him for everything he had done to her country]]]].

* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', [[spoiler:Sir Crocodile offers Vivi the tutelage of improving her Logia abilities to fight in the New World, knowing that the Straw Hat Pirates' chaos will always leave him new opportunities. While enraged at the destruction Crocodile had brought before, Vivi accepts. But she makes it clear that when she is strong enough, [[IllKillYou she will kill him for everything he had done to her country]]]].

* In ''ComicBook/{{Aero}}'', the titular character was once mentored by Madame Huang, before she learned that Huang had sinister ulterior motives.

* It's beginning to look as if [[spoiler: Billy Butcher]] might be this to Comicbook/TheBoys, although given the CrapsackWorld that the work is set in, it might be more of a ''Necessarily'' Evil Mentor.
* In Wee Tian Beng's ''Manhua/TheCelestialZone'', Xue Wu runs across one of these near the end of the series. Given that his insane competitiveness has been pushing him down the slippery slope, and that a villain recently gave him the [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If You Kill Me You Will Be Just Like Me]] speech right before he kebabed her, it doesn't end well.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'', the entire Fraternity serve as this to Wesley, but Solomon Seltzer and the Fox in particular. Their goal is to make him a powerful and feared {{supervillain}} like his father, but in a subversion, they ''do'' have his best interests at heart. [[spoiler:Wesley's father is a more distant version, as he doesn't reveal himself until the end to complete his son's training.]]
* Talon of the Fraternity of Raptors plays with this trope a bit. In ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'', he tells Darkhawk the origin of his powers, omitting that the powers are actually for intergalactic espionage and assassination.

** PlayedWith in regard to Piccolo and Gohan. Piccolo was still evil when he kidnapped Gohan and planned to raise him to help him take over the world and fight his own father. [[{{Irony}} Gohan's kindness ended turning Piccolo into a good person]].

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:Harrison Wells]], Barry's mentor, is apparently also [[spoiler:the man in yellow, i.e., the Reverse Flash]]. The reason for that is [[spoiler:Eobard Thawne, the Flash's nemesis from the distant future, went back in time to when Barry was 12 to try to kill him, only to be stopped by Future!Barry. Angry, Thawne killed Barry's mother out of spite but discovered that the time jump robbed him of a stable connection to the Speed Force, stranding him in the past. Killing and taking the face of the real Dr. Wells, Thawne built the particle accelerator several years earlier than intended in order to create the Flash himself in order to eventually use Barry's connection to the Speed Force to get back home]]. Later, [[spoiler:Barry's new mentor Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth 2, turns out to be the same person as Zoom, the evil speedster of Earth 2. As Zoom, he keeps sending enemies to try and kill Barry. As Jay, he trains Barry to be faster. His end goal is to siphon away Barry's speed for himself in order to cure his degenerative condition, caused by his abuse of the Velocity SuperSerum]]. Averted with [[spoiler:the real Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth 3. It helps that Jay is the double of Barry's late father, so Barry is predisposed to trusting him]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Katara meets Hama, a waterbender from their South Pole tribe, who uses her waterbending to take control of other peoples' bodies by "bending" the water inside their blood, and uses this power on innocent people in the Fire Nation town where she lives in revenge for her tribe being imprisoned by the [[TheEmpire Fire Nation]]. Katara is horrified and refuses to learn, but in the end must resort to using it on the Evil Mentor in order to save Sokka and Aang. Before being sent away, Hama "congratulates" her for using it and [[EvilLaugh laughs]]. Katara was understandably upset. Ironically she used it on a Fire Nation soldier whom she thought killed her mother, but she's likely angry at Hama for teaching her bloodbending in the first place.

* This is exactly what BigBad Vlad Masters wants to accomplish with Danny in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''. He only mildly succeeds because Danny [[MythArc goes through a]] [[StartOfDarkness dark arc]].

** Korra herself is instructed briefly by her [[EvilUncle uncle]] Unalaq, that gives her some spiritual training and, like with Hama and Katara, a new waterbending technique, that infuses water with [[LightEmUp light]]. [[spoiler: This bites him ''severely'' in the ass at the season finale when Korra uses this very same technique to purify Unavaatu]]. Later on, she is forced to go to [[spoiler:Zaheer]] for help against the Season 4 BigBad Kuvira, who plays with this trope; he is evil, and he is a mentor, but his advice in this situation is purely beneficial to Korra.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' (and its prequel book, ''Literature/TransformersExodus''), Megatron was this to Optimus Prime back when they were Megatronus and Orion Pax. [[spoiler:Megatron eagerly resumes this role once Optimus loses his memory of having become a Prime.]] Played with a bit in that it wasn't really until Orion Pax really started to become TheHero that Megatronus started to become jealous enough to start becoming the BigBad; the situation is almost an inverse of APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil.

The Evil Mentor will lead them down the path to the DarkSide. This can involve teaching the character BlackMagic, a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, how to use a DeadlyUpgrade (while downplaying the costs), advanced PsychicPowers like MindRape or {{Brainwashed}}, and generally introduce them to abilities or substances that are [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil painfully addictive]] and make PsychoSerum seem safe to use by comparison.

* ''Series/{{Liar}}'': When [[spoiler:Andrew]] discovered [[spoiler:Oliver]] was a {{serial rapist}} he confronted him, but instead of handing Oliver over he ended up being instructed how to get away with rape.

* Henri Ducard / [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul]] in ''Film/BatmanBegins''. He inducts Bruce Wayne into the League of Shadows and teaches him the skills of combat, camouflage, and how to strike fear into the minds of criminals. Their methods are ultimately too extreme for Bruce, as they would prefer to [[KnightTemplar kill all criminals without mercy and even destroy entire cities they deem too corrupt to survive with everyone inside]]. Even near the end, [[spoiler:the real Rha's Al Ghul calls Bruce his greatest student, and voices his regret that Bruce is not "saving" Gotham along with him by destroying it.]]

* In the film version of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', Yondu, the grouchy old leader of the Ravagers could be considered this to Quill, ''if'' you consider him evil. (Which is sort of [[BlackAndGrayMorality a grey area, as is the case with a lot of characters]]. Yondu is clearly an AntiVillain, and he's definitely a greedy and selfish mercenary, but he did help defend Nova against Ronan's army, so it's hard to classify him in such terms.)

* In the final season ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', [[BigBad V.V. Argost]] offers to teach Zak how to control his [[spoiler:Kur]] powers. Being Argost, he admits to Zak right at the start that he intends to kill him in the end and [[spoiler:take his Kur Powers for himself]]. And Zak still accepts...

* Alpha in ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' is this to K. Alpha was K's mentor before he goes rogue and betrays the Men In Black organization. K himself says (in a flashback) "I reject everything you thought me".

* Malchior in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
-->'''Raven''': It's dark magic! You've been teaching me dark magic!\\
'''Malchior''': Is it dark, or is it simply misunderstood... like you?
** Ironically she ends up beating him with the same dark magic he taught her.

* Averted with Zhaan in ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. She had to learn both offensive PsychicPowers and become willing to use them to beat the episode's BigBad, both painful since she was a TechnicalPacifist. Her teacher at the time was more of a ZenSurvivor than evil though, but his lessons led to her using her abilities more assertively in later seasons.
** Zhaan is a borderline example of this trope at best because she had ''already used her powers to kill'' her lover in her backstory, who was planning to utilize the Peacekeepers to gain control of Delvia. This is in fact what led to her imprisonment on Moya in the first place. In other early episodes of Season 1, Zhaan herself makes clear that beneath her calm surface she is a potentially ''extremely'' [[BewareTheNiceOnes violent individual]]. In fact, Zhaan is asked to ''become'' the evil mentor of a band of renegade Delvians who want to learn for themselves how to use their powers to kill without going [[PowerIncontinence bonkers as a result]].
** Perhaps a much better example is the relationship between Crichton and Scorpius. A central arc over the course of the series consists of Scorpius attempted to convince John to utilize his wormhole knowledge as a weapon against the Scarrans. [[spoiler: When Crichton finally ''does'', he ''[[OhCrap threatens to destroy the entire frelling universe]]'' unless both sides agree to peace]].

** Throughout the series, Hagravens, a species of flightless [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies harpy]] who were [[WasOnceAMan once mortal women]] that traded their humanity for [[WitchSpecies access to powerful magic]], serve as these to still-mortal witches. Eventually, these mortal witches undergo the ritual as well, becoming Hagravens themselves.

* [[spoiler:[[TheMaster Al Mualim]]]] in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI''.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1538888353090388400
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

** In the original ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Gozaburo Kaiba was this to Seto, at least in his own mind. While he was exceptionally harsh and strict to young Seto - and even abusive at times - he was trying to mold Seto into the ruthless tycoon that ''he'' was, devoid of emotion and able to continue his military firm. Ironically, this was Gozaburo's undoing. He specifically told Seto that to succeed, he could not trust ''anyone'', not even ''him'', and while Seto grew to ''despise'' Gozaburo, that was a lesson he learned only too well, [[DeceptiveDisciple using it to take over KaibaCorp in a hostile takeover]] and once in charge proceed to destroy his adoptive father's life's work.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'', Darkseid intended to be this to Supergirl, so he got her kidnapped and brainwashed her. However, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman ruined his plans when they rescued her.
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' was this to ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}''. He befriended her and became her father-like figure in order to manipulate her and kill her when she outlived her usefulness.

* Talon of the Fraternity of Raptors plays with this trope a bit. In ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'', he tells Darkhawk the origin of his powers, omitting that the powers are actually for intergalactic espionage and assassination.
* ''ComicBook/NewGods'': Granny Goodness was a mentor for several villains from Apokolips, but also trained Scott Free (aka Mister Miracle) and Big Barda, both of whom eventually became heroes.
* The Scarecrow has tried this a couple of times, encouraging young victims of bullying toward bloody revenge. He's had various degrees of success--one of his "students" prevented him from stabbing Franchise/{{Batman}} but kept and used a can of his fear gas.
** The ''Heart of Hush'' storyline revealed that twenty years ago Scarecrow played this to a young Tommy Elliot - better known as [[ManipulativeBastard Hush]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'': Jody, the man who killed Jesse's father, served as an Evil Mentor and substitute father figure to the young Jesse. Jesse hates Jody with a fiery passion, but he's man enough to admit that he wouldn't be the man he is without Jody's abusive lessons; he picked up what he knows about horses and engines from watching him, and when he puts every single round from his pistol in the ten-ring of a target and is asked who taught him to shoot, he answers "Sadistic fuckin' madman I used to know. Long story."

* It's beginning to look as if [[spoiler: Billy Butcher]] might be this to Comicbook/TheBoys, although given the CrapsackWorld that the work is set in, it might be more of a ''Necessarily'' Evil Mentor.
* Comicbook/DoctorStrange once had to learn dark magic from Kaluu, the rival of his original mentor known as the Ancient One, in order to combat the demon Shuma-Gorath. Deconstruction of the trope soon followed -- Kaluu may have been ruthless or pragmatic, but he still did far more good than harm.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'', the entire Fraternity serve as this to Wesley, but Solomon Seltzer and the Fox in particular. Their goal is to make him a powerful and feared {{supervillain}} like his father, but in a subversion, they ''do'' have his best interests at heart. [[spoiler:Wesley's father is a more distant version, as he doesn't reveal himself until the end to complete his son's training.]]
* The ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}} is a Marvel villain who does this ''professionally''. Occasionally working for the ComicBook/RedSkull, he hires himself out to train mercenaries and super-villains; while some of his students have become successful super-villains - or even heroes, more or less - in their own right (examples include Crossbones and Cutthroat (also henchmen of the Skull), U.S. Agent, Hauptmann Deutschland, Diamondback, Spymaster, the original Spider-Woman, and Agent X) most of the time he just trains thugs to be low-rent henchmen and cannon fodder. (When working for the ComicBook/RedSkull, he can often cross the line to TreacherousAdvisor at times, in one case sending the more disappointing ones to be "sparring partners" for his boss, which was a death sentence. On his own, he's more by-the-book, in case one hiring other super-villains to form formal academies, like the time Anaconda worked for him as a calisthenics instructor.)
* ComicBook/DoctorOctopus was this to Carolyn Trainer (aka Lady Octopus) and Stunner, who was also his lover. (Both were likely the only allies he had who were truly had loyalty to him, and even ''he'' questioned what he had done to earn it.)
* Although ComicBook/LadyShiva is generally more of a Neutral Mentor, she can fall into this at times. For example, when Batman went to her for training as part of his post-{{ComicBook/Bane}} recovery, she "trained" Batman by disguising herself as him and murdering an OldMaster. Those pissed-off students out for revenge? That's the training!

* ''ComicBook/BlackMoonChronicles'': Haazheel to Wismerhill, as he grants him entry to the highest orders of the Black Moon to teach him TheDarkArts and make Wismerhill a dark general in his war against the Empire of Lynn.
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'':
** Alien sorcerer Murd the Oppressor from the ''Judge Child'' arc is revealed in ''Judgment Day'' to have been the zombie-controlling villain Sabbat's old mentor and taught him most of the tricks of {{necromancy}}.
** The storyline "The Fall of Deadworld" set in an AlternateUniverse features the gruff Judge Fairfax as its protagonist, who just wants to ride out the ensuing apocalypse. It turns out that in Law School he was the favorite protegé of none other than [[OmnicidalManiac Judge Death]], the monster who is destroying that world. Death still wants Fairfax back in his inner circle as his fourth lieutenant.
* ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': Following Bruce's "death" when Tim is on his own Comicbook/RasAlGhul tried to step in as a mentor figure for Tim, and did for a little while but ''both'' of them had ulterior motives and Tim blew up multiple League of Assassins bases while ruing their computer network on his way out the door. He is concerned he may have slipped a little too close to breaking Batman's golden rule while working with Ra's but he doesn't plan on doing so again.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Aero}}'', the titular character was once mentored by Madame Huang, before she learned that Huang had sinister ulterior motives.
* Many different versions of ComicBook/TheJoker have done this, corrupting everyone from ComicBook/HarleyQuinn to [[WesternAnimation/TheBatman different versions of Clayface]] to [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker Tim Drake]] to [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke Jim Gordon.]]

* Parodied in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' when [[BrilliantButLazy Wally]] mentors [[DitzyGenius Asok]]--the presentation is comparable to serious examples of this trope, but the actual content is training in how to avoid having to work while still getting paid. Asok may or may not be [[CorruptTheCutie becoming more like Wally]], but if he is, it's a slow process.

* Daniel to Danny in the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4350896/1/Daniel_Masters Daniel Masters]]''. Slightly played with in that Daniel believes in BlackAndGreyMorality. He teaches Danny about some abilities, but--because he actually respects Danny's character--won't teach him the more... ''deadly'' skills until Danny asks.

* ZigZagged in the ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'' where L the AmoralAttorney is this for Light the SleazyPolitician [[MindScrew but at the same time]] L also plays the role of Light's MoralityPet--L wants to corrupt Light out of his [[WideEyedIdealist idealism]] and [[PureIsNotGood Light is idealistic but not good.]]

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' fanfiction ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13688255/3/A-Lion-s-Strength A Lion's Strength]]'', one of the deciding factors in whether Tigerclaw should be exiled or not is that his apprentice- once a lively, happy kit- is always withdrawn and visibly terrified around him. It's not proof that he murdered Redtail, but circumstantially it lends a lot of credence to Ravenpaw's accusations.

* Joruus C'baoth in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' calls Luke to him, and for a few days Luke follows him around trying to learn from him but quickly comes to believe that C'baoth was insane and had possibly fallen to the Dark Side. C'baoth believes himself to be [[AGodAmI the ultimate authority]], naturally above [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper those who are not Jedi]]. This is cinched when Luke tries to leave with Mara Jade and they are attacked, and later when they find that he was working with Thrawn.
** Interestingly played with in ''Literature/OutboundFlight'', with Jorus C'baoth ([[CloningGambit the original]]) and his interest in the fourteen-year-old Anakin Skywalker. The original C'baoth had a superiority complex and beliefs [[InTheBlood much like his clone's]], though slightly less obvious (since C'baoth hasn't actually gone insane ''yet''). Obi-Wan is uneasy about this. Anakin, in some of the most subtle this-kid-isn't-gonna-turn-out-right characterization in or out of the ExpandedUniverse, thinks that C'baoth is awesome. He solves things so ''quickly'', and he doesn't take nonsense from anyone.
* ''The Return of the Home Run Kid'' by Matt Christopher (sequel to ''The Kid Who Only Hit Homers'') is essentially the G-rated version of this. The mentor is a former baseball player kicked out for betting against his own team, and he teaches the main character tricks like how to fake getting hit by a pitch. (It's not entirely clear [[FelonyMIsdemeanor how this is worse]] than cheating through magic in the previous book, but it's pretty clear that we're supposed to see this as a negative development.)
* [[EvilSorcerer The Morgawr]] to [[DarkMagicalGirl The Ilse Witch]] in ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara''.
* Viv Ivins in the Literature/LeftBehind prequel books serves this role to Marilena Carpathia when she seeks to be pregnant and ends up becoming the mother to the future Antichrist Nicolae Carpathia until [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she is killed off]].
* In the ''Literature/KnightAndRogueSeries'' the man whose name is not Jack Bannister is a variant of this for Fisk. The skills he was teaching were along the lines of conning and burglary, so it wasn't as though Fisk didn't know he was a bad guy, he just turned out to be a much greater {{Jerkass}} than Fisk had first thought. His last lesson to Fisk is that life sucks, and when Fisk finally recovers from the schooling, Jack tries to reinforce the lesson by [[spoiler:having Michael tossed off a cliff]].
* Creator/PaoloBacigalupi:
** In ''Literature/ShipBreaker'', Nailer's [[AxeCrazy insane]] [[DrugsAreBad drug addict]] [[ArchnemesisDad father Richard Lopez]], is the man who taught him how to swim, how to fight, and how to survive. This doesn't stop Nailer from recognising Richard for the dangerous loose cannon that he is, and while he is grateful to his father [[spoiler:ultimately ends up killing him in the climax]].
** In ''Literature/TheDrownedCities'', [[TheDragon Lieutenant Sayle]] is an Evil Mentor to Sargeant Ocho and the other soldier boys in his company. While the others look up to the LT, Ocho is fully aware of [[SociopathicSoldier what]] [[PsychoForHire Sayle]] [[ColonelKilgore is]], and [[spoiler:turns on him in the end.]]
* Literature/LightAndDarkTheAwakeningOfTheMageknight: Played with. While [[spoiler:Syndil]] is hinted to be this from his intro and [[spoiler: does eventually FaceHeelTurn]] it's implied that he was driven by despair. [[spoiler: He wanted the Mageknight to met his expectations.]] He did his best to develop his powers and those of the other knights until then.
* In Sukhinov's ''Emerald City'' decalogy, The Wicked Witch of the East (Named Gingema in text) adopts Corina, a little Munchkin girl, and trains her in magic. Needless to say, Corina ends up massively screwed up (though not outright evil).
%% * [[spoiler: Neferet]] from ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight''.
* Benedict Jacka's ''[[Literature/AlexVerus Fated]]'' the main character is an ex dark-apprentice who was recruited by a Dark mage in his late teens.

* Pythie Frederica from ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' trains Snow White to become a strong warrior and ideal MagicalGirl when Snow White decides she needs to become stronger so as to not be useless anymore. Pythie is also willing to kill anyone that holds Snow White back from becoming the ideal Magical Girl and forces other Magical Girls to kill each other in death games in order to create more ideal Magical Girls. This leads her to being arrested by her own student, which Pythie is okay with as she believes Snow White has become what she was searching for.
* [[MagnificentBastard Littlefinger]] from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' ends up becoming this for [[spoiler: [[BreakTheCutie Sansa Stark]].]]. He has... [[ParentalIncest paternal]] feelings for her.
** Also, the Three-Eyed Crow [[spoiler:aka Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers]] serves as one of these to Bran... maybe. The ambiguity isn't whether or not he's a mentor, because he is training Bran in how to use his greenseer and warg abilities. The ambiguity comes from whether he really can be considered evil. [[spoiler:Before he went and merged with a tree, Bloodraven went to truly extreme lengths to destroy House Blackfyre and their rival claim to the Iron Throne, to the point that King Aegon V, the direct beneficiary of his actions, sent him to the Wall in disgust. On the other hand, his extermination of the Blackfyres brought nearly half a century of relative peace to Westeros, so it could well be a case of TheExtremistWasRight, and Bloodraven is on record giving IDidWhatIHadToDo as his reason for his actions. And given the nature of [[ProphecyTwist greensight]], he may not have had a choice in the matter. Despite his intentions, however, most of Westeros remembers Bloodraven as a villainous sorcerer and EvilChancellor.]]
* Subverted with William Kraft in military thriller ''Literature/{{Victoria}}''. As weird as it sounds, Kraft is a good-aligned, ''heroic'' example of this: his ''ideals'' are pure, or at any rate presented as such by the narrative, and he plays the standard heroic mentor role to TheHero, John Rumford -- but his extremely ruthless ''[[KnightTemplar methods]]'' (which sometimes dismay even Rumford, an ex-military guerrilla warfare specialist) are [[Film/TheKarateKid much more those of the Cobra Kai than of Mr. Miyagi's school]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Professor Maggie Walsh to Riley.
** Mayor Wilkins represents an Evil Mentor / {{Parental Substitute}} to Faith, the series' renegade Slayer. While not directly causing her StartOfDarkness, he genuinely cares for Faith very deeply. Perversely, Wilkins is the closest thing to a father that Faith has.
** Also Gwendolyn Post, Faith's treacherous Watcher. Faith ''really'' can't catch a break...
** The Master is one to the Anointed One.

* Played for laughs in ''Series/YesMinister'' by Sir Humphrey Appleby, who has this kind of relationship with Bernard, a young and naive civil servant.

** Ruby. She spends a season being mysterious and helpful before Dean dies, and then provides the bereaved Sam with emotional support, and encourages him to develop his PsychicPowers, which are [[BadPowersBadPeople of demonic origin]], in order to avenge Dean. Even though he'd promised Dean he wouldn't use them. [[spoiler: She gets him hooked on [[PsychoSerum demon blood]], a power booster that turns out to be [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide highly addictive]] as well as revolting, and ultimately uses him to free TheDevil. She was [[ThanatosGambit Lilith's]] inside woman all along.]] Even though he showed a lot of TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget markers, he never got further than a rather lukewarm WellIntentionedExtremist...unless he actually ''exsanguinated'' that poor nurse Cindy, but that ''was'' a once-off. He trespasses rather badly against his family, but almost all of it is either under [[MindControl siren venom]] or in the throes of withdrawal. Sam is actually a really good guy, but no one [[DeathSeeker including Sam]] really believes that even a little for much of season five.

** Season six [[spoiler:Crowley to Cas]], a bit. Not that the latter isn't the more powerful, but the former leads him by the nose with the hope of knowledge he can use to end the war, and his [[DealWithTheDevil partnership with the devil's replacement]] drags him down until the MoralEventHorizon makes a faint ''whooshing'' sound as it flies by. Somewhere around the time he started killing his friends so they couldn't stop him, maybe? And then he succeeds and goes batshit insane.

* Of a sort on ''[[Series/{{PersonofInterest}} Person of Interest]]''. Kara and Snow act as sort-of mentors for Reese in the CIA, yet they are both series villains.
** Played more straight with [[spoiler:Hersh]] and Shaw, but not entirely since [[spoiler:Hersh]] is more of a PunchClockVillain. Indeed, he gets a HeelFaceTurn [[spoiler:and dies trying to save innocent people in an explosion, [[KarmicDeath one similar to the very explosion he triggered to kill Nathan Ingram (which also killed innocents).]]]]
* On ''Series/BurnNotice'', we learn that Larry "[[RunningGag Dead Larry]]" Sizemore, the man who trained Michael Westen in most of what he knows, eventually [[FakingTheDead faked his own death]] and went freelance. He's now a PsychoForHire [[ProfessionalKiller contract killer]] who enjoys using poisons and knives way too much and thinks that MurderIsTheBestSolution to any obstacle. He's also trying to get Michael to be more like him.
--> '''Larry''': Well it's nice to see you too, Michael, and Sam! I also see you... seriously, pal, we do twenty missions on three continents and this is how you greet me?\\
'''Michael''': Well, that was before you [[FakingTheDead faked your own death]] and came back [[InLoveWithYourCarnage without a]] [[BloodKnight soul.]]
** Michael admits that with hindsight, he can tell how unbalanced Larry always was. They worked together during a crazy time, so he seemed somewhat sane in comparison. It's also implied that Larry faking his death allowed Michael to spend more time with saner people, leading to him recognizing Larry for what he was.

* The mentor of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'''s version of ComicBook/GreenArrow is a cold-blooded murderer and looks down on Ollie for becoming a superhero. In Season 5, [[RoboticPsychopath Brainiac]] begins as one for [[TheHero Clark]].
* It's revealed late in ''Series/BabylonFive'''s third season that [[spoiler:The Shadows]] view themselves as essentially this. They spread chaos and war and corrupt people because they are {{Social Darwinist}}s who want to encourage people towards their version of 'freedom' and help them evolve by cutting loose all fetters and encouraging and aiding [[AmbitionIsEvil those with ambition]].
-->'''Morden''': It's like knocking over an anthill. Every new generation gets stronger. The anthill gets redesigned, made better.\\
'''Sheridan''': So that's what [[spoiler:the Shadows]] do. Come out every few thousand years, and kick over all the anthills, start wars, destroy entire races.\\
'''Justin''': A few get lost along the way, yes, and that's unfortunate. I don't think it was ever easy, but you can't let that get in the way of the dream.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** The show reimagines the character of Dagmer into one of these for [[spoiler:Theon Grejoy]]. He feeds his pupil's ambition and feelings of insecurity, clinging on to feed off his success. [[spoiler:When Theon intends to die in a blaze of glory alongside his men, Dagmer knocks him unconscious and sells him to their enemies for a ticket home. Ramsay Snow takes Theon but has Dagmer flayed alive instead when he captures the Ironborn, possibly for his treachery, but more likely because he just thought it'd be fun.]]
** Littlefinger seems to have begun coaching Sansa in how to play the game of thrones in Season 4.
** Roose tries to be to Robb. He definitely is one to Ramsay. His "mentoring" of them is actually the opposite approach to reach the same goal: Roose tries to make Robb become more sadistic and cruel, while he tries the opposite with Ramsay. In the end, it's for the ultimate goal of making them embrace his own pragmatic villainy.
* The Female Changeling from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' serves as this to Odo, with a strong dose of [[TheVamp vamp]]. In "The Search", she teaches him about the history of the Changeling race and helps him hone his shapeshifting abilities. When Odo discovers that she and the other Founders lead the tyrannical Dominion, he leaves her. Later, during the occupation of Deep Space Nine, she teaches him more about his people and [[GRatedSex links with him.]]
** Garak takes on this role for Sisko in the episode ''In The Pale Moonlight'', though given the [[GreyAndGreyMorality nature of the series]] his manipulation of the Captain into lies, forgery, and murder [[GodzillaThreshold is only debatably evil]].
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' seems to enjoy this trope.
** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' had the Alternates, who believe that in order to save a thousand lives, they must kill at least one person and have been aiming to kill a central character for her ties to the Mirror World. They taught their student, a participant in the [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne Rider War]], the "kill one, save a thousand" motto. [[spoiler:What they didn't bank on was that he'd take it to mean that if he killed ''them'', he'd save a thousand.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' has Shroud, who gave her student his TransformationTrinket after he lost his parents to a Dopant attack. The evil kicks in when it's revealed that she was the one who gave the Dopant ''his'' trinket as well and both of them were her attempts at a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the BigBad. She didn't intend for the Dopant to turn out as monstrous as he did, though, and Terui eventually manages to show Shroud the error of her ways.
** Ankh of ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' thinks he's this, but his intended puppet turns out to be an exemplar of ObfuscatingStupidity and instead starts the slow process of turning Ankh into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'' has its evil mentor double as its BigBad, as Wiseman and the White Wizard are proven to be one and the same, sending Phantoms to drive the VictimOfTheWeek to despair as Wiseman and having Haruto kill the Phantoms as the White Wizard. His real goal is to find four victims who become new wizards instead of new Phantoms so that he can use them as sacrifices to resurrect his daughter.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' receives frequent advice and gifts from DJ Sagara, who at first appears to be a humble Yggdrasil employee before steadily revealing himself to be the avatar of the Helheim Forest itself, and thus the EldritchAbomination behind everything, with his gifts pushing Kouta to win the fight for the Golden Fruit. Unusually for the franchise, [[KarmaHoudini Sagara gets away with everything]], being treated as a force of nature rather than a person.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' has the Angel Roidmude, villain of the ''Kamen Rider Chaser'' film, who offers [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul the ability to experience human emotions]] to the android Chase. It works as advertised, but the modification makes him no longer able to become a Kamen Rider, and will eventually cause him to become catatonic from bliss. She intends to do this to ''everyone'', human and Roidmude alike, to produce a WorldOfSilence.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' repeats Gaim's trick in a more complex manner: all sides of the show's conflict are pushed and prodded along in their LensmanArmsRace by Blood Stalk, who seems oddly unconcerned with gathering any more power of his own. While he favors Sento and Banjou as the main targets of his pushing, he'll just as gladly hand other characters the keys to more power in order to give them a steady stream of appropriate rivals to fight.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:Harrison Wells]], Barry's mentor, is apparently also [[spoiler:the man in yellow, i.e., the Reverse Flash]]. The reason for that is [[spoiler:Eobard Thawne, the Flash's nemesis from the distant future, went back in time to when Barry was 12 to try to kill him, only to be stopped by Future!Barry. Angry, Thawne killed Barry's mother out of spite but discovered that the time jump robbed him of a stable connection to the Speed Force, stranding him in the past. Killing and taking the face of the real Dr. Wells, Thawne built the particle accelerator several years earlier than intended in order to create the Flash himself in order to eventually use Barry's connection to the Speed Force to get back home]]. Later, [[spoiler:Barry's new mentor Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth 2, turns out to be the same person as Zoom, the evil speedster of Earth 2. As Zoom, he keeps sending enemies to try and kill Barry. As Jay, he trains Barry to be faster. His end goal is to siphon away Barry's speed for himself in order to cure his degenerative condition, caused by his abuse of the Velocity SuperSerum]]. Averted with [[spoiler:the real Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth 3. It helps that Jay is the double of Barry's late father, so Barry is predisposed to trusting him]].
* ''Series/RomperStomper'': Vic/Cackles is revealed to have inducted Kane into Neo-Nazism.
* ''Series/{{Liar}}'': When [[spoiler:Andrew]] discovered [[spoiler:Oliver]] was a {{serial rapist}} he confronted him, but instead of handing Oliver over he ended up being instructed how to get away with rape.
* ''Series/CobraKai'' explores how John Kreese is this as a sensei, showing his preference for latching onto students who have messed up homelives or who are lost like Johnny, Tory, and eventually [[spoiler:Robby]], filling the void as a "protective" father figure, and then turning his back on and weeding out "the weak ones", and basically warping whoever is left into vicious and violent thugs that follow his ideology. When Johnny’s high school buddies and Cobra-Kai dojo mates Bobby, Jimmy, and Tommy meet with Johnny they're ''horrified'' that he's given Kreese a second chance as they're all unanimous in that, while [[EvilFeelsGood being the bad guys felt good]], all of their lives were worse because of it (the biggest example being their friend Dutch, who has spent much of his life in and out of prison because of his antics and the philosophy he learned from Kreese) and how their lives all improved when they turned their backs on Cobra Kai and straightened out their lives. Johnny eventually becomes deadset on ''not'' being an evil mentor, believing that the discipline, toughness, and bad-assery of Cobra Kai can be taught ''without'' the mercilessness, thuggery, and outright villainy that Kreese teaches. In one episode he explains that his vision for the dojo is all about becoming a bad-ass, and that a true bad-ass wins without needing to cheat, fighting without honor, or hitting opponents who are down or helpless.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', Changelings are the daughters of humans and hags. Their wicked mothers typically leave them among humans to be raised, but at some point, they will feel "the call" to join their mothers and receive training in witchcraft, and eventually have the opportunity to submit to depravity and become hags themselves. Some embrace this, some ignore the call entirely, and some accept some training ([[DarkIsNotEvil not all witches are bad, after all]]) but leave before taking the final steps.

* [[MysteriousBacker The Illusive Man]] from the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series attempts to be this to Commander Shepard in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second installment]]. It's up to the player whether or not Shepard buys into it or completely rebuffs him.

** Kreia is an ex-Jedi extremely disillusioned with the Order and is quickly revealed to be a former Sith Lord as well. Her lessons to you are mostly ones of bitter and at times ruthless pragmatism, encouraging you to only help others if it helps you and to manipulate people to your own ends. [[spoiler:She is also the BigBad, but unlike a TreacherousAdvisor she never uses her mentor position to backstab the protagonist, as she actually cares for The Exile--her training was a legitimate attempt to groom a successor. She turns on you only as a means to impart her final, cynical lesson: mentors are {{Manipulative Bastard}}s and you should forge your own path.]]

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series:
** Riku had this as a recurring problem. The power he learned from Maleficent and Ansem was too useful not to use but gave him serious self-image issues.
** Terra and Master Xehanort in ''Birth by Sleep''. After Terra's brief use of dark power costs him his Mark of Mastery exam, Xehanort takes advantage of Terra's strained relationship with the mentor (Eraqus) and offers him the validation he craves. While Riku later proves that darkness can be safely channeled, Xehanort's "comfort" is entirely self-serving. It's like Anakin and Palpatine compressed into one story.

* Houzuki from ''VisualNovel/SharinNoKuni'' is not only an Evil Mentor, but also the BigBad, and doesn't make any attempt to disguise what he is - his EstablishingCharacterMoment is shooting one of the trainees under his tutelage for being late to an appointment and Kenichi, the protagonist and his protege for the last seven years, is under no illusions as to what sort of person he is.
* The Baron in ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' is revealed to be this [[spoiler: for Daniel]] towards the very end - though if the ''player'' didn't suspect this long beforehand, they might be carrying the IdiotBall.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Throughout the series, Hagravens, a species of flightless [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies harpy]] who were [[WasOnceAMan once mortal women]] that traded their humanity for [[WitchSpecies access to powerful magic]], serve as these to still-mortal witches. Eventually, these mortal witches undergo the ritual as well, becoming Hagravens themselves.
** The series' [[OurLichesAreDifferent Liches]] commonly serve as these to still-mortal {{necromancer}}s, who hope to one day become Liches themselves.
** A book in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' talks about how [[OurGodsAreDifferent Nocturnal]]'s cowl was stolen. A young thief tries to steal from a master thief, who summarily catches her but lets her be his protege. Eventually, they plan a heist to [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu steal the cowl of Nocturnal]]. The young thief is to wait in a nearby tree, wait for Nocturnal to remove her cowl, then let the elder make a distraction. When the distraction never comes, the young thief attempts to steal the cowl without help. After she is caught, she looks over to realize that Nocturnal's cowl is gone. When asked who she is, she says, [[IronicEcho "I'm the distraction."]]

* [[spoiler:[[TheMaster Al Mualim]]]] in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI''.
* Muttonhead in ''VideoGame/PopfulMail''. Before he became a notorious criminal, he used to be the mentor of Tatto, one of the heroes.
* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', [[spoiler:Sun Li has been training your character in martial arts so that you can kill his brother, Emperor Sun Hai, only for him to assassinate you and claim the imperial throne for himself.]]
* ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'' [[ObviouslyEvil doesn't even bother to hide]] that [[TheHero Stocke]]'s boss/mentor Heiss is a villain. [[spoiler:It does, however, hide the ''extent'' of it. Heiss is the BigBad, and one of his primary goals is to try to train Stocke to take over for him. [[AntiAntiChrist This fails miserably]].]]
* ''VideoGame/SkullGirls'': [[DeadlyDoctor Valentine]] has a more adversarial version of this with [[LivingWeapon Painwheel]], at least in the former's story mode. She "created" Painwheel in the first place, and wants to see the girl-turned-monster become strong enough to [[spoiler:kill the [[BigBad Skullgirl]]]]. Even if Valentine has to [[spoiler:become a Skullgirl]] to do so. This relationship is best summed up in her dialogue whenever Painwheel beats her: "Atta girl".
* In the video game tie-in to ''VideoGame/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', [[EgomaniacHunter Kraven the Hunter]] acts as this to Spider-Man. He teaches Spidey his hunting techniques and how to apply them to crimefighting, but only as a pretense to study the wall-crawler and figure out how best to kill him.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'', [[spoiler: villains like Captain Ginyu, Frieza, and Cell]] can become TheHero's mentor. For [[spoiler: Ginyu,]] he wants to train them because he thinks they're candidates to expand [[spoiler: the Ginyu Force.]] For [[spoiler: Frieza,]] he wants the hero to become his minion, having heard so much about them from [[spoiler: Ginyu.]] And [[spoiler: Cell?]] Well, for no reason other than he's bored and wants to make a game of training an imperfect creature to become perfect -- but becomes very [[VillainTakesAnInterest intrigued]] by the hero's growing power that he now wants them to become his ''rival''.
* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'' reveals that the Pirate Master was this for Shantae's ArchEnemy, Risky Boots. Before the Pirate Master was sealed by the Genies, Risky sailed under his command as his first mate and he taught her everything she knows.
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' gives us art instructor Ichiryuusai Madarame, who is famous for his works of art. What the public is less aware of is that none of the art is truly his, but is stolen from his students, which includes his adopted son Yusuke Kitagawa. [[spoiler:Even less known is how Yusuke was adopted; Madarame was in the best position to save Yusuke's dying mother but chose not to, instead taking the boy in for the sake of exploiting his talents.]] Needless to say, [[ThisIsUnforgivable Yusuke is fucking pissed]] when the truth about Madarame becomes known.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': The player characters likely resort to this to [[TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential unlock their Source powers]] in Act II, as their erstwhile mentor has been [[DePower De-Powered]] and their other options include a {{Soul Eat|ing}}er, the [[ProperlyParanoid paranoid]] creator of a heinous PhlebotinumBomb, an ally of the BigBad, and a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d if a PC asks the mentor if she ''really'' expects them to get lessons from {{Evil So|rcerer}}urcerers: she reminds them that the alternative is to let the world end.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Psycholonials}}'': The narrator/Riotus/The Successor (all aspects of the same cosmic eldrich being) appears to Z in dreams, giving her the inspiration to write the Jubilite Manifest (the handbook of MonsterClown revolution) and urging her to commit greater acts of violence so that she may spread their gospel and attain cosmic power and immortality.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}} and the Pirate's Curse'' reveals that the Pirate Master was this for Shantae's ArchEnemy, Risky Boots. Before the Pirate Master was sealed by the Genies, Risky sailed under his command as his first mate and he taught her everything she knows.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' gives us art instructor Ichiryuusai Madarame, who is famous for his works of art. What the public is less aware of is that none of the art is truly his, but is stolen from his students, which includes his adopted son Yusuke Kitagawa. [[spoiler:Even less known is how Yusuke was adopted; Madarame was in the best position to save Yusuke's dying mother but chose not to, instead taking the boy in for the sake of exploiting his talents.]] Needless to say, [[ThisIsUnforgivable Yusuke is fucking pissed]] when the truth about Madarame becomes known.

* In ''[[https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ptn/ptn51.htm Farmer Weathersky,]]'' the boy's master teaches him magic but will keep him forever unless his father can find and recognize him, which he manages only with difficulty. Father Weathersky then tries to get the boy back with trickery.

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* Parodied in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' when [[BrilliantButLazy Wally]] mentors [[DitzyGenius Asok]]--the presentation is comparable to serious examples of this trope, but the actual content is training in how to avoid having to work while still getting paid. Asok may or may not be [[CorruptTheCutie becoming more like Wally]], but if he is, it's a slow process.
[[/folder]]

* In {{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}}, Changelings are the daughters of humans and hags. Their wicked mothers typically leave them among humans to be raised, but at some point, they will feel "the call" to join their mothers and receive training in witchcraft, and eventually have the opportunity to submit to depravity and become hags themselves. Some embrace this, some ignore the call entirely, and some accept some training ([[DarkIsNotEvil not all witches are bad, after all]]) but leave before taking the final steps.

* In the original ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Gozaburo Kaiba was this to Seto, at least in his own mind. While he was exceptionally harsh and strict to young Seto - and even abusive at times - he was trying to mold Seto into the ruthless tycoon that ''he'' was, devoid of emotion and able to continue his military firm. Ironically, this was Gozaburo's undoing. He specifically told Seto that to succeed, he could not trust ''anyone'', not even ''him'', and while Seto grew to ''despise'' Gozaburo, that was a lesson he learned only too well, [[DeceptiveDisciple using it to take over KaibaCorp in a hostile takeover]] and once in charge proceed to destroy his adoptive father's life's work.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Monkey Saruyama (called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mr. Shroud]] in the dub) was this to Ryu; a seedy duelist manager, he used brutal FightClubbing to help get Ryu back on his feet and back to the top of the Pro Leagues, but in the process, fully transformed Ryu from the honorable duelist he was to "Hell Kaiser", the selfish one who would win at all costs, no matter who he hurt. Unfortunately for Saruyama, it worked only too well; once Ryu decided he didn't need him, he fired Saruyama and threw him out of his car like garbage.
* Divine from ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''. As leader of the Arcadia Movement, he told his students (such as Aki) that he was trying to help them control their PsychicPowers. Truthfully, he was purposely making them even ''more'' destructive, hoping to mold them into an army of psychic assassins.

* ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} of the DCU does this as a hobby. He once acted as an Evil Mentor to Terra, before he realized too late that she was [[EvilerThanThou even more evil than him]]. He also tried to turn ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} evil in the "Renegade" storyline, but Nightwing turned that around by acting as a ''Good'' Mentor to Slade's daughter Rose which led to her HeelFaceTurn. He also founded an EvilCounterpart to the ComicBook/TeenTitans ''twice''. Slade in general has a disturbing interest in corrupting the next generation of superbeings.

* ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** In ''Comicbook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'', Darkseid intended to be this to Supergirl, so he got her kidnapped and brainwashed her. However, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman ruined his plans when they rescued her.
** In ''Comicbook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', ''Comicbook/LexLuthor'' was this to ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}''. He befriended her and became her father-like figure in order to manipulate her and kill her when she outlived her usefulness.
* Prometheus, also of the DCU, gives this a brief shot when he takes in a young sociopath named Chad Graham. He intends Chad to be his Robin, but the kid turns out to be a huge disappointment. Eventually he [[KillItWithFire sets him on fire]] for his trouble.

** Ben Solo had one in [[spoiler:Supreme Leader Snoke, who lured him to the Dark Side while he was training to be a Jedi, with much the same results as the Palpatine-Anakin mentorship.]]

* Many different versions of ComicBook/TheJoker have done this, corrupting everyone from [[ComicBook/HarleyQuinn]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheBatman different versions of Clayface]] to [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker Tim Drake]] to [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke Jim Gordon.]]

* ''Series/CobraKai'' explores how John Kreese is this as a sensei, showing his preference for latching onto students who have messed up homelives or who are lost like Johnny, Tory, and eventually [[spoiler:Robby]], filling the void as a "protective" father figure, and then turning his back on and weeding out "the weak ones", and basically warping what's left into vicious and violent thugs that follow his ideology. When Bobby, Jimmy, and Tommy all meet up with Johnny later, they're ''horrified'' that he's given Kreese a second chance as they're all unanimous in that, while [[EvilFeelsGood being the bad guys felt good]], all of their lives were worse because of it (including Dutch, whose now in ''prison'' because of his antics) and how their lives all improved when they turned their backs on Cobra Kai and have straightened out as decent people. Johnny eventually becomes deadset on ''not'' being like this, believing that the discipline, toughness, and bad-assery of Cobra Kai can be taught ''without'' the merciless and outright villainy that Kreese teaches, explaining in one episode that a true bad-ass wins without needing to cheat, fight without honor, or hit opponents who are down or helpless.