History Main / TricksterMentor

* In ''Literature/LostTime''/''Literature/DeadLands'' and ''Literature/ResurrectionLife'', Nathaniel David Parker acts as this for Blake and Gideon, respectively. He is limited in what he can and can't say by God, so he pushes his charges in various ways in order to let them figure out what he wants from them without him outright saying it, unless the situation calls for it. He will pull every dirty trick in the book if it means his students learn how to think for themselves and be aware of how to love and lead the people around them, so that he can follow the rules he has to submit to and get some high-quality {{Troll Trolling}} in as well, because ItAmusedMe.

** Master Korin. Those who climb his tower are told that the Sacred Water will grant super strength to anyone who drinks it. He steals the water and plays keep away until the person is able to grab it. They're then told that the water is just ordinary water and them ''getting'' the water was what made them stronger.

* ''Anime/ZoidsWild'': Master Bug, an {{Expy}} of Master Roshi with hints of Korin. He's so convincing at playing dumb that when he release the truth it genuinely surprises everyone. [[spoiler:Particularly that he knows where Ancient Treasure Z is and has a good idea about what it really is.]]

''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer: Tales of the Slayer: And White Splits the Night'': Laurent took Asha in at a young age but, unlike many Watchers, she never told Asha that she was being trained as a Potential Slayer and let her think she was only learning combat for defense against bullies. If Asha hadn't been chosen as a Slayer, Laurent would have probably never told her the truth about the Watchers Council and the Slayers.
%%* Fizban[[spoiler:/Paladine]] in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}} Chronicles'' trilogy.

* ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': When Nomi-Nomi installs ''[[FictionalVideoGame KYUU-KYUU BISHOUNEN KYUUSTETSU]]'' in Congruence's system, her holoprojection simulates the whole game, but she gets corrupted into a manticore. If the protagonist repairs her or apologizes to her for their and Nomi's classroom antics, Congruence gets restored, and she cheerfully tells them that she intentionally turned the game into a horrific "puzzle" to teach them not to install unauthorized software into her system.

** To a good number of fans, Princess Celestia, due to being a PhysicalGoddess who could easily solve many of the larger crises that plague Equestria. She sometimes admits to Twilight that she would've solved it herself, but she decided to let her figure it out for herself as part of her friendship lessons.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': A very, ''very'' generous [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation interpretation]] of Izaya's character places him as one of these. His favorite hobby is messing with people's heads, manipulating them into going through emotionally devastating circumstances, seemingly ForTheLulz. However, the ordeals Izaya puts people through often force them to confront some ugly truths about themselves, as Izaya [[BreakingSpeech is happy to point out]]. They may not be ''happier'', but Izaya's victims are often wiser for having been used by him.

* ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' furnishes a few examples. Master Li is characterized this way early on, with several characters remarking on his idiosyncratic behavior, [[spoiler:before he is [[TreacherousAdvisor revealed]] as the true BigBad]]. The Forest Shadow is a more complete example: she's a powerful fox spirit (see the citation on Coyote above), a class of beings assigned by the CelestialBureaucracy to confront humans with [[SecretTestOfCharacter Secret Tests of Character]]--even when she needs your help, this is how she approaches you.
%%* Ovan picked up this habit in ''VideoGame/DotHackGU''.

* Kokichi Oma in ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa V3|Killing Harmony}}'' occasionally acts as this towards Shuichi. During his Free Time Events, Kokichi threatens the detective to play with him, but intentionally loses every time. When he cuts himself playing the knife game, Kokichi deems Shuichi the winner by default, explaining it's possible to win by not playing. [[spoiler:It turns out Kokichi knew the game was being broadcast and was trying to screw over the audience, and Shuichi realizes at the end that the only way to win Danganronpa is ''to refuse to play'']].
* In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'', Mitsuhide Akechi acts as one to the female main character in his route. He takes on the role of her instructor, teaching her politics, horsemanship, weaponry, and self-defense skills, and even though he claims that he's doing all of this just to keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't defect from the Oda forces and teases her mercilessly about her initial ineptitude at these skills, he never once loses patience with her and his relentless training succeeds in making her much better equipped to survive in the Sengoku period.

** [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation To a good number of fans]], Princess Celestia, due to being a PhysicalGoddess who could easily solve many of the larger crises that plague Equestria.

* ''Tabletopgame/{Shadowrun}}'': Harlequin. However, it turns out that when you jerk people around, refuse to give them straight answers and do things that seem utterly vile on the surface in the name of a nebulous master plan you refuse to explain, you piss your acolytes off no matter how much they develop under your tutelage. At least two of Harlequin's former disciples are actively hunting him down, and very few people who work with him are keen on doing so a second time.

In more fantastic settings, this will often be a more benign GreatGazoo, who educates their proteges by subjecting them to various [[InvoluntaryTransformation transformations]], [[FreakyFriday body-swaps]], [[LiteralGenie literal wishes]], [[PrankPunishment playful punishments]], [[FalseCrucible faked tests of character]] and [[InspirationalInsult insults meant to motivate them]]. Trickster Mentors ''love'' it when someone who first meets them [[ActuallyIAmHim doesn't realize who they are.]] They get to [[SecretTestOfCharacter assess the "true character"]] of someone, then beat their sense of superiority out of them with it after the revelation. Or, rarely, give them a ''small'' break if they reveal honesty and good intentions.

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Tasio's goal is to help Eric learn confidence and preservence. His methods involve deception, cunning, and many dangerous situations.

** Another example, this one taken from [[http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sufism/Nasrudin an affiliate of]] Wiki/TheOtherWiki:

* Ovan picked up this habit in ''VideoGame/DotHackGU'', giving him the FanNickname of {{Troll}}van.

-->'''Applejack''': Consarnit. ''[[[FacePalm face hooves]]]'' We really gotta sit the Princess down one day and have an intervention. This cockamamie 'cryptic mentor' nonsense is getting old.

* OlderThanPrint: Some versions of Merlin and Morgan le Fay from [[KingArthur the Arthurian mythos]].

** Harry himself is this to Molly. When teaching her about magic, he's mostly straightforward, but when teaching her about ''life'', he prefers making her understand things rather than simply learn them. This is evidenced in the bead necklace subplot.

* [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=669 Coyote]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=672 in]] ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=675 has]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=676 become]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=678 this]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=682 to]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=687 Antimony]] [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=688 Carver]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140209181639/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2404 Buddha, in the best Zen tradition, offers a flower in response to a request for enlightenment.]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'', when [[http://dragondoctors.dhscomix.com/archives/comic/ch-2-page-24 Kili summons the Capricious Spirit of Love in Chapter 2]], the spirit acts as one for her.

* The DungeonMaster from the cartoon ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' frequently gave the party just barely enough information for them to puzzle out what they need to deal with that episode's problem.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Rafiki the baboon. While prodding Simba's revelation that he cannot keeping moping over his past and should return to his homeland to correct the Circle of Life, he whacks Simba over the head with his staff without warning.
--> '''Simba:''' What was that for?\\
'''Rafiki:''' It doesn't matter! It's in the past! ... The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it. *swings again, Simba ducks this time*
** He definitely acts like this in the ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' series.

%%* Puck (of Shakespeare fame) in ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''
* King Bumi for the duration of "The King of Omashu" on ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Also to his whole city when he surrenders rather than subject them to a doomed siege, and then cackles about it a lot rather than explaining anything.
* Glossaryck from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' is a deconstruction, as his cryptic messages and metaphors don't work ''at all'' for the LiteralMinded Star, who either fails to figure his advice out or ends up misinterpreting it and stumbles into a solution he never intended. Previous wand users like Star's mother openly admit that the tiny, god-like being is incredibly unhelpful even if you are willing to parse his odd statements and behavior.
* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'': The Wise Warlock from "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" episode, overlapping with EccentricMentor. At first he appears to be a phony and a grumpy old man, seemingly unwilling to help Sabrina and instead trying to sell her items from his shop; however, at the end he turns out to be really wise, and gives Sabrina an important piece of advice. It is likely, though not outright stated, that his "phony/grumpy old man" persona was deliberate pretense.
** Oh, and he's also [[BarefootSage perpetually barefoot]].
* The Oracle of Delphius from ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground'' fills this trope. He comes complete with koan-slinging and a lampshade.
-->'''Sonic''': Don't you ever just give a straight answer?
-->'''Oracle''': What do you think?

* Mephisto from ''Manga/BlueExorcist'', who wants to make Rin strong enough to defeat Satan and (supposedly) bring peace to both humans and demons. He does this by repeatedly putting Rin in difficult, life-threatening situations--even sending the demon prince Amaimon to try and kill him.

* Clow Reed [[spoiler:mostly by way of Eriol Hiiragizawa]] in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura''. He has no issues leading Sakura and his own creations to believe that a danger is very real, only to reveal after they overcome it that there never was any risk. In particular, he would secretly construct problems for Sakura to force her to evolve her cards into Sakura Cards.
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Izumi Curtis' idea of training is abandoning the Elrics on an island for a month and unleashing a monster (although it is later revealed that the "monster" was a shop assistant) on their tails. All for them to find the meaning of the philosophy behind alchemy.

* Jiraiya from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' adopts the "thrown in at the deep end" method of training. Literally. Unsatisfied with the hero's progress at accessing his power, he throws him into a ''chasm''.
%%* Franz Stresemann to Chiaki in ''Manga/NodameCantabile''.
* ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}''. Toutousai has played this role for both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, with much reluctance and by unpredictably combining this trope with ObfuscatingInsanity, LetsGetDangerous and OlderAndWiser. It's the only way he can get the two HairTriggerTemper sons of his late master to achieve the CharacterDevelopment their father desperately wanted them to undergo without getting himself killed in the process. The anime once toyed with this in a filler episode that was PlayedForLaughs, by having Inuyasha think Toutousai was giving him WaxOnWaxOff style training when really Toutousai just wanted someone to do all the heavy lifting to make him a hot outdoor bath.
* It has been argued that [[SinkOrSwimMentor Genma Saotome]] and [[FairWeatherMentor Happosai]] from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' are this sort of mentor - putting Ranma through humiliation and hell for the express purpose of teaching him to be a superior martial artist. Genma steals Ranma's food? Defense training. Happosai tries to make Ranma wear lingerie? Teaching spiritual detachment. Or it could be that they're both dicks, which is the general view of the other characters.
** Cologne has some of this as well, but her TrainingFromHell is always well-intentioned, and her students are very quick to catch on that both the training and the objective are equally useful. Then again, she sometimes pokes fun at the youngsters for the hell of it. Or because her cafe is overstocked with rancid noodles and can't think of any other way to get rid of them.
* [[BoisterousBruiser Jack Rakan]] of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' is like this. His training techniques include things like "Make a really ugly face and do 100 punches!" and "Punch me as hard as you can!". Yet, Negi still manages to [[spoiler: learn BlackMagic]] under his guidance.
** It should also be noted that Rakan trains ''himself'' like this, too. After demonstrating said [[spoiler: BlackMagic]], he reveals he had ''never actually tried it before'', instead just being sure it'd work, and that he [[spoiler: wouldn't be killed as a result of using it]].
* ''Manga/InitialD'' has Bunta Fujiwara, who secretly trains his son Takumi's road racing skill through years of tofu delivery runs on Mount Akina. And these aren't just any tofu delivery runs; Takumi is also given a cup of water to put in his car's cup holder, and must complete his run without spilling a drop of water. And then in ''Initial D Second Stage'', [[spoiler:Bunta invests in a new engine for the Trueno, but deliberately waits for the Trueno's original engine to break down in the middle of a race so that Takumi would be more accepting of the swap.]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Some might say Luffy's grandfather is one as well considering his training techniques to make Luffy a great marine, however, since his reasoning was made clear and it backfired big time it could just be TrainingFromHell.
* The masters of Ryouzanpakou do this to [[Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple Kenichi]] all the time. Their favorite technique is to focus training on one main task that is completely impossible, so that Kenichi will be so focused on that failure that he doesn't notice any of the progress he's made.

%%* Takamura, towards Ippo in ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo''.
* Possibly, [[spoiler:Setsuka Sakurazuka]] towards [[spoiler: her son Seishirou]] in ''Manga/{{X 1999}}''
* [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Cross Marian]] of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' really does love Allen. Hoshino even says Cross cares for him like his own child. But, Cross roughs him up alot, because he likes Allen's dark side, as Hoshino stated. And that's probably because that side is closer to real Allen, as opposed to the repressed boy he became after Mana's death. Allen has a few traumatic memories from his years with Cross. Mainly the debts. But it's played for laughs.
* One very twisted example is the relationshp between Askeladd and Thorfinn in ''Manga/VinlandSaga''. Askeladd sees himself is this towards Thorfinn, but Thorfinn hates Askeladd with a burning passion, and would sooner die then admit he had any such relationship with the man.
* Hattori in ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', long after he's no longer actually Ashirogi Muto's editor.
* In ''Manga/NagasareteAirantou'', main protagonist Ikuto has a StealthMentor (''literally'', even; Ikuto had ''no idea who he was'', at first) in the West Leader, one of the Four Leaders that govern the island, and arguably the strongest of said four. When the West Leader finally reveals his identity to Ikuto, he quickly swerves into this type.
%%* Xerxes Break in ''Manga/PandoraHearts''.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' a very, ''very'' generous [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation interpretation]] of Izaya's character places him as one of these. His favorite hobby is messing with people's heads, manipulating them into going through emotionally devastating circumstances, seemingly ForTheLulz. However, the ordeals Izaya puts people through often force them to confront some ugly truths about themselves, as Izaya [[BreakingSpeech is happy to point out]]. They may not be ''happier'', but Izaya's victims are often wiser for having been used by him.
* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
** Master Korin . Those who climb his tower are told that the Sacred Water will grant super strength to anyone who drinks it. He steals the water and plays keep away until the person is able to grab it. They're then told that the water is just ordinary water and them ''getting'' the water was what made them stronger.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Vegeta plays this role towards Cabba [[spoiler:during their fight in the inter-universe tournament]]. Cabba begs Vegeta to teach him how to go Super Saiyan. Vegeta puts on his old JerkAss self and says he'll kill Cabba ''and'' destroy his planet just for insulting the Saiyan race by begging. This pushes Cabba to his RageBreakingPoint and he goes Super Saiyan... just as Vegeta intended.
* In ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'', [[ActionGirl Hilmuka]] loves teasing, testing and tricking [[TheHero Jordy]] so he learns to fight and discovers their enemy's true nature and capabilities.

* In the first arc of ''Anime/YuriOnIce'', Viktor is this to both [[ShrinkingViolet Yuri]] and [[BrattyHalfPint Yurio]], assigning them skating themes that are totally opposed to their personalities and putting them through a bunch of TrainingFromHell.

** ''Anime/ZoidsWild'' has Master Bug, an {{Expy}} of Master Roshi with hints of Korin. He's so convincing at playing dumb that when he release the truth it genuinely surprises everyone. [[spoiler:Particularly that he knows where Ancient Treasure Z is and has a good idea about what it really is.]]

* Mr. Miyagi from ''Film/TheKarateKid'', as a particularly iconic example. He seems to only give Daniel-San random philosophy bites and menial housekeeping tasks... until he discovers the latter [[WaxOnWaxOff give him the muscle memory for actual karate moves]].
** In ''Series/CobraKai,'' Daniel is definitely showing signs of being one himself, toward Robby. When his wife sees Daniel's amusement at Robby getting frustrated with the WaxOnWaxOff training, she suggests Daniel is enjoying being on the other side of the dynamic a little too much.

* [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda]]. Weird sayings [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker in weird syntax he speaks]], can be deemed as berating and condescending, and yet has trained Jedi for centuries. [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS5E6TheGathering One episode of The Clone Wars]] shows it in full force, as he forces a SecretTestOfCharacter onto Jedi younglings.

* In ''Film/TheGrifters'', Roy Dillon (John Cusack) finds a ConMan and asks to be taught how to be a grifter. The man agrees and gives him some advice. At the end of their conversation the man asks Dillon for $10. After Dillon gives it to him, the man says "Come around tomorrow, I'll take you again."
* "The Old Man", of ''Film/TheGoldenChild'', played by none other than Victor Wong, who would later go on to play Egg Chen in ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina''. His first appearance to Eddie Murphy's Chandler Jarrell has him pretending to be a Tibetan street vendor selling junk jewelry, and scamming Jarrell out of money as a SecretTestOfCharacter.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory'', where the team's mentor, Patches O'Houlihan, [[TrainingFromHell goes so far as to throw wrenches at the players]], declaring that "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball".
** "If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball!"
* Buddy in ''Film/AngerManagement''. Unorthodox, grating, and seemingly deceptive - [[GirlfriendScheming all of it on purpose]].
* Lionel Logue in ''Film/TheKingsSpeech''. He annoys Albert to no end, but all this helps the future king overcome his stutter.
%%* ''Film/MaryPoppins''
* Merlin from ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService''. Most of the tests he puts the candidates through are actually testing for something other than what it seems on the surface, or at least have some twist to them that he doesn’t bother to explain. Most notable is the skydiving incident in which he allows all of the candidates to jump from the plane, before suggesting that they need to know what to do when operating under unforeseen circumstances... like when one of them ''doesn’t have a parachute''. [[spoiler:They all have parachutes]].

* Deconstructed with the Headmaster in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' fanfic ''Fanfic/HeWhoFightsMonsters''. His "teaching style"[[labelnote:*]]Read: Leave Tsukune completely alone and hope he'll make friends with monsters to bridge the divide between humans and monsters[[/labelnote]] created the monster known as [[TheDreaded Tsukune]], much to his fear and horror.

* Master Korin from ''Manga/DragonBall''. Those who climb his tower are told that the Sacred Water will grant super strength to anyone who drinks it. He steals the water and plays keep away until the person is able to grab it. They're then told that the water is just ordinary water and them ''getting'' the water was what made them stronger.