Basic Trope: Mentors have a tendency to die to spur on The Hero's Character Development.
- Straight:
- Wilhelm has taken fledgling hero Bob under his wing and been teaching him the arts of swordfighting and heroism. Unfortunately, they are attacked by the Black Knight Butcher, and Wilhelm is slain protecting Bob. His death drives Bob to fight the Black Knight's forces and ultimately save the world.
- Zaffire took on Yvonne as a magical apprentice; when the Necromancer attacks, Zaffire orders Yvonne to flee with the news, declares You Shall Not Pass! to buy her time, and dies.
- Exaggerated:
- After losing Wilhelm, Bob gathers several allies. As it turns out, all of them lost their mentors to the Black Knight.
- Wilhelm and four other people all play mentor roles to Bob at some point in the story, and they all end up dead.
- Downplayed:
- After a fight with the Black Knight, Wilhelm decided to take on a pupil to pass his skills onto before an injury he had gotten takes his life. On the night of his death, Bob swears to use the skills he had gained to prevent any more deaths.
- Wilhelm isn't dead, he's just being held captive by the Black Knight.
- Justified:
- The Black Knight forces Wilhelm to sacrifice himself to allow Bob to defeat the Black Knight in the long run.
- The story takes place over such a long time period that anyone who was old enough to be the hero's mentor at the beginning is dead by the end because Life Will Kill You.
- The Mentor either turned out to be Evil All Along or went through a Face–Heel Turn and couldn’t be redeemed, so the hero was forced to kill them to stop their evil plan.
- Wilhem is Secretly Dying from the outset, and wants to pass on his knowledge and skills before expiring.
- The Black Knight knows that the more experienced Wilhem is the bigger threat and kills him first, but doesn't know that Bob is becoming more powerful.
- Inverted:
- Dead Sidekick. Wilhelm loses Bob to the Black Knight and vows revenge.
- Wilhelm is traumatized by the death of his student Bob.
- Subverted:
- Wilhelm duels the Black Knight in what looks to be his heroic last stand... and wins, returning to Bob in triumph.
- Wilhelm duels the Black Knight and loses...but is saved at the last second by a desperate Bob who promptly gets them both out as fast as possible.
- Wilhelm duels the Black Knight and loses...but is saved at the last second by a desperate Bob and the Black Knight, impressed and by his own personal code, chooses to let them live.
- Double Subverted:
- Wilhelm defeats the Black Knight, turns to Bob, smiles... and the Black Knight runs him through from behind.
- Wilhelm duels the Black Knight and loses...but is saved at the last second by a desperate Bob who promptly gets them both out as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the wounds Wilhelm suffered are fatal and he expires in Bob's arms, causing him to vow revenge.
- Parodied:
- Wilhelm finds that his Big Book of Hero Mentoring instructs him to die at some point.
- Everyone thinks that Wilhelm is going to die just because he's mentoring...including Wilhelm.
- Exaggerating a parody, the mere act of mentoring someone instantly marks a slow acting death for the mentor.
- Wilhelm is actively seeking a tragic death by swordfight, but the only people who'd bother fighting him are wimps or Harmless Villains at best.
- Zig Zagged:
- Wilhelm fights the Black Knight and wins, only to die shortly after from exertion. However, he later comes Back from the Dead... only to be killed off again by Bob's latest nemesis.
- Zaffire goes to hold off the Necromancer, and is thrown into the Land of Shadows rather than killed; Yvonne goes to rescue her and succeeds; but the Land of Shadows drained her powers, making her helpless with magic; but she learned other useful skills in mundane fighting and helps with the final battle by holding off the human Mooks while wizards take on the Necromancer and his ghosts.
- Averted: Wilhelm sends Bob out to stop the Black Knight, since he's getting too old for the heroing business. He does not get killed off.
- Wilhelm and Bob work together through the entire story, and take down the Black Knight and Big Bad as a team. Both survive.
- Enforced: The execs fear that Wilhelm is overshadowing their Idiot Hero, so they have him killed off.
- Alternately, the writers notice Wilhelm has nothing left to do in the plot, and have him killed off for shock value.
- Lampshaded: Wilhelm's last words to Bob express that he never had much of a chance anyway.
- Invoked:
- The Black Knight deliberately seeks out experienced warriors who have just taken on trainees, in order to scar those rookies for life and either intimidate them into giving up or provoke them into seeking him out, providing a potential challenge in the future.
- Alternatively, Wilhelm lets himself die at the Black Knight's blade with the intention of motivating Bob to fight the Black Knight's forces.
- Exploited: The Dark Wizard convinces Wilhelm to take a student in the hope the it will cause his death.
- Defied:
- "You know what, this Black Knight guy's bad news, and I ain't getting myself killed just 'cuz you happened to piss him off somehow. I'm moving to Aruba until this whole thing blows over. Good luck!"
- Bob knows that Wilhelm will die, but he wants him to die old, and promptly saves Wilhelm from certain death.
- Wilhelm loves subversive stories, so he specifically reappears to defy story conventions, since that would make an awesome story anyway.
- Discussed: Wilhelm explains to Bob that while he may be the most powerful man Bob has known, he's not invincible, and it's possible that he may lose his life to the next foe they encounter. This is why he's training Bob, to make sure the lad is prepared enough to survive without him and take on his mantle.
- Conversed:
- "Look, Bob's wise old mentor is about to fight the Black Knight. Betcha he bites it."
- "I find it quite peculiar that the audience cries foul when Bob's Love Interest is killed off to move the plot forward, but they don't complain when Bob's mentor is killed off for the same purpose." "You tell me."
- Deconstructed:
- Losing Wilhelm doesn't make Bob stronger — if anything, it weakens his resolve, giving him a crippling fear of the Black Knight Butcher. After all, Wilhelm was the strongest man he knew; if he lost to the Butcher, what chance does Bob have?
- Due to the overwhelming mortality rate of heroic mentors, nobody will mentor anyone anymore, leading to an age of darkness since nobody is capable of standing up to evil.
- Killing Wilhem was a terrible mistake on the Black Knight's part. Not because of Bob as he is still a half-trained hero and would have to wait until the Black Knight became old himself while Bob is at his peak. But because he has trained over his years many heroes, Monster Hunters, Warrior Princes and other warriors. They are all outraged by the Black Knight and hunt him down.
- Bob still had several lessons to go before graduation, so Wilhelm's death leaves him Incompletely Trained.
- Reconstructed: After seeing the Black Knight slay his mentor, Bob is gripped by fear, but gradually works through his terror and becomes a stronger person, eventually capable of facing the Black Knight and avenging his master.
- Played For Laughs: The Black Knight knocks Wilhelm down. Cue Big "NO!" from Bob and his tearfully swearing revenge, despite Wilhelm's protests that he's perfectly fine and just needs a helping hand up... then Bob runs off, leaving Wilhelm laying there. "Hello...?"
- Played For Drama: Wilhelm took the orphaned Bob in and has become a surrogate father figure for the young man, raising him to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, the Black Knight has heard of Wilhelm's reputation and decides to kill him just to "prove who's stronger". Bob tries to step in, but is thrown aside and watches helplessly as Wilhelm is struck down.
You want to get back to the Mentor Occupational Hazard page? You can figure it out yourself. I'm no martyr.
