Warrior Poet / Live-Action TV

• Tyr Anasazi in Andromeda. Often seen reading Ayn Rand while on bridge duty. The whole of Nietzschean society was meant to be this by their progenitor, but even the Nietzcheans themselves admit this was generally a failure. Gaheris Rhade drops the trope name when explaining to Tyr what the Nietzscheans should have been but have failed to become.
• Babylon 5:
  • G'Kar, post-season three epiphany. While he has a difficult time teaching his people, he is highly respected and his book becomes one of their holy books, painstakingly reproduced by hand (complete with a certain circular mark on page 83). Even before his Character Development (or rather, early in it), G'Kar was shown to be a devout religious leader amongst his people on the station.
  • In addition to being a ruthless and ambitious diplomat and courtier, Londo Mollari is a skilled pilot and swordsman, earning the fighting name "Paso Leati", or "Fights Like A Madman", while also being a lover of opera, not entirely unlike G'Kar.^note Unlike G'Kar, Londo is actually shown to be a good singer, while G'Kar's singing to pass the time in jail lead to a rumor that Station Security was torturing him.
  • Delenn is more a priestess who Minored in Ass-Kicking than a warrior who minored in poetry.
  • Marcus Cole, who could beat the unholy hell out of people with a staff, as well as recite Shakespeare and sing Gilbert and Sullivan, and is shown to be familiar with Arthurian legend.
  • Sinclair tops all of them. In addition to quoting Alfred, Lord Tennyson, he's Valen, the prophet of the Minbari religion.
  • Ta'Lon, G'Kar's replacement as Narn ambassador. G'Kar explains that he chose Ta'Lon because they are both warrior poets, only coming at it from opposite directions. He's capable of kicking major ass (and wields the Narn equivalent of a katana), but also has a rather philosophical bent, and is G'kar's intellectual equal, at least. When G'Kar gives Ta'Lon a Mathematician's Answer in one episode, Ta'Lon not only calls him on it but does so in an eloquent manner.
    Ta'Lon: A stirring reply, Citizen G'Kar. Unfortunately, while all answers are replies, not all replies are answers. You did not answer my question.
• Subverted in Blackadder Goes Forth, with Private Baldrick's poem "The German Guns", in which he just repeats the word "boom", mimicking said guns.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Spike was a poet before he became a vampire, and found himself with the nickname "William the Bloody" because his poetry was so bloody awful. He spends most of the series as either a big tough bad guy or trying to deny his Heel–Face Turn. In the final episode of Angel, however, he spends his last evening before the Final Battle drinking and talking big — acting as if he's trying to start a bar-brawl — but it's all to work up his courage to get up and read his poetry to the audience at the bar.
  • Don't forget that Angel's also an accomplished sketch artist. No one ever mentions it, really, but he draws exceptional portraits quite often.
  • Buffy would like to study poetry but doesn't have the time. Her lecturer jokingly suggested she try short poems instead.
  • Angel gives Buffy a copy of Sonnets from the Portuguese for her eighteenth birthday. The moment highlights their May–December Romance, as Pop-Cultured Badass Buffy has trouble appreciating the gift.
• For a while, "Warrior-Poet" took pride of place as the main word used to describe Stephen Colbert in the opening credits for The Colbert Report. (Others include "Megamerican" and "Grippy".) Other than that, he has very little to do with this trope.
• Doctor Who:
  • Although the Daleks are supposed to have little emotion, they apparently enjoy poetry. Their precursor race, the Dals/Kaleds was supposed to be one of poets, philosophers, and scientists (as opposed to the Thals, a warrior race).
    • "Align to advance! Advance to attack! Attack to destroy! Destroy to rejoice!"
    • Their most celebrated and mentioned work on that subject is The Lament of the Non-Operational, which runs to 128 stanzas.
    • One rather odd audio drama involves them actually teaming up with the Doctor to help him save William Shakespeare, whose poetry they find beautiful.
  • The Third Doctor had strong elements of this due to Buddhist writers and script editors, such as Barry Letts and Robert Sloman, who imbued him with elements of their philosophy.
• In Downton Abbey, Sir Anthony Strallan describes Kaiser Wilhelm II^Note  the man responsible for WWI as this. Edith adds that he may be a poet, but "a poet in need of an army."
• D'Argo from Farscape: quite apart from the time where he revealed that the "weapon" he'd been building for the last few episodes was actually a musical instrument, but his ultimate goal was to settle down, grow a few vineyards and make wine for the rest of his life. It's his life-long dream.
• Firefly:
  • In "War Stories", Shepherd Book, who may be something of a warrior poet himself, mentions the writings of Shan Yu.
    Simon: Shan Yu, the psychotic dictator?
    Book: Fancied himself quite the warrior poet. Wrote volumes on war, torture, the limits of human endurance. He said, "Live with a man forty years; share his house, his meals, speak on every subject. Then tie him up, and hold him over the volcano's edge. And on that day, you will finally meet the man."
    Simon: What if you don't live near a volcano?
    Book: I suspect he was being poetical.
    Simon: Sadistic crap legitimized by florid prose. Tell me you're not a fan.
  • Sadistic gangster Adelei Niska turns out to be a big fan of Shan Yu, needless to say.
• Game of Thrones: Some of the things Daario Naharis says give off this vibe, such as "I fight for beauty." and "The gods gave men two gifts to entertain ourselves before we die. The thrill of fucking a woman who wants to be fucked, and the thrill of killing a man who wants to kill you." Michiel Huisman's performance gives off this vibe more than the swaggering bad boy interpretation of Ed Skrein.
• Kamen Rider Revice: Hideo Akaishi is very articulative with proverbs, and in episode 33, shows off the abilities bestowed to him by Giff while quoting Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
• The Cold Sniper in The Kill Point is a subversion. He seems like quite the philosopher at first, but as the series goes on, it becomes clear that he's just babbling about whatever pops into his head.
• Kwai-Chang Caine, of Kung Fu (1972), and his Identical Grandson in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.
• Lexx:
  • The Brunnen-G are described as "a race of romantic warriors" or "romantic dreamers", who led the rest of humanity to victory against a civilization of planet-sized insects — all while sporting beehive hairdos and dazzlingly intricate rainbow-colored bodysuits. (Curiously, the only Brunnen-G poet we meet, Poet Man, is a non-conformist who wears drab, colorless clothes and a plain hairstyle.)
  • And one of the Divine Shadow brains was a Genocidal Tyrant Poet:
    His Shadow: As a result of the fall the evil section of my brain was destroyed. Only my poet half remains. I am at peace. Fair lady, would you care to hear a sonnet?
• Jax from Sons of Anarchy writes down his thoughts in a diary. Like his Father.
• Hawk from Spenser For Hire and A Man Called Hawk certainly qualifies. He plays the Mbila, plays an excellent game of chess, and often waxes philosophical with his mentor, all while fighting crime, Shaft style. Also worthy of mention is he's played by Capt. Sisko himself, Avery Brooks.
• Stargate-verse:
  • Stargate SG-1 has two perfect examples in Teal'c and Bra'tac, two highly honored and wise leaders and warriors among their race, the Jaffa. They started the rebellion by their people against those who enslaved them, and are widely honored as among the wisest, if not the wisest, of the Jaffa. Despite their age, they are stronger warriors than most other Jaffa. Still, they are full of wisdom and are incredibly loyal and caring. They fight with both action and words, sometimes even at the same time, which is absolutely awesome. They have never, ever, ever renounced their beliefs, even when faced with death. In this situation, their only response is, "I die free."
  • Stargate Atlantis: According to a deleted scene, Ronon Dex used to write poetry in his youth (though it may have been a way of impressing the ladies).
• Star Trek:
  • Klingons love their opera (tends to be violent) and would love to claim Shakespeare as one of their own. Standard Klingon mating rituals apparently involve the male reading love poetry... while ducking the roaring, clawing female's hurled objects.
  • Starfleet officers are like this too in a less flamboyant manner. Jean-Luc Picard in particular exemplifies this trope. "[...]the heart of an explorer and the soul of a poet." He's also in command of his civilization's single most technologically advanced and powerful vessel. While battle for him is a last resort, he is still an imposing tactical and moral presence (particularly his alternate universe self, who personally mans the tactical station when a certain officer is killed). "If the cause is just and honorable, they are prepared to give their lives. Are you prepared to die today, Tomalak?"
  • For the matter of that, even Quark was this in "looking for Par'mach in all the wrong places" — with Worf's help.
  • One episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has two bridge officers reciting "Charge of the Light Brigade" as they're approaching a battle in which the Federation fleet is drastically outnumbered.
• Coach (Benjamin Wade) from Survivor: Tocantins (season 18), Heroes vs. Villains (20) and South Pacific (23) may be a satire of this trope. He calls himself "The Warrior" as his moniker and quotes writers like Marcus Aurelius, Shakespeare and Nietzsche. He often misquotes historical writers as well. Once he said, "Some of the greatest inspiration is born of desperation." and attributed that to Marcus Aurelius when in fact, it was instead a quote by the entrepreneur Comer Cottrell.
• Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in The Tudors, was not only a capable warrior but also an accomplished poet. As he's being led to be executed, he quotes one of his poems in his mind with a serene look on his face.
• Daryl from The Walking Dead brings a Cherokee rose to a woman mourning the loss of her daughter and tells her how it got its name.