Mentor Occupational Hazard
We’ve seen it in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. The wise mentor sacrifices himself to allow the hero to grow to their full potential. While this creates drama and gives the hero a reason to fight, there are plenty of other ways to do both of those. But without that sacrifice, the question comes up about the mentor handling the forces of evil himself. If not that, then the hero hides behind the mentor, falling back on him when he can’t do it himself. But is it necessary?
As I often do, I’ll look at Animorphs, specifically for the reason of the heroes handling the problem when there’s a more capable entity available. Specifically, the Ellimist, the all-powerful being that helps them out with his patented brand of non-interfering interference. Near the end of the series, his battle with the being Crayak is explained, and with that, the rules of their “game”. Instead of fighting each other directly, as they reasoned they’d only destroy and remake the universe over and over again, they use pieces, such as the Animorphs themselves. This provides a way for the heroes to handle the Yeerks (who are one of Crayak’s pieces) despite the fact that the Ellimist is more capable (being all-powerful and all).
Instead of killing the mentor, he can be removed from the story for other reasons. It could be that he recognizes the hero’s need to go it alone, finding his own way. In A Wizard of Earthsea, Ged returns to his teacher, Ogion, while trying to escape the shadow he unleashed onto the world. Fearing for his teacher’s safety, he leaves, and Ogion lets him go, recognizing that only Ged can face the evil he let loose on the world. There was no need to kill Ogion to get him out of the way.
The show RWBY takes another approach. The main characters are all being taught to fight monsters, as monsters plague their world. When the controlling force behind those monsters goes on the offensive, the main characters have to leave their homes to fight back. Their teachers show up to help them from time to time, but the heroes all have to fight, and that’s what the teachers are teaching them to do. The heroes have to grow and learn because they know they have to go into battle.
It’s easy to simply kill off the mentor when preparing a hero, but it’s done so often that it’s predictable. There are other approaches to doing it, and I’d recommend finding a different one. It’s easy to look at one of the big names in science fiction or fantasy and want to do it their way, but the problem with that is that everyone else already has. When making a story, it should be yours, so do it your way, and trust yourself.
© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA