Dealing with Dumbledore

[JBryden88]

The closest thing to having a mentor in my story...
The High King in relation to the main hero. Except he's not a mentor, they do but heads, and by the end of it, words are spoken that cannot be taken back

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

What a nice idea. I think I would very much like that, especially if its written in a Richard Morgan-esque style where he is always saying "I'm too old for this shit"... and genuinely hates his young spritely mentor.

That's what we call "pulling a murtaugh"

 

[James Chandler]

So, I'm amused there is a discussion about how to come up with good ideas. This thread is a prime example of how to come up with ideas. Start SOMEWHERE and take it SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Analyzing this topic, reading the comments, and considering the matter in relation to my own WIP, actually lead me to an epiphany about myself. I won't share the details, too personal, but it's pretty interesting. Self-awareness is a writer's greatest tool; so, how does your writing reflect who you are? But, the other thing it made me consider is, what about a bad mentor? I don't mean evil, just not good at being a mentor. He could be a terrible teacher, but still a mentor to the MC. Or he could be great at teaching one thing or a couple of things, but terrible at teaching others. This could be a great source of dramatic conflict, but be careful of making it too contrived.

 

[InsanityStrickenWriter]

My story's MC mentor hasn't actually been written in yet, but I plan for him to be a fat, greying drunk. I'm sure he'll be a great mentor though...

 

[Aegrus]

No offense taken, Mirror. This is a discussion board, so differing opinions are welcome and respected... and sometimes hotly debated



No argument here... but my wife isn't Obi-wan (and if she WAS, I'm not sure I'd have married her). My best friend isn't Merlin (but don;t tell HIM that). We learn from every experience we participate in and from every person we come in contact with. That doesn't necessarily qualify them as a mentor, does it?

I may have misinterpreted your initial post, but it sounded like your were working towards the "classic" mentor character, a master of the craft the character wishes to learn who teaches and guides the character in the ways of that craft. I would hazard a guess that, while many of us have had people that influenced our lives and taught us much, very FEW of us have actually had a mentor for any significant length of time.

As for contemporary fiction that has no mentors, what about Patrick Rothfuss's "Name of the Wind"? Guy Gavrielle Kay's brilliant "Lions of al-Rassan" followed two characters who were already masters. Fritz Lieber's Fafred and Grey Mouser series was the same. While the mentor character is certainly a standard of the genre, I'd argue that - for every book that utilizes it - there is one that does not.

I agree with you completely. There is no need for a mentor to be of the old, "classic" type. There may not be a need for a mentor roll in the first place, depending on what your story is. I feel that mentors (and any characters with many answers, for that matter) all too often become a respected way to info-dump so the protagonist doesn't have to figure out the "boring stuff" on his own, but can rather jump right to the action. (You know it's true. Whether it's Bromi-Wan, oops, I mean Obi-Brom, oh. . . Brom or Obi-Wan, many mentors are used to give a training montage and fling the protagonist more quickly into action.)

But I contest this traditional view by proposing that, if written right, the characters journey of self realization can be integral to the story, and interesting, even if getting to the action takes longer. When I write, I typically try to surround the protagonist by supporting dynamic characters with unique skills, and they tend to act as mentors to each other. All the characters learn from each other as the book goes on, and the protagonist's gradual learning combines with the main story arc to (hopefully- I'm not sure if I ever pull it off) give the entire story more meaning.