Every since I saw the original Star Wars, I’ve been intrigued by the “mysterious mentor” character device. I haven’t noticed it as much in books as I have in movies (Karate Kid; Robin Hood; Batman; Star Trek; The Matrix; Field of Dreams; etc). It typically is someone the “hero” looks up to and respects, but has mysterious unfamiliar experiences and beliefs. It is different from a typical mentor or sidekick in that it is someone who is from a different culture (or even species). Because the movies I’ve seen are usually written by white americans, the “mentor” is often black (I hesitate to say African American…since the character is not necessarily American). I’ve tried tracing this literary device back, but haven’t gotten too far.
I think Jim in Huck Finn is about as far back as I’ve gotten, but I haven’t read Uncle Tom’s Cabin so I don’t know what that is about.
so the General Questions are:
Where did this literary device originate (Homer, Shakespeare, the Bible??)
Has there been any scholarly work done on this type of character?
What are some further examples from origination to present? (I’ve got a big gap between Mark Twain and Gene Roddenberry)
Oh, and by the way, if any of you Sociology or Literature type academics want to write a paper on this … I’d be happy to co-author it
I’ve heard the mentor referred to as the “MAAF” (Magical African American Friend). To use your examples, this would be James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams and Will Smith in Bagger Vance, Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix, etc. I’m not sure about the origin, I just thought I’d add some concrete examples of what you are talking about.
Merlin in The Once and Future King seems to fit the bill. And also fills this gap, since it was published in 1942, IIRC. Possibly Merlin in other Aurthurian stories, but I haven’t read them.
Gandalf is another, I would say, and also fills this gap.
As usual with our good ideas, somebody beat you to it by 60 years. Get ahold of a copy of “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Basically Campbell is the factual answer to all your questions.
In that book Campbell outlines what he considers to be the universal epic myth. Such myths appear time and again in every culture and every language throughout recorded history and presumably well into prehistory. The exact details of the myths vary, but Campbell makes a very strong case that there are certain events and archetypal characters that turn up time and again in every enduring epic. Probably the single most universal archetype (aside form the hero himself) is the mentor, who is invariably mystical in some way.
The fact that this is such a ubiquitous archetype in epics probably provides the only factual answer to your question of where it originated: there is no original, it’s a deep seated human psychological expression, and it goes back to the beginning of our species.
As for the first written example of a mystical mentor, you could easily include John the Baptist as the mentor of Jesus, or Elisha as the mentor of Elijah, or even Aaron as the mentor of Moses within Judaeo-Christian mythos. But as Campbell points out, those are all predated by the Eabani in the Gilgamesh epic. That’s the oldest example he could find IIRC, and it dates in written from about 5000 years ago. You’re going to be hard pressed to beat that since AFAIK it is the eraliest written story in existence.
Between Twain and Rodendberry there are numerous examples. Some of the more obvious ones are Gandalf, Preacher from “The Grapes of Wrath”, Queequeg or Mapple from “Moby Dick”, van Helsign from “Dracula” the rabbit that kept having visons in"Watership Down" and so forth. Generally speaking if you find a heroic epic (as opposed to a basic adventure, love story or thriller) you will usually find some sort of mystic that acts as guide and mentor to the hero and changes the way he sees the world.
The level of actual ‘magical’ power displayed varies with the tone of the story of course, so Gandalf or Obi Wan are notably more magical then the black guy in “The Shining”, who is himself more magical than a rabbit, and Preacher is almost mundane in his magical ability. Yet all are, as you observe, respected people with extraordinary beliefs due to their religious outlook.
I would guess that as a literary device in film it is easier to attribute a lot of experience gathering into one person rather than spreading it out over several characters. I think it is also more attractive to have them be ‘magical’ than super-heros.
The Monomyth is familiar to me, but I’m wondering if any ‘scholarly’ or analytical work has been done discussing the Magical Negro (the most common term as far as I know - the pejorative term obviously used to reflect the shallow depiction of black ‘mentor’ types in movies) in American film. How long has the Magical Negro been around? Has there been any serious discussion of where this cliché of the mystical black guy comes from?
Guessing, but being a writer of sorts I can say for me that if the mentor was of the same status (In the context of the story) there would be a plot hole to be covered up. Or to put it another way, why not instead write about the mentor if s/he is of the same race/species/social order? In the narrow genre of American film, it seems the mentor must be of a lower caste.
I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if it could be traced back to some of the earliest stories that human beings have ever told each other. Partly because in the very early verbal cultures, stories would often be told by the old, relatively wise men or women of the tribe, (something that they don’t have to be so strong to do, and a role where their greater experience will come in handy.) Probably some of them at least are getting a little ‘weird’ or mysterious - your shamans or medicine men, who know different things than the regular hunters and gatherers.
It would be quite natural for storytellers to introduce characters who correspond to themselves in the stories… people who guide the younger hero, tell them what’s going on. That would lead to the people who hear the story giving mysterious mentors a little more respect.
Also, in just about any story, there’s a plot requirement for some exposition… some character who can explain what’s going on.
Others have answered your question, so let me recommend Prince Ombra by Roderick Macleish.
The tale recounts the 1001st “hero of the borrowed heart.” It is a great retelling of the hero myth and encapsulates the mysterious mentor. It also binds together many of the earlier hero myths. A fun book all in all.
I don’t think that Fiver counts, here. Although he is a sort of guiding force, and does seem “magical” (insofar as a rabbit can be) and “other-ly”, he’s also one of the youngest of the rabbits, and I think that age (older than the protagonist, at least) is implicit in being “mentor”.
He’s probably the closest they can get to a mentor figure. Hazel’s the leader, Bigwig’s the rash, impetuous one, Holly’s the second-in-command, Pippin’s the shy, frightened one, Blackberry’s the intelligent, calculating one, Bluebell’s the funny one, and so on, and so on. There really isn’t any mentor figure in Watership Down.
I think the OP wants to explore specifically the “Magical Negro” stereoarchetype (hehe, I coined a new word), not just the mentor-figure archetype. Any answers on that?
Yes, well thanks to all the info so far. I forgot totally about Merlin.
I do want to make the distinction between a “normal” mentor and a “magical” one. I don’t know so much about the older ones, like John the Baptist or others; but they strike me as more of a “normal” mentor…I’m not so intrigued by them.
