Exchange of Realities

If friends are the family you can choose, mentors are the parents you have an option on.

As a result, the mentor-student relationship is quite possibly the most common one used in fantasy. It makes sense—after all, all these bright-eyed hero-types have to learn their skills from somewhere, right? So the bumbling recruits have their gruff captains, and the little wizards their masters, and the martial artists their sifus.

In terms of developing a close relationship, the most optimal mentor-student connection is one of choice. Either the mentor picked the student from the many students she could have chosen, or the student came to the mentor and requested teaching. (A note: while this can have been the mentor waiting for that One Special, Destined Student, The One Who Is Worthy…. don’t. Don’t. DON’T. That way lies Suedom.) Usually, these sorts of relationships will create a closeness, respect, and general number of good feelings between mentor and student.

Usually, but not always. Perhaps the mentor’s capabilities in the field been highly exaggerated. Or the teaching style just doesn’t work with the way the student learns. Maybe the student’s just plain incompetent, or not near as interested in the field as he thought he was. These sorts of issues provide an interesting source of conflict.

Then there’s the involuntary mentor-student relationship. The student’s family might have pulled strings with a higher-up or otherwise coerced the mentor—or the student may have been dished off on her by another teacher. Or perhaps the mentor insisted the student be assigned to her regardless of his feelings on the matter. These sorts of situations set the scene perfectly for an adversarial relationship.

But, again, adversity isn’t always what you get. Student or mentor may acquire respect for the other. Or the student could find that this really was what he wanted to study (but this is a bit more difficult to get across without sounding forced, so be careful.) If neither was particularly interested in the idea of this one teaching that one, they might even form an alliance of sorts to rectify the situation or otherwise subvert the circumstances.

In either case, certain emotions are particularly likely to come into play. From the student to the mentor, admiration—possibly even verging on hero-worship—is likely. Even if the relationship is adversarial, after all, the mentor’s probably at least decent in some area. Resentment for the mentor is also possible, for being pushed “too hard”, or held back when he wanted to try something beyond his capabilities. The mentor might end up serving as a surrogate parent or older sibling, or someone to talk to when having parent issues (if she isn’t a parent or older sib already). Or she could just be viewed as a guardian or protector. Either way, she’ll probably have a great impact on her student’s views—though whether it’s through emulation or aversion is another matter. The student, meanwhile, is likely to elicit feelings and mental states including irritation (why won’t he listen?), recollection (I remember being that age…), pride (oh, my, look what we’ve created!), maybe protectiveness, possibly disappointment—there’s a lot to play with.

So there’s the basics. I’m nowhere near done, though; stay tuned!