Being a mentor can be highly satisfying for the person who takes this role. It allows them to influence the lives of their students, teach them useful things, or just be there for them in their time of need. However, just like in the movies, not all mentor characters who appear in TV shows are so great.
RELATED:Mentor Anime Characters Who Are Awful To Their Students
Some have good intentions, but still fail at their job because what they’re teaching their students doesn’t make much sense, so they do more harm than good. Other TV mentors are then downright evil and attempt to manipulate or even hurt those they should treat with respect and kindness.
5Malcolm Merlyn (Arrow)
Malcolm Merlyn is one of the most complex and problematic characters in the superhero showArrow. On one hand, he seems to genuinely care about his daughter Thea. He proves as much when he saves her life when the city is attacked, or when he sacrifices his life in the end so that Thea could live. However, while Malcolm is teaching Thea how to fight and is acting as a mentor, he doesn’t shy away from manipulating his daughter. Not only does he try to persuade Thea not to return home with her brother Oliver, but he also manipulates Thea into killing Sara Lance, one of her friends.
The worst thing is that Thea doesn’t know what she’s doing when she takes Sara’s life, and isn’t aware of her actions. In other words, Malcolm turns his daughter into a killing machine and puts her life in danger as a result. When Thea learns the truth, she’s understandably distraught, and blames herself for Sara’s death even though Malcolm is really responsible. No, Malcolm Merlyn isn’t going to win any father/mentor of the year award any time soon.
4James Bishop (Being Human)
Whenever Mark Pellegrino plays a prominent part in a TV show, chances are high that his character will turn out to be the villain. At the very least, that’s the case in the fantasy showBeing Human, an American remake ofa British horror showof the same name. The show centers on three roommates: a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost. Pellegrino portrays Bishop, a mentor to Aidan, the vampire roommate. He acts kindly toward Aidan, but he’s always following his own agenda. Eventually, it becomes clear that Bishop and Aidan were once much closer, and that Bishop initiated Aidan into the vampire lifestyle.
RELATED:Mentor Characters In Games Who Are Awful To Their Students
But instead of teaching Aidan how to survive without killing others, Bishop encouraged the young vampire’s worst impulses. And when Aidan decides enough is enough and wants to start anew, Bishop is constantly circling, waiting for Aidan to slip so that he could start controlling him again. Bishop is very manipulative and has no regard for Aidan’s wishes or feelings. He’s a mentor who thinks only of himself.
3Billy Butcher (The Boys)
Thanks toKarl Urban’s excellent performance in the role, it’s easy to like Billy Butcher in the unusual superhero seriesThe Boys. That doesn’t change the fact that Butcher can be a terrible person. Even though his intentions are good (more or less), his methods aren’t much better than those of the people he fights against (the superheroes). Butcher is brutal, cunning, and merciless. Those are character traits he shows toward his supposed friends and allies as well.
Butcher recruits the young Hughie into his team even though Hughie repeatedly points out that he’s out of his depth. Butcher then proceeds in manipulating his new student into doing his actions, which means killing superheroes or spying on Hughie’s close friend/almost girlfriend Annie, aka Starlight. He also lies to the other members of his team, but unlike Hughie, they at least have previous experience with working with Butcher and know what to expect from him. Hughie doesn’t, which makes Butcher’s treatment of him (especially considering Hughie goes through a terrible loss at the start of the series) even worse.
2Oliver Queen (Arrowverse)
It almost seems that being a mentor in a superhero show is bound to end in failure. At least at the beginning when the mentors are still figuring things out. That’s also the case withOliver Queen, aka the Green Arrow. Oliver mentors multiple other team members, he tries to teach them how to fight, and how to control their powers, but because he keeps things from them and because it’s clear he doesn’t trust them, they turn against him in the end.
RELATED:Best Mentors In Cobra Kai And Karate Kid, Ranked
Even the kindest and most patient superheroes, such as Barry Allen’s Flash, whom Oliver mentors, sometimes have a hard time dealing with the vigilante’s teaching methods. For example, when Oliver wants to teach Barry a lesson that arrogance doesn’t pay, he shoots the younger superhero with an arrow, hurting him in the process. In another instance, Oliver shoots another protégé of his, Roy Harper. Oliver might mean well, but his tendency to shoot his students leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily, he changes as time progresses, becoming kinder and more considerate.
1Klaus Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries)
Here’sanother vampire mentorwho wasn’t the best for his student. In this case, the student was unwilling, as Klaus forced Stefan Salvatore to leave Mystic Falls with him. Just like Bishop, Klaus also urged Stefan to submit to his impulses, his lust for blood, even if it meant killing people. The worst thing about it is that Klaus genuinely seemed to have liked Stefan and considered him a friend.
That didn’t stop him from trying to manipulate Stefan, tearing him away from his loved ones and also threatening those Stefan cared about. But when the viewers consider Klaus' previous actions, his behavior toward Stefan doesn’t come as a surprise. Klaus had the tendency to dagger his siblings anytime they defied him.
