Since its publication in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell has become one of the best known works of critical theory ever. Whether you are in the academic sphere or not, odds are you have heard of it. Odds are that you might have even used it in discussion numerous times. And it’s not hard to see why. Campbell’s point is precisely that, there is a universality to storytelling. One of the biggest parts of “The Hero’s Journey”, as detailed by Campbell, is the archetypes that populate it. The hero, the call to adventure, the belly of the whale, and many more from what Campbell called the Monomyth. And the things is…we really can fit many stories in this. In the end, we find ourselves at times applying it without noticing.
“The council has granted me permission to train you. You will be a Jedi, I promise.” ThePhantom Menace (1999)
The monomyth is not without its share of criticism, and that is it’s own essay. Its own grad school thesis probably. But it’s so persistent we might even apply it to our own lives. I’m sure if you stop to think you can find some equivalents in your own life. Maybe not literal goddesses that give you gifts. Maybe not literal walks into the belly of the whale. Our call to adventure might be a lot more mundane than most heroes. But there is one archetype…one that we can find in our lives almost exactly as described by the heroe’s journey: The Mentor.
The Old Hermit Master Teacher archetype
Mentors are something almost everyone has in one way or another. Maybe it’s a teacher who really helped you at some point and kept pushing you on. It could be an older friend who taught you skills in a group or school. Perhaps it’s an older family member who has supported you. Be it your Scout Leader, your coach in a sports team, someone you know well in the family, we all have someone who has helped us and we try to emulate. It’s probably why it’s one of the most used archetypes there is. The Mentor Index at Tv Tropes is a good example of how prevalent this archetype is, and how variable. It’s also one of the most dividing ones when it comes to talking about favorite characters.See, the thing about mentors is that a lot of times, they are supposed to be moved on from.
“Anakin: You’re the closest thing I have to a father. Obi-Wan: Then why don’t you listen to me? ” Attack of the Clones (2002)
The Good Mentor
A “good mentor” sees the hero go on their journey, proud of where they are going. And by good I mean as a mentor, not necessarily as a perfect person. Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z has this role toward the character of Gohan. Anyone who has seen this show, even those of us who defend Piccolo as a character, will admit he was not exactly the kindest being. Bruce Wayne is another great example. He is almost always proud of his proteges but withholds telling them so often that even actual ray of sunshine Dick Grayson is surprised at as much as a congrats from the Bat. But in both cases, they learn their mistake early on and by their proteges older years they have a pretty good relationship. If they make it to the end of the story, of course.
The Bad Mentor
A “bad mentor”usually wants to hold back the hero in one way or another. the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera sells himself at first as a mentor to Christine Daaé only to become a predatory figure. The character of Fagin in Oliver Twist exploits the orphans he takes under his “care”. Lestat from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles is an interesting example, he keeps trying to take fledgelings and none seem to have an actual mentor/protege relationship, probably because as Lestat tells us, he never had it either. And I think this connects us to how many of us when it comes to realistic mentors. In most cases they are not perfect, they are not evil…they are just human.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi: Let’s just hope Anakin is ready for this responsibility. Yoda: Ready he is, to teach an apprentice. To let go of his pupil, a greater challenge it will be.” The Clone Wars (2008)
The Broken mentor
One of the best properties to study mentors is Star Wars. Good mentors, bad mentors, evil mentors, caring mentors, this has them all. But what it has most is broken and very “human” mentors. You see in most cases, an imperfect mentor will have a redemption. As mentioned above, Batman says sorry. Piccolo becomes good. They get a chance to be the ideal the student remembers from their time as a student. This is probably also why so many mentors die early in so many things, they stay idealized. But most of them in Star Wars are given time to make mistakes, and while some learn, others might never learn, and some learn too late.
Star Wars and learning to understand Ben kenobi
The best example I think is the best known Obi-Wan “Old Ben” Kenobi. Mentor to the Skywalker men (Anakin and Luke both). Obi-Wan is… a complicated man. Even just from the movies, the audience sees him go from student thrust into the mentor role, to almost every archetype of mentor. He has been a young teacher, a master, an old hermit, Obi-Wan is the mentor archetype made person. But what I think that makes him stand out is that while most people think of him as just another dead mentor…the truth is what he actually is is a failed mentor who’s student is lost.
This applies to many of the character in Star Wars, we see Yoda after his student has fallen, we see Anakin after he looses his, and yes, we see Obi-Wan. I know where this is going, originally we just knew him as a comrade of Anakin and a teacher to Luke and we see him die and them come back as a ghost. But The Prequels are a thing, and so is The Clone Wars, and all the other material of this era. This is where Obi-Wan is fleshed out. We se him start off as a very young Jedi Knight suddenly given a Padawan (pupil) who is “too old” to be taught. We see him and Anakin develop a relationship that is one part teacher-student/ one part brotherly. By Attack of the Clones they have an established rapport, inside jokes, and issues….so many issues.
“You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the force… not leave it in darkness!” Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Obi-Wan, Anakin, and relatability
In The Clone Wars, the animated series that fills in the time between Prequel 2 and 3, their relationship shows a point most pop-culture mentors don’t have to go through. Anakin gets to learn the harsh truth; many mentors, when faced with the idea that they are no longer the voice of authority for their student, will not take it nicely. This is even stronger because we get to see Anakin with his own student, Ahsoka Tano. When Anakin makes a mistake, Obi-Wan rolls his eyes and says something like “you always do this Anakin”, usually in front of many of their soldiers who are supposed to see Anakin as a figure of authority. Meanwhile, any admonition Anakin has to give is usually done in private and while telling Ahsoka about his own mistakes. Anakin essentially becomes the master he wished he had, one that saw him as an equal.
And as said before, that’s a very realistic thing. Many real life mentors are closer to Ob-Wan than they think. Once their student becomes an equal, they feel they need to remind this person they are superior. As I watched The Clone Wars I felt that it was no wonder Anakin is so angry during his second to last fight with Obi-Wan. Why he goes from someone who craved Obi-Wan’s care to someone who screams he hates him as he is literally burning in rage. Luckily, I don’t have that bad a relationship with whom I would call a mentor. But while I would not fight him over the lava streams of Mustafar, I have felt the anger. I have felt the frustration. It’s hard to think someone you admired and maybe even wanted to be like has been revealed to be antagonistic to you in one way or another.
the archetype in life
“In my experience, there is no such thing as luck.”A New Hope (1977)
Some say a sign of adulthood is realizing adults are not right about everything. They are not the final say on things. This includes our mentors. At some point we will be in a position that will be equal to our mentors and ready to move away from under them and to stand by their side. And the problem is, so many of them cling to the idea of “I have the high ground” almost as literally as Obi-Wan does when he says that. To see their students as equals means having to give up an authority they have become comfortable with, that they have become used to being. This is what happens between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the student hasn’t only become a master himself, he no longer just simply agrees with his master and sees him as the sole authority. The students tries new techniques maybe, has different ideals, or simply just doesn’t take the mentor’s opinions as the defining one. Even without actual disagreements, the fact that the mentor is no longer on a pedestal is what causes them to crumble.
Like Anakin, we find ourselves facing a mentor who has gone from someone to be admired to someone that you can longer trust. Like Obi-Wan, these mentors might even outright say things they know are hurtful. It can range from just subtly undermining you to outright seeking to mock you openly. If they really want to go for weakening you they might even attack things you care about to make you get emotional. They might not do like Obi-Wan who literally leaves Anakin to burn. But they do it metaphorically, trying to bait you into falling into the lava and have you crawling up the burning floor, limbs cut off and screaming in rage as they lament how you could were their “Chosen One” and how much they loved you.
A kind of New Hope
“Luke, I don’t want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader.” The Empire Strikes Back (1986)
After that last bit, I am sure many must be thinking “I thought Obi-Wan was one of the good ones? Didn’t you say he wasn’t an evil mentor?”. And he isn’t. After Anakin falls, Obi-Wan takes care of his children. He can’t save their mother, Padmé is a whole ‘nother essay trust me, but he saves the twins. With their allies he takes part in making sure the babies are safe and takes over Luke’s own protection. What many non fans don’t know is that the reason Luke doesn’t seem to know “Old Ben” well in A New Hope is because his uncle hated Obi-Wan. As far as Owen Lars is concerned, the reason his brother Anakin is dead is the Jedi and Obi-Wan. He demands he stays away from Luke and so has to keep his promise from a distance until we run into them years later in the original film.
Nineteen years in the desert alone is what it takes for Obi-Wan to realize he might not have been the best mentor to Anakin. Nineteen years of reliving those last moments, I am sure. Of realizing that when Anakin screamed he hated him it was not just usual Anakin Drama™. So he tries to do a bit better when he takes Luke under his wing. He doesn’t fully see his role in making Darth Vader a reality, but he understands he was not exactly helping to stop it either. Again, Obi-Wan is an incredibly human flawed mentor in those aspects. Maybe my own mentor experiences are in part why I am so harsh on him. I would hope it doesn’t take nineteen years alone in desert for a real mentor to realize some of the mistakes they have made along the way. One hopes it doesn’t take a literal fight in hell to make a mentor realize that their time as the archetype pedestal is over. It doesn’t mean their students don’t want to stay there, it means they want to be equals now and take that relationship further. I guess what I mean is, don’t wait until the Force Ghosts to see you had lost a student but gained a friend.
“Anakin was a good friend. When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot. But I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong.”Return of the Jedi (1985, 2004 re-release)
All images on this post are from the official Star Wars Databank for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker