on Fiction University:

Mentors are a great tool for telling your protagonist what to do, without telling you protagonist what to do.

The Mentor is one of the more common character archetypes in storytelling, because protagonists need someone to talk to and guide them as they struggle through the plot. The Mentor offers insight, wisdom, and even tools to solve the protagonist’s problems in the novel and helps them grow as the story unfolds.

While often portrayed as the “wise old man” type, the Mentor can be any age, sex, or race (or even species).

Yoda mentors Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back
Polgara mentors Garion in The Belariad series
Charlotte mentors Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web

The Mentor can even be the love interest, such as Like Wilson’s character, Emmett, who both helps and eventually falls for Reese Witherspoon’s Elle in Legally Blonde.

They can also mentor against the protagonist’s best interests, like the Emperor does to turn Anakin to the Dark Side of the Force in the Star Wars prequels.

Writing a strong Mentor can be challenging, because there’s a balance between providing guidance and support and giving the hero victory on a silver platter. You don’t want the Mentor to easily hand over information the protagonist needs, yet they’re the ones who have that information to give. This is probably why a lot of Mentors die, so they won’t be there when the protagonist needs them most.

Let’s look at a few things that make a strong Mentor character: