Mentors are characters who help guide you in games, either as vital characters to convey a story or teachers who lend vital knowledge about a title’s complex mechanics. Sometimes, this figure can be a walking tutorial, acting as a foundation of support for a game’s protagonist or the player themselves. That being said, there are some mentors who are absolutely awful in their role, giving characters terrible advise or even outright abusing them through vindictive, antagonistic actions.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The worst “teacher” characters are those who try to halt someone’s growth, or prevent them from changing situations around them for the better. This could lead a player to find these false mentors as direct opponents, having to fight them as deadly or difficult bosses to overcome the obstacles they impose on a game character’s life. Due to how oppressive these bad mentors can be in a given setting, they can be just as memorable of characters as a kind teacher who you get attached to.
5. Mr. Burton (Bully)
Bully is a game with many, many bad mentors for protagonist James “Jimmy” Hopkins, but Mr. Burton is the one who perhaps drives the character in a far worse direction. Mr. Burton openly encourages kids to bully each other, under the machismo idea of “toughening up weaklings,” driving forward the game’s themes of how negative such a mentality is. In many ways, Mr. Burton is the single worst character in Bully from a moral standpoint, constantly abusing his power as a gym teacher to abuse students at every turn.
From sexual harassment to female students to sending Jimmy into dangerous, sometimes life-threatening situations, Mr. Burton actively harms each situation he’s in. Instead of being a source of positive masculinity for troubled students like Jimmy, Mr. Burton makes him do criminal acts for him, punishing anyone who disobeys his orders. Although he many not be the primary antagonist of Bully, he is widely regarded as the most vile character in the action-adventure title, and certainly the mentor that has the worst impact on everyone around him.
One of Mr. Burton’s worst moments comes in Chapter 5 of Bully, where he accuses Jimmy of setting fire to the gym and threatens to call the police. Saying phrases like “suffering builds character,” Mr. Burton’s behavior likely comes from terrible hazing in college and an abusive father, but these are hardly excuses to treat students so poorly. His perverted attitude and obsession with bullying students himself turns him into a character Jimmy certainly doesn’t want to be, which ironically puts Jimmy on a better path than some Jocks who try to appease Mr. Burton’s abusive “discipline.”
4. Noriko Kashiwagi (Persona 4)
Another teacher, Noriko Kashiwagi is the instructor of Classroom 2-2 in Persona 4 after the murder of Morooka from earlier in the game. Immediately, the character’s introduction is not a pleasant one, with her remarks ranging from making inappropriate comments about underage boys in the classroom to berating female students in fits of jealousy. The objectification of male students is constant with this character, always creating uncomfortable and awkward scenarios, but her relationship with girls becomes actively harmful quickly.
Instead of being an understanding teacher and mentor to girl students, Kashiwagi singles out people like party member Rise Kujikawa, badmouthing her relentlessly. Rise’s internal struggles as an idol are made worse by Kasiwagi’s remarks, which constantly cast judgment onto the girl. This character is introduced right after players just fought to free Rise from her Dungeon, making her struggles and mentality fresh in their minds. Although Rise is in a better mental state by the time Kashiwagi is introduced, social links with Rise show how much her words impact her negatively, leading to more harm than healing.
3. Joel (The Last Of Us)
Joel is, at first, a rugged man whose personal tragedy makes him a less than ideal mentor to Ellie. However, as The Last of Us continues, Joel and Ellie eventually move past arguments and start forming a real relationship where Joel can be a positive teacher in her life. Yet, as events of the game come to their conclusion, Joel’s final decision ends up being a disastrous one that leads to a chain of events that could have had a different solution.
Infamously, the end of The Last of Us sees Joel stopping an operation on Ellie that could, in theory, help develop a cure to the fungal infection that destroyed the world. This would be at the cost of Ellie’s life, so Joel killed everyone involved with the procedure, including the father of a character who would later start a cycle of violence and revenge in The Last of Us Part 2. Even if you agree with Joel’s decision, the betrayal of Ellie’s trust is one that runs incredibly deep from that point forward.
After the end of The Last of Us, events spiral into something worse no matter how justified Joel feels for his actions. At worst, his refusal to give up Ellie doomed the world, eliminating its only chance for a cure to be made to the infection that ravaged civilization. Even if the procedure was going to be a failure, Joel’s elimination of the doctors ruins any alternative methods for a cure, with the Firefly faction’s destruction also leading to the loss of many innocent lives. This choice later influences Ellie’s future actions, which also become coated in blood.
2. Master Li (Jade Empire)
Jade Empire‘s sprawling martial arts adventure starts out like many players would expect, with evil forces kidnapping your mentor Master Li. Your journey becomes following his teachings and growing stronger to eventually challenge those who took him and burned down your village, but things are not as they seem. Only at the end of your path do you realize that Master Li has been manipulating you from the beginning, with his instruction training you to defeat his brother, only for him to act as his tyrannical replacement.
Master Li’s training left deliberate openings only he could exploit, allowing him to defeat you with ease. Upon reflection, everything Master Li did was in benefit of a greater plan, making you the person to get rid of all his enemies without him ever having to lift a finger. Living up to their true identity as Sun Li the Glorious Strategist, your master’s cruelty is total, with him having killed thousands of people with your heritage to ensure his plan works.
The shock of this betrayal re-contextualizes all the terrible events that have happened to you throughout Jade Empire, showing just how far Master Li was willing to go to gain the powers of a god. Every moment forward is a crisis of identity for your character after Master Li shows his true colors, with the question if you can even beat him at all. With some endings seeing Master Li achieve total victory, this mentor is terrible for how deep their manipulation can cast doubt, to the point where you are set up to lose.
1. Atris (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords)
Atris declares herself as the “last of the Jedi” when you meet her in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, acting as a mentor to a group of Handmaiden warriors training in ways of the Force. While she never acts as your mentor, Atris’ philosophy and ideals are filled with contradiction, and serve as the catalyst for the game’s galaxy-spanning events. Although some players would argue that Kreia is a far darker teacher, her point of view offers unique insight that Atris’ does not.
Out of all the Star Wars characters introduced in games, Atris might be the biggest hypocrite. Atris used information about your character’s past with the Jedi to draw out the Sith, endangering countless Republic lives in the process. This wasn’t the first time that she did this either, as she was responsible for leaking information about a Jedi conclave on the planet Katarr in hopes of drawing out the Sith. This resulted in Darth Nihilus eradicating all life on that world, while Atris remained in a place of safety removed from that situation.
Every effort Atris makes is in interest of her warped idea of the Jedi Code, which includes beliefs of purity and doing anything to fight the Dark Side, even at the cost of your own morality. How she justifies both positions is a mystery even to the player, especially when you find out she speaks regularly to spirits of ancient Sith in old Sith Holocron artifacts. The hubris of Atris in Star Wars: KOTOR 2 is what drives Kreia’s plans, not only setting a terrible example for her students, but leading to the tragedies that affect many others.
Who is your least favorite gaming mentor? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!
