How to Create a Strong Mentor Character

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

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 Belgariad 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:

1. Like Mom always said, "You need to learn how to do this on your own."

A good Mentor will provide just enough information and help to point the protagonist in the right direction and allow them to learn and grow as a person. Information and guidance are given to enable the protagonist to succeed, not to let them skip steps or avoid doing the work.

Mentors don't give the protagonist the answer, they give them the tools to figure out the answer. Some things to think about:

• What does the Mentor know (information, skills, etc.) that's worth passing on?
• What role in the protagonist's life does the Mentor play?
• How does the Mentor interact with the protagonist?

(Here's more with Writers: Stop Being Nice to Your Characters)

2. They love, but it’s a tough love.

Mentors are invested in their charges and care about what happens to them. They have reasons for spending time and guiding the protagonist to whatever it is the protagonist needs.

Granted, sometimes the reasons are selfish or the Mentor is forced into it and learns to embrace that role (such as Haymitch from The Hunger Games), but they're not just doing this for fun. Whatever the motivation, the Mentor cares about the protagonist accomplishing the goal. Some things to think about:

• What is the Mentor's goal in helping the protagonist?
• What does the Mentor gain and/or lose by helping the protagonist?
• How does the Mentor become involved with the protagonist?
• How far is the Mentor willing to go to help the protagonist?

(Here's more with Why Should Anyone Help Your Protagonist?)

3. Two can keep a secret.

Sometimes, being a Mentor means knowing secrets or information that could hurt the protagonist. Training a young man to go kill his father is pretty dark, but that's what Obi Wan and Yoda did to poor Luke. Dumbledore also hid that nasty "You have to die to beat him" secret from Harry.

Secrets are usually kept when revealing that information would hurt the protagonist deeply, or derail them from the task at hand. Some things to think about:

• What secrets does the Mentor know that could hurt the protagonist?
• Why is the Mentor holding back information?
• How does the Mentor prepare the protagonist for learning the truth?

(Here's more with Shh! It's a Secret: How to Raise Tension and Conflict in a Scene)

4. Here when you need me—most of the time

Good Mentors have your back when you really need them. They might not always have the answer, but at least they know what to say to send the protagonist in the right direction.

Except when they die at inconvenient times, like just before a major crisis when the protagonist needs all the help they can get.

But sometimes, the best thing a good Mentor can do is take themselves out of the picture so the protagonist has to take that final step alone. Some things to think about:

• How involved in the protagonist's life is the Mentor?
• Is the Mentor at risk for aiding the protagonist?
• When will the protagonist no longer need the Mentor's guidance?
• Does the Mentor choose to let the protagonist stand on their own or are they forced out of the protagonist's life?

(Here's more with Kill Them All: Does Killing Off Characters Make Readers Care Less?)

A common problem for Mentors characters is making them an author proxy in the story, there mostly to hand over information to the reader.

• Need to dump a lot of backstory? Have a Mentor tell a tale.
• Need to explain why things are happening as they are? The Mentor knows all about it.
• Need the hero to learn something they can't possibly know? Let the Mentor do it!

Here are some things to watch out for when creating your Mentor:

1. If they tease but never follow through, they’re not actually helping.

Bad Mentors hold back when information could help the protagonist—especially if the only reason is so the reader doesn't find out something too quickly. They drop vague clues and then smugly sit back and for the protagonist to figure them out or not.

Be wary if your Mentor:

• Withholds critical information and the protagonist gets into trouble because of it
• Doesn't have good reasons for not telling the protagonist something
• Is purposefully vague, especially if it's to sound "mysterious"
• Is driving the plot by controlling what (and when) information is given to the protagonist

(Here's more with How Being Ambiguous Can Work in Our Writing)

2. If their role is to be the protagonist's Google, there's a problem.

On the flip side, if every time the protagonist needs an answer they can call the Mentor and get it, they’re not learning anything on their own. It’s also too convenient to the reader that every problem can be easily solved by asking the Mentor.

Be wary if the Mentor:

• Always has the right answer no matter what the topic
• Seems to know the history and workings of things outside their credible scope of knowledge and experience
• Always solves the protagonist's problem for them
• Knows exactly what to say at the right time, especially if this is information that would have logically come out sooner: "Oh, didn't I ever tell you...?" or "It didn't seem important at the time"

(Here's more with 6 Ways to Identify a Contrived Plot)

3. If they have no skin in the game, you might want to rethink why this character is helping your hero.

Sometimes a Mentor is quite helpful, sharing information, encouraging a protagonist and even risking their life to do so, and readers have zero idea why this person would be doing this. Or worse, they’re more of an anti-Mentor, and helping the protagonist actually goes against their ultimate goal. (This doesn’t hold true if the Mentor is purposefully trying to mislead the protagonist, such as the Anakin Skywalker example).

Be wary if the Mentor:

• Has nothing at stake if the protagonist wins or loses
• Would actually be better off if they didn't help the protagonist
• Doesn't do much else in the story but provide information to the protagonist

(Here's more with 4 Ways to Develop Character Agency)

They walk a fine line, but when done well, Mentors can be wonderful and memorable characters.

Because they’re allowed to know details the author wants in the story without coming across as a told buttinski. It's worth spending a little time to make them the strongest they can be, so give them the tools they need to help your protagonist and make your story richer.

Who are some of your favorite Mentor characters? How about Mentors who didn't do the best job?

*Originally published January 2015. Last updated July 2023.

Find out more about characters and point of view in my book, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems.

Go step-by-step through revising character and character-related issues, such as two-dimensional characters, inconsistent points of view, too-much backstory, stale dialogue, didactic internalization, and lack of voice. Learn how to analyze your draft, spot any problems or weak areas, and fix those problems.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems offers five self-guided workshops that target the common issues that make readers stop reading. It will help you:

• Flesh out weak characters and build strong character arcs
• Find the right amount of backstory to enhance, not bog down, your story
• Determine the best point(s) of view and how to use them to your advantage
• Eliminate empty dialogue and rambling internalization
• Develop character voices and craft unique, individual characters 

Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems starts every workshop with an analysis to pinpoint problem areas and offers multiple revision options in each area. You choose the options that best fit your writing process. It's an easy-to-follow guide to crafting compelling characters, solid points of view, and strong character voices readers will love.

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound