Wise Old Man
From Free net encyclopedia
The Wise Old Man (or "Senex") is an archetype as described by Carl Jung. It is also a classic literary figure, and may be seen as a stock character.
In works of fiction, this kind of character is typically represented by a kind and wise, older father-type figure who uses personal knowledge of people and the world, to help tell stories and offer guidance, that in a mystical way illuminate to his audience a sense of who they are and who they might become.
The Wise Old Man is often in some way "foreign," that is, from a different culture, nation, or - occasionally - time than those he advises.
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Examples of the Wise Old Man
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Historical
- Solon of Athens
- Chilon of Sparta
- Thales of Miletus
- Bias of Priene
- Cleobulus of Lindos
- Pittacus of Mitylene
- Periander of Corinth
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
- Xi Kang
- Liu Ling
- Ruan Ji
- Juan Hsien
- Hsiang Hsiu
- Wang Jung
- Shan Tao
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Fantasy
- Albus Dumbledore from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
- Auron from Final Fantasy X
- Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series
- Allanon from Terry Brooks' Shannara series
- Brom from Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy.
- Elminster from the Forgotten Realms RPG setting
- Methuselah and Abbot Mortimer from Brian Jacques' novel Redwall. Both are mice.
- Press Tilton from the Pendragon series
- Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Sahasrahla and Kaepora Gaebora from The Legend of Zelda game series
- An unnamed character in the second public version of the online game RuneScape
- The god Saradomin mentioned in the online game RuneScape
- Wise Man from Ganbare Goemon / Mystical Ninja game series
- Belgarath the Sorceror in David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon cycles.
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Comics
- Professor Broom from Hellboy
- Professor X from the X-Men
- Ancient One from Doctor Strange
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Mythology
- Merlin from the Matter of Britain and the legends of King Arthur
- Tiresias from the Odyssey, Oedipus Rex, and other Greek myths'
- Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh
- Odin principle deity of Norse mythology
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Science Fiction
- Dr. Light from the Mega Man and Mega Man X game series
- Hoo-Lan from Bruce Coville's My Teacher is an Alien series
- Hyrum Graff from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series
- Morpheus from The Matrix
- Thufir Hawat from Dune
- Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn from the Star Wars films.
- Peppy Hare from the Star Fox series.
- Zordon from Power Rangers
- The 2004 computer game Half-Life 2 does a twist on this with the character Father Grigori. Grigori is indeed old and wise - but not completely sane.
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Miscellaneous film
- Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid
- Rafiki from The Lion King
- Shinyuki from American Ninja
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Miscellaneous television
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Miscellaneous cartoons
- King Kai, Master Roshi, and Kami from Dragonball Z
- Chef from the South Park cartoon series
- Monterey Jack from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- Owl from Winnie the Pooh
- Papa Smurf from The Smurfs
- Professor Ochanomizu from Astro Boy
- Red-Haired Shanks from One Piece
- Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Gennai from Digimon series
- Phong from ReBoot
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Other genres
- Gen from the Street Fighter game series
- Oogruk, in Gary Paulsen's novel Dogsong
- Dark Sage, in the card game " Yugioh ".
In some instances, the wise old wizard may be a wise old witch:
- Moiraine Damodred from The Wheel of Time novels
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