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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Nimue will come along and I'll go panting after her like a dog-fox in heat. I'll teach her too little magic to do her any good, and too much for my safety, all while trying to get into her petticoats. And then she'll entice me into a cave, and bind me with my own magic, and leave me to rot."''
|'''[[Merlin]]''' discusses the trope in ''[[The Books of Magic]]'' }}
▲{{quote|''"Nimue will come along and I'll go panting after her like a dog-fox in heat. I'll teach her too little magic to do her any good, and too much for my safety, all while trying to get into her petticoats. And then she'll entice me into a cave, and bind me with my own magic, and leave me to rot."''|'''[[Merlin]]''' discusses the trope in ''[[The Books of Magic]]'' }}
At the most basic level, this trope is about a partnership between two magic-users where [[Student and Master Team|one is older, (and thus usually the master/teacher or the more powerful member of the team) and the other member is younger and the apprentice type figure]]. There's one more important difference between the two of them: [[Battle Couple|they're opposite genders]].
Now, if the relationship is being looked at closely, obviously there are a lot of potential tropes that could come into play for various factors, including the possibilities for communication difficulties with [[Grumpy Old Man|two people]] of [[Bratty Half
Oh, and there's one more thing we forgot to mention: there's a good chance that [[Bastard Understudy|one]] [[Deceptive Disciple|member]] [[Evil Mentor|of]] [[Broken Pedestal|this]] [[Treacherous Advisor|team]] [[The Starscream|will]] [[Face Heel Turn|betray the other]], usually for [[Deal
The [[Trope Namer]] and probable [[Trope Maker]] is [[King Arthur|the Arthurian Mythos]], where [[Merlin]] had a habit of teaching magic to younger women. In the oldest stories his pupil/lover's name was Nynave, (but this is often changed to Nimue and sometimes changed again to other names, with Vivien/Vivianne being the most common) and she eventually betrayed him and [[Sealed Good in
Now, all you need to qualify for this trope is the pair of magic-users with the age and gender difference, and the other elements of their relationship or betraying each other need not be there at all. However, whether consciously or not, most writers tend to end up using at least some and often all of the elements present in the Trope Maker. This leads to the being a lot of different variations on this theme, and a lot of possible ways to play and present them.
Note that this trope often involves betrayal, [[Face Heel Turn
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Arthurian Stories ==
* The film ''[[Excalibur (
* The page quote comes from ''[[The Books of Magic]]'', when Tim very briefly meets Merlin while traveling through time with The Phantom Stranger. At the time Merlin is just 14 years old, but he already knows what is going to happen and why.
* ''[[The Warlord Chronicles]]'' features Merlin teaching both Morgan and Nimue, and both having relationships with him. Morgan's relationship with Merlin ended before the books start, and she symbolically betrays him by converting to Christianity and preaching against him. Nimue stays loyal to Merlin through the first two books, (although there are some occasional hints and foreshadowing of great trouble between them) despite him putting her through some pretty horrific trials and abandoning her for awhile. {{spoiler|Merlin goes into being a [[Well
* Subverted in Mary Stewart's ''The Crystal Cave'' series, where Merlin and Niniane truly love each other and she innocently mistakes him for being dead when she buries him in the cave.
* In ''[[The Mists of Avalon]]'', Nimue is a sympathetic character, a young priestess sent by Avolon to win Merlin's heart and lure him back for their revenge. The magic she uses to help make Merlin fall in love with her works in such a way that she too falls for him, but she is bound by duty to seduce and lure him to his death. [[Driven to Suicide|She kills herself afterward]].
* This relationship happens between Merlin and Nimue in ''[[The Once and Future King]]''.
** Merlin does state that he knows it'll happen and does look forward to having a nice period of time resting up. His only regrets are that he forgets to tell Arthur who his mother is, and he wants to warn the Round Table of who actually poisoned some apples and killed an Irish knight named Sir Patrick. The latter regret is fixed when he asks Nimue to show up and clear up the mess. While she does it willingly, she unfortunately shows up a day late, and only narrowly saves Guinevere from being tried for attempted poisoning of Sir Gawain.
* In ''Le Morte D'Arthur'', the most well-known version, Nimue is portrayed as justified in sealing Merlin away, as Merlin used his status as her teacher to [[Stalker
* ''Caliber'', a comic that sets the Arthurian Legend in the [[The Wild West|Old West]], has a shaman and Merlin figure advising the good guys and trying to get the magic gun to [[The Chosen One]], and his ex-pupil and ex-lover Morgan, who advises the villains and [[Dragon
* In ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'', Merlin's "betrayal" by Nimue, despite being [http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0062.htm heavily foreshadowed], is actually [http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/2005.htm a complete accident on her part]. The betrayal aspect gets played straight with [http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0444.htm Morgan], though. As to whether Merlin has a relationship with his apprentices, [http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0026.htm well]...
* About as thoroughly averted as possible in BBC's ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', as A) Nimueh is older and more experienced than Merlin, B) Nimueh starts out evil, C) there's no attraction between the two and D) {{spoiler|Merlin apparently kills Nimueh at the end of Series 1}}.
** He spent the beginning of ''"The Poisoned Chalice"'' gawking at her and described her as "pretty for a princess" and she {{spoiler|tricked him into drinking from said poisoned chalice.}} Subverted later on, {{spoiler|when he strikes her with a bolt of lightning.}}
* In the ''[[Hellboy (
* Averted in the 1998 ''[[Merlin (
* One [[Garth Nix]] story set out to turn this into a [[Tear Jerker]]. For one thing, Merlin is younger than he makes himself seem to everyone else. Two, he actively ignored Nimue until he couldn't take her hanging around his house begging for training anymore. Three, while both he and Nimue are clearly interested in each other, she's frustrated by his refusal to act on his desires. Four, to get their power, a mage has to give up their heart's desire. Nimue scoffs at the paradox, since her fondest desire is the power itself. Five, a mage gets their power by harnessing a star. {{spoiler|The power in one mage actively repels the power in another. Once Nimue harnesses hers, she physically cannot go near Merlin ever again.}} Six, {{spoiler|Merlin saw it coming, after he got ''his'' power. His heart's desire was Nimue, whom he hadn't even met yet. Nimue's was him. He tried to keep her away so he wouldn't hurt her. Not only can they not ever be together, but he sinks into a stone even Nimue's power can't get him out of, though she immediately leaves to try, leaving England unprotected.}}
* In ''[[The Lost Years of Merlin]]'' series by T.A Barron, Vivian, known as Nimue to her friends, is introduced in the 2nd book when she tries to steal Merlin's staff. She comes back later as a major villain in The Mirror of Merlin, and again in The Merlin Effect, part of another series by the same author.
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! (
** Note that the Dark Magician Girl becomes more powerful if a Dark Magician is in either player's graveyard
** Or maybe ''he'' helps ''her'' from beyond the grave. Yugi's duel with Pandora, where she first appeared, seemed to suggest this; both Yugi and Pandora's Dark Magician were contributing to her Score, and it was obvious that the spirit of Pandora's Dark Magician was angry at Pandora for betraying him.
** After the "Dawn of the Duel" arc, the first option seems very unlikely; it is revealed there that Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are spiritual embodiments of Mahad and Mana, respectively, close friends and allies of Pharaoh Atemu. Mana was indeed Mahad's apprentice, but the loyalty they had towards each other was genuine.
* In the American dub of the first movie to ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]]'', it is revealed that Clow Reed had a student known only as "Madoushi" ("Sorceress"), who was also [[Hot for Student|his girlfriend]]. They had a good relationship, until [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|she decided]] [[Face Heel Turn|she wanted more power]] and [[Moral Event Horizon|began practicing dark magic]]. He couldn't allow her to continue to do this, so he [[What the Hell Hero|called her out on this]] and told her that she was no longer his student (and no longer his girlfriend), despite her protests and promises that they could rule the world together. She continued to practice her dark magic, so he [[Sealed Room in The Middle of Nowhere|sealed her up in an alternate dimension he created and left her there]]. [[Fridge Horror|(It is not known when or even ''if'' he ever intended to let her out.)]] She died in there, [[Ghostly Goals|still waiting to be set free]], and causes problems for Sakura and her friends.▼
** One of the movies suggests that Dark Magician takes young, attractive, female apprentices on a regular basis, as Yugi's roster now includes a whole team of Magician Girls of varying ages and strengths, [https://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Choco_Magician_Girl Choco], [https://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Apple_Magician_Girl Apple], [https://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Lemon_Magician_Girl Lemon], [https://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Berry_Magician_Girl Berry] and [https://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Kiwi_Magician_Girl Kiwi], all of which can support each other and other Spellcasters with powerful synergy.
** Possibly the case with Gagaga Magician and Gagaga Girl, two Spellcasters used by Yuma in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal]]''. While Gagaga Girl is less powerful and a lower Level and the two cards do form a powerful combo (if both are used for an Xyz Summon, her effect can reduce an opposing monster's Attack Score to zero) there's no direct evidence that she's his apprentice. There was a subtle hint in the manga that she ''is'' his girlfriend.
▲* In the American dub of the first movie to ''[[
** The actual, original plotline isn't an example of this trope, but rather a combination of [[Unknown Rival]], [[Foe Yay]], and [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]], as the sorceress was a fortune teller who felt like Clow stole her business in Hong Kong, but fell in love with him anyways and never got a chance to tell him before he vanished. [[Bowdlerize|Because, you know, kids can't understand anything more complex than Good Versus Evil in their plots.]]
* In Clamp`s ''[[
* ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Doctor Strange]] is periodically depicted in [[Marvel Comics]] as being romantically involved with his apprentice Clea, who is at least physically younger than him and less mature. (She may, depending on the source, be [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]].) This bites him in the ass in the backstory of ''[[Earth X]]'', when she decides he's just using her for sex and kills him.
{{quote|
* According to a [[Vertigo Comics]] miniseries, the [[DC Comics]] character [[Madame Xanadu]] turns out to be Nimue, who did indeed trap Merlin but only because she was led to believe it was the only way to save Camelot. In turn she lost most of her magic and became an immortal fortune teller; she blames [[The Phantom Stranger]] for this. Note that being a Vertigo series, this may not be canonical within the main [[DC Universe]].
== Fan Works ==
* Subverted in ''[https://jeconais.fanficauthors.net/Hope/index/ Hope]'' by Jeconais, a ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic in which the repeated appearance of (and Harry's preoccupation with) the Merlin-Nimue story ''appears'' at first to be a dark foreshadowing of the possible dangers of his incipient relationship (at 22) with 16-year-old Gabrielle Delacour. It turns out to be quite the opposite, though, because Harry has collected and read Merlin's journals and knows that the version of the story known to the Wizarding and Muggle worlds is garbled and distorted. It is in fact a reflection of/parallel to the Harry-Gabrielle relationship, but a bright one.
== Literature ==
* Raistlin and Crysania from ''[[Dragonlance]]'' mostly fit, although some aspects of the relationship are different since Crysania is not his student and in fact wields a different type of magic altogether. Otherwise they're almost perfect for the trope, as their relationship includes both a lot of [[UST]], and Raistlin abandoning her when [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|he decides she has outlived her usefulness]].
** A more standard example would be Dalamar and Jenna.
* Elminster and his former apprentice "The Shadowsil" in Ed Greenwood's ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' novel ''Spellfire''. In the backstory she left him to take up a life of evil.
* ''[[The Redemption of Althalus]]'' featured this relationship between the female god usually called Em and her pupil, former thief turned immortal mage Althalus. The two become lovers and there is no betrayal.
** Later there's a quasi-example when a witch is added to the team and regards Althalus as her teacher and something of a father figure but still flirts with him quite often, much to Althalus' chagrin.
** Also from [[David Eddings]], Belgarath and Polgara might be a UST-less father-daughter example. And Sparrowhawk and his goddess? That just gets
* Daine and Numair from the ''[[Tortall Universe]]'' books by [[Tamora Pierce]] have the magic, age difference, and sexual tension, but not the betrayal.
* In ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' series of books, Richard Rahl has this relationship with Sister Verna, as well as the other Sisters of Light. In the later books, the trope is even more prevalent in his relationship with {{spoiler|Nicci}}, who has become something of [[The Lancer|his]] [[Black Magician Girl|right]] [[Number Two|hand]], mentor, and unlike Verna, definitely has feelings for him.
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', Moiraine has this relationship early in the series with Rand. In the later books, Cadsuane takes up the older mentor role in Moiraine's place. This gets awkward when Rand integrates the memories from his last incarnation, Lews Therin (whose voice in his head, though not memories, had been a
** The original story itself gets used, in a very
* In ''Blood and Iron'' by Elizabeth Bear, "Merlin" is not an individual, but a title for a quasi-messianic avatar of magic that is born every few centuries to advise an equally quasi-messianic "Dragon Prince", and the Nimue gambit is the method by which [[The Fair Folk]] attempt to gain control of this individual and ensure that the momentous events set in motion by the Merlin's coming are resolved to their benefit.
* Merlin is a character in the ''[[Nightside]]'' series. The legend is presented as truth here, with Nimue betraying Merlin and stealing his heart, causing him to be trapped beneath the world's oldest bar. Then {{spoiler|protagonist John Taylor goes back in time to when Merlin and Nimue were still together. Taylor needs strong magic to get even ''further'' back in time, so he winds up being the one who actually steals the heart. He accidently kills Nimue in the process, too, which explains why no one in the present can manage to find out where she hid the heart. It's in a Roman garbage dump.}}
* ''[[Safehold]]'' doesn't make any real use of this trope but does contain a [[Shout
* Harry Dresden and his apprentice {{spoiler|Molly Carpenter}} in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' by [[Jim Butcher]]. Harry is older, probably in his thirties or forties although [[Wizards Live Longer]] so he is just coming into his own power and not generally thought of as venerable, and takes on an apprentice when she is still a teen. He makes it very clear from the start that there is not going to be any romantic connection between the two for a number of reasons (two big ones: he's too good to abuse the power relationship like that, and he has been a friend of her father since she was a child so it would be [[Squick
** This also comes up in regards to Wardens Lucio and Morgan, whose relationship was very
*** {{spoiler|Yes, but without the UST.}}
** Lucio, in particular, implies this is the case for ''almost all'' apprentices, and uses aloud, "do any of them ever grow out of it?"
* [[Non
* Gorynel Desse and
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Most of [[Doctor Who
== Multiple Media ==
* Both the Sith and the Jedi have some examples of this from the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]''.
== Tabletop RPG ==
* The ''[[Champions]]'' supplement ''Champions Presents #2'', adventure "Murder in Stronghold". In the backstory, the supervillain Master Magus had a female apprentice (and lover) named Amaryllis who was a member of his villain team.
* The ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' supplement "Book of Vile Darkness" included a prestige class named Thrall of Graz'zt that was described as being sort of a Loremaster who acquires secrets by seduction rather than by study. That's right, there's a whole class oriented around being Nimue. And yes, it has class abilities that can be described as basically "backstabbing, only with magic".
** Graz'zt ''himself'' [[Beat Them At Their Own Game| was a victim of this]], even though he was also [[Stockholm Syndrome| technically a prisoner of his apprentice/lover]]. The short version: The archmage Iggwilv summoned him and bound him using sealing magic; eventually, they became lovers (Iggwilv bearing his child, Iuz, who would [[The Dreaded| grow up to become a notorious tyrant]]) taught her forbidden arts, and acted as her adviser as she forged her empire. She never released him from his bonds, however, and eventually, it sank in that she was never going to. [[Never Live It Down| What made this even more humiliating]] - for Graz'zt - is that when they finally did come to blows, she came closer to killing him than anyone had (or has since). The fight was a knock-out draw, with his material form destroyed (leaving him unable to leave his home plane for a century) and her left half dead and powerless. Her empire crumbled, and little was seen of her for decades.
== Video games ==
* Antonidas and Jaina from ''[[
* Somewhat surprisingly averted in the second ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' game, where the player character, (a young hero [[Fighter, Mage, Thief|who can be a magic user if you choose that class]]) and the experienced enchantress Aziza do not form this relationship. Although Aziza will gladly give you lots of advice and bring up a subquest or two, she will not sponsor your entrance into [[Wizarding School|the Wizard's Academy]] (she takes that sort of thing very seriously and hasn't known you long enough or well enough yet) and she doesn't tutor you in magic or help your growth in it otherwise.
** ''Quest For Glory 4'', on the other hand, has an evil version in the relationship between {{spoiler|Ad Avis and Katrina. She defeated him many years ago when he challenged her in magic, made him her apprentice, and bit him so that he would rise again as a vampire under her control upon his death (i.e. when you defeated him at the end of the second game). This upset [[Politically
*** {{spoiler|Erana also teaches you a spell if you save her in 5 instead. In the rest of the games, she simply leaves scrolls behind for clever wizards to find.}}
* This was [[Clive
* This is the stated relationship between [[Big Bad
* Warlic and Nythera from the [[
== Visual Novels ==
* ''[[Fate/stay
== Western Animation ==
* The Archmage and Demona from ''[[Gargoyles]]'', during the flashbacks to when she was his pupil. Thankfully the sexual chemistry was not present, because that would have been pretty [[Squick
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Duo Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Print]]
[[Category:Index of Pupils and
[[Category:Merlin
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