All-Powerful Bystander: Difference between revisions

Sometimes, the Bystander is also a [[Trickster Mentor]]. Their advice is no less cryptic, but is at least more interesting.

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Ryuk, from ''[[Death Note]]''. He could use his shinigami eyes to kill L and solve all of Light's problems at any moment, but chooses not to. This is because, in his own words, [[Intrigued by Humanity|"Humans are so interesting."]]

** Expanded on when {{spoiler|Watanuki}} takes over the job from her. He keeps undercharging, and gets mysterious injuries proportional in severity to how much he undercharges.

* Seijuro Hiko from ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' taught the main character every sword skill he knows, except that, unlike Kenshin, Hiko's got the raw muscular power to use Hiten Mitsurigi style to its fullest, and doesn't bother with Kenshin's [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] philosophy. [[Word of God|The author stated outright]] that Hiko was far too powerful for anyone else in the series to handle. That's why he was made too apathetic and anti-social to ever go after the [[Big Bad]]s himself.

 

 

* In [[The DCU]], [[The Phantom Stranger]] frequently comes off like this, especially when he appears in someone else's story (which includes most of his appearances since the 1970s).

* Uatu from [[Marvel Comics]], who's bound to exactly the degree of interference that makes the plot more interesting. He is part of an entire race of beings called ''[[the Watcher]]s''. They are highly evolved and highly powerful but their roles are to... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|just watch.]] Even with the rare instances of Uatu doing anything at all, he's considered one of the more meddling members of his race.

* The Caeliar in ''[[Star Trek: Destiny]]''. Not literally all-powerful, but incredibly advanced technologically, and capable of resolving the Borg threat relatively simply. However, their culture is stagnant, xenophobic and isolationist in the extreme, apathetic about the wider galaxy. It takes Erika Hernandez to pull them off the sidelines, after first rediscovering her own humanity. In a sense, [[Star Trek: Destiny]] can be said to be about the redemption of the All-Powerful Bystander.

 

* The Powers That Be in ''[[Angel]]''. The Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart would count as the evil variety.

* Kosh and the Vorlons during the middle seasons of ''[[Babylon 5]]''. Subverted when the characters eventually decide they would prefer living in a galaxy without the Vorlons or their counterparts the Shadows.

 

 

* The Penguin God from ''[[Jack Of All Blades]]'', who when asked why he doesn't solve the cast's world threatening problem, states that its because he's going to spend the day thinking about naked people.

* Uncle Time from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. He could probably send everybody in Timeless Space home if he wanted to, but he doesn't bother unless someone falls into his home beneath the Oceans Unmoving.

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[[Category:Mentors]]