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{{trope}}
{{quote|''I always thought you were like a... well, slave's the wrong word, but... really? Mother ''pays'' you?''
|'''Sterling Archer''' to '''Woodhouse''', ''[[Archer]]''}}
Many servants are deeply attached to the person (or family) they work for. The old retainer is indeed often elderly, and his service has often been long, but the essential trait is his loyalty and propriety. He identifies his interests with those of his employer, regards himself as slighted by any injuries to him, and strives mightily to keep things going properly.
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[[Sister Trope]] of [[The Jeeves]], [[Battle Butler]], [[Crusty Caretaker]], [[Creepy Housekeeper]], [[Matron Chaperone]].
{{examples}}▼
Not to be confused with abandoned orthodontia.
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Baaya, the Fujiwara family's maid in ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]''. Having watched Hazuki's mom grow up, she's been able to help mother and daughter work things out.
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* Ohatsu and Katou from ''[[Sakura Gari]]'' are pretty tragic versions of the trope, as they're first-rate witnesses of all the tragedies surrounding the Saiki clan. {{spoiler|Sakurako's tragic suicide [[Despair Event Horizon|throws Katou over the edge]], as he was ''her'' caretaker and servant much more than the family butler... so he stabs Souma few afterwards. And Ohatsu doesn't have it much easier, as she did know about Sakurako's mom abusing Souma but couldn't denounce her because of what it'd do to the family, and ''that'' left her an emotional wreck.}}
** And in regards to Katou, {{spoiler|he actually was ''Sakurako's father'', since he was involved with Sakurako's mom when young. No wonder he's '''pissed''' when the kid commits suicide.}}
* Tanaka in ''[[Black Butler]]''.
== Ballads ==
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* In [[Child Ballad]] 6 ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch006.htm Willie's Lady]'', the family household sprite Belly Blind advises Willie how to defeat his mother—a "[[Wicked Witch|rank witch]]"—in her attempt to [[Death by Childbirth|kill his wife in childbed]].
* In some variants of [[Child Ballad]] 53 ''[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch053.htm Young Beichan]'', the family household sprite Belly Blin warns Isobel that her lover is about to marry another woman. (Yes, there ''is'' a certain pattern to those names.)
== Comic Books ==
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* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark's]] butler Jarvis, especially when he is put in charge of maintaining [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers Mansion]]. He opts to remain in Tony's service, even after being severely injured in a vicious attack by the Masters of Evil.
* ''[[Doctor Strange]]'': Wong has remained his manservant from the beginning. He also instructed Strange in the martial arts; as Strange declared at one point(referring to his learning martial arts from Wong), "In some ways, Wong is my servant. In others, he is my master."
== Fairy Tales ==
* In [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|The Brothers Grimm]]'s ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140405134935/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/6faithfuljohn.html Faithful John]'', the dying king orders Faithful John to prevent his son from going into a certain room. When this fails and the new king falls in love with a portrait he sees there, Faithful John accompanies him, and when he learns of perils, protects the king and his bride at the price of looking like a madman. Finally, to avoid execution, he explains, and is turned to stone.
* In [[Joseph Jacobs]]'s ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718140257/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/stories/tattercoats.html Tattercoats]'', Tattercoats is ignored by her grandfather and abused by all the servants, except for one faithful nurse, who looks after her all the time she is growing up.
* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/116.htm The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen]'', it is an old servant woman who tells the knight that {{spoiler|the thief's last tale is true, and furthermore that the knight is the baby he saved during it}}.
== Fan Works ==
* [[Undocumented Features|For every Dessler, there is a Dragonaar]].
== Film ==
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* ''[[Fearless (film)|Fearless]]'': The personal servant Huo Yuanjia had as a child is still there to tend for the abandoned family estate when Huo comes back after years of self-imposed exile.
* Clifton, faithful valet to down-on-his-luck movie star George Valentin in ''[[The Artist]]''. {{spoiler|He remains steadfast to Valentin even after being hired by Peppy Miller.}}
== Literature ==
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* For '''Oldest''' Old Retainer ever, I nominate Jenkins, the robotic butler in Clifford D. Simak's novel, ''City''. He serves the Webster family and their descendants faithfully for... oh, at least 10,000 years. Probably more like half a million.
* NDR-113, better known as Andrew, serves several generations of the Martin family before gaining emancipation in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s story, "The Bicentennial Man" (expanded to novel-length as ''The Positronic Man'' by Asimov and [[Robert Silverberg]], and adapted to film as ''[[Bicentennial Man]]'', starring [[Robin Williams]]).
* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Willikins, the Ramkin/Vimes family butler
** [[The Igor|Igor]] in
*** Actually, Igor was willing to tolerate it up to a point, but when Count Magpyr started his [[Villainous Breakdown]] Igor decided it was time to bring back the old count.
* Butler of ''[[Artemis Fowl]]''. The Butlers have worked for the Fowls for generations, and Butler also has a strong personal loyalty to Artemis.
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** Miles Teg and Patrin. It's implied that their relationship isn't platonic, though.
* In Mary Stewart's ''Arthurian'' series, a character called Ulfin is rescued from effective slavery as a boy by King Uther. He repays this with absolute loyalty and rises to be Uther's most trusted servant, going on to a similar position with King Arthur after Uther dies. He's also the ''only person'' who actually seems to mourn Uther's death.
* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* In [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''The Bell At Sealy Head'', Lady Eglatyne's cook is distraught as the lady is dying. She can find another place, but she had served Lady Eglatyne since she was a little girl.
* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* Good old Gabriel Betteredge from Wilkie Collins' ''[[The Moonstone]]''.
* Sergeant Hoong is a faithful Old Retainer of [[Judge Dee]] 's family. Though he watched the Judge grow up he gave up trying to understand how his mind worked long, long ago.
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* Aerin's nurse Teka in ''The Hero and the Crown'', a prequel to ''[[The Blue Sword]]''.
* Hannah in Louisa May Alcott's ''[[Little Women]]''.
* Hogg to Daniel Leary of Bantry, in [[David Drake]]'s [[RCN Series]] novels, as a gamekeeper/groundsman (in theory, anyway - Hogg is far from above poaching) when Daniel was a boy, and as a very informal valet/batman to him as an adult.
* Coram in the [[Tortall Universe|Song of the Lioness]] quartet was this to the Trebond family. He served as Alanna's man-at-arms while she was a page and for the first couple of years of her knighthood, and acted as steward when Alanna's father died. In the last book, ''Lioness Rampant'', Buri reveals that her family has served [[Rebellious Princess|Thayet's]] mother's family for generations.
* In [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Persuasion]]'', after Louisa's injuries in Lyme, the old family nursemaid goes to nurse Louisa.
* In [[P. G.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Baldrick to [[Blackadder|Lord Blackadder]]. [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|Naturally]], this earns him no favours whatsoever:
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': You're fired.
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* Uncle Pete from [[Damages]]. Tom introduces him as "the one who really runs things around here" which is the kind of patronage you'd expect from a law firm partner towards someone from the domestic staff. But as it turns out, it may actually be true. Not only is he in on every plot and scheme that goes down, but he talks to Patty in a way that suggests that he actually has some dominance over her.
* Mrs. Hall the loyal housekeeper from ''[[All Creatures Great and Small]]''
* Teula Tuileta or "Kumu" in [[Magnum P.I. (2018 series)|the reboot of ''Magnum P.I.'']] She is cultural curator of the estate and comes from a family that traces it's roots to the Hawaiian monarchy. If there is anything worth knowing about Hawaii (including say, [[Chekhov's Gun|where the otherwise unknown plants on the victim's body actually grow]]) she pretty well knows it.
* ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs]]'' is practically made of this trope. But especially notable are Mr Hudson and Mrs Bridges.
* Jiiya, from ''Kamen Rider Kabuto'', fits this role.
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* Niles from ''[[The Nanny]]''. His father was the butler for the previous generation of the Sheffield family. Niles grew up alongside Max, and even followed him to America.
== Recorded and Stand-Up Comedy==
* On Vivian Stanshall's comedy LP, [[wikipedia:Sir Henry At Rawlinson End|Sir Henry At Rawlinson End]], the butler to the Rawlinson family is "Old Scrotum, the wrinkled retainer".▼
== Tabletop Games ==
* [[Tabletop Roleplaying Games]] set in the [[New World of Darkness]] allow a merit called "Retainer", which may well be this depending on when the player purchases it. Depending on how many dots they put into the merit said retainer can range in competence from [[The Jeeves]] to [[Bumbling Sidekick]].
▲== Theater ==
* Anfisa, in [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''Three Sisters'' is too old and feeble to be much good as a servant anymore, but is kept on out of loyalty, until the brother's new wife starts running the house.
* Same goes to Firs in ''The Cherry Orchard''. {{spoiler|He's left behind after Madame Ranevskaya and Co. have to go, and actually ''dies'' onstage as the orchard trees are cut down.}}
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* Zazu in [[The Lion King]], even more so than in the original animation. At one point he consoled Mufasa regarding Simba's rebellious streak; "I seem to recall a young lion cub, more willful than wise. And ''he'' achieved some prominence."
* A standard trope in Greek tragedy (appears in e.g. [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[The Libation Bearers]]'' and [[Euripides]]'s ''[[Medea]]''. A direct line exists from these to characters such as [[Romeo and Juliet|Juliet's Nurse]].
== Video Games ==
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* Impa appears to be this to Zelda (and, presumably, King Harkinian) in ''[[The Legend of Zelda CDI Games]]''.
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[The Specialists]]'', [http://thespecialistscomic.com/page-85/ Henry gets the butler rather than his father on the phone]—though the butler assures him they are both [[So Proud of You]].
▲* On Vivian Stanshall's comedy LP, [[wikipedia:Sir Henry At Rawlinson End|Sir Henry At Rawlinson End]], the butler to the Rawlinson family is "Old Scrotum, the wrinkled retainer".
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Elders]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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