Friday Favorites: Teacher/Mentor Characters
Hello, hello and welcome to another Friday Favorites! This week’s topic is Teacher/Mentor Characters. This is one of those topics that I know I’m going to realize like five other characters I want to add to the list after I post this. I love teacher/mentor characters but I also have a garbage memory, so the fact I could think of six is a darn miracle.
REMEMBER: If you have a Friday Favorites post of your own, drop the link in the comments so I can add it to the post list I’ll be making at the bottom of this post!

Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter
Professor McGonagall is the teacher I wish I’d had at some point in my academic career. She is snarky AF, fierce AF, and 100% would have kicked my ass into line. It doesn’t hurt that she was portrayed in the movies by Maggie Smith who is one of my favorite actresses (can I also mention how amazing she is as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey?). If Rowling had killed McGonagall, I would have rioted. As much as I dislike all the additions to the HP universe, I wouldn’t be against a McGonagall origin story.

Mercurio and Chronicler Aelius from Nevernight
Mercurio is that grumpy, verging on cruel, mentor character that I love. For some reasons I love tough love in a book (but not real life…I’ll start crying if someone barely raises their voice to me. I’m the worst.) and Mercurio definitely deals some tough love to Mia. Chronicler Aelius is actually the character that inspired this prompt for me. I don’t know what it is about librarian characters that just always stand out to me. The Chronicler always seems to have a wise word and a good smoke for Mia.

Jeremy Danvers from Bitten
As an Alpha werewolf in Bitten, Jeremy Danvers is both mentor and teacher to many characters in the book. I will be 100% honest with you and admit that I originally thought of Jeremy for this list purely because I have such a book crush on him. But I confirmed with my resident Kelley Armstrong fan over on #bookstagram that Jeremy definitely fits the bill for this topic.

Kelsier from Mistborn
*sigh* Oh, Kelsier. He was just a man, but oh what a man he was. He is not only the lead of the crew tasked with killing a god, but he teaches our main girl, Vin, how to be a kick ass Mistborn. Kel could give Kaz Brekker a run for his money with plots behind plots. While Kel is a fantastic leader of men, he really shines as the teacher to Vin. He teaches her so much, not just about her Mistborn powers, but how to trust and become comfortable in herself.

Numair and the Badger God from The Immortals Quartet
I feel the need to admit that this is kind of a hot for teacher entry for Numair. He was one of my first book boyfriends. All powerful mage with a mysterious past and a bit of a reputation for being a ladies man? Yeah, sign me the heck up. And I couldn’t not include the Badger God, because he is a grumpy god and a badger. Basically a grumpy Hufflepuff, like me.

Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Okay, yeah, sure…Giles is technically from a TV series, but there are books based on the show and that’s the loophole I’m jumping into so I can feature one of my favorite characters of all time. Giles deals with a lot of shit from the Scoobies and reacts with anything from genuine, caring wisdom to scathing snark. He’s got a dark, mysterious past and a great signing voice. And I’m starting to realize I’m just focusing on all the things that make me have a crush on him instead of how awesome he is a as a mentor and teacher to Buffy and the Scoobies. I’m pretty sure that if Giles hadn’t been around, Sunnydale would have fallen to one of the many apocalypses.
And for good measure, here are some extra Giles gifs because I couldn’t choose my favorite:
So, there is my list of favorites for the week! Do you have any beloved teacher/mentor characters?
Friday Favorites posts from the Bookish Community: