Darth Vader and Zamasu
So, I was watching Dragon Ball Super with my son when we got to the storyline involving Zamasu. He is a character being trained to watch over the universe by the current person, but he develops a hatred towards mortals. This steadily grows as he watches events unfold then he decides to take action to wipe out all mortals. It reminded me of other fallen apprentices like Darth Vader and Tai Lung. So, why is this such a common theme in various genres?
I think this stems from the fascination with falling from grace. We love to see heroes fall or potential heroes fail to reach their potential. Something about the sight of a person becoming the opposite of what their teacher intended stirs an interest. It isn’t even a conscious fascination for some people. They just sense that it’s makes a good story and can’t look away. Perhaps it stirs a combination of pity, disappointment, and sympathy for someone who failed to reach their goals.
From a psychological standpoint, one could also see fallen apprentices as lessons. Using their journey, one can see how a sense of superiority can lead to tragedy. It serves as a warning that ego can blind us to a dark path and cause us to take actions, which hurt others. In another sense, we can begin to identify those around us who demonstrate these negative traits. So, one can protect themselves or even stop another person from making fairly big mistakes.
Fallen apprentices also act as a dark mirror for heroes. Many times, the protagonist has either been trained alongside or after the villain by the same teacher. They may even have been taught specifically to defeat the fallen apprentice. It means they have similar, if not identical, powers and abilities with the villain simply having more experience and less restraint. Readers get to see how the apprentice can go either way by having a character for each path. This conjures thoughts about morality and how it can be twisted by those who think they are doing good by being evil. For example, Zamasu really did think he was making a better universe by wiping out all of the violent mortals.
I wonder if there’s more of an emotional connection. This is a long shot, but it could be about the potential redemption arc. If a fallen apprentice finds redemption and turns back to good then we gain hope that real people can do the same. Not only strangers, but ourselves being able to find forgiveness for anything we’ve done out of ego. A person who let down a mentor or role model might see this redemption arc as a possibility that they can regain that lost respect. It could even show that there are worse ways to fall from grace than simply failing to meet expectations. I know this is very personal and probably not common, but it could work for some people.
So, what do other people think of the fallen apprentice stories? Any obscure ones that you can think of from fiction?
Legends of Windemere 
Tai Lung and Anakin are great examples. Jason Todd comes to mind, since he started off as Batman’s sidekick.
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Wasn’t sure about Jason. Only because he didn’t go villain. Not permanently at least.
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I saw this paragraph online: “Commenting on the direction and utilization of Jason Todd in the storyline, writer and artist Tony Daniel has stated that, from this point on, Jason is a “bona fide” villain: At this point [Jason] is beyond the point of no return in terms of ever being considered even remotely a hero.”
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That just confuses me. People still use him as an anti-hero.
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This may be funny, but I thought of Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice to the music of Fantasia.
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I remember that scene in Fantasia with him wearing the sorcerer’s hat and doing what he wasn’t supposed to do–magic.
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He definitely made a mess.
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But an entertaining mess!
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Darn. Noelle got here with the idea of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. That’s all I could think of while reading this post.
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Never thought of him for this, but it works.
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😊
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We typically fail more than we succeed in life. Heroes keep trying. This is a great arc to explore. The only one I can come up with off the cuff is Morgan Le Fay.
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True. Though fallen apprentices don’t do much quit as they take the darker path.
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If both were trained by the same teacher, it almost makes them rivals rather than just one of them being weaker or stronger. This does make me think of Dr. Strange, though. He came to the Ancient One in dire straits and was immediately acclaimed as the successor, passing over Mordo, who had been studying with the Ancient One for much longer. Mordo became the enemy mostly out of jealousy.
I guess within the structure of a comic book, you would have to condense the timeline of Strange’s learning, but still… I can see Mordo’s point, too.
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When there are two apprentices, authors usually make one jealous of the other. As much of a trope as it is, I think it plays to common human nature.
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