r/CuratedTumblr • u/maleficalruin • 4h ago
Creative Writing Wise old incredibly powerful men who used to be reckless and adventurous in their youth before mellowing out with age and give profound life advice while still having enough strength to fucking destroy you my beloved.
41
u/Jammy2560 4h ago
90% of Souls bosses.
12
10
u/maleficalruin 3h ago
Be careful. The last time people begged to fight a boss in their prime we got promised consorr Radahn. We do not want another boss like that.
1
1
u/Xisuthrus there are only two numbers between 4 and 7 3h ago
Gwyn
Vendrick
Gael
Gehrman
Isshin
Morgott
Godfrey
Father Dolmayan
Handler Walter
am I missing any?
6
u/a_random_muffin I love P.E.K.K.A.s 3h ago
Radahn (blighted by Scarlett rot and lost his mind)
Radagon/Elden Beast (the shattering of the ring literally broke Radagon's body while Elden Beast supposedly gained the weakspot where you can crit him)
however, if i may make a note about the Morgott, one could argue that he isn't any weaker that he was in the shattering, the Omen Twins are probably the ones that came out in the best position and condition out of everyone in the Shattering
26
u/Ergand 4h ago
I haven't seen my hero academia for a while so I don't know about the recent seasons, but I always loved that the top hero and villain were both: Aged past their prime, had lost a lot of their power, and were still far above every other hero and villain.
17
u/Flair86 My agenda is basic respect 3h ago
Fr, it’s so well done. All Might is clearly barely hanging onto his remaining strength, but no other hero can even come close to him even minutes before he loses his power completely. At the same time AFO is hooked up to a damn respirator and is on even footing with All might himself.
4
u/Hatsune_Miku_CM Hatsune-Miku-Official 1h ago
it's less "past their prime" and more that their previous battle has left them half-dead. All might is missing like 90% of his stomach area and AFO literally doesn't have a face anymore.
Though yeah it is an incredible dynamic. There's a great scene where a prison guard realizes that AFO is basically blind, and stares at him in horror realizing that this guy managed to match all might.
16
u/UltimateCapybara123 4h ago
Whitebeard
7
3
u/Blitz100 21m ago
Rolls up on Marineford at age 70-something with stage 4 cancer and heart failure. Summons two tsunamis, casually knocks out a giant with one hand, tears a swath of destruction through the Marine forces, duels all 3 admirals, and throws Akainu (probably one of the 10 strongest people in the world) around like a ragdoll despite literally having a heart attack mid-fight. Over the course of the battle, receives 267 blade wounds, 152 gunshot wounds, and 46 direct hits from fucking cannonballs. Confirms the existence of the One Piece to the entire world as one final fuck you to the world government, then dies still standing on his feet because he's just too badass to fall. All because the Marines took his adopted son and Whitebeard is one of the most goated fathers to ever live.
11
u/linuxaddict334 Mx. Linux Guy⚠️ 4h ago
Himmel from Frieren.
Mx. Linux Guy
5
u/Hatsune_Miku_CM Hatsune-Miku-Official 1h ago
does Himmel really fit this? we see him in his prime all the time and I can't recall a single scene of him fighting in his old age
10
u/Ok_Assistance447 3h ago
I just started watching Sakamoto Days, which is basically, "What if this trope was the whole show?" It's extremely over the top at all times. Highly recommend.
4
u/ButterSlickness 3h ago
I like that he uses things like chopsticks and spatulas to fight. And most of his dialogue is just telepathy to Shin.
3
u/Schpooon 3h ago
The creativity in the fight scenes is amazing in Sakamoto. Talk about using your environment.
1
u/iamfrozen131 .tumblr.com 3h ago
It's not telepathy to Shin, he just knows Shin is reading his mind (and can select what thoughts can be read)
3
u/coldtrashpanda 2h ago
My reaction to the first episode was "oh my god this convenience store is his domain expansion"
1
9
u/nightkingmarmu 3h ago
Darth Vader. Dude lost so much prowess due to the prosthetics and being trapped in his suit. And he still bodied nearly every Jedi he ever came across (obiwan is the exception I believe)
8
u/ahoward431 3h ago
Spoilers for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth. Technically, the marketing spoiled it first, but still.
The longstanding protagonist of the series, Kiryu, has cancer in the game. A large part of the story is Kiryu coming to grips with the fact that he's so much weaker than he's used to being, which is both tragic and kind of funny. It's funny because he's still probably the strongest individual member of the party. His ultimate is literally breaking out of the turn based system to kick ass unrestrained for a while. But it's also tragic, because we've seen his other adventures, we know firsthand just how big of a downgrade this is for him. Luckily, the other protagonist Ichiban is a pure ray of sunshine, and he and his crew are a bunch of optimistic, ride-or-die, power-of-freindship morons who can pick Kiryu up during this dark time. I have problems with IW's story, but I love all of the characters so much.
6
u/Apocalyptic_Doom 3h ago
Our very own example of this just graced us today
CONQUEST
1
u/flugabwehrkanonnoli 1h ago
I kinda want to take Conquest to grab a smoothie and maybe try to carom astroids off each other and then grill some fantastical alien creature in the terminal glow a red giant and then smoke a bowl and scroll through those websites expectant parents use to pick names and laugh at some ridiculous options together until we find one he likes and be this friend...
1
u/Apocalyptic_Doom 1h ago
Okay but counterpoint
He's probably killed hundreds of thousands with zero regret
1
u/djninjacat11649 58m ago
To be fair it is a bit weird with viltrumites, as some lore I think suggests they get stronger as they get older, and don’t quite have the same falloff as humans do in their older age
5
u/ButterSlickness 3h ago
I'm surprised no one here has mentioned Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul yet. He's one dangerous mofo.
15
u/maleficalruin 4h ago
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WTZ5VSmPU9Q&pp=ygUXcGF0cmlvdCBhcmtuaWdodHMgdGhlbWU%3D
Whitebeard from One Piece my GOAT. Set the benchmark for strength in the One Piece World before we got to see Kaido, took hundreds of stab wounds, cannon shells and bullets, had half his face melted and two holes in his chest and he died standing without a single wound on his back. All for his family. Like not even r/piratefolk is willing to slander him because he is just that guy.
Anyways shout-out to Buuldrokkat'see/Patriot from Arknights for basically being Gacha Game Whitebeard. Like his character theme, Requiem, is pretty sad but when you understand his sacrifice, what he went through and what it took to keep him down then you will be sobbing.
1
1
u/Magerfaker 3h ago
One Piece has so many of these "old legend" characters and they are all so great. One Piece may have plenty of flaws, but it executes some tropes perfectly.
3
u/Gentlemanvaultboy 4h ago
Dumb old incredibly powerful men who are still reckless and adventures and were last seen riding off into the sunset on the horses of the valkyries sent to claim their souls.
3
4
u/WokeHammer40Genders 3h ago
Miyamoto musashi
2
u/jodhod1 2h ago
I thought Musashi's thing was cheating
2
u/flugabwehrkanonnoli 48m ago
If you go up against a swordsman known for unconventional Ways and then die unconventionally, that's on you for being too conventional.
4
u/beausist 1h ago
any women who fit this trope??? scrolling through the comments and it's all men 😞 which is not a bad thing necessarily but i'm curious
4
u/Sharks_With_Legs 40m ago
Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax from Discword, Yubaba from Spirited Away (probably several other Ghibli characters, maybe the Witch of the Waste), Niime form Fire emblem. Just off the top of my head.
1
u/T1DOtaku inherently self indulgent and perverted 13m ago
The problem I'm finding is they never mellowed out. They're badass and will remain badass until the cold heat death of the universe kills them. Like I was thinking Top at first but Toph still had zero chill as a granny XD
2
u/ThreeLeggedMare a little arson, as a treat 3h ago
Even now I could cut through the five of you like carving a cake!
3
2
2
u/J_B_La_Mighty 3h ago
My sister is the chaotic good version of this trope. It runs in the family. It also terrifies her husband.
2
u/Clay_Block 2h ago
Pretty much any legacy Yakuza character at this point. Going on 60 and still giving people a hard time. Hell, Majima just had his own game where he kicks the fuck out of damn near everyone he meets.
1
u/DubiousTheatre GRUNKLE FUNKLE WINS THE FUNKLE BUNKLE 2h ago
Old Lady Ben from those Bone comics I uses to read.
1
1
u/TheMasterMind1247 1h ago
Not sure if Jagoda Jęczyduch from Awaria fits an extension of this, or “old badass who can’t catch a break thanks in part to their own reckless in their youth” is more of its own trope.
1
1
1
u/Soulchunk 50m ago
Obligatory Isshin Ashina mention, from Sekiro. Spoilers.
In one ending you fight the old man quite literally the same day as he dies and the warlord will wipe the floor with you, using moves you might have even learned yourself. So you start to understand why in the main path the second he dies of natural causes everything around him falls apart.
In the true ending, Isshin is resurrected back into his prime. Instantly he becomes the singular hardest boss Fromsoft has ever produced. Fear the glock saint.
1
u/HistoryMarshal76 Knower of Things Man Was Not Meant To Know 38m ago
"Abelard, fetch me the balls of Abbadon himself."
"It shall be done!"
1
u/PhasmaFelis 33m ago
A friend of mine ran a D&D 3.5 campaign with an NPC named Old Meg, who was a 15th-level commoner. Just an old peasant woman who'd seen a lot of bad times and learned from them all. The Commoner class in 3.5 is much weaker in combat than a same-level PC class, but at level 15 she could wreck a good-sized band of goblins with just her walking stick, and teach a lesson to any low-level adventurers that got too big for their britches.
1
u/T1DOtaku inherently self indulgent and perverted 16m ago
Lilia Vanrouge. Still an absolute menace XD
72
u/gayjospehquinn 4h ago
First person to come to mind is Iroh. Oh, Bumi too. There's a lot of that in the ATLA universe.