The Magician

In the framework of the hero's journey, there is a vector for supernatural aid normally personified in the figure of the Magician. The Magician archetype is genderless and may be either masculine or feminine depending on th tale. The important part is that the Magician is there to provide assistance in the hero's search for gnosis.
Allegorically, no matter the seeming reward of the story itself, the true quest is for knowledge,  and through that knowledge, the alchemical transformation of the self.
It's the fact that the Magician already possess knowledge that makes the often elderly figure worthy of both fear and respect. While he is often physically unimposing, he possess an unquantifiable quality whose depth is never explained.