History Main / BeleagueredChildhoodFriend

Almost invariably, the main character discovers that the Childhood Friend is guilty as sin and/or off his rocker, leading the protagonist to wonder how their paths could have diverged so much.

* Messala from ''Film/BenHur'' is a classic example of this. He's Judah's childhood friend, just returned to the area, and even appears to have a thing for Judah's sister. Then he betrays them all.

* WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} immediately sets out to find (and exonerate) his childhood friend Lucas Troy after Troy is accused of treason. Turns out Archer is WrongGenreSavvy and Troy [[spoiler: did commit the crimes so he could have enough money to elope with Archer.]]

* ''Film/{{Spiral}}'' has Mason playing this role to Berkeley. They were close childhood friends when [[spoiler:Mason's father killed his mother]] and Berkeley has since done all he can to support Mason despite how Mason is becoming increasingly unhinged.

* In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', Vimes's childhood friend, (or at least fellow member of the streetgang The Cockbill Street Roaring Lads) Lupin Wonse gets seriously beleaguered when he becomes the personal assistant to a dragon. Vimes realises [[spoiler: he summoned the damn thing in the first place]].

* In TheRegenerationTrilogy, Prior becomes a double agent of sorts--he's working for the Ministry of Munitions during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI to apprehend pacifists, while trying to shelter a family of pacifists he had known as a child. His unique position looks like it could be very useful for helping his friends, and even getting one of them out of jail. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well.]]

* In ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'' the beleaguered friend is the unwilling patient of a research hospital, trapped and struggling to find a way out while listening to its mandatory curriculum of "Relaxation Cassettes." By the time Cassette #4 is received, the patient rediscovers a childhood companion who offers further aid in escaping [[spoiler: The Cassettes' Narrator herself, who reveals that she's offering this help purely because of remembering their prior relationship.]]

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', your party comes across an old and strongly respected friend of [[spoiler: Jolee Bindo (the mentor of the party) named Sunry, Sunry]] has been accused of murder and asks for your aid in clearing his name. [[spoiler: In a twist, he's guilty but ostensibly on your side (his victim was a spy for the enemy faction) presenting the player with a nice moral dilemma in a game where the dark side seems to be almost all [[KickTheDog random pointless thuggery]] otherwise.]]

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:VisualNovels]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', your party comes across an old and strongly respected friend of [[spoiler: Jolee Bindo (the ObiWan of the party) named Sunry, Sunry]] has been accused of murder and asks for your aid in clearing his name. [[spoiler: In a twist, he's guilty but ostensibly on your side (his victim was a spy for the enemy faction) presenting the player with a nice moral dilemma in a game where the dark side seems to be almost all [[KickTheDog random pointless thuggery]] otherwise.]]

* ''WeissKreuz'' provides a variant with an assassin instead of a lawyer: not only is target Koichiro Kase 100% guilty of the crime of the week, he's also 100% guilty for the gambling scandal that ruined Ken's soccer career ''and'' attempted to burn him to death. And shot him. Kase is a really, ''really'' bad friend.

* In TheRegenerationTrilogy, Prior becomes a double agent of sorts--he's working for the Ministry of Munitions during UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne to apprehend pacifists, while trying to shelter a family of pacifists he had known as a child. His unique position looks like it could be very useful for helping his friends, and even getting one of them out of jail. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well.]]

* Jellal is (sometimes) this for Erza in ''Manga/FairyTail''.

* ''ThePractice'' has at least one such episode (usually a 2-3 parter) per season.

* In ''ThirdWatch'', this character type was subverted slightly, as Bobby's drug addicted best friend ended up shooting him (Bobby) dead despite Bobby's efforts to help him.

* One episode of ''MidsomerMurders'' ends with Jones [[spoiler:discovers not only that his ex-cop friend was guilty, but that he'd committed murder when he was ten ([[NeverFoundTheBody or so he thought]]).]]

* ''Series/ThePinkertons'' episode plays this completely straight with detective Kate Warne and [[spoiler:her childhood friend Henry Fox, who's now a crooked pugilist]].

* In the O. Henry story ''After Twenty Years'', [[spoiler: two friends meeting for the first time after twenty years apart are a policeman and a criminal. The police officer, not recognized by his friend, gets a plainclothes detective to pose as him and apprehend the criminal since he can't bear to do it himself.]]

* One episode of MidsomerMurders ends with Jones [[spoiler:discovers not only that his ex-cop friend was guilty, but that he'd committed murder when he was ten ([[NeverFoundTheBody or so he thought]]).]]

* Messala from ''Ben-Hur'' is a classic example of this. He's Judah's childhood friend, just returned to the area, and even appears to have a thing for Judah's sister. Then he betrays them all.

* Not childhood, but this happened a number of times on ''HighlanderTheSeries'' where an old immortal friend of Duncan's would show up, reminisce some, and then turn out to have either gone bad since Duncan last saw them or to have always been a little bit rotten after all.

Not to be confused with UnluckyChildhoodFriend, which is about a childhood friend falling in love with [[ObliviousToLove the oblivious hero]]. Nor should it be confused with BigBadFriend, who is still guilty and even actively evil... they just have their life together. Finally, not to be confused with IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine, although the two can overlap if the friend is played by a former colleague of one of the cast.

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' when [[spoiler: Elaine Mallory reenters Harry's life and asks for help unraveling a faerie fracas. She appears to betray him, but leaves him a way out only he would know, allowing him to save the world just in the nick of time.]]
* In TheRegenerationTrilogy, Prior becomes a double agent of sorts--he's working for the Ministry of Munitions during WorldWarOne to apprehend pacifists, while trying to shelter a family of pacifists he had known as a child. His unique position looks like it could be very useful for helping his friends, and even getting one of them out of jail. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well.]]

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', your party comes across an old and strongly respected friend of [[spoiler: Jolee Bindo (the ObiWan of the party) named Sunry, Sunry]] has been accused of murder and asks for your aid in clearing his name. [[spoiler: In a twist, he's guilty but ostensibly on your side (his victim was a spy for the enemy faction) presenting the player with a nice moral dilemma in a game where the dark side seems to be almost all [[KickTheDog random pointless thuggery]] otherwise.]]

* In the first case of ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', Wright's old friend Larry Butz is the defendant, although in this case the childhood friend really ''is'' innocent.

*** [[spoiler: And in this case, Edgeworth really was innocent too, of BOTH crimes, even though he himself thought he was guilty of the second one. Though it keeps you wondering until the final moment.]]
** In the AceAttorneyInvestigations series, Edgeworth ends up defending Larry [[spoiler:twice. The first time, he's the initial suspect in the killing of Mask De Masque II, because he tried sneaking through the chimney, and the second time, in the second game, he's the first suspect in the present section of the third case]].

* {{Archer}} immediately sets out to find (and exonerate) his childhood friend Lucas Troy after Troy is accused of treason. Turns out Archer is WrongGenreSavvy and Troy [[spoiler: did commit the crimes so he could have enough money to elope with Archer.]]