History Main / TheWatson

* Stephanie Dora from ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'' assists the audience in understanding Sora and Shiro's complicated game strategies. She actually has an at least average intellect but appears rather dumb in comparison to 『　　』.
* Mahiro Yasaka from ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' gets to play an odd combination of Watson and MrExposition thanks to his unique position in the story. As an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, he needs explanations about the aliens he and Nyarko encounter; however, as a fan of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, he can exposit a little about what said alien is within the context of Lovecraft's works once Nyarko has given him a name to work with.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'':

** Interestingly enough, for the classic Who TV serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]", this role is NOT played by the companion Leela. As [[http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/doctor-who-classic-the-talons-of-weng-chiang-63742 the AV Club]] noted, the side-characters Jago and Litefoot fulfill the story's role of Watson - Jago behaves as the traditional film depiction of Watson being a pompous, boisterous, easily puzzled sleaze while Litefoot behaves as literature's Watson being a quiet, calm, observant gentleman.

* In the soft reboot/second semester of ''WebComic/DumbingOfAge'' Booster serves as this, as they're Walky's new roommate and Walky becomes the MrExposition to introduce them to the rest of the main cast.

* Waldo Butters was created to serve this role in ''Literature/DeadBeat.'' In general, [[MuggleBestFriend Murphy]] or [[TheApprentice Molly]] usually serve as this.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration:'' Deanna Troi, despite being a trained bridge officer, often fulfills the role of person who asks what the thing / alien / threat of the week is.

* On ''Series/TheATeam'', Face was usually this to Hannibal when he explained that episode's plan, bringing up potential snags and problems that they could run into, but Murdock, B. A., and/or (in the early seasons) [[TheChick Amy or Tawnia]] could fill this role instead or simultaneously.

-->-- Website/{{Cracked}}, [[https://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-things-that-separate-troubled-geniuses-from-jerkwads/ "The 5 Things That Separate Troubled Geniuses From Jerkwads"]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': {{ComicBook/{{Robin}} and to a lesser extent Alfrend tend to play this role to ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''. This is even part of the reason Robin was created. According to Robin's creator Bill Finger:

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}:

* The various Snakes of the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' franchise seem to serve this role well, although the exact reason why is pretty [[PlayerCharacter obvious]]. The original idea behind the [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent protagonist switch]] was that Snake would have someone to be The Watson ''for'' him instead of being The Watson himself, letting him come across as more astute and mature. (Creator/HideoKojima even cited inspiration from ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' and ''Series/DoctorWho'' for the idea.)
** And he happens to be the most (only?) reality-grounded character in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' to boot, making for some hilarious codec calls where he [[MetaGuy tries to come to grips with the weirdness of the game]].

* Leonard, the main character of ''VideoGame/WhiteKnightChronicles'' (as opposed to your avatar who represents you, but has little story relevance). The other characters start [[{{Lampshade}} Lampshading it]] early on, with a random chatter once the game proper kicks off involving two characters remarking on how bizarre it is that Leonard knows nothing about Bigelows -- who form the backbone of communication in TheVerse, with their flight and ability to transmit images and voice between a pair allowing them to act as the setting equivalent to e-mail.

* George tends to be this to Nico in ''VideoGame/BrokenSword''. George is a clever adventurer and problem-slover, but he knows virtually nothing about his environment (Paris). Nico's main contribution to the plot is reminding George being a foreigner allows Nico to be MrExposition for the player without seeming like she's repeating pedantic information.
* Various [=NPCs=] and companions in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' franchise fill this role as needed to either the Warden or Hawke. The dialogue wheels for both {{player character}}s allow the player to ask questions, or not, about the background of Thedas and the history of the Grey Wardens and whatever else they don't already know, depending on how many times they've played the game.
** Approaches AsYouKnow territory in the mage origin in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' where the player character has lived their entire life in the mage tower and can ask some very basic stuff about how things work there.
* You, as the [[NoNameGiven unnamed protagonist]], fill this role to Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's Literature/CAugusteDupin in the ''VideoGame/DarkTales'' PC games. Dupin is, in-universe, the master detective and hero of the games, but as the player character, you're the one who actually does all the work; Dupin mostly functions as MrExposition.

* Fina from ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' knows almost nothing about any of the civilisations of Arcadia, having grown up in isolation in the Silver Civilisation. Ergo, it is her job to ask the questions that the audience cannot. And get a laugh or two out of them as well.
* Very late into ''VideoGame/Persona5'' a very complex GambitRoulette is pulled off with the end result being [[spoiler: the Protagonist barely avoiding getting killed by Akechi, with him none the wiser.]] Most players won't completely understand what happened, so it ends up being explained in-universe to [[spoiler: Sojiro, who's confused as to why the media is reporting that the Protagonist committed suicide and how they figured out that Akechi was planning to assassinate him.]]
* In the first ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', the AudienceSurrogate Anzu plays this role as a new transfer student in to Yumenosaki Academy. In the sequel, Anzu is already established in the world, so the position is transferred over to new character Hiiro, a newcomer from the country who came to Ensemble Square to take his brother back home rather than because he had any interest in idols. That allows for [[OtakuSurrogate idol geek]] Aira to fill him in on Ensemble Square (and therefore all the new details introduced in the sequel) and the idol world in general (for new players who hadn't played the original game). Apparently, Akira and the writers considered a number of ways to enable this kind of exposition, including having Anzu be struck down with amnesia, before settling on this one.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Ros's function, particularly during the first season (besides being MsFanservice), is to receive exposition. She was apparently created for the show to avoid "AsYouKnow..." conversations.
* In ''Series/{{Monk}}'', Sharona Fleming (season 1-season 3) and Natalie Teeger (season 3-8) are this to Adrian Monk.
* In ''Series/MagnumPI'', Magnum had an annoying friend named Rick. His function in the series was to serve as a sort of surrogate for the audience on the more outrageous story points. He was always protesting, "C'mon, Magnum..." as in, "C'mon, Magnum, there's no way those crooks would trust us with $7 million in gold coins. It's ludicrous." (And this is exactly what the audience was thinking at that point.) Magnum would then calmly explain to Rick just exactly why the crooks would, indeed, hand over $7 million in gold. Rick would be convinced, and in theory, the audience protests would have been addressed as well. This page was, it should be noted, once named The Rick.
* ''Series/MissSherlock'' has Wato Tachibana, a doctor returning from doing volunteer work in Syria, as the assistant to the titular "Sherlock". Appropriately, she is nicknamed "[[PunnyName Wato-san]]".

* Gwen gets to fill this role on ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' as the newest member of the team.

* Every single character in every single episode of every single ''Series/{{CSI}}'' can be the Watson. They find some rash or bacteria or wound or something on the corpse and then go on explaining what that means to the nearest character. Since that character is [[AsYouKnow supposed to know that stuff as well]], the whole dialogue turns into a circus of finishing sentences for the other character. In Grissom's last episode, Hodges says he's Watson to Grissom's Holmes. Grissom reminds him that Watson was a genius in his own right.
* The [[TheDitz ditzy]] lab assistant in the "Science Fiction Sketch" on ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' is very much a parody of the type; she exists simply to look pretty and have Graham Chapman's character explain the plot to her. He eventually becomes so frustrated with her stupidity that he knocks her out and explains the plot to himself instead.
* Gus from ''Series/{{Psych}}'', one of the few characters in on the {{Masquerade}}, whose fair intelligence and relative lack of observancy make him just short of an {{Expy}} of Watson himself. The gap between his character and Expy status closes even further when you consider how often his pharmaceutical knowledge (an update of Watson's medical training) plays into solving cases.
* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', the Cat, Lister and Rimmer tend to share Watson duties, with Holly and Kryten acting as MrExposition. This becomes extreme in the scene explaining the stasis leak, where Cat has to ask "What is it?" four times to get simpler and simpler explanations.
* In ''Series/{{Lost}}'', it's Hurley. Officially; it was lampshaded by the executive producers in a podcast.
* Clark Kent from ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' fits this in that he's usually the one giving Chloe an opportunity to rattle off a short explanation of whatever clever trick she came up with. He usually wears his Big Dumb Alien ™ expression to complete the cliche of Watson being a bit slow.

* Whenever somebody in ''Series/StargateUniverse'' explains something about how the Stargates function, they're explaining it to Eli. He's by far the least experienced of the bunch, though arguably more intelligent than most of the people explaining stuff to him.
** Jack O'Neill of ''Series/StargateSG1'' was the same. While a ColonelBadass and good leader, he'll still have to ask the two geniuses or the alien about whatever bit of AppliedPhlebotinum is about. Whether or not he was portrayed as ''generally'' unintelligent, or merely needing to leave [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun blowing up suns]] to Samantha Carter, wavered. Seldom if ever did Jack O'Neill fail to grasp what was going on. He was just a huge fan of ObfuscatingStupidity and had little patience for TechnoBabble.
** John Sheppard basically took on this role in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' as the newest member of the expedition while still being the highest-ranking military member.

* Wallace Fennel is the Watson to ''Series/VeronicaMars'', especially at the start of season 1, since he is new to Neptune.
* Donna usually played this role in ''Series/TheWestWing'', at least in the early years. Her job was to badger Josh with all the questions the audience was asking, "But Josh, why is policy x important?" "Josh, why should we loan Mexico millions?" In the later seasons she received CharacterDevelopment and moved beyond this role, occasionally needing her own Watson.
** In scenes involving the military and the Situation Room, President Bartlet would often serve this role. While hardly the everyman, it was frequently discussed how he had had no military experience prior to taking office, and so would frequently need his military advisors to explain things to him (and consequently the audience).
* Booth to Brennan in ''Series/{{Bones}}'', though it could argued that they really ping-pong the role between them depending whether they're dealing with the forensic or detective aspect of the investigation. But when you consider Booth's past as a soldier in the Middle East and the fact that Brennan is a doctor consulting to law enforcement you can clearly see their fictional lineage. The Squints are unquestionably the Baker Street Irregulars.
* The police with whom the BAU team up in ''Series/CriminalMinds'' often serve this purpose. Each episode has a scene where the team deliver a profile explaining the killer's psychology to the police, and thus also to the audience.
** Occasionally subverted when the cops grab the wrong end of the stick and completely misunderstand the profile, or think about it and realize it applies to half the local population.
* On ''Series/TheATeam'', Face was usually this to Hannibal when he explained that episode's plan, bringing up potential snags and problems that they could run into, but Murdock, B. A., and/or (in the early seasons) [[TheChick Amy or Tawnia]] could fill this role instead or simultaneously.

* Tori Vega in ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', as a NewTransferStudent who is a talented musician but untrained, is this with her asking questions that the rest of the cast can then explain what certain theatrical or musical plot relevant terms mean in case the audience don't know.
* Teresa Lisbon to Patrick Jane in ''Series/TheMentalist''.
* In ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', [[TheSheriff Jack Carter]] is the Watson to most of the other characters in rapid succession so they can all have a go at explaining the [[MonsterOfTheWeek current threat]] and science behind the [[AppliedPhlebotinum solution]].
* Daphne played this sort of role in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', asking the Cranes to explain what the hell they were talking about whenever they got involved in something pertaining to their younger years or family affairs (which was many, many episodes). This was so the Cranes would have a legitimate reason to tell a hasty expository story that they all already were clear on about their past so the audience knew what the problem they had this time was. Roz occasionally fulfilled this role too.

*** Notably, ''exactly the same joke'' is made by [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox about Arthur Dent]], who has [[ActorAllusion also been played by Martin Freeman]].
** As for his competence in everything not relating to asking Holmes about something, consider a scene in A Scandal in Belgravia: There is a fight going on. The combatants are a bunch of mooks versus Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective, Irene Adler, dominatrix, and John Watson, ex-soldier. Of the three, who does not down an opponent? Yeah...
** This varies considerably from episode to episode. For instance, in the pilot the villain has Sherlock neutralized with mind games when Watson tracks them down and snipes him with a pistol from another building. By the third season they're much more partners with their own strengths, and Holmes had taken to just blurting out stream of consciousness exposition whenever it occurs to him.
* Every UK detective drama features a stolid Detective Sergeant or Constable who the Detective Inspector can explain things to.
** Series/InspectorMorse had Sergeant Lewis, then Inspector Series/{{Lewis}} had Sergeant Hathaway.
** DCI Jim ''{{Series/Taggart}}'' had DS Michael Jardine and DS Jackie Reid, then DCI Jardine had DS Reid and DC Stuart Fraser. Currently DCI Matthew Burke, DI Reid and DI Robbie Ross have DS Mita Rahim.
** ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': DCI Tom Barnaby had Sergeant Troy, replaced first by Sergeant Scott and then by Sergeant Jones, who continues to serve as the Watson to Barnaby's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute cousin, DCI John Barnaby.
** DI Jack Frost of ''Series/ATouchOfFrost'' has a rotating cast of sidekicks. The most prominent ones are DS Hazel Wallace and DS Clive Barnard.
** The ITCH episode of Neveneffecten is a play on all the tropes in police detective series and uses the Watson to explain the concept of the Watson with the following dialogue.
--->"Winne, I don't understand."\\
"Of course you don't, that's your function."\\
"What do you mean?"\\
"This allows me to explicitly explain things."
* Robin spent the first two or three seasons of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' asking questions about situations or conversations that relied on backstory from Ted, Marshall, and Lily's long, closely-shared history together so that the characters (or Future Ted) had an excuse to explain it to the viewer. It's implied Barney has had most of these things explained to him before 2005. By season 3-4, Robin (and the audience) had already gotten a huge amount of pre-series backstory and isn't much of a Watson anymore, and so the writers started to rely more on in-show established continuity to form the basis of these kinds of stories, usually heralded by Future Ted remarking "Kids, remember how I told you about that time..."
* Mike Rowe of the documentary series ''Series/DirtyJobs'' is a professional Watson, learning the ropes of his latest dirty job from his bemused temporary co-workers.
* An interesting variation happens on ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' where the Watson is played by the ''murderer of the week'' who tries to use this relationship with the eponymous detective to try and veer him off their scent. It never works. They always slip up somewhere, and Columbo picks up on the critical clue.
* ''Series/TheInspectorLynleyMysteries'' has both the main characters do this! Frequently it's {{Deuteragonist}} DS Barbara Havers to her partner (the titular DI Thomas "Tommy" Lynley), but it's not uncommon for ''him'' to be ''her'' Watson as well.
* Carter fulfills this role in the first season of ''Series/{{ER}}''. He's the the new medical student so the other doctors (mostly Benton) explain how things run at the hospital and many medical stuff too.
* In ''Series/MurdochMysteries'', Crabtree, Brackenreid, Dr. Ogden and Dr. Grace all play this role at different times in different episodes. Later episodes have Constable Higgins do this, especially when Higgins is trying to understand why Murdoch wants something done. Murdoch and Brackenreid often rely on Crabtree to do much of the legwork in interviewing witnesses, looking into interesting leads, and so forth.
* Joan Watson of ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', naturally. Like her namesake, she is exceptionally bright in her own right; her main purpose for the audience is to ask the necessary questions to get inside Sherlock's head, since otherwise no-one would have the slightest idea what's going on upstairs with him. Ironically, this Watson begins to avert the trope a little as she increasingly becomes a competent detective under her own steam and needs fewer and fewer explanations from the main man. As of the start of Season 3, she's taken Sherlock's role as a private detective and police consultant, due to his absence. From then on, Detective Bell increasingly gets to play the straight man, and Watson is more likely to finish Holmes' sentences, so to speak.
* Jesse takes this role in ''Series/BreakingBad'' whenever Walt has to explain the chemistry behind what he's doing.
* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', Scully plays Watson to Mulder's Sherlock, especially in the early seasons. The only time this switches is when Scully is performing an autopsy, though even then she's forced to try and decode Mulder's unusual thought process and the strange leaps of logic he's taking with the information she's in the process of giving him.
* ''Series/TwinPeaks'': Diane, a character who is never seen or heard. When recording his observations and thoughts on tape, Special Agent Cooper addresses her by name. She is most likely his secretary at FBI headquarters, although her identity is never actually stated.
* ''Series/LostGirl'' basically sees Bo and Kenzi take on this role; while Bo is fae, she grew up ignorant of her heritage before her powers activated, and even as the series unfolds she still stumbles across things that she needs explained.
* Jane Doe, the protagonist of ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'', has IdentityAmnesia and works with a team of {{FBI Agent}}s to find out why. Given her [[ActionGirl incredible skills]], she probably once had a working knowledge of whatever the team might be discussing in any given episode, but since she can't consciously remember any of it, she is the one asking such questions as, "The dark web? That sounds bad, what is that?" so that the audience can learn.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has an interesting variation on this concept. Insteead of a single character serving the role of a Watson character, the whole team does, because they each have different areas of expertise.

* ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'': Tina serves this role in what was originally the pilot episode where the team explains to her what they know about Ghostwriter, what he is, and what his powers are. Footage from this scene was adapted into the series intro so that anyone tuning in for the first time would know it through Tina.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine:'' In time-travel episodes, Doctor Bashir's lack of interest in history means he's usually lost, allowing the other cast members to explain what's going on where they are to him. Bonus points for being a doctor and British.
* ''Series/MsMarvel2022'': Two such characters exist in the series: the first is Bruno Carelli, a white boy who's one of Kamala's best friends but an outsider to Muslim culture, giving Kamala a reason to explain the ins and outs of the Muslim community to him (and thus the audience). Second is Kamala's sister-in-law Tyesha Hillman, a Black Muslim who recently married Kamala's brother Aamir but knows little of Pakistani-Americans, giving the family a reason to explain Pakistani history such as The Partition (when Pakistan was separated from India by Britain), which again is largely for the audience's benefit.
* The TV adaptation of ''Series/{{The Sandman|2022}}'' adds Morpheus' {{Familiar}} Matthew to several sequences where Morpheus was acting alone in the original comics, such as his visit to Hell in "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E04AHopeInHell A Hope in Hell]]", so that there's somebody to ask for and receive explanations on the audience's behalf. Matthew suits the role because he's only recently been recruited from the mundane world, and is not yet up to speed on the details of the supernatural realms (when he first appears in "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E03DreamALittleDreamOfMe Dream a Little Dream of Me]]" he admits he's not even clear yet on who Morpheus is), so he tends to see things from the same angle as the audience.

* Archie Goodwin, Watson to Literature/NeroWolfe's Holmes. Archie is a capable detective in his own right, and would frequently figure out the murderer just as Wolfe does. Since he writes his "reports" for an audience, however, he usually doesn't let the reader in on it until Wolfe explains the mystery.
** Like Watson, Archie frequently gets [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into a dull-witted womanizer in adaptations, with only his outstanding memory being kept.
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "Literature/BeyondTheBlackRiver," Balthus. Conan repeatedly explains his acts, both how and why, to him.
* Both played straight and parodied/heavily lampshaded in Creator/AAMilne's ''The Red House Mystery'', where the AmateurSleuth Anthony outright asks his friend Bill to play Watson to his Holmes, specifically defining Bill's role as asking stupid questions and needing even the most obvious things explained to him. And indeed, this is what Bill does -- but half the time he's asking the questions because Anthony tells him to rather than because he's actually incapable of figuring out the answers, and sometimes he gets fed up with his friend's Sherlockian pretensions.
* A variety of characters fill this role for Horne Fisher, the central character of Creator/GKChesterton's ''The Man Who Knew Too Much''.
* The naive but pure-hearted Ten Ox plays this role to the cunning and knowledgeable sage Li Kao in ''Literature/BridgeOfBirds''. There's actually an early draft of the book that reveals the author had originally intended for Li Kao to be the narrator and Ten Ox to be only a peripheral character. Comparing this draft with the final product shows just how much the promotion of Ten Ox to this character role (and the addition of many plot elements) improved the book; for one thing, Li Kao's narration of his life story isn't quite as effective when he tells it in a drunken ramble to a skull in a pool as when he tells it to Ten Ox to assure him that he's not going to give up in his quest to heal the ill children of Ten Ox's village.
* Detective Sergeant Mary Mary in the ''Literature/NurseryCrime'' novels is a pastiche of the trope in British detective drama. Coming from outside the area she's somewhat GenreBlind to the mixture of detective and nursery rhyme tropes that dominate Reading, so DI Spratt has to clue her in on this as well as explaining the case to her.
* Peter plays this role in ''Literature/PeterAndTheStarcatchers''. There's a whole chapter where Molly has to give him a long CharacterFilibuster to explain the history of the Starcatchers.
* [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] sometimes has to grill Jeeves at great length to figure out what, exactly, is going on. Creator/PGWodehouse was a big ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' fan and occasionally threw in a reference to the characters.
* Sister Fidelma, Irish nun and law official in the books by Peter Tremayne, has the Saxon monk Brother Eadulf, later her husband (which was allowed in the Celtic Church). In some of the stories where Eadulf doesn't appear, Abbot Laisran serves the role, creating an interesting dynamic since he's her superior in the church, but not in the courts.

* Many [[{{UsefulNotes/Buddhism}} Buddhist]] sutras are framed as a dialog with a disciple, usually Sariputta, asking Siddhartha questions that were or would be asked by others trying to understand.
* In David Pirie's Creator/ArthurConanDoyle / Joseph Bell mysteries, Doyle plays The Watson to Bell's Franchise/SherlockHolmes. However, this is also a subversion: Doyle is not less intelligent than Bell, just decades younger, and their working relationship is often TeethClenchedTeamwork instead of friendly.
* The first book of ''Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore'', ''Gifts'', has Emmon the lowlander asking Orrec and Gry about the titular "gifts" of the Upland domains, which allows them to tell the audience about them and how they shape society.
* ''[[Literature/AMagesPower A Mage's Power]]'': Eric starts off as this trope, asking questions to inform the reader because he's new to the world of Tariatla. Then he spends nine days in a library and doesn't have to after that. At that point, he will recall stuff he'd learned at times where he would otherwise ask.
* In ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'', this is Aya's role when the KZ investigates. Her verbal abilities isn't the most useful in investigations, so her main role is to make detailed records in the eponymous case notebook.

* In ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', the author writes himself into the story as an observer unfamiliar with the reality of the afterlives, putting him in the position to ask theological and moral questions that Virgil or Beatrice can answer. He also fits the trope by being the narrator of the story who is largely secondary to the plot, since the author can only get through Hell due to the holy protection of Beatrice.
* Waldo Butters was created to serve this role in ''Literature/DeadBeat.'' In general, [[MuggleBestFriend Murphy]] or [[TheApprentice Molly]] usually serve as this.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/BreedsThereAMan": Because most of the characters are scientists specializing in one field or another, they trade the role of "audience asking for explanations" around so that no one character is asking all of the questions.

* When [[TheDreaded Alastor, the Radio Demon]] appears in ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'', Angel Dust has never heard of him, and Vaggie has to explain. What's unusual is that Angel has been around for decades while Vaggie is relatively new; by all accounts, Angel should've heard about Alastor a long time ago, while Vaggie is more likely to have never heard of him.

* Seonga is this to Frost's SherlockHomage in ''Webcomic/DrFrost''. Justified, in that she's a psychology major who lacks experience, but has proved incredibly helpful and insightful. She's also growing as a budding psychologist.
* As pointed out in ''[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=210 Hark, a Vagrant!]]'' Dr Watson does seem to get unfairly [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] in most portrayals outside of the original Sherlock Holmes novels.
* In ''Webcomic/TemplarArizona'', Ben is the Watson most of the time, because the work is partly about this weird town, but there are aspects of the alternate-historical universe familiar to Ben but not us; for this, there is a new Watson ([[http://templaraz.com/?p=1611 Mesmer]]) with an even more sheltered upbringing.
* Anna and Susan both act as this in ''Webcomic/{{Sire}}''.

* In the soft reboot/second semester of ''WebComic/DumbingOfAge'' Booster serves as this, as they're Walky's new roommate and Walky becomes the MrExposition to introduce them to the rest of the main cast.

* Gus Griswald from ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', as the 'new kid' who needs to be filled in on details of the history and social dynamics of the school.

** A role enthusiastically taken up by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, who has no scientific background and hasn't seen technology since the forties, in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' for [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]], who use their scientific expertise to hunt down the BigBad.

* In Umberto Eco's ''Literature/TheNameOfTheRose'', Adso (the narrator) is the assistant of a Medieval detective named William of Baskerville, and inquires into the latter's deduction methods as the reader would. [[MeaningfulName Unsurprisingly]], both characters were inspired by Watson and Sherlock Holmes.

* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, Haven's [[ReignOfTerror Committee for Public Safety]] stations a PoliticalOfficer on each ship to watch over (a.k.a. second guess) naval officers. They play a darker version of this trope because captains often have to explain and justify their decisions to people with no military training while avoiding any appearance of disloyalty to a regime that [[YouHaveFailedMe executes captains to fail to carry out their orders]] [[DisproportionateRetribution and their whole families]].
* Literature/InheritanceCycle: Eragon is always asking questions, [[LampshadeHanging to the point where a description of him one character gives to another includes "always asking questions"]].
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Ron is constantly making suggestions, forcing Hermione to sigh and explain that, if only he'd read ''[[GreatBigBookOfEverything Hogwarts: A History]]'', he'd understand why it's impossible to... Creator/JKRowling said she would never have Harry or Ron read ''Hogwarts: A History'' because it was too useful an expository device. This even gets a {{Lampshade}}; Hermione asks if they're ever going to read the book, and Ron says "Why? We can just ask you."
** Harry is just as much of a Watson as Ron, albeit one who serves a different purpose. Having grown up with Muggles, there's a lot he doesn't know that people who grew up in the wizarding world would take for granted, such as needing to be told what Quidditch is and expressing ignorance about the reasons why Hagrid being half-giant will be a problem. Ironically, it's often Ron who gets to be Mr. Exposition in those situations, since unlike Hermione, he grew up in the wizarding world, and is therefore the only one of the main trio to have that sort of knowledge.
** EVERYBODY is this trope for [[TheChessmaster Albus Dumbledore]]. There's a [[InfoDump "Dumbledore Explains It All" scene]] at the end of every book, except the sixth when it's not at the end. There's even one of those scenes in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows the last book]], [[spoiler:''[[SpiritAdvisor even though Dumbledore's dead at the time.]]'']]
** A minor example is [[CameraFiend Colin]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''--his opening scene is spent following Harry around asking him questions, allowing him to briefly explain Quidditch rules to anyone who didn't read the first book.

* In the ''Literature/SimonArk'' short stories, Simon's publisher (who is also the narrator of the stories) fills this role.

* ''Literature/MaulLockdown:'' Vesto Slipher, an employee of Darth Plagueis secretly monitoring Maul's mission, also serves as someone for Warden Blirr (who thinks he's merely checking on her ability to repay a loan) to explain the prison's workings to.

* ''VisualNovel/AokanaFourRhythmAcrossTheBlue'': Kurashina, who has dreamt for years of flying, enrolled at a school where everyone has [[ArtificialGravity flying shoes]], yet has never heard of them before. ''She's even wearing a pair.'' This is graduate-level cluelessness, so everything gets explained to the audience through her.
* ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'' has three protagonists, Norman, Ray and Emma. The latter is usually the one who has to be explained the plans the first two come up with to prepare their escape from their PeopleFarm. She's supposed to be one of the smartest kids in the orphanage, but is still a bit behind the other two when it comes to analysis power.
* In ''Manga/DrStone'', the stone world villagers ScienceHero Senkuu meet all play this role to varying degrees when he starts talking about the things he wants to accomplish by bringing technology back to the world. Of these characters, Chrome has the most knowledge ahead of time because of his own experiments but still needs the more advanced principles and applications of science explained to him.
* During the Ishigaki arc in ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', Tomori's complete ignorance in astronomy during an ''astronomy summer camp'' serves a storytelling purpose: as [[GeniusDitz Mira]], [[DitzyGenius Ao]] and [[CloudCuckooLander Shiho]] are expected to know some of the astronomical concepts that appear in Shining Star Challenge, Tomoro's existence gives an in-universe justification for expositions for the ''viewers''[==]' benefit.

* ComicBook/{{Robin}}, and to a lesser extent Alfred tend to play this role to ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''. This is even part of the reason Robin was created. According to Robin's creator Bill Finger:

* Crispus Allen plays the Watson in the early issues of ''ComicBook/GothamCentral'', and occasionally later on. As a transferred officer from Metropolis, Allen did not have extensive experience with the "freaks" (supervillains) of Gotham City, so other characters would explain their means and methods to him, [[MrExposition simultaneously infoming the audience as well]]. This particular facet of his character was dropped after a few issues, when he already had his own personal experiences with the [[RoguesGallery rogues]] of the city, but he would later serve as the Watson on more complex issues when characters needed to highlight personal and societal points about Gotham City itself, such as the reason why Franchise/{{Batman}} is important to Gotham for more than just the crimes he stops.

* In ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange: The Oath'', Night Nurse is along for the adventure at her own insistence (Strange has been wounded and she is a physician). Strange's assistant Wong is also present as a sort of minor Holmes/experienced Watson, answering some questions and asking others.

* In early issues of ''ComicBook/AllStarWestern'', Dr. Arkham serves this role for ComicBook/JonahHex, being the naive outsider to whom Hex explains the realities of the Old West. Also subverted in that Hex hates both Arkham and having to work with him.
* In ''ComicBook/BakerStreet'', medical student Susan Pendergast moves into Sharon Ford's Baker Street digs: receiving free room and board in exchange for light housekeeping and paperwork duties. However, she soon finds herself drawn into Sharon's investigations, becoming the Watson to Sharon's GreatDetective.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen:'' In Mark Millar's run, Iceman, being a not-very-bright teenager, serves the role by asking questions like "who is this Wolverine guy, and why are we supposed to be scared of him?" and "[[TheDitz Who are the Welsh]]?"

* ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'': Multiple characters function as this for the Wolf, mostly Tyrion and Akkarulf ([[spoiler:formerly known as Theon Greyjoy]]) who explain various aspects of Westerosi history to him (to insult or look down on), and in turn allows the Wolf to explain what's going on to Akkarulf once they return to the Warhammer 'verse. Akkarulf in particular doesn't speak the Norsca language, so he can be used to get the Wolf to make it clear to the reader.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'', the trio of children who follow Mirabel around are young enough that they don't yet know who all the Madrigals are and what their "gifts" are (in this movie's universe, a "gift" is a magical ability granted to each Madrigal family member after they pass a ceremony), so Mirabel sings the "La Familia Madrigal" song to explain things to them, and thus to we the audience. The trio of children are also how we the audience discover that Mirabel's the only Madrigal family member ''without'' a gift, as Mirabel conspicuously leaves herself out of the song, causing the children to become curious and keeping asking her about her gift until finally Dolores has to explain to them that Mirabel didn't get one.

* The narrator of ''Film/DasBoot'' is a NaiveNewcomer who has naval experience on surface ships but this is his first voyage on a submarine. He's on board as a journalist, thus it's his job to be inquisitive about everything, and pass on his knowledge. He has the crew and officers sometimes pause to explain what they're doing to him but he often has to figure it out by observation.
* Jack Ryan in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' plays The Watson for all the submarine action, letting the boat captains play MrExposition. Similarly, Seaman Beaumont plays The Watson for sonar terms, letting Sonar Technician Jones explain everything.
* In the DVD commentary for ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', Ivan Reitman says the character of Winston Zeddmore was intended to serve this purpose.

%%* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series has one of them for every film:
%%** ''Film/TheTerminator'': Sarah Connor
%%** ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'': John Connor
%%** ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'': Kate Brewster
%%** ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'': Marcus
%%** ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'': Judging from the trailers, it's now Kyle Reese, with Sarah as ''his'' Sherlock.
* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''
** Averted by Watson from ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009''. He is less Watson-y than Watsons from almost any other adaptation and shows intuitive and deductive skills which he picked up from his time working with Holmes. This is truer to the original Watson: a skilled and intelligent medical practitioner, decorated war veteran, and good man in a brawl.
*** In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows,'' [[spoiler:he and Simza save the day with deduction and quick thinking while Sherlock and Moriarty are having their little scuffles outside.]]
** On the other hand, Nigel Bruce pretty much created the "Bumbling Watson" stereotype when he was teamed with Creator/BasilRathbone's sharp and decisive Holmes in 1940s film and radio. Even so, in the radio series Bruce's Watson was given a few occasions to explicitly show that, while he was a lousy detective, he was an extremely competent doctor, able to diagnose medical problems as quickly and easily as Holmes could deduce anything else.

* ''Men in Black''
** James Edwards/Jay in ''Film/MenInBlack'', who's new to the [=MiB=] organization.
** In the [[Film/MenInBlackII second film]], [[TheMentor Kay]] fulfilled this role, having had his memory wiped and thereby needing reminding about the various duties and technologies of MIB.
* Dr. Karen Jenson in the first ''Film/{{Blade}}'' film. She's left out of the remaining series because there's no need for her anymore.
* In ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'', the priest to whom Salieri tells his story.
* Vittoria Vetra in the film adaptation of ''Film/AngelsAndDemons''. Thanks to editing for time constraints, it's pretty much all she's there for.
* Ariadne in ''Film/{{Inception}}''. She asks the questions about inception and extraction that the viewer would be asking. Saito is also this to some extent, at least in the beginning of the film.
* ''Film/Apollo13'': Jim Lovell's youngest son, Jeffrey, asks his father about his upcoming mission, i.e. how long it'll take to get to the moon and the function of the lunar module. Jim also explains what went wrong in the Apollo 1 disaster, briefly depicted in the beginning of the movie.

* Caleb from ''Film/ExMachina''. He often asks the same kind of questions the audience is thinking of so that Nathan can provide the exposition.
* Jacob Kowalski in ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' serves this role, being a {{Muggle}} ([[SeparatedByACommonLanguage or No-Maj, as they're called in America]]) and therefore needing to have various aspects of the magical world explained to him by the wizards he accompanies, especially those not previously explored in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films.
* ''Film/TheExMrsBradford'': Paula is the female variant that plays a bigger role than the usual Watson, but she asks most of the questions.
* ''Film/{{Twister}}''. Bill's fiancé Melissa has no specialized knowledge about tornadoes, so she is a natural source of questions about them that Jo's tornado chaser team can answer to educate her as well as the audience.
* In the ''Literature/CharlieChan'' films, the detective's sons fill that role. For all their occasional goofiness as sidekicks, they are otherwise intelligent and brave young men, who are actually portrayed by Asian actors.

* The trope namer is Dr. John Watson, the narrator from the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories by Creator/ArthurConanDoyle, who often asks the title character to explain his baffling logical leaps. Holmes then explains the logic used in solving the case, allowing the author to describe the finer points of the story without disrupting the narrative flow. Unlike the character found in some lesser adaptations, Watson is not a chubby dullard, but a very intelligent and bold man who occasionally contributes his own observations to cases, though he is not always completely correct. Holmes often makes use of Watson's medical knowledge and fresh perspective to keep his deductions sharp. Being a doctor, his medical knowledge is often indispensable to Holmes' work, and he knows more of anatomy than Holmes. In ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'', a puzzled Watson rattles off all the unanswered questions about the case, and Holmes commends him for pointing out the main difficulties. It's implied that Holmes is glad to have someone who he can fruitfully discuss the case with, which is more than can be said for [[PoliceAreUseless Inspectors Lestrade and Gregson]]. Holmes even acknowledges Watson's importance in providing him with critical insights, saying, "...you are not yourself luminous, but as a conductor of light, you are unparalleled!"
** In a few comments and the stories written from Holmes' own perspective, it's revealed that Watson intentionally leaves elements he noticed himself out of the stories just to make the reveal at the end more surprising to the reader, a practice that greatly annoyed Holmes.
** In fact, Watson often ''doesn't'' act very much as The Watson (i.e., asking Holmes to explain what's going on throughout the plot) because Holmes usually dislikes explaining his reasoning as he goes -- the stories' mystery often hinges on the fact that we (and Watson) have no idea what's going on in Holmes's head. Watson usually either a) picks up on it himself and explains it to the readers via narration or b) wryly notes that Holmes is loathe to explain his conclusions until he's sure he's right, and just follows along patiently waiting for him to solve the puzzle. The "Watson" trope is most likely derived from film adaptations, where Watson's narration in the books understandably needed to be replaced with dialogue, or from the books' various famous prelude scenes in which Holmes drops some near-telepathically-accurate deduction about Watson's personal affairs out of the blue, and an astonished Watson asks him to explain how the hell he knew that. And even that is becoming something of a DiscreditedTrope in modern adaptations. ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', for example, eventually makes Watson Holmes' ''apprentice'', and she becomes an investigator at or near his level, to the point where [[spoiler:Moriarty considers Watson her second WorthyOpponent. Because Watson beat her.]]
* The ''Literature/{{Raffles}}'' stories (written by Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law) are centered around [[EvilCounterpart Evil Counterparts]] to Holmes and Watson, with Bunny, the narrator of the story, serving as a criminal Watson.
* Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/HerculePoirot'':
** Captain Hastings in several stories is most definitely The Watson -- in fact, he resembles the [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] Watson more than the original Watson did, always guessing wrong and serving as only a foil for Poirot's brilliant deductions. Unlike the original Watson, who was content to be Holmes's admirer and chronicler, Hastings often expresses irritation at how Poirot outguesses him and makes him look dumb. Hastings is acutely aware of his role, calling himself "the humble Watson" in jest.
** Dr. Sheppard fulfills this role in ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'' when Poirot is on a BusmansHoliday, providing the same first-person narration as Hastings while also explaining the lives of the townsfolk to both us and the newcomer Poirot. Several times Poirot affectionately compares Dr. Sheppard to Hastings. [[spoiler:It's all an evil trick so the reader will be shocked when they find out Dr. Sheppard is the murderer at the end, having told his story in just the right manner to express the truth while hiding the truth of his real actions.]]
* Literature/ErastFandorin is basically a Russian Sherlock Holmes with a large dose of Franchise/JamesBond added in, but in only one book of the 15-novel series does Fandorin have a Watson. In ''Literature/SpecialAssignments'' he takes on as a protege Anisii Tulipov, a rookie cop who is brave and good-hearted but by no means an expert in deduction. Tulipov has to have pretty much everything explained to him by Fandorin all the time.
* Most stories about a {{Utopia}}, particularly those written before the mid-twentieth century, tend to feature a lead character who is a Watson combined with a NaiveNewcomer. The plot generally consisted of the Watson being led around the utopia asking questions about how it works. The ExpositionFairy who lived in the utopia would then explain how the utopia worked in exhaustive detail. Really poorly thought out utopian novels ''did not'' combine this trope with the NaiveNewcomer and hence had the ExpositionFairy tell The Watson things they already knew for no apparent reason. Generally declined in usage after modern exposition techniques (i.e. "ShowDontTell") were developed. Examples include Julian West from ''Literature/LookingBackward'' by Edward Bellamy, Guest from ''Literature/NewsFromNowhere'' by Creator/WilliamMorris, and the Botanist from ''A Modern Utopia'' by Creator/HGWells. An example of a Watson who ''isn't'' combined with the NaiveNewcomer is Alice from ''Ralph 124C 41+'' by Hugo Gernsback.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote,'' Ryuk, a {{shinigami}}, often acts as The Watson to Light's plans. That is, when he's not just standing behind Light silently chuckling. Or standing on his head.

* Manta Oyamada in ''Manga/ShamanKing'' acts as The Watson to Yoh Asakura, being the narrator but not TheHero.
* Hiyono in ''Manga/{{Spiral}}'' tends to get dropped into this role, and if she isn't, Kousuke is. Hiyo-Hiyo is reasonably clever, and Kou-chan even more so, but that doesn't say much when the entire main cast is made up of child prodigies.

* Despite being from the same magical world as everyone else, Gourry from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' was enough of an idiot to have to ask questions about what the other characters would consider basic, everyday facts, giving them a reason to explain the rules and mythology of their world.

* The titular character of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' frequently had to play this role early on, being a shining example of BookDumb. It's almost mystifying that ten episodes in you'll probably know more about the geography, FunctionalMagic, and infrastructure of the story's world than he did ''when he graduated''. [[note]] This is likely why he failed to graduate so many times. [[/note]]
* Akari from ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' has some of this. Alicia could have picked a local girl for an apprentice, but instead she chose someone who needs a lot of explanations about the planet she moved to--which then of course raises the question why Akari didn't read a travel guide beforehand.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': Depending on the case, and which characters are present at the time, any number of characters will play Watson to Conan's Holmes... Ai, the Detective Boys, Ran, the cops, Eri, Jodie, etc. Conan pretends to be The Watson to Kogoro (the only ''professional'' detective in the series), even though he is invariably the one solving his cases for him.
** On the evil side, Vodka plays Watson to Gin. Since Gin is both smarter and higher-ranked than his partner, he often has to explain his plans and the Organization's to Vodka and thereby the audience.
* Kuwabara from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' is the guy who asks the questions so that Hiei and Kurama can avoid having to use AsYouKnow when being MrExposition. When he got PutOnABus in the final season to pursue a higher education, the anime attempted to spread this role out amongst the other characters; it didn't work out too well.

* Roji tends to play this role in ''Manga/MuhyoAndRoji'', often about the workings of magical law or Muhyo's past. Other times, the clients ask the questions.

* Nonoha in ''Anime/PhiBrainPuzzleOfGod'' serves this role as the rest of the main cast are puzzle-solving geniuses, so she gets to stand in for the audience and ask any questions needed about the various puzzles they are confronted with.
* In ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', Takagi served this role in the first volume, asking Mashiro about how the manga industry worked (Mashiro happened to have a mangaka uncle). Later on, Miyoshi filled this role as the characters became more familiar with the industry.
* Mahiro Yasaka from ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' gets to play an odd combination of Watson and MrExposition thanks to his unique position in the story. As an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, he needs explanations about the aliens he and Nyarko encounter; however, as a fan of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, he can exposit a little about what said alien is within the context of Lovecraft's works once Nyarko has given him a name to work with.
* Jigen serves this role to Lupin during ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive''. It's as if Jigen was waiting until the two are actually trying to steal the national treasury before he learned what was going on. Considering his laid-back personality, that may be exactly what happened.
* Stephanie Dora from ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'' assists the audience in understanding Sora and Shiro's complicated game strategies. She actually has an at least average intellect but appears rather dumb in comparison to 『　　』.

* Despite the actual John H. Watson being in ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'', Louis serves this role for Professor Moriarty, as Watson's EvilCounterpart...of sorts.

* The trope namer is Dr. John Watson, the narrator from the ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, who often asks the title character to explain his baffling logical leaps. Holmes then explains the logic used in solving the case, allowing the author to describe the finer points of the story without disrupting the narrative flow. Unlike the character found in some lesser adaptations, Watson is not a chubby dullard, but a very intelligent and bold man who occasionally contributes his own observations to cases, though he is not always completely correct. Holmes often makes use of Watson's medical knowledge and fresh perspective to keep his deductions sharp. Being a doctor, his medical knowledge is often indispensable to Holmes' work, and he knows more of anatomy than Holmes. In ''A Study In Scarlet'', a puzzled Watson rattles off all the unanswered questions about the case, and Holmes commends him for pointing out the main difficulties. It's implied that Holmes is glad to have someone who he can fruitfully discuss the case with, which is more than can be said for [[PoliceAreUseless Inspectors Lestrade and Gregson]]. Holmes even acknowledges Watson's importance in providing him with critical insights, saying, "...you are not yourself luminous, but as a conductor of light, you are unparalleled!"

* ''VisualNovel/AokanaFourRhythmAcrossTheBlue'': Kurashina, who has dreamt for years of flying, enrolled at a school where everyone has [[ArtificialGravity flying shoes]], yet has never heard of them before. This is graduate-level cluelessness, so everything gets explained to the audience through her.