History WhatYouAreInTheDark / Literature

*** Ishmael and Razz are watching a video Razz and Bill shot for school and see that Bill forgot to turn it off and that their acquaintance Jess (another crush of Ishmael's, although not ot the same extent as Kelly) is about to get undressed in front of the camera. [[spoiler:Ishmael hits pause and cajoles Razz into deleting the end of the video instead of watching Jess take her bikini off. They later learn that Jess noticed the camera was on just a moment late and thought Razz left it on deliberately. The fact that Razz and Ishmael are ignorant about the curses and insults she shouted at the camera convinces Jess and Razz's girlfriend Sally that the boys really did stop the video before it would have been indecent to keep watching.]]

* In ''Literature/TheMartian'', [[spoiler:the Chinese scientists of CNSA]] admit that if they didn't help, no one would ever know that they ''could'' have helped. They chose to help.

** When the StarterVillain ambushes and stabs El, she knows that she could easily defeat him by giving in and using BlackMagic, but can't bring herself to do so even in the face of death. Not only does it definitively show her that [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre she's a better person than she gives herself credit for]], but it also earns her [[KidHero Orion's]] complete trust when he rescues her.

** Additionally, at one point fellow student Liesel casts a spell to knock El unconscious and leave her to be eaten by mal after El gets the spot in the New York enclave Liesel is after, but she quickly regrets this and goes back to save El's life.

--> '''Cromwell:''' My first name is Thomas, for Christsake, not [[UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell Oliver.]]

* In the Creator/HarryTurledove short story "Must and Shall," a government agency with some HolierThanThou tendencies is repulsed about having to meet a contact in a strip club. Nonetheless, when the only other people around are sex workers and drunken pro-Confederates, he finds his moral rectitude tested when he gropes one of the dancers.

* Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': This is the climax of the first book, ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew''. Digory is tasked with recovering a magical apple for Aslan for unknown purposes, and told not to eat any of it before coming back. When he and Polly reach the garden where it grows, he easily pockets one, but smells it first and is overcome with a massive hunger and thirst. He's tempted to take a little bite, but stops when he notices a large bird watching, which reminds him of his promise (the narrator, meanwhile, comments that even if the bird ''hadn't'' been there, Digory probably wouldn't have done it). But things take a turn for the worse when [[BigBad Jadis]] appears, having stolen and eaten an apple for herself; Digory runs for Polly, who's waiting outside, but the witch still reaches him and starts [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything describing the fruit's powerful magic and ability to make people into gods, and how Digory doesn't really owe Aslan anything, does he?]] Digory turns her down, but Jadis then brings up Digory's mother, who's dying of a rare, incurable disease -- he could teleport back home using the magic ring that brought him to Narnia and give ''her'' the apple, curing her. Digory is sorely tempted as Jadis paints a picture of his mother being returned to health, free of any consequence... until [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Jadis points out that he could ensure no one would know by leaving Polly behind]]. This shocks Digory right out of any temptation to do as Jadis says, as it would never even have occurred to him to abandon Polly.
** There's also the fact that Polly had a magic ring of her own and could get home perfectly well without Digory. The Witch doesn't know that, but Digory does and it's that slip-up which makes him realize how "false and hollow" everything Jadis said was. He [[ShutUpHannibal brilliantly shuts her down]] by asking why in creation she suddenly cares so much about his mother, who she's never even met. Aslan thus rewards Digory with both the knowledge that his choice has kept Narnia peaceful and idyllic, and [[SweetAndSourGrapes a magic apple of his own that will cure his mother after all]].
* Taran faces a moment of this in the fourth book of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' when Craddoc, who he believes to be his father, falls down a ledge. When Taran believes that Craddoc is dead, he realizes that he no longer has any sort of familial obligation to remain as a shepherd on Craddoc's rundown farm and can instead pursue the woman he loves. However, he quickly realizes that Craddoc is still alive. Even then, though, he is so far away that Taran knows he could leave him and no one would think any worse of him. When he realizes what he is thinking of doing, he cries out, "What man am I!" and tries to save him.

** In Creator//JamesSwallow's ''Black Tide'', the final volume of his Blood Angels quartet, Rafen bids goodbye to his opposite number from the Flesh Tearers' chapter, Sergeant Gorn. Rafen points out that, during the FinalBattle with the BigBad, Gorn could have pushed Rafen off the ledge, defeated the villain, and taken the prize and all the glory for himself, and no one would have known. Gorn nods to a statute of their progenitor, Sanguinius, and says, "he was watching."

* [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks']] ''Literature/TheCulture'': In ''Literature/ThePlayerOfGames'', the protagonist master game-player is pressed into a multi-year epic journey across the galaxy that is instrumental in the downfall of an empire, ultimately because he accepted a drone's help to cheat in a meaningless exhibition match. ''And it was not even in order to win, but just to convert a certain victory into a record-breaking one.''

--> '''Greg Parajian''': I don't know how I'd face up to murder, but I'm sure of one thing. If I'd been in his shoes, I would have done exactly what Paul did in 1939. And I can only hope to God that I'd have acted the same in 1948.

* [[Creator/JRRTolkien J.R.R. Tolkien's]] ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''
** In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Frodo is tempted to run away and leave Sam, Pippin, and Merry to die at the hands of the barrowwights because he could get away alive. He does not reflect on how no one else would know; then, he doesn't leave, either.

** Also happened with Bilbo and Gollum in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', when Bilbo (invisible from the Ring) needs to get past Gollum, who had already made it clear that he wanted to eat him. Bilbo reflects that he could easily kill the defenceless and unprepared Gollum with his sword and no one would ever know, but pity stays his hand -- which is ultimately responsible for the resolution of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* In [[Creator/TomHolt Tom Holt's]] ''Ye Gods!'', when Jason meets the old woman, she insists on their going through the whole spiel. When he says no one would know if they didn't, she says, "I will."

* ''Literature/JohnPutnamThatcher:'' This plays a major role in the BackStory of ''By Hook or by Crook.'' Shortly before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Haig Parajian [[DeadPersonImpersonation assumed the identity of his recently deceased brother Paul]] to save their business from going under (everything was in Paul's name). The rest of their family was trapped in Europe by the war and then spent years living in extreme poverty in a refugee camp. He could have easily left them for dead. Doing so would have reduced the risk that they'd recognize him as their uncle and not their father. Abandoning them would have also ensured that if his deception failed, the children, as Paul's legal heirs, would never take away the millions of dollars Haig made from his deception. Instead, Haig tracked them down at no small expense and then spent the next 30 years raising them as a loving father. His youngest nephew Greg (who feels that [[BecomingTheMask Haig truly became Paul]]) returns the favor in the denouement of the novel, destroying evidence of Haig's true identity when he could have used it to sue Haig's wife and (actual) son for their share of the family fortune.

** Additionally, fellow at one point fellow student Liesel casts a spell to knock El unconscious and leave her to be eaten by mal after El gets the spot in the New York enclave Liesel is after, but she quickly regrets this and goes back to save El's life.

** ''Literature/TheScholomance:'' Liesel casts a spell to knock El unconscious and leave her to be eaten by mal after El gets the spot in the New York enclave Liesel is after, but she quickly regrets this and goes back to save El's life.

* ''Literature/TheScholomance:'' Liesel casts a spell to knock El unconscious and leave her to be eaten by mal after El gets the spot in the New York enclave Liesel is after, but she quickly regrets this and goes back to save El's life.
--> ''Knowing she was furious enough to commit murder but also couldn't go through with in in the end gave me a rather fellow feeling for her.''

* At one point in ''[[Literature/TheScholomance A Deadly Education]]'', we see Galadriel ("It's ''[[EmbarrassingFirstName El]]''") Higgins spot a mawmouth on its way to the Freshman Dorms when she is cutting through the library stacks. These are things that take teams of experienced wizards months of preperation and days of non-stop casting to have a hope of killing, and those they consume neither [[FateWorseThanDeath lose consciousness nor stop being digested]]. If she kept going, perhaps pitching in against the incursion of lesser mals alongside the Enclave kids, no one would know. If she tried to spread a warning, even [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer an anti-social creep like her]] would be hailed as a hero. [[spoiler:Heading further into the dark after that thing? Madness, especially as [[BadPowersGoodPeople pouring enough death magic into it]] [[MercyKill to put its victims out of their misery and destroy it from within]] [[IndyPloy before it gets through her shields]] ''[[IndyPloy is not the sorts of thing that can be tested]]'']].

** When El sees a nigh-invulnerable monster about to eat a dorm's worth of helpless students, she goes in alone to fight it -- crying the whole time, because she fully expects it to be a SenselessSacrifice that nobody will even know about. [[spoiler:Instead, she [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destroys it]].]]

** ''Literature/TheApproachingStorm:'' When the boastful thief turned SixthRanger Tooqui realizes his companions have been captured or killed, he reflects that he can simplly flee back home without endangering himself. He will even have a perfectly true story to tell about the adventure he’s just had. Ultimately, he chooses to go back and see if he can help them.

* At one point in ''[[Literature/TheScholomance A Deadly Education]]'', we see Galadriel ("It's ''[[EmbarrassingFirstName El]]''") Higgins spot a mawmouth on its way to the Freshman Dorms when she is cutting through the library stacks. These are things that take teams of experienced wizards to kill on a good day, and it is strongly implied that those they consume neither die nor stop being digested. If she kept going, perhaps pitching in against the incursion of lesser mals alongside the Enclave kids, no one would know. If she tried to spread a warning, even an anti-social creep like her would be hailed as a hero. [[spoiler:Heading further into the dark after that thing? Madness, especially as [[BadPowersGoodPeople pouring enough death magic into it]] [[MercyKill to put its victims out of their misery and destroy it from within]] [[IndyPloy before it gets through her shields are not the sorts of things that can be tested]]]].

* ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' finds the formula for an immortality elixir in ''Literature/TheCabinetOfCuriosities''. During the story, he agonizes over what to do with it when he finds it. Keep it to himself? Destroy it? Share it with humanity? In the end [[spoiler: he realizes that no good could come of it's existence and he burns it. However, in the [[MissingEpisode unofficial epilogue]], he's memorized the formula before doing so and goes to pick up the ingredients afterward]].

* Commented on in ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov''. Ivan, the middle Brother states that humans will become utter bastards if they delincuish their faith in "immortality" (that is God and a final judgement). It fits the trope because the absence of God would mean nobody will see what you are in the dark, and hence - no human conscience.
* Comes up in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice''. Jerin Whistler is being taken to be married; he's known to be a virgin and free of [=STDs=], and men of his family are uncommonly virile; a family that was on its way to the [[SexSlave cribs]] to try and get someone pregnant tries to pay his sisters to get him for one night with one of their daughters, who's also a virgin and clean. They reason that no one can tell if a man is a virgin, and this would profit everyone. [[CoolBigSis Eldest Whistler]] will have none of this. Somewhat subverted in that [[HypercompetentSidekick Captain Tern]] ''was'' there, if overlooked, and reported this incident, making the Whistlers look better.

* Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': This is the climax of the first book, ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew''. Digory is tasked with recovering a magical apple for Aslan for unknown purposes, and told not to eat any of it before coming back. When he and Polly reach the garden where it grows, he easily pockets one, but smells it first and is overcome with a massive hunger and thirst. He's tempted to take a little bite, but stops when he notices a large bird watching, which reminds him of his promise (the narrator, meanwhile, comments that even if the bird ''hadn't'' been there, Digory probably wouldn't have done it). But things take a turn for the worse when [[BigBad Jadis]] appears, having stolen and eaten an apple for herself; Digory runs for Polly, who's waiting outside, but the witch still reaches him and starts [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything describing the fruit's powerful magic and ability to make people into gods, and how Digory doesn't really owe Aslan anything, does he?]] Digory turns her down, but Jadis then brings up Digory's mother, who's dying of a rare, incurable disease--he could teleport back home using the magic ring that brought him to Narnia and give ''her'' the apple, curing her. Digory is sorely tempted as Jadis paints a picture of his mother being returned to health, free of any consequence...until [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Jadis points out that he could ensure no one would know by leaving Polly behind]]. This shocks Digory right out of any temptation to do as Jadis says, as it would never even have occurred to him to abandon Polly.
** There's also the fact that Polly had a magic ring of her own and could get home perfectly well without Digory. The Witch doesn't know that, but Digory does and it's that slip-up which makes him realize how "false and hollow" everything Jadis said was. He [[ShutUpHannibal brilliantly shuts her down]] by asking why in creation she suddenly cares so much about his mother, who she's never even met. Aslan thus rewards Digory with both the knowledge that his choice has kept Narnia peaceful and idyllic, and [[SweetAndSourGrapes a magic apple of his own that will cure his mother after all.]]

* In the first book of Creator/HarryTurtledove's AlternateHistory ''Colonization'' series, a sequel to the earlier ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series, Vyacheslav Molotov, General Secretary of the Communist Party, is kidnapped and sent to the ''gulag'' by Lavrentiy Beria, chief of [[SecretPolice the NKVD]], as part of Beria's attempted coup to seize control of the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]]. Molotov is rescued by Georgy Zhukov, Beria's rival and commander of the UsefulNotes/RedArmy, after Zhukov survived his own attempted assassination and thwarted the coup. In the aftermath, with Beria already having delivered false announcements that Molotov had voluntarily retired and with many senior communist officials already dead, Molotov is worried that Zhukov could easily just execute him and seize power for himself now that Beria had been dealt with. Zhukov seems to consider this for a moment, but in the end, apparently surprising even himself, he allows Molotov to remain as General Secretary and head of the Soviet Union. Zhukov is not above extorting more funding for the Red Army afterward and "suggesting" the course of political actions, but he remains loyal to Molotov for the duration of his rule. This is likely a reference to the RealLife Zhukov's admission that he was much better dealing with military matters than with politics.

** It is later revealed that the protagonist [[XanatosGambit was set up from the getgo]]. The drone who offered him the temptation to cheat was an agent of Special Circumstances -- the same people who the protagonist had refused an earlier invitation to come work for. So they sent someone to help him cheat, then record him cheating, and then blackmail him...not into coming to work for Special Circumstances, but into doing the drone a favor that he could only accomplish by first going back and accepting SC's recruitment offer, which was "conveniently" still open. Gurgeh, until the end of his life, never figures out that the two events were related.
* At one point in ''[[Literature/TheScholomance A Deadly Education]]'', we see Galadriel ("It's ''[[EmbarrassingFirstName El]]''") Higgins spot a mawmouth on it's way to the Freshman Dorms when she is cutting through the library stacks. Those are things that it takes teams of experienced wizards to kill on a good day, and it is strongly implied that those they consume neither die nor stop being digested. If she kept going, perhaps pitching in against the incursion of lesser mals alongside the Enclave kids, no one would know. If she tried to spread a warning, even an anti-social creep like her would be hailed as a hero. [[spoiler:Heading further into the dark after that thing? Madness, especially as [[BadPowersGoodPeople pouring enough death magic into it]] [[MercyKill to put it's victims out of their misery and destroy it from within]] [[IndyPloy before it gets through her shields is not the sort of things that can be tested]]]].

** In ''Literature/SmallGods'', Brutha contemplates leading Vorbis into a trap in the labyrinth. He thinks: "Who would ever know? I would" and doesn't do it. Later, when Brutha [[spoiler: carries a comatose Vorbis]] through the desert, he's In The Dark the entire time. The Great God Om keeps reminding him of this, without success. And for a ''third'' time, the book ends with [[spoiler: Brutha dying of old age at over a hundred - only to find Vorbis' spirit has never moved on. Despite Death himself pointing out with a monster Vorbis was, and the total lack of witnesses, Brutha leads Vorbis "across the desert" once more.]]
** Commander Sam Vimes of the Watch, as a {{deconstruction}} of the CowboyCop, has a couple of examples of this. At the end of ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'' he faced a SerialKiller in a deserted graveyard and no one save Vimes himself would have known (or cared) if he had simply killed Carcer instead of trying to arrest him properly. This is a good part of the plot in ''Literature/{{Thud}}'' where we see that Vimes has an "[[TheConscience internal watchman]]" that stops him from abusing his power, in response to the question ''[[WhoWatchesTheWatchmen Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?]]'' This comes up again in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'': Willikins believes that Vimes would uphold the law even against his own desire for extrajudicial justice, but [[spoiler: unlike Vimes, Willikins himself is perfectly willing to murder Stratford rather than try to bring him to formal justice for his crimes.]] Meanwhile, Vimes believes that if he was ever ''truly'' "in the dark" he would likely cross the line while pursuing psychopaths like Stratford. Therefore, he goes to great lengths to ensure that he is ''always'' being watched, even if the watcher is only in his head.

** It's a recurring theme in ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', with several characters, even [[TheStoic Mac]], warning Harry that the latest crisis will show Harry who he really is. [[spoiler: It showed that Harry is capable of being a true monster, if the stakes are high enough. Including when Harry is given the choice to kill a man and gain the power to save his daughter... and goes through with it.]]
** The [[Literature/GhostStory next book]] shows Harry does feel [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone remorse]] when he realises the true consequences of his actions. [[spoiler:It turns out he was manipulated by a FallenAngel with seven simple but powerful words into making the choice but the realisation, along with Mab's speech about how she now controls him, almost convinces him that he'll stay a monster forever. But the scales must be balanced. Then Uriel uses his seven whispered words.]]
* In a tale of ''Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser'', the [[AntiHero Anti-heroic]] duo briefly go into semi-retirement. Fafhrd the Barbarian becomes the acolyte of the Church of Issek of the Jug, a faith that had one priest, no other followers, and was maybe two days away from failing entirely. Fafhrd's reason? He saw the priest pat a deaf-blind-and-dumb child on the head while (as far as the priest knew) ''no one was looking''. The priest's action is described as possibly being unique in that world's history.
* In the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Fatal Terrain'', Patrick [=McLanahan=] warns his group that due to the classified nature of their mission, even if they succeed no one will congratulate them, and at worst [[spoiler: they will be condemned by their own side]]. On the other hand, if they choose to back down and face [[spoiler: trial in a federal court]], it is likely that [[spoiler: they will come out in a position to maintain Sky Masters, Inc.]] None of his group flinch from it.

* ''Literature/TheGeneralsPresident'': General Thomas Cromwell is brought to the White House during the middle of a national emergency and told that the beleaguered president is ready to resign as soon as he appoints a new vice-president. He wants Cromwell to be that Vice-President. Cromwell is told that new legislation will allow the president swear in Cromwell as vice-president without the approval of Congress and will also give him unrestricted powers to solve the financial crisis. Cromwell has the opportunity to seize all of that power with nothing standing in his way. Instead, [[TheCreon he emphatically refuses and sets out to find someone better qualified for the job.]]
--> '''Cromwell:''' My first name is Thomas, for Christake, not [[UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell Oliver.]]
* ''The Glass Inferno'', one of two novels which inspired ''Film/TheToweringInferno'' features several cases of this, during a skyscraper fire.
** Ian Douglas [[InsuranceFraud sets fire to his own failing business for the insurance money]] only to change his mind when he realizes the effect this will have on his partner/boyfriend, hurrying to put out the fire even though the damage is already done and his arson will likely be discovered. In the process putting out the fire he set, he discovers a second fire (set well before he set his, and much larger). He realizes that it will burn down his business anyway, as well as the evidence of his attempted fraud, but is far more concerned with the realization that the fire will pose a danger to everyone else in the building and races to sound the alarm. He also plans to confess what he did to his partner (although not to the police) in the event that he survives the blaze, even though he could easily get away with remaining silent about it.

** Will Shevelson, a construction manager, is the only person with an accurate set of the final blueprints for the building after Leroux, the owner ordered a lot of safety cuts (which Shevelson was fired for protesting against). Embittered, when Shevelson arrives at the building with the intent of forcing Leroux to pay him for the blueprints in order to fight the fire better and minimize the PR damage. Once he actually arrives, Leroux is not on the scene (being afraid to face the reporters), and upon seeing how bad the fire is, Shevelson instantly gives the authorities on the scene his blueprints anyway, for no price, when they never would have known he had them if he hadn't spoken.

** Lisoette Mueller, upon realizing that a deaf-mute family a few floors below would likely have failed to receive the evacuation warnings, instantly, and without a word to anyone else, abandons her place in line for the buildings only safe elevator to hurry down and get them out.

* In the ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' duology, there are several of those. Ward's father fails this test of character - he once, while drunk, admits to Ward that he killed his father and disguised it as accident when they were out hunting, without witnesses. Ward, on the other hand, is "in the dark" in the sense of the word that most people around him are less moral than he is - when two nobles ask that a slave that fled to Hurog be returned to them, Ward is the only one who refuses. He briefly considers to spare himself the hassle (as the nobles will be very angry, and they're powerful) but then remembers his own, inherited, immortal slave Oreg, who he knows is severely traumatized, and just can't bring himself to turn the slave in.

* Happens twice in ''Literature/InTheKeepOfTime'', from different points of view among the children. When Andrew goes back to get the key from the door, while the others are waiting in Anna's cottage, he is strongly tempted to escape back to the present—and the key even [[BecauseDestinySaysSo starts to turn]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor in the door]], before he wrenches it free and hides it instead. This act, he thinks, "took more courage than all the adventures and battles which were to follow". Later, when he finally returns from the Battle of Roxburgh, ready to go home, he cannot find the key, Elinor, or Ian and assumes they left without him. When he is reunited with them again, he learns they were indeed tempted to do so, but couldn't find the key either. Whether they too could have resisted if they had found it will never be known.

** Also happened with Bilbo and Gollum in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', when Bilbo (invisible from the Ring) needs to get past Gollum, who had already made it clear that he wanted to eat him. Bilbo reflects that he could easily kill the defenceless and unprepared Gollum with his sword and no-one would ever know, but pity stays his hand -- which is ultimately responsible for the resolution of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
** Also in ''The Hobbit'', after Bilbo escapes from Gollum, he thinks for a minute that the dwarves are still prisoners of the goblins. He briefly considers going on without them, but then changes his mind, and decides to go back to the "horrible tunnels" to look for them. Fortunately, he finds out the next minute he doesn't have to, because he overhears Balin on lookout.
* In ''Literature/TheMartian'', [[spoiler: the Chinese scientists of CNSA]] admit that if they didn't help, no one would ever know that they ''could'' have helped. They chose to help.
* This is the whole point, even the unspoken {{Aesop}}, of ''Literature/LesMiserables''. Valjean could easily let another man rot in jail in his place, freeing him from worry about Javert forever and no one would ever know. But he'll know, and God will know, so he stops the execution and reveals himself, forcing him to disrupt his now peaceful and productive life to go back on the run from the law.

* Subverted in Vonnegut's ''Literature/MotherNight''. The moral of the story can be summed up as: you are who you pretend to be. At one point a Nazi informs the main character, who was working as a propagandist but was secretly passing information back to the Allies, that the Nazi knew the hero was a spy all along. The Nazi didn't care, though, because the hero's words were the only things that convinced him that the Nazis were right, and his country hadn't gone insane. Even if the hero was helping the allies, he'd helped the Nazis far more than he had ever helped them.

* Happens two times to Íñigo Balboa, the sidekick of Capitán Alatriste in the novels of Arturo Pérez-Reverte: Once in "Purity of Blood" (faced to surrender or attack, as 13-years old boy chooses to attack with a dagger the troops of the Inquisition including an expert assassin) and once in "The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet" (a trap is prepared for him and Alatriste under the supposition that Íñigo would never dare not to ask him for support - he does). In both cases the fact of "showing the real character even with no possibility of glory" is indicated (in the first case by the narrator, in the second by Alatriste [[spoiler: who actually arrives on time.]]

** A villainous example: Mia and Lilly have fought about a lot of things, but what ends their friendship is Lilly's reveal that [[spoiler:after Mia broke up with Michael and went on a platonic date with Lilly's ex, Lilly created a hate site about her best friend.]]. It is ''two years'' before she takes the site down, and even then [[spoiler:Michael has to read her the riot act offscreen for being so cruel to Mia]]. In addition, as Tina points out, [[spoiler:it's grounds of expulsion for Lilly, who already has a track record for being a rebel at the school]]. After making this loud confession and getting a lecture from her brother, Lilly feels really guilty and had a HeelRealization, but couldn't figure out how to apologize since [[spoiler:what she did was truly heinous, especially since if she had just told Mia why J.P. had broken up with her then Mia would have realized J.P. was using them]].

* In ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'', Gawain has to deal with this twice, once when the wife of Sir Bercilak de Haudesert is trying to seduce him and again when a servant who takes him to the home of the titular Green Knight offers to keep silent if Gawain runs away from his almost certain death.

** Played with, in the sense that Jaime should really not have allowed the reason for his action to remain in the dark. The wildfire caches are still hidden all over the city, & wildfire is infamous for being dangerously unstable & almost supernaturally destructive in nature. In fact, many fans believe that these caches will go up in a green apocalypse, once a certain young dragonrider appears to reclaim her birthright...
** [[spoiler:Theon Greyjoy]] goes to great lengths to save [[spoiler: "Arya Stark", actually Jeyne Poole. He is the only member of the rescue party aware of Jeyne's actual identity and therefore lack of political value.]] This is despite a year of [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] and {{Brainwashing}}, and being aware the best reward he can hope for is a less torturous death.

** ''Literature/DarkRendezvous'' has a certain Jedi [[spoiler: Jai Maruk]], dueling Asajj Ventress. He realizes that she's better than he is, and that she will inevitably kill him. But rather than succumb to despair and fall to the Dark Side, he remains in the Light, and [[GoOutWithASmile dies smiling]].
** In one of the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' books, Wedge Antilles leaves the command station where he'd been directing a crucial battle, only to find that his shuttle had been destroyed. The only craft available is an X-Wing with damaged comms and no astromech. After taking off in it, he finds a civilian transport under attack by an enemy squadron, and bravely annihilates them by himself, but loses his shields in the process. When a second squadron heads towards them, he has a choice: if he stays to fight the squadron, he will almost certainly die, and, as he is in an extra fighter that was assigned to no one and he can't comm anyone to tell them where he is, his family and friends will never learn what became of him. He will die alone and unnamed. Or, he could abandon the transport, having already fought valiantly to save him. No one could blame him for retreating in the face of certain death after having already given his all. Wedge turns to face the approaching squadron head on. His specific answer is "I'll know"; he knows himself well enough that if he leaves the transport behind, it'll only give him enough time to get his affairs in order before he [[DeathSeeker finds some other way]] [[DrivenToSuicide to die]]. Because it's Wedge, the best damn X-Wing pilot in history, he's got PlotArmor in effect, [[BigDamnHeroes and he gets rescued by members of the X-wing's squadron who noticed his fighter still active]].

** In Michael A. Stackpole's ''[[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy I, Jedi]]'', Corran Horn gives a whole ''litany'' of examples from his past, while trying to convince Luke that rather than being ignorant of temptation he does, in fact, know the lure of the dark side. Two of them are cases when he could have shot someone and had it explained as "resisting arrest", one of those being when he caught the one responsible for killing his father (he says he could've marched Bossk into the lobby of One [=CorSec=] Plaza and shot him in the head and nobody on the force would've given it a second thought). The other example:

* In ''The Door into Sunset'', the last volume of [[Creator/DianeDuane Diane Duane's]] ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheFive'' series, the main character Freelorn is confronted with [[spoiler: Cillmod, his half-brother and the man who usurped his throne (and this is a FisherKing scenario, so that's doubly bad). They are in an absolutely dark, isolated place. Cillmod has just attacked him. 'Lorn could kill him, and no one would ever, ever know. If they did, who's going to argue with the king about it afterward? In a remarkably astute move, Freelorn spares Cillmod's life and puts him in a position of high authority in his kingdom (as the latter wasn't actually evil at all, just manipulated. Cillmod legitimately wanted to try and rule as a good king, but that whole aforementioned FisherKing thing was pretty set in stone, and he didn't have a strong enough bloodline).]]

*** In Mile's father's case, Count Aral knows this on multiple sides. His long and dark history includes periods of alcoholism and a suicidal deathwish due to issues with his sexuality, culminating with his first wife's suicide which he was widely believed to have caused. He got into a series of duels creating him political enemies. His bad reputation followed him to Komarr, where he strangled an underling who committed a war crime against orders. Aral's bad reputation and rank made many believe that strangling was a cover up such that Aral was known as the Butcher of Komarr. However, later in the Escobarian War, Aral joined with Emperor Ezar's plan to assassinate Prince Serg, and ended up being considered the Hero of Escobar. Aral is disgusted with the redeemed reputation he has as the purpose of the entire war and thousands of deaths was just to murder Prince Serg. Thus Aral views his disreputable actions in the Komarr war as honorable and takes pride with them, while his reputable actions in the Escobar war he views with disgust.

** In ''Literature/BlackLegion'' by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, when Khayon is in psyker-coma, Telemachon spends long hours standing in his room with a sword and considering killing the sorcerer while he's defenseless. In the end, he doesn't, although Khayon believes it's more due to the fact that if anything happened to him, Gyre and Nefertari would rip Telemachon to shreds, regardless of evidence.

* In Glen Duncan's ''Literature/{{Weathercock}}'' this is pretty much the theme of the book, along with its climax: Dominic, the protagonist, is given the chance to do what he's always struggled with the desire for - to torture someone to death. [[spoiler: He doesn't do it. It is not about what he wants to do; as he notes, it is a matter of what he is and is not capable of.]]
* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'': Done very subtly with the HMS Thunder Child. When the Martians attack during the evacuation, the Thunder Child is out to sea. The Martians are paying it no mind (it's implied that they don't properly understand warships), and it could easily wait out the attack, or even retreat to join the rest of the Royal Navy, and any witnesses would have been lost in the Martian attack. But it's all that lies between the Martians and the refugee shipping, so, despite being a defunct ship with no business fighting one tripod, let alone three, it charges forward and engages them. In the battle, it is lost with all hands, taking two of the tripods with it, but allowing the refugees to escape.

*** After Cam gives him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech [[spoiler:and leaves him]], he realizes he's free to pursue Vivia's death like he wanted to and no-one can stop him, but instead choses to consider what Cam's told him.
*** He has a choice or either staying in hiding and learning valuable information or intervene and save Cam (who doesn't know he's here), and choses the latter.
*** Finally, [[spoiler:when they're hanging high in the air, out of everyone's earshot, Kullen gives him his WeCanRuleTogether spiel and points out that all Merik has to do to kill Vivia is to do nothing for a few more seconds. Merik choses to save her instead.]]
** Iseult has this moment in the climax of the second book, when she realizes that she can either keep searching for Safi like she did for all of the novel, or come back and save Aeduan. As an added bonus, Aeduan doesn't expect her to return, and Safi doesn't even know Iseult's travelling in a company. [[spoiler:She comes back for him.]]
* ''Literature/TheWonderfulAdventuresOfNils'': In order to escape his curse, Nils has to find someone who'd be willing to become a ''tomte'' in his stead. He finally encounteres a volunteer - a student who landed into a terrible predicament (he accidentally scattered the manuscript of his friend's brilliant novel across the city) and would welcome any escape, even such a bizarre one. But Nils refuses to take advantage of his distress and instead helps him recover the manuscript.

* [[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]], last book, ''A Memory of Light''. During The Last Battle, [[spoiler: Logain has two options: Look for Demandred's discarded ''sa'angreal'' to gain more power for himself after the battle, or lead his soldiers to save hundreds of Caemlynian refugees.]] Guess which one he takes. A bit of BookEnds here, [[spoiler:in both his first and last scenes in the series, the people of Caemlyn look upon him in awe. ''In the Eye of the World'', he's a dangerous False Dragon, but in ''A Memory of Light'', he's their saviour.]]
* ''Literature/WonderWomanWarbringer'': The Oracle offers to stay quiet and just let Alia die, which would restore the balance in Themiscyria, prevent Diana from facing the consequenses of breaking the law by brining Alia there, and stop the war that Alia is foretold to bring. Diana chooses the difficult path of trying to save Alia, Themiscyria and the world.