"It's not just some necklace, guy! He gave it to me himself! Big Z... That guy believed in me when no-one else did."
— Cody Maverick, Surf's Up
Many times, the main character of a story will have met someone early in their life whom they idolize — someone who is well known and revered — and will then grow up wanting to follow in their footsteps. This can be anything, from sportsman to superhero.
At first, we don't see any signs that these characters are particularly skilled in their craft. In fact, often times they are quite bad at it. To help them on their way, the protagonist's idol will step in and personally endorse the character's success, sometimes leaving them with a memento to help them along the way. This can range from being a small token of encouragement to a full-blown Sword of Plot Advancement that grants them an ability they might otherwise lack.
Whatever the case, the main character now has the full support of the person they so desired to emulate, and thus their journey can truly begin.
Contrast with With This Herring. Compare with Touched by Vorlons and Super-Empowering.
May overlap with Ancestral Weapon and/or Ascended Fanboy.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Digimon Adventure 02: Daisuke Motomiya received his idol's Taichi Yagami's iconic goggles directly from the man in question when he got promoted from fanboy to Rookie Red Ranger.
- Little Witch Academia (2017): Despite being massively incompetent, series protagonist Akko manages to summon the Shiny Rod, a staff once wielded by her lifetime idol, Shiny Chariot.
- My Hero Academia: Izuku Midoriya has no Quirk of his own until his childhood hero All Might just happens to swing by and bestow his own powers upon the boy after seeing him prove that he has the heart of a hero.
- One Piece: Monkey D. Luffy received his trademark straw hat from the legendary "Red-Haired" Shanks (who in turn received it from the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger), the man who first inspired him to become a pirate.
Comic Books
- Batman: When Jason was originally introduced as yet another circus kid he spent a while in the Batcave brainstorming names he could use as Batman's ally a-la Robin, only for Dick Grayson, the original Robin to give him a Robin costume and his blessing to use his old identity.
- While Cassie was already Wonder Girl at the time she was struggling with her newly discovers powers when Donna gifted her Amazon bracelets and encouraged her to continue using the identity Donna had created to keep crime fighting.
Fan Works
- Happens twice in Amazing Fantasy. After gaining spider-powers from a spider bite, Izuku gets flagged down by a universe-displaced Peter Parker, who offers to mentor him. Izuku is initially hesitant and asks for time to think about it because of his own insecurities. After the Prowler incident, All Might decides to catch Izuku on his way home and assures him that he's going to be an amazing Hero before running off. All Might's blessing is what gets Izuku to take up Peter's offer.
Films — Animation
- Kung Fu Panda: Slightly averted; Po is personally and solely chosen by Master Oogway to join his idols, the Furious Five, as the new Dragon Warrior, much to the disbelief of his disciples and even Po himself.
- Surf's Up: As a young child, Cody is greeted and quickly enamored by legendary surfer Big Z, inspiring him to learn the sport himself. Many years later, after losing his first competition, he meets Big Z himself, who teaches him how to surf and helps him learn that the real goal is just to have fun.
- Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers: Slightly subverted; After being saved by musketeers, Mickey is gifted one of their hats, inspiring him to follow in their footsteps. Years later, Captain Pete chooses Mickey, Donald, and Goofy to become Musketeers and guard Queen Minnie. He doesn't actually think they are capable, and in fact only makes them musketeers in hopes that they will fail. However, Mickey doesn't know this, and so having the captain of the group he idolizes tell him that he has what it takes falls well into this trope.
Films — Live-Action
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Arguably the most direct approach, then up-and-comers King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are literally blessed by God himself to find the Holy Grail and cement their names in legends.
Webcomics
- The Beginning After the End: In an original scene, Arthur's superior on the Disciplinary Committee Claire Bladeheart is noted to be a fan of the newly-revealed Lances and aspires to become one of them. As such, when she and Arthur have a chance encounter with the Lances Alea Triscan and Bairon Wykes, she states her aspirations in front of her heroes. This causes Alea to express her approval to her on the way out, causing Claire to Squee. However, unlike other examples of this trope it ends tragically for both parties. Alea ends up being killed by a Vritra Retainer and Claire ends up losing her mana core from injuries she sustained during the attack on Xyrus Academy rendering her unable to become a Lance.
Real Life
- For his final school exam, Alexander Pushkin, the future most famous Russian poet of all time, had to recite a poem of his own authorship in front of Gavrila Derzhavin
, the aging most famous poet of the previous generation and one of his sources of inspiration. Derzhavin was reportedly so impressed by the young poet that he jumped up and proclaimed "Here is the one who will inherit my place!" This event was captured in the famous painting◊ by Ilya Repin, and years later, Pushkin himself would also reminisce about it in Eugene Onegin with the line "Old man Derzhavin saw and blessed us, as he descended to this grave."
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was in a lot of pain that day in 1787 and working on other things, and didn't really want to hear some random teenager who just really admired him, even if he did have a letter of introduction. But he was polite and said to go ahead and play something. The kid started one of Mozart's well known pieces, and Mozart said "No, something you wrote yourself." note So he did. Mozart was very intrigued and called to his wife, "Watch out for this boy, he will surprise the world some day!" He wanted to take the boy on as a student, but word came that his dad was sick and he had to go home. By the time he was able to get back to Vienna, Mozart was dead. Apparently this story about Ludwig van Beethoven has been embellished over the years but is essentially true.
