History Main / CharacterWitness

* At the beginning of ''Film/{{Tumbleweed}}'', Jim Logan saves the life of the wounded Yaqui warrior Tigre. This saves his life twice later in the movie. First, Tigre's mother turns him loose rather than torturing I'm when she recognises him as the man who saved her son's life. Later, Tigre breaks Jim out of jail when their is a lynch mob coming for him.

* Subverted in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''. Wolverine saves an entire family, and one of them turns him in to the Mutant Patrol first chance he gets.
** Later played straight when army officers are about to arrest Rogue and Kitty on. The major tells his troops to stand down as Rogue had saved him from being hit by a car.

* During the first few minutes of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can run around a fair talking to various {{Non Player Character}}s and crash into a young girl. The girl turns out to be the local RebelliousPrincess, and when Chrono is put on trial for kidnapping her, the [=NPCs=] show up and either speak up for you or perform a character assassination based on what you did or didn't do (brought a girl her lost kitten back, let Marle browse around the shops, ate an old man's lunch, tried to sell Marle's locket...). The outcome is the same no matter what, though you are given some free healing items based on the number of people who spoke in your defence.

* During the first few minutes of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can run around a fair talking to various {{Non Player Character}}s and crash into a young girl. The girl turns out to be the local RebelliousPrincess, and when Chrono is put on trial for kidnapping her, the [=NPCs=] show up and either speak up for you or perform a CharacterAssassination based on what you did or didn't do (brought a girl her lost kitten back, let Marle browse around the shops, ate an old man's lunch, tried to sell Marle's locket...). The outcome is the same no matter what, though you are given some free healing items based on the number of people who spoke in your defence.

* During the first few minutes of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can run around a fair talking to various {{Non Player Character}}s and crash into a young girl. The girl turns out to be the local RebelliousPrincess, and when Chrono is put on trial for kidnapping her, the [=NPCs=] show up and either speak up for you or perform a CharacterAssassination based on what you did or didn't do (brought a girl her lost kitten back, let Marle browse around the shops, ate an old man's lunch, tried to sell Marle's locket...). The outcome is the same no matter what.

* In the Creator/AdamSandler film ''Film/BillyMadison'', Billy calls one of his old classmates to apologize for bullying him when they were in school. The classmate reacts calmly, but after he's hung up the phone, he crosses Billy's name off of his "People to Kill" list. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:he shows up when Eric, the villain of the movie, is trying to kill Billy and shoots Eric (not fatally)]].

* During the first few minutes of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can run around a fair talking to various NPCs and crash into a young girl. The girl turns out to be the local RebelliousPrincess, and when Chrono is put on trial for kidnapping her, the NPCs show up and either speak up for you or perform a CharacterAssassination based on what you did or didn't do (brought a girl her lost kitten back, let Marle browse around the shops, ate an old man's lunch, tried to sell Marle's locket...). The outcome is the same no matter what.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'', Judy saves an innocent bystander in Little Rodentia from being crushed by a runaway donut. It didn't seem important at the time, but when she and Nick cross Mr. Big and are about to be "iced", that same bystander steps forward to return the favor — and then some.

* Prior Philip in ''ThePillarsOfTheEarth'' is betrayed by a monk named Remigius, the former deputy prior, as part of a plot by the prior's enemies. Later on, he forgives Remigius and allows him to return to the monastery rather than live in poverty (Remigius' allies having since discarded him). And a good thing, too, as Remigius is the only person in the world with the information that can save Philip from a witch hunt at the climax.

* ''OctoberDaye'': There's a cab driver named Danny that doesn't let Toby Daye pay because Toby helped his sister once.

Subtrope of KarmicJackpot and AFriendInNeed. Compare ChekhovsGunman. Can lead to a DisproportionateReward. See OldBeggarTest where this trope is invoked by a powerful figure disguised as poor or weak.

* In ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'', Judy saves an innocent bystander in Little Rodentia from death by misadventure. It didn't seem important at the time, but when she and Nick cross Mr. Big and are about to be "iced", that same bystander turns out to be Mr. Big's daughter Fru Fru who recognizes Judy and returns the favor by getting her on good terms with her father.

** Andres, a boy that Don Quixote thinks has rescued at chapter IV part I shows up again at Chapter XXXI part I. Don Quixote wants him to defend his ChivalricRomance delusions, but instead Andres denounces him with a NiceJobBreakingItHero speech and left with a bitter StopHelpingMe.

** Then there was that time Superman saved a high-steel construction worker from falling. Turns out he was actually an ex-weapons designer who would ultimately become [[ComicBook/{{Steel}}], one of Superman' closest allies.

* In ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'', Judy saves an innocent bystander in Little Rodentia from death by misadventure. It didn't seem important at the time, but when she and Nick cross Mr. Big and are about to be "iced", that same bystander steps forward to return the favor.

* In ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'', team leader Courtney is nominated for elimination and can�t defend herself because she�s in the infirmary. Ezekiel, whom Courtney has been re-educating to be acceptable to polite society, stands up for her. Ezekiel�s sexist attitudes are well known, so his �testimony� carries a lot of weight.

* In "Literature/TheTinderbox," a soldier has a magical tinderbox which enables him to summon large-eyed dogs to do his bidding. He uses the dogs to get a look at the princess of the kingdom, with whose beauty he falls deeply in love, but is captured and sentenced to be burned at the stake. While in prison, he catches the attention of a boy and recruits him to retrieve the tinderbox from his room at the inn, which he later uses to escape. The boy does this for him, because he remembers the soldier buying food for his family when they were impoverished.

** Subverted with Haru in the episode "Imprisoned". He saves an old man [[spoiler:with his illegal earthbending. Old man turns him in..]].

* Edward The Black Prince, in ''Film/AKnightsTale'', declares William a knight due Edward seeing the kind of spirit in him. He also mentions that the fact his apparent servants love him would have been enough on its own.

* Interestingly, a [[ShowWithinAShow novel within a novel]] in ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'' said the story of Jesus delivered the [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop wrong aesop]], in that it showed that the Romans made the mistake of picking on the wrong man, one who was the son of God, so the message came across as, "Make sure that whoever you pick on [[InnocentBystander isn't important]]". Instead, it says that Jesus should have been a nobody, a bum, and when the Romans crucified him, God should have appeared and decided to adopt this worthless bum as his son.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has this in the trial scene, and also its inversion - you can get random bystanders to testify against you if you've done something bad. It doesn't matter anyway, though, since if you get declared not guilty, [[KangarooCourt you still get arrested for a minor crime, and the chancellor uses creative paperwork to get you scheduled for execution anyway.]] Getting cleared just gets you a bag from sympathizers with one to six ethers depending on how many jurors voted guilty.
** If you help a young girl find her cat, it helps you get more jurors on your side.

* Two important, non-related examples in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'':
** The first one involved Judai. On the day of an important exam, the Duel Academy's card shop got a shipment of newly released cards; but Professor Chronos got their first and bought them ''all''. Then he gave them all to Manjyome, and said he would manipulate the match-ups in the field exam so that he and Judai were opponents, hoping Judai would not only fail, but be humiliated. Meanwhile, Judai overslept, and while running to class, met an old lady struggling with her stalled truck. Knowing he'd be late anyway, he stopped to help her with it. Later, when ''he'' finally got to the card store, he found out she ''owned'' the place, and saved one of the new packs of cards for him; Judai was actually able to win the duel against Manjyome with it, gaining a promotion. [[KeepTheReward (Which he turned down.)]]
** The second example: After Manjyome left Duel Academy in disgust after a second humiliating loss to Misawa, he ended up shipwrecked and near North Academy, Duel Academy's rival school, which was situated in a arctic tundra. He was told by a disheveled man by the door that they wouldn't let anyone in without a full deck of forty cards, and there were cards hidden around the area; he himself had found 39, but was too exhausted to keep looking. Because the man refuses to sell them, Manjyome goes out and searches for his own, finding forty of them; but when he fears the man might freeze to death, he gives him one so he can go in (fibbing and saying he has 41). When the man goes in, Manjyome wonders what he's going to do ''now''; and suddenly he sees another card, which later becomes essential to winning a duel later in the episode. [[spoiler:He later finds out that this was a SecretTestOfCharacter; the guy was North Academy's chancellor.]]

A common variation is that the hero just needs a second to escape TheChase, or a distraction so the BigBad goes the wrong way.

Subtrope of AFriendInNeed. Compare ChekhovsGunman. Contrast AndroclesLion, DisproportionateReward and ZombieAdvocate.

* Franchise/Spiderman: