History Main / CharacterWitness

* 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 ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', Kiara tries to vouch for Kovu when he says he had nothing to do with his pride's attack on Simba, knowing he wouldn't do such a thing because she can already tell "He loves me!" Her father refuses to believe her, and when her lover is exiled, she goes to find him and bring him back on her own.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* 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.

* The mutants of ComicBook/XMen fare have had people give them cross country rides, duck them away from mutant hating authorities, etc, all because one X-Man helped someone else at some point, so anybody legitimately wearing the (X) is considered a good guy worth assisting.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Literature/ActsOfTheApostles'' includes the story of how Saul, one of the most notorious persecutors of the early Church, was shown the error of his ways by Christ Himself as he traveled to arrest yet more of His followers. [[ThatManIsDead Now calling himself Paul]], he was eager to join the Apostles and help them spread the Word of Christ, but their reaction was basically, "How stupid do you think we are?" Fortunately, a believer named Barnabas ([[MeaningfulName "Son of Encouragement"]]) convinced them he had indeed been changed by his experience on the road to Damascus, goy them to let him join the group, and the rest is history.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' manga, Phoenix hopes that Thomas Spitzer, Bobby Wolfe's OnlyFriend, will serve as a variant of this by proving that if he had someone to care for his spiders, he would not burn down the Den of Spiders to MercyKill them once his brother Robin, who had supported them, was dead. Edgeworth, however, calls Spitzer to the stand, whereupon he says that Edgeworth had convinced them that Bobby would have done it, and agrees with his theory, saying that the spiders were too expensive for him to care for.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/26690158 Miracle Queen Aftermath]]'' has Chloe [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty facing serious consequences]] for her actions during the Season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. In an effort to drum up support for her student, [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher Ms. Bustier]] attempts to turn this into a ''school project'', wanting the rest of her class to write letters about how ''wonderful'' she is. Given how Chloe has been an unrepentant AlphaBitch who bullied and harassed her peers for ''years'', the assignment doesn't work out as planned.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', Kiara tries to vouch for Kovu when he says he had nothing to do with his pride's attack on Simba, knowing he wouldn't do such a thing because she can already tell "He loves me!" Her father refuses to believe her, and when her lover is exiled, she goes to find him and bring him back on her own.

* In ''Film/TheRevenant'', the hero frees the Ree chief's daughter when she is raped by one of the French. In the final scene, when he encounters her again with the Ree, they spare his life in recognition of his good deed.
* At the end of ''Film/BabyDriver'', multiple character witnesses testify in [[spoiler: Baby's trial, ensuring he gets a shot at parole five years into his 25-year sentence.]]

* Prior Philip in ''Literature/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.

* Literature/DonQuixote: Hiliarously subverted by Andres and Tosilos, who come back LaserGuidedKarma not ''in defense'', but ''against'' our protagonist.
** 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.
** Lacquey Tosilos appear at chapter LVI of the second part when Don Quixote is trying to WeHelpTheHelpless, and comes back in chapter LXVII to inform Don Quixote that all was a ShaggyDogStory.
* In ''Literature/TheRamayana'', Vibhishana advises King Ravana not to kill a messenger from the enemy army. Some chapters later, Vibhishana has switched sides and the protagonists are debating whether or not he's trustworthy. The messenger vouches for Vibhishana, because his previous actions showed him to be a man of honor.

* The main emphasis of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is the Count's revenge on the four men who had him imprisoned. One frequently-overlooked plot point has the Count discovering that Monsieur Morrel, his employer when he was arrested, had made a valiant effort to try and get Edmond Dantes (the future Count) released, as he was convinced of Dantes' innocence. Morrel was taking a dreadful political risk in doing so, due to the struggles between royalist and Bonapartist groups that were convulsion France at the time and were in part what led to Dantes' imprisonment. By the time Dantes escapes and becomes the Count, Morrel's shipping company is on the verge of bankruptcy and his family's honor is ruined because of his inability to pay his debts. Using the alias of "Sinbad the Sailor", the Count repays his old employer by buying out and paying off the company's debts, giving them a brand-spanking new merchant ship to replace the one that had recently been destroyed in a storm, and also providing a generous dowry for Morrel's daughter. Monsieur Morrel would die soon after, but his good name and family honor were both fully restored.
* Dumbledore tries to serve as this for Severus Snape in the BackStory for the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series. He made the former Death Eater a member of the Order of the Phoenix over most of his soldiers' objections and insistence that the man could not be trusted. The catch was that Snape swore him to secrecy about the reason for his defection, so Dumbledore could never explain ''why'' he trusted him. While some like Lupin were willing to accept this and trust Dumbledore's judgment without question, others like Sirius were not. Harry doesn't find this particular witness credible on this point until a major revelation at the very end of the series.
* ''Literature/ActsOfTheApostles'' includes the story of how Saul, one of the most notorious persecutors of the early Church, was shown the error of his ways by Christ Himself as he traveled to arrest yet more of His followers. [[ThatManIsDead Now calling himself Paul]], he was eager to join the Apostles and help them spread the Word of Christ, but their reaction was basically, "How stupid do you think we are?" Fortunately, a believer named Barnabas ([[MeaningfulName "Son of Encouragement"]]) convinced them he had indeed been changed by his experience on the road to Damascus, goy them to let him join the group, and the rest is history.
-->"And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out." Acts 9:26-28

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' ends with the hero (your character) having a formal audience with the Sultan of Shapeir, surrounded by people he's helped throughout the game. Everyone has some very nice things to say about the hero. At the end of it, the Sultan [[spoiler: publicly adopts the hero as his own son and therefore the Prince of Shapeir, as an AwesomeMomentofCrowning. Now ''that'' is gratitude that more heroes should receive.]]

** Gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] if you talk to the Admiralty Board afterward, as one of them points out that you didn't actually prove anything. However, in a greater scale as found out in the sequel, [[spoiler: this will help provide more options for Shepard and co. when they finally put an end to Quarian-Geth conflict if Tali is still affiliated to the Quarians, most preferably if she wasn't exiled back at the second game.]]
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', if you saved the original council, the asari councilor will point out that when they distrusted Shepard, they ended up being wrong. This is helpful to ensuring that [[spoiler:you can talk down Kaidan or Ashley, whom Udina is trying to convince that you're still a willing member of Cerberus, without killing them.]]

* 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 defense.

* In ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'', Fooker is accused of murder as part of an elaborate plan by Trudy, and since he was on a mission for the U.G.A., all the evidence that would provide an alibi is classified. The group is hoping that his best friend Chuck can help them, but Trudy has Chuck serving her with a chip that she can use to cause him pain, and forces him to testify that he knew Fooker was planning the attack and that he knows where Fooker has a cache of (planted) weapons, which is the final nail in Fooker's coffin.
** In Fred's case, when he's being sued for libel by Trent, several of his fellow employees speak up for him, and suggest that Trent was the one who had been the aggressor and had caused trouble for Fred. Trent's lawyer complains about this wasting their time, and what enables Trent to win is that his claim that Trent had tried to kill someone was, in fact, true.

* Subverted in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009''. Wolverine saves an entire family, and one of them turns him in to the Mutant Patrol first chance he gets.
* Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' 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.
* There's a Jamaican cab driver who goes by "Mouse" on ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' who tries to be available for the webslinger because he saved her from a mugging.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', Steven frees Lapis Lazuli from her imprisonment and heals her gem, allowing her to fly back to Homeworld. This pays off a season later where she [[spoiler: warns the Crystal Gems of an impending invasion and sacrifices herself to lock away TheDragon - all for Steven [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe who helped her]]]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' episode "The Green Loontern", Dodgers saves [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Ganthet]] from being crushed by falling debris. Later, when the other Lanterns are accusing Dodgers of being one of Sinestro's agents, Ganthet speaks up on the duck's behalf, pointing out that an agent of Sinestro would not have risked their life to save anyone, let alone a Guardian.

* In the first episode of ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'', we see an arrogant noble standing in the middle of a crowded road, harassing and threatening a commoner who had bumped into him, until [[TheStoic Jin]] [[MasterSwordsman effortlessly cuts through his bodyguards]] [[IWasJustPassingThrough for standing in his way]]. By the end of the episode, he has been captured and is about to be executed for the offense. [[PluckyGirl Fuu]] has some fireworks [[WeNeedADistraction she plans to use to free him]], but she doesn't have anything with which to light them. No points for guessing who reaches up from the crowd with a match.

* Franchise/SpiderMan:

* Franchise/{{Superman}}'s main defense against ComicBook/LexLuthor? It's not his powers, it's the city of Metropolis, which loses its collective shit whenever people attack their mascot, and will permanently destroy Luthor's VillainWithGoodPublicity status if he ever gets caught openly hurting Supes without a really good loophole to escape the blame. It's also been implied at various times (particularly in the {{Elseworlds}} ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]: ComicBook/TheNail'') that Metropolis is responsible for setting the trend for the citizens of the DC universe to ''not'' be suspicious, fickle, ungrateful assholes to their heroes like their Marvel counterparts, due to Superman's altruism towards them.

* ''Series/TheATeam'', "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E2RecipeForHeavyBread Recipe for Heavy Bread]]". While the titular team were imprisoned in a Vietnam POW camp, the head cook, Lin, slipped food to Hannibal, Face, B.A., and Murdock, keeping them alive. Years later, when he's being targeted for execution by the camp's old leader, he encounters them again. They remember what he did and are happy to take on the job of saving him ''pro bono''.

* Subverted in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen''. Wolverine saves an entire family, and one of them turns him in to the Mutant Patrol first chance he gets.

* There are two seemingly inconsequential quarians Shepard meets in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': the first, Veetor'Nara, is a traumatized adolescent who just witnessed the abduction of an entire colony; the second, Kal'Reegar, is a marine who was sent out to protect Tali from being captured by geth. If you send Veetor home to the Migrant Fleet instead of having Cerberus interrogate him, and if you make sure Reegar survives the mission on Haestrom, during the trial you will have the option to "Rally the Crowd" and they will speak up to vouch for Tali's innocence (Reegar in particular has a few ''very'' choice words for the Admiralty Board about their attitudes).

** Gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] if you talk to the Admiralty Board afterward, as one of them points out that you didn't actually prove anything.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', if you saved the original council, the asari councilor will point out that when they distrusted Shepard, they ended up being wrong. This is helpful to ensuring that [[spoiler:you can talk down Kaidan or Ashley, whom Udina is trying to convince that you're still a willing member of Cerberus, without killing them]].

* 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 him 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.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': 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.)]]

* 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).]]

* ''Discworld/GoingPostal''. The first letter delivered after years of no service brings unexpected benefits for the hero after a huge catastrophe.

* In legalese, a Character Witness is someone who attests to someone's moral conduct and good reputation in a court of law. This is a form of "Character evidence", where aspects of a person's behavior and conduct are taken into account during the trial.

* 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, revealed to be his daughter, steps forward to return the favor — and then some.
* In ''Disney/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', Kiara tries to vouch for Kovu when he says he had nothing to do with his pride's attack on Simba, knowing he wouldn't do such a thing because she can already tell "He loves me!" Her father refuses to believe her, and when her lover is exiled, she goes to find him and bring him back on her own.

--->"Boy, I'm glad I called ''that'' guy."

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

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E5GauntletOfFire Gauntlet of Fire"]], Spike saves dragon princess Ember from drowning. She later repays this in kind by saving Spike from falling into a volcano.

* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Avatar", ComicBook/RasAlGhul leaves Batman stranded in the desert. Ra's [[TheDragon enforcer]], Ubu, who was grateful that Batman saved his life earlier, passes him a canteen.

* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Avatar", Ra's al Ghul leaves Batman stranded in the desert. Ra's [[TheDragon enforcer]], Ubu, who was grateful that Batman saved his life earlier, passes him a canteen.

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* 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.

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' ends with the hero (your character) having a formal audience with the Sultan of Shapeir, surrounded by people he's helped throughout the game. Everyone has some very nice things to say about the hero, making it a good SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}. At the end of it, the Sultan [[spoiler: publicly adopts the hero as his own son and therefore the Prince of Shapeir, as an AwesomeMomentofCrowning. Now ''that'' is gratitude that more heroes should receive.]]
* There are two seemingly inconsequential quarians Shepard meets in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': the first, Veetor'Nara, is a traumatized adolescent who just witnessed the abduction of an entire colony; the second, Kal'Reegar, is a marine who was sent out to protect Tali from being captured by geth. If you send Veetor home to the Migrant Fleet instead of having Cerberus interrogate him, and if you make sure Reegar survives the mission on Haestrom, during the trial you will have the option to "Rally the Crowd" and they will speak up to vouch for Tali's innocence in a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome (Reegar in particular has a few ''very'' choice words for the Admiralty Board about their attitudes).

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' ends with the hero (your character) having a formal audience with the Sultan of Shapeir, surrounded by people he's helped throughout the game. Everyone has some very nice things to say about the hero, making it a good CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. At the end of it, the Sultan [[spoiler: publicly adopts the hero as his own son and therefore the Prince of Shapeir, as an AwesomeMomentofCrowning. Now ''that'' is gratitude that more heroes should receive.]]
* There are two seemingly inconsequential quarians Shepard meets in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': the first, Veetor'Nara, is a traumatized adolescent who just witnessed the abduction of an entire colony; the second, Kal'Reegar, is a marine who was sent out to protect Tali from being captured by geth. If you send Veetor home to the Migrant Fleet instead of having Cerberus interrogate him, and if you make sure Reegar survives the mission on Haestrom, during the trial you will have the option to "Rally the Crowd" and they will speak up to vouch for Tali's innocence in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome (Reegar in particular has a few ''very'' choice words for the Admiralty Board about their attitudes).

* In legalese, a Character Witness is someone who attests to someone's moral conduct and good reputation in a court of law.