History Main / SecretTestOfCharacter

* In GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novel ''The Killing Ground'', Uriel and Pasanius's third ordeal is to fight Leodegarius, and they are defeated -- [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Pasanius unconscious, and Uriel unable to rise]]. Uriel tells him to GetItOverWith. Whereupon Leodegarius tells him that the ordeal is to ''lose'', because the only way they could have defeated him was the use of warp-based powers. Failure proves they are [[IncorruptiblePurePureness untainted]].
** Ultramarines seem to like this a lot, in one comic, a group of recruits have a race across the rocky mountain range barefoot, the two that came in last pass because they helped each other finish the race. Space Marines are supposed to work together as brothers.

* In ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' kids are told to bring one, only one, Number Two pencil to take the big test, or automatically fail. Outside the test building is a girl begging for help because she dropped her pencil down a sewer grate. Several kids pass the test of character in creative ways, including a girl who reaches into her BagOfHolding for assorted items that enable her to fish the pencil out of the grate, and the protagonist, who [[spoiler:breaks his pencil and gives the girl half]]. As an additional test, the girl then claims to have a cheat sheet, which she offers to share.

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''[[Discworld/LordsAndLadies Lords & Ladies]]'', an arrogant young witch challenges Granny Weatherwax to a contest in staring at the sun. When Nanny Ogg's grandson runs into the magic circle controlling their power and cries out, Granny looks away from the sun to help him, and Nanny declares that this is a [[ExactWords test of witchcraft, not power]], and a true witch ''would'' drop a silly contest to help a child. Afterward, it's revealed that Nanny waved a bag of sweets to lure Pewsey, knowing he wouldn't really be hurt. Subverted, in that this wasn't ''meant'' to be how the test worked, but you can't argue with public acclaim (and indeed, the original challenge was meant to discredit Granny Weatherwax).

*** There's a quick example in Discworld/WyrdSisters; the witches need to hide a baby and so try to have Vitoller, leader of a traveling theater, adopt him. Vitoller and his wife have always wanted a baby, but muse that money is tight and they may not be able to afford it. Nevertheless, they decide they can stretch their budget if it means having a child, whereupon Granny produces a big bag of coins for them. When asked why she didn't mention the money beforehand, she responds "If I had to buy you, you wouldn't be worth the price."

* Daniel Jackson faces this trope in StargateSG1 fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3012734/1/What-You-Already-Know-Pt-7-Resolutions-Gen-Ver What You Already Know Pt 7: Resolutions]] (part 7 of a fanfic series). The people of Earth are negotiating with an alien world inhabited by humans for the right to set up a colony on the alien world. Daniel, who is representing Earth in the negotiations, is called to a private meeting with a woman who is one of the alien world's leaders. The woman comes on to Daniel, implying that if he doesn't sleep with her, she'll convince the other leaders of her world to refuse to let Earth have its colony on their planet. Daniel refuses to sleep with the woman despite that, refusing to sacrifice his morals just to get Earth a colony. [[spoiler: Later on, it's revealed that the leaders of the alien world wanted to know that they were negotiating with a honourable man, so set the whole thing up as a test of Daniel's character; since he passed, they agree to let Earth build a colony on their world.]]

* In [[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt1/pt117.htm The Girl and the Dead Man]], all three girls are offered the choice between a whole bannock and their mother's curse, or half and their mother's blessing; the older two opt for the curse, and [[YoungestChildWins the youngest]] for the blessing, and only the last succeeds.

* In CarlBarks story "Some Heir Over the Rainbow", Scrooge [=McDuck=] wanted to test his relatives to know who deserves to inherit his fortune. Believing the best way to do it was giving them money without them knowing it came from him, Scrooge picked three pots and placed each one of them with a thousand dollars. He then hid the pots at the ends of three rainbows and set his relatives into finding them. Huey, Dewey and Louie found the first one, Gladstone Gander found the second one and Donald Duck found the third one. A few days later, Scrooge called his relatives to know how they used the money. [[spoiler: Donald spent it as the down payment of a new car and was now one thousand dollars in debt, prompting Scrooge to disqualify him as heir. Gladstone, not seeing any immediate use for his thousand dollars, hid the money somewhere. While Scrooge was disappointed Gladstone hasn't tried to invest the money, the fact Gladstone still has it saved him from disqualification. When Huey, Dewey and Louie told him the gave the money to finance a search for a buried treasure, Scrooge believed they had been conned out of the money and decided to name Gladstone his sole heir, despite considering this ''an awful injustice to the world''. However, it turns out the man they gave the money did find a treasure and the boys got a good share of it. Scrooge then named them his heirs.]]

* In SpaceBattleshipYamato, once they finally reach Iscandar, Queen Starsha reveals that their entire journey was this. She could have sent the Cosmo Cleaner D ("Cosmo DNA" in the Star Blazers dub) to Earth right away, but wanted to test humanity's will to survive, an act that she regrets. This was largely left out in the aforementioned dub.

** An attempt of this that backfired spectacularly was carried by [[Series/TheAtheistExperience Matt Dillahunty]], he used an anonymous account on a certain forum (where he was already a prominent member) in order to prove to the forum's critics and detractors that the forum members were polite and reasonable people; Unfortunately, they failed the test and his posts were met with disdain and derision by the moderators, only when Matt revealed his true identity he was then treated more respectfully; but his anonymous account was banned for going against the "No {{Sockpuppet}}s" rule, and was demanded to issue an apology for his experiment, and when he refused he was banned altogether from there. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX65hlHKEQg The whole issue explained here in detail.]]

** An attempt of this that backfired spectacularly was carried by [[Series/TheAtheistExperience Matt Dillahunty]], he used an anonymous account on a certain forum in order to prove to the forum's detractors that the forum members were polite and reasonable people; Unfortunately, they failed the test and his posts were met with disdain and derision by the moderators, only when Matt revealed his true identity he was then treated more respectfully; but his anonymous account was banned for going against the "No {{Sockpuppet}}s" rule, and was demanded to issue an apology for his experiment. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX65hlHKEQg The whole issue explained here in detail.]]

* An applicant to a law firm is given a test: "Imagine three people in a shark-ridden sea. One of them is unarmed as he is not afraid of sharks. Another one has a huge badass knife. The third one has a harpoon gun. Who do you associate yourself with?" "Well, the third one, of course," - responds the applicant. "I'm sorry,"- says the interviewer, - "you are not the right kind of person for us. [[EvilLawyerJoke Our employees should associate themselves with the sharks.]]"

* Another old joke goes that a young Navy Seal recruit is brought in for his final test. He is led into a room, where his wife is gagged and bound to a chair, and handed a gun. His teacher tells him that, to prove his loyalty, he must shoot his wife. The teacher leaves the room. He hears a gunshot, and a few minutes later the young man emerges from the room, saying, "Sorry it took so long; some idiot loaded the gun with blanks so I had to beat her to death with a chair leg."
** In some versions of the joke it's three different men and the first two pass by refusing to kill their wives while the third gives the answer above. (Often the men are from the FBI, CIA and NSA or Marines, Air Force and Army, in whatever order the teller prefers.)
*** And in another version, the first two, the ones that refused to kill, were male. The third, the one that went through with it using the chair, was female.
** Another military joke where you [insert branches of choice here]. Three officers (in different units, say Army, Navy and Marines) are arguing about who's soldiers are the bravest while standing on building/a ship. The first two each call up a private/seaman/other "grunt" and tell him to jump off. The soldiers say "Yes Sir!" and jump. The last officer smiles, calls up a private from his unit, and tells him to jump. The private stands up straight, salutes, and says "Fuck you" before leaving. The officer turns to the others and says "that, my friends, is true bravery."

* There's an old joke where a newlywed couple are going to a costume party, and their costumes arrived in the mail that day. The man puts on his gorilla suit, but before the woman can open hers she claims to be taken sick, and insists that he go to the party anyway. After he leaves, she puts on her costume (an angel costume with mask and wig) and goes to the party to test his loyalty to her. She arrives to find him dancing with another woman, and decides to see just how far he'll go and seduces him (but insists they leave the masks on.) She then slips out before he does and waits at home. When he comes home, she asks him how the party went, ready to pounce. He responds with "Oh, you know I can never have much fun without you. In fact, I spent most of the evening playing poker with some guys in the den... [[spoiler:but the guy who borrowed my costume said he had a hell of a good time!"]]

* Yet another old joke exploits this. A man comes to visit his fiance's family before the wedding. He meets her incredibly attractive sister in a state of undress. She says she can't possibly sleep with her sister's husband, but she wants one go before the wedding. The man pulls a hasty about face and bolts for his truck. The family emerges from hiding and stops him, saying that they were secretly testing him and are ready to welcome him into the family. The moral of the story: always keep your condoms in the truck.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' during the Knights of the Nine quest line, you have to speak to the Prophet. He gives you some basic information on an evil that's plaguing the lands, then when asked about seeking out the relics, he asks if you're worthy. If you say you are, he informs you that you ''clearly'' don't need his help finding the relics if you're such a renowned hero already. Only if you answer "no" does he let you continue the quest chain.

* In ''DarkCloud 2'', [[KidHero Max]] has been looking forward to the circus for a long time. He treasures his ticket and finishes all his chores at the workshop just to make it on time! But then a filthy, shoeless street urchin steals his ticket! After chasing the kid all over the town square, he finally catches up and gets his ticket back... only to give it back to the child, because he can see just how much that poor, homeless kid wants to see the circus too. Turns out, this was actually [[spoiler: Monica Raybrandt, princess from 100 years into the future, testing Max's heart as the wielder of the [[CosmicKeystone Earth Atlamillia]]]].

* "I was a very happy person. My wonderful girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married. There was only one little thing bothering me...It was her beautiful younger sister. My prospective sister-in-law was twenty-two, wore very tight miniskirts, and generally was bra-less. She would regularly bend down when she was near me, and I always got more than a nice view. It had to be deliberate because she never did it when she was near anyone else. One day her "little" sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived, and she whispered to me that she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn't overcome. She told me that she wanted me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister. Well, I was in total shock, and couldn't say a word. She said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, an d if you want one last wild fling, just come up and get me." I was stunned and frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a beeline straight to the front door. I opened the door, and headed straight towards my car. Lo and behold, my entire future family was standing outside, all clapping! With tears in his eyes, my father-in-law hugged me and said, "We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn't ask for better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family!" The moral of this story is: Always keep the condoms in your car"

* Subverted in ''MahouSenseiNegima'': Evangeline, something of a NobleDemon, decides that [[{{Samurai}} Setsuna]] is becoming "too soft", especially in the event that something like her [[MyGreatestFailure past failure]] in [[FailureKnight protecting]] her [[BodyGuardCrush charge]] Konoka ever happened again -- she may not even be able to ShootTheDog if she was needed to. So Eva tries to force Setsuna to choose between her "[[TheUnfettered sword]] or [[EarnYourHappyEnding happiness]]". Setsuna, however, takes it a different way...

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein was a fan of these. In ''Literature/SpaceCadet'', the aspiring Space Patrol candidate is given a test where he must drop beans into a small bottle at his feet - with his eyes closed. He's disappointed that he only managed to get one bean, where others had many more. Afterwards, the examiner heavily implies that what they're actually testing is trustworthiness; only the Cadets that kept their eyes closed pass.

** Sesshoumaru's entire journey turns out to be a secret test of character beginning with his father arranging for Inuyasha to inherit Tessaiga and Sesshoumaru to inherit Tenseiga, not only because Tessaiga is Inuyasha's RestrainingBolt, but also because Sesshoumaru needs to learn a massive lesson about compassion. Then, Tenseiga's secret weapon attack can only be unlocked when Sesshoumaru's heart is deeply moved by the death of someone he cared about, [[spoiler: Kagura]]. Then, the weapon attack (and Tenseiga itself) can only be strengthened through him learning to put the lives of others before his own personal ambitions [[spoiler: Rin's second death; her life is restored when his mother is satisfied he's learned the lesson]]. Then, he learns that he has been training the weapon attack to give it to Inuyasha all along, which is a test designed to put an end to his obsession with Tessaiga and accept Inuyasha for who and what he is. Finally, in a battle where he ends up openly protecting everyone in both his group and Inuyasha's group, his true power finally manifests. Turns out the point of all these tests was that, when Sesshoumaru finally discovered he was a ChainReactionDestruction OneManArmy with a MoreThanInfinite WeaponOfMassDestruction, he'd have accepted the importance of ComesGreatResponsibility

** Sesshoumaru's entire journey turns out to be a secret test of character beginning with his father arranging for Inuyasha to inherit Tessaiga and Sesshoumaru to inherit Tenseiga, not only because Tessaiga is Inuyasha's RestrainingBolt, but also because Sesshoumaru needs to learn a massive lesson about compassion.
*** Then, Tenseiga's secret weapon attack can only be unlocked when Sesshoumaru's heart is deeply moved by the death of someone he cared about, [[spoiler: Kagura's death being mocked as senseless by Mouryoumaru drives Sesshoumaru into a [[BerserkButton violent frenzy]] from the pain of her loss]].
*** Then, The weapon attack (and Tenseiga itself) can only be strengthened through him learning to put the lives of others before his own personal ambitions [[spoiler: his father left this test with his mother which causes Rin's death; as soon as his mother is certain he's learned the lesson, she restores Rin's life]].
*** Then, he learns that he has been training the weapon attack to give it to Inuyasha all along, which is a test designed to put an end to his obsession with Tessaiga and accept Inuyasha for who and what he is.
*** Finally, in a battle where he ends up openly protecting everyone in both his group and Inuyasha's group, his true power finally manifests. Turns out the point of all these tests was that, when Sesshoumaru finally discovered he was a ChainReactionDestruction OneManArmy with a MoreThanInfinite WeaponOfMassDestruction, he'd have accepted the importance of ComesGreatResponsibility

** Sesshoumaru's entire journey turns out to be a secret test of character.
*** His father arranges for Inuyasha to inherit Tessaiga and Sesshoumaru to inherit Tenseiga, not only because Tessaiga is Inuyasha's RestrainingBolt, but also because Sesshoumaru needs to learn a massive lesson about compassion.
*** Tenseiga's secret weapon attack can only be unlocked when Sesshoumaru's heart is deeply moved by the death of someone he cared about, [[spoiler: Kagura's death being mocked as senseless by Mouryoumaru drives Sesshoumaru into a [[BerserkButton violent frenzy]] from the pain of her loss]].
*** The weapon attack (and Tenseiga itself) can only be strengthened through him learning to put the lives of others before his own personal ambitions [[spoiler: his father left this test with his mother which causes Rin's death; as soon as his mother is certain he's learned the lesson, she restores Rin's life]].
*** Then he learns that he has been training the weapon attack to give it to Inuyasha all along, which is a test designed to put an end to his obsession with Tessaiga and accept Inuyasha for who and what he is.
*** Finally, in a battle where he ends up openly protecting everyone in both his group and Inuyasha's group, his true power finally manifests.
*** Turns out the point of all these tests was that, when Sesshoumaru finally discovered he was a ChainReactionDestruction OneManArmy with a MoreThanInfinite WeaponOfMassDestruction, he'd have accepted the importance of ComesGreatResponsibility

* In ''{{Inuyasha}}'', the title character is trying to get a new ability for his sword from a demon in the underworld. His friends are in danger, and even though the demon warns him that he'll never be able to get the upgrade if he turns away to help his friends, he does. If you've already read this far, you know what happened next.
** Inuyasha's AloofBigBrother Sesshoumaru goes through a similar SecretTestOfCharacter when trying to perfect ''his'' sword. When the effort results in the death of his MoralityPet, Rin, he declares that a power which comes at the cost of her life is pointless, a decision which prompts the sword to reward him by [[EmpathicWeapon upgrading itself]]. ([[DeathIsCheap Sesshoumaru's mother then revives Rin for him.]])
** Kouga experiences the exact same test as the first example while trying to get the Goraishi, an ancestral wolf tribe weapon.

* Vulpes Inculta of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' enacts one of these on the town of Nipton in the form of a lottery. The winner lives, second place gets his legs broken, and everyone else is killed, enslaved or crucified. [[ApatheticCitizens No one objects when he starts calling out names]].

* In "The Princess Test" on ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'', Merryweather disguises herself as Royal prep's librarian, and asks each princess in turn for help, just before the Princess Test begins. Sofia is the only one willing to put off the test and help, which earns her full marks for displaying a Princess' most important trait: Kindness. Not only this, but the test is rigged with a number of pitfalls specifically designed to test Sofia's resolution to ''continue'' helping Merryweather; in each instance, she passes.

* ''HeartcatchPrecure'' has one. In order to unlock the full power of the Heartcatch Mirage, the girls must undergo a Final Ordeal, which involves them fighting themselves... or rather, the negative aspects of themselves. Once the girls finally realize that and admit they can grow past it, they're asked one last question: [[spoiler:"Do you need me anymore?" All four girls say "Yes."]]

* An applicant to a law firm is given a test: "Imagine three people in a shark-ridden sea. One of them is unarmed as he is not afraid of sharks. Another one has a huge badass knife. The third one has a harpoon gun. Who do you associate yourself with?" "Well, the third one, of course," - responds the applicant. "I'm sorry,"- says the interviewer, - "you are not the right kind of person for us. [[EvilLaywerJoke Our employees should associate themselves with the sharks.]]"

* An applicant to a law firm is given a test: "Imagine three people in a shark-ridden sea. One of them is unarmed as he is not afraid of sharks. Another one has a huge badass knife. The third one has a harpoon gun. Who do you associate yourself with?" "Well, the third one, of course," - responds the applicant. "I'm sorry,"- says the interviewer, - "you are not the right kind of person for us. Our employees should associate themselves with the sharks."