Because You Were Nice to Me in Literature.
- The Beyonders: In the end, this is why Ferrin betrays Maldor. The Power of Friendship the heroes demonstrated changed him for the better.
- In the children’s book Bony-Legs, Sasha feeds the titular witch’s pet dog and cat and puts butter on her gate’s creaky hinges. When Sasha is locked in the bathroom and told to wash herself so that Bony-Legs can eat her, the cat and the dog help her escape and give her two enchanted objects, which she uses in her escape. The gate, which is apparently sentient, doesn’t even creak when she leaves or lock her in. When confronted by the angry witch, they explain that she never fed them or took care of them while Sasha was compassionate towards them.
- Underplayed in Black Legion, but the Governess cuts Khayon much more slack and tolerates his actions way more than if it was anyone else because he's one of the very few people to treat her and her neutrality with respect.
- In Carrie, Sue and Miss Collins survive the Prom Massacre due to showing sympathy for Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Carrie.
- In Peter Moore's Caught In The Act Lydia is an outcast, no one will associate with her except for Ethan. Because of this, Lydia seems to fall in love with him and becomes devoted to him to a Yandere degree.
- A lot of characters in Chronicles of Nick are surprisingly nice to those who are nice to them. Just about every character has been through horrifying moments of loneliness and despair, and are very loyal to people who genuinely mean them well.
- Constance Verity Saves the World: While Apollonia was supposedly working for Lady Peril the whole time, it's revealed that she's actually loyal to Larry. Both because he pays her more and he won't kill her as a Villainous Demotivator like Lady Peril would.
- Serge Storms: In the last act of Coconut Cowboy, Fall Guy Peter is discretely helped by a Butt-Monkey member of a Small-Town Tyrant clan due to being the only person to call the local youth by his real name and tell him he's smart instead of calling him "Slower" (referring to his supposed unintelligence). Peter saving his life during a cave-in also helps.
- In The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Tana's relationship with Gavriel springs from this (combined with Rescue Romance) since she's the only person who ever saved him, or put his needs before her own. We learn from his Tragic Backstory that everyone he ever knew in his long life bullied, mistreated, rejected, or used and scapegoated him.
- Bruce Coville's Book of... Monsters: "Timor and the Furnace Troll" is about a tormented and ostracized elf child whose school assignment is to interview a troll. Trolls' favorite food is elf children, but the troll doesn't eat the boy because he sees how lonely and kind the poor thing is. At the end of the story, the elf child gets revenge on his schoolmates and teachers by freeing the troll and letting him eat them all, but tells the only other elf child who was kind to him that he won't feed her to the troll because "You're the sweetest girl I know"... before eating her himself, thus subverting the trope.
- In the Daughters of the Moon books, the Atrox has several rules binding the behavior of those who have given themselves over to them — one rule is, no Atrox agent can ever harm someone who has done them a genuine kindness.
- A region wide example in Doctor Player: The Bay region is a poor, lawless area born out of war refugees. It's avoided like the plague to the point there were some serious talks among nobles to just erase the entire town. However, the King has been meaning to stabilize it, and promised a reward to any who would do so. The three princes, in an attempt to score points to become the next king, have all attempted and failed, leaving the region in a worst state than before each time. Because of this, the inhabitants hate nobles and the royal bloodline as a whole. Enters Raymond, who gains the people's trust by curing the Syphilis running rampant in the Red Light District, cures the boss of the Blue Moon guild, kicks out the illegal healers who were extorting money, and saves a family from being burned to death for having what was believed to be smallpox (really chickenpox). Through his work and kindness, the slums uninamously adore Raymond, acknowledge him as the only worthy prince (even though he's illegitimate), and protects him and his reputation whenever they can, always lending support when he needs it. Like when he confronts the Dark Guild, the entire slum became an angry mob swarming the guild's headquarters. Raymond had to calm them down before it escalated further.
- "Down to a Sunless Sea": In the first quarter or so of the novel (before the nuclear war breaks out) Joe Marcovitch, the commander of the soldiers guarding JFK airport, providing security for the planes evacuating the Fallen States of America and gunning down any unauthorized people who try to get into the airport. When he catches the narrator and his crew sneaking a few friends of there's onto their plane, he lets them get away with it due to the crew having shared a steak dinner (something practically unheard of in America anymore) with him the previous day.
- In Dragon Bones, the hero Ward has the kind of personality that causes this reaction. He acquires a Cool Horse by treating the stallion his father mistreated with kindness, and the local Friendly Ghost and Genius Loci Oreg (who is his slave, A Wizard Did It), tells him more secrets than he usually would. While Oreg is bound to obey any given order, he can keep a secret if not asked about it, and the narrative strongly implies that Ward's abusive father didn't know how powerful, exactly, Oreg is. After Ward kills Oreg's body, thereby freeing him from slavery, the not-quite-dead Oreg is very loyal to him and stays with him, and teaches him magic, even though he could just spread his wings and fly away. The queen herself, when asked to use her influence to get Ward out of a problematic situation, remembers his kindness fondly, and is sorry that she can't do much, as her jerkish husband doesn't listen to her.
- When Raistlin is nice to a gully dwarf, she becomes quite loyal to him. (He did cast a Charm spell on her, but that's supposed to wear off ... eventually. Based on Intelligence, so in her case, it lasted a long time.)
- It's reciprocated, however, and Raistlin drops everything to try to protect her, even when his friends abandon the gully dwarves. It also leads to his Heel Realization in a sequel series, as his lust for power led to her death. He willingly condemns himself to an eternity of torment to avoid this.
- Dark example in The Dresden Files' Skin Game: Hannah Ascher was friends with the Brotherhood of St. Giles, who were also her economic support and gave her a home. When Harry got most of them indirectly killed at the end of Changes, she was left on the streets and killed (maybe in self-defense) three men with magic, prompting the White Council to go after her. When Nicodemus Archleone helped her and brought her into the Order of the Blackened Denarius, she accepted his offer and became Lasciel's host.
- In The Farthest-Away Mountain, Dakin wanted to meet a gargoyle because she felt that their evil-looking appearance was a result of something they were sad about. When Dakin meets the gargoyles Og, Vog, and Zog who guard the mountain, it turns out that she was right, and her showing them sympathy has them immediately assist her in her quest despite not knowing the password, supporting her at every opportunity from then on.
- Fate/strange Fake: Alcides/True Archer reveals that when he was alive, everybody treated him like a freak because of his strength, size, and for being the Son of Zeus. Jason treated him like a human being and said all would be treated equally in his kingdom. For this reason, Alcides willingly served him on the Argo. When his Master calls Jason a fool, Alcides says it's true he was foolish, but he will not tolerate anyone insulting one of the only people who was kind to him. It's all the more potent because Alcides is actually Heracles after a brutal Mind Rape session capped with a Grail Mud bath, which led him to lose all of his honorable traits.
- Forest Kingdom: In book 2 (Blood and Honor), after Jordan is kind to him, the ghost boy "Wee Geordie" helps put Jordan into position to save the castle.
- Johnn Conrad of Four Faultless Felons gives this as the reason for his refusal to betray the revolutionaries who are threatening to plunge the country into anarchy.John Conrad: ... I did get food at Peacock Crescent. Those horrible revolutionists, who you say are destroying the whole city, at least prevented me from being destroyed. Suppose, if you like, that they treated me like a dog; still, I was a stray dog and a starving dog; and they fed and sheltered me like a dog. You know what a dog would feel about turning on them or deserting them. Is thy servant less than a dog, that he should do this thing?
- In Foundation and Empire in the ''Foundation Series the Mule lets Bayta go free because she treated him kindly when she thought he was just a poor picked-on clown (instead of the ruler of the Galaxy)
- In the picture book Happy Birthday, Big Bad Wolf by Frank Asch, when The Big Bad Wolf comes to the Pigs' house, the family tells Little Pig that they have to all hide. Remembering a Surprise Party that was held for his grandfather, Little Pig thinks it must be the Big Bad Wolf's birthday and so when the Big Bad Wolf opens the door, he jumps out and yells "Surprise!" The parents figure they have no choice but to go along with the idea at this point and the Big Bad Wolf decides to go along with it too, figuring it's an opportunity to top off a dinner of pork with some cake for dessert. However, he ends up being so touched by their kindness, and particularly Little Pig's, in the end that he decides that there's no way he can eat them.
- A Defusing The Tykebomb moment in Galaxy of Fear works because of this — the Arrandas were kind to Eppon, laughing and playing with the normal-looking baby, and planning to adopt. When the Big Bad showed up it reverted to its programming and was loyal to him, but later Tash reminded it of their brief time together.
- Harry Potter:
- The house elves take on this attitude to anyone who is nice to them — this starts with Dobby in Chamber of Secrets and Kreacher in Deathly Hallows. It's also implied that this trope is how Voldemort was able to garner support from non-human magical creatures like the giants — they were so used to being treated with rank condescension or outright persecution by the Ministry of Magic that Voldemort had little trouble convincing them he'd do a better job.
- Also implied to be part of Snape's reason for turning to The Dark Side — Lucius Malfoy, one of the wizarding aristocracy, welcomes the no-name working-class half-blood as soon as he's sorted into Slytherin, and their friendship seems to have continued even when Snape became a Double Agent, and remained strong enough that Narcissa asked him to protect Draco from the consequences of a mission assigned by Voldemort primarily to get him killed. Ultimately this is what made him turn back as well. Lily Potter was his first friend, and given his troubled home life, the first person who cared about him.
- Luna, and to a lesser extent Neville, have this sort of relationship with the Trio and Ginny. As a result, they were the only members of the D.A. to help defend the castle in Book Six. Luna is especially blunt about her general loneliness."I miss the D.A. It was almost like having friends."
".... I am your friend, Luna."
".... Oh." - Also Luna's room in Deathly Hallows: hand-painted portraits linked with chains made of the repeating word "Friends".
- Harry is also always quick to remember the kindness and support of his friends, and one of the things that makes him genuinely angry is seeing them insulted. On the train to Hogwarts after the battle at the Ministry of Magic, he's sitting with Neville and Luna when another student invites him to another car to hang out with the kids there, saying he doesn't have to sit with Neville and Luna. Harry coldly rebuffs the offer and it's clear that he's seriously pissed. Luna observes that people expect him to have cooler friends than them.Harry: You are cool. I didn't see any of them fighting beside me in the Ministry of Magic.
- Played with in Chamber of Secrets. Because of Rubeus Hagrid's kindness in caring for him and his family, Aragog the Acromantula commands all of his many, many offspring to never harm Hagrid. Unfortunately, as Harry and Ron nearly find out firsthand, this courtesy extends only to Hagrid.
- This is definitely one of the series' recurring motifs. Imagine how different Harry would have turned out if Hagrid hadn't been the first person in his life to show him any kindness. It was Malfoy's contempt for Hagrid in Madame Malkins that really kicked off their animosity. The same goes for when he taunts Ron, Harry's first-ever friend, on the train. If it weren't for Harry's loyalty, would he have accepted Malfoy's offer of friendship and been put in Slytherin instead? The entire series would veer off course...
- Heat 2 has a variation - the Liu family ends up taking Chris in because when the Liu family patriarch was in prison with Nate, Nate helped protect him from harm.
- This is the sum of Quasimodo's attitude toward Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame — when the Hunchback is put on the rack and pelted with fruits, she takes pity on him and brings him water. This is especially noteworthy as the reason he's being punished was for trying to kidnap her.
- The Hunger Games:
- A variant: Thresh, who is also from District 11, spares Katniss on one occasion because she helped his surrogate little sister Rue before she died and gave her as much dignity as she could in her death. This extends in general to District 11, leading to riots breaking out.
- The only reason Katniss has reason to suspect that Peeta is anything other than a canny competitor is because he gave her bread when she was starving to death and preparing to die. At least before he has the chance to kill her after the tracker jacker attack, and he clearly doesn't even consider doing so.
- In The Immortals, the villain has created tiny Blob Monster spies called darkings. They have no inherent loyalty to him, so he controls them by causing them pain, which he can do remotely. Other characters, seeing the darkings for the first time, are immediately suspicious-to-hostile towards them. Daine, having internalized her lesson in Wolf-Speaker that she shouldn't attack something until she sees it do wrong, protects and feeds them. They become friendly towards her, soon even turning on their master.
- Into the Drowning Deep: One siren signals its fellows through sign language not to hurt Hallie because she communicated with him by the same means and established a friendly rapport.
- Legacy of the Dragokin: Zarracka spares Benji, helps his father fight off a monster, and later wants to adopt him because he said he wished she were his mother instead of Daniar. This is the first nice/loving thing anyone has said to her since her mother died.
- The theme of "The Legend of the Latchstring", depicted in both a short story and a mural at the Pennsylvania Legislature. Amid rumours of a raid by local natives, a Quaker family pulled in their latchstring (a rope used to lift the latch inside their farmhouse door from the outside). Quaker custom was that it would never be pulled in, the equivalent of always leaving your door unlocked. Initially, they did, on the advice of non-Quaker neighbours, but the guilt over betraying their beliefs led them to let the string back out. Sure enough, later that night, native raiders burst through their door...then exited almost as quickly. Years later, when in a peace circle with one of the raiders from that night, they learned why: leaving the door unlocked demonstrated that they were Quakers, known to the local natives to be the only white people to welcome them with open arms.
- In Les Misérables, after being jailed for decades for stealing a loaf of bread, and forced into poverty and starvation due to the difficulty of finding jobs as an ex-con, Jean Valjean comes upon the Bishop of Digne, who shows him kindness and houses him. At first, it seems like a subversion, with Jean Valjean taking advantage of the Bishop and stealing his stuff. Then, when he's caught running from the Bishop's home with the good silver, the Bishop decides not to press charges and gives Valjean the stuff, plus a bit more, on the condition that it "buys his soul for God". Jean Valjean is converted from a bitter convict to The Paragon of integrity and virtue for the rest of his life, despite all the crap he endures, out of loyalty to the Bishop's one kind act.
- Gollum/Sméagol is like this to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Right until Sam accuses him of "sneaking".
- The Lost Fleet happens upon a few hundred civilians on a Syndicate Worlds system abandoned with the development of hypernet gates, their Domed Hometown's life support slowly failing and with little or no hope of rescue. Over the protests of some of the crew, Captain Geary refuses to leave them to their fate and gives them passage to the next inhabited system... Where it turns out that one of the rescuees is the brother of the planetary governor, who covertly provides them with much-needed supplies and intelligence. To really drive home the significance of Geary's act, the two sides have been at war for the last century, and it had become a routine matter for both sides to attack even civilian populations on sight.
- In The Machineries of Empire, drones are helping Cheris because she treats them like friends rather than pieces of equipment.
- In Mahabharata, Karna was in prime position to end the worst war ever by becoming king... but it would have meant spurning Duryodhana, the one prince who agreed a mere charioteer's son could be as talented as more noble castes and always treated him as his brother.
- In The Mayor of Casterbridge, after Michael Henchard's downfall, he is taken in by a former employee of his, Abel Whittle, in spite of his cruel treatment at Henchard's hands as punishment for chronically oversleeping. He explains to Henchard's stepdaughter Elizabeth-Jane and her husband (and Henchard's former business manager) Donald Farfrae that Henchard took a personal interest in sending financial support to Whittle's ailing mother, and he felt obligated to repay that kindness when he saw Henchard in such dire straits.
- The character Charlie Walter in The Mental State is a celibate paedophile who is frequently the target of persistent bullying, humiliation, and exploitation by both the other inmates and the staff. Zack is the only person Charlie regards as a true friend, on account of him being not only the first person to try to understand him but also the only one who is able to distinguish between a 'paedophile' and a 'child molester'. Being the sort of person Zack is, he predicted exactly how Charlie would react and gladly utilises his unwavering devotion to him. So great is his commitment to Zack, that he is completely impervious to the manipulations of the resident psychopath.
- Most of Catarina's love interests in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! fall for her because they were all bullied or troubled in some way... and then Catarina was there to show them kindness and friendship:
- Although she treats her adoptive younger brother due to her fear that she will be killed by his hand, Catarina still treats Keith as a person, finally vindicated him when Duchess Claes falsely suspects him as her husband's bastard and effectively being the first individual who doesn't treat him like crap after being treated horribly by his father's family prior to his adoption to the Claes duchy.
- Mary falls for her because she was the first to compliment her gardening skills and generally treating her nicely, which is quite big for Mary, considering that she was bullied by her older half-sisters due to being a daughter of their father's second wife who was a commoner.
- Catarina thinks Sophia's white hair and red eyes are pretty. Since other people badmouthed Sophia for the way she looks, Catarina immediately endears herself to Sophia and her older brother Nicol as a result.
- In a rare case that does not involve Catarina, in the original Fortune Lover, it is implied that the reason she developed a crush on her brother Nicol is because Nicol is literally the only person of their age who didn't shun her.
- Although with a bit of roughness thanks to their Friendly Rivalry, she snaps Alan out of his desperate need to prove himself and finally realizes his worth once and for all. This enables Alan to reconcile with Geordo, who he has odds with due to being near-perfect and constantly being compared to him.
- After defending her from the bullies twice due to Maria's status as a commoner and a light mage, she also falls in love with Catarina as well.
- And even by her former life as the Monkey Girl, she was this to her best friend Atsuko, who approached her with decency and didn't judge her with her Otaku interests or her awkwardness. Prior to meeting the Monkey Girl, Atsuko was a completely solitary figure who gained solace in romantic fiction (otome games included) due to her having No Social Skills. And as proof of how kind the Monkey Girl was, at the time of the Monkey Girl died, she wished for Reincarnation Friendship and the wish was granted — she reincarnated into the aforementioned Sophia.
- In One of Us is Lying, Addy befriends Janae, Simon's only friend, after finding her crying in the bathroom. This makes Janae unwilling to plant the stolen epi-pens on Addy, so not knowing what else to do she frames Nate for Simon's murder instead. When Jake comes over to confront her about this, Addy gets their conversation on tape.
- Keladry of Mindelan, the titular protagonist of Protector of the Small, has this happen frequently. There's a reason she's called that.
- Her war-horse Peachblossom whose last owner was abusive agrees to work on his behavior when she promises not to yank off the reins or ever use spurs, but only for her: do not imply you are interested in stealing or buying him. Or in buying Kel.
- Her lady's maid Lalasa admits in a stressful moment that she was so skittish at the beginning because she kept waiting for Kel to show she was like all the other nobles she'd met; realizing it wasn't going to happen led to Taking a Level in Badass, teaching other servant class women the self-defense tactics Kel had taught her and becoming one of Kel's staunchest supporters.
- Tobe, the 10-year-old indentured servant she rescued from an abusive situation, rides into an enemy country in the middle of a war because she might need him and he doesn't like to let her out of his sight for fear she might forget about him like a couple of other seemingly-nice people did.
- Star Wars Republic Comando: In the final book, when Maze is asked why he saved General Zey's life, contrary to initial appearances that he did execute Order 66 he replies that Zey always made coffee for the two of them despite Maze's Almighty Janitor status.
- The Scholomance: When the Shanghai enclavers attack El Higgins, she holds back against them largely because Yuyan once politely asked her for help translating a spell and then offered to translate one for her as repayment back when she was an unaffiliated 'loser' with no connections she would admit to who did everything she could to hide the extent of her power and could not quite conceal the nature of same (suspected low-end maleficers incapable of damping down their bad vibes being outcasts among outcasts).
- Inverted with Orion Lake. An impressive Hunter of Monsters surrounded by fawning adoration of varying sincerity, El gains his attention largely because she chewed him out to his face over splattering a monster all over her room and won his devotion by not really mellowing out toward him that much over time.
- In The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Luo Binghe suffered from so much abuse and mistreatment in his childhood that he becomes deeply devoted to his teacher Shen Qingqiu and doing everything he can think of to help and protect him after Qingqiu begins showing him kindness, in spite of him having abused Binghe horribly in the past. (This sudden 180 in Qingqiu's behavior was caused by a person from the modern-day real life world transmigrating into the original Qingqiu's body, but Binghe doesn't know that.)
- In Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy, Leonis is warned by his fellow cadets of the Arkanis Academy that Zarang can't stay off of academic watch and isn't someone he should be around if he wants to advance. Leonis does want to advance because it's the only way to get into the Commandant's Cadets, which he thinks will help him with his goal of finding his sister. Nevertheless, he accepts Zarang's invitation for the two of them to spend time in Scarparus Port, the only place in the area to go for fun because Zarang is one of the few people at the academy who had been kind to him.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Possibly Subverted with Mirri Maz Duur, a Blood Mage who is Made a Slave by the Dothraki; Daenerys stops several men from raping her, so Mirri offers to treat her husband's injury. After he ignores her instructions and the wound becomes infected, she's threatened with death if he doesn't recover, so she agrees to use a spell, which leaves him alive but completely unable to move or speak. She tells Dany that a small measure of mercy didn't change the fact that her entire village had been massacred or enslaved, and Drogo deserved what he got. It's left unclear whether she'd intended to betray Dany, or was simply taking credit for it, once she knew she was going to be killed anyway.
- In Spinning Silver, Miryem meets a debtor who can't repay in coin and so demands that his strapping daughter Wanda work off the debt as a maidservant in Miryem's home (which allows Miryem's sick mother to rest and recuperate properly). Because Wanda's father is abusive and negligent, she's stunned by the Mandelstam's basic decency in things like speaking to her politely and including her in the family dinner. When Miryem teaches Wanda math and writing so she can be an assistant and later shakes hands with her, it makes such an impact that Wanda later defies the fearsome and legendary Staryk King to stop him from taking Miryem away.
- According to family legend, Miryem's ancestress found an injured fox as a child and nursed it back to health. The fox then revealed itself as some sort of magical being by replying that it would pay her back one day. Years later, it reappeared and warned her about a pogrom that was about to break out, allowing her and her children to hide and survive.
- In the Sweet Valley High series, hospital volunteer Elizabeth Wakefield is kidnapped by a mentally disturbed orderly. When she asks why he did it, he explains that he loves her and invokes this trope as the reason. She once helped him with his tray and it was apparently the only time anyone showed him kindness.
- In Uncle Tom's Cabin, a Kentuckian slave owner relates a story about a native African slave, brutalized by another owner, that had pledged undying loyalty to him when treated like a human being.
- Vorkosigan Saga: Sgt. Bothari to Cordelia in Barrayar, though it is a little more complicated than that. As Aral later explains to Cordelia, the mentally unstable Bothari doesn't have a strong sense of self, and unconsciously becomes whatever those around him expect out of him: a good soldier, a loyal retainer, a monster."You..." his voice softened, "you are the only person I know who looks at Bothari and sees a hero. So he becomes one for you. He clings to you because you create him a better man than he ever dreamed of being."
- In Wander, Wander spends years travelling the ruins of the United States, avoiding people wherever possible. Although she initially rescues Dagger against her better instincts, the fact that he goes out of her way to befriend her results in her becoming extremely loyal to him and his group.
- The fact that Dagger inspires Wander to spare Monica's life results in Monica and Rocky deciding to join her when she decides to abandon Darwin.
- In the Warrior Cats graphic novel Shattered Peace, Minty stops her mate from killing Ravenpaw because Ravenpaw was nice to her kits.
