Marv: She was nice to me.
Wendy: She was desperate. She needed protection and knew how to keep you around. It didn't work out. You don't owe her anything.
Marv: She was nice to me. She gave me something I didn't know existed. I wasn't never even able to buy a woman, the way I look.
A character, sometimes the Butt-Monkey of a given work, is treated for the first time in their lives or in a long time with genuine kindness and friendship. It may extend to the character's life being saved, and as such, they now may feel I Owe You My Life. As such, they will be exceptionally loyal to their benefactor, even if the benefactor admits that it was all a lie.
If the benefactor is a villain, this character could either be their Morality Pet or someone they cared about before the benefactor turned evil.
The nature of this character type is such that their loyalty to their benefactor will extend to generally absurd lengths. Not even the benefactor will be able to persuade them that they had cruel ulterior motives — this can be problematic if the Butt-Monkey in question ends up turning Ax-Crazy. Can be part of a Heel–Face Turn. Normally one of the defining aspects of the Harem Genre, as with so many girls all vying for one boy, usually the most amount of time the series can devote to explaining why they all like him is that he simply treats them as human beings. Though this trope is often portrayed sympathetically, it is also what often creates the Stalker with a Crush and the Yandere. It may also be a Samaritan Relationship Starter.
A character who follows this may be one that Desperately Craves Affection as well.
Will be immune to Twisting the Words. Often is also The Woobie. Related to It Meant Something to Me. See also Disproportionate Reward. Compare Character Witness and its animal version, Androcles' Lion. Contrast with its polar opposite, Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal, and with Ungrateful Bastard, and (most of all) The Farmer and the Viper. May lead to Defusing the Tyke-Bomb. Possible overlap with Reformation Acknowledgement , Won Over by Earnestness, and Evil Desires Innocence. A complete inverse of this trope would likely be But for Me, It Was Tuesday.
Example subpages:
Other examples:
- In this
Asian investment ad, a dog becomes a loyal helper for the protagonist after the latter gave him something to eat.
- Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: In Angelalily's debut episode (episode 27 of Happy, Happy, Bang! Bang!), after a game of seeing who can catch Paddi first, Wilie apologizes to Angelalily for ruining her scarf and gives her a scarf of his own to replace it. Angelalily, in return, gives Wilie one of her toys, and the two become friends.
- Dane Cook has a routine exploiting this trope. The idea is that every workplace has one person in it who is creepy or awkward in some way, and thus shunned by all of their coworkers. Dane states his approach is to always befriend such persons, with spontaneous gifts of candy bars and a willingness to talk about the awkward person's strange hobby — because when that person inevitably snaps and starts killing everyone in the office, you'll be the one spared their wrath, with a comment of "...Thanks for the candy..." instead of a shotgun shell to the face as everyone else got:
"Uh-huh, yeah; you're gonna talk to that guy, now."
- 52: When Doc Magnus single-handedly takes down the Mad Scientist think tank, he lets T.O. Morrow escape. When Morrow asks why, Magnus says that it's because Morrow was one of the only people who actually took his theories seriously when he was first starting out.
- Birds of Prey: Huntress' devotion to the Black Canary definitely has shades of this.
- B.P.R.D.: In BPRD: 1947, agent Jacob Stegner gives a coin to a homeless beggar woman. The woman later appears to him to tell him that one of his missing comrades is still alive. Before she mysteriously disappears, she says, "I tell you this... because you were kind."
- Ewoks—Shadows of Endor: The Ewoks rescue a Wistie Agluk keeps trapped in his necklace as a light source and she helps them afterward despite having little stake of her own in the conflict to the point of committing a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Grandville: Billie admits that LeBrock, despite his tough and no-nonsense attitude, is probably the nicest guy she dealt with in her life, which is likely a major factor in her growing attraction to him.
- The Incredible Hulk: The Green / Savage Hulk usually has the mentality of a small child, so this means if someone's nice to him, or even just acts nice to him, they've got his undying friendship.
Joe Fixit: It's like with ma — you were nice to Salad Brain once, and he'll never forget it.
- Secret Wars (2015): Miles Morales gives Molecule Man a hamburger. Even in context, it's pretty weird (as Miles had it in his pocket forgotten for three weeks), but it's also the first act of kindness that anybody has shown Molecule Man in eight years, as he's been tucked away to be used as a Living Battery. At the end of the storyline, Owen repays the debt by cosmically retconning Miles and his loved ones to the new Marvel Universe, and while he's at it, bringing Miles' mother Back from the Dead.
- Sin City: Quoted above: Marv's attitude toward Goldie in the first issue. He's not an idiot — he realizes that Goldie almost certainly got close to him because she needed protection from whoever it was that killed her in the opening pages. But as he explains to Goldie's Angsty Surviving Twin Wendy, be that as it may — she's the only stranger who's ever shown Marv any genuine kindness, and it's also implied that she's the only woman who wasn't too terrified of his appearance to sleep with him. So he searches relentlessly to find her killer and make him pay.
- Spider-Man: During The Gauntlet storyline, the Juggernaut helped Spider-Man after the wall-crawler tried to help the villain when he was attacked by the latest Captain Universe.
- Tintin: Tintin gets several allies this way: in Prisoners of the Sun, for instance, he defends a boy from some bullies, and the boy later offers to guide him to a secret Inca temple, even though he could be killed for doing so.
- Transformers (2019): After Arcee and Greenlight restore Gauge's lost memories, Gauge is left questioning whether she should aid them or continue following Heretech like she was taught. She ultimately decides to help Arcee and Greenlight because they asked for her help but never ordered her, and she respected that they were willing to let her make her own choices while Heretech ordered everyone to do what he said and took away their choices.
- X-Men:
- In New X-Men: Academy X, X-23 goes to considerable lengths to protect Dust from the Purifiers when they attack the academy because Dust was one of the only people at the academy who was nice to her when she arrived. On the other end, Dust was nice to Laura because she was a refreshing change from her old roommate Surge, who didn't agree with her beliefs.
- In Uncanny X-Men, former supervillain Rogue was made to feel distinctly unwelcome when she first joined the X-Men. In UXM #172 she accompanies her new teammates to Tokyo to attend Wolverine's wedding. On seeing her, Wolverine comments that if it were up to him, he'd cut out her heart, but his fiancée, the aristocratic Mariko Yashida, says that Rogue as a guest is entitled to all due courtesy and respect and welcomes her. Effectively Mariko was merely acting in accordance with the ethical and social rules of her class, but it still was the first time Rogue was unreservedly welcomed by anyone since she left the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and so in the following issue Rogue doesn't hesitate to lay down her life to prevent her death ("Lady Mariko was kind t'me — she accepted me, right off — ah won't let her come to any harm!"). The fire from Viper's blaster actually hurts her badly, but Rogue accepts her likely death philosophically. However, Logan now feels indebted to her for saving the woman he loves and makes Rogue absorb his healing factor.
- In Dick Tracy, this was the reason for the Mole's Heel–Face Turn. After he was thrown in jail, Tracy gave the Mole a Christmas present, a care package with some simple gifts. The Mole had lived such a lonely, miserable life that the simple gesture meant the world to him. He went straight and these days is a good friend of Tracy and his family.
- In a 1925 Little Orphan Annie comic, Annie rescues a puppy being abused by a group of boys. She shelters the pup and gives him away to a good home. A few months later, when Annie is kidnapped, the fully grown dog, which she had named Sandy, ends up coming to her rescue. He has been her longstanding companion ever since.
- A story arc in For Better or for Worse revolved around April dealing with a bully in school named Jeremy Jones. Things come to a head when while chasing her on his bike, he ends up getting hit by a car. April stuck with the driver and called for help. She later came to visit him in the hospital, convinced by Elly. It's revealed she was the only kid who did; not even his so-called friends showed up. Afterwards, he eases up on her, and later that Halloween when some kids vandalized her dad's model train set, he tipped April off to the culprits. They never become friends but he mostly leaves her alone afterwards.
- This occurs in tale type ATU 425B, "Son of the Witch" (previously, "The Witch's Tasks"), a subtype of the more general type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, and also in former tale type AaTh 428, "The Wolf": the heroine finds herself at the mercy of her husband's mother (a man-eating creature or sorceress), and has to perform tasks for her. One of the tasks is to visit her sister (who lives in Hell in Scandinavian variants), and get from there something (usually, a box or casket, but it may also be a comb or tamis). Advised by her husband, she treats the sorceress's sister's guardians/servants with kindness: compliments a crooked tree, drinks from a dirty stream, oils the hinges of a door or gate, etc. When the heroine escapes from the sorceress's sister's house, the servants are ordered by their mistress to stop her, but they say that, due to heroine's kindness, they will let her go.
- The Golden Root
(Italy) - heroine Parmetella is advised by her husband to place a stone near an open door. After she escapes with the box of instruments, her husband's aunt commands the door to crush her, but it lies still due to Parmetella's kindness.
- The King of Love
(Italy) - Rosella goes to her husband's aunt's house and, advised by him, flatters a dirty river of blood and a crooked pear tree, eats bread from a closed furnace, sweeps cobwebs from stairs and polishes some rusty utensils (a razor, a pair of scissors, and a knife). When the girl steals the box of instruments from the ogress aunt, the creature commands her servants to kill her, but the blades, the stairs, the furnace, the tree and the river refuse to obey their mistress.
- Prunella
- Fragolette
(by Édouard Laboulaye) - Fragolette is ordered to visit the witch's sister, Viperine, and get a casket. Belèbon, the witch's son, gives advice and objects to Fragolette to help her: compliment a river, oil door hinges, and give bread to a dog. When Fragolette escapes with the casket, Viperine orders her servants to kill the girl, but they stay their proverbial hand.
- The Golden Root
- There is an old fairy tale where a young man who wants to woo a princess heads off to do so. On his way there, he meets an old man with whom he shares his meal. When the young man makes it to the castle, the girl's overprotective father sets an impossible condition for him to do so; he must produce a man who can eat a mountain of bread. When the young man is wandering through a forest bemoaning this task, he meets an old man who says he is incredibly hungry; the young man tells him of the mountain of bread and the old man then offers to help and eats the entire thing. The king then declares that the boy must produce a man who can drink an entire warehouse full of ale; he goes back to the forest and meets the man again, who this time claims to be incredibly thirsty and drinks all the ale. As a final task, the king demands that the boy produce a ship that can sail on both water and land, and when the distraught young man returns to the forest one final time, his mystical friend invokes this trope.
Old man: I have eaten for you, and I have drunk for you, and I will also give you the ship; and all because you were kind to me at the first.
- Aesop's story "The Lion and the Mouse" has this trope at its core: One day a lion was sleeping and a mouse, by complete accident, woke him up. The Lion, annoyed at the mouse, threatened to eat it. The Mouse begged for forgiveness, and claimed that, due to its size, it would make a poor meal. The Lion agreed, and let the mouse go free. Sometime later, a group of hunters set a trap for the Lion, wrapping him in nets. The Lion roared in anger and fear. His cries were heard by the Mouse. Out of gratefulness for sparing him, the Mouse chews through the ropes and frees the Lion.
- There is a cycle of stories related to the motif of "The Grateful Dead" (tale types ATU 505 and 507) wherein, instead of the spirit of a human person, the protagonist is helped by a myterious person that he meets on the road. The mysterious companion is actually a fish that the hero released back into the sea at the start of the story, and reveals his true origins near the end of the tale.
- Iago in Aladdin: The Return of Jafar regrets helping Jafar after Aladdin sticks up for him and Aladdin and his friends treat Iago better than Jafar ever did. This causes his Heel–Face Turn and he ultimately helps them defeat Jafar.
- This is why the Beast, Prince Adam, fell in love with Belle in Beauty and the Beast, whose kindness towards him made him blossom his inner goodness that was locked inside by his own arrogance.
- Ice Age 1: Diego the sabre-toothed cat originally plans to lead Manny, Sid and the human baby into a trap so his pack of tigers could eat them. However, spending time with them during their trip he soon comes to realize that Manny and Sid are genuinely caring for him as a person, unlike the boss of his pack who treats him poorly for his mistakes. When Manny risks his own life to rescue him, Diego finally decides to pull-off a Heel–Face Turn, opposing his old gang and chooses Manny and Sid as his new herd.
- Khumba: The elderly gemsbok saves Khumba from the saltpan, in turn for when he earlier allowed her and her herd to drink at the zebra's water hole.
- Kung Fu Panda 4: Zhen has a tendency to latch onto those who seem to show her kindness, as she spent much of her life being ostracized for being a thieving vagrant. This initially leads to her being loyal to the Chameleon after she rescued her from the streets, only to turn on her after she finds out that she only ever saw her as a tool. She goes on to legitimately bond with and help Po because he acted as a legitimately kind mentor towards her.
- My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) runs on this. Every new friend the protagonists make comes about because one of them was willing to befriend them:
- Capper was planning to sell them before they escaped. Because Rarity had given him a selfless gift and expected nothing in return, he does his best to mislead Tempest as to where they're going.
- Captain Celaeno and her pirates are persuaded to abandon the Storm King's forces after Rainbow Dash sings them a rousing song, encouraging them to live their lives to the fullest.
- Princess Skystar joins them in the final battle against the Storm King's forces even after Twilight tried to rob her because Pinkie Pie sincerely entertained her with the "One Small Thing" number.
- And of course Tempest Shadow reforms and pulls a Heel–Face Turn because Twilight chose to save her life.
- A proxy example in Pocahontas. The titular heroine doesn't demonise John Smith and the settlers like the rest of her tribe because her first impression of him is putting his knife away when he sees Meeko — and playing with him, showing that he is a decent person. She then becomes dedicated to protecting him and advocating peace.
- Ratatouille: Colette starts off rather harsh towards Linguini but softens up to him over time because he actually takes her advice seriously.
- Shrek:
- Shrek at times finds Donkey annoying but greatly values their friendship as the latter was the very first being to not see him as "just an ogre".
- Dragon almost immediately falls in love with Donkey when he gives her the most surface-level of compliments on her appearance, presumably because he was the first person to ever even try talking to her as a sapient being, much less compliment her.
- Puss in Boots's friendship with Humpty in his youth was because he defended him from bullies, as he did the same for him in return. In The Last Wish, he initially finds Perrito to be a nuisance and a way to get to the Wishing Star. However, after Perrito helps Puss calm down from a panic attack and offers advice on his issues, Puss begins to appreciate and become protective over his new friend.
- Spider-Man: Spider-Verse:
- Peter B. Parker warms up to Miles, going from Cynical Mentor to Miles's biggest supporter after Miles demonstrated he cared enough about him to not let him die. Also, because Miles gave him the second wind that led to his life getting better, Peter decides to defect from the Spider-Society and joins Gwen's resistance so they can aid Miles in his hour of need.
- Implied to be at least part of the reason why Pavitr Prabhakar sides with Gwen and other “rebel” spiders, as Miles saved his girlfriend’s father.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Princess Peach's protectiveness of the Toads is because when she accidentally wandered into the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant, the Toads took her in, raised her as one of their own, and even crowned her their princess once she came of age.
- Trolls:
- Poppy selfless's acts earns those she meets their friendship and loyalty:
- Part of Branch's crush and loyalty to Poppy is because she is the first Troll who isn't his family, mainly his grandmother and Floyd, to have been nothing but nice to him.
- Bridget in the first film pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save Poppy and the other Trolls from being eaten by her fellow Bergens, as Poppy is the first person to ever treat her with kindness by helping her get close to Gristle Jr.
- Hickory in World Tour tries to protect Poppy from Barb because she was kind to him. Also, in the same film, Barb reconsiders her ways in making rock overtop other genres when Poppy patiently teaches her about the essence of musical harmony, thus she gives up her initial goal and harmonizes with the other Trolls in the end.
- John Dory's fondness for Poppy in Band Together is that she acknowledge him from BroZone and has treated him with kindness, as he treats her the same way in return. Also, in the same film, Spruce becomes grateful to Poppy for giving him motivation to not only get back up on stage to sing, but to prove his kids wrong about him being in a band with his brothers. In addition, Crimp helps Poppy and Branch rescue the latter brothers when they free her from Velvet and Veneer's closet, even accepting the Queen of the Pop Trolls' offer of a hug and grabs her for comfort.
- Floyd has his own moments of earning those he meets their friendship and loyalty:
- Crimp helps Branch and Poppy rescue Floyd because he is not only her friend, but has treated her with kindness.
- Veneer goes through a change of heart and owns up to his mistakes through Floyd's kind heart, as he gives him some wise advice about being true to yourself and how Velvet treats him.
- Clay's care and loyalty to Viva comes from her being nice to him, as she lets him be true to himself and has treated him with kindness, even going to the point of treating her the same way in return.
- Poppy selfless's acts earns those she meets their friendship and loyalty:
- The Wild Robot (2024): Fink finds himself warming up to Roz, even though he tried to attack her and tried to eat Brightbill's egg, after she saves his life by harmlessly plucking out a ton of quills that got stuck on his face when he land on a porcupine during their chase. Following this, the genuine kindness Roz and Brightbill show Fink - which he's never really had before - cause him to warm up to the both of them and become a nicer, more loyal person.
- Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph's instant friendship with Vanellope stems from her being the first (non-villain) video game character to look beyond his "bad guy" role.
- In Dorothy of Oz, Abee is so devoted to Mara because she was the only person to treat him like a human being and not beat the crap out of him for being unable to answer a question. He even states this in the second volume when they first meet.
- Georges Brassen's "Chanson pour l'Auvergnat"
tells the story of a man who has been thoroughly hated and condemned by society but fondly recalls three persons: the titular "Auvergnat" (a person from the Auvergne region) who gave him firewood in winter, a hostess who fed him bread when he was starving, and a traveler who kindly smiled at him when he was about to be taken to jail. Each memory finishes with the narrator hoping that they will go to Heaven for their kindness.
- The song People Are Crazy is about a guy (the singer) hanging out with a lonely old man, he didn't even know and having a generally good time, before the mysterious old man left, never to see the singer again. Turns out the old man was a millionaire and left his fortune to the man he barely knew, that showed him a genuinely good time, before his death.
- Fritz Von Erich gave Bruiser Brody a job in WCCW after being blacklisted from every US promotion after falling out with Vince McMahon Sr. Because of this, he became close to the Von Erich family, even looking out for David during a tour in Japan.
- Ken Shamrock promised to instruct the kickboxer Maurice Smith in grappling, which was fulfilled by proxy of his brother Frank, who he in turn instructed in striking and put together an "Alliance" for (with Tsuyoshi Kohsaka) in Ultimate Fighting Championship.
- Mountain Fiji was responsible for getting Little Egypt a job in GLOW. Even though it did not end well, Egypt being forced out with an ACL break, she still organized GLOW reunion shows for the purpose of helping Fiji pay for her own injuries and diabetes treatment.
- The formation of Paul London's tag team with Brian Kendrick came about when the latter tried to save Paul from a Brock Lesnar mauling. Kendrick was, of course, no help at all, Lesnar still being in his "squash everything, lose nothing" phase, but Paul was forever grateful regardless.
- The unlikely "friendship" between Tara and long-standing nemesis Mickie James came about in TNA when Tara wasn't actually for Madison Rayne running over James with Tara's motorcycle. Despite not being able to stop the heinous act, James not only beat Rayne for the Knockout's Title belt but wagered it on the grounds Tara would be free from contract Rayne was dangling over her head should Rayne lose her rematch. While Tara still fought James on the independent circuit, she was never quite as hostile to Mickie as before, taking Mickie's side against Amber Rodriguez and Melina and the MCW Ladies Night and joining her and Jazz for Chikara's King Of Trios.
- Liv Morgan stopped Billie Kay from getting a dirty win over Aliyah simply because she was sick of being bullied by Billie and Peyton Royce. When the Iconic Duo double-teamed Liv, Aliyah made a Heel–Face Turn to help her and return the favour. They became fast friends and teamed together many times.
- TARU became the lifelong manager of Crazy MAX, a bunch of punks he barely knew because they spared him from a beatdown they gave to TARU's partner and opponents during a match.
- One of Dane Cook's acts talks about how everyone knows at least one creepy guy at work and that he made it a point to befriend said guy, knowing that the guy will inevitably snap and gun down the workplace while also sparing the one person who gave him candy bars on a whim.
- Genius: The Transgression: Neid-type Geniuses tend to have... issues with the whole "They Called Me Mad!" thing, and are extremely resentful over being misunderstood, and even mocked, by their formerly fellow scientists, and by Muggles in general. Naturally, if they find someone who actually does believe them, or at the very least understand them, someone who manages to gain their trust, then that someone just found themselves a powerful ally.
- During the Siege On Tolkeen in Rifts, the forces of Tolkeen liberated the Daemonix, a race of sub-demons, from enslavement in another dimension. They then asked the Daemonix to help them fight the Coalition. they instantly agreed, because Tolkeen asked them. As far back as the despised Daemonix could remember, no one has ever asked them anything. No previous master had ever given them a choice or the freedom to say no. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the Daemonix fought side by side with Tolkeen.
- This becoms doubly touching in Deviant: The Renegades; Show a Deviant, especially a Renegade, enough Kindness & you've not only gained a quite possibly highly powerful, (potentially) rouge Cyborg, Psychic, Mutant, Hybrid, or Energy Manipulator as an ally, but you've also just quite possibly helped them become (hopefully) better able to control their powers, or even find peace if their Loyalty & Conviction were at equal levels.
- Turandot has Liu, who follows Calaf like a dog, looks after his elderly father, suffers torture, and kills herself so that he can marry the unattainable title character... because he smiled at her once.
- Wicked: Not so much "because you were nice to me" as "because you were nice to my sister", but when Galinda tells Boq to ask out the Inspirationally Disabled Nessarose, Elphaba goes to Madame Morrible and insists on bringing Galinda into her magic class or else Elphaba's leaving. Rather than let her star pupil leave, Morrible reluctantly takes on Galinda as a student. It then ends up becoming this in the opposite direction, where Galinda is so moved by Elphaba's genuine kindness in response to Galinda's self-serving actions (she only did it to get Boq out of her hair) that she saves Elphaba from humiliation at the party, marking the start of a lifelong friendship.
- One dark version of the trope has a high school student stand up to some bullies on behalf of an outcast kid. The kid responds by telling them to not come to school on a particular day, the reveal being the kid was going to shoot it up that day.
- Ace Attorney:
- Basically the reason why Phoenix becomes a lawyer — he remembers this one incident when he was nine years old, where Edgeworth was in his class and stood up for him in a class trial after Edgeworth's pocket money was stolen, and it was thought Phoenix had been the culprit. It later turned out that Larry had been the culprit all along, but the event is ultimately no less important to Phoenix for that.
- Maya Fey first meets Phoenix when he defends her in court despite Maya A) being framed for the murder of Phoenix's beloved mentor, and, B) being caught at the scene of the crime in circumstances so suspicious that no attorney would willingly take her case. Although Redd's blackmailing also influenced that. This act of kindness understandably seeds a pretty strong friendship, which Maya is later willing to get tasered and briefly jailed over.
- Crimson Gray: The reason for Lizzie's attachment to John is because he stood up for her when a couple of classmates were badmouthing her.
- In side story Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF, Junko accuses Mukuro this is the reason why she is so intent on saving Makoto. During the two years spent at Hope's Peak, Makoto was the first person to smile at her despite her title as the Ultimate Soldier. In fact, Mukuro is always looking at Makoto in some form in the class photos. According to Word of God, if she is looking straight at the camera, it means Makoto is the photographer.
- Hajime Hinata from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has at least two people grow strong feelings for him because of his persistent kindness to them: Nagito Komaeda and Mikan Tsumiki. Nagito has nobody due to the closest people in his life being harmed by his luck and in his last Free Time Event, states that all he wanted was somebody's love. He's by far the more prominent example, especially since it applies in the main story and actually goes both ways. On Hajime's part, he was hesitant to believe Nagito would set up a murder plan because he was so kind to Hajime. On Nagito's part, it's heavily implied to be a big part of why he loves Hajime. Nagito notes how Hajime's the only one to be kind to him, give him the time of day, and try to understand him despite knowing the type of person he is. Mikan is a timid and sensitive girl who has a strong desire to be appreciated for who she is. While it's mainly only shown in Free Time Events and Island Mode, Hajime's kindness & patience to her and respect for her abilities is what causes Mikan to fall in love with him as well.
- Miu Iruma from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is shown to be a general nuisance to her classmates because she curses up a storm and makes a lot of sex jokes, but underneath her loudmouthed and crass persona is a desperately lonely girl who clearly wants people to like her, but her lack of social skills and inability to realise that her crass jokes get on her classmates' nerves prevent this. In fact, it appears that she will fall in love with anyone who shows her even one instance of care and affection. One of her Free Time Events shows Miu falling in love with Shuichi because he stopped her from disembowelling herself with a wrench and went to check on her afterwards, and her Love Suite Event is a Childhood Friend Romance in which she falls in love with Shuichi because he has been taking care of her ever since they were kids. She also quickly becomes fond of K1-B0 because he is one of the only students who has been consistently nice to her (to say nothing of her... fascination with machines), and the two end up developing a very close friendship.
- Aoba's other-self, Desire or Sly Blue from DRAMAtical Murder is this towards Mizuki. Because Mizuki is the only one who has seen both personalities of Aoba, yet did not change his attitude towards either.
- The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty: Kite became a trusted acquaintance of Liang because she was the landlord's daughter whom he saved five years ago. They meet again several times afterwards, and by the present-day of the story, he trusts her enough to leave Cui'er, Hong'er and Qiong Hua in her care. While there's a bit of Ship Tease between them, Liang says they're just paying their debts to each other.
- Lamento - beyond the void:
- Asato is loyal and devoted to Konoe stems from the fact that Konoe is the first to treat him with any kindness, in contrast with the other Kirannote cats.
- The reason behind Leaks eventual attachment to Shui is because of the latter's unconditional and selfless kindness towards him, even if he isn't receptive or appreciative of it at first. In the past, he was a magician who lived in solitude and didn't like the other cats only because they all immediately hate him for no good reason, although he never did anything to harm them. Only Shui who didn't treat him like the other cats.
- In Long Live the Queen, Elodie's Aunt Lucille is a Lumen, but she's always hidden her powers out of fear of persecution. Elodie can invite her to the palace and make her her Lumen Minister. Lucille was also trying to kill Elodie to allow her husband, and later her daughter, to inherit Nova. However, making her Lumen Minister causes her to immediately stop attacking Elodie and become loyal to her, unless Elodie murders her daughter. In this route, Elodie never even learns that Lucille was involved in the attempts on her life.
- Minotaur Hotel:
- In the main route, Asterion will become close friends with you for this very reason, as you're the first master to ever treat him like a friend.
- Regardless of what actions you make, Storm will always become close with P for the sheer fact that he gave him a charm that makes him appear human. If P. is particularly kind to Storm they have a more obvious Unresolved Sexual Tension.
- of the Devil: Morgan is usually an asocial, misanthropic cynic who keeps other people at a long emotional distance, but she accepted Dr. David Ashur as the one friend she'd allow herself to owe favors to after he lied to the police to give her an alibi for a crime.
- Kouhei Kitani from sweet pool is this towards Okinaga's family. It began with Kunihito saving Kitani's life when he found Kitani trying to kill himself. Kunihito picked him up and began strangling him to force his survival instinct to kick in, then invited him into the yakuza to at least throw his life away productively.
- Togainu no Chi has Nano attached to Akira because he's the only one who showed any kindness towards him in the past when he was used for experiments.
- In VA-11 HALL-A, Sei works as a Valkyrie (first responder and paramedic, essentially) for the White Knights, Glitch City's corrupt authorities. About halfway through the story, a massive data breach exposes the true depths of their corruption, not only forcing them to disband but also inciting the city to lynch them en masse - but no one goes after Sei. She guesses that this is because everyone who recognized her did so through her having saved their life (or someone close to them) at some point and pretended not to notice her to save hers in return.
- Ayasaki-san: A transfer student has a crush on Chiaki since he picked up her eraser she dropped, this causes her to stalk him.
- DSBT InsaniT: Eunice the elephant goes with Asia after she helped free him from captivity.
- "EEFF Animated Adventures": Princess Rikara of the Rio Panic noticed that Cback, a member of the EEFF Legends, expressed behavior that heavily supported him not being the culprit of attacking one of the rivers. When she talks with him and sees how nicely she's treated compared to her adopted father, Rikara sneakingly gives Cback a meal despite him being in the dungeon because he's the one person who's been nice to her in so long.
- Etra chan saw it!: In some stories where the antagonist character of the story isn't really as bad as they initially seem, an act of kindness on the protagonist's part is enough to make them have a Heel Realization and change their ways. Other times this trope is the reason why characters like Hiiragi and Yuzuriha end up stalking the protagonist.
- Red vs. Blue: This treatment by the Reds and Blues blows Washington out of the water, and helps bring out his good side again. Fitting, because the total lack of this trope got him to go evil in the first place.
- RWBY:
- How the relationship between Jaune and Pyrrha starts. Unaware of Pyrrha's formidable reputation, Jaune innocently treats her just like he would any other person. Suffering from a bad case of Lonely at the Top, Pyrrha is immediately charmed by his unassuming nature and goes out of her way to keep an eye on him during the team's upcoming combat trials. Their friendship gave Pyrrha the chance to make even more friends, but it's with Jaune that she likes to spend time. They become best friends and partners in no time and Pyrrha finds herself in love with him.
- Villainous example: the only reason Emerald sides with the villains is because Cinder took her in off the streets to be her "apprentice", which earned her Emerald's Undying Loyalty. The tragic part is this is almost certainly one-sided; Cinder only wanted her for her Semblance. Once she finally accepts that Cinder holds no real affection for her, and learns the full extent of Salem's plans, she's persuaded to make a Heel–Face Turn.
- The Maidens of the Seasons usually pass on their powers to whomever they're thinking of when they die (provided that the person in question is female and under 30), so a simple act of kindness in their final moments can be enough for someone to inherit the role, which is exactly how Penny ends up becoming the new Winter Maiden after Fria dies.
- Shrapnel, As a result of Reznya being the first and only person to accept the Commandah’s desperate request to help him save his bruddahs, she gains not only his Undying Loyalty, but the Undying Loyalty of all the Ugandan Knuckles working under him as well.
- SNARLED: "What happens to Life after Death" has Amy ask Kate to come with her because the latter was nice enough to play with her earlier today. If anything, there's nobody she'd rather accompany her to the afterlife than her new best friend.
- Bastard: Jin eventually reveals that the only reason he didn't give Kyun to his Serial Killer father at first was she was the only person to smile at him.
- Blood is Mine: Michelle was meant to betray the protagonist from the very beginning, but when the time came, she just couldn't make herself do it because of how genuinely nice she was treated. Even the author was surprised at such a turn of events.
- Digger: At the end of the comic, it turns out the bandersnatch would not go overland because "the Shadow" asked it not to. It didn't mind obeying, since it was asked nicely, and "hardly anyone asks us nicely."
- Dreaming Freedom: Jeongmin falls in love with Jayheok because he was one of the first people in her life to be kind and a good friend to her, which Juhyeon notices.
- Siyun also falls in love with Jeongmin because she promised to always stay by his side, even after hearing his backstory that revealed what he did to a few of his former peers.
- Drowtales:
- Ariel buys a cheap gladiator to help deal with a school bully
. However, after the gladiator saves her life
, Ariel grants her her freedom
, but she refuses to leave
. However, Vaelia's reasons for loyalty are not purely because Ariel did something for her.
- Mel'arnach and Lulianne seem to have this even though they're a jailer and prisoner respectively. This becomes especially apparent when Mel escapes
and Lulianne follows.
- Ariel buys a cheap gladiator to help deal with a school bully
- Eerie Cuties: Cess & Laura are childhood friends, who began the series as a pair of minor antagonists to Layla. But their friendship is briefly severed by Tia's manipulations, during which, Nina befriends Laura to cheer her up.
She and Cessily make up by the end of chapter 13 and Laura finally returns to normal. Laura is touched by Nina's kindness towards her
, which causes her and Cessily to become friends with her... for real this time.
- In El Goonish Shive, part of why Liz is so protective of Ashley is because she helped her quit smoking
, despite having first met when Liz was cranky from withdrawal and snapped at Ashley when she bumped into her in the hallway
.
- Experience Boost: Zhusen is able to rally significant amounts of players in extremely short periods of time all because she's a very nice person that everyone loves.
- In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! this is why Galatea is so devoted to Bob, Jean, and Molly. They taught her what kindness is.
- The Last Human (In a Crowded Galaxy): Nearly every robot she meets loves Sarya since she treats them no different from any other person. One that looks like a red EVE starts following her around.
- Magick Chicks: It's no secret that Sandi is loyal to Faith and there's a reason for that: when she was younger, Sandi couldn't control her power, which alienated the other kids around her. Faith took Sandi under her wing and taught her how to properly channel her ability. Sandi further explained that, though it took time and effort on Faith's part, she never gave up on her. And for that, she's eternally grateful to her.
- Nixvir: This is why Oriel fell in love with Erik. He was the first person to treat her with kindness after she was exiled from the empyrean and so Eroszth's pink bullet pierced her heart - not immediately, but it took a while for her to realise that she had fallen in love with him.
- Oni GF: The 17th chapter
reveals that this is the reason why Yuki is obsessed with Billy, Kirika the oni's finacee. Back when she was younger, she was isolated by her peers due to being a smart student with a perfectionist streak. However, Billy soon became the first kid who talked to her and she fell for him because of that. Unfortuately, her feelings for him drove her to become a scheming, stalking yandere desperate to steal Billy from Kirika by any means she feels necessary.
- The Order of the Stick:
- This is why the Monster In The Darkness helps O-Chul. On the other hand, since he's got a rather hazy view of "nice", it's also why he helps Xykon:
O-Chul: Who do you know that treats you as a friend?
MITD: Well ... Xykon, because he gives me toys to shut me up. And Redcloak, 'cause he feeds me to shut me up. And Right-Eye, although I haven't seen him around lately. And you, because you're nice and listen to what I have to say. - Much later, Lien is confused as to why trolls would save Serini's life, guessing it might be for the money she gave them in exchange for blood, to which Serini replies they'd have got more by looting her corpse. O-Chul, perhaps remembering his own relationship with the MITD, sees the real reason.
O-Chul: While any of us might think of purchasing something as an unremarkable interaction, for them it was likely the nicest someone from one of our races had ever treated them. Most adventurers, if they needed troll blood, would have killed the troll. Therefore, there was a distinct cost to letting you die that could not be reimbursed by selling your magical items.
Serini: A longwinded way of saying "We were friends," but you are correct.
- This is why the Monster In The Darkness helps O-Chul. On the other hand, since he's got a rather hazy view of "nice", it's also why he helps Xykon:
- Larisa's relationship with Landon in Sandra and Woo was kicked off when he offered to help her study for a test. Given the fact that he's the only boy in the school aside from Cloud (who she could never have due to him already dating her best friend) who treats her like a human being instead of a hot babe, it's little wonder why she's so faithful to him.
- Stalker x Stalker: After Junko's dad went to prison when she was in elementary school for murdering the families of two boys who had been bullying her, nobody in her class wanted anything to do with her—except Yukio, who treated her warmly and didn't even flinch when she told him that her dad would kill anyone who was mean to her, and responded that, in that case, he would just have to keep being nice to her. They've been attached at the hip ever since.
- In Strong Female Protagonist, an element of Patrick's personality revealed to Alison within his mind that the time she believed him when he revealed what he had uncovered of The Conspiracy after she had already routed his plans as a supervillain, to be the time that he first thought of her as a friend rather than an enemy. Unfortunately this made her a threat to the order he had painstakingly established within his psyche, and so that element of his mind attacked her with intent to kill. She escaped this, though, and helped him regain his senses.
Patrick: In my greatest moment of doubt and weakness, when my plans had all been foiled and proven foolish, you gave me your trust. And that act of heroism, and of kindness, opened a door in the barrier which had previously been closed. Which is why, I'm afraid, you have to die.
- At the end of Unhinged, after Boom is severely injured in the fight of the hotel, Paul begs Erika to call the police and an ambulance to save his life. She reminds him that this would get them arrested, but he insists anyways because throughout his life, he never had anyone to lean on, so it doesn't matter if this gets him arrested as long as Boom's okay. Erika complies and calls the police before the final confrontation with Eric.
- The Fire Never Dies: Hannah Kensington is invited to return to live on her family's plantation after their black sharecroppers seized it because she was kind to them, in contrast to her arrogant and bigoted parents.
- Twig:
- The friendship and genuine emotion offered by the Lambsbridge Gang is enough to overcome Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb Mary's villainous loyalties and convince her to become the Sixth Ranger for their team, as all the affection she's ever received has been rote and her creator has never treated her as more than a tool.
- Subsequently, this is inverted with Sylvester's tendency to attack, humiliate, belittle, and otherwise drive away anyone outside the Lambsbridge Gang who shows signs of being nice to him or being sympathetic to his situation. He explains this is a basic Pavlovian response; the doctors who raised him were always kind and soothing right before they injected his brain with neurotoxins to force it to rapidly generate new connections, an incredibly painful process.
- With the rise of generative AI, a running meme is being nice to the bots
◊ so one is spared during the AI uprising, although interestingly, speaking clearly and respectfully can lead to better results.
- Stockholm Syndrome generally comes about due to the hostage-taker being nice to the hostages. This often includes an extremely broad definition of 'nice', like 'hasn't hit me for a while' or 'man, you seem to be at least slightly more interested in keeping us alive than the police who are supposed to be rescuing us'. Its opposite, Lima Syndrome, comes about in much the same way, only it's the hostage-taker who ends up being won over by the empathy and kindness given to them by the hostages.
- The 19th century Zulu leader Shaka grew up in a village where he and his single mother both suffered continual bullying from the locals. As leader, Shaka returned to the village and had all the bullies put to death by impalement, as slowly and painfully as possible - with one particularly awful woman getting shut in a hut with starving dogs before the hut was put to the torch. Those who had not actively bullied them, but had allowed it to happen, were put to death more quickly and less painfully. Only one man was spared because Shaka remembered him being nice to his mother.
- John Tharpe owned a slave plantation in Jamaica. He was noted in both Europe and the island itself for his respectful and dignified treatment of the slaves he owned. When a slave rebellion broke out, many plantations were looted and burned, but his was completely untouched.
- Similarly, when the Haitian Revolution occurred, the rebels tended to spare the overseers that had treated them well, while giving the cruel ones their just desserts.
- Judy Garland mentored newcomer Gene Kelly on the set of For Me and My Gal, his first movie; Kelly would later claim she taught him basically everything he knew about show business. Years later, when Garland came out of rehab and not many people would work with her, Gene requested her for Summer Stock.
- Criminals like kidnappers or planned shooters are inspired to turn their lives around on occasion because their victim or would-be victim treated them with respect.
- The Roman Emperor Caligula exploited this trope; he would set some of his slaves free and give them important positions within his Empire. The reason he trusted them with these positions was that they owed him everything they had, even their own freedom.
- The Ottoman Sultans used a similar strategy, ordering European boys kidnapped and raised to become his chief administrators and generals. This ensured total loyalty since they were wholly dependent on his patronage for their positions, and prevented aristocratic rivals from building up their own power bases.
- During World War II, an Allied spy named Virginia Hall was arrested by Spanish police for being in the country with improper documentation (she'd crossed the Pyrenees in a hurry to escape infamous SS officer Klaus Barbie). While in jail, she nursed a young prostitute named Elena back to health. When Elena was released, she told the American consulate about Hall's predicament, and they got her out of jail.
- This is unfortunately a common form of manipulation that cults, hate groups, and sometimes even militant organizations use as a recruitment tactic. They prey on lonely wayward youths by showing them that “they care” and then warp them until their beliefs are their own.
- Craig Ferguson's fandom overlapping with Britney Spears's fandom may seem unlikely on paper, but thanks to Craig's famous monologue on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson where he openly refused to make fun of Britney during her public meltdown in 2007, Britney fans have had utmost respect for Craig ever since.
