The Loner learned their lesson. They will no longer declare I Work Alone; they have made friends and learned to trust them.
So why are they sneaking about with secrets? Aesop Amnesia?
Nah, just bad habits. One of their True Companions just has to remind them of the Power of Friendship and the Power of Trust. Let it be known that their mistrust is hurtful. Distinguishable from Aesop Amnesia in that they do not have to learn the lesson over again; the reminder often suffices, for an explanation of secrecy if not an actual explanation.
A form of Character Development more realistic than simple Epiphany Therapy at that.
Sometimes needed when the character learns new things and tries to keep them secret. Sometimes can be dangerous, if there are good reasons for secrecy.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- Gleefully deconstructed in Attack on Titan, after Eren joins the Scouting Legion and finally makes friends with people who want to fight the Titans as much as he does, his first mission with them involves trusting Levi's squad to escort him safely through a Titan-infest territory — as opposed to going on a one-man rampage in his Titan form. The whole gig ends with the entire squad being wiped out before Eren realizes that The Power of Trust is worthless against the Titans and goes on a one-man rampage in his Titan form. Which ends with him almost being captured by the enemy. Yeah, it's that sort of manga.
- Bleach: When he finally confronts Yhwach in his throne room, Ichigo appears to be attacking him recklessly and without any hint of a strategy in mind, while only vaguely telling Orihime to worry about defense. Naturally, she grows concerned and reaches out to Ichigo to tell him to calm down and think of a plan. Then she sees his perfectly calm face and wordlessly realizes that he does have a plan.
- In Natsume's Book of Friends, Natsume is so used to being a social pariah as a child for disclosing his somewhat creepy ability, that he's become very reluctant to talk about it to anyone — even friends who know he can see spirits and Youkai, or would still readily accept him if they knew.
- One Piece: Towards the climax of Skypiea, Nami goes along with Enel on the Arc Maxim due to being utterly terrified of the man. When Luffy comes to save her, she's beside herself with fear and frantically asks Luffy what they should do. In a Call-Back to Arlong Park, Luffy tosses her his hat and tells her to stop worrying. He points out that she'll be fine because, after all, she's the future pirate king's friend.
- A lot of this between Kotetsu and Barnaby from Tiger & Bunny; even after they get to the point where they start to trust one another, both have their reasons (with Kotetsu it's his fear of "becoming a burden" on someone while in Barnaby's case - since Kotetsu is his first and only friend and confidant - the habit of twenty years) for not sharing certain things with one another.
Comic Books
- In the Age of Apocalypse, Rogue frequently reminded Magneto that he had promised not to keep secrets from her.
- Batman. Just...Batman. Definitely Batman. If you made a drinking game for every time Batman has to re-learn not to distrust his allies, manipulate them, or keep secrets from them, you'd probably die from alcohol poisoning.
Fan Works
- In Dial, Maria Hill asks Nick Fury while he chose her as his successor if he doesn't actually trust her. This convinces Fury to starts opening up a little and sharing some of the secrets he'd been keeping from her.
- Forward (Peptuck): During "Charity", River starts to worry that Zoe is afraid of her instability, leading into a discussion of this nature.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità
: At first, Italy tried to hide the fact that Germany's and Japan's violent fight over him didn't give him nightmares. He told them the reason after Japan reminded him that they can't hide things from each other anymore.
Japan: Sigh. "Please don't hide this from us." Piercing ebon orbs bore into caramel. "We're not supposed to be withholding secrets anymore, isn't that right?" - Kill Your Heroes: Having emotionally charged conversations isn't exactly one of Kakashi's strong suits. So when he needs to remind Sakura that he trusts her, he decides to demonstrate it by removing his mask in front of her.
- Played With in Opening The Box. As far as Sanji is concerned, everything that happened at Enis Lobby should have helped Usopp understand how valuable he is to the Straw Hats, right? So why did he declare that he was "already negative" at Thriller Bark? However, he soon discovers that Usopp's issues are much more complicated and not so easily mended with a quick application of Epiphany Therapy...
Film — Live-Action
- Predator 2: After Danny is killed by the title creature, Lieutenant Harrigan wants to take it down by himself.
Leona: Mike... Mike, goddamn it. This ain't your personal little war, you know. I loved Danny too.
Jerry Lambert: And you told me, lieutenant, "the only way you survive down here is because you're a team." "The door swings both ways," remember?
Literature
- The Dresden Files:
- At one point, Ramirez reminds Harry that they're Fire-Forged Friends and tells him that he knows he's keeping secrets from him
- In Cold Days, Thomas rages at Harry that Harry was obviously dead because if he was alive, he would have come to Thomas for help.
- This trope is a major part of Dresden's Character Development. At the beginning of the series, he is a loner with only one or two acquaintances and no real friends.note As the series progresses, he gathers an ever larger group of companions, friends, and blood brothers. Learning that it's okay to depend on other people is a very hard-learned lesson for Harry.
- In Dorothy L. Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon, Harriet tells Bunter to tell Lord Peter Wimsey that she is sitting up the night of the execution. In due course, he shows up, apologetic for having — he admits — forgotten.
- In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo is reluctant to give up the One Ring at Gandalf's request after disappearing from his birthday party, eventually accusing Gandalf of wanting the Ring for himself. Gandalf has to remind Bilbo emphatically that he's trying to help him, not rob him, and that Bilbo had always trusted him before for some time. Of course, it eventually turns out to make an unsettling amount of sense and its this Out-of-Character Alert that alarms Gandalf that the Ring has tightened its grip upon Bilbo.
- Happens repeatedly in the Mistborn series, as the protagonist Vin is extremely paranoid thanks to her upbringing. Then it gets turned around a bit in the last book; Vin can't talk about her plans or else Ruin will hear, so Elend has to just trust that she'll make the right choices.
- In Pact, Blake Thorburn and his magically generated Distaff Counterpart, Rose, have a difficult time trusting one another, even though they can't lie to one another, mostly because they're family. Eventually, Blake decides to try to create trust by swearing an oath to listen to and consult Rose, but he swiftly, and usually unintentionally, stretches it to the breaking point by coming up with plans and then asking Rose to clear them at the last minute, when there isn't time to explain in full. Rose calls him out on this, and he attempts to stop, but it remains a struggle.
- Warhammer 40,000:
- Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts:
- In His Last Command, Kolea finds Rawne and the others from the Geroen team meeting in secret, and blasts them for forgetting their Fire Forged Friendship and not trusting their commander.
- In Blood Pact, when Curth stumbles on the secret transmitter, she wonders why they kept it so secret. Hark explains that he was trying to keep it as secret as possible, so they wouldn't be hurt by knowing.
- In Steve Parker's Astra Militarum novel Gunheads, Siegler blurts out that they know Wulfe was helped by a ghost (in the Back Story), and with that out, his squad tells him that they were hurt that he didn't tell them.
- Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts:
Live-Action TV
- Blake's 7. Rejected by the cynical Avon in "Voice From The Past" (though that doesn't stop him from using the trope on Tarrant in "Terminal". On both occasions, the person giving the trope is heading for disaster.
Blake: For once just try trusting me. [Exits]
Avon: He's used a number of ploys to get his own way, but "Just try trusting me" — that's weak even by his standards. - Michael Westen of Burn Notice also sometimes needs this reminder, perhaps the most clear-cut case being in "Enemies Closer":
Nate: Jesus, bro. Dad's dead. You're not in Afghanistan anymore. I mean, when are you gonna learn there are people you can trust?
- CSI: NY:
- Mac Taylor suffers from this frequently. After the death of Angell, when he is caught up with solving the case, Stella actually tells him that he isn't alone. It later became a big part of his recovery from being shot during the season 8 finale. Mac struggled with a speech aphasia condition as a result, and although his friends knew something was wrong, he wouldn't open up to them. He told the one friend he did confide in that he felt it was his problem to get through and he didn't feel the need to bring the others into it. Jo, Stella's replacement, confronted him but he rebuffed her although he later apologized. His girlfriend, Christine, called him on it and was pushed away as well before Mac finally apologized and opened up to her when he realized she was ready to leave him. Christine again reminded him that he wasn't alone between her and his friends. It was probably a combo of typical male ego/reluctance to appear weak and concerned that if too many people found out, it might endanger his career.
- Lindsay has a mild form regarding the guy who killed her friends. Even now that she's married to Danny, she still got reluctant to let him in and let him support her when the guy's execution date came up.
- Gossip Girl: In three consecutive episodes from the third season, Chuck draws away from Blair while dealing with a serious situation, then after a gentle prod from her he remembers she's there and opens up to her.
- NCIS: Subverted. Gibbs isn't willing to draw his team into a case where he's breaking the rules to protect his old CO. Tony and Kate are hurt and assume that he doesn't trust them, but Ducky explains that Gibbs is just protecting them. Then they play it straight by reminding Gibbs that they're there for him.
Video Games
- Darkly subverted in Quest for Glory II, when the player is unexpectedly paralyzed by a raggedy-looking man who keeps saying that his name is Ad Avis and that the hero trusts him. For a moment, you might be forgiven for thinking this is a case of Remember the New Guy?, but it quickly goes bad when it turns out you're being hypnotized, and the repetition is forcing you to completely trust a man who turns out to be the Big Bad. And there's nothing you can do to prevent it.
- This happens a lot with Alvin in Tales of Xillia. You remind him you can be trusted, and he just goes off and stabs you in the back again to get a little bit closer to the home he didn't tell you about. He only stops after Milla dies and later becomes an atoner.
Web Animation
- RWBY: In "Welcome to Beacon", Weiss notices Blake's habit of sulking and alienating herself from the group coming up more than usual. She reminds Blake of her promise in "Black and White" to allow her team to help her with her problems.
Webcomics
- In Alien Dice Lexx has to be reminded of this, along with You Are Not Alone, every so often.
- Haley of The Order of the Stick has a great deal of trouble with this, due to her upbringing with a Properly Paranoid dad and her former life with the Thieves' Guild of a Wretched Hive. Her relationship with Elan does most of the work in bringing her out of it.
- In a Schlock Mercenary arc, after the Toughs discover that their memories have been tampered with, Petey offers to help set them straight. A leery Tagon asks Sergeant Schlock (whose unique neural physiology means he's the only one with an accurate picture of what's been going on) if he remembers anything that might help him make a decision.
Schlock: I remember that Petey's our friend.
Western Animation
- In Ben 10: Alien Force, Kevin Levin can't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that Ben and Gwen trust him now that's working with them to stop an Alien Invasion, if his stealing their grandfather's RV to trade for an important message from said grandparent is anything to judge by.
- Teen Titans:
- After the first season, there's a few times Robin had to be reminded that all the Titans are his friends and want to help him. Given who his mentor is, it's not surprising.
- There are times when this trope applies to Raven as well.
- Lion-O from Thunder Cats 2011 had this problem for a while into the show, understandable considering how many times he willingly offered up a plan and had it shot down by someone like Tygra or Panthro.
