Character Witness: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the first episode of ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', we see an arrogant noble standing in the middle of a crowded road, harassing and threatening a commoner who had bumped into him, until [[The Stoic|Jin]] [[Master Swordsman|effortlessly cuts through his bodyguards]] [[I Was Just Passing Through|for standing in his way]]. By the end of the episode, he has been captured and is about to be executed for the offense. [[Plucky Girl|Fuu]] has some fireworks [[We Need a Distraction|she plans to use to free him]], but she doesn't have anything with which to light them. No points for guessing who reaches up from the crowd with a match.

* Early in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', Allelujah disobeys orders and rescues people at a space station, and during this time aids the governmental forces which are his group's enemies, impressing the antagonist, Sergei Smirnoff. This comes to Allejuah's aid later in the show, as Smirnoff lets an injured Allejuah go {{spoiler|and take Marie/Soma Peres, Sergei's adopted daughter/Allejuah's love interest with him}}, since he recognizes Allejuah's voice and knows he's a nice guy.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

== [[Literature]] ==

* Interestingly, a [[Show Within a Show|novel within a novel]] in ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' said the story of Jesus delivered the [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|wrong aesop]], in that it showed that the Romans made the mistake of picking on the wrong man, one who was the son of God, so the message came across as, "Make sure that whoever you pick on [[Innocent Bystander|isn't important]]". Instead, it says that Jesus should have been a nobody, a bum, and when the Romans crucified him, God should have appeared and decided to adopt this worthless bum as his son.

* Prior Philip in ''[[The Pillars of the Earth]]'' is betrayed by a monk named Remigius, the former deputy prior, as part of a plot by the prior's enemies. Later on, he forgives Remigius and allows him to return to the monastery rather than live in poverty (Remigius' allies having since discarded him). And a good thing, too, as Remigius is the only person in the world with the information that can save Philip from a witch hunt at the climax.

* ''[[The Hollows]]'': Rachel Morgan, shunned, gets assistance in the unlikely person of a TSA operative since Rachel helped out his grandmother once.

* Years prior to the events in ''[[The Hobbit]]'', Gandalf saved a giant eagle hatchling from a hunter's trap. Years later, that hatchling - now full-grown, and Lord of the Eagles - returned the favor, with he and his subjects saving Gandalf, the dwarves, and Bilbo from the goblins, and later aiding them in the Battle of Five Armies.

 

* The ''[[Seinfeld]]'' finale offered a parade of previously-wronged guest stars testifying about what horrible people the protagonists were as an excuse to end with a clip show.

** A similar example happened in the earlier episode "The Cadillac": Jerry's dad Morty is being accused of embezzling funds from the office of condo president with Morty's new Cadillac being cited as proof (the Cadillac was given to Morty by Jerry as a gift, but the guy accusing Morty doesn't believe Jerry is talented enough to make that much money). Morty's sole favorable testimony is from an old woman who, unbeknown to Morty, Jerry had stolen a marble rye bread from in an earlier episode. Once she remembers that incident, she withdraws her support and Morty is impeached from condo president. That lady would once again show up in the aforementioned finale.

** Gets [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] if you talk to the Admiralty Board afterward, as one of them points out that you didn't actually prove anything.

 

* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', Quentyn is found by a poor farmer's family and he treats them with the utmost courtesy and kindness while he bunks with them. Later, when the hero is presented by the region's duke to help with the Unseelie crisis and the public incorrectly scoffs that he is one of the enemy too, that farmer steps up to praise Quentyn's character and that wins over the crowd.

* In ''[[Love and Capes]]'' Mark got a ride home from a planet where he'd been stranded by hitchhiking. The aliens who picked him up don't generally pick up hitchhikers, but they were glad to do it for him because he'd saved their planet from being destroyed.

 

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[[Category:Characters As Device]]