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The Stool Pigeon: Difference between revisions
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'''Concerned Claire/Corey:''' A character that turns in a friend or associate out of genuine concern for their well-being. Maybe their friend is sliding towards becoming a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], maybe they're compromising their cause, or maybe they're going to land themselves in jail ...[[Death Seeker|or worse]]. This character is willing to nobly [[What Were You Thinking?|take any hostility from their friend]], because they'd rather [[For Your Own Good|see them alive and safe than continue what they were doing]]. Whether their concern is responsible or misguided can vary.
'''Whistleblower Wilma/Wilson:''' A character who sees a villain - [[What the Hell, Hero?|or even a hero]] - breaking the rules and turns them in because of [[The Fettered|their own moral conscience]]. The most heroic of all snitches, many whistleblowers risk their friendships, careers, or even their lives to tell the truth.
'''Disgruntled Daria/Davey:''' A character that [[Only Sane Man|dutifully gives information to their superiors]] but is then unsatisfied with how they deal with it. If they won't listen to her, then she'll find someone who will! This kind of snitch can vary wildly; sometimes the [[Head-in-The-Sand Management|authorities refuse to listen]], so they secretly tell someone else who will take action. However, sometimes [[Reasonable Authority Figure|the authorities]] are just acting in a way she doesn't like and thus is going to [[They Called Me Mad|force their hand]]. This latter variation can be considered treason and can cause [[A House Divided|internal strife]].
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'''Innocent Ingrid/Isaac''': A character who, along with other characters, has been involved in some activities that have gone rapidly downhill, and turns them in because of this. Maybe they never wanted to do anything bad but suddenly found themself caught up with people prepared and willing to do so, maybe their co-conspirators began doing things that they cannot stand, or maybe they honestly didn't know that their friends or co-workers were doing anything wrong and upon finding out, decide to turn them in.
and, more sympathetically
'''Lacerated Lacey/Larry:''' A character that was simply [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|torture interrogated]] to the point of having the information beaten out of them. In many cases, the person may have been an extremely loyal comrade and in normal circumstances would not have ratted out their team. But since [[Torture Always Works]] and the cold hearted villains [[We Have Ways of Making You Talk|have ways of making victims talk]], the captured member will always be left screaming in the end.
Snitches vary from [[Gossipy Hens]] because they're actually telling the truth and usually telling it to a recognised authority, whether it's a parent or the government. This can lead to a lot of [[Moral Dissonance]], because no matter how much of a jerk a snitch might be, the characters wouldn't have gotten in trouble if they hadn't done something snitch-worthy in the first place.
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== [[Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Identity Crisis]]'', Wally West averts this trope, even though he'd fall squarely into the Whistleblower Wilson category, when he decides not to {{spoiler|tell Superman and Batman that a group of Justice League members have been wiping supervillains' memories via Zatanna to protect their secret identities, even when he learns they went so far as to effectively lobotomize Dr. Light and, when Batman found out and objected, mind-wiped him as well.}}
== [[Film]] ==
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Jayne of the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Ariel" tried to turn in the Tams to the Alliance during the hospital heist due to him generally resenting the Tams and wanting them both off the ship for a variety of reasons, and due to River recently slashing him with a butcher knife and his concern about her doing it to anyone else. The reward money that the Alliance were offering wasn't a bad incentive either. Jayne was somewhere between Petty Peter and Betrayer Barry, but after Jayne got betrayed himself and arrested right along with them, he decided to get both Simon and River out. He still had to face [[Thrown Out the Airlock|the airlock]] and a [[Papa Wolf|very pissed off Mal]] because of what he did though.
* In a [[Very Special Episode]] of [[The Brady Bunch]] Cindy learns not to tattle - then is [[Broken Aesop|asked to tattle]] to find a valuable certificate.
* The culprit of the week in the Monk episode "Mr. Monk and Mrs. Monk's" main motivation in trying to intercept various documents and tapes that detailed journalistic work that Trudy Monk and Janice worked on was because {{spoiler|one of the tapes contained evidence that he was the person inside the dock union who was involved in ousting the former president from power due to corruption charges, and it is heavily implied that had his fellow union workers discovered his involvement, he'd be in deep trouble with his "friends."}}
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* In an early Blood Elf starting quest in [[World of Warcraft]], the player is asked to find a book for two apprentices. When the book is drenched in water, the apprentices tell the player to take the fall for them, since the player won't be punished much. Instead, upon reaching their master, you tell him what they told you to do, and he has you [[Baleful Polymorph|hit them with a rod that turns them into animals]].
* In the old Skool Daze video game on the ZX Spectrum, a randomly triggered event reveals that Einstein is going to report the player. The player must prevent him from getting to the teacher or else get assigned lines; receiving 10,000 of them results in a Game Over.
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'': Even though Raikov is supposed to be Volgin's gay lover, interrogating him at knifepoint will have him dish out information about some weaknesses of Volgin for Snake to exploit, such as the fact that Volgin is weak against water or that Russian Glowcaps will deflect his electric attacks.
** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker|Peace Walker]]'', anyone of the FSLN who is captured by the Peace Sentinels ends up being tortured until they squealed their comrades' location from it. They end up killed later on. Chico is the only one who managed to live after breaking from it (and even then only because Big Boss rescued him before they could get the chance to execute him).
* According to Dr. 0, Dr. Borous spent high school "commie-fink tattletal[ing]" on the kids he disliked in the backstory of ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]: Old World Blues''.
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** The short "Big House Bunny" ends with prison guard Sam getting arrested for freeing convict Bugs when he's pushed to his limit. When he asks who was the stool pigeon who squealed on him, it cuts to Bugs, who [[Aside Glance|looks at the camera]] and [[Visual Gag|starts cooing like a pigeon]].
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'':
** "Bart the Daredevil": Despite trying to convince Bart the dangers of daredevil stunts, Lance Murdock is instead impressed by Bart's interest in it, which causes Lisa to tell Homer about it, fearing that he may get hurt or die despite getting the most attention.
** "Mypods and Broomsticks": Lisa squeals on Bart after pulling a prank on Steve Mobbs and the rest of the consumers and employees.
** Martin Prince is also one when he squealed on Bart in "Bart the Genius" and on Milhouse in "Summer of 4 Ft. 2".
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