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{{trope}}
[[File:Uatu2.png|link=Fantastic Four|right]]
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A recurring character whose role is to give some advice to the hero and then disappear. Often, The Watcher has some rules which restrict them from taking action, although they will regularly ignore this [[Obstructive Code of Conduct]].
Not to be confused with the [[Mysterious Watcher]]
Also not to be confused with the person on the ''other'' side of the TV screen/[[Fourth Wall]]. Or [[Evil Overlooker]] which is a box art phenomenon.
Also see [[The Obi
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
* Bookman and Lavi in ''[[D
* {{spoiler|Mikuru Asahina}} from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' is a [[Time Travel
* Meta Knight acts as the Mentor for ''[[Kirby]]'' in the [[Kirby:
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', Kyubey is the living embodiment of this trope. Despite being a [[Manipulative Bastard]], his actions only indirectly influence the storyline, and he really cannot break the rules which are assigned to him (grant a wish to an up-and-coming [[Magical Girl]], ''no matter how weird it is''). Of course, this does not stop him from giving out [[Wham! Line]] after [[Wham! Line]] in almost every episode.
== Comic Books ==
* Uatu the Watcher, a [[Marvel Comics]] character (introduced in ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' #13) who lives on the moon, watches everything in every comic, and occasionally pontificates to the readership about it. He always loudly proclaimed "Yes, it is I the Watcher, who is always watching, but must not interfere", roughly every other sentence as if people were going to forget it. Notably, in spite of this expression, he almost always ended up interfering ''anyway''. A hilarious example of him actually not interfering comes when the [[Red Hulk]], who punched Uatu while on his [[Villain Sue]] trip, appears about to die. Uatu shows up and tells him "[[Sarcasm Mode|Sadly]] I am forbidden to intervene" and stands there so he can watch him get sucked into a black hole. This character is the [[Trope Namer]].
* From the [[The DCU]], [[The Phantom Stranger]], is a little more proactive than most Watchers (in fact, he is, as he points out in the ''[[JLA-
* [[The Spectre]] in ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' acts like this. His job is to witness the coming (possible) apocalypse, not to interfere with it (only to punish the wicked should anyone be left after said apocalypse). Pastor Norman McKay who accompanies him fulfills the same role (having been chosen by The Spectre to accompany him in his observations). Norman however refuses inaction; telling The Spectre that this would be as evil as those who brought the whole situation to happen, and steps in to stop [[Superman]]'s [[Unstoppable Rage]].
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* Raiden in the first ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' film is a watcher; he gives advice to the heroes, but the other Elder Gods will not allow him to directly interfere. In the second movie, ''[[Mortal Kombat]]: Annihilation'', he gives up his godhood so he can take a more direct hand.
* Deep Throat in ''[[All the
== Literature ==
* In [[
* In [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s ''[[Celydonn]]'' books, Dame Ceinwen often plays this role - she considers it part of the responsibility of having great power that she must not interfere too much.
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, both [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] and Lu-Tze of the History Monks are constrained by rules that prevent them interfering with history, although both bend these rules considerably in certain circumstances.
** And both at least have ''something'' to do in the world. While their meddling was sometimes provoked by actions of Auditors. ''They'' are truly supposed to do nothing at all but observe and register.
* Astinus of the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels is
* ''[[Warrior Cats]]'': StarClan take this attitude toward the living characters, believing that interfering directly with the physical world would make the living cats their "playthings". This hasn't stopped them from occasionally making their will ''very'' clear, such as when {{spoiler|1=they cause lightning to strike a specific tree, causing it to fall over and create a handy bridge to an important island, while simultaneously killing off a traitorous warrior attempting to usurp WindClan's leadership.}}
** Actually, {{spoiler|1=there is no concrete proof that StarClan was responsible for the lightning strike. Some of the characters ''assume'' it was a message from StarClan, but StarClan never takes responisbility it, and for all we know, it could have been a freak lightning strike}}. It's more likely that StarClan wasn't responsible because they've never done anything that drastic before.
* ''[[
== Live Action TV ==
* Future Hiro took on this role in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' when he told Peter to "save the cheerleader," and again when he told his past self how to stop the bomb.
* The Watchers from ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' are prototypical, being members of an organization who observed the conflict between immortals but were sworn to remain apart from it. And just like Uatu they're really really bad at that second part.
* Parodied heavily with the "Observers" of [[
* The Ancients in ''[[Stargate]]''. And if we say they don't interfere, ''[[Neglectful Precursors|we mean it]]''. The number of times Ancients interfered in the plot can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and every time, the individual who did so was genuinely punished by the rest.
* ''[[The X
* The Watchers of ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'', who annoy Melinda with their inability to give straight answers.
* ''[[Medium]]'': Allison's dead father-in-law fits the trope. He also annoys Allison by not giving straight answers ''and'' inflating the danger of what will happen just to be on the safe side or teach a lesson.
* ''[[Fringe]]'': The Observer and his organization are a group of bald men with advanced technology and almost no emotions (or taste buds) who observe major events in history, but seem to be showing up more and more frequently in the present day ([[Once an Episode]], to be exact). Their purpose is unknown; they may be time travelers, immortals, or interdimensional police. They do sometimes interfere by communicating with the main characters in order to {{spoiler|prevent the two universes from destroying each other}}, but they justify it as righting previous errors.
* The Time Lords in ''[[
* On ''[[Buffy]]'', Angel shows up in the early episodes only to offer Buffy cryptic messages about upcoming threats. Despite his title Giles acts more like a true [[Mentors|mentor]] than an actual Watcher.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[
** Initially,
** Daedalus takes over the role at the beginning of the Majestic-12 sequence.
* The G-Man from the ''[[Half Life]]'' series. Although he might also be considered the [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] as well. Then again, as time goes on, it appears that he's becoming less and less of a Watcher, especially {{spoiler|after the death of Eli. "Prepare for unforeseen consequences", indeed.}}
* Gaspar from ''[[
* {{spoiler|Sanae Hanekoma}} from ''[[
* The mysterious narrator/ {{spoiler|the Lord of the castle}} in ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' is one. He implies that the entire world {{spoiler|was created as an experiment into human nature}}.
* Teo and Lippti from ''[[
* Philemon from the [[Persona|first]] [[Persona 2|two]] ''Persona'' games is mostly this, limiting his direct actions to giving the heroes the power to summon avatars of their inner psyche and {{spoiler|pressing the [[Reset Button]] when his [[Evil Counterpart]] manages to destroy the world}}. In the [[Persona 3|next]] [[Persona 4|two]] games in the series, he simply lets his servant Igor do all the work.
* Many simulation games have the player as this, to some extent. Some simply have the player input variables at the start and leave you to simply watch whatever you put into motion.
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* Gubaru from the web fiction serial ''[[Dimension Heroes]]'' often watches the progress of the Dimensional Guardians via his base tucked away in a pocket dimension, occasionally contacting them via their Guardian Bands to offer advice.
* Virgil in ''[[
== Western Animation ==
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== Real Life ==
* Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein portrayed Deep Throat this way in their book ''All the President's Men'', and the movie follows suit. Understandable, as Nixon was known to [[You Have Failed Me...|fire anyone who he even thought was against him]]; indeed, Woodward and Bernstein were so certain their contact would be killed they made it clear they would not reveal his identity until after he died. (Although Deep Throat, AKA W. Mark Felt, beat them to it.)
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Mentors]]
[[Category:
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