Trust Password: Difference between revisions

*** And that it was unnecessary because she recognizes his body language. Oh well.

* [[Played With]] in ''[[Naruto]]''. Sasuke Uchiha, having just defeated an imposter through recognizing him by luck, gives one to both Sakura and Naruto to say. However, this is actually [[Playing With]] the trope because he knew that the real Naruto wouldn't be able to remember it. He (correctly) calls out another imposter based on this several minutes later.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', after learning that one of the villain's lackeys can duplicate appearances, Zoro comes up with a solution; To distinguish each other, each Straw Hat should wear a white cloth over their arm {{spoiler|to hide the ''true'' trust sign...an X.}}

** Subverted when Bon Clay ended up {{spoiler|copying the X also}}. It was [[Something They Would Never Say]] that gave him away.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** In later comics, Superman's codeword to Lois is "Beef bourguignon with ketchup". Though in this case, its a way to let Lois know through an intermediary that he's safe. A farming tradition. Subverted when Parasite poses as Lois and is able to use the password.

* During the Obsidian Age arc in the ''[[Justice League of America]]'', in which the entire League is killed and their souls trapped by an ancient Atlantean sorceress, its revealed that Batman's passcode for Nightwing is "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"; a reference of course to Dick Grayson's boyhood career.

* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' [[Peggy Sue]] fic ''Backwards with Purpose'', Harry convinces Dumbledore of the time travel by stating what Dumbledore saw in the Mirror of Erised.

* Ed and Sam of qntm's [http://qntm.org/?ed Ed Stories] both have time travel passwords, for use when they need to prove their identities to themselves. They make use of these passwords in [http://qntm.org/?beherenow4 Be Here Now: 4 of 5].

** Ichigo convinces Gin that he's from the future by explaining the true power of Gin's bankai, which Gin never revealed to anyone.

 

 

** More important example: from ''Part I'': Doc will not believe Marty is a teenager from the future until Marty proves it. He only believes Marty when the latter says things he could know only from Doc himself, particularly Doc's accident and vision that later led to the creation of the time machine itself.

* Similarly, the protagonist of ''[[Frequency]]'' convinces his father in the past that he really is speaking from the future by detailing a baseball game that hadn't happened yet. Protagonist Sr. buys it when he sees the game happen exactly as described the next day.

** Used again in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]''; Cameron uses this as her way of identifying herself to John when she first saves his life.

* In ''[[Cooperstown]]'', a former baseball player claims to be seeing the ghost of his deceased friend. To figure out if he's lying or not, another character asks him several questions that she thinks Harry won't know, but that the ghost would know. As it turns out, {{spoiler|Harry was seeing the ghost of his friend. The questions proved it.}}

{{quote| '''M''': [buzzing intercom] Miss Moneypenny, give 007 the password we've agreed with Japanese S.I.S.<br />

'''MoneyPenny''': Yes sir.<br />

'''Tiger Tanaka''': [the code response] I... love you.<br />

'''James Bond''': Well, I'm glad we got that out of the way. }}

{{quote| '''Mike''': It's me, Mike O'Donnell, your best friend! You have an undescended testicle. <br />

'''Ned''': [[Google|Googleable]]! <br />

'''Mike''': You asked [[Star Wars|Princess Leia]] to Junior Prom! <br />

'''Ned''': Covered by the local news! }}

* Averted in one or more of the ''[[Pink Panther]]'' movies. Clouseau asks Dreyfus what his code name is, or what the pass word is. Dreyfus has to think they replies in a fury that he doesn't have a codename or there is no password. Clouseau confirms that only the real Dreyfus would know that, causing Dreyfus to become even more angry.

* In ''[[Airheads]]'', to determine whether a record executive actually is an exec, not an undercover cop, Chazz asks him "Whose side did you take in the [[Van Halen]] / Roth split: Van Halen or Roth?". When he answers "Van Halen" instead of "Roth", he's concluded to be a cop, but Chazz gives him one more chance, asking "Who would win a wrestling match: [[Motorhead|Lemmy]] or [[God]]?". As he first answers "Lemmy" before answering "God", Rex tells him "Wrong, dickhead! Trick question! Lemmy '''IS''' God!", and he's finally driven away.

* In ''[[The Time Travelers Wife]]'', Henry ultimately convinces many people of his ability to spontaneously time travel by disappearing in front of their eyes. On one occasion he tells a doctor all the biological information on the doctor's then-unborn child in the hopes of getting some treatment, but it's the disappearing that clinches the deal.

* [[Jorge Luis Borges]]' short story ''The Other'' has a clever version of this trope. In it, an older Borges meets his younger self on a bench by a river. The older tells the younger details about their life that no one else could know. Young Borges dismisses this because he could be dreaming. His dream self would of course know all the details of his own life. A few minutes later, Old Borges proves that it is not a dream by reciting a line of French poetry he is sure his younger self has never heard nor could have dreamed up, and showing him a piece of money with a recent date on it. He later realizes that the note he showed his younger self ''[[Mind Screw|doesn't actually have a date on it]]'' -- [[Mind Screw|meaning that the younger Borges did in fact dream it, but the older one did not]].

* In the last two ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books, the Ministry of Magic suggests people set up a [[Trust Password]] with their loved ones so as to identify someone disguised with Polyjuice Potion. It's generally treated as a joke in ''Half Blood Prince'', but becomes deadly serious in ''Deathly Hallows''. (Not only are circumstances more serious, but people have figured out that it's best to make the Q&A spontaneous.)

{{quote| "I was thinking of Aurora..."<br />

Griffin's heart sank.<br />

* In ''[[Mara Daughter of the Nile]]": Sheftu gives Nekonkh a [[Trust Password]] for Mara: "Tell her I have not forgotten what I said last night when I took her in my arms." Nekonkh is repulsed by Sheftu's cold-bloodedness, as he is to use the [[Trust Password]] as part of Mara's [[Feed the Mole|loyalty test]].

* Played with in [[The Hourglass Door]] trilogy (As it's full of time travel). In the second book, Leo tells V to go back in time and tell his past self that, "the lady of light" sent him, and that it is time, "to honor his vow," so that Past Leo won't kill Future V. In the third book, main character Abby goes back in time and saves Leo, who calls her his lady of light, and she asks him to promise to do something for the one who asks him to honor the vow. It gets more confusing from there.

 

 

'''Nick:''' Jack, don't be an ass.<br />

'''Jack:''' ...Daniel? }}

* [[Time Travel]] was the whole point of ''[[Seven Days]]'', and the team set up a code phrase for the protagonist to use so that they'd always know when he had shown up from the future, and they weren't dealing with a hoax. The password used is Frank contacting Backstep and identifying himself as 'Conundrum'.

** This password is only useful for the first episode, when the team has no idea who he is. After that, he's really just using 'Conundrum' as a codename and to get put through to the right people, because they a) all know Frank, and b) notice when their giant time-traveling sphere vanishes from the hanger.

* In one episode of ''[[Lois and Clark|Lois and Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman]]'', a time-traveller is able to enlist Clark's aid by whispering "I know you're Superman, and I need your help", to him.

{{quote| '''Dean''': [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Rhonda Hurley. We were, uh...19. She made us try on her panties. They were pink. And satiny. And you know what? We kind of liked it.]] }}

{{quote| '''Giles:''' Cordelia, it's me! It's me! <br />

'''Cordelia:''' How do we know it's really you and not zombie Giles? <br />

** And the appropriateness of this trust password for Agent Booth, a Roman Catholic FBI agent, is lampshaded by his boss:

{{quote| "Paladin." Defender of the Faith.}}

* In the series 2 premiere of ''[[Misfits]]'', the gang have to deal with a shapeshifter. In order to make sure it's really them, they greet each other with "Monkeyslut!"

* In the ''[[Smallville]]'' episode "Transference", Clark Kent and Lionel Luthor swap bodies. In Lionel's body, Clark convinces Ma Kent it's really him by telling the story of how he discovered [[Super Speed]] at age 6.

** Subverted in "Apocalypse". Clark tries to prove he's a friend to Chloe by revealing some of their past experiences, but since he's in an alternate universe where they have never met, it fails.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Prince of Persia]]: Sands of Time'' proves his story to the princess (events that never happened due to the events in the game) by telling her a word invented by her mother, Kakolukia.

* A non-verbal example in the game [[Geist]]. Since Raimi has the ability to [[Body Surf]], he has to prove his identity to Raimi by reproducing their [[Secret Handshake]].

* Early on in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' the [[Player Party]] is sent on a mission to aide [[La Résistance|an anti government group called "The Forest Owls"]] and are given a Password to confirm their identity. Upon reaching the rendezvous point and saying the password to the group's representative ([[But Thou Must!|regardless of whether or not you gave the correct response]]), he takes you to meet the other members.

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** This was partly accidental - Aladdin didn't intend to reveal his true identity to Jasmine, but she came to suspect they were one and the same, {{spoiler|[[Bluff the Impostor|then confirmed it by casually mentioning Abu later on]].}}

* In the ''[[Justice League]]'' episode where Flash and Lex Luthor switch minds, Flash proves he's really himself again by starting to reveal Green Lantern's old nickname.