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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.
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* Bookman and Lavi in ''[[D.Gray-man]]'' are supposed to be unbiased recorders of "the secret history. [[Becoming the Mask|Supposed to be]]...
* {{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 ni]]'', Bernkastel takes this role for the first two games, but once Beatrice indicates that she knows where Bern's loyalties lie, she takes a much more active role. It may or may not be the same Bernkastel as in ''Umineko'', but {{spoiler|Frederica Bernkastel is
* 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.
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* 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.
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* 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 [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]].
* 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-Files]]'' also has several people in Watcher-like roles (often emissaries of the [[Powers That Be]], or those within the [[Powers That Be]] but secretly working against them, e.g., Deep Throat, Mr. X).
* The Watchers of ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'', who annoy Melinda with their inability to give straight answers.
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* ''[[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 ''[[Doctor Who]]''. Again, while they were officially supposed to never interfere, a lot of them were ''really'' bad at it. Notably, their doctrine of noninterference was largely self-imposed; they made that decision in the first place because they're almost all ''horribly corrupt'', and the doctrine is basically there to keep them from screwing up and/or conquering everything else.
* 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 ''[[Deus Ex]]'', this role is played by different characters throughout the game.
** 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.}}
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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 ''[[Lonelygirl15]]''. He's not the only "watcher" in the series, but he's the only example of "
== 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.)
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