The Watcher: Difference between revisions

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* Meta Knight acts as the Mentor for ''[[Kirby]]'' in the [[Kirby of the Stars|anime]] adaptation, and tends to act this way rather a lot of the time, often serving as [[Mr. Exposition]]. Although he and his henchmen do take the odd opportunity to display how [[Badass]] they are on a regular basis, Meta Knight seems happy to leave the problem solving to Fumu and the ass kicking to 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 [[The Watcher]] of the ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]'' continuity, as she is the collective amalgamation of all past Rikas, and is responsible for plugging Rika into another kakera after Hanyuu invokes her power}}.

* 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.

* 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 ==

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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 ~~Presidents~~ Men (Film)|All the Presidents Men]]'', as in [[Real Life]].

* Deep Throat in ''[[All the President's Men (Film)|All the Presidents Men]]'', as in [[Real Life]].

== Literature ==

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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 [[The Watcher]] of Krynn. Rumoured to be the god Gilean (the God of the Book, of course) in human form, he's the only man on the planet who, according to Raistlin's time vision, is ''not'' dying. He spends all of his time recording the events of the world in (generally) unbroken sittings. This is even to the extent that he'll be writing things like ''On this morning, Caramon entered my office--'' before turning to the visitor. He has also unintentionally interfered in events -- mostly through [[Time Travel]], when a protagonist obtained and brought back to the present [[Timeline Altering MacGuffin|one of his books from the future]]. On that day there was only one recording in his book: ''On this day of Overwatch Rising, Caramon of Solace brought me a volume of Astinus's Chronicles. A book that I will never write.''

* Astinus of the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels is [[The Watcher]] of Krynn. Rumoured to be the god Gilean (the God of the Book, of course) in human form, he's the only man on the planet who, according to Raistlin's time vision, is ''not'' dying. He spends all of his time recording the events of the world in (generally) unbroken sittings. This is even to the extent that he'll be writing things like ''On this morning, Caramon entered my office--'' before turning to the visitor. He has also unintentionally interfered in events -- mostly through [[Time Travel]], when a protagonist obtained and brought back to the present [[Timeline-Altering MacGuffin|one of his books from the future]]. On that day there was only one recording in his book: ''On this day of Overwatch Rising, Caramon of Solace brought me a volume of Astinus's Chronicles. A book that I will never write.''

* ''[[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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* ''[[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 ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~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.

* 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.

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[[Category:Mentors]]

[[Category:The Watcher]]

[[Category:Trope]]