The Watcher: Difference between revisions

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* {{spoiler|Mikuru Asahina}} from ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' is a [[Time Travel|Time Traveler]] who's assigned to watch over Haruhi to unlock the mystery about why it's now impossible to time-travel beyonds a certain day.

* 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 ''[[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.

 

 

* 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]].

* [[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]].

 

 

* 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.

 

== Literature ==

 

* 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.

* ''[[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 ==

* 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 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.

== Video Games ==

 

** Initially, [[The Watcher]] is Alex Jacobson, the computer guy at UNATCO; he drops out after the La Guardia mission.

** 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.}}

* 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}}.

* 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.

 

* 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.

 

== Western Animation ==