Trust Password: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Ted''': ''Okay, wait. If you guys are really us, what number are we thinking of?''

'''Future Bill and Ted''': ''69, dudes!''

 

Maybe you claim to be from the future, or maybe you say you are some reincarnation. Whatever it may be, Mr. Suspicious isn't buying it. So what do you do? You tell or show him the one thing that absolutely proves your claim beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[[Crazy Prepared]] characters naturally have at least one of these.

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the fourth ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' novel, Kyon finds himself in an alternate universe where the SOS members are ordinary humans. Haruhi won't even give him the time of day until {{spoiler|he desperately introduces himself as John Smith, the alias he had used as a time traveller helping her out three years ago. Once the world is returned to 'normal', he keeps this as a trump card (emergency use only!) to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|blackmail Yuki's boss]]}}.

** Played with multiple times in a different context. {{spoiler|Adult Mikuru tries to use a distinctive mole on one breast to convince Kyon of who she is the first time they meet, only to realize that Kyon hasn't actually seen the mole on Younger Mikuru yet. Much later, Kyon uses the lack of a mole to realize that the Mikuru in his room is a fake}}.

*** Probably worth mentioning {{spoiler|that Kyon then proceeded to tell Younger Mikuru about the mole, which she didn't know about yet, which is how she finds out about it in the first place, [[Stable Time Loop|but that's a different trope]].}}

* Yusuke of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' regrets not having one of these when he possesses Kuwabara, and not a single person believes he's actually Yusuke.

** He ends up identifying himself to Keiko by grabbing her breasts (or, in the edited-for-TV version, peeking up her skirt), which elicits a reflex response of "Yusuke you jerk!" and a slap, at which point she finally accepts that it's him.

*** 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.

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

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* During the ''[[The Death of Superman]]'' storyline, the real [[Superman]] proves himself to Lois with Clark Kent's favorite movie: {{spoiler|''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]''}}.

* 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.

** Also, song lyrics.

 

 

* 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.

* Twisted in ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon]]''. Facing down an illusory copy of Yoko controlled by Millusion, Cure Sunday asks her to answer a question about herself. The twist is that giving the ''right'' answer proves her as the fake, because Yoko didn't know it.

* In the ''[[Bleach]]'' fic ''[[Hogyoku Ex Machina]]'', Yamamoto gives Ichigo one of these to prepare for when Rukia will be [[Ret-Gone|Ret Goned]] in the future [[Non-Serial Movie|(i.e. the third film)]]. {{spoiler|It also ends up being useful for identification against [[Big Bad|Aizen's]] [[Master of Illusion|illusions]], though Ichigo almost gets killed then anyway since the password is a name and he has trouble remembering it.}}

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

* ''[[Winter War]]'': How do you convince someone who's been [[Master of Illusion|Aizen's]] prisoner for ''months'' that you really are you? {{spoiler|You hand him his [[Empathic Weapon|zanpakutou]]- which will do the convincing for you.}}

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Given their personalities, it's not ''that'' hard to guess...

** Turned on its head in ''[[Bill and Teds Bogus Journey]]'' when the "Evil Robot Usses" correctly guess how many fingers Ted is going to show them; it's entirely possible he only held up the amount they said because they said it.

* In the first ''[[X-Men 1]]'' movie, after being fooled by [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|Mystique]] one too many times, Cyclops demands that Wolverine prove he is who he says he is. Wolverine's response: "You're a dick." [[Crowning Moment of Funny|It works.]]

* 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.}}

* In ''[[12 Monkeys]]'', Cole can't figure out if he's actually from the future or if he's just crazy. He figures it out when {{spoiler|he tells Kathryn to make a phone call for him to a phone he knows will be monitored in the future. Kathryn leaves the message Cole had been told about in the future, which confirms he's from the future.}}

* From ''[[You Only Live Twice]]'':

* Subverted in ''[[17 Again]]''. Mike tells his best friend Ned several incriminating details that only he could know while being attacked, but Ned justifies how the weird, soaking wet man in his house could get access to all the information he gives.

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

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

* ''[[Groundhog Day]]'' takes it to extremes. To prove that he really is repeating the day over and over again, Phil walks Rita through a diner, giving the trust passwords for ''everyone in the diner'', none of whom remember telling him those things. She still doesn't quite believe him until he shows he can also predict what people are about to say.

* 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.

* [[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 ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'', Artemis sets up not one, but two of these in case his memory ever gets wiped by the Fairies. The password for him is a video of himself saying what happened, as Artemis only would believe something he said. Butler's is {{spoiler|Artemis saying his first name: Domovoi}}

* In ''[[Silverwing (novel)|Firewing]]'', when Griffin finally meets his father Shade, he doesn't believe it's him (due to the many illusions of the underworld). He first asks him about Shade's past adventures, but Shade gets the answers wrong because the stories Griffin believes are exaggerations of the true events. Griffin then asks him what his name would have been, would he have been female.

{{quote|"I was thinking of Aurora..."

** (Not an exact quote, just the best that I could type from memory.)

* In Marge Piercy's ''He, She & It'', the heroine suspects the VR representation of her husband in traction after a probably fatal incident. She asks him a personal question, and his answer is the lie that she and her real husband put in a government file for just such a 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.

 

 

* In the Series Four ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Forest of the Dead," Professor Song {{spoiler|whispers the Doctor's name into his ear}} to prove that she knows him in the future.

** Subverted in later episodes where it is implied that that she might not be someone he ought to trust after all.

'''Nick:''' Jack, don't be an ass.

'''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 the ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' episode "The End", Dean is sent to the future and proves his identity to Future!Dean by telling a story that only he would know:

{{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.]] }}

* And in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', this classic exchange. Makes even more sense when you realize the above ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' "You're a dick" line was also penned by Joss Whedon.

{{quote|'''Giles:''' Cordelia, it's me! It's me!

** 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 West Wing]]'', the word "Sagittarius" is used to denote that person knows about Jed Bartlet's MS.

* 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.

 

 

* 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]].

* Near the ending of ''[[Planescape: Torment]],'' {{spoiler|the only way you can knock some sanity into the Paranoid Incarnation is to talk to him in the obscure language of Uyo, one of the things he used to lock away some journals of his. After all, if he killed everyone who ever knew the language, how could the new guy in the crystal be anything other than a more lucid aspect of himself?}} The change from "paranoid psychopath" to "scared puppy" is heartbreaking.

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Bob and George]]'' hangs a lampshade on Bill and Ted when time travel becomes a regular occurrence in the comic; of course, since Mega Man and Bass are [[Idiot Hero|legendarily stupid]], [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* During their adventures in the Punyverse in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Bun-Bun cons Lord Grater into believing he works for his boss, Zorgon Gola. Lord Grater responds "if you know everything about me, what am I thinking about right now?" Bun-bun responds that the infomation is [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/010704 classified], which instantly appeases him.

** {{spoiler|[[Inverted Trope|Inverted]]}} another time in "Oceans Unmoving". (Big spoiler alert.) {{spoiler|Bun-bun can't appear himself to his past self as himself, because he knows that if he were to see someone claiming to be himself from the future, he'd figure it was a trap and kill them, expecting that if it were really him he would have expected that.}}

 

 

** [[Take That|Funny how "paranormal experts" never bring that up.]]

*** [[Money, Dear Boy|They must have a good reason...]]

* Don't forget about [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|that password]] you have to tell the computer to make sure it's really you.

* Careful parents often arrange these with their children, so that the children can verify that anyone who claims to be sent by mom and dad actually was (as in the [[Bones]] example above). Some PSAs (or similar productions) recommend this if the family ever gets separated.

* Surprisingly more common than most people think. It's extremely easy to set up, and it never hurts to be [[Crazy Prepared]] or [[Genre Savvy]].

*** It may be long since dead now, but if you're going back in time that shouldn't really be a problem.

* As in the ''Bourne'' example above, secret agents normally have security checks they can insert into a message to verify that it's real. During [[World War II]], one British agent captured by the Germans deliberately gave his captors the wrong security check. He expected his bosses to realize that the messages coming from his radio were false. [[What an Idiot!|His bosses didn't pay attention.]] ''Das Englandspiel'' (also called Operation North Pole) resulted in the capture and execution of approximately fifty Allied agents, and didn't end until the Germans themselves called it off in a clear-text message to London..

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:Time Travel Tropes]]