Will Not Tell a Lie: Difference between revisions

When a character makes a conscious decision to be honest they [['''Will Not Tell a Lie]]'''.

ContrastCompare [[IVillains Gave MyNever WordLie]]. Compareand [[VillainsI NeverGave LieMy Word]].

** In week 34 of the ''[[Fifty Two52]]'' series, some of Luthor's thugs kidnap a depowered Clark, drug him with truth serum, and ask him a question about Superman's secret identity. Specifically, they ask " {{spoiler|why is the man of steel masquerading as Supernova}}"? [[Crowning Moment of Funny|He cracks up.]]

* Nick Carraway from ''[[The Great Gatsby]]''-- see—see the page quote.

** Fair Witnesses in Heinlein's ''[[Stranger in Aa Strange Land]]'', due to their conditioning as expert witnesses, will only tell the directly observed facts. This excludes subjective qualifiers, conjecture or analysis from their description. This gives them perfect eidetic memory and more legal credibility than audiovisual recordings, which can be forged.

*** Jubal exemplifies this to Jill by calling his secretary over who is licensed as a Fair Witness and asking her what color the neighbor's house in the distance is. She responds "On this side it's white, boss."

* Most of [[Piers Anthony]] 's protagonists adhere to this rule at least to some degree.

The captain [Carrot] looked awkward.|''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]''}}

* Seleneans and Zaldans in the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]]. The Seleneans are only a partial example- their truthful nature is more a result of their usual form of communication rather than for moral reasons. Zaldans, on the other hand, are fanatical in their [[Will Not Tell a Lie]] morality. This causes problems in one novel, [[A Singular Destiny]]. Evidence suggests that planet Zalda is refusing refugees; this isn’t true, but the faked records are convincing enough. The situation is made considerably worse in that their representative is completely outraged at the very idea of being [[Wrongly Accused]] - of being ''lied'' at and made to look like a liar himself- and storms off rather than defending himself.

* In [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]'', Shasta suggests to Corin various ways he could cover up the facts, but realizes it's impossible and says he will have to tell the truth. Corin scornfully says that of course he would have told the truth.

== Live -Action TV ==

* Kirei Kotomine in ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' won't lie to you. He's very fond of [[False Reassurance|False Reassurances]]s and half truths though. 'A Servant is still hanging around from the last war? As the supervisor I cannot ignore that!' {{spoiler|He's shocked because after telling Gilgamesh not to show himself, he did so anyway. So he doesn't ignore it, he scolds Gilgamesh for almost blowing his cover.}} As noted in [[Fate/hollow ataraxia]] it also applies to most Servants by default: Their pride doesn't let them.

* This is [[Complete Monster|Terumi]]'s schtick in ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]''. Lying is, in fact, even a [[Berserk Button]] for him... Besides, what better way to [[Mind Rape]] somebody than [[Hannibal Lecture]]-ing them with [[Awful Truth|Awful Truths]]s and [[Brutal Honesty]]; like revealing to them that their desired rightful place in the world was stolen away by their best friend, who only exists because of causality-interference effects screwing with the [[Stable Time Loop|time loops]], or that they're really just a failed version of an [[Eldritch Abomination]], which ''in turn'' is a failed version of a [[Person of Mass Destruction]]?

** Here's another interesting detail about him: He is an [[SNK Boss]], but in his first appearance he claims that he isn't good at fighting. How did he manage to tell that [[Blatant Lies|Blatant Lie]] without breaking character? Well, aside from never telling lies, he is also very accomplished in telling [[Half Truth|Half Truths]]s, or conveniently "forgetting" to include certain insignificant details that might prove vital to a person's continued existence. Also, he's the [[Trope Pantheons/Mentalism|God of Trolling]]... I.e., he just said that while he doesn't consider himself good at fighting, everybody else still suck beastballs at it compared to him, the shitfaced losers. So, while he doesn't necessarily say the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, he never technically fibs and pretty much confesses without ''any'' provocation that he gave [[Anti-Hero|Ragna]] his [[Dark and Troubled Past]] [[For the Evulz]].

** Durkon is a [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|dwarf]] cleric (and Lawful Good, which is almost redundant in that universe). The stereotypical dwarf is bluntly honest, brave, and lacking a sense of humor ... and clerics are probably even more so.

* Chargesdotcomdotbr character Fimose played the trope straight while trying to impress a girl. He told her he lived at a building worth $ 1.6mil (Brazilian currency). He actually lived at a rented apartment at a building with 40 apartments and each apartment was worth $ 40thousand. He also claimed to have studied at a school in Switzerland. "Switzerland" was the name of the street where the public school was. He claimed to have made an investment that might earn him $ 16mil. The so-called "investment" was buying a lottery ticket. He claimed to have a car collection. They were [[Hot Wheels]] toy cars. He claimed to have three Ferraris. There used to be four but his dog ate one. He claimed his Dad worked with oil products. Said Dad worked at a gas station. When asked if he worked at some world wide company, Fimose said his Dad worked with the Arabs. The station's owners are Arabs. He claimed his mother used to be an international model before her marriage. She posed naked to a painter from Argentina.