History Main / WhatYouAreInTheDark

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUlg8Y_mLfA&index=8 The Reward: Tales of Alethrion]]'' ends with the titular character [[SealedEvilInACan sealing away a demonic version of himself]] at the cost of his life with no one, including his LoveInterest ever learning he was anything but a heartless mercenary OnlyInItForTheMoney.

The usual {{A|nAesop}}esop of this trope revolves around the idea that anyone can do the right thing when all the attention is placed on them and it would be inconvenient not to do so, but it takes real strength of character — and heroism — to do the heroic thing when no one is watching and there's nothing to lose. This may carry an [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop unfortunate implication]] that [[HobbesWasRight most humans aren't bastards only when]] BigBrotherIsWatching.

* In episode 5 of ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', Kirito and Asuna (before they become a couple) fall asleep next to each other. Kirito wakes up before Asuna and realizes that with no one around, he can do whatever he wants to her. [[FaceDoodling He draws cat whiskers on her face]].

* During a race at the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, Canadian sailor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lemieux Lawrence Lemieux]] was in second place and all but guaranteed to advance to the medal round. But he noticed that the Singapore team had capsized, were injured, and in serious danger of drowning. Deciding that winning a medal was ''not'' worth letting people die when he could do something, Lemieux turned back to save the Singapore team, which cost Lemieux the race. However, things worked out--the International Yacht Racing Union unanimously voted to officially award Lemieux with second place anyways. In the end, Lemieux didn't get a medal for a top-three place in the medal round... but he ''was'' [[SweetAndSourGrapes awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal]], the supreme and rarest of all Olympic medals, for exemplifying the spirit of the Olympic Games at its finest.

* [[spoiler: Rachel]] from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' is given the opportunity of climbing the Tower as long as she plays part in the conspiracy that requires [[spoiler: Baam to die. When they are alone and Baam once again states he wants to be with her, she pushes him off the platform.]]

Well, the audience finds out whether they[[HeroicSpirit really are]] TheHero.

TheHero is alone, except, perhaps, for the villain. No one whose opinion he cares about — possibly no one at all — will ever need to know what he does next, and he knows it. And there is a [[DirtyBusiness useful but corrupt act]] that he could commit, reaping the benefit without anyone ever knowing. If he does not do it, the consequences can be severe, even [[HeroicSacrifice deadly]]. If the villain is there, he is urging the hero to do it, which possibly involves cleaning up any possible witnesses. If the hero is alone but we still need some exposition dialogue to understand what's going on, he may discuss with his GoodAngelBadAngel. Very likely, he is at his DarkestHour, even on the verge of the DespairEventHorizon.

The StockPhrase is usually something like "No one will ever know." It can [[BreakThemByTalking taunt him with the futility of his heroism]] (perhaps even telling him that he will [[DyingAlone die alone]], [[DueToTheDead unmourned]], [[TragicFuneral with no one attending his funeral]], [[FamedInStory unremembered]]), or tempt him with the rewards of villainy, even telling him that the heroic act will be [[MaliciousSlander interpreted as villainy]], and vice versa. A more foolish and friendly villain may urge it's NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught.

Well, the audience finds out whether he [[HeroicSpirit really is]] TheHero.

Usually he is, because doing the right thing in the face of great temptation is a mark of great heroism, whereas doing the wrong is only bog standard, baseline villainy. When the wrong path is taken, this is usually the lead to more impressively villainous acts. Occasionally, it is to prove CantGetAwayWithNuthin: a character [[DueToTheDead loots a corpse]], only to discover it can be identified.

Particularly hard for the GlorySeeker. May prove to be a SecretTestOfCharacter. May also prove [[EvilCannotComprehendGood a great shock]] to a villain who was convinced she was a SlaveToPR and NotSoDifferent.

# "I'll know." (The hero can't live with himself if he fails this test.)
# "God/Heaven/the gods/[my dead loved one(s)] will know." (The hero doesn't feel he's really in the dark. Often overlaps with #1, if the hero's devoutly religious.)
# "You'll know." (Vaguely anti-heroic: the hero can't live with the thought of his enemy winning in any way, he realizes the villain will now have something to blackmail him with, or he simply wants to deny the villain even the smallest of victories over him out of spite.)

SuperTrope of SilentScapegoat. Antonym of PhotoOpWithTheDog. Often a prerequisite for a WeCanRuleTogether offer made to a hero. Compare InvisibleJerkass, DudeWheresMyReward, StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred, {{GIFT}}. See also TheGreatestStoryNeverTold and ZeroApprovalGambit. See ShootTheDog for when there are arguments for the morality of both actions. See HiddenHeartOfGold for when a {{Jerkass}} turns out to be a nice person on the inside. May involve TheCorrupter. This test of character always reveals what is BeneathTheMask. If a character erroneously ''believes'' that nobody will know what he's doing, he can find himself at the wrong end of an EngineeredPublicConfession (if the situation was set up deliberately) or IsThisThingStillOn (broadcasting a private moment by accident) situation.

[[Administrivia/DoWeHaveThisOne Compare and contrast]] the ''villainous'' version; the villain has [[TheBadGuyWins achieved everything he set out to do]], has wealth and power beyond his imagination, and is perhaps even ready to [[UnholyMatrimony settle down]] with someone they [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely and unselfishly love]]. Then they realize that their actions [[EveryoneHasStandards cross a line]] — believing utterly that what they have done is unforgivable and a HeelFaceTurn probably won't even ''work'' — and they give it all up to fight for Good '''anyway.''' Also see UndercoverWhenAlone.

The usual {{A|nAesop}}esop of this trope revolves around the idea that anyone can do the right thing when all the attention is placed on them and it would be inconvenient to do so, but it takes real strength of character — and heroism — to do the heroic thing when no one is watching and there's nothing to lose. This may carry an [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop unfortunate implication]] that [[HobbesWasRight most humans aren't bastards only when]] BigBrotherIsWatching.

TheHero is alone, except, perhaps, for the villain. No one whose opinion he cares about — possibly no one at all — will ever need to know what he does next, and he knows it. And there is a [[DirtyBusiness useful but corrupt act]] that he could commit, reaping the benefit without anyone ever knowing. If he does not do it, the consequences can be severe, even [[HeroicSacrifice deadly]]. If the villain is there, he is urging the hero to do it, which possibly involves cleaning up any possible witnesses. Very likely, he is at his DarkestHour, even on the verge of the DespairEventHorizon.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]

TheHero is alone, except, perhaps, for the villain. No one whose opinion he cares about--possibly no one at all--will ever need to know what he does next, and he knows it. And there is a [[DirtyBusiness useful but corrupt act]] that he could commit, reaping the benefit without anyone ever knowing. If he does not do it, the consequences can be severe, even [[HeroicSacrifice deadly]]. If the villain is there, he is urging the hero to do it, which possibly involves cleaning up any possible witnesses. Very likely, he is at his DarkestHour, even on the verge of the DespairEventHorizon.

The usual {{A|nAesop}}esop of this trope revolves around the idea that anyone can do the right thing when all the attention is placed on them and it would be inconvenient to do so, but it takes real strength of character--and heroism--to do the heroic thing when no one is watching and there's nothing to lose. This may carry an [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop unfortunate implication]] that [[HobbesWasRight most humans aren't bastards only when]] BigBrotherIsWatching.

[[Administrivia/DoWeHaveThisOne Compare and contrast]] the ''villainous'' version; the villain has [[TheBadGuyWins achieved everything he set out to do]], has wealth and power beyond his imagination, and is perhaps even ready to [[UnholyMatrimony settle down]] with someone they [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely and unselfishly love]]. Then they realize that their actions [[EveryoneHasStandards cross a line]]--believing utterly that what they have done is unforgivable and a HeelFaceTurn probably won't even ''work''--and they give it all up to fight for Good '''anyway.''' Also see UndercoverWhenAlone.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In episode 5 of ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', Kirito and Asuna (before they become a couple) fall asleep next to each other. Kirito wakes up before Asuna and realizes that with no one around, he can do whatever he wants to her. [[FaceDoodling He doodles on her face]].

* In episode 5 of ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', Kirito and Asuna (before they become a couple) fall asleep next to each other. Kirito wakes up before Asuna and realizes he can do whatever he wants to her. [[FaceDoodling He doodles on her face]].

* In episode 5 of ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', Kirito and Asuna (before they became a couple) fall asleep next to each other. Kirito wakes up before Asuna and realizes he can do whatever he wants to her. [[FaceDoodling He doodles on her face]].

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': In episode 35, The Z fighters arrive at South City looking for the androids that are supposed to attack there and [[LetsSplitUpGang split up to cover more ground]]. Who's the first one to come into contact with them? [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]], when he hears a scream that indicates that the androids are near. He's alone, mentally freaking out, and trying to convince himself that surely one of his friends heard the scream too and that he isn't needed. [[CowardlyLion In the end, he goes out to help when no one else arrives]].

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': In episode 35, The Z fighters arrive at South City looking for androids that are supposed to attack there and [[LetsSplitUpGang split up to cover more ground]]. Who's the first one to come into contact with them? [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]], when he hears a scream that indicates that the androids are near. He's alone, mentally freaking out, and trying to convince himself that surely one of his friends heard the scream too and that he isn't needed. [[CowardlyLion In the end, he goes out to help when no one else arrives]].

# "God/Heaven/the gods/[my dead parent/friend/mentor] will know." (The hero doesn't feel he's really in the dark. Often overlaps with #1, if the hero's devoutly religious.)

Usually he is, because doing the right thing in the face of great temptation is a mark of great heroism, whereas doing the wrong is a mark of great villainy. When the wrong path is taken, this is usually the lead to more impressively villainous acts. Occasionally, it is to prove CantGetAwayWithNuthin: a character [[DueToTheDead loots a corpse]], only to discover it can be identified.

* Music/{{Hadestown}} has a few songs about this, but "Hey Little Songbird" and "When The Chips Are Down" probably fit the trope best.

* The Music/PatGreen song "In The Middle Of The Night" is a combination of this trope and struggling with alcoholism:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Used during [[spoiler: the collective MindRape scene]] in the ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'' 2001 series.
* ''Anime/AngelBeats'': [[spoiler: Yuri in the computer room, when she finds out that she can become 'God', denies the power. Made all the more powerful when you remember that her objective all along was to find 'God' to defeat him.]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Everyone knows that Zoro is one of the main good guys and despite him [[TheStoic not showing it as often]], he does look after the crew. The end of Thriller Bark [[spoiler: shows ''exactly'' what kind of lengths he would go for them, as he fully intended to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice himself]] as part of the deal to Kuma to spare the others.]] After this happens, Sanji catches Zoro standing still some time later, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. When Sanji asks what happened in a panic, all Zoro has to say is "nothing happened."
** During Usopp's introductory arc, he was willing to take on the entirety of Captain Kuro's men without his village even being aware of the danger. This nobility gained him the respect and aid of Luffy and the others.
** Usopp's fights also tend to be examples of this. Especially his first real battle of the series. His opponent [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Choo]] is his physical superior in every conceivable way, and Usopp survives his first encounter by playing dead. As he starts covering himself in dirt to make his excuse for letting Choo leave more believable, he realizes he doesn't ''want'' to be a coward and a liar, stands up to Choo while scared to death, and actually comes out on top and wins. To Usopp's credit, he was certainly FASTER than Choo.
** During the Alabasta arc, despite taking a massive amount of punishment from Miss Merry Christmas and Mr. 4, [[IronButtMonkey Usopp keeps standing right back up]]. He also says that it's impossible that Luffy is dead, despite Miss Merry Christmas's claims, saying that Luffy is destined to be King of the Pirates. These early battles cemented Usopp as a CowardlyLion that may act scared, but when the chips are down, he's not running away.
* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', Batou corners a serial killer he had been chasing in order to exact revenge on him for slaughtering a village full of innocent people. He has the opportunity to kill him without anybody asking questions (in fact, the CIA agents working with him [[BatmanGambit were banking on this to happen]]). However, Batou reminds the killer (and himself) that he's a law enforcement officer now, not a soldier, and promptly arrests him.
* The defining moment of ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion The End of Evangelion]]'': [[spoiler: Shinji Ikari has the choice of returning to life (and allowing others to do the same) or dooming humanity to an eternity as a single non-sentient organism. Nobody would EVER know if he chose to die. Nobody would judge him for it. The decision was his and his alone. He proved, for possibly the only time in the series, that he truly was the hero by deciding to return to life, even though it would be painful and lonely.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Planetes}}'', Tanabe is on the moon [[spoiler: with no air left in her suit, and an unconscious terrorist with a full tank of oxygen at her feet. She is tempted to let the terrorist die and steal the air for herself. But in the end she realizes she can't, and lets herself begin to choke to death.]]
* A variant occurs in ''Manga/DeathNote''. After discovering the eponymous [[ArtifactOfDoom Death Note]], Light goes on a rampart killing spree of criminals over 5 days that ''surprises a god of death''. This is later revealed to be because he expected some divine retribution to come to him and he wanted to do as much "good" as possible. It's only after Ryuk explains to him that there are no immediate consequences to using the Death Note (specifically that the major price is the user cannot go to {{Heaven}} or {{Hell}} when they die) that he starts his AGodAmI attitude... then it all goes downhill from there.
* Very important to ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Much of the point of Lelouch is showing someone who pretends to be TheHero in the limelight, then revealing his "real self" when isolated from that limelight. [[spoiler: The series shows that Lelouch is quite capable of both very good, and very bad things... as well as not being an entirely stable person.]]
* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Touma Kamijou will '''never''' walk away from somebody in trouble, even though [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold nobody really knows he exists and his accomplishments will never be acknowledged]]. To the point where, when one of his opponents asks him why he fights and saves people, Touma's reply that he has never found a single good reason to abandon anyone is enough to convince her that he is insane.
** Touma has defeated Fiamma of the Right, a extremely powerful magician that has become an enemy of the entire world, and the two of them are stuck in Fiamma's flying fortress, which is falling towards the ground. Fiamma accepts his loss and prepares himself for his death, but he's surprised when Touma helps him up and starts carrying him to the last escape pod. Fiamma questions his actions and points out out that the pod is only capable of saving one of them, and Touma replies without pause that then Fiamma needs to escape. Fiamma is left dumbfounded when he realizes Touma is completely serious, even when he could return home as the hero who defeated the [[BigBad mastermind]] that instigated [[WorldWarIII World War III]] and nobody would criticize him for leaving him behind, instead very likely being praised for finishing him off. This and Touma's actions during their previous fight [[HeelFaceTurn completely change Fiamma's outlook]], motivating him to fight to protect the world he had tried to forcibly purify before and granting him a newfound respect towards Touma's way of saving people he had previously mocked.
** Touma once again follows his personal beliefs by protecting and helping [[spoiler: Othinus, who like Fiamma had become a global enemy and had subjected him [[RealityWarper to millions of worlds designed to torture him]], to relinquish her great powers. During this journey he fights some of his allies and friends that are trying to kill her, and all of them are surprised and confused by Touma's actions, since only Touma and Othinus [[RippleEffectProofMemory kept their memories]] of the events that changed them both.]]
* In ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', Shana once considered killing her romantic rival Kazumi Yoshida while time was frozen, but stopped.
* In ''Anime/ValkyrieDriveMermaid'', Mamori can transform into a sword for Mirei to wield. She is completely unconscious until she turns back. Mirei knows this, yet she kept her promises to Mamori while wielding her even though Mamori would never know.
* In the 2015 anime/manga of ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'', when the group was separated and chased by Lusitanians, Gieve spotted Arslan and Elam being attacked. At this point in time, Gieve was NotInThisForYourRevolution and could have pretended he didn't see them or even helped the Lusitanians claim the hefty reward on Arslan's head. Instead, he came to their rescue and repeatedly protected them throughout the rest of the journey.
* In ''Manga/TimeStrangerKyoko'', the eponymous heroine talks with Sakataki about her adopted nature and is scared that she might be a demon-[[HalfHumanHybrid kirit]]. She admits that she almost turned off her twinsister's life-support machine when she was younger, but stopped herself upon realizing what she was about to do.
* In ''Manga/GlassMask'', [[TheRival Ayumi]] heads to a secluded valley in secret for one last acting exercise before going home, convinced she cannot defeat the protagonist, Maya, for the coveted role of the Crimson Goddess. A passing farmer warns her that the bridge to the valley is rotting out, and shortly afterwards, Ayumi spots Maya coming down the same path. Realizing that she'd get the role if Maya fell, Ayumi pretends not to have seen her...but ultimately runs back to pull her up when she hears Maya scream. This also inspires her to go back and face Maya with her own skills, rather than relying on underhanded means like the other celebrities she'd always despised.
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': A major theme of Kirito's character throughout the Fairy Dance arc, as Kirito believes that if you indulge your baser instincts while anonymous online, you end up becoming a worse person as a result; by contrast, Sugou Nobuyuki, the ArcVillain, is a CardCarryingVillain who revels in being able to do all the horrible things online that would see him ostracized in the real world, and uses ALO [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential as his own personal outlet for indulging in his sick fantasies]]. At the end of the arc, Sugou, after being [[WoundThatWillNotHeal maimed and permanently injured]] by Kirito during their battle in ALO, attacks Kirito in real life outside the hospital Asuna is in with a knife. Kirito manages to overpower him and seems fully prepared to [[SlashedThroat slit Sugou's throat]] with his own knife, particularly after all of the atrocities Sugou committed throughout the arc, not the least of which was [[spoiler: sexually assaulting Asuna while [[ForcedToWatch making Kirito watch]]]]. Ultimately, however, Kirito settles for just leaving an utterly broken Sugou, reduced to InelegantBlubbering and knowing his plans are in ruin, unconscious in the parking lot for the police.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Mr. Satan is initially a GloryHound and FakeUltimateHero, but he certainly has the ''heart'' of a hero if nothing else. This is exhibited mid-way through the Buu arc when he's left to his own devices with the titular villain; after promising to the public to kill him and failing via various means, he sees Buu's friendly nature and befriends him instead. The full extent of his moral character is shown at the end, where he tries to fight Kid Buu despite knowing he doesn't stand a chance, and helps contribute to the Spirit Bomb that ultimately finishes him off.
-->'''Mr. Satan''': I've been a shameless fake my whole life. But they believed me. They loved me. So if I turn my back on them now, what will it make me?
* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', [[spoiler: when Jaco takes Bulma to see Master Zuno, he sees that Burp Man is the one ahead of him in line. He could arrest the guy then and there, but he posits that it'll lead to Burp Man telling the Galactic Patrol that Jaco used him as TheScapegoat when Jaco himself destroyed a valuable monument. He's about to leave the guy to his devices when Bulma mentions that Beerus threatened to destroy Universe 7, and that they'll all have to hope he was joking. With the universe on the line, despite the fact that he'd be in the clear if he just ignored Burp Man, Jaco then risks getting caught, subdues Burp Man when he takes a hostage, and gains Bulma audience with Zuno]].
* In ''Manga/UQHolder'', Touta comes across Yukihime while time is frozen. Her shirt is open, exposing her breasts. While Touta is highly tempted to do something perverted to her, he resists temptation and instead covers her with his jacket.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' Tails was given a chance to [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything shoot Robotnik from a building, looking down on Robotnik's parade]]. The unicorn who gives him this chance tempts him by saying that Mobius will be free if Tails pulls the trigger. He doesn't go through with it. Turns out the whole thing was an illusion set up by the unicorn as a SecretTestOfCharacter.
* This happens in ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' of all places, with Batman as the tempter. When both heroes confront then-president of the United States, Lex Luthor, over a bounty he placed on Superman's head, blaming Luthor for an incoming meteor (made of Kryptonite or containing it at least) about to hit the earth, and the beating he just gave to their respective proteges, Superman has been pushed so far he is ready to fry Luthor. Luthor actually tries to goad him, believing Superman wouldn't do it or that if he did, the fact that Superman committed murder would be a massive blow against him and the people's faith in him, thus a form of post-mortem vengeance against Superman. However, that is when Batman shows up and quite calmly tells Superman he [Batman] won't stop him, and that they can just make it look like an accident or "better yet, as if he'd vanished without a trace." Luthor begins ''sweating cold'' when he realizes he may genuinely lose his life for good. Needless to say, Superman doesn't kill him and settles for throwing him against the wall before leaving to stop the meteor. Which was what Batman probably [[BatmanGambit knew would happen]] all along. Probably.
** The trains of thought for both Superman and Batman show just how close it was. Superman recalled how Pa Kent told him about what you needed to do regarding a fox in the henhouse (in this case, the metaphor is now being applied to the fox as Lex and the innocent people as the henhouse), while Batman thinks that, despite the damage the Joker has done, it was only to Gotham, and that ultimately Luthor is worse than the Joker and hurts many more people than he does.
* In one of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' based comics (during the The New Adventures period), a multi-millionaire philanthropist places a million dollar bounty for the Joker's head (dead or alive, but preferably dead), in order to have justice for the Joker killing his son. He does so via live broadcast, including the Times-Square-esque television screens in Gotham Uptown. The whole city goes berserk as everybody tries to capture and or kill the Joker. Finally, Batman kidnaps the millionaire, brings him to a dark corner of Gotham where the Joker is tied to a chair in a cone of light. Batman says that he will not allow the man to buy himself a murder; if he wants Joker dead, he is going to have to kill him himself. Before disappearing into the dark though, Batman asks the businessman if this is really what he wants, and if it is really worth it. The man, alone with Joker, begins to lunge at the clown to strangle him, but stops himself, unable to go against his humanitarian nature. The next day, he withdraws the bounty, instead using it to start a support organization for the families of victims of violent crime. [[BatmanGambit Just like Batman expected he would.]]
* Batman himself ends up in this position with the Joker in ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns''. They're in an abandoned carnival ride, the Joker has just killed dozens of people after Batman's return has drawn him out of a decades-long catatonic state, and Batman has sworn that he'll never let the Joker take another life and is prepared to kill him. [[spoiler:In the end, Batman can't do it and paralyses the Joker by nearly breaking his neck. Laughing at Batman's lack of guts and knowing that no one else in the world will know he didn't do it, Joker finishes the job for him and kills himself.]]
* A ''Comicbook/SecretSix'' chapter contains a chilling inversion of this and other similar situations. The titular group of [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protagonists]] is hired to snatch a pedophile serial killer from police, by the father of one of the said killer's victims, who intends to avenge his daughter personally. However, when Catman and Deadshot deliver the safely bound killer into an isolated storehouse, where no one will hear any screams, he starts backing down, clearly unprepared to take another's life and saying he doesn't think he can do that. Catman coldly responds with "Yes, you can", and a short but detailed instruction about the most painful ways to flense a human. Judging by the man's immediate reaction, he takes this advice to heart.
* In Chapter 7 of Creator/DonRosa's ''Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', "Dreamtime Duck of the Never-Never", Scrooge (years before becoming wealthy) chooses to return a huge opal that had been stolen to its rightful place in a sacred Aboriginal cave, rather than take it for himself and make a fortune selling it. Even though the theft wouldn't be discovered for a hundred years.
* The same four-issue arc of the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Star Wars]]'' ''[[ComicBook/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]]'' comic that introduces Baron Soontir Fel, AcePilot of the Empire, shows us that he's not that bad a guy by including a scene where his superior, a corrupt admiral tasked with protecting a planet, tells him to relax and enjoy the planet's luxuries, which includes a scantily-clad local girl named "Grania". Fel says that his wife wouldn't approve. The admiral tells him that ''his'' wife wouldn't either, but no one needed to know. Fel uses the stock answer of "I'll know."
** ''Franchise/StarWars'' Invasion #3: [[spoiler:Finn has the opportunity to kill a trapped Yuuzhan Vong warrior, but instead he frees him, instructing him to "learn." Luke Skywalker was covertly watching this SecretTestOfCharacter, however]].
--> True natures are revealed at times like this. [...] No mercy could be expected -- but some individuals exceed expectations.
** In ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'', Leia briefly ends up stranded on the low-tech world Shiva, where she makes quite an impression on the natives and is widely accepted there. She enjoys the feeling, but when Luke finds her again and [[http://images.plurk.com/8b9c72065a4f1ba071af9c1e192ca6cd.jpg offers to leave her there to find that peace and happiness she wants so much]], she refuses first with the stock phrase, then with this:
--> "I am Princess of Alderaan, Luke. Fate has cast me as a leader of the Rebellion. For better or worse, whatever the outcome... I'll play that role to the finish."
* In the second ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'' series, Booster intends to become a serious, hard-working superhero in [[DueToTheDead tribute to Blue Beetle]]. Then Rip Hunter offers him a chance to protect the time continuum -- by maintaining his reputation as a fool, which will protect him from time-traveling enemies. Booster struggles but accepts. (Although, in this case, Rip can offer that ''he'' will know that Booster is a great hero, and later two Batmen become Booster's {{Secret Keeper}}s).
* Played heartbreakingly straight by a doomed Buffy body double in one of the [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy Season 8 Comics]]. "I tried to feel it. I tried to face the darkness like a woman and I don't need any more than that. You don't have to remember me. You don't even have to know who I am. But I do." Made all the more powerful because we never learn the girl's name.
* Wedge Antilles earned one in a ''[[ComicBook/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]]'' comic set shortly after the destruction of the Second Death Star. Corellia's capital city is attacked by an Imperial madman desperate to show that the Empire had not yet been defeated. After several days of intense fighting, they cornered him and forced him to flee in a TIE Interceptor, with Wedge chasing after him in another. Wedge manages to shoot him down and lands to find the man crawling out of the wreckage. After giving him one strong punch in the face, Wedge binds his hands, saying that no one would question him if he decided to execute the Imperial right there, but then all of the man's victims would never see justice.
* The ending of the original ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' series had their nemeses take a small fishing village hostage, demanding the Patrol's deaths in exchange. The Doom Patrol accepted the deal, and died as obscurely as they lived. Until the inevitable {{Retcon}}, anyway.
** The corresponding episode in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' called "The Last Patrol!" had the Patrol do the same thing, their deaths broadcast all over the world by General Zahl. However, he finds the people end up ADMIRING the Patrol for their sacrifice. The General realizes that even in Death, the Doom Patrol defeated him. In memoriam, the island village of fourteen the Patrol died for is renamed "Four Heroes."
* Back during the original run of ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' (when everyone still believes the disguised villains to be heroes) Franchise/SpiderMan is framed for murder, and the T-Bolts are assigned to apprehend him. At first, MACH-1 (who was formerly Spidey's enemy the Beetle) relishes the thought, but after he and the rest of the team fight alongside Spidey against the true threat, he throws away the chance to make the charge stick and get away with it, giving Spidey the evidence that clears him. He tells Baron Zemo he did it so Spider-Man wouldn't be suspicious and risk their covers but that's not the real reason. Why? He realizes he's supposed to be the hero, and after teaming up with his old foe, [[BecomingTheMask it's starting to grow on him.]] As he tells Moonstone on the last page of the comic, "This hero stuff... I think it's starting to become ''contagious''..."
* Arguably the entire impetus of ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'' in later chapters, with the titular character proving her heroism in ways that will never garner acclaim or repair her tarnished public image because, quote, '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis "THIS. IS. WHO. I. AM."]]''' Compounded by the most jerky of her {{Jerkass}} teammates actively blaming her for the incidents she resolved.
* One of the running themes of ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** Peter is unique for the fact that he became a superhero because he failed this test. After getting superpowers on a silver platter in Amazing Fantasy #15, he tried to cash it in, and had no grand plans aside from using the money to provide for his family. But then a burglar passes by and he does nothing and when called out for it, exclaims that it isn't his job. That burglar then killed Uncle Ben, i.e. his beloved surrogate father. This moral failure and lapse pretty much defines Spider-Man for the rest of his life, and his attempts to do good and redeem his action.
** In Nick Spencer's run, Peter cites his refusal to turn his unearned degree after his revival in his own body as another failing of a similar kind. He notes that after getting his body back he simply walked past a wall showing his graduate degree earned by Octavius in his body and he didn't turn it in and realizing this, he comes to the conclusion that the plagiarism scandal he faces is entirely deserved and justified.
** A ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' comic written by Roger Stern gives us a villainous example: Stilt Man [[ButtMonkey is desperate to achieve something]] and plots killing Spider-Man to earn some street cred. However, during the fight Spider-Man saves him from a laser beam which accidentally knocks him out. Stilt Man realizes that they are alone and Spider-Man is defenseless. He just could murder him and claim he killed him in a fair fight, and nobody would ever know the truth... nobody but him, that is. So he does not go through with it.
** Peter Parker experiences this early in his career (in ''The Amazing Spider-Man #5'') when his high school bully, Flash Thompson, dresses up as Spider-Man in a failed prank attempt and is captured by Doctor Doom by mistake. For about half a panel, Peter considers doing nothing, letting Doom take care of his problem for him. He then realizes that he could never let Flash come to harm, and Spider-Man heads off to the rescue.
* Parodied in ''Comicbook/RichieRich''. An associate of Richie's father claims that [[HobbesWasRight most people are dishonest]]. Mr. Rich says [[RousseauWasRight the opposite]]. The associate suggests a SecretTestOfCharacter: leaving a wallet stuffed with cash on the sidewalk and seeing whether the first person to notice the wallet keeps it or tries to find its owner. Along comes a man whose face lights up when he sees the wallet, but who then holds it up and asks if it belongs to anyone. "What do you think now?" says Mr. Rich, smiling. "I don't think this was a fair test," says his colleague, as the last panel zooms out to show the passerby is being filmed for television.
* The death of [[ComicBook/TheFlash Barry Allen]] in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' is a classic example. Not only is it a HeroicSacrifice, but it takes place without any witnesses or ability to communicate anyone else. (It's true he flashes through time as he dies, but he has no control over that, nor did he know he could do it in advance.)
* In a ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' story from early in Creator/FrankMiller's run, DD is the only hero available to stop the Hulk from hurting anyone during one of his rampages. Naturally, Daredevil is completely outmatched, and the first few minutes of him facing the Hulk leave him badly wounded and forced to retreat to catch his breath. During this, Matt contemplates fleeing as he realizes how impossible his odds are, and nobody else would know that he turned tail and ran -- except for himself. Refusing to flee like a coward, he goes back and faces the Hulk and gets him to stand down in spite of his injuries.
* In the Holiday Special of ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye,'' a Sparkling ends up on the Lost Light, smuggled in a crate of booze even as everybody prepares to hide for the night. Only Whirl, Swerve and Nautica know about the Sparkling, and though they've tried to send it safely back to Cybertron, Whirl's left holding the baby, the last one awake. The only safe option left seems to be to flush the Sparkling out of an airlock, and nobody ever needs to know. It's the only way to protect the crew, anyway. Even if they did find out, it's not like Whirl's got some kind of heroic reputation to lose. [[spoiler: Whirl tucks the Sparkling into his own cockpit and turns off his own spark to keep everybody safe - which nearly kills him]]. It's a big CharacterDevelopment moment for him.
** Brainstorm turns out to A) secretly be a Decepticon spy, and B) even more secretly has been working on a time machine all this time. He escapes into the past, with the seeming goal of killing Optimus Prime and winning the war for the Decepticons. Turns out that was never his intent; instead he planned to prevent the war (and the billions of deaths it caused) by changing significant events in Megatron's past. After this fails, he goes back to the day Megatron was constructed, to kill him before he even comes online. Alone in a room with the founder of the Decepticons, one shot could save countless people. The Autobots arrive, and Rung manages to talk him down. Rung reveals he knew Brainstorm wouldn't take the shot because he checked the security footage; Brainstorm stood there for ten full minutes trying to work up the nerve and couldn't. He reveals that despite being a brilliant weapons designer, he has never taken a life himself, because he chooses not to.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', the titular team of heroes is faced with this after [[spoiler: [[WellIntentionedExtremist Ozymandias]] unleashes his master plan to [[IDidWhatIHadToDo save civilization from nuclear war]] by wiping out half the population of New York in a staged alien attack]], which will force the nations of the world (and especially the U.S. and Russia) to stop the Cold War and work together for a solution. The group is at a loss: the public has a right to the truth about all of the deaths and other illegal activity the plan required, but revealing that truth would also create so much animosity and anger that war would easily break out, [[spoiler:[[BatmanGambit just as Ozymandias planned in the first place]]]]. They agree to say nothing, but Rorschach won't do it, citing his philosophy--"Never compromise"--as a reason, [[spoiler: forcing Dr. Manhattan to kill him to preserve the planet]]. As with the majority of the book, [[GreyAndGreyMorality it's ultimately up to the reader to decide who, if anyone, was right]].
* In the ''ComicBook/RisingStars'' setting, the superpowered Specials were initially banned from all government jobs, including law enforcement. However, Matthew Bright had always wanted to be a police officer like his dad, simply to serve and protect people. So he built himself a fake identity, passed himself off as a normal person, and managed to join the police force. After establishing himself as a damn good cop, an arsonist bombs a building several of Matthew's fellow officers were in, leaving them trapped as the building burns and collapses around them. The only way to save them is to use his powers, which would out him as a Special, cost him his job, destroy this new life he's made for himself, and possibly land him in prison. The only way to keep the job and life he loves is by letting those men die, which no one could blame him for. After all, he's just a normal guy, right? Nothing he could do. As Matthew's inner thoughts at the time show, he's most definitely not a normal guy, [[TheCape and it has nothing to do with his powers]].
-->'''Matthew:''' "I signed on to save lives. If I meant that, then I had to do what was necessary. Or it was all a lie. Whoever did this was smart, all right. Lead me on a wild goose-chase. And now my men are trapped inside the building I didn't search. I can't let them die. I refuse. Damn the exposure, '''I REFUSE'''.
* Inverted in a ''Secret Wars II'' Spider-Man crossover. The Beyonder has transformed a skyscraper into solid gold. Spider-Man realizes that all of his financial woes would be solved if he takes even a transformed gold notebook. No one would ever know. So he takes it. However, he winds up wracked with guilt over it, which is ridiculous siince he has literally saved the world dozens if not hundreds of times for free while living on what amounts to a subsistence lifestyle. He doesn't get over it until Black Cat steals the notebook from him.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''FanFic/TheBestNightEver'' has Prince Blueblood, stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop on the day of the Grand Galloping Gala, work very hard at shedding his PrinceCharmless qualities and go full-out to make the Gala as good as it can be in order to escape. Due to the huge amounts of loops (numbering in the hundreds if not thousands) as well as the desperate attempts of becoming free (he even attempted a dark spell to create an unquenchable fire at the cost of his soul) before he attempts to improve, he is clearly reaching a limit. While his latest attempt seemingly goes off right, it fails [[spoiler:because he's trying ''too'' hard, and all of it comes across as artificial]]. As he goes out into the palace sculpture garden, stands at the foot of [[RealityWarper Discord's]] statue, and ''seriously considers setting him free'' in exchange for finally stopping his nightmare. After a long moment of contemplation, Blueblood finally decides he can't do it, and walks away to try one more time. [[spoiler: He ''finally'' ends up succeeding and completing his transformation from PrinceCharmless to TheWisePrince.]]
* In the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', it's shown in the [[{{Prequel}} Origins]] arc that when [[BigBad Discord]] was reincarnated on Earth following the Alicorn/Draconnequi War, Galaxia attempted to smother him in his crib... and couldn't bring herself to do it, even knowing what he would become if he regained his memories. [[ForegoneConclusion She lived to regret this]].
* In ''Fanfic/BackgroundPony'' Lyra ambushes Straight Edge, the alcoholic, abusive father of Snips, and breaks his legs, knowing that she can get away with anything thanks to her curse, which edits her out of the memory of anyone she interacts with after a short period of time. However, she stops short of breaking his horn because of this trope, and even transports him to the hospital once he's forgotten about the attack.
** [[spoiler: Lyra's decision in the penultimate chapter also qualifies. The only way she can remove her curse is to play the last elegy of the Nocturne of the Firmaments, and, in the process, rewind time to the moment she was cursed and erase all the good she had achieved, up to and including the crucial role she played in defeating Discord. No one, herself included, would ever know if she took this option, but Lyra decides against it and returns to Ponyville to live out her life as an {{Unperson}} with a fractured memory.]]
* In the ''Manga/LoveHina'' cross-over fanfic ''Fanfic/ContractLabor'' the reason why Keitaro risked his life by going to [[Manga/BlackLagoon Roanapur]] in what almost everyone considers a suicide mission to rescue Sarah [=McDougal=], a young girl who does not like or respect him, who may be already be dead or beyond recovery. As Keitaro said before he left, ''"I knew what I was doing when I made that promise. Even if you release me from it, I would know that I did not do my best to get Sarah back. I would have to live with myself in the dark with that knowledge. I won't. I can't."''
* In PeggySue fanfic ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'', nobody knew that Shinji and Asuka were time-travelers. They could have let everything happen again, not try to change anything, or quit piloting to spare themselves their worst ordeals, and nobody would ever know that they had left the world dying. Still they chose fighting and trying to save the world.
* Many of the one-shot stories in the ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fic ''{{FanFic/Tizenot}}'' cover moments in Austria and Hungary's lives that only they alone know.
* In ''Fanfic/SuzumiyaHaruhiNoIndex'', Kyon could have left Mugino, who had been trying to kill him, to be killed by the Celestial while they were both in Closed Space, but he instead saves her. It pays off because she falls for him.
* In ''FanFic/DirtySympathy'', [[spoiler: Edgeworth]] points out that Klavier and Apollo could have left Vera Misham to hang so they wouldn't have to deal with [[TheDreaded Kristoph]] [[AmoralAttorney Gavin]] but instead save the girl.
* In ''FanFic/MegaManRecut'', Wily has a moment like this in "Robosaur Park" and, to the surprise of many, passes.
* ''FanFic/WingsToFly'' uses the fact a character considers they failed such a test; Lucreiza Noin had a chance to prevent the ''Libra'' [[ColonyDrop drop attempt]] by shooting Zechs Merquise, who she loves, in the back at one point. She never even thought to raise a weapon. Noin considers this the greatest shame of her life, though no one knows she had the chance. Noin eventually confesses to her wingman in the apparent hope she'll be judged harshly.
* In ''Fanfic/HopeForTheHeartless'', after the injured [[VillainProtagonist Horned King]] passes out after [[VillainousRescue saving]] Avalina (his prisoner) from the [[AxCrazy Mad]] [[SavageWolves Pack]], she has the perfect chance to leave him to die and be free of him. But she has a mental conflict between her head and heart about what is right. She gives in to her heart and takes the lich back to his castle, deciding that [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim she'd be a murderer as much as the Horned King]] if she [[MurderByInaction willingly left him to die]].
* ''FanFic/SonOfTheDesert'' Despite hating Roy for killing many of his family during the Ishvalan War and having fantasized about killing him, when Ed and Roy are faced with the murderous Scar he protects him. [[ApeShallNotKillApe Edward was spared by Scar because he didn't want to kill a fellow Ishvalan.]] [[MurderByInaction Edward could have let Scar kill Roy and not be blamed for being unable to stop him,]] but he saves Roy and gets Scar to back off with some well placed words.
* ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'':
** In chapter 23, [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]] tried to talk all Children into joining him while they slept. All refused him.
--->"Look, my offer stands, up until the bitter end, okay? So when you're face down in the dirt and your friends are all dying around you, keep me in mind. Just say the word and you'll be saved, your friends will be saved, your sister and Kensuke will be saved, and everything will be alright."\\
"You're still not taking my soul."
** The Children and Misato could have [[spoiler:lived forever in the FalseUtopia created by Gendo and Yui, even though that world was being steadily corrupted by the power used to create it, and no one would ever know it. However they chose to fight and restore the real world.]]
* In the first scene of ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide'', starts out similarly to ''End of Evangelion'' with Shinji visiting a comatose Asuka in NERV's infirmary. He accidentally gets Asuka's gown unbuttoned, and he realizes he can do to her whatever he wanted and no one would ever find out. However, signalling the beginning of the divergent storyline, he catches himself and instead quickly covers her up before leaving the room, feeling profusely disgusted with himself.
* ''Fanfic/CorrinReacts'': Flora encounters this situation in the past [[spoiler:when Corrin attempts to rescue her from a canyon she'd fallen into and nearly dies from exposure to the raging blizzard, despite loathing Corrin and chewing him out for his (as it turns out, unintentional) participation in her being held hostage at the Northern Fortress. Instead of leaving him to die, Flora goes to save his life and later becomes FireForgedFriends with him.]] It's implied she still feels massively guilty about this incident.
* ''FanFic/{{Fade}}'' Light quickly figures out that [[spoiler: Near was his killer in the story]], and deduces that he might also know that both he and L are Kira. In spite of all that, he refuses to kill [[spoiler: Near]] or tell L, and begs L not to either when [[spoiler: Near]] confronts them via broadcast, as all he is doing is opposing them — he has yet to commit any actual crimes. This shows that this Light still has morals, integrity, and above all else, humanity. It's no wonder why Beyond is so intent on saving him.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12259734/15/A-Father-s-Courage A Father's Courage]]'' Harry's baby daughter is being cared for by Madame Pomfrey while he's sick with dragon pox at Saint Mungo's. Draco receives a message telling him to kidnap the child and send her to Voldemort. He takes her from the hospital wing unnoticed, places her in the Vanishing Cabinet and is about to cast the spell to transport her when he has a fit of conscience and decides to return her to the hospital wing.
* In a sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Butterfree has an argument with Ash and flies off to try and find his mate, the Pink Butterfree. [[spoiler: He does find her, but she doesn't recognize him, and has found herself another mate. He actually has the chance [[MurderTheHypotenuse to kill his rival and make it look like a Fearow did it]], but ultimately can't bring himself to do it, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and decides to let her be happy with him]].]]
* [[Anime/CodeGeass Zero/Lelouch]] decides in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12290311/3/The-Black-Emperor The Black Emperor]]'' that converting Suzaku is a lost cause when the latter refers to the Japanese as Elevens in a discussion between the two of them. Even though the only people around were those sympathetic to the Japanese, he still refers to them by the "name" given to them by Britannia.
* A public example of this occurs in the ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7105611/1/Legend Legend]]''; the Joker has captured Gotham police officer Anna Ramierez, the woman who helped the mob capture Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent, and hence one of the few people who knows what happened to Dent and thus has reason to suspect that Batman ''wasn't'' the one who killed the people Dent went on to kill. The Joker then televises his subsequent torture of Ramierez with the goal of getting her to confess that Dent was the one who committed the murders, thus destroying Gotham's faith in him and everything that's been accomplished in his name... [[spoiler:but instead, on live TV, Ramierez claims that ''she'' committed the murders, destroying her reputation and condemning herself to death as the Joker beats her in a fit of rage, knowing that only a few people such as Commissioner Gordon and Batman will ever know the truth about what she did. Her funeral is attended by only a half-dozen people with no regard for the usual honours given to a police officer who fell in the line of duty, but it is noted in the narrative that those who know the truth will forever judge Ramierez by her final acts, with James Gordon attending the funeral with the other public mourners and Bruce Wayne watching from the distance long after everyone else has gone]].
* In ''FanFic/PurpleDays'', Joffrey Baratheon, trapped in a GroundhogDayLoop, is led by circumstances into a high-ranking position at the Dawn Army in Yi-Ti. Eventually, the ZombieApocalypse spilling from Westeros reaches Yi-Ti. With the White Walkers and wights laying siege to the Dawn Fortress, a heavily injured Joff reflects that he's likely to die for real if the Walkers kill him. Briefly, he considers running away or killing himself to reset the loop, sending him back to his pampered lifestyle at King's Landing. However, he ultimately decides doing so would mean abandoning his men and proving he still was the same idiot coward he started as in canon. He stands his ground and dies [[BandOfBrothers with the rest of the Dawn Army]], and while the return trip is extremely bumpy even for his standards, Joff manages to return for another try. And another. And as many as it takes to save the world.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': [[spoiler: Ember's HeelFaceTurn is put to the test in chapter 38, appropriately called ''Temptations''. Here Ember, being confused over how real her friendship is with Danny and having discovered from Star a major secret that could get Paulina expelled but has promised to keep it quiet, is very confused. That night she has a dream where she is confronted by a representation of her former self, who tries to tempt her into taking advantage of her situation by using the information from Star to win the bet, as well as use her situation to use her powersfrom her fans in order to take over the world. For a moment, Ember is tempted, only to remember how much she has grown to care about Danny, how he genuinely trusts her and she remembers that if she tells, she may very well end up ruining Star's high school life in the process. Ember remains firms and tells point blank that she will not betray Danny or Star's trust, thus cementing her HeelFaceTurn for good.]]
* In ''FanFic/TheBridge'': BigGood Godzilla Junior is grappling with worries that he is not that different from his highly destructive, revenge driven father despite honestly trying to be heroic. Psychologist Moonbeam Glimmer manages to hit all his buttons in the worst way possible in front of a live audience in a misguided attempt to show he's too dangerous to be around the public and that he is more psychologically damaged than he thinks. Junior later finds out about Glimmer's history, where her being too trusting of someone with power got her family murdered, and tracks her down to her parents graves she was visiting in a completely isolated area. They were entirely alone, he still has all of his powers as a stallion while she was a normal mare, and when she finds out who she was alone with she realizes he could very easily exact his revenge. Instead Junior proves he's not like his father by placing some flowers on the graves, whispering that he understands and forgives her, and saying she can come to him to talk later she needs to.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Anastasia in the ''{{Disney/Cinderella}}'' sequels is gentle, kind, and free-spirited when not around Cinderella or her mother and sister. Cinderella helps bring this personality out into the open.
** This reaches its apex in ''Disney/CinderellaIIIATwistInTime''. When Anastasia (who's been rewritten as [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misguided]] young woman who wants love more than anything) gets her hands on the Fairy Godmother's wand, she gives it to Lady Tremaine, who realizes its RealityWarper potential and rewrites history so that Anastasia, and not Cinderella, fits the glass slipper on the day of the Prince's test. At first, Anastasia is thrilled--she finally has her Prince Charming--but as the movie progresses, she starts feeling guilty. Lady Tremaine tries to avert this sudden conscience by brainwashing the Prince, turning Anastasia into an exact copy of Cinderella, and making sure the real Cinderella is put in a DeathTrap during the royal wedding. But when it comes time for the vows, Anastasia--who, for all intents and purposes to the entire world, ''is'' Cinderella at this point--can't bring herself to say "I do." She explains that she wants to be loved for herself, even if that means losing everything she's ever wanted.
* [[{{Disney/Tarzan}} Disney's Tarzan]] has [[BigBad Clayton]] give Tarzan the choice of shooting him with his own double-barreled shotgun with no one else around: "Go ahead, shoot me, [[IronicEcho be a man]]". Tarzan's reply? ''Mimicking'' the sound of the gun being shot to put some fear into Clayton before smashing said shotgun in front of him. "Not a man like ''you''."
* Defied to some extent in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''; the Archdeacon is trying to convince [[BigBad Judge Frollo]] that he should spare Quasimodo after killing the child's mother. Frollo is initially dismissive, but changes his tune after the Deacon says that while no mortal would know, killing a child before the steps of Notre Dame would certainly draw God's Wrath (in essence, there is never a moment where he or anyone else is truly alone in the dark).
** Played straight twice later on with Quasimodo deciding to help Esmeralda. The first time involves Frollo telling Quasimodo that he's planning on attacking the Court of Miracles and the second is during the climax, the latter being a more classic example of the trope as Quasimodo has just told the gargoyles to leave him alone.
--> '''Quasimodo''': Me? What am I supposed to do? Go out there and rescue the girl from the jaws of death and the whole town cheers like I'm some kind of a hero?! She already has her knight in shining armor and it's not me! (''sighs'') Frollo was right. Frollo was right about everything. And I'm tired of trying to be something that I'm not.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'': When Hogarth first encounters the Giant, he witnesses it accidentally tangling itself up in and getting electrocuted by power lines out in a secluded power station after dark. Terrified out of his mind, he has a chance to run home through the woods in the dark with no one the wiser, not even the Giant. However, as he hears is ''screaming'' in pain he realizes that he can't leave it to suffer, and so risks his own personal safety to shut off the power to save its life, despite still thinking its dangerous and having no expectation that it'll notice or feel grateful later. (Thankfully for Hogarth, [[GentleGiant it]] [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe does]].)
* ''Disney/{{Moana}}'' gives us something sweet at the start. Baby Moana is down at the beach and sees a pretty seashell and really wants it, but she sees a little baby turtle scared of the birds trying to eat it as it's trying to get to the water. No one would blame her if she were to just get the shell at that age, but Moana grabs a leaf and protects it from the birds, losing the shell in the process. This is what makes the ocean choose her.
* ''Disney/TheRescuers'' has Bernard singing the RAS anthem by himself just outside the meeting hall. When Bianca sees him doing that, that is enough proof for her of how deeply he values the organization's ideals. Bernard was merely the janitor at the time, and the other representatives/agents who were in the meeting hall were being far less reverent of the anthem.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'', Johnny, desperate for the cash to pay his father's bail from prison, secretly breaks into Buster's office to steal the prize money. But he changes his mind when he sees Buster's notes on his profile - namely, the "Natural born singer" part.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' Charlie Brown winds up getting the perfect score on a test. Because of this, all the kids in school and town, barring Lucy, view him as a genius, which earns him a large amount of popularity. [[spoiler:During an award ceremony for passing the test, he discovers that he and Peppermint Patty accidentally signed their names on each other's test sheets when they were rushing to turn the papers in - she's the one who really got the perfect score. He's the only one who knows the truth, and if he wanted to could continue to keep it a secret, keeping his newfound popularity in the process. Instead he confesses the screw-up to everyone and tells them that Peppermint Patty was the one who aced the test. This turns out to be one of the main factors to winning the Little Red-Haired Girl's heart.]]
* In ''Disney/BambiII'', Bambi has been sent to live with another doe after his mother's death, despite vigorously wanting to stay with his father. Later, the doe gets caught in a hunting snare with vicious dogs making a beeline for her. Despite the doe actually begging Bambi to run and save himself, he chooses to distract the dogs onto him and save her life.
* Played for laughs in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. [[MinionWithAnFInEvil Kronk]] has dumped Kuzco, now a llama, into a stream, when he starts having second thoughts. This prompts [[GoodAngelBadAngel his shoulder angel and devil to appear and comically argue with each other]], leaving Kronk more confused. Ultimately, he gets Kuzco out of the stream before he goes over the edge.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', Lord John Whorfin says, "History is made at night. Character is what you are in the dark!"
* In ''Film/AnimalHouse'', Pinto is the only character to resist temptation of any kind -- and what he resists is [[SexAsRiteOfPassage particularly tempting.]] Further, he resists without knowing at the time that his intended is [[ReallySeventeenYearsOld not exactly in his own age demographic]]. His resistance only lasts so long....
* Spoofed in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' during the climatic battle of the movie, when Hawkeye gets annoyed by yet another one of Pietro's taunts. He jokes that he could shoot Pietro in the back right now and no one would ever know, then lowers his bow. Though, not before sarcastically grumbling about it before jogging to rally point.
--> '''Clint:''' "Nobody would know...nobody. 'Yeah last I saw him an Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already.'"
* Bernard from ''Film/OldSchool''. Even though he was the one with the idea to start a fraternity and the one who talks and raves about the fun they'll have, he's still the only founding member who's married, and he successfully resists temptation during a frat party by refusing to sleep with a college girl who was more than willing.
* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', during the movie's dramatic action climax [[spoiler:aboard the train, shortly before it's about to crash and explode, Batman manages to knock his former mentor Ra's al Ghul down to the ground during their fight]]. The trope begins when [[spoiler:Batman has the chance to escape and survive the crash]]. Nobody will know what happens here, and he chooses to [[spoiler:take his revenge by simply allowing the baddie to stay and die, while Batman escapes]]. In Batman's words: "[[spoiler:I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you.]]".
** In the sequel ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker set up two ships to blow (one with Gohtam's rich and famous, the other with inmates from Blackgate). He put a device that would blow up the other ship on both of them, saying that if neither one blows up, he'll blow up both at midnight. Ultimately, neither side goes through with it.
--> '''Batman:'''You want to prove that everyone is as sick and twisted as you? You're alone.
* This trope is discussed in ''Film/CitySlickers''. To paraphrase the conversation: "Okay, you're married, but suppose a gorgeous woman came from a spaceship and wanted to have sex with you and leave without anyone knowing. Would you do it?" "No." "Why not?" "Because that happened to my cousin, and the women at the hairdresser's shop found out about it because they know everything!"
** It's brought up again, and when pressed, Billy Crystal's character admits that he wouldn't do it, even if there was never a chance his wife would know about it. When asked why, he says "Because ''I'd'' know about it!"
* In ''Film/{{Clerks}}'', Dante leaves a relatively unsupervised pile of money on the counter in the store for change and payment of goods, with a sign next to it that encourages the customers to "...leave money on the counter. Take change when applicable. Be honest." Dante is actually on the floor behind the counter with his girlfriend, inattentive of his job. She asks how he knows that they taking the right amount of change or are even paying for what they are taking and he responds with something like "Theoretically, people see money on the counter and no one around, they think they're being watched."
* In ''Film/ConAir'', Cameron Poe is given the option of escaping when the plane is hijacked by criminals, he is after all an freed man who already served his sentence. He opts to stay because his best friend will die without his insulin shot and he stays along so he can get one. He also mentions being unable to live with himself if he allowed the only female guard on the plane being raped and killed by the local sex offender.
* ''Film/TheDefiantOnes'' follows ChainedHeat escaped convicts Joker and Noah to the house of a sexy but lonely abandoned housewife (who is [[NoNameGiven never named]]). After the housewife and Joker go mattress dancing, she offers to drive Joker away in her car, while directing Noah to a shortcut through the swamp to a place where he can catch a train. Once Noah leaves, the housewife casually admits to Joker that the route through the swamp is a death trap, which she sent him to deliberately so he'll be killed before he gets a chance to squeal. Joker has the chance to run away to freedom with a hot, horny woman who has a roll of cash as well. He abandons her and instead goes to save Noah.
* In ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'', Lecter is at the {{Big Bad}}'s mercy, about to be fed to a pit of wild boar, when Lecter raises an interesting question to his personal physician:
-->'''Hannibal''': Hey Cordell! Why don't you push him in? You can always say it was me.
** [[spoiler:The physician does]]. This must be one of the only times in the history of fiction that [[spoiler:killing somebody who is helpless in your care and then setting free a killer like ''Hannibal Lecter'']] is actually the heroic choice.
* In ''Film/HappyDeathDay'', protagonist Tree is stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop where every day ends with her getting killed by an unknown masked figure... and, even worse, she keeps coming back with [[ContinuingIsPainful residual damage from what killed her previously]], suggesting that she may eventually 'run out' of opportunities to keep re-doing everything. At one point in the film, she has a chance to kill the man she has identified as her apparent killer, but since he has killed Carter- a boy Tree only met the day before the loop began- when Carter tried to save her life, Tree instead [[HeroicSuicide kills herself to bring Carter back]], despite not knowing if this will be the loop where she finally takes too much damage.
** Could be argued that Carter had a similar opportunity; he tried to save Tree's life and got killed for it, with Tree commenting in the next loop that she can't believe he did that for her.
* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', while the Second Task is the same between book and movie, the climactic Third Task, a maze where the enemies are dangerous magical creatures, is replaced with a shifting maze, in which the enemy is human nature. Harry is given the temptation of letting Cedric be taken and subdued by magical vines and guaranteeing winning the Triwizard Tournament, but he instead chooses to save Cedric, possibly costing him the tournament victory as a result.
* ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney''
** Bilbo has the chance to kill Gollum and no-one would know about it. [[ForWantOfANail He doesn't.]]
** Another one happens to Bilbo when he overhears the dwarves talking about [[spoiler:Bilbo deserting them after escape from the goblins.]] Since [[spoiler:he is wearing the Ring and thus invisible]], he could have let them believe he was gone for good and could have gone home back to the Shire. Instead, he [[spoiler:reveals himself]] and continues the journey with them.
* Villainous version: Sebastian Caine in ''Film/HollowMan'' has quite a bit of unspoken InnerMonologue about this trope and concludes that "It's amazing what you can do... when you don't have to look at yourself in the mirror any more." He finally crosses the line when he sees his lax-about-closing-her-shades-while-changing neighbor while he's invisible. He pulls off one of his latex gloves and asks himself "who'll know?" It's shown that he messed with her and got at least a good look at her naked, and a deleted scene shows he raped her.
* In the 1965 comedy ''How to Murder Your Wife'', Jack Lemmon is on trial for murdering his wife. When the trial appears to be headed for a conviction, he takes up his own defense and pleads justifiable homicide, appealing to the all-male jury's frustrations regarding their own wives. He offers a witness (and thus the jury) the idea that if they could press [[BigRedButton a magic button]] and their wives would disappear and no one would know, would they do it?
* In ''Film/LordOfWar'', Jack Valentine keeps Yuri Orlov from being killed after being almost busted for gun running to Africa by citing this trope to his partner (who was suggesting they just kill Orlov).
-->"Look at where we are! Who will know?"
-->"We will."
** To elaborate, it's a rarer variant of the trope, where the one proposing to go in the dark isn't a BigBad, but actually a BitCharacter serving as a {{Foil}} to Valentine's integrity, and he doesn't propose it to TheHero.
* ''Film/{{Memento}}''. Because the protagonist can't remember anything for more than a few minutes lots of people are rude to him or openly take advantage knowing he won't remember. [[spoiler: Including himself.]]
* In ''Film/PitchBlack'', Riddick tells Johns to kill him in cold blood ("That's what I'd do to you."). An interesting case because the villain is effectively trying to commit suicide-by-hero. Subverted because [[spoiler:Johns only ignores him because Riddick's bounty is worth double if he's alive, and it's strongly implied Riddick knew how he'd react.]]
** Later in that film, Riddick [[spoiler:does the same thing with Fry. "Nobody will blame you. Save yourself, Carolyn."]]
* ''Film/ThePurge'': When you have an event in which you can literally get away with ''anything'' for 12 hours, it really tests your character.
* Tom Hanks' character plays this off ingeniously in ''Film/RoadToPerdition'', covering his getaway from a heist by convincing the bank manager to take some of the loot from the bank robbery for himself. "You can always tell Chicago (Al Capone) that I took it."
* In ''[[Film/RushHour Rush Hour 2]]'', Jackie Chan's character Lee has the BigBad against the wall all alone and at gunpoint, and given what the BigBad has done and the effect it had on Lee's life, none would blame him for shooting the guy where he stood. Chris Tucker's character James Carter enters this scene as the angel to the Big Bad's devil, telling Lee to not go too far. He then subverts his role after the Big Bad insults the memory of Lee's father, and tells Lee to shoot the guy. Lee still doesn't do it.
* Several times in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'':
** Half the plot hinges on Miller and his squad's willingness to pursue what by all rights is a suicide mission. They could have easily just scrubbed the mission and said they couldn't find Ryan, but they ultimately decide to see it through to the end. In the climax of the film, [[spoiler:they choose to stay and defend a bridge against massive odds, even going beyond their orders, because the call of duty demands it. And most of them pay with their lives for it.]]
** Miller's squad comes across a German machine gun nest set up to ambush any approaching American soldiers. His squadmates point out that they can easily bypass the Germans, but Miller decides to take it out to prevent any more Americans from being ambushed.
** After the aforementioned firefight, they capture a German soldier and could easily execute him on the spot, but decide to take mercy and let him go; in an evil example of this, [[spoiler:that German soldier who before pitifully grovelled to the Americans for his life, turns up at the FinalBattle and shoots Captain Miller without hesitation and then tries to surrender to Upham when TheCavalry turns up. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Upham shoots him dead.]]]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Palpatine urges Luke Skywalker to kill Darth Vader, knowing that by doing so Skywalker will fall to TheDarkSide. Luke refuses, declaring himself to be a Jedi Knight, and [[ItWasHisSled you all know what happens next.]]
** Echoed in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' when Palpatine urges Anakin Skywalker to murder a defenseless Count Dooku. [[ShootTheDog Anakin actually goes through with it]], but immediately regrets it.
* One of the many ideas of ''Film/{{Shame}}'' concerns Brandon expressing his carnal desires without anyone in his close circle finding out. It acts as a FreudianExcuse however because of his and Sissy's childhood.
* {{Invoked}} by Past Charles in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast''. During the climax, Hank urges him to [[spoiler:put Mystique out of commission so she won't kick-start the BadFuture. However, Xavier refuses to do this because Mystique has spent her life being influenced by others, so instead, he tells her that he will do nothing to stop her, but hopes that she will see there is a better way. She agrees and stands down.]]
-->'''Charles''': I have been trying to control you ever since the day we met, and look where that's got us. Everything that happens now, is in ''your'' hands. I have ''faith'' in you, Raven...
* ''Film/TheFront'': Under pressure to "name names" before [[RedScare HUAC]], Howard is told he can get off easily by naming Hecky, [[spoiler:who is dead]]. No one would care, and no one thinks Howard is a sympathizer. Rather than take the easy way out, Howard tells the committee off to honor his friends, leading to his imprisonment.
* ''Film/HaloNightfall'': It becomes increasingly clear that only two people are going to get off the ring. Locke and Randall assert "Lifeboat Rules," where until that decision has to be made the entire team works as though everyone will make it. This does not turn out well, as the backstabbing starts soon and almost everyone ''but'' Locke and Randall crack under the pressure.
* In ''Film/TheMartian'', at one of ''several'' stages where everything goes to hell, the camera cuts to the chief scientists of the Chinese space program, where they discuss how their classified boosters could help, but if they didn't, the world would never know. After a few more lines, the film cuts straight to the director of NASA taking their call, and the boosters do indeed play an important role in the eventual plan.
* During the latter portion of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', Max has the complete choice up to him, without it being a last resort or survival necessity like it was in the previous films. Once the Vuvalini, Furiosa and The Wives give him a motorcycle as a reward for helping them, he can either let them go to what is likely a barren wasteland, and they would never hate him for it. Or he could go after them and help them achieve a more hopeful future, without expecting any more reward for it. He chooses the latter.
* The whole point of ''{{Film/Logan}}''. The title character wants nothing more to do with being the superhero {{Wolverine}} and wants to live a normal life. Then, he meets a girl who went through the same experiment performed on him and looks after her with the promise of a large sum of cash for doing so. Once he is paid, no one would blame him for just leaving; [[spoiler:however, after a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from the girl, who is for all intents and purposes his daughter, he decides to risk his life to keep her and her "siblings" from being recaptured and used as deadly assassins, proving that he still is a hero.]]
* Played for drama in ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'' when TheHero Eggsy is instructed to seduce a female minion of the BigBad so he can put a tracker on her, while he is very devoted to his girlfriend Tilde. Instead of doing the deed and never let her know about it, he decides to call her to get her approval first. Naturally, she takes this badly and breaks up with him. [[spoiler:This ends up leading to her taking drugs to cope with their break-up, which were poisoned by the BigBad and nearly leads to Tilde dying]].
* In ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', [[spoiler: M'Baku and his men]] save a critically injured [[spoiler: T'Challa]] despite the fact their last encounter was them fighting and the former had no reason/benefit to do so. Later when [[spoiler: T'Challa's family]] comes seeking help, [[spoiler: M'Baku]] could have easily hidden [[spoiler: T'Challa]]'s presence but chose to do otherwise, [[spoiler: even when T'Challa's family came and initially offered him the herb and a golden opportunity to become king]].
* Chris Mannix in ''Film/TheHatefulEight''. [[spoiler:When he is given the chance to execute confessed murderer Joe Gage in cold blood, he immediatly declares to be completely willing to do so. However, a minute later, when a shootout happens, he is wounded, and he could still shot Joe Gage not even so much in cold blood at that point, he backs down from doing it, because Joe Gage just reminded him that he is unarmed. Clearly, Chris Mannix hates the idea of execute an helpless target, even at risk of his own life and even if he would apparently want it]].

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/{{Hadestown}} has a few songs about this, but "Hey Little Songbird" and "When The Chips Are Down" probably fit the trope best.
--> ''See, people get mean when the chips are down...''
* Referenced in Music/WithinTemptation's ''Utopia'', suggesting a less favourable view of humanity;
--> ''Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?''\\
''And when the lights die down, telling us who we are''.
** The music video plays a straight example in the final chorus; after spending the rest of the video watching tragedies and crimes unfold around him, the point-of-view character stops a child from running into the street after his toy and getting hit by a truck. The child's mother, too distracted by her phone, never notices the peril or the rescue.
* The Music/PatGreen song "In The Middle Of The Night" is a combination of this trope and struggling with alcoholism:
--> ''When you finally hit rock bottom,''
--> ''Will you do what's wrong or right?''
--> ''You're gonna find out what you're made of...''
--> ''In the middle of the night.''
* "I'm Looking Through You" by Music/TheBeatles from ''Music/RubberSoul''.
--> ''You're thinking of me, the same old way''
--> ''You were above me, but not today''
--> ''The only difference is you're down there''
--> ''I'm looking through you, and you're nowhere''
* "Right Through You" by Music/AlanisMorissette from ''Music/JaggedLittlePill'', directed at a "Mr. Man", about whom she claims: "I see right through you".
* Music/BillyJoel wrote "The Stranger" about this trope, specifically its implications in romance. Do you really know your partner?

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* A corrupt official in ancient China once went to a more scrupulous one to talk him into something unethical. "Nobody will ever know!" says the corrupt one. The scrupulous one disagrees: "Heaven knows. Earth knows. You know. I know."
* The entire point of [[OlderThanFeudalism Plato's]] [[Literature/TheRepublic story about the Ring of Gyges]] is that ''no one'' can pass this test. If equipped with a magical ring that gives invisibility (and thus freedom from consequence), Plato believed that anyone would act purely in his own self-interest.
* A man wants to steal some wheat from his neighbors, so he goes out one night, taking his [[ChildrenAreInnocent young daughter]] with him to keep a lookout. He goes around from field to field, cutting a little here and a little there, and now and then his daughter calls out, "Father, someone sees you!" -- but each time when he looks up, they're alone. Finally he asks why she keeps saying that, and she replies, "Someone sees you from above."
* There's a joke about a robber breaking into a house when someone says: "Stop it! I'm warning you: Jesus is watching you!". Turns out it's the family [[PollyWantsAMicrophone parrot]]. It introduces itself as Moses, which makes the robber laugh and wonder, "What kind of idiots would name a parrot Moses?" [[spoiler:"The same people who call a rottweiler 'Jesus'"]] answers the parrot.
* Literature/TheBible knows human nature well.
** Colossians instructs slaves and employees to do the work they're meant to do at all times, not only when their earthly masters' eye's are on you.
** Jesus expresses the corollary of this in Matthew 6:2.
--->''"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."''
** Genisis 39:9 Joseph to Potiphar's Wife (who's trying to seduce him): "No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"
* Nobody knew that Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, was a disciple of Jesus. Revealing himself would invite scorn (and possibly worse) from his peers, and the guy he followed had just been crucified. Yet he decided to give Jesus a [[DueToTheDead honorable burial]] anyways, in his own tomb.
** Another OlderThanPrint example is this 13th century Middle Dutch rhyme:
--->''Als du wel does so swigher of'' ("If you do [something] good, don't speak of it.")
--->''Dus saltu hebben ghoden lof'' ("Then you will have God's praise.")
** Of course, one of the main reasons the Bible teaches one to act in such a way is because when you're dealing with omniscient, omnipresent God, you are ''never'' in the dark.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In an unusually literal use of this trope, ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' has taken to specifically encouraging the GM to have the lights go out at some point during the mission (easily justified due to Alpha Complex's perennial state of disrepair), preferably after the [[PlayerCharacters PCs]] have had time to build up grudges and conflicting goals.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': [[spoiler:The Wizard]] gives Elphaba a choice: live comfortably and as a celebrated hero, what she had dreamed of since she was a girl... or work to help [[FantasticRacism the Animals]]. Cue [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Defying Gravity]], her IAmBecomingSong. She gets this twice, and considers it the second time [[spoiler:until [[TheMentor Dr. Dillamond]] shows up.]]
* In Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/TroilusAndCressida'', there's a scene where Hector kills someone for his armor; it's that kind of play, even ''Hector'' is good only when people are watching.
* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'':
** The song "Who Am I?": Valjean could easily let another man hang in his place, freeing him from worry about Javert forever and no one would ever know. But he'll know, and God will know, so he stops the execution and reveals himself, forcing him to disrupt his now peaceful and productive life to go back on the run from the law.
** When Valjean is given the duty of executing Javert as a spy. He could easily kill the only man who knows him personally enough to track him down -- but without even ''thinking'' about it this time, he fakes Javert's execution and lets him go free, giving him his address for good measure so the two of them can settle things later. [[spoiler: Javert's inability to understand Valjean's morality ends up [[DrivenToSuicide driving him to suicide.]]]]
* In ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'', when the Baker's wife and the Prince have a romantic encounter in the woods, he tells her that "Right and wrong don't matter in the woods. Only feelings." After the deed goes down, she spends the rest of the song wrestling with her conscience before finally rationalizing it.
* In the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: Toward the end of ''Mrs. Frost'', the title character, who's captured Nathaniel and is trying to get him to give her information on Mrs. Hawking, decides to try a new tactic when beatings and imprisonment don't work. She brings out a thick folder full of information-- things that Nathaniel fully knows that his aunt will ''never'' share, and may not even know --on Colonel Hawking, his personal hero and idol, and tells him that he can "walk out" with all of it if he talks. [[spoiler: Even after Mary rescues him and Arthur arrives, Nathaniel has the opportunity to take the folder... and ultimately chooses not to, deciding to make peace with his ignorance rather than betray Mrs. Hawking.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'' has a recursion. This trope is played straight on party member. Player can miss it, being normally too genre savvy and desensitised to think the game has had variety to offer. Thus, this trope gets played on the player as well. In Rho's [[spoiler: specific part after freeing Paco, a native tribal elder figure tasks you with finding four golden leaves of ritualistic value to proceed.]] Options are numerous. [[spoiler:You find some lying around or growing on plants, collect silver as well to exchange for gold, collect berries to exchange for leaves, refuse giving up what you found for charity. But you just can't get four unless you steal some, and/or unless you spoof some unripe berries for ripe (you are aware that unripe ones cause sickness).]] If you refrain from resorting to ill means and [[spoiler:naturally come up short, you can report back to note a dialogue option that you "can't find any more." It gets accepted! You proceed.]] Once out of the gate, you won't find a difference in the rest of the game.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series frequently provides opportunities of this nature for the player. Perhaps you find yourself alone in the home of an elderly widow and her life savings are sitting there unguarded... or maybe you run into a lone traveling merchant out in the wilderness... no one would ever know. Plays into VideoGameCrueltyPotential and KleptomaniacHero significantly.
* In ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'', Ryudo is sent to prove his worth to become the next super-powered-being to defeat the [[DarkIsNotEvil 'evil Valmar']]. Along the road he is questioned and every answer he gives is twisted to be perceived as a selfish desire. The next shot has him in darkness transformed into a demon with a voice telling him to embrace it. However thanks to the ThePowerOfFriendship he's freed and ends up with the sword to defeat evil.
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', the canonical PlayerCharacter fought hard to prevent [[spoiler:Aribeth]]'s execution, despite the fact that the entire leadership of the city was arrayed against him and [[spoiler:Aribeth]]'s [[DespairEventHorizon state of mind]] made her believe she ''deserved'' it.
* In ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'', the dark elf Gorath's initial act of joining the humans to prevent the war his people are planning against them qualifies. He knows in advance that it will strip him of his rank as chieftain, that his own people and what remains of his friends and family won't consider him anything more than a traitor and a coward for thinking of cooperating with humans, and the humans themselves will at best distrust him and at worst have him deliver his message on a rack. [[HeroicSpirit He goes anyway.]]
* From the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'' series:
** In ''Videogame/{{Persona 3}}'', during the month of December the PlayerCharacter and party are asked to decide whether to [[spoiler:try to fight against the supposedly unstoppable EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]], or to [[spoiler:kill Ryoji, the avatar of the embodiment of death, which still won't prevent the Fall but will erase their memories of everything related to it and thus allow them to live out their remaining few months in peace, unaware of what's coming.]] Each party member separately resolves for themselves that they'd rather fight, but the ultimate choice comes down to the protagonist, and if you choose to go against the rest of the party's decision and [[spoiler:kill Ryoji]], nobody will ever even remember that it was an issue. [[spoiler:Unsurprisingly, doing so leads to the game's BadEnding.]]
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', a crucial decision late in the game is centered around this. [[spoiler:A loved one has just passed away and you and your friends are in the same room with the person responsible. You have the option of [[ItMakesSenseInContext murdering him by throwing him into the TV]], with the knowledge that no one would ever find out that you were the ones who did it. Of course, just like in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', this leads to the bad ending. Instead, it's staying true to your principles (you ''are'' the Investigation Team, and you ''swore'' to get to the bottom of the case and find the real culprit) that puts you on the road to the good ending]].
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': The Shadows selves in the hidden MentalWorld of the Palace represent the twisted secret feelings of the respective adults you target. Similarly, when characters' Persona first awaken, they encourage their other selves to ignore society's expectations and unleash their true rage / vengeance / etc. on those who have wronged them.
** On a darker note in ''Persona 5'', [[spoiler:BigBad Yaldaboath gives the protagonist a choice near the end: continue to fight back against a god who has already written him out of existance once, or join forces with Yaldaboath and use the Metaverse to control the world. Doing the latter gets you an ending in which the protagonist has become a KnightTemplar ruling Tokyo through fear and brainwashing, while rejecting Yaldaboath's offer lets you save your friends and the world. It's implied that the hero rejects the offer on principle; he's not going to go back on everything he's done and become the monster he's been fighting for any reason.]]
* Coldly discussed by [[TheDon Tayama]] in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV''. To him, humans are so weak, ''no one'' ever chooses the higher moral option in the dark. This means he views his totalitarian regime, backed by {{Yakuza}}, as entirely in everyone's best interests; by forcing everyone to cooperate to help each other, even in the face of the monstruous acts he and his organization commit, he is indeed improving the life of ''everyone''.
* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'', Sam Fisher is tasked with destroying the wreckage of a downed US plane by calling in an air strike in order to prevent sensitive information from falling into enemy hands. He has the choice whether to spend precious time carrying the two unconscious pilots to a safe distance first or not, and doing so causes a new guard to spawn and happen upon him at a very inopportune moment (as when carrying a person Fisher cannot use any of his weapons). However, if he chooses to do so anyway he is confronted with this trope by his superior.
-->'''Lambert:''' You don't even exist Fisher, you can't get a medal for this.\\
'''Fisher:''' Medals don't help me sleep at night.
* ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'' drives the main character in its entirety through moral dilemmas with a very dark tone, almost always alone in the choices.
** At the beginning, the main character, Simon, must restore a power generator in order to activate a security computer and unlock a door. Inside the room there is also a mauled talking android who refers to himself as Carl Semken (whose artificial brain has a [[spoiler:digital copy of the mind of the real Carl]]). However, if you activate the generator, you will necessarily electrocute the android, which is plugged to the power line. He will scream in extreme pain asking you to stop the process, which you can do. If you don't, he will forever continue to painlessly scream while you continue through your tasks. If you do, Simon will apologyze for pulling the wrong switch and the android will nevermind. But if you let too much time pass before stopping electricity, and you try to talk with him again, he will be agonizingly speechless because you fried his circuits. Alternatively, you can follow an alternate path that will lead you to reroute energy from the room to a secondary computer that you can use to override the security locks of the door. This however will kill the android as no energy will flow anymore in him (and will also unlock another door that spawns an enemy). Both paths lead to the same destination.
** When the player reaches the shuttle transit system of the facility in order to get to Site Lambda, it is discovered that it lacks energy too. The power generator is in a nearby room, attached to a suffering woman. She's mantained alive thanks to a sort of black biometallic mass, that plugs her body to artificial lungs powered by the generator. She states that this condition is of heavy suffering and "it won't let me die". There are two power nodes. If the player unplugs one and reconnects with the transit system, the generator will allow both the artificial lungs (although the woman will suffer even more) and the shuttle to operate, but the security program of the transit system will be marked as unstable. If both nodes are reconnected, the woman will die but the security system will be safe ([[spoiler:actually, no matter the choice, your shuttle will crash anyway for the plot]]).
** At some point, the player will need a power battery to restore energy to another transit system in order to reach a site called Theta. There are only two possible sources of a battery: either A) a patrolling, apparently crazy robot, which talks to himself and responds to the main character with nonsense answers (because it hosts [[spoiler:the brain scans of two different people]]), or B) a small assistant robot, referred as "little guy" by Simon, with an intelligence stated to be as that of a dog, which the player rescued before from some blocking rocks, and which in turn helped him to cut open some armored doors following him as a sort of friend for a while. The player must kill one in order to retrieve the battery. However, if the player chooses to kill A, the assistant robot will change attitude, displaying fear and stepping away from Simon if moving nearby. Although techically a robot, moreover with an intelligence comparable to that of a dog, it could be disputed that this choice is not done while being true alone and without judging witnesses.
** During mid game, before entering Theta, the player will meet another mauled robot with a female voice, introducing as Robin Bass. She can't move as the robot doesn't have any legs and is severely damaged. She will wonder where is anybody and if she reached her scheduled destination ([[spoiler: she is a digital copy of the mind of the real Robin Bass, supposed to be uploaded into a machinery called "The Ark" which hosts a virtual paradise where brain scans of last surviving humans dwell in peace]]). If the player talks with Robin for a while, Simon won't tell her that everything is lost and the people she knew are no more there, instead lying about her condition. After that, the player may notice that it is possible to interact with a power node from Robin's metallic body, thus unplugging and "euthanizing" her. Alternatively, the player can walk on, leaving the robot literally forever alone in a nightmarish setting, withouy any way to even move or suicide. Both choices don't affect the subsequent path of Simon.
** After this part, the player will need to interact with a [[spoiler:digital copy of a former technician o the facility]] inside an hard-disk, in order to retrieve a passcode. After obtaining the pass, the player can choose to erase all the data from the hard-disk, if desired. This has no effect on gameplay, and it's only a moral choice [[spoiler:whether the digital copy of a brain is considered an actual person, whether it's right to leave a brain scan in a perpetual limbo inside an hard-disk until someone powers it, and whether deleting it is killing]].
** In the same section, Simon will discover [[spoiler:the template of HIS digital brain scan, which could pe potentially used to create more copies of his mind (although there is nobody who can do that)]]. The player might choose if erase the data from the computer or let it be. Both choices don't affect gameplay.
** Towards the ending, just before leaving Omicron, Simon will need to assemble [[spoiler:a new cybernetic body with an advanced environmental suit, in order to transfer his mind into it]]. However, he discovers that [[spoiler:his mind wasn't transferred, only copied, thus there are now two Simons inside two different bodies]]. Catherine disables the first one, and Simon protests that [[spoiler:she lied and the other body will awaken alone in a living nightmare, which is "so cruel"]]. Then Simon suggests [[spoiler:"what if he doesn't have to wake up at all?"]]. Before disconnecting, Catherine leaves to the player the choice whether unplug [[spoiler:the previous Simon, who will die in less than a minute after exausting his internal battery]] or proceed without doing anything further. The choice doesn't affect following playthrough.
* In ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'', at the end of one level, you find a secret stash of gold left by late Captain Moira for his wife. It's a pretty penny and you don't get any penalties later in the game for taking it. In fact, your only deterrent is a brief popup message "Mrs. Moira needs that money to survive" but logic tells you that she probably won't find the stash in her current condition anyway (you meet her earlier in the level: she is [[BrokenBird utterly broken by grief]]). So, that's the point where you learn what ''you'' are in the dark. Garrett doesn't make any comments either way.
** Sadly the loot requirement on the highest difficulty level makes completing the mission impossible without taking the gold.
** There is a ''minor'' deterrent to taking the loot: The following night, a thug loyal to the widow can be found skulking in front of the door to Garrett's apartment building, looking to avenge the theft. He's just another {{Mook}}, however, and not much of a threat.
* This is a big part of the ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series of games:-
** Especially if you play as a paladin.
--->''And they ask, What is a Hero?
--->though the answer is very clear,
--->He is the one who faces danger
--->when the darkness hovers near.
--->He will face the fiercest foe
--->when another needs his aid.
--->He will dare to defy Death
--->even though he is afraid.
--->He works not just for glory,
--->and he does it not for gain.
--->But because he knows that others
--->will be spared a greater pain.''
** The second game was the part of the series where the designers introduced the tests of character. While some actions are obvious (don't kill the guy you're fighting just to get approval from the Eternal Order of Fighters), some are very much less so (while racing to save the world from the destructive power about to be unleashed and you successfully disarm the Dragon blocking your path, you can kill him and no one will ever know, and in fact will probably praise you for going as fast as possible...but you'll know that you killed an unarmed, helpless man). Later games made the choices a bit more obvious, but there are some surprisingly ambiguous decisions.
* Happens quite a lot in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
** In true keeping with this trope, there's never any real reward for being 'good' about it. Meanwhile, the reward for being evil is sometimes impressive...so, just how 'Grey' ARE you, Warden?
** [[spoiler: The Desire Demon possessing Connor.]] The wholly right and moral decision is to [[spoiler: refuse any deal and fight the demon/scare it into leaving for good.]] The only reward is some experience and whatever loot it drops. What do you get for [[spoiler: agreeing to the deal]] (if playing as a mage)? The only chance to unlock [[spoiler: BloodMagic]]. And the only ones who would know either way are you [[spoiler: and the demon]]. Though in that case there is [[TakeAThirdOption another choice]]: if you have Master Coercion, you can [[spoiler: intimidate the demon into bribing you to let her leave without a fight]].
** However, unlocking a class in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' permanently unlocks it for every playthrough regardless of the decision. There is nothing preventing you from unlocking it and then immediately resetting it and resolving the quest in a different way. In addition, the Awakening expansion adds a manual that unlocks it.
** The game's most pivotal moment. [[spoiler: You find out that the Grey Warden who kills the Archdemon must die with it, but [[TokenEvilTeammate Morrigan]] privately offers a way out through DeusSexMachina, and absorbing the Archdemon's soul into the baby conceived. However, she refuses to tell you what she plans on doing with the child afterwards. VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition shows that she actually makes a pretty good mother, and if the player romanced her and went through the Eluvian at the end of ''Witch Hunt'' he sticks around for a while to help raise Kieran.]]
* ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'': Rock has beaten Dr. Wily again and Wily starts to beg like normal. However, by this point, Rock has had enough of Wily and remembers all the pain he caused the past six games. He begins to charge his buster and says he's going to do what he should have done years ago. Wily points out that robots can't harm a human being. While the US version has Rock declare he's more than a robot and looks like he'll do it until the fortress self destructs, the Japanese version has Rock pause long enough for the fortress to collapse.
* In ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy]]'', Kain Highwind is a morally ambiguous AntiHero who has spent the story up to the final tale killing off his allies (or as the game says, "[[NeverSayDie puts them to sleep]]") so that they'll be safe when the cycle of war begins again, rather than risk them fighting and dying against the new threat of the Manikins. Needless to say, no one is very pleased with him over this and several don't trust him even as he accompanies them to the portal the Manikins are coming from to help them close it. Along the way they're stopped by [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Exdeath]] and a group of Manikins and Kain stays behind to hold them off while the group continues on. In a bonus scene, Golbez approaches Kain afterwards and tells him that if he goes to join his friends in their LastStand, he'll die and no one will remember his bravery. Or he can stay behind now and live to the next cycle, and again no one will know. Kain goes to help them.
** Kain says "put them to sleep" because once everyone on one side dies, all deceased fighters are resurrected and the fight starts over. ''Unless you die fighting Manikins.''
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', the Tomb of Ludo Kressh on Korriban is this for the Jedi Exile. She goes in there alone to face the demons from her past and relive the decisions she made during the Mandalorian Wars. She's also given a test: join her party members in killing her EvilMentor, or try to save that mentor from the dark side. If [[BystanderSyndrome she chooses not to interfere]], [[ApathyKilledTheCat they]] ''[[ApathyKilledTheCat all]]'' [[ApathyKilledTheCat turn on her]].
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' gives this to the last survivors of its {{Precursors}}, the Protheans. The last dozen or so sapients in the entire galaxy work feverishly for decades to reprogram the Keepers, seemingly benevolent drones who are critical to the [[EldritchAbomination Reapers']] cycle of galactic extermination. Then they take a one-way trip to the Citadel, the key in the Reapers' trap and the center of galactic civilization. Without food, water, any ability to sustain a breeding population, or anyone to judge them, they faced a grim death from starvation so future generations of sapients could avert the disaster that destroyed their civilization. [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished And the Council denies their existence.]] But Shepard will kick ass, take names, go to hell and back and shake hands with the Illusive Man himself to make sure it was not in vain.
** The whole of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is like this, since 99.9% of the galaxy thinks Shepard is dead. Happens to Shepard him/herself in the ''Arrival'' {{DLC}}. You have a choice to warn the batarian colonists that they have to evacuate, or just contact the Normandy. The choice itself has no real consequences (the warning communication is blocked anyway), but at the time, Shepard could conceivably be sacrificing him/herself for three hundred thousand civilians. It's arguably even more poignant if Shepard is from [[DoomedHometown Mindoir]].
** Jacob lampshades this trope when telling Shepard about his proudest career moment, which the Alliance covered up for the sake of not inducing a panic. He's comfortable with it, though.
---> '''Jacob:''' Good deed's like pissing yourself in dark pants. Warm feeling, but no one notices.
** Jacob's father faced a situation ten years before the game that occurred in relative "dark". The ship he was serving on crashed into an unknown planet in the ass end of the galaxy, killing the Captain. Being the First Mate, Jacob's father took over, with the help of other officers of the ship. The short version is, it did not end well.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has this with the offer that the Salarian Dalatrass offers you regarding [[spoiler:curing the Genophage]]. However depending on which party members survived previous games, your decision can become public, with unfortunate consequences if you took the Renegade path.
** The end decision in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' can be seen as this if [[spoiler: you pick the Destroy option and are implied to survive]]. After all, with [[spoiler: all artificial life in the galaxy destroyed, including EDI and the geth]], there's no one else alive who knows that Shepard was informed of the consequences of the action and did it anyway. The entire choice is very much WhatYouAreInTheDark: it's about which principle Shepard most wishes to uphold (or, conversely, is most loathe to throw away) when faced with an explicit choice and absolutely no oversight -- whether they most want to end the war cleanly, take control of the most powerful force in the galaxy, usher in a new and unforeseen era of existence, or go down spitting defiance to the last breath. Even better, you can justify each decision as the moral "Right" and "Wrong," so the decision is ''entirely'' up to you. Bioware doesn't tell you which one is right.
* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest I'', upon encountering the Sarien ship that massacred the Arcada's crew and has the ArtifactOfDoom that they are going to inflict on the galaxy. It's a massive ship full of hostile aliens, against one not-so-AlmightyJanitor. The pilot droid wisely suggests hauling tail. It's NonstandardGameOver if you take him up on it.
* In TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' the party gets separated by the BigBad. He then approaches your companions, one by one in total darkness, and invites them [[LastChanceToQuit to flee and leave you there to die and lose your memory again]]. None of them stand a fighting chance against him. [[YouShallNotPass None of them budge]]. None of them live. [[spoiler:Except Morte, [[TakeAThirdOption who hides from him]].]] That is, provided you've been running through their dialogue and sidequests, and being a generally decent person to them. They ''will'' take that chance to go turncoat if you've been neglectful or a total jerk. So, in a sense, this serves as such a moment for the PC as well.
* Pablo tries this on whoever attacks him during his optional boss appearance in Chapter 13 of Eirika's route in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones''.
--> '''Pablo''': I've got more money than you've ever seen! What say you? Join me, and take a seat of power at my side.
* Occurs in the flashbacks of ''VideoGame/LANoire''. After returning home from Okinawa, several Marines were upset when they saw stories that [[spoiler: Phelps was the LAPD's Golden Boy, and resolved that since they had been denied fame and fortune, they would take it by stealing the supplies on the boat they were returning on.]] One character notes that they can get away with it ''and'' do good, but another character (who they all respect) tells them that he will not stop them, but if they actually do it, they are dead to him. They fail the test.
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': Reimu Hakurei has to take this in stride. Solving more prominent incidents like the Scarlet Mist (''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil''), vengeful geysers (''Subterranean Animism''), and the earthquakes (''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'') are things she can probably make realistic claims about; but, in general, no one really knows about most of Reimu's efforts to keep the peace in Gensokyo and one of the two (known) reporters in Gensokyo tells her to her face that she has no concrete proof of any of her glories. ([[{{Jerkass}} Her grouchy attitude when she's off solving incidents doesn't help matters, either.)]] Hakurei Shrine getting no visiting worshipers is ''canon''.
** In a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, the fan-made list of Touhou games described as atrocities caused by Reimu lampshades this problem.
* ''VideoGame/TheBardsTale'' has this for the ending, where [[spoiler:the Evil ending where he sides with the Demon Queen to enslave the world is the Bard's personal happy ending while the Good ending has him save the world but starting back where he was at the beginning as a poor conman.]] Alternatively, he can just [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere walk away]] and party with the zombies.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has the mission Operation Gamma, where [[spoiler:your player captain is abandoned to die by a Ferengi captain who was supposed to guide you to the Dominion, only for her to end up fleeing right into the arms of a Dominion force. When your ship arrives, the Vorta in charge of that force declares that by their logic they should kill you both for trespassing, but since you'd actually been looking for them in the first place, he offers to help you -- if ''you'' kill her]]. The mission progresses either way with only a slight difference in NPC dialogue, but if you [[spoiler:kill her, the Vorta declares]], "Now I see what kind of officer you are..."
* In Hajime Saito's route in ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'', the trope plays out complete with stock dialogue in a confrontation between Saito and Kazama. Saito is hopelessly outmatched and grievously wounded, and Chizuru tries to save him by turning herself over to Kazama, who smugly suggests that Saito can tell his superiors that he tried to protect Chizuru but was overpowered. Saito retorts that ''he'' would know, and that he doesn't surrender to anyone.
* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' doesn't have an explicit KarmaMeter, but many events will test your morality. Do you take the bribe of a pirate and let him go after some ship, or do you take him on? When a slaver offers gifts in exchange for [[VillainsWantMercy letting them live]], do you accept and let him live to continue his dirty work, or do you finish the job? Do you help when asked for it, even if it may cost you health, ammo or crew? There's no one around who will judge you, only your conscience. Choose, skipper.
** Doesn't apply nearly as much if you're in no shape to fight, however. A choice between [[StupidGood "die, and let pirates and slavers continue"]] or [[PragmaticVillainy "take a bribe, and let pirates and slavers continue"]] [[MortonsFork really isn't a choice.]]
* During the final part of ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' the protagonist, Manny Calavera, finds himself alone at the Number Nine train station, where he can approach the Tunnel to the Ninth Underworld. He briefly muses that he could just walk through it (which he technically has the right to do at this point - his adventures do count towards the four-year journey that the less "saintly" souls must complete before they can leave the Land of the Dead). However, he promptly refuses to do this, because there are still other souls in need of his help. Considering that getting out of the Land of the Dead was Manny's initial goal (a goal he was willing to achieve by ''stealing a client from a fellow Reaper'', which is how the whole mess started), that indicates a pretty strong CharacterDevelopment.
** In an odd variation, Manny ''receives'' a Golden Ticket for the Number Nine as reward for services rendered - though he no longer needs one.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims 3,'' if your character is in the political career track, he/she can choose to steal funds from the campaign fund when given the opportunity. You will not get caught.
* A recurring element in the ''VideoGame/{{Deponia}}'' series.
** In the first installment, Rufus is given the option to [[spoiler:take over Cletus' life, including Goal]]. Instead, he decides to [[spoiler:save a planet full of trash and people who hate him]].
** In ''Chaos on Deponia,'' [[spoiler:Rufus owns up to a major lie, knowing he might lose Goal by doing so.]]
** Comes to a head in the finale of ''Goodbye, Deponia'', where [[spoiler:in order to prevent Goal from dying and make sure Elysium is informed that people are still living on Deponia, Rufus claims to be Cletus, justifying it by going on about how selfish and unchanging Rufus is, and finally dropping from the highboat and falling to his death.]]
* This is a major theme in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead''. In a zombie apocalypse, your morality becomes one of the last shreds of your humanity, even with no one left to keep score. On the other hand, [[BeingGoodSucks being righteous may cost you your life and the lives of your companions.]] Decisions are timed. You have five seconds to weigh the implications.
** For reference, [[http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/15/telltale-games-the-walking-dead-statistics-trailer/ an article]] reports that the majority of players try to do the right thing, even if it makes less sense from a logical perspective. They also report on subtle decisions, such as players stopping an action once they're being watched.
* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather II'', the sidequest targets you can choose include both scum who deserve some PayEvilUntoEvil and good or otherwise normal people who the questgiver wants harmed. There's no explicit KarmaMeter or ingame consequences, though, and no one will comment on whether you choose to play the VigilanteMan, be the villain or do some mix of the two because ItAmusedMe. All up to your conscience, ''signor''.
* Shown during a cutscene following the final heist in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. [[spoiler: The armoured car driver they threatened into assisting with the heist has to be dealt with. Trevor, of course, wants to shoot him because he knows too much. Michael tosses him a bar of gold, pointing out that if he takes it, he's now part of the robbery and has as much to lose as the actual thieves, so it's in his best interest to keep his mouth shut. The guard takes the gold.]]
* This trope could very well be the CentralTheme for ''{{VideoGame/Dishonored}}''. [[TheTrickster The Outsider]] gives selected individuals his [[PowerTattoo mark]] and lets them do as they please with the new powers they have. Most people are shown to use their powers for self-gain, and becoming deeply corrupt and insane as a result. Corvo gets the mark early on, and it's up to the player to either use his powers to easily cut a swath across the city and murder all of his targets...or to hold back and preserve as many lives as possible. Doing the former will inevitably lead to the downfall of Dunwall. This plays into the Daud DLC as well, with The Outsider even saying that no one but him will ever know the story of how the Knife of Dunwall stopped the Brigmore Witches from [[spoiler:possessing Emily]].
** This theme extends beyond the Outsider's marked. Pretty much every character in the game goes through their own tests of character, from the Lord Regent to Admiral Havelock. Most of them fail.
* A major theme and gameplay mechanic in ''VideoGame/PapersPlease''. Do you go about your job and assess the passports of the people trying to get into Arstotzka to the best of your ability in order to pay rent and support your family, or do you try to show sympathy to the prospective entrants and bend the rules where possible, even though doing so will incur punishments? Or even worse, do you have as many people arrested by the security guards as possible, given that doing so carries significant financial incentives?
* Like its inspirations ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' and ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' is in large part an examination of how ordinary people behave when the civilizing influence of orderly society is absent. The game goes a step further by drawing an implicit comparison between how the average person would act in such a situation, and how a typical gamer behaves while playing a shooter.
%%* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', everything Ramza does after [[spoiler:the church branded him as a heretic]].
* Occurs at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}'', when The Kid is deep in hostile Ura territory, and not even Rucks the narrator knows what he's up to. [[spoiler:When he finally obtains the final shard needed to power the Bastion, he runs into Zulf, who sold him and his friends out to the Ura, getting beaten to death by his former partners-in-crime for bringing The Kid there. The player then has the option to either leave Zulf to die and take on one final squad of Ura archers with the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Battering Ram]], or abandon the Battering Ram to carry Zulf to safety, leaving him utterly defenseless against the aforementioned squad.]]
* The protagonists Cole in the game ''VideoGame/InFamous'' is faced with this in the second to last mission when finally having tracked down the Ray Sphere ( the device that gave him his powers and if activated again will make him twice as strong) and is presented with the choice to activate and gain more power at the cost of probably thousands of lives or to destroy the Ray Sphere for good.
* In the game ''Videogame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', we see alternate dimension Superman have the choice of killing Joker for causing the deaths of Lois Lane and his unborn son, or let him live. [[spoiler: He chooses to kill the Joker, leading him to believe that killing villains will solve the world's problems. He later kills other superheroes who begin disagreeing with him, crossing the MoralEventHorizon.]]
* The entire plot of ''Videogame/LifeIsStrange'' is hinged on this. In episode 1, Chrysalis, [[spoiler: you have the choice of reporting Nathan, an extremely wealthy boy whose family practically own the school, twice, though both decisions may not work favorably to Max]]. Other minor decisions can also be made, [[spoiler: like whether to prevent a girl from being hit in the head]].
* Kyuu faces this choice in Chapter 5 of ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales''. He can either stay home and forget about this adventure or go back to Rakenzarn and save everyone inside. No points for guessing which leads to the Bad Ending.
* This combined with SaveScumming is [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. It's an especially meta example since no one is ''offering'' to let you undo mistakes by resetting (like [[spoiler: killing Toriel when you were trying to spare her]]); it's just a convention of games that have save points. Do so, however, and Flowey will [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech chew you out over it]], showing that you weren't really alone when you made that choice, and even if no one else remembers it, [[RippleEffectProofMemory the two of you will.]]
* In ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'', Kerrigan could have easily let her [[HordeOfAlienLocusts zerg swarm]] kill [[spoiler: the wounded Dominion soldiers that were retreating from Char after she herself had just killed [[GeneralBadass General Warfield]]. Kerrigan could have easily justified it as not leaving anything to chance (which wouldn't be unprecedented for her since she had previously murdered the entire crew of a Protoss warship for the sake of survival). Sure Warfield had told her that the wounded soldiers would not pose anymore threat to her, but it's not exactly easy to just trust the word of an enemy commander. However, she instead chose to stop the pursuit of the wounded soldiers, allowing them to live. This action reflected Kerrigan's CharacterDevelopment from a VillainProtagonist who only cares about her RoaringRampageOfRevenge into [[AntiHero someone more heroic]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' comic ''A Better World'', Symmetra watched at how far her company Vishkar would go to attain dominion over Rio. She has tried as much as she can to subvert their orders within their surveillance, such as her anti-killing policy, and she'd still let Vishkar know that. But the moment she saw the girl she just befriended in danger of dying from the fire, she proceeded to save her life even when it's more convenient and in-line with Vishkar's KnightTemplar zealotry to just leave her to die. Nobody, not even Vishkar knows this, except that little girl, who's ambiguous in either hating her or still believing her out of gratitude. And hell, the world wouldn't know either, to them and especially [[ArchEnemy Lucio]], Symmetra would be just a Vishkar cheerleader/golden girl that embodies all its qualities and corruptions (especially the latter) and she would act accordingly to its image of trying to support Vishkar and harassing its oppositions, but the event is considered the definitive reason why Symmetra is ''the'' TokenGoodTeammate and NobleTopEnforcer of Vishkar instead of being the same as her co-workers.
* The final sequence of Ending E in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' gives the player a choice in this regard: [[spoiler:You've just beaten an incredibly hard MiniGameCredits to finally get a glimmer of hope in the game's world after everything has gone to hell, and chances are you likely did it with help you accepted from other players online after you died too many times to the minigame. Pod 042 reveals that the reason that those players were able to help you was that [[HeroicSacrifice they sacrificed their game's save data after beating the game to give help to some other random person trying to win, i.e. you.]] You are then given the choice to do so or not. No one will likely ever know who you are, since you're just a random anonymous name among the thousands in the network; the only satisfaction you will likely get from doing so is your own personal conscience.]]
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising4'' takes place 15 years after the original Mall outbreak and features Frank West, now in his 50s, who is no longer the decided and eager reporter looking to break important stories to help mankind, but a [[StoppedCaring cynical, angry, and disillusioned]] school teacher who no longer believes in doing that right thing, but doing what it takes to survive. This is because of the years he watched as evil people and groups got away with causing the outbreak without any punishment. [[spoiler: After a student of his talks him into investigating another conspiracy dealing with the zombie virus, he slowly gets his passion he once lost back, and by the end of the game, once again becomes the Frank West who cares again.]]
* Happens toward the end of ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}''. [[spoiler:When Cuphead and Mugman finally face the Devil in the final level, they are given the choice to hand over the soul contracts they collected from defeating every boss to the Devil and join his side. Now, Cuphead and Mugman owe nothing to these bosses who were probably not very good people, and they would benefit greatly by becoming the Devil's henchmen, but refusing the Devil's offer leads to the brothers instead burning all the contracts and saving all the bosses from having their souls taken away.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', Greirat the thief will die if you send him on a pillaging run into Irithyll of the Boreal Valley unless you send either Siegward or Patches to save him. To send Siegward, you have to buy all the pieces of his armour set from Patches (who stole it) and return it to him. To send Patches, you have to ''not'' buy even a single piece of the set. No matter who is sent, Greirat will credit his rescue to Siegward upon his safe return. The implication is that Patches dressed in the armour and pretended to be Siegward because he didn't want his reputation as a no-good scoundrel tarnished by being seen doing a good deed, even by/for the one person he actually likes. Indeed, when he first asks where Greirat has gone off to, he immediately tries to play it off as being interested in looting his corpse, though his concern for Greirat's safety is audible in his voice.
* In ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'', the mage Sienna stands accused of murder but is [[RecruitingTheCriminal recruited into the protagonists' team]] due to the desperation of the situation. When Kerillian points out that she could easily flee at any time, Sienna responds that she doesn't run because she's innocent. Kerillian then asks if she thinks ChurchMilitant Saltzpyre really cares if she's innocent or not...
--> '''Sienna:''' No. But I do, elf.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** Cardin bullies Jaune then blackmails him upon finding out Jaune faked his way into Beacon due to having no combat training. When he uses Jaune to target JNPR, Jaune refuses to throw sap onto Pyrrha (which would make her a target for Rapier Wasps) and tosses it at Cardin, despite being outnumbered four-to-one. When an [[BearsAreBadNews ursa]] attacks Cardin for the sap, Cardin's friends run away. Instead of running, Jaune jumps in to save Cardin despite his lack of combat training. Although Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss witness this, Cardin and Jaune had no idea they were there.
** Blake undergoes this in her trailer. [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters She and Adam]] are attacking a Schnee supply train. Adam orders her to destroy the train. When she points out that will kill the humans on it, Adam doesn't care. Blake turns her back on Adam and decouples the train (saving the humans), abandoning the mission and severing her ties to the White Fang.
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUlg8Y_mLfA&index=8 The Reward: Tales of Alethrion]]'' ends with the titular character [[SealedEvilInACan sealing away a demonic version of himself]] at the cost of his life with no one, including his LoveInterest ever learning he was anything but a heartless mercenary OnlyInItForTheMoney.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'', "Rainman" turns himself in when he gets marked during a tourney, thinking ''[[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb360.html Integrity means doing what's right, even if nobody is looking]]'', even though none of the referees shown to be on the field at the time would have seen him do it.
* In an arc in ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'', Jesse was revealed to be [[TheMole Jesspin]], secretly loyal to the time-traveling conqueror General Maximiliana. But "Jesse" is still his core personality, and while Jesspin is imprisoned by AEGIS, "Jesse" is secretly using Jesspin's mind and body to further Rikk Oberf's plans for the future. When Jesspin tells "Jesse" that no one will know he isn't a traitor, "Jesse" smiles and says, "That's what will make this fun. I do my best work in the dark."
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** Belkar Bitterleaf sort of has one of these [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0435.html here.]] He saved Hinjo in the end, but only because he might not be able to kill people later otherwise. This nets him good karma as he soon gets a horde of goblins to murdalize.
** Also, when [[spoiler: Vaarsuvius]] accepts a DealWithTheDevil, the devils in question state that there might some alignment-related feedback (in other words, making the character more evil than otherwise would be normal). It turns out that the fiends lied, that the effects of soul-splice on the characters alignment are little more than cheerleaders in terms of alignment-change, and that all of the actions taken were all naturally thought of and committed by the character. They aptly describe it as giving someone a drink and telling them it's alcoholic when it really isn't, and the person behaves drunk because they think it's alcoholic, but they weren't drunk at all in the first place.
*** Just to drive the point further, before they even take the deal, the Fiends point out there's a way for [[spoiler: V to save their family]] without owing them a single thing. The only catch is that it involves other people (some of whom [[spoiler: Vaarsuvius]] has just had a massive falling out with) doing all the actual work, and wouldn't even be able to claim credit for the idea. But hey, "We won't tell anyone there was another way to save [[spoiler: your children]] if you don't."
** V's [[spoiler: rescue of O-Chul qualifies.]] Vaarsuvius is heavily injured, nearly out of spells, and completely out of their league, against [[spoiler: Xykon, an Epic-level sorcerer and the Big Bad.]] V turns invisible and means to escape through a hole in the wall, one Feather Fall away from safety... Nobody could possibly know or blame the elf for escaping in that situation, but V instead chooses to [[spoiler: go back and help O-Chul instead, rather than abandoning yet another person to their death.]] It is a very poignant and touching moment — an important first step to redemption — after everything Vaarsuvius has done.
* Webcomic/SluggyFreelance: Torg is trapped in the basement with a demon who is ordered to kill him. But the demon is trapped under rubble. Torg could wait until morning, at which point the demon will automatically return home, but when she stops responding to his questions, he pries loose the rubble to save her.
-->[[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/011030 "Shut up Wilson"]].
* Susan from ''{{Webcomic/Sire}}'' delivers [[http://sire.smackjeeves.com/comics/720439/chapter-2-page-7/ quite the speech to Anna]] after murdering their uncle. They are the same person. If Anna didn't want it to happen than Susan wouldn't have done it.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', the police chief expressed the opinion that behaving well to be a good example to robots might be so habit forming that they will behave well even when no one is looking, in time.
* [[spoiler: Rachel]] from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' is given the opportunity of climbing the Tower as long as she plays part in the conspiracy that requires [[spoiler: Baam to die. When they are alone and Baam once again states he wants to be with her, she pushes him off the platform.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'' has Superman go through this in "After Hours". [[spoiler: Either he can do nothing to stop Lex, resulting in a world with no major competing comics, or he can stay trapped in a pocket dimension forever. Anybody remotely familiar with Superman knows what he picks. [[ResetButton Thankfully, his choice's results...]]]]
* In ''Literature/{{Anachronauts}}'', a genie tempts each of the members of the titular team with just such a temptation, as one might expect.
* ''Literature/{{Worm}}''. [[TheFettered Taylor]] has the power to control bugs, [[SuperpowerLottery that's it]]. [[spoiler:[[NighInvulnerability Levia]][[TheJuggernaut than]] has just shrugged off many of the strongest parahumans in the setting and is now attacking a shelter full of civilians. Nobody else is around and her tracker is broken. She's heavily injured, already [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood considered]] a villain and the civilians include a [[AdultsAreUseless teacher]] who stood by as her life was made [[TheBully a living hell]]. [[ForegoneConclusion What does]] [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu she do?]]]]
** [[DramaticIrony Tragically,]] though, Taylor feels that the mere fact she considered [[spoiler:abandoning the shelter]] means [[spoiler:she isn't really cut out to be a hero]].
* In the final episode of ''[[Machinima/FreemansMind Shephard's Mind]]'', Shephard admits to himself that he'll most likely never escape Black Mesa, and nobody would ever know what he did, much less be aware he even existed. But despite that, he's going to take as many aliens down with him as possible.
* In ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic [[spoiler:sacrifices himself to both allow his friend's spirit to be at peace and also to bring stability to the PlotHole]]. The only other people who know what he has done are WebVideo/FilmBrain, [[spoiler:the WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd, and the Writer]].
* After being held captive by a family who kept feeding him muscle relaxants and making him rewatch his old movies (including one he shot while getting the news [[spoiler: that his mother had committed suicide]]), Donnie [=DuPre=] from WebVideo/DemoReel refuses to hurt them or become like them, and only twitchily mentions his experience in passing to his friends.
* The members of the ''Blog/KnightsOfFandom'' each promise to never use the anonymity of the internet to hurt other people. However, ''because'' of said anonymity, there is no way for the organization to actually police its members. The operation relies entirely on the integrity of the individual members.
* ''Literature/ThreeWorldsCollide'' has an extreme example of this. In the epilogue, the crew of the ''Impossible Possible World'' is nine minutes away from [[spoiler: being utterly annihilated by a supernova]]. Nothing they can do can possibly have any consequences on anything outside that tiny area of time and space. This is ''heavily'' lampshaded; half of the chapter is about them coming to grips with that reality.
-->"Ah," the Master of Fandom said, "so I guess this is when we find out who we really are." He paused for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't seem to be anyone in particular. Oh well."
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', Sylvester is holding a hostage at gunpoint after having previously determined that he needs to LeaveNoWitnesses in order to keep Mary safe from reprisal attacks after they've [[spoiler:killed [[TheCaligula the Baron Richmond]]]], but realizes that he doesn't ''want'' to kill an innocent, and (with the help of a [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave hallucinatory Jamie]]) instead goes to considerable lengths to keep his hostages alive, even though it creates complications.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Roger invokes this to be a jerk to Steve after Steve, who had repeatedly masturbated with a portrait of a nude woman Roger painted, learned that the portrait was of Hailey (her face was obscured in the painting). Steve freaks out and rationalizes that only he, Roger, and Hailey know, and Roger states that both God and ''Creator/JamesDoohan'' saw, and that the only way to make it right is to kill himself.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' has a parody of this, when Pam is desperately trying to get someone (''anyone'') in the office to have sex with her. She actually uses the words "Nobody will know", even if she's got a dolphin puppet on her hand while saying it. Needless to say, Brett, the man she propositions, turns her down (he uses the "I'll know" response.) Even more ironic considering in the same episode, he paid Lana $600 simply to brag about having sex with her, not actually doing the deed. Of course, Pam's claim of anonymity is very dubious, as she's the biggest gossip in the office ([[NoSuchThingAsHR even though she's supposed to be in charge of Human Resources]]).
* Halfway through the last season of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Zuko has finally gotten everything he ''said'' he wanted; he's Prince of the Fire Nation again, he's wealthy and respected, he has his father's praise, he even has a girl he loves. Then, [[spoiler:he finds out his father is about to ''kill an entire continent and SaltTheEarth.'' He immediately flees the capitol with nothing but the clothes on his back, throwing himself on the heroes' mercy because he can't abide it, knowing full well that they're ''really'' pissed at him; he ''[[LiteralMetaphor literally]]'' chased them clear across the world, made a global catastrophe possible that a dear friend of the heroes had to make a HeroicSacrifice to stop, then threw their previous offer of redemption in their face and ''got TheMessiah killed'' ([[BackFromTheDead temporarily]]). They're not ''too'' harsh on him; they throw him out again and ignore him until he helps save them from an assassin... that he hired earlier]]. [[HeroWithAnFInGood Yeah]].
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', Danny foils some minions attempt to steal jewelry from a store, but when they take off, all the security guards see is him holding the loot. When he leaves, one guard says to the other, "You want to keep this stuff and blame the ghost boy?" The other just sighs and says, "You're under arrest."
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheDoverBoys'', with Dan Backslide's quote.
-->'''Dan Backslide:''' A runabout! I'LL STEAL IT! '''[[NoIndoorVoice NO ONE]]''' '''[[WithCatlikeTread WILL EVER KNOW!]]'''
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Inhuman Torch", Bender is accused of starting fires in order to put them out and look like a hero, but it was actually started by a fire creature from the sun (whom Bender names Flamo). In order to keep Flamo from burning the Earth into a small star, Bender takes it to the Arctic Circle, where no one will find him, know about the fate he spared them from, and most importantly, [[HiddenHeartOfGold he won't be hailed as a hero.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GoodVibes'' episode "Floatopia" Mondo declines sex with Jeena when she's too drunk to properly consent.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' gives us Helga Pataki, who's ostensibly a bully. However, in the Christmas episode, she gives up a pair of boots (that she wanted more than anything, and that her mother said "was the last pair in the city" and waited in line all day for them), to a man in exchange for him helping track down the daughter of Mr. Hyunh for Arnold. And Arnold has [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold no idea it was her, no one knows she was the one who did it.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** The episode [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E7TheGreatestStoryNeverTold "The Greatest Story Never Told"]], is this for Booster Gold, who has to deal with a black hole while the more prominent members are dealing with a bigger threat offscreen.
** Happens in the finale. After [[spoiler:Flash defeats Lexiac and vanishes into the Speed Force]], Luthor taunts the heroes that he did kill him after all. Superman picks him up by the neck and readies the laser vision. Wonder Woman starts to rush forward, but Batman holds her off.
---> [[spoiler:'''Superman:''' I'm not the man who killed President Luthor. Right now I wish to Heaven that I was, but I'm not.]]
*** That was definitely a BatmanGambit. Superman had been struggling throughout the arc with the actions of his alternate universe counterpart, while also dealng with the fallout of having been mind-controlled by Darkseid just before the start of the show (around the end of Superman the Animated series). Batman wanted to give Superman the chance to affirm his character. With the opportunity, Supes shows just how strong he truly is.
* In Season 1 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[DaChief Lin]] [[IronLady Beifong]] is captured by the Equalists and brought to [[ArcVillain Amon]]. Amon offers to let her keep her Bending if she gives up Korra's location, and being as there are no heroes around Lin could easily come up with some story about escaping. Instead, Lin [[ShutUpHannibal all but spits in his face]] and accepts her fate with dignity.
* Janet of ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' ''fails'' this trope when she's alone in a room save for a bug (actually Miss Frizzle's class aboard the shrunken bus) and decides to gleefully sabotage the class's entry for a scent competition instead of playing fair. ''No one'' is happy with her and [[FanNickname the Frizz Kids]] beating her and subtly calling her out is perfectly LaserGuidedKarma.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'':
** Jenny gets accosted by Killgore, a sentient wind-up toy that, [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain while completely harmless as a villain]], [[TormentByAnnoyance annoys her to death]] with frequent demands to "SURRENDER!" Problem is, she can't attack him, because too many people find him cute. Jenny eventually catches Killgore at night, but finds she doesn't have it in heart to attack a helpless, if annoying, creature.
** Jenny generally [[PunchClockHero considers her role as superhero a chore]], and [[IJustWantToBeNormal wants to have a regular teenager's social life]]. In ''[[TheMovie Escape From Cluster Prime]]'', she loses her memory, along with most of her powers, and starts living on a planet of robots--essentially the life she'd always asked for. Yet Jenny ''still'' decides to become a superhero when she sees people who need help, even though she now longer has anyone pressuring her into it (and even becomes wanted as a vigilante).
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E17TheTimesTheyAreAChangeling The Times They Are A Changeling"]], Thorax has been assumed to be evil by all the ponies, while Spike, his only friend, [[EtTuBrute abandoned him at a critical moment]]. When, later, Spike is in mortal danger and calls out for Thorax's help with nobody else around, he has a brief ThenLetMeBeEvil moment, asking Spike why, as an "evil changeling", he should do anything to help him. It only lasts a few seconds, though, and Thorax saves Spike even though nothing about the circumstances compels him to.
** In the ChristmasEpisode ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyBestGiftEver'', Pistachio figures out that Rarity's custom-made hat wasn't for him, and tries to give it back to her. Even though Rarity has every right to take the hat back, and no one else would ever know about the mix-up, she saw how much Pistachio and the Acorn family appreciated the gift. As such, Rarity not only lets Pistachio keep the hat, but invites him to be her guest at an upcoming fashion show to further his passions.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A uncompromisingly silly example: In "Marge Be Not Proud", Nelson claims that shoplifting and ''punching someone in the dark'' are "[[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught victimless crimes]]", and seemed completely earnest in saying so.
** "Treehouse Of Horror: XXI" has one of its stories based on a murder mystery. Marge and Homer are out in unexplored waters for a little honeymoon. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Through circumstances, Homer ends up killing a man he thought he previously killed, as well as several other passengers on The Albatross]]. Homer says that, with no witnesses of their crimes left, they can just return and keep on living. Marge gives off the line "We'll know" and eats the poisoned pie, because she cannot live with the guilt.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', [[JerkJock Flash Thompson]] learns that during a football tournament his team won one of the players was taking a performance-enhancing drug. He's told that by that very player, in a one-on-one conversation, and he knows, that should the word get out, their championship (that he ruined his leg achieving and thus ruining a chance for a good scholarship) would be disqualified. The word still gets out... from Flash himself, because to him an unfair victory isn't worth much.
** Then there is, of course, Spider-Man confronting Uncle Ben's killer becoming this for the show. As seen in episode 12, Peter had a good chance to let the burglar fall to his death, but saved him because he knew [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave Uncle Ben wouldn't approve]].
** Later Spider-Man confronts Uncle Ben's killer again. He's The Cat, aka '''Black Cat's father.''' Black Cat was trying to break him out while Peter was there testing the prison's new security system at request from management since it was used to contain superhumans (though the system has been hijacked by Green Goblin, kickstarting the plot.) Mr. Hardy actually takes Spidey's place to fix the system and insists on staying, fully knowing what he did and to atone for his crimes (and possibly even knowing Spider-Man is Peter Parker.) Unfortunatley, this also strains Black Cat's relation with Spidey as she blames his influence for him staying in prison.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E15TheHonorableOnes "The Honorable Ones"]], [[EnemyMine Zeb and Agent Kallus are stranded on an ice moon attempting to climb out of a cave up to the surface to be rescued]]. When some large predatory animals attack them, Zeb manages to get Kallus up to the safety of the surface. [[spoiler:Kallus finds Zeb's bo-rifle and realizes he has an opportunity to shoot Zeb, but after a moment's hesitation he opts to shoot the creature attacking Zeb instead.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' special [[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E20Bismuth "Bismuth"]] was this for Steven. After defending himself from [[spoiler:Bismuth]] for refusing to use the Breaking Point or letting her use it, Steven promises to tell the Gems what happened to her. [[spoiler:His mother Rose Quartz failed this test when the same thing happened to her, choosing to hide Bismuth away for thousands of years to protect her cause and ensure peace instead. Bismuth tearfully admits that this makes Steven a better person than his mother ever was.]]
* The "Between Brothers" episode of ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'' has this. When a young Lion-O and Tygra are playing as kids, Lion-O is crossing a tree trunk bridge over a pit. Tygra, as a child, breaks the edge of the bridge with his foot causing Lion-O to fall in. Young Lion-O doesn't see him do this (although present day Lion-O does, as he watches this memory) and falls into the pit. Tygra appears to abandon him, so if Lion-O were to die down there, no one would know it was Tygra's fault... although present day Tygra reveals that he ''did'' feel guilty afterward and immediately ran to their father for help.
[[/folder]]