Bringing Back Proof

Oz: But first you must prove yourselves worthy by performing a very small task. Bring me the broomstick of the Witch of the West.
The Scarecrow: Bbbbbbbbut...if we do that, we'll have to kill her to get it.
Oz: Bring me her broomstick and I'll grant your requests. Now, go.

—The Wizard of Oz

When a villain wants proof of an enemy's demise, Demanding Their Head is a tried and true classic. Sometimes, though, they decide to get more creative. After all, there are plenty of other body parts that will adequately ensure the target is really most sincerely dead, like the heart, or even the liver. Or perhaps they don't really want a body part making a mess and stinking out the house (not to mention you don't want to scare the kids), so they instead ask for some prized possession, one that could only be pried from the target's cold dead fingers.

One way or another, they want tangible proof that the job is done. Thus this trope.

Less violent examples might be as simple as requiring someone to bring you a receipt for items you've sent them to purchase, or collecting tokens from each of the waypoints in a race to show that you've completed the entire circuit.

A common subversion/variant may involve a hitman getting cold feet and attempting to substitute a body part from someone else, usually a different corpse (often found in a morgue) or even an animal, or they might capture the target and take the proof from them without finishing them off.

This can also occur without a specific demand beforehand, when someone knows that what they've done will require proof, and makes sure to collect — or invent — the evidence.

A Super-Trope to Demanding Their Head, and one possible reason for needing to collect 20 Bear Asses (if the bear parts aren't actually useful, and the point was just to get rid of the bears for the Price on Their Head). Standard practice for a Bounty Hunter, especially of the Professional Killer variety. May be required to complete an Engagement Challenge, especially if the challenge was along the lines of slaying a dragon. Some types of proof, if kept, might become a Creepy Souvenir, or if the target was a military enemy, a Battle Trophy — although a trophy collected for one's own sake, not to present to someone else, would not be this trope.

Compare: We Need to Get Proof, where a character sets out to get proof of what someone else has done; Finger in the Mail when the "proof" is delivered to a victim's loved ones or law enforcement as a threat; and Make Sure He's Dead, where someone needs to be sure of their own successful kill.

See also: MacGuffin, where the desired "proof" being sought after is itself a focal plot point; I Want Them Alive!, when a villain demands persons of interest be brought to them intact and (relatively) unharmed.

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Examples:

Comic Books

• Enemy of the Empire: Darth Vader hires Boba Fett to hunt down and kill an Imperial deserter, and, as proof the deed is done, to bring back a case the deserter took with him when he murdered his commander and fled.

Fan Works

• Danielle Atron attempts this in The Secret Collocation of Alex Mack, demanding that a summoned demon "Bring me the heart of Alexandra Louise Mack!" Unfortunately for her, being a demon (and hating her on top of that, for binding it), it chooses to take a very broad interpretation of her command. Instead of literally pulling Alex's heart out of her chest, it summons half a dozen versions of Alex from different alternate universes (with different variations on her powers, but the same at "heart"), who band together and collectively deliver a beatdown to Danielle that she still hasn't forgotten millions of subjective years later.
• Sublight Drive: Count Dooku wants the captured Jedi Padawan to be either converted to the Dark Side, or executed — but both Captain Rain and General Tann consider that to be a waste of time and resources, and would prefer to persuade her of the rightness of the Separatist cause and then let her become a useful icon, a Jedi opposing the Republic. Count Dooku will brook no refusal, however, so Tann arranges for the Padawan's lightsaber to be delivered to him as "proof" of her death.

Films — Animated

• Mulan: After a landslide buries the Hun army, Shang brings back Shan Yu's distinctive serrated sword, and presents it to the Emperor, as evidence of the victory. When the Emperor later sends Mulan home, he gives her the sword to take with her, as the visible proof of her service to China.
• Like the Grimm Brothers fairy tale it's based on, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen sentences a Huntsman to kill Snow White and bring back her heart in a box as proof. While he fools her by placing an animal's heart inside instead of Snow White's, unlike the original, she does not eat the heart.
• In Up, Charles Muntz goes on a quest to find a rare and exotic species of flightless bird that resides in South America, not returning until he does. When he brings back a skeleton, people accuse him of forging it, so he vows not to return without a real live specimen. By the time he finds one (with the help of Carl Fredricksen and Russell), he's an old man.

Films — Live-Action

• Maleficent: Stefan wants the reward for killing Maleficent, but as they were Childhood Friends, he has just enough lingering affection to spare her. Instead, he cuts off her wings and brings those back, which is enough to convince everyone she's dead. (Until she turns up in person, very much alive and bitterly vengeful.)
• The Muppets' Wizard of Oz: Dorothy and her friends Scarecrow, Tin Thing, and the Cowardly Lion, played by Kermit the frog, Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear, have to get the magic eye from the wicked witch of the west. They can bring it back to the wizard as proof they can grant their wishes.
• In Sixteen Candles, Ted bets his friends that he can make it with Samantha. They insist that he bring back proof that he succeeded. They first suggest video, but he rejects it on the grounds that it could damage his reputation. They then suggest underpants and he accepts. As he's walking away, his friends clarify girls' underpants.
• The Wizard of Oz: The Wizard of Oz will grant Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion's wishes if they defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and bring her broom to him as proof.

Literature

• Beware of Chicken: Jin's animals kill Sun Ken, the Whirling Demon Blade bandit, ending the terror he brought to the province, and recover his intelligent sword — but Jin doesn't want the credit, he values his privacy. So he gives the blade to the woman who was supposed to do the job, whom he meets shortly afterward, and tells her to take it back to her sect as proof of the villain's death and the completion of her mission. She's uncomfortable with taking credit that doesn't belong to her, but since Jin also saved her life, she isn't going to argue with his request.
• Some versions of Billy Beg and the Bull depict the prince sneaking up to the dragon that Billy killed, and cutting off its ears, which he then tries to present to the king as proof that it was himself in disguise who slew it and rescued the princess. However, the princess was able to seize one of Billy's shoes as he left, which is tried on the prince and doesn't fit him.
• Deadworld Isekai: Derek is a little disappointed that it's not possible to bring back proof of the tower kill to be paid the bounty on demons, but Brennan and Artemis promise to vouch for it.
  Artemis: In these kinds of circumstances, a commander's estimate can usually stand in for proof.
• Jack Vance's Demon Princes series has protagonist Kirth Gersen taking on a job to find one Mr Hoskins, a man whose importance is so great that Gersen can't even be told what it is. He's told to bring Hoskins in alive, or dead, or if that's not possible, in some fragment large enough that his death can be proven without a doubt. Only later does he find out why the police were so desperate to ensure that Hoskins not remain at large.
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Professor Lockhart finds a shed piece of skin from the basilisk, and announces that he's going to take part of it back to the school to corroborate his story about heroically slaying the beast — after wiping the memories of the witnesses, of course.
• King Goldenlocks: The king orders several servants to take Prince Goldenlocks to the woods, execute him, and bring back his little finger, eyes, and tongue as proof of his death.
• In the book Noggin And The Island from The Saga of Noggin the Nog, Nogbad takes a sandal belonging to Noggin's son Knut, and abandons Noggin and his family on an island. Nogbad shows the kingdom Knut's sandal, as evidence of Noggin's death.
• The Princess on the Glass Hill: Cinderlad succeeds in the king's Engagement Challenge of riding up the glass hill to retrieve the golden apples — but then chooses to disappear rather than immediately claim the princess' hand. It's only later, when he's fetched from home, that he admits he has the apples, and thus is able to marry the princess.
• Return of the Runebound Professor: Noah initially promises to bring back the head of a Slasher monkey to prove to his students that he knows how to kill them. But after realising how much of a mess it would make, he settles for bringing back a claw, with blood still on the root. The students try to protest that he could have bought the claw, but they're at least convinced enough to come with him so he can demonstrate firsthand.
• The Riftwar Cycle: Mara of the Acoma agrees to carry out the Dustari's vendetta against Tasaio of the Minwanabi, and promises to send them his ancestral sword as proof. As metal is uncommon in the Empire, family swords are precious and closely guarded heirlooms; there's no way she could get it except by his death, which the Dustari understand.
• Snow White: The original Grimm Brothers' version depicts the evil queen demanding that the huntsman bring her Snow White's heart. Which the queen then proceeds to eat. (Except that the huntsman actually substituted a pig's heart and let Snow White go.)
• Tales of the Bounty Hunters: Chenlambec the Wookiee has a reputation for accepting only "dead or alive" assignments, and bringing back only proof of decease. It's actually a cover for him helping some of his targets escape to the Rebel Alliance.
• Water Margin: Under orders from the Big Bad Gao Qiu, Liu Qian bribes the two constables escorting Lin Chong to prison to murder him, demanding that they bring back the skin where Lin Chong was branded as proof.

Live-Action TV

• House of Anubis: As part of her Initiation Ceremony designed by Patricia to either scare her or get her into trouble, Nina is required to go into the attic at night and bring back something to prove she went. The next morning, while everyone is praising and congratulating Nina for passing her test, Patricia snidely points out that she didn't bring back proof... and Nina pulling a book out of her bag makes Patricia storm off in a rage.

Mythology & Religion

• The Bible:
  • As dowry to let David marry his daughter, King Saul requests a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Not only were they something that David couldn't possibly collect without having thoroughly defeated their owners, they also served as a reminder that the Philistines were uncircumcised and thus outside of God's covenant, marking them as Saul's enemies. David went above and beyond, gathering two hundred, to Saul's dismay; he really wanted David to get killed in the attempt.
  • David later sneaks into Saul's camp on multiple occasions while the guards are asleep, stealing items that were right next to Saul, like a spear, and even part of Saul's clothing, to prove that he was able to get in and out and could have killed Saul if he wanted.
• The Book of Mormon:
  • When king Limhi sends a group of men to search for the land of Zarahemla, they instead find a land that they call Desolation because it's no longer inhabited but covered in bones. To prove that they aren't just making it up, they bring back some of the items that they find there, including metal breastplates and engravings in an unknown language.
  • Ammon's single-handed defeat of a band of robbers is astonishing to his companions, and they expect the king to find it equally unbelievable — so they gather up the arms that Ammon cut off his enemies, and bring them back as proof of their story.
• Classical Mythology:
  • Heracles' first labor is to kill the invulnerable Nemean lion and bring its pelt to King Eurystheus. He succeeds in completing the Impossible Task, which terrifies the king so much that he refuses to meet Heracles face-to-face after that.
  • Perseus was tasked by the king Polydectes with slaying the mortal Gorgon Medusa, in an attempt to get Perseus killed for preventing Polydectes from courting Perseus' mother. When Perseus returned, he claimed he had brought back proof of his success. Polydectes demanded to see this proof, at which point Perseus looked away and reached into the sack he was carrying, pulling out Medusa's severed head. Unluckily for Polydectes and his sycophants, even in death her powers were still active...

Tabletop Games

• Shadowrun. In early versions of the game, characters could receive a bounty for killing ghouls (human beings infected with a magical disease). To collect the bounty, the person had to prove that they had killed the ghoul by cutting off the ghoul's ears and turning them in.

Video Games

• Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura: Adkin Chambers once fought a duel with Sir Garrick Stout over which of them had the right to court Lady Druella, that ended with Stout cutting out Chambers' eyes with a dishonorable blow after the duel was supposed to have ended. Chambers will set the player character on a quest to kill Sir Garrick, remove his eyes from his corpse, and bring them to him.
• Assassin's Creed: Upon getting enough information about his assassination targets, Altair is given a feather from a Bureau Leader, which he is to dip in the blood of the target and then bring back to the Bureau Leader as proof that the assassination was successful.
• Dark Souls II: Royal Sorcerer Navlaan tasks the player with killing several friendly characters and bringing back a specific item of theirs as proof. Coincidentally, all of his targets have a way for the player to receive said item without killing them, letting the player claim Navlaan's rewards without committing murder.
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: If the Player Character joins the Dark Brotherhood, you can accept a quest from Teinaava to kill the renegade Argonian assassin Scar-Tail and bring back his heart as proof of the deed. When the player finds Scar-Tail, he recently had to kill another Argonian in self-defence so the player can opt to spare Scar-Tail and take the heart from the corpse instead.
• Fallout 3: If the Lawbringer perk is chosen, the Lone Wanderer can meet the Regulators, a faction dedicated to bringing law and order to the wasteland. Sonora Cruz, their leader, will request fingers as proof of each evil person that the Lone Wanderer has brought to justice.
• Fallout: New Vegas:
  • NCR dogtags can be either stolen from NCR soldiers or looted from their corpses, and both the NCR and Caesar's Legion will pay you to deliver them to them (with the Legion paying slightly better).
  • In the quest "An Ear to the Ground", NCR Private Sexton has decided to start a contest with his squadmates to see who can kill the most Legion soldiers and take the ears from their corpses.
• Fire Emblem Fates: In the Conquest route, Corrin knows he will be expected to kill his siblings despite not wanting to do so. However, being far enough ahead of King Garon, he is able to spare his sister, Hinoka, by taking their weapon and telling them to flee before anyone can find out how things really played out.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: In one mission, Corrupt Cops Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski order CJ to gun down one of the witnesses in the corruption case against them, and take a photo of his corpse as "evidence he ain't talking".
• Heavy Rain: The Origami killer forces Ethan to kill a man and send him a photo of the corpse to prove he did it.
• In Knights of the Old Republic, Czerka offers the player a bounty for wiping out the local Tusken Raiders, requiring you to bring back their gaffi sticks as proof of your victory, including the chieftain's stick. When asked why she doesn't want their heads, she rhetorically asks the player character what he thinks would be better to have dumped on his office floor.
• Neverwinter Nights: The player character is offered a quest to become a bounty hunter and track down a gang of criminals who recently staged a prison break, bringing back their ears (which have been branded with their prisoner ID numbers) as proof of the deed. The quest giver assumes you'll kill them to get the ears, but for most of them, you can choose to cut off their ears and let them live if you feel merciful.
• Pink Panther: Hokus Pokus Pink: In the third act, Zeus orders Pink to defeat the last two remaining Gorgons, but without shedding any blood, and bring proof of his victory. Pink defeats the Gorgons by tricking them into looking at their reflections, so their own gaze petrifies them. He then uses an instant camera to take a photo of himself with the petrified Gorgons as evidence, which he can show the Greek Gods as proof.
• Sniper Elite 4: Upon entering an Enemy Mine type of alliance with The Mafia, Lt. Karl Fairburne of the SOE is tasked by The Don Salvatore Dinelli to kill his Arch-Enemy, Black Brigade Leader and Nazi collaborator Piero Capo. Specifically, after killing Capo, Dinelli asks Fairburne to bring back with him Capo's prized rosary, a gift from Capo's mother that he is never seen without.
• South Park: The Stick of Truth: The Prince of Canada tasks the New Kid with assassinating the liberal Bishop of Banff, and bringing back his ball sack as proof. If you wish, you can spare the bishop and he'll give you the testicles of a dire pig to present to the Prince instead.
• In Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter, Roger meets an underground alien who is willing to provide him a form of transportation if Roger deals with a surface beast known as the Orat, as long as Roger brings back proof of the Orat's demise. It's enough for Roger to bring back an unidentified piece of flesh after the Orat ends up becoming Ludicrous Gibs.
• World of Warcraft has hundreds of quests where you need to kill a specific mob and bring proof back to the quest giver, usually their head for named mobs. It can also cross over with 20 Bear Asses when said proof isn't a guaranteed drop from every kill.

Webcomics

• VG Cats: Parodied in a strip ribbing on video games' tendency to assign quests around this theme, where Johnny Evilguy appears as a quest giver who tasks Aeris with assassinating Tommy Goodboy and retrieving one of his testicles as proof of the kill. Aeris gives him the requested body part, but it turns out that she didn't actually kill him for it — she just got him blackout drunk and obtained the quest item while he was unconscious.

Web Videos

• Critical Role Season 2: When the party first arrive in Alfield, they find the town besieged by gnolls and meet Watchmaster Bryce Feelid, who requests their aid in fighting off the invaders and offers a generous bounty of 50 gold per gnoll ear.

Real Life

• The Barkley Marathons, a notorious ultramarathon trail race held yearly in Tennessee, utilizes book pages as a means of confirming that runners are reaching all the checkpoints. Runners must remove the page corresponding to their race number from each book.

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