Basic Trope: A character doesn't want others to know about his good-hearted acts.
- Straight: Bob saves Hiro's life, but tells him not to tell anyone about it.
- Exaggerated: Bob has gave food and shelter to the poverty-stricken people, but warns Hiro that if he tells others about his deed, he will kill him.
- Downplayed: Bob has defended Hiro against Emperor Evulz, but tells him not to tell others about it.
- Justified:
- Bob feels that if Hiro tells others of his good-deeds, that will tarnish his fearsome reputation as a villain.
- Bob thinks that doing nice things and showing his nice side makes him look "soft" or "weak".
- Being Good Sucks in the world where Bob and Hiro live.
- Inverted: Hiro tells Bob not to tell anyone that he's done a morally reprehensible act because it had to be done.
- Subverted: Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
- Double Subverted: Bob feeds a stray dog when he's certain that no one is looking.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob doesn't care if people notice his nicer side.
- Enforced: "I want to make sure that Bob doesn't lose his edgy personality. Let's have him warn Hiro not to tell anyone about his good deeds."
- Lampshaded: "I know you're gonna give me the 'don't tell others what I did' speech because you value your reputation as a bad guy. I'm not a busy body, you know."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Alice sees Bob do something nice and uses it as blackmail against him.
- Defied: "You can go and tell every about my good side, Hiro. Maybe it won't hurt my reputation a bit."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Bob and Hiro eventually start a rocky relationship, and Bob's small, infrequent acts of real kidness are the reason Hiro, unlike everyone else, believes Bob to be a good man in spite of his constant verbal abuse. Cue Hiro sitting in his therapist's office, while she stands in front of blackboard, using a pointer to illustrate the abuse cycle (Honeymoon Phase -> Tension Builds -> Acute incident -> Honeymoon Phase...). Hiro breaks down.
- Reconstructed: Bob accidentally hears the conversation and reacts in shock. He clearly did not mean to hurt Hiro and his kindness to Hiro and others was as genuine as his problematic outbursts. He still has to reckon with the fact that he was generally abusive. He decides that he must make an effort to be reliably kind and that if he can't, he must leave Hiro for his own good.
Back to Hidden Heart of Gold. Just don't tell anyone I gave you the link, though.
