Sometimes, you surprise yourself.
"Character is what you are in the dark."
— Attr. to Dwight L. Moody (American Evangelist, 1837–1899)
The Hero is alone, except, perhaps, for the villain. No one whose opinion they care about — possibly no one at all — will ever need to know what they do next, and they know it. And there is a useful but corrupt act that they could commit, reaping the benefit without anyone ever knowing. If they do not do it, the consequences can be severe, even deadly. If the villain is there, they are 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, they may discuss it with their Good Angel, Bad Angel. Very likely, they are at their Darkest Hour, even on the verge of the Despair Event Horizon.
The Stock Phrase is usually something like "No one will ever know." It can taunt them with the futility of their heroism (perhaps even telling them that they will die alone, unmourned, with no one attending their funeral, unremembered), or tempt them with the rewards of villainy, even telling our hero that the heroic act will be interpreted as villainy, and vice versa. A more foolish and friendly villain may urge it's Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught.
What happens next?
Well, the audience finds out whether they really are The Hero.
Usually they are, 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 Can't Get Away with Nuthin': a character loots a corpse, only to discover it can be identified.
Particularly hard for the Glory Seeker. May prove to be a Secret Test of Character. May also prove a great shock to a villain who was convinced they were a Slave to PR and not so different.
If a villain is urging that no one will ever know, multiple responses are possible depending on the hero's character:
- "I'll know." (The hero can't live with themself if they fail this test.)
- "God/Heaven/the gods/[my dead loved one(s)] will know." (The hero doesn't feel like they're 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 their enemy winning in any way, or they simply want to deny the villain even the smallest of victories over them out of spite.)
- "It doesn't matter." (Regardless of anything else at play it is the right thing to do. Comparable to Anti-Nihilist.)
This can apply in cases where the credit will quickly be misappropriated, as when working for the Glory Hound, or when a Fake Ultimate Hero is present.
The usual Aesop 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 a cynical message that most humans aren't bastards only when Big Brother Is Watching.
Super-Trope of Silent Scapegoat. Antonym of Photo Op with the Dog. Often a prerequisite for a We Can Rule Together offer made to a hero. Compare Invisible Jerkass, Dude, Where's My Reward?, Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!, G.I.F.T. See also The Greatest Story Never Told and Zero-Approval Gambit. See Shoot the Dog for when there are arguments for the morality of both actions. See Hidden Heart of Gold for when a Jerkass turns out to be a nice person on the inside. May involve The Corrupter. This test of character always reveals what is Beneath the Mask. If a character erroneously believes that nobody will know what they're doing, they can find themself at the wrong end of an Engineered Public Confession (if the situation was set up deliberately) or Is This Thing Still On? (broadcasting a private moment by accident) situation.
Compare and contrast the villainous version; the villain has achieved everything they set out to do, has wealth and power beyond their imagination, and is perhaps even ready to settle down with someone they genuinely and unselfishly love. Then they realize that their actions cross a line — believing utterly that what they have done is unforgivable and a Heel–Face Turn probably won't even work — and they give it all up to fight for Good anyway. Also see Undercover When Alone.
If you are looking for the blog by the same title that is part of The Slender Man Mythos, go here.
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Asian Animation
- Mechamato: Played for laughs. A lone driver says to himself that the coast is clear before he picks his nose. Unfortunately, Ninjamera exploits this to trap him in a loop which has him pick his nose over and over against his will.
Comic Strips
- Zits: One arc kicks off with Jeremy's class getting a surprise essay assignment. Phoebe suggests to Jeremy that there's a new website selling high-quality essays for cheap that he can use to skimp out on it, saying that one cheated paper would meaning nothing in the long run. Later that night, Jeremy visits the website and muses how one click of the mouse would determine either pulling an all-nighter or paying for the grade. He thinks, then makes his choice. The next day, the teacher notices all the similar-looking assignments and says that some students, like Phoebe, will have to prove their work is original...and some will not, as evidenced by Jeremy asleep at his desk from an all-nighter with his cobbled-together essay.
Manhwa
- Yureka: Surprisingly, Lotto tends to be nicer, or more considerate of consequences (except when he surprises us and gets more brutal). The norm in Yureka tends to be more calculating and less likely to flare up. Ruthless players tend toward mercy.
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...
- Within Temptation's "Utopia":
- Referenced in the lyrics, 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.
- Referenced in the lyrics, suggesting a less favourable view of humanity;
- The Pat Green 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 The Beatles from Rubber Soul.
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 Alanis Morissette from Jagged Little Pill, directed at a "Mr. Man", about whom she claims: "I see right through you".
- Billy Joel wrote "The Stranger" about this trope, specifically its implications in romance. Do you really know your partner?
- Phil Collins would fail the test, at least regarding the subject of "In The Air Tonight."
Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand
- Mentioned in Coheed and Cambria's song "All on Fire".
We'll soon find out who we are when all goes dark.
- Poppy's "BLOODMONEY":
What do you believe when everyone is watching? What do you believe?
What do you believe when nobody is watching? What do you believe?
Myths & Religion
- 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."
- A man wants to steal some wheat from his neighbors, so he goes out one night, taking his 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 parrot. It introduces itself as Moses, which makes the robber laugh and wonder, "What kind of idiots would name a parrot Moses?" "The same people who call a hundred-pound rottweiler 'Jesus'" answers the parrot.
- The Bible knows human nature well.
- Book of Colossians instructs slaves and employees to do the work they're meant to do at all times, not only when their earthly masters' eyes are on you.
- Jesus expresses the corollary of this in Matthew 6:1-4, similar to response #2 above. Even if other mortal people never know what you did, God will still remember it.
"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven. 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. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
- Book of Genesis 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 honorable burial anyways, in his own tomb.
- The famous parable of the Good Samaritan is this trope incarnate. Jesus tells a story about a Jewish man who is beaten, robbed, and left for dead by bandits on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite see the injured man as they pass, but do nothing to help him. Then a Samaritan comes along and, upon noticing the victim, immediately gives what medical help he can, hoists the man onto his donkey, and brings him to an inn to recover, offering to pay any expenses that doctors might incur while healing him. At the time, priests and Levites were the pinnacles of their community and virtually infallible, while Samaritans were the bitter, violent enemies of the Jews; the two groups were outright forbidden to interact with each other under any circumstance. It would have been easy for the Samaritan to walk past the dying man, but he still chose to help him in his time of greatest need, regardless of their peoples' opposition to each other. The story emphasizes Jesus's belief that it is the people who do good in every situation, and without any hope of praise or reward, that are truly the children of God, irrespective of their religion.
- Another Older Than Print 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.")
Podcasts
- In 1865 Johnson tries to get Stanton to call-off his investigation by offering to nominate Stanton as a Supreme Court justice. Stanton refuses without missing a beat. It’s going to take a lot more than that to stop him from fighting for Lincoln’s legacy.
Sports
- In sports, this is a term called "fair play." It's seen as a very classy move for a sportsperson to admit to screwing up and take a penalty when they deserve it if a referee missed the call. By the same token, it's seen as a mark of class to not take an advantage one didn't deserve.
- In a high school women's softball match, Sara Tucholsky hit a home run
, but tore her ACL rounding first base. Her teammates couldn't help her due to the rules. But Tucholsky's opponents realized there was no rule saying an opponent couldn't help a runner. So they picked Tucholsky up, carried her around the bases, and let her touch home plate to let her score the run. However, their generosity was eventually rewarded with lots of airtime of the moment, including an ESPY Award for "Best Sportsmanship Moment."
- During a race at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Canadian sailor 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, Lemieux turned back to save the Singapore team. Lemieux only left the team once help had arrived, which cost Lemieux the race, as he came in dead last. 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 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.
Tabletop Games
- In an unusually literal use of this trope, 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 PCs have had time to build up grudges and conflicting goals.
Theatre
- In Into the Woods, 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.
- Les Misérables:
- 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. Javert's inability to understand Valjean's morality ends up driving him to suicide.
- In the Mrs. Hawking 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. 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.
- In William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, 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.
- Another, more tragic example occurs in King Lear. At the opening of the play, Lear plans to retire as king and leave the realm to his three daughters. He declares that he will decide on the size and quality of their portion of land based on a speech they give about how much they love him. The elder princesses Goneril and Regan launch into lengthy monologues about how amazing Lear is, how he's the perfect man, and how they'll never love anyone as much as him. But then Cordelia, the youngest daughter—and Lear's favorite—gives a humbler speech, explaining that while she does love her father, he's not the only thing she cares about (for example, she's planning to marry, and will certainly love her husband more so than her dad). Lear is absolutely infuriated by this, and gives her multiple chances to say something more flattering, but Cordelia refuses. This prompts Lear to rescind his offer and banish her. It turns out, though, that Goneril and Regan were blatantly lying about their love for the king and ultimately abandon him. In contrast, Cordelia's honesty proved that she was actually of strong character and good judgment, but Lear's self-absorption blinds him to those facts until it's too late.
- One scene in Eugene Ionesco's "The Killing Game" involves a split scene depicting two people, Jeanne and Pierre, enjoying an afternoon with their respective romantic partners when they're suddenly stricken by a terrifying and lethal disease. As the disease progresses, it robs the victims of their senses to the point where they can no longer perceive whether their partner is even there or not. Pierre's partner takes advantage of this to abandon him in hopes of reducing her own chances of catching the disease... but Jeanne's partner chooses to stay by her side and hold her in her dying moments, even though he knows she can't tell the difference.
- Wicked: 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 the Animals. Cue Defying Gravity, her "I Am Becoming" Song. She gets this twice, and considers it the second time until Dr. Dillamond shows up.
Web Animation
- Helluva Boss: In "Seeing Stars", when Octavia is stranded in the living world and Loona is the only one who can find her, she chooses to blow off the mission and wanders around Los Angeles alone instead, on her phone with some coffee. However, she sees several Sinstagram posts from Octavia, revealing she's nearby. Loona could easily pretend she never saw them and go on her way, and no one would know. But after a moment of hesitation, she throws the coffee away and tries to track down Octavia in earnest.
- 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 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. 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.
- The Volume 7 ending theme, '"Fear", discusses this trope in summarizing one of the central themes of the volume.
Who will you see
There in the darkness?
When no one is watching
Who will you be? - Tales of Alethrion: "The First Hero" ends with the titular character sealing away a demonic version of himself at the cost of his life with no one, including his Love Interest ever learning he was anything but a heartless mercenary Only in It for the Money.
Webcomics
- In an arc in Fans!, Jesse was revealed to be 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."
- In 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.
- The Order of the Stick:
- Belkar Bitterleaf sort of has one of these 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 murder.
- Also, when Vaarsuvius accepts a Deal with the Devil, 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 V to save their family without owing them a single thing. The only catch is that it involves other people (some of whom 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 your children if you don't."
- V's rescue of O-Chul qualifies. Vaarsuvius is heavily injured, nearly out of spells, and completely out of their league, against 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 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.
- Belkar Bitterleaf sort of has one of these here.
- In Oren’s Forge, Hemlock is ardently anti-predator. However, in Volume II, after killing Seral, she has the opportunity to kill Swift and Red's defenceless pups, but doesn't take it.
- Susan from Sire delivers 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.
- Sluggy Freelance: 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.
- Rachel from Tower of God is given the opportunity of climbing the Tower as long as she plays part in the conspiracy that requires Bam to die. When they are alone and Bam once again states he wants to be with her, she pushes him off the platform.
- unOrdinary: Blyke comes across the criminal he's hunting for and realizes he's amped-up and probably out of his league, so decides to call it quits. He hesitates though, hidden as the locals who have no chance of defeating the guy stand up to him instead of running and instead jumps into the fray to save their lives, telling them to run even though he's likely to get killed in the ensuing fight. He only survives due to the intervention of a more experienced hero.
- In The Whiteboard, "Rainman" turns himself in when he gets marked during a tourney, thinking 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.
Web Original
- In anachronauts: Forsaken Shores, the bad guy du jour tempts each of the members of the titular team, offering them what they desire (romantically or otherwise). The only thing they have to do in return is say "yes" to him murdering someone. Not help in any practical way. Just consent. None of the heroes takes the bait... but when he approaches a minor villain from the previous book, she does buy herself some juicy revenge.
- 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 that his mother had committed suicide), Donnie DuPre from Demo Reel refuses to hurt them or become like them, and only twitchily mentions his experience in passing to his friends.
- I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC has Superman go through this in "After Hours". 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. Thankfully, his choice's results...
- The members of the Knights of Fandom 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.
- In the final episode of 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.
- Three Worlds Collide has an extreme example of this. In the epilogue, the crew of the Impossible Possible World is nine minutes away from 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 To Boldly Flee, The Nostalgia Critic sacrifices himself to both allow his friend's spirit to be at peace and also to bring stability to the Plot Hole. The only other people who know what he has done are Film Brain, The Angry Video Game Nerd, and the Writer.
- In Twig, Sylvester is holding a hostage at gunpoint after having previously determined that he needs to Leave No Witnesses in order to keep Mary safe from reprisal attacks after they've killed the Baron Richmond, but realizes that he doesn't want to kill an innocent, and (with the help of a hallucinatory Jamie) instead goes to considerable lengths to keep his hostages alive, even though it creates complications.
- Worm. Taylor has the power to control bugs, that's it. Leviathan 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 considered a villain and the civilians include a teacher who stood by as her life was made a living hell. What does she do?
- Tragically, though, Taylor feels that the mere fact she considered abandoning the shelter means she isn't really cut out to be a hero.
Web Video
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged: In Episode 35, the Z fighters arrive at South City looking for the androids that are supposed to attack there and split up to cover more ground. Who's the first one to come into contact with them? Yamcha, when he hears a scream that indicates that the androids are nearby and attacking. 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. In the end, he goes out to help when no one else arrives.
Yamcha: (Thinking) This isn't fair!
- Sword Art Online Abridged
- In Episode 5, Kirito and Asuna 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, so he draws cat whiskers on her face. When Asuna wakes up, she's under the impression that Kirito molested Asuna while she was asleep, and threatens to kill him if he doesn't own up. Kirito reveals that he drew on her face, but he never even thought of anything else, even getting genuinely confused when Asuna suggests he could have done something else. This causes Asuna to get flustered and invite him out for coffee.
- In Episode 13, Suguha is lounging on the back porch eating a snack when Kirito returns, which leads to a near-death experience after she starts choking on her snack. Kirito thinks to himself that all he has to do to get rid of Suguha is nothing, which would end years of her bullying and abuse. The only thing that could save Suguha is if Kirito hands her a nearby juice box, which he finds himself doing in the middle of his internal monologue.