"The Liyue Qixing always repay their debts. And as you have heard, our eyes see far and our reach is long. Name your price. You deserve that much."
— Keqing, Genshin Impact, "The Fond Farewell"
It can be hard to predict what a person wants most, especially since so many dreams are personal in nature. So for The Good King or other powerful figures, the solution is simple: offer a single wish note of the recipient's choosing. They could choose anything; the Standard Hero Reward, a vast sum of money, or some sweeping change to the setting's laws of physics and/or status quo. The wish doesn't have to be non-magical. What's important is that its nature is decided by the person being rewarded and that the giver was not compelled by their own nature to do so. They may be compelled to reward someone they don't like (for example, an Evil Overlord begrudgingly rewarding heroes who win a tournament), but the choice to offer a wish in the first place was their own.
Related tropes are Quest for a Wish (when the characters know from the outset that a wish is possible and are consciously working to earn it), Three Wishes (which usually start a plot, rather than end one), the more character-focused Genie Tropes, May It Never Happen Again (if a boon is used to stop the plot's main conflict from recurring), Medals for Everyone (a scene in which boons are often offered), Comically Small Demand (which a humble or quirky recipient might make in response). "Rewards" that are not freely offered by the giver probably fall under You Owe Me, Wager Slave, or Please, I Will Do Anything!. Wise recipients will remember that wishes can backfire even if given by someone well-intentioned.
What this trope is not: An in-universe choice between several rewards predetermined by the giver. If, however, a character is offered "anything" and their options are merely represented by a list of predetermined rewards (as in most video game examples), that is still the trope.
Ending spoilers below!
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight!: To sweeten the pot of the Tournament Arc, Jeremy Friedman, the Fiction 500 CEO sponsoring it, offers the quarterfinalists any one wish of their choice as an additional prize if they win. These range from Mundane Wishes such as protagonist Misora wanting an all-expenses-paid vacation for her family, to journalist Kujioka Mika wanting an exclusive interview with Friedman himself, to professional judoka Alevtina Guseva asking for matches against men's heavyweight champions. Played for Drama with Maomao, who initially asks for him to find her missing mentor for her, but actually wants a refugee visa to America so that she isn't returned to Myanmar since she's part of a persecuted ethnic minority.
- Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai: The King's reward for the golden slime is "You may name your reward!"
- In Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, those who pass the imperial mage exam and become first-class mages (which only about sixty living people have managed to do) are granted the privilege of taking any one grimoire they want from the Great Mage Serie's collection. Since Serie is a thousand-year-old elf whose collection includes just about every grimoire known to man, this amounts to being allowed to learn any spell you like. When Fern passes the exam, she chooses a grimoire for cleaning one's clothes, much to Serie's vexation.
- Ghost Reaper Girl: As a bonus for managing to befriend Shoggoth and Dr. West and slaying a malevolent deity with them, Nyarlathotep offers Chloé anything she wants as an additional reward on top of the listed bounty payout. Chloé chooses an all-expenses-paid dinner out for them all; cue panel of Nyarla wondering afterwards how they managed to rack up such a Shockingly Expensive Bill.
- Her Majesty's Petite Angie: After Angie locates Queen Victoria's missing jewels (which even Scotland Yard couldn't find, despite their best efforts), Victoria is indebted to her. She knights Angie and tells her she can have anything of her choice as a reward. Angie asks that she be able to join the detective force, despite her young agenote . The Queen allows it.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
- Subverted in Chapter 2, where Kaguya challenges Shirogane to a game of Old Maid with the winner being allowed to make any request from the loser (within reason). Shirogane quickly realizes that she's trying to manipulate circumstances so he'll be forced to win and request the movie tickets from Chapter 1 (which would be tantamount to asking her on a date), and instead simply takes one of the tickets and leaves her to do what she wants with the other one (setting up the events of Chapter 3).
- Discussed in the climax of the Culture Festival arc. Shirogane says that he should have had a prize ready for Kaguya figuring out that he's the Phantom Thief and asks if there's anything she wants. She doesn't say what she actually wants (for him to confess to her), and then the two get distracted by introspection. It's only in the following chapter that she finally figures out what she'll take as her reward. Their first kiss.
Fan Works
- Digimon Codex: At the end of "Royal Knighting" the Royal Knights thank the humans for their help, especially Flash for his efforts in adding UlforceVeedramon and Examon to their ranks, and Omnimon declares that if there is anything they want as thanks they can just name it and they will do what is within their power to make it happen. After a moment, Flash asks on behalf of the whole group if they can scan the Royal Knights so they can unlock their evolutions, saying they are free to say no if they want. After a moment they all step forward and agree, believing they have earned their trust.
- In Dungeon Keeper Ami, Ami gets "The Light" (the local collective of good deities) to offer her anything within reason in exchange for their newest champion:
We are intrigued. Speak, then, but know that there are things We will not even consider.
- A Game of Cat and Cat: The Nahobino, a powerful god, offered Mina Hakuba one wish as thanks for keeping him company during a difficult time. Mina couldn't bring herself to accept; to her, no wish could ever make up for what she could have wished for, especially if she could have used it to save her loved ones. He relents and erases her memory of the offer, and later gifts her with an amulet of divine protection.
- Played straight and then subverted in The Keys Stand Alone. The four are asked by the Pyar gods to help bring down the Black Tower and its minions, and their reward will be one wish each. This wish can cover anything, including being able to take their magic back to Earth, something Ringo desperately wants, as he is terribly addicted to his mindsight and doesn’t think he will survive going home without it. However, as events progress, they realize that if the Black Tower goes down, all its minions will be wiped out—something they cannot countenance in the slightest. So they plan to use their wishes to save the minions, though John pledges to use his for Ringo should it become necessary. And the subversion comes when they find out they’ve been in a giant telepathic MMORPG all along, and the wishes are as fake as everything else. Which is devastating to Ringo, though he had already figured out that even if he went home with his magic, he’d be in even worse mental trouble, because he wouldn’t be able to relate to anyone on Earth.
- Kill Them All: Tony Stark is a little bemused by Taylor suggesting that she could pay Peter by offering him a chest of gold or a favour, so she points out that her Combo Platter Powers include healing powers and even resurrection technology. "I'd think a favor from someone like me would be worth a bit."
- A Long Road
: The Terilee River has been the site of many murders, and is therefore inhabited by a lot of restless ghosts. When a new victim was thrown in to drown, they managed to keep her close enough to the surface for living people to rescue her. When the Queen is told about this by a friendly necromancer, she's extremely grateful and summons the ghosts to her court so she can reward them. They first ask for the opportunity to testify against their murderers, but she tells them they'll get that anyway and to ask for something else. In the end, they request that she establish a riverside patrol in their memory, ensuring that no one else will die like they did.
- In FredMSloniker's Let's Play of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team, Articuno declares that he Must Make Amends for attacking the world's saviors and promises them anything within his power. Sheldon tells him not to worry about it, but when Articuno insists, he asks that Articuno join their team.
- The Rigel Black Chronicles:
- Headmaster Dumbledore gently insists that facing the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets needs to end on a positive note, and won't let Harry and Ginny leave his office until they name their reward.
Dumbledore: What do you want, then? If it is not too bold for an old man to say, what is within my power to bestow is not inconsiderable.
- Lord Riddle claims to be offering Rigel something similar in exchange for participating in the Triwizard Tournament, but her very first suggestion reveals that there are tighter limits on what he is willing to give.
Rigel: You said I could ask for anything.
Riddle: Anything else.
- Headmaster Dumbledore gently insists that facing the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets needs to end on a positive note, and won't let Harry and Ginny leave his office until they name their reward.
- The Weaver's Web:
- Lung plays chess against 25 people at once, with the grand prize for beating him being one favour, within fairly generous limits. The open-endedness of the prize is what makes it important, because Lung needs the game to challenge him and threaten him with a high stakes loss in order to stoke his power.
A house? Certainly. A high position? Yes. To simply be left alone by the ABB, or to put someone under their protection? Just ask. There were lesser prizes, bundles of cash, and such, but that was the big one.
- For Taylor's help with protecting Dinah and helping her learn to use her power more effectively, Alexandria promises The Investigator one unspecified favour, "but don't overdo it."
A very big, but limited and single-use hammer.
- Lung plays chess against 25 people at once, with the grand prize for beating him being one favour, within fairly generous limits. The open-endedness of the prize is what makes it important, because Lung needs the game to challenge him and threaten him with a high stakes loss in order to stoke his power.
- With This Ring:
- As compensation for the city of London's cooperation with his plan to ambush Nabu in Hyde Park, Paul offers the mayor one week of his time — which, with a power ring, is worth a lot. Catching criminals? He can do that. Clearing contamination from brownfield sites? No trouble. Building roads and housing? Consider it done. Raising a new island for building an airport? Just provide the plans. The city can pretty much have whatever it wants if it will get Paul what he wants.
- The Yellow Lantern Paul isn't impressed by Lion-O, or interested in joining his crusade against Mumm-Ra — but if Lion-O happens to find a yellow personal lantern for him to recharge more quickly and easily, "you can pretty much name your price."
Films — Animation
- In The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, King Triton commends Melody for the bravery she showed fighting Morgana and rewards her with "a most precious gift"; the choice of living in Atlantica as a mermaid or returning to her human parents. Instead, she uses his trident to destroy the castle seawall, reuniting the realms of land and sea so they can all live together. Triton also accepts this option.
- In the ending of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1998), Stormella is about to kill the protagonists when (due to dangerous architecture) she slips and falls herself. Rudolph pulls her up, despite everything, and so Stormella — who is malicious but not unreliable — is obliged by the "rules of the North Pole" to offer him one wish in return. Rudolph is sorely tempted to ask for a normal nose, but after thinking about it for a while, he makes the wisest and most selfless wish possible in the situation: "I want you to be nice." Stormella is not happy about this, but, well, a wish is a wish. So that is exactly what she does.
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: At the end of the film, Satan finally grows a spine and stands up to Saddam Hussein, his abusive boyfriend, by killing him. The Prince of Darkness credits Kenny (who'd died and been sent to Hell earlier) for giving him the courage to defeat Hussein and offers him "any wish he wants" as a reward. Kenny's choice: for Satan to hit a cosmic Reset Button and restore Earth to how it was before the American-Canadian War began, even though that means he'll be sent back to Hell. Satan agrees and triggers a World-Healing Wave that brings all the dead back to life—and in a case of Sweet and Sour Grapes, Kenny gets to ascend to Heaven because his wish was truly selfless.
Films — Live-Action
- The Gamers: Dorkness Rising: At the climax of the game, the goddess Therin offers the Player Party a wish in gratitude for her rescue. The Roleplayer Joanna asks to bring their NPC friend Back from the Dead instead of any personal reward, infuriating the Munchkin Cass.
- In Lords Of Magick, Michael the wizard has rescued the princess from the evil overlord, and the king has promised him the proverbial blank check for a reward. Michael and the princess have fallen in love, so she anticipates Michael asking for her hand. Instead, Michael asks to resurrect his brother Ulric (which would normally be illegal), who had been tempted into evil but redeemed himself before dying. Her disappointment is obvious, much to Spoony's amusement.
- Suicide Squad (2016): At the end, Amanda Waller, the person in charge of the Squad, realizes that she needs to give the criminal members more than just a reduction in sentence to keep them docile. When Deadshot demands to be allowed to see his daughter, Waller agrees and asks the others what they want. Harley asks for an espresso machine and Killer Croc asks to be allowed to watch BET (Black Entertainment Television), both of which are granted. When Captain Boomerang demands to be allowed to leave the Squad entirely, Waller refuses and he gets nothing.
Folklore & Fairytales
- In "The Magic Ring" (tale type 560 in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index), the Snake King offers a boy gold or silver to reward him for rescuing the king's son. Instead, the Snake King's son tells the boy to ask for a ring (or jewel, in some versions) that the King is wearing. This is because that ring is magical and can grant anything the boy desires.
Literature
- In the original Arabian Nights, several djinn offer favors in exchange for being freed from their prisons (which they're usually in for damn good reasons).
- In A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch, Mildred goes to great lengths to rescue Algernon from his Forced Transformation into a frog. He offers her any reward she might ask for, and she asks to have tea with him (knowing that a simple old-fashioned teatime was the thing Algernon missed most during his imprisonment).
- Discussed in the The Chronicles of Prydain. After Taran learns that Fflewddur Fflam is the king of a very small country within Prydain's borders, he very politely requests a boon. Fflewddur is delighted, saying that granting boons is his favorite thing about being a king (and indeed, one of the only things about it that he actually enjoys, since he prefers to spend his time as a Wandering Minstrel). Circumstances prevent the boon from ever actually being granted, however.
- Cradle Series: The grand prize for winning the Uncrowned King tournament is a single boon from the collected Monarchs of Cradle. You cannot ask for something that would endanger or enslave a Monarch and there are limits to even their powers, but even a single boon from multiple Monarchs working together can be priceless. After winning the tournament, Yerin ends up using the boon to get the Monarchs to fix the damage she did to her soul from her botched advancement to Herald.
- In the Dragons Of Introvertia series, it is customary for great heroes to be taken before the court of Introvertia, formally thanked, and asked what reward they desire. It is also customary that the hero humbly decline and say that the honor of doing their duty is enough reward. Nonetheless, Eza asks that Cammie be naturalized as an Introvertian (with all the political protection that entails), and the monarchs readily grant his request. It's good they did, because not long after, Cammie's native country declares her an exile.
- The Dresden Files: At the end of Proven Guilty, Harry is granted one boon by the Summer Queen for helping her protect her realm from the Winter Fae. He cashes in that boon for a donut at the end of Small Favor, causing Eldest Gruff to leave Harry alone for long enough to finish the battle he was in, by which point he was no longer a target of the Summer Court.
- Female General and Eldest Princess: When the Emperor summons Lin Wanyue for the second time, he first offers her a Rank Up in recognition of her military achievements, but Wanyue declines it. Frustrated, he asks what she wants from him instead, promising to fulfill any request — and Wanyue immediately takes him up on his word and asks him to let her marry his favorite daughter, the Eldest Princess Li Xian (with whom Wanyue has been in love for years). Since the Emperor cannot go back on his own word without losing face, he approves of the marriage despite Wanyue's status being way lower than Li Xian's. It turns out the whole thing was planned out by Li Xian, who subtly manipulated her father into marrying her to Wanyue so Li Xian's faction would be strengthened by Wanyue's military talent; the Emperor was already looking for an excuse to matchmake them when Wanyue "caught him up on his word".
- In The Golden Goblet, Queen Tiy rewards Ranofer with a gift of his choice after he warns her about tomb-robbers. He just asks for a donkey, which surprises her, so he explains his long story about how a donkey would help him achieve his dream of becoming a goldsmith. She obliges, and the story ends with Ranofer passing by Heqet and the Ancient on his new donkey.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: In the Tale of the Three Brothers, the Peverell brothers come across a dangerous river and, being wizards, conjure a bridge across it from thin air. Death appears before them and he's secretly mad because they didn't drown in the river, but he pretends to be impressed and offers them each a reward of their choice. Antioch, the fierce eldest brother, asks for a wand worthy of a wizard who's defeated Death and gets the most powerful wand in the world. Cadmus, the smug middle brother, asks for something to bring others back from Death and gets a rock that can conjure spirit-like shades of his loved ones. Ignotus, the wise youngest brother, asks for something that will hide him from Death and gets a cloak that makes him invisible.
- The Lord of the Rings: Galadriel gives gifts to all the members of the Fellowship but is at a loss as to what to give the dwarf Gimli. Gimli says that all he would want is to gaze upon her beauty a bit longer. She immediately tells her fellow elves that she no longer wants to hear anyone say that dwarves are grasping or greedy. She then insists that Gimli ask for something, saying she would feel like a bad hostess if she let him leave empty-handed. He asks for a single strand of her golden hair. She gives him three.
- In The Marvelous Land of Oz, a principal character is the "Gump", which was put together from two sofas, four palm leaves, a broomstick tail, and an elk's head, and then brought to life. At the end of the story, it is offered any reward it might name. The Gump asks to be taken apart, as it was originally put on the earth to walk, not fly.
- In the children's book One Grain Of Rice, during a famine, the raja of India is too selfish to give out the rice in the royal storehouses even though he has tons of it, and the people go hungry. A clever girl named Rani collects some fallen grains dropped by a royal elephant and brings them to the raja. When he offers her anything she desires in return, she asks for a single grain of rice doubled each day for thirty days. It takes her until the 13th day to get enough to fill a bowl, and until the 24th day to get enough for a basket. On the 27th day, she receives 64 baskets. On the last three days, the rice has to be delivered to her by a massive fleet of camels, bulls, and elephants. Her total amounts to more than a billion grains of rice, which she shares with all the hungry people.
- In Percy Jackson and the Olympians' epilogue, Percy is granted one wish by Zeus for saving Olympus. Zeus expects him to pick the standard wish of immortality, but instead Percy demands that all of the gods recognize their illegitimate children and bring them to Camp Half-Blood.
- In Redemptor, Tarisai's ehru father lets her make one wish, in recognition of all she did to free him and the empire. She changes the world so that The Chosen Many's potential will be measured by their worthiness, not their genes.
- Saintess Summons Skeletons: Completing the third trial's bonus task allows the trial taker to send a request directly to a top-tier System scribe (who has the capability to do almost anything within the System's purview). Sofia follows her own scribe's directions and asks for her scribe to be allocated more resources, while Pareth asks for Voluntary Shapeshifting so he can overcome the drawbacks of his large and powerful form.
[You are now connected to: HANDLER; please redeem your reward: (Any reasonable request)*1]
- At the end of "A Scandal in Bohemia," the King of Bohemia offers to give Sherlock Holmes anything, and Holmes chooses a photograph of Irene Adler.
- In the epilogue of The Sorcerer's Receptionist, King Zerolight offers everyone who fought the seemingly-hopeless battle against Stadel a reward: one million pegalos and a wish of their choice, provided the wish is possible. Alois asks for a temporary lift on the ban against inter-class marriages, Satanas and Benjamine ask for a house, Prince Zenon informally recommends that several traitorous ministers of government get fired, Nikeh asks that her family be ennobled, and Nanalie asks that she be de-nobled so she can pursue the job she loves. The last one is a bit difficult to arrange, so the Court Mage inflicts a bit of Laser-Guided Amnesia on everyone who knows Nanalie's true heritage. Let no one say Zerolight does not take gratitude seriously.
- Space Brat: In the climax of book 4, after throwing a massive tantrum and giving the Dips the most fun they've ever had, Blork is offered a boon — anything except his poodnoobie back. He winds up figuring out how to use it — to bring the mostly-buried statue of the Lost Lord of Silliness to the surface, which ultimately leads to the Dips deciding Gumbo, one of their own people, is the real Lost Lord of Silliness (it's actually her many-times removed great-grandfather, but they're dumb enough that they can't tell the difference) rather than Lunk.
- In Alexander Pushkin's The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, the king promises the astrologer that in exchange for his help, a wish he makes will be fulfilled as if it were the king's own.
- In Tress of the Emerald Sea, the dragon Xisis offers one major boon for anyone who can bring him a slave who is not afraid of the deadly spores that comprise his lair. When Captain Crow drags Tress to him, Tress convinces Xisis to take Crow instead, and so, she is granted the boon. As the only things that Tress wants are beyond Xisis' power, she asks instead for three small boons for her friends — a translation tablet for Fort, a pair of corrective glasses for Ann, and the location of Salay's long-missing father.
- Trial of Champions opens with you being Made a Slave by the vile Lord Carnuss, who forces you to compete in the titular trial and win its prize — 20,000 gold pieces. If you succeed, Carnuss will forcefully claim the prize money on your behalf since you're his slave, but then the trial's creator announces a new rule: the winner can have a single wish granted. You make a wish to challenge Carnuss to a Duel to the Death.
- In The Wizard, The Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey, the novel The Queen of Twilight ends with the wizard granting the heroine her heart's desire after she defeats the titular villain. One of the many changes when Heather and Veronica are transported into the novel is that Veronica, knowing the novel's plot, suggests they complete the heroine's quest specifically to get their hearts' desire — which would be to go back to their own world.
- In The Source of Magic, the Demon X(A/N)th gives Bink a wish capable of providing "anything within the realm of magic" he desires. When Bink can't immediately decide what to ask for, the Demon gives him the wish in tangible form so he can decide later.
Live-Action TV
- In The 10th Kingdom, the spirit of Snow White (now a fairy godmother of sorts) offers Virginia one wish before she leaves to help Virginia defeat the Evil Queen, warning her that she must choose wisely. Virginia wishes that her father's bad luck curse was over and his broken back was healed.
Snow White: Strictly speaking, that's two wishes. But it's done.
- LazyTown: In "Crystal Caper", the reward offered for the return of Sportacus’s missing crystal is one wish. Robbie turns in a fake version of the crystal in to claim the reward and wish Sportacus out of LazyTown forever. Stingy turns in the real crystal and wishes not to take things that don’t belong to him again.
- In Three Kingdoms, a man reports a plot against Cao Cao, who promises to reward him with rank and wealth. The man asks for one more thing, and Cao acquiesces, saying that he will grant anything that's within his power. The man asks for one of the plotters' concubines, a woman he'd been having an affair with. Instead, Cao has him executed, seeing that the man's report had been motivated by self-interest rather than loyalty to him.
Mythology & Religion
- In The Bible (1 Kings, chapter 3), God rewards Solomon for his devotion by offering one wish, and Solomon requests wisdom so he can better serve God's people. It turns out to be a Secret Test of Character on the Almighty's part: He wanted to see if Solomon would choose earthly riches or power, but by asking for wisdom, he proved himself humble, so God grants him both the wisdom he asked for and great wealth.
- The Book of Mormon: Jesus asks his twelve disciples what they want when he returns to heaven. Nine of them ask to live to age seventy and then come to heaven with him. The last three are hesitant to admit that what they want is not to die at all so they can preach the gospel perpetually. Jesus praises and grants both desires.
Puppet Shows
- LazyTown: In "The Lazy Genie," the genie offers Sportacus a free wish as thanks for saving his genie lamp from falling. Sportacus decides to give the wish to Stingy—who, in a surprisingly selfless moment, asks the genie to bring back Robbie Rotten, who'd been "disappeared" by the djinn earlier.
Tabletop Games
- Vampire: The Masquerade: The exchange of boons, also called prestation, is an important part of Kindred society, particularly for a Camarilla domain. After all, what use are material riches to a being that is functionally immortal? This is useful for players in long running LARPs, who can use prestation to get things done that they don't have the skill to do for themselves. In tabletop games, it's usually a plot hook; the player characters all owe a boon to someone important and are compelled to investigate something on their behalf to repay the debt.
Video Games
- At the end of Dragon Age: Origins, the newly-crowned monarch of Ferelden asks the Player Character (if they survived) to choose a boon for themselves, with different options available based on their Origin.
- The City Elf can demand emancipation and legal recognition of the Enslaved Elves, in which case they (or their cousin Shianni) will be created the bann (baron) of the newly-independent Alienage.
- The Human Noble can ask for vengeance on the traitorous Howe family. This means that the Howes lose their titles and land, which are then bestowed upon the Grey Wardens' order.note
- A Mage warden can ask for the mages of the Circle Tower to be given independence.
- The Dalish Elf can ask for land, so their people will finally have a home to call their own.
- A Dwarf warden can ask for aid against the Darkspawn so that the Dwarves will no longer fight their constant battle against the Darkspawn alone. note
- A Warden of any origin can ask "to further serve the crown". This gives the Warden the title of Chancellor and makes a Mage warden the first Mage Chancellor of Ferelden in over a century.
- Commonly done in Dragon Quest, usually after beating one of the game's superbosses.
- In Dragon Quest III, beating the Superboss Xenlon in a certain amount of turns will allow him to grant you a wish. The pick of wishes on offer depends on the version of the game. In the HD-2D Remake, he can offer you access to the Temple of Trials, and he can also allow the Hero to style their appearance among other wishes.
- In Dragon Quest VI, if the player beats Nokturnus within a small amount of turns, he's so impressed with your skill that he grants you a boon. The party asks him to beat the Big Bad Mortamor, which he does with contemptuous ease, one-shotting his various forms while no-selling his attacks.
- In Dragon Quest VIII, the Lord of the Dragovians will grant the Hero a wish of the Hero's choosing if he manages to beat one of the Lord's forms.
- In Dragon Quest XI, completing one of the postgame Drustan trials rewards the player with a wish. Gameplay models this by having the player choose between predetermined options; marriage (or a life partner), a recipe for a holy sword, and a copy of Ogler's Digest. The process is repeatable.
- Fallout: New Vegas: Upon completion of the "G.I. Blues" side quest, the mob boss known only as "The King" grants you a single favor. Your options to cash in that favor are limited by the quest design, but you can receive free entrance to the Vegas Strip, membership in his gang, a pile of cash, or, later on, negotiate a truce between King's gang and the NCR.
- In Final Fantasy IX, the Festival of the Hunt's victor is allowed to choose their reward. Zidane asks for money, Vivi a card for the local minigame, and Freya a rare accessory. Since letting Freya win is the best outcome from a gameplay perspective, the challenge is to let her win while controlling only Zidane for most of the section.
- Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave: In the reveal trailer, the Divine Sovereign promises to grant whatever wishes the winners of the Heroic Games have.
- Genshin Impact: In the quest "A New Star Approaches", the Traveler helps to save Liyue Harbor. Its governing body, represented by Keqing, give the Traveler the option to ask anything of them; the Traveler merely asks to put up posters for their missing sibling, prompting Keqing to accuse them of trying to look cool.
- In Kingdom Hearts II, after the party revisits The Land Of Dragons, the Emperor offers boons to them and Mulan for saving the nation. Sora only asks if the Emperor knows where Riku is (to the chagrin of Donald and Goofy, who clearly want stereotypical things) while Mulan, acting on her obvious feelings for Shang, asks if he can have a vacation. The Emperor is taken aback by how humble the requests are.
- In Lost Ruins, finishing Astarte's quest means she offers the Heroine a "just name it" reward. The Heroine asks for information about the Dark Lady's followers that Astarte was clearly hiding before. However, she's not willing to provide what are only guesses and instead gives the Heroine the best bow she has.
- Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals: After an early quest to retrieve the royal crown, the king offers the hero a reward of his choosing. No matter which option (money, marrying the princess, becoming king, nothing) is picked, he will be given money ultimately. Choosing "Nothing" earns the most.
- In NetHack, the player can obtain a wish from very rare sources, such as a wand of wishing or a random encounter with a djinn. You can then type out the item that you want to receive, and the text parser will do its best to give you that exact item. You can even wish for the item to have specific properties, as in a "blessed greased +2 gray dragon scale mail". The only things you can't wish for are the Amulet of Yendor, the components required to reach said Amulet, your class artifact, and any item that gives you more wishes (you receive a much worse replacement item instead).
- In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team, Jirachi can grant the player a wish if certain prerequisites (that depend on which version of the game you have) are met. Possible wishes include "lots of money" (meaning Jirachi will summon all the Poké note that was in the Mystery Dungeon into the room), "lots of items" (Jirachi will summon random items from the Mystery Dungeon), "a Friend Area" or "a Camp" (the player will receive one Friend Area/Rescue Camp, sold in the Wigglytuff Club), "more strength" (the floor is covered with random stat enhancers), and "something good". The latter causes one of three things; a random Pokemon joining your Rescue Team, an increase in Rescue Rank, or a reward of 10,000 Poké.
- Sonic Adventure 2 subverts the trope. When Shadow is freed by Eggman, he offers to grant the former "one wish" as repayment... but what he really means is that he'll help him collect the seven Chaos Emeralds. This would enable them to activate the Eclipse Cannon and hold the world to ransom, allowing Eggman to blackmail the world's leaders into granting his desires (namely, world domination).
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: At the end of the Heart of Stone expansion, if Geralt sided with Gaunter O'Dimm, he gets to make a single request. Among them are:
- Asking to be "as swift as the wind" gives him the Caparison of Lament, a saddle that adds 100 stamina to Geralt's horse and confuses enemies when they come into range.
- Asking to "never go hungry again" gives him the Horn of Plenty, an endless supply of food (and therefore endless healing).
- A bottomless bottle of vodka — useful for brewing Witcher potions, which are alcohol-based.
- 5,000 Crowns, because Witchers expect to get paid for their services. They'll be unimpressed by Geralt's Mundane Wish but will grant it anyway.
- Advice on how to find Ciri. Her location is obscured even from Gaunter, but he can see into the future and provides genuinely useful advice (if only to stop the White Frost) on how to get the game's Golden Ending.
- Geralt can also turn down the reward because he's sick of putting up with his 'client'.
Web Animation
- Dorkly Originals: In "Link's Wish", Link receives the Triforce after defeating Ganon. After the usual spiel about "the deepest wish of your heart and mind shall be granted'', Link wishes for... a pizza dinosaur. Perplexed by Link choosing that over the restoration of Hyrule, the triforce floats offscreen; Zelda begins to lecture Link about his bad choice, but is eaten by said pizza dinosaur.
Webcomics
- Lore Olympus: At a celebration acknowledging them as his kids, Zeus offers Apollo and Artemis one wish to be granted. Apollo chooses to end Leto’s banishment. Artemis chooses to stay in the Mortal Realm, where Persephone is serving punishment.
- In Mage & Demon Queen, King Albert offers whoever slays the demon queen a boon of whatever they want. Malori has no interest in doing the former, so she tries to break the obligation by asking for something Albert is unwilling to give — specifically, his throne. Unfortunately, the heir to said throne interprets this request as a proposal.
- The Order of the Stick: Tarquin's group trades favours among each other, which can be called for in any form at any time. It is treated as Serious Business.
Western Animation
- In the Bluey episode "Granny Mobile," Doreen is selling a scooter at a yard sale. Muffin convinces a troublesome customer to pay $1,200 for it, so to thank her, Doreen lets her choose an item from the yard sale for free. Muffin chooses a dishrag so she can wear it as a cape and pretend to be "Super Granny" with her cousins.
- Gargoyles: Puck, one of the Children of Oberon, takes the form of Owen Bennett, a human, and becomes David Xanatos' personal secretary. After the billionaire impresses the trickster, he reveals his true identity and offers Xanatos a choice between one magical wish for anything he desires or a lifetime of hypercompetent, tireless service as Owen. In a subversion, Xanatos goes with the latter, reasoning that an incredibly talented employee who doesn't need a salary and never runs the risk of quitting is better than any reward he could think of.
- In The Simpsons episode "Little Big Girl", Bart accidentally saves the town from a fire, and Mayor Quimby lets him choose any reward he wants. After a series of imagine spots, Bart decides on a driver's license, which the Mayor somehow already has on hand. (Maybe it was the fake license Bart had in a previous episode?)
- In the TaleSpin episode "Save The Tiger", Baloo saves Shere Khan's life, prompting Khan to give him three unspecified favors in return. Later Baloo angers Khan by being overly familiar with him, so Khan essentially forces Baloo to use the favors to restore things to the way they were.