Brick Joke/Literature: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]s in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:

 

* In the beginning of ''[[Equal Rites]]'', a wizard called Drum Billet dies and asks {{small-caps| Death}} what it would be like to be reincarnated into an ant. At the end, it is revealed that Drum Billet is an ant now.

** Perhaps the biggest, it's mentioned at the end of ''[[Equal Rites]]'' the Esk and Simon go on to develop a whole new kind of magic, after this they seemingly disappear from the plot, until ''[[I Shall Wear Midnight]]'', in which the new form of magic is revealed {{spoiler|it's time-travel}}.

* In ''[[All There in the Manual|Nanny Ogg's Cookbook]]'', a recipe for peppermint candies provided by the Master of Assassins is accompanied by strong editorial warnings ''not'' to include one of the listed ingredients, which is arsenic. Much later in the book, an illustration shows a rat holding a peppermint while the Death of Rats peers over its shoulder, which is captioned: "We really meant that about the arsenic."

 

* There's another one in ''Deathly Hallows''. Around chapter 10 or so, Harry finds a letter Lily sent to Sirius in Grimmauld Place, but the second page is gone. The final line on the first page is ''"...because it seems incredible that Dumbledore-"''. {{spoiler|Much later, during a [[Pensieve Flashback]] in chapter 33, we see Snape reading the second page of the letter: ''"-could ever have been friends with Gellert Grindelwald."'' - This would, of course, have been a major spoiler as early as chapter 10.}}

* One of these started all the way back in ''Philosopher's Stone'', the first book, where Dumbledore is described as having a nose that looked like it had been broken. Fast forward to the last book, when early on we're told how exactly his nose was broken.

** Remember earlier in ''Chamber of Secrets'' when Harry accidentally ended up in Nocturne Alley? He was in Borgin and Burkes and the Malfoys walked in... so he hid in a black cabinet and kept the door slightly ajar for spying purposes. If he had closed the door he would have suddenly found himself at Hogwarts.

* Used in reference to the Room of Requirement in ''Goblet of Fire''. After Karkaroff stated that he prided in being the only one to know all of the secrets of Durmstrang, Dumbledore stated that he would never pretend to know all the secrets of Hogwarts and jokingly mentions "a room full of chamber pots" that he has never been able to find again as an example. Needless to say, the room becomes the most important room of all Hogwarts in the next three books.

* Gryffindor's sword was effective against Horcruxes due to an incident five years ago where Harry stabbed the Basilisk in the mouth, coating the sword with its venom. After they lose possession of the sword, Ron and Hermione go down to the Chamber of Secrets where they steal Basilisk fangs from the body.

* In an example of a literal joke, early in ''Goblet of Fire'', when the students are extracting bubotuber pus, mention is made of Eloise Midgen, who tries to curse her acne off. Professor Sprout comments in an offhand way that her nose was re-attached in the end. Later on, when Harry and Ron are looking for dates to the Yule Ball, Hermione mentions that Eloise Midgen is very nice. Ron reacts in shock, stating "Her nose isn't on straight!"

* Also in ''Chamber of Secrets'', when Snape catches Harry and Ron after crashing into the Whomping Willow, {{spoiler|Snape gives Harry "the impression of being able to read minds". In ''Half-Blood Prince'', it turns out Harry was quite right.}}

* As early as ''The Philosopher's Stone'', it's mentioned that, although he was the popular choice, Dumbledore repeatedly turned down the job for Minister of Magic. In ''The Deathly Hallows'', {{spoiler|he admits to Harry that he simply didn't trust himself in such a powerful position, after his friendship with Grindelwald.}}

* Harry's invisibility cloak, in the first book, is remarked to be "really rare". In ''The Deathly Hallows'', it's learned that the item's uniqueness is very important to the plot indeed.

* In the third book, after Harry explains Trelawney's prediction, Dumbledore remarks that that brings her total count "up to two". Later in ''The Order of the Phoenix'', we learn just what the first prophecy was.

 

* In ''[[Wayside School]] Gets A Little Stranger'', one of the students is [[Hypno Fool|hypnotized]] by the school psychologist so that any time a particular female classmate says "Pencil", he'll think her ears are candy and try to eat them. The remainder of the chapter details how, for the whole day, she comes agonizingly close to saying "Pencil" but never does. Since the chapter is titled "A Story With a Really Disappointing Ending", the reader is led to assume that this is the end of it. Several chapters later, the class does a physics experiment by throwing several school items out the window--and the same girl points out "We'll need a new pencil sharpener." Cue ear licking.

** Also thrown out the window is the principal's coffeepot. Six chapters after that, after announcing the installation of elevators, he then adds, "By the way, has anyone seen my coffeepot?"

*** Someone also suggests that they throw an elephant out of the window, cue the teacher's comment "there are no elephants in wayside school". A later chapter is entitled "an elephant in wayside school"

* Used quite effectively in the ''Cassie Palmer'' books by Karen Chance. There are many small little plot points and references in the first book which go completely unresolved and unremarked upon. The reader than assumes that it's just sloppy writing, as there were no flashing arrows around these apparently unimportant bits and pieces. The series has a time-travel element, however, and by the time you get to the third book, it's hard to shake the feeling that the third book has retroactively affected the first.

* Lampshaded in ''The Punch and Judy Murders'': At the end, one character mentions a series of events that had nothing to do with the rest of the story. Immediately afterwards, they are tied in.

* At the end of [[Robert Rankin]]'s ''The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse'', Jack {{spoiler|is about to be killed by the [[Big Bad]], when the latter is shot by Jill, the prostitute Jack met half the book ago.}}

** It's usually assumed she figured out the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. Slightly early.

** The bowl of petunias, which is mentioned in a grand total of three sentences in book one and then {{spoiler|turns out to be Agrajag, a man whose death in every reincarnation is caused by Arthur}} in the third book.

* In the first book of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, it's established that during the war against Panis Rahl, the [[Evil Overlord]] had cursed all the red fruit grown in the Midlands to be poisonous, and nobody has been able to undo it. This isn't brought up again for the rest of the series until {{spoiler|the last book, when Richard, after using the Power of Orden, reveals among the other wrongs he's set right, he's undone the enchantment on the red fruit.}}

* In ''[[Good Omens]]'', the story breaks the fourth wall to ask the audience what they think happened to the child who was [[Switched At Birth|one of the children switched at birth in order to give the Antichrist to some parents]]. The joke, at the time, is that it's most likely that some horrible thing happened to him, but if it makes us feel better we can imagine that he grew up normally, maybe having a hobby of collecting tropical fish. Later on in the book, an irrelevant character is briefly discussed... who has a habit of collecting tropical fish. Interestingly, in ''that'' brief mention of the character, the story mentions that he's a [[Gentle Giant|big, clumsy child that any American football coach in the world would kill to have on his team]]. Cut to the end of the book, and it mentions that {{spoiler|the Antichrist altered a magazine the kid was reading so he would learn about, and be interested in, American football.}} (That bit was specifically added to increase the potential market in the USA for the book.)

* Near the beginning of ''[[Incarnations of Immortality|And Eternity]]'', Orlene says the chances of their [[Crapsack World]] improving are about as high as God kissing Satan. In the end, when {{spoiler|Orlene takes God's place, she kisses Satan, then begins setting up the world's reforms.}}

** {{spoiler|Not quite. It's not near the beginning but closer to the middle, when she is attempting to settle a hostage crisis, while being in a hostage victim's body. The hostage takers demand that the captain of their taken-over vessel surrender and when he refuses, Orlene gives his response as "when God kisses Satan and the Incarnations applaud". And then it happens at the end.}}

* In ''The Wolf's Hour,'' the protagonist is undercover in Nazi Germany and watches a bizarre comedy act with a dominatrix whipping a naked [[Winston Churchill]] impersonator (which is ''extremely'' tame in comparison to the rest of the show). {{spoiler|At the end of the book, when he has occasion to meet Churchill, he asks if he happens to have any relatives in Germany.}}

* In Anthony Horowitz's ''The Night of the Scorpion'', the first chapter shows the main character and his sidekick travelling to South America from England. During the flight, the sidekick tries to learn some Spanish, but the only sentence he can get right is "Una cabra se comió mi pasaporte" ("A goat ate my passport"). Cue the last chapter, weeks later, the characters are resting in a farm and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|the guy goes to fetch his passport in his room...]]

* [[Spaceballs]] parodies [[Dramatic Timpani]] by having the dramatic flourish during {{spoiler|Spaceship One's transormation into Mega Maid}} be provided by an ''actual'' timpanist. This timpanist is later seen as one of the evacuees when the [[Self-Destruct Mechanism]] is activated.

* In his autobiography ''Anything Goes,'' [[John Barrowman]] mentions that he has never had any children, and he's absolutely sure of it. Several chapters later, he discusses being a gay man and having a girlfriend, who (and I paraphrase) "only convinced him that he was a player for the boys' team. And now [[I Know You Know|you know how I know]] that I don't have any kids."

* There's a picture in ''The Last Straw'', the 3rd [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]] book, that reveals that Greg once turned in a book report '''4 pages long''' (cover included), and only a few sentences long because {{spoiler|he took up more than half of the last page writing "THE END" in big letters, using the excuse that [[Blatant Lies|he was running out of paper]].}} [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|That spoiler-tagged part]] comes up at the end when Greg admits that he was ending his story on sort of a generic happy ending note, {{spoiler|but he admits that [[Ironic Echo|he's running out of paper...]]}}

* ''[[Dark Future (novel)|Dark Future]]'': Early in ''Krokodil Tears'' a news report mention the death of Wally The Whale, last living cetacean in the Atlantic and major tourist attraction for the Isle of Skye. The Mayor of Skye plans to have the whale preserved and open up a restaurant in his stomach named Jonah's Snackbar. Two hundred pages later, during the climactic fight between Jessamyn and the Jibbenainosay, Wally the Whale comes back to life. In the middle of the Bolivian ambassador's birthday party.

* In Issue #41 of ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' (from 1958), the cover picture of Alfred E. Neuman is half-finished because the artist got a call from [[Time Magazine]]. Cut to the article "The Next Day's Headlines" which shows disastrous headlines based on the advice columns shown on the previous page... and one about ''Time'' firing their new artist because all their people looked like Alfred E. Neuman.