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{{trope}}
{{cleanup|Examples that were copied from the front page need to be checked for duplicates.}}
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]s in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
 
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*** With only slightly less of a delay: It's mentioned in ''[[Reaper Man]]'' that Ridcully want the university to form a team to compete in the 'City and Guilds' a sort of primitive form of rugby/football. And then just recently we get ''[[Unseen Academicals]]'', a book about, surprise surprise, the Unseen University forming a football team.
* 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."
 
== ''[[Harry Potter]]'' ==
* The ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series uses this trope extensively, with minor details in one book become important plot points in later books. For example, aA brief biography of Albus Dumbledore given in the first book mentions that he defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald. It is not until the final chapter in the final book of the series that the reader learns {{spoiler|that Dumbledore had been a close friend of Grindelwald when he was young and that his defeat of Grindelwald brought him into possession of the Elder Wand, a wand of immense power that Lord Voldemort grows to covet.}}▼
** {{spoiler|In fact, {{spoiler|most of the important reveals in the seventh book are call backs to previously mentioned objects, characters, and information.}}▼
*** One of the most unlikely examples is calling back to {{spoiler|an aside joke made in ''Goblet of Fire''. Dumbledore mentions that his brother Aberforth got into trouble for [[Unusual Euphemism|"practising inappropriate charms on a goat".]] In ''Deathly Hallows'', Aberforth's fondness for the animal saves Harry's life when Death Eaters patrolling Hogsmeade see him cast his stag patronus; Aberforth covers for him by presenting himself as the wizard who cast the spell, arguing that the Death Eaters were mistaken in what form they thought the Patronus had taken. He casts his goat patronus, makes a persuasive argument, and gets the Death Eaters off of Harry's trail.}}▼
** 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 the broken Vanishing Cabinet that played a role in ''Half Blood Prince''? The one that the twins shoved a Slytherin goon into in ''Order of the Phoenix''? Nearly Headless Nick convinced Peeves to break it in order to get Harry out of a detention. In ''Chamber of Secrets''.▼
*** 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.▼
** An example from earlier in the series: In ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', sharp-eyed readers would have remembered Sirius Black as the man who loaned Hagrid the flying motorcycle that brought Harry to the Dursleys'.▼
** Also Harry's (fun) and Ron's (unfun) detentions in ''Chamber of Secrets'', which are assigned in chapter 5 and aren't dated until two chapters later. The detentions assigned to Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy early in ''Philosopher's Stone'' chapter 15 (Malfoy got his late in the previous chapter, as he was the first one of the four to be caught out of bed as a result of a botched yet successful attempt to get the other three in hot water) aren't served until they had forgotten about them in all the brouhaha that resulted from the other result of Harry's [[Precision F-Strike|fuckup]]: [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|150 points lost by Gryffindor]], making this one another rather short (at least to the reader) brick joke. Oh, and the detentions were for different things, but in both cases each person serve their respective detentions for the exact same thing as the others (wandering the halls late at night in ''Philosopher's Stone'', and making a scene with a flying car in ''Chamber of Secrets'').▼
** In ''Order of the Phoenix'', the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione are busy cleaning out the cabinets in the drawing room at Grimmauld Place. Among the things they throw out is a gold locket that none of them could open. {{spoiler|This was one of Voldemort's horcruxes that was stolen by Sirius's brother Regulus.}}▼
** When Harry tries to hide the Half Blood Prince's copy of his Potions book, he marks the spot with a wig and a crown. The crown? {{spoiler|Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem that Voldemort turned into a horcrux.}}▼
** This is perhaps one of the longest spanning brick jokes in Harry Potter. In the first book, Harry is told that a dragon is hidden deep in the vaults of Gringott's bank. Seven years later, {{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gun|Harry and the gang use the dragon to escape from Gringott's]] with another of Voldemort's Horcruxes.}}▼
** 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!"▼
** In ''[[Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets|Chamber of Secrets]]'', when Hermione "signs up for everything" for third year, it's treated like as a throwaway gag. [[Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban|One book later]], Hermione reveals she's had to use {{spoiler|a Ministry-approved Time Turner}} to get to all her classes, which is used to {{spoiler|save Buckbeak and Sirius from execution}} during the climax.▼
** 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.}} ▼
** Perhaps not intentional, but in ''The Chamber of Secrets'', Harry tells Dobby to "never try to save his life again". In ''Deathly Hallows''... ▼
** When Harry and Dobby first meet, Dobby tells Harry that the trouble brewing at school does not involve "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". Since it involved a Horcrux that was created when Voldemort was still young and known to most as Tom Riddle, "he could freely be named". ▼
** 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. ▼
** Then we have the first Snitch Harry ever caught, and the throwaway mention of Regulus, the diary, AND the locket. Then there's the motorcycle, the casual mention of Sirius in the very first chapter of the first book... Rowling loves these.▼
** In ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', when Mr. Weasely is in St. Mungo's, one of the portraits is absolutely convinced Ron has a deadly disease called spattergroit. In the seventh book, {{spoiler|Ron's cover story for running away to look for Horcruxes with Harry and Hermione is that he has spattergroit. He, Fred, and George charm the ghoul in the attack to have red hair and pustules.}}▼
 
== Other works ==
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** Contained in ''So Long, and Thanks for All The Fish'', Arthur and Fenchurch's first [[Mile-High Club|session]] is noted by a passenger on [[Look Ma, No Plane|a passing plane]], who is immensely relieved to find out that the world is nothing like she imagined. Towards the end of the novel, Arthur and Fenchurch are flying home from California, and are approached by the same passenger (who has been giving them odd looks throughout the flight) with the question "Do you two fly a lot?"
* [[Timothy Zahn]] is good at these. In ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'' the thing Luke found on Dagobah, and Thrawn's vague hints about his plans, became important in the ''[[Hand of Thrawn]]'' duology. Of course, there are still [[What Happened to the Mouse?|dangling plot threads]].
▲* The ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series uses this trope extensively, with minor details in one book become important plot points in later books. For example, a brief biography of Albus Dumbledore given in the first book mentions that he defeated the Dark Wizard Grindelwald. It is not until the final chapter in the final book of the series that the reader learns {{spoiler|that Dumbledore had been a close friend of Grindelwald when he was young and that his defeat of Grindelwald brought him into possession of the Elder Wand, a wand of immense power that Lord Voldemort grows to covet.}}
▲** {{spoiler|In fact, most of the important reveals in the seventh book are call backs to previously mentioned objects, characters, and information.}}
▲*** One of the most unlikely examples is calling back to {{spoiler|an aside joke made in ''Goblet of Fire''. Dumbledore mentions that his brother Aberforth got into trouble for [[Unusual Euphemism|"practising inappropriate charms on a goat".]] In ''Deathly Hallows'', Aberforth's fondness for the animal saves Harry's life when Death Eaters patrolling Hogsmeade see him cast his stag patronus; Aberforth covers for him by presenting himself as the wizard who cast the spell, arguing that the Death Eaters were mistaken in what form they thought the Patronus had taken. He casts his goat patronus, makes a persuasive argument, and gets the Death Eaters off of Harry's trail.}}
▲** 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 the broken Vanishing Cabinet that played a role in ''Half Blood Prince''? The one that the twins shoved a Slytherin goon into in ''Order of the Phoenix''? Nearly Headless Nick convinced Peeves to break it in order to get Harry out of a detention. In ''Chamber of Secrets''.
▲*** 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.
▲** An example from earlier in the series: In ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', sharp-eyed readers would have remembered Sirius Black as the man who loaned Hagrid the flying motorcycle that brought Harry to the Dursleys'.
▲** Also Harry's (fun) and Ron's (unfun) detentions in ''Chamber of Secrets'', which are assigned in chapter 5 and aren't dated until two chapters later. The detentions assigned to Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy early in ''Philosopher's Stone'' chapter 15 (Malfoy got his late in the previous chapter, as he was the first one of the four to be caught out of bed as a result of a botched yet successful attempt to get the other three in hot water) aren't served until they had forgotten about them in all the brouhaha that resulted from the other result of Harry's [[Precision F-Strike|fuckup]]: [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|150 points lost by Gryffindor]], making this one another rather short (at least to the reader) brick joke. Oh, and the detentions were for different things, but in both cases each person serve their respective detentions for the exact same thing as the others (wandering the halls late at night in ''Philosopher's Stone'', and making a scene with a flying car in ''Chamber of Secrets'').
▲** In ''Order of the Phoenix'', the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione are busy cleaning out the cabinets in the drawing room at Grimmauld Place. Among the things they throw out is a gold locket that none of them could open. {{spoiler|This was one of Voldemort's horcruxes that was stolen by Sirius's brother Regulus.}}
▲** When Harry tries to hide the Half Blood Prince's copy of his Potions book, he marks the spot with a wig and a crown. The crown? {{spoiler|Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem that Voldemort turned into a horcrux.}}
▲** This is perhaps one of the longest spanning brick jokes in Harry Potter. In the first book, Harry is told that a dragon is hidden deep in the vaults of Gringott's bank. Seven years later, {{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gun|Harry and the gang use the dragon to escape from Gringott's]] with another of Voldemort's Horcruxes.}}
▲** 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!"
▲** In ''[[Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets|Chamber of Secrets]]'', when Hermione "signs up for everything" for third year, it's treated like as a throwaway gag. [[Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban|One book later]], Hermione reveals she's had to use {{spoiler|a Ministry-approved Time Turner}} to get to all her classes, which is used to {{spoiler|save Buckbeak and Sirius from execution}} during the climax.
▲** 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.}}
▲** Perhaps not intentional, but in ''The Chamber of Secrets'', Harry tells Dobby to "never try to save his life again". In ''Deathly Hallows''...
▲** When Harry and Dobby first meet, Dobby tells Harry that the trouble brewing at school does not involve "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". Since it involved a Horcrux that was created when Voldemort was still young and known to most as Tom Riddle, "he could freely be named".
▲** 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.
▲** Then we have the first Snitch Harry ever caught, and the throwaway mention of Regulus, the diary, AND the locket. Then there's the motorcycle, the casual mention of Sirius in the very first chapter of the first book... Rowling loves these.
▲** In ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', when Mr. Weasely is in St. Mungo's, one of the portraits is absolutely convinced Ron has a deadly disease called spattergroit. In the seventh book, {{spoiler|Ron's cover story for running away to look for Horcruxes with Harry and Hermione is that he has spattergroit. He, Fred, and George charm the ghoul in the attack to have red hair and pustules.}}
* Used extensively (and hilariously) in ''[[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency]]''. The Coleridge Dinner scene is practically one big [[Brick Joke]], with throwaway lines and events being referenced much later on.
** For that matter, practically the entire book is like that. Almost any throwaway line anywhere in the book has some bearing on either plot, characters or backstory. Some just make better sense of other things, some are subtle foreshadowing, and some reappear long after you've forgotten them. It makes for a good second read.
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* 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."
 
=== copied from the front page - need to be checked for duplicates ===
* 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...]]}}
* At one point in the first ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' book, Shagga threatens to "cut off [a man's] manhood and feed it to goats." In the next book, Tyrion tells him to do this to a prisoner, despite not having any goats nearby. Shagg obliges, and takes his axe to the prisoner's {{spoiler|beard}}.
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