Cryptic Conversation: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Just like a villain can't resist [[Evil Gloating]], these characters will often hold entire conversations (one sided or not) using only [[Vagueness Is Coming|vague]], [[Riddle Me This|cryptic]], [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|ominous]], and frequently [[Double Entendre]] laden terms and phrases to confuse the player and character. Why [[Cannot Spit It Out|don't they spill the beans quickly]] to help bring down the [[Evil Overlord]]? Well, usually the character in question either wants to [[You Are Not Ready|protect]] or [[Xanatos Gambit|manipulate]] the hero, other times they want to hide the truth. Of course, sometimes they ''do'' want to spill their guts but can't, due to a [[Tongue-Tied|geas]] or [[The Fettered|binding oath]], and even the little they do dish out can get them in trouble. The Author of the character in question might not have mapped out that far ahead into the series, or they want to have a character that's "in the know" who won't spoil the big twist in the end. And of course, there's always doing it [[Rule of Cool|just to look cool]] and mysterious regardless of reasons.

Often, these [[Poor Communication Kills]] will only frustrate the player/hero's attempts at solving the most recent dilemma, eventually riling them (and us) enough to tell the offending [[Mentors]] to [[Rage Against the Mentor|shove your vagueness someplace painful.]]

 

 

'''Common set ups for this include but are not limited to:'''

* The [[Waif Prophet]], [[Mad Oracle]], or another oracular type [[Vagueness Is Coming|uttering a prophecy]] to the main character. Questioning the oracle on its meaning [[Ice Cream Koan|will never help;]] they were either in a trance and don't remember what they said, were already as clear as they could be, or [[Figure It Out Yourself|"they are just the messenger, not the interpreter".]]

* [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness|Two or more plot relevant characters]] (villains or not) will speak in vague terms about the hero, his role, the progress of their schemes, etc, all while staying stylish with [[The Faceless|light-repelling rouge]][[Secret Organization Craving Intelligent Enigmatic Tropers Yonder|.]]

 

'''Common Cryptic Conversations will have:'''

* [[Double Meaning]]

* [[Double-Speak]]

 

'''Common Cryptic Conversationalists will be:'''

* [[Aloof Big Brother]]

* [[Enigmatic Minion]]

* [[Zen Survivor]]

 

 

{{examples}}

* Although not intentionally vague, about half of everything anyone said in the first season of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' was misunderstood by the other person because of their own preconceptions, usually leading to paranoia and literal [[Poor Communication Kills]].

* Quon from ''[[RahXephon]]'' speaks like this more often than not... the meaning of the terms she absently throw around in reference to the hero and his [[Humongous Mecha]] do not become clear untill the end of the series, but along the way, others 'in the know' makes occasional use of them, creating sinister suggestions of their true importance.

* Carim Gracia of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has the ability to magically create prophecies that turn out to be pretty vague thanks to the fact that they come in poem form, can be interpreted in many ways, and are written in the dead Ancient Belka language, adding even more ambiguities due to translation and mistranslation. Thanks to these factors, she considers them as useful as a fairly accurate horoscope.

* There are a couple of this in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', most notably among Father and the homunculi about the so called "promised day".

** Which was pretty obviously going to be a {{spoiler|solar eclipse}} long before Brosh's younger siblings woke him up wanting to borrow his telescope...

* Lampshaded in [[Yu Yu Hakusho]] when Kurama says something akin to "Oh, I see. It must be... that." and Yusuke responds that he is going to start charging him money every time he is vague.

* Almost everything Itachi from ''[[Naruto]]'' has EVER said.

* [[Revolutionary Girl Utena]] loves this one. Any time Touga is alone with Anthy or Akio, it's pretty much Cryptic Conversation time. Then there's the "chick" speech that Touga says every time the Student Council has one of their meetings. Then there's that time in Episode 13 where Akio is talking at Dios. And then there's the Shadow Play girls.

* [[Vampire Knight]] has a lot of this, usually involving Kaname.

* Justified in [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]: {{spoiler|The reason Homura refuses explain herself is because she already tried in an alternate timeline. [[Cassandra Truth|It]] [[Freak-Out|didn't]] [[Mercy Kill|end]] [[Break the Cutie|well]].}}

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is infamous for this, with any plot-related conversation involving Gendo or [[Omniscient Council of Vagueness|SEELE]] being the greatest offenders. Incidentally, it is far from the most [[Egregious]] example in anime; unlike, say, ''[[Xenogears]]'', these conversations never resort to the cheap trick of vague pronouns or adjectives; the characters involved talk frankly about the subjects at hand... it's just that the viewers won't understand what these things ''are'' until [[The End of the World as We Know It|they happen]], [[Mind Screw|if then]].

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' finds himself on the receiving end of this from Sesshoumaru of all people. Tessaiga has gained a new power that Inuyasha is struggling to master. His brother turns up, dispatches the enemy Inuyasha was struggling with in a single swing and demands to know what on earth Inuyasha was trying to do. On learning Inuyasha was trying to destroy the enemy by sucking up the monster's power, Sesshoumaru leaves Inuyasha with a cryptic smile and an equally cryptic comment about having lost his way because he's failed to understand what the point of his sword actually is.

** The same scene is also a play for irony since Sesshoumaru, although he dispatched the enemy, had failed to master his own sword in doing so even though he had increased the physical strength of his sword during the fight. This is because Totosai had left him with cryptic advice that to master his sword he needed to grow in strength. {{spoiler|What Totosai was actually talking about was the strength of Sesshoumaru's compassion.}}

 

* From [[Birds of Prey]]

{{quote|'''Shiva''': The master left me only one item. It is on my person.

'''[[Black Canary]]''': I'll give you a dollar to stop being cryptic. Please say you'll take it. }}

 

* A Lot of them in ''[[Aeon Natum Engel]]'' and ''[[Aeon Entelechy Evangelion]]''. The stand-out is the conversation of two creepy girls in the prologue of the latter.

 

* ''[[The Matrix]]'' films, a very lot, as skewered in this Maddox [http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/matrix_question_tot1.gif parody]

** The second two of [[The Matrix]] trilogy are possible subversions. It turns out that {{spoiler|The Oracle makes deliberately vague prophecies partially because she only has a limited insight into the future through predicting the choices of others, partially so she has some way to pretend to have predicted any turn of events, and partially in order to cause the other characters to carry out her prophecies.}} After all, "would [Neo] have really [broken the vase] if [the Oracle] hadn't said anything?"

* Tia Dalma from ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' really loves conversing in that way.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'', if you believe Obi-Wan Kenobi's story that Darth Vader killed Luke's father was, as he put it, "True [[From a Certain Point of View]]."

* In ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' Kirk and Spock try to have one of these so that Spock can inform him that the ship is much less damaged than Khan had thought without letting their eavesdropping enemy know. However, the code is so ridiculously transparent that one has to assume Khan had an [[Idiot Ball]] stuck in both ears not to realize.

'''Linus:''' I am a traveler in both time and space, to be where I have been.

'''*Moments later, outside the restaurant*'''

'''Danny:''' She's seven. }}

** It isn't until much later in the movie, after Linus is rescued from prison by {{spoiler|his mother}} that he figures out that all the nonsense phrases he'd heard ''really were'' just nonsense; a Lost in Translation con that Danny and Rusty (along with the informant) played on him, partly as a practical joke, and partly because they didn't want him screwing up their negotiations.

 

** In the RPG book, Harry notes that the Gatekeeper always speaks like he knows more than he's letting on, and if you asked him something as simple as "What do you want on your pizza?", he'd ramble on and give you an answer that didn't make any sense until later. Then he giggles at the idea of [[The Comically Serious|the Gatekeeper]] eating pizza.

** Harry is also sometimes deliberately cryptic when talking to his allies. Not because he's trying to protect them or anything. It's just that being sneaky and cryptic and mysterious is pretty much heroin for wizards.

* [[Book of Amber|The Amber series]] begins with Corwin/Corey having conversations with his sister and brother about things ''they'' know all about, and he has no memory of... and yet he [[Refuge in Audacity|still manages to make them think he's fully aware of everything and perhaps knows more than they do, and takes over control of the situation]].

* In Mad Magazine's spoof 'Doone' 'Duke Leto' rules that until the end of the crisis they will converse only in complete sentences. To the relief of his mentat who was about to call a time out to find out what they were talking about.

* Would you believe [[Eragon]] had one of these with a bird?

* Conversations between mortals of various stripes and [[The Lord of the Rings|Elves]] apparently tend to go like this a lot. After trying unsuccessfully to get useful information out of Gildor near the beginning of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Frodo tells him, "And it is also said, 'Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.'"

* Robin Goodfellow from ''[[An Elegy for the Still-living]]'' loves these.

"...I'll drop by as soon as I'm out." ''I am going to escape. I can't wait. something has come up in here.''}}

 

* The Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' once explained why he doesn't give out a proper name thusly.

{{quote|''Do you know like we were saying, about the earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world is turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it... the turn of the earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And, if we let go... That's who I am. Now forget me.''}}

{{quote|''"He is coming. The threefold man... he dances in the lonely places..."''}}

* Pretty much every line in ''[[Lost]]''.

** But no scene in ''Lost'' better demonstrates this trope than the opening of the season 5 finale, in which {{spoiler|Jacob}} and a currently unnamed man casually discuss the usage of human beings as pawns in some kind of battle of wills on the island.

* Kosh from ''[[Babylon 5]]'' exemplifies this trope, except that it's frequently hard to get him into a conversation at all. Here, [http://www.arborius.net/~jphekman/b5/koshisms.html take a read], it's hilarious.

** The page quote is a subversion, Kosh and Abbut are simply trying to get specific reactions from Talia in order to record her emotions.

* ''[[Skins]]'': In season 2, Cassie exchanges one with her teacher during her final exam. It ends with them dancing on ''Funkytown''.

* Angel in the first few episodes of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Appears out of the darkness, says something cryptic, then disappears.

** She lampshades it nicely, with 'you couldn't just say it's a vampire with a fork?'

* Parodied in ''[[Mitchell and Webb]]'' where a generic evil genius is giving vague commands to his minions until one of them objects on the basis that it's confusing. And brings up the time they spent months actually ''hoping'' a guy would have an accident instead of [[Make It Look Like an Accident|arranging one]].

* [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Darmok, and Jalad... at Tanagra]]

** Though TNG has many examples of this (The Samaritan Snare and Rascals immediately spring to mind), Darmok might not qualify. The alien species were speaking quite plainly, it is just that they speak a different language, built around a radically different communications phenotype.

* And if you’re ever in ''[[Fraggle Rock]]'', ask [[Trickster Mentor|Cantus the Minstrel]] for advice. He’ll freely give it, but you’ll have to [[Figure It Out Yourself]]. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by frustrated fellow minstrel [[Only Sane Man|Murray]], and an exasperated [[Action Girl|Red Fraggle]].

 

* A lot of [[Forgotten Realms]] sources used this.

'''GM:''' Sounds like something big just fell off. }}

 

== Toys ==

* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', this drives [[The Stoic|Kopaka]] [[Not So Stoic|nuts]]. Every second character he comes across talks this way.

 

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[Trickster Mentor|Taliesin]] talks to [[Wandering Minstrel|Leon]] about the Laws of the Andain by using riddles because he feels every Andain must figure out the laws and the true meanings behind the words themselves with no outside help.

* ''[[Broken Saints]]'' can be heavy on this, particularly from the [[Big Bad]].

* ''[[Xkcd]]'' plays this trope off of [[Spy Speak|several]] [[Waif Prophet|others]] in the "Race" story arc.

{{quote|''Nathan'': "I'm down. Tell Summer 'The chickens are in the hayloft. Plan Gamma is a go.'

''Nathan'': Then we're probably good. }}

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' Annie once asks [[Physical God|Coyote]] what the Court is, and he replies "It is man's attempt to become God." Coyote immediately [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this by asking [[The Dragon|Ysengrim]] if it's a sufficiently cryptic answer, to which Ysengrim replies "Very cryptic. It barely answers anything at all." and Annie appends that it just raises more questions. Coyote of course, being [[The Trickster]], was going for this exactly and is delighted that it was so vague.

NANNASPRITE: When you pass through the first gate, everything will change. You will find the place where the constellations dance beneath the clouds. And then your true work may begin. Hoo hoo hoo!

JOHN: i suddenly understand everything! }}

 

* The Dungeon Master, of the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' cartoon.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Iroh's teachings to Zuko often come in cryptic statements. When trying to figure out what Iroh would say in a situation where he wasn't present, Zuko says [[Ice Cream Koan|something cryptic and vaguely profound]].. and unfortunately can't understand ''that'' either.

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' had [[Macbeth|the Weird Sisters]], who loved to confuse Humans and Gargoyles by talking like this.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:This Might Be an Index]]