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Lightning Reveal: Difference between revisions

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Lightning Reveal (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:BTASlightning.png|link=Batman: theThe Animated Series|frame|[[Badass Boast|I am Vengeance]], [[I Am the Noun|I am The Night]]. [[Punctuated for Emphasis|I. AM.]] [[Batman|BATMAN]]!]]
 
 
It's a [[It Was a Dark Andand Stormy Night|dark and stormy night]]. The main character(s) are surrounded by darkness. [[A Storm Is Coming|A sense of foreboding wavers in the air]], and the tension is so thick, a knife isn't fit to cut it, and you would instead require a heavy-duty [[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]].
 
This is the perfect concoction for the [[Empathic Environment]] to whip up a good old [[Lightning Reveal]]. There's something sinister lurking in the shadows that the character(s) and perhaps audience is unaware of until lightning strikes. In that flash of lightning something is revealed hence, well, the Lightning Reveal.
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* Used in the anime version of ''[[Hellsing]]'' while half of Alucard's face is in shadow. The lightning flash reveals the other half to look like Vlad the Impaler when his opponent asks him who he really is.
* In ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', Light first sees Ryuk in this way.
* In [[Naruto]], [[The Reveal]] of {{spoiler|Tobi's ([[Mind Screw|not really]]) true identity, Madara Uchiha, as the real [[Big Bad]] of the series}} is done this way.
** Also, in [[Narm Charm|Naruto Shippuden 167]], [[Ass Pull|thunderclouds]] envelop the sky, and a large mass of the Kyuubi's chakra rains from the heavens as Naruto begins his transformation from a [[Four Is Death|4-tailed]] to a never-before-seen [[Number of the Beast|6-tailed]] fox form.
* Oda Nobunaga in ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'''s anime adaptation is so evil that, wherever he goes, evil red-glowing thunderstorms follow. Naturally, he gets an introduction through [[Lightning Reveal]].
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', when Bakura appears [[Badass Longcoat|wearing a black trench coat]] in front of Rex and Weevil, we get our first glimpse of his face (well, the first in a while) when lightning flashes.
 
== Comic Books ==
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* In the opening scene of ''[[Van Helsing]]'', Dracula's demonic visage is briefly visible when lightning strikes.
* Happens during the climax of ''[[The Lion King]]'' when Simba reveals himself to Scar before the final confrontation.
* ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'': When [[Brian Blessed|Clayton]] {{spoiler|hangs himself.}}
 
== Literature ==
 
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]: Storm Front'', Morgan's appearance at the bar is revealed by lightning.
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'', Death knows that his replacement is not going to arrive until midnight ''because he stood on a hill while lightning flashed.'' He reasons that someone who does that would not arrive at 11:55 if he could make a dramatic entrance at the stroke of midnight.
* In Lee Lightner's [[Warhammer 40000]] [[Space Wolf]] novel ''Wolf' Honour'', when Ragnor and his company meet up with strange, wolf-like creatures, lightning flashes let them see the faces. (Much to Ragnor's horror. These creatures had [[Dreaming of Things to Come|haunted his dreams]].)
* Found in [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[Silmarillion]]''. After being captured by Orcs, the hero Túrin accidentally kills his friend {{spoiler|Beleg}} whom he mistakes for an Orc coming to torture him (in reality, he was trying to free him). Túrin realizes his mistake immediately when a flash of lightning illuminates the scene.
* In [[David Weber|David Weber's]] [[Safehold]] series, at one point the Royal Guard is desperately fighting assassins in the rain. One moment, there is one Guardsman standing. The next, there is a flash of lightning, a roll of thunder (from the wrong direction) and there are two... {{spoiler|One of them is a 26th Century cyborg. Guess what happens next.}}
* Done in ''[[Septimus Heap (Literature)|Queste]]'', where Tertius Fume's ghost reveals itself to the crowd in the Wizard Tower in a flash of lightning.
* In the H. P. Lovecraft short story The Lurking Fear, the first chapter ends with the narrator realizing that something other than one of his human companions was snuggled up to him on a cot in a reputedly haunted house when it gets up suddenly and a flash of lightning casts its shadow on the wall he's facing.
 
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== Video Games ==
 
* Occurs in the bonus case of ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]''. {{spoiler|Phoenix's current case revolves around a case two years prior that may have been subject to evidence tampering. The primary witness of the previous case recalls two men fighting during a blackout, but remembers one instant, during a lightning strike, where she saw one man about to stab the other.}}
* In ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'' troops may be revealed by lightning.
* Not natural lightning, but in ''The Lost Crown'', crackling energies from a mystic energy rift provide a similar Reveal of {{spoiler|Ganwulf's skeleton in his sarcophagus}}.
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* Played with in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0199.html this strip] from ''[[Order of the Stick]]''.
* ''Killroy and Tina'', a sadly unfinished webcomic from Justin "[[The Non -Adventures of Wonderella]]" Pierce, has [http://www.graphicsmash.com/comics/killroyandtina.php?name=killroyandtina&view=single&ID=5674 a scene] with quite effective use of the trope.
* Subverted in ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]''. A secondary character answers a knock on his door on a dark and stormy night (While watching a werewolf movie!) and sees a bipedal wolf with large fangs. She's got severe hypothermia and is going into shock from the gash on her leg.
* Used in ''[[Parallel Dementia]]'' [http://pd.milkinthepantry.com/?strip_id=115 here] and then lampshaded by Visage.
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (Webcomicwebcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/02-02.html the one bright panel when November's going through the storm], and leads to her [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/02-03.html meeting Red during another one.]
 
 
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'''Marge:''' Mmm... this is less encouraging. }}
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' plays with this in the episode where the kids find the money clip.
* The opening theme to ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]''. Batman fights crooks in darkness, and the police wonder who it could be. The theme ends with the crooks tied up and a silhouette of Batman, standing on the roof of a building. A flash of lightning confirms his presence, before he disappears. Take a look at the opening, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEx9r5enZsk it's pretty awesome].
** In the first part of ''"Two-Face,"'' Harvey Dent is sitting in the psychiatrist's office, discussing his mental problems, with his [[Face Framed in Shadow]]. Suddenly, lightning strikes, and the dark half of his face lights up... [[Foreshadowing|as Two Face]].
* [[Funny Moments|Hilariously]] [[Subverted Trope|subverted in one scene from]] [[The Far Side|Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side.]] [[It Was a Dark Andand Stormy Night|In a dark,]] [[Mood Lighting|candle lit room]] [[Held Gaze|a woman walks up to a man with his arms out,]] [[Heartwarming Moments|they embrace and start slow waltzing to Patsy Cline's]] [[Foreshadowing|Crazy.]] [[Twirl of Love|As they spin throughout the room]] [[Lightning Reveal|lightning keeps flashing, revealing]] [[Oh Crap|all sorts of]] [[Primal Fear|large dangerous predators]] [[Right Behind Me|surrounding them]] [[Eaten Alive|ready to tear them to pieces,]] [[Record Needle Scratch|suddenly the lights come on]] [[Big Damn Heroes|and policemen pour into the room]][[All Blue Entry|...]] [[Bait and Switch|Whereupon they grab and handcuff the woman then pull her away]] from the man who is revealed to be frozen in the arms out position [[Captive Date|and stood on a little board with wheels]], [[The Reveal|as the woman is lead out the building]] [[Taxidermy Is Creepy|we see the sign 'Bob's]] [[Taxidermy Terror|Taxidermy']] over the door.]]
** [[Like a Broken Record|Crazy for/Crazy for/]][[Madness Mantra|Crazy for/Crazy]]
 
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