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Walking Spoiler: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
'''Due to the nature of this trope, MASSIVE UNMARKED SPOILERS are in this article. You have been warned.'''
A Walking Spoiler is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]], a character or thing who has most of the tropes underneath it as spoilers. Sometimes, even its ''name'' is a spoiler, as it's so secret to the plot.
Can overlap with [[It Was His Sled]], if the work in question is old enough that pretty much everybody already knows about the various plot twists.
{{examples}}
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== Anime and Manga ==
* This trope was inspired by ''The Idea of Evil'' from the ''[[Berserk]]'' series.
* [[Knight Templar|Danzo]] from ''[[Naruto]]'' is another good example.
** Madara Uchiha from ''Naruto'' would also fit, since he is thought to be dead for a long time.
*** And then it turns out that he ''was'' dead, and the guy who's been pretending to be him all this time is someone else altogether.
** Even Tsunade is one, since her becoming Fifth Hokage reveals that the Third Hokage, who resumed office after the death of the Fourth Hokage, is dead.
* The Young Conductor from ''[[Baccano!]]''. He seems to die early on, but actually is Claire Stanfield, an amazing assassin, [[The Ace]] and ([[Axe Crazy|Axe-]]) [[Crazy Awesome]] [[Sociopathic Hero]]. Hence he actually lived and becomes integral to the plot as The Rail Tracer, an urban legend that he created.
* Hanyuu in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' is the real Oyashiro-sama, despises violence, and tries to change fate over and over, hence the reason for the repeating worlds. In the anime, they censored out Rika's screams to Hanyuu as Hanyuu stabbed herself in front of Rika and Shion, and made you believe that only those who heard Hanyuu were crazy (Rena, Keiichi, etc.), or else too high up on the Hinamizawa Syndrome scale.
** In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', several characters are walking spoilers: {{spoiler|EVA-Beatrice, Magician Battler, and Beatrice Castiglione.}}
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== Fanfiction ==
* The [[Katawa Shoujo]] fic [[Reconciliation]] has an interesting variant in a character whose conspicuous ''[[Posthumous Character|absence]]'' serves as a [[Walking Spoiler]]. It's revealed early on that Hisao has died of a heart attack, setting the plot into motion. Only the most basic description of the setting can avoid mentioning his death.
* Ekaj in [[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]] is Ronan's son, and it's almost impossible to talk about him without mentioning [[Satellite Character|this relationship]].
== Film ==
* Harry Lime from ''[[The Third Man]]'' is also a possible example, because throughout most of the movie he's thought to be dead.
* Axelrod from ''[[Cars]] 2''.
* [[Thanos]] from [[The Stinger|the first stinger]] for ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]''.
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* In ''[[The Gone-Away World]]'', the hero doesn't actually exist until about halfway through the book -- before that, he's a figment of his best friend's imagination.
* The last ''[[Mistborn]]'' book is a bit tricky to describe without giving away that a) the real [[Big Bad]] is the god of destruction, Ruin, and b) at the end of the first book, Marsh was turned into a Steel Inquisitor, which is now allowing Ruin to use him as a puppet.
** From the same author, you can't really talk about the second half of ''[[Warbreaker]]'' without revealing that God King Susebron is a perfectly harmless figurehead rather than an [[Evil Overlord]] andBluefingers and Denth are not allies of the protagonists but the [[Big Bad]] and his [[Dragon with an Agenda]] respectively.
* Rock and Hollyleaf from ''[[Warrior Cats]]''. Rock because he's {{spoiler|God}} and Hollyleaf because of how dynamic her character is.
* Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew from ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''. There is no way to give an accurate description, however brief, of either character without spoiling [[The Reveal]] at the end of ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban|Harry Potter]]''. In subsequent books, both appear on a recurring basis with their true natures taken for granted.
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== Video Games ==
* Purple Eyes from [[Pokémon Ranger|Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs]]. He comes in after the [[Not So Fast Bucko]] ending as the new leader, and directly leads into the next villain.
* In ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'', every mention of major villain Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir as a possible [[Player Party]] member is always covered in spoiler tags because the very fact that he can become one is a major plot twist. When that is not possible, he is conventionally referred to as "Secret Companion".
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** Legion from [[Mass Effect 2]] doesn't join you until the endgame, and the fact that [[Pronoun Trouble|he/it/they]] even ''can'' be a protagonist is a twist, causing him to be a major source of spoiler tags.
** Morinth from the same game. You can recruit her in place of her mother, Samara, if you choose to betray the latter during the climax of her loyalty mission. Even the fact that the Ardat-Yakshi is Samara's daughter is a twist.
** The Human Reaper from the same game is the final boss, and the entire Collector plot revolves around it.
** Javik in Mass Effect 3, since his very existence spoils the fact that not all the Protheans are dead, since the first game had the few survivors' life pods run out of power while on Ilos, and by the time Shepard and company reach it they've all been powered down. Also ties into [[The Reveal]] in Mass Effect 2 that the Collectors are actually indoctrinated Protheans.
** The Catalyst from the same game, since he literally only appears in the last scene of the game.
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* A few [[Kirby]] villains can fall under this trope, such as Magolor from [[Kirby's Return to Dream Land|Return to Dream Land]] and Marx from [[Kirby Super Star|Milky Way Wishes.]]
* Normally, Kor from ''[[Jak II Renegade]]'' would just be your typical old man. Most of his tropes come from the fact that he's really the Metal Head Leader in disguise.
** Then the reveal that Jak and Samos are originally from the future and the time machine they found in the past was infact the same one made by Kira at the end of the game that was supposed to bring them back.
* The fact that Revan is the [[Player Character]] of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' is a major plot twist, causing the former Dark Lord of the Sith become the main source of spoilers of the game. This makes the ''first sentence'' of the plot synopsis for the game on Wookieepedia (unless it has been changed by the time you read this) a huge spoiler for [[The Reveal]] more than halfway down the plot.
* After you defeat Medusa in [[Kid Icarus: Uprising]] and the fake credits roll, [[Bigger Bad|The true Villain, Hades,]] comes in and takes over the Underworld Army. And since we were build up to believe that Medusa was the Villain with no hints of Hades being in the game...
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* In the [[Ace Attorney]] series, on this wiki, the more spoiler tags that are on a character's entry in the character sheet, the more likely they are to be a murderer. Each of the games' main antagonists count.
* The Golden Spider/Chakravartin from ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'' with only one trope unspoilered it is quite evident that he is a major character later on.
* Forrest Kaysen from [[Deadly Premonition]]. Many spoilers are required to conceal that the fat, jolly tree salesman is not only the [[Big Bad]] of the game, but a [[Complete Monster]] [[Humanoid Abomination]] to boot.
* About two-thirds of the way through [[Final Fantasy V]], the party meets Krile. She is a friendly young girl. This is the most detail you can describe her with if you don't want to reveal that she is Galuf's granddaughter, a princess (because he is really a king), or that she [[Take Up My Sword|takes his place]] upon his death.
* Lion and Will's first appearance in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' is in the ''seventh'' episode of the sound novel.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings, from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''. [[Outside Context Villain|Their very appearance is a spoiler]], as promotional material for the season 2 finale made the episode seem to be about wedding hijinks.
* Hiroshi Sato in ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', whose part in the [[Seventh-Episode Twist]] turns his entire characterization on its ear.
* Breakdown in ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', whose death and implied rebirth as Silas' [[Brain Uploading|new body]] have seemingly caused Hasbro to delay and deny the existence of his toy.
* Shockwave in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', right down to him ''being'' Shockwave, as he was undercover as the Autobot Longarm.
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