Chekhov's Gun/Literature: Difference between revisions

*** Also from ''Grave Peril'', [[Our Dragons Are Different|Ferrovax]].

*** In ''Dead Bead'', Cowl stated that there was so much that happened at that party that Dresden was either unaware of, or does not comprehend the consequences of. To quote Harry, "What an incredibly fucked-up night that was."

*** Also in ''Dead Beat'': at the beginning of the book, we're introduced to Butters' one-man polka suit. Butters, being the [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]] he is, refuses to leave it behind to be mauled by zombies and Harry has to wrestle it into the back of Billy and Georgia's SUV. {{spoiler|Said polka suit's drum happens to be the only thing around that's the right size to keep a beat going to control the zombie dinosaur.}}

** In ''Small Favor'', he even sets one up by the prominent ''failure'' to mention something that should have been there. {{spoiler|Harry's an [[Unreliable Narrator]], so when Mab messes with his head, we get the effects as well.}}

** Another one from ''The Lost World'': after a very close call with the T.rexes, Levine says that they're good parents. They're such good parents, that they probably teach their offspring how to hunt, by bringing small or weakened creatures to the nest for them to finish off. Well, guess what happens to {{spoiler|[[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Dodgson]]}} when the T.rex gets him but ''doesn't'' eat him outright. (Also a case of [[Karmic Death]], as the infant T.rex who ends up killing him is the one whose leg he had broken earlier.)

** ''The Lost World'' has plenty of these: Arby's printout of the Isla Sorna facilities (hint: {{spoiler|boathouse and river docks}};) Eddie's insistence on adding backup systems and safety devices in Thorne's vehicles without telling anyone; the observation cage with its prodigious resistance to impacts; the maia eggs stolen by King; [[Too Dumb to Live|Levine]]'s damn candy bars; also, the rifles armed with neurotoxins are finally put to good use during the raptor chase.

* [[Philip K Dick]]'s ''[[Paycheck]]'' is almost entirely composed of this trope. The hero Jennings has just had his memory erased of the top secret project he was working on, only to discover that before it happened he arranged to substitute his paycheck with several seemingly trivial and useless items, including a small piece of wire. Then he's arrested, whereupon it turns out the wire is just the right size to pick the lock of the squad car's back door. It seems the project was a window into the future, which Jennings used to see what was going to happen to him, and so every single one of the items has some purpose to help him stay alive and out of the bad guys' clutches. Half the fun of the story is just seeing what purpose all of them have.

* The ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series is a truly fascinating juggling act of various plot threads that feature all kinds of little moments that pay off down the road, either in the book they appear in or several books later. Amazingly, judging by some statements [[Jasper Fforde]] has made it seems he really doesn't do that much planning ahead for the series; instead he just has an amazing memory for everything that has happened so far and can come up with ways to refer back to it all that all make perfect sense.

*** The motorcycle itself fits this trope, as it vanishes after the mention in the third book, only to show up again in ''[[Deathly Hallows]]'', when Hagrid uses it to ride Harry to safety.

** Several times for Peter Pettigrew. He posed for the first two and a half books as Ron's harmless rat, and turned out to be responsible for betraying Harry's parents to Voldemort. Both Pettigrew's severed finger and the rat's missing one are mentioned in the third book. Then at the end of that book Harry spares his life: now Peter owes him a life debt. In book 4 Peter receives a silver hand to replace the one he severed as a sacrifice to resurrect Voldemort. Finally, in book 7, he hesitated in killing Harry because of the life debt, and his silver hand choked him to death.

** In the 4th book there are several times when bad things happen and a bug just happens to be there. It is later revealed that a nosy reporter can turn into that bug and had been spying on Harry.

** Within ''Order of the Phoenix'', the mirror is a subversion: Sirius gives it to Harry as a secure way to get in touch in the event of an emergency. Harry never opens the gift: he has no intent to ever use whatever was inside it, not wanting to risk getting Sirius arrested. At the climax of the book, the mirror would have come in ''very'' handy, but by then Harry has forgotten about it. Harry only discovers the mirror as he's packing at the end. (It then becomes a [[Chekhov's Boomerang]] in ''Deathly Hallows''.)

* In the ''[[A to Z Mysteries (Literature)|A to Z Mysteries]]'' book ''The Jaguar's Jewel'', Dink looks at the case holding the titular jaguar while Ruth Rose feeds the fish, and Josh notices a letter opener. The kids solve the crime by finding the jewel in the fish tank and examine security footage to note when the letter opener changed directions.

* In [[The Go Between]], Ted Burgess shows Leo how to clean his farmer's shotgun. He later uses the shotgun to kill {{spoiler|himself}}.

 

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