The Reveal: Difference between revisions

[[Super-Trope]] to [[Anagnorisis]], a specific variety of [[The Reveal]] first defined by [[Aristotle]] in his ''[[Poetics]]''.

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[20th Century Boys]]'': Friend iiiiiiiiissssssss * drum roll* Fukubei! Then comes along second Friend who is implied to be Katsumata.

* Episodes 14 and 21 of ''[[Code Geass]] R2'' are pretty much [[Info Dump|Infodumps]] on the nature of Geass and everything involved.

* [[Master of Martial Hearts]]'s ending brings this trope to utter madness:

** The almost unseen {{spoiler|[[Cute Mute]], [[Hot Mom]] of Natsume? She's actually a [[Stepford Smiler]]. On the top of it, she used to be one of the past [[Action Girl|contestants]] of the ''Platonic Heart'' martial heart tournament. Defeated, she literally got her voice box ripped out of her, her sanity shattered and spent an unspecified number of years as a sexual slave before escaping and rebuilding a semblance of normalcy around herself. Simply unable to let it go, she then hatched a complex [[Revenge by Proxy]] plan involving her offspring organizing the current edition of the ''Platonic Heart'' tournament, lure the daughter of the (still living) past winner and the (then dead) past promoter of the contest and have her relive every bit of her experience, including defeat, maiming and slavery. Just [[Disproportionate Retribution|to get some vengeance]].}}

** Aya's {{spoiler|caring [[Hot Mom]] and her dead loving father? According to Miko and the whole Natsume's family a sadistic [[Dark Action Girl]] and a sadistic rapist who had his way with the Action Girls defeated by her wife}}.

** Every single character thought to be dead or defeated {{spoiler|according to the ''Platonic Hearts'' rulebook, unknown and unmentioned until the very end, the defeated contestant get [[Mind Raped]] into drooling idiots, may get their vocal cords surgically excised to avoid useless noises and are sold into slavery. Even the sympathetic ones. And you're shown the whole supporting cast in that pitiful state. Until they die. Every single one}}.

* Although spoiled for U.S. audiences thanks to the fact that ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' almost entirely aired first barring a few episodes, in Japan ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' dropped a big one. In the manga, after Goku's big defeat of Piccolo, the following chapter features a mysterious character crashing to earth looking for someone named "Kakarott" And in the very last page of the chapter, Kakarott is revealed to be Goku. Then of course two chapters later it turns out that armored man is Goku's brother and Goku is revealed to be an alien. Piccolo and Kami get this same revelation not long after when they're revealed to be Nameks, which was foreshadowed as early as the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai when the two spoke to each other in a strange language.

 

* Although [[It Was His Sled|old news now]], the identity of the Green Goblin in the original ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' comics was a well-kept secret for years before it was finally revealed to both Spidey and the readers.

** Stormin' Norman did double time on this trope when he was revealed to be the true mastermind of the Clone Saga all along.

* [[Frank Miller]] usually writes straight forward stories but when he wants to, he can pack a helluva reveal. Such was the case with [[Ronin (comics)|Ronin]] The ancient Japanese characters don't exist, including the hero himself. It was all a part of the TV show an autistic, telekinetic youngman watched in the distant future. A supercomputer was using his powers and a little biotech to make him turn his fantasy into a reality, essentially turning himself into a hero. That way, she could easily manipulate him into doing her bidding. This would eventually lead to the destruction of mankind and the emergence of biotechnology as the dominant lifeform.

* The final issue of ''[[Steelgrip Starkey And The All-Purpose Power Tool]]'' reveals the tool (and the technalchemy that drives it) were developed by Steelgrip's partner Flynn, on a mission from a group of [[Cosmic Entity|Cosmic Entities]].

 

* In ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'', Kyon's aunt Rika Fuurude tells him about the events of [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]], hoping he'll reveal his story after that. Understanding that [[Secret Keeper|she'll believe him and keep his secret]], Kyon tells his aunt afterward about the SOS Brigade and the supernatural events he had lived through.

* In ''[[Hunting the Unicorn|Hunting the Unicorn's]]'' eleventh chapter, the readers are subject to a reveal that does ''triple'' time as a [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]] and a [[Wham! Line]]:

* ''[http://fav.me/ddb26fk Seeing is Believing]'', after [[Spice Girls| Melanie]] showed what she had subjected to, with her head being the only original body part she had left prior towards "[[Unwilling Roboticisation|operation]]". As Melanie was discussing each detail, Victoria speaks with her husband, David. David understood Victoria needed to explain her actions after many in the room, including the narrator, noticed she was nervous. With David's support, Victoria had to explain what happened as {{spoiler| she also had the same run-in.}} As the narrator pointed out during the events of ''[http://fav.me/dd7ow55 Case of The Missing Technolgy]'', Melanie's eyes were replaced with [[Electronic Eyes]]. {{spoiler| Both Melanie and Victoria kept their original eyes, as a reminder of what Monty did.}}

 

* The all-time most famous is, of course, ''[[Citizen Kane]]''. [[It Was His Sled]].

* The next-most famous is, of course, "[[Luke, I Am Your Father]]", as well as the revelation that Leia is his sister in the next movie. Vader's status as Luke's father was actually a reveal to near everyone, even those involved in the production, considering only a very select few knew about it up until near the film's release. Even David Prowse, the actor within the suit, did not know the truth. The line he spoke while filming, believing it would be the final line, was "''Obi-Wan'' killed your father." Of course, ''that'' would have been [[Mind Screw|pretty screwy]], too and in fact, is in a way also true, [[From a Certain Point of View]]...

* [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]] has a disturbing one as the [[The Stoic|callous]] [[Hanging Judge|Judge]] [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|Doom]] whose glasses often lighted up to cover his stare {{spoiler|is revealed to the Toon who killed Eddie's brother, complete with an insanely high pitched voice and cartoonish eyes that could be best described as coming straight from a mentally disturbed animator or Hell itself}} Eddie was likely not the only one who was terrified of this scene.

 

* In ''The Hand of Oberon'', 4th book of [[Book of Amber|The Chronicles of Amber]] by [[Roger Zelazny]], {{spoiler|Ganelon}} is revealed to be the long-vanished {{spoiler|Oberon}}.

* The penultimate chapter of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s original ''[[Foundation]]'' Trilogy had three characters giving three different solutions to the mysterious location of the Second Foundation. In the last chapter, yet another character reveals the [[Planet of the Apes Ending|true location]], and the narration tells us his [[Secret Identity]] in the very last sentence.

{{quote|"[[Dynamic Entry|Gentlemen of the jury, order the prisoner to be released!]] [[Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!|Mr President, have me arrested]]. [[Innocent Bystander|He is not the man whom you are in search of]]; [[Old Shame|it is I]]: [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|I am Jean Valjean.]]"}}

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', [[Gambit Pileup]] that it is, has a bunch of these, ranging from {{spoiler|Arstan Whitebeard actually being Ser Barristan Selmy}}, to Jon Arryn's murderer being {{spoiler|his wife, Lysa, at the behest of Littlefinger}}, and probably culminating with {{spoiler|Doran Martell's twenty-year-long revenge gambit to return the Targaryens to power}}. There's also the as-yet-unrevealed promise Ned made to Lyanna, which has been set up as a particularly [[Wham! Episode|whammy]] reveal since the first book.

* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]:

** The last part of the book show us exactly what Captain Nemo [[Kick the Dog|was using the Nautilus when he asked his passengers to be in their cells]].

* Despite being incomplete, [[The Pale King]] has plenty:

* In ''Magyk'', the first book of ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', it's revealed that Boy 412 is Septimus Heap.

 

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''

** Angel is a vampire.

* In season 4 of ''[[NCIS]]'', Tony's relationship with Dr. Jeanne Benoit was allowed to progress for many weeks, and to get quite serious for both of them, before it was revealed that {{spoiler|he'd engineered the relationship to investigate her arms-dealer father, and hadn't even told her his real name.}}

* ''[[Noah's Arc]]'' has plenty, but a major one that stands out is {{spoiler|Junito's HIV status}}.

 

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

* Or the true horrific reveal about Pro-Wrestling itself? It's ''scripted''. ''Dun Dun Dun.''

** GASP!

** [[The Un-Reveal|Unfortunately]], the Mystery GM was [[Put on a Bus]] and never mentioned again when [[Triple H]] took over as COO.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** In his moments of control, Kahn has appeared to aid Fei over the course of the game in the guise of the mysterious figure [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Wiseman]].

** *deep breath* And finally, Krelian's [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|true intentions]] in reviving Deus were to return humanity to the higher plane of existence from which all things originate, where they would be one with the Wave Existence and all [[Assimilation Plot|individuality would dissipate.]]

 

== [[Visual Novels]] ==

* ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors|Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors]]'' has its first major reveal during the Safe Ending, where you find out that Ace is Gentarou Hongou, the CEO of Cradle Pharmaceuticals and the perpetrator of the first Nonary Game. {{spoiler|Except he isn't Zero. Zero, as revealed by the True Ending, is June, and that you've actually been playing as her, not Junpei, the whole time. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].}}

 

* There are several big ones related to the backstory in [[Avalon (webcomic)|Avalon]].

** At the beginning of the second year, Ceilidh finds out from Ryan that {{spoiler|Joe, Alan and Phoebe were all friends until Helène arrived and took Alan away from Joe, then Phoebe started dating an abusive douche named Todd, who eventually dumped her and started spreading rumours that she was a lesbian, [[Despair Event Horizon|pushing her to the breaking point]] and causing her to beat him up. In the end, Joe never spoke to Phoebe again and while Alan came back to him after having had enough of Helène, their friendship was already damaged.}}

** Even better though - '' {{spoiler|Microsoft probably wasn't responsible for the experiments}}''. The only reason {{spoiler|Ted thinks they are is because he saw the Windows logo on a nearby computer screen - and HOW many people use Windows OS}}?

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209182714/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2283 Satan is doing his charming sell when the door to Hell opens with pleas for help and he slams down on it.]

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In ''[[Wormtooth Nation]]'', it's revealed that wormtooth gas, an invisible, odorless gas that causes permanent [[Easy Amnesia]] and has caused numerous problems for the protagonists, actually causes people to live forever in small doses. The entire population of the City moved down to the subterranean world in order to gain immortality, but after an unknown but presumably very long period of time everyone had been "nixed" so often that no one remembers this fact, nor the way back to the surface.

 

* ''[[American Dad]]'' loves spoofing this. One example, from "The Phantom of the Telethon":

{{quote|'''Stan:''' Give it up, Roger!

'''Roger:''' [[Logic Bomb|Well, yeah, I...what?]] }}

 

* The [[Coming Out Story]] is not just a literary trope, it's actual [[Truth in Television]]. It certainly plays as a Big Reveal for the ones involved, or at least for the protagonist.

** It can be [[The Untwist]] in the case of a [[Transparent Closet]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:More Than Meets the Eye]]

[[Category:Script Speak]]

[[Category:Scenes]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reveal, The}}