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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"What a twist!"''
|'''[[M. Night Shyamalan]]''', ''[[Robot Chicken]]''}}
The pivot in many plotlines is
A key moment in most [[Gambit Pileup]] plots, when the heroes or the audience discover how the villains have been manipulating everyone. Can also be used to make a [[Cliff Hanger]] more dramatic. [[Myth Arc]] and [[Mind Screw]] series ''love'' springing these; [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot
The Reveal is in fact a rather [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|easily explained trope]]. A lot of mystery stories wouldn't work without either the criminal or the detective explaining how the crime was committed, and a lot of other plots would leave people with more questions than answers if they never bothered to explain the plot to other characters...and by extension, the viewers. It's easy to explain it off-screen, but doing so would confuse the viewer and make them think they missed something.
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If you're set up for this but it's then subverted by not revealing it, it's [[The Un-Reveal]]. When made too obvious ahead of time, it's [[The Untwist]]. If it comes out of nowhere and serves no purpose other than to be a twist, it's a [[Shocking Swerve]] and/or a case of [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]. If the thing revealed is named in the title, then its [[The Namesake]]. If a [[Driving Question]] is involved, this is where it's finally put to rest. Can overlap with [[Remembered Too Late]].
[[Super-Trope]] to [[Anagnorisis]], a specific variety of [[The Reveal]] first defined by [[Aristotle]] in his ''[[Poetics]]''.
'''Warning: Expect every example to be a spoiler for something.'''▼
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* ''[[Magical Project S]]
* ''[[
* Episodes 14 and 21 of ''[[Code Geass]] R2'' are pretty much [[Info Dump|Infodumps]] on the nature of Geass and everything involved.
* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' combines this with [[
* ''[[Naruto]]'' has been rather reveal-happy in recent years: we've gotten the true identity of both Akatsuki's leader and its [[Man Behind the Man]], Kisame and Itachi's true motivations (including the real reason the Uchiha Massacre happened), the identities of Naruto's parents, the fact that {{spoiler|Naruto is not the first host of the Nine-Tailed Fox}},{{spoiler|Madara was REALLY dead and a guy took his eyes and impersonated him}}, etc..
** {{spoiler|Now if we could only find out who Tobi is...}}
* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]:'' Vincent is the near invincible monster that was constantly tailing him and slaughtering everything in its way, the titular Ergo Proxy.
** In the beginning Vincent was a Proxy, the near invincible monster tailing him was his clone-fathers girlfriend.
**
* Usagi/[[Sailor Moon]] is Princess Serenity. Although it could be made obvious over time
* Hagino's obsession with Mari in ''[[Blue Drop]]'' gets explained by revealing that Hagino saved Mari from drowning during the catastrophe caused by her space ship.
* ''[[Hellsing]]'': Dok was actually using the remains of ''Mina Harker'' as a template for all of Millenium's vampire soldiers. Turns out that since Alucard wasn't destroyed when he lost to Abraham Van Helsing, Mina wasn't completely purified of Alucard's curse. Thus all of Millenium's soldiers are poor copies of Alucard's power.
* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' ''lives'' for this
** First we find out that Syaoran is a clone created by the [[Big Bad]], and meet the real one.
** Then we find out [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Fai/Fay]] has a depressing backstory, he's faking his personality, is working for the villain, and he killed his brother.
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** Then we find out that the whole goal up till that point, collecting the princess' feathers, was a [[Xanatos Gambit]] by the [[Big Bad]] to have her develop "physical memories".
** Then we find out that ''the princess'' is a clone.
** Then we find out that the original Syaoran is actually the son of the protagonist and love interest of [[Cardcaptor Sakura]], and is using his father's name as a
*** Then we learn that the protagonist of ''[[
*** And that the creation of said duplicate f**** d up the ''entire space-time continuum''.
** Then that "the country of Clow" is really Acid Tokyo in the far future.
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** Then, finally, we learn that the feathers were actually soul fragments of the clones!
** Not to mention that both the Syaoran and Sakura's real names are Tsubasa!
* ''[[Baccano!]]''
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' is loaded with these. The Eva's are alive and cloned from Angels. Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother and there's a whole aquarium full of clones. The Eva's have human souls (specifically, Shinji, Asuka and Ritsuko's mothers). [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Ritsuko is not a natural blonde.]] Kaworu is an angel. And so on and so forth.
** Eva 00's soul is probably Rei 1, not Ritsuko's mother.
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* ''[[Bleach]]'': {{spoiler|Aizen}} isn't dead yet.[[Big Bad|Not by a long shot.]]
** The [[Fan Girls]] [[Draco in Leather Pants|were right about]] {{spoiler|Gin}}. [[Kick the Dog|Maybe]] [[Moral Event Horizon|somewhat]].
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]''
** Don't forget the reason everyone goes crazy.
** Also for the viewer/reader (and Keiichi during Atonement chapter) the big reveal of unreliable narration during the question arcs. Go watch Onikakushi-hen knowing
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' does this with ''Pokemon's [[Ambiguous Gender|genders]]''. For example, Pikachu, after ten years of debating, is proven to be male..Or, [[
** In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', [[Bifauxnen|Yellow]] is revealed to be a girl at the end of the Yellow Chapter (though Red doesn't find out until the Gold/Silver Chapter).
* In ''[[Umi Monogatari]]'' it is revealed that Sedna is formed from the combined sorrow that the inhabitants of the island committed to the sea.
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*** This is subverted when the girls discover that the Magic World is Mars and get excited, only to realize that it's just a useless bit of trivia. Then it becomes a double subversion when it turns out to be important after all.
* In ''[[Soul Eater]]'' the killer of BJ was Justin Law. While not affecting the ''entire'' plot, it's still a major deal for certain characters, with potentially serious implications (if that one, who else has been overlooked?) in the series.
** In chapter 72; Kid is said to be a fragment of Shinigami, who turns out to be one of a group of entities called the Great Old Ones. Making the Super OCD boy a Humanoid Abomination (currently) minus the evil and his 'illness' impliedly the result of the fact he/his father is an anthropomorphic
* In ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', the Jovians are exiled humans victimized by Earth's government and who use the [[Super Robot]] series loved by the protagonists to justify destroying Earth. Also, the little girl the protagonist is shown with at the beginning is Inez Fressange, who is older than the protagonist due to a time paradox.
* In ''[[Game X Rush]]'', Yuuki's Mom/Yuki-san is Memori's presumed-dead birth-mother, who murdered Memori's father and supposedly died in the fire that Memori accidentally started (hence explaining both Memori's adopted status), but Miyuki did NOT die, instead wandering off with semi-amnesia to save a young Yuuki who was then raised as Memori (explaining how he knows so much about the REAL Memori). Bizarrely enough, due to the compressed storytelling and the changes forced by the same, it's possible for this to be not much of a Reveal after all.
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga: when the identity of Pride was revealed to be {{spoiler|Selim Bradley}}.
**
** At the beginning of the manga and animes, Edward's automail arm isn't revealed until he foils an attack that would have destroyed a flesh-and-blood arm.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]]
* In ''[[Kirby:
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', the secret behind Geass, as well as numerous other examples of this trope that pop up from time to time.
* The [[Distant Finale]] of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' reveals that the narrator speaking at the beginning of every episode is actually Simon in his forties.
** In the second movie, during the fight between the TTGL and the Granzeboma, the Anti-Spiral drops the obvious (to the fans who've watched the anime) bombshell that if the Anti-Spiral is defeated,
* In the last episodes of ''[[Tenshi ni Narumon]]'' it was revealed that the
** Similarly, it was revealed that
*** In the last episode, it was revealed that
* [[Umineko no Naku Koro ni
* Tons of information revealed in ''[[Eureka Seven]]''. Eureka's identity as a
* The true identity of the Red Man
* ''[[Digimon]]'' has several. Hikari being thw 8th Child and Tailmon being her partner, the fact that BelailVamdemon was behind everything in 02, Juri, after returning to the Real World, being an ADR, Duskmon being Kouichi, Kouji's long-lost twin brother, Kurata being a jackass and a [[Magnificent Bastard]] and that old guy being the head of DATS.
* [[Master of Martial Hearts]]'s ending brings this trope to utter madness:
** The almost unseen
**
** Aya's
** 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}}.
** Aya, poor Aya
* Although spoiled for U.S. audiences thanks to the fact that
== Comics ==▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* 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.
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* ''[[Gotham City Sirens]]'' began with a life-or-death arc struggling against [[Monster Clown|the Joker]] (The frikkin' ''Joker''), with the evil clown wreaking horrible vengeance on the three stars, only for it to be revealed that it is not the Joker at all, but instead it is...Gaggy? Gaggy the ex-sidekick from the [[Silver Age]]? The dwarf clown who actually ran away from the circus? The ex-sidekick who has spent decades living in an old abandoned hideout, waiting with bated breath for the return of the Joker in extremely disturbing stalker fashion? Seriously? Yes, seriously, it is Gaggy the whole time, and it actually comes off as pretty creepy and unsettling, and he gives the women a good run for their money. He loses, of course, but it '''is''' their series, did you really expect the first villain to bump them off?
* ''[[Dark Avengers]]'' 13 reveals that the Void is actually Galactus. Or thinks he is. Or is lying. Maybe.
* Due to a tragic miscommunication between the authors of the series and its artists, [[Batwoman]]'s reveal in ''[[
* In the [[Marvel]] UK ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' story "Target: 2006", Galvatron decides to gloat over Jazz by revealing his shocking secret: he's actually Megatron from the future! This may possibly have partially spoiled [[The Movie]].
* [[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]].
* The culmination of the [[The Incredible Hulk|who is the Red Hulk?]] saga. It is far too
== [[Fan
* 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
* In ''[[Hunting the Unicorn
{{quote|
** And then in the thirteenth chapter, David tells a counselor that {{spoiler|Blaine has a stalker.}}
** In [[Meaningful Name|"The Cat,"]] it turns out "[[Tom and Jerry|Jerry]]" from the fourth chapter is {{spoiler|Blaine's father-figure, Greg.}}
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** The first comes when Jeft reveals to Shag and Varx that he, not the Dalns gods, was the force behind the Vasyn quest. He set the whole thing up just to see the four in action and ultimately to have them go up against his favorite gaming character, Jim Hunter.
** The second comes when everyone learns there is no curse on Ketafa—even Jeft believed it—and the gods could see the continent all along, but told everyone there was a curse on it so they didn't have to spend money “godding” it. The actual effect of the Vasyn is to end the reign of the Dalns gods and turn the planet over to the Pyar gods. Whether this is a Good Thing will be explored in the sequel.
* ''[[How Can It This Be]]'' has the [[Spice Girls]] finding out they actually {{Spoiler| died during their reunion tour when their tour bus fell off a bridge into the river below, while Victoria was killed in a road accident}}.
* ''[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.}}
== [[Film]] ==
* The all-time most famous is, of course, ''[[Citizen Kane]]''. [[It Was His Sled]].
* The
** "[[Luke, I Am Your Father]]" was only a big reveal to anyone who didn't buy the [[All There in the Manual|novelization]] of the [[The Film of the Book|movie]]... which was released [[Did Not Do the Research|two months prior]] to the movie itself. Oops.
* The big reveal that Captain Barbossa has returned to life at the end of ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: Dead Man's Chest''.
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* In the film ''[[The Illusionist (film)|The Illusionist]]'', it's where it turns out that Sophie was alive all along, that [[Manipulative Bastard|Eisenheim]] successfully fooled the Police Inspector, [[More Than Mind Control|causing the Prince to kill himself]], ''and'' that he got away with all of this scot-free. And Eisenheim's the ''protagonist''.
* In ''[[Tootsie]]'', the big reveal for [[Show Within a Show|the fictional soap]] is when the main character - who had been masquerading as a woman to land a part on a soap opera - takes off his wig and many of his feminine touches and reveals himself to be a man during a live taping.
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]]'', Gandalf the Grey is believed to be dead, having died in the previous film, and his death being recapped at the beginning of this film. Director Peter Jackson utilized various film techniques (distorted voice, blinding light covering his face) to hide that the mysterious White Wizard was actually Gandalf [[Back
** Note the scene is directly derived from the one in the book, in which at first the others cannot tell Gandalf from Saruman, as Gandalf has been sent back "as Saruman, as the way he should have been".
* Similar to the previous entry, the advertising killed this trope for ''[[Terminator]]'' 2. If one watches it back-to-back with the original you notice that, cleverly, it is left completely ambiguous why the T-800 has returned until the point where he rescues John Connor in the hallway.
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* ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'': The rat is Mr Orange.
* One of the funniest ones ever comes from ''[[Down With Love]]'', when Renee Zellweger's character explains her [[Gambit Pileup]] in a breathless three-minute single-take [[Character Filibuster|monologue]] which, when it's all finished, leaves Ewan McGregor with a truly priceless expression of bemused confusion on his face.
* In the French film ''He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not'' (which stars [[Amelie|Audrey Tautou]]), the first half is a whimsical unrequited love story, getting a bit creepy, and then as the [[Love Interest]] is being taken away to prison, the film rewinds and you see it from his point of
* Not every Reveal has to be serious. In the 1982 comedy ''Jimmy the Kid'', some low-grade crooks use a crime novel about a kidnapping to plan a genuine abduction for ransom. The chosen target, a kid genius, leads them on until he can slip away with the ransom money. At the end, he reveals why he's so successful at manipulating his abductors: because he ''wrote'' the book they based their crime on.
* Again, lack of complete sincerity, in the movie ''Just One Of the Guys'', Terry reveals her true gender to Rick who responds with the line, ''"Where d'you get off having tits?"''
* In ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'',
* There are not one but two major reveals in the first ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' movie - that Phelps is alive after being presumed KIA on a mission, and later that {{spoiler|he and Claire are working together against Ethan}}.
** [[Mission Impossible III]] starts with a very tense scene in which Ethan Hunt's wife is tied to a chair, whilst [[Big Bad]] Philip Seymour Hoffman threatens to kill her. At the end of the movie {{spoiler|it's revealed that it was a woman who worked for the bad guy. She is wearing a mask of Ethan Hunt's wife's face.}}
* [[It Was His Sled|One of the most famous]] is from ''[[Planet of the Apes]]''.
** [[The Simpsons (animation)|The Statue of Liberty?]] [[Earth All Along|That was our planet!]]
* Parodied to hell and back in [[A Shot in The Dark]], where it's revealed that {{spoiler|all but one supporting character introduced in the film is either a murderer or a blackmailer.}}
* ''[[Laura]]'' has a twist middle. She's actually alive.
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* [[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.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* 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.
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* [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''The Mousetrap'', when the killer is revealed to be {{spoiler|...nope, nice try.}}
* Khaled Hosseini's ''[[The Kite Runner]]'' where Amir discovers that Hasaan is his half-brother.
* In [[Ben Counter]]'s [[Warhammer
* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''The Flight of the Eisenstein'', when Garro [[Friend or Foe|insists on hailing]] a Thunderbird he has been ordered to shoot down, and learns that it's Tarvitz, trying to warn the Space Marines on the planet of Horus's treacherous attack. Sendek, who prided himself on being [[The Stoic]], has a [[Not So Stoic]] moment of pure surprise.
{{quote|
Decius found he couldn't look away from Garro's shocked expression. "Perhaps it has." It was a long moment before Decius realized that the words has been his.'' }}
** Shortly thereafter, Garro declares they will [[Bring News Back]] to Terra and demands that they [[The Promise|take an oath of moment]] to do so on [[Cool Sword|his sword Libertas]]. Before any of them can do so, or object, a crew member reveals an order to make the attack, removing any doubt.
* In ''[[An Abundance of Katherines]]'', Colin has dated nineteen different girls named Katherine, all of whom have dumped him, and communicates these relationships to the reader through flashbacks. Katherine Carter, aka Katherine XIX, was with him for almost a year and totally broke his heart. When he was eight, a little girl named Katherine asked him to be her boyfriend; he said yes, fell in love, and got dumped two and a half minutes later. Then Colin is asked out by [[Alpha Bitch|the most popular girl in school]], who is named Marie, not Katherine, and is finally going to break his streak... but then he sees Katherine I, Katherine the Great, and ends up ditching the date. "And so it was Colin and Katherine Carter snuck out of the house to have a cup of coffee at Cafe Sel Marie."
** Then the book does it ''again''
* In [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[John Carter of Mars|The Chessman of Mars]]'', when Turan reveals that A-Kor is a prisoner, U-Thor demands to know the meaning of it, and reveals that after O-Tar gave him the slave woman who was A-Kor's mother, he had freed and married her, and so he regards A-Kor as his son.
* The short story "Cop Killer" tells of an eager new police recruit, Max, who moves in with his veteran-cop partner and becomes a part of the family, only to be shot in the line of duty by a cheap crook. The grieving partner hunts down and kills the shooter, whose last words reveal that Max was a police dog.
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* In Sophocles' ''Oedipus the King'', Oedipus searches for the man who assassinated King Laius, only to find that {{spoiler|he himself killed the king, who was actually his father, and then married his own mother. As the prophet Tiresias tells him, "You are the murderer you seek."}} This is one of Aristotle's examples of anagnorisis in the ''Poetics.''
* Subverted in ''[[Les Misérables]]''. Jean Valjean is an ex-convict who had almost returned to a life of crime after being released but had been redeemed by a kind bishop. Mr Madeleine is a good, philanthropic mayor who always [[Friend to All Living Things|helps the poor and feeds puppies]]. The two are introduced to us as completely separate people, though it is clear to the reader that they are the same person. After a while the author mentions that his readers will certainly have worked out by now that they are one and the same. There is a rather dramatic reveal of this identity to a courtroom though:
{{quote|
* ''[[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.
* The second and third novels of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' series [[Terok Nor]] take advantage of the medium to set up a reveal they couldn't pull off onscreen. Specifically, two apparently different characters turn out to be the same man. The security chief on Terok Nor station, Thrax, is revealed mid-way through the third book to be the same character as {{spoiler|Sa'kat, the loyal second to outlaw priestess Astraea}}.
* In ''[[Daddy
* [[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:
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* In ''Magyk'', the first book of ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', it's revealed that Boy 412 is Septimus Heap.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''
** Angel is a vampire.
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** Season Four: Jack Bristow actually killed a double of Irina Derevko. The real Irina was being held by her sister Elena in captivity. Elena turned out to be Sofia, the woman running the orphanage that Nadia grew up in.
** Season Four/Five: Six words: "My name is not Michael Vaughn." Sloane's flip-flopping between being good and evil does not count because, honestly, who didn't see it coming?
* ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]''
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' (the new series) Has an on-going mystery about the identity of the twelve Cylon models. The first of many reveals is in the Miniseries, where it is revealed that Sharon must be one of them in the final scene. There are also a few other puzzles:
** Season 2: Another Battlestar survived the Cylon Holocaust.
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** The colt {{spoiler|doesn't work on Lucifer.}}
** Season 6: {{spoiler|Sam is soulless! The Campbells are working for Crowley!}} And up to eleven in the last four episodes of that season: {{spoiler|Crowley isn't dead! Castiel is working with Crowley to open Purgatory! Cas raised Sam from the pit! '''Cas is the [[Big Bad]]!'''}}
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode [[Doctor Who
** [[Enemy Within|"It's us!"]], if you hadn't guessed it an episode earlier.
** Who is [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31
** The reveal of River Song, and who she is. Series 5 and 6 have done this a lot.
** Technically, Jack's immortality although it was revealed in episode 1 of Torchwood.
* Used in ''[[Bones]]'' when Dr. Brennan finds out that her parents were actually notorious bank robbers.
** Also used when the team discovers that Zack is Gormogon's apprentice.
** Also used in pretty much every episode of ''[[Bones]]''.
* In the Season 3 ''[[ER]]'' episode "Night Shift," a patient who is badly mangled after jumping (or falling) onto the tracks in front of an elevated train is rolled into a trauma room. Dr. Benton tells a nurse to page Benton's [[Butt Monkey|favorite medical student]] Dennis Gant, and everyone is horrified when the patient's beeper goes
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'': Daniel Perrin is a Doll and Cindy Perrin is his handler.
** Boyd is Rossum's founder.
** That quirky engineer guy played by Alan Tudyk is Alpha.
* From the first season of ''[[Dexter]]'', the Ice Truck Killer is {{spoiler|Dexter's biological brother.}}
** From the third season premiere: Rita is pregnant.
** From the 4th season finale: {{spoiler|Rita was the Trinity killer's last victim.}}
** Late 6th season: Professor Gellar {{spoiler|is shown to have been dead for some time and only alive in Travis' imagination.}}
* In the Season 8 episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' "Prometheus Unbound," Daniel is the only person left aboard the Prometheus with one of Anubis's Super Soldiers. After Daniel is captured and tied to a chair, the Super Soldier hits on Daniel, who is understandably disturbed. Then the Super Soldier removes its helmet to reveal {{spoiler|Vala Maldoran}}.
* ''[[Jack and Bobby]]'' pulled this off in the pilot episode, waiting until the very end to reveal which of the show's two brothers would grow up to become President.
* 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]] ==
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* Or the true horrific reveal about Pro-Wrestling itself? It's ''scripted''. ''Dun Dun Dun.''
** GASP!
* In [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]], the man who drove a car and ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin at 1999 Survivor Series was revealed to be {{spoiler|Rikishi}}, as well as the mastermind {{spoiler|HHH}}.
* Can't wait to find out who the mystery RAW GM is in the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]].
** [[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]] ==
* [[Super Smash Bros.]]: [[Attractive Bent Gender|Sheik]] [[It Was His Sled|is]] [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Zelda]].
* ''[[Star Wars]]'': ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' You know that Darth Revan everyone's been talking about? The one who disappeared mysteriously and is presumed dead? The one who would have every reason to hate the Jedi AND the Sith for what they did if he/she were still alive? {{spoiler|That's you}}.
** The sequel pretty much makes a point of having no reveal, even though just about everything that happens in the game is one surprise after another in a kind of "I've always known" sort of way. The one true revelation is that the whole game was a test. Except anyone who paid attention already knew that. This is just speculation, but it might be in response to the Revan issue, considering how obvious it was to - again - to anyone paying attention, like the writers of the sequel would be.
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*** And the final reveal - the Citadel is actually an enormous Mass Relay, used by the Reapers to travel from extragalactic space back to the Milky Way. The Conduit, the weapon Saren has been searching for, is actually a minature Mass Relay that will allow him to get aboard the Citadel, kill his way to the station's Master Control Unit, and give control to Sovereign.
** ''[[Mass Effect|Mass Effect 2]]'', meanwhile, has three major ones. Firstly, the Collectors are actually the Protheans, repurposed and horifically modified by the Reapers to serve them. Secondly, the abducted humans are being used by the Collectors to build a '''human''' Reaper, revealing the reason the Reapers commit galactic xenocide every 50,000 years: it's their version of reproduction. Finally, Harbinger is a Reaper, and the Collector-General is just another Mook.
*** Turns out Cerberus and the Illusive Man actually ''are'' evil. [[Late Arrival Spoiler|Who]] [[The Un-Reveal|knew]]?
* ''[[
** Shortly after: "It's time to end this little masquerade. There ain't no Atlas, kid. Never was. Fella in my line of work takes on a variety of aliases. Hell, once I was even a chinaman for six months. But you've been a sport, so I guess I owe you a little honesty. The name's Frank Fontaine."
** Then comes [[
** Minerva's Den - {{spoiler|Sigma is Porter.}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' brings 'em until the final dungeon.
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**** Not quite. Sin is the armor that Yu Yevon creates for himself by possessing the Final Aeon. What he is really summoning is "The dream of the Fayth", a dream version of a Zanarkand that never lost the war; ''the Zanarkand that Jecht and Tidus came from.'' Yu Yevon's defeat means that Sin will finally disappear, along with the dream Zanarkand and Tidus.
** Auron's confession that he's an unsent (solid ghost). It was his devotion to his previous summoner and Tidus' father that allowed him to retain his human form (and not become a fiend), so he could [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].
* At the End of Red's Story in ''[[
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', built as it is upon a well-crafted [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] plot, is ''made'' of these, and doesn't stop until the very end - expect reveals about enemies, allies, old flames, rivals... even the main character. In fact, every attainable companion in the game has one of these, if you talk to them and dig deep enough.
* Subverted in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'', in which the Black Knight's true identity is spoiled to you by Ranulf rather casually a few chapters before your final showdown with him.
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* In the original ''[[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet & Clank]]'', Captain Qwark is revealed to be working for Drek in an attempt to make enough money to fuel his "comeback as a hero". Which would, in turn, get him more money as per heroic deeds and sponsorships. Another reveal, which is doesn't come until the end of the game, is that Chairman Drek is NOT looking for a home for his people. He turns out to be the one who polluted Orxon from the beginning, and the building of a new planet was actually a great real estate scheme as he was being paid for "every square inch" of his new planet.
* [[Legend of Dragoon]] has many
** Rose in particular holds a number of them.
*** She's immortal
*** She's the Black Beast.
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** The second game had a big one in that the Klaww gang members you had fought were all part of one big plan that was orchestrated by the leader of the gang, Arpeggio. What was the plan? To bring Clockwerk back to life, have Arpeggio become Clockwerk and become immortal. Also, [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|Neyla]] was working for Arpeggio the whole time. But, once again, she backstabs him at the last second and becomes Clock-la.
** And in the final game, the [[Big Bad]] Dr. M reveals that he was a part of Sly's father's gang. Apparently, Sly's father was a bit of a douche to Dr. M.
* In [[Dragon Quest V]] the main character isn't [[The Chosen One]] prophesied to save the world. His son is. Thus it makes sense why you never ran into the legendary hero on your travels until you're far into the game: He hadn't been born yet.
* In Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World, it is revealed in the end that the hero is actually the summon spirit Ratatosk that wanted to destroy the world as well as the clone of the scientist that was killed by Ratatosk and his personality was fabricated to protect Ratatosk's identity.
* ''[[Hotel Dusk: Room 215]]'' has one in the final chapter. You learn that Osterzone is actually Dunning Smith, who resolves ''every'' mystery that was brought up in the previous chapters (what happened to Bradley, where Mila's father is, how Iris' sister got the money to settle the lawsuit, etc.). It should be noted that Dunning himself doesn't come out and reveal his identity; you figure it out by using a coding machine while sealed inside of an airtight basement chamber that Dunning locked you in.
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** Re:coded: {{spoiler|Master Xehanort will return since his Heartless and Nobody were destroyed.}}
* [[Mother 3]]: The [[Big Bad]] only makes an appearance when the party's going for the final Needle... and by then you know full well who he is. {{spoiler|Porky Minch. And he's all grown up... literally.}}
{{quote|
** And a reveal that should really shock Lucas: {{spoiler|the Masked Man is his brother Claus.}}
*** Did you have to say ''[[Tear Jerker|shock]]''?
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* [[Space Channel 5|The Morolians were being used by Blank all along.]]
* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon|Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky]]'': The villainous {{spoiler|Grovyle}} has finally been captured and the heroic {{spoiler|Dusknoir}} is taking him away...and then he snatches ''you'' away too, because it turns out that ''he's'' the real villain and the "villain" you just helped capture was your [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|amnesiac hero's]] old partner. Also {{spoiler|you're from the future.}}
* ''[[Call of Duty]] [[Modern Warfare]] 2'' had every mission begin with text on screen telling you the name of the mission and where it was taking place. Late in the game, one of the [[Yanks With Tanks|Ranger]] missions starts with you in a bunker, with no text telling you where you are. You navigate through the bunker, filled with wounded soldiers, shaking violently from nearby explosions that are causing debris to fall from the ceiling, until you finally exit, go around a corner and see {{spoiler|a war-torn Washington D.C. in flames.}} Only then does the title text come on screen.
** The game wastes no time in topping this with the end of "Loose Ends". {{spoiler|Shepherd's the [[Big Bad]], not Makarov.}}
* ''[[Call of Duty]] [[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Black Ops]]'' of course, had: {{spoiler|''[[My Name Is Inigo Montoya|My name is Viktor Reznov, and I will have my revenge!]]''}}
* The flash game "Alice is Dead" does this quite well. In the first game, you see Alice's decomposing skeleton, and it is later revealed that you are the one that killed her (although, you developed some nasty amnesia and forgot most of it.) In the third game, you go after the Queen of Hearts {{spoiler|and get killed just as soon as you meet him. He slyly goes into his limo, only to find that there is another passenger: Alice. She was still alive the whole time, and only faked her death to make it easier to kill the Queen.}}
* Big Daddy in the original ''[[Gungrave]]'' is depicted as dead throughout the game. Not quite. He was actually used as a guinea pig for Harry's undead soldier program and lives on in the form of a twisted
* [[Team Fortress 2]]: "[[Oh Crap|Oh my god]], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAb5AKm7rvo#t=1m45s you're a SPY!]"
* The main character of [[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]], Alex Mercer, is trying to find out how he became the mutant with [[Badass]] [[Cursed with Awesome|powers]] that he is. When he finally does, it turns out that {{spoiler|he's not really Alex Mercer at all. He is the Blacklight virus that infected the corpse of the real Mercer and copied his body when he was shot after releasing the Virus on the city. The protagonist only thought itself to be Mercer because it retained some of his memories as it does with all the people it infects and consumes.}}
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* In the second half of [[Portal 2]], after listening to several recordings of late Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson talking to a cheerful secretary by the name of Caroline, it's revealed that {{spoiler|1=GLaDOS was built as an attempt by the terminally ill Johnson to cheat death by [[Brain Uploading|uploading his mind]] into an immortal AI network...and while Johnson seems to have died before the project was ready, he left instructions that Caroline should be uploaded, against her will if necessary, in his place.}}
* ''[[The Orion Conspiracy]]'' has a number of reveals. The first one is that {{spoiler|Gates is an undercover agent who has been trying to dig up dirt on the space station and gave Devlin the note about his son's death being murder}}. The second one is that {{spoiler|there are xenomorphs (aliens) running loose, killing off crew members and impersonating them}}. The third one is that {{spoiler|Captain Shannon murdered both Danny and Kaufmann. Why? Because he is a [[Complete Monster]] who killed Danny as revenge for his wife's death, and he killed Kaufmann to frame Devlin. He was also going to kill Devlin}}. The fourth one is that {{spoiler|Mogami-Hudson discovered the xenomorphs in statis in the asteroid and released some of them, hoping to get their technology in return}}. The fifth one is that {{spoiler|Doctor Chu, Waterman, and Lowe are dead and that you were interacting with xenomorphs disguised as them}}.
* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'': Lea Monde '''is''' the Gran Grimoire. And Sydney had the key to inheriting its powers all
* In [[The 3rd Birthday]], you are not really {{spoiler|playing as Aya Brea throughout the game}}. Hint: Overdive.
* Near the end of ''[[Dragon Age]]'', you find out a Grey Warden must sacrifice their life to permanently kill the Archdemon. Not long after, you find out the real reason one of your companions was sent with you was to have a child with either you-if you're male-or your other Warden companion to hold the Archdemon's essence; this would also mean no Wardens would have to die.
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** 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]] ==
* The ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series, being all about very dramatic trials, has some major reveals. Perhaps the most epic is in the second game's final case, where your client, Matt Engarde, turns out to be not the killer, but [[Smug Snake|the man who ordered the killing.]] The reveal is so awesome because he [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|smoothes back his hair to reveal some nasty scars on his eye]], changing his appearance and expression extensively, and then he pulls a glass of brandy out of [[Hammerspace]]. ''In a holding cell.''
** The homepage says "a buttload more informal than Wikipedia", so let's go with some more. The ending to the third game: even after [[Big Bad]] Dahlia Hawthorne has been defeated for good, there still isn't an actual suspect for the murder. After some further testimony and debate, Phoenix accuses Prosecutor Godot. What makes this a surprise is that so far there's been absolutely nothing to even suggest that person was anywhere NEAR the murder as it happened. But it's not out of nowhere; because the player has to prove they've actually been paying attention by answering "Who do you think the witness saw?" just before
*** Or right before that, the fact that Dahlia Hawthorne is even involved. Spirit channeling had been a sidenote until that case, so the executed Dahlia was thought to be out of the picture completely.
** The first game's final case has two of them, in sequence. Lana Skye has already admitted guilt as your defendant, leading to a lot of suspicion as to: Why would you do that? When investigating a very obviously-related incident referred to as SL-9, you must go through the testimony of her younger sister, Ema Skye, to find out what happened. Many players here expect this murder gives the proof and motive to put the real culprit behind bars. The result? You accidentally find proof positive to the real killer in that incident: Ema. This sets up for a bigger reveal later on.
** Throughout the fifth game the question we've been building up to is whether the Yatagarasu is Kay's father Byrne Faraday, as Kay claims, or Calisto Yew, as Yew claims. In the penultimate challenge of the game we find out that the answer is neither option. The Yatagarasu was actually ''three people''
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. In the Fate route Saber is revealed to be {{spoiler|King Arthur (or [[Distaff Counterpart|Arturia]])}}, the Holy Grail is actually {{spoiler|an [[Artifact of Doom]] [[Jackass Genie]]}} and {{spoiler|that random priest at the very start}} is the [[Big Bad]]. In Unlimited Blade Works route Archer is actually {{spoiler|a [[Future Badass]] version of Shirou}}. In Heaven's Feel route {{spoiler|Sakura is Rin's younger sister who was given to the evil Matou family and during eleven years was subject of horrendous domestic abuse and [[Training
* ''[[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]].}}
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* 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.}}
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* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' is just aching to make a couple billion of these.
** Antimony and Renard's first real argument quickly devolved into them throwing extremely painful revelations at each other. Specifically {{spoiler|Surma never loved him, and Antimony was the cause of Surma's illness.}}
* [[8-Bit Theater
* Parodied in [https://web.archive.org/web/20160322015320/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2005-12-01 this] strip from ''[[Dominic Deegan]]''.
* At the climax of an earlier plotline of ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', it's revealed that literally every detail of the plotline was all part of an elaborate publicity stunt orchestrated by ''FOX News''.
* ''[[YU+ME: dream]]'' - when the reader finds out that everything in Part 1 has been a [[All Just a Dream|dream]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140218141836/http://mortifer.smackjeeves.com/ Mortifer,] being more or less a [[Wham! Episode|Wham Series]] [[Growing the Beard|in later chapters]], has plenty of these. The most notable, however, is chapter 18. William Aussek, Sam's [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] new CO, is actually Joey Von Krause in disguise. And Joey is actually a demon, with [[Playing with Fire|flame powers]]. And his eyepatch hides a gaping wound with a small light deep inside instead of an eye. And then he kills Sam, who's a viewpoint character. There are several other examples, such as the reveal that Vlademyre Hynner, Joey's old boss who was [[Brick Joke|introduced in the first chapter, then forgotten]], is the new leader of the southern black market, or the reveal that [[Badass Preacher]] Zebidiah is actually a demon under Vlad's control, or the reveal that Joey's [[
* ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'': The spirits are the bad guys.
* [[Homestuck]]: The most important character in Homestuck is... {{spoiler|Gamzee Makara. Though, Lil' Cal may be more likely at this point.}}
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** The Tumor {{spoiler|is what created the Green Sun. And Doc Scratch planned it all.}}
** The reveal of {{spoiler|Lord English.}}
* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608174054/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter006/ib034.html Dara drops her knowledge on Caspian].
* Why is [[Yehuda Moon and The Kickstand Cyclery|Yehuda Moon]] hated so much by Sister Sprocket? How did he get involved in the Kickstand in the first place? It's because he's a [[Soapbox Sadie]], right? {{spoiler|Actually, his work on a housing development inadvertently destroyed the forest, taking with it the Shakers' way of life with it. Selling their bikes is his way of paying penance.}}
* ''[[Ctrl Alt Delete]]'' had a [[Running Gag]] involving Ethan trying to get into Scott's bedroom to see what was such a big secret that he spent most of his time there & refused to explain what he was doing, yet failing every time. And then, when he ''finally'' got inside by tricking Scott into leaving, he was ''stunned'' to find... [[The Un-Reveal|a perfectly normal room]], and [[What the Hell, Hero?|got bitched at by Scott for the inasion of privacy]], before Ethan accidentally knocked a lamp which opened a hidden panel in the wall hiding several computer monitors, with {{spoiler|Scott's pet penguin, Ted, sat at them. Scott then explains they're going to release a virus that destroys ''all'' Microsoft software, because they experimented on Ted & Scott rescued him from the lab. [[The Dog Was the Mastermind|Oh, and that made Ted super smart, and he developed a way to give himself telepathic control over Scott, with Ted being the dominant one of the two]]}}.
** 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]]'', [
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Broken Saints]]'' has quite a few, but the most memorable comes in at the end of the penultimate chapter. Palmer is found dead, and in a storm of [[Mind Rape]] we see the face of the ''real'' [[Big Bad]]. The hobo Raimi encountered by the alley, AKA, Lear Dunham.
* ''[[Ruby Quest]]'' has several moments that would qualify, but the biggest is probably "Today is october 31st".
* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'s [[Darker and Edgier|Reconstruction series]]'', the fact that [[Only Sane Man|Church]] is the [[
** Another reveal in the most recent season: Tex is [[Failure Is the Only Option|destined to fail at every single thing she tries]] - no matter what she does - because that's what she's based on.
* The biggest reveal in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' was the fact that Stone's mother was a supervillain, and that his father abandoned him at an orphanage in order to hide him from her.
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* 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.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[American Dad]]'' loves spoofing this. One example, from "The Phantom of the Telethon":
{{quote|
'''Roger:''' I'm not Roger, I'm the Phantom!
''(Stan pulls off his mask and gasps.)''
'''Stan:''' Roger!
'''Roger:''' [[Logic Bomb|Well, yeah, I...what?]] }}
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* 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]].
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Plot Twist]]▼
[[Category:Omnipresent Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Script Speak]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reveal, The}}
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