Theme Song Reveal: Difference between revisions

Music is a powerful tool. With a good musical director, a [[Narm]] becomes a Hallelujah Moment, a dull comedy sequence becomes [[Mickey Mousing|hilarious]], and a theme tune gets [[Ear Worm|stuck on your head for days]].

 

 

In the Theme Song Reveal, ''actual elements of the plot'' are hinted at, suggested, or outright stated, and the music is the giveaway. It's a [[Musical Spoiler]], but an intentional one, and one that gives away plot details.

Used well, this trope can serve as a much-needed nod to the musically-observant, or to everyone with a working set of ears, depending on the way music is used in the work as a whole. Used poorly, it might result in a hint no-one notices, or a painful [[Foreshadowing]] anvil.

 

 

See also [[Musical Spoiler]], the unintentional version of this trope.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* "Martha's Theme" in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was specifically written to sound a little like the theme tune of the Doctor's previous companion, Rose, ''and'' to share its opening notes with the "Doctor's Theme", thus presenting the viewers with two subtle cues as to Martha's role in the plot of Series 3.

** Speaking of "Rose's Theme", it became so identified with that character, that in at least two instances (in which Rose reappeared in the series after having left earlier) it was the ''only'' identifier used for the character, with her name not even being uttered for the benefit of those not familiar with the established canon.

** In series 6, the same track plays during {{spoiler|The Doctor's death}} in "The Impossible Astronaut" and {{spoiler|the revelation of River's identity}} in "A Good Man Goes to War", foreshadowing that {{spoiler|it is indeed River in the suit}}. The track's name on the soundtrack is {{spoiler|"Melody Pond"}}.

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

** An even better example from the first act of the same opera: when Siegmund is telling the story of how his father mysteriously vanished, the trombones very quietly play the Valhalla theme (which is also Wotan's theme). In the following scene, Sieglinde describes an old man in gray who came to her wedding to Hunding and stuck a sword in the ash tree, while the same [[Leitmotif]] plays.

** In ''Götterdämmerung'', when Hagen is singing to Gunther about being only his half-brother, Alberich's motif is played, pointing to the fact that Hagen is Alberich's son, revealed later in the opera.

* ''Sin Episodes: Emergence'', an otherwise mediocre sequel to a great game, does this very nicely by using variants on the characters' themes just before they appear. It's used to particularly good effect with Elexis.

* In the video game ''[[Flower, Sun, and Rain|Flower, Sun and Rain]]'' the end credits roll to a song nicknamed ''Welcome Home''. That song may be the single most leitmotif-heavy song Masafumi Takada has ever written. One interesting thing about it is near the end of the song, it stops abruptly with a needle drop noise, and then resumes again. But when it resumes, you can actually catch the subtle leitmotif of the song ''Kusabi'' from Grasshopper's previous game ''The Silver Case''. This is foreshadowing ''Flower, Sun, and Rain's'' [[The Stinger|stinger]], which reveals that {{spoiler|your new pal Peter Bocchwinkur is really your old pal Tetsugorō Kusabi from ''The Silver Case'', whose theme music was hidden in the end credits theme.}}

** The Magypsy theme music is a faux-Baroque string aria, but most of the time it's overlaid with kind of a funky saxophone countermelody. When {{spoiler|the reconstructed Fassad and his interpreter}} appear, the former, {{spoiler|who now can only speak through the horns on his face, "sings" that same saxophone line when he speaks}}. It's later revealed that {{spoiler|Fassad was the treacherous seventh Magypsy}}.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] Advent Children'', upon Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo's first appearance, before any other information is revealed about them, Sephiroth's leitmotif, 'Those Chosen By The Planet', plays in the background. This, of course, spoils Sephiroth's resurrection and the nature of his Remnants.

* It takes a sharp ear, but in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', the true identity of [[Big Bad|Count Bleck]] can be determined pretty early on if you notice that his theme is a variation on the "Memory" theme used during the flashbacks in-between chapters.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Score and Music Tropes]]