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Theme Song Reveal: Difference between revisions
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' had Myotismon's theme play when Malo Myotismon's face appears as a partial silhouette, an episode before he revealed himself.
* When Archer cuts loose with his [[Field of Blades|Unlimited Blade Works]] in ''[[
** It played during {{spoiler|the final battle in the Fate scenario when Shirou is projecting Saber's sheath}}, as well as {{spoiler|Shirou's fights against Archer and Gilgamesh}} in the UBW route and against {{spoiler|Dark Berserker and Kotomine}} in the HF route. In fact, the game only uses the song for * one* of Archer's scenes in all three routes, and even then it starts playing when he's ''losing''. Its usage in the anime is really more a [[Fridge Brilliance]] moment of [[Foreshadowing]] for anyone who is familiar with the game.
* An example of this is in ''[[Gankutsuou]]'''s theme song, which tells the story of Edmond Dantes {{spoiler|AKA the Count of Monte Cristo}} and the motive behind his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] before it's revealed at the end of the anime. It only avoids being a complete spoiler of the story by not identifying the song with his character.
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* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels, there's brief snatches of the distinctive Imperial March in the soundtrack, poignantly reminding the viewer of Anakin's eventual fate. In fact, "Anakin's Theme" is essentially a more innocent version of the March.
** Also, the triumphant, joyous fanfare at the end of ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' is an alternate arrangement of the Emperor's theme from ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.
* One letter: ''[[
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
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** 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.
* In ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
** And if that's not enough, the scene where {{spoiler|the Beggar Woman is at Sweeney's barber shop}} in the theatrical production {{spoiler|has her singing something to the tune of "Poor Thing," the number that played during Lucy's rape}}. (This was a late addition to the show, and so isn't on the original cast recording. It's apparently optional material, like the tooth-pulling contest and Judge Turpin's song.)
* [[Older Than Print]]: In the [[The High Middle Ages|12th century]] Latin ''Ludus de Herode'' (''The Play of Herod'') King Herod and his son sing a song about their fear of and desire to destroy the new-born Christ. Then, when Herod calls the Magi in and instructs them diligently to seek out the Child, he sings the line "that I too, coming, may adore Him" to the melody of his [[Villain Song]].
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** Phoenix himself gets a variation of this in the fourth game. The mysterious client in the grey parker with the blue beanie might have been revealed to be him already half a case prior to this, but many players were unwilling to accept this as the truth - until his theme song started playing, at which point he uses his iconic Objection-stance.
** [[Ace Attorney Investigations]] has a short cameo for Shi-Long Lang during a flashback case where he appears as a mysterious police officer, but his theme song makes it clear who he really is.
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty]]'', the masked, unidentified ninja dives for Ocelot's arm, and the music plays the sharp opening bars of {{spoiler|Olga}}'s theme, providing a clue for the musically observant as to who the ninja is before the official reveal. This one was in a very cinematic cutscene and was short - it was so subtle that everyone who hadn't shelled out for the OST (or watched the Making Of where the trick was blatantly pointed out by the announcer) probably didn't notice it.
** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]'', {{spoiler|Big Boss}}'s theme plays over the voice actor credits...
* Players of ''[[Onimusha]] III'' will probably figure out quite easily, if not from the hundreds of other giveaways, who exactly Tenkai in ''Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams'' is.
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation 2'' a certain character from the first game reappears in disguise. While Ratsel Feinschmecker's identity is [[Paper-Thin Disguise|immediately apparent anyway]], the audience is left without any doubt whatsoever when Elzam Branstein's extremely ''distinctive'' (and insistent) [[Leitmotif]] starts playing.
* ''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.}}
* In ''[[
** 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}}.
*** Done waaay before that in ''[[Earthbound]]'' the enemy music in the ''final area'' of the game is a remix of {{spoiler|Porkys}} theme when you talk to him. Gee, wonder who the boss of that area is? Granted, it isn't ''his'' battle theme but it still is a spoiler/foreshadowing. Although, most people don't notice this, as {{spoiler|Porkys}} theme doesn't play often and it is one of the mroe forgettable tracks.
* 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 ''[[
* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] and the Black Knight,'' the main theme is full of what seems like a bunch of knightly nonsense to fit the theme of the game, such as "I will conquer near and far" and "By the table I command." It sounds like it's about King Arthur, but it's performed by Crush 40, the typical "voice" of Sonic and Shadow. It seems like they just got lazy, until the end of the game reveals that {{spoiler|Sonic is the true King Arthur, possibly literally; the one the Black Knight replaced may have been to Sonic as the game's Gawain is to Knuckles}}. A few astute fans actually suggested something to this effect before the game was released based on the first verse of the song.
** This get quite obvious when {{spoiler|Sonic is dubbed "Knight Of The Wind"}} before ''and'' after the duel against Percival.
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep]]'', Vanitas's battle theme {{spoiler|takes cues from Sora's AND Roxas's themes}}.
** In addition, the Unversed boss themes {{spoiler|contain part of Vanitas' theme, hinting at the fact that that they all come from him}}.
** [[Word of God|Nomura]] has stated that [[Bonus Boss|Mysterious Figure's]] battle theme is also this. {{spoiler|It takes cues from Rage Awakened (Terra's Lingering Sentiment), Darkness of the Unknown (Xemnas's final battle theme in ''[[
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', Celes' theme is very obviously a variation on "Aria de Mezzo Caraterre", the song used for the famous opera sequence. It heavily foreshadows her [[Character Development]] in the second half of the game during the World of Ruin.
** "Dancing Mad" is a massive [[Boss Remix]] of many different songs used in the game, and many of the pieces incorporated into it have some sort of symbolism attached [http://www.destructoid.com/final-fantasy-vi-s-dancing-mad-a-critical-analysis-157570.phtml if you listen hard enough.]
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Absolutely ''expertly'' used in the ''[[Batman:
** For the curious, the theme of {{spoiler|the Mad Hatter}} can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9fuuaU5IP0 here], while the theme of that episode's villain can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZFlaUTzhKI&feature=BF&list=PLA83BE3F7E8FD0188&index=61 here].
* On ''[[Gargoyles]],'' a rather surprising scene in "The Gathering, Part 1" reveals that [[Battle Butler|Owen]] expected [[Physical God|Oberon]]'s attack and planned defenses, but would not stay around to help Xanatos in the battle. Just before he leaves, a certain leitmotif hints at the next episode's twist: {{spoiler|Owen is, and always has been, [[Trickster Archetype|Puck]] in disguise.}}
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