What Happened to the Mouse?

A phrase used to decry the abrupt removal of a minor element, be it a character, action, or plotline. The person or thing in question is suddenly dropped from the story for no apparent reason with no resolution, nor any explanation as to what happened to it.

There are several main reasons this happens: in movies, the most common is that scenes are excised in editing, but references to them still remain elsewhere in the film. Another common reason is that a Wrong Genre Savvy audience mistakenly attached too much importance to what always was intended to be a throwaway. A third is that The Law of Conservation of Detail was not properly applied: a Bit Character was a little too lively, so that he didn't appear a throw-away, as why was that much detail given for one?

If the element comes back just as you've forgotten about it, this is actually a Brick Joke or a Chekhov's Gun. If the element doesn't come back, but the show hangs a lampshade on it at the end, then it's Something We Forgot. If it escapes your notice until after the show is over and you've gotten up to go to the fridge to make a sandwich, it's Fridge Logic.

Alternately, it's a variation on the "What Now?" Ending; not only are we unclear what happens to the character, but this also can leave doubts as to whether they even survived once they broke away from the other characters.

Another character or the Narrator may remark that they were never heard from again.

The trope's name refers to a scene in The Last Emperor in which the title character violently throws his beloved pet mouse offscreen. There's no sound of the mouse hitting anything, but it's never seen again, leaving its fate ambiguous.

What Happened to the Mouse moments can be very rich soil for Epileptic Trees or Wild Mass Guessing.

Super-Trope to What Happened to the Pet?

Not to be confused with Aborted Arc, which is when a major story arc or plotline is dropped without resolution, or Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, where a major character just plain disappears.

A What Happened to the Mouse? that is deliberately created and where the creators have no intention of ever resolving the question is a Noodle Incident. A What Happened to the Mouse? that is returned to after an extended period of time and answered is a Brick Joke.

Often the result of a Wacky Wayside Tribe, a Forgotten Fallen Friend, or a Non Sequitur Scene.

Compare with Left Hanging, Kudzu Plot, Red Herring Twist, Out of Focus. Related tropes include Never Found the Body and "What Now?" Ending. May involve a Shrug of God.

Examples of What Happened to the Mouse? are listed on these subpages:

Examples of What Happened to the Mouse? include:

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

Older Than Feudalism: Homer did this in The Iliad. He went to the trouble of describing the battle between Aeneas (mortal son of Aphrodite) and Achilles. The Gods saw that Aeneas was about to be killed, and, since he was such a good servant, decided that he didn't deserve to be killed, and took him away from the battle, declaring that he would be the future king of all Trojans yet to come. Homer never mentions him again, and even the other authors of the lost epics only said that he either fled Troy after a bad omen or was captured and spared by the Achaeans. Later Greek authors said that he went to Italy. It took eight hundred years for Virgil to turn this into a Brick Joke. An Epic Brick Joke, at that!
Open up a mythology book. Chances are, if you're reading the Perseus story, you'll know that Acrisius, King of Argos, simply had bad luck when it came to having children (or at least males), and learned through the Oracle of Delphi that while he wouldn't have any luck any time soon, his daughter, Danae, would have a child that would eventually kill him. After that, everyone knows that Acrisius stuck Danae in a box and put her in the ocean, where Zeus impregnates Danae in the form of a Golden Shower, thus leading to the creation of an important hero. You never hear about Acrisius again until a long time after, especially in your text. Depending on your version, he's more or less become something of a poor man, and happens to be visiting funeral games where Perseus also happens to be playing. As Acrisius sits in the stands, a stray discus launched by Perseus strikes an unsuspecting Acrisius in the head (this troper's mythology guide had Acrisius struck In the foot.), thus fulfilling the prophecy that his son would kill him. The presence of Acrisius itself seems to combine this trope, Brick Joke, and some sort of Chekhov's Prophecy.
In many versions of Arthurian legend, Arthur's mother has three daughters with her first husband: Morgause, Morgan le Fay, and Elaine. The first two play pivotal roles in Arthur's life, but Elaine is typically mentioned once in passing and then never heard from again.
The wives of both Cain's and Abel's bloodlines for the first several generations come from seemingly nowhere.
Elihu spends a few chapters ranting at the eponymous character of the Book of Job, then disappears and isn't mentioned in the last portion.
In the New Testament, we never hear any word of Jesus' stepfather Joseph after the "Did you not know I would be in my Father's house" incident when He was twelve. Church tradition says he passed away some time before Jesus started his ministry.

Recorded and Stand-up Comedy

Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill tour featured the "Firework joke" which he repeatedly references throughout his performance then ends the show without telling it. It's lampshaded by several people in the audience who immediately begin asking for it. He doesn't.

Toys

Bionicle, due to its nature, has plenty of examples:
- The Dark Hunters guidebook mentions that Shadow Stealer is currently coming back from a mission and is ready to face his "master", the Shadowed One. It was deemed an irrelevant Narrative Filigree and never touched upon again.
- The same happened to Aphibax's secret mission to track the events on the island of Voya Nui.
- Order of Mata Nui agents report in the book Bionicle World that Karzahni is training his Matoran slaves in order to conquer the outer world he just learned of. The plot had been Retconned out of the story, so he went to fight without them, taking his Manas crabs instead.
- The book also mentioned that Roodaka had become the ruler of her island and will probably train her people to form an army. What became of it: Nothing, as her island was destroyed by Kaiju, and her status was never touched upon.
- What more, the book revealed the Mana-Ko, formerly believed to be beastial guardians of the Big Bad, were actually secret double agents for the Order (good guys), and would be called into war. The war did happen, but they were never mentioned again.

But we still don't know what happened to the mouse!