History Main / FauxShadow

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The "Zodiac," hinted at at the end of the opening sequence, is built to be something relating to the BigBad. The fact that it has symbols that clearly represent some of the main characters (the pine tree on the hat Dipper gets at the end of the first episode, the shooting star on one of Mabel's sweaters, etc) and some that are more subtle had led to plenty of speculation throughout the series as to who the ten people involved would be. In the GrandFinale, these characters ''do'' gather as Ford explains that the Zodiac is the key to defeating Bill. But the whole process is interrupted by Stan and Ford arguing over the former's grammar long enough for Bill to arrive and trap everyone who isn't a Pines and destroy the drawing they needed. Bill is finished off by [[LaserGuidedAmnesia another method, and the Zodiac never actually plays a role in the show.]]

* While everyone who knows about ''Film/{{Audition}}'' (or [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil catches sight of its DVD cover]]) knows just what's up with the enigmatic Asami, watching it in the mindset of someone unaware of the twist makes it apparent that the first half of the film set up many indicators of Asami [[DeadAllAlong being a ghost]]: her [[EtherealWhiteDress ethreal white-dressed]] beauty, Aoyama's friend commenting that something seems off about her and that none of the references she gave exist, and her sudden and mysterious disappearance one day that baffles Aoyama -- all of which would make TheReveal even more shocking to an unknowing viewer who was expecting a quiet, romantic story.

* In ''Film/FirstBlood'', Teasle asks Col. Trautman if he'd give Rambo a hug or blow his brains out, leaving Trautman to give the wish-washy answer "I couldn't decide until I met him face-to-face". This hints at the original ending in the book, where Trautman [[BoomHeadshot goes with blowing his brains out]] (Rambo and Teasle shot each other and it was inarguably a MercyKill at this point).

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Giles the untouchable. The BigBad of Buffy's last arc could take the form of anyone who had died, but only as a non-solid illusion. There was a scene that suggested Giles may have died, and his later appearances had him never directly interacting with anything, hinting that he may be the aforementioned BigBad in disguise. The characters themselves eventually pick up on this and panic, especially as Giles just went off to mentor the very group of teenage girls the BigBad has been trying to kill. When they finally catch up with him and find that he is indeed still a living, tangible person, he gets a great line about how "they thought he was evil because he ''wasn't'' touching underage girls?"

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the Flame Emperor's true identity is [[Edelgard, leader of the Black Eagles and a potential playable character if the player choses the Black Eagles route. Edelgard is not playable during chapters where the Flame Emperor is present, and conspicuously disappears any time the Flame Emperor is set to make an entrance, hinting at her double identity. However, on the Blue Lions and Golden Deer, the same conspicuous absences are repeated by Dimitri and Claude, despite them having nothing to do with the Flame Emperor, seemingly only for gameplay parity.]]

* This ended up happening to Orihime Inoue in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. At the start of the series, her main power seems to be healing people, along with creating defensive shields. Partway through the Arrancar Saga, she's kidnapped by people working for the BigBad, Aizen. Aizen tells her that her powers go far beyond what they seemed. Her real power is to flat out reject reality. If she wants, she can alter objects or restore them to their previous state. He demonstrates this by having her repair Grimmjow's missing arm, something that he claims can't be done with regular healing. Orihime develops a plan to use her ability to unmake the Hogyoku, a mystical object essential to Aizen's plans. Later on, Ulquiorra implies that Aizen has done something to modify Orihime. A big deal is also made during the Arrancar Saga about how Orihime's sole offensive technique is a OneHitKill but is rendered useless because her gentle nature means she'll always hesitate to use lethal force, thus weakening the attack to the point that almost anyone can block it. At the same time Ulquiorra is built up as far more Orihime's nemesis than Ichigo's, with Ichigo already getting two other major enemies in the arc (Grimmjow and [[BigBad Aizen himself]]). This is seemingly setting up Orihime to find the resolve to fight without holding back (an established theme to the series, something that Ichigo has to go through several times) and defeat Ulquiorra herself. Ultimately, Orihime gets left behind in Hueco Mundo while Ichigo goes to confront Aizen, whom he manages to beat with a new power that leaves Aizen completely helpless, and causes him to be rejected by the Hogyoku. The possibility of her destroying it isn't brought up again, Ulquiorra's words are never explained, and Orihime never has an actual fight with him or anyone else. In the end, despite all of the build-up, she didn't contribute to Aizen's defeat in any way.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', Mole comments on how the dormant volcano the exploration team is in will only erupt in reaction to an explosion of great magnitude. In response to this, everyone stares at [[DemolitionsExpert Vinny]], who is tinkering with a time bomb. When the volcano does erupt, however, Vinny has nothing to do with it; in fact, he lampshades this.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon'', it seems like Jade is set up to potentially be a villain like her comics counterpart (Cheshire) due to the envy she has for Shiva being better than her. That's not the case as she's murdered by Rip Jaggar to open the gate before this could happen meaning that she still has Main/AdaptationalHeroism in the movie.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Maskerade'', which is heavily inspired by the various versions of ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', has several characters remark that [[FallingChandelierOfDoom the giant chandelier in the middle of the Opera House is an accident waiting to happen]]. At the end of the book, it still hasn't fallen, though that's [[InvokedTrope not for lack of the villain trying]].

** Ash's Aipom's love of Contests gets quite a bit of foreshadowing, eventually being traded over to Dawn and becoming one of her most used Pokemon. Zoey even tells her the two are meant to enter the Grand Festival together. Unfortunately, this is all thrown out the window after Ambipom suddenly gains a love for [[MundaneUtility ping pong]] and literally PutOnABus, never to be seen again.

** In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'', the Elite 4 and the Champion all make an appearance at separate points and it's almost set up that Ash will actually get to battle them. Shame he doesn't, no thanks to [[DiabolusExMachina Tobias]].

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The opening of Master Quest seemed to hint that Casey and Ritchie would be competing in the Johto League, as they appeared alongside Gary in the background of a stadium. Neither fought Ash in the league.
** Late in the Johto saga, the gang comes across a mansion inhabited by a lone servant named Lokoko and her Ninetales. Or rather, a lone Ninetales and an illusion created by it by which it could communicate with the outside world. As Brock mentions how he once had a Vulpix (which he had returned to Suzy over sixty episodes prior to that point), the Ninetales clearly has a fondness for Brock ([[IdenticalStranger he resembles its old master]]), ''and'' the Poké Ball that kept it tethered to the mansion breaks at the end of the episode, one would expect Brock to invite Ninetales to join his team, but the Ninetales simply roams free and is never seen again.

** In Sinnoh, the Elite 4 and the Champion all make an appearance at separate points and it's almost set up that Ash will actually get to battle them. Shame he doesn't, no thanks to [[DiabolusExMachina Tobias]].
** The first half of ''Best Wishes'' has Ash's badge case have a clear slot for the Legend Badge. After getting the Icicle Badge, the Opelucid Gym is temporarily closed (much to Iris's delight), so Ash eventually wins the Toxic Badge from Roxie instead.
** It's practically tradition that an (obviously) AlwaysSomeoneBetter trainer would be the one to prevent Ash from getting a tournament victory, which, in the Unova arc, fans would believe to be Virgil. Instead, it was Cameron, a worse IdiotHero than Ash was.
** The first episode of Unova implied Ash was Zekrom's chosen hero of ideals. The first time N makes his anime debut he seems to be Reshiram's chosen hero of truth. While they like each other well enough, N takes offence at Ash's chosen lifestyle as a Pokémon Trainer. So you think they will take command of each other's legendary and battle to see if truth or ideals wins the day as in the games? Nope, Ash gets N on his side before Reshiram appears and Reshiram leaves with little fuss. Zekrom doesn't even make an appearance.
*** This is apparently due to RealLifeWritesThePlot; Team Plasma had been planned to debut early in ''BW'', but the March 2011 earthquake in Japan caused those episodes to be delayed, and then the announcement of sequel games instead of the traditional updated third version caused the ensuing mess that happened. What info exists on those episodes implies that N was planned to be the king of Team Plasma, like in the games. Instead, Team Plasma debuts much later, with their ''[=BW2=]'' designs, while N has already split from them long before meeting Ash.
** Ash's Charizard returns late in the ''Black and White'' saga. In a case of BaitAndSwitchCredits, he doesn't have an actual role in Team Plasma, let alone face Reshiram, as the opening theme suggested. And then, when Mega Evolutions were introduced in the next generation, ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', many were thinking that since Charizard stayed on Ash's team until the end of ''Black and White'' (and never returned to the Charicific Valley), Ash would get access to the new mechanic (since Charizard is one of those confirmed to get Mega Evolutions [two, in fact]). The ''XY'' series came and went, and Ash ''never'' got to actually be a Mega user, in spite of having Charizard (and a whole LOT of other potential Mega candidates, for that matter). In fact, ''none'' of Ash's previous Pokemon appear at all in ''XY''. [[SubvertedTrope Finally subverted]] in [[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Pokemon Journeys]] where Ash becomes a Mega user as his Lucario can Mega Evolve.
** The ''Sun and Moon'' series featured a recurring Eevee with shaggy fur that was expected to join Ash's roster once it officially joined the main cast. Instead, it ended up being captured by Lana and nicknamed Sandy.
** ''Journeys'' features debuts for each of the individual Galar starters that would usually join Ash's roster in one or all types. This time around, the honor is given to the deuteragonist Goh.

* ''Anime/ProjectAko'' shows us A-ko, a PersonOfMassDestruction capable of feats of incredible speed and strength. Space aliens are searching for their long-lost princess they left behind on Earth. Obviously, the aliens have come to take A-ko away. Oh, wait, no they're not. They're here for [[TheDitz C-ko]]. [[spoiler:It turns out A-ko is [[LawyerFriendlyCameo all but said to be]] the daughter of ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman.]]

* ''Anime/ProjectAko'' shows us A-ko, a PersonOfMassDestruction capable of feats of incredible speed and strength. Space aliens are searching for their long-lost princess they left behind on Earth. Obviously, the aliens have come to take A-ko away. Oh, wait, no they're not. They're here for [[TheDitz C-ko]]. [[spoiler:It turns out A-ko is the daughter of ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman.]]

** All throughout the second half of the series, [[BigBad Zeref]] anticipates that [[TheHero Natsu]] is the only person in the world capable of killing him. This is reinforced when Natsu is revealed to be E.N.D., a demon Zeref turned him into for this very purpose. However, Natsu's only opportunity to kill Zeref is wasted midway through the final story arc, and while he remains the only one capable of ''defeating'' him in battle, it's ultimately [[BigGood Mavis who kills him as an ActOfTrueLove via their shared InstantDeathRadius.]]

*** This is compounded by Zero's ending in ''VideoGame/MegaManX7'', in which he has a nightmare of X hunting him down [[BrokenRecord while droning on about eliminating Mavericks]]. What makes this example particularly weird is that ''X7'' released '''after''' ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero1 Z1]]'', meaning many players would already know the real X remains a heroic character in the future, though it can be argued this still works in the context of [[ItGetsEasier X's fears that he'll go down [[KnightTemplar that]] [[FallenHero path]], something he confesses to Zero at the end of ''Z1'']].

* ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'' has the action figures of enemies and bosses, each with voices and "attack actions" that you can often buy before encountering said enemies. Typically they serve as a heads-up to what kind of enemies you'll be facing next. However, [[TheUnfought you never fight Colonel Capricolla and it turns out [[TheMole he's been helping you the entire time]]. The pistol, sound effects, and [[CallingYourAttacks battle cries]] made by his action figure are only there to keep players from discovering the big twist.]]

** In ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', sometime after Chapter 1, if Mario checks his mail, he will find a letter from the Koopa Bros. (the bosses of Chapter 1) vowing to return to get their revenge on him. Sure enough, they do indeed make their return during the final chapter, ready to make good on their treat... [[BaitAndSwitchBoss only to get their asses thoroughly kicked]] by [[PlotIrrelevantVillain Jr. Troopa]].

** In ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', sometime after Chapter 1, if Mario checks his mail, he will find a letter from the Koopa Bros. (the bosses of Chapter 1) vowing to return to get their revenge on him. Sure enough, they do indeed make their return during the final chapter, ready to make good on their treat... [[BaitAndSwitchBoss only to get their asses thoroughly kicked by [[PlotIrrelevantVillain Jr. Troopa]].]]

* ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' has a lot of fun with this, at the expense of OnlySaneMan Mahiro's sanity. His attempts to be GenreSavvy usually involve trying to find the {{Foreshadowing}} that would produce the stupidest possible resolution to the plot; while his logic is accurate, he's almost always wrong because an entirely ''different'' piece of Foreshadowing will crop up that produces an even dumber resolution than he thought was possible.

** Ash's Charizard returns late in the ''Black and White'' saga. In a case of BaitAndSwitchCredits, he doesn't have an actual role in Team Plasma, let alone face Reshiram, as the opening theme suggested. And then, when Mega Evolutions were introduced in the next generation, ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', many were thinking that since Charizard stayed on Ash's team until the end of ''Black and White'' (and never returned to the Charicific Valley), Ash would get access to the new mechanic (since Charizard is one of those confirmed to get Mega Evolutions [two, in fact]). The ''XY'' series came and went, and Ash ''never'' got to actually be a Mega user, in spite of having Charizard (and a whole LOT of other potential Mega candidates, for that matter). In fact, ''none'' of Ash's previous Pokemon appear at all in ''XY''.

* In ''Film/FirstBlood'', Teasle asks Col. Trautman if he'd give Rambo a hug or blow his brains out, leaving Trautman to give the wish-washy answer "I couldn't decide until I met him face-to-face". This hints at the original ending in the book, where Trautman [[BoomHeadshot goes with blowing his brains out (Rambo and Teasle shot each other and it was inarguably a MercyKill at this point).]]