History Main / NarrativeFiligree

* Stephen King's ''The Stand'' (especially the unabridged version) not only tries to give almost everyone the depth of backstory you'd normally reserve for the main character, but also dedicates a huge amount of space to characters and events that are, at most, tangentially connected to the main plot. This includes a large section given over to introducing characters just to show how they died as an indirect effect of the plague. Of course, we're talking about a single book that's about as long as Lord of the Rings.

However, some works thumb their noses at the Law and decide that, more than anything, they want to engage in WorldBuilding. They want to show [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic realistic diction]]. People may actually have to [[RockstarParking drive around for a bit to find a parking spot]]. They may actually have to [[NobodyPoops go to the bathroom]] (and not due to a PottyEmergency, either). There may be offhand conversations that have nothing to do with the plot.

In short, these are works full of details that are pretty but not required for the story - filigree, in fact. It's where the actual narrative is full of things that aren't really plot.

-->That was a clip from your latest film, ''Sometimes Fires Go Out'', which has been described as "unrelentingly real", "a devastatingly faithful rendition of how life is", and "dull, dull, unbearably dull". Those quotes, oddly all from the same review.

However, some works thumb their noses at the Law and decide that, more than anything, they want to engage in WorldBuilding. They want to show [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic realistic diction]]. People may actually have to [[RockstarParking drive around for a bit to find a parking spot]]. They may [[NobodyPoops go to the bathroom]]. There may be offhand conversations that have nothing to do with the plot.

[[AC:Comics]]

[[AC:Fanfiction]]

[[AC:Film]]
* Most of StudioGhibli's movies:

[[AC:Literature]]
* The ThursdayNext books are full of jokes, parodies, and satire as part of their AlternateHistory that has little to do with the plot and are simply bits of fun.

* HarryPotter fits this nicely, with many instances that are great for drawing the reader into the world, but otherwise being unimportant in the overall plot. For example, instances with the students of Hogwarts studying for exams.
* ''JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell''! Susanna Clarke quotes [[BeyondTheImpossible and often criticises from an academic point of view]] nearly half hundred books, some periodics and some essays and several folktales, all of them fictional. And even expands the information given away by the characters in casual conversation in ''really'' '''''long''''' [[FootnoteFever 185 footnotes]] (one of them is over '''5''' freakin' pages long), some of them even referring to OTHER FOOTNOTES!!!

* A constant in the works of JackVance. World building is an objective in and of itself. In ''Lyonnesse'' we learn the exact layout of Suldrun's garden, the names of the plants, how it looks at several times and day and times of year. For the grand plot it would suffice to simply confine Suldrun to her garden. Vance will build up a history, a religion, a race, a river or a plain, never necessarily needing it to advance the core story.

* Stephen King's The Stand (especially the unabridged version) not only tries to give almost everyone the depth of backstory you'd normally reserve for the main character, but also dedicates a huge amount of space to characters and events that are, at most, tangentially connected to the main plot. This includes a large section given over to introducing characters just to show how they died as an indirect effect of the plague. Of course, we're talking about a single book that's about as long as Lord of the Rings.

[[AC:Video Games]]

* ''{{Fallout}} 3'' is this subverts this trope by having tons of items, but most of them can at least be picked up and some use found for them.

* ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' is arguably the most complete, interactive example of this trope. In most fantasy-[=RPGs=], boxes, chests, and barrels are filled with what else? Treasure! Gold! In Cyrodil? Yarn! Grain! ''Calipers!''. In most games, [=NPCs=] who do something other than stand there are often leading the player to secret treasure, or maybe just running around in a little circle. In Cyrodil? They have ''entire lives''. They farm, they eat meals, they even ''cheat on their spouses''. Unlike Bethesda's subsequent game, ''Fallout 3'', where the supposedly "junk" items can all be used in some way or another (appropriate to its post-apocalyptic survivalist atmosphere), in Cyrodil yarn is exactly that, and has about as much usefulness to an adventuring hero as you might imagine. Less, actually, since you can't even knit woolly underwear with it.
** In fact, this applies to most, if not all, Elder Scrolls games. Morrowind has just as much clutter if not more than Oblivion, although significantly more of it is useful in some way (candles and lanterns set on tables can be picked up and used for light, for example), there's still a TON of random stuff that never gets used for anything.
* Part of what ''BeyondGoodAndEvil'' was praised for was its narrative filigree, as the creators worked to make a solid "world" instead of simply a setting. Thus, there are animal species, posters and billboards for events and services, fake commercials, and [=NPCs=] with their own little history that don't directly contribute to the main plot, but give some depth to the planet of Hillys.
* In addition to the general SceneryPorn of Rapture, ''{{Bioshock}}'' has nearly every wall covered in posters for in-game shows or products and audio diaries from people going about their normal, non-plot-related lives.
* ''TheNeverhood'' has the absolutely ''massive'' Hall of Records, which takes up about 40 in-game screens of tiny text and around 100 pages of flat printing. It describes the lives and worlds of the seven sons of Quatar, precisely one of which, Hoborg, is at all relevant to the plot. (Two, sort of, if you count [[spoiler: Willie's father, Ottoborg]], but his origins aren't relevant to the plot.) The Ynts and Skullmonkeys also become important in the sequel, but for the most part, it's just a lot of worldbuilding coupled with some truly bizarre fables. (Talking burger box, anyone?)
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* ''ResidentEvil Code: Veronica'' - way more objects modeled than mattered. A number of rooms were just crammed with well done object models, furniture, victrola, mannikin, vending machines, books, etc.

*** Considering that [[spoiler:she later discovers Haku's identity as the river spirit who brought back her lost shoe]], this may be a ChekhovsGun.

*** However, unlike Morrowind, in Oblivion you can't even use the clutter as VendorTrash

* [[LordOfTheRings Tom]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Bombadil]].

* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' games actually do a fair amount of this. Plenty of NPCs exist only to make amusing comment on the every day tasks for which Pokemon are used.
* ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' is arguably the most complete, interactive example of this trope. In most fantasy-[=RPGs=], boxes, chests, and barrels are filled with what else? Treasure! Gold! In Cyrodil? Yarn! Grain! ''Calipers!''. In most games, NPCs who do something other than stand there are often leading the player to secret treasure, or maybe just running around in a little circle. In Cyrodil? They have ''entire lives''. They farm, they eat meals, they even ''cheat on their spouses''. Unlike Bethesda's subsequent game, ''Fallout 3'', where the supposedly "junk" items can all be used in some way or another (appropriate to its post-apocalyptic survivalist atmosphere), in Cyrodil yarn is exactly that, and has about as much usefulness to an adventuring hero as you might imagine. Less, actually, since you can't even knit woolly underwear with it.

* Part of what ''BeyondGoodAndEvil'' was praised for was its narrative filigree, as the creators worked to make a solid "world" instead of simply a setting. Thus, there are animal species, posters and billboards for events and services, fake commercials, and NPCs with their own little history that don't directly contribute to the main plot, but give some depth to the planet of Hillys.

* ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' is arguably the most complete, interactive example of this trope. In most fantasy-RPGs, boxes, chests, and barrels are filled with what else? Treasure! Gold! In Cyrodil? Yarn! Grain! ''Calipers!''. In most games, NPCs who do something other than stand there are often leading the player to secret treasure, or maybe just running around in a little circle. In Cyrodil? They have ''entire lives''. They farm, they eat meals, they even ''cheat on their spouses''. Unlike Bethesda's subsequent game, ''Fallout 3'', where the supposedly "junk" items can all be used in some way or another (appropriate to its post-apocalyptic survivalist atmosphere), in Cyrodil yarn is exactly that, and has about as much usefulness to an adventuring hero as you might imagine. Less, actually, since you can't even knit woolly underwear with it.

Because many video games don't have linear narratives, this trope does not categorically apply to many of them. Only the story contained in {{cutscene}}s and dialogues of the more heavily plot-based (and linear) games would qualify. [[WideOpenSandbox Sandbox-style games]], while sometimes possessing central, driving storylines, are arguably defined by the huge quality of NarrativeFiligree contained in them, so mentioning this trope in the context of such games is almost superfluous. If details have been added for the sake of creating a realistic, unrestrictive game environment, then [[TheDevTeamThinksofEverything the Dev Team Has Thought of Everything]].

The video game equivalent of this is arguably TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything. Because many video games don't have linear narratives, chances are they do not fall into this trope. Only the story contained in the actual {{cutscene}}s would qualify.

** ''DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' by the same author [[spoiler:is a total subversion - everything is related to the plot. Everything!]]

* The ''{{Discworld}}'' series's amusing digressions and attempts to be realistic about how people act, even when it slows down the plot, where most fantasy series wouldn't are some of its major selling points.

Compare EstablishingCharacterMoment, [[WhatsASecretFour What's a Secret Four?]]

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3560875/1/ Nights In The Big City]]'', a ''KimPossible'' {{fanfiction}}, builds an alternate universe where details casually thrown out just to give the world texture include mentions of minor {{canon}} characters in different roles, that [[AmericanCivilWar Robert E. Lee]] was the 13th President, the cars run on ethanol, the space program hasn't gone further than the Moon, and that the Pope is female and so is God. These don't have any relevance to the story, they just give a better impression of [[WhatsASecretFour a whole world beyond the frame]].

Compare [[WhatsASecretFour What's a Secret Four?]]