History Main / NarrativeFiligree

* ''Literature/SinisterSixTrilogy'': The ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' novels by Adam-Troy Castro feature massive amounts of {{worldbuilding}} and tiny details, often by cutaways to the everyday life of people in metahuman-infested New York. In ''Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six'', there's a constant stream of news reporting on Spider-Man's efforts to prevent mass slaughter by the eponymous villains, including commercials for 'Supervillain Insurance'.

* The ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' novels by Adam-Troy Castro feature massive amounts of {{worldbuilding}} and tiny details, often by cutaways to the everyday life of people in metahuman-infested New York. In ''[[Literature/SinisterSixTrilogy Revenge of the Sinister Six]]'', there's a constant stream of news reporting on Spider-Man's efforts to prevent mass slaughter by the eponymous villains, including commercials for 'Supervillain Insurance'.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' took this to a whole new level, with plenty of areas, businesses, and rooms to explore, side activities to partake in, and unique [=NPCs=] that each have their own schedule and routine for the day (e.g. Noticed the same guy working at both the convenience store and at the harbor? It's not because the devs got lazy; that guy is a college student working two jobs to make ends meet). None of this was necessary to make progress, but it helped to establish the setting as a larger world that protagonist Ryo happens to be a part of, rather than having the setting tailored around him and his quest.

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' is built on this trope -- Creator/KurtBusiek appears to have mapped out the entire timeline of the 'verse and does not hesitate to include throwaway references to unexplained people, places, and events in its own history. These often appear to the reader as {{Call Back}}s, {{Cryptic Background Reference}}s, and {{Continuity Nod}}s, creating a very tight sense of a fully interconnected universe.

** Toward the climax of ''Literature/TheShining'', when the novel starts to take on its true gripping nature, King does much the same with the policeman who pulls the chef over.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The Phase novels of the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. There's tons of world building and characterization, but man, can [[ShownTheirWork Diane Castle]] go on about stuff that's not relevant to the plot.[[note]]In RealLife, Castle has OCD; this is reflected in her ParodySue AuthorAvatar, [[NeatFreak Fractious]], who is know for writing [[SelfDeprecation "a 20 page short story sandwiched into a 300 page criminology textbook"]] and carrying a large handbag filled with cleansers wherever she goes.[[/note]] Like [[FoodPorn a detailed description of the awesome dinner the chefs prepared for Ayla]], or [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld Ayla's schoolwork]].

* The [[AllThereInTheManual Allspark Almanacs]] of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' greatly expand on the show's lore, even though a lot of it isn't relevant to the show's story. Almost all of it is made up of {{Easter Egg}}s and {{Mythology Gag}}s. Perhaps the most popular aspect of it is the pseudo-crossover nature of its "cast" -- this continuity's incarnations of characters from other ''Transformers'' continuities, giving them {{cameo}} appearances in the show and [[ADayInTheLimelight giving a glimpse of their lives in the books]].

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''. Really, any comic written by Brian Michael Bendis can be full of this, particularly in the form of dialogue loaded with stuttering and other verbal tics most writers would bypass in the name of getting to the bloody point.

* The Phase novels of the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. There's tons of world building and characterization, but man, can [[ShownTheirWork Diane Castle]] go on about stuff that's not relevant to the plot.[[note]]In RealLife, Castle has OCD; this is reflected in her ParodySue AuthorAvatar, [[SuperOCD Fractious]], who is know for writing [[SelfDeprecation "a 20 page short story sandwiched into a 300 page criminology textbook"]] and carrying a large handbag filled with cleansers wherever she goes.[[/note]] Like [[FoodPorn a detailed description of the awesome dinner the chefs prepared for Ayla]], or [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld Ayla's schoolwork]].

* [[Creator/PaulAuster Paul Auster's]] ''[[Literature/TheNewYorkTrilogy City Of Glass]]'' goes into excruciating detail at the oddest times, even opening with a long moment-by-moment description of the protagonist's night. None of the details turn out to be important, although [[spoiler: the fact that words are being "wasted" will become [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall significant]] at the end.]]

* Much of ''Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy'' is taken up with the minutiae of Blomkvist and Salander's da-to-day lives and sketches of comparatively minor characters. Perhaps the best example of this comes in the third book, where we get a detailed history of a hospital orderly whose only role in the entire series is that Blomkvist bribes him to sneak a PDA into Salander's hospital room.

Compare EstablishingCharacterMoment, CrypticBackgroundReference, LeftFieldDescription, RandomEventsPlot, GarnishingTheStory. Can result in PurpleProse when used carelessly and/or taken UpToEleven. Also see CowTools for a visual SisterTrope. StoryBreadcrumbs is an inversion/opposite tropes, where plot details small enough to normally count as filigree actually relate crucial plot points.

* ''[[Film/{{Amelie}} Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain]]'' practically runs on this. Not only is Amélie's conception noted to have occurred at the same time as three completely irrelevant events[[note]]Specifically: a fly being killed by a car; a breeze moving an unseen tablecloth makes the wineglasses atop it seemingly dance; and a man returns from his friend's funeral and erases his name from his address book.[[/note]], but almost every character ([[UpToEleven and the occasional animal]]) is noted to have likes and dislikes, ''regardless of [[ChekhovsGunman whether they're important]] or not''.

** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' takes this UpToEleven. Since it's essentially a history of the Elder Days, the entire book is basically Literary Filigree. Though there is a central plot (the conflict between the Elves and Morgoth over the Silmarils) the book is essentially a series of self-contained tales that are only loosely connected to each other. The book also functions as back story for ''The Lord of the Rings'', fleshing out and expanding on tales and events referenced in the previous work.

* ''Series/PushingDaisies'', whilst only occasionally delving into moments irrelevant to the current plotline, invokes this several times per episode through [[LemonyNarrator a nigh-omniscient, eccentric narrator]] specifying time difference between events right down to years, months, weeks, days, hours ''[[UpToEleven and seconds]]''.

* Discussed, parodied, and turned up to eleven by ''Webcomic/UnwindersTallComics'', on [[http://tallcomics.com/?id=76 this page]]. In the [[FictionalDocument in-story mystery novel]] ''The Gun and the Grapes'', author Greg Kirkpatrick describes ''everything'' in excruciating detail, to deliberately obscure the relevant clues under mountains of irrelevant ones.

* The [[AllThereInTheManual Allspark Almanacs]] of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' greatly expand on the show's lore, even though a lot of it isn't relevant to the show's story. Almost all of it is made up of {{Easter Egg}}s and {{Mythology Gag}}s. Perhaps the most popular aspect of it is the pseudo-crossover nature of its [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters "cast"]] -- this continuity's incarnations of characters from other ''Transformers'' continuities, giving them {{cameo}} appearances in the show and [[ADayInTheLimelight giving a glimpse of their lives in the books]].

* Creator/JRRTolkien may as well be the patron saint of his trope, if not the UrExample in modern literature, as almost every fantasy series since has followed his example.

* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', this is lampshaded on the first page: "The servants' names were Ivy, Margaret and Betty, but they do not come into this story much."

* ''VideoGame/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 [[spoiler:Willie]]'s origins aren't relevant to the plot.) The Ynts and Skullmonkeys also become important in [[VideoGame/{{Skullmonkeys}} the sequel]], but for the most part, it's just a lot of {{worldbuilding}} coupled with some truly bizarre fables -- such as the one about the talking burger box.

* ''Fanfic/HeroesAndVillainsByHorriblesIgor'': The flow of the story seems like it is going to start allowing this with the addition of Doctor Horrible. On his way to the HQ with Elsa, he talks about the Hyperloop. The narrator gets in on it too sometimes, starting the next segment of the story with a filigree lead-in.

[[folder:Theater]]

* ''VideoGame/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 [[VideoGame/{{Skullmonkeys}} the sequel]], but for the most part, it's just a lot of {{worldbuilding}} coupled with some truly bizarre fables -- such as the one about the talking burger box.

*** ''{{VideoGame/Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' have tons of items, some of them with no apparent purpose. However, most of them can at least be picked up and used for ''something'', even if that something is the [[AbnormalAmmo Rock-It Launcher]] (a gun that fires almost anything that lands under the "Misc" category in your inventory).
*** ''{{VideoGame/Fallout 4}}'' subverts the trope. There are still copious amounts of "Junk" items present in the game world which, on their own, do little more than flesh out the game world. However, the new Settlement and Crafting systems allow for Junk items to be repurposed for their raw materials.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'': The trilogy, and the over all [[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails series]] are packed to bursting with detail. In the main plot alone, several supporting characters take up small, relatively unimportant positions that could have easily been filled in by more plot-important characters, but instead we get several details about their lives. While going across the world map, the party will have to stop at border checkpoints and fill out paperwork to pass by the security, and these soldiers have names, friendships, and details of their own. In fact, the NPC cast numbers in the hundreds, 99.9% of the time with names, personalities, rivalries, and their own little subplots that don't just avert WelcomeToCorneria, it smashes it into pieces and grounds them to dust. You can go back and talk to minor characters and with every update to the plot, no matter how small, there will be new dialogue for everyone. The main characters don't just stand and accept the information passively either, they'll engage in occasionally quite lengthy conversation that more often than not, has nothing to do with the plot at hand and will be resolved without any help from the player. Even treasure chests avert stock phrases, (at least in English versions thanks to duplicate text files) there's unique, pithy jokes that lampshade [[KleptomaniacHero the usual player habits]]. It's this attention to detail that balloons the scripts into the hundreds of thousands in word count, and that's just in the kingdom of Liberl; one small country across an entire continent that would be a few sidequests and a town in nearly any other JRPG.

* Many users of ''Website/DeviantArt'' like to go in-depth in writing non-canon lore, with series like ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' being popular targets. There are also many that do this for their own original characters, worlds, and concepts. The quality of this varies by the artist, but many talented people have found that well-written, interesting lore paired with good quality artwork attracts more interest in both.