History Main / NarratorAllAlong

* [[Final Fantasy X2]] has an interesting subversion that, for some players, is a little hard to place. Yuna narrates the plot in past-tense, as if recounting what has happened after it is already over. In the regular ending, no real reason is given for why she was narrating in the past tense, after the fact- it appears to just be a design choice. But if you do the right things during the plot, you get an extra cutscene at the end of the game where [[spoiler: Tidus is once again summoned by the Fayth, as a sort of reward for Yuna's efforts. Yuna sees him, jumps into the sea, and runs to meet him. Turns out that she was narrating to him the entire game, recounting the things that happened since they were last together.]]

* Slightly subverted in a ''SouthPark'' episode where the narrator turns out to be [[spoiler:Eric Cartman]] (who never appears in the story himself), but continues on after the revelation.

* the Tex Avery short The First Bad Man, which tells the rather colorful story of the first Texas outlaw, Dinosaur Dan, at the very end in modern Dallas, [[spoiler:the camera zooms in to a small stone jail, Dan with the same voice as the narrator says "When y'all gonna let me out of here"]]

* A variation of this trope appears in the Denzel Washington movie ''Fallen''. You're supposed to think the narrator is the hero recounting his adventure, until the ending reveals that it's actually [[spoiler: the body-possessing demon Azazel, with the movie really being the story of how he outwitted the hero]].
* At the end of the movie ''The Road Warrior'', the narrator turns out to be the feral boy whom Max saved, who mysteriously learned how to talk, apparently.

* The DisneyAnimatedCanon version of ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' was originally going to reveal that the salesman from the beginning was the Genie. This was dropped. (Not that he narrated for more than five minutes.)
** He ''was'' voiced by {{Robin Williams}} though, if that counts.

* The movie based on the story of Balto, the sled dog reveals that the grandma telling the tale [[spoiler: was the little girl Rosie who Balto had saved by getting the medicine through]].
* The Sam Neil version of ''Merlin'' has a twist: we've always known Merlin was the narrator, but it turns out ''we weren't the audience'': he is telling the story as a way to make money, and [[UnreliableNarrator changed certain... details.]]
* TheLastBroadcast has the narrator obvious all along do the documentary style. The twist is that [[spoiler: he was the murderer in the case the documentary is about.]]

* The 1973/1974 film adaption of TheThreeMusketeers reveals at the very end that Aramis was doing the voice-overs all along.

* Perhaps the first and most famous example is Agatha Christie's [[spoiler:''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.'' Like several other Hercule Poirot novels, Poirot's assistant du book is the narrator of the story, detailing how the great detective went about solving the crime. In the final chapter it turns out the narrator IS the murderer, and instead of a journal of the case the book has been the murderer's confession.]]

** [[spoiler:He is also revealed to be James Bond]]

* Avril Lavigne's "Sk8erboi", starts as a third person song about a failed love affair between a snobby girl and a poor boy who went on to become rich and famous, then switches to first person to reveal the girl lost her chance because the boy is now happily shacked up with the narrator.
* Metallica's "The Unforgiven", which actually includes the line "that old man here is me" near the end.

* In AgeOfEmpires II's Barbarossa campaign, a man in a tavern is telling the story of Frederick Barbarossa, and at the end, mentions that with Barbarossa gone, no one was stopping Henry the Lion from returning to the empire. And then he says: "But [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor I am an old man now]]. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder What harm could I possibly do]]?", revealing himself to be Henry the Lion.

* ''FullmetalAlchemist Brotherhood'' pulls something similar to ''{{Berserk}}'' [[spoiler:as it's opening narration is delivered by the BigBad, Father]].

''Once upon a time, a man discovered that in some tales the very identity of the narrator may form the basis of a twist. That man... '''was me'''.''

* ''MillionDollarBaby'' had this.

* In [[Tom Robbins]]' ''Another Roadside Attraction'', the narrator reveals that he's [[spoiler:Marx Marvelous, aka Tom Robbins]]. An unusual case, as it is revealed halfway through the book.

* In Tom Robbins' ''Another Roadside Attraction'', the narrator reveals that he's [[spoiler:Marx Marvelous, aka Tom Robbins]]. An unusual case, as it is revealed halfway through the book.

* The finale of ''DigimonAdventure02'' shows that the entire season (and possibly the previous one) was Takeru writing his novels. This has apparently raised a few questions as to how he managed to get some of the details, so some fans just say the last episode was his book. (The info that he was writing the book however was given in the 25 years later epilogue, which is [[DisContinuity ignored by numerous people]]).

*** Although these days, that once certainly falls into ItWasHisSled territory. The clue's in the title...

*** Although these days, that once certainly falls into "ItWasHisSled" territory. The clue's in the title...

* in " the Storyteller"'s first chapter, a child begs someone for a story, and thus begins the tale of 'Jack storyteller' at the end, the child thanks Grandpa Jack for the story, declining to ask Grandma (name of the woman Jack marries in the story)if it's true, stating " I believe you."

* in " the Storyteller"'s first chapter, a child begs someone for a story, and thus begins the tale of 'jack storyteller' at the end, the child thanks Grandpa Jack for the story, declining to ask Grandma(name of the woman Jack marries in the story)if it's true, stating " i believe you."

* In the Robert Bloch short story "The Yugoslaves", the narrator is an old man trying to catch up with some street urchins who've picked his pocket. On the last page, we learn that the narrator [[spoiler: is a vampire]]. Another Bloch story, [[spoiler: "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper"]] twists when you learn the narrator's identity in the final lines.

* Peter Milligan's ''Enigma'' ends with the sarky narrator being revealed as a talking lizard (an offhand creation by the title character) trying to tell the story to a group of ordinary lizards.

* ''{{Berserk}}'''s OpeningNarration, delivered at the start of every episode, is revealed in the final episodes to be delivered by [[spoiler:Void, the de facto leader of the Godhand]].

* ''FullmetalAlchemist Brotherhood'' pulls something similar to ''{{Berserk}}'' [[spoiler: as it's opening narration is delivered by the BigBad, Father]].