History Main / RedHerring

* In ''MassEffect'' the trailers, the prequel novel and the early gameplay imply that the BigBad Saren is motivated by his racist hatred towards humans. As it turns out, this character trait is purely coincidental to his actual plans. In reality, [[spoiler: he's been brainwashed by the true BigBad, who is an OmnicidalManiac.]]
** ''MassEffect'' has tons of this, due to massive amounts of AllThereInTheManual that have [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory nothing at all to do with the gameplay.]] One example that ''does'' get into the gameplay is the Asari Consort. She's hyped as a major player in Citadel intrigues, implied to have psychic powers beyond the usual Asari abilities, and is suggested to be something like an oracle. But after running a pair of optional sidequests for her, she never appears again- the door leading to her room is even permanently locked. An even bigger RedHerring is the Prothean trinket she gives you [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest for no clearly stated reason]]. It ''does'' have a use- [[EasterEgg if you can find where to use it]]- but all it does is unlock another interesting-but-irrelevant piece of backstory. That, and an enormous sum of experience points.

* At the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing The Clock King]]'' Batman meet a new villian for the first time (the creep with the clocks), and in less than five hours Batman tracks the villain to a TimeBomb, to a RoomFullOfCrazy Clocks, to a BankRobbery in a bank with a time lock (This villain, like all Gotham villians, has a severe case of {{Idiosyncrazy}}, wich is time). [[spoiler: The ClockKing is DangerouslyGenreSavvy and exploited his already existent {{Idiosyncrazy}}, he left all those clues as {{RedHerring}}s because he knows Batman is a GreatDetective that will figure it out and then he gets Batman LuredIntoATrap]].

* At the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing The Clock King]]'' Batman meet a new villian for the first time (the creep with the clocks), and in less than five hours Batman tracks the villain to a TimeBomb, to a RoomFullOfCrazy Clocks, to a BankRobbery in a bank with a time lock (This villain, like all Gotham villians, has a severe case of {{Idiosyncrasy}}, wich is time). [[spoiler: The ClockKing is DangerouslyGenreSavvy and exploited his already existent {{Idiosyncrasy}}, he left all those clues as {{RedHerring}}s because he knows Batman is a GreatDetective that will figure it out and then he gets Batman LuredIntoATrap]].

* Brilliantly lampshaded in an episode of ''PhineasAndFerb'' where the boys go to look for "[[StockNessMonster the Lake Nose Monster]]". Upon seeing a ''literal'' red-herring, Phineas cheerfully exclaims "Let's go follow it!"

* Lampshaded in ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', where the protagonists believe their friends (previously captured by the BigBad) are hidden inside a box of [[ArcWords Very Fancy Doilies]]; in reality they're hidden inside a large red fish - the red herring.

** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', [[spoiler: Harry, Hermione and Ron are positive that Snape is trying to steal the above-mentioned stone. He's certainly nasty enough to be the villain. Harry doesn't find out the truth until the very end though, when it turns out poor, shy, stuttering Professor Quirrell had been behind everything that happened all along, and Snape had been trying to protect Harry.]]
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' [[spoiler: The trio once more suspects one of the obvious antagonists, Draco Malfoy, believing he has opened the Chamber of Secrets and is attacking the muggle-born students in the school. After some amateur sleuthing they are able to debunk that though, and come to suspect Red Herring #2, Hagrid. By the end of the book it turns out Ron's sister Ginny, possessed by the Diary of Tom Riddle, has been behind the events of the book.]]
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' [[spoiler: Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban and is out to kill Harry. First reading it, and not knowing Rowling's formula, you wouldn't suspect anything. He betrayed Harry's parents, he's one of Voldemort's loyal Death Eaters and now is out to get the protagonist in order to avenge his fallen master. Despite a few counter-clues, the majority of the book is geared toward making the reader believe this. Turns out Sirius is completely innocent and was falsely accused, and the person that betrayed Harry's parents was Ron's pet ''rat'', who turns out to be an animagus (shape shifter), and is really Peter Pettigrew, an old friend of his parents. Even if you were onto the fact Sirius wasn't the antagonist, you wouldn't have seen that coming.]]

** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' [[spoiler: Popularity of the books shot off like a rocket after the third book of the series became popular worldwide. With popularity comes the fanbase (Harry Potter has one of the largest web-based communities), and with millions of devoted fans comes fan speculation. Many caught on to Rowling's formula, so she adapted. The fourth book is in more of a whodunnit style, with a variety of suspects who could be working to kill Harry. Could it be the ObviouslyEvil headmaster of the AcademyOfEvil? Or maybe the ObstructiveBureaucrat who appears to be suffering SanitySlippage? It turns out to be none of these suspects, but instead the gruff-yet-lovable new professor, Mad-Eye Moody, who has been supposedly helping Harry the whole time. (Though, truthfully, it was a Death Eater disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, through the use of Polyjuice Potion.]]
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' [[spoiler: The red herring here is less pronounced. There are two consecutive plots occurring: the Ministry of Magic's takeover of Hogwarts, and Voldemort's search for a ''weapon'' that can win him the war. There's a possibility though that the two plots aren't so separate when the Ministry-appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor [[Characters/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] makes Harry's scar burn (which only happens when Voldemort is feeling a particularly strong emotion...or is close by). Voldemort has possessed people before, and out of the last four DADA Professors, half have been directly working for the BigBad. This theoretical connection doesn't pan out, however. It was either a coincidence Harry's scar burned when Umbridge touched him, or Umbridge's own aura of evil is just that strong. There's a reason there was a trope named after [[TyrantTakesTheHelm her]].]]
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' [[spoiler: Harry suspects his two favorite nemeses, who he has falsely accused before – Snape and Malfoy – of being up to something. No one believes him, however, and there is LampshadeHanging when various characters point out Snape and Malfoy have been falsely accused before by Harry. You are almost inclined to believe they are innocent as the obsessiveness of Harry's stalking them becomes annoying to the reader. It is obvious from his point of view that they are up to something. Everyone else gets a big slap in the face when it turns out he was right, and Malfoy lets Death Eaters into the castle and Snape kills Dumbledore. Though it turns out that [[ThanatosGambit Snape was acting under Dumbledore's orders]].]]
** Also in ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' [[spoiler: Much effort is made to make it look like Tonks is under the Imperius curse, turns out it was actually Rosmerta. Tonks' odd and depressive behavior is simply a result of her relationship problems with Remus.]]

* In episode 3 of ''Series/LostGirl'', Bo and Kenzi investigate the disappearances of girls from a college. The dean is very uptight, resembles Dolores Umbridge from ''HarryPotter'' in looks and personality, refuses to report the disappearances to the police, and encourages everyone not to talk about them. The local sorority is creepy and resembles a cult, and Bo finds tunnels under their mansion that could potentially be where the missing girls are. [[spoiler: The dean was just a jerk who was more concerned about the college's reputation than about the safety of the students. The creepy sorority was just that, and apparently unaware of the tunnels. The real culprit was an unassuming janitor who was kidnapping girls and imprisoning them in the tunnels until he could feed them to his pet kappa.]]

* ''WebVideo/TheAutobiographyOfJaneEyre'': Episode 8 was a Mr Rochester tease. Most viewers who follow the web series read the book, and knew that Jane met Mr Rochester when she was walking to the post office. When Jane announced she had a weekend off and planned to take a walk, the audience got hopeful. However, she really went just to take a long walk and take some photographs. She later talked about her late friend Helen, revealing somezthing of her back-story.

* ''WebVideo/TheAutobiographyOfJaneEyre'': Episode 8 was Mr Rochester tease. Most viewers who follow the webseries read the book, and knew that Jane Mr Rochester when she was walking to the post office. When Jane announced she had a weekend off and planned to take a walk, the audience got hopeful. However, she really went just outside to take a long walk and take some photographs. She later talked about her late friend Helen, revealing her back-story.

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': Before interrogating a potential suspect, Shawn greets him with [[LampshadeHanging "Hello, Red Herring".]] He doesn't even bother with the first potential suspect because he seems "[[GenreSavvy too obvious]]" (he admitted he hated the victim and made a joke about killing him).
** Every episode has at least one Red Herring and that person almost always ends up dead before the police get a chance to confront them.

** ''Investigations'' gives us [[spoiler: the ridiculously innocent, fluffy, naive Colias Palaeno. The twist is that he's actually innocent of everything despite being so obviously non-evil that he looks guilty.]] From the same game, [[spoiler:Zinc Leblanc II, an irritable FunnyForeigner who's obssessed with being on time and is so obnoxious that he's bound to be your initial suspect.]]

** ''MassEffect'' has tons of this, due to massive amounts of AllThereInTheManual that have [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory nothing at all to do with the gameplay.]] One example that ''does'' get into the gameplay is the Asari Consort. She's hyped as a major player in Citadel intrigues, implied to have psychic powers beyond the usual Asari abilities, and is suggested to be something like an oracle. But after running a pair of optional sidequests for her, she never appears again- the door leading to her room is even permanently locked. An even bigger RedHerring is the Prothean trinket she gives you [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest for no clearly stated reason]]. It ''does'' have a use- [[EasterEgg if you can find where to use it]]- but all it does is unlock another interesting-but-irrelevant piece of backstory.
*** That, and an enormous sum of experience points.

--> [[color:#323232:uu: [=BuLLSHIT=]. I AM BASICALLY THE MASTER OF ALL RED HERRINGS.]]
--> [[color:#323232:uu: THEY SWIM [=THROuGH=] MY VEINS. THIS WAY AND THAT.]]

* An episode of WebVideo/BoardJames has James being stalked by an unknown killer talking to him via the Dream Phone, who at one point says "And I ''know'' you've got the balls", [[OhCrap which causes James to suddenly freeze up, the music to shift from fast-paced to a slower rising violin, and for the camera to focus on the sink where James drowned Mr. Bucket]]. He slowly walks over with the knife brandished to find...Mr. Bucket still lying in the sink, with the voice saying "You'll have to do better than that".

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': Before interrogating a potential suspect, Shawn greets him with [[LampshadeHanging" Hello, Red Herring".]] He doesn't even bother with the first potential suspect because he seems "[[GenreSavvy too obvious]]" (he admitted he hated the victim and made a joke about killing him).

*** Even moreso, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the Gold Ranger was originally going to be Ryan Steele]] [[CanonImmigrant Canon Immigrating]] from ''VRTroopers'', [[RealLifeWritesThePlot but plans fell through and the entire plot had to be rewritten]].

* Bond's [[CoolCar Aston Martin]] in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' serves as a BaitAndSwitch ContinuityNod. The scene soon after we're introduced to the car, Bond alludes to its passenger-side EjectionSeat but he doesn't use it. In fact, the ejector seat never gets used; the purpose of this scene is to establish that this is the vintage ''GoldFinger'' car. Thanks to this, the [[ViewersAreGeniuses audience has no reason to question]] [[spoiler:the machine guns behind the headlights]].

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', Simon Tam is introduced with the strong hint that he's working with the Alliance. He's reserved, a bit standoffish, he asks lots of prying questions, he's occasionally spotted wandering around restricted areas of the ''Serenity'', and he comes aboard the ship with a mysterious, ominous-looking metal crate. So when it turns out that there's a mole on the ship, all eyes naturally turn to him. The Alliance mole is actually another passenger, a bumbling young man name "Dobson"--Simon is a ''fugitive'' from the Alliance trying to smuggle his captive sister to freedom.

* In ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'' they mention a 'red herring' right in the poem. [[spoiler:For good reason because the killer Judge Wargrave fakes his death and then drowned his assistant Dr. Armstrong, leaving the remaining characters Vera, Philip, and William to suspect each other of being the killer.]]

** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' [[spoiler: The red herring is less pronounced. There are two consecutive plots occurring, one being the Ministry of Magic's takeover of Hogwarts and Voldemort's search for a ''weapon'' that can win him the war. There's a possibility though that the two plots aren't so separate when the Ministry-appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor [[Characters/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] makes Harry's scar burn (which only happens when Voldemort is feeling a particularly strong emotion...or is close by). He's possessed people before, and out of the last four DADA Professors, three have been nasty, two downright evil and working for the BigBad. You're left to think about that for the rest of the book. It doesn't pan out though. It was either a coincidence his scar burned when she touched him or her own aura of evil is just that strong. There's a reason there was a trope named after her.]]
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' [[spoiler: Harry suspects two of his old nemeses that he has falsely accused before, Snape and Malfoy, of being up to something. No-one believe him though, and there is LampshadeHanging when various characters point out Snape and Malfoy have been falsely accused before by Harry. You are almost inclined to believe they are innocent as the obsessiveness of Harry's stalking them becomes annoying to the reader. It is obvious from his point of view that they are up to something. Everyone else gets a big slap in the face when it turns out he was right, and Malfoy lets Death Eaters into the castle and Snape kills Dumbledore. Though it turns out that [[ThanatosGambit Snape was acting under Dumbledore's orders]].]]

** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' [[spoiler: Popularity of the books shot off like a rocket after the third book of the series became popular worldwide. With popularity comes the fanbase (Harry Potter has one of the largest web-based communities), and with millions of devoted fans comes fan speculation. Many caught on to Rowling's formula, so she adapted. The fourth book is in more of a whodunnit style, with a variety of suspects who could be working to kill Harry. Or maybe the ObstructiveBureaucrat who appears to be suffering SanitySlippage? You are still shocked when it turns out to be none of the suspects, instead the gruff but lovable new Professor Mad-Eye Moody who has been supposedly helping Harry the whole time. (Though, truthfully, it was a Death Eater disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, through the use of Polyjuice Potion.]]

** One of the most brilliant red herrings involving Snape happens here too. [[spoiler: When he discovers the trio, Sirius and Remus, he flat out attempts to murder Sirius, saying "Give me a reason. Give me a reason to do it and I swear I will", which seems downright evil considering we've ''just'' found out that Sirius is entirely innocent. The kids put him down, though, and it's all good. Once again, Snape's evil nature is further revealed. Then it turns out that Snape's desire to put Sirius down had nothing to do with the werewolf attacks, or the fact that he was a Death Eater, but because he still honestly believed that Sirius had caused the death of the only woman he'd ever loved, and the very plot point that saves him from being a villain.]]

* Similarly, promotional material for ''Film/IronMan3 (2013)'' smokescreens the fact that [[spoiler: The Mandarin is just an actor paid by the real BigBad to take the fall for him.]]

* Similarly, promotional material for ''Film/IronMan3 (2013)'' smokescreens the fact that [[spoiler: The Mandarin is just an actor paid by the *real* BigBad to take the fall for him.]]

* In ''Film/HotFuzz'' the Red Herrings don't so much lead to the wrong killer, as to the wrong motives behind the murders. Nicholas comes up with a very complicated plan that involved money, land, cheating and jealousy. Turns out [[spoiler:there was no connections between the victims. One was just killed because he was a bad actor. Another because she had an annoying laugh. A third because he had an awful house and the fourth because he made so many spelling mistakes in the local paper.]]

If a character's death or suffering is used this way, they're a DeadHerring. If a major star is used to sucker the audience rather than the actual characters, you've just been served DeadStarWalking.

The supertrope to RedHerringShirt and RedHerringMole.

Compare: MistakenForEvidence, where the same result is caused by a mix-up instead of intentional misdirection. RedHerringTwist is when a plot element rather than a clue is given this treatment. TheUntwist is when a plot twist is confused for a Red Herring because it's too obvious, but turns out to have been genuine all along.

->''Who is the killer? The movie makes it painfully obvious early on--and then insists on boring us with repeated shots of another suspect. It's as if we know who the killer is, but the movie doesn't.''

Compare MistakenForEvidence, where the same result is caused by a mix-up instead of intentional misdirection, and NonSequitur, when an event does not [[ItMakesSenseInContext make sense in context]]. See also ChewbaccaDefense, when a red herring is used to baffle your opponents, and RedHerringTwist, which is when a plot element, rather than a clue, is given this treatment. See also BigSecret, RedHerringShirt, and RedHerringMole. Contrast ChekovsGun.

'''Spoilers ahead'''

If a character's death or suffering is used this way, they're a DeadHerring.