History Main / WhatCliffhanger

* This was baited-and-switched in RobertRankin's ''The {{Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse}}'', proving there's just [[ZigZaggingTrope no limit to recursive subversion of a trope]]. Eddie hands something important to Jack, who asks what it is - "it's a {{Macguffin}}". Except we never get a better explanation than that - it's only ever referred to as a macguffin, and [[ChekhovsGun when it inevitably turns out to be important]], what it actually does is entirely unexplained as well. It's that kind of book...

* Done in [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080922 this]] ''SluggyFreelance'' strip.
** Done much more frustratingly [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20050123 here]]. SluggyFreelance updates daily, so nobody suspected that the cliffhanger would go unanswered for [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20050418 nearly three months]], but that's exactly what happened due to ''Oceans Unmoving'', a truly ambitious sci-fi chapter that revisited [[KillerRabbit a long-missing character]] but otherwise introduced an entirely new cast.

* [[http://www.ansemretort.org/ansemretort/index.html?comic=320 Parodied here]] in the webcomic ''AnsemRetort''.

** One episode of "Death to the Daleks" ends with the Doctor and Bellal about to walk into a room when the Doctor tells him to stop, pointing at the white and red tiled floor for no immediately apparent reason.

A good cliffhanger will have you on the edge of your seat, screaming "What happens next?!"

A WhatCliffhanger, on the other hand, will have you on the edge of your seat, demanding "What's the cliffhanger?! What's the twist?! Why should I be excited?!" Instead of postponing TheReveal, it's been included - but phrased in a deliberately vague way for cheap suspense.

An [[TheUnReveal Un Reveal]] executed as a {{Cliffhanger}}.

[[AC:Fanfic]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

[[AC:{{Web Comics}}]]

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* ''TheDaVinciCode'' had a OneParagraphChapter in which Robert Langdon and his date see a thing inside a box. Whatever the grail was, it wasn't ''that thing''. (The thing turned out to be a cryptex, i.e., a tube that had a puzzle to be solved for it to open) In fact, done frequently in anything written by Dan Brown. It's pretty much the end of every chapter.

* ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' reveled in leading the reader to believe something only for it to be contradicted soon afterwards. Especially when the reader is kept guessing what the acronym VFD stands for, only to have it revealed several different times, and all of those times to be false.

* ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents revelled in leading the reader to believe something only for it to be contradicted soon afterwards. Especially when the reader is kept guessing what the acronym VFD stands for, only to have it revealed several different times, and all of those times to be false.

* This was baited-and-switched in RobertRankin's ''The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse'', proving there's just [[ZigZaggingTrope no limit to recursive subversion of a trope]]. Eddie hands something important to Jack, who asks what it is - "it's a {{Macguffin}}". Except we never get a better explanation than that - it's only ever referred to as a macguffin, and [[ChekhovsGun when it inevitably turns out to be important]], what it actually does is entirely unexplained as well. It's that kind of book...

* The most recent book of the ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' series, ''A Feast For Crows'', has a scene in which one character is about to be hanged, and she says an unspecified word... and that's the last we hear of her in that book. In fact, it's the last we hear of the book.

* Happened in the second season of ''{{Supernatural}}''. For the first 8 episodes, Dean had been keeping a dark and terrible secret from Sam, told to him by their father and also withheld from the audience. The preview for the ninth episode showed Dean saying "Dad told me something... something about you," and Sam asking in consternation, "Dean, what did he tell you...?" Everyone got very excited that The Reveal was finally coming, even though most of the fandom was already fairly sure they had worked out more or less what the secret had to be. When the episode aired, those turned out to be '''the last lines spoken''' before the series went on hiatus for over a month!

* ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents was based around leading the reader to believe something only for it to be contradicted soon afterwards. Especially when the reader is kept guessing what the acronym VFD stands for, only to have it revealed several different times, and all of those times to be false.

* The most recent book of the ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' series, ''A Feast For Crows'', has a scene in which one character is about to be hanged, and she says an unspecified word... and that's the last we hear of her in that book. In fact, it's the last we hear of the book.

Compare MissedMomentOfAwesome.

*** However, this becomes something of a Subversion as well: new watchers will [[LateArrivalSpoiler probably hear about Ben]], but not Henry, making it a legitimate surprise for SpoilerHounds [[strike:unless they read this page]].

*** However, this becomes something of a Subversion as well: new watchers will [[LateArrivalSpoiler probably hear about Ben]], but not Henry, making it a legitimate surprise for SpoilerHounds.

* squirrelking's SoBadItsGood Metal Gear Solid fanfic, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2946083/1/ Fight of Metal Gears]]''. Also, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRJWZ9qwNw Halo: Halos in Space]]'' by the same author ends with Joe Chief on the losing side of a battle, and then he "saw something and went to it and picked it up and said "no we win" to himself." Read ahead at your own risk: The next installment reveals that the 'something' was [[spoiler: "big wepon."]] [[Narm DUN DUN DUNNN]]!

* squirrelking's SoBadItsGood Metal Gear Solid fanfic, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2946083/1/ Fight of Metal Gears]]''. Also, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRJWZ9qwNw Halo: Halos in Space]]'' by the same author ends with Joe Chief on the losing side of a battle, and then he "saw something and went to it and picked it up and said "no we win" to himself." Read ahead at your own risk: The next installment reveals that the 'something' was [[spoiler: "big wepon."]] DUN DUN DUNNN!

** Done much more frustratingly [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20050123 here]]. SluggyFreelance updates daily, so nobody suspected that the cliffhanger would go unanswered for [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20050418 nearly three months]], but that's exactly what happened due to ''Oceans Unmoving'', a truly ambitious sci-fi chapter that introduced an entirely new cast of characters with [[KillerRabbit just one exception]].

* Happened in the second season of ''{{Supernatural}}''. For the first 8 episodes, Dean had been keeping a dark and terrible secret from Sam, told to him by their father and also withheld from the audience. The preview for the ninth episode showed Dean saying "Dad told me something... something about you," and Sam asking in consternation, "Dean, what did he tell you...?" Everyone got very excited that The Reveal was finally coming, even though most of the fandom was already fairly sure they had worked out more or less what the secret had to be. When the episode aired, those turned out to be '''the last lines spoken''' before the series went on hiatus for over a month!
* [[http://www.ansemretort.org/ansemretort/index.html?comic=320 Parodied here]] in the webcomic AnsemRetort.

* Done in [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080922 this]] ''SluggyFreelance'' strip.
* The most recent book of the ASongOfIceAndFire series, ''A Feast For Crows'', has a scene in which one character is about to be hanged, and she says an unspecified word... and that's the last we hear of her in that book. In fact, it's the last we hear of the book.

* From {{Lost}}: "We ain't takin the plane freckles. We're takin' the sub."
* From {{NCIS}}: The last episode of season 7 gave examples of this trope.

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* From {{Lost}}: "We ain't takin the plane freckles. We're takin the sub."
* From {{NCIS}}: The last epidode of season 7 gave examples of this trope.

* The most recent book of the ASongOfIceAndFire series, ''A Feast For Crows'', has a scene in which one character is about to be hanged, and she says a word... and that's the last we hear of her in that book.