History NoodleIncident / Literature

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

!!!'''In General:'''
* This is done in a ''lot'' of mystery and PrivateDetective fiction. It's especially prevalent in short stories, as it's a quick and easy way to bring in a new character and explain how/why they've come to seek the main character's services without having to waste limited space on unnecessary details.

!!!'''By Author:'''
* Noodle Incidents pepper a lot of Creator/SimonRGreen's works, usually as gags (e.g. a hand reaches out of a top hat to retrieve a drink from the bartender at [[Literature/{{Nightside}} Strangefellows]], who quips "Boy, that rabbit was mad at him...").
* Some from Creator/RobertHeinlein:
** Two in ''Literature/CitizenOfTheGalaxy'':
*** There are several references to Colonel Baslim's rescue of the ''Hansea'' from slavers, but the subject is a taboo among the People so we never find out exactly what happened.
*** When Colonel Brisby, Commanding Officer of a military starship, gets the identification back on his newest recruit, a young ex-slave and ex-Free Trader. Turns out the youngster -- our protagonist -- went missing after a starship "accident" when he was a baby and is in fact the much-sought-after [[spoiler:sole heir to a Galaxy-spanning mercantile empire]]. After reading the message, Brisby muses "Why do things like this always happen to ''Hydra''?", leaving the reader to wonder just what other adventures the Hegemonic Guard Cruiser ''Hydra'' has been involved in.
** There is a whole paragraph devoted to this in ''Literature/DoubleStar'':
--->"He mentioned a couple of details in my past that I would have sworn were buried and forgotten. All right, so I did have a couple of routines useful for stag shows that are not for the family trade -- a man has to eat. But that matter about Bebe; that was hardly fair, for I certainly had not known she was under age. As for that hotel bill, while it is true that bilking an 'innkeeper' in Miami Beach carries much the same punishment as armed robbery elsewhere, it is a very provincial attitude -- I would have paid it if I had had the money. As for that unfortunate incident in Seattle -- well, what I am trying to say is that Dak did know an amazing amount about my background but he had the wrong slant on most of it."
** In ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' there is the "Wet Firecracker War", which is mentioned at least twice but never explained. It's implied that it was an attempted nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union... which turned out to end quickly with relatively little destruction (Minus the loss of Colorado Springs in the US, probably because of the many military installations). Hence, "wet firecracker".
** In ''Literature/TheRollingStones1952'', after Cas and Pol are arrested on Mars for tax evasion, their father notes that at least it wasn't for experimenting with atomics inside city limits like the last time they were arrested back on Luna.
** ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' has several. At the end of Rico's training, he mentions that he left a lot out, specifically, that he said "...nothing about the time we dropped everything and fought a forest fire for three days, no mention of the practice alert that was a real one, only we didn't know it until it was over, nor about the day the cook tent blew away..."
* Creator/PGWodehouse:
** Pongo Twistleton and his uncle, Fred, who always pulls his nephew into his complicated schemes are recurring characters. In every story that mentions them, they always recall when they were arrested at the Dog Races, but it's never revealed why.
** Likewise, in Wodehouse's ''Literature/BlandingsCastle'' series, repeated references are made to the never-actually-recounted "Story of the Prawns" which relates a humiliatingly hilarious incident in the youth of stuffed shirt Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe. At the end of ''Summer Lightning'', Galahad Threepwood starts telling the story, but the book ends before we would find out what it's about.

!!!'''By Work:'''

* In Creator/AstridLindgren's book ''Emil of Lönneberga'', the narrator occasionally mentions that she promised Emil's mom never to tell what Emil did on the 3rd of November, even though she laughs every time she thinks of it.

* Noodle Incidents pepper a lot of Simon R. Green's works, usually as gags (e.g. a hand reaches out of a top hat to retrieve a drink from the bartender at [[Literature/{{Nightside}} Strangefellows]], who quips "Boy, that rabbit was mad at him...").

* The frame story of ''Literature/GoodbyeMrChips'' is about an octogenerian retired school teacher reminiscing about his past. In between the more fleshed-out stories that make up most of the book, there are also references to incidents that are not described, such as the "queer business" of Archer's resignation, and the humorous incident of Rushton and the sack of potatoes.

*** He was raising an Acromantula (Giant Spider). To Hagrid's credit, the Spider (Aragog) is immensley grateful for Hagrid's help, and as such refuses to let himself or his children eat Hagrid. [[ExactWords Only Hagrid]].

* From ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'': During their first meeting, Marian talks about Helena's past as if the reader was already familiar with the Section's MO (or existence) and of who Livia is. "You want to know why you're here? ... It's something you said to Livia..." (Head Scracthing Reader: Who's Livia??) Also We never get to see the first meeting between Livia and Helena and Book 1 makes mention of it in this way.

* British author/screenwriter John Mortimer perpetrated what was probably the greatest inverted NoodleIncident in the history of the trope. In every script/story from the beginning of his ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'' series of TV screenplays and short story/novel adaptations, the protagonist, barrister-at-law Horace Rumpole, would invariably make at least one reference to his greatest professional triumph, the case of "The Penge Bungalow Murders" (which Rumpole tried and won as a junior barrister "alone and without a leader"). After nearly three decades of teasing viewers and readers with references to this case, Mortimer, nearing the end of his career, finally wrote a novel (titled, unsurpisingly, ''Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders''), which turned that epic NoodleIncident into an epic series of [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]].

* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' has too many examples to count them all, including the so-called Wizard Inquistion, The Great Fire etc.

* ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'':
** In ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'', Mello explains that he's gotten to meet L in person, and heard from him the stories of how L arrived at Wammy's House, and how he bested Eraldo Coil and Denevue...but chooses not to share those stories, or the story of how he got to meet L, with the readers.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}: The only clue we get about [[EldritchAbomination Crayak's]] origin is that he was evicted from another galaxy by a being [[AlwaysABiggerFish even more powerful than him or the Ellimist.]] Who this being is and why he kicked Crayak out is never explained.

** In ''The Spectre's Shadow'', an accompanying prequel to the ''Nyctophobia'' books, Watson's narration in the first chapter says he and Holmes had just returned home after something called "the Paris case." WordOfGod confirmed this is intended as a reference to Sherlock's LawyerFriendlyCameo in Leblanc's Literature/ArseneLupin stories.

* ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'': How exactly did Magnus get himself banned from Peru? [[note]]According to WordOfGod, it has something to do with a [[InherentlyFunnyWords llama]].[[/note]]

*

** The event that inspired "The Rains of Castamere" was long held to be this. The readers were only told that it was the downfall of a certain House Reyne of Castamere, because they dared to defy Tywin Lannister. The event was finally told in detail in ''Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire''.

** In ''Literature/TheRollingStones'', after Cas and Pol are arrested on Mars for tax evasion, their father notes that at least it wasn't for experimenting with atomics inside city limits like the last time they were arrested back on Luna.

** And nobody in Lancre is prepared to go into exactly how the village of Bad Ass came to get its name.