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A character, usually the protagonist, is looking for someone, often an older, wiser character. During the search, he meets a stranger, and the conversation turns to the sought-after character. The stranger will typically either respond, "Oh, I know him well..." or else act as if he's never heard of the person. Either way, in time it is revealed that this stranger is the sought-after character.
Often, the stranger is playing dumb about their true identity in order to assess the searcher's character and intentions, the idea being that the searcher's behavior will be more genuine in the presence of someone they perceive to be just an ordinary stranger. This can lead to a painful lesson for the searcher once he learns the truth about the stranger, making this a favorite form of introduction among Trickster Mentors.
Further confusion can arise if the sought-after character is of a different gender, race, species, etc. than the searcher was expecting, such as when a sought-after "doctor" turns out to be a woman scientist. Or maybe the searcher was just Expecting Someone Taller.
Can also be Luke I Am Your Father if the sought-after character is the searcher's parent.
Given that this trope is about a plot twist, there be spoilers.
Examples:
Anime
- Guaranteed to happen three-quarters of the time in the Pokemon anime. Hell, sometimes the leader isn't there when you get to the Gym in the games and you gotta go look for the guy.
- Played with in Howls Moving Castle. It's not clear when Sophie realizes the strange young wizard is Howl himself.
- A variation comes in Death Note, when the Yotsuba Group attempts to hire a world-famous detective to hunt down L. The police task force surveilling this is worried, but not L... because he is the detective they're trying to hire. (Under three different names, he's the world's top three detectives.)
- This is played with in Cowboy Bebop with Radical Edward, the Bebop crew expecting something like a 3-year-old, 7-foot alien genius that plays basketball. When Ed hacks into their computer and they ask who Radical Edward is, she responds in her perpetual adorable third person way of talking, "But Ed is Ed." In case it wasn't clear. Edward is very much a girl tacking on the "Assumed wrong gender" part of this trope
- The mentor character in IGPX Immortal Grand Prix turns out to be The Rocket.
- Happens at the end of the first Baccano! Light Novel, when a Japanese tourist in the frame story decides to ask the narrator (whom is assumed to be Maiza) where Firo is now, seeing as he's not present like everyone else is. "Maiza"'s response?
Isn't he right here?...Oh, That’s right, I have yet to introduce myself. Well, normally with business associations, I just leave without having ever said my name...
Comic Books
- In the manga adaption of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link meets young Zelda, who has escaped from the castle and disguised herself as a commoner girl. When Link asks her about Princess Zelda's whereabouts, she tells him that she and Zelda are good friends and that she'd introduce him if he played with her for a whole day.
- In issue 101 of the French comic book Dungeon (Twilight, vol. 1: Dragon Cemetery, in English), when Marvin the Red meets his idol Marvin the Dragon, the latter first pretends to be someone else.
- When Bruce Banner goes looking for the Panchen Lama in Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, he is greeted at the monastery doors by a wizened old man who assures him that the Lama is inside and offers him hot cocoa. Banner shows a Genre Savvy flash by assuming the old man is the Panchen Lama, calling it "one of those Yoda things"... but nope. He's talking to Steve, who makes hot cocoa.
Film
- Star Wars original trilogy follows this formula perfectly in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke is looking for Yoda.
- It's also arguably an example in A New Hope when he's looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi, although in that case he's actually already an acquaintance under another name ("Old Ben" Kenobi), so it's understandable that he's not expecting him to be Obi-Wan. In addition, in The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader turns out to be Luke's father.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Dr. Elsa Schneider.
- In El Diablo Anthony Edwards' character is searching for legendary "Kid Durango" with the help of a man named Van Leek only to later discover that the exploits of Kid Durango are based on the adventures of Van Leek.
- In the 1989 Batman film, Vicki Vale corners a man at a swish party at Wayne Manor and asks whether he's seen elusive billionaire Bruce Wayne. He says he hasn't. Later, as she and Alex Knox are in one of Wayne's rooms, making fun of the statues, the man appears behind them and informs them that the statue they're currently laughing at comes from Japan. How does he know? "Because I bought it in Japan. Bruce Wayne."
- "'American Wedding"'. The main characters go into a gay bar unknowingly looking for a dress designer (named Leslie, I think—a classic fictional bigender name) to design a dress for the bride and after impressing a group of gay men with their comical antics one of the members of the group finally reveals that he *is* Leslie.
- Batman Begins. In order to get the needed training for his war on crime, Bruce seeks out Ra's Al Ghul, the head of the League of Assassins, an Asian group. Instead, he ends up dealing mainly with The Dragon, Ra's more Scottish-looking second in command. Ra's tends to sit in the background and be imposing while his lackey does all the work of teaching Bruce all he needs to know to be awesome. Much drama ensues and when everything explodes, Bruce explicitly saves The Dragon. Much later, of course, it's revealed The Dragon was the Big Bad all along.
- In The Movie of Vision Of Escaflowne, Van and Hitomi are looking for a man named Dryden Fassa - then they meet someone who pretend not to know who Dryden Fassa is, before turning out to be actually him.
- Subverted in Die Hard when the hero and the Big Bad meet. It looks like Gruber has tricked McClane, but in fact McClane sees through it and gives his adversary an unloaded weapon.
- Sort of done in Face/Off. "I am Castor Troy."
- Done with the Holly Goodhead, the Moonraker Bond Girl.
- Dragged out to a painful degree in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 subject Giant Spider Invasion, where the leading man meets the female scientist and persists in believing he must really be meeting with some male relative of hers for some time before she explains that, no really, she's the "doctor" he has an appointment with.
- In The Usual Suspects it turns out that Verbal Kint is Keyser Söze.
- In Kill Bill: Volume 1 The Bride pretends to be an American tourist upon first meeting Hattori Hanzo in his Sushi restaurant.
- Hanzo himself is an attempt to play the trope: He's a legendary sword maker posing as a Sushi chef. Only the Bride knows who he is, so he can't play that trope on her.
- In Kenneth Branagh's version of The Magic Flute, the Speaker and Sarastro are played by the same person, leading to this.
- Phil in Disney's Hercules.
- Used in Jackie Chan's The Drunken Master, where the main character Wong Fei-Hung flees from home in fear of being sent to train with the infamous Beggar Su, master of the style of the eight drunk gods. He meets an old geezer who displays some highly unusual, but equally effective moves and they share a leg of the journey, no bonus point for guessing who this turns out to be.
Literature
- In The Great Gatsby, the narrator talks to a man at one of Gatsby's parties about how he hasn't even seen the host all evening, whereupon the man says that he is Gatsby.
- Occurs in one of Piers Anthony's Xanth novels, the first time someone encounters Magician Humphrey.
- This is a very old trope: Jesus does it in The Bible no fewer than three times after his resurrection, showing himself to the disciples but somehow they don't realize it's him. (John 20:14, 21:4; Luke 24:16). The conversation with the Samaritan woman in Sychar (John 4:1-26) comes close to it as well, with Jesus revealing at the end of the conversation that He is the Messiah she is waiting for.
- In Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, Fitz asks a woman where he can find Hod, who is going to teach him swordfighting. Naturally, the woman is Hod.
- Turned around early in Wizard's First Rule, Kahlan is looking for a wise old wizard, and Richard leads her to his old friend Zedd, who he's confident can help them. A little while later, Richard reveals he's figured out that Zedd is the old wizard.
- Robert Heinlein wrote a short story called All You Zombies in which, thanks to a great big Timey Wimey Ball, every character, male or female, was actually the same person.
- In George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, 16-year-old Cleopatra is hiding from the invading Romans, and she runs into a nice old man who turns out to be Caesar.
- Inverted in The Virgin in the Ice, a Brother Cadfael mystery by Ellis Peters. Throughout the book, Cadfael learns about a nobleman Olivier de Bretagne. When he meets Olivier at the end, Olivier explains that everything Cadfael has heard is exaggeration; Olivier is actually illegitimate. Cadfael then realizes Olivier is his son.
- In one of the 1632 novels by Eric Flint, a young lady accused of witchcraft is brought to the American territory. Because the Americans have to get along with their 17th century neighbors, a new trial is convened. Going through their research material for the period, one of the Americans remarks that they need one particular historical figure to help them with the case, a famous individual who had historically opposed witch trials. By coincidence the person they were speaking of is the same one who brought the girl to them in the first place.
- In one book, Conan is invited to meet the leader of a group of rebels plotting to overthrow their king. Perhaps as a safety precaution, the person he is led to and the person leading him are impersonating each other.
- In the Heritage of Shannara series, Morgan Leah spends a long time arguing with a boy mopping floors that he wants to meet with Matty Roh, a resistance contact and owner of the inn they are talking in. After being thrown out twice by the small, skinny boy, he comes in holding the resistance leader's badge, pushes it in the boy's face and demands to speak to Matty. Turns out the reason a small skinny boy can beat a burly highlander is that she's not a boy and she knows Waif Fu.
- A variation. In Isard's Revenge, Wedge Antilles disguises himself as an Imperial with a prosthetic hand and half a face, and has to make conversation with an actual Imperial, who has a conspiracy theory that the members of Rogue Squadron are actually quite easy to kill, but the reason why members like Wedge Antilles seem to have stuck around for so long is because they get cloned. Later in the book Wedge gets to sock him one before pulling off his disguise, and only a few pages after that shoots him down.
- In Homer's "The Odyssey", Odysseus is helped by the gods to disguise himself as a an old tramp. He then enters his own household to investigate how suitors of his wife (believing him dead) are abusing his estate's hospitality. He initially introduces himself to his own son, Telemachus, to observe his reactions and intent to the developing situation. Once satisfied that his uninvited guests are pilaging his stores and furthermore treating him with disrespect, much to his son's chagrin, he reveals his true identity and procedes with the help of Telemachus to slaughter the lot of them. This is undoubtably the oldest example of the trope.
- Used in the Geronimo Stilton book "My Name is Stilton, Geronimo Stilton," when Stilton prepares to meet his new personal assistant, Pinky Pick, whom he hired without even an interview, based on her impressive resume. When he finds a 14-year-old girl in the lobby who announces "My name is Pick!," he assumes that she's the daughter of his new assistant, until she clarifies that she is indeed his new assistant.
Live Action TV
- People looking for The A Team usually found Hannibal in disguise when they met with the person who was supposed to get them in contact.
- Doctor Franklin from Babylon 5 has a reputation for taking his oath of confidentiality very seriously, so when he arrives with an offer to set up a meeting between Captain Sheridan and the man in charge of smuggling fugitive telepaths through the station nobody is surprised. You already know who the meeting turns out to be with.
- Some versions of Robin Hood have this with King Richard.
- In the "Thanks for the Memories" episode of Grey's Anatomy, a doctor filling in on Thanksgiving Day is dismissive of Dr. Bailey, saying he's only interested in meeting and working with The Nazi, an incredibly talented doctor he's heard about. Dr. Bailey pretends at times not to know who The Nazi is and at other times claims that The Nazi is busy nearby. At the end of the episode, the visiting doctor discovers that Dr. Bailey is The Nazi.
- When starting a new job at a publishing company, the main character of Being Erica strikes up a conversation with an assistant and a young woman, and ends up insulting a book called 'The Secret of Now'. The woman turns out to be her new boss, recently promoted due to her success with that same book. Her assumption is understandable, as she expected the man who interviewed her to be her boss, but he was fired in the interim.
Video Games
- Seiken Densetsu 3 has a sequence in which the party needs to find a legendary (and tiny) strategist. The old man in town tells them that he's not in this place, and suggests they ask around. After a long fruitless search, they come back only to be told that the old man is the strategist. Justified with "I was walking around at the time, so I wasn't in any place". And then the town mocks them for their gullibility. *grumble*
- Secret Of Mana: "Go away! The sage is out!"
- Also in Final Fantasy Tactics A2, the mage in the mountains (Lezaford) pulls this on Luso.
- Suikoden pulls this trick when you're first looking for The Strategist. It's sort of given away by the fact that his name is in the textbox when you're asking him where he lives.
- And in Suikoden IV, this happens when you're looking for Lino En Kuldes. Who apparently makes a habit of it.
- In what appears to be a similar example to the Secret Of Mana example above, Mario comes back to town from Shooting Star Summit and told that Merlon is looking for him. When he knocks on the door, he'd told that Merlon is out. If he tries again, he is again told that Merlon is out, but the door opens, knocking him down. A man in a robe comes out, and when Mario gets up, they go inside, he reveals himself to be Merlon.
- Mario is trying to get to Dry Dry Ruins. He meets with a mouse called Sheik. Mario may part with an item to be told that Moustafa knows how to get there. If Mario gives him the right item, he'll be able to tell Mario how to see Moustafa: by buying items in the correct order, which is a sign to the shopkeeper. Upon following these directions, Mario arrives to find... Sheik! And he was Moustafa all along!
- Chrono Trigger does this with Gaspar, the Guru of Time. When told to search for him, the party discovers that he's someone they already met much, much earlier in the game.
- Shenmue 2 Ryo is looking for the leader of a Shaolin monostary and is told by a girl that he should look around the place for clues to understand the monks' beliefs and that only then will the master reveal himself. After that nonsense an old man shows up; Ryo assuming this must be the master tries to talk to him shushing the girl but in the process it turns out that the girl is the actual master and the old guy is just the janitor.
- In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the protagonist is assigned to kill a Jedi. Later on in the game, it's revealed that the Jedi survived, but lost his sight as a result of the battle. In a twist on this trope, the protagonist now needs the Jedi's help and so pretends to be a stranger, hoping the Jedi won't find him out. At the end of the game we find out the Jedi suspected it was the protagonist but chose to help him anyway.
- At one point in Deus Ex, JC Denton is sent to look for a young woman named Nicolette Duclare. He meets a girl in a French club that promises to take him to see her. When he meets up with Nicolette, it turns out that she is the same woman he met in the club earlier.
Western Animation
- Aang in the first episode and a half of Avatar The Last Airbender.
- Master Dashi in Xiaolin Showdown.
- The True Master in the Teen Titans episode "The Quest" has a Lampshade Hanging at the end of it. Robin wanted to do things the hard way, so she let him.
- From The Wild Hare:
Elmer Fudd: Shh... There's a wabbit down there, and I'm trying to catch him.
Bugs: What do you mean a "wabbit?"
Elmer: Wabbits! Wabbits! You know, with big wong ears!
Bugs: Oh, like these? (shows his ears)
Elmer: Yeah, and a little white fwuffy tail!
Bugs: Like this? (shows off his tail)
Elmer: Yeah, and he hops awound and awound.
Bugs: Like this? (hops around)
Elmer: (to the audience) You know I bewieve this fella is an R. A. B. B. I. T. (to Bugs) Pardon me, but you know, you look just wike a wabbit.
Bugs: Ehhh, c'mere. Now listen, Doc, now don't spread this around, but... uhhh... confidentially... I AM A WABBIT!!!
- In the first Pirates Of Dark Water, Ren seeks out the wise man Alomar in the Abby of Galdebar. First he meets an imposing man, who he assumes is Alomar, but he's just a servant. Next he encounters a fearsome dragon, who it turns out is Alomar.
- Somewhat inverted in the Justice League episode "A better world"; the Batman who saves the League from an army ambush seems to be "their" Batman at first, and when Superman says in astonishment "You fooled them! Even I thought you were him! (the evil Batman)" Batman deadpan replies "I AM him". The inversion comes as the League was trying to avoid this Batman.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Leo's first meeting with The Ancient One is a textbook example of the trope.
Real Life
- Nestor Makhno, the great Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary, caught a group of German officers going to a party held in their honour by Ukrainian landlords, who had welcomed the invading Germans. After executing the officers, Makhno and his men dressed in the German army uniforms and attended the party in their stead. Much of the conversation at the dinner party circled around Makhno. At the end of the meal, a toast was offered to the capture of the dreaded anarchist Nestor Makhno. Makhno drank off the toast and announced, "I am Nestor Makhno." In the silence and horror which followed, Makhno tossed a bomb into the room as he and his men leaped out the windows and escaped.
- Truth In Television, sort of: A president-elect, governor, business leader, etc., initiates a search committee to fill an appointed position, but ends up picking someone on the committee or the person who had already been helping him in that area anyway.
- In 2000, presidential candidate George W. Bush appointed one Richard Cheney as the head of his running mate search committee. The person who he ended up suggesting to Mr. Bush is, of course, recorded in the annals of history.
- The 2005 papal conclave following the death of Pope John Paul II was presided over by one Joseph Ratzinger, then Dean of the College of Cardinals, and shortly thereafter was elected Pope Benedict XVI.
- Subverted in Real Life: Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
- Retail employees live for saying or hearing the phrase 'I AM the manager' in response to a customer being argumentive. Subverted in that the customer tends to demand the next person up the line.
- Tends to happen a lot when someone asks for a Transsexual person's old name.
- Seeing as there's no Troper Tales of this... This troper had this happen as a College event. He was talking to someone I vaguely knew and the conversation turned to our paper, and how I had yet to meet the Editor, and only knew him by his nickname. Just before I said I had heard from an entire room of people that he's a total Dick, He pointed out he WAS the person. I had to quickly cut myself off..
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