The Reveal - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Reveal

The pivot in any plotline is often The Reveal. A character is revealed as another character's mother, a god, or secret suitor or arch nemesis in disguise. More broadly, the audience is given new information which had been withheld to create suspense. The Reveal changes the nature of the plot, often pushing it from suspense towards action. A good reveal will also create a new set of questions and further suspense.

A key moment in most Xanatos Gambit plots, when the heroes or the audience discover how the villains have been manipulating everyone. Can also be used to make a Cliffhanger more dramatic. Myth Arc and Mind Screw series love springing these; Jigsaw Puzzle Plots pretty much require them.

If The Reveal is withheld for too long, the audience typically gets frustrated, as was the case with Twin Peaks fans and Laura Palmer's murderer.

If you're set up for this but it's then subverted by not revealing it, it's The Unreveal. When made too obvious ahead of time, it's The Untwist. If it comes out of nowhere and serves no purpose other than to be a twist, it's a Shocking Swerve.

Aristotle referred to it as anagnorisis (generally translated as "discovery" or "recognition") in his Poetics, making this one Older Than Feudalism. He considered it one of the hallmarks of a superior play.

Warning: Expect every example to be a spoiler for something.

Examples:

Film

The all-time most famous is, of course, "Luke I Am Your Father", as well as the revelation that Leia is his sister in the next movie.
The big reveal that Captain Barbossa has returned to life at the end of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
- More so, in that even the actors didn't know it would be Barbossa. They assumed Anamaria would be coming down the stairs, and their expressions of surprise are real ones.
All About Eve: "I'm not crying..."
One of the creepiest reveals ever is when Morpheus explains the true nature of The Matrix.
Unbreakable, like any M Night Shyamalan film has one that's too good to spoil, in this case kicked off by a handshake and some juicy postcognition at the very end.
In the film The Illusionist, it's where it turns out that Sophie was alive all along, that Eisenheim successfully fooled the Police Inspector,, causing the Prince to kill himself, and that he got away with all of this scot-free. And Eisenheim's the protagonist.

Live Action TV

In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, when Angel is discovered to be a vampire.
In Angel Season 4, when Cordelia is revealed to be behind the rise of the Beast.
- And again in Season 5, with the return of Lindsey.
In Star Trek Deep Space Nine, when Gul Dukat is revealed to be working with the Dominion.
Famous early example in Lost is the nature of Locke's "miracle," revealed at the end of the fourth episode. There are, of course, plenty more from the series.
Heroes is not only fond of this trope but loves to do it multiple times on the same subject. A specific case would be the bomb that will/might/did destroy New York City, which is "revealed" to be caused by one person, then re-revealed to be actually caused by someone else, then...
- The episode Five Years Gone contains perhaps the best reveal of the series: President Nathan Petrelli is actually Sylar, using the illusion power he obtained from Candice Wilmer. We discover this as Sylar is cutting open Claire's skull.
- The fact that this actually comes partly true, Sylar replaces Nathan, is more than slightly disturbing
The end of the second season X Files episode Sleepless in which it's revealed that Krycek is working for the CSM. (Not spoiler cut because I'm fairly sure it's old news.)
In the Season Two (and series) finale of Carnivale, we learn that Sofie is an avatar of darkness, just like Brother Justin.
Alias does this a LOT. Including the very first episode in which Sydney learns that she's actually working for The Alliance, an evil organization that she thought they were fighting, and not the real CIA. Some of the major ones:
- Season One: Laura Bristow was not a lit professor, but actually a KGB spy by the name of Irina Derevo, and is actually alive and is The Man.
- Season Two: Sloane assisted in taking down the Alliance for his own means (arranging for the information that Sydney & co. at Oops Central to be available)
- Season Three: Sydney actually erased her own memories of the two years she spent "working" for the Covenant.
- Season Four: Jack Bristow actually killed a double of Irina Derevko. The real Irina was being held by her sister Elena in captivity. Elena turned out to be Sofia, the woman running the orphanage that Nadia grew up in.
- Season Four/Five: Six words: "My name is not Michael Vaughn." Sloane's flip-flopping between being good and evil does not count because, honestly, who didn't see it coming?
BattlestarGalactica Has an on-going mystery about the identity of the twelve Cylon models. The first of many reveals is in the Miniseries, where it is revealed that Sharon must be one of them in the final scene. There are also a few other puzzles:
- Season 2: Another Battlestar survived the Cylon Holocaust.
- Season 3: Tyrol, Tigh, Tory and Anders are four of the missing five Cylon models.
- Season 4.5: The Thirteenth Tribe that colonized Earth were all human Cylon models.
- Season 4.5: Ellen Tigh was a Cylon.
- Season 4.5: The 'original programmers' were Tyrol, Tigh, Tory, Anders, Ellen and Cavil.
By Season 4, Supernatural seems too be doing an average of one an episode. From off the top of my head, we;ve had the Reveals that: Dean was resuced from Hell by an angel! Big Bad Lilith plans to raise Lucifer! Dean tortured souls in Hell! By torturing souls, Dean allowed the first seal to be broken, making Lilith's plan possible! Sam can now kill demons with his mind! There are some angels working to help release Lucifer! . There are plenty more. To give you some idea, the last 3 reveals were in just one episode.
The Doctor Who episode "Utopia", where in the last 15 minutes it is revealed that Professor Yana is the Master, chameleon arched, and the Face of Boe's message was a secret acronym hinting at this (You Are Not Alone). Then the Master regenerates into the British Prime Minister.
- "It's us!", if you hadn't guessed it an episode earlier.

Comics

Although old news now, the identity of the Green Goblin in the original Spider-Man comics was a well-kept secret for years before it was finally revealed to both Spidey and the readers.
- Stormin' Norman did double time on this trope when he was revealed to be the true mastermind of the Clone Saga all along.
- His successor, the Hobgoblin, is arguably the king of this. His true identity was the single biggest plot point of the Spider-Man books in the eighties, and thanks to editorial interference, a really lame reveal, several more fake-out reveals, and judicious retconning, his real, this-is-it, honest-to-God-this-time identity (as, no joke, someone who had never appeared before) wasn't revealed until fourteen years after he first took up the pumpkin bombs.
The "Hush" storyline in the Batman comics does this a few times, eventually becoming somewhat incomprenhesible as to who was doing what. It first appears that Jason Todd was responsible, then Tommy Elliot, and then apparently the Riddler was responsible all along.
- Similarly, the "Batman: The Long Halloween" storyline suffers from this, with about three or four people claiming responsibility for the murders which could only have been committed by two at most. Perhaps not uncoincidentally, they were written by the same person.

Video Games

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic You know that Darth Revan everyone's been talking about? The one who disappeared mysteriously and is presumed dead? The one who would have every reason to hate the Jedi AND the Sith for what they did if he/she were still alive? That's you.
- The sequel pretty much makes a point of having no reveal, even though just about everything that happens in the game is one surprise after another in a kind of "I've always known" sort of way. The one true revelation is that the whole game was a test. Except anyone who paid attention already knew that. This is just speculation, but it might be in response to the Revan issue, considering how obvious it was to - again - to anyone paying attention, like the writers of the sequel would be.
Grandia II has a killer - Granas, the god of good you've supposedly been serving, was actually the loser of the ancient struggle between good and evil and has been dead all along. The supposed 'Seals' that were binding the parts of the sealed dark god Valmar were actually devices created to prepare a human's body for possession by a part of Valmar's damaged body, and the Pope of the Church of Granas has actually been manipulating you into reassembling Valmar's body from the very beginning. Basically, EVERY SINGLE THING you've done so far in the game so far has been a lie.
Final Fantasy VII takes until late in the second disc to reveal what really happened in Nibelheim five years ago, especially Cloud's involvement.
- The game actually turns this situation into two reveals for the price of one. The first being where he's told that he is just a clone of Sephiroth, and all his memories of Nibelheim were taken from Tifa. The second being him discovering that he is in fact, not a clone, at least not in a traditional sense. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase Un-Reveal.
System Shock 2: "I am SHODAN."
At the very end of Episode Aegis / The Answer in Persona 3: FES, Metis reveals to the party that she and Aigis are one and the same. Metis was the "human" side of Aigis, cast out due to Aigis' wishes to be a mere machine again. If Aegis remains that way, she won't have to mourn/grieve over the loss of the protagonist, nor will she have to bear the penalties of being human. But after seeing what became of the protagonist and learning of the true nature of Shadows and Persona, she wishes for Metis to return to her. Aigis absorbs Metis and decides to stay with the SEES team, as a complete being.
The moment where it becomes aparent just what Mass Effects Reapers really are.
- Your initial impression of the Reapers is basically correct though. The Reveal is when you discover that Sovereign is a Reaper.
Bio Shock: "A man chooses, a slave obeys."
- Ahem... "Would you kindly..."
Final Fantasy X - Auron's confession that he's an unsent (solid ghost). It was his devotion to his previous summoner and Tidus' father that allowed him to retain his human form (and not become a fiend), so he could Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
At the End of Red's Story in Sa Ga Frontier Red's Mentor from when he was aboard the Cygnus is the one who gave him the superpowers he used throughout the story.
Planescape Torment, built as it is upon a well-crafted Laser Guided Amnesia plot, is made of these, and doesn't stop until the very end - expect reveals about enemies, allies, old flames, rivals... even the main character. In fact, every attainable companion in the game has one of these, if you talk to them and dig deep enough.
Subverted in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, in which the Black Knight's true identity is spoiled to you by Ranulf rather casually a few chapters before your final showdown with him.
The Ace Attorney series, being all about very dramatic trials, has some major reveals. Perhaps the most epic is in the second game's final case, where your client, Matt Engarde, turns out to be not the killer, but the man who ordered the killing. The reveal is so awesome because he smooths back his hair to reveal some nasty scars on his eye, changing his appearance and expression extensively, and then he pulls a glass of brandy out of Hammerspace. In a holding cell.
The Legacy Of Kain series loves this trope:
- The ending of Soul Reaver 2, which, after the game spends a lot of time foreshadowing it, reveals that Raziel is the Reaver.
  - And... Future Raziel killed past Raziel.
- In Defiance, when it is revealed that not only did Mortanius use the powers of the Heart of Darkness, previously belonging to Janos Audron, to make Kain into a vampire, but the Heart is also inside Kain.
  - This is also a brilliant subversion of Gameplay And Story Segregation; in the first game, made by different developers, no less, where you play as Kain, the Heart of Darkness is a collectible item that does exactly what Mortanius is revealed to have used it for, but strictly in game mechanics. As long as Kain has at least one in his inventory, it's impossible to die.
In Shadow Of The Colossus, you'll have to wait until the 16th statue crumbles to find that Yes, Dormin will resurrect your girlfriend/sister/who-knows-who-she-is. He just wants to make you into an unstoppable force of darkness in return.
The biggest reveal for the Mega Man X series is that its resident Ensemble Darkhorse hero is built by Dr. Wily for the sole purpose of destroying the world, and his best friend.
- And the Mega Man Zero series also has a big reveal: that The Hero is using a clone body, since the Big Bad stole his original body to create The Dragon.

Anime and Manga

Suzumiya Haruhi combines this with The Rashomon, with Yuki, Mikuru, and Itsuki each explaining Haruhi's true nature and their own.
Naruto has been rather reveal-happy in the past few weeks: the true identity of both Akatsuki's leader and Naruto's parents have been revealed (and no, none of them are the same people), as well as the true identity of the Man Behind The Man.
Ergo Proxy: Vincent is the near invincible monster that was constantly tailing him and slaughtering everything in its way, the titular Ergo Proxy.
Hagino's obsession with Mari in Blue Drop gets explained by revealing that Hagino saved Mari from drowning during the catastrophe caused by her space ship.
Hellsing - Dok was actually using the remains of Mina Harker as a template for all of Millenium's vampire soldiers. Turns out that since Alucard wasn't destroyed when he lost to Abraham Van Helsing, Mina wasn't completely purified of Alucard's curse. Thus all of Millenium's soldiers are poor copies of Alucard's power.
Yu Me Dream - when the reader finds out that everything in Part 1 has been a dream.
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle lives for this.
- First we find out that Syaoran is a clone created by the Big Bad, and meet the real one
- Then we find out Fai/Fay has a depressing backstory, he's faking his personality, is working for the villain, and he killed his brother
  - Then we find out that his memories were false, he didn't kill his brother, and he switches sides
- Then we find out that the whole goal up till that point, collecting the princess' feathers, was a Xanatos Gambit by the Big Bad to have her develop "physical memories"
- Then we find out that the princess is a clone
- Then we find out that the real Syaoran is actually the son of the protagonist and love interest of Card Captor Sakura, and is using his father's name as a psuedonym
  - Then we learn that the protagonist of XXX Holic is a time-travel duplicate of "Syaoran"
  - And that the creation of said duplicate f***d up the entire space-time continuum
- Then that "the country of Clow" is really Acid Tokyo in the far future
- Then that Yuko was Dead All Along, and her revival was the whole purpose of the Big Bad's Xanatos Gambit
  - Then that she was preserved from going to the other side by an inadvertent reality warp from Clow, giving a Reveal as to why he was so desperate to get rid of his powers and set off the plot of Card Captor Sakura
- Stay tuned to find out the exciting conclusion, with many more dramatic revelations in the meantime!
Baccano! — The Rail Tracer is Claire Stanfield/Vino, AKA the young conductor supposedly killed in the second episode.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is loaded with these.

Literature

The penultimate chapter of Isaac Asimov's original Foundation Trilogy had three characters giving three different solutions to the mysterious location of the Second Foundation. In the last chapter, yet another character reveals the true location, along with his own secret identity.
Harry Potter books very often have these, including in Sorcerer's Stone where It's Quirrel, Chamber of Secrets where It's Ginny, etc.
Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, when the killer is revealed to be Nope, nice try.
Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner where Amir discovers that Hasaan is his half-brother.
In Ben Counter's Warhammer 40000 Horus Heresy novel Galaxy in Flames, when Tarvitz realizes that Horus intends to virusbomb the Space Marines on the planet.
- In James Swallow's The Flight of the Eisenstein, when Garro insists on hailing a Thunderbird he has been ordered to shoot down, and learns that it's Tarvitz, trying to warn the Space Marines on the planet of Horus's treacherous attack. Sendek, who prided himself on being The Stoic, has a Not So Stoic moment of pure surprise.
"Saul Tarvitz," whispered Sendek. "First Captain of the Emperor's Children. Impossible! He's a man of honour! If he's turned traitor, then the galaxy has gone insane!"
Decius found he couldn't look away from Garro's shocked expression. "Perhaps it has." It was a long moment before Decius realized that the words has been his.
- Shortly thereafter, Garro declares they will Bring News Back to Terra and demands that they take an oath of moment to do so on his sword Libertas. Before any of them can do so, or object, a crew member reveals an order to make the attack, removing any doubt.
In An Abundance of Katherines, Colin has dated nineteen different girls named Katherine, all of whom have dumped him, and communicates these relationships to the reader through flashbacks. Katherine Carter, aka Katherine XIX, was with him for almost a year and totally broke his heart. When he was eight, a little girl named Katherine asked him to be her boyfriend; he said yes, fell in love, and got dumped two and a half minutes later. Then Colin is asked out by the most popular girl in school, who is named Marie, not Katherine, and is finally going to break his streak... but then he sees Katherine I, Katherine the Great, and ends up ditching the date. "And so it was Colin and Katherine Carter snuck out of the house to have a cup of coffee at Cafe Sel Marie."
- Then the book does it again — Colin is determined to figure out why Katherines keep dumping him, and he works out a theorem of relationship graphs, and it works for eighteen of the Katherines. But the graph says that he dumped Katherine III. So finally he calls her back and tries to figure out what happened... guess who did the dumping after all.

Webcomics

Gunnerkrigg Court is just aching to make a couple billion of these.
Sarda was Onion Kid!!!

Web Original

Ruby Quest has several moments that would qualify, but the biggest is probably "Today is october 31st".
In Red vs Blue's Reconstruction series, the fact that Church is the Alpha AI would definitely qualify.

Other