History ChekhovsSkill / Literature

* In ''Literature/ShamanOfTheUndead'', when Ida is learning her Shaman skills, she's taught how to exit and enter her body. She uses the latter when she's forcibly "kicked out", although it takes some time before she remembers the technique.
* The first chapter of Desmond Bagley's thriller ''The Vivero Letter'' briefly mentions the hero's hobbies of fencing and SCUBA-diving. The diving later comes in handy for underwater archeology, and at the story's climax the hero kills the BigBad in a [[SwordFight hand-to-hand duel with machetes]] in which his training in sabre fencing gives him the edge.

* Subverted in the first Xanth book: Bink learns some throws from Crombie before the two part ways, and in a confrontation with Evil Magician Trent, uses one. Trent, an experienced warrior, counters expertly, while politely pointing out that amateur moves like that just don't work on a skilled opponent.

* Dan Wilgus, a former Prohibition-era bootlegger, puts his old skills to use smuggling paper for the [[LaResistance New Underground]] in ''Literature/ItCantHappenHere''.

** Harry being a Parseltongue. Him being able to speak the language of serpents appears in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]'' as an example of all the weird things happening around him. Since it doesn't come up again in the rest of the book, one could think it was nothing unusual in the magical world. However, in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The Chamber of Secrets]]'', Harry learns that this ability is extremely rare and only previously appeared in descendants of Salazar Slytherin. The skill ultimately allows Harry to enter the Chamber and fight the basilisk inside. [[spoiler:More importantly, it is later revealed that Voldemort possessed this ability and inadvertently passed it on during his first attempt to kill him. Thus, Harry being a Parseltongue helped to slyly foreshadow that he was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes all along.]]

* ''PrinceRoger'': Invoked. In order to join The Empress' Own (the Imperial Bodyguard), one must be an extremely badass soldier, be able to keep a high level of spit and polish, and have at least one skillset with the potential to become a Chekhov's Skill. The ones shown in the series vary from the reasonable (gunsmithing, medicine, demolitions) to the implausible (linguistics, car theft) to the bizarre (animal wrangling, shipbuilding, comparative theology).

* Averted at one point in the {{Belgariad}}. Early on Silk demonstrates the ability to alter the appearance of his face through muscle movements. He uses this as a prank on his teammates, and it then never comes up again.

** One particular example is the premise for the novel. In ''Have Spacesuit, Will Travel'', the main character wins the titular suit in a contest. He spends his free time from then on making it space-worthy, and gets it fully operational just in time for him to be the RightManInTheWrongPlace to [[spoiler: save all of humanity.]]

* In Zora Neale Hurston's ''Literature/MosesManOfTheMountain'', when Moses is learning magic from his tutor Jethro he is particularly skilled at summoning large amounts of vermin. Those familiar with [[Literature/TheBible a certain other work]] will realize this comes in handy later in convincing the pharaoh to free the Hebrews.

* [[HonorHarrington Honor Harrington's]] history as genetically-modified native of a heavy-gravity world who became an excellent martial artist and pistol shot, making her deadly in face-to-face situations due to her enhanced strength, speed, coordination and skill ''should'' be fairly irrelevant given her chosen career commanding warships in space, but they become plot-relevant fairly often. In one notable instance, it was revealed that a favorite uncle was a historical re-enactor (the period in question being the 20th Century) and had gifted her with a Model 1911 Colt semiauto that she enjoyed shooting. This comes in useful when she has to deal with pirates who scan her for the power sources used by weapons of the time and are thus oblivious to her carrying a 2000 year old antique design that doesn't need a battery.

** Harry being a Parseltongue. Him being able to speak the language of serpents appears in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]'' as an example of all the weird things happening around him. Since it doesn't come up again in the rest of the book, one could think it was nothing unusual in the magical world. However, in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The Chamber Of Secrets]]'', Harry learns that this ability is extremely rare and only previously appeared in descendants of Salazar Slytherin. The skill ultimately allows Harry to enter the Chamber and fight the basilisk inside. [[spoiler:More importantly, it is later revealed that Voldemort possessed this ability and inadvertently passed it on during his first attempt to kill him. Thus, Harry being a Parseltongue helped to slyly foreshadow that he was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes all along.]]

* It's learned quite a while before the book, but in The ''Literature/XWingSeries'' Face, a former child actor, was stated to have lived on Lorrd for a while, a planet whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] was body language and the reading of such. He uses what he picked up to SherlockScan how people walk. This does come up again.

* In ''Literature/FirebirdLackey'', Ilya's habit of speaking with ExactWords to Mother Galina pays off with the Katschei, as does his ruse as the fool, and his learning to stay awake in the face of the Firebird's music.

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' sequel, Catching Fire, it is mentioned that Katniss's likes to visit the lake in the woods where her father taught her to swim. Later on this saves her when[[spoiler: she is one of the first tributes to reach the cornocopia in the 75th hunger games, because it is surrounded by ocean and she is a strong swimmer.]]

* The ''Literature/DresdenFiles'' novel ''Skin Game'' opens with Harry enthusiastically practicing LeParkour. He later uses it to get through the Gate of Ice in Hades's vault.

* In ''Joyland'' by StephenKing, references are made throughout the story of Annie's proficiency with a gun - her teenage years as a shooting champion (good enough to be considered for the Olympics), her ability to clean up at the fairground shooting range despite years of little or no practice, and how her otherwise troubled relationship with her father hinged on her marksmanship talents during their hunting trips together. This, and the fact that she still keeps a gun in her safe despite renouncing recreational use of them, later comes in handy when Dev ends up AloneWithThePsycho.

* Used to good effect in ''DealingWithDragons'' by Patricia C. Wrede. The main character spends the first chapter learning skills her parents think are useless. She spends the rest of the book using those skills to [[spoiler:melt wizards with lemony dishwater.]]
* In MatthewReilly's ''Hover Car Racer'', Jason's CrazyPrepared mentor teaches him what to do in any situation that might come up in a race, including how to do a manual pit stop if the power is cut off. This skill allows him to cut a 30 second lead in an important race.

* It's learned quite a while before the book, but in The ''XWingSeries'' Face, a former child actor, was stated to have lived on Lorrd for a while, a planet whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] was body language and the reading of such. He uses what he picked up to SherlockScan how people walk. This does come up again.

* This shows up twice in ThePaleKing: Leonard's medical knowledge and Toni's ability to not blink for minutes at a time.