History Foreshadowing / Literature

* ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'':
** When Elijah Knight is first introduced, he is able to skip the Adventurer's Guild exam due to having some sort of special status. Afterward, it is noted that what little is known about Elijah's MysteriousPast is that he was raised by the dwarves, and that the person backing him was responsible for exempting him from the exam. Even Elijah himself isn't aware of where he came from, as his memories only came to him in "confusing and painful flashes" which sometimes leave him unconscious for brief periods of time. Later on, it is revealed that the dwarves have been heavily compromised by the Alacryan spy network and many of their nobles are willing LesCollaborateurs, including Elijah's guardian Rahdeas. Considering where Elijah grew up in and how little is known of his past, it is safe to say he has a major connection with the Alacryans and their Vritra overlords. It turns out [[spoiler:Elijah is Nico, the EvilFormerFriend of Arthur's past life King Grey, and has been working with Agrona in order to exact his vendetta on Grey/Arthur]].
*** Elijah is able to manifest [[ExtraOreDinary black metal spikes]], a form of magic used only by servants of the Vritra such as Kai Crestless and Uto. He also tends to wear mostly black outfits, and the Vritra are a straight example of DarkIsEvil and EvilWearsBlack wherein their servants wear black clothing or armor.
*** The {{Webcomic}} is less subtle about his true identity through a few specific CallForward[=s=]: At one point, [[spoiler:he is able to perceive Arthur as King Grey, causing him to be briefly overwhelmed by his true identity's hatred of Grey]]. On a more subtle note, there is a moment where Elijah tells Arthur he joined a club to pick up girls, to which Arthur remarks "Were you deprived of love in your past life or something?", alluding to the incident that led to [[spoiler:Nico turning against Grey: The latter's apparent murder of the former's fiancée (and their shared ChildhoodFriendLoveInterest) Cecilia in a duel]].
** When compared to other dragons regardless of form, Sylvie is noted to appear rather differently from the rest. Dragons normally have pale white skin/scales and hair, but Sylvie has black scales and hair on top of having a prominent set of horns; [[spoiler:while in her human form she does have light blonde hair, she does keep her horns when the other dragons do not]]. What else tends to have black skin and horns? [[spoiler:The Vritra and anything that has their blood in it, foreshadowing that she is not only part Vritra, but [[LukeIAmYourFather the daughter of Agrona himself]]]].
** It is noted that Jasmine's family, House Flamesworth, is a rather prominent noble house in Sapin. However, Jasmine herself does not seem to take very kindly to mentions of her family, especially her father Trodius. It is eventually revealed that the Flamesworths, as their name suggests, have produced some of the best fire mages in the kingdom, and that Jasmine was shunned and ostracized by her family for not conforming to tradition due to her mastery over wind magic. Not to mention Trodius proves to be a despicable individual in his own right given how he turns out to be both an AbusiveParent, DirtyCoward, GeneralFailure, and [[spoiler:{{Les Collaborateur|s}}]].
** After Arthur nearly attacks Lucas after the latter brought a group of mercenaries to kill off his surviving party members to prevent them from ratting out his misconduct, he gets warned that he has made an enemy of one of the most powerful houses in Sapin and that he needs to lay low as the Wykes would target his loved ones. Just how influential are the Wykes? They were able to get Bairon, Lucas's older half-brother, knighted as one of the Lances, the strongest mages on Dicathen. This ends up biting Arthur in the long run as when he does kill Lucas for his role in the attack on Xyrus Academy, Bairon is one of the Lances who gets Arthur ArrestedForHeroism.
*** The {{Webcomic}} hints at this reveal earlier in that Kaspian tells Arthur that "even if [he's] strong enough to bring the entire Wykes House to the ground, it'll be meaningless unless [he becomes] strong enough to kill Lucas's half-brother" after the incident with Lucas. Not to mention, Bairon gets an AdaptationalEarlyAppearance in that he gets named during the Council announcement (none of the Lances were named at the announcement in the novel), giving Arthur quite the rude awakening when it comes to who he had just made an enemy of.
** Arthur infers that the main reason why the newly-formed Council revealed the existence of another continent is to act as a GenghisGambit and unite the three kingdoms of Dicathen against a common enemy. Not to mention, he has reservations about giving Gideon more pieces of technology from his past life after just giving him the blueprints for a steam engine. Arthur ends up being proven horribly right about both. It turns out Alacrya, the other continent, is the domain of the Vritra Clan who had been planning to invade Dicathen for millennia. Not only that, the Alacryans end up getting their hands on the steam engine and use it to create an armada of steamships to transport their invasion force.
** There are several signs that Kai Crestless, one of Arthur's fellow Disciplinary Committee members, is up to no good. His presence makes Arthur feel uneasy, he suspiciously takes up larger patrols than the other members, and at one point, when Arthur asks him about his unique powers, he casually threatens to kill him. Not to mention in the {{Webcomic}}, when Arthur is pursuing a suspicious individual, he gets distracted by Kai calling for him, which causes him to lose track of the individual he had been chasing. Sure enough, when the Radicals launch their attack on Xyrus Academy, Kai is revealed to have been TheMole and sabotages the barrier the Disciplinary Committee had set up to prevent any aid from coming in.
** The conversation Arthur has with Rinia before he and Tessia return to Xyrus harbors several hints towards future developments in the story, in particular for when the CerebusSyndrome kicks in. Appropriate, considering Rinia is a [[{{Seers}} diviner]].
*** Before she goes into telling Arthur about his future, she brings up how her sister (and Virion's wife) Lania died to illustrate how her powers as a diviner are CastFromLifespan. In trying to save Virion from being assassinated, Lania kept looking into the future in order to stall for time so that the war between Sapin and Elenoir could come to a close. By the time that war ended, Lania had burnt up so much of her lifespan she died a few weeks after its conclusion. In the end, [[spoiler:Rinia meets the same fate as her sister. Even as the war slowly turned against Dicathen and the Alacryans conquered the continent, Rinia kept using her powers to find an outcome where the Dicathians would eventually retake their homeland. She did not live to see that outcome, as Kezess sent an lone asura to purge the Dicathian resistance for going against his plans, which forced her to use up the very last of her lifespan to show Arthur how to defeat said asura (on top of having been struck down by said asura beforehand)]].
*** She brings up how she was getting many glimpses of Arthur before she met him, which she notes has never happened before regarding any single person. She hypothesizes that "Dicathen is entering a new era" and Arthur "always seems to be at its epicenter". Sure enough, it turns out that she was already aware of Arthur's past life as King Grey.
*** In looking into Arthur's future, she notes that she "might have made some rather troublesome enemies", which has been why she has been living as a hermit. Her seclusion becomes understandable once the true nature of the DivineConflict that drives the story comes to light as [[spoiler:[[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks both sides]] would have viewed her as a WildCard and would have wanted her dead for their own reasons. On one hand, Agrona and the Vritra seek to master fate itself as a means to win the war, which led them to into uncovering the secrets of reincarnation. On the other hand, it is revealed in the climax of Volume 9 that she learned her divination arts from Mordain, an asura who was exiled from Epheotus after he stood against the Indrath for committing genocide upon the [[{{Precursors}} djinn]]. Naturally her being an associate with a PersonaNonGrata in asuran society made her a prime target for assassination, as when Kezess orders the extermination of the Dicathian resistance, Rinia is singled out for elimination]].
*** Finally, she closes out the conversation by warning Arthur to beware "the abandoned soldier who has nothing to lose", which not only foreshadows the aforementioned [[spoiler:Elijah/Nico, but also his motivation behind his vendetta towards Arthur/Grey]].
** At the end of Volume 6, Agrona is able to contact Arthur through the latter's bond Sylvie after [[spoiler:she finally assumed her human form]]. This conversation serves to foreshadow several different reveals later on. Agrona not only reveals that he is aware of Arthur's past life as King Grey, but says that he has been in contact with "an old friend" of his. Not only does this hint at [[spoiler:Elijah/Nico, but it also hints that Agrona was responsible for both his and Arthur's reincarnations in the first place]]. In addition, the fact he was able to hijack Sylvie is not only a major hint towards [[spoiler:him being her father, but also how he has control over Tessia as well thanks to the beast will Arthur gave her]].
** At the start of Volume 7, the imprisoned Rahdeas calls for Arthur so he can recite a specific poem for him. The poem not only eerily parallels Arthur's childhood and alludes to him being reincarnated, but one of its verses goes as follows: "What happens when your foe, who has crossed both time and space, is actually brighter than thee?" Given how Rahdeas is a servant of Agrona, it serves to hint not only how [[spoiler:Agrona is behind Arthur's reincarnation in the first place, [[TheBadGuyWins but has the whole war in the palm of his hand]] [[YouCantThwartStageOne and Arthur can do nothing but delay the inevitable]]]].
** It is noted that there is something unusual about the beast will that Arthur extracts from the Elderwood Guardian and later gives to Tessia. Namely, she frequently experiences intense difficulty and PowerIncontinence attempting to assimilate the beast will, and both Virion and Aldir note that there is a possibility the Elderwood Guardian might have been mutated. Sure enough, it turns out the Elderwood Guardian Arthur slew [[spoiler: was in fact a failed Vritra experiment. This revelation plays a major role in the climax of Volume 7, as it means Agrona has control over Tessia's life which he uses to [[TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt blackmail her parents]] into letting his forces into the Council Castle at the close of the war]].
*** This reveal is also hinted at a few times even before Arthur gives Tessia the beast will. During the foray into the Dire Tombs, the party are accosted by giant worms. This takes Kriol and Brald by surprise as "it doesn't make sense for a new mana beast species to enter a dungeon like this", hinting that something or someone had been operating in the dungeon. The Elderwood Guardian itself has a black, featureless face with a CrownOfHorns, which as mentioned above [[spoiler:are the hallmark of the Vritra]]. Lastly, when Arthur attempts to assimilate the beast will for himself, his existing beast will from Sylvia not only opposes the Elderwood Guardian, but almost devours it. While Arthur at first chalks it up to his and the Elderwood Guardian's elements not being compatible as Virion had taught him, in hindsight [[spoiler:it is also because the Indrath whom Sylvia hails from are the mortal enemies of the Vritra who experimented on the Elderwood Guardian]].
** When Arthur first meets Myre, she tells him that the dragons "remain selective and greedy - the Indrath Clan particularly so" even among the rather prideful asuras. This hints to the major {{Reveal}} at the very start of Volume 8 when Arthur learns [[spoiler:that in the distant past, the Indrath Clan committed genocide upon the djinn out of petty jealousy for their mastery of aether exceeding their own]].
*** If one looks between the lines, TheReveal that [[spoiler:the asuras are JerkassGods]] can be seen entirely in their name. In Myth/HinduMythology, [[spoiler:the gods are divided between the benevolent devas and the ''malevolent'' asuras. Despite the apparent naming mismatch given how they seem to be closer to the former than the latter, the asuras of the novel, especially the Indrath and the Vritra, are eventually revealed to be JerkassGods of the highest degree with no regard for the lives of mortals in the midst of their DivineConflict]].
** Speaking of Myre, Arthur deduces that she has a certain level of influence within the Indrath Clan. This is because of her powers, the fact she had been able to keep him with her, and her own personal interest in him. However, what really cements her high status is that Windsom, whom had been addressed by a few other asuras as an Elder, bows to her when he comes to pick up Arthur, and when Arthur asks him who Myre is Windsom says that he is in no position to tell him. At the start of Volume 6, during the flashback to when Arthur departs Epheotus to return to Dicathen and join the war, he learns that Myre is in fact Kezess's wife and the Matriarch of the Indrath Clan, meaning he had been training under the queen of the gods the entire time.
*** After Arthur asks Windsom who Myre is, he then says to him "You know, when I first met you, I figured you were pretty up there. Now, not so much". In response, Windsom says to Arthur "Watch your tongue, human. Even if I were among the lowest rank of asuras, I'd still be stronger than any of you lesser races in Dicathen". Windsom's statement gets proven horrifically correct at the end of Volume 9. After [[spoiler:Kezess declares that the Dicathians [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness have outlived their usefulness to him]], he sends Arthur's former sparring partner Taci to exterminate them all. Even though Taci is merely a boy by asuran standards, he is able to single-handedly best the remaining Lances, the strongest mages on Dicathen, to the point of near-death, on top of causing countless more casualties during his rampage until the CameBackStrong Arthur returns to put him down]].
** At the end of Volume 10, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Sylvie is the one responsible for Arthur reincarnating outside of Agrona's control unlike Nico and Cecilia. After her HeroicSacrifice at the end of Volume 7, Sylvie's spirit was displaced across time and space to observe Arthur's past life as King Grey. At the moment Agrona was about to reincarnate Grey's soul into his vessel of choice, she snatched Grey's soul and brought it to the Leywin family to be reincarnated into Arthur as a StableTimeLoop]]. This reveal is hinted at a few times in the volume.
*** While he recovers following the Siege of Vildorial, the comatose Arthur briefly has a vision of [[spoiler:Sylvie. After he apologizes for not being able to bring her back, Sylvie tells him "Don't worry about me. I've got all the time in the world" shortly before he wakes up. This foreshadows how Sylvie became a NonLinearCharacter after her sacrifice and is no longer bound by time and space]].
*** Arthur ponders how [[spoiler:he is an instance of CreateYourOwnHero on Agrona's part in that through some unknown factor, his reincarnation did not go according to Agrona's plan. He then notes how thanks to Agrona's own daughter Sylvie, he was given the power to stand up against him]]. The end of the volume reveals that the second statement is more literal than he would have expected.
** When Arthur visits [[spoiler:the Hearth, Mordain mentions that he is troubled by the possibility of Kezess sending dragons to Dicathen as part of the BargainWithHeaven Arthur had made with him, for it means that "he already has loyal soldiers in position to strike when [Arthur is] no longer of use to him". Sure enough, when Arthur returns from the aether realm after having resurrected Sylvie, he learns that Kezess had sent down his forces to occupy all of Dicathen in in the two months Arthur was in the aether realm]].

*** Elijah is able to manifest [[ExtraOreDinary black metal spikes]], a form of magic only used by servants of the Vritra such as Kai Crestless and Uto. He also tends to wear mostly black outfits, and the Vritra are a straight example of DarkIsEvil and EvilWearsBlack wherein their servants wear black clothing or armor.

** It is noted that Jasmine's family, House Flamesworth, is a rather prominent noble house in Sapin. However, Jasmine herself does not seem to take very kindly to mentions of her family, especially her father Trodius. It is eventually revealed that the Flamesworths, as their name suggests, have produced some of the best fire mages in the kingdom, and that Jasmine was shunned and ostracized by her family for not conforming to tradition due to her mastery over wind magic. Not to mention Trodius proves to be a despicable individual in his own right given how he turns out to be both an {{AbusiveParent}}, DirtyCoward, GeneralFailure, and [[spoiler:{{Les Collaborateur|s}}]].

** Afrthur infers that the main reason why the newly-formed Council revealed the existence of another continent is to act as a GenghisGambit and unite the three kingdoms of Dicathen against a common enemy. Not to mention, he has reservations about giving Gideon more pieces of technology from his past life after just giving him the blueprints for a steam engine. Arthur ends up being proven horribly right about both. It turns out Alacrya, the other continent, is the domain of the Vritra Clan who had been planning to invade Dicathen for millennia. Not only that, the Alacryans end up getting their hands on the steam engine and use it to create an armada of steamships to transport their invasion force.

*** Before she goes into telling Arthur about his future, she brings up how her sister (and Virion's wife) Lania died to illustrate how her powers as a diviner are CastFromLifespan. In trying to save Virion from being assassinated, Lania kept looking into the future in order to stall for time so that the war between Sapin and Elenoir could come to a close. By the time that war ended, Lania had burnt up so much of her lifespan she died a few weeks after its conclusion. In the end, [[spoiler:Rinia meets the same fate as her sister. Even as the war slowly turned against Dicathen and the Alacryans conquered the continent, Rinia kept using her powers to find an outcome where the Dicathians would survive and eventually retake their homeland. She did not live to see that outcome, as Kezess sent an lone asura to purge the Dicathian resistance for going against his plans, which forced her to use up the very last of her lifespan to show Arthur how to defeat said asura (on top of having been struck down by said asura beforehand)]].

*** This reveal is also hinted at a few times even before Arthur gives Tessia the beast will. During the foray into the Dire Tombs, the party are accosted by giant worms. This takes Kriol and Brald by surprise as "it doesn't make sense for a new mana beast species to enter a dungeon like this", hinting that something or someone had been operating in the dungeon. The Elderwood Guardian itself has a black, featureless face with a CrownOfHorns, which as mentioned above [[spoiler:are the hallmark of the Vritra]]. Lastly, when Arthur attempts to assimilate the beast will for himself, his existing beast will from Sylvia not only opposes the Elderwood Guardian, but almost devours it. While Arthur at first chalks it up to his and the Elderwood Guardian's elements not being compatible as Virion had taught him, in hindsight [[spoiler:it is also because the Indrath who Sylvia hails from are the mortal enemies of the Vritra who experimented on the Elderwood Guardian]].

*** After Arthur asks Windsom who Myre is, he then says to him "You know, when I first met you, I figured you were pretty up there. Now, not so much". In response, Windsom says to Arthur "Watch your tongue, human. Even if I were among the lowest rank of asuras, I'd still be stronger than any of you lesser races in Dicathen". That last statement gets proven horrifically correct at the end of Volume 9. After [[spoiler:Kezess declares that the Dicathians [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness have outlived their usefulness to him]], he sends Arthur's former sparring partner Taci to exterminate them all. Even though Taci is merely a boy by asuran standards, he is able to single-handedly best the remaining Lances, the strongest mages on Dicathen, to the point of near-death, on top of causing countless more casualties during his rampage until the CameBackStrong Arthur returns to put him down]].

*** Elijah is able to manifest [[ExtraOreDinary black metal spikes]], a form of magic only demonstrated by servants of the Vritra such as Kai Crestless and Uto. He also tends to wear mostly black outfits, and the Vritra are a straight example of DarkIsEvil and EvilWearsBlack wherein their servants wear black clothing or armor.

** After Arthur nearly attacks Lucas after the latter brought a group of mercenaries to kill off his surviving party members to prevent them from ratting out his misconduct, he gets warned that he has made an enemy of one of the most powerful houses in Sapin and that he needs to lay low as the Wykes would probaly target his loved ones. Just how influential are the Wykes? They were able to get Bairon, Lucas's older half-brother, knighted as one of the Lances, the strongest mages on Dicathen. This ends up biting Arthur in the long run as when he does kill Lucas for his role in the attack on Xyrus Academy, Bairon is one of the Lances who gets Arthur ArrestedForHeroism.
** The {{Webcomic}} hints at this reveal earlier in that Kaspian tells Arthur that even if he was strong enough to bring House Wykes to the ground, "it'll
** There are several signs that Kai Crestless, one of Arthur's fellow Disciplinary Committee members, is up to no good. His presence makes Arthur feel uneasy, he suspiciously takes up larger patrols than the other members, and at one point, when Arthur asks him about his unique powers, he casually threatens to kill him. Not to mention in the {{Webcomic}}, when Arthur is pursuing a suspicious individual, he gets distracted by Kai calling for him, which causes him to lose track of the individual he had been chasing. Sure enough, when the Radicals launch their attack on Xyrus Academy, Kai is revealed to have been TheMole and sabotages the barrier the Disciplinary Committee had set up to prevent any aid from coming in,

** When Elijah Knight is first introduced, he is able to skip the Adventurer's Guild exam due to having some sort of special status. After the exams, it is noted that what little is known about Elijah's MysteriousPast is that he was raised among the dwarves, and that the person backing him was responsible for him bypassing the exam. Even Elijah himself isn't aware of where he came from, as his memories only came to him in "confusing and painful flashes" which sometimes leave him unconscious for brief periods of time. Later on, it is revealed that the dwarves have been heavily compromised by the Alacryan spy network and many of their nobles are willing LesCollaborateurs, including Elijah's guardian Rahdeas. Considering where Elijah grew up in and how little is known of his past, it is safe to say he has a major connection with the Alacryans and their Vritra overlords. It turns out [[spoiler:Elijah is Nico, the EvilFormerFriend of Arthur's past life King Grey, and has been working with Agrona as one of his servants in order to exact his vendetta on Grey/Arthur]].

*** This reveal is also hinted at a few times even before Arthur gives Tessia the beast will. During the foray into the Dire Tombs, the party are accosted by giant worms. This takes Kriol and Brald by surprise as "it doesn't make sense for a new mana beast species to enter a dungeon like this", hinting that something or someone had been operating in the dungeon. The Elderwood Guardian itself has a black, featureless face with a CrownOfHorns, which as mentioned above [[spoiler:are the hallmark of the Vritra]]. Lastly, when Arthur attempts to assimilate the beast will for himself, his existing beast will from Sylvia not only opposes the Elderwood Guardian, but almost devours it. While Arthur at first chalks it up to his and the Elderwood Guardian's elements not being compatible as Virion had told him, in hindsight [[spoiler:it is also because the Indrath who Sylvia hails from are the mortal enemies of the Vritra who experimented on the Elderwood Guardian]].

** Speaking of Myre, Arthur deduces that she has a certain level of influence within the Indrath Clan. This is because of her powers, the fact she had been able to keep him with her, and her own personal interest in him. However, what really cements her high status is that Windsom, whom had been addressed by a few other asuras as an Elder, bows to her when he comes to pick up Arthur, and when Arthur asks him who Myre is he says that he is in no position to tell him who she is. At the start of Volume 6, during the flashback to when Arthur departs Epheotus to return to Dicathen and join the war, he learns that Myre is in fact Kezess's wife and the Matriarch of the Indrath Clan, meaning he had been training under the queen of the gods the entire time.

* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': In ''Brightly Burning'', Kalira is wounded by an arrow, and seeing her injury motivates Lavan to become a better pyrokinetic. In the finale, [[spoiler:she is killed by a crossbow bolt, and Lavan's resulting anger ''burns a forest down''.]]

*** This reveal is also hinted at a few times even before Arthur gives Tessia the beast will. During the foray into the Dire Tombs, the party are accosted by giant worms. This takes Kriol and Brald by surprise as "it doesn't make sense for a new mana beast species to enter a dungeon like this", hinting that something or someone had been operating in the dungeon. The Elderwood Guardian itself has a black, featureless face with a CrownOfHorns, which as mentioned above [[spoiler:are the hallmark of the Vritra]]. Lastly, when Arthur attempts to assimilate the beast will for himself, his existing beast will from Sylvia not only opposes the Elderwood Guardian, but almost devours it. While Arthur at first chalks it up to his and the Elderwood Guardian's elements not being compatible as Virion had told him, in hindsight [[spoiler:it is because the Indrath who Sylvia hails from are the mortal enemies of the Vritra who experimented on the Elderwood Guardian]].

*** The {{Webcomic}} is less subtle about his true identity through a few specific CallForward[=s=]: At one point, [[spoiler:he is able to perceive Arthur as King Grey, causing him to be briefly overwhelmed by his true identity's hatred of Grey]]. On a more subtle note, there is a moment where Elijah tells Arthur he joined a club to pick up girls, to which Arthur remarks "Were you deprived of love in your past life or something?", alluding to the incident that led to [[spoiler:Nico turning against Grey: The latter's apparent murder of the former's fiancée (and their shared Childhood Friend Love Interest) Cecilia in a duel]].

*** If one looks between the lines, TheReveal that [[spoiler:the asuras are JerkassGods]] can be seen entirely in their name. In Myth/HinduMythology, [[spoiler:the gods are divided between the benevolent devas and the malevolent ''asuras''. Despite the apparent naming mismatch given how they seem to be closer to the former than the latter, the asuras of the novel, especially the Indrath and the Vritra, are eventually revealed to be JerkassGods of the highest degree with no regard for the lives of mortals in the midst of their DivineConflict.]].

** When Elijah Knight is first introduced, he is able to skip the Adventurer's Guild exam due to having some sort of special status. After the exams, it is noted that what little is known about Elijah's MysteriousPast is that he was raised among the dwarves, and that the person backing him was responsible for him bypassing the exam. Later on, it is revealed that the dwarves have been heavily compromised by the Alacryan spy network and many of their nobles are willing LesCollaborateurs, including Elijah's guardian Rahdeas. There is also the fact that he is able to [[ExtraOreDinary manipulate metal spikes]], a form of magic only demonstrated by servants of the Vritra such as Kai Crestless and Uto. Considering where Elijah grew up in, his powers, and how little is known of his past, it is safe to say he has a major connection with the Alacryans and their Vritra overlords. It turns out [[spoiler:Elijah is Nico, the EvilFormerFriend of Arthur's past life King Grey, and has been working with Agrona as one of his servants in order to exact his vendetta on Grey/Arthur]].

*** Before she goes into telling Arthur about his future, she brings up how her sister (and Virion's wife) Lania died to illustrate how her powers as a diviner are CastFromLifespan. In trying to save Virion from being assassinated, Lania kept looking into the future in order to stall for time so that the war between Sapin and Elenoir could come to a close. By the time that war ended, Lania had burnt up so much of her lifespan she died a few weeks after its conclusion. In the end, [[spoiler:Rinia mees the same fate as her sister. Even as the war slowly turned against Dicathen and the Alacryans conquered the continent, Rinia kept using her powers to find an outcome where the Dicathians would survive and eventually retake their homeland. She did not live to see that outcome, as Kezess sent an lone Asura to purge the Dicathian resistance for going against his plans, which forced her to use up the very last of her lifespan to show Arthur how to defeat said Asura (on top of having been struck down by said Asura beforehand)]].

*** In looking into Arthur's future, she notes that she "might have made some rather troublesome enemies", which has been why she has been living as a hermit. Her seclusion becomes understandable once the true nature of the DivineConflict that drives the story comes to light as [[spoiler:[[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks both sides]] would have viewed her as a WildCard and would have wanted her dead for their own reasons. On one hand, Agrona and the Vritra seek to master fate itself as a means to win the war, which led them to into uncovering the secrets of reincarnation. On the other hand, it is revealed in the climax of Volume 9 that she learned her divination arts from Mordain, an Asura who was exiled from Epheotus after he stood against the Indrath for committing genocide upon the [[{{Precursors}} Djinn]]. Naturally her being an associate with a PersonaNonGrata in Asuran society made her a prime target for assassination, as when Kezess orders the extermination of the Dicathian resistance, Rinia is singled out for elimination]].

** When Esme teaches Iseult how Cleaving works, she mentions that the man she's using as an example used to have a [[BloodBrothers Threadbrother]], and somehow the magical bond between them survived the Cleaving. At the end of ''Windwitch'', it turns out that Merik's survived his ship's explosion because he's still tethered to his Cleaved Threadbrother, borrowing some of the latter's indestructibility.

* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': Early on in "Matchmaker!", Miss Darling says she has hay fever. At the end, it’s revealed that this is why her eyes were red and she hadn’t been crying after all.

** When Elijah Knight is first introduced, he is able to skip the Adventurer's Guild exam due to having some sort of special status. This is in sharp contrast to Lucas Wykes, an adventurer the same age who still had to take the exam in spite of his family being rich and powerful enough to pull the necessary strings to have him skip it. After the exams, it is noted that what little is known about Elijah's MysteriousPast is that he was raised among the dwarves, and that the person backing him was responsible for him bypassing the exam. Later on, it is revealed that the dwarves have been heavily compromised by the Alacryan spy network and many of their nobles are willing LesCollaborateurs, including Elijah's guardian Rahdeas. There is also the fact that he is able to [[ExtraOreDinary manipulate metal spikes]], a form of magic only demonstrated by servants of the Vritra such as Kai Crestless and Uto. Considering where Elijah grew up in, his powers, and how little is known of his past, it is safe to say he has a major connection with the Alacryans and their Vritra overlords. It turns out [[spoiler:Elijah is Nico, the EvilFormerFriend of Arthur's past life King Grey, and has been working with Agrona as one of his servants in order to exact his vendetta on Grey/Arthur]].

*** Before she goes into telling Arthur about his future, she brings up how her sister (and Virion's wife) Lania died to illustrate how her powers as a diviner are CastFromLifespan. In trying to save Virion from being assassinated, Lania kept looking into the future in order to stall for time so that the war between Sapin and Elenoir could come to a close. By the time that war ended, Lania had burnt up so much of her lifespan she died a few weeks after its conclusion. In the end, [[spoiler:Rinia meets the same fate as her sister. Even as the war slowly turned against Dicathen and the Alacryans conquered the continent, Rinia kept using her powers to find an outcome where the Dicathians would survive and eventually retake their homeland. She does not live to see that outcome, as Kezess sends an lone Asura to purge the Dicathian resistance for going against his plans, which forces her to use up the very last of her lifespan to show Arthur how to defeat said Asura (on top of having been struck down by said Asura beforehand)]].

*** In looking into Arthur's future, she notes that she "might have made some rather troublesome enemies", which has been why she has been living as a hermit. Her seclusion becomes understandable once the true nature of the DivineConflict that drives the story comes to light as [[spoiler:[[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks both sides]] would have viewed her as a wild card and would have wanted her dead for their own reasons. On one hand, Agrona and the Vritra seek to master fate itself as a means to win the war, which led them to into uncovering the secrets of reincarnation. On the other hand, it is revealed in the climax of Volume 9 that she learned her divination arts from Mordain, an Asura who was exiled from Epheotus after he stood against the Indrath for committing genocide upon the {{Djinn}}. Naturally her being an associate with a PersonaNonGrata in Asuran society made her a prime target for assassination, as when Kezess orders the extermination of the Dicathian resistance, Rinia is singled out for elimination]].

** At the end of Volume 6, Agrona is able to contact Arthur through the latter's bond Sylvie after [[spoiler:she finally assumed her human form]]. This conversation serves to foreshadow several different reveals later on. Agrona not only reveals that he is aware of Arthur's past life as King Grey, but says that he has been in contact with "an old friend" of his. Not only does this hint at [[spoiler:Elijah/Nico, but it also hints that Agrona was responsible for both his and Arthur's reincarnations in the first place]]. In addition, the fact he was able to hijack Sylvie is not only a major hint towards [[spoiler:him being her father, but also how he has control over Tessia as well thanks to the Beast Will Arthur gave her]].
** At the start of Volume 7, the imprisoned Rahdeas calls for Arthur so he can recite a specific poem for him. The poem not only eerily parallels Arthur's childhood and alludes to him being reincarnated, but one of its verses goes as follows: "What happens when your foe, who has crossed both time and space, is actually brighter than thee?" Given how Rahdeas is a servant of Agrona, it serves to hint not only how [[spoiler:Agrona is behind Arthur's reincarnation in the first place, [[YouCantThwartStageOne but has the whole war in the palm of his hand]] [[HopelessWar and Arthur can do nothing but delay the inevitable]]]].
** It is noted that there is something unusual about the Beast Will that Arthur extracts from the Elderwood Guardian and later gives to Tessia. Namely, she frequently experiences intense difficulty and PowerIncontinence attempting to assimilate the Beast Will, and both Virion and Aldir note that there is a possibility the Elderwood Guardian might have been mutated. Sure enough, it turns out the Elderwood Guardian Arthur slew [[spoiler: was in fact a failed Vritra experiment. This revelation plays a major role in the climax of Volume 7, as it means Agrona has control over Tessia's life which he uses to [[TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt blackmail her parents]] into letting his forces into the Council Castle at the close of the war]].
** At one point in Volume 10, Arthur ponders how [[spoiler:he is an instance of CreateYourOwnHero on Agrona's part in that through some unknown factor, his reincarnation did not go according to Agrona's plan. He then notes how thanks to Agrona's own daughter Sylvie, he was given the power to stand up against him]]. The end of the volume reveals that the second statement is more literal than he would have expected. After [[spoiler:her HeroicSacrifice at the end of Volume 7, Sylvie's spirit was displaced across time and space to observe Arthur's past life as King Grey. At the moment Agrona was about to reincarnate Grey's soul into his vessel of choice, she snatched Grey's soul and brought it to the Leywin family to be reincarnated into Arthur as a StableTimeLoop]].

* In the beginning of [[Creator/RobertHarris Robert Harris]] WW2 novel ''Enigma'', the protagonist, one of the Bletcley Park codebreakers, explains the beauty of mathematics by showing how a seemingly random string of numbers (pi) can be turned into a well-ordered sum of fractions. Later in the book he discovers the identity of the traitor when he realizes that [[spoiler: a seemingly random string of letters in a decoded telegram is actually a list of Polish officers murdered by the Soviets.]]

* ''Literature/IJedi'': Brakiss argues using the dark side would be acceptable for a good goal, using destroying the Death Star as an example. Kam (who had fallen to the dark side himself) along with Corran reject this idea immediately and both try to make him see otherwise. Brakiss backs off, but he's still not entirely convinced. This foreshadows him falling and becoming evil himself, as shown in [[Literature/TheNewRebellion books that]] [[Literature/YoungJediKnights take place later]].

* ''Literature/TheSisterVerseAndTheTalonsOfRuin'' has this pretty much everywhere, either directly or through metaphor. If something happens, it's probably been hinted at earlier in the story, particularly through the hallucinations of the characters under the Lord in White's influence.

*** On a more positive note, his encounter with Ringwraiths at Weathertop ends pretty much the same way his quest does. [[spoiler: Namely, Frodo [[TheDeterminator keeps on fighting till he really can't]], then has to get rescued, but that's only possible because he fought to the last earlier.]]

* An excellent example of foreshadowing is ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' in ''The Great Hunt'' Turak mentions that the Empress of the Seanchan Empire rules from the Court of the Nine Moons, and her favorite daughter is named Tuon. In ''The Shadow Rising'' Mat Cauthon is told he will marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons. Guess who the Daughter of the Nine Moons is? To put this in perspective ''The Great Hunt'' is the second book in the series, ''The Shadow Rising'' is book 4, and ''The Winter's Heart'' where Tuon actually enters the story is book 9.
** This is in fact pretty much the ''entire principle'' behind the ''Wheel of Time'' books. That and clothes.

** The first time he sees Captain Nemo, Aronnax instinctively trusts him because BeautyEqualsGoodness, but later [[BrokenPedestal reevaluates his beliefs when it seems that man is going to leave them starving in a cell]]. Cue the finale of the novel…

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''. Soon after arriving to a manor with several others, one of the characters goes into his room and takes a bath while pondering what he's going to do next: "Warm steaming water - tired limbs - presently a shave - a cocktail dinner. And after - ?" [[spoiler:He dies during the dinner.]]
* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': Early on in “Matchmaker!”, Miss Darling says she has hay fever. At the end, it’s revealed that this is why her eyes were red and she hadn’t been crying after all.

*** The {{Webcomic}} version is less subtle about his true identity through a few specific CallForward[=s=]: At one point, [[spoiler:he is able to perceive Arthur as King Grey, causing him to be briefly overwhelmed by his true identity's hatred of Grey]]. On a more subtle note, there is a moment where Elijah tells Arthur he joined a club to pick up girls, to which Arthur remarks "Were you deprived of love in your past life or something?", alluding to [[spoiler:the incident that led to Nico turning against Grey: The latter's [[SuicideByCop apparent murder]] of the former's fiancée (and their shared ChildhoodFriendLoveInterest) Cecilia in a duel]].

* The 2003 ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' book ''Tales of the Masks'' is full of foreshadowing, hinting at a mysterious, forgotten past and an ancient city called Metru Nui. The following two years focused entirely on this. Later, in the '05 book ''Time Trap'', Toa Vakama received a vision that faintly hinted at the '06 storyline.

* A rather interesting example shows up in ''Literature/{{Elantris}}''. Near the start there is a mention of [[spoiler:Hrathen as the savior of Arelon,]] which most simply put down to simply stating his thoughts. It isn't until the end that you find out that [[spoiler:Hrathen defects when he realizes how evil Dilaf is, and then sacrifices his own life to kill him, saving the entire joint population of both Arelon and Teod from being annihilated by the Derethi cult. One of the other main characters even says that he was their savior, calling back to the original line.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Holes}}''

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' has this ironic example: [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne Frodo]] says, "So far, my only hope has been to get here [Rivendell]. I hope I shan't have to go any further. ... I have had [[ShortCutsMakeLongDelays a month of exile and adventure]], and I find that has been as much as I want." Guess what the next two books are about?
** There is also Gandalf's statement that, "There are [[EldritchAbomination older and fouler things]] than orcs in the [[DugTooDeep deep places of the world]]." when they enter Moria and only shortly before [[YouShallNotPass they encounter the balrog]].
** Also in ''Fellowship'', Elrond says to Boromir, "Slow should you be to wind that horn again until you stand once more on the borders of your land and dire need is upon you." The next time he uses the horn, [[spoiler: just before his death]], fits these circumstances perfectly.
** Early on, Frodo finds that he cannot cast the Ring into his own fireplace. [[spoiler: Ultimately, Frodo is unable to destroy the Ring when he reaches Mount Doom.]]
** On a more positive note, his encounter with Ringwraiths at Weathertop ends pretty much the same way his quest does. [[spoiler: Namely, Frodo [[TheDeterminator keeps on fighting till he really can't]], then has to get rescued, but that's only possible because he fought to the last earlier.]]
** Sam mentions that his cousin once spotted a walking tree in the Shire, but his tale is considered unbelievable. Much later on, Merry and Pippin run into Ents, who are in essence walking trees.
** Just before the Fellowship leaves Rivendell, Aragorn is noted to be unusually pensive and that only Elrond knew what this moment meant to him. It's later revealed that this journey and Aragorn's goal to reclaim Gondor's throne was an EngagementChallenge for him to marry Arwen.

* Two notable examples occur in Creator/JohnSteinbeck's ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. In the very first scene, George complains about how GentleGiant Lennie always accidentally kills his pet mice. About halfway through the book, Carlson [[ShootTheDog shoots Candy's dog]]. Both of these nicely build up the drama of the last chapter. The whole book is ''dripping'' with foreshadowing if you know where to look.

* ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' spends an entire chapter detailing local racist Bob Ewell's attempts at getting revenge on everyone he blames for being outed as a liar (he had beaten his daughter after catching her trying to seduce a black man and forced her to accuse the innocent man of rape. Despite evidence of his innocence, the man was convicted and fatally shot trying to escape.), stalking the man's widow, the trial judge, and explicitly threatening the man's lawyer, Atticus Finch. In the next chapter, as Atticus' children prepare to go to a Halloween party, their aunt mentions an uneasy feeling, "Something just walked over my grave". The children are viciously attacked by Ewell on their way home, and it is all but stated that they would have been killed had someone not heard their screams and come to help.

* Done rather badly in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Bella says something like "nobody's gonna bite me" in the first chapter. If you already know that the book is about vampires, which the back cover explicitly mentions, then this is pretty blatantly obvious.
** That could just be dramatic irony.
* ''Literature/TheVaginaAssOfLuciferNiggerbastard'':
** The Priest Of The Dildo Staff, after looking into the future, informs the Fellowship that they will go up against the Latin League. They do.
** King Dicksalsa actually foretells this first.
** Also to note: Juno mentions having had sex with ''Turnus'', ''Pallas'' & ''Camilla'', before they were introduced.

** ''Literature/{{Bequin}}'' has several examples.