History Main / CrypticBackgroundReference

!!Examples:

* The Hidden Cloud Village in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' was introduced long after the other four major ninja villages. The only proof of their existence was that a small number of Cloud ninja applied for the Chunin Exams early into the series, and after that, they were completely absent for several important arcs. The Hidden Cloud Village was even nonexistent among the Akatsuki, an alliance of villains from various ninja villages who have disowned their home villages in protest. This becomes a plot point later on after [[spoiler:the Hidden Leaf Village is destroyed by Akatsuki leader Pain and the village leaders gather together to discuss how to stop them. As the Akatsuki has no Cloud ninja, they've never attacked the Hidden Cloud Village, so the village leader makes it clear he has no reason to get involved.]]

[[folder:Literature]]
!!!'''By Author:'''
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': The Fifth Seldon Crisis [[ConflictKiller gets disrupted by the Mule]] during the events of "Literature/TheMule", while the Sixth and Seventh Seldon Crisis are never mentioned in Dr Asimov's works. ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'' opens during the successful resolution of the ''Eighth'' Crisis (with [[PosthumousCharacter Hari Seldon]] appearing during FoundingDay to announce [[AllAccordingToPlan exactly why they made the right decision]]), and characters refer to the Plan having been on track since the Kalgan War (which wasn't a Crisis and ''was'' covered), making it clear that all three happened, but only the Eight has any detail on its nature or resolution given[[note]]there was a political movement calling for the Foundation's capital to be moved from Terminus to a more central location, and it failed[[/note]].
** ''Literature/TheGodsThemselves'': No detail is provided on an event that killed about 4 billion people: "Just about the time the Lunar colony was being established, Earth went through the Great Crisis. I don't have to tell you about that."
* Creator/PaoloBacigalupi never really provides descriptions or actual expositions of his countless settings. While it was somewhat understandable when he was in short stories and novelettes, as seen in his ''Literature/PumpSixAndOtherStories'' anthology, once he started to write books, all the world-building is still done by off-hand remarks in dialogues and tiny snippets of information in narrative, going as far as giving a name-drop as all that is to provide information. Piercing together details about his recurring settings is a favourite past-time of his fans.
* Literature/TheBrightestShadow: Common, both in terms of characters referring to parts of the world not immediately relevant, and several epigraphs that refer to highly ambiguous events.
* Creator/HPLovecraft stories make repeated, throwaway references to fictional books and locales, but there's little evidence that the man himself had any unified vision in mind. His pals also did the same, throwing out cryptic {{Shout Out}}s to Lovecraft and each other's works. Enticed, the readers wanted more, and piecing together such references is part of the fun of the ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos''.
* Creator/JRRTolkien was a master of WorldBuilding, working on his Middle-Earth world from about UsefulNotes/WW1 until his death. ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is full of lovingly crafted and referred-to details, many of which are left unexplained, whose stories first got public with the posthumous publications of the earlier stories.
** One thing Tolkien knew from his studies as a linguist and English teacher is that some of the old myths recreate the CrypticBackgroundReference effect ''entirely by accident'', when the relevant poems or stories are lost -- the medieval Finns probably had an explanation of what a [[TheSampo Sampo]] (from ''Literature/TheKalevala'') is, for example, but it didn't survive the Middle Ages.
** Then there are some things which never got elaborated on, even posthumously, like in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' when Bilbo makes reference to "the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert." Nothing remotely similar is ever even spoken of again.
** [[EldritchAbomination "Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things."]]
** Half of fun of reading Tolkien is this. Go read ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and go back and read ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Now revel in all the references most people didn't get the first time around. That part of the song Aragorn sings in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' about Beren and Lúthien? Now you know the whole story. Bilbo's song about Eärendil that Aragorn seemed to find so cheeky to sing in Rivendell? It was about Elrond's father (and mother) who he hasn't seen in five thousand years and probably dredged up some bad memories about the ransacking of his home when he was a child by the sons of Fëanor. The list goes on.
** The Second Prophecy of Mandos, which describes what the end of the world will be like, is referenced (though not by name) in virtually all of the canonical stories of Middle-earth. However, the prophecy itself does not appear in canon -- only in Tolkien's earlier drafts for ''The Silmarillion''.
** ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'' also fleshes out several of these including the Cats of Queen Berúthiel that Aragorn mentioned during the journey through the Mines of Moria and the other two Wizards of the five Saruman brings up in his rant at Othanc.
!!!'''By Work:'''
* In the Mad Tea-Party scene from ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', TheMadHatter proposes the riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" Some time passes before Alice, the Hatter and the March Hare all admit that they can't find the answer. This did nothing to stop readers from persistently trying to find answers such as "Creator/EdgarAllanPoe wrote on both." Although Carroll himself eventually came up with the answer "Because it can produce a few notes, though they are ''very'' flat; and it is [[SdrawkcabName nevar]] put with the wrong end in front!" Or "They both have inky quills".
* In the UsefulNotes/NaNoWriMo novel ''Literature/AndThenThereWereMonsters'', some of the monsters mentioned in the text are explained in Father Mallern's [[EncyclopediaExposita journals]]. Most are not. Dire cattle, for example, and referenced a few times, but never seen, and in the end all we know is that the only similarity they have with normal cattle is that they still have four legs.
* Alien characters in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' often allude to various other species or situations that have nothing to do with the plot:
** For example, early books would sometimes list random species the Yeerks had supposedly enslaved, though practically none of them are seen except for Hork-Bajir, Taxxons and Gedds.
** There's also a whole subplot happening off-scene with a planet called Anati: apparently the Yeerks knew very little about it (including whether or not it was inhabited) and sent Visser One to conquer it, but she wound up failing for some unknown reason.
** "The Five," the mysterious race responsible for hunting the Venber to extinction. Ax doesn't know where they came from or why they called themselves that, but they have since also vanished, possibly due to the Andalites of old giving them a taste of their own medicine.
** At the end of book 41, the BadFuture Jake was experiencing turns out to be [[spoiler: a psychological test conducted by an unknown being, for no obvious reason but curiosity. We never find out who was running it.]]
** Crayak, a being who straddles the line between SufficientlyAdvancedAlien and CosmicHorror, was evicted from his galaxy of origin by an even ''more'' powerful being.
* The ''Mechwarrior Dark Age'' novels (based on the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' game world) made references to events that had occurred in the 65-year TimeSkip since the last published ''[=BattleTech=]'' novel. The result was a lot of terms used in general discussion that had no explanation - The Jihad, the Ruins of Gabriel, Apollyon, the Master and so forth. Since then, new ''[=BattleTech=]'' fiction has begun to explain some of this.
* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' has Mr. Willy Wonka noting that Loompaland, the homeland of the Oompa-Loompas -- and a country none of the other characters have heard of -- is a HungryJungle full of "hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles" without explaining what exactly those beasts are (besides ''very'' hungry). This isn't surprising, as Mr. Wonka himself has a never-explained MysteriousPast and is InexplicablyAwesome. (For one thing, between the original novel and its sequel, he's apparently managed to travel the world ''without being recognized'' for years, and has knowledge of ''other planets and alien races''. Also, the [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory 2013 stage musical]] plays this concept for laughs with throwaway lines that reveal that he used to go to ''raves''.)
* Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':
** Mr. Tumnus has a collection of books, one of which is ''[[FictionalDocument Is Man A Myth?]]'' It serves no purpose to the story other than world building and further setting up the FaeriesDontBelieveInHumansEither trope.
** ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': The protagonists meet a magician, who is later revealed to be personified star who was sent to earth as a punishment. On being asked what possible crime a star could commit, they are simply told: "it is not for you, a Son of Adam, to know what faults a star can commit." The reference gets even more cryptic when Eustace comments that in their world stars are balls of flaming gas and is told that even in our world, that is not what stars ''are'', but only what they are ''made of''.
** Aslan's father, the Emperor-Beyond-The-Sea, is mentioned but plays no direct role in the plot. Presumably the reason he's there at all is because Aslan, being a [[CrystalDragonJesus Jesus-equivalent]], needs a [[{{God}} father]] to complete the reference.
** There are plenty of AlwaysChaoticEvil species in the setting, but there are a few unelaborated-on references to some of these species [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch being in Aslan's army.]]
* Part of the charm of the early books of ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'' is that the main character is a member of a race with ten thousand years of history, but our glimpses of this history is as through a glass darkly because the main character already knows her history and doesn't feel the need to monologue about it. The later books have filled in many of the references, but far from all of them.
* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' stories, there are several mentions of a group called "The Children of the Sun" who were, it seems, wiped out by the Alerans relatively recently (historically speaking) and, as a last action, did ''something'', ''somewhere'', for ''some reason'' and now there's the Feverthorn Jungle in the middle of the continent, that no one can enter for reasons which are unexplained. Though we get a rough idea of where it is (middle southeast of the continent according to the map in ''First Lord's Fury'') what makes the jungle impenetrable (even to the ''[[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]]'') is unexplained. The Alerans idly speculate that if they could figure out what the Children did, they might be able to turn it against the Vord.
** Also AllThereInTheManual, as Butcher explained it on the website. They're another sentient race (of plant-people, with Woodcrafting-like powers), who are now all dead, wiped out by the Roman legions shortly after they arrived on Alera (and hence [[BadassNormal before they had developed significant furycrafting]]). Of all the sentient races that have appeared on Alera, only the toughest survive the competition.
** The Children of the Sun aren't the only ones to get this treatment. Late into the series, a character reminisces about other sentient races the Alerans have wiped out in their struggle for survival:
--> ''The Children of the Sun were long since dead, their Realm rotted back into the Feverthorn Jungle. The Malorandim had been driven to extinction eight centuries ago. The Avar, the Yrani, the Dekh -- all gone, nothing left of them but names that Amara dimly remembered from her history lessons. Once they had all been rivals and tyrants to a younger, smaller, weaker Alera.''
* ''Literature/TheColdMoons'' throws around references to the badger's AnimalReligion but doesn't explain the mythology though. Some things are namedropped in passing but all that's clearly known is that: Their {{God}} is named "Logos", while their {{Satan}}/devil is "Ahriman". Their {{heaven}} is "Asgard" and it's stated that all species live in harmony in Asgard. "Sheol" is referenced but it seems to be a {{hell}} equivalent instead of [[TheNothingAfterDeath a Jewish-style Sheol]]. Some badgers aren't prayed for upon dying and thus they become eternally BarredFromTheAfterlife in a place above the clouds called "Gehenna". "Elysia" is the pastures of heaven and is also used as a short-hand for an otherworldly paradise. Badgers have a group of ancient laws called "[[TheCommandments the Adamus]]" (which is only mentioned by name, in passing, in the final chapter).
* In the beginning of ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'', the third-person narrator often makes references to historical events and figures, such as the fall of Gilead and John Farson, as well as important characters in [[BadassLongcoat the gunslinger's]] [[MysteriousPast past]]. Many of these are clarified later in the series, further expanding the previously sparse world.
* The story of Princess Nell in Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'' starts out like this, and Nell and the Primer spend the next decade or so expanding the references.
* Often used in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', with throwaway references to things like the politics of the Guild of Engravers (although that one eventually became ''Literature/TheTruth''), or the various notes on Sam Vimes' desk that he's too busy with the main story to deal with, creating the feel that Ankh-Morpork keeps running even when there isn't a story happening.
* Two examples from ''Literature/{{Distortionverse}}'':
** The ''Tryadine Effect case'' which was solved by Veckert before the events told in ''Chapter 1 - La Notte che Cammina'' and resulted in the opening of the dome of St. Patrick SHIELD is ''never'' explained in details -- only hinted at;
** The bombardment of Moscow mentioned by Egon Kramers in ''Sabbie''.
* ''Literature/{{Domina}}'':
** Loads. The names of [[GangOfHats cultures]] and [[RankScalesWithAsskicking warlords]] are dropped without context, only to be explained a dozen chapters later. Since there's lots of ThemeNaming and {{Shout Out}}s, the audience has some clues to figure out what the names refer to before they appear on screen.
** The Dagonites get referenced every few chapters for hundreds of chapters, with no explanation. Even when Dagonite characters show up on screen, the other characters just note that they don't look as weird as they expected, and move on.
** Space colonies are referenced as well. A refugee from a minor mutiny on the Chinese Shaohao station crash-lands at one point, and later it's mentioned that the Soviet Tsiolkovsky Station is the communications hub for the colonies. Ceres gets a few mentions (it's implied to be a factory colony), and someone says that a character is from "Lemuria, on Mars."
** The fall of Eden is mentioned more than once as an important part of the city's past, but no context is given.
* Stephen Brust's ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' books use this in massive amounts. [[Literature/KhaavrenRomances Paarfi's novels]] are supposed to be historical fiction novels within the universe, so they assume that the reader is a Dragaeran who doesn't need additional explanations. Vlad sometimes seems to make the same assumption, but other times he explains common aspects of the world for the reader's benefit. Vlad will also make vague references to his various other misadventures outside of the scope of the current story without going into detail. Sometimes he says he doesn't want to digress, and other times he's simply cryptic. Some of these do get explained in future novels. Brust intentionally includes them as possible story hooks for future novels without planning on where they'll go.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' contain a fair amount of them, such as the reasons for some wizards not showing up to a White Council meeting in Chicago including "He got real married", "Living under a polar ice cap", and "Pyramid Sitting".
** In a case that ultimately ended up a subversion; in the first book Harry mentions that Santa Claus is real, and implies he's [[BadassSanta terrifying]]. Fast forward fourteen books, and we finally meet him in ''Literature/ColdDays'', and get a good idea of why Harry would have been scared of him in the first book.
* Used fairly frequently in Herbie Brennan's ''Literature/TheFaerieWarsChronicles''. Since most of the series is set in a fantasy realm with only two non-native characters present, references to simbala parlours, power outrages, border Redcaps, or The Reindeer King of Crippenmas are pretty commonplace. Some of these are given explanations in the glossaries, and a few end up connecting to the plots of later books, but many are left entirely unexplained.
%%* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books sometimes play this straight and sometimes use it to disguise a ChekhovsGun.
* Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novels have a handy store of ancient history at which to hint. Some characters (Vanyel, Lavan Firestorm) have had their own books, but she claims "Windrider" and "Sun and Shadow" likely will not, since they work better as distant legends.
* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' is littered with these, with allusions to far-off planets and some of their inhabitants that are never explored in-depth. For instance, Maximegalon is apparently a planet with a very rich academic history, although it's never visited; neither is Blagulon Kappa, a world mentioned off-handedly several times but about which even less is explicitly stated. On the character side of things, Oolon Colluphid is apparently a very prestigious writer and an acquaintance of Zaphod Beeblebrox's (as of [[Literature/AndAnotherThing the sixth book]]), and some of his books have been named, but he's never personally encountered. The same goes for Eccentrica Gallumbits, the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon VI, and ex-president Yooden Vranx, who ''would'' have been part of the first story arc, but [[Creator/DouglasAdams the author]] wound up not going there. What's ''really'' interesting is that the many of the stars and systems he mentions are real, like Sirius. This amuses people with arbitrary knowledge of stars.
** There's also a bunch of almost-correct ones. There is no real-life planet called Ursa Minor Beta, but there ''is'' a star called Beta Ursae Minoris.
* In Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/TheLastIllusion'', the story mentions a botched exorcism attempt on Mimi Lomax which has scant but horrific detail. The novel "Everville" goes into this incident with more fleshing.
* ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'' has vampire kingdoms, which are alluded to a few times, and the islands, which are somewhere in Beloria, but we don't even learn in what direction.
* With the ''Literature/MonsterBloodTattoo'' series, D. M. Cornish not only strives to make the Half-Continent feel lived in with side comments and throwaway lines, but he has so many [[HeroOfAnotherStory side characters]] who appear and reappear within Rossamund's narrative that it leaves readers thirsty for all the potential other stories that could be told. There is, after all, a reason why the glossaries in the back of the books can be a third of the physical book.
* Much like the Sherlock Holmes example, the ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' series by Rex Stout begins on terms of false familiarity, and vaguely references past cases that are never fully explained.
* In Creator/MichaelEnde's ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'', many vague allusions are made to the further adventures of secondary characters, always accompanied by the phrase, "But that is another story, and will be told another time." Needless to say, said stories have never been told.
** Actually plot-significant, and gives the book its title. In the ending, [[spoiler: Bastian is told he can't leave until every storyline he started up is finished. But given the rate uncompleted plots have been created (several story hooks get created for every one he finishes) he'd never be done. Atreyu saves him by taking on the task on his behalf]]. The movies leave this out, resulting in an ArtifactTitle.
* ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'' is full of this. Particularly the BigBad's motivation for [[spoiler: sinking Atlantis. All we get is him shouting "THEY DESERVED IT!"]] Creator/NeilGaiman's work has tons of this, but ''Neverwhere'' and ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'' are particularly big examples.
%%* Simon R Green often uses this trope in the ''{{Literature/Nightside}}'' series.
* Used in the ''Literature/OldKingdom'' books by Creator/GarthNix, and not overused, either. He's mentioned in interviews that he's not really into world-building — he just makes everything up as he goes along.
* Creator/HannuRajaniemi's ''Literature/TheQuantumThief'' features many references to cataclysmic events that shaped the world of the novel, but remain a mystery to the reader, and sometimes even to the characters due to lost historical records and memory manipulation. These include the Collapse that caused most people to abandon Earth, the Cry of Wrath, the Spike which somehow destroyed Jupiter, and the Protocol War. Some get elaborated in the later books and even become major plot points, while others remain a mystery.
* In Raymond E. Feist's ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'', there is a place called Roldem in the east of Midkemia. It is mentioned in a few of the books, and included in every map of the world, however over the course of more than 20 books, it is not visited at all. In fact, most of the information on Roldem comes from a single e-mail written in 1998.
* ''Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi'' has a few mentions of Salai, who is listed alongside [[WarriorMonk Yangchen]] as one of [[TheAce the greatest Avatars ever]]. Nothing else, including gender or nationality, is mentioned.
* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories, Watson is famous for this, often referring to other cases, such as the one involving "the giant rat of Sumatra, for which the world is not yet prepared". Some of these became stories in their own right (though usually not from Doyle's pen), but most remain unexplained.
* Used masterfully well in Ulysses Silva's novel ''Solstice''. There is exactly one incident where things are properly explained by the main character (even then, it's mostly clarification on things you've picked up). Everything else is left for the reader to figure out. And quite often, everything you thought you'd figured out turns out to be completely ''wrong'', leading to many an [[EpilepticTrees Epileptic Tree]] until the very end.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The series is full cryptic background references to various events (the tragedy at Summerhall, the Tower of Joy, "The Rains of Castamere", the Blackfyre rebellion, the Ninepenny Kings, the Doom of Valyria, etc). As the series moves on, some of them have been at least partially explained. The map is a large example too: Creator/GeorgeRRMartin has stated that not all locations on the map of will be visited in the story. Consider the fact that no viewpoint character has yet visited (during the story, that is) the Lannisters' home Casterly Rock, or the Basilisk Isles that show up on the map of (part of) the Eastern Continent.
* Gary Seven references events and races in ''Literature/StarTrekTheEugenicsWars'' when Roberta asks him to justify whatever their mission is - some of which the audience has heard of, some of which were just made up. [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] when Roberta complains that she's never heard of these events or races and can hardly check up on them.
* Following the tradition of the films, the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' and ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' make references of their own, some of them mentioned or expanded on by others, some of them never mentioned again. It gets downright fractal at times. Try hitting [[http://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Special:Random Random Page]] on Wookieepedia and see [[WikiWalk how far you can get]] before finding an article with one line of description and one or two appearances.
** A discussion on the Falcon from the first book in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', ''Heir to the Empire'':
--->'''Lando:''' She's as safe now as she's ever likely to be. Don't worry about that.\\
'''Han:''' You know, that's almost exactly the same thing you said back on Boordii. That botched dolfrimia run -- remember? You said, 'It'll be fine; don't worry about it.'\\
'''Lando:''' Yes, but this time I mean it.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' has lots of these, references made by characters to things that happened in their pasts, references to the history of the world etc. Given that only the first book of a ten book series has been released, and that Creator/BrandonSanderson loves to collect [[ChekhovsArmoury loads and loads of Chekhov's guns]] it's highly likely that a lot of them are just waiting to go off.
* In the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' Literature/{{Nintendo Adventure Book|s}} ''Pipe Down!'', Princess Toadstool mentions that in the past (around the time of her ancestors) there were things far worse and more powerful than the Koopa Kingdom, but no elaboration is offered as to what she means by that.
* ''Literature/TailchasersSong'':
** ''Tailchaser's Song'' notes that cats have three names: a "[[FirstNameBasis heart name]]" that is given by birth and is only used by those the cat is ''very'' close to (such as family or mates), a "[[LastNameBasis face name]]" that is given in a NamingCeremony at three months of age and is used by almost everyone, and a "tail name" that is a private name that a cat must discover on their own. Tail names are never discussed with anyone and it's noted that many cats nowadays don't ever find their tail name. Face names like "Tailchaser", "Fencewalker", and "Whitewind" use [[CommonTongue Common Singing]] words, while heart names like "Fritti", "Tangaloor", and "Firsa" use Higher Singing words. It's never mentioned what a tail name sounds like. Tailchaser ''might'' have found his in the final chapter, but it's never mentioned what it is, if he did.
** It's mentioned early on that, upon reaching adulthood, a cat becomes a "hunter". This is not touched upon in other scenes and is never clarified. It's only mentioned that Tailchaser, who is not even a year old yet, is too young to be considered a hunter.
* "Literature/TheTamariskHunter": The events surrounding Lake Havasu City are referred to in-story, but beyond involving water and possibly the destruction of a water plant, it's not clear what they were.
* ''Literature/ThursdayNext'':
** {{Lampshaded}} continually in the series in the form of Textual Sieves. Roughly every other time they're mentioned, someone asks what they do, and are told that no one knows, since they're so sparsely described. Thursday asks [[Literature/GreatExpectations Miss Havisham]], and in turn Thursday5 asks Thursday how textual sieves work and the given explanation is "[[HandWave it's never properly explained]]."
** There's plenty of other examples, such as the "Boojumorial" of Jurisfiction agents lost in action ("Boojumed", or deleted), the views across the wilderness to other Great Libraries for other languages, the CityOfAdventure that is the Well of Lost Plots, previous disasters in the [=BookWorld=] (apparently, ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus'' used be "a gentle comedy of manners", but increasingly bad behaviour by the characters turned it into the "the daftest, bloodiest play in all of Creator/{{Shakespeare}}"), and items in Thursday's [=TravelBook=] that haven't yet turned out to be {{Chekhovs Gun}}s, such as String[-[[superscript: TM]]-]. There's even more examples in the Outworld, which to Thursday is [[ThisIsReality the real world]]. Genetic engineering means they've resurrected the woolly mammoth, but they don't have ducks; Britain was invaded by the Nazis during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and comedy musician George "When I'm Cleaning Windows" Formby led the Resistance, later becoming President-For-Life; The People's Republic of Wales; riots over [[SeriousBusiness art styles]] and literature; the weirder parts of [=SpecOps=], and so on.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Sandy Mitchell's ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' books have loads, some of which get stories (a reference to hunting Tyranids on a hulk, now released as ''The Emperor's Finest''), others are not (yet) fleshed out (his encounter with a Dark Eldar wytch, and time spent on a Tau world, for instance).
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' novels are full of references to epic historical events and heroes, and the landscape is littered with ruins and relics of bygone ages. Some of it gets expanded on and turns out to be important to the backstory, but a lot is just hinted at to give the impression that the setting is ''old'' and didn't just sit there doing nothing until the main characters arrived.
** Even happens in-universe, with [[spoiler:Birgitte]] and [[spoiler: Mat (after he starts gaining access to the memories of his past life)]]. Being ancient characters, they have witnessed events that happened THOUSANDS of years prior and have been losts to the mists of time, so nobody around them has any idea what they're talking about when they start spouting off references.
** And because time in the setting is cyclical, many of the references are in fact to actual historical events in our time, but with the details garbled by the passage of the ages. Many of the oldest songs and stories will actually be surprisingly familiar to readers.
* ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' is in love with this trope, with casual mentions of numerous events during the Zombie War that never gets explained in-depth.
* ''{{Literature/Worm}}'' and its sequel ''{{Literature/Ward}}'' have many cryptic references, some of which receive later explanations or story arcs. Of the ones that have not:
** The Sleeper is the most prominent example that remains cryptic, an S-class threat whose presence causes ''an entire dimension'' to be written off for reasons that are so obvious to everyone that the reader gets no explanation.
** Why Canberra, the capital city of Australia is covered by a giant dome has never been explained, even when many other cryptic references have been addressed via word of god.
** The Three Blasphemies are an S-Class group of supervillains mentioned to be terrorizing Europe. This wouldn't be too remarkable except it's been suggested that they aren't human.
** The Machine Army is a group of self-replicating {{Killer Robot}}s that have been mentioned to be a persistent threat but have only been briefly featured in the narrative once. Who built them and why has been left unanswered.
* In ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', when Ishtar, Goddess of Love, asks Gilgamesh to be her new mortal boy toy, he angrily rejects her, listing a number of her past flings whose stories ended in disaster when she tired of them. Some of his examples seem pretty self-explanatory, but a few are ''very'' weird and unexplained (apparently one of exes include [[BestialityIsDepraved a lion and a horse]]). Presumably, most of these references were pretty clear to the original Sumerian audience, who would be well-acquainted with these other stories, but no records of them are known to exist today, creating an extreme form of ParodyDisplacement.
* ''Literature/EncryptionStraffe'': Most details in the history or status of the major technology, locations and factions could only be inferred through insider dialogue, including those crucial to the plot. For instance, somehow the key technology to human-machine interface operates on... The power of hate.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Andor}}'':
** Saw lists a host of Rebel groups and condemns them all as being "[[WeAreStrugglingTogether lost]]". These begin with names and causes that ''Star Wars'' fans would recognize such as Separatists (who had attempted to break away from the Republic in the Clone Wars before Palpatine turned the Republic into TheEmpire), neo-Republicans (who want to restore the Republic), and the Ghorman Front (Ghorman being a planet that is colonized by the Empire, and where Imperial troops would massacre protestors several years after the first season of ''Andor''), and continues on to the Partisan Alliance, sectorists, human cultists, and galaxy partitionists — all names and causes of unknown significance, other than that they're organizations or ideologies that have reason to oppose the Empire.
** When Skeen chastises Nemik for falling asleep on watch duty, he lists several rebel cells which he says would have tortured or killed Nemik for such a lapse. The only one that is recognizable to ''Star Wars'' fans is Saw Gerrera, the rest are all a mystery and have never come up in any ''Star Wars'' lore before Skeen mentioned them.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' subverted this trope quite often, given that it was all plotted out in advance. For instance, the fates of all the previous Babylon stations seemed to be a case of simple world-building, to stress how dangerous the universe was. But then we learned what happened to them: Three destroyed, one vanished. Then the vanished one shows up again, having been UnstuckInTime. Then it gets even deeper, when it's revealed that [[spoiler: Sinclair, TheCaptain in the first season, was in fact that Minbari prophet Valen, after he'd traveled back in time to provide the Minbari with the space station they desperately needed to win a war, which also helps to explain the random weirdness of Delenn becoming half-human.]] Other factors, like the unstable politics of Mars, also come up again in later seasons to be fleshed out. Other things, however, were left to the imagination. Such as what it was about Vree eating habits that disgusted G'Kar so much that he considered sitting next to them to be an insult to his entire government.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' did this sometimes. For example in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E20TheProm The Prom]]", Wesley mentioned the "Machash Wars".
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' does this a lot by mentioning various ops the main characters have done before the start of the series.
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', all bets are '''off'''. The Doctor will routinely spout off about unexplained spatial phenomena, utterly bizarre alien cultures and references to the [[GreatOffscreenWar Last Great Time War]] and too many other things to even think about listing. These are often expanded on in books or audio dramas, and occasionally later in the show itself.
** Stories with the Third Doctor (and occasionally others) often make mention of an unnamed "monk" or "hermit" the Doctor knew long ago. The audience finally met the monk in the Third Doctor's final story. Whether the "hermit" was the same person has been the subject of much debate among fans.
** It's virtually guaranteed that whenever the Doctor meets the Master, they will talk about their childhood and various parts of their own backstories and identities, which of course will never be explained because of how important the mystery behind them (as well as the Time Lords and Gallifrey as a whole) is to both characters.
** Characters other than the Doctor are known to do this, too. For example, Captain Jack Harkness of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' fame. [[ReallyGetsAround This mostly has to do with various sexual exploits]], but he does mention actual bizarre past experiences. Random side-characters can do this too, usually to the Doctor or one of his companions, with the assumption that they're from the same period/place, and know what they mean.
** We know about Torchwood 1 (from the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]) and Torchwood 3 (from ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''). But the mysterious disappearance of Torchwood 4, and why Torchwood 2 is one guy, called Archie, above a bank in Glasgow, ("A very strange man") will probably never be revealed.
** The audience's desensitization to this is exploited in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of the Angels"]]. While walking around the old mausoleum of Alfava Metraxis, the Doctor rambles on about the natives, and particularily how they had two heads and outlawed self-marriage at some points. Then he realizes that the statues around the mausoleum only have ''one'' head. Because they are ''[[MistakenForGranite all Weeping Angels]]''.
* Unintentionally done in the TV series adaptation of ''Series/TheDresdenFiles'', where things [[AllThereInTheManual that are explained in the books]] are referenced, but are never explained in the series. It is possible they would have been, had the show not been canceled after a season.
* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': In [[Series/FargoSeasonOne season 1]], characters like Lou Solverson and Ben Schmidt make references to the Sioux Falls massacre of 1979, which we later see for ourselves in [[Series/FargoSeasonTwo season 2]].
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Events surrounding Lyanna's abduction and her eventual death remained a mystery until late in the series. Some of the events transformed into foreshadowing after the 6th season finale revealed [[spoiler: she died giving birth to Rhaegar's son, whom her brother adopted and renamed Jon Snow]]. In-universe, the abduction remains a cryptic reference even after the audience (and [[spoiler: Bran and Sam]]) get a complete explanation in season 7.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': There was much speculation as to the origins of the goat in Ted's apartment, which is mentioned in season three but abruptly dismissed with "oh wait, that was on my thirty-FIRST birthday". Fans had a whole season to wonder, but the actual explanation was, perhaps inevitably, a bit of a letdown.
** The title itself refers to How Ted Met the Mother of His Children. [[spoiler: It took until the end of season 8 before we saw her face]].
* ''Series/LazyTown'': The first episode has the Mayor lamenting how awful the town is, and notes that when the town was previously in trouble, they would call for help from a guy with a big number 9 on his shirt. With Sportacus being number 10, the implication is that Number Nine was the town's previous savior who left or disappeared for unknown reasons. This is even more cryptic with the fact that Robbie knows who Number Nine was while the Mayor only read about it.
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has several of these, such as the named cons that we never see the team run, like the "London Spank," the "Genevan Paso Doble" and the "Apple Pie," which is a "Cherry Pie" but with lifeguards. Also, there's what Nate did at the Russian border. WordOfGod says that [[spoiler:he may have technically hijacked a train,]] but that hasn't been mentioned on the show and likely never will be.
** We've also seen the team coming back from jobs - one in Mexico where [[CloudCuckooLander Parker]] picked up a ''lot'' of pinatas, and one in the Caribbean that went wrong in several different ways - without hearing much about what those jobs actually ''were''.
* In ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'', there are many events and characters from Silmarillion that can only be alluded because of the treat between the Tolkien Estate and Amazon, in which only the ''Appendices'' of ''The Lord of the Rings'' can be fully adapted. The War of Wrath and fall of Beleriand are never named in the prologue, but key scenes are shown from them. Luthien and her hound Huan have statues carved in wood in a shrine build for the fallen Elves in Lindon, yet they are never named. The Harfoots settles temporary somewhere around Rhovanion, in a place full of ruins and destroyed statues, hitting that there existed once a mysterious advanced civilization, and there is no clue of who they were.
* In addition to the character [[{{Backstory}} backstories]] seen in flashbacks, ''Series/{{Lost}}'' has included a number of throwaway references that have captured fan imaginations, including Sawyer's "Tampa job" and Sayid's Basra incident.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': People in New York City only ever refer to [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the alien invasion of 2012]] as "the Incident". Lampshaded when the realtor guiding Matt and Foggy around their future office space for Nelson & Murdock brings up that their office escaped damage during the invasion:
--->'''Matt Murdock:''' The, uh, "Incident"? Is that we're calling it now?\\
'''Susan Harris:''' Well it sounds so much nicer than "death and destruction raining from the sky, nearly wiping Hell's Kitchen off the map."\\
'''Matt Murdock:''' Shorter, too.
** [[Series/JessicaJones2015 Each]] [[Series/LukeCage2016 of]] [[Series/IronFist2017 the]] [[Series/TheDefenders2017 other]] Netflix shows uses "the Incident" too when talking about the invasion, showing that it's become pretty much a citywide thing (and possibly so they can differentiate it from 9/11).
* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' occasionally references the Ancient Kings and the High Priestesses, who were apparently embroiled in some sort of war for supremacy before Uther came to power.
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', one of the four great races is the Furlings, who are never shown in 10 years of episodes (though a parody in episode 200 shows them as small furry creatures, looking somewhat like Ewoks). The non-appearance of the Furlings has become something of a RunningGag, since the parody starts with surprise to even meet them, and ends with the Furling homeworld being destroyed.
* The constantly expanding ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe is replete with this one and usually two or three are generated per episode.
** A common theme in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and early ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is [[FamousFamousFictional having a character list one or two examples from real-world history and adding a fictional example from the setting that is implied to be similar by association]] but is never elaborated upon or referenced again.
** The other most common thing are events that occurred in the fictional gaps of time between the various eras (Approximately 100 years elapsed between ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' and [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]], 15ish years for TOS and ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]'' (''[[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture The Motion Picture]]'' being close-ish to TOS' present), and 80ish for ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]''. Significant things happened during those periods that are frequently referred to, but almost never shown on screen ("What happened to the ''Enterprise''-B?" and the Earth-Romulan War being some of the big ones.) The ExpandedUniverse naturally latches onto these things like crazy.
** In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "The Omega Directive" it's mentioned that the titular directive was established after an accident with the Omega Particles happened to Federation scientists in 2269. The fact that 2269 is in the middle of Kirk's five year mission, and this neither references an episode of the original series, nor mentions any involvement from the Enterprise (but doesn't discount it) makes it all the more cryptic.
** They DoubleSubverted this trope in regards to a specific alien race. Since TNG, there has been mention of an alien race called the Breen, though all that was known about them is that their homeworld is very cold. They finally show up in [=DS9=], but in full body environmental suits that completely disguises their appearance, and nothing at all about their society is revealed. A throwaway line in [=DS9=] suggests that they are extremely secretive by nature, so that not even the people in the shows know much about them.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' referred in a couple of episodes ("The Adversary" and "Home Front") to a race called the Tzenkethi. All we learned was that their leader was called the Autarch, and that they'd previously fought a war with the Federation during which Ben Sisko served as first officer of the USS Okinawa under then-Captain Leyton. The EU used this as a jumping-off point for several novels, including making them a major player in the [[Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact Typhon Pact]] following the Dominion War, while ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' based an arc on them [[spoiler:that segued into another arc based on a CBR from ''Deep Space Nine'', the reemergence of the Klingons' ancient enemies the Hur'q]].
* ''Series/TheWire'' shows the city of UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}} had its own mythology in its criminal underworld. Similarly, at the wake of Ray Cole, Jay Landsman alludes to major cases Cole cracked in the past, that are [[GeniusBonus references to movies]] Robert F Colesbury, the actor playing Cole, had written and produced in real life.

[[folder:Music]]
* The song "Red Barchetta," from the Music/{{Rush|Band}} album ''Music/{{Moving Pictures|Album}}'', takes place in an unspecified {{dystopia}}n future and relies heavily on this trope to paint an impression of the setting in the song's limited timeframe. An example:
-->My uncle has a country place that no one knows about\\
He says it used to be a farm before the Motor Law\\
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes and hop a turbine freight\\
To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits.
** The [[http://www.mgexperience.net/article/nice-drive.html original short story]] that inspired the lyrics is a bit more descriptive of the setting, but still has examples.
* Music/PhilCollins made up the lyrics to "In the Air Tonight" while recording, admitting that they have no specific meaning but their ominous tone was inspired by his undergoing a bitter divorce from his first wife. Attempts by people to read into the lyrics have spawned UrbanLegends, including the more infamous one that [[WildMassGuessing suggested the song was about Collins witnessing a friend of his who drowned because somebody else refused to help, and how later Collins saw the same person at one of his concerts, directed a spotlight towards them and sang the song]], [[DrivenToSuicide driving the person to suicide]].
* Music/TalkingHeads' song "Life During Wartime" is about a member of a resistance group in a war fought within the United States, presumably TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, but doesn't give any background information. "Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit? Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?"
* In the music video for Music/{{Waterparks}}' ''We Need To Talk'', the desperate girlfriend immediately checks under a bed to find a box labelled "Awsten's stuff", with various tools needed for [[{{Necromancer}} necromancy]]. She uses these tools to perform a ritual, largely hinting at background for the music video's version of Awsten that doesn't (and probably shouldn't) get elaborated on.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' uses this a lot in their {{Flavor Text}}s. Many of the early ones were given explanations later, but not all - for example, we still don't know whose uncle [[EvilUncle Uncle Istvan]] is supposed to be.
* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies''. Even if you manage to read through every single supplement and piece together as much as you can, there are still a lot of holes. But, since the game's major theme is a world of mystical insanity seething just below the facade of normalcy, it's generally agreed that it just wouldn't make ''sense'' if everything made sense.
* The current incarnation of the Necrons in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' was inspired largely by a throwaway line by Rick Priestley about "the quiescent perils of the C'tan" which "lay beyond the Gates of Varl". References were quietly worked into the game over the years in the form of the C'tan phase sword and phase knife, until the release of the first Necron codex where the C'tan were finally revealed as the "gods" of the Necrons, [[EldritchAbomination indescribably ancient and evil monsters which feed on suns]].
** There are also the two "missing" Space Marine Primarchs and their Legions. Every mention of the twenty Primarchs lists numbers II and XI as "All records deleted", and EU works have consistently refused to give any detail about who they were or what happened to them.
*** The ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' series of novels and audiobooks have touched on the subject obliquely, ranging from intimations of an accident at the gestation stage, to something so shameful and terrible that the Imperium refuses to acknowledge them, even when [[EldritchAbomination daemon]]-[[ReligionOfEvil worshiping]], [[KickTheDog civilian]] [[OmnicidalManiac massacring]], [[FaceHeelTurn backstabbing]] [[AxCrazy psychopathic unrepentant]] bastards are still listed in the records (admittedly, usually with the note "Explode planet on rumour of presence", but still). The exact details have never been revealed and are unlikely to be either, this is lampshaded by characters telling each other not to even ''think'' about discussing the details.
*** The closest we get is a throw-away line saying that the ''[[Literature/SpaceWolf Space Wolves]]'' had previously been ordered to attack a Space Marine Legion.
*** The Rainbow Warriors chapter of Space Marines remains incredibly cryptic even decades after their first appearance... Which featured one of the Sisters of Battle gunning one of their members down with no accompanying explanation. They were not mentioned again until years later when White Dwarf published a map with a "record deleted" message stamped across their honeworld.
* Now that the game numbers something like 50 books, there's very little in ''{{TabletopGame/Rifts}}'' that was mentioned in the first book that hasn't gotten a description by now. One of the biggest examples was the Republicans, which was an off-hand mention in the first book about a technological society living in the ruins of Washington, D.C. It was the subject of several unofficial {{Sourcebook}}s (called Netbooks) until they were finally described in the Expanded Edition of the original Sourcebook. There are still a few things here and there that have gotten mentioned but still not shown. The most notorious is the permanently-open Rift in Calgary, Alberta, and the monster kingdom that's developed there, as well as others like the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Blood Druids]] of France.
* ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution'': Rose Klein (AKA Mama Bear) gets one in ''Tomorrow's Starlight''. It’s never explained what the "Albuquerque Incident” was, but it was apparently enough to get her a maximum threat rating from The Shop.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Historical references abound in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', some of which can come off as cryptic background references. But ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' has two unusual examples:
** In the downloadable-content side-story "The Tyranny of King Washington." In the regular story, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 version of the game included extra missions in which Connor tries to stop Benedict Arnold from betraying West Point to the British, which were omitted from the others. In the DLC, which is set in an alternate timeline but with Connor aware of the events of the main story, he remarks that he finally got Arnold back for West Point when [[spoiler: he kills him at the end of the first chapter]]. Arnold says that he has no idea what Connor is talking about, since in this timeline he never turned coat and thus never betrayed West Point. To Wii U, Xbox and PC players who didn't get those missions, it comes off as a cryptic background reference, merely something that happened off-screen.
** In the main game and some others, conversations can be overheard in towns--particularly from heralds--referring to real historical events, such as a town crier in ''Assassin's Creed III'' informing citizens of events taking place in Egypt that have no bearing on the story at all. In ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]''--set in Renaissance Italy--a herald refers to the recent discovery of the New World and its native peoples.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has six legendary heroes. Hakumen is playable, Jubei and Valkenhayn Hellsing show up as [=NPCs=] and the rest are shown only as silhouettes until ''[[MissionPackSequel Continuum]] [[ObviousRulePatch Shift]]''. It adds Terumi Yuuki to the playable list, adds Platinum ([[SharingABody one of the three souls in her body]] being that of Six Heroes member Trinity Glassfield) to the NPC list and reveals that Nine is dead. Valkenhayn and Platinum later became playable through DLC and expansions, and [[spoiler: the silent villain Phantom is heavily implied to be a brainwashed Nine]].
** [[spoiler:By the end of the fourth game not only have they all been introduced, they're all playable as well: Jubei, Nine (killed and resurrected as "Nine the Phantom"), Yuuki Terumi (in three different forms no less), Valkenhayn, Hakumen, and Trinity (in Platinum's body)]]
* ''VideoGame/CaveStory''. There are references to shared histories between characters, and to a war ten years ago with armies of robots from "the surface" attacking the Island, and to three bearers of the Demon Crown prior to the Doctor. There's just enough information to construct a vague timeline for the backstory, but it's obvious that there's more to the history than what we're told. When asked for further information about the game's world, the writer has said that [[ShrugOfGod he himself doesn't know]].
* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls,'' the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' series, ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', and ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' are almost entirely bereft of traditional exposition, and the story of each game must largely be pieced together and inferred from item descriptions, level design, and the like. There are occasional characters better informed than the PlayerCharacter who will provide some precious information, but they generally prove untrustworthy. [[WordOfGod Hidetaka Miyazaki]] claims the inspiration for this style of storytelling came from him attempting to read Western fantasy novels as a teen despite having a limited grasp of English: he could only understand certain passages, many of which referred to objects or events described in passages he couldn't read, thus turning explained plot points into this trope.
* From the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' game, searching around and interacting with specific objects in Mallet Island will reveal [[StoryBreadcrumbs small details]] regarding the abandoned island's long dead inhabitants and their cultish worship of BigBad Mundus. None of it ever amounts to anything significant in terms of gameplay, and some fans believe it to be a holdover from the game's early development history as a ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' title. Dante himself will occasionally, humorously [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] that none of the island's history has any bearing on his quest.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has a lot of background material that isn't wholly relevant to the games' plot. Moreso in the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII sequel]] since the game takes place on a more personal level. Some particularly [[CanonFodder interesting]] [[SequelHook bits]] of background are that the Primeval Thaig [[spoiler: was apparently part of an ancient dwarven civilization predating the Deep Roads, which had temples and worshiped gods (and that the Primeval Thaig was ruled by a "dwarf so foul the Stone rejected him" and covered in evil red lyrium that drives people insane)]], that at least one [[CoolGate Eluvian]] [[spoiler: leads to "another place - beyond this world, beyond the Fade"]], that Flemeth is, at least according to Morrigan, [[spoiler: something other than merely a mage or an abomination]], and that the qunari must have arrived in Thedas (the continent where the games are set) from somewhere because they only showed up three hundred years ago, but no one knows where they came from.
** More subtly, there is the whole [[EncyclopediaExposita Codex]] business: in theory, it should offer exhaustive explanations and backstories of in-game events, items, and characters. However, in practice, one cryptic reference explanation contains three more references that ''don't'' get explained.
** The Warden can do this during ''Witch Hunt'', only vaguely hinting to their new companions their precise relationship and reasons for searching for the Witch of the Wilds. Particularly noticable if Morrigan was romanced, where Ariane eventually comes to realise that the Wardens cryptic statement that [[spoiler: "She has my child"]] didn't mean that [[spoiler: Morrigan had kidnapped their child]] as she'd assumed, but actually because [[spoiler: Morrigan was the ''mother'' of their child.]] Furthermore, she later figures out the nature of their relationship, asking the Warden if they are aware they subconsciously play with the ring on their finger when they think no-one is looking. After the Warden explains it's part of a pair shared with Morrigan, Ariane is genuinely amused when they [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial fervently deny]] that this means they're [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend married.]]
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has thousands of years of backstory material that is only hinted at in the games, either through dialogue with various characters or in the many in-game books.
* ''VideoGame/FableI'' and ''VideoGame/FableII'' gives us all kinds of elaborate references to places you never go, ancient tribes and cults, and legendary heroes, none of which are ever seen.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry3'':
** The casino chips you find in loot are described as being from "the Jeni Soleil Casino Cruise heist." This is not explained any further.
** Privateers will sometimes say "At least I'm not on [[Franchise/JurassicPark that island with the dinosaurs]]." This may have been {{foreshadowing}} that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen ultimately went nowhere]], as in January 2015 Ubisoft said that a Jurassic Park-type island with dinosaurs was one of the possible locations for ''VideoGame/FarCry5''.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' does it occasionally, most notably with the sorceresses. For example, "Great Hyne" is mentioned as their progenitor and source of their powers, but you never learn who exactly that was, save for some legends told by NPC you're likely to miss.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' does this a lot. As it is an MMO, some of these references became fodder for patches and the ''Heavenward'' expansion, which focuses on the Dragonsong War, a war between Ishgard's theocratic society and Dravania's dragons that [[ForeverWar was waged for a thousand years by that point]], and brings more of these with [[spoiler:the Warriors of Darkness and bits and pieces found in the Dusk Vigil and Azys Lla's museum]]. The fallen [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Allagan Empire]] also started out as such only to get some explanations with the Binding Coil of Bahamut and Crystal Tower dungeons, as well as the aforementioned Azys Lla which explains how it became a SoiledCityOnAHill and how its actions up to that point resulted in a Calamity that ultimately wiped the Empire out entirely. In addition, there have been seven umbral eras and seven astral eras, but the only points that get even a description that comes close to being in-depth are the ends of the third (the aforementioned fall of the Allagan empire, leading to the Binding Coil dungeons and Crystal Tower raids), fifth (a war between two societies of mages that triggered a worldwide flood, leading to the Shadows of Mhach raids and frequently referenced in the Scholar and Red Mage quests) and sixth (the [[ColonyDrop fall of Dalamud]] that ended the 1.0 content cycle) astral eras, and the seventh umbral era (the five years between Dalamud's fall and the initial storyline from the ''A Realm Reborn'' relaunch).
* ''VideoGame/{{Foxhole}}'''s lore primarily exists of small bits of flavor text for maps, along with statue plaques, forgotten notes, and descriptions of view points that reveal tiny snippets of the setting.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games have a lot of this kind of information that you can gather from the various [=NPCs=] or furniture in the various towns, regarding the political and economic situations of your surroundings, gossip about local leaders, what the [[FoodPorn cuisine]] and culture are like in each place (in some places extending to religious beliefs), optional content you can explore, and once in a while some obscure lore tangentially related to the plot.
** ''Dark Dawn'' takes this a whole step further with the major characters themselves discussing some stuff in relatively major cutscenes that isn't at all involved in the plot of the game, like the three races of the {{Precursors}}, the modern geography and political unrest around Morgal and Bilibin, and Kraden's messenger pigeons. Fans were annoyed that this cut into plot and character development, which were less consistent than in the previous two games.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' has a few, though many of them ended up being explored in the [[BonusMaterial Bonus Mission Pack]].
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' enjoys this quite a bit. The meaning of the phrase that started the series, "You are the one who will open the door to light" has still not been fully explained. In the first game, Sora ''closes'' the Door to Darkness; in the second, he finds Kairi's letter, which does open a path back home, but as he's not the one opening it technically, it's unknown just what the phrase means.
* The ''driving force'' behind ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', {{Orochi}}, qualifies. The only things we know for certain are 1. it involves a horribly evil destructive power, 2. the clan is absolutely fanatical and will stop at nothing to raise their god, 3. the Kusanagi, Yagami, and Kagura clans were the ancestral foes of Orochi, 4. but the Yagami betrayed the alliance, causing their flames to turn purple. Everything else is a confused mishmash... some artifacts we never actually see ([[spoiler:until Ash Crimson starts [[BroughtDownToNormal pilfering the current clan members of their powers]] in the ''2003''-''XIII'' arc]]), "maidens" who may or may not have been slaughtered, Kyo getting preferential treatment causing Iori to go all emo or something, a bunch of sealing and unsealing attempts, "battle energy", earth worship and "returning all to nothing", Rugal of all people chosen as a guinea pig, self-destruction, betrayals, counter-betrayals, etc., etc. Worst of all are the numerous plot points and outright sequel hooks that are flat-out dropped, such as a heavily-implied rift between Rose and Adelheid at the end of ''XI''.
** It doesn't even end there. ''KOF'' mythos designates Orochi as "Gaia's Will"; it's not only the progeny of [[MotherNature the earth mother]] of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myth]] ([[AllMythsAreTrue bizarrely enough]]), but her self-appointed guardian. [[TheGhost Gaia herself has yet to directly appear in any capacity]] and is only mentioned in regards to her familial ties with Orochi and her creation of humanity, assuming she's mentioned at all. This begs the questions of where exactly ''is'' Gaia in the present, why did she create a being [[KnightTemplar so fanatical in its duty to her]] that [[GaiasVengeance it vowed to destroy humanity]] ([[LawfulStupid the very beings Gaia herself brought to life]]), and why is she practically non-existent not only in the face of her child's actions, but when dealing with earthly matters as a whole. More headscratching ensues if you take into account [[ContinuityCreep the greater SNK universe]]; [[VideoGame/PsychoSoldier one of the tournament regulars]] is the reincarnation/descendant of [[VideoGame/{{Athena}} Gaia's great-granddaughter]].
** Those from the Past's goal to obtain the power of Orochi by breaking its seal (yet again) comes across as this, as it's never clearly spelled out during the Tales of Ash ''what'' their leader Saiki wants to do with it. Not even in ''XIII'', the climax of the saga wherein said leader makes a formal appearance and all of his scheming comes to fruition. [[AllThereInTheManual Side materials]] reveal that [[spoiler:the group is more or less the Western European equivalent of the Orochi clan and Saiki needs Orochi to power an artifact known as the Gate (which does appear in ''XIII'') so he can travel back in time and change the flow of history so as to prevent the cult from suffering a horrible loss to their human adversaries (presumably Elisabeth's ancestors, thus explaining her personal vendetta against them and the repeated, equally cryptic mentions of her and Ash's "mission")]]. Sadly, little of this is explicitly mentioned in the game proper, and Saiki's shady, self-serving nature (complete with the implication that said explanation doesn't hold water) opens up grounds for further discussion.
** If there's one plot point in ''KOF'' that adheres to this concept more than anything else, it is--without a doubt--the Dragon Spirit. That subplot first reared its head back in ''KOF '99'', with Kensou and Bao shown to be vessels for an otherworldly power coveted by the mysterious Ron (former leader of the Hizoku clan of assassins and a former member of NESTS, the villainous cartel of which ''KOF''[='s=] third StoryArc centers on). Fast forward to ''XI'' and ''XIII'' and all we know is that Kensou has apparently mastered its powers ([[INeedYouStronger much to Ron's approval]]) and Ron has unspecified ties to Those from the Past (as Saiki alludes to Ron having warned him of Kensou in their pre-boss fight dialogue). We know nothing of the Dragon Spirit's origins or why Ron has his sights on it, although it can be inferred that this has ''something'' to do with Ron's [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed betrayal of his clan]]. This is mainly an effect of [[LeftHanging the plotline mostly being put on hold in lieu of Those from the Past's machinations]]; with several Hizoku members being introduced to the cast since ''2000'' (including Ron's son Duo Lon, a semi-important supporting character from ''2003'' onward) and the Tales of Ash having come to a close with ''XIII'', it's possible the next arc will finally revisit these story elements and elevate the ever-elusive Ron to main villain status.
* From both ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' games, the only parts of the story that are completely laid out for you are from the single 4-chapter comic ("The Sacrifice"), and the short character bios that each of the Survivors get ([[AllThereInTheManual neither of which are found in-game]]). The rest of the plot that's given to you will only be through random (often campaign-specific) character dialogue, about 99% of which isn't even guaranteed to trigger (usually requiring [[RewatchBonus multiple play-throughs]] if you want to catch everything), or occasionally from significant pieces of the map, but most of all from the writings on the walls of different saferooms (and occasionally elsewhere) of other people who have passed through that area, describing bits of their experiences as messages to others, agreement or disagreement with what the military is/was doing, just how bad CEDA failed, how fast somebody changes into a zombie after being infected, and so forth, but not even those people are in 100% consensus about whatever's been going on, and [[RiddleForTheAges nobody really has any idea what even]] ''[[RiddleForTheAges started]]'' [[RiddleForTheAges the whole thing.]] We might get some answers eventually, but given Creator/{{Valve}}'s [[VaporWare reputation for]] [[VideoGame/HalfLife making third installments,]] it's probably not going to be any time soon.
* ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'' treats all the characters as already established, and new characters are often brought in with the assumption that they've had encounters with main character Marina in the past.
* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'' Rekke is a living Cryptic Background Reference, a HiddenCharacter who is found clinging for dear life to flotsam near the endless storms east of the Deadfire and doesn't speak any language known in the region. It's strongly implied he comes from beyond the storms of Ondra's Mortar, a place where no known explorer has ever sailed before. [[spoiler:He eventually learns enough Aedyran to confirm this and tell of further details about his homeland, Yezuha, including its enigmatic, monotheistic God, but enough of a language barrier exists that he can't fully explain the cryptic hints he gives.]]
* There are a number of unofficial ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' that are clearly alluded to exist in the setting, but are not capturable, or for some, ever even seen by the player:
** One of the most well-known examples is the original dragon that was split into [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the Tao Trio]]. We don't know what it looked like, as it's not possible to restore it.
** The Legendary Beast trio were brought back to life by Ho-Oh. We don't know what they were originally before being resurrected. The only hint we've been given is silhouettes that look more like normal, real-world dogs than any existing Pokémon.
** Shellder has an alternative evolution that can clearly be seen on Slowbro's tail and Slowking's head, but is not capturable by the player by itself. [[note]]It may even come in two different forms because there are visible differences between the one on Slowbro's tail and the one on Slowking's head; crown Shellder have both horns and a gem.[[/note]] A leaked demo revealed it was originally programed in as an attainable Pokémon separate from the Slowpoke line, but was removed for a unknown reason.
** [[PunnyName Cara Liss]] restores some fossil Pokémon for the player. However, she does it by frankensteining the front half and back half of separate species, the result depending on what exactly you give her. (This is a reference/joke on how in real-life early paleontologists mismatched bones, especially in Britain where this region is based; incidentally, she's wearing mismatched shoes and has mud on her face to further emphasize how careless she is). For some reason, the game does not allow you to obtain these Pokémon in their correct, original complete state, although there is plenty of speculative fanon and fanart.[[note]]One is believed to be based on a raptor, another a plesiosaur, one a stegosaurus, and the last is a fish (coelacanth?) [[/note]]
** Kangaskhan are always seen with babies in their pouch. These are clearly its pre-evo, but they are not obtainable separately by the player. If the player breeds a Kangaskhan to try and get it, the egg simply hatches into a adult Kangaskhan with a baby already in it's pouch. The leaked Gen 1 alpha suggests it was supposed to be connected to fellow "Child and Parent" species Cubone and Marowak.
** Genesect is a fossil Pokémon bought back to life and altered to have a cannon on its back. What it looked like in its original state is unknown.
** Many fossil Pokémon are part Rock-types. It's not officially confirmed, but {{Fanon}} is that many of these Pokémon gained the Rock-type because of being resurrected from fossils, and that in their original state, their types and thus, forms, were different.
** Arbok is noted to have more than 20 variations of the markings on its body. Some of these can be seen in different games (as unofficial form differences?), but not all of them.
** The Sealed Chamber in ''Ruby & Sapphire'', where you learn how to find and potentially capture the Regi trio, has the following (translated) inscriptions around one of the rooms: 'In this cave we have lived. We owe all to the Pokémon. But, we sealed the Pokémon away. We feared it. Those with courage, those with hope. Open a door. An eternal Pokémon waits.' This is the only reference to any backstory of this kind in the entire game.
* In ''[[VideoGame/QuernUndyingThoughts Quern - Undying Thoughts]]'', Maythorn's journal mentions "Oshwald, the capital world of the United Empire" but does not provide much in the way of information about it beyond its six ancient gateways.
* ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'': What is the trouble that made Sean unable to return to Ireland? Who are the enemies he made there? What did Sean's father do there exactly? Where did Sean learn to use explosives? What was Sean doing in Budapest when he met Skylar? It's possible that the time period immediately before the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_troubles literal "Troubles" in Ireland]] is referenced, and this would also explain how he learned to use explosives.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' includes many fictional quotes from the game's characters and other people in the game's world. These as well as a handful of other game elements are the only inside look we have into what life on Planet is really like (unless you read the novelizations, anyway). Many details are left to the imagination, such as, "What exactly is 'nerve stapling', anyway?" Somehow, it works.
* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' is another prime CanonFodder series, as this trope tends to be the '''only''' source of available information. With one exception (Walter Sullivan, the main enemy in ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'', was originally mentioned in a newspaper article in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'') none of them are explored or elaborated upon, and in the case of some this is probably for the best.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekJudgmentRites'' plays this InUniverse when Kirk and his team board the alien ship ''Compassion'', which is currently attempting to land on top of a Federation colony. The ship's mentally-unstable computer provides some information about the ship's origin and purpose, alluding to an ancient society that got rid of its mentally-ill by sending them on a long round-trip, to be cured by future advances in medicine once they get back. Unfortunately, none of it is complete, and a ''lot'' of it is contradictory both with itself and with things observed around the ship. Pretty much all of the team's actions revolve around getting inside the computer to repair it, and when they do, the computer appears to "sober up" and provides more answers... which are still contradictory. Unfortunately, in the end the whole thing turns into an UnReveal when the computer suddenly admits that it was all just an illusion - a test - and the episode has [[NoEnding no real ending]].
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' contained the mysterious line "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance," prompting much debate on just who "Sheng Long" was and [[UrbanLegendOfZelda a rumor that he was an unlockable character]]. It was eventually explained that the name actually just referred to [[{{Shoryuken}} one of Ryu's attacks]], not another person. But still...
** Then there's Bison/Vega crowing about how "The Ancient One" couldn't face him. And Fei Long dedicating his art to "the master and his son" (actually a reference to Bruce Lee, [[BruceLeeClone Fei Long's expy source]]). And those three college students who inspired Sakura to take up fighting. [[OverlyLongGag And]] anything at all involving Gill. That's not even touching on the whole sordid tale of how Charlie Nash's death happened, or for that matter, ''where'' it happened, which [[ContinuitySnarl has so many possible explanations by now]], it qualifies as a MultipleChoicePast.
** Undoubtedly the biggest issue involving said Sheng Long, the canon ending to the first tournament. Other than the basic fact of Ryu hitting Sagat really, really hard, we're ''never'' going to know for sure what actually happened. The most likely scenario, in fact, involves Ryu connecting with Sagat's chin (the usual one hit KO location for MMA); any blow to the ''chest'' forceful enough to put away a brawny heavyweight would've left a much larger scar than what Sagat's currently sporting.
* This happens once a game in the ''VideoGame/SummonNightSwordcraftStory'' games: random {{NPC}}s come into the scene and reference something that would make sense as part of a longer plot but which you don't know about. ("I would gladly fight to the death to follow the last orders of Master Shinrai!" ...Master who?) How much of this is the result of this actually being a spin-off series of a [[VideoGame/SummonNight larger plot]] [[NoExportForYou that never made it outside Japan]] isn't immediately obvious to English-speaking players.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' lives on this trope - Throwaway references became major plot elements in later games - such as Lemon's last name, and referring to a 'Beowulf' who piloted a 'Gespenst Mk. III' (Alt Eisen) - obscure references to the previous game, where the protagonist's theme called was 'Steel Beowulf' and his unit was revealed to have been a modified Gespenst Mk. I considered for mass production. And many, many more.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has this to an extent. It began with the ExcusePlot of two rival corporations hiring mercenaries to fight over seemingly trivial objectives. Each mercenary has a distinct and interesting personality, but virtually no BackStory is given and they [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep didn't even have any real names]]. Since the release, more of the history leading up to the game has been revealed, and additional bits about some of the classes have come forward.
** Potentially, the increase in backstory has only increased this trope. Why does the Announcer control both sides, pitting against each other for no apparent reason? What are her connections to Saxton Hale and the Redmond and Blutarch families? Why is friendship such an alien concept to her? What will the Engie do with all that secret deposits of Australium? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking How did the Soldier get a magician as a roommate?]] (All this only appears in the addition material. If you're content to run around reducing other players to [[LudicrousGibs bloody chunks]] it won't bother you. After all, reducing each other to bloody chunks is the point of the game.)
* ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' During the missions, you occasionally hear and read references to "the Baron", who's absence has allowed Sheriff Truart to assert his dominance over the city. No detail is given about who the Baron is or why he is absent, but this little detail creates the feeling that the game is set in a small corner of a much larger world.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' is filled with this trope. It ranges from important things like the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great Suwa War]], Yukari's (first) invasion of the moon, and [[{{Gotterdammerung}} the sealing of Gensoukyou within the Hakurei Barrier]], to miniscule details like [[ParentalIssues Marisa's relationship with her father]], the dispersal of the oni, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Rumia's ribbon]]. Add some {{Hufflepuff House}}s and rampant ShrugOfGod, and the result is an ''entire series'' that is prime CanonFodder.
* Several, both minor and major are scattered throughout the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries''. Some particular standouts.
** The Divergent Laws. References to weapons carried by Ouroboros have very rarely been described as having special properties granted to their wielders by the Grandmaster of Ourboros. At the climax of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky SC'', [[spoiler:Loewe shatters Weisman's barrier around the Aureole]], an object that was gifted by the goddess Aidios and has been explicitly said to be capable of granting miracles. Whatever the heck these Laws are, it was enough to completely derail the plans by the BigBad and defies everything else we're told about what should be the most powerful objects in the setting. A quote by Loewe remains the only explanation we're given over the course of 8 games. "The sword granted to me by the Grandmaster. Just like your staff. It's a demon sword forged through the Divergent Laws."
** The Thirteen Factories are an oft-mentioned source of where the Enforcers regularly obtain [[HumongousMecha Archaisms]], but it's still unknown who oversees these factories, where they're in operation, and how projects on such a massive scale have gone unnoticed and rival what any of the large companies in Zemuria can make.
** The Great Collapse is mentioned by characters to be what caused the downfall of the ancient Zemurian civilization, but more than 14 years of games later and it's still unexplained what this was, exactly. It could be anything from wars, ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, the collapse of moral and social restraint, a natural disaster or series of natural disasters, and so on. Whatever it was, shortly there after every one of the seven [[CosmicKeystone Sept-Terrion]] disappeared from the world, birth rates plummeted, civilization crashed, and the survivors were thrown into a centuries-long Dark Age.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', during the final encounter with Nrvnqsr, he and Arcueid have a conversation on things that you don't learn until much later in the game, or in supplemental materials. This is intensified by the use of code-like terms, such as referring to Roa as the "Serpent of Akasha".
* It seems that Creator/{{Valve}} is fond of this trope. The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series is almost ''entirely'' built out of it. What were the various departments at Black Mesa researching? What do those vast Combine machines actually do? How did those corpses end up where they are? Who was the Rat Man? Who was Lazlo? The ''vast'' majority of the story is told by implication only.
** The "Rat Man" from ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' was later explained in ''[[http://www.thinkwithportals.com/comic/ the Lab Rat comic that was released alongside Portal 2.]]''
** Most enigmatic and underexplained of all are the Half-Life series' villains. The Combine are [[TheEmpire some kind of confederation]] of [[BattleThralls enslaved]] and [[UnwillingRoboticisation cybernetically-enhanced]] alien species, but so far we know almost nothing of the scope of their empire, or even who's running the whole thing. Are the [[InsectoidAliens grub-like Advisors]] the leaders of the organization, or merely some [[MiddleManagementMook middle-management]]? Their history and motivations remain completely unexplained, though their MO seems to be the [[TheAssimilator assimilation of alien species]] and extraction of resources.
** And then there's the most important ''and'' mysterious character in the entire series, [[TheMenInBlack The G-Man]]. Not a single word of explanation has been given for where he came from, the motivation behind his actions, the origin of [[RealityWarper his god-like powers]], or who his ominous [[GreaterScopeVillain Employers]] may be. Given that he caused the famous [[WhenDimensionsCollide Resonance Cascade]] that led the Combine straight to Earth, you might think he's working for them. But the Combine have consistently treated him as an enemy, and he does help Gordon expel them from Earth. What connection does he have with the Vortigaunts, and why can't he stop [[MysteriousEmployer screwing with protagonists]]? His actions are so seemingly contradictory that his purpose and backstory could turn out to be anything.
* All throughout ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', you get lots of background hints of events and backstories that have little to no relation to the power struggle in Los Angeles that makes up the main plot, such as news reports about apparent SignsOfTheEndTimes or quests where you meet/help out [[HeroOfAnotherStory heroes of other stories]]. It all gives you the sense that everything you're doing is nothing more than a sideshow on the outskirts of a much larger and stranger secret war that you've barely seen a glimpse of.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. A lot of the backstory involving dead civilizations and their predecessors from space but you only know (sparse) details from supplementary materials. Squaresoft was hoping to make sequels based on this information.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' does this a lot, helping to give the sense that it's an alternate history defined by the presence of {{mad scientist}}s.
** Among the more notable are references to what things were like before [[AntiVillain Baron Wulfenbach]] took over Europe, what the places ruled by less pleasant Sparks are like, and the fact that there are multiple popes.
** Occasionally they'll also drop and/or hide names we're familiar with in places we can spot them, showing how those individuals are different in this version of history (the most prominent one is actually reasonably well known, but he's addressed by his surname where we the reader are typically familiar with his given name alone). [[spoiler:It's Rembrandt ''van Rijn''.]]
** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100322 Sanaa's adventurous backstory]] is one of the few that is likely never going to be explained further.
** A side story taking place after the main story does this. We know Agatha is settled in as the Heterodyne and Mechanicsburg is safe, but everything else is left quite vague. The Empire is referenced in a way that implies Mechanicsburg has to worry about their laws, but it's deliberately unclear who is in charge of it, what Agatha's relationship to them is, and how that relates to Mechanicsburg. The Storm King isn't even mentioned, but it could be his empire they're talking about instead of the Wulfenbach one.
* One story arc in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' involved a lot of clarification of throwaway details like this from earlier in the series. We've finally seen Butane the planet of dragons; we've gotten a minimally technobabblish explanation of what borfomite actually does; we've seen some court intrigue in the Nemesite Empire; Fructose Riboflavin is finally looking competent enough to explain how he got his terrifying reputation; etc.
* ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' engages in this from time to time. We never learn anything more about Reverse Moses, other than that he once parted the city to escape Aqua Pharoah.
* ''Webcomic/TheMansionOfE'' often makes passing reference to things in distant parts of the Mansion's home country and continent.
* Several of these in ''Webcomic/TheSanityCircus'', such as references to other, as-yet-unmet Scarecrows. Luther and Steven have also made reference to other Instrumen they know called March and Jupiter.
* Much of the draw of ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' is the lavish, imaginative WorldBuilding that regularly alludes to incredible events and people at work all around a main cast who rarely intersect with or expound upon them much.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* All over the place in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', because the authors have a huge bible they're working from. So there are references to superheroes and super-teams we haven't met yet, and supervillains who are 'A-level threats' according to an international scale we haven't had explained either, and also tons of references to real-world things to show how close that universe it to ours. Some of these are AllThereInTheManual. A B-List is world-threatening, but your average supergroup can still maybe win. Maybe. If they're lucky. An A-list, you have to call in EVERYONE. An A-list is the kinda guy you have for a CrisisCrossover.
* Also present in ''Literature/TheDescendants'', with characters mentioning minor villains they've defeated, superheroes in other cities, and seemingly pivotal moments in history that haven't even been explained in flashback. Whether or not they're just building up a ChekhovsArmoury, though, remains to be seen.
* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' makes mention to other superheroes/villains outside the main characters, such as Bait and Switch, Johnny Snow, and Hourglass, although some of them do get actual "screentime" in the supplemental comics.
* ''Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants'': Limyaael [[DiscussedTrope recommends]] that if you're going to use these for [[http://limyaael.livejournal.com/539688.html worldbuilding]], use a lot of them, so the audience gets used to them as worldbuilding and doesn't expect them all to be plot points... and the ones that ''are'' plot points have the element of surprise.
* The earlier volumes of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' were full of references. Some of them deliberate hooks, others the result of difficulty dropping exposition about things the characters already knew. Most of the latter got filled in later on, but the series has so far kept up a supply of new hooks to replace things that are explained.
* In ''WebAnimation/DreamComeTrue'', the animals all live like normal (talking) farm animals. Yet, the horses mention the "Gypsy King" (who seems to be from another farm) and imply some sort of international society involving Gypsy Vanners. The farm animals act like they live in a kingdom, but none of this is ever clarified.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls,'' the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' series, and ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' are almost entirely bereft of traditional exposition, and the story of each game must largely be pieced together and inferred from item descriptions, level design, and the like. There are occasional characters better informed than the PlayerCharacter who will provide some precious information, but they generally prove untrustworthy. [[WordOfGod Hidetaka Miyazaki]] claims the inspiration for this style of storytelling came from him attempting to read Western fantasy novels as a teen despite having a limited grasp of English: he could only understand certain passages, many of which referred to objects or events described in passages he couldn't read, thus turning explained plot points into this trope.

** Characters other than the Doctor are known to do this, too. For example, Captain Jack Harkness of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' fame. [[AnythingThatMoves This mostly has to do with various sexual exploits]], but he does mention actual bizarre past experiences. Random side-characters can do this too, usually to the Doctor or one of his companions, with the assumption that they're from the same period/place, and know what they mean.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}'': Saw lists a host of Rebel groups and condemns them all as "[[WeAreStrugglingTogether lost]]". These begin with recognizable or understandable names such as Separatists, neo-Republicans, and the Ghorman Front, and continue on to the Partisan Alliance, sectorists, human cultists, and galaxy partitionists — all names of unknown significance, other than that they're organizations or ideologies that see reason to oppose the Empire.

* ''Series/TheWire'' shows the city of UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}} had its own mythology in its criminal underworld.

* Following the tradition of the films, the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' and ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' make references of their own, some of them mentioned or expanded on by others, some of them never mentioned again. It gets downright fractal at times. Try hitting [[http://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Special:Random Random Page]] on [[TheWikiRule Wookieepedia]] and see [[WikiWalk how far you can get]] before finding an article with one line of description and one or two appearances.

** In ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'' Goh asks if being a Master means becoming the [[WorldsBestWarrior strongest Trainer]] with Mewtwo's comments in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' seemingly supporting this theory, but Ash states not even that is enough. In fact, Champions Wallace & Cynthia are recognized as the [[TheAce strongest Trainers in the world and undefeated Champions]] (until the former [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome lost to Steven]] and the latter Ash), but they're only "Champion Masters". However, once Ash himself earned the title of strongest Trainer he apparently became [[GrandFinale that much closer to his goal]]. In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesAimToBeAPokemonMaster'' he finally decides that being a Master means seeing the world and meeting all the Pokémon in it, with him deciding to continue WalkingTheEarth.

* Franchise/{{DCAU}}:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' features lots of TheSeventies style hero's and villains running around, we only see a handful of hero's but because of the big influence the [[LegionOfDoom Guild of Calamitous Intent]] have on the show we will constantly see cameo's from lots of weird looking SuperVillain's. How and when the Guild started is also kind of vague but it's implied that it was formed by or because of Dr Ventures father or grandfather.

** The audience's desensitization to this is exploited in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of the Angels"]]. While walking around the old mausoleum of Alfava Metraxis, the Doctor rambles on about the natives, and particularily how they had two heads and outlawed self-marriage at some points. Then he realizes that the statues around the mausoleum only have ''one'' head. [[MistakenForGranite Because they are ''all Weeping Angels'']].

** The audience's desensitization to this is exploited in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of the Angels"]]. While walking around the old mausoleum of Alfava Metraxis, the Doctor rambles on about the natives, and particularily how they had two heads and outlawed self-marriage at some points. Then he realizes that the statues around the mausoleum only have ''one'' head. Because they are ''all Weeping Angels''.

* ''ComicBook/NewAvengers2015:'' During issue 6, the Avengers of the future mention the "Eternity Wars", which had some part to play in Hulking becoming what they proclaim "King of Space", before adding that it's apparently some time away. Then Collapsar hurriedly asks Sunspot to forget he ever heard anything. The follow-up series ''ComicBook/USAvengers'' mentions it again, with the future Captain America saying only that it was "worse" than Zero Day, when pretty much ''every'' major hero died at Thanos's hands.

* The first thing everyone knows about ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' is that most Trainers dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, however over the entire course of the franchise it's never once discussed ''how'' one actually obtains this title with The Pokémon Company [[ShrugOfGod outright refusing to elaborate]].

** In ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'' Goh asks if being a Master means becoming the [[WorldsBestWarrior strongest Trainer]] with Mewtwo's comments in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' seemingly supporting this theory, but Ash states not even that is enough. In fact, Champions Wallace & Cynthia are recognized as the [[TheAce strongest Trainers in the world and undefeated Champions]] (until the former [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome lost to Steven]] and the latter Ash), but they're only "Champion Masters". However, once Ash himself earned the title of strongest Trainer he apparently became [[GrandFinale that much closer to his goal]].

** Loads. The names of [[GangOfHats cultures]] and [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking warlords]] are dropped without context, only to be explained a dozen chapters later. Since there's lots of ThemeNaming and {{Shout Out}}s, the audience has some clues to figure out what the names refer to before they appear on screen.

* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' does this constantly to fill in the gaps between the novels that the characters first appeared in and the actual ''[=LoEG=]'' comics themselves. To the point where a reference guide for all of the bits in the first collected comic was three times the thickness of the comic itself. One panel could have two pages worth of 'This is the X from Y', especially in their museum base.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' has a hierarchy of gods and demons distributed over four universes. Only some of these deities are described, others are named or merely implied. Nothing is known about the demons Chaotic Blue and Death Fog, for instance, and less than that about their opponents. Fanfic authors have, naturally, expended much effort to fill the gaps.

* This happens once a game in the ''VideoGame/SummonNightSwordcraftStory'' games: random {{NPC}}s come into the scene and reference something that would make sense as part of a longer plot but which you don't know about. ("I would gladly fight to the death to follow the last orders of Master Shinrai!" ...Master who?) How much of this is the result of this actually being a spin-off series of a [[VideoGame/SummonNight larger plot]] [[NoExportForYou that never made it outside Japan]] isn't immediately obvious to English-speaking players.
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' contained the mysterious line "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance," prompting much debate on just who "Sheng Long" was and [[UrbanLegendOfZelda a rumor that he was an unlockable character]]. It was eventually explained that the name actually just referred to [[{{Shoryuken}} one of Ryu's attacks]], not another person. But still...
** Then there's Bison/Vega crowing about how "The Ancient One" couldn't face him. And Fei Long dedicating his art to "the master and his son" (actually a reference to Bruce Lee, [[BruceLeeClone Fei Long's expy source]]). And those three college students who inspired Sakura to take up fighting. [[OverlyLongGag And]] anything at all involving Gill. That's not even touching on the whole sordid tale of how Charlie Nash's death happened, or for that matter, ''where'' it happened, which [[ContinuitySnarl has so many possible explanations by now]], it qualifies as a MultipleChoicePast.
** Undoubtedly the biggest issue involving said Sheng Long, the canon ending to the first tournament. Other than the basic fact of Ryu hitting Sagat really, really hard, we're ''never'' going to know for sure what actually happened. The most likely scenario, in fact, involves Ryu connecting with Sagat's chin (the usual one hit KO location for MMA); any blow to the ''chest'' forceful enough to put away a brawny heavyweight would've left a much larger scar than what Sagat's currently sporting.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' enjoys this quite a bit. The meaning of the phrase that started the series, "You are the one who will open the door to light" has still not been fully explained. In the first game, Sora ''closes'' the Door to Darkness; in the second, he finds Kairi's letter, which does open a path back home, but as he's not the one opening it technically, it's unknown just what the phrase means.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' lives on this trope - Throwaway references became major plot elements in later games - such as Lemon's last name, and referring to a 'Beowulf' who piloted a 'Gespenst Mk. III' (Alt Eisen) - obscure references to the previous game, where the protagonist's theme called was 'Steel Beowulf' and his unit was revealed to have been a modified Gespenst Mk. I considered for mass production. And many, many more.
* ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'' treats all the characters as already established, and new characters are often brought in with the assumption that they've had encounters with main character Marina in the past.

* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' includes many fictional quotes from the game's characters and other people in the game's world. These as well as a handful of other game elements are the only inside look we have into what life on Planet is really like (unless you read the novelizations, anyway). Many details are left to the imagination, such as, "What exactly is 'nerve stapling', anyway?" Somehow, it works.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', during the final encounter with Nrvnqsr, he and Arcueid have a conversation on things that you don't learn until much later in the game, or in supplemental materials. This is intensified by the use of code-like terms, such as referring to Roa as the "Serpent of Akasha".
* From both ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' games, the only parts of the story that are completely laid out for you are from the single 4-chapter comic ("The Sacrifice"), and the short character bios that each of the Survivors get ([[AllThereInTheManual neither of which are found in-game]]). The rest of the plot that's given to you will only be through random (often campaign-specific) character dialogue, about 99% of which isn't even guaranteed to trigger (usually requiring [[RewatchBonus multiple play-throughs]] if you want to catch everything), or occasionally from significant pieces of the map, but most of all from the writings on the walls of different saferooms (and occasionally elsewhere) of other people who have passed through that area, describing bits of their experiences as messages to others, agreement or disagreement with what the military is/was doing, just how bad CEDA failed, how fast somebody changes into a zombie after being infected, and so forth, but not even those people are in 100% consensus about whatever's been going on, and [[RiddleForTheAges nobody really has any idea what even]] ''[[RiddleForTheAges started]]'' [[RiddleForTheAges the whole thing.]] We might get some answers eventually, but given Creator/{{Valve}}'s [[VaporWare reputation for]] [[VideoGame/HalfLife making third installments,]] it's probably not going to be any time soon.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has this to an extent. It began with the ExcusePlot of two rival corporations hiring mercenaries to fight over seemingly trivial objectives. Each mercenary has a distinct and interesting personality, but virtually no BackStory is given and they [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep didn't even have any real names]]. Since the release, more of the history leading up to the game has been revealed, and additional bits about some of the classes have come forward.
** Potentially, the increase in backstory has only increased this trope. Why does the Announcer control both sides, pitting against each other for no apparent reason? What are her connections to Saxton Hale and the Redmond and Blutarch families? Why is friendship such an alien concept to her? What will the Engie do with all that secret deposits of Australium? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking How did the Soldier get a magician as a roommate?]] (All this only appears in the addition material. If you're content to run around reducing other players to [[LudicrousGibs bloody chunks]] it won't bother you. After all, reducing each other to bloody chunks is the point of the game.)
* It seems that Creator/{{Valve}} is fond of this trope. The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series is almost ''entirely'' built out of it. What were the various departments at Black Mesa researching? What do those vast Combine machines actually do? How did those corpses end up where they are? Who was the Rat Man? Who was Lazlo? The ''vast'' majority of the story is told by implication only.
** The "Rat Man" from ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' was later explained in ''[[http://www.thinkwithportals.com/comic/ the Lab Rat comic that was released alongside Portal 2.]]''
** Most enigmatic and underexplained of all are the Half-Life series' villains. The Combine are [[TheEmpire some kind of confederation]] of [[BattleThralls enslaved]] and [[UnwillingRoboticisation cybernetically-enhanced]] alien species, but so far we know almost nothing of the scope of their empire, or even who's running the whole thing. Are the [[InsectoidAliens grub-like Advisors]] the leaders of the organization, or merely some [[MiddleManagementMook middle-management]]? Their history and motivations remain completely unexplained, though their MO seems to be the [[TheAssimilator assimilation of alien species]] and extraction of resources.
** And then there's the most important ''and'' mysterious character in the entire series, [[TheMenInBlack The G-Man]]. Not a single word of explanation has been given for where he came from, the motivation behind his actions, the origin of [[RealityWarper his god-like powers]], or who his ominous [[GreaterScopeVillain Employers]] may be. Given that he caused the famous [[WhenDimensionsCollide Resonance Cascade]] that led the Combine straight to Earth, you might think he's working for them. But the Combine have consistently treated him as an enemy, and he does help Gordon expel them from Earth. What connection does he have with the Vortigaunts, and why can't he stop [[MysteriousEmployer screwing with protagonists]]? His actions are so seemingly contradictory that his purpose and backstory could turn out to be anything.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has six legendary heroes. Hakumen is playable, Jubei and Valkenhayn Hellsing show up as [=NPCs=] and the rest are shown only as silhouettes until ''[[MissionPackSequel Continuum]] [[ObviousRulePatch Shift]]''. It adds Terumi Yuuki to the playable list, adds Platinum ([[SharingABody one of the three souls in her body]] being that of Six Heroes member Trinity Glassfield) to the NPC list and reveals that Nine is dead. Valkenhayn and Platinum later became playable through DLC and expansions, and [[spoiler: the silent villain Phantom is heavily implied to be a brainwashed Nine]].
** [[spoiler:By the end of the fourth game not only have they all been introduced, they're all playable as well: Jubei, Nine (killed and resurrected as "Nine the Phantom"), Yuuki Terumi (in three different forms no less), Valkenhayn, Hakumen, and Trinity (in Platinum's body)]]

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' is filled with this trope. It ranges from important things like the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great Suwa War]], Yukari's (first) invasion of the moon, and [[{{Gotterdammerung}} the sealing of Gensoukyou within the Hakurei Barrier]], to miniscule details like [[ParentalIssues Marisa's relationship with her father]], the dispersal of the oni, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Rumia's ribbon]]. Add some {{Hufflepuff House}}s and rampant ShrugOfGod, and the result is an ''entire series'' that is prime CanonFodder.

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' has a few, though many of them ended up being explored in the [[BonusMaterial Bonus Mission Pack]].
* ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'': What is the trouble that made Sean unable to return to Ireland? Who are the enemies he made there? What did Sean's father do there exactly? Where did Sean learn to use explosives? What was Sean doing in Budapest when he met Skylar? It's possible that the time period immediately before the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_troubles literal "Troubles" in Ireland]] is referenced, and this would also explain how he learned to use explosives.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' does it occasionally, most notably with the sorceresses. For example, "Great Hyne" is mentioned as their progenitor and source of their powers, but you never learn who exactly that was, save for some legends told by NPC you're likely to miss.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has thousands of years of backstory material that is only hinted at in the games, either through dialogue with various characters or in the many in-game books.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games have a lot of this kind of information that you can gather from the various [=NPCs=] or furniture in the various towns, regarding the political and economic situations of your surroundings, gossip about local leaders, what the [[FoodPorn cuisine]] and culture are like in each place (in some places extending to religious beliefs), optional content you can explore, and once in a while some obscure lore tangentially related to the plot.
** ''Dark Dawn'' takes this a whole step further with the major characters themselves discussing some stuff in relatively major cutscenes that isn't at all involved in the plot of the game, like the three races of the {{Precursors}}, the modern geography and political unrest around Morgal and Bilibin, and Kraden's messenger pigeons. Fans were annoyed that this cut into plot and character development, which were less consistent than in the previous two games.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has a lot of background material that isn't wholly relevant to the games' plot. Moreso in the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII sequel]] since the game takes place on a more personal level. Some particularly [[CanonFodder interesting]] [[SequelHook bits]] of background are that the Primeval Thaig [[spoiler: was apparently part of an ancient dwarven civilization predating the Deep Roads, which had temples and worshiped gods (and that the Primeval Thaig was ruled by a "dwarf so foul the Stone rejected him" and covered in evil red lyrium that drives people insane)]], that at least one [[CoolGate Eluvian]] [[spoiler: leads to "another place - beyond this world, beyond the Fade"]], that Flemeth is, at least according to Morrigan, [[spoiler: something other than merely a mage or an abomination]], and that the qunari must have arrived in Thedas (the continent where the games are set) from somewhere because they only showed up three hundred years ago, but no one knows where they came from.
** More subtly, there is the whole [[EncyclopediaExposita Codex]] business: in theory, it should offer exhaustive explanations and backstories of in-game events, items, and characters. However, in practice, one cryptic reference explanation contains three more references that ''don't'' get explained.
** The Warden can do this during ''Witch Hunt'', only vaguely hinting to their new companions their precise relationship and reasons for searching for the Witch of the Wilds. Particularly noticable if Morrigan was romanced, where Ariane eventually comes to realise that the Wardens cryptic statement that [[spoiler: "She has my child"]] didn't mean that [[spoiler: Morrigan had kidnapped their child]] as she'd assumed, but actually because [[spoiler: Morrigan was the ''mother'' of their child.]] Furthermore, she later figures out the nature of their relationship, asking the Warden if they are aware they subconsciously play with the ring on their finger when they think no-one is looking. After the Warden explains it's part of a pair shared with Morrigan, Ariane is genuinely amused when they [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial fervently deny]] that this means they're [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend married.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. A lot of the backstory involving dead civilizations and their predecessors from space but you only know (sparse) details from supplementary materials. Squaresoft was hoping to make sequels based on this information.

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls,'' the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' series, and ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' are almost entirely bereft of traditional exposition, and the story of each game must largely be pieced together and inferred from item descriptions, level design, and the like. There are occasional characters better informed than the PlayerCharacter who will provide some precious information, but they generally prove untrustworthy. [[WordOfGod Hidetaka Miyazaki]] claims the inspiration for this style of storytelling came from him attempting to read Western fantasy novels as a teen despite having a limited grasp of English: he could only understand certain passages, many of which referred to objects or events described in passages he couldn't read, thus turning explained plot points into this trope.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry3'':
** The casino chips you find in loot are described as being from "the Jeni Soleil Casino Cruise heist." This is not explained any further.
** Privateers will sometimes say "At least I'm not on [[Franchise/JurassicPark that island with the dinosaurs]]." This may have been {{foreshadowing}} that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen ultimately went nowhere]], as in January 2015 Ubisoft said that a Jurassic Park-type island with dinosaurs was one of the possible locations for ''VideoGame/FarCry5''.
* Historical references abound in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'', some of which can come off as cryptic background references. But ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' has two unusual examples:
** In the downloadable-content side-story "The Tyranny of King Washington." In the regular story, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 version of the game included extra missions in which Connor tries to stop Benedict Arnold from betraying West Point to the British, which were omitted from the others. In the DLC, which is set in an alternate timeline but with Connor aware of the events of the main story, he remarks that he finally got Arnold back for West Point when [[spoiler: he kills him at the end of the first chapter]]. Arnold says that he has no idea what Connor is talking about, since in this timeline he never turned coat and thus never betrayed West Point. To Wii U, Xbox and PC players who didn't get those missions, it comes off as a cryptic background reference, merely something that happened off-screen.
** In the main game and some others, conversations can be overheard in towns--particularly from heralds--referring to real historical events, such as a town crier in ''Assassin's Creed III'' informing citizens of events taking place in Egypt that have no bearing on the story at all. In ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]''--set in Renaissance Italy--a herald refers to the recent discovery of the New World and its native peoples.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' does this a lot. As it is an MMO, some of these references became fodder for patches and the ''Heavenward'' expansion, which focuses on the Dragonsong War, a war between Ishgard's theocratic society and Dravania's dragons that [[ForeverWar was waged for a thousand years by that point]], and brings more of these with [[spoiler:the Warriors of Darkness and bits and pieces found in the Dusk Vigil and Azys Lla's museum]]. The fallen [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Allagan Empire]] also started out as such only to get some explanations with the Binding Coil of Bahamut and Crystal Tower dungeons, as well as the aforementioned Azys Lla which explains how it became a SoiledCityOnAHill and how its actions up to that point resulted in a Calamity that ultimately wiped the Empire out entirely. In addition, there have been seven umbral eras and seven astral eras, but the only points that get even a description that comes close to being in-depth are the ends of the third (the aforementioned fall of the Allagan empire, leading to the Binding Coil dungeons and Crystal Tower raids), fifth (a war between two societies of mages that triggered a worldwide flood, leading to the Shadows of Mhach raids and frequently referenced in the Scholar and Red Mage quests) and sixth (the [[ColonyDrop fall of Dalamud]] that ended the 1.0 content cycle) astral eras, and the seventh umbral era (the five years between Dalamud's fall and the initial storyline from the ''A Realm Reborn'' relaunch).
* From the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' game, searching around and interacting with specific objects in Mallet Island will reveal [[StoryBreadcrumbs small details]] regarding the abandoned island's long dead inhabitants and their cultish worship of BigBad Mundus. None of it ever amounts to anything significant in terms of gameplay, and some fans believe it to be a holdover from the game's early development history as a ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' title. Dante himself will occasionally, humorously [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] that none of the island's history has any bearing on his quest.
* ''VideoGame/{{Foxhole}}'''s lore primarily exists of small bits of flavor text for maps, along with statue plaques, forgotten notes, and descriptions of view points that reveal tiny snippets of the setting.
* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'' Rekke is a living Cryptic Background Reference, a HiddenCharacter who is found clinging for dear life to flotsam near the endless storms east of the Deadfire and doesn't speak any language known in the region. It's strongly implied he comes from beyond the storms of Ondra's Mortar, a place where no known explorer has ever sailed before. [[spoiler:He eventually learns enough Aedyran to confirm this and tell of further details about his homeland, Yezuha, including its enigmatic, monotheistic God, but enough of a language barrier exists that he can't fully explain the cryptic hints he gives.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/QuernUndyingThoughts Quern - Undying Thoughts]]'', Maythorn's journal mentions "Oshwald, the capital world of the United Empire" but does not provide much in the way of information about it beyond its six ancient gateways.
* There are a number of unofficial ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' that are clearly alluded to exist in the setting, but are not capturable, or for some, ever even seen by the player:
** One of the most well-known examples is the original dragon that was split into [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the Tao Trio]]. We don't know what it looked like, as it's not possible to restore it.
** The Legendary Beast trio were brought back to life by Ho-Oh. We don't know what they were originally before being resurrected. The only hint we've been given is silhouettes that look more like normal, real-world dogs than any existing Pokémon.
** Shellder has an alternative evolution that can clearly be seen on Slowbro's tail and Slowking's head, but is not capturable by the player by itself. [[note]]It may even come in two different forms because there are visible differences between the one on Slowbro's tail and the one on Slowking's head; crown Shellder have both horns and a gem.[[/note]] A leaked demo revealed it was originally programed in as an attainable Pokémon separate from the Slowpoke line, but was removed for a unknown reason.
** [[PunnyName Cara Liss]] restores some fossil Pokémon for the player. However, she does it by frankensteining the front half and back half of separate species, the result depending on what exactly you give her. (This is a reference/joke on how in real-life early paleontologists mismatched bones, especially in Britain where this region is based; incidentally, she's wearing mismatched shoes and has mud on her face to further emphasize how careless she is). For some reason, the game does not allow you to obtain these Pokémon in their correct, original complete state, although there is plenty of speculative fanon and fanart.[[note]]One is believed to be based on a raptor, another a plesiosaur, one a stegosaurus, and the last is a fish (coelacanth?) [[/note]]
** Kangaskhan are always seen with babies in their pouch. These are clearly its pre-evo, but they are not obtainable separately by the player. If the player breeds a Kangaskhan to try and get it, the egg simply hatches into a adult Kangaskhan with a baby already in it's pouch. The leaked Gen 1 alpha suggests it was supposed to be connected to fellow "Child and Parent" species Cubone and Marowak.
** Genesect is a fossil Pokémon bought back to life and altered to have a cannon on its back. What it looked like in its original state is unknown.
** Many fossil Pokémon are part Rock-types. It's not officially confirmed, but {{Fanon}} is that many of these Pokémon gained the Rock-type because of being resurrected from fossils, and that in their original state, their types and thus, forms, were different.
** Arbok is noted to have more than 20 variations of the markings on its body. Some of these can be seen in different games (as unofficial form differences?), but not all of them.
** The Sealed Chamber in ''Ruby & Sapphire'', where you learn how to find and potentially capture the Regi trio, has the following (translated) inscriptions around one of the rooms: 'In this cave we have lived. We owe all to the Pokémon. But, we sealed the Pokémon away. We feared it. Those with courage, those with hope. Open a door. An eternal Pokémon waits.' This is the only reference to any backstory of this kind in the entire game.

** Kangaskhan are always seen with babies in their pouch. These are clearly its pre-evo, but they are not obtainable separately by the player. If the player breeds a Kangaskhan to try and get it, the egg simply hatches into a adult Kangaskhan with a baby already in it's pouch.

** Shellder has an alternative evolution that can clearly be seen on Slowbro's tail and Slowking's head, but is not capturable by the player by itself. [[note]]It may even come in two different forms because there are visible differences between the one on Slowbro's tail and the one on Slowking's head; the former has eyes, and the latter a gem.[[/note]] A leaked demo revealed it was originally programed in as an attainable Pokémon separate from the Slowpoke line, but was removed for a unknown reason.

** In ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'' Goh asks if being a Master means becoming the strongest Trainer with Mewtwo's comments in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' seemingly supporting this theory, but Ash states not even that is enough. In fact, Champions Wallace & Cynthia are recognized as the [[TheAce strongest Trainers in the world and undefeated Champions]] (until the former [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome lost to Steven]] and the latter Ash), but they're only "Champion Masters".