History Main / DelayedNarratorIntroduction

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke first meets Varric, the narrator of their story, one year after arriving at Kirkwall.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime}} The End of Time]]", [[spoiler:The Narrator (credited as such) appears briefly halfway through Part One, and is revealed at the end of the episode as a Time Lord. He's identified as Rassilon (and Lord President of the Time Lords) in Part Two.]]

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

* ''StrangerThanFiction'', with the twists that the main character is aware of the narration as its happening and the narrator is a writer who doesn't realize she's narrating real events.

* In Peter Milligan's ''The Enigma'' for VertigoComics, the identity of the narrator is not revealed until the very last page of the story: [[spoiler:it's a lizard who first appeared in the story only a page or so earlier.]] ItMakesSenseInContext and it's BetterThanItSounds.

Basically this is when someone narrating the story is introduced as a character part way in and reveals this is who they are (although they might not do so immediately, this is usually the case). The narrator usually doesn't introduce themselves before this point, so it's usually TheReveal. At this point the narration might stay in the third person, however if the narrator sticks around and follows the protagonist it (obviously) shifts to the first person. A good sign that you're dealing with this trope is a statement along the lines of "...and that's when they met me, [insert name here]".

Naturally this can invoke a bit of FridgeLogic; how accurate was the narrator's previous narration when he wasn't present? While he could certainly have been told about it later he could just as easily be an UnreliableNarrator (although this twist is rarely seen along with this trope unless it applies to the whole story).

* Tex Avery's MGM short "The First Bad Man" is narrated by what turns out to be at the end the First Bad Man himself.

* [[spoiler:Gaia]] isn't introduced in ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series until after narrating the entirety of the first game and the prologue of the second.

* In Peter Milligan's ''The Enigma'' for VertigoComics, the identity of the narrator is not revealed until the very last page of the story: [[spoiler:it's a lizard.]] ItMakesSenseInContext.

!!Examples;

* The narrator in Literature/ThePlayerOfGames. Each of the main sections begins with some taunting about he's not going to just ''tell'' you who he is or how he knows this story. At the very end, he reveals his true identity, [[spoiler: the militant drone from the beginning, having been disguised as a different drone which accompanied the main character for the rest of the story]], wonders if the main character ever caught on to who he was, and admits that he couldn't possibly have known things like what the other characters were actually thinking or doing when he wasn't there (so he just made those bits up).

* The narrator in ThePlayerOfGames. Each of the main sections begins with some taunting about he's not going to just ''tell'' you who he is or how he knows this story. At the very end, he reveals his true identity, [[spoiler: the militant drone from the beginning, having been disguised as a different drone which accompanied the main character for the rest of the story]], wonders if the main character ever caught on to who he was, and admits that he couldn't possibly have known things like what the other characters were actually thinking or doing when he wasn't there (so he just made those bits up).

* The identity of the narrator of ''TheBriefWondrousLifeOfOscarWao'' isn't explicitly revealed until at least halfway through the book and there aren't many clues (It's [[spoiler:Yunior]], by the way).

* In the miniseries ''IClaudius'', it's around three episodes before the narrator is even born, although it's explicitly a story told by that character from the beginning.

Basically this is when someone narrating the story is introduced as a character part way in and reveals this is who they are (although they might not do so immediatly, this is usually the case). The narrator usually doesn't introduce themselves before this point, so it's usually TheReveal. At this point the narration might stay in the third person, however if the narrator sticks around and follows the protagonist it (obviously) shifts to the second person. A good sign that you're dealing with this trope is a statement along the lines of "...and that's when they met me, [insert name here]".

* The narrator of ''ValkyriaChronicles'' isn't introduced until [[spoiler: midway through Chapter 2]], despite narrating the events previously. How she could narrate events she was not present for is handily explained, since she is an [[spoiler: investigative journalist and researched the events in order to write her book on the war]]. This also overlaps with NarratorAllAlong, since her identity as the narrator is not revealed until the end of the game.

* ''DoctorWho'': In "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime}} The End of Time]]", [[spoiler:The Narrator (credited as such) appears briefly halfway through Part One, and is revealed at the end of the episode as a Time Lord. He's identified as Rassilon (and Lord President of the Time Lords) in Part Two.]]

* In ''{{Bastion}}'' the narrator is a mysterious old man named Rucks. When the PlayerCharacter reaches the eponymous Bastion after the first level, he's revealed to be the only other person who made it there and introduces himself in the narration (although he doesn't reveal his name until a bit further in [[spoiler: when [[PlayerCharacter The Kid]] brings back other survivors]]).

Basically this is when someone narrating the story is introduced as a character part way in and reveals this is who they are (although they might not do so immediatly, this is usually the case). The narrator usually doesn't introduce themselves before this point, so it's usually TheReveal. At this point the narration might stay in the third person, however if the narrator sticks around and follows the protagonist it (obviously) shifts to the second person. A good sign that you're dealing with this trope is a statement along the lines of "...and that's when they met me, [insert name here]".

Naturally this can invoke a bit of FridgeLogic; how accurate was the narrator's previous narration when he wasn't present? While he could certainly have been told about it later he could just as easily be an UnreliableNarrator (although this twist is rarely seen along with this trope unless it applies to the whole story).

This trope often goes hand in hand with HowWeGotHere (since the narrator's narrating events that took place before he began talking), it may also use InMediasRes if it starts with the point where the narrator joins the story. Often overlaps with NarratorAllAlong, where the narrator's identity isn't revealed until the very end of the story, as a twist.
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* The Arnold Schwarzenegger ''ConanTheBarbarian'' film is narrated by {{Mako}}'s character, who Conan meets for the first time partway through. (According to one account, the original plan was for Conan to narrate, but Schwarzenegger's English wasn't up to it.)
* Peter Parker does something like this at the beginning of the first Raimi {{Film/Spider-Man}} movie.

* In the film ''{{Gor}}'' the narrator doesn't appear as a character until the end of the film; he's the sequel's BigBad.

[[AC: LiveActionTelevision]]
* In the miniseries ''IClaudius'', it's around three episodes before the narrator is even born, although it's explicitly a story told by that character from the beginning.

* In ''{{Bastion}}'' the narrator is a mysterious old man named Rucks. When the PlayerCharacter reaches the eponymous Bastion after the first level, he's revealed to be the only other person who made it there and introduces himself in the narration (although he doesn't reveal his name until a bit further in [[spoiler: when [[PlayerCharacter The Kid]] brings back other survivors]]).
* The narrator of ''ValkyriaChronicles'' isn't introduced until [[spoiler: midway through Chapter 2]], despite narrating the events previously. How she could narrate events she was not present for is handily explained, since she is an [[spoiler: investigative journalist and researched the events in order to write her book on the war]]. This also overlaps with NarratorAllAlong, since her identity as the narrator is not revealed until the end of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke first meets Varric, the narrator of their story, one year after arriving at Kirkwall.

* [[spoiler:Gaia]] isn't introduced in ''GodOfWar'' series until after narrating the entirety of the first game and the prologue of the second.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke first meets Varric, the narrator of their story, one year after arriving to Kirkwall.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke first meets Varric, the narrator of their story, one year after arriving in Kirkwall.

* The narrator in ''CarneTremula'' points out his own birth near the beginning of the film.

* Sir AnthonyHopkins's character in ''Film/{{Alexander}}''. Ptolemy was one of Alexander's generals. The FramingDevice of the movie is Grandpa Ptolemy telling the childern about Alexander because it is the doom of men that they forget. Young Ptolemy did '''no''' narration during the action scenes. Grandpa Ptolemy's function was to tell about '''big''' battles which would be too expensive to show.