History Main / HyperlinkStory

* ''VideoGame/BrokenAge'' at first glance appears to be two stories following two teenagers who's only link a common theme of coming of age and escaping the roles forced upon them by their parents. [[spoiler:In actuality Shay is unknowingly in control of the monster that is attacking Vella's world.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' usually features a main story and a subplot that come together at the end, much like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. However ''Three Hundred Big Ones'' and ''Prisoner of Benda'' episodes comprise entirely of subplots that all connect into each other.

* Several films by Creator/RobertAltman function like this, most obviously ''Film/ShortCuts'', ''Film/ThePlayer'', ''Film/GosfordPark'', and ''Film/{{Nashville}}''. In fact, in general parlance in film circles, this is called the "Altmanesque Film" since his was the most prominent examples of the kind at his time.

%%* ''Film/LookBothWays''

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is composed of many separate (anachronological) stories strung together into 3 distinct stories that are in turn connected to each other by characters and events.
%%* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''

* ''WebComic/{{Dreamcatcher}}'' ([[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] the Stephen King novel/movie.)

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' by Creator/NeilGaiman was inspired by the Spirit, and while Morpheus the Sandman is the main character for most of the story arcs, an equal and great part of the comics dealt with supporting characters, minor characters and one-shot stories of HistoricalFiction. The final story, ''The Kindly Ones'' is mostly told from the perspective of Lyta Hall who ends up becoming [[spoiler:the woman who kills Morpheus]].

* ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'' by Creator/WillEisner, while ostensibly a pulp-hero story about the title character and his adventures, often had many strips where the Spirit was off-screen or arrives only at the end. Most of the story dealt with one-shot characters, supporting figures and sometimes narrated from the perspective of villains and villainesses.
* The ''Trifecta'' arc, which had storylines from ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', ''ComicBook/TheSimpingDetective'' and ''Comicbook/LowLife'' cross over as one. Interestingly, ''The Simping Detective'' was originally supposed to be one of these.

* Gene Yang's ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'' is a textbook example of the form. The story begins with three separate characters in three distinctively separate storylines, but by the end all of their stories tie together into a significant whole.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' by Creator/AlanMoore has a cast of 6 costumed heroes with an intricate past and history, as well as an extended supporting cast of ordinary humans who weave in and out of the larger story and contain many vignettes that work in counterpoint to the main story. Ultimately, the story doesn't really have a single main heroic protagonist, with all the main characters having equal wright in screentime, presence and weight.

* ''Film/{{Traffic}}'' has three different stories in four different locations dealing with the war on drugs. In Washington D.C., Robert, a judge in Cincinnati, becomes the new drug czar, but finds out his daughter is a drug addict. Meanwhile, in San Diego, two DEA agents arrest a man who gives evidence leading to the arrest of Carlos, a drug kingpin, and his wife Helena will do anything to get Carlos out, including going to Mexico to make a deal with the drug kingpin Carlos worked with. Finally, in Mexico, Javier Rodriguez is ordered by General Salazar to investigate the drug trade there, only to find out Salazar is involved in the trade already. In addition to all three stories dealing with the war on drugs, the characters from different stories sometimes interact as well (Robert visits Mexico and meets with General Salazar, with Javier in the room, while Carlos works for an organization that Salazar is involved in).
* Alejandro González Iñárritu does this a lot as well. ''Film/AmoresPerros'', ''{{Film/Babel}}'', and ''[[Film/TwentyOneGrams 21 Grams]]'' follow this formula.

* The Creator/JackVance short story "The New Prime" starts with several apparently unconnected scenes (a modern-day man finds himself naked in public; a small band of barbarian warriors tries to destroy a hive full of monsters; a captured spy struggles to resist interrogation). At the end we discover that [[spoiler: these are all simulations that are tests for candidates for the new "Prime" or supreme galactic ruler.]]

* While the first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' was fairly straightforward in how its cases were connected (they were all linked to the same international smuggling ring), the sequel's first four cases seem completely unrelated at first glance. An assassination attempt on a foreign president, a murder inside a prison, an unsolved case that was the last one Edgeworth's father took before his death, and an assault and a murder during Edgeworth's Prosecutor Investigation Committee hearing. It's only once you get to the fifth case that it's revealed they all link to the BigBad in some way. [[spoiler: The killer of the third case was the BigBad's father, who abandoned him and fled the country. He ended up in an orphanage, where he witnessed the assassination of the president of Zheng-Fa, arranged by his body double. The body double is the president you met in the first case, having replaced the real one. The owner of the orphanage and a corrupt prosecutor were in on the assassination and helped cover it up. The orphanage owner went on to become the prison warden you meet in Case 2, and the corrupt prosecutor is the head of the PIC and the killer of Case 4. Every previous murder except Case 3's was [[TheChessmaster orchestrated]] by the BigBad to bring the conspirators he witnessed to vigilante justice.]]

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive''. The final bosses of each chapter have only one thing in common: [[spoiler:their names containing the word "odio" in one way or another.]]. Only in [[spoiler:the secret eighth chapter do we find out that all of them are incarnations of the Demon King Odio, a noble knight [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] that transcends time and space.]]

* ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' by Creator/NeilGaiman, was inspired by the Spirit (see below) and while Morpheus the Sandman is the main character for most of the story arcs, an equal and great part of the comics dealt with supporting-characters, minor characters and one-shot stories of HistoricalFiction. The final story, ''The Kindly Ones'' is mostly told from the perspective of Lyta Hall who ends up becoming [[spoiler:the woman who kills Morpheus]].

* ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'' by Creator/WillEisner while ostensibly a pulp-hero story about the title character and his adventures often had many strips where the Spirit was off-screen or arrives only at the end. Most of the story dealt with one-shot characters, supporting figures and sometimes narrated from the perspective of villain and villainesses.

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive''. The final bosses of each chapter have only one thing in common: [[spoiler:their names containing the word "odio" in one way or another.]]. Only in [[spoiler:the secret, eighth chapter do we find out that all of them are incarnations of the Demon King Odio, a noble knight [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] that transcends time and space.]]

* Each episode of ''Series/{{Touch}}'' has several scenarios that appear unrelated, but eventually connect to each other in specific ways

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', especially the first season.
* Most episodes of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''.

* ''SixDegrees''

%%* ''Smoke (1995)''

%%* ''Film/{{Magnolia}}''.

%%* ''Film/{{Syriana}}''

%%* ''Film/{{Lantana}}''

%%* ''Film/{{Traffic}}''

** Issue #90 of the [[ComicBook/TheSimpsons tie-in comic book series]] had the first story, "Homer's America", involve Homer, chaperoning Lisa's class's field trip, take over driving the bus after driving Otto insane with his singing, and takes them on a tour across the country, telling them LittleKnownFacts he makes up about the founding of the USA (such as George Washington slaying redcoat vampires and that Mount Rushmore was made to scare off aliens), all of which greatly annoy Lisa. It gets a CallBack in the same issue's second story, a Krusty the Clown-centered store, where at the end Krusty takes off for a vacation and Lindsey Naegle needs a replacement since they're out of reruns (as they used the master tapes to record a ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' [[LongRunner marathon]]). Bart's idea for a mid-season replacement is ''Homer's History Corner'', where like in the first story, Homer tells his made-up history facts to kids, but this time it's Krusty's studio audience, much to the kids' amusement (and to Lisa's annoyance, of course.)

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' usually features a main story and a subplot that come together at the end, much like ''TheSimpsons''. However ''Three Hundred Big Ones'' and ''Prisoner of Benda'' episodes comprise entirely of subplots that all connect into each other.

* ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' by Creator/NeilGaiman, was inspired by the Spirit (see below) and while Morpheus=/=Sandman is the main character for most of the story arcs, an equal and great part of the comics dealt with supporting-characters, minor characters and one-shot stories of HistoricalFiction. The final story, ''The Kindly Ones'' is mostly told from the perspective of Lyta Hall who ends up becoming [[spoiler:the woman who kills Morpheus]].

%%* ''Film/PulpFiction''.