History Main / MrExposition

[[quoteright:250:[[Webcomic/ElGoonishShive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imageedit_57_7184205535.png]]]]

A character whose purpose is to provide {{Infodump}}s and explain the plot. Ostensibly, this is for the benefit of {{the protagonist}}s, but most of the time their real reason for existing is to provide {{Exposition}} to the audience. This is why they spend so much time [[AsYouKnow explaining things the protagonists already know]]. Popular in ScienceIsBad stories, where you can bet the MadScientist in charge will have a tape recorder with him at all times that he's always dictating his progress to. Mr. Exposition is also an essential component of the InstructionalDialogue. In spite of the name, this is an equal-opportunity position, as the many female examples below demonstrate.

** SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome in one episode when Pearl tries to explain sword techniques during a spar, causing her to get distracted from her opponent. [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice It doesn't end well.]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has a couple of examples:
** The first is [[spoiler:Eren Kruger]], whose exposition is given via [[spoiler:Grisha Yeager's flashbacks]]. He's essentially a case of a [[PosthumousCharacter Posthumous]] Mr. Exposition.
** Secondly we have [[spoiler:Willy Tybur]]. He shows up for a few chapters to deliver a speech about [[spoiler:the supposed ''true'' history of Paradis Island and how Eren holds evil powers and could destroy the world]]... and is then promptly killed by [[spoiler:Eren, who was listening to all the exposition.]]
** Another minor example is [[spoiler:Kiyomi Azumabito]]. Her main purpose seems to be providing exposition about [[spoiler:Mikasa's mother's homeland, Hizuru, and the nation's role in supporting Paradis]].
* Dew Yamamoto from ''Anime/CapRevolutionBottleman'' describes how different Bottleman attacks and other parts of Bottleman battles work.
* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'':
** Subverted at the beginning. One of the characters is a scientist who had been working on the Gate. She gives us a rather hefty dose of {{Expospeak}} to explain the Contractor-related weirdness; however it turns out [[spoiler:she doesn't even know who ''she'' is.]] As such, [[UnreliableNarrator 90% of anything anyone says]] in the first two episodes is misinformed at best and BlatantLies at worst.
** Later the trope is played straight with [[MadScientist Dr. Schroeder]], who appears to be the only person on ([[MindScrew or off]]) the show who both has some idea [[GainaxEnding what's going on]] and is inclined to share.
* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' has Laios dumping info on monsters, Senshi on cooking and proper nutrition, and Marcille on magic.
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': Since the first three films are astoundingly tight-lipped on just what the hell is going on, in the fourth the Mysterious Man and Hackmon take turns explaining things, the former as he's trying to kill the main characters.
* ''Anime/DragonballZ'' often has exposition but this particular line spoken by Krillin in ''Anime/TheTreeOfMight'' recapping what happened moments prior is particularly egregious, especially considering he delivered it while lying on the ground in pain, speaking to absolutely no-one but himself.
-->'''Krillin:''' No! Earth's energy was sucked up by the Tree of Might and Goku couldn't find enough power to form a Spirit Bomb to defeat Turles! Now we're dead for sure...
* ''Anime/ErgoProxy'' had a very interesting method of revealing its backstory: the characters ended up in a bizarre gameshow, where most questions and answers were directly related to the plot. The gameshow host MCQ played the part of Mr. Exposition.
* Reversed in ''Manga/Eyeshield21'' in the form of Yamamoto Onihei, ace lineman of the Hashiritani Deers. More than any other player on the sideline, this is Onihei's role, and a running gag is formed around the fact that his analysis has yet to be accurate. It doesn't help that the team he usually tries to predict is one of the most unpredictable teams in the whole of Japan....
* ''Manga/FairyTail'' had Klodoa, a sentient staff who spends about three chapters explaining the Oracion Seis's plans. Once he's explained everything he's fulfilled his plotline purpose and promptly dies. He's insignificant enough that that's not worth a spoiler tag.
** Happy tends to be this when everyone's caught up in battle, and Lucy's also played this at the beginning of the series.
* Subverted in ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' by Commander Amarao. He tells Naota (and the audience) that Haruko is searching for her lover Atomsk, the pirate king (the scene is accompanied by a humanoid fire creature). Amarao was just guessing, Haruko really wants [[spoiler:to eat him]].
* ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'': [[SmartPeopleWearGlasses Saya]] [[NerdsAreSexy Takagi]] was the smartest girl at Fujimi High and possesses near encyclopaedic level intellect. So she'll often provide the reader and the other characters with detailed analysis of their current situation.
** During the outbreak at the school, she explained why going to [[DeathByPragmatism the staff room for help was a bad idea.]] She was also able to accurately assess why the police weren't responding and why they hadn't heard any sirens yet, when Hirano brought it up.
** When all the electronics at the Takagi Estate went dead in Chapter 15, she was able to deduce it'd been the work of an EMP blast and gave a detailed summation of how they worked, to Takashi and the others.
** And during Chapter 28, she tells them about the JGSDF's evacuation plan, after finding a report about it (albeit, with help from Alice) on one of the computers at the police HQ, where Rei's father was stationed.
** It was even lampshaded by [=WatchMojo=].com, during their countdown of the Top 10 'Anime Cliches'. No.8 on the list, was: "overuse of exposition" where they specifically singled out Saya (seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2aY0iFWi7A at 2:20-2:31]]):
-->'''[=WatchMojo=]:''' "An example of this is Saya Takagi, from ''Highschool of the Dead'', who -- [[TheSmartGuy due to her outstanding intellect]], will often analyze the group's condition and sum it up for the audience."
* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Kurapica filled this role early on, before being PutOnABus. In later arcs, the exposition is usually provided by whoever's training Gon and Killua.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'': Perhaps one of the most memorable examples from the series, Robert E. O. Speedwagon narrates almost every single fight that Jonathan take part in, some perceive it as annoying, but most older fans like him.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': Pericolo is the one who informs Bucciarati's group of Trish's identity as The Boss' daughter, provides a brief explanation of Trish's mother and informs the group that she is being targeted by La Squadra.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': Through Mountain Tim, the audience learns the way of obtaining a Stand, and that's by passing through the Devil's Palm and surviving.
* Kotetsu and Onikiri from ''Manga/KamisamaKiss.'' Their main purpose in the story is to provide infodumps when needed.
* ''Anime/KemonoFriends'': [[RobotBuddy Lucky Beast]] will provide information on geography and [[LittleBitBeastly Friends]] as they're encountered. Does ''not'' (directly) provide much information regarding the show's main mysteries.
* ''Anime/KillLaKill'':
** Aikuro (Ryuko's homeroom teacher) combines this with MrFanservice, as he will start seductively taking off his clothes while delivering exposition for absolutely no discernible reason.
** Inumuta also explains a lot of things going on in the story, such as some of Ryuko's powers like Senketsu Mubyoshi. Though unlike most examples, he needs data to explain what's going on, leading to some times where he can't explain the situation itself. Nonon lampshades this in "I'm Not Your Cute Woman".
--->'''Inumuta:''' A Three-Star Goku Uniform unravelled by pulling out a single thread! How can that be?!\\
'''Nonon:''' Isn't it your job to explain how these things work?\\
'''Inumuta:''' Impossible. I cannot analyze anything without data.
* Terryman from ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'' would often explain the various attacks and holds used by the characters. [[GenerationXerox His son]] sometimes takes up the role in ''Anime/UltimateMuscle'', especially on matters of science and technology. When he is not busy yelling at Suguru/Mantaro or [[DistressedDude torn to pieces]], Meat does a fair share of this as well.
* ''Manga/KomiCantCommunicate'': The ''author'' himself is this, as he tends to shortly describe what characters are doing and why, also often saying what they want to do next. Later on, a character named Kometani is introduced, whose sole purpose is to fulfill this role.
* Akiyama in ''Manga/LiarGame'' spends a lot of time doing this as he explains various strategies throughout. A rare example where this is completely [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because unless you're well-versed in game theory, studying every panel, and calculating everything with a pen and paper, you'd be left with no idea of what is going on. [[ViewersAreGeniuses And even then...]]
* For the first half of ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive'', Lupin has to explain what's going on to Jigen so that the audience is aware of what's going on with the plot and what treasure the gang is after.
* ''[[Anime/LupinIIIThePursuitOfHarimaosTreasure The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure]]'': Lupin and Sir Archer take turns providing the audience with exposition about [[PlotCoupon the three bronze statues]], the Loyd Insurance Co., and the eponymous [[TheFaceless Harimao]], himself.
* Dr. Inez Fressange of ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' abuses this trope to the point of parody: she is actually acknowledged as the "explanation woman" by ''the whole crew'' of the ''Nadesico'' battle spaceship. There have been cases where she senses her explanations are needed from several rooms/decks over, and she once uses exposition as her talent in a beauty contest. One episode has several of the crew, including Inez, find [[PersonalitySwap their personalities inverted from their normal ones]] and are all in desperate need of an explanation? She's shown in her room quietly enjoying a glass of fruit juice, not saying a word.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Professor Yumi is both TheProfessor and TheMentor, so he frequently explains to the characters -- and the audience -- plot points. He was the one guessed first what was Mazinger-Z and who had created it. He explained how Dr. Kabuto had discovered [[{{Phlebotinum}} Photon Atomic power]] and [[{{Unobtainium}} Alloy-Z]] and built Mazinger-Z with them. He narrated how Dr. Kabuto met Dr. Hell and what happened in Bardos Island. He recognized Minerva-X and explained what she was and how she worked. He explained what were the Mykene and where they came from... And often during the series he explained what strategy the enemy or Kouji was using, how worked the Mechanical Beasts' weapons... or simply what kind of training Kouji was undergoing. In ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}'' he retained that role (he recognized Mazinkaiser as soon as he saw it, he explained how they had modified to Mazinkaiser in the movie...)
* ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'': In the DatingSim Nozaki plays in Chapter 8/Episode 4, Tomoda is supposed to be this. Due to an InUniverse case of PlatonicWritingRomanticReading, he is seen by Nozaki and Mikoshiba as a GayOption.
* Tobi in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. He's got a tendency to drop in and explain the plot as needed. [[UnreliableExpositor Of course, whether or not he's telling the truth at any given time is another matter.]]
* Yue Ayase in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', usually due to her innate [[TheSmartGuy smarts]] or her GreatBigBookOfEverything. She tends to indulge in WallsOfText, but isn't usually heard.
-->'''Yue:''' [long explanation about Celtic mythology, the "other world" and paradise]\\
'''Nodoka:''' Yue, they're not listening.\\
'''Yue:''' Say what!? This is important background information!
** Kamo's usual functions are [[DeadpanSnarker snarky commentary]] and exposition at a moment's notice. With diagrams! Whether or not anybody is listening!
* On the too few occasions when TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' told anyone anything, they have been told "But I already know all of this" by the person they were speaking to. It serves solely to inform the audience, [[CrypticConversation and yet it doesn't]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' lampshades this with the character of Sentomaru. He considers himself "the most tight-lipped man in the world," as he is a member of a highly secretive government branch and as such is privy to hundreds of secrets. The thing is, he's constantly blabbing those secrets and often without the slightest provocation. Whenever he does, he'll start by saying something to the effect of "I'm the most tight-lipped man in the world! You'll get no information from me!" and then proceeding to inform everyone.
%%** Jango is also a prime example. (Weblinks are not proper context. Scansites are also illegal)
** Hatchan went from DumbMuscle in Arlong Park to this trope in the Sabaody Archipelago soon after meeting Camie.
* In ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'', this is usually Asuma's job:
** During the police pursuit in chapter 1, he [[BreakingTheFourthWall broke the 4th wall]] when Noa complained she couldn't keep up with all the geographical data, by saying he'd explain two pages later. Sure enough, he whipped out a map and pointer to explain where their units were positioned and how they intended to set up the dragnet!
** And whenever Noa goes up against enemy Labor units, he usually gives her a brief analysis of their make and model, as well as any design flaws they may have. Highlighted during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFtPdCysR4 the tunnel scene]] near the climax of ''Anime/Patlabor2TheMovie'', when Asuma provides intel on the Ixtl units and devises how to systematically take them down.
* Brock from ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' (and later Cilan) became this more as the series has gone by. [=RotomDex=] also serves as this in ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon Sun & Moon]]''.
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'':
** This is Autor's main function in the final episodes. Well, that and putting Fakir through the TrainingFromHell.
** Edel's entire function in the first season, [[spoiler: until she dies. Sort of.]]
* ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': After being introduced to the [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything Infinity Library]], Yuuno [[DemotedToExtra was reduced from being]] TheLancer to this.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': At first, it appears that Dr. Tôfû Ono is going to fulfill this role, but it fails to happen, partially because of his tendency to become a [[LoveMakesYouDumb bumbling idiot]] when Akane's sister, Kasumi is around (to the point where he actidentally destroys potential cures for their problems), and partially because of the introduction of the and TricksterMentor Cologne. To lesser extent, [[OldMaster Happôsai]]. In fact, the manga gave him ChuckCunninghamSyndrome; he vanished by the end of the first Cologne story arc. The anime kept him on as a bit-character and an excuse for {{filler}} episodes.
* Reborn in ''Manga/Reborn2004'' does this ''almost every time'' a battle is plot-important and he happens to be watching. Most of the rest of the cast is guilty of this at various occasions as well, but it's usually Reborn that does the exposition. In fact, it's consistent enough that one can tell if a fight is plot-important when Reborn is nearby by whether he's beating people up or currently being Mr. Exposition. For everything not related to the most recent level-up, there's Ranking Futa, who seems to be a recurring character primarily for random exposition.
* Meteora in ''Anime/ReCreators'' is often heard dumping infos and explaining what's happening.
* The Invid Regess in ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' seems to have an almost compulsive need to [[LargeHam dramatically]] explains what is happening and what she's doing. This gives us a rather funny scene in ''The Sentinels'', where the one scene she shares with her estranged husband has her insulting him and ''give detailed justifications for each insult''.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Sanosuke is often relegated to [[CombatCommentator providing commentary during Kenshin's fights]], to either explain Kenshin's attacks, or his opponent's, or simply how the fight is progressing insofar as which of them has the upperhand at the moment.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Luna and Artemis tended to work as the ones to deliver exposition, but Ami in particular liked to inform them of their situation during battle... as more of a CaptainObvious than anything. Early on, [[TheShortGuyWithGlasses Umino]] fills this role as well, talking particularly about current events and telltales around the school which usually leads the main characters into [[MonsterOfTheWeek their weekly adventure.]]
* Hakkai in ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' sometimes plays this role, explaining things from plot points to random background information on specific items to puns. On one occasion, when the ikkou are trying to escape from the scorpion youkai's underground trap and the ceiling starts to collapse on them, he goes into this mode to point out that they've just escaped their cell by breaking one of the walls (something Hakkai apparently tried to warn them against) and so the remains of the lair can no longer hold the weight of the sand above, prompting Goku and Gojyo to yell that [[NowYouTellMe he should be saying this sort of stuff sooner]].
* ''Manga/TalesOfWeddingRings'': [[WizardClassic Alabaster]] is a wise old sage who traveled the world extensively in his youth. Whenever [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Satou]] needs some aspect of the fantastical world of Arnulus explained to him, nine times out of ten it will be Alabaster who shoulders the burden.
* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Washu]] usually is Miss Exposition in the manga, popping in to explain one concept another character mentions to a third character... so when Yoshi uses Big Words when talking to a villain, Yoshi stops ''his'' exposition to wait for her. Both he and the villain just stands there awkwardly until Yoshi remembers Washu is on a mission in space, and excuses himself.
* [[spoiler:The cloned head of Lordgenome]] is one in the second arc of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''.
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'': Ryou and sometimes Keiichiro. A hilarious example of this occurs with Masaya in the first episode of ''WebAnimation/TokyoCrystalMew''. He even feels the need to describe what he looked like in his Deep Blue form.
* In ''Anime/TomicaHyperRescueDriveHeadKidouKyuukyuuKeisatsu'', Munakata usually serves this role, when she explains the incident of the week to the drivers as they're launching.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': Yuko Ichihara ends up becoming the Ms. Exposition, before she is temporarily removed from the story. When she returns in Chapters 216 and 217, these chapters were pretty much her exclusively explaining what the hell's been going on.
* Elsie of ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'' starts as this, explaining to Keima the nature of Hell and the escaped spirits. Of course, most of what she says is ''[[UnreliableExpositor wrong]]'', so when her friend Haqua starts coming around, Keima is quick to go to her for more accurate information.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Every single character in the 4Kids dub, often to downright [[CaptainObvious ridiculous lengths]]. Everyone feels compelled to remind one another (i.e. the viewers) of the continuous effects of every card in play, the effect of a card that has [[AsYouKnow already been played before]] in an episode (especially "Monster Reborn"), all the way to what happened ''two minutes ago''. This expo-speak always happens at the start of episodes, (referencing previous events), which wouldn't be a bad thing if not for the fact that each episode includes a "last time, on ''Yu-Gi-Oh!''" opening bit. Also always occurs after a commercial (because, well, [[ViewersAreGoldfish you know]]), but sometime even ''for no reason at all''. As an example of the last type, pick any duel in the Battle City finals/semi-finals and count how many times the fact that one of the characters possesses an Egyptian God Card is mentioned. For the truly ambitious, [[DrinkingGame drink every time it's mentioned]], and kiss your liver goodbye.
** Subverted in the movie when Kaiba interrupts Pegasus' exposition of a card-effect with "Do you ever shut up?"
** Also Lampshaded in one episode where an opponent starts to explain the effects of Painful Choice before Kaiba cuts him off with "I know what the card does, you fool."
*** ... And then he explains it anyway.
** Misawa in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', to the point that it's the sole reason he occasionally [[PutOnABus takes a bus trip back]].
*** GX is especially bad with card exposition. For example, Pot of Greed is used, and explained, in nearly ever single duel. Sometimes more than once.
*** And that's with a card anybody who's played the card game for some time already knows the effect of. Meanwhile, we only get skimpy explanations of more interesting cards' effects...
** Rex Goodwin in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds''. There's a reason fans of 5D's use the term "Rexposition"
** ZEXAL really loves this, at least in the first few episodes. ''Everyone'' that isn't dueling is only present to explain the rules to the viewers. Even Yuuma gets this treatment in the first episode, when he sees Shark Exceed Summoning a monster. Yuma then proceeds to explain how Exceed Summoning works to Kotori, who already knows how it works (but the viewers don't since it's a new game-mechanic added in ZEXAL). Later in the next episode, Shark explains with almost the same wording how Exceed Summoning works, right after having summoned his Levice Dragon. And then there's all the other Game Mechanics... Needless to say, the duels in the first few episode almost use more time explaining how to play the game than actually playing the game.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Lindsay Brigman in ''Film/TheAbyss'' does a slightly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] version of this in the early descent scene, as she explains the (plot critical) perils of prolonged deep water diving to a SEAL team that is thoroughly familiar with them. They end up finishing most of her sentences for her.
* ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel'' [=McCroskey=] tries to get [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Johnny]] to do this, to his regret.
-->'''[=McCroskey=]:''' I want you to tell me everything that's happened up until now.\\
'''Johnny:''' Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it. He just took her best summer dress out of the closet and put it on...
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'':
** In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', Ash, being the Science Officer, is the one infodumping the rest of the crew (and the audience) regarding the Alien and the planet it comes from.
** Ripley in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', when she provides a briefing to the Marines. She basically tries to explain what happened in the first movie, [[IgnoredExpert but fails as the Marines are constantly interrupting her story, and asking mocking questions]]. Once they encounter the xenomorphs they aren't in a laughing mood anymore...
* ''Film/AustinPowers'': Basil Exposition (with British Intelligence) is an obvious send-up of this type of character.
* M. Night Shyamalan is fond of this Trope, especially in such films as ''Film/LadyInTheWater'' and ''Film/TheLastAirbender'', particularly Zhao and Kanna. In The Atlantic's [[http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/07/-hopefully-the-last-airbender/59052/ review]] of the latter:
-->Exposition has not merely vanquished mimesis, it has burned its homes to the ground and sown salt in its fields. It's really bad when Katara is [[NarratingTheObvious describing what is happening on screen]].
* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'':
** Lorraine [=McFly=] serves this purpose in the first two movies. In ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture1 Part I]]'', she explains the circumstances of how she and George [=McFly=] originally met and fell in love. In ''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII Part II]]'', she explains Marty's problem with [[BerserkButton being called "chicken"]], and how it got him into a car accident which changed his life for the worse. She also filled Marty in on everything that had changed in the AlternateTimeline.
** Doc Brown does a lot of this too, but he's so damn entertaining to watch ("ONE POINT TWENTY ONE GIGAWATTS!!??") that you don't even notice you're being infodumped.
* ''Film/{{Barbarella}}'': The biggest exposition dumpers are the President of Earth (gives the background of Barbarella's mission), Professor Ping (explains the nature of the city of Sogo that Barbarella has to infiltrate and what the labyrinth is for) and Durand Durand (explains what the EldritchAbomination known as Mathmos is).
* The Water Works crew in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' during the train chase. They were not originally part of the script, but [[ExecutiveMeddling added in]] to further explain the danger of the situation, and perhaps for visual variety.
* ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'':
** After Wang Chi's fiancee Miao Yin is kidnapped by members of the Lords of Death gang, he and Jack Burton follow them and end in a gang fight at a funeral. Later, Wang's employee Eddie Lee (who's been out gathering information on the streets of Chinatown) walks in and gives an infodump on what happened and why.
-->'''Eddie''': The Lords of Death were only on a joyride, not acting on orders from the Wing Kong. They just wanted a girl to sell and Miao Yin got in the way. Plus, the skirmish you guys stumbled into. Lo Pan, the word is, ordered the boss of the Chang Sings, Mr Lem Lee, assassinated. That was his funeral.
** Would-be IntrepidReporter Margo Litzenberger temporarily embodies this trope at one point:
-->'''Margo:''' You mean the Lo Pan that's chairman of the National Orient Bank and owns the Wing Kong Trading Company, but who's so reclusive that no one has laid eyes on him in years?\\
'''Jack Burton:''' Who the hell are you, anyway?
* ''Film/BloodrayneIIDeliverance'': While in jail in Deliverance, Rayne meets a member of Brimstone in the next cell who is able to explain the details of Billy the Kid's scheme to her. Once he is finished explaining, he is executed.
* ''Film/CannibalGirls'': Mrs. Wainwright, owner of the motel adjacent to the cannibal cult's temple, is the one whole relates the story of the Cannibal Girls to newcomers, including the protagonists Cliff and Gloria.
* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', the real history of the world from WWII to the present is explained by [[spoiler: [[BrainUploading computerized Dr. Zola]] to our heroes]]. Subverted in that he's purposefully dumping useful info on them as a stalling tactic while he tries to kill them.
* The World's Most Helpful Guard in the original ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}''. Perseus, a complete stranger, walks up to him, and he manages to go from surly hostility to explaining the complete social and political history of Joppa in under a minute. While swatting flies.
* In ''Film/CrimsonTide'', real-life newscaster Richard Valeriani appears at the beginning and the end to report on the situation in Russia.
* ''Film/Dune1984'': Adapting the plot of the book was so complex and so much of it was cut from the movie that Miss and Mr Exposition were required: Princess Irulan before the credits, explaining the general setting, and after the credits, the secret report within the guild giving the context for the next scene.
* The Thing in ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer''.
-->"Okay. We're now officially enemies of the United States of America. Victor is out there somewhere with unlimited power. And we've got a giant intergalactic force that's about to destroy our planet in less than twenty-four hours. Did I miss anything?"
* In ''Film/FatalInstinct'', secretary Laura Lincolnberry explains the situation in great detail to her boss Ned Ravine.
* ''Film/{{Godmothered}}'': Agnes magically makes her face appear in a grandfather clock to tell Eleanor that Moira knows she's gone. Later, she appears again to tell Eleanor that if she doesn't come back to the Motherland, she will lose her magic.
* Much of Dr. Serizawa’s screentime in ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' is devote to him providing backstory for Godzilla along with the Mutos, and how to potentially stop them.
** In the [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 2019 sequel]], this role is given to Dr. Ilene Chen. Being able to provide lengthy exposition dumps about {{Kaiju}} on a moment's notice seems to be a prerequisite for working with Monarch.
* ''Film/{{Gooby}}'': The kid that sits next to Willy outside during his first lunch there just provides basic information about various kids in the school.
* In ''Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper'', as Miss Piggy interviews for a job, Lady Holiday goes on at length about her prized jewels and her troublesome brother -- both key plot points. This is then [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the following exchange:
-->'''Miss Piggy:''' Why are you telling me all this?\\
'''Lady Holiday:''' It's plot exposition. It has to go somewhere.
* ''Film/GuyanaCrimeOfTheCentury'': Johnson's opening sermon is entirely devoted to setting up the premise of his group's move to South America, complete with Johnson unveiling a map of Guyana to show them where they're headed.
* Most of Captain Elliot Spencer's role in ''Film/HellraiserIIIHellOnEarth'' consists of telling Joey how Pinhead Unbound came to be, and providing instructions to bring him back to him.
* [[Creator/ElliotPage Ariadne]] from ''Film/{{Inception}}'' came off as improbably perceptive because of a somewhat borderline example of this trope.
* ''Film/JamesBond'':
** "M".
** Tanner in some movies, notably ''Film/{{Goldeneye}}''.
** In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Mathis plays the role during the TabletopGame/{{poker}} scenes, explaining what is going on to Vesper. Later, Felix Leiter briefly plays the role [[spoiler:by offering to "stake" Bond and then promptly explaining what "stake" means when he looks confused.]]
* ''Film/JurassicPark1993'':
** Donald Gennaro's first two scenes have him explain the reasoning for the visit to the park, one of which is done under the guise of him reminding John Hammond that the trip isn't a vacation, but an investigation. After this, he has relatively little to do.
** Mr. DNA, an anthropomorphic cartoon strand of DNA who explains to the audience just ''how'' they were able to clone the dinosaurs from their DNA, as part of the park's in-universe welcome film.
--->''"A DNA strand, like me, is the blueprint for buildin' a livin' thing. And sometimes, animals that went extinct millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints for us to find. We just had to know where to look!"''
* ''Film/KindergartenCop'' has a "Miss Exposition" delivering a very quick setup at the very beginning as the [[RedShirt guy]] pushes [[HeKnowsTooMuch her]] into a hiding place -- he already knows what he's going to tell the BigBad so there's no reason she should be saying this except to fill the audience in.
-->'''Girl:''' I mean his wife took his kid and a couple of million...
* In ''Film/TheLastWitchHunter'', Kaulder often provides information about the world of the film to Chloe and 37th Dolan, who are both new to the job.
* ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'':
** In addition to providing keys when needed, the Keymaker provides a great deal of information to Our Heroes about the bomb-trapped office building with many doors (and how to break into it).
** The Architect, who did almost nothing but spout exposition.
* ''Film/MidwinterNightsDream'' has the teacher at Jovana's special needs school, who explains autism to Lazar.
* ''Film/MissionImpossible'': The [[TheVoice nameless voice]] (presumably the Secretary) who provided the tape-recorded briefings.
* Ardeth Bey in ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', which actually is quite at odds with his characterization in the first film. As Stephen Sommers says on the commentary track, "In the first film Ardeth Bey was this cool, mysterious character. Here he's just a chatterbox. Every chance he gets, it's just wave after wave of exposition." In fact, he refers to the character as Mr. Exposition. There's some exposition provided by him in the first one, too. For example, the very crucial fact that [[ImmuneToBullets you can't shoot Imhotep]]. And the entire prologue.
* The psychic in ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' helpfully explains the whole plot up front. [[TooDumbToLive The other characters don't really pay attention to him]].
* Captain Steiger in ''Film/{{Patton}}''. He is a German officer assigned to research U.S. General George S Patton for the Nazi high command. Screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola said in the DVD commentary he invented the character as a way of giving out biographical information about Patton to the audience.
* Mr. Gibbs in the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series seems to exist primarily to tell Will about Jack's backstory or pirate lore. He takes it very personally when ThoseTwoGuys, Pintel and Ragetti, try to do his job for him.
* Toward the end of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' a psychiatrist named Dr. Richmond shows up. He's a OneSceneWonder whose only purpose in the story is to give a long monologue explaining the backstory and the various pathologies of Norman Bates.
* Grave-Robber from ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera''. His song, "Zydrate Anatomy", introduces himself, Amber Sweet, Blind Mag, some AppliedPhlebotinum in the form of zydrate, the veritable epidemic of surgery addiction, and reveals the first of Rotti Largo's many, many plots.
** And before that, there's 'Genetic Repo Man' and '21st Century Cure,' both of which go over the basics of the world they live in, explaining the role of Repo Men and some facts about the circumstances that led to the Repo Men coming into existence.
* ''Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration'': Since he's been in similar situations before, Leon S. Kennedy takes this role in Capcom's ([[GodModeSue Alice]]-free!) CG film. That said, he still gets to kick more ass than every other character combined.
* Creator/BobHope in ''Film/RoadToMorocco'' when they are locked up in a jail cell:
-->'''Hope:''' A fine thing. First, you sell me for two hundred bucks. Then I'm gonna marry the Princess; then you cut in on me. Then we're carried off by a desert sheikh. Now, we're gonna have our heads chopped off.\\
'''Crosby:''' I know all that.\\
'''Hope:''' Yeah, but the people who came in the middle of the picture don't.\\
'''Crosby:''' You mean they missed my song?
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}''
** Mr. Universe to the point where Creator/JossWhedon refers to him as The King of Exposition in the DVD commentary.
** And River's imaginary/remembered/dreamed teacher explaining about Earth-That-Was and the Alliance and her class commenting on the Reavers.
* ''Film/{{Sinister}}'' features Vincent D'Onofrio as a daemon expert who informs the main character, played by Ethan Hawke, that the daemon who is giving him problems is named Bughuul. This has led to WebVideo/RedLetterMedia referring to him as "Skype Exposition Man" in several of their videos after their review of the film because he only exists on Skype, and only exists to give Ethan Hawke's character exposition.
* In ''Film/Siren2010'', the primary function of the man who rents the main characters the yacht is to explain the legend of the siren.
* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'': Daniel Jackson is often this. He's used to translate the hieroglyphics that explain the basic plot, then explains how the gate targeting works, then later he explains to everyone the backstory of the uprising against Ra on Earth after Sha'uri helps him read the "writing on the wall".
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Ric Olié in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' has dialogue that consists entirely of exposition such as "That little droid did it, he bypassed the main power drive!"
** Same thing with Admiral Ackbar in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' ("It's a trap!")
** Obi-Wan Kenobi's main role in the original trilogy, besides dying dramatically, is to provide backstory on Anakin Skywalker, and even then he initially leaves out one very crucial detail.
* The author in ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''.
* Tim (John's friend) from ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' exists only so John has a person to mention what happened to his mother to. Once he's filled that purpose, he [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse vanishes off the face of the earth.]] John himself then somewhat nestles into this role, as he tells the T-800 (and by extension the audience) a ''lot'' of backstory and information.
* ''Film/TheresaAndAllison'': The vampire who orients Theresa after she's turned, Mary Solenz, serves as one to her and also the audience, explaining things about how vampires work along with their society.
* Jetfire in ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' just ''does not shut up''. His exposition after being introduced is a good portion of the remainder of his on-screen appearance. When he first meets Sam and Mikaela, he rants a solid 2 minutes about the most nonsensical old man banter, like his father being the ''first wheel made in the Stone Age'', and his problems with his mother. Later, he explains almost the entirety of Cybertron's history before the Great War, and only stops when [[spoiler: he sacrifices himself to become a MagicMushroom to Optimus]].
* In ''Film/WaynesWorld'', Wayne and Garth run into a security guard (played by Creator/ChrisFarley) backstage at a concert who proceeds to give detailed info about a record executive that ends up being important later. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] immediately afterwards when Wayne says to camera, "You know for a security guard he had an awful lot of information, don't you think?"
* Wes Craven in ''Film/WesCravensNewNightmare'' serves to explain the entire plot to Heather Langenkamp (and by extension the audience). He tells her about the Entity that has taken on the form of Freddy Krueger, that it has been released due to the end of the movie series and is trying to cross over into reality, and that Heather is the only one who can stop him.
* ''Film/YouMightBeTheKiller'' has Chuck, who spends the movie explaining horror tropes to Sam over the phone. She even refers to herself at one point as serving as a source of exposition.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Erek King from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. Originally a one-shot ContestWinnerCameo, he evolved into an AscendedExtra and later into this. Years after the series ended, Applegate candidly admitted in interviews that she'd gotten too reliant on using Erek as an expository device.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':
** ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'': Mr. Tumnus, and later the Beavers, play this role for the Pevensies.
** ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'': Uncle Andrew plays this role initially, until Jadis enters the story and assumes the role.
** ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'': Cornelius, Caspian's tutor outlines how Narnia changed from the situation in the previous book to the current book, and the true nature of Caspian's uncle Miraz.
* ''Literature/ColtRegan'': Joseph Cin is a bog standard example, all things considered.
* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/{{Cyteen}}'' and ''Regenesis'', the first Ariane Emory acts as Ms. Exposition for the second, via pre-prepared programs on Base One left for her successor. In ''Regenesis'', the second Ariane Emory begins leaving records for ''her'' successor in a similar manner.
* In Creator/SusanCooper's ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'' sequence, this role usually falls to Merriman Lyon: he explains their quests to the Drews in ''Literature/OverSeaUnderStone'' and ''Literature/{{Greenwitch}}'', and acts as Will's {{Mentor|s}} in ''The Dark is Rising''. (In ''Literature/TheGreyKing'', however, the job mostly falls to Will.)
* ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode''
** Robert Langdon of seems to be this at times, which creates the weird situation of the [[InvertedTrope protagonist dumping exposition on the side characters]].
** And Sir Leigh Teabing at others.
* In the Literature/{{Deryni}} works, just as there many people who take the part of TheWatson at different times, the part of this trope gets split among many characters, justified by the various levels of experience they have, particularly with regard to the magic.
** Morgan and Duncan share this role as they prepare the early stages of Kelson's empowering ritual, complete with a demonstration when Morgan attunes his gryphon signet ring to Duncan so his cousin can use it to retrieve Brion's written ritual verse.
** Duncan explains to an anxious Nigel about the rules for arcane combat during Kelson's coronation duel with Charissa in ''Deryni Rising''.
** Arilan can be very forthcoming, and he is among the most highly trained of Deryni, since his family have successfully hidden their magic for over two centuries. However, his long experience with the Camberian Council (his elder brother Jamyl and his uncle Seisyll were members before him) means he's apt to keep things to himself. The night Morgan and Duncan arranged for Kelson and Dhugal to experience ''merasha'' under controlled conditions, Arilan produces [[spoiler: the very flask of drugged wine used to in Brion's assassination four years previously, which Arilan retrieved that day]]. Kelson goes white, Nigel gasps, Duncan crosses himself, and Morgan goes for Arilan's throat, only just pulling up short to clench his fist near Arilan's face.
* The ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' books always have someone to spout off exposition about dinosaurs and contemporary plants. Bertram, a dinosaur geek fascinated by the TimeTravel, makes sense; Janine, with only mild interest in the era, knowing about ankylosaurs and [[{{Gasshole}} gas]] less so. [[CoolTeacher Mr. London]] calling out exposition about big predatory dinosaurs while cringing in the mud is kind of jarring. Most of the other characters don't know a lot about these topics.
* In ''Literature/DragonQueen'', the old man gives a fair amount of exposition. How much it can be trusted is up for debate.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' this is the main role of the knowledge spirit Bob, with Harry asking "What was that thing that [[WeirdnessMagnet just attacked me]]?" happening roughly [[OncePerEpisode Once Per Book]]. According to the author, he made Bob inhabit a skull as a joke on a nickname possessed by characters who exist only to explain things -- "talking heads". Harry himself also gets to exposit about magic a lot when he's around mundanes.
* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'''s resident nerdy motormouth, Shinra Kishitani, is usually the first to offer any sort of explanation as of the weirder elements of the series such as "how can Celty see, hear and smell if she has no head" or "[[MusclesAreMeaningless how can Shizuo be so damn skinny and so damn strong at the same time?]]" The only one whoever seems particularly interested in Shinra's hypotheses are Shinra himself, so his explanations are typically either ignored (by Celty) or interrupted with physical harm (by [[VitriolicBestBuds Shizuo]]).
* ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': Most of Zahra's dialogue in ''Furyborn'' and ''Kingsbane'' is to explain to Eliana about the ways of the Old World. This is helpful, not just for Eliana (who thought the stories of the Old World where just that: stories), but also for the reader.
* Tabitha's butler in ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'' spends about five unbroken minutes spilling Tabitha's back story to someone he'd never even heard of before who just happened to show up with Tabitha at her mansion. He may be doing this to counteract Tabitha's tendency not to explain anything whatsoever.
* In C.S. Lewis's ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', one of the ghosts that the narrator meets on the bus tells him how Hell works and why it's so empty (Everyone arrives at the same place, but since nobody can get along with anyone else, they quickly move away, and spread through the town), as lead-up to his point about why he's going up (most things in Hell can be gotten simply by imagining them, so he wants to go to Heaven to get ahold of something that can be called a commodity and use economics to force people to stay together).
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** Dumbledore fills this role quite a bit. [[spoiler:From ''beyond the grave'', at one point!]] He basically turns up in some inexplicable magical phenomenon that is barely even given a HandWave, and says 'Hi, here's a hastily thrown-together explanation to tie up ALL the loose ends so far, by the way, [[spoiler: you're not really dead, go finish off the plot now,]] ya big ol' protagonist.'
** Hermione does this on occasion, filling Ron and Harry in on some unknown magic they encounter -- especially when it's information that can be learned from reading books or paying attention in class, which they tend not to do.
** Ron usually fills Harry and Hermione (who were both raised by Muggles) in on aspects of Wizard culture that he learned by growing up in it.
** Occasionally, Harry explains to the both of them some new info on the plot, but usually he just sums up Dumbledore's long speeches into neat little packages for the sake of the readers. This tends to distribute the buttload of exposition rather nicely.
* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' hangs a lampshade on this; Kyon, the sarcastic narrator, constantly tells Koizumi, the Mr. Exposition character, that he talks too much and no one cares what he has to say.
* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Gandalf takes on this role in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', particularly in "Shadow of the Past" and "The Council of Elrond". (In the latter chapter, however, the role alternates between the various attendees.) Notably, as soon as Gandalf's research leads him to conclude that Bilbo and Frodo's little ring is in fact the ''One'' Ring, he goes straight back to Bag End and tells Frodo absolutely everything he needs to know about it.
* Anos Voldigoad, the eponymous "Misfit" of ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'' is ''very'' fond of doing this to allies and enemies alike. For context, he was an extremely powerful and infamous Demon King who died 2,000 years ago and after reincarnating in the present-day with his powers and memories intact, he has discovered that technology, magic, and much of the world's history have been lost or outright mangled. In combat, he is all too happy to explain to his opponents exactly why their countermeasures, ambushes, and attacks are having zero effect on him. Outside of it, he is all too eager to go into lengthy explanations about magic and the world to set the record straight and because he's also a proud, arrogant individual who ''knows'' he's objectively right all the time.
* In ''Literature/QualiaThePurple'', Tenjou is the one who introduces most of the [[UsefulNotes/QuantumPhysics physics concepts]] relevant for the story, which is understandable considering her position.
* Seijirō Kikuoka/Chrysheight from ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' debuts in the CompilationMovie as a person as a government agent who actively demands an exposition and then gives ones in return. He and [[TheHero Kirito]] make a field trip over this trope whenever they're onscreen together.
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': TheProfessor Aronnax and Captain Nemo take turns at it.
* Shizuno fills this role in the first episode for ''Literature/WorldBreakAriaOfCurseForAHolySwordsman'', when explaining how the coliseum is in a different dimension than the school. Therefore any damage they suffer there doesn't transfer over when they go back. She also explains to Moroha about how summoning weapons works after Ranjou and Isurugi summon theirs.
%% * John Schuyler Moore in ''Literature/TheAlienist''.
%% * In the ''Literature/HIVESeries'', Laura and [=H.I.V.E.mind=] share this role.
%% * ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Happens a number of times with Plutarch Heavensbee.
* The newscasters from ''Literature/InTheYear2050AmericasReligiousCivilWar'' frequently break up the action to discuss events over 30-years-old.
* Mike Hanlon in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{IT}}''. Being the only member of the Lucky Seven who stayed in Derry, and therefore the only one who remembers anything at all about what happened when they were kids, Mike is something of an exposition god in the book. Not only does he provide exposition to his friends little by little, his journal entries provide exposition as to the history of It, and whenever another character gets to do some expositioning they generally turn to Mike and ask if whatever they just stated is correct. Interestingly enough, it works. Contagious amnesia can apparently be a wonderful exposition tool so long as someone is immune.
* ''Literature/LookingBackward'': Dr. Leete. He explains to Julian West everything that's changed so he'll adjust into the future US.
* ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'': The story is dispensing exposition ''very'' grudgingly and in small packets, but what little we get usually comes from Shuos Jedao explaining something to Cheris.
* Justified with [[PosthumousCharacter Atsuko]] in ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''. Given that the story is taking place in the world of ''[[FictionalVideoGame Fortune Lover]]'' (a game that she's played to 100% completion), she's able to fill in details for routes that Catarina didn't get the chance to play via flashbacks to her giving spoilers. [[spoiler:Even her BigDamnHeroes moment boils down to her spirit giving Catarina spoilers about the secret route.]]
* In Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/TheMysteriousMrQuin'', Mr Satterthwaite has a talent for describing the backstory lucidly and with the occasional poetic touch, and is frequently called on to exercise it. Played with a bit in that this is also his main detective talent; in the course of describing the situation to another character (and to the audience), he will often notice a detail or correlation of details that points to the solution.
* ''Literature/{{Noob}}'':
** Arthéon fills this role due to being the one the most interested in the game's background. Sometimes Omega Zell needs to get him to stop talking. Ivy and Couette fill this role in his absence and are better at only giving the information needed to understand the current situation and nothing else.
** The setting being a fictional {{MMORPG}}, plenty of {{Non Player Character}}s are this.
* ''Literature/OrionFirstEncounter'': Sam spends most of her time trying to explain how the universe works to the crew if the Orion. Usually this happens with a straightforward explanation, followed by BlankStare, followed by some kind of LaymansTerms.
* ''Literature/RavellingWrath'': When Yali is chosen to be the Farseer, the Waiting God grants her access to all of the memories of dozens of previous Farseers. This gives her enormous amounts of information about the setting and history, which she doesn't hesitate to share.
* Several characters in ''Literature/{{Redshirts}}''. Lampshaded in that, whenever the Narrative takes control, random information about the plot at hand will pop into a character's head, whether or not they have any way of knowing that information, and they will even sometimes automatically say it out loud to their own surprise.
* ''Literature/SnowCrash'': The Librarian is an expensive computer program owned by the protagonist that is literally an anthropomorphization of all the world's collected information and knowledge, sort of like a talking 200x-size Wikipedia. Its sole purpose is basically to tell the protagonist the complicated plot. There are chapters nearly entirely filled with nothing but the Librarian expositioning.
* Winter Celchu, Leia's aide in the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', tends to fulfill this when she has more than one line of dialogue at a time. Why? [[PhotographicMemory Holographic memory]].
* The ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'' series has each member of TheTeam provide exposition on one area, so as to fulfill its edutainment mandate. The anime downplayed most of these, but mainly as a side effect of CompressedAdaptation.
** The only example of this trope being retained in the anime is that of [[EncyclopaedicKnowledge Kozuka]], who has the tendency to provide this on factoids that may or may not be relevant to the case on hand, particularly scientific ones.
** Wakatake often provides information on law, particularly about what actions broke which clauses of the Japanese Criminal Code.
** Uesuka is already GoodAtNumbers, but as the son of doctors, he's the one to provide medical backgrounders.
** Aya, as the CunningLinguist, exposits on different languages.
** Nanaki, as the TechnoWizard, provides expositions on computer science.
* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'', the Librarian is this in the first book and its sequel.
* In Simon Hawke's ''Literature/TimeWars'' books, this role normally falls to Moses Forrester in his initial mission briefings to the [[TimePolice Time Commandos]].
* Scout, in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' takes on this role. Even her brother Jem is more a part of the plot than she is.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheUglyLittleBoy": Dr Hoskins is both the Director of Stasis Incorporated and the person Miss Fellowes learns the most from. His narrative role is to provide answers, but the way several of these answers are provided round out his characterization and deepen their [[TheNotLoveInterest not romantic relationship]].
* [[HerrDoktor Professor Sanft]] in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', who explains a lot of the backstory of the setting to protagonist John Rumford (and thus, also to the audience). Later, Rumford himself echoes him when [[WelcomedToTheMasquerade welcoming]] a new character to the masquerade.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Robert Jordan had stated that several times characters are guessing when giving exposition so you can never tell which Forsaken is the strongest (especially between men and women), or how the hell Mat's dagger actually works. The best example, is in ''Crown of Swords'', where the Aes Sedai accompanying Elayne, and Nynaeve, tell her the Kin are a small group of women who help runaways, and the Aes Sedai use them to find the runaways. Later in the book [[spoiler: it becomes clear that while the Aes Sedai are successfully using the Kin at least now and then, they are completely mistaken about the size of the group, when the leaders of the Kin explain that they number about 2,000.]]
* Herman Wouk's massive two-volume DoorStopper, ''Literature/TheWindsOfWarAndWarAndRemembrance'', includes excerpts from a history of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII written by a fictional German general, who provides brief summaries of the war's major battles and events, so that the reader will know what is going on in the chapters that follow.
* ''Literature/TheWorldInside'' Charles Mattern, in the book's first chapter, is this.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* At the beginning of every ''Series/AlloAllo'' episode, Rene breaks the FourthWall to explain to the viewer what's been going on. In one subversion he starts off by discussing the doings of some of the townspeople, before saying "You have never met these people, nor are you ever likely to. I am simply giving you the local gossip because with my own affairs I don't know where to start."
* Hannibal on ''Series/TheATeam'' would explain the bad guys' plot to the rest of the A-Team ''and'' the audience in every single episode. In the Season 2 finale, "Curtain Call," when [[spoiler:Murdock]] gets shot in the shoulder, Hannibal spends the majority of a scene explaining why bits of cloth and such caught in the bullet hole were more likely to cause an infection than than the bullet itself. Then he explains what would happen to [[spoiler:Murdock]]'s body as the infection begins if they cannot get supplies in time.
* In ''Series/AuctionKings'', the experts will usually give a detailed history of the piece they're looking at. If there's no history to be found, they'll explain why that is.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' : Delenn; whenever she begins a speech with, [[AsYouKnow "As you know,"]] expect a recap of the whole season thus far.
* Dietrich in ''Series/BarneyMiller'' was TheSmartGuy and a RenaissanceMan, so when the squad encountered things like an amygdalectomy patient, a heart attack, or an ''atomic bomb'', he was usually the one to provide relevant detail. It became a RunningGag; as soon as a visitor said an unfamiliar word, Barney would turn to Dietrich with resignation. (Also played with, such as the episode {{Tontine}} where ''Wojo'' pipes up with the definition -- because Dietrich told him on the way over.)
* Col. Tigh in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' often performs the role of Mr. Exposition, although in one episode, President Roslin subverts this by annoyedly thanking him for his insight. Anders managed to be one of these for one episode, finally explaining what the deal with the Final Five was, as well as some background on the Cylons in general. This being BSG, everything was working against him, and only got about halfway through it. Cavil filled a somewhat similar role in the same episode, but he also didn't spill the beans completely.
* On the reality television front, there are scenes on the show ''Series/BillyTheExterminator'' that are clearly meant to explain things to the viewer but the way they are explained come in unnatural situations, such as explaining the consequences of not getting rid of a pest to his mother, who not only should already know this, but is the one giving him the assignment from the office. There are also times when Billy and his brother, who also works for the company, are explaining things to each other that they should already know.
* ''Series/{{Brass}}'' parodied this at every opportunity. Any character could and would exposit, usually ending the speech "...as you well know".
* Giles from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In the dream sequence episode "Restless" he even gets to deliver the exposition in the form of a song.
** Which is exactly what he's trained to do for many years. Watchers are supposed to tell the Slayer how to kill the evil monster.
*** Ex-watcher Wesley filled this role on ''Series/{{Angel}}'', though the science stuff was shared with Fred.
*** Deconstructed with Andrew in an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}''. He explains "vampyres" and the nature of Slayers to Angel and his team, much to their annoyance as they already know pretty much everything.
** In later seasons, Willow, Tara, and Anya filled this role sometimes, especially if Giles wasn't around -- Willow and Tara would exposit about magic, Anya about demons she met in her [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld thousand-year lifespan]].
** Dawn was heading this way in Season 7. She even referred to herself as "Junior Watcher" in the finale.
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' practically ran on this trope, with Michael providing exposition via an 'as a spy...' voiceover explaining Team Westen's actions at least once every episode.
* ''Series/CharliesAngels'': The original bad boy of exposition, TheVoice himself, Charlie.
* On ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', this job most-often falls to General Beckman.
* In ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', Professor Valery Legasov spends a lot of time explaining how nuclear energy works and the details of what went wrong in Chernobyl and why. Mostly he is explaining to Shcherbina, the Soviet bureaucrat who's been sent to supervise the response to the accident but doesn't know the technical details (much like the audience).
* Dr. Reid does this often in ''Series/CriminalMinds''.
* Captain Jim Brass, the Homicide detective from ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has been affectionately nicknamed "Captain Exposition" by the fandom, even though all he does is deliver factual data on the victim du jour (such as name, occupation, family, circumstances of death...).
** Many of the others as well,on all three shows.
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor frequently has a traveling companion from modern Earth who would be in the dark if the Doctor didn't explain everything. That seems to be the main function of the cohort; a "Watson" to his "Sherlock".
** Notoriously, the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester [=McCoy=] used to hand off the technobabble to his assistant, Ace, who would deliver the exposition in the form of a question, allowing the Doctor to a) avoid learning his lines, and b) nod wisely and say "That's right, Ace. You're learning."
** This trope itself is mentioned by Missy in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime the end of Season 10]] as she says that Bill and Nardol are her companions, Exposition and [[ComedicReliefCharacters Comic Relief]].
** Lampshaded in the Peter Capaldi episode "[[Recap/DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas Last Christmas]]", when Santa Claus starts explaining what is happening, prompting the Doctor to shout, "Line in the sand! I do the scientific explanations!"
* ''Series/FantasyIsland'': Mr Roarke telling Tattoo the guests' backstories.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Jorah Mormont; at least in the first season, as a seasoned advisor and {{mentor}}, he mainly exists to inform Daenerys, who is a newcomer, and us about the customs of the Dothraki and other such things. He also takes on this role in Season 3, alongside Missandei. Fully aware of this, the producers even refer to him jokingly as "Jorah the Explorer."
** Petyr Baelish is also a big vehicle for exposition.
*** Petyr really takes this role and runs with it like he's training for the exposition Olympics in [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E6AGoldenCrown S1E6]], in the scene where he advises Ned about the Mountain, dropping AsYouKnow and CaptainObvious statements left and right. He even feels the need to point out the sigil of Ned's ''wife's'' house to him, which, given the importance of heraldry in Westeros, and the prominence of House Tully in the social order would be like saying "The swoosh. That's the symbol of Nike. Doesn't your wife work there?"
** Jojen explains Bran's powers in his second scene, after two whole seasons went with little to no explanation.
** Salladhor explains Stannis's post-Blackwater situation to the recently rescued Davos in the Season 3 premiere.
* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'': The show used written text at the opening titles, explaining the political situation or the situation at sea. Additionally in "The Even Chance", Midshipman Archie Kennedy explains Horatio and the audience his view on UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and present situation in France ("Louis was captured just before Christmas. What do you think they'll do with him? [[DramaticIrony You can't kill a King]]." -- Oh, Archie!). He also informs us later that the French has killed their king.
* Future Ted in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', usually in order to provide shortcuts to the main plot of an episode by pausing the action to explain a bit of essential backstory to his kids. Varies a ''lot'' in its delivery, sometimes segueing to a series of flashbacks or cutaway gags to explain something, sometimes tossing in a tidbit of relevant information (e.g., stopping to tell his kids that Marshall had a temporary filling put in that day, which wasn't seen in the episode, so that the story makes sense).
* Winston in ''Series/HumanTarget''. Mostly justified, since there's a new mission every week, and someone's got to fill Chance in on the details. There is a certain amount of "Remember, once you get inside..." purely for the audience's benefit though. He's also usually working MissionControl, so it's not his only job.
* ''Series/ICarly'': Wendy. Tells the gang that another TV show is stealing their bits. Explains that Freddie gave up a sea trip to get rid of Carly's old friend who was trying to break them up.
* On ''Series/ImpracticalJokers'', at times each of the guys will explain what's happening to the audience, especially when it involves in-jokes between themselves. However, Murr seems to take the role of MrExposition on himself more often than the others, either speaking directly to camera or using thinly veiled "conversation" with the other guys, [[AsYouKnow telling them things they clearly already know]].
* Gillian Foster in ''Series/LieToMe'', usually to explain the academic aspect behind detecting emotion to Ria Torres, but to the extent that it often sounds like a textbook excerpt.
* ''Series/Loki2021'' has Miss Minutes, a cartoon clock that serves as the mascot of the [=TVA=]. When Loki arrives at their headquarters, a video is played for him where she explains [[TimePolice the Time Variance Authority,]] [[TimeMaster the Time-Keepers]] and [[Main/TheMultiverse the idea of -- and dangers of -- branching timelines.]]
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** Daniel Faraday fits the bill, though he doesn't quite know ''everything''. Nor does he tell all that he ''does'' know. Nor does he think everybody else would ''understand'' if he tried. After the episode "The Variable", [[spoiler: he becomes a ''posthumous'' Mr. Exposition once his journal outlives him]].
** In Season 5, his mysterious mother [[spoiler:Eloise Hawking]] suddenly turns into this. "316" opens with a ''huge'' lecture by her about how the Island was found, why it's so hard to find the Island, what they need to do to return... followed by a shorter scene where she tells Jack even more detail about why he has to return...
* ''Series/{{Lost Girl}}'' has Trick, who is constantly consulting his collection of ancient books to explain what is going on.
* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' has Gaius, the old court physician. He rarely ever has a line that isn't explaining something to someone. Sometimes the dragon gets in on this trope as well.
* Joel and the Robots of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' humorously pointed this out while watching a movie, labeling two cop characters "Sergeant Exposition" and "Captain Backstory".
* ''Series/MythQuest'''s Max Asher is one. He is a professor of either Egyptology or archaeology, but he explains to BrotherSisterTeam Alex and Cleo anything they need to know about any myth they encounter.
* Henry from ''Series/OnceUponATime'' is constantly spelling things out. At first, it made sense for him to be explaining things to protagonist Emma, but now it's just straight up talking to the audience.
* ''Series/OutOfThisWorld1962'': "[[Recap/OutOfThisWorldLittleLostRobot Little Lost Robot]]": Mr Black and [[TheWatson Walensky]] are [[AscendedExtra more prominent in this adaptation]], and the story uses this expansion to have Mr Black rant about more things, such as [[JustAMachine how terrible robots are]], and how Dr Calvin thinks she's got a new [[BluffTheImpostor test for the robots]].
* Some of the discussion about the history of an item or company on ''Series/PawnStars'' is clearly designed to give insight to the viewer, particularly in situations where it seems both the broker and the customer should already know what they're being told about the item.
* This was Zordon's role in the first few seasons of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', summoning the Rangers in order to tell them about the MonsterOfTheWeek that they would have to fight.
* The titular character of the kids game show ''Series/{{Raven}}'' is this, seeing as he is the host.
* Holly and Kryten in ''Series/RedDwarf''. Note the redundancy; the producers did, and when they needed to get rid of a character for the sixth season, Holly was PutOnABus with the rationale that the exposition could be given to Kryten. The writers later found themselves in the same position again, when the newly-introduced Kochanski became Ms. Exposition, and Kryten was relegated to the servile mother-figure that he'd grown out of over the course of the series.
** They never really explained why a robot programmed to clean toilets was an expert on [=GELFs=] and time dilation in the first place; although this could (and WordOfGod says ''does'') explain why Lister remembers the defunct timeline from "White Hole" in "Demons & Angels", when the former episode ends with Kryten explaining he won't.
** Lampshaded in one of the show's "blooper" compilations where host Kryten testily responds to a viewer question about his getting a fact wrong in the episode "DNA", something along the lines of "I'm sorry, I must have been absent the day they gave the lecture on cellular genetics at Toilet University! In other words, ''I made a MISTAKE, OK?!"''
* All the main characters on ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'' not called Paige Deneen or Cabe Gallo are this, for the benefit of the audience who otherwise wouldn't have a clue what they're up to that episode.
* Alfred Gogh and Miles Millar cast Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' because of her "rare ability to deliver large chunks of expositionary dialogue conversationally."
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has a complete and energetic crew of Exposition People, ready to service your every plot related need. We have:
** Samantha Carter, for technological and astronomical info;
** Daniel Jackson, for historical, linguistic and cultural info;
** In the earlier seasons, Teal'c for Goa'uld and Jaffa info;
** And of course we have Jack O'Neill, for all your smart-to-layman translation needs.
** Colonel Mitchell even got in on this, excitedly describing the relevant bits of previous missions when similar situations arise. The in-universe explanation is that he read all of SG-1's mission reports while he was in the hospital recovering from an injury acquired while saving [=SG-1's=] asses in the Season 7 finale. This is most definitely for the audience's benefit since the people he's usually talking to -- Teal'c, Sam, and Daniel -- were all actually there for those missions.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Data was the main choice for any {{Technobabble}} plot exposition, although really nearly any character on the various ''Star Trek'' shows was at some time forced into that role.
** Once she had been added to the show, Guinan became the mouth through which the writers often introduced backstory information, i.e. about the Q, the Borg, etc.
** Usually, Data and Geordi did technical exposition, Worf what another ship is about to do/is doing/did, and Troi the emotional state or motives of whatever grouchy alien they ran into that week. In RealLife, exposition to the CO is what each section [[JustifiedTrope is supposed to be doing]].
** Subverted with Data sometimes in that for a long time, Data did not know when it was appropriate (or not) to do the infodumpage.
** Data {{lampshade}}s this in the second part of the very first episode, While reminding the crew of something they should already know, he interrupts himself to say "I'm sorry, sir -- I seem to be ''commenting'' on everything."
** Avoided entirely with Troi because her empathetic suggestions were universally uselessly vague. (e.g. "Troi, can you tell why they might be shooting laser death missiles at us?" "I sense... Pain. Pain... and anger.")
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Spock the OmnidisciplinaryScientist usually filled this role -- including much knowledge about history. In the fourth movie ''The Voyage Home'', he's aware of the "colorful metaphors" used on 20th-century Earth.
** One exchange in the episode "I, Mudd":
--->'''Spock:''' Whatever method we use to stop them, we must make haste. They have only to install some cybernetic devices aboard the ''Enterprise'', and they'll be able to leave orbit.\\
'''[=McCoy=]:''' How do you know so much?\\
'''Spock:''' I asked them.\\
'''[=McCoy=]:''' ... Oh.
** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]", Spock gives an infodump about the history of the long-ago war between the Federation and the Romulan Empire and the current situation between the two governments.
* All the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' characters have been this at some point, although recently it's been mostly Bobby being the sensible one (most notably, ''Tall Tales'' and ''Dream a Little Dream of Me'') and doing the explaining.
* In ''Series/{{Switched}}'', Ukon is an "expert" on the red moon phenomenon. She keeps track of the moon's phases and how the "unique terrain" affects the phenomenon. She is the person who explains the Ayumi what has happened to her, as well as the fact that [[spoiler:she cannot merely undo the switch by killing herself in front of Umine]].
* Lois Habiba in ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth''. The series attracted many viewers who were unfamiliar with the previous two series, and Lois served to explain the origins of the Torchwood Institute to these new viewers.
* ''Series/TrailerParkBoys'': The character of Sara on the Canadian comedy series served this function in the early seasons, explaining many of the goings-on in the trailer park and putting things into context for the audience. Her doing this was [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the series being framed as a documentary filmed by a camera crew following the main characters around, so it only made sense that the documentary crew would try and find a way to explain things to the audience.
* CJ Cregg, the White House press secretary on ''Series/TheWestWing''. She patiently reports every single piece of news, including those with not the slightest connection to the US Government.
* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'':
-->'''Colin Mochrie:''' Finally, I caught up with you! I'm a mob hitman... They call me Jimmy the Exposition.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' has both Avi and the Director provide a good deal of exposition to the Tres Horny Boys.
* ''Podcast/LiveFromMountOlympus'' has Hermes, who narrates the tale and introduces the cast (and some spoilers on occasion), while Atlas tells Perseus about the Titanomachy and the downfall of Cronus.
* The crew of ''Podcast/MissionToZyxx'' includes protocol droid C-53 who is responsible for briefing the crew on the specifics of the planets they're exploring and people they're meeting. Given the improv nature of the show most of this exposition is dispensed post facto.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''-based ''[[https://glasscannonpodcast.com/podcasts/the-glass-cannon/ The Glass Cannon Podcast]]'' features an NPC named "Thomas Exposition".
* ''Podcast/ResidentsOfProserpinaPark'' usually has Sam or Dog be the one to explain the stories and lore behind the various inhabitants of the park.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* The announcers during a match exist to give exposition. They have to explain the holds being used, recap any pertinent information regarding the match, possibly hype any upcoming matches (usually the main event of the show), and be entertaining while doing all of it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Amusingly, ''TableTopGame/TheDresdenFiles'' role-playing game has a skill called Exposition and Knowledge Dumping, a sub-skill of Scholarship. On a successful use, the GameMaster can "borrow" the PlayerCharacter in order to turn him into a Mr. Exposition about the relevant subject. This actually cuts the middleman out of the traditional RPG knowledge skill check, which usually amounts to "Player makes Knowledge check, GM {{Info Dump}}s, Player says 'Okay, I relate this to everyone else'."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' subverts this; on the way back from a job, Enzo decides to speak out loud about Bayonetta's nature of having to kill angels every day or she'll be dragged down to hell while she figures out her lost past. A mildly annoyed Bayonetta snaps at him [[AsYouKnow for telling her her own life's story]]. He talks about her backstory ''again'' at the beginning of the [[VideoGame/Bayonetta2 the second installment,]] but she ignores him.
* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', a decent-sized chunk of the worldbuilding comes from the descriptions Eddie gives when you use his EnemyScan skill.
* In ''VideoGame/TheComaCuttingClass'', this is Yaesol's initial function in the plot. She calmly explains to Youngho that he is not dreaming, there really is a killer on the loose, and how to escape the nightmare world.
* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'': Deckard Cain is the only character besides Diablo himself who will appear in all three. His role is always the same: talk in a monotone voice about [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory the backstory nobody's interested in]].
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** As is standard for Creator/BioWare games, very nearly any speaking character, and especially companions, can be persuaded into launching into huge conversations about themselves, their people, and the current situation at the drop of a hat.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': Varric is a bigger example than normal, because not only is he the only party member native to Kirkwall (meaning he has a lot of relevant exposition), he's a bard, a writer, and [[FramingDevice is telling the story of the game to Seeker Cassandra]].
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'':
*** Solas ''loves'' learning and teaching people new things, so he greatly respects a curious mind. He's the only party member to earn minor approval bonuses just from asking normal questions. He's also the party member who knows the most about what's going on... though he's not afraid to lie by omission about stuff that he doesn't want you to know.
*** In the ''Trespasser'' DLC, Solas appears at the end to explain the plot of the DLC -- and much of the plot of the entire franchise, really. While the player already knows some of these answers, the character knows almost none of them. "You must have many questions." You do, however, have the option to skip it all by choosing the option "No, not really." Solas, annoyed, summarizes a fifteen minute conversation in thirty seconds, solves your [[PhlebotinumBreakdown malfunctioning mark]] in the most painful way possible, and leaves. You don't even get a chance to ask any more questions.
---->'''Inquisitor''': Solas, have I ever wanted to hear one of your endless explanations?\\
''[Solas scowls]''\\
'''Inquisitor:''' ''Ever?''\\
'''Solas''': Well, then, briefly: [[spoiler:I am the Dread Wolf. I fought the false elven gods, created the Veil, and destroyed my people. I intend to restore them. Doing so will likely destroy your world. Also, your mark is getting worse.]]
* Verdelet the hierarch from ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'', though he is also the most useless party member and tends to repeat himself a dozen times per mission. He has only one spell -- a "hold" spell, which is only ever used in cutscenes [[spoiler:and allows him to turn Caim's pact partner [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Angelus]] into the [[BarrierMaiden Goddess of the Seal]]. When Caim tries to make him release Angelus later on, because the seal causes both of them immense pain, Verdelet refuses (along with the entire Union) because doing so would cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Caim's reply is to [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome cut him down in between games]].]]
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' plays it straight with the spirit of Ria Silmane, who appears in your dreams and guides you toward finding the [[DismantledMacGuffin pieces of the Staff of Chaos]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' distributes the exposition over a large number of [=NPCs=].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' subverts it in the main quest, as the game gives you several Mr. Exposition type characters (Caius, Azura, Vivec, Dagoth Ur, the Temple giving a different account than Vivec...plus you can do your own research with some in-game texts) all of whom [[TheRashomon offer contradictory accounts]] of WhenItAllBegan. There are strong hints that Azura, Vivec, and Dagoth Ur have their own motives for [[BlatantLies lying]] (or at least [[MetaphoricallyTrue not being entirely truthful]]) and [[TheUnreveal you're never told outright]] which one was right. A lot is left to personal interpretation.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', much like ''Daggerfall'', distributes exposition over a number of characters, including the guardsman at the Western Watchtower (who tells you about the legend of the Dragonborn after you kill your first dragon), Farengar (who tells you about the Dragon War), Jarl Balgruuf (who tells you about the Greybeards of High Hrothgar), the Greybeards themselves (who tell you about the Voice), and the Blades (who fill in details about the Great War and the Thalmor).
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** Unusually for an ''FF'' game, Cloud, the player character, is this in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. This was done intentionally -- one of the main conceits for the game was that Cloud should appear as an experienced character and an active driving force in the plot (to contrast with the usual PinballProtagonist IdiotHero characters of the genre), meaning he had to know what was going on before anyone else did. This extends to him [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits explaining the game mechanics to NPCs]] instead of having them teach him, narrating [[UnreliableNarrator playable flashback sequences]] and occasionally summarising the story so far to party members struggling to follow what's going on. [[spoiler: This even continues after it's revealed that he's not experienced and was doing everything he did out of MindControl, when he explains the magic mechanics of his personality crisis.]]
** Bugenhagen shows up early in the game to teach the characters how Lifestream works, which is [[CharacterShilling apparently a mindblowing experience]], and then to explain Red XIII's father's history to him. He later turns up to explain to Cloud what Holy is and the risks of unleashing it, which Cloud counters by explaining to him what Aeris must have been up to.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'':
*** [[MaechenPeriod Maechen]] from . The difference being the fact he doesn't explain the plot. Instead, he goes in long-winded description of the areas you visit for the first time. Nicknamed "Exposition Man" on [[http://www.videogamerecaps.com VG Recaps]].
*** Auron and Lulu from the same game are guilty of this at certain points, but Auron's a badass so of course you'll listen to whatever he says, right? Right?
*** Tidus is the game's [[TheWatson Watson]], and Lulu knows a lot about the world, [[spoiler: having gone on two (failed) pilgrimages before accompanying Yuna,]] and Auron is actually the only character (maybe, aside from Seymour) that actually has any clue what's ''really'' going on.
* ''VideoGame/TheGameOfTheAges'' makes little sense until you meet The Sage who explains the nature of the world.
* In ''VideoGame/Gamer2'', Kora's main job is to appear in cutscenes and inform Hailey of her goal throughout the upcoming level.
* Nameless scientist (possibly Dr. Kleiner) in the beginning of ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', immediately lampshaded by another nameless scientist ({{retcon}}ned to be Dr. Vance). Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, as he's a highly trained professional, so it's all for the benefit of the audience.
* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'':
** Fleet Intelligence in the original game has this role largely to himself in cutscenes, but in subsequent games the player-character provides some of their own.
** The 10 minute InfoDump in the beginning is apparently narrated by the Bentusi, as is the Final cutscene.
* Laura Sorkin often acts as this in ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame''. It becomes a plot point later when she reveals information about an otherwise mysterious toxin, hinting that she knows something about the dinosaurs that Gerry couldn't identify.
* This is the sole purpose for the existence of Travis in ''VideoGame/Killer7''. As you go through each mission, he informs you why you're there and what's happened thus far. Since the [=Killer7=] are only called in once things have degraded to where someone has to die, this is essentially LateToTheTragedy embodied in a character. And you can never be sure if Travis (who openly despises you) is telling the ''truth'', either...
* Namine gets this role in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', explaining to Roxas (and the players who haven't played ''Chain of Memories'') just what the heck is going on in the Prologue. Once Roxas is out of the picture, Master Yen Sid from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' serves this role to Sora. Finally, at the end of the game, [[spoiler: Ansem the Wise]] picks up the role.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestMaskOfEternity'': The half-petrified wizard in Daventry.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'':
** Trask, Carth, Bastila, the Jedi, Atris, Atton, Kreia, HK-47, T3-M4, the player character, that guy you run into on Nar Shaddaa...
** Kreia gets points for being the main provider of exposition ''and'' a ConsummateLiar at its worst. [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords The second game]] in general tended to give the role to people you should never, ever trust.
* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''. Almost every character gets a turn in LOK but none more so than Janos Audron. Every scene with him is part history lesson, part [[FloweryElizabethanEnglish Shakespearean monologue]], and part Grandpa's Neverending War Stories.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'':
** Every time one of the Seven Maidens is rescued, they tell a little more about the backstory of the game and what Agahnim's plans are.
** Sahasrahla, as the descendant of the old sages, would give Link a bit of backstory regarding to the Imprisoning War and the nature of the Dark World.
* Pick any character with a speaking role in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. ''Any character''. However, most of the time you can just not ask them stuff. [=ME2=] makes this process even more clear-cut; much of the game's extra exposition is on the crew's personal backstories, and they provide those details if you ask. As far as the main plot goes, exposition tends to come from the Illusive Man and the various Cerberus crew members, and occasionally Mordin on questions of science. There's also [[spoiler:Vigil]] from the first ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect1 Mass Effect]]''. Explains everything in the game up to that point; what the Conduit is, what Saren wants with it, the fate of the Protheans, and how to stop [[spoiler:Sovereign]] before it's too late.
* Any character who can be communicated with via CODEC in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series.
** Dr. Naomi in the first ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' goes into in-depth detail explaining the back-stories of all the FOXHOUND members Solid Snake faces, whereas Drebin does the same with the B&B Corps in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''. Ironically, Solid Snake himself serves this role to Raiden in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''.
** The Colonel, Otacon, and Mei Ling. and once [[VideoGame/StarFox Slippy]] all serve this role in Snake's codec conversations in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', explaining information on Nintendo characters that Snake doesn't know about.
** Nastasha Romanenko from the first ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is notable for being a CODEC contact who serves no story or gameplay function whatsoever (the player can go through the entire game without contacting her once,) existing soley as an exposition dispenser about various weapons and equipment and giving random factoids about nuclear warfare.
* ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'': This is the main purpose of the Voodoo Lady in the games. Occasionally she'll do some actual voodoo, but usually she's there to tell you what you're supposed to be doing right now.
* In the final chapter of ''VideoGame/Mother3'', it's revealed [[spoiler:this was the entire reason Leder did not have his old memories erased, in case anything corrupts their lives again. His monologue is so big, a stinkbug helpfully memorizes most of what he's revealed if you happen to forget.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheNeverhood'': Willie Trombone's tapes are there to help the audience understand the game's basic story. Just make sure you collect them all, or else you won't be able to complete the game.
* ''VideoGame/NiNoKuni'' Plays this straight with Drippy. Because Oliver knows nothing about the world and characters Drippy spends most of his time infodumping Oliver regarding almost any possible subject.
* ''VideoGame/NosferatuTheWrathOfMalachi'': As you explore the Castle, you find notes by someone named Grimvald Vorius, which conveniently explain the plot.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'':
** Professor Frankly serves this role in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', and Merlon fills this role in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''. The first game of the series, having a simpler plot, seemingly doesn't need one.
** In the field, Goombario from ''VideoGame/PaperMario and [[{{Expy}} Goombella]] have actual powers related to exposition, able to tell you about your surroundings, people and [[EnemyScan enemies]]. Kersti from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', Huey from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'', and Olivia from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'' retain the field ability and general exposition, but don't have it as a combat ability.
* Most of Serena's dialogue in ''VideoGame/ThePersistence'' is spent explaining stuff. You get a new item, she explains it. You're on a new deck of the ship, she explains it. You die, she explains why you aren't staring at the Pearly Gates.
* Upon joining the party, Naoto Shirogane in ''VideoGame/Persona4'' serves this role primarily.
* ''VideoGame/PilgrimRPGMaker'': The Giant Cat, once Akemi starts [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique threatening him]], spills the beans on the situation -- what the [[EldritchLocation castle]] and [[AcidTripDimension Other World]] are, who [[BigBad Master Alice]] is, and where [[DamselInDistress Inago]] is.
* Rhinehart in the FMV game ''VideoGame/Privateer2TheDarkening''. Played by a perfectly cast David Warner, Rhinehart's sole purpose (and only scene) near the end of the game is to explain everything to the main character Lev Arris (played by Clive Owen).
* Marvin in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' tells the player character a brief synopsis on what went on in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' and how it led into the mess that is currently happening. He then turns into a zombie the next time you see him. The remake drops the exposition part and has Marvin telling the player character to escape city.
* Morris O'Dell from ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' gives exposition in cutscenes at the beginning of missions. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as he is a news anchor.
* In ''VideoGame/SpudsAdventure'', Waterman, the first vegetable to go to the Far Tower and live to tell about it, offers advice periodically to help save Princess Mato, whom he loves.
* Guy from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is often forced into this role by [[DeadpanSnarker Jade]]. So much that it was a RunningGag.
* Raine and Kratos (being the experienced adults of the party) filled this role early on in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''. Raine -- being a teacher -- would even occasionally force her ''students'' (Lloyd, Genis and Colette) into this role, making them rattle off info about a location they just arrived at as a pop quiz. Once Te'thealla is introduced (which was beyond the knowledge of anyone in the party at that point [[spoiler: [[TheMole besides Kratos]]]],) Sheena would step in to fill this role, with Zelos occasionally helping out. Remiel's sole purpose in the narrative is to give Colette her Cruxis Crystal at the start of her Journey of Regeneration and then pop in at each seal to grant Colette another angel power and point her to the next seal. Also to tell her that [[LukeIAmYourFather he's her father.]] [[spoiler: Except that he's not; he's actually an arrogant ManipulativeBastard who's slowly suppressing Colette's humanity with each angel power, and the party ends up killing him at the Tower of Salvation.]]
* Early in ''VideoGame/TokyoBeatdown'' (a BeatEmUp from Creator/{{Atlus}}), a character shows up literally named "Plot-Progressing Officer".
* Patchouli does most of the explaining in ''VideoGame/TouhouLabyrinth''. She seems to enjoy it too as she acts rather displeased when Eirin takes over the role for one scene.
* In ''VideoGame/UncleAlbertsAdventures'', almost every time the player discovers a new page, the radio-suitcase plays a message from Uncle Albert giving information related to the page.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
** Parodied at first, it seems like [[BloodKnight Undyne]] will start explaining the backstory of the Underground... until she realizes that it doesn't really matter if she does, as she will have to kill you anyway. [[spoiler: Though if you befriend her on a pacifist run and call her in that room, she admits the "screw it" was because she forgot the speech she was actually supposed to give.]]
--->'''Undyne''': I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago...\\
'''Undyne''': ...No, you know what?\\
''[[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR54declpAA NGAHHH starts playing]]]\\
'''[[HotBlooded Undyne]]''': SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!?!\\
'''Undyne''': [[BattleCry NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!]]
** Played straight later. [[spoiler: In the final walk up to the final boss, the monsters of the Underground will tell you the greatest tragedy of the underground, the death of the first human to fall and the monster prince's death at the hands of humans when he left to fulfill his sibling's last wish. On the No Mercy run, this is replaced with Flowey giving a chilling account of how his lack of empathy and compassion turned him into the sociopathic monster he currently is.]]
* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'': [[spoiler:Flamethrower Guy, who reveals himself towards the end of the game to explain what the Wendigo are, and how they can be defeated. Once he has served his purpose he is almost immediately killed off to establish just how dangerous the creatures are.]]
* In ''VideoGame/AWitchsTale'', the Wonderland characters often provide exposition. Lampshaded by the Dormouse, who asks if it's Exposition Day.
* ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'':
** Ishizu dumps the plot on you in the first 2 minutes.
** If you examine a painting of Shadi in Pegasus's castle, Shadi himself appears and explains what happened in the backstory.
* ''VideoGame/ZanZarahTheHiddenPortal'':
** Rafi the goblin is the first being that Amy meets in Zanzarah. He is the one who hid a teleportation rune in her home, so he provides some information regarding why he summoned her to this world.
** The [[TheOwlKnowingOne talking owls]] were sent all across Zanzarah for the sole purpose of providing advice to Amy.
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** [[Creator/JosephGordonLevitt Arthur]] is a more obvious example.