History Main / RevengeRevealStory

* ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'': Edmond Dantès is falsely accused by two men and imprisoned by a third to avoid a career-ruining political scandal. As the titular Count, he returns to make their lives hell:

* Played straight and unambiguous in ''Film/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', when the Count/Edmond confronts Villefort in the sauna, leading to his EngineeredPublicConfession. Granted, the original novel is arguably the TropeCodifier.

* In a staged scenario of ''Series/ScareTactics'' (Series 4 Episode 1), the scare victim is given a job serving food at a birthday party (at which all the other characters are actors), when an uninvited guest (also an actor) enters and professes to want to let "bygones be bygones" with the birthday man, presenting a cake from France, which is then cut and served to everybody. Once they have all eaten, the uninvited guest begins telling a story of "two friends", one of whom screwed over the other by using their joint business idea to make millions for himself. He is, of course, referring to the birthday man and himself, then reveals that the cake is poisoned, and he will give them a DVD with the antidote in exchange for $50m. A woman knocks him out and grabs the DVD which the victim frantically puts in the DVD player, only to be greeted by a video of Tracy Morgan telling her she's on ''Scare Tactics''.

* VideoGame/{{Shenmue}} (and [[VideoGame/ShenmueII its sequel]]): the Chinese MafiaLeader Lan Di starts the [[HeroProtagonist Ryo Hazuki]]'s story [[YouKilledMyFather killing his father in front of him]], starting his [[IWillFindYou journey though Japan, Hong Kong and China to find Lan Di]]. [[spoiler: This is because Sun Ming Zhao, the man who Iwao Hazuki killed, was [[CycleOfRevenge Lan Di's father]] and he "returned the favor."]]

* VideoGame/GhostTrickPhantomDetective: [[spoiler: Chapter 15 is this. After his EvilGloating towards Inspector Cabanela, Yomiel reveals his ultimate plot for revenge on everyone involved on his death.]]

Overlaps with MotiveRant and ItsPersonal. Compare UnknownRival, MyNameIsInigoMontoya, YouKilledMyFather and ButForMeItWasTuesday. A subtrope of PrepareToDie. Related somewhat to the OriginalPositionGambit if the latter is used on an intended revenge target (involving supposedly hypothetical questions posed to the target rather than a supposedly fictional story) and to TrialBalloonQuestion, which is usually less malicious.

* ''VideoGame/GhostTrickPhantomDetective'': [[spoiler: Chapter 15 is this. After his [[EvilGloating Evil Gloating]] towards Inspector Cabanela, he reveals his ultimate plot for revenge on everyone involved on his death.]]

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Films - Live Action]]

Revenge that is BestServedCold can be intensified in a suspenseful manner by telling your target one of these stories, a backstory exposition that will let them know, bit by bit, why they are receiving their comeuppance - and do so in a more suspenseful and tension-building manner than simply announcing that MyNameIsInigoMontoya. The story typically begins in the guise of a fiction, ostensibly referring to abstract characters instead of "you" or "I" - and perhaps even beginning with "Once upon a time there was a man/woman..." - but it becomes increasingly clear to the target (and the audience if they don't already know) what the story is really referring to, generally occasioning an OhCrap moment when the penny drops. The story might well follow an AndThatLittleGirlWasMe format and involve the words NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe.

This trope may be either villainous or heroic, and may function either as TheReveal (possibly a TwistEnding) or an InternalReveal, depending on whether the audience is aware of what is going on beforehand.

Revenge that is BestServedCold can be intensified in a suspenseful manner by telling your target one of these stories, a backstory exposition that will let them know, bit by bit, why they are receiving their comeuppance - and do so in a more suspenseful and tension-building manner than simply announcing that MyNameIsInigoMontoya. The story typically begins in the guise of a fiction, ostensibly referring to abstract characters instead of "you" or "I" - and perhaps even beginning with "Once upon a time there was a man/woman..." - but it becomes increasingly clear to the target (and the audience if they don't already know) what the story is really referring to, generally occasioning an OhCrap moment when the penny drops. The story might well follow an AndThatLittleGirlWasMe format.

* In a staged scenario of ''Series/ScareTactics'', the scare victim is present at a family party (at which all the other characters are actors), and an uninvited guest (also an actor) arrives, tells one of these stories about having been screwed over, and pretends to have poisoned the cake of which everyone else has just partaken.

** In "Road Hog", a man's son suffers an accident that proves fatal solely because they were delayed on the road by the epynomous character while rushing him to get treatment. This trope is given a twist, as the father invites the offender to tea, tells him the story of his son's death and ''bluffs'' that he has poisoned him, resulting in the road hog panicking, speeding to go to hospital, and crashing and dying on the road in the process.

The character who tells one of these stories has been grievously wronged in the past by the one to whom the story is being told, who is initially unaware of the teller's identity, and may not even remember the incident in question (compare ButForMeItWasTuesday). The narrator of the story may have either already orchestrated his or her revenge, or be about to do so after incapacitating the target. The revenge often (but not always) consists of killing the target; poisoning is a popular method for this, as a way to seal the victim's fate beforehand while leaving them conscious for long enough to be told the story.

Overlaps with MotiveRant and ItsPersonal. Compare UnknownRival, MyNameIsInigoMontoya, YouKilledMyFather and ButForMeItWasTuesday. A subtrope of PrepareToDie. Related somewhat to the OriginalPositionGambit if the latter is used on an intended revenge target (involving supposedly hypothetical questions posed to the target rather than a supposedly fictional story.)

* Parodied in a comic from ''TheFarSide'', where a man at a phone booth is cornered by a [[ConspicuousTrenchcoat trenchcoat-wearing]] elephant with a gun, with the caption: "Remember me, Mr. Schneider? Kenya. 1947. If you're going to shoot at an elephant, Mr. Schneider, you better be prepared to finish the job."

** "Man with a Problem" features an apparently suicidal man preparing to jump off a building. A policeman has come up to try to talk him down, but it turns out that the man's suicide attempt was a ploy, as the policeman had seduced the man's wife and driven her to suicide. After the policeman talks him down and persuades him to have a rope tied around him for safety, the man preparing to jump tells the policeman what he knows, and then pushes him to his death.

* Done in the climax of numerous episodes of ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents''.
** In "The Right Kind of House", a woman selling her house figures out that her prospective buyer murdered her son; she poisons him and then tells him what she knows.
** In "Road Hog", a man's son suffers an accident that proves fatal solely because they were delayed on the road by the epynomous character while rushing him to get treatment. This trope is given a twist, as the father invites the offender to tea and ''bluffs'' that he has poisoned him, resulting in him panicking, speeding to go to hospital, and crashing and dying on the road in the process.
** "Man with a Problem" features an apparently suicidal man preparing to jump off a building. A policeman has come up to try to talk him down, but it turns out that the man's suicide attempt was a ploy, as the policeman had seduced the man's wife and driven her to suicide. The suicidal man tells the policeman what he knows, then pushes him off the edge.
** Subverted in "Invitation To An Accident", as a vengeful husband goes camping with the man he wrongly suspects of being his wife's paramour, and poisons him. With his dying breath, the man reveals the error, to the husband's horror.

Overlaps with MotiveRant and ItsPersonal. Compare UnknownRival, MyNameIsInigoMontoya and ButForMeItWasTuesday. Related somewhat to the OriginalPositionGambit if the latter is used on an intended revenge target (involving supposedly hypothetical questions posed to the target rather than a supposedly fictional story.)

* Done in the climax of numerous episodes of ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents'', such as "The Right Kind of House" (by a house-seller whose son was murdered by the prospective buyer whom she poisons), "Road Hog" (by a man whose son's death was caused by the eponymous character) and "Man with a Problem" (by an apparently suicidal man whose wife's suicide was caused by the policeman trying to talk him down). Subverted in "Invitation To An Accident", as this is done by a vengeful husband to a man he wrongly suspects of being his wife's lover.
* Used in a staged scenario of ''Series/ScareTactics'', in which an uninvited party guest arrives, tells one of these stories about having been screwed over, and pretends to have poisoned the cake, all in order to scare the victim.