History Main / WhatCliffhanger

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' ends with Sora and the gang finding a letter in a bottle from King Mickey, with no implications for what the message entails besides it being something shocking. This was likely because [[SeriesFauxnale II wrapped up most of the loose ends]] from the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI first game]] and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'', and they knew the franchise was lucrative enough for sequels but weren't sure what those sequels would entail. The UpdatedRerelease, made after the future of the franchise was more clear, avoids this by containing a more explicit teaser for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. We wouldn't find out the purpose of the letter until ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance'', nearly 6 real-life years later.

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* From ''Series/{{Lost}}'': "We ain't takin the plane freckles. We're takin' the sub."

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' had its third "Archives" event [[note]]The only source of in-game lore as to what happened in the past[[/note]] end this way. The last cinematic suddenly cuts to [[BigBad Doomfist]] talking to a mysterious person whose face is obscured, then Doomfist offers [[NebulousEvilOrganization Talon]]'s help to that person, who [[DramaticUnmask lowers their hood]]... revealing [[StrangerBehindTheMask a character that no one had ever seen or heard of before]]. The character was eventually revealed as Null Sector’s leader Rammatra ''three years'' after the Archives event.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' had its third "Archives" event [[note]]The only source of in-game lore as to what happened in the past[[/note]] end this way. The last cinematic suddenly cuts to [[BigBad Doomfist]] talking to a mysterious person whose face is obscured, then Doomfist offers [[NebulousEvilOrganization Talon]]'s help to that person, who [[DramaticUnmask lowers their hood]]... revealing [[StrangerBehindTheMask a character that no one had ever seen or heard of before]].

* Done in [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080922 this]] ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' strip.
** Done much more frustratingly [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20050123 here]]. ''Sluggy Freelance'' updates daily, so nobody suspected that the cliffhanger would go unanswered for [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20050418 nearly three months]], but that's exactly what happened due to ''Oceans Unmoving'', a truly ambitious sci-fi chapter that revisited [[KillerRabbit a long-missing character]] but otherwise introduced an entirely new cast.

* squirrelking's SoBadItsGood Metal Gear Solid fanfic, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2946083/1/ Fight of Metal Gears]]''. Also, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRJWZ9qwNw Halo: Halos in Space]]'' by the same author ends with Joe Chief on the losing side of a battle, and then he "saw something and went to it and picked it up and said "no we win" to himself." Read ahead at your own risk: The next installment reveals that the 'something' was [[spoiler: "big wepon."]] [[{{Narm}} DUN DUN DUNNN]]!

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' had its third "Archives" event [[note]]The only source of in-game lore as to what happened in the past[[/note]] end this way. The last cinematic suddenly cuts to [[BigBad Doomfist]] talking to a mysterious person whose face is obscured, then Doomfist offers [[NebulousEvilOrganization Talon]]'s help to that person, who [[DramaticUnmask lowers their hood]]... revealing a character that no one had ever seen or heard of before.

* This was baited-and-switched in Creator/RobertRankin's ''The Literature/HollowChocolateBunniesOfTheApocalypse'', proving there's just [[ZigZaggingTrope no limit to recursive subversion of a trope]]. Eddie hands something important to Jack, who asks what it is - "it's a {{Macguffin}}". Except we never get a better explanation than that - it's only ever referred to as a macguffin, and [[ChekhovsGun when it inevitably turns out to be important]], what it actually does is entirely unexplained as well. It's that kind of book...

** One episode of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks "Death to the Daleks"]] ends with the Doctor and Bellal about to walk into a room when the Doctor tells him to stop, pointing at the white and red tiled floor for no immediately apparent reason. [[note]] The next episode revealed it to be a laser trap, as shown when the Daleks get caught in it. [[/note]] It was the result of poor pacing, as the episode was scripted to end on a scene of the Daleks getting closer a few minutes earlier.
** Season 22 was originally shown in the UK in 45 minute chapters instead of the usual 22-25 minute episodes. When that season was shown in America, each episode was arbitrarily cut in half to fit in with the remainder of the syndication package — resulting in the story simply stopping (often in very odd places) instead of ending on a proper cliffhanger.

** One episode of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E3DeathToTheDaleks "Death to the Daleks"]] ends with the Doctor and Bellal about to walk into a room when the Doctor tells him to stop, pointing at the white and red tiled floor for no immediately apparent reason. It was the result of poor pacing, as the episode was scripted to end on a scene of the Daleks getting closer a few minutes earlier.

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* Happened in the second season of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. For the first 8 episodes, Dean had been keeping a dark and terrible secret from Sam, told to him by their father and also withheld from the audience. The preview for the ninth episode showed Dean saying "Dad told me something... something about you," and Sam asking in consternation, "Dean, what did he tell you...?" Everyone got very excited that The Reveal was finally coming, even though most of the fandom was already fairly sure they had worked out more or less what the secret had to be. When the episode aired, those turned out to be '''the last lines spoken''' before the series went on hiatus for over a month!

** And of course the season three premiere, which ended by revealing Ben's name. Yeah, it was nice to know the real name of "Henry Gale," but it's really just a random name, with no significance to the story, yet it's played for {{Luke I Am Your Father}} level drama.

* From ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': The last episode of season 7 gave examples of this trope.
* Several episodes of ''Series/DoctorWho'' had this problem. Season 22 was originally shown in the UK in 45 minute chapters instead of the usual 22-25 minute episodes. When that season was shown in America, each episode was arbitrarily cut in half to fit in with the remainder of the syndication package - resulting in the story simply stopping (often in very odd places) instead of ending on a proper cliffhanger.
** One episode of "Death to the Daleks" ends with the Doctor and Bellal about to walk into a room when the Doctor tells him to stop, pointing at the white and red tiled floor for no immediately apparent reason. It was the result of poor pacing, as the episode was scripted to end on a scene of the Daleks getting closer a few minutes earlier.

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%% ZeroContextExample * ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' was famous for doing this practically every other chapter.

* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' was famous for doing this practically every other chapter.

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* ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' had a OneParagraphChapter in which Robert Langdon and his date see a thing inside a box. Whatever the grail was, it wasn't ''that thing''. (The thing turned out to be a cryptex, i.e., a tube that had a puzzle to be solved for it to open) In fact, done frequently in anything written by Dan Brown. It's pretty much the end of every chapter.

A WhatCliffhanger happens when a chapter ends with a shocking turn of events, but the author doesn't tell you outright ''what it actually is''. It commonly involves abuse of the word "something", implying that the "something" will be revealed at the very beginning of the next chapter, making you wonder why the author didn't just put [[TheReveal the shocking revelation]] at the end of the previous chapter for untold amounts of extra drama and suspense. Instead, we are left to wonder what the plot twist will be.

* The fourth book of the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series, ''A Feast For Crows'', has a scene in which one character is about to be hanged, and she says an unspecified word... and that's the last we hear of her in that book. In fact, it's the last we hear of the book.
** In the next book, it's revealed [[spoiler: she's still alive, but ''still'' doesn't specify what the word is. It does, however, imply she agreed to kill the Kingslayer.]]

* From ''{{NCIS}}'': The last episode of season 7 gave examples of this trope.

* ''{{Goosebumps}}'' was famous for doing this practically every other chapter.

* The fourth book of the ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' series, ''A Feast For Crows'', has a scene in which one character is about to be hanged, and she says an unspecified word... and that's the last we hear of her in that book. In fact, it's the last we hear of the book.
* This was baited-and-switched in RobertRankin's ''The Literature/HollowChocolateBunniesOfTheApocalypse'', proving there's just [[ZigZaggingTrope no limit to recursive subversion of a trope]]. Eddie hands something important to Jack, who asks what it is - "it's a {{Macguffin}}". Except we never get a better explanation than that - it's only ever referred to as a macguffin, and [[ChekhovsGun when it inevitably turns out to be important]], what it actually does is entirely unexplained as well. It's that kind of book...

* From ''{{Lost}}'': "We ain't takin the plane freckles. We're takin' the sub."

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