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| 9 | [[quoteright:350:[[Series/TheKilling https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_killing.jpg]]]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:350:Spoiler: It wasn't [[TheButlerDidIt the butler]].]] |
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| 14 | |
| 15 | ->'''Trinity:''' It's the question that drives us mad. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.\ |
| 16 | '''Neo:''' "What is the Matrix?" |
| 17 | -->-- ''Film/TheMatrix'' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | No, not, "[[DrivingStick What's this third pedal do?]]" or "[[WhoIsDriving Wait, who's at the wheel right now?]]". |
| 20 | |
| 21 | A Driving Question is when a core element of the plot is a mystery. The most common variation would be a detective murder mystery (where the question is most often "[[MysteryFiction Whodunnit]]?"), but also very popular in NoughtiesDramaSeries, {{Jigsaw Puzzle Plot}}s and SurvivalHorror. In many cases the question is equivalent to, "What the hell is going on and why?" which taken far enough makes for an OntologicalMystery. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | See TheUnreveal and TheReveal. FanDislikedExplanation is what happens when the answers aren't all they are cracked up to be. FailureIsTheOnlyOption to answering the question in a TV series where the question is central to the show. Too many can lead to a KudzuPlot. TheChrisCarterEffect is what happens when fans give up on the writers' ability to answer these questions. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | See also CentralTheme, DetectiveDrama, MysteryFiction, TheUnsolvedMystery and MysteryLiterature. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Compare WhatIf for another kind of driving questions. |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | !!Examples: |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Art]] |
| 33 | * The closest thing ''Art/BeastFables'' has to an overarching plot is the mystery of why no werebeasts have fully-aquatic animal forms, and if merfolk really exist. |
| 34 | [[/folder]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 37 | * ''Literature/AccelWorld'' has a few, but its biggest two were "Who made Brain Burst?" and "What happens when you reach level 10?" |
| 38 | * ''Manga/{{Arisa}}'': Who is the [[BigBad King]]? |
| 39 | * ''Anime/ArmoredTrooperVotoms'': Why does the Secret Society need the Prototype? In the second half, who is manipulating Chirico and why? |
| 40 | * ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Exactly who/what are the Titans, where do they come from, and how do we stop them? What's the deal with Eren's father? What's in the basement of their old home? |
| 41 | * ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'': For the first half of the series the question is "Who killed Tem?" In the second half the question is "How can Legoshi defeat Melon?" |
| 42 | * ''Anime/TheBigO'': What happened 40 years ago that caused everyone to lose their memory? |
| 43 | * ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'': Why Boruto and Kawaki will turn into bitter enemies in the future? |
| 44 | * ''Anime/CodeGeass'': In the first season, who killed Lelouch's mother and why? In [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo R2]], it's what exactly ''is'' C.C.'s wish and, ultimately, where does Geass itself come from? |
| 45 | * ''Manga/DeathNote'': InUniverse, the driving question is "who is Kira and how does he kill people?" Since the audience [[VillainProtagonist already knows who Kira is]], the ''real'' driving question is [[ReverseWhodunnit "how will Light be caught?"]] |
| 46 | * ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' had a few: What is Culumon's purpose? [[spoiler: He's the embodiment of Digivolution]] and why are Digimon appearing in the real world? [[spoiler: The result of a research team's development gone awry and fleeing from the D-Reaper, an archaic simplistic deleting program that becomes an EldritchAbomination.]] |
| 47 | ** ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'': What happened to Daimon Suguru in the expedition 10 years ago? |
| 48 | ** ''Anime/DigimonUniverseAppMonsters'': Will artificial intelligence surpass humanity in TheSingularity by 2045, and if so, what will happen then? |
| 49 | * ''Manga/{{Dorohedoro}}'': The story starts with three questions. Who was Caiman before he lost his memories? Who put the lizard head curse on Caiman? And who is the man inside of Caiman's mouth? (Is it his former self, or the one who cursed him, or somebody else entirely?) The search for answers to those questions turns up even more questions. |
| 50 | * ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': While ''Dragon Ball'' has never been known for this kind of arguments, ''Dragon Ball Super'' has been playing around with these ideas. The Future Trunks saga: Who or what is Goku Black, and what is his relationship with Zamasu? |
| 51 | * ''Manga/DrStone'': What is the cause of the light that turned all of humanity (along with swallows) to stone? |
| 52 | * ''Anime/ErgoProxy'': What are the Proxies? |
| 53 | * Played for laughs in ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' as it treats "What does FLCL mean?" as a driving question (explicitly bringing it up in both the first and last episodes and periodically [[TitleDrop dropping it throughout the series]],) even though it has nothing to do with the main plot and by the end of the anime nobody's any closer to the answer. A more relevant question is "Who ''is'' Haruko really, and what does she want?" |
| 54 | * ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'': Why is Hinamizawa stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop? Why do the main characters keep on going batshit crazy and murderous? Who or what is [[BigBad Oyashiro-sama]], the one who everyone claims is behind the town's annual deaths? [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Is it really the work of a deity or a human conspiracy?]] |
| 55 | ** ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': For Ep 1-4 the question is about [[HiddenVillain who the killer is]]. Is it one of the 18 family members or servants, is it a 19th person or is it the Golden Witch Beatrice? For Ep 5-8 the question changes into [[spoiler:Who is Beatrice]]? And of course, [[spoiler:why is reality bending over backwards to stop Batter from learning the truth?]] |
| 56 | * Franchise/GhostInTheShell: |
| 57 | ** ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'': Who is the Puppet Master, and what does he/she/it want? |
| 58 | ** ''Ghost in the Shell: Innocence'': Why did the Hadaly gynoids kill their owners? |
| 59 | ** ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'': Who is the Laughing Man, and what does he/she/it want? |
| 60 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 61 | ** Although [[ItWasHisSled it's fairly common knowledge nowadays]], the power behind [[BigBad DIO]]'s [[FightingSpirit Stand]] in ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' was a major mystery at the time that heavily drives the latter half of the Part, and wasn't revealed until partway through the final battle [[spoiler:and required a HeroicSacrifice to discover]]. |
| 62 | ** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'', who is Reimi Sugimoto's killer? [[spoiler:And after that's found out, who is he hiding as?]] This is actually an interesting example, because the viewer ''already knows'' the answer to these questions, but the ''characters'' [[DramaticIrony are the ones who have to figure it out]]. |
| 63 | ** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'', who is [[TheDon the boss of Passione]]? |
| 64 | ** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'', who is Josuke, and what is his relation to Kira? [[spoiler:After that's answered, the question then becomes just who or what are the Rock Humans]]? |
| 65 | * ''Anime/{{K}}'': Did Shiro really kill Totsuka? If he didn't, then who did? |
| 66 | * ''Anime/KillLaKill'': Who killed Ryuko's father? [[spoiler:Nui Harime, on behalf of Ragyo Kiryuin, who it turns out is the mother of both Ryuko '''and''' Satsuki]]. |
| 67 | * ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'': Why does Fate have such sad and lonely eyes? This evolved into "Will you be my friend?" |
| 68 | * ''Manga/{{Monster}}'': What does Johan want? |
| 69 | * ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': |
| 70 | ** Who the hell is Tobi? Alternatively, how can true peace be reached? |
| 71 | ** ''Anime/TheLastNarutoTheMovie'': If the end of the world came, [[OneTrueLove who would you spend your last day with]]? |
| 72 | * ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': Where is Nagi Springfield, and why has he been MIA for the past decade? |
| 73 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Due to the series' KudzuPlot, we have a few, but only a few get answered thanks to the GainaxEnding. What are the Evangelions, really? What happened to Yui Ikari? Who is SEELE? What REALLY caused Second Impact? [[spoiler: Turns out they have the same answer.]] |
| 74 | * ''Anime/{{Odd Taxi}}'': Where is the missing girl? Who is the missing girl? (And after those are answered [[spoiler:Who killed her?]]) What does Odokawa know about the case? Who, or what, is in Odokawa's closet? Is there something wrong with Odokawa's brain? |
| 75 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 76 | ** What is the true nature of the mysterious treasure left by GOL D. Roger, known only as One Piece? |
| 77 | ** For Robin, "What happened during the Void Century, and why is the World Government hell-bent on keeping anyone from uncovering it?" |
| 78 | ** For Ace, "Did I deserve to be born?" |
| 79 | ** What is the "Will of D."? |
| 80 | * ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'': Who is Shonen Bat/Li'l Slugger? [[spoiler:More importantly, ''what'' is he?]] |
| 81 | * In ''Anime/PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea'', featured a Manaphy and the question, "Why is Manaphy called Prince of the Sea in the first place?!" |
| 82 | ** In the final episode of ''Anime/PokemonToBeAPokemonMaster'' (and by proxy, the final episode of [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Ash's journey]], with the next Pokemon anime episode being the first episode of [[Anime/PokemonHorizonsTheSeries the reboot.]]), Ash ponders on the question "What exactly does it ''mean'' to be a Pokémon Master?" [[spoiler: By the end of the episode, he comes to what he feels is the answer: Seeing the entire world and befriending every Pokémon in it.]] |
| 83 | * ''Popotan'': Who are we looking for, and what does this person want with us? |
| 84 | * ''Anime/QueensBlade'': Who is really the Swamp Witch? |
| 85 | * ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': Which of the Nakano quintuplets will be Futaro's bride? |
| 86 | * ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': Where is the Sunflower Samurai? |
| 87 | * ''Manga/{{Spiral}}'': What are the Blade Children? |
| 88 | * ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'': Who is [[BigBad Friend]]? |
| 89 | * ''Manga/YuGiOh'': |
| 90 | ** Before Battle City begins - what or who is the spirit in Yugi's Puzzle? And after the reveal that he is the spirit of the Pharaoh, the rest of the season and the last arc in particular has what is the Pharaoh's true name? |
| 91 | ** Where did the Millennium Items come from and what were they made for? |
| 92 | ** Also, "What is something you can show, but you can't see?" This one pops up in many different situations, and has a different answer each time. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 96 | * ''ComicBook/AlbedoErmaFelnaEDF'': Who are the [[{{Precursors}} Creators]]? For which reason their civilization was created from scratch without any cultural basis? And finally, ''where'' [[HaveYouSeenMyGod are the Creators right now]]? |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/{{DIE}}'': How did a normal teenager like Sol create [[AnotherDimension Die]]? Which is later replaced with the question of ''if'' he's even the one who created it in the first place. |
| 98 | * ''ComicBook/MicronautsIDW'': What is the Entropy Cloud? Can it be contained? |
| 99 | * ''ComicBook/{{Nailbiter}}'': Why does the town of Buckaroo produce so many {{Serial Killer}}s? |
| 100 | * ''ComicBook/{{Revolutionaries}}'': What exactly is the Talisman? |
| 101 | * ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': For the Year One of the run, it was the question of who took control of the Badnik hordes after the disappearance of Doctor Eggman? And if it isn't him, then what happened to him? |
| 102 | * ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': Who are the Knights of Cybertron? Did they even exist? If they did, where are they? |
| 103 | ** Also, there's what is Rung's alt-mode, and what's it for? |
| 104 | ** Earlier IDW stories asked What is the Dead Universe and what is its connection to Nova Prime and the Golden Age of Cybertron? |
| 105 | ** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'': Why does Cybertronian history repeat itself? |
| 106 | * ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}: Who killed [[SuperheroPackingHeat the]] [[CaptainPatriotic Comedian]]? |
| 107 | * Franchise/WonderWoman: |
| 108 | ** For the first arc of ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'': What am I? (in other words what has become of the Amazons, and why are Diana's memories all wrong?) |
| 109 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanDeadEarth'': How did the world end? And how is it Diana's fault? |
| 110 | [[/folder]] |
| 111 | |
| 112 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 113 | * ''Fanfic/{{Austraeoh}}'': Why is Rainbow Dash flying east? |
| 114 | * ''Fanfic/AlwaysVisible'': Almost all the characters ask similar questions, especially Galbraith. |
| 115 | * ''Fanfic/BadFutureCrusaders'': Who is [[MysteriousBacker the Masquerader]], and what does she want? |
| 116 | * ''Fanfic/BlackenedSkies'': How are all of the students who were culprits in [[Franchise/DanganRonpa the previous games]] even ''around'' to participate in this new killing game? |
| 117 | * ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfRemnant'': What is Salem's plan and how do the Claimed fit into it? |
| 118 | * ''Fanfic/FeynitesAftermath'': Why would Shen Qingqiu decide to love Luo Binghe instead of abusing him? Of course, Shen Qingqiu -- and the readers -- know the answer, but neither the BigBad nor the protagonist are aware of it and they ''really'' want it. |
| 119 | * ''Fanfic/TheGamesWePlayFriendshipIsMagic'': Who is behind the Mare Do Well disguise? |
| 120 | * ''Fanfic/TheGoodHunter'': What happened after Cyril's battle with Gehrman, the First Hunter? Which "ending" out of the three did Cyril get? [[spoiler:Why is Cyril disconnected from the Hunter's Dream? And what does him "leaving behind the Dream" mean?]] |
| 121 | * ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'' has the ongoing mystery of what exactly happened at Carhaiz on the mission where Caleb's father was allegedly killed. Though unlike most examples, this one is resolved in relatively short order, with TheReveal in Chapter 14. |
| 122 | * ''Fanfic/ImperiumOfVader'': What was it that drove Vader to finally act on the Rule of Two and kill Palpatine? |
| 123 | * ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'': Where is Chloe, what do we truly know about her and what can we do to make sure she returns? |
| 124 | * ''Webcomic/KillingGameDeluxe'': How ''exactly'' are the dead students alive again? |
| 125 | * Thanks to being a crossover, ''Fanfic/AKnightsTaleAsInquisitor'' has the honor of having two potent ones at the very center of its plot: |
| 126 | ** On the ''Dragon Age'' end: Who is the one responsible for the Breach in the sky and the ensuing chaos running rampant in Thedas as the result of its appearence? |
| 127 | ** On the ''Fate'' end: Just why is Arturia in Thedas when she should have returned to the field of Camlann and be waiting until her next summoning? |
| 128 | * ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/153075/light Light]]'': Why did Pell kill Celestia? |
| 129 | * ''Fanfic/OpeningDangerousGates'': What do Zeref and his demons want with the keys that summon Shinigami and Arrancar if they cannot use them? |
| 130 | * ''Webcomic/PureLight'': Why do purple dragons go mad? |
| 131 | * ''Fanfic/SinsOfThePast'': What happened fifteen years ago that led to Marinette's disappearance? |
| 132 | * ''[[https://a-student-out-of-time.tumblr.com A Student Out of Time]]'': How and why was [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Hajime]] sent back in time? Can he really change the past? Did anyone else come back with him? If so, then who? |
| 133 | * ''Fanfic/TheSuperheroGame'': Why are heroes from the future being sent back in time? |
| 134 | * ''Fanfic/Team8'': What single decision altered the history of Konoha? |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder:Films — Animation]] |
| 138 | * ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'': |
| 139 | ** Who was Lewis' mother and why did she give him up? [[spoiler:Despite that question driving the whole movie [[RiddleForTheAges it's never answered]], because Lewis ultimately decides not to find out, since he wants to let go of his past and move onto his future]]. |
| 140 | ** Who are Bowler Hat Guy and Doris and why do they hate Lewis? [[spoiler:This one is answered. Bowler Hat Guy is his old roommate Mike, nicknamed Goob, who holds a grudge against Lewis for a problem he didn't mean to create. Doris is one of Lewis's future inventions that went wrong because she was too ambitious and so Lewis tried to shut her down, though was not successful.]] |
| 141 | [[/folder]] |
| 142 | |
| 143 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 144 | * ''Film/TheAutopsyOfJaneDoe'': Who or what killed "Jane Doe" in a way that destroyed her internal organs but left her perfectly preserved on the outside? |
| 145 | * 1974's ''Film/TheBeastMustDie'': Who is the werewolf? |
| 146 | * ''Film/CitizenKane'': What does "Rosebud" mean? |
| 147 | * ''Film/DudeWheresMyCar'' |
| 148 | * ''Film/{{Exam}}'': There is one question before you, and only one answer required. |
| 149 | * ''Film/TheForgotten'': Does Telly's child exist? |
| 150 | * ''Film/TheGeneralsDaughter'': Beyond the [[MysteryFiction Whodunnit]] of Elizabeth Campbell's rape and murder, Colonel Moore expresses the real driving question of the mystery ("What's [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil worse than rape]]?") and states that Brenner will truly understand Elizabeth's death once he's discovered the answer. [[spoiler:It's [[TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil personal betrayal]].]] |
| 151 | * ''Film/GreenZone'': Who is "Magellan"? |
| 152 | * ''Film/TheHatefulEight'': Who in the stagecoach lodge is trying to free Daisy? |
| 153 | * The movie version of ''Film/IRobot'' features this with [[spoiler:Dr. Alfred Lanning's]] hologram answering the current driving question with the ArcWords: "That, detective, is the right question." |
| 154 | * ''Film/KnivesOut'': Why was Benoit Blanc hired to investigate a suicide? |
| 155 | * ''Film/LogansRun'': Where is sanctuary, and is it even real? |
| 156 | * The three ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' films all have one each: |
| 157 | ** ''Film/TheMatrix'' (for the first act, at least): What is the Matrix? |
| 158 | ** ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'': Will Neo's dream of Trinity dying come true, and how? |
| 159 | ** ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': [[spoiler:Is there a way to break the Architect's cycle of genocide and reload the Matrix?]] Alternatively: [[spoiler:have Neo and the rebels truly left the Matrix, or just entered ''another'' Matrix?]] |
| 160 | * ''Film/TheObjective'': Where are people disappearing to and why? |
| 161 | * ''Film/ReservoirDogs'': Which of the diamond thieves is an undercover cop? |
| 162 | * ''Film/TheScribbler'': Is Suki, who suffers from SplitPersonality disorder, killing patients at her high-rise halfway house and making them look like suicides? Or is it -- as she insists, one of her personalities, the titular Scribbler? |
| 163 | * ''Film/ShutterIsland'': What happened to the escaped patient, and what is really going on at the titular treatment facility? |
| 164 | ** Also, what actually happened to the main character's wife? |
| 165 | * ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'': Who fired the photon torpedoes at the Klingon chancellor's ship, and how does the ''Enterprise'' still have all its torpedoes accounted for? |
| 166 | * ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheForceAwakens'': Where is Luke Skywalker? |
| 167 | * ''Film/Thir13enGhosts'': Who is the thirteenth ghost? [[spoiler:It's Arthur, if he chooses to sacrifice himself for his children in an ActOfTrueLove.]] |
| 168 | * ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'': Is David really a superhero? |
| 169 | * ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'': Who or what is Keyser Soze? |
| 170 | * ''Film/TheVanishing'': What happened to the missing woman? |
| 171 | * ''Film/WerewolvesWithin'': Is there actually a werewolf? And if so, who is it? |
| 172 | [[/folder]] |
| 173 | |
| 174 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 175 | !!By Author: |
| 176 | * Creator/IsaacAsimov: |
| 177 | ** ''Literature/BlackWidowers'': Each of these mysteries is framed around a puzzle that drives the questioner to seeking answers. |
| 178 | *** "Literature/TheAcquisitiveChuckle": What did Jackson steal from Anderson? |
| 179 | *** "Literature/TheCuriousOmission": What is the curious omission in ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland''? |
| 180 | *** "Literature/EarlySundayMorning": Can the club solve a murder mystery? |
| 181 | *** "Literature/GoLittleBook": How can matchbooks be used to send secret messages? |
| 182 | *** "Literature/TheIronGem": What makes the guest's [[TheNamesake iron gem]] so important that they would be offered five hundred dollars for it? [[spoiler:Nothing; it was a distraction so the person could steal the package that the gem came in.]] |
| 183 | *** "Literature/MissWhat": Which [[BeautyContest Miss Earth contestant]] is Rahab? This story is actually titled after the driving question, as they're trying to deduce what country (Miss What?) the woman called Rahab is from. |
| 184 | *** "Literature/TheObviousFactor": What evidence is needed to prove the supernatural? |
| 185 | *** "Literature/ThePointingFinger": Where are the bonds? |
| 186 | *** "Literature/PhAsInPhony": How did Faron cheat on his test? |
| 187 | *** "Literature/TruthToTell": The club members are trying to figure out who stole the money and bond receipts from the firm's safe. |
| 188 | *** "Literature/YankeeDoodleWentToTown": Why does Private Klotz hum "Music/YankeeDoodle"? |
| 189 | ** "Literature/GimmicksThree": With the power to move in any dimension, how do you escape from a perfect cube? [[spoiler:[[MoreThanThreeDimensions Time is a dimension]], so travel to before the cube was constructed.]] |
| 190 | ** "Literature/IJustMakeThemUpSee": An [[NoNameGiven unnamed fan]] is asking Dr Asimov "[[HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs What sort of drugs do you use]] to [[InspirationForTheWork inspire your storytelling]] (and where can I get some)?" |
| 191 | ** "Literature/{{Jokester}}'': Where do jokes come from, and what will happen when humanity knows the answer to the first question? |
| 192 | ** "Literature/TheLastQuestion": Can entropy be reversed? |
| 193 | ** "Literature/WhatIf1952": The text tells us that Liwy's favourite question is "What if Liwy and Norman hadn't met on the streetcar?" Mr [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday What If]] helps them to explore that exact AlternateUniverse, showing that [[InSpiteOfANail no change could prevent them from deciding to marry]]. |
| 194 | |
| 195 | !!By Title: |
| 196 | * ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' starts with, "What is sinking ships?" and gets narrowed down to, "Where did Nemo come from and why is he attacking ships?" |
| 197 | * ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'': Who and where is Benno von Archimboldi? |
| 198 | * ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'': Who is John Galt? |
| 199 | * ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': What exactly is the [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]]? |
| 200 | * In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' one reason the Golden Ticket contest is such Serious Business is because the finders will learn the answer to the question "How does Mr. Willy Wonka, who has been a recluse for ten years, manage to keep his factory producing the best candies in the world when no workforce is ever seen entering or exiting it?" |
| 201 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'' (Series One): Who is Really Behind It All (where what "It All" is varies over the course of the series; a few are "Corwin winding up in the hospital", "what happened to Oberon", "the death of [insert name here]" (multiple times), "the attacks on Amber"). Some of these actually get answered, others turn out to be red herrings, irrelevant, or to have had multiple causes. |
| 202 | * ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. What's in the final room of [[TitleDrop The Dark Tower]]? |
| 203 | ** There also used to be "Why is the Dark Tower and the rest of reality decaying?" but we eventually learn that [[spoiler:it's all the intentional fault of [[BigBad the Crimson King]]]]. |
| 204 | * ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'': When is the Day of the Jackal? |
| 205 | * ''Literature/FuturetrackFive'': The question starts out as ''"who is Scott-Astbury?"'' Since apparently he's some kind of ManipulativeBastard [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] and the only person on record of that name is a publicly-known [[ObfuscatingStupidity utter tit]]. It then becomes ''"What did Scott-Astbury'' do?" |
| 206 | * ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'': Who was the culprit of the murders in the year 1995? Was it Shiki? And what happened that put her in a two year coma? |
| 207 | * ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'' has a pair for each of the main characters: |
| 208 | ** What is Nikita's past and why is Irena trying to hide it? |
| 209 | ** Who - and what - is Robin? Why was his memory wiped? |
| 210 | * Each ''Literature/HarryPotter'' book has its main one but some of them have secondary ones as well.[[note]]As a bonus, some of these are trick questions.[[/note]] |
| 211 | ** ''Philosopher's Stone'': What is Snape after? |
| 212 | ** ''Chamber of Secrets'': Who opened the Chamber? |
| 213 | ** ''Prisoner of Azkaban'': What did Black do, precisely? |
| 214 | ** ''Goblet of Fire'': Who put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire? is its main one. The secondary one is where is Bertha Jorkins? |
| 215 | ** ''Order of the Phoenix'': What is the weapon? |
| 216 | ** ''Half Blood Prince'': What is Malfoy planning? The secondary one is what are Horcruxes? |
| 217 | ** ''Deathly Hallows'': Where are the Horcruxes? Secondary ones include: What are the Deathly Hallows? Who has the Elder Wand? And what happened to Ariana Dumbledore? |
| 218 | * The ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series: What ''is'' Haruhi Suzumiya? Where do her powers come from? What exactly happened during the mysterious event three years ago that drew most of the SOS Brigade members to her? |
| 219 | * Creator/StephenFry's ''The Hippopotamus'': What does Jane want Ted to look for? |
| 220 | * For Karyn and Inez, their most pressing question in ''Literature/TheHowling1977'' is "Who in Drago is a werewolf?" [[spoiler:They both later realise the futility of this question, because the answer is "Everyone"]]. |
| 221 | * ''Literature/IfIFallIfIDie'': "Where is Marcus?" Marcus is the first person Will meets when he ventures outside for the first time in seven years. Will reads about his disappearance in the paper some time later and spends the rest of the book trying to find him. |
| 222 | * Beautifully summed up by the Old One in ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'': "If you are the [[TheChosenOne Rightful Heir]], I would suggest the question you need to ask is this: what exactly are you to inherit, and from whom?" |
| 223 | * ''Literature/TheLostFleet'': |
| 224 | ** In the first story arc, the question is: "How and why did this ForeverWar start, and how do we end it?" Notable for the fact that without [[FishOutOfTemporalWater Captain Geary]]'s outside perspective, few other people had ever bothered to think about it because the war was all they'd ever known. |
| 225 | ** Having resolved that question, the "Beyond the Frontier" series poses another: [[SoWhatDoWeDoNow "What do we do now that the war is over?"]] |
| 226 | * ''Literature/MasterOfTheWorld'': What the heck's going on at the Great Eyrie? |
| 227 | * The main DrivingQuestion of the ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'' seems to be "Who are The Organisation Which I Represent?" or, more specifically, "What does The Organisation Which I Represent ''want''?" |
| 228 | * ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'': Who or what keeps helping the survivors? |
| 229 | * The first ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'' book uses several of these at once. What is happening to Renie's brother? What is the purpose of this Grail organization, and who is their leader? What is Mr. Sellars up to? Since this book is widely considered an [[DoorStopper oversized]] prologue to the later ones, the answers are pretty well known. After the first book it's "What is the true nature of the Other?" and "Why was Paul trapped in the network?" |
| 230 | * ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Who killed the Carmine Beast? |
| 231 | * ''Literature/{{Parzival}}'': What is the Question? [[note]](To ask the Grail King.)[[/note]] |
| 232 | * In ''Literature/RachelGriffin'': Where did the [[GoodWingsEvilWings winged statue]] in the forest come from and what does it mean? Who -- or what -- is the Raven? |
| 233 | * ''Santa Calls'': Why did Santa ask the Aimesworth kids to visit him in the North Pole? |
| 234 | * ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'': Mary has several driving questions when she arrives at Mistlethwaite Manor. Why is she not allowed to wander the house? Why can she sometimes hear a child crying? What is in the garden surrounded by an ivy-covered high wall, which seems to have no door? |
| 235 | * ''Literature/TheSeichiChronicles'' has one in the first arc: Just who are the Hunters, and what ties to Britan's family do they have? |
| 236 | * ''Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo'': |
| 237 | ** Who was the OneTrueLove of Evelyn Hugo? |
| 238 | ** Why did Evelyn choose Monique to write her life story? |
| 239 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin: |
| 240 | ** In the first book: "Who killed Jon Arryn and why?" |
| 241 | ** Who is the Prince that was Promised? |
| 242 | ** Where do whores go? |
| 243 | * ''Literature/{{Starsnatcher}}'': Precisely what do [[AntagonistTitle the Starsnatchers]] want? |
| 244 | * ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'': [[ItWasHisSled Who is Edward Hyde, how is he evading police detection, and why is a respectable citizen like Doctor Jekyll covering up for him?]] |
| 245 | * ''Literature/TalesFromNetheredge'' |
| 246 | ** ''Depravity'': Is Myr human? |
| 247 | ** ''His Tribute'': What was the Horror, and how did Varak defeat it? |
| 248 | ** ''Jewel of the Harem'': What are Jewel and Adar? |
| 249 | * ''Literature/UnderTheDome'' by Creator/StephenKing: where did the dome come from, and why is it there? |
| 250 | * ''Literature/AVoid'': Is Anton missing or did he kill himself? |
| 251 | ** The novel also asks whether or not it was a suicidal act and [[BlackComedy then repeatedly asks if he killed himself in various ways]]. |
| 252 | * The "Three" arc of ''Literature/WarriorCats'' (''Power of Three'' and ''Omen of the Stars'') has many questions. "Where did the three come from?" "What is their purpose?" "Who is [[spoiler:the fourth]]?" |
| 253 | * ''Literature/WyldersHand'': What has become of Mark Wylder? |
| 254 | |
| 255 | [[/folder]] |
| 256 | |
| 257 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 258 | * ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'': |
| 259 | ** Season 1: Why did Hannah Baker [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]]? |
| 260 | ** Season 3: [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole Who killed]] [[spoiler: Bryce Walker]]? |
| 261 | * ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has three: |
| 262 | ** Who is behind and what is the true purpose of Project Centipede? [[spoiler: John Garrett, who works for HYDRA]]. |
| 263 | ** What really happened after Coulson's "death" at Loki's hands in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''? [[spoiler: He was resurrected by the T.A.H.I.T.I. project, which was designed to resurrect a fallen Avenger and involved injecting a serum made from a dead Kree alien.]] After that question is answered the main question changes to what is the meaning of the strange symbols that Coulson and other people who went through the same procedure suffer from a compulsion to draw and what is the purpose of the alien artifact known as the diviner? |
| 264 | ** What is the truth of Skye's mysterious past, and how is S.H.I.E.L.D. connected? [[spoiler:She is the daughter of an immortal [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhuman]] woman who was captured and mutilated by Dr. Whitehall in order to rejuvenate him. The village she was hidden in was destroyed as HYDRA, SHIELD, and her father tried to obtain her. The SHIELD agents who got a hold of her started getting killed off one by one, so they decided to quit the organization secretly and hide Skye in the foster system. Her real name is Daisy Johnson.]] |
| 265 | * ''Series/AmericanGothic2016'': Who is the [[SerialKiller Silver Bells Killer]], and what is the [[BigScrewedUpFamily Hawthorne family's]] connection to him/her? |
| 266 | * ''Series/AmericanVandal'': Who spray-painted dicks on all the cars in the teachers parking lot? |
| 267 | * ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'': What happened to Sam Tyler? (Whilst this was only an actual DrivingQuestion in the third and final series, it had been brought up very briefly in the first episode of the first series.) |
| 268 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': |
| 269 | ** Season 1: What is the Undertaking? |
| 270 | ** Season 5: Who is Prometheus? |
| 271 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 272 | ** Season One: What do you want? (Also: What happened to Sinclair at the Battle of the Line?) |
| 273 | ** Season Two: Who are you? |
| 274 | ** Season Three: Why are you here? |
| 275 | ** Season Four: Do you have anything worth living for? |
| 276 | ** Season Five: Where are you going? |
| 277 | ** According to WordOfGod, the spinoff ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' has this as the real driving question: Who do you serve, and who do you trust? |
| 278 | * ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': What problem does becoming Saul Goodman solve? |
| 279 | * ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'': |
| 280 | ** Season 1: Who is Jane Doe, and why did someone wipe her memories and cover her in tattoos leading the FBI to crimes? |
| 281 | ** Season 2: What is "Phase 2" of [[NebulousEvilOrganization Sandstorm's]] plan? And why are they so interested in Weller? |
| 282 | * ''Series/{{Bones}}'' had two during their first few seasons: |
| 283 | ** What happened to Brennan's parents? |
| 284 | ** Who is the Gravedigger? |
| 285 | * ''Series/TheBridge2011'': Who is the serial killer? How does he manage what he does? What's the full meaning of his motive(s)? |
| 286 | * ''Series/BurnNotice'': "Why was I burned?" |
| 287 | * ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'': Season 1 has ''lots'' (the second season answering most of them). "Where is Henry Scudder ?" and "What is an Avatar ?" being the main ones. Not to mention Ben's {{Mysterious Past}}. |
| 288 | * ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'': Who ordered the hit on Beckett's mother, and why? |
| 289 | * ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' How does an RBMK reactor explode? (The answer, delivered by Legasov in the final episode: [[spoiler:lies]].) |
| 290 | * ''Series/Dark2017'': Is it possible to alter the course of time? And what exactly are the various time-travelers trying to accomplish? |
| 291 | ** Season 1: What happened to the missing children? |
| 292 | ** Season 2: Can the approaching Apocalypse be prevented? |
| 293 | * ''Series/DarkMatter2015'': Season 1: Which member of the crew is responsible for their [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mass amnesia]] and why? |
| 294 | * ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': |
| 295 | ** Season 1. Who is the Ice Truck Killer? |
| 296 | ** Season 3. What's the deal with Miguel/Who is the 'Skinner'? |
| 297 | * ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'': |
| 298 | ** Season 1: Who killed Patrick Spring, and what happened to his daughter Lydia? |
| 299 | ** Season 2: Who is [[RealityWarper the Boy]]? |
| 300 | * ''Series/DayBreak2006'': Who are the people trying to frame Hopper, and why did they choose him? |
| 301 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' |
| 302 | ** Series 1: What is the "Bad Wolf"? |
| 303 | ** Series 4: Why do the Doctor and Donna keep meeting? |
| 304 | ** Series 5: What is causing the cracks in time? |
| 305 | ** Series 6 introduced ([[spoiler:or more accurately, brings back to the fore]]) [[MythologyGag the first question, the oldest question in the universe]], [[HiddenInPlainSight a question hidden in plain sight]], a question that must never, ever be answered: [[spoiler:Doctor ''who''?]] The Doctor will eventually be forced to truthfully answer this question, and in doing so... [[ApocalypseHow well, let's just say the results would be bad.]] |
| 306 | ** Series 7, second half: Who is Clara Oswald? How is she possible? |
| 307 | ** _____ of the Doctor trilogy: [[spoiler: Doctor Who?]] |
| 308 | ** Series 8: Is the Doctor a good man? (Interestingly, the expected driving question — [[spoiler:Where is Gallifrey now?]] — was hardly addressed.) |
| 309 | ** Series 9: Who is "The [[ArcWords Hybrid]]" of two warrior races spoken of in a Gallifreyan prophecy? Does it have to do with the Doctor's confession, which others will hear only upon his death...or when he's pushed to the DespairEventHorizon? |
| 310 | ** Series 10: What's in the Vault the Doctor's guarding? Why is he guarding it? Who did he promise to guard it? |
| 311 | ** Series 12: What is the secret of the Timeless Child? |
| 312 | ** The 60th anniversary specials bring back the question of why the Doctor and Donna keep meeting, and add another to go with it: [[spoiler:Why did the Doctor regenerate into a previous face?]] |
| 313 | * ''Series/TheExpanse'': Season 1 has "Who destroyed the ''Canterbury''?" and "What happened to Julie Mao?" |
| 314 | * ''Series/FawltyTowers:'' How did Basil and Sybil get together when they appear to hate each other so much, and why did they open a hotel? |
| 315 | ** Both of these questions are briefly alluded to in the final episode, "Basil the Rat". Sybil says that her mother says it's black magic how they got together. Later, when Basil tries to talk Manuel out of being depressed, Sybil hints at depression being Basil's reason for opening a hotel. |
| 316 | ---> '''Basil:''' (Gravely) Manuel, my wife informs me that you are depressed. Well, let me tell you, depression is a very bad thing. It's like a virus. If you don't stamp on it, it spreads throughout the mind, and one day you wake up, and you can't face life any more. |
| 317 | ---> '''Sybil:''' And then you open a hotel. |
| 318 | ** A lesser mystery is: in "Communication Problems", what happened when Basil previously bet on a horse? |
| 319 | * ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}:'' Team Flash deals with time travel and spends a great deal of time trying to figure who the villain is and why they know so much about Barry and the team. |
| 320 | ** Season 1: Who is Reverse Flash? |
| 321 | ** Season 2: Who is Zoom? |
| 322 | ** Season 3: Who is Savitar? |
| 323 | ** Season 4: What is [=DeVoe's=] plan? |
| 324 | * ''Series/{{Flash Forward|2009}}'': Who caused the blackout and why? And later, [[spoiler:when will the second blackout take place]]? |
| 325 | * ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': The first season was driven by the question, "What is the Pattern, and what does it mean?" |
| 326 | * ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Who killed the Waynes and why? |
| 327 | * Reimagined ''Series/HawaiiFive0'', second season: Who or what is Shelburne? |
| 328 | * Rather a driving sentence than a question in ''Series/{{Homeland}}'' -- "An American prisoner of war has been turned." The question is, is it true? |
| 329 | * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Who is the mother, and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin how did Ted meet her]]? |
| 330 | * ''Series/HowToGetAwayWithMurder'': Each season has several, mostly based around the flashforwards. They generally follow a pattern of one lasting the whole season, one being resolved halfway through and giving rise to another, and another occuring right in the finale as a {{cliffhanger}}. Furthermore, the entire series asks whether the cast will successfully [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin get away with murder]]. By the end of the series: [[spoiler: Annalise, Laurel, Michaela, Oliver, and Nate are implicated but acquited; Conner does time but is released; Wes, Asher, Frank, and Bonnie all die]]. |
| 331 | ** Season One: |
| 332 | *** Who killed Lila Stangard? Answered in the finale: [[spoiler: Frank, on Sam Keating's orders]]. |
| 333 | *** Why did the four law students murder [[spoiler: Annalise's husband]]? [[spoiler: He attacked them after Rebecca found information linking him to Lila's murder]]. |
| 334 | *** The answers in the finale also give rise to a new one: [[spoiler: Who killed Rebecca]]? It was answered in the next season premier: [[spoiler: Bonnie, to keep her from talking]]. |
| 335 | ** Season Two: |
| 336 | *** The case of the season is who killed the Hapstalls? [[spoiler: Their son Caleb]], revealed in the finale. |
| 337 | *** Who killed [[spoiler: Emily Sinclair]] and who shot [[spoiler: Annalise]]? Also answered by the midseason finale as [[spoiler: Asher and Wes]] respectively. But the latter is replaced by a major new one: [[spoiler: what did Annalise and Eve do to Wes' mother]]? This was in turn answered at the end of the season ([[spoiler: they asked her to be a witness against Wallace Mahoney, but ultimately she took her own life out of fear]]. It also leads into [[spoiler: who shot Wallace Mahoney]]? |
| 338 | ** Season Three begins with a whole new set of questions. |
| 339 | *** Who is harassing Annalise on campus? [[spoiler: Simon Drake]]. |
| 340 | *** More importantly, [[spoiler: who burned her house, and which of the cast got consumed by the flames]]? The mid-season finale answers this and leaves two major questions: [[spoiler: Who killed Wes and how did he die]]? This was answered in the finale, but left the mystery of [[spoiler: why Laurel's father wanted Wes dead]]. This was answered pretty nonchalantly in 4x06--[[spoiler: Antares was going public, so Jorge had Wes killed because Antares' reputation would have been damaged had Wes confessed about Sam and Rebecca's murders.]] |
| 341 | *** The main mystery throughout the first half of season four involved a series of flashforwards that featured too many different things to be explained as one main question; instead the promotional materials used the question of "what happened that night?" Although, the first flashforward arguably set up the mystery of [[spoiler: where is Laurel's baby]]? It was only in the final moments of the midseason finale that we knew definitively that [[spoiler: the baby was even alive]]. |
| 342 | ** Season 5 gave us a new mystery: who died at the wedding? [[spoiler: DA Miller, who was framed for Nate Lahey Sr.'s murder]]. We also drive further into our main character's back stories with the follow-up questions: Who is Gabriel Maddox? [[spoiler: Sam's son before Annalise]]. And what happened to Bonnie's baby? [[spoiler: They were taken by her sister]]. |
| 343 | ** The last season sets up plenty despite it's short episode count. |
| 344 | *** What happened to Laurel and Christophe in the previous finale? [[spoiler: They fled to avoid the FBI]]. |
| 345 | *** How did Annalise die? [[spoiler: Old age. The flashforwards took place decades in the future]]. |
| 346 | *** Who is the FBI's mole in the group? [[spoiler: Asher]], revealed in the midseason finale. Of course that leads into [[spoiler: who killed Asher]]? [[spoiler: The FBI themselves, to cover their own backs]]. It also asks how [[spoiler: Wes]] is still alive. [[spoiler: He's not--just like Annalise's funeral scenes, these take place far in the future and who audience's were led to believe was Wes is actually Christophe]]. |
| 347 | *** The finale itself manages to have one self-contained within the last episode: who killed who at Annalise's court case? [[spoiler: Frank arranges Jorge Castillo's death and killed Governer Birkhead but he and Bonnie were caught in the crossfire]]. |
| 348 | * The first two arcs of ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' center around the question of how can Emu use the Gamer Driver without the surgery that all the other riders require in order to not be killed by the technology the moment they use it? [[spoiler: Emu is patient zero, having been infected as a child, and thus has high tolerance for Bugster Virus.]] |
| 349 | * ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': Who the amnesiac Sento used to be? Who framed Ryuga for the murder of Takumi Katsuragi and why? Who was Katsuragi and why he created the technology used by all sides of the conflict? [[spoiler: Sento is Katsuragi and had his death faked for him, so that he could be repurposed by the BigBad who also framed Ryuga for that to torture him. Katsuragi started the Rider System out of curiosity and then to defeat said BigBad, who stopped him before he got too far with it.]] |
| 350 | * ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower''. |
| 351 | ** For Season 1: Where or what happened to Sauron? Who is the Stranger from the meteor? |
| 352 | * ''Series/{{Lost}}'' thrives on this. The MythArc is about the protagonists getting dropped in the middle of these strange, inexplicable and in some cases scientifically impossible occurrences and trying to puzzle out the answers to these questions. And there are ''many'' questions: "Where are we?" "What is the monster?" "How are people being healed?" "Will we ever escape the Island?" "What ''is'' the Island?" "Who are The Others?" "What's in the hatch?" "Should they keep pushing the button?" "What crashed the plane?" "What are the Whispers?" And due to the focused viewpoint, a lot of them don't get explicit answers. Season 6, however, cuts to the heart of it and makes it clear that the show's Driving Question is actually "Why are these people on the Island?" The answer has many facets that touch on both the A-story of the show and the thematic drive of the show. |
| 353 | * ''Series/TheMentalist'': Will Jane ever catch Red John? [[spoiler:Patrick Jane does find out who Red John is, and kills him.]] |
| 354 | * Season 6 of ''Series/MIHigh'' has: Who is Zoe? |
| 355 | * ''Series/MillionYenWomen'': Who are the women? Who invited them into Shin's house? |
| 356 | * ''Series/{{Monk}}'': Who killed Trudy? |
| 357 | * ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'': |
| 358 | ** What happened to Callen's family? |
| 359 | ** Who is the mole? |
| 360 | * ''Series/NightAndDay'': Where is Jane Harper; is she dead; and if so, who killed her? Further related mysteries pop up later on to help drive that main narrative – such as who got Jane pregnant, who sent her creepy text messages, and who sent Roxanne the poison pen letters? |
| 361 | * ''Series/OpenHeart'': What happened to Richard Blake? Who is the woman in the ugly coat? |
| 362 | * ''Series/{{Pandora}}'': Who destroyed [[DoomedHometown New Portland]], and why? |
| 363 | * In ''Series/{{Powers}}'' season 2 the question is "Who killed [[spoiler:Retro Girl]]?" and more importantly, "How?" |
| 364 | * ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'': "Who is A?" (this one has been answered twice, only for a new A to pop up) and "What happened to Alison?" |
| 365 | * ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': Who is Number One? Who runs The Village? Why did Number Six resign? (This is an interesting example, because whoever runs the village knows who Number One is and ''wants'' to know why Number Six resigned, Number Six knows why he resigned, but doesn't know the answers to the first two questions, and the '''audience''' knows pretty much ''bupkis'' ... and [[spoiler:it's never explicitly cleared up either]].) |
| 366 | * ''Series/ProdigalSon'': What happened during the period of Malcolm's childhood that he can't remember, between when he found an abducted girl in his father's kill room and when he made the call to the police turning him in? And what happened to the girl, as the police never found her? |
| 367 | * ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'': Who killed Jason Blossom? |
| 368 | * In the first season of ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', the DrivingQuestion was how to find and destroy the Turk. By the second season, the question instead came in the form of a RoomFullOfCrazy drawn by a dying resistance soldier, and the cast's attempts to figure out the meaning of all the names and places written there. |
| 369 | ** And the overarching ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' question: How can [=SkyNet=] be stopped? |
| 370 | * ''Series/TheSinner'': |
| 371 | ** Season 1: Why did Cora, a seemingly normal housewife, stab a complete stranger to death in a sudden fit of rage? |
| 372 | ** Season 2: Why did Julian murder Adam and Bess, and where were they planning to take him? |
| 373 | ** Season 3: Why did Jamie leave Nick to die in the car accident, and what happened in their past that caused their friendship to sever? |
| 374 | ** Season 4: Did Percy commit suicide, and if she did, why did she kill herself? |
| 375 | * ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': |
| 376 | ** Season 2: What's causing the Red Signals?/ Who is the Red Angel? |
| 377 | ** Season 3: What caused The Burn? |
| 378 | ** Season 4: What's causing the DMA? |
| 379 | * ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Who was behind the synth rebellion? |
| 380 | * ''Series/{{Succession}}'': When will Logan Roy die, and who will succeed him as CEO of Waystar? |
| 381 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 382 | ** Season 1: What killed Mary Winchester and Jessica Moore?/ Where is John Winchester? |
| 383 | ** Season 2: Who are the Special Children?/ Why are they being targeted? |
| 384 | ** Season 3: How do you break a demon deal? |
| 385 | ** Season 4: How do we stop the Apocalypse? |
| 386 | ** Season 5: How do we stop the devil?/ Where is God? |
| 387 | ** Season 6: Can angels be trusted? |
| 388 | ** Season 7: How do you defeat Leviathan? |
| 389 | ** Season 8: Can you close the gates of Hell? |
| 390 | ** Season 9: Who is Metatron?/ Can angels survive on Earth? |
| 391 | ** Season 10: How do you remove the Mark of Cain? |
| 392 | ** Season 11: How do you defeat The Darkness?/ Is the Darkness more powerful than God? |
| 393 | ** Season 12: Why are the British Men of Letters in America?/ Can hunters trust them? |
| 394 | ** Season 13: Is Jack destined to be evil? |
| 395 | ** Season 14: How do you defeat Michael and save Dean?/ Is Jack really okay?/ Can we really trust God? |
| 396 | ** Season 15: How can you defeat God? |
| 397 | * ''Franchise/SuperSentai'': |
| 398 | ** ''Series/ResshaSentaiToQger'': Why did the [=ToQgers=] lose their memories and where is their missing hometown? |
| 399 | ** ''Series/OhsamaSentaiKingOhger'' has multiple mysteries. Why did Gira lose his memories of [[spoiler:being a prince]]? Why is Gira able to control the Shugods? Why did Rcules become so evil? What caused the Fury of the Gods event 15 years ago? What happened to [[spoiler:the previous King of Gokkan]], who went into hiding to investigate it? Who killed Hymeno's parents? And how are all these events connected to each other? After the show's TimeSkip another question come up. [[spoiler:Why is Rcules still alive and why is he now working for Dagded?]] |
| 400 | * ''Series/{{Taken}}'': What do the aliens want? |
| 401 | * ''Series/TwinPeaks'': Who killed Laura Palmer? |
| 402 | * ''Series/VeronicaMars'': |
| 403 | ** Season 1: "Who killed Lily Kane?" and [[RapeAsBackstory "Who drugged/raped Veronica?"]] |
| 404 | ** Season 2: "Who blew up the bus?" |
| 405 | ** Season 3: Both "Who is the serial rapist?" and "Who killed [[spoiler:Dean O'Dell]]?" |
| 406 | * ''Series/WandaVision'': Who made the sitcom reality and why? |
| 407 | * ''Series/TheWatch2021'': How is Carcer Dun still alive despite seemingly having fallen to his death 20 years before, and as young as the day he disappeared? |
| 408 | * ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'': For season one: "Who is the Dragon Reborn?" Moiraine's information points to one of the five Emond's Fielders: Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, or Nynaeve, with hints appearing throughout the season to indicate it might be any one of them. |
| 409 | * ''Series/WhiteCollar'': What happened to Kate? |
| 410 | * ''Series/TheXFiles'': |
| 411 | ** What happened to Mulder's sister? |
| 412 | ** What is the truth about the aliens and the government's conspiracy? |
| 413 | [[/folder]] |
| 414 | |
| 415 | [[folder:Multiple Media]] |
| 416 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': Where, who or what is [[BigGood Mata Nui]] and how will the Toa awaken him? And what's the Toa's forgotten past? "Who are the Great Beings and where are they hiding?" were seemingly set up as the next big questions, but the franchise ended and [[WordOfGod the writer just revealed them online]]. |
| 417 | [[/folder]] |
| 418 | |
| 419 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 420 | * ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': What is the true identity and motivation of the Red Robes, and what happened during the [[LaserGuidedAmnesia timespan that neither Merle, Magnus, nor Taako can remember]]? |
| 421 | * ''Podcast/AliceIsntDead'' has several driving questions, including "Where is Alice and why did she leave?", "What are the thistle men?", "What is Praxis?", "What is Bay and Creek?", and "What are the oracles?". Some of these questions get answered and others do not. During Part 2 of the story, the biggest question is "Why am I still alive?", the answer to which turns out to be "[[spoiler:Because they haven't killed you yet.]]" |
| 422 | * ''Podcast/DiceFunk'': |
| 423 | ** Season 1: What is causing all of the odd events in Stoneroot? |
| 424 | ** Season 2: What caused the waters to start rising? Where did all of the portals come from? [[spoiler:Who is the mysterious voice]]? |
| 425 | ** Season 3: What created the barrier around Illium and how do you leave? Later this becomes [[spoiler:why are the gods trying to keep the barrier in place]]? |
| 426 | ** Season 4: "How do you make Valentine a better place?" is a more thematic one than normal. Later the question of [[spoiler:what is Solomon Luna hiding]] becomes the driving force. |
| 427 | ** Season 5: What happened to the Maxwells? What destroyed the Reigar homeworld? What is [[spoiler: Cassius planning to do with the Maxells]]? |
| 428 | * ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'': |
| 429 | ** Season 2: Who murdered Gertrude Robinson? |
| 430 | ** Season 3: What is the Unknowing? |
| 431 | * ''Podcast/TheWhiteVault'': What happened to the five disappeared members of the repair team sent to Outpost Fristed? |
| 432 | [[/folder]] |
| 433 | |
| 434 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 435 | * ''TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld'': "What caused the Apocalypse, and how can we fix it?" is recommended, though the answer of course is up to the MC and the players. |
| 436 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Cluedo}}'': Who killed Mr. Boddy? |
| 437 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has several questions that are left with no canon answer because it is up to the Game Master to make up their own answers. Some of these questions include "What caused the [[FantasticNuke Day of Mourning]]?" and "Why does the number [[ArcNumber thirteen minus one]] keep popping up?" |
| 438 | [[/folder]] |
| 439 | |
| 440 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 441 | * "Is Theatre/{{Hamlet}} mad?" is a question scholars of [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] have wrestled with for centuries, and is a popular essay question put to literature students. Is he [[ObfuscatingInsanity pretending]] or has he genuinely [[SanitySlippage lost it]]? Suffice to say that Hamlet's mental state is ''very'' open to interpretation depending on who is directing the production, and this ambiguity is one of the reasons why this play is considered one of, if not ''the'' finest work of English literature ever written. |
| 442 | [[/folder]] |
| 443 | |
| 444 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 445 | * Both ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'' and ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFilesNirvanaInitiative'' are fundimentally murder mysteries, but there's a bunch of supplimental questions the game asks. The first game has "Who killed Shoko Nadami?" along with "Who is/Where was/What happened to Kaname Date 6 years ago, before he lost his memories?" The second game starts with "Who killed Jin Furue?" But then adds "Where is Kaname Date?" "What happened 6 years ago that made Ryuki into a wreak?"" and "How was the left half of Jin Furue's body seemingly transported 6 years into the future?" |
| 446 | * ''VideoGame/AlwaysSometimesMonsters'': What are you willing to do in order to set your life right? |
| 447 | * ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'': |
| 448 | ** ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore3'': What's going on in Layered? Is the Controller really malfunctioning? |
| 449 | ** ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreSilentLine'': What's beyond the Silent Line? |
| 450 | ** ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreForAnswer'': |
| 451 | *** What are you fighting for? [[PunchClockHero A paycheck]]? [[ForGreatJustice Freedom and justice]]? [[WellIntentionedExtremist Humanity's survival]] (short-term or long-term)? [[ForTheEvulz Or just because you can]]? The game lets you [[TitleDrop answer]] any of the above.[[labelnote:*]](Though by the time you hear the question [[PermanentlyMissableContent it's a little late to pick "freedom and justice,"]] and even if you did, that path [[DoomedMoralVictor gets cut short anyway]].)[[/labelnote]] |
| 452 | *** Is it worth [[ColdEquation sacrificing potentially millions of people]] so that the survivors have a chance to escape the Earth's [[GaiasLament environmental collapse?]] Or is momentary peace and tranquility worth dooming humanity to a slow death? Or does humanity even deserve to live at all at this point? |
| 453 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': Who is the "armoured figure"? Why is he trying to kill the PlayerCharacter? What do all these dreams and portents mean? And what is the Iron Throne trying to do and what does that have to do with any of the other questions? |
| 454 | ** In [[VideoGame/BaldursGateII the sequel]] it's "Who is Jon Irenicus and what does he want from you?" |
| 455 | * ''VideoGame/{{Baroque}}'': "Who is the protagonist, and what was his sin?" |
| 456 | * ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'': What's the Joker planning? |
| 457 | ** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'': For the first part of the game, what is Protocol 10? |
| 458 | ** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'': Who is the Arkham Knight? |
| 459 | * ''VideoGame/BeaconOfHope'': Where did all the human inhabitants of Hope go, and why are the appliances now alive? |
| 460 | * ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'': How did the city of Rapture fall apart, and why did its founder betray everyone? |
| 461 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'': Who is Booker [=DeWitt=], and who are his {{Mysterious Benefactor}}s? Who is "the girl", and what is her significance to them? What are the exact terms of Booker's "debt?" |
| 462 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': What ''is'' Paleblood and [[FindTheCure where can I find it]]? |
| 463 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bugsnax}}:'' What happened to Lizbert Megafig? |
| 464 | * ''VideoGame/CallofDutyBlackOps'': What do the numbers mean? |
| 465 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'': Specific to players who already played [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger the first game]] - "What's going on and how does it relate to ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''?" |
| 466 | * ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'': What is the Federal Bureau of Control? What is the Hiss? What is the Board? |
| 467 | * ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'': Who or what caused the Shutdown? Is there any way to undo it? |
| 468 | * ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': How can I save the flames that sustain life as we know it? Another question presents itself later: [[spoiler:Is saving the flames truly the right thing to do?]] |
| 469 | * ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'': What happened to the crew members? |
| 470 | ** ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'': What did Isaac Clark inadvertently do? |
| 471 | * ''VideoGame/{{Devotion}}'': Where is Mei Shin? [[spoiler:She's dead, and her corpse is in the bathroom.]] |
| 472 | * ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': Where is the Archdemon and how do we kill it? |
| 473 | ** ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'': Why are Darkspawn still attacking even after the Blight ended - and how are they suddenly [[spoiler: talking]]? |
| 474 | ** ''[[DownloadableContent Witch Hunt]]'': What happened to Morrigan? |
| 475 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': How did Hawke become the Champion and what does it have to do with the downfall of the Chantry? |
| 476 | ** ''[[DownloadableContent Legacy]]'': Who or what is Corypheus and what is its connection to the Hawke family? |
| 477 | ** ''[[DownloadableContent Mark of the Assassin]]'': What did Hawke do to sour Kirkwall's relations with Orlais? |
| 478 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': Who is responsible for the chaos in Thedas and the tear in the Veil? |
| 479 | * ''VideoGame/EverybodysGoneToTheRapture'': What is the titular Rapture? |
| 480 | * ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'': What the hell did Ruvik do to reality (and ''how'')? |
| 481 | ** What is Leslie and why is Ruvik so obsessed with him? |
| 482 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': "What happened to Zanarkand?" |
| 483 | * ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'': Who or what is Alma, and why is Paxton Fettel so obsessed with her? |
| 484 | * The ''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series has several questions, a lot of which never get answered. These include questions like: What happened to the missing children? Are the animatronics actually haunted? Who or what is the Purple Man? What was the Bite of '87? And who even is the player character and why are they staying five nights at Freddy's? |
| 485 | * ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'': Sissel has one driving question throughout the story. "Who am I?" |
| 486 | * ''VideoGame/{{Guenevere}}'': What kind of queen will you be? |
| 487 | * The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' franchise: What is the G-Man trying to achieve? And what does he want from Gordon? |
| 488 | ** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode One'': What did Alyx steal from the Combine? |
| 489 | ** ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'', second half: What does the G-Man's message to Eli mean? |
| 490 | * ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'': Who is the Origami Killer? |
| 491 | * ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': Who is Aloy's mother and what happened to the Old World? |
| 492 | ** ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'': What has [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Zenith]] become, and [[spoiler:why did they have to come back]]? |
| 493 | * ''VideoGame/AHouseOfManyDoors'': How do you escape the House? And why is the House so important in the first place? |
| 494 | * ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'': Did Death's Hand have the Emperor's backing or has he taken over? Who is the scaly blue lady that keeps appearing to me in visions? How can you rescue Master Li? |
| 495 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': What and where is the Star Forge? Also, [[spoiler:what did Revan and Malak find that caused them to fall to the Dark Side]]? |
| 496 | ** ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': Where are the lost Jedi Masters? Who is [[EvilMentor Kreia]]? |
| 497 | * ''VideoGame/LaterAlligator'': Who's planning to kill Pat? |
| 498 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' has "What will happen when the Wind Fish awakes?" |
| 499 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'' Trilogy: How do we stop the Reapers? Each game has its own: |
| 500 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'': What, and where, is the Conduit? |
| 501 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Why are the Collectors abducting human colonists? |
| 502 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': How do we build the Crucible? What does it do? |
| 503 | * ''[[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManX'': Can peace truly be achieved between humans and robots/reploids? [[spoiler:The timeframe between ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 4'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' finally answers "Yes."]] Zero has the memetic "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOR!?" [[spoiler:''Zero 4'' also answers this.]] |
| 504 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' has several, the most prominent being "Who are the Patriots?" and perhaps "Who is Ocelot ''really'' working for?" |
| 505 | ** [[DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent No-one knows the answer to the second question.]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Possibly not even Ocelot himself.]] |
| 506 | * ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' games tends to put the player in unfamiliar situations with only one or two questions to drive the player's actions forward. |
| 507 | ** ''MYST'': What happened here and who is trustworthy? |
| 508 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'': Where is Catherine and Gehn? Who took the prison book? |
| 509 | ** ''VideoGame/MystIIIExile'': Who is this strange hobo, and why does he have it out for Atrus? |
| 510 | ** ''VideoGame/MystIVRevelation'': Who kidnapped Yeesha and for what purpose? Have Sirrus and Achenar's time in their respective prison ages reformed them? |
| 511 | * ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' mod ''VideoGame/TheBastardOfKosigan'': Who is killing off the Kosigan family? And what can you do about it? |
| 512 | ** ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'' chapter 2: Where is Master Nathan, and how can you rescue him? |
| 513 | * ''VideoGame/TheOutboundGhost'': Who is the Outbound Killer, responsible for turning Outbound into a literal GhostTown? And what is the secret that allows a ghost to use [[PersonalityPowers Figments]]? One of these is answered in the game itself, while the other is used to set up a SequelHook. |
| 514 | * ''VideoGame/OuterWilds''. A game in which the only powerups are better [[DrivingQuestion driving questions]]. Your first question is likely to be "how do I avoid crashing my ship into the moon?" but once you've answered this you're bound to ask "[[spoiler:What is the [[{{Precursors}} Ash Twin Project]]"]]?" "Why am I stuck in a [[spoiler:[[TimeLoop time loop]]]]?" And "how does the [[spoiler:[[NegativeSpaceWedgie eye of the universe]]]] tie into all this?" The game's set up so if you can answer all three questions you can win from a new game in five minutes. Unfortunately, like all the best mysteries, it can only be experienced once. |
| 515 | * ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': |
| 516 | ** You wake up without knowledge of who you are, what you're doing here, and why you can't remember anything. The first order of business is to fix that, and it takes most of the game. |
| 517 | ** The ArcWords "What can change the nature of a man?" would also qualify. [[spoiler:Also a double subversion. Ravel tells you that she was never interested in ''the'' answer, but only ''your'' answer, and then regardless of the answer you give, she dismisses it anyway. It's only at the very end that the Nameless One realizes that the answer is Belief.]] |
| 518 | * ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' (only the MilkmanConspiracy level): Who is the Milkman? |
| 519 | * ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'' (the whole game): Who is TheMole trying to bring back Maligula? |
| 520 | * ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObraDinn'': |
| 521 | ** What happened to the passengers and crew of the Obra Dinn, and why did it return to harbor years after its disappearance? |
| 522 | ** A second question arises later on: [[spoiler:What happened in Chapter 8 to make the Kraken spare the ship?]] |
| 523 | * ''VideoGame/RuneScape'': Who is Rabid Jack? Who is the Dark Lord? What is Zanik's destiny? Is there a way to save Morytania from its Vampyre rulers? What is at the bottom of Daemonheim? Where are the Elder Artifacts? What is Sliske planning? Is there a way to stop the Elder Gods from destroying the universe? What is Zaros up to? What is the player character's connection with Xau-tak? |
| 524 | * ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' loves these. |
| 525 | ** ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'': What is the purpose of the Junkyard? |
| 526 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona1'': Who is this girl calling herself Maki, and what did Kandori do to the world? |
| 527 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona2: Eternal Punishment'': What happened on the "other side" to change "this side"? |
| 528 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': What caused the Dark Hour? |
| 529 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Who's responsible for the killings in Inaba? And what exactly ''is'' the Midnight Channel? |
| 530 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': What is the Metaverse? How did you and your friends become Phantom Thieves? Who or what is Morgana? What is your "rehabilitation" supposed to accomplish? And ''how'' did you get caught by the police in a world that doesn't exist? |
| 531 | ** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'': How should the new world be shaped? |
| 532 | ** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'': What is the Schwartzwelt, and how do you stop it? |
| 533 | ** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'': How did the world go from bustling to full-blown ancient apocalyptic wasteland ''in five minutes''? |
| 534 | * ''Franchise/SilentHill'': Several of the games run on one over-riding question. |
| 535 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'': "Have you seen a little girl? She just turned seven last month. Short, black hair . . ." |
| 536 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'': Where is Mary, and what does she want? |
| 537 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'': Averted for the most part. The protagonist Heather wants nothing to do with anyone -- at least until [[spoiler:Claudia kills her dad]]. |
| 538 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'': What does the room want from Henry? |
| 539 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHillOrigins'': Why can't Travis leave Silent Hill? |
| 540 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'': Why is Alex's life such a mess? |
| 541 | %% * ''VideoGame/SilentHillF'': What is the deadly supernatural fungus meant to represent? |
| 542 | ** ''VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories'': Same as ''Silent Hill 1'', although the answer is extremely different. |
| 543 | * ''VideoGame/SpiritsOfAnglerwoodForest'': What happened to Edgar's parents? |
| 544 | * [[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl]]: Who or what is The Strelok? And why should you kill him? |
| 545 | * ''VideoGame/SummertimeSaga'': Who murdered Frank Cummings? |
| 546 | * ''VideoGame/TormentTidesOfNumenera'': What does one life matter? |
| 547 | * ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Don't you have anything better to do? [[spoiler:And the "you" in question? Yeah, they're really asking ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall you]]''.]] |
| 548 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': Who is opening the Darkness Wells? And ''who'' is warping reality itself? |
| 549 | * A good chunk of ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' has "Who owns the [[MacGuffinLocation Empty Lot]]?" and "Who framed Kiryu for murder?" Also "What happened to Majima that turned him into the AxCrazy Mad Dog of Shimano?" |
| 550 | * ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'': Why did the Tojo Clan really fall? |
| 551 | [[/folder]] |
| 552 | |
| 553 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 554 | * ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}'': What is this girl we keep on seeing, and what is her purpose? What are these Light Orbs we also see? And how are they connected? |
| 555 | * ''VisualNovel/{{Misericorde}}'': Who killed Sister Catherine, and why? |
| 556 | * Both of the first two games in the ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series, ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' and ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', revolve around the same questions: Who is Zero and why did he/she set up the Nonary Game? (Note that each game has a different Zero and a different Nonary Game.) |
| 557 | [[/folder]] |
| 558 | |
| 559 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 560 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Why do Grimm exist? |
| 561 | ** By Season 5, [[spoiler:why are the gods horrendous jerkasses?]] |
| 562 | ** In Season 9, [[RealityIsOutToLunch why is reality taking a vacation]]? |
| 563 | [[/folder]] |
| 564 | |
| 565 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 566 | * ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'': What are the Nightmare Knight's motives? What is perpetuating the cycle? |
| 567 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': |
| 568 | ** What is Pandora? |
| 569 | ** Why are the French Immortals amnesic? Who summoned the flame summon and why? The last question drives the New And Old Flames storylines.[[note]]Other big questions around this exist but have been resolved, their solutions are not being actively pursued in-universe or are not pondered by the characters themselves.[[/note]] |
| 570 | ** Why did the Immortals force themselves into a cycle of reincarnation in the first place? |
| 571 | ** Why is magic so weirdly dramatic? And after that's answered, how can magic be fixed? |
| 572 | * ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': What exactly is the Court? (Which in turn is connected to several sub-questions: What was Surma's and Anthony's history with the Court? Who is that ghost in the gorge, and why is she trapped there? What the hell is Zimmy's deal?) |
| 573 | ** What is Kat's destiny? |
| 574 | * ''Webcomic/{{Helvetica}}'': The entire comic is essentially this, although in a more lighthearted manner. Who were the skeletons in their past lives, and why do they all wake up there? What has Good Heavens done to make Lucy hate him so much? And who is Niles? |
| 575 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' progressed pretty quickly to "What the ''hell'' is going on?" and while there are elements of that persisting throughout, more recent driving questions are "who/what are the trolls", "who/what is Doc Scratch", "who/what is Lord English", and "can Lord English be defeated." There's also the lesser questions of "can Jack Noir/the Condesce be defeated", though at least we know who/what they (the Condesce is [[spoiler:Betty Crocker]], who is actually [[spoiler:Alternia-Meenah]]). |
| 576 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Inverloch}}'', the plot starts with the simple question "What happened to the elven boy who disappeared 12 years ago?". But even before Archeron can start his journey to find out, the even bigger question is "Why does everyone in his village seem to know exactly what happened, but nobody is willing to tell him before he finds out himself?" |
| 577 | * ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'': Who killed Atlas May? |
| 578 | * ''Webcomic/TheLettersOfTheDevil'' is a FairPlayWhodunnit, so there are many Driving Questions. The principal one is, "Who is L, and how do they know all of these secrets?" |
| 579 | * In ''Webcomic/{{morphE}}'' the seedlings have two gigantic ones that fuel their efforts. "Why does Amical want to train new mages?" and "What happened that caused everyone to wake up in crates with no memory of how they got there?". As they are captives in Amical's manor, the first question is the one which drives them through their mage training. The second question is what will drive them beyond there. |
| 580 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': What ''is'' Oasis? It doesn't drive the whole comic, but it does several stories in it, and remained unresolved for a long, long time. There are also other questions that drove single storylines but have been resolved, eg. "Where is [[MacGuffin Teknokon One]]?" and "What are the ghouls?" (There are also other questions, such as "What is Bun-bun's past?" that are just as mysterious but don't actually drive the story.) |
| 581 | * ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'' has quite a lot of these, although most seem connected: |
| 582 | ** Why does the Rash Illness turn people into monsters? |
| 583 | ** What exactly happened during [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the last days of Old World]]? |
| 584 | ** Is magic real, and if so, why [[TheMagicComesBack is it coming back]] after thousands of years of absence? |
| 585 | ** What hides in the [[ForbiddenZone Silent World]]? This one drives the main plot of the comic. |
| 586 | ** What exactly is up with the Hotakainen family? Which can be subdivided in several questions: |
| 587 | *** What are the mages of the family hiding from? |
| 588 | *** What was their grandmother's "one mistake" that is stated to have a lot to do with their current situation? |
| 589 | *** What caused ''both'' sets of parents to die? |
| 590 | [[/folder]] |
| 591 | |
| 592 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 593 | * ''WesternAnimation/BeeAndPuppycat'': Why was Puppycat cursed? Why did he suddenly appear in Bee's life? And why do the Warlocks want to capture him? |
| 594 | ** What is hidden within Bee? |
| 595 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}'': |
| 596 | ** Seasons 1 & 2: Who [[FrameUp framed]] Lee Ping? |
| 597 | ** Seasons 3 & 4: What does [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the council]] want? |
| 598 | * ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': |
| 599 | ** Season 1: What happened to Della Duck? |
| 600 | ** Season 3: What is F.O.W.L.'s ultimate goal? |
| 601 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': |
| 602 | ** How did Demona survive the massacre at Castle Wyvern, why hasn't she aged a day in 1,000 years, and how is she connected to Macbeth? These mysteries are finally resolved in the "City of Stone" multi-parter. |
| 603 | ** What happened to the unhatched gargoyle eggs that Goliath left in Tom's care before he was turned to stone? Resolved in the "Avalon" multi-parter. |
| 604 | * ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021'': Why is Krass the only Master of the Universe who doesn't have a [[ArchEnemy Nemesis]] and why can't she perform a [[SignatureMove Master Strike]]? |
| 605 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': |
| 606 | ** Season 1: Where are Adam, Mira, and Kai? And how do they return home? |
| 607 | ** Season 2: How did they end up back in the Hollow? |
| 608 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': "Who is the Author of [[GreatBigBookOfEverything the Journals]]?" |
| 609 | * ''WesternAnimation/JorelsBrother'': "What is Jorel's brother's real name?" |
| 610 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': |
| 611 | ** Season 1: Who is Amon? |
| 612 | ** Season 2: Why are the spirits angry? |
| 613 | * ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated:'' Who is Mr. E, and what happened to the [[LegacyCharacter original]] Mystery Incorporated? |
| 614 | * ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Though secondary to the main plot, the show has "Why did the previous She-Ra turn against the First Ones?" |
| 615 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', season 4: What is the mystery ship behind the attacks? |
| 616 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': For the fifth season, the big question is "Did Rose Quartz really shatter Pink Diamond?" |
| 617 | * ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'': Where is the Allspark? What became of the Autobots who went looking for it? |
| 618 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': |
| 619 | ** Season 1: Who is TheMole? |
| 620 | ** Season 2: What happened during the sixteen hours the Justice League spent [[spoiler: under Vandal Savage's control]]? Also, why are the Kroloteans invading Earth, what do the Reach want with meta-humans, and how does it all lead to a BadFuture? |
| 621 | ** For the series as a whole: What are the Light's [[EvilPlan ultimate goals]]? |
| 622 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'': What makes Zeta more than a machine? Ro has her own driving question: "Where is my brother?" which actually gets resolved halfway through season two. |
| 623 | [[/folder]] |
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