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RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#1: Nov 6th 2025 at 5:19:57 PM

Little Did I Know is written so it's about the narration letting us know a major plot turn is about to happen that the character(s) are presently ignorant of. But I've gotten to wondering about other cases where the narrator expresses knowledge of things the characters haven't learned yet.

For instance, in when John Carter first arrives on Mars, John's first person narration delivers exposition on the local lifeforms of Mars that John had no way of knowing at that point in the story. The narration specifically notes that this is info John found out later, which they're putting in now for the reader's benefit.

Since it's done for purposes of exposition, rather than foreshadowing, doesn't seem to quite fit Little Did I Know, but we don't seem to have another trope that covers the narrator describing the story with the benefit of hindsight.

DoktorvonEurotrash Lex et Veritas from Not a place of honour (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
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