Things you should have seen from miles away (but totally didn't)

[Yora]

The key to a good mystery is that the answer does not just come suddenly out of nowhere, but that there were always hints the whole time that make it all perfectly obvious in hindsight.
But sometimes you can be really dense and fail to notice the most obvious things. I guess there should be some great stories to share here. :smallbiggrin:

Obviously this is going to include huge amounts of massive spoilers, so make careful use of spoiler-tags.

I think the dumbest thing I ever failed to notice was in Metal Gear Solid 2.
At the end of Metal Gear Solid it is revealed that Snake and Liquid are clones of Big Boss and the Genome Soldiers elite soldiers who have been genetically modified with the DNA of Big Boss. Which is the reason they needed the corpse of Big Boss to heal their genetic defects.
In MGS2, you play as Raiden and run into a Navy Seal called Iroquois Plisken. And once he took off his mask, I was all thinking "Hey, that guy reminds me a lot of Solid Snake! He must be one of the surviving Genome Soldiers from the fist game, whose appearance was altered by the DNA of Big Boss." Since Snake is a clone of Big Boss, they would look similar.
Later someone tells Raiden that Plisken is not a real Navy Seal but an imposter, but of course one of the enemies from the first game would try to hide his past.

Obviously it was Snake the whole time, just giving a fake name and not making any attempt to disguise his voice or appearance.

And all the time I was thinking "where did I hear the name Plisken before? It was in some movie. I think it was Escape from New York. Yes, that guy was called Plisken. Snake Plisken!
Snake Plisken? Snake? Snaaaake? SNAAAAAKEEEE!!!!
That one was really embarrasing. :smallredface:

[Fri]

In the Allistair Reynold's novel Terminal Point, there's a legend about the founding of the two oldest city in the land. The cities are named Fortune's Landing and Soul's Rest.

According to the story, the cities were founded by twin princes who hailed from a faraway kingdom. One brother, named Spirit, founded Soul's Rest, while the other brother, Opportunity, founded Fortune's Landing.

Do you see it?

The land is actually Mars, and the legend refers to the probe Spirit and Opportunity from Mars Exploration Rover Missions. The cities are found in the landing site of those rovers

[kpenguin]

Low-Key Lyesmith

[Eldan]

Low-Key Lyesmith

Oh man that one so much. Though you might wish to spoiler it.

[angry_bear]

Low-Key Lyesmith

Same here, I'm still not sure how I missed that...

[Dienekes]

Low-Key Lyesmith

I'm still surprised by how many people didn't get that one. It's just one more thing I get to feel smug and superior about.

Which I will now ruin.

Doctor Who season 5
We meet Amy Pond. She oddly doesn't have any parents. She also lives in a house alone, though she is only 9. We also see that her house has a crack in the wall that is all science fiction and is a portal to somewhere.

A later episode demonstrated that those cracks sucked people up and erased them from time and space but can leave behind some random objects paradoxically, like a ring, or a child or something.

Everyone and their dog made the connection that her parents were sucked into the crack. I did not, until the last episode of the season showed them come back when it was all the business with the crack was solved.

[Gnoman]

The key to a good mystery is that the answer does not just come suddenly out of nowhere, but that there were always hints the whole time that make it all perfectly obvious in hindsight.
But sometimes you can be really dense and fail to notice the most obvious things. I guess there should be some great stories to share here. :smallbiggrin:

Obviously this is going to include huge amounts of massive spoilers, so make careful use of spoiler-tags.

I think the dumbest thing I ever failed to notice was in Metal Gear Solid 2.
At the end of Metal Gear Solid it is revealed that Snake and Liquid are clones of Big Boss and the Genome Soldiers elite soldiers who have been genetically modified with the DNA of Big Boss. Which is the reason they needed the corpse of Big Boss to heal their genetic defects.
In MGS2, you play as Raiden and run into a Navy Seal called Iroquois Plisken. And once he took off his mask, I was all thinking "Hey, that guy reminds me a lot of Solid Snake! He must be one of the surviving Genome Soldiers from the fist game, whose appearance was altered by the DNA of Big Boss." Since Snake is a clone of Big Boss, they would look similar.
Later someone tells Raiden that Plisken is not a real Navy Seal but an imposter, but of course one of the enemies from the first game would try to hide his past.

Obviously it was Snake the whole time, just giving a fake name and not making any attempt to disguise his voice or appearance.

And all the time I was thinking "where did I hear the name Plisken before? It was in some movie. I think it was Escape from New York. Yes, that guy was called Plisken. Snake Plisken!
Snake Plisken? Snake? Snaaaake? SNAAAAAKEEEE!!!!
That one was really embarrasing. :smallredface:

Besides that:

The word "Iroquois" means "Snake".

[Kitten Champion]

That bit in Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban with the previous owners of the magical map, as well as the Goblet of Fire and Mad-Eyed Moody were pretty obvious in retrospect but flew right over my head.

[Hazzardevil]

Game of Thrones Series 3 and the book it's based off spoiler-ish. It was revealed in episode 4 or so of the current series, so not far in.

It took the tv series for me to actually realize that Beric was literally dying over and over and being resurrected.

[jedipilot24]

Skyrim.
The leader of the Greybeards turning out to be a dragon. Hints were dropped on the inscriptions but it still took me totally by surprise, such that I almost attacked him the first time.

[Ravens_cry]

Do you see it?

The land is actually Mars, and the legend refers to the probe Spirit and Opportunity from Mars Exploration Rover Missions. The cities are found in the landing site of those rovers
Yes, yes I did.:smallbiggrin:

[Sunken Valley]

Doctor Who
Mels is Melody and thus River.

[Eldan]

In the Allistair Reynold's novel Terminal Point, there's a legend about the founding of the two oldest city in the land. The cities are named Fortune's Landing and Soul's Rest.

According to the story, the cities were founded by twin princes who hailed from a faraway kingdom. One brother, named Spirit, founded Soul's Rest, while the other brother, Opportunity, founded Fortune's Landing.

Do you see it?

The land is actually Mars, and the legend refers to the probe Spirit and Opportunity from Mars Exploration Rover Missions. The cities are found in the landing site of those rovers

I read that book and only just understood that one.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Low-Key Lyesmith
Oh goodness yes.

Similarly, when Gaiman did Marvel 1602...
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/copperbadge/1000843/1296904/1296904_original.jpg
Rojhaz. White-skinned, blonde-haired American Indian.

I should've seen it coming.

[BWR]

Oh goodness yes.

Similarly, when Gaiman did Marvel 1602...
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/copperbadge/1000843/1296904/1296904_original.jpg
Rojhaz. White-skinned, blonde-haired American Indian.

I should've seen it coming.

Totally failed to see Low-key. That's rather embarrassing. Didn't pick up on Rojhaz either, but in my defense I was only famliar with the name superhero name and costume, and nothing else about him.

In KOTOR II: The Sith Lords. Kreia's betrayal.
She was flaunting her evil, her past and her dickishness all over the place, and I assume she is on my side for revenge, if nothing else.

Then she goes and stabs me in the back. I felt betrayed.

[Kato]

I have to say I did get one from American Gods before it was revealed but still rather late in the story :smallredface:

Also, Diekenes: No, I can't say I got that any earlier. I just didn't put much thought into it, though.


I'm sure there are some instances I missed some obvious thing but... I just can't remember any right now.

[Forum Explorer]

Low-Key Lyesmith

That got spoiled for me by a short story from the same author. :smallfrown:

[Sith_Happens]

Skyrim.
The leader of the Greybeards turning out to be a dragon. Hints were dropped on the inscriptions but it still took me totally by surprise, such that I almost attacked him the first time.

Dude, spoiler-tag this one.:smallannoyed:

[The Rose Dragon]

I totally saw who the Pandorica was built to contain. I mean, the most dangerous person in the universe? Looks pretty clear to me. It was very strange when people considered it a plot twist.

Then I missed every single plot twist that wasn't already spoiled for me in Series 6. Most notable is both Amy and Melody turning out to be 'gangers during the first half of the series. I mean, sure, Amy being a 'ganger is not hard to miss, but fool me once, shame on you, fool me once, shame on me. The other being the girl in the series premiere actually being Melody Pond. To be fair, I hadn't watched any episodes before The Pandorica Opens at the time, so I did not know what a Time Lord's regeneration looked like.

[Hopeless]

I totally saw who the Pandorica was built to contain. I mean, the most dangerous person in the universe? Looks pretty clear to me. It was very strange when people considered it a plot twist.

Then I missed every single plot twist that wasn't already spoiled for me in Series 6. Most notable is both Amy and Melody turning out to be 'gangers during the first half of the series. I mean, sure, Amy being a 'ganger is not hard to miss, but fool me once, shame on you, fool me once, shame on me. The other being the girl in the series premiere actually being Melody Pond. To be fair, I hadn't watched any episodes before The Pandorica Opens at the time, so I did not know what a Time Lord's regeneration looked like.

Well I pretty much sussed what would happen after the first episode where the doctor was killed by the astronaut although it took the hitler episode before it became clear what the doctor was going to do!:smallamused:

The ganger bit surprised me, both of them!

I suspect the Silver Nightmare should be commented on at some point in this thread although I for one didn't see that surprise coming!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I suspect the Silver Nightmare should be commented on at some point in this thread although I for one didn't see that surprise coming!
I guess it could be considered "obvious" from a tropeful standpoint, but I didn't find it too very much obvious-in-hindsight.

That's noteworthy, however; it marks Neil Gaiman's third appearance in this thread. :smallbiggrin:

[jedipilot24]

Dude, spoiler-tag this one.:smallannoyed:

Okay, I will.

[Hbgplayer]

Harry Potter:

The fact that Dumbledore was going to die in The Half Blood Prince.

[Kitten Champion]

Harry Potter:

The fact that Dumbledore was going to die in The Half Blood Prince.


To be fair, I might have not spotted that either if the internet didn't turn that particular spoiler into a meme with all the subtlety of skywriting.

[IthilanorStPete]

Harry Potter:

The fact that Dumbledore was going to die in The Half Blood Prince.


I missed that too, and I've never really seen any foreshadowing on subsequent reads.

[Kato]

I just read Bridge of Birds and I totally, absolutely failed to see the end coming. I have absolutely no excuse for this and I think I need to go back to "Predict plots 101". :smallredface::smallfrown:

[Friv]

Iron Man 1.

I managed to totally miss that Obidiah Stane was the villain. I mean, at first I thought that he was going to be, and then the movie continued and I got totally fooled by his relationship with Tony into thinking that he was actually just in the "Lucius Fox" role.

Made me feel a little foolish when he showed his true colours.

[tomandtish]

The Sixth Sense


We actually got into an argument after the movie for several days about whether or not he had interacted with anyone. Went and saw a matinee a few days later and paid very close attention. Nope. He didn’t interact with anyone but the kid. Damn. I didn’t catch that one until the very end. Say what you want, but they did that so well! Your mind fills in the interaction, but it never actually happens.

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

The Sixth Sense


We actually got into an argument after the movie for several days about whether or not he had interacted with anyone. Went and saw a matinee a few days later and paid very close attention. Nope. He didn’t interact with anyone but the kid. Damn. I didn’t catch that one until the very end. Say what you want, but they did that so well! Your mind fills in the interaction, but it never actually happens.

Also, that dude in that hair piece the whole time? That's Bruce Willis. . . the whole movie.

[BWR]

My pet hypothesis about the Low-key thing is that it's a visual trick. Those who are comfortable reading tend not to sound out the words they read in their head.
You read the meaning of the words in front of you, not whatever they sound like, which may homonyms. This is why written puns often don't work the first time you read them.

So rather than hearing "lowkee laismith" (I'm not doing it phonemically because finding the symbols are more effort than I can be bothered with) people (or at least I) 'hear' 'unobtrusive person who works with lye". A strange name to be sure, but whatever.

[SmartAlec]

The twist in Knights of the Old Republic 1

That you are, in fact, Revan

Made the worse for the accompanying cutscene that might as well have come with a title card saying "Clues you missed".

And, while we're on the subject of BioWare games, Jade Empire:

That your master is, in fact, the villain of the piece.

Left me agog. Agog, I tell you.

[Calemyr]

And, while we're on the subject of BioWare games, Jade Empire:

That your master is, in fact, the villain of the piece.

Left me agog. Agog, I tell you.

Hoo boy, yes. Playing that game a second time around was very interesting:
Hearing Master Li decry Gao the Lesser as "predictable" the first time sounds like a frustrated teacher who can't get a student to grow beyond his base nature.

The second time around, you can really hear the self-satisfied purr in his voice, as Gao plays his part in Li's master plan perfectly without ever realizing it. Master Li is the the master of the "Batman Gambit" (no link, GiantITP is time sink enough), getting people to do exactly what he wants them to do simply by letting them do what they want to do. Watching him manipulate circumstances (and seeing his concern when elements outside his control interfere) is incredible once you know to look for it.

Perhaps the best part, however, is the "basics at heart" trick. Everyone who teaches you afterwards comments that your fighting style has something odd about it, but it's only the twin-sword master in the Arena who actually describes it: your style suggests an opening that pulls attackers into a trap as they try to exploit it, allowing you to take on opponents you really have no business trying to match and yet still win. Then you learn the truth the hard way.

Heavenly strategist indeed.

[T-O-E]

My pet hypothesis about the Low-key thing is that it's a visual trick. Those who are comfortable reading tend not to sound out the words they read in their head.
You read the meaning of the words in front of you, not whatever they sound like, which may homonyms. This is why written puns often don't work the first time you read them.

So rather than hearing "lowkee laismith" (I'm not doing it phonemically because finding the symbols are more effort than I can be bothered with) people (or at least I) 'hear' 'unobtrusive person who works with lye". A strange name to be sure, but whatever.

So the pun is, uh, low-key?

[Raimun]

The key to a good mystery is that the answer does not just come suddenly out of nowhere, but that there were always hints the whole time that make it all perfectly obvious in hindsight.
But sometimes you can be really dense and fail to notice the most obvious things. I guess there should be some great stories to share here. :smallbiggrin:

Obviously this is going to include huge amounts of massive spoilers, so make careful use of spoiler-tags.

I think the dumbest thing I ever failed to notice was in Metal Gear Solid 2.
At the end of Metal Gear Solid it is revealed that Snake and Liquid are clones of Big Boss and the Genome Soldiers elite soldiers who have been genetically modified with the DNA of Big Boss. Which is the reason they needed the corpse of Big Boss to heal their genetic defects.
In MGS2, you play as Raiden and run into a Navy Seal called Iroquois Plisken. And once he took off his mask, I was all thinking "Hey, that guy reminds me a lot of Solid Snake! He must be one of the surviving Genome Soldiers from the fist game, whose appearance was altered by the DNA of Big Boss." Since Snake is a clone of Big Boss, they would look similar.
Later someone tells Raiden that Plisken is not a real Navy Seal but an imposter, but of course one of the enemies from the first game would try to hide his past.

Obviously it was Snake the whole time, just giving a fake name and not making any attempt to disguise his voice or appearance.

And all the time I was thinking "where did I hear the name Plisken before? It was in some movie. I think it was Escape from New York. Yes, that guy was called Plisken. Snake Plisken!
Snake Plisken? Snake? Snaaaake? SNAAAAAKEEEE!!!!
That one was really embarrasing. :smallredface:

Hahhah... that brings back memories of Metal Gear Solid 2.

I were playing it for the first time and I got finally to the bridge. You know, semtex, harrier fight and the revelation that Iroquous Plisken was actually Solid Snake. I really didn't see that one coming either.

Then again, this was the first Metal Gear-game I ever played. I could defend myself by quite rightly stating that it was impossible for me to recognize Snake's voice. Still, who else it could have been?
I knew certain things of the first game and even the characters (of MGS2) were talking a lot about Snake, since the terrorist leader claimed to be Solid Snake, the hero of the previous game.

[Wardog]

It was quite a long way into Avatar before I was sure that
Colonel Quaritch was the bad guy, rather than "the gruff tough guy who learns to have a heart".

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Welp. I now have something that perfectly fits this.

From Naoki Urasawa's Monster, a little more than halfway through.
Oooooh, mysterious blonde woman. Obviously Nina, cmon people. Why do you even bother trying to hide the fact?

Okay, and Nina's...killing people in cold blood? That's weird. She says she doesn't remember her name? Is this like...a multiple-personality thing? And she murders the police people with poisoned candy...hmm...that was pretty crazy. What's up with this? Why do I have a nagging feeling of deja vu here? I'm not sure.

Oh well, maybe--

WHAT. THE. FLIPPIN'. MONKEYS. IT'S JOHAN. DISGUISED AS HIS SISTER TO GATHER INFORMATION.

Nina/Anna and Johan are identical twins. Using the same murder method as back in the hospital, all the way back in the beginning of the series. Going after the former 511 Kinderheim director.

All the clues were there. I got hoodwinked.

[Fjolnir]

The Twist in Fight Club, it should be obvious but it really isn't that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same person

[Rosstin]

I have to say I did get one from American Gods before it was revealed but still rather late in the story :smallredface:

I was expecting the MC to be an ACTUAL named god from history. I kept on trying to guess exactly who he was. My guess was Odin.

EDIT: Looking online it seems people speculate that Shadow is an incarnation of Baldur, so I guess that sort of makes sense a little.

[Brother Oni]

The final twist in the Game of Thrones RPG game:


Warning, lots of spoilers.

Mors Westford, a former bannerman of House Lannister, took the black and joined the Night's Watch to avoid repercussions for his refusal to kill Princess Elia and her baby son (which was later brutally done by Gregor Clegane) during Robert's Rebellion.

Not being a complete idiot, he hides his family first, leaving them under the care of a friend, Alester Sarwyck.

15 years later, during the game, Mors goes back to the isolated Westford farmstead and discovers the graves of his wife and daughter. Mors rages at Alester for not protecting his family, but Alester says he couldn't be with them all the time and that his guilt of failing lead him to forsake his family name and lands, fleeing to Essos where he became a Priest of R'hllor as penance.

It's later found out that the antagonist, Valarr, who is Alester's bastard brother and former squire, killed Mors' family on the orders of Tywin Lannister as revenge for Mors' refusal to murder Princess Elia.

At the climax of the story just before he dies, Valarr suggests that Mors asks Alester how he knew where to find Mors' family.

The game then sudden goes into an interactive flashback scene where you (as Alester) and Valarr arrive at the farmstead to murder Mors' family. It's one of the few times that a video game has made me queasy - you know what's going to happen because it's already happened, but actually seeing and carrying out the act adds an additional layer of revulsion.

[supermonkeyjoe]

The twist at the end of Bioshock Infinite, it all fell into place perfectly, everything made sense and there had been so many hints and foreshadowing that I felt a fool for not seeing it.

[Silver Swift]

The twist at the end of Bioshock Infinite, it all fell into place perfectly, everything made sense and there had been so many hints and foreshadowing that I felt a fool for not seeing it.


Do you mean the fact that Comstock is actually Booker and Elizabeth is his daughter or that the only way to set right the past was for Booker to die?

The first I saw coming, hoped I was wrong for a while, but it was a good twist and indeed nicely foreshadowed. The second I don't think anyone could have seen coming, because it made no bloody sense. If killing Booker before his conversion changes all the pasts, then why wouldn't talking him out of it do the same?

[supermonkeyjoe]

Do you mean the fact that Comstock is actually Booker and Elizabeth is his daughter or that the only way to set right the past was for Booker to die?

The first I saw coming, hoped I was wrong for a while, but it was a good twist and indeed nicely foreshadowed. The second I don't think anyone could have seen coming, because it made no bloody sense. If killing Booker before his conversion changes all the pasts, then why wouldn't talking him out of it do the same?

The first one, like the title said, I should have seen it coming from miles away but the pacing of the ending didn't really give me any time to think about it until the final line, and then the penny dropped.

I won't get onto the subject of the ending, I personally managed to make sense of it but I can see whey most people don't get it, it wasn't really explained well enough.

[Velaryon]

The Twist in Fight Club, it should be obvious but it really isn't that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same person

I didn't see this one coming either.

From A Storm of Swords:
I had the Red Wedding spoiled for me shortly after I started the book, so I will never know if I would have seen that coming or not. The spoiler shocked me (though I suppose it shouldn't have).

[Sunken Valley]

Dragon Ball Evolution
Goku and Oozaru were the same person.

Ace Atourney Games (Phoenix et al)

Justice for All
Matt Engarde was THAT evil. I knew he was hiding something but boy.

Trials and Tribulations
Luke Atmey. Twice I thought he didn't do it. He seemed so harmlessly eccentric

Terry Fawles kills himself. Even though we knew the killer in that case gets away with it

Iris on the witness stand was her sister


Apollo Justice
Kristof Gavin in the first case. The mentor did it.

I thought Daryan Crescend was a tough guy with a heart as well. Though the killer was Lamoir.



Investigations
Lance Amano. I though it was his dad.

[Winter_Wolf]

The Twist in Fight Club, it should be obvious but it really isn't that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same person

The director's cut* actually completely ruins this. Luckily I saw a different version first time around.

I got caught by The Sixth Sense myself. My friend did not, and said "it was so obvious, how could you not see it!?" Then again, at least subconsciously I think I must fight very hard against piecing things together so as to get the most enjoyment out of the journey.

Otherwise I just go and read spoiler pages and enjoy the journey anyway. In fact lately I prefer it because I have too many people in my life who insist on either asking me questions that I simply could not answer if I didn't do that (and it's irritating to be asked every other minute), or they'd somehow feel obliged to try and ruin the moment for me right before the big reveal. Sometimes my friends can be really sucky.

*I'm assuming it's the director's cut, but I don't know for certain.

[smoke prism]

Death note.

It's obvious that L is going to die, but I thought "no L is too smart he will stop light before that happens.