History Main / ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma

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* "Rigel" gives this impression to several characters in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'', mixing almost obsessively normal behavior with wildly aberrant habits and skills; oversensitive to touch and clearly keeping secrets, yet openly affectionate with family; genuinely happy to see friends, yet ignoring them for months over the summer; putting on a front to please a father who is easygoing and could be expected to easily accept the real Rigel's personality.[[note]]The trouble is that they're missing half the pieces of the puzzle; "Rigel" is actually Harriett Potter, who has switched places with her cousin in order to illegally attend Hogwarts as a half-blood, and their families don't know.[[/note]]

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/7258183 i'm not a riddle wrapped in a mystery, i'm you wrapped in blood]]'' is an ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' [[IncestYayShipping Tommy/Thea]] fanfic by kwritten.

* [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/7258183 i'm not a riddle wrapped in a mystery, i'm you wrapped in blood]] is a ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' [[IncestYayShipping Tommy/Thea]] fanfic by kwritten.

* In ''Rocketship Voyager'', the crew are puzzling over an alien space station that [[ArtificialGravity doesn't spin to produce gravity]], in orbit around a previously unencountered phenomenon known as a [[UsefulNotes/BlackHoles black star]]. Captain Janeway describes it as "a riddle of a space station, orbiting an enigma."

A StockPhrase typically used to describe something that is immensely puzzling to figure out or extraordinarily complex to fully understand, often relying on hyperbole and, occasionally, sarcasm.

Actual characters and things described by this phrase may be incorporating a MultilayerFacade.

-->''"An enigma wrapped in a mystery"''\\
''"Or a fool consumed by fear"''

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[[folder: Proessional Wrestling]]

** In ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant,'' Lord Vetinari describes Uberwald as "a mystery inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma." Sergeant Colon misinterprets this and later refers to it as "[[{{Malaproper}} a misery wrapped in an enema]]."
** In ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', the clowns ask Colon to search for their late compatriot's real nose, despite the fact that he had one. Vimes, reading the report, reflects that "the whole nose business looked like a conundrum wrapped up in an enigma, or at least in Sergeant Colon's handwriting, which was pretty much the same thing".

* From ''Literature/{{Tiassa}}'', two guardsmen conversing, [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis as rendered by]] Paarfi of Roundwood:

'''Rarity:''' Don't you mean 'inside an ''enigma'''?\\

''''Rainbow:''' No, I mean ''igneous''. It's a kind of rock. [[SarcasmMode Ask me how I know that]].

The [[TropeNamer trope name]] originates from a statement made by [[UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill Sir Winston Churchill]] in 1939 about what role [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets The Soviet Union]] might play in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII:

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', both the Uktena ({{Magical Native American}}s) and the Stargazers (ascetic Far Eastern monks) have been referred to as such.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Lisa's Date With Density" sees Lisa describe Nelson as "a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a vest."

'''Rainbow:''' No, I mean ''igneous''. It's a kind of rock. [[SarcasmMode Ask me how I know that]].

!Examples

-->'''DaChief:''' Why would anyone throw their money away like that?
-->'''Detective:''' It's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum, lost in a Scotch mist.
-->'''TheNarrator:''' It's a mystery why anyone would pay more for insurance. Get award-winning cover for less: Budget Direct Insurance.

-->'''Elaine:''' Maybe he's an enigma--a mystery wrapped in a riddle.
-->'''Jerry:''' He's a mystery wrapped in a ''Twinkie.''

-->"I am a cipher--a cipher, wrapped in an enigma, and smothered in secret sauce."

* In an early episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace'', Grace say to Will:
-->"You know, I thought I knew everything about you. But you're a mystery. Wrapped in a riddle. Surrounded by enigma. Growing boobies."

* On the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E12NightmareInSilver A Nightmare in Silver]]," the Doctor refers to Clara as "a mystery wrapped in an enigma squeezed into a skirt [[DistractedByTheSexy that's just a little bit too... tight.]]"

-->'''Ian Hewett:''' A slim mismatched jigsaw of a man, paintbrush hair atop a young face with ancient eyes, an enigma wrapped in a bow tie.

-->'''sammorgan 11:''' He looked like an alien crammed into the body of a human who had been crammed into the clothes of a maths teacher.
* In ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Sherlock Holmes' description of [[spoiler: Moriarty]] from the episode "The Diabolical Kind".

-->''"An enigma wrapped in a mystery"''
-->''"Or a fool consumed by fear"''

-->'''Cadet:''' He's so complicated, l-l-l-like a mystery wrapped in a r-r-r-riddle inside an enigma.
-->'''Manobrain:''' I'd say he's more like a halfwit wrapped in a hot dog bun inside a coloring book.

--> '''Rainbow:''' That pony is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an igneous.
--> '''Rarity:''' Don't you mean 'inside an ''enigma'''?
--> '''Rainbow:''' No, I mean ''igneous''. It's a kind of rock. [[SarcasmMode Ask me how I know that]].

--> '''Mrs. Jackson:''' As Churchill said, Martin is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma".
--> '''Keisha:''' Wrapped in a cocksucker.
--> '''Mrs. Jackson:''' I don't think Churchill said that.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' episode [[Recap/DragonsRidersOfBerkS4E9EdgeOfDisasterPart2 "Edge of Disaster Part 2"]], Tuffnut says about Heather, "One might say she's an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in yak bacon.

* On Dragons: Race to the Edge, Tuffnut has this to say about Heather: "One might say she's an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in yak bacon." in ''Recap/DragonsRidersOfBerkS4E9EdgeOfDisasterPart2''.

* On Dragons: Race to the Edge, Tuffnut has this to say about Heather "One might say she's a riddle, wrapped in mystery, wrapped in yak bacon." in S02E09."

* In the story "A Tree Grows in Ed" from a comic book adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', the Eds are wondering how a pair of shoes went up to a communication cable. [[TheDitz Ed ]]] calls or t, "A riddle wrapped in an egg roll, sitting next to a fortune cookie."

* In the story "A Tree Grows in Ed" from a comic book adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', the Eds are wondering how a pair of shoes went up to a communication cable. Ed says, "It's a riddle wrapped in an egg roll, sitting next to a fortune cookie."

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Patient X" contains a variant on the trope phrasing. Agent Mulder, who has grown skeptical of the existence of extra terrestrials but, instead, believing the alien conspiracy to be a lie purported by the military to hide ''a different'' and all more sinister scheme, describes his belief in "a conspiracy wrapped in a plot inside a government agenda."