Connected All Along

"It's like poetry, sort of. They rhyme. Every stanza kinda rhymes with the last one."

— George Lucas regarding his own series

Most works, especially the more populous ones, feature many recurring characters who interact with the protagonists under different circumstances, and who thus wouldn't be expected to know each other. Or, if they do know each other, you wouldn't expect them to have a history together apart from what you see.

Sometimes, though, these characters turn out to have been Connected All Along: they actually have met or crossed paths at some point, or share some other sort of unexpected connection. There are times where it would make sense, they might run in the same circles, even if the topic never came up around the protagonists.

It's likely the characters themselves won't remember the encounter, making The Reveal as much of a surprise to them as it is to the audience.

This is a Super-Trope to One Degree of Separation, Long-Lost Relative, You All Share My Story, Already Met Everyone, Luke, I Am Your Father, Luke, You Are My Father, Your Son All Along, and Not So Episodic.

Sister trope to Chekhov's Gunman, which most of the examples here will also be examples of, and Forgotten First Meeting. Compare Ambiguously Related, which may precede this trope.

A secret connection between two characters is usually a surprise, so Spoilers Ahoy! There will be unmarked spoilers on here.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• In Attack on Titan, it turns out that Eren, Mikasa and Armin were in the same refugee center as Annie, Reiner and Bertolt after the fall of Wall Maria, although the latter three were the ones responsible for the whole event. This unknown crossing of paths is depicted on the cover of volume 24.
• The last arc of Bodacious Space Pirates introduces us to Ironbeard, captain of the Parabellum. The final episode reveals that he is actually Marika's father (who was previously stated to have died before the beginning of the series), although Marika herself never finds this out.
• In Detective School Q, Kyuu's idol and mentor who saved him from some kidnappers is not only his Disappeared Dad (who had a good reason not to reveal his connection to Kyuu and his mother) but was also Morihiko Dan's partner and first protégé. Meanwhile, Ryu's heritage as grandson of King Hades is spelled out from the start, it's later revealed that King Hades is in fact Dan's Evil Former Friend as well as the illegitimate son of Kuzuryu Takumi, a genius artist whose various riddle-laden artworks are central to various cases that Class Q tackles.
• This happens in the first two series of Digimon. In Digimon Adventure, the Chosen Children learned that they all used to live in the same apartment complex, and witnessed the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon before moving away. In Digimon Adventure 02, we learn that all of the new kids were partly recruited because the Digital World touched their lives in a big way. For the three new main kids specifically: Daisuke and his family were among the many families who were taken hostage by Vamdemon and his minions; Iori and his family were in the airplane that got rescued by Garudamon and AtlurKabuterimon; and Miyako watched the battle against Diablomon and contributed to its defeat.
• In Durarara!!, Mikado was the secret leader of the Dollars all along. The Naritaverse is well-known for its cameos and interlocking background, which is fitting since they all take place at different times and places, within the same world. Celty of Durarara!! is friends with the demon Ronny Schiatto who gave the alchemists of Baccano! their Grand Panacea and Isaac & Miria make guest appearances as members of the Dollars. A pair of succubi from "Vamp!" encounter Shizuo Heiwajima of Durarara. Shinra and Celty are in some way involved with a political scandal in the construction of Etsusa Bridge Much of this is only found in supplemental material or brief Shout Outs.
• Idolmaster: Xenoglossia:
  • Yukiho Hagiwara turns out to actually be Chihaya Kisaragi's friend, which also spoils her being a spy for Turiavita and a False Friend for Haruka Amami.
  • R.I.F.F.A was created from Azusa Miura's egg cells, basically making Azusa her mother.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Diamond is Unbreakable:
    • Josuke Higashikata's Starter Villain is Anjuro "Angelo" Katagiri, a depraved Serial Killer and rapist that tries to kill Josuke and his family after Josuke stopped a punk Angelo was using as a puppet with Aqua Necklace from robbing a convenience store. During the arc, it's revealed that Josuke's grandfather Ryohei was the man who arrested Angelo in the past, and Angelo decides to focus his revenge on Ryohei first.
    • The Spin-Off Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak reveals that Noriaki Kakyoin grew up in the town of Morioh.
  • Golden Wind: The team gets contacted by a Mysterious Backer who tells them of knowing the method that would help them defeat Diavolo. The person's identity is Jean-Pierre Polnareff, who also previously fought Diavolo at one point.
  • Stone Ocean: Weather Report is introduced as a amnesiac who's memories were stolen by Pucci. It's until near the end they are revealed to be brothers.
  • JoJolion: Rock Humans are said to be drawn to special places of power within nature. It's shown that the Wall Eyes in Morioh and Devil's Palm are examples of such places that are known to draw out Stand powers. It also tellingly displays the Stone Mask and the Stand Arrows which were both rock-based tools designed to draw out latent human abilities as well. Given how nearly every Rock Human is a Stand user, it is implied that Rock Humans are intimately related to the very concept of Stands themselves.
• Most of the teenage cast in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War know each other due to the series' primary setting being an Elevator School, but outside of that:
  • In chapter 98, it's revealed that Kaguya and Maki are actually distant relatives (more specifically, they're second cousins twice removed).
  • In chapter 147, it turns out that Dr. Tanuma is the grandfather of Kashiwagi's boyfriend.
  • Gigako mentions in chapter 202 that the principal is her grandfather.
  • Chapter 209 reveals that Shirogane's father's company was stolen by the Shinomiya Zaibatsu (meaning that Kaguya's family is directly responsible for her boyfriend growing up in poverty and his mother abandoning him). And Shirogane (presumably) knew the entire time.
  • It was mentioned in an interview released midway through the manga's run that Shirogane had a small crush on an older girl who tutored him back when he was in elementary school. It would eventually be revealed post series that the girl was none other than Fujiwara's older sister Toyomi.
• One 4-panel gag strip of Kengan Ashura reveals that the four stooges (Rihito, Okubo, Kaneda and Himuro) had crossed paths before any of them became a fighter: a then college-aged Okubo noticed Rihito getting into a fight with Sawada and went to cheer them on, weirding out Kaneda and Himuro, who were walking by. Nogi was also there at the time, although he took no notice of the idiots' hijinks.
• This is the general concept behind Links, as while it initially seems like a collection of Boys' Love stories featuring four different couples, it turns out that all four of them have links to at least one other member of another pairing (most notably, Akiha's deceased first love is the older brother of Sado, and the latter's love interest Nakajo was the other party involved in the accident that killed him).
• Supplementary material in Lyrical Nanoha heavily implies that Signum was Agito's original lord, but nothing is ever confirmed one way or the other.
• In My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected, it's eventually revealed that the main characters all had some brush with each other before the story began. Hachiman saved a dog from being hit by a car, getting injured in the process. Turns out, Yui was the dog's owner, and Yukino was riding in the car's backseat.
• One Piece: The Wano Arc reveals that all of the Four Emperors (old and new) are personally connected to each other. Whitebeard, Kaido and Big Mom served together in the Rocks Pirates and fought Gol D. Roger and Garp 38 years ago. Shanks would later serve under Roger while fighting Whitebeard, and Blackbeard served under Whitebeard and personally scarred Shanks during this time, until he made his move. Shanks in turn personally influenced Garp's grandson Luffy, the "Fifth Emperor", to pick up the path of piracy. Also, although downplayed as seen as early as the first saga, Buggy (yes, THAT Buggy) was an apprentice of the Roger Pirates alongside Shanks (who he sees as a rival) and said relationship served as a reputation boost to become a Warlord and later an Emperor, and clashed with Luffy for the first time in the East Blue and swore revenge against him, which led Buggy to re-enter the Grand line and ultimately attaining both positions of power.
• Oshi no Ko:
  • It turns out that Ryosuke Kaihara, the crazed fan that took Ai Hoshino's life, was the same person that had previously killed Ai's doctor, Gorou Amemiya, shortly before Aqua and Ruby were born.
  • Hikaru Kamiki, Ai's ex-boyfriend and the biological father of Aqua and Ruby, turns out to have conspired with Ryosuke regarding Ai's death.
• In Pokémon Adventures, it turns out that Ruby and Sapphire had met once before, but even they aren't aware, because they were so young that they don't remember each other's faces.
• Project A-Ko: A-Ko and C-Ko act like they've been lifelong friends. Then B-Ko reveals that C-Ko used to be her friend...
• While the two of them never learn it during the story, the accident that caused the male lead in RaButa to become Gonk is the same one that killed his girlfriend's parents.
• In Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Moriko and Sakurai were actually very close friends and confidants in another MMORPG some six months or so before the beginning of the story. They do figure out their connection after Moriko creates an alt character in their current game that looks like an aged-up version of her previous character, which makes Sakurai wonder and leads to his asking her point-blank during a phone conversation.
• Sailor Moon: In the 90's anime, Usagi didn't even suspect that her two crushes, Motoki Furuhata and Mamoru Chiba, knew each other until the episode where the three characters have a chance meeting.
• Squid Girl: Nagisa, a part-timer at the Lemon, and Aiko, Takeru's teacher, were both introduced separately before it was revealed, dozens of chapters later, that they were sisters.
• Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: Fujio is introduced as a personal trainer at a new gym Shinichi is trying out. Then he goes home, and we find out he's Hana's father! The two of them get to discussing relationships, and Shinichi mentions his complicated situation with Hana, without saying her name, while Fujio mentions that his daughter has someone she likes. It's not until Shinichi goes over to the Uzaki house for Christmas that they realize the other's relation to Hana.
• One of the big twists in the final episode/chapter of Your Lie in April is that Kaori was the little girl sitting next to young Emi when Kousei first played piano, meaning Kousei's first meeting with her isn't actually her first time meeting him.

Comic Books

• All-Ghouls School: The ending reveals Becca's aunt Dora is Elle's mother, making them cousins.
• Batgirl (2000): In the final arc, it is revealed that it was Ra's al Ghul who sponsored Cassandra's father in his experiments to make her a perfect assassin, rather than him doing it for his own freelance mercenary work.
• Batman: In Night of the Owls, it's revealed that the Court of Owls has controlled Gotham for centuries, and know secrets about it that even Batman doesn't- in fact, they may be the ultimate reason the city's so screwed up.
• The long-forgotten Marvel Universe mini-series Conspiracy implied that most of the Freak Lab Accident and Million to One Chance-based Superhero Origin's from the Silver Age were actually the work of a shadowy government cadre called "Control." So any silly story conceits that could be dismissed as a Plot Hole or Theory of Narrative Causality were actually implied to have been caused deliberately. The reason Reed Richards and his friends were easily able to sneak into space, as well as the reason their rocket didn't have proper radiation shielding? Control. The gamma bomb test that transformed Bruce Banner into The Incredible Hulk? Control. The wildly unsafe radiation experiments witnessed by a certain schoolboy from Queens? Control.
• The Earth X trilogy reveals that every Marvel character is actually a mutant, whose X-gene was catalyzed by whatever origin story they originally had. That's not even going into the wackier connections, such as how Wolverine is distantly related to Moon-Boy, or how Belasco was actually Nightcrawler, or how Mister Sinister was really Colossus. Basically, everyone and everything that ever was a part of the Marvel Universe was secretly tied to something else.
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel): It's established that Snake-Eyes' family was killed when their car was hit head-on by a drunk driver (who also died). It was later revealed the drunk driver was the brother of the man who would become Cobra Commander.
• Meanwhile: Zig-zagged in one of the possible endings. Jimmy goes back in time and lives as all of the characters in the story: the ice cream man who gave Jimmy ice cream, the scientist, and Jimmy's own father. He raises his child self as his son.

Fan Works

• Inheritance (Worm): When the current Butcher is killed their powers and a copy of their mind are transferred to the killer. When Sanguine killed the original Butcher, the two were surprised to realize that, outside of being rival capes, they'd regularly played Warframe tabletop games together.
• Lacrime D'oro del Vento Aureo: The mobster that helped Giorno in his childhood after the latter saved his life, named Tony Dieci, is also the man that Bruno relentlessly requested to join Passione so he can protect his father. It's later revealed that not only is he the father of Olivia Zeppeli, one of the main characters, but also the illegitimate son of one of Caesar's siblings.
• The Lightning Strike sees Harry Potter being sent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after he is "killed" by Voldemort. As Harry learns more about the history of his new world, he determines that humans received their magic from the Reality Stone as a "gift" from the Dark Elves; their histories diverge because in the MCU Bor (Odin's father and Thor's grandfather) forced a high-ranking magical human to betray the rest of his kin after the Dark Elves were defeated, whereas in Harry's world the wizards were able to go into hiding before they could be attacked. More significantly, a vision Harry experiences after touching the Mind Stone all but explicitly states that the Time Room Harry witnessed in the Department of Mysteries back in his world is based on the study of the Time Stone of his universe.
• Miraculous City: Following a Mass Super-Empowering Event where everyone in Paris gets a Miraculous power, Lila Rossi acquires Ladybug powers while in chapter 8 an experienced criminal gets Butterfly powers and uses it to empower their subordinates. In chapter 13, after they rescue Lila/Cerise, the Butterfly villain (named Chrysalis in the following chapter) reveals themself as Cerise's old mentor. They decides to reconnect with their old apprentice and recruits her and her team against both Team Miraculous and Monarch.
• Ruby and Nora
  • Atlas reveals that Jacques Schnee is allied with Salem. It's also turns out that Raven Branwen and Little Miss Malachite are as well.
  • While it had already been established that Flynt Coal's father's Dust shop was run out of business due to Jacques' business practices and he was later arrested for stealing and selling Dust illegally, Cold reveals that Jacques actually framed him for the crime, meaning Jacques personally knew of and met with Flynt's father.
• Sharing the Night: In the first story, Luna and Twilight rouse and speak to an ancient dragon known as Emberstoke, who serves as their original window into the ancient past. In the sequel, it is revealed that he is the father and grandfather, respectively, of the canonical dragon characters Torch and Ember; the latter was named after him.
• Turnabout: Communication:
  • The story starts with Hitohito Tadano being sent by his teacher to retrieve some files from the school library, only to be confronted by Yamai Ren, black out due to panic, and wake up as the prime suspect for almost killing her. Simon Blackquill volunteers to be the prosecutor for the case, and it's revealed that right before he was arrested for the murder of Metis Cykes, he was investigating a murder at Itan Private High School, Tadano's school, and seeks to find out the truth about that murder. It's also revealed that the murder victim of that case was Yamai's older sister.
  • Chapter 17 reveals that Simon and his sister Aura were old friends of the Tadano family, with Hitohito even saving Aura during a winter trip. During a court recess, Simon admits to Hitohito's mother Jeanne that besides the old case, he's also acting to keep an eye on Hitohito and make sure nothing bad happens, albeit to mixed results.

Films — Animated

• Back to the Outback: Early in the film, the group offhandedly learns from Jacinta that an unseen dung beetle they knew from the zoo named Duncan had been eaten by a seagull one month prior, after being released back into the wild. Later in the film, the group gets help from some dung beetle U.S.S agents to get past some human cattle ranchers. It later turns out the leader of the dung beetles is Duncan's brother, and recognizes Chaz as the human who took him away, leading to him organizing the other dung beetles to roll boulders into the chasm Chaz is chasing the protagonists in, in an attempt to avenge his brother.
• Coco: Miguel's great-grandmother, the movie's titular "Coco" (her real name is Socorro), is Hector's daughter—which means that Hector (not Ernesto de la Cruz) is Miguel's great-great-grandfather.
• In Flushed Away, it's revealed near the end of the movie that Rita knows Sid, much to Roddy's dismay.

Films — Live-Action

• Towards the end of Austin Powers in Goldmember, it's revealed that Austin Powers and Dr. Evil are actually brothers that were separated during infancy. This also makes Austin Scott's uncle and Nigel Powers Scott's grandfather.
• In Blade (1998), it turns out that the vampire that had bitten and killed the title character's mother right before he was born is the film's Big Bad, Frost.
• Final Destination 2 reveals that the survivors of the highway pileup somehow cheated death thanks to the deaths of the Flight 180 survivors of the first Final Destination film.
• Godzilla vs. Kong: A reveal later in the movie — that Apex have the skull of Ghidorah's leftover severed head from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which they're using as part of Mechagodzilla's brain — indicates that Apex Cybernetics probably had offscreen interaction with Alan Jonah and his eco-terrorist paramilitary before the movie began. The novelization elaborates, stating that Walter Simmons purchased Ghidorah's remains from an international criminal who contacted him; one who's all but stated to be Jonah (an ironic interaction, given that Jonah and Apex's respective objectives and their respective worldviews on humans and Titans are very diametric).
• Parodied in Hot Shots!, when it's revealed the entire barracks is in some way either connected directly to the events in which Topper's father, Buzz, got his RIO, Mailman, killed (Mailman was Kent Gregory's father), or somehow related to one of the characters involved (Wash Out's father was the hunter who actually shot him, and everyone else is related to Wash Out, or has some connection to Eagle River).
• In Lethal Weapon 2, it turns out that the Big Bad's henchmen were the ones that caused the death of Riggs' wife before the events of the first film.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter finds out that the father of his date to homecoming is Adrian Toomes (The Vulture), the criminal he's been chasing the whole movie. Toomes figures out Peter is Spider-Man on the way to the dance, thanks to recognizing Peter's voice and Liz remarking that Peter was always away when dangerous things happened and Spider-Man saved the day.
  • Im Spider-Man: No Way Home, it's shown that the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus of the Spider-Man Trilogy knew each other, and that the Lizard and Electro of The Amazing Spider-Man Series not only worked at Oscorp, but likewise knew each other. Amusingly, given Spider-Man 2 established that Otto also knew his universe's Curt Connors, neither he nor their universe's Peter, a student of Connors who also ended up in the MCU, question why the Connors they see in this movie is a monster with a British accent, nor do Electro or especially the Lizard (given what's shown in the Amazing films suggests that he'd likely have known their universe's Osborn personally) or even their Peter, whose father worked alongside Connors and Osborn, question why the Green Goblin looks very different from their Norman Osborn.  Or for that matter, given the climax of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the film pulling a Decomposite Character on the Green Goblin, why Peter doesn't question why the Green Goblin doesn't look like Harry Osborn.
• The Mummy Returns has a variation, with it being revealed that Evelyn is the reincarnation of Princess Nefetiri, the daughter of Seti I, and also the rival of Anck-su-namun. In addition, Nefetiri witnessed her father's death at the hands of Ihmotep and Anck-su-namun and was the one who summoned the Medjai to try and stop them.
• Parodied in Spaceballs, where during the climax, Dark Helmet reveals to Lone Star that he is his father's brother's cousin's nephew's former roommate, which he says makes the two of them absolutely nothing.
• In Spectre, not only is it revealed that Quantum is related to Spectre, but so is Raoul Silva. In addition, Spectre's leader, Franz Obenhauser, a.k.a. Ernst Stravo Blofeld, is revealed to be the adoptive brother of James Bond himself.
• Star Wars:
  • In The Empire Strikes Back, it's revealed that Darth Vader is Luke's father.
  • One movie later, we find out that Luke and Leia were twins Separated at Birth.
  • In the prequels, we learn that Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader originally built C-3PO and used R2-D2 as his astromech droid during the Clone Wars. We also learn that Yoda knew Chewbacca.
• During the climax of Van Helsing, it's revealed that Van Helsing himself was the one that killed Dracula back when he was mortal.

Literature

• Ascendance of a Bookworm: Myne meets all sorts of people from all walks of life during the story. One of those people is Freida, a wealthy young girl around Myne's age who, for various reasons, is going to become a nobleman's official mistress as soon as she reaches adulthood. Later in the story, Myne's first bodyguard is Damuel, a knight from an Impoverished Patrician family. As the bodyguard job is basically court-ordered community service for Damuel, Myne gets curious and finds out that he couldn't afford a hefty fine he had to pay as part of his sentence and had to borrow money from his older brother's mistress' family. The mistress turns out to be Freida.
• Cudjo's Cave: The two German Mooks among the Confederate forces turn out to be Carl's two cousins, which causes Carl angst when one dies and plants the seeds for the other to have a possible Heel–Face Turn.
• In The Curse of Chalion, protagonist Cazaril had saved a young slave boy from being raped, at the cost of being beaten almost to death. Near the end of the book, when he's sent to a neighboring country to negotiate an alliance, its prince excitedly demands Cazaril display his scars, then embraces him as the one who saved him when he was enslaved. Diplomatic matters are rather swiftly resolved.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School: Two major plot points in this book are the legend of Silas Scratch and Greg's dad having to come to Hardscrabble Farms. The two plots are linked when it's revealed Greg's father created Silas Scratch.
• Discworld: Night Watch reveals that of all the police officers recruited in The Watch chronologically after Guards Guards, Reg Shoe was the one that already had a history with Vimes, Colon and Nobbs. He had fought alongside all of them and died when the new dictator's men tried to kill them.
• In the Fairy Oak sequel series, we learn that Jim's grandfather is actually Charles Bullet, a pirate, friend of Captain Talbot. Bullet accidentally attacked the Isabella II, the Captain's ship, taking the cargo with him. The Isabella II sunk shortly after, and the Captain lived in Fairy Oak as an amnesiac vagabond. Many years later, sorry for his actions, Charles looked for him, found Fairy Oak, mapped his journey, and returned him many of his things to help him remember his glorious past. Because of this, Talbot started telling stories to the village's children. Bullet kept the jewelry, toys and books, which Jim picked up while growing up. Some years later, the teenager found out about his grandfather's past life, which prompt him to run away, using the map to Fairy Oak as his only guide.
• In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it's revealed that Snape was in love with Lily, and that they were actually friends as Hogwarts students. And while Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had revealed that Dumbledore had a brother named Aberforth, Deathly Hallows revealed that he was the unnamed owner of the Hog's Head.
• In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Ford Prefect is introducing Arthur Dent to his semicousin, Zaphod Beeblebrox, when Arthur reveals that they met once at a party, surprising the hell out of Ford. It was at that same party that Arthur met Zaphod's companion, Trillian, whom he knew as Tricia McMillan.
• Moonlight Becomes You
  • Maggie discovers at the Moore family reunion that Liam, her date for the evening, is actually the nephew-by-marriage of her former stepmother Nuala. Neither of them had any idea and they're thrilled to be reunited.
  • Con Man Doulas Hansen is revealed to be Janice Norton's nephew, not to mention her partner-in-crime; Janice is the wife of Nuala's lawyer Malcolm.
  • Nuala's murder and the plotline involving Neil and his father's clients getting cheated out of their money by Douglas are revealed to be more closely linked than they first appear: they're all part of the Big Bad's Evil Plan to use Latham Manor to make more profits quickly and he killed Nuala because she began to suspect something shady was going on.
• In Question Quest, the backstory of Good Magician Humfery is revealed, including his connections to several characters. One of them was Crombie, a supporting character from the first trilogy, who it turns out was Humfrey's estranged son. This retroactively connected him to the protagonists of Ogre, Ogre (which featured Crombie's daughter, Tandy) and Vale of The Vole (starring Tandy's son, Esk).
• It is revealed pretty late in Wolf in Shadow by David Gemmell that outlaw gang leader Daniel Cade is the hero Jon Shannow's brother, and that Jon Shed the Family Name.

Live-Action TV

• In Arrow, it's revealed that Adrian Chase, the Big Bad of Season 5, is the illegitimate son of one of Oliver's targets from back in Season 1.
• The Barrier:
  • Emilia and Daniela, two characters without any sort of regular interaction prior to the beginning of the series, turn out be acquainted with the two same members of La Résistance.
  • A character who has been around since Episode 1 turns out to be married to a woman who is introduced in Episode 9.
• On The Big Bang Theory, when Howard sees Raj's date Emily, he realizes that he and she have met before in a very bad way. Later in the episode, it's revealed that he once went to her apartment after a blind date with her, clogged the toilet, and went out through the bathroom window.
• On Community, it's revealed in one episode that Shirley once bullied Jeff as a child.
  • A fourth-season episode exaggerates this. It turns out Annie's drug-fueled nervous breakdown involved making a speech that convinced Troy to fake his injury. The Dean discovered his love of women's clothing because of a slinky dress Shirley couldn't return to the store, which she only tried to do because a bitter and recently disbarred Jeff convinced Andre to cheat on her, which he could only do because Abed harassed the Bennett boys for trying to watch The Phantom Menace. The incident got Abed sent to a therapist, where he got Annie sent to rehab. Meanwhile, Jeff's legal defense of Mysti (the stripper Andre cheated on Shirley with) was viewed by Britta's feminist anarchist collective as a triumph, and a good reason to disband on a happy ending. This caused Britta to strike out on her own as an activist. Britta liberated a lab monkey, which would later become Troy's pet. It would then bite and scratch Chang, turning him gradually crazier with experimental monkey fever. It turns out Chang is the reason the entire study group (except Pierce, who was there for 10 years prior) enrolled in Greendale, as they were all at the mall on the same day Chang was handing out flyers.
• In Dog with a Blog, both of the parents actually met before when Tyler's toy car bumped into Avery's stroller, and both had a quarrel. Of course, in the show they never find out.
• On How I Met Your Mother, the entire reason Ted starts the story 8 years before he met Tracy is because of this. The seemingly random events, even stuff we thought got settled all those years ago, it all informs the story of that last weekend and everyone's lives. That's why the story had such a long scope.
  • It's revealed throughout the course of the show that Ted and Tracy crossed paths numerous times throughout the series: Ted accidentally taught the wrong college class once, and Tracy was in it; Tracy was at a St. Patrick's Day party that Ted attended; etc.
  • It's also revealed that Lily, Marshall, Barney, and Robin all met Tracy before Ted did.
  • Downplayed with Barney and Robin. They find out they have the same cousin Mitch shortly before their wedding, and they panic, but they then find out that Robin isn't blood-related to Mitch.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: With the revelation that Halbrand is Sauron in disguise, turns out Galadriel and Sauron were connected the whole time by Sauron's murdering Finrod in the past.
• Modern Family: The pilot is framed as a documentary about three distinct families: The nuclear family of Claire and Phil, the blended family of Jay and Gloria, and the same-sex adoptive family of Cameron and Mitchell. The ending reveals to the audience that the three families are actually all the same family — Claire and Mitchell are Jay's children from a previous marriage.
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Lee Shaw and Bill Randa, two supporting characters from (separate) early MonsterVerse instalments who had no known connection to each-other beyond being affiliated with Monarch, are revealed in this series to be old friends who worked closely together in the 1950s to the point where Randa considered Lee an Honorary Uncle to his children, and the two men implicitly entered Monarch together.
• Scrubs: A minor one in Ben's first episode. Ben is Cox's oldest friend, and is talking with Cox's ex-wife Jordan.
  Jordan: Why don't we hang out any more?
  Ben: When you and Perry broke up, you made all your friends choose between you, and, well, I picked Perry.
  Jordan: But you're my brother!
  Ben: That did make the decision more difficult, yes.
• The Spiderwick Chronicles (2024): Mallory's fencing classes, where she and Bree strive to learn from Renowned Selective Mentor Valentina, may just seem like a subplot where Mallory gets something to do and learns more about herself. Valentina is a half-fairy who has spent years trying to train a student to kill Mulgarath, who keeps killing them instead. Bree's mother was one of those students, and she wants revenge, leading her to join the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
• Superman & Lois:
  • In Season 1, it's revealed that Morgan Edge is actually a Kryptonian named Tal-Rho, and is in fact Kal-El/Clark/Superman's half-brother.
  • In Season 3, we're introduced to three characters; Bruno Manheim, the Big Bad of the season, Peia, a woman with cancer, and Matteo, a boy that becomes Natalie's love interest. It turns out that Peia is Bruno's wife and that Matteo is their son.
• This Is Us: The pilot was marketed as a show about four 36-year-olds, Jack, Randall, Kate, and Kevin, who share the same birthday. But the pilot's ending reveals all four people are part of the same family: Jack's segments take place in 1980 rather than the present day, on the day his children, Kate and Kevin, were born. Randall, who was abandoned as a newborn at a fire station the very same day, was adopted by Jack and his wife and grew up as Kate and Kevin's adoptive brother.

Podcasts

• The Adventure Zone: Balance, at the end of Reunion Tour, reveals that Tres Horny Boys have known each other far longer than their previously established first meeting, when they regain their lost memories of a vast period of their backstory. The truth is that they, along with Lucretia, Barry Bluejeans, and Davenport, were actually interplanar astronauts. Magnus, Merle, Taako, Barry, and Davenport had a whole century of their memories blocked out by Lucretia to make it harder for the Hunger to hunt them down. The Reveal also revealed that Taako had had a twin sister named Lup who perished on their journey and so all memory of her had been blocked from their minds as well.
• Plumbing the Death Star identifies the "idiot detective", a phenomenon where movie-goers will experience a brief rush of satisfaction upon seeing a previously established character, even if the character has no reason to appear or any connection to the relevant characters. This is the best answer they have for the question "Why Does Your Snoke Theory Suck?", referring to theories that the new Star Wars villain was an alien rabbit, Darth Vader's butler, or Samuel L. Jackson.

Theatre

• A meta-example in Les Misérables: The original novel mentions that Gavroche is Eponine's brother, but the modern play adaptations seldom mention this.
• Shucked: Storyteller 1 is the grandchild of Gordy & Lulu, and Storyteller 2 is the grandchild of Maizy & Beau. This makes the duo third cousins to each other.

Video Games

• AI: The Somnium Files has several of these:
  • So Sejima turns out to be Iris Sagan's biological father as a result of his affair with Manaka Iwai.
  • With the reveal that Saito Sejima, So's son, is the Cyclops Killer, it means that Iris is Saito's half-sister.
  • The big reveal regarding the main character, Date Kaname, is that his current body was the original body of Saito Sejima.
• Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed, has several of these, with Rin turning out to be Shizuku's younger sister, Soga, the Big Bad, turning out to be their older brother, and Zenya Amo and Koma Sakaguchi both being associates of his.
• Alluna and Brie:
  • Two characters, Matt, a hot guy, and Tilly, one of Camille's friends, turn out to be more connected than any other character, as they're both the same person due to a curse that Matt was inflicted with during his high school years that requires him to shift between a man and a woman at regular intervals.
  • The one who cursed Matt turns out to have been Lilith, the same succubus that gave Alluna and Brie their powers.
• ANNO: Mutationem: The Masked Woman implies in her last encounter with Ann that she is also one of the seven subjects that were involved in the Gatekeeper Project.
• Baldur's Gate has some:
  • Shar-Teel is the abused and disgruntled daughter of Angelo Dosan, one of the reasons she became a man-hating evil fighter. Despite her despise for him, Angelo has still affection for his daughter. If she's in the party when you get framed and captured in chapter 7, he can decide to let you go free. Once.
  • You considered Imoen simply as a childhood friend that happened to travel with you? Well, in the sequel you will discover that you are more connected than you thought.
  • In Baldur's Gate II, during the final confrontation against Firkraag in his sidequest, he reveals that he was targeting you because he had an old grudge over your foster father Gorion, and he is curious to look how your struggle with Irenicus (whom he knows very well) will turn out.
• In Code Vein, there are allusions to the existence of "Horrors", horrible man eating monsters that the Revenants were created to fight in the first place. After Mido takes down the massive barrier of red mist trapping all the Revenants in the city, it was revealed that it wasn't designed to keep the Revenants in, but to keep the Horrors OUT. The Horrors? Turns out they're Aragami, setting the game within the God Eater universe. Revenants were but one of the human bioweapons created to combat Aragami alongside the more successful God Eaters.
• Happens repeatedly in the Dark Parables series, since each new installment has a tendency to reveal new details about characters or situations encountered in previous games. To give the earliest example: the very first game, Curse of Briar Rose, only resolved the story of Sleeping Beauty. Since then, the player has learned that Briar Rose had a sister named Ivy, who was the wife of The Frog Prince; that Briar Rose is one of the specially selected Handmaidens of the nature goddess Flora, blessed with immortality and magical control over briar plants; and that she's a member of a warrior society called the Red Riding Hood Sisters.
• Devil May Cry 5: In addition to V and Urizen turning out to be two halves of Vergil, Vergil is revealed to be Nero's father (which also makes Dante Nero's uncle).
• In Diner Dash Adventures, Mr. Big mentions that Flo's mom is a distant cousin of his, making Flo related to the Big family.
• Dragon Age likes to do this:
  • At the end of Dragon Age II, the player is treated to the surprising reveal that Cassandra, the Audience Surrogate character throughout the game, is acquainted with Leliana, one of the Warden's companions from the previous game, and they're actually working together. Until this revelation, there's no reason to think the two women have ever even met. Dragon Age: Inquisition expands on this by revealing that they're of equivalent rank within the Chantry, being known as the Hands of the Divine.
  • In Inquisition, one of the war table operations reveals that Varric is acquainted with Jerrik Dace, one of the primary participants in the Origins DLC Golems of Amgarrak. In fact, Varric was the one who loaned Jerrik the money so he could go on the expedition which forms the basis of that DLC.
• In Final Fantasy VIII, most of the main cast discover that they grew up in the same orphanage and knew each other as kids (but they forgot it due to phlebotinum-related amnesia). It is also heavily implied that a major secondary character is the protagonist's estranged father.
• Freedom Planet 2 has a case with Milla, who is revealed to be an alien who's from the same planet as Serpentine and Lord Brevon, with it being that she was part of Brevon's genetic soldier program, also providing us an explanation as to why Brevon was able to mutate her into a monster in the penultimate stage of the first game.
• Henry Stickmin Series
  • One of the routes in Fleeing the Complex reveals that the Wall is allied with the Center for Chaos Containment.
  • One of the routes in Completing the Mission reveals that Mayor Frederickson from Stealing the Diamond was a member of the Toppat Clan all along and that he was planning on stealing the Tunisian Diamond himself for the Toppats before Henry came along.
• In Hitman, Diana and Agent 47's partnership is sort of a mutually interdependent mobius strip. The tie-in Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman comic reveals that Diana recruited 47 to work with her at the ICA, but she herself only joined the ICA because of her parents' assassination in 1989, perpetrated by 47 and Subject 6 under orders from The Institute. 47 didn't know of Diana at the time, of course, it was just another job for him and 6, but the later half of 2 has Grey give 47 the anti-serum that lets him remember his time at The Institute and that assassination. In 3, Edwards tells Diana of this after Dubai in a bid to sabotage their relationship. Not only does this not work, but it also makes Edwards vulnerable enough for Diana to make 47 a Trojan Prisoner that can locate and kill Edwards, and 47 and Diana continue being freelance partners, the latter clearly forgiving 47 for the assassination (it's not like 47 or 6 had a choice back in 1989).
• In Huniepop, if their last names hadn't already clued you in, Tiffany turns out to be Jessie's daughter that she had given birth to when she was sixteen.
• Jade Empire: The Big Bad finds out that Dawn Star, a student he'd taught for 20 years, was actually his daughter. His reaction is essentially "Interesting, but irrelevant."
• Kingdom Hearts: III reveals this was in play for the incarnation of Organization XIII from II. Xemnas chose each of the members because they all had some importance. The first six members were Ansem the Wise's apprentices who researched the Heartless. The seventh and eighth members, Axel and Saïx, were recruited because they were snooping around Ansem's lab during those experiments. The thirteenth member, Roxas, was Sora's Nobody and could wield the Keyblade, which Xemnas needed for his plans. But what about members nine through twelve? It turns out that they were chosen not just because they had powerful hearts that could fill the ranks, but because they're all related to the Keyblade War.
• League of Legends: When Viego the Ruined King was Promoted to Playable after several years of acting as a Greater-Scope Villain, he has several in-game interactions with characters associated with his domain of the Shadow Isles. The only other interaction is his response to seeing Vladimir: 'Hello, uncle. I'm surprised you haven't been torn apart by an angry mob.' In particular, Vladimir had been stated to have been keeping himself young and strong with blood magic for a long time, but this was the first indication that he was over a thousand years old.
• Live A Live has the end bosses of each chapter have similar naming conventions the prominently feature the consecutive letters O and D ("Odo" in prehistory, Ode Iou in Bakumatsu Japan, Odie O'Bright in the modern era, etc.). During the Middle Ages chapter, the lair of the Lord of Dark has a room with statues of all of the bosses from the previous chapters. Then, in the closing moments of the chapter, Oersted, having witnessed everyone die or betray him even after doing everything that was asked of him, snaps and names himself the new Lord of Dark, Odio, and uses his dark powers to spread his malice and hatred across all of history: all of the bosses you fought in the previous chapters were extensions of Odio!
• Mega Man
  • Mega Man 7 introduced us to Bass and Treble, two robots that Mega Man comes across shortly after Dr. Wily escapes. After defeating all eight Robot Masters, Dr. Wily reveals that Bass and Treble are his creations as basically his answer to Mega Man and Rush.
  • Upon defeating Sigma at the end of Mega Man X2, he hints that Zero's creator was in fact Dr. Wily, which later games in the series confirm.
• Octopath Traveler: All eight characters' stories involve the cult of Galdera, specifically Lyblac's machinations to unseal Galdera himself. To list them off:
  • Ophilia: Mattias needed the Sacred Flame weakened in order to power the Dark Flame of Galdera. Mattias intended on only doing it a little to gain Galdera's power and not actually free him, but Lyblac wanted otherwise.
  • Cyrus: From The Far Reaches Of Hell contains the actual ritual needed to unseal Galdera.
  • Tressa: The journal Tressa found belonged to Graham Crossford and was stolen by Esmeralda to try to find any clue to his location, or his son Kit.
  • Olberic: Hornburg was destroyed because the Gate of Finis, beyond which lies Galdera, was buried deep below the Castle.
  • Primrose: Her father was killed because he had learned too much of the plan to revive Galdera and needed to be silenced.
  • Alfyn: The apothecary who saved his life was none other then Graham Crossford himself.
  • Therion: The Dragonstones were essentially the "key" to the lock that held Galdera prisoner.
  • H'aanit: Redeye is actually Graham Crossford, transformed into a monstrosity due to Lyblac's first failed attempt to try to free Galdera.
• Octopath Traveler II: Like the first game, completing all eight stories unlocks the Journey For The Dawn, where you learn how the Moonshade Order was behind everything, their wicked goals and their connections to specific characters.
  • Ochette: The Dark Hunter mentioned throughout Ochette's chapter was actually a member of the Moonshade Order, and corrupted Temenos' friend Roi in order to steal the Darkblood Bow from him.
  • Castti: Trousseau was corrupted into nihilistic madness by Claude through the Book of Night.
  • Throné: Claude was the grandson of D'arqest and was intended to be the vessel of Vide the Wicked, but Claude rejected that idea and instead intended to use other people as vessels for Vide.
  • Osvald: Harvey was also a member of the Moonshade Order and aided them by turning Akalā/Mahina into the Darkling.
  • Partitio: Ori was a member of the Moonshade Order and used her "scrivener" job to gather information for them.
  • Agnea: Tanzy was being used as a pawn by Arcanette to track down the locations of the Sacred Flames.
  • Temenos: Mindt turns out to be the alias of Arcanette, the Moonshade Order's leader.
  • Hikari: Kazan's true identity is Oboro, a nihilistic member of the Moonshade Order who masterminded Hikari's chapter in order to further his goals.
• Odin Sphere has this come up all over the place, as well as in the final book as a very important plot point. When King Gallon breaks free from the Netherworld, the only one able to kill him is one of his descendants in the Titanian royal family, as well as someone with the power of the previous ruler of the underworld, Queen Odette, due to his undead nature. Oswald ultimately fits both bills: not only does he have some of Odette's power as part of a Deal with the Devil that turned him into a Shadow Knight, but he is also the son of the exiled Prince Edgar, one of Gallon's sons (which, by extension, makes him a cousin to Cornelius, son of the current ruler King Edmund).
• In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, it's eventually revealed that the party members (sans Yukino) all knew each other briefly when they were kids. Major villain Joker was also a member of this group, and remembers their last day together very differently to how the party remembers it.
• In Persona 5, all of the targets that the Phantom Thieves had changed the hearts of turn out to be connected to The Conspiracy led by Masayoshi Shido. The conspiracy reaches far and wide, encompassing even more people than the heroes can fathom at first:
  • Suguru Kamoshida, the Phantom Thieves' first target, is distantly related to the conspiracy due to his change of heart prompting Shido to pressure Principal Kobayakawa to investigate the Phantom Thieves and their relation to Shujin Academy.
  • Ichiryusai Madarame and Junya Kaneshiro provided more direct aid to Shido by using money from their art forgeries and drug trafficking (respectively) to fund Shido's political career.
  • Kunikazu Okumura, a business magnate and aspiring politician, was also in on the conspiracy as the one who contracted Shido's personal assassin, known as the "Black Mask", to institute mental shutdowns in Shido's enemies, only to be assassinated himself when he proved to be more troublesome to Shido's ambitions than helpful.
  • The "Black Mask" is revealed to be Goro Akechi, who joined the Phantom Thieves briefly as The Mole for Shido. Akechi is also Shido's illegitimate son.
  • While not a part of the conspiracy, Futaba Sakura was a victim of it: her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, was a researcher who studied "cognitive psience", which Shido wanted to use for his ambitions. To that end, Shido had Wakaba suffer a mental shutdown and appear to be Driven to Suicide, then had the blame for her death pinned on young Futaba to evade suspicion.
  • The director of the Special Investigations Unit is also an associate of Shido, who used his position to convince Makoto Niijima's elder sister, public prosecutor Sae Niijima, to rig court cases involving Shido in his favor, all without her even realizing it.
  • At the very top of the conspiracy's totem pole is Yaldabaoth, the fake "Igor", who influenced Shido as part of a social experiment that the Player Character and Akechi were also wrapped into.
• In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Lusamine, the president of the Aether Foundation, is revealed to be the mother of both Lillie and Gladion, that Team Skull have been assisting her in getting Cosmog back, and that Mohn, the caretaker of the Poke Pelago, is her missing husband.
• The Duke from Resident Evil Village was assumed by most gamers to be an Expy of the Merchant from Resident Evil 4. However, there's a random line of dialogue that reveals the two actually know each other:
  The Duke: What're ya buyin'? Heh heh... just something an old friend of mine used to say.
• Sdorica
  • The Watchers are strictly uninvolved with the events of the story. Should the player meet certain conditions in the second arc, Rei reveals that the villain was her former mentor.
  • Many character stories reveal connections between characters that the main game does not. For example, in Miranda's, she mentions she's looking for a killer who nearly wiped out the Stone Tiger Tribe, while Izumi's SP splash art has involves a black-furred tiger being skewered...
• When assaulting Telestrian Industries in Shadowrun Returns, you can hack personal files that reveal its CEO is the half-brother of local alcoholic Sam Watts.
• Trails Series:
  • In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, it turns out that Rean and Alisa have met each other as kids when Alisa got lost at Ymir and Rean gave her a present and helped her get back to her parents.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak has Van Arkride who, thanks to his job as a Spriggan which entails working with individuals who are skirting the line, knows lots of people. He knows who Walter is despite being a part of Ouroboros and worked with him during "The Great War", he has worked alongside Cao Lee and Heiyue, and he's the driver mentioned in the in-universe book "Three & Nine" who helped Swin Abel and Nadia Rayne who were on the run. It's become a meme by fans that "Van knows everyone."
• Given it's tagline "Everything is connected" ^note Directrly referring to the Smart City system that connects al the technology in the game world it should not be a surprise that Watch_Dogs has this, with many characters being connected to the game's inciting incident; Crime lord Lucky Quinn appears early on as the client to a contract Aiden Pearce is sent on during act 1. It is eventually revealed that he is the owner of the Merlaut, the Hotel that the prologue is set in, and that he is the one who ultimately hired Maurice Vega to murder Pearce because he believied that Pearce was attempting to steal blackmail material Quinn had on the Mayor. The actual theif is revealed to be Delford 'Iraq' Wade, who serves as the main antagonist of act 2, and is later revealed to be the middleman who hired Vega for Quinn, a task that his completion of is what makes Quinn trust him with the Human trafficking auction that makes up a notable part of the plot of Act 2. Furthermore Clara Lille, Pearce's Voice with an Internet Connection is revealed to have previously worked for Quinn and was the one who identified Pearce and his former partner, the Big Bad, Damien Brenks, as having been present at the Merlaut during the Prolouge, resulting in the aforementioned attempt on Pearce's life that resulted in the death of his niece, as well as the attack on Brenks, setting the events of the plot in motion, with Lille having experienced a My God, What Have I Done? and commited a Heel–Face Turn, hoping to redeem herself by helping Pearce get his answers.

Visual Novels

• Ace Attorney:
  • In the first game's fourth case, we encounter Phoenix's friend Larry, who was the defendant in the first case. When it's mentioned that the defendant in this case is Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix's rival prosecutor, it turns out Phoenix and Larry were actually childhood friends with Edgeworth. (Phoenix knew that, the audience didn't.)
  • Iris from the last case of the third game turns out to be the daughter of Morgan Fey, the mastermind of the second case from the second game. Also her connection to Phoenix is a Double Subversion. When she knows who he is before he introduces himself, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that "Iris" is an alias of Dahlia Hawthorne, Phoenix's ex-girlfriend, who tried to kill him. Wrong; Iris was Dahlia's twin sister. This in turn leads to the conclusion that Iris doesn't have a direct connection to Phoenix after all, only knowing him through Dahlia. Wrong again; Iris was Phoenix's girlfriend at that time, not Dahlia (though it was still Dahlia who tried to kill him).
  • In Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, it's revealed that the culprit of every case was connected to the smuggling ring; Jacques Portsman, the corrupt prosecutor, would steal evidence or not take trials that could indict ring members. Cammy Meele, the seductive flight attendant, would use her position on planes to assist in the theft and transport of stolen art. fake-kidnapping victim Lance Amano's father, Corrupt Corporate Executive Ernest, would use his financial backing to help the ring whenever he could. Calisto Yew / Shin-na would infiltrate investigators as a spy and saboteur. They were all controlled by Ambassador Quercus Alba, who would use his diplomatic immunity to avoid legal repercussion.
  • The sequel's mastermind wasn't just connected to the culprits, but the victims and certain individuals. Simon Keyes (Case 5 culprit) and Horace Knightley (Case 1 culprit, case 2 victim) were friends, whose respective fathers Dane Gustavia (Case 3 culprit) and Isaac Dover (Case 3 victim) were partners in a desert contest. When the partnership fell through, Dover forced Knightley to kidnap Keyes. After Gustavia killed Dover and fled to Zheng Fa, the boys almost died in the wilderness, but were saved by assassin Sirhan Dogen and left at an orphanage run by Patricia Roland (Case 2 culprit). There, Keyes witnessed Roland work with Blaise DeBeste (Case 4 culprit) to Kill and Replace the president of Zheng Fa with his body double (Case 5 victim). He also saw them try to double-cross Dogen, but helped the assassin escape and was severely punished for it. In the present day, Keyes invoked his vengeance indirectly; he convinced Knightley to go for the false assassination of case 1, which he knew would give Knightley the chance to kill his rival bodyguard Ethan Rooke (Case 1 victim) and get arrested. He then sent Knightley a chessboard with a chisel inside, scaring Roland (now the prison warden) into thinking Knightley worked for Dogen and kill him. Keyes afterwards sent letters causing Jill Crane (Case 4 victim) and DeBeste to try and kill each other (DeBeste killed her boyfriend during the Kill and Replace plot). To ensure DeBeste was convicted, he kidnapped Kay Faraday and left her at the murder scene, knowing DeBeste would frame her, and that Miles Edgeworth would work to convict him. While doing so, he saw the body double meet up with Justine Courtney, and took the chance to kill the fake president with his hot air balloon.
  • The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve reveals several of these:
    • Yujin Mikotoba turns out to be the identity of John Wilson and that he and Herlock Sholmes solved mysteries together for years prior to the Professor incident.
    • Seishiro Jigoku is revealed to be part of The Conspiracy that involved covering up the identity of the Professor and the death of Genshin Asogi.
    • Iris Wilson is revealed to be the daughter of Klint Van Zieks, which also makes Barok her uncle. In addition, Professor Mikotoba was the one who named her.
• Aquadine has a couple that are revealed in the common route:
  • Diana and Cameron turn out to be cousins.
  • Mr. Norton and Elisabeth's butler both served under Ciel/Robin's grandfather on the S. S. Newport.
  • Elisabeth's father knows Ciel/Robin's parents.
• Café Stella and the Reapers' Butterflies
  • There is a small situation with a man who comes into the café, only to never eat the cake he orders. It turns out that he's beating himself up over a mistake he made at his job. Right after, we learn of a little girl who wants to give her father a cake for his birthday. It turns out her father is the sad sack from earlier.
  • In Nozomi's route, it's revealed that Nozomi is the reincarnation of Lady Aizawa's daughter, and that the red butterfly happens to be the spirit of Lady Aizawa herself.
• Case 03: True Cannibal Boy: Although this game is part of the Physical Exorcism Series, the ending shows that Nya can reincarnate people into in-universe video games, and they reincarnate Jade into the world of the Peacemaker Series, showing that the two series are connected.
• During Chiaki Nanami's Free Time Events in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, she mentions that her father was a genius programmer and later says that she gets her personality from her father and older brother. The sixth trial later reveals her father and older brother are actually Chihiro Fujisaki and Alter Ego from the previous game, as she was an AI created by Chihiro.
• In Double Homework, Lauren and Morgan spend lots of screen time arguing and generally putting each other down. As it turns out, Lauren used to be part of the gang led by Morgan.
• Grisaia: Phantom Trigger's Volume 6 has three of these:
  • Haruto's backstory is revealed, with him turning out to have been created by cloning. As it turns out, one of two people whose DNA was used to create him happens to be Yuuji from the main series.
  • After his Face–Heel Turn, Enishi joined up with (and possibly eventually led) a cult which turns out to have eventually became The Fatal Answer, the antagonists from Volume 4.
  • The end the volume reveals that every mission the group went on in each prior Volume is somehow linked to finding Enishi.
• In Harem Kingdom, it's eventually revealed that the protagonist is actually from Palretta and was somehow transported to the outside world when he was really young. In addition, he turns out to be the son of the prior king, thus revealing why the Cornerstone chose him as the next king, and also that Marrou is his older half-sister.
• In Hello Lady, the end of the prologue reveals that Shinri Narita is the last member of the Mikado family and that Kurofune Mikado (who turns out to be the Big Bad) was the one who massacred the family, his surname having previously been Genma, also revealing he actually took the Mikado name for himself.
• In If You Love Me, Then Say So!, the Manager of Naturalé turns out to be Yuuki's father, who was otherwise said to have died. It turns out his father-in-law (and Yuuki's grandfather) hated him and after her father gave Yuuki to her grandfather shortly after her mother died of illness, her grandfather had him driven away and forbidden from ever seeing Yuuki again.
• In Koikari: Love For Hire, it turns out that Tsubaki and Momoko regularly play against each other in online games.
• In Memory's Dogma, Kuroda Renjuro turns out to be the one behind the MRD-based torture incidents that lead to the creation of the Japanese Connect Organization (so it could be used as a front for his experiments) and the death of Reina's mentor Makoto, the man who came with the idea for e-memory, meaning everything pertaining to e-memory is connected to him.
• Nanairo Reincarnation has at least two of these:
  • One of the murdered girls turns out to be the daughter of the sex masochist whose ghost the main characters had to exorcise.
  • Kotori Takigawa turns out to have been the killer's third victim (and thus Dead All Along) while her pet dog, Kotaru, was killed by the same person.
• Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: Nine of the eleven characters introduced before the reveal were involved in some way with a previous Nonary Game held nine years ago, and the two exceptions (Junpei and Lotus) are tangentially connected to that game in other ways.
• In Parquet, Hashihime turns out to have met Tsubasa Kido before she died and learned everything about BMI from her. In addition, it was Hashihime that grafted Tsubasa's mind and personality onto Rino Ibaraki's body. On top of all this, she has an accomplice that turns out to be the researcher who spearheaded Kanato's creation and also the one that provided the Dream Dive establishment with the tech (which was developed by Hashihime) that they used on customers.
• Riddle Joker has a couple of these:
  • Satoru and Mayu lived in the same orphanage when they were kids.
  • Satoru turns out to have saved Hazuki from anti-Astral bullies when they were younger.
  • Mayu is the best friend of Principal Ise's daughter, Kotori.
  • Ayase is revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of Principal Ise, which also makes Kotori her half-sister.
  • Kaori Kakimoto (who turns out to be the Big Bad) is revealed to be a member of the anti-Astron group that tried to abduct Ayase earlier in the story.
• In Sabbat of the Witch, Touko is revealed in her route to actually be an alp that became human, and in fact was Shuuji's mother's alp, making her indirectly responsible for Shuuji's abilities.
• Sakura Succubus: Most if not all of the female characters (who turn out to be succubi) are connected to one another; Ayu, Cosmos, and Marina are all part of the same clan, Hifumi is related to the Succubus Princess, Yue, and Yukie, Hiroki's first girlfriend from high school, is revealed to be the Succubus Princess herself, Yue, who all the other other succubi answer to.
• In Saku Saku: Love Blooms With the Cherry Blossoms, Ann Jinpou turns out to be half-Soul Reaper and is not only Tina's guardian, but also knew the Soul Reaper that saved Yuma's life, who turns out to be Rina, Tina's "older" sister. It's also revealed that Ann was there when Yuma's life was saved by Rina, and the reason she wanted to make Yuma smile was because she made a promise to Rina. On top of all this, Hyberion personally knows Ann (or her Soul Reaper half of Eleanora).
• In Seven Days, it's revealed that Chiyako is the granddaughter of Jirou Mikanagi, the man responsible for the deaths of the seven girls.
• Spirit Hunter: NG:
  • At the start of the game, Akira helps a girl in Gothic clothing scare off a mohawked man that was harassing her. It later turns out that Akira actually has pre-existing connections to both of them that he didn't know about; the man serves under his best friend, while the girl is friends with his younger cousin.
  • The spirits, at first, don't appear to have any connection to each other or to Kakuya. This becomes increasingly less the case following the Screaming Author case - the man who created the Screaming Author is directly tied to Kakuya. He was also acquaintances with the man who would become Demon Tsukuyomi, who in turn was pursued by the woman who would turn into Killer Peach.
• In Sugar Style, Ichika's route reveals that Hifumi, who teaches the cooking class Ichika attends, actually ran a bakery with her husband that Ichika regularly visited, and was also also a mentor figure to Ichika when she was younger, inspiring Ichika to take up baking.
• In the 6th Chapter of Super Danganronpa Another 2, Monocrow reveals that most of the students were selected because they had some type of relation to the students in Danganronpa Another.
  • For Yuri, his family initially hired Akane as their maid and it was her tragic life that resulted in the boy wanting to protect all women.
  • For Kokoro, she was the mother of Mikako whom she gave birth to as part of her experiments.
  • For the Otonokoji Twins, they were targeted by Kinjo who was suspecting that they (Kanade) were involved in a series of murders.
  • For Shinji, he was the one who rescued Kanata from a car crash.
  • For Yoruko, her senpai was revealed to be Minako Tomori, the mother of the Ultimate Cheerleader Kizuna.

Webcomics

• The cast of Weak Hero is split between the various high schools of Yeongdeungpo area. Julie Chae, a mysterious girl with an unknown past, is first introduced as an acquaintance of Jared, a student from Ganghak High. It's then revealed that she knows Lily from the Hero Cram school, who seems to have been friends with her in the past. Then it's also revealed that she once went on a group date with Jack from Yoosun High, meaning she's connected to a significant amount of the various cast herds despite being a relatively minor character.

Web Video

• In Caper, all four heroes turn out to have a huge personal stake in the contents of the vault they're planning to steal beyond money (see Chapter 8)
• Episode 15 of Dingo Doodles recapping the Fool's Gold roleplaying campaign done with friends reveals that the main player trio have a significant common factor in their backstories. Erina's homeland of Kylandria uses special crystal fragments to empower its citizens, and said fragments come from a being that wiped out the rest of Gothi's race. Sips has a huge chunk of that being lodged in his brain.
  • It later turns out that same being was friends with Gothi before his genocide attempt, and her kindness to him was the reason she survived his attack. Supporting character Jack, who recruited them to find Gothi's race in the first place, also unknowingly has a crystal fragment in his stomach, which increased his ambitions to complete the mission.
• THE MONUMENT MYTHOS reveals that Cornerfolk (the titular entities of a separate series also housed on ALEXKANSAS' channel) are the survivors of the Horned Serpent's emergence, and the Deanverse's subsequent destruction.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time:
  • It's revealed that the Ice King (prior to his descent into madness) acted as a father figure to Marceline when she was a child, as her mother died in the fallout of The Great Mushroom War and her demon father was a jerkass who barely cared. By the end of the series, it turns out that Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline and Ice King are all connected in some way: In "Simon and Marcy," Simon and Marceline are helped by the semi-sentient mass of bubblegum that would later form Princess Bubblegum, and in "Everything Stays" Marceline protects a group of humans that are later confirmed by "Min and Marty" to be Finn's ancestors.
  • In the Islands mini-series, it is revealed that Susan Strong, a previously Ambiguously Human "Hoo-man", is truly human, and that Susan, real name Kara, and Finn once belonged to the same island of humans. Dr. Gross, who patented Kara's cybernetics, tasked her with finding Finn after he and his father disappeared one night. While Finn was found and adopted by Jake's family, Kara suffered some trauma that left her amnestic until she was eventually found again by Dr. Gross.
• Season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender reveals that Avatar Roku is/was Zuko and Azula's great-grandfather.
• The Fairly Oddparents: The episode "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker" reveals that Cosmo and Wanda were Mr. Crocker's fairy godparents when he was a kid.
• Futurama:
  • In "Lethal Inspection", Hermes is revealed to have worked at Mom's Friendly Robot Company and was Bender's quality control inspector.
  • Before that, we find out Zoidberg had met The Professor when they worked together on a yeti hunt for Mom. Before that, Igner found out The Professor was his father. And before that, The Professor and Mom were revealed to be in an on-again off-again relationship.
• Gravity Falls:
  • It's revealed that Manly Dan, the local lumberjack, is Wendy's dad.
  • In "Blendin's Game", Robbie is revealed to have gone to Soos's 12th birthday party when he was 5.
  • In "Society of the Blind Eye", the members of the eponymous society include [the man who married a woodpecker in "Irrational Treasure", Toby Determined, Bud Gleeful, Farmer Sprott from "The Time Traveler's Pig" and the bouncer from "Headhunters". The episode also revealed Old Man McGucket and the Author collaborated on the journals 30 years ago. A freak accident involving an experimental interdimensional portal led him to create the Society of the Blind Eye and subsequently go insane from trying to erase his memories of the strange and terrible things he saw working with the Author.
  • The ending to "Northwest Mansion Mystery" implies that the Northwest family might have some kind of connection to Bill Cipher, but nothing came of this outside of Preston Northwest offering to become The Quisling in "Weirdmageddon".
  • "Not What He Seems" was one of the biggest bombshells in the series when it first came out, because it revealed the Author of the Journals was Grunkle Stan's long-lost twin brother, stranded in the multiverse for thirty years.
• Human Resources (2022): Season 2 introduces Emmy's new client Sarah, who is hesitant to let herself love people due to some grief she refuses to explain. In another subplot, Walter helps his own client, an older man named Paul, find love again after the death of his beloved wife Evelyn. "Paul Me By Your Name" reveals that Paul and Evelyn are actually Sarah's parents, and Sarah feels so guilty about not saying goodbye to her mom in the hospital that she's repressed all memories of her mother and has cut off contact with her dad. The culmination of both their arcs has them open up about their loss and reconcile with one another.
• Infinity Train: Grace's first appearance revealed that she has some sort of history with The Cat, but it wasn't until season three's "Le Chat Chalet Car" that we find out she has a prominent role in Simon's Dark and Troubled Past.
• On Kim Possible, it turns out Dr. Drakken and Motor Ed (both voiced by John DiMaggio) are cousins.
  • Similarly, Dr. Drakken and Mr. Dr. Possible went to college together, though this was revealed pretty early.
  • Monkey Fist's genetically mutated monkey hands and feet were performed by DNAmy, and they may or may not have had a relationship (Amy claims they did, and we see a clip of him presenting flowers to a picture of her, but the only time they interact on-screen is when he's trying desperately to flee her, so it might have been all in her head).
• King of the Hill: In "Life in the Fast Lane, Bobby's Saga", Bobby complains to Hank that how his new boss, Jimmy Wichard, is treating him cruelly, but Hank thinks he's just whining and tells him to deal with it. But when Hank mentions the issue to Dale, he mentions that he knew Jimmy in his gun club and that he went insane from looking up at the sun too long (and couldn't have been all that smart if he did so in the first place), and only then does Hank start to worry his son might be in trouble.
• The Mighty Magiswords episode "Bewitched, Bothered and Bothered Some More" reveals that Helmut and Flonk, Vambre and Prohyas' bullies from their childhood years, are brothers.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles," the Mane Six tell the Cutie Mark crusaders about how they got their own Cutie Marks. Nearly all of them involve the sudden appearance of either a rainbow and/or a massive shockwave at the right time to help them realize their personal talents or passions. Then Rainbow Dash tells the story of getting her mark when she triggered the first Sonic Rainboom; a sky-shattering, multicolored shockwave and trailing rainbow. Hearing the story, the others all realize that it was the Sonic Rainboom that they saw or felt that day.
  • Season 5's "Slice of Life" reveals that Steven Magnet, a sea serpent seen in the series premiere, is close friends with recurring supporting character Cranky Doodle Donkey.
  • Throughout Season 7, there were three separate episodes ("Campfire Tales", "Daring Done?", and "A Health of Information") that told stories of five legendary heroes from across Equestria (Rockhoof, Mistmane, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, and Meadowbrook). The season finale "Shadow Play" revealed that these five heroes, plus Star Swirl the Bearded (another legendary figure established since Season 2), traveled Equestria together fighting evil.
  • Also in Season 7, Starlight bumps into Pinkie's sister Maud in "Rock Solid Friendship", and Starlight recognizes her, much to Pinkie's shock. It turns out that, back in her villain days before her Heel–Face Turn, Starlight ran across Maud once and Maud unknowingly gave her advice that led to her forming her Evil Plan. Pinkie awkwardly laughs it off and says that Maud might want to keep this particular connection quiet.
• The Owl House:
  • "Through the Looking Glass Ruins" revealed that Recurring Extra Braxas is actually the son of Warden Wrath.
  • Downplayed with Alador and Eda. While a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the season one finale had already shown that the two attended Hexside at the same time, "Reaching Out" revealed that the two are personally acquainted with each other and don't seem to get along (though we aren't given any specifics at the time).
  • Considering how it's revealed that his older brother Caleb had fallen in love with a Clawthorne during the 1600s, by definition Emperor Belos is Eda's and Lilith's great-uncle of many generations. (Yes, it's very complicated).
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • A flashback in "What Do It Do?" revealed that Linda dated Dr. Doofenshmirtz once.
  • The season 4 premiere "For Your Ice Only" confirmed that Stacy and Ginger are sisters.
• Rugrats: The end of the episode "Lou Pickles, Private Eye'' reveals that someone that Grandpa Lou played cards with for years was the butler for the Pendragons.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: In the beginning of Season 3,both Shadow Weaver and Light Hope tell Adora that Hordak took her from her original world through a portal when she was a baby. But at the end of the series, it is revealed that he just found her in the meadows when he was trying to return to Horde Prime, and he actually saved Adora's life. Although it is not explicitly stated, it's hinted that it was Light Hope who kidnapped Adora, in order of having a new She-Ra. And probably it was she whom kidnapped Hordak, too.
• The Simpsons
  • In "I Love Lisa", it was revealed (to the audience) that Ralph was the son of Chief Wiggum.
  • In "Curse of the Flying Hellfish", Grandpa Simpson turns out to have been Mr. Burns' superior officer in World War II.
  • In the episode introducing Homer's mother, Mona Simpson, it turns out that she bombed a germ lab belonging to Mr. Burns (who became her Arch-Enemy) and that he was the one responsible for her having to leave.
  • Shauna, the on-and-off girlfriend of bully Jimbo Jones, had appeared in several episodes before it transpired that she was the daughter of Superintendent Chalmers.
  • "Team Homer" reveals that the Squeaky-Voiced Teen is the son of Lunchlady Doris.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In "Mid-Life Crustacean", it turns out that SpongeBob and Patrick do panty raids at Mr. Krabs' mother's house all the time. They take Mr. Krabs along for a panty raid at her house, without telling him whose house it is. Unfortunately for Mr. Krabs, his mother turns on the light and sees all 3 of them. Mr. Krabs asks them why they didn't tell him, and SpongeBob answers, "You didn't ask."
  • In "Rule of Dumb", Patrick and Gary are revealed to be cousins.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks:
  • The Season 3 finale "The Stars At Night" connects a number of incidents from previous seasons concerning Rutherford's implant and the AI Badgey, revealing that Vice Admiral Les Buenamigo was behind his implant and that Rutherford had designed the AI running Buenamigo's shiny new Texas-class ships... which also has daddy issues like Badgey.
  • The Season 4 episode "The Inner Fight" reveals that Mariner was friends with Sito Jaxa, a member of Starfleet Academy's infamous Nova Squadron in the Star Trek: The Next Generation "The First Duty" who died in the episode the series is named after "Lower Decks". This and her being involved in the Dominion War is the reason why she violently and repeatedly invokes Declining Promotion.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: In the third season, it's revealed that Miss Heinous is actually Eclipsa's long-lost daughter Meteora.
• In Steven Universe episode "Onion Friend," it's revealed that Vidalia is the mother of both Onion and Sour Cream, who up until this point were not confirmed to be related; Vidalia is also an old friend of Amethyst and Greg. A later episode confirms that Marty is Sour Cream's biological father. "Horror Club" reveals that Lars and Ronaldo were childhood friends who had a nasty falling out. "Sadie's Song" reveals that the mailwoman, Barb is Sadie's mom.
• South Park:
  • Henrietta of the Goth Kids and Bradley, who had pretty much been a Living Prop until the "Coon and Friends Trilogy," turn out to be siblings. Bradley was apparently adopted, since he's actually a Human Alien.
  • Season 19 has a Running Gag of PC Principal shouting at a student named Leslie for talking during his assemblies, but the ending to "Naughty Ninjas" shows a picture of PC pushing Leslie on a swing, implying a larger connection. After that, "Sponsored Content" reveals that they're both living advertisements. However, "PC Principal Final Justice" reveals that PC Principal is not an ad, but a real human being.
  • Scott Tenorman's father was Eric Cartman's father as well.
• Tangled: The Series: The season 3 premiere "Rapunzel's Return" reveals that Cassandra's biological mother is Mother Gothel.
• We Bare Bears: In "Icy Nights II", Yana is revealed to be the long-lost daughter of Yuri from "Yuri and the Bear".

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