Quotes / Chekhov's Gun

Gumball: Man, I really wish something that once seemed insignificant would show up and save me!
(Darwin charges at Bobert, but he gets knocked away for the second time.)
Gumball: Okay, something else insignificant.

— The Amazing World of Gumball, "The Robot"

Thornton Reed: Take this, Dag.
Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.: What is it?
Thornton Reed: Something that might come in handy.

— Garth Marenghis Darkplace, "Scotch Mist"

It appears that you're heading directly into the heart of the volcano. On reflection, this was inevitable, really. I mean, you can't just have a Final Boss Battle near a volcano. It would be like having a car chase in which the fruit cart doesn't get knocked over. Or fighting crime in a giant robot and never using Rocket Punch.

— Kingdom of Loathing

TG: you just HAD TO FIGURE all that juice was going to come back to haunt me
TG: like frankensteins incontinent fucking ghost
TG: it was like
TG: chekhov's juice

—Dave Strider, Homestuck

You know how at the start of an adventure, you find some seemingly trivial thing that turns out to be important later?
But at the time you have no idea why or how it'll turn out to be important?

—Andrew Hussie to Caliborn, Homestuck

"Cool, I'm sure this won't be relevant ever!"

— Mary Cagle, author's notes on Sleepless Domain

Vyvyan: "It's a potion I've invented, where, when the patient drinks it, he turns into an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. It's basically a cure...for not being an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. The potential market's enormous!"
Neil: "Is this it?"
Vyvyan: "Yeah, yeah, I put it in a Coke can so nobody'd drink it by mistake."
Neil: "Y'know, I just bet a bit later on somebody does drink that and turns into an axe-wielding homicidal maniac."
Rick: "Yes, I bet that as well. That's just the sort of crazy, imaginative thing that happens around here."

—The Young Ones

This means nothing right now, but obviously will later.

—Andrew Hussie

Goops: Hey Snoozy. Why is there a gun in the drawer?
Suzy: Oh. That. It's a Chekhov's Gun. It's a literary device, basically a notable but seemingly-insignificant item that becomes important later in the plot.
Goops: Ok. Why is it here?
Suzy: Some weird magical girl appeared one day and gave it to us. Rough edge, or something? It's good to have around in case monsters attack or somebody threatens a tenant. It's surprisingly good at inflicting blunt-force trauma.

— Praesperavero, a Sleepless Domain fanfic

Remember that, Annie: A key that opens any lock. That could be useful.

—It's Pony

Casey: Well, you know what they say about a gun in the first act, Ron.
Kyle: First act of what?

—Party Down

"We’ve been trained by movies that if you find some seemingly unimportant bauble, then the story will later create a situation where it will be the key to solving a problem in an unexpected way."

—DM of the Rings

Archer: God, I SAID the cap slips off the poison pen for no reason, didn't I?!
Cyril: I know, I know, but I just assumed that if anything bad happened it-it would've been-
Archer: No, do NOT say the Chekhov gun Cyril! THAT, sir, is a facile argument!
Woodhouse: Also woefully esoteric.

— Archer

The coffin was the trap, the coffin was the solution. That's so neat I could write a thesis.

— The Eleventh Doctor, The Sarah Jane Adventures

Works like a charm. I could build a mechanical barrel-maker in my sleep, but for real inventing genius, these Brain-Transfer Helmets have to be my pièce de résistance!''

— Cranky Kong, in a scene from Donkey Kong Country which shouldn't need any further explanation.

[James Bond] always used every single item. He never came back and said "Q, I've got a lot of stuff I didn't use on that adventure."

— Eddie Izzard, Unrepeatable

Show a gun on the mantelpiece in the first act. Before the curtain goes down, it's going to blow someone's scrotum off.

— Sam Krieg, The Secret World

I won't find it fantastic or think it absurd
When the gun in the first act goes off in the third.

— Aimee Mann, "Frankenstein"

Cut the music! Go back and look at that fern. Stanley, this fern will be very important later in the story. Make sure you study it closely, and remember it carefully.

— The Narrator, The Stanley Parable

"He takes out from his pocket a .44, and checks it's loaded. (beat) I don't know why he checks it's loaded, surely he is the one who loaded it."

— Hans Kieslowski adding to the script, Seven Psychopaths

"Ha! I threw that shit before I came in the room!"

— Black Dynamite

"So the moral of the story is, you never know when random, seemingly unimportant, stuff will turn out to be very important. Which is why you shouldn't question me when I tell you to build me something like a hammock, or...a human slingshot."

— Grif, Red vs. Blue: The Chorus Trilogy, "Something Else Entirely"

Francis: You lied to me, Bluebeard. What's more, you withheld important information from me. And you know exactly what I mean, my friend. But I'm still puzzled why you did it.

Bluebeard: Well, uh...I thought maybe it wasn't that important.

Francis: Not that important? When it's a matter of solving a case as complex as this one, every detail is important, Bluebeard, every single one! Any little thing can unexpectedly become important under certain circumstances.

—Felidae (novel only)

"I guess you want me to repay that favor I've been owing you for half a century, right?"

—Tránsito Soto, The House of the Spirits

Prime Directives

1: Serve the public trust

2: Protect the innocent

3: Uphold the law

4: Classified

—RoboCop (1987)

Unseen Narrator: Now pay close attention to that ham. Cause it’s not the last time you're gonna see that ham in the story!
[later]
Gaz: [shouting] Dib! Do you still have that ham I gave you?
Dib: Of course! [pulls ham out] THE HAM!
Narrator: See? There’s that ham again!

—Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

"GRAPPLING HOOK! Told you it will come in handy!"

—Mabel Pines, Gravity Falls (In which Mabel uses the grappling hook she grabbed in the first episode to save Dipper and herself from a deadly fall in the first season finale.)

Polly: Hey, what do you think made these holes?
Hop Pop: Mmh, better not to ask. Come on!
Polly: I feel like this is going to come back later!

—Amphibia, "Marcy at the Gates"

Kevin: (As Katherine tiptoes through the sorority house with a gun) Anton Chekov was at the premiere and he said loudly, "Oh, they showed a gun in Act One and now they're using it in Act Three! Wonder where they got that idea?!"

Bill: Bitter, bitter man.

Kevin: Yeah.

— RiffTrax, The House on Sorority Row

"It ended up being useful in a roundabout way"

—Calliope Mori while playing Henry Stickmin

"That's a surprise tool that can help us later."

—Mickey Mouse describing the Mystery Mousketool, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

"What, your cellar? Oh yeah, right, I'd forgotten all about that. You mean it's actually important now?"

—Sasha, Attack on Titan

Luxord: Take this card. It will be useful in Kingdom Hearts IV.
Sora: Nice!
Luxord: When it releases in 2024.
Sora: Not nice!

— Kingdom Hearts 3 in a nutshell

Roy: Does anyone have any additional skills or talents that haven't come up so far?
<The team members reveal they have various talents such as basket-weaving, crocheting, blowing smoke rings, making soap, and beekeeping>
Roy: Uggh.
Haley: You were hoping for something more useful?
Roy: No, I'm just pre-emptively annoyed that one of those is going to end up saving the day later.

— The Order of the Stick 1268

Mr. Gus: Remember earlier when we flashed back to that flashback?
(Mr. Gus and Pizza Steve remember themselves remembering Uncle Grandpa's party foul)
Pizza Steve: Oh yeah, I knew that was gonna be significant to the story.

— Uncle Grandpa, "Shower Party"

“Well, they gave me the gun. I had to do something with it.”
“Chekhov,” she said.
“Check off what?”
She rolled her eyes. “Anton Chekhov, Keller. The Russian writer.”

— Hit List by Lawrence Block

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