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Impeded Messenger

 Impeded Messenger
type
FeatureClass
 Impeded Messenger
label
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger
page
ImpededMessenger
 Impeded Messenger
comment
A messenger has an important message/package/etc. for someone, probably the protagonist. Maybe they scheduled a meeting, making it a Doomed Appointment; maybe the protagonist doesn't know there is a messenger. One way or another, the messenger fails to deliver the message, or delivers the message too late. Could become an Unwitting Instigator of Doom. See also Product Delivery Ordeal.

Examples
 Impeded Messenger
fetched
2024-01-31T22:31:17Z
 Impeded Messenger
parsed
2024-01-31T22:31:17Z
 Impeded Messenger
processingComment
Dropped link to AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Impeded Messenger
processingComment
Dropped link to GuessWhoImMarrying: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Impeded Messenger
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Impeded Messenger / int_239a4c6b
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_239a4c6b
comment
Invoked in Wicker Park where Alex deliberately withholds Lisa's letter that she was supposed to hand over to Matthew in order to sabotage their relationship.
 Impeded Messenger / int_239a4c6b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_239a4c6b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wicker Park
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_239a4c6b
 Impeded Messenger / int_3583b777
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_3583b777
comment
Video game variant where the protagonist is the messenger: in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, the character Anthony is given a scroll he's supposed to deliver to Charlemagne, but the scroll proves in fact to be a trap carrying a nasty undead curse—which Anthony discovers by accidentally inflicting it upon himself. Anthony bravely decides to warn Charlemagne of the plot against him, and after battling ghouls, traps, and the curse slowly eating away at his body, reaches his destination to find...that the assassins got sick of waiting, and Charlemagne is already dead.
 Impeded Messenger / int_3583b777
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_3583b777
featureConfidence
1.0
 Eternal Darkness (Video Game)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_3583b777
 Impeded Messenger / int_35bceb50
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_35bceb50
comment
And a smaller point in Hamlet and in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where Hamlet changes the letter to the king of England so that R&G are executed in his place.
 Impeded Messenger / int_35bceb50
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_35bceb50
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hamlet (Theatre)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_35bceb50
 Impeded Messenger / int_468bebb0
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_468bebb0
comment
In the Discworld novel Thief of Time, it was mentioned that an Impeded Messenger example was averted when shortly after his horse threw a shoe, the messenger just 'happened' to run into a traveling peasant with a portable forge. This is played with further in that it is only due to the messenger's timely arrival that the dreadful Battle of Five Cities never happened.
Terry Pratchett uses a variation of this in Carpe Jugulum as well.
 Impeded Messenger / int_468bebb0
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_468bebb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Discworld
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_468bebb0
 Impeded Messenger / int_4771fb78
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_4771fb78
comment
Tora! Tora! Tora!: Attempts to transmit a warning message via radio to the American forces in Hawaii fail due to atmospheric interference. They decide to send the message via commercial telegram, but fail to mark the message as Urgent, meaning it sits in a backlog of messages in Hawaii and isn't delivered to Fort Shafter until after the attack is underway.
Further, an American destroyer spots a Japanese submarine trying to enter the harbor and sinks it, but their report of the engagement isn't received until after the air attack starts.
Further still, the Japanese send an ultimatum to the Americans, intended to be delivered before the attack as a final justification for the imminent war, but delays in decoding and translating the message into English mean this message isn't delivered until after the attack either. Understandably, the American government is not pleased by the timing of the message.
 Impeded Messenger / int_4771fb78
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_4771fb78
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tora! Tora! Tora!
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_4771fb78
 Impeded Messenger / int_4de16846
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_4de16846
comment
In Death and The Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters, young Dominic Felse sets out after the murderer, leaving a message for his police sergeant father with the intention that it will bring Sergeant Felse after him in time to rescue him if he gets in trouble, but not soon enough to forbid him going in the first place. An unexpected circumstance delays the delivery of the message, and Dominic very nearly gets himself killed.
 Impeded Messenger / int_4de16846
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_4de16846
featureConfidence
1.0
 Felse Investigates
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_4de16846
 Impeded Messenger / int_4f115950
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_4f115950
comment
When Tim was thought to have died during an Arkham breakout most of the Batfamily ended up separated from him by a force field before he could tell them he'd escaped. Nightwing ended up beating the Joker to death when the Joker gloated about killing another of his brothers. Though of course he got better it showed Dick and the rest of the Bats that Dick could be pushed to lethal force.
 Impeded Messenger / int_4f115950
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_4f115950
featureConfidence
1.0
 Robin (1993) (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_4f115950
 Impeded Messenger / int_58e80a40
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_58e80a40
comment
The whole plot of Paradigm Shift turns out to have been instigated by a modern variant. A letter sent to Chicago PD detective Kate MacAllister from someone she participated in a clinical trial alongside some years previously is delayed by at least a week because it was sent to a previous address, meaning he's unable to arrange a meeting and warn her that the trial may have had some really dangerous side effects... Like turning her into a werewolf.
 Impeded Messenger / int_58e80a40
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_58e80a40
featureConfidence
1.0
 Paradigm Shift (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_58e80a40
 Impeded Messenger / int_5957104c
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_5957104c
comment
In Deep Impact, the astronomer who realizes that the object is a comet on a collision course with Earth, tries to get the information out but dies in a car accident before he can alert the world.
 Impeded Messenger / int_5957104c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_5957104c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Deep Impact
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_5957104c
 Impeded Messenger / int_59da62aa
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_59da62aa
comment
Fallout: New Vegas starts with the player character as a Courier who gets ambushed by a group of thugs led by a man in a suit, who proceeds to take the Platinum Chip that was to be delivered. The main goal of the first half of the game becomes tracking down said man and regaining the chip (completing the delivery is optional after that though).
 Impeded Messenger / int_59da62aa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_59da62aa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout: New Vegas (Video Game)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_59da62aa
 Impeded Messenger / int_66ea3059
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_66ea3059
comment
The entire movie of Kangaroo Jack. Which is probably a good thing, as the money that the protagonists were supposed to deliver is meant to pay the recipient to kill them.
 Impeded Messenger / int_66ea3059
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_66ea3059
featureConfidence
1.0
 Kangaroo Jack
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_66ea3059
 Impeded Messenger / int_682da49d
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_682da49d
comment
The Madness of King George: Both averted and lampshaded in Thurlow's race to Parliament before the Regency bill passes.
 Impeded Messenger / int_682da49d
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_682da49d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Madness of King George
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_682da49d
 Impeded Messenger / int_72262aee
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_72262aee
comment
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara realizes Zuko and Iroh are in Ba Sing Se and runs to warn the Earth King, only to be tricked by Azula and company, who are disguised as the Kiyoshi Warriors, leading to her imprisonment and setting the stage not only for the fall of Ba Sing Se, but also Aang's death. Played with in Bato of The Water Tribe, in which Aang receives the message for Bato and withholds said information until he feels too guilty to continue doing so.
 Impeded Messenger / int_72262aee
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_72262aee
featureConfidence
1.0
 Avatar: The Last Airbender
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_72262aee
 Impeded Messenger / int_74a0b5d1
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_74a0b5d1
comment
Gallipoli has this as the major plot point in the film, where just as the soldiers are about to go over the top to attack the Turks in a futile attempt to gain ground, the order is rescinded. The catch? Mel Gibson doesn't deliver it fast enough and his best bud dies.
 Impeded Messenger / int_74a0b5d1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_74a0b5d1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Gallipoli
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_74a0b5d1
 Impeded Messenger / int_7f6eb95d
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_7f6eb95d
comment
The Impeded Messenger is a crucial plot point in Romeo and Juliet, as he's prevented from informing Romeo that Juliet faked her suicide and isn't really dead. This results in Romeo committing suicide for real, and Juliet following him after seeing his corpse.
 Impeded Messenger / int_7f6eb95d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_7f6eb95d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Romeo and Juliet (Theatre)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_7f6eb95d
 Impeded Messenger / int_8ad6e76f
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_8ad6e76f
comment
Terry Pratchett uses a variation of this in Carpe Jugulum as well.
 Impeded Messenger / int_8ad6e76f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_8ad6e76f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Carpe Jugulum
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_8ad6e76f
 Impeded Messenger / int_b3710362
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_b3710362
comment
In Troy, a Trojan scout discovers that the Greeks have not abandoned their war effort after all, despite their supposed peace offering of the giant wooden horse. He immediately tries to warn Troy of the deception but is promptly cut down by a Greek arrow.
 Impeded Messenger / int_b3710362
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_b3710362
featureConfidence
1.0
 Troy
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_b3710362
 Impeded Messenger / int_c7fbcf5f
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_c7fbcf5f
comment
In the Horatio Hornblower episode "The Frogs and the Lobsters", a messenger carrying plans for a joint mission in France by British and French Royalist forces is killed and the plans stolen. In this case, the heroes know exactly what the message was, as it was a copy being sent to the Admiralty. Now the heroes have to consider the possibility that the plans might find their way into the Revolutionaries' hands before their operation can succeed. They do.
 Impeded Messenger / int_c7fbcf5f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_c7fbcf5f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Horatio Hornblower
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_c7fbcf5f
 Impeded Messenger / int_cdc1e75a
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_cdc1e75a
comment
In The Andromeda Strain, the electronic version happens: the scientists working on the alien virus in an isolated lab don't get the notification that the president has ordered that an atomic bomb be dropped on the infected site (a very bad idea since the scientists have already discovered the virus is resistant to radiation and large amounts of energy just make it grow faster) because of a mechanical failure in the bell of the teletype machine that was supposed to alert them.
 Impeded Messenger / int_cdc1e75a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_cdc1e75a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Andromeda Strain
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_cdc1e75a
 Impeded Messenger / int_d3cc40b5
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_d3cc40b5
comment
That's how Lion El'Jonson's fall had started in Embers in the Dusk. The Emperor sent Saint Celestine to warn him of the Abomination once he awoke, but, as usual, underestimated Chaos... despite being asleep said Abomination already had servants in place to intercept Celestine and deliver a message of their own.
 Impeded Messenger / int_d3cc40b5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_d3cc40b5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Embers in the Dusk (Roleplay)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_d3cc40b5
 Impeded Messenger / int_d43d6bc3
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_d43d6bc3
comment
In the second season of Hamatora, Episode 6 has one of the characters follows a lead on his own. He is able to achieve his objective of locating and defeating the antagonist, but is left beaten and battered. When he calls the main character to tell him what has happened, it turns out that the main character has forgotten his phone at home. Unable to get in contact with anyone else or fight back, the antagonist's goons easily dispatch him.
 Impeded Messenger / int_d43d6bc3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_d43d6bc3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hamatora
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_d43d6bc3
 Impeded Messenger / int_dd19818c
type
Impeded Messenger
 Impeded Messenger / int_dd19818c
comment
In Project Superpowers, Fighting Yank's ancestor, Bruce Carter, was a Revolutionary War soldier who had been charged by Washington himself with delivering secret battle plans to the American forces. Unfortunately for him, he stopped for a drink and was killed by the British. For failing to complete his mission, he was cursed to guide his descendent, Bruce Carter III, into becoming Fighting Yank to protect America against enemies.
 Impeded Messenger / int_dd19818c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Impeded Messenger / int_dd19818c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Project Superpowers (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Impeded Messenger / int_dd19818c

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Impeded Messenger
processingCategory2
Characters as Device
 Impeded Messenger
processingCategory2
Older Than Steam
 Project Superpowers (Comic Book) / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Deep Impact / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Gallipoli / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Kangaroo Jack / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Kung-Fu Master! (1988) / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Seven Chances / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Wicker Park / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 A Scotsman in Egypt (Lets Play) / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Belisarius Series / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 SAYER (Podcast) / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Horatio Hornblower / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Romeo and Juliet (Theatre) / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger
 Flashpoint Campaigns (Video Game) / int_7b1b96ce
type
Impeded Messenger