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Map All Along

 Map All Along
type
FeatureClass
 Map All Along
label
Map All Along
 Map All Along
page
MapAllAlong
 Map All Along
comment
It's just a pretty engraving, a random doodle, a painting, a jumble of papers strewn about, or even a set of cooking or dancing instructions - something seemingly irrelevant, meaningless, or it just doesn't make sense to anyone. That is, until someone makes the connection, squints at it the right way, aligns it somehow, to finally exclaim - it's a map! (Though one may be tempted to pronounce it with Admiral Ackbar's voice.)
Naturally, cue excitedly matching features (if this is Afferton, then this... this would be Beeley!), perhaps overlaying parchments or digital outlines over a real map.
Maps are not necessarily drawings of streets and landmarks, though. A map by any other name, right? Some can be merely a set of instructions, or a pair of coordinates, a picture of a landmark, in a pinch even a malfunctioning or misunderstood GPS device - what this trope needs is an object that is initially misunderstood or not understood at all, but once brilliantly deciphered, it leads the adventurers to a location.
What's not this trope: an obvious map hidden in something. If the map is found behind a photo or a painting, it's probably Framed Clue. If it simply shows under specific circumstances, it's likely Invisible Writing. If the secret container is just accidentally opened, or it's a device that is switched on, it's Chance Activation.
This is a natural Sub-Trope of Hidden in Plain Sight, and belongs in Map Tropes. Usually it's a Treasure Map, of course.
 Map All Along
fetched
2024-03-14T03:16:45Z
 Map All Along
parsed
2024-03-14T03:16:45Z
 Map All Along
processingComment
Dropped link to BigYes: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Map All Along
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Map All Along / int_148f217e
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_148f217e
comment
In Nancy Drew: Danger on Deception Island, messages in bottles continually wash up on shore, but the townsfolk have been ignoring them because all they say are a few letters and numbers. Nancy is (somewhat inexplicably) the first person to realize the messages are GPS coordinates.
 Map All Along / int_148f217e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_148f217e
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1.0
 Nancy Drew (Video Game)
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_148f217e
 Map All Along / int_2221ecbd
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_2221ecbd
comment
CSI: NY:
In "Some Buried Bones", the carvings in an absinthe spoon found embedded in a victim's neck turn out to be a map of how to exit the hedge maze in which he died.
In "The Cost of Living", a creased piece of paper with lots of lines on it is found in a victim's pocket. When Adam figures out that folding it along the creases in a certain order creates a paper airplane, a map of a section of the NYC subway system appears on its wings. This leads the team to an abandoned area the victim had been exploring for artifacts going back to FDR's administration.
 Map All Along / int_2221ecbd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_2221ecbd
featureConfidence
1.0
 CSI: NY
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_2221ecbd
 Map All Along / int_2268de37
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_2268de37
comment
Grimm: In the pilot, Nick's terminally-ill aunt gives him a strange object, telling him to "guard it with his life." The object opens out to reveal a key, but Nick has no idea what it opens. The sides are engraved with a seemingly-random pattern, but when Nick accidentally spills ink, he realises the engravings show part of a map. He later learns that the key is one of seven, and all seven maps together show the location of a mysterious treasure found and hidden by seven knights after the Fourth Crusade.
 Map All Along / int_2268de37
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_2268de37
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1.0
 Grimm
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_2268de37
 Map All Along / int_2675c915
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_2675c915
comment
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The second season has a plot arc in which a group of people exposed to an alien technology develop an obsession with drawing, painting, engraving, or otherwise depicting a seemingly abstract pattern of circles and lines. After one of them finally produces a satisfactory rendition of the pattern — which is actually in three dimensions, hence the earlier two-dimensional attempts failing — it's recognized as a map to the aliens' lost city.
 Map All Along / int_2675c915
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_2675c915
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 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
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Map All Along / int_2675c915
 Map All Along / int_2a4482ad
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_2a4482ad
comment
In The Secret of Monkey Island, a map is disguised as dancing steps.
 Map All Along / int_2a4482ad
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1.0
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 The Secret of Monkey Island (Video Game)
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Map All Along / int_2a4482ad
 Map All Along / int_2bd883dc
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Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_2bd883dc
comment
One And Yet the Town Moves chapter follows Hotori and friends investigating the mystery of a treasure hidden in a small town out in the countryside. Their only clues are what the townsfolk themselves say and a small inkbrush painting of a blossoming cherry tree, which had a riddle relevant to the mystery. Hotori eventually figures out that the painting is, in fact, a map of all the bodies of water surrounding the town, and the only branch with a blossom is where the treasure resides.
 Map All Along / int_2bd883dc
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1.0
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1.0
 And Yet the Town Moves (Manga)
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Map All Along / int_2bd883dc
 Map All Along / int_37a6e77b
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_37a6e77b
comment
In the Camp Lazlo episode "Lumpy Treasure", a series of mosquito bites on Raj's butt is discovered to be a map to the treasure of Three-eyed Fred.
 Map All Along / int_37a6e77b
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1.0
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1.0
 Camp Lazlo
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Map All Along / int_37a6e77b
 Map All Along / int_3953baf0
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_3953baf0
comment
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney), Quasimodo studies the talisman which Esmeralda has given him and realizes that it's a map of Paris. He recognizes the pattern of streets and buildings as seen from above (which is the only way he's ever seen them), and understands that the talisman shows the way through the city to the Court of Miracles.
 Map All Along / int_3953baf0
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1.0
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1.0
 The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
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Map All Along / int_3953baf0
 Map All Along / int_3f99ab75
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_3f99ab75
comment
In Alice in Borderland, the scrap of paper found on one of the gunmen in the Tag game, which just looks like a lot of overlapping lines, turns out to be a map to one of the dealers' bases in the subway.
 Map All Along / int_3f99ab75
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_3f99ab75
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1.0
 Alice in Borderland
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Map All Along / int_3f99ab75
 Map All Along / int_47ba573b
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_47ba573b
comment
In the Mouth of Madness: When beginning his search for missing author Sutter Cane, Trent notices apparently random red lines drawn into all of Cane's book cover illustrations. When aligned correctly, the lines become a map of New Hampshire with coordinates to Hobb's End, the supposedly fictional town Cane wrote about.
 Map All Along / int_47ba573b
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_47ba573b
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1.0
 In the Mouth of Madness
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Map All Along / int_47ba573b
 Map All Along / int_4a21a39
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_4a21a39
comment
The Third Policeman: Sergeant Pluck points out to the narrator the cracks in the ceiling of the cell at the police station, which somehow have formed a perfect map of the area — with the exception of one road which the narrator does not recognize. This, he is told, is the way to Eternity.
 Map All Along / int_4a21a39
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_4a21a39
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1.0
 The Third Policeman
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Map All Along / int_4a21a39
 Map All Along / int_4b790c7a
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_4b790c7a
comment
Inverted in Iron Man 2 when Tony comes to the realization that a model map of the Stark Expo left by his father Howard turned out to be an atomic diagram of a brand new element, that could perfectly replace the palladium in his Arc Reactor (that was slowly poisoning him) as its energy source.
 Map All Along / int_4b790c7a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_4b790c7a
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1.0
 Iron Man 2
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Map All Along / int_4b790c7a
 Map All Along / int_5144055f
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_5144055f
comment
In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Guybrush has a dream where his parents sing a garbled version of "Dem Bones." The bone arrangements suggested by the song correspond to the markings on the right sequence of doors to pass through LeChuck's fortress.
 Map All Along / int_5144055f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_5144055f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (Video Game)
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Map All Along / int_5144055f
 Map All Along / int_5690420f
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_5690420f
comment
DuckTales (1987): In the episode "Don't Give Up the Ship" (the first part of the Five-Episode Pilot, "Treasure of the Golden Suns") El Capitán hires the Beagle Boys to steal an antique model of a sailing ship from Scrooge McDuck's money bin; he tells them that it leads to a hoard of gold, but does not explain how. It's up to Donald's nephews to discover that the ship's name is a pair of lat/long coordinates.
 Map All Along / int_5690420f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_5690420f
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1.0
 DuckTales (1987)
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Map All Along / int_5690420f
 Map All Along / int_6336da47
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_6336da47
comment
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension has an inversion of the trope at the end of Chapter 4, where you can go around the world to fill out a map. After the map is fully filled out and completed, the shape formed by the paths of the map becomes something you need to finish the chapter: A key.
 Map All Along / int_6336da47
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_6336da47
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1.0
 There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension (Video Game)
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Map All Along / int_6336da47
 Map All Along / int_7826f7fe
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_7826f7fe
comment
In Nettle & Bone, a secret map leads to the climax in the nick of time: Marra identifies directions through the palace crypts in the weave of the tapestry the Godmother gave her. Justified because the Godmother's oaths to the Kingdom barred her from aiding Marra, so she couldn't explain the tapestry's significance herself.
 Map All Along / int_7826f7fe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_7826f7fe
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1.0
 Nettle & Bone
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Map All Along / int_7826f7fe
 Map All Along / int_78f6a3f
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Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_78f6a3f
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In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Roy becomes obsessed with a certain shape - up to building its model out of mashed potatoes - until it's revealed it's the Devil's Tower mountain the aliens picked for their landing pad.
 Map All Along / int_78f6a3f
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_78f6a3f
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 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
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Map All Along / int_78f6a3f
 Map All Along / int_892aa56a
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_892aa56a
comment
In Murdoch Mysteries episode "All that Glitters", a paper belonging to the victim is discovered to be a map of various ore depots in a Native reservation.
 Map All Along / int_892aa56a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_892aa56a
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1.0
 Murdoch Mysteries
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Map All Along / int_892aa56a
 Map All Along / int_92b530e0
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_92b530e0
comment
In Gabriel Knight 3, Grace analyses famous paintings, discovering geometric clues hidden within and pinpointing geographical features.
 Map All Along / int_92b530e0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_92b530e0
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1.0
 Gabriel Knight (Video Game)
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_92b530e0
 Map All Along / int_92d8e190
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_92d8e190
comment
One episode of Resident Alien sees Harry and Astra traveling to New York City to find "Goliath", a member of Harry's species who's been working as a graffiti artist. After mapping all of Goliath's paintings in the hopes of finding a clue to his whereabouts, they're stumped, until Harry looks more closely at the locations of the paintings on the map and realizes that they mimic a constellation from his galaxy. With that knowledge, he's able to figure out where Goliath's gallery is.
 Map All Along / int_92d8e190
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_92d8e190
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1.0
 Resident Alien
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_92d8e190
 Map All Along / int_967347ea
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_967347ea
comment
Revolutionary Girl Utena: In the first chapter of the manga, Utena has been receiving anon postcards. When they are joined together, they form a photo of the Ohtori Academy. She believes that it was her prince who sent her the postcards and that he is waiting her there.
 Map All Along / int_967347ea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_967347ea
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1.0
 Revolutionary Girl Utena
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_967347ea
 Map All Along / int_a8150af4
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_a8150af4
comment
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel discovers in Numenor that Sauron's mark that he left on Finrod's body and in fortress of the Northern Wastelands, is a map of the Southlands.
 Map All Along / int_a8150af4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_a8150af4
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_a8150af4
 Map All Along / int_aca7b22d
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_aca7b22d
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The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Treasure", the Watterson kids find a doodled-on receipt, and they follow the receipt's address, disappointed to find only a mailbox. Gumball holds up the receipt to throw it, but Anais notices via Lightning Reveal that the mailbox appears on the doodle along with several nearby landmarks, as well as "X" Marks the Spot for the treasure they seek.
 Map All Along / int_aca7b22d
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1.0
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 The Amazing World of Gumball
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Map All Along / int_aca7b22d
 Map All Along / int_b084b0e3
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Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_b084b0e3
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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad: The titular protagonist discovers, upon putting two pieces of the golden tablets together, that their shadow projected onto a wall by the flames of a torch reveals a nautical chart to the mystical island of Lemuria, which may offer a way to heal the Vizier's scarred face and defeat the Big Bad Prince Koura.
 Map All Along / int_b084b0e3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_b084b0e3
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1.0
 The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
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Map All Along / int_b084b0e3
 Map All Along / int_b7db5642
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_b7db5642
comment
In season two of Stranger Things, Will's obsessive drawings that turn the entire house into a Room Full of Crazy stump the family, until Bob realizes that it's a map of the tunnels under Hawkins and its immediate surroundings.
 Map All Along / int_b7db5642
featureApplicability
1.0
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 Stranger Things
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Map All Along / int_b7db5642
 Map All Along / int_ba1badbb
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_ba1badbb
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Erebos: The world of the eponymous, fictional video game contains elements that the protagonist finds out are meant to be the map of London Underground, with objects in the colours that lines are drawn on the tube map and certain objects being named after stations.
 Map All Along / int_ba1badbb
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_ba1badbb
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1.0
 Erebos
hasFeature
Map All Along / int_ba1badbb
 Map All Along / int_bb22185b
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_bb22185b
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In Curious George (2006), Tednote formerly known as the Man with the Yellow Hat sets out an expedition to Africa to find a legendary gigantic idol for his failing museum. Unfortunately, when he reaches the idol's last known location, all he finds is a dingy little version of it, making him think the legends exaggerated a bit. In the end, after he and George reconcile, they discover that when light filters through the stone, it projects a map, which Ted realizes leads to the actual idol, which they find.
 Map All Along / int_bb22185b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_bb22185b
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 Curious George (2006)
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Map All Along / int_bb22185b
 Map All Along / int_cc1bf35b
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_cc1bf35b
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Monkey Island:
In The Secret of Monkey Island, a map is disguised as dancing steps.
In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Guybrush has a dream where his parents sing a garbled version of "Dem Bones." The bone arrangements suggested by the song correspond to the markings on the right sequence of doors to pass through LeChuck's fortress.
 Map All Along / int_cc1bf35b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Map All Along / int_cc1bf35b
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1.0
 Monkey Island (Video Game)
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Map All Along / int_cc1bf35b
 Map All Along / int_d22a9a66
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_d22a9a66
comment
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Jollie's picture of a screwdriver, a nut, and a screw in Great War in the Bizarre World. It's passed off by him as a map, and it's implied that Jollie just handed the goats and wolves a photo and is claiming that it's a map thanks to his non-existent knowledge, with the wolves rightfully questioning his logic when they use it, but it later turns out to be a really good approximation of where everything is in the Bizarre World - the river is shaped like a screwdriver, a nut-shaped castle wall is located close to it on the right, and a mushroom-like growth with a screw shape is to the left.
 Map All Along / int_d22a9a66
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_d22a9a66
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 Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (Animation)
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Map All Along / int_d22a9a66
 Map All Along / int_e4b1ab1e
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_e4b1ab1e
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In Vin Diesel's movie The Pacifier, the panda lullaby contains instructions to avoid traps in a trap room.
 Map All Along / int_e4b1ab1e
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1.0
 Map All Along / int_e4b1ab1e
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 The Pacifier
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Map All Along / int_e4b1ab1e
 Map All Along / int_ef076a36
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_ef076a36
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In Star Trek: Voyager episode "Cathexis", Chakotay's medicine wheel is used as a map to get the ship out of trouble: Chakotay's soul inhabits Neelix, who rearranges the stones on the medicine wheel to make a pattern that Paris recognizes as a map of landmarks in the nebula that helps the ship escape.
 Map All Along / int_ef076a36
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 Star Trek: Voyager
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Map All Along / int_ef076a36
 Map All Along / int_f16adb7
type
Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_f16adb7
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In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy is trying to talk to Oxley in the Soviet camp in the Amazon jungle about how he got a hold of the crystal skull, which made him insane and talking in riddles. When he keeps moving his hand and saying "To lay their just hands on that Golden Key... That ope's the Palace of Eternity. Through eyes that last I saw in tears... here in death's dream kingdom... eyes! That last I saw in- tears-? Indy tries to reason with him, when he notices Oxly's hand movements, and when he's given a pen and paper, Oxley draws a series of symbols that Indy can decipher as directions to the skull's origin.
 Map All Along / int_f16adb7
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1.0
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 Map All Along / int_f31ebb02
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Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_f31ebb02
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In Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the true map is engraved on the cylindrical container of the decoy map.
 Map All Along / int_f31ebb02
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1.0
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 Map All Along / int_f651fac4
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Map All Along
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Titan A.E.: Cale's tattoo turns out to be a holographic map leading to the location of the Titan, which is humanity's last hope to create a new home for itself.
 Map All Along / int_f651fac4
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Map All Along
 Map All Along / int_fdbace96
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Gravity Falls: In the episode "Irrational Treasure", Dipper and Mabel are on the hunt for proof that the supposed town founder, Nathaniel Northwest, was a fraud, with their only clue being a piece of paper covered in markings that Dipper believes to be a secret code. It's not until Mabel folds the paper into a hat that Dipper realizes the markings form a map pointing to the location of the next clue.
 Map All Along / int_fdbace96
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Map All Along
processingCategory2
Index All Along
 Map All Along
processingCategory2
Map Tropes
 Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (Animation) / int_65488bb3
type
Map All Along
 Escape to Witch Mountain / int_65488bb3
type
Map All Along
 Nettle & Bone / int_65488bb3
type
Map All Along
 Alice in Borderland / int_65488bb3
type
Map All Along
 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power / int_65488bb3
type
Map All Along
 Curious George (2006) / int_65488bb3
type
Map All Along