Red herring (plot device)
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In literature, a red herring is a plot device intended to distract the reader from a more important event in the plot, usually a twist ending.
The term "red herring" originates from the tradition whereby young hunting dogs in Britain were trained to follow a scent with the use of a "red" (salted and smoked) herring (see kipper). This pungent fish would be dragged across a trail until the puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odor of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (which has a much stronger odor) across the animal's trail at right angles. The dog would eventually learn to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent.
In literature, the most commonplace use of a "red herring" is in mystery fiction. One particular character is described or emphasized in a way that seems to throw suspicion upon that character as the person who committed the crime: later, it develops that someone else is the guilty party.
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[edit] Examples in film
In film, the "red herring" device is usually conveyed visually. An excellent example of this occurs in the 1947 suspense film The Spiral Staircase. The audience is aware that someone in the house is a serial murderer. Early in the film there is a thunderstorm: the pantry door abruptly opens to reveal the hulking figure of the caretaker Mr. Oates (actor Rhys Williams) framed in a flash of lightning as he bursts into the room. This is the first time the audience has seen this character; his distinctive entrance makes him seem sinister and aberrant, and therefore he is the obvious suspect in the murder mystery. But Oates is not the murderer, therefore this scene establishes him as a red herring.
A modern example of a "red herring" is in the movie Saw. Determining the identity of the psychopathic serial killer is one of the goals of his trapped victims (Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Adam). Suspicion is thrown first on Dr. Gordon, one of the kidnapped players in the psychopath's sick game, and later on Zep, an orderly at Dr. Gordon's hospital. At the end of the movie, Zep, who was earlier revealed as the kidnapper of Dr. Gordon's family, approaches the two kidnapped victims. Adam, who was earlier shot by Dr. Gordon and appears to be dead, gains consciousness and beats Zep to death. While Dr. Gordon attempts to escape before bleeding to death, Adam searches Zep's body for a key to his chain. He instead finds a tape recorder, describing the rules that the orderly must play the game by. Finally, the killer is revealed as the thought-to-be-dead cellmate of the victims. Such plot twists are shown to be foundational to the use of the red herring.
Another example is the 1999 film What Lies Beneath, starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer's character knows that her house is haunted, and suspects that the ghost is that of a woman next door, who at first seems to have been murdered by her husband. Halfway into the movie, it is revealed that the wife is very much alive and that the husband didn't really kill her. It is later revealed that the ghost is that of a college student who had an affair with Pfeiffer's character's husband (a professor) and that he murdered the student when she threatened to expose their relationship to the university dean.
[edit] Examples in video games
In the MMORPG RuneScape, one of the particular quests the character must solve is a puzzle, which is performed as part of a series of trials. In the room there are several items and among them is an actual red herring. But it has a use: using a combination of items the player must get the red sticky paste (which they will need) off the item and they are left with a herring which has no use except to eat.
Also, in the game The Secret of Monkey Island, an actual red herring is obtained and later used in a puzzle, where a troll guarding a bridge demands an item in order to pass. The hint he gives is that he wants an item that attracts attention, but has no actual use, thereby providing an in-joke about the red herring, as well as effectively negating the red herring's use as a red herring, as it is actually necessary in order to progress.
The Infocom murder mystery text adventure Deadline had the victim's son (who acted suspiciously but was not the culprit) eating a plate of red herrings.
An old game for the Atari called Spellbound featured an item called the Red Herring, which, fittingly, had no purpose.
The game Wizkid for the Atari ST and Amiga featured a Red Herring as a purchasable item near the end of the game. Naturally, it had no purpose.
In the video game Nightshade, there's a box lying on a random street corner that is addressed to a red herring. It cannot be picked up or open, and otherwise serves no purpose to the actual game.
In Chapter 6 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the Shadow Sirens beat Mario to the Poshley Sanctum, where the sixth Crystal Star is held. However, Pennington, the sanctum keeper, anticipated that many people would steal it and thus set up a fake one as a red herring. The real Crystal Star is in a hidden room behind the main hall.
[edit] Examples in television
In the animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, every episode Freddy accuses the wrong person, the same person every time, a Red Herring (the character's actual name). Commonly, Red is a bully in the series and threatens Freddy every time he is accused and gives an alibi, thus giving some reason to suspect him despite the fact that the clues don't target him as the fugitive. Only twice is Freddy right about Red, once in a flashback on the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency's first case about a spook in the preschool playground when the cast was only in diapers and again in the only episode Freddy doesn't verbally accuse Red due to a bet/dare that he wouldn't accuse Red when Red's aunt's motorcycle is stolen but Red only stole it to have it repaired as a birthday present.
Soap operas often use the "red herring" device, specifically in murder mystery storylines. In most soap opera murders, the victim is usually a villain, who during his run on the show, has antagonized most of the main cast. A prominent example of the "red herring" in soap operas is the murder of Paul Cramer on One Life To Live. Paul was a primary character in the infamous "baby switch" storyline on One Life To Live and All My Children. When he was murdered, the killer was revealed to be Daniel Colson, who was being blackmailed by Paul because he was gay. Prior to the reveal, the two characters had no interaction with each other at all.
[edit] Examples in books
The Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events is filled with red herrings, both physically and metaphorical. In The Ersatz Elevator, the Very Fancy Doilies are sold off as a red herring in the auction. At the same auction, there is a giant statue of a red herring that turns out to be the actual hiding place of the Quagmires.
In Nelson DeMille's Plum Island, the presence of a biological research facility on the island seems to be the cause of several murders, but the facility is merely a red herring to distract from the actual cause, a buried treasure believed to be on the island.
In The Da Vinci Code there is a character called Aringarosa, which translates to "Red Herring".
Probably the best known case of the Red Herring occurs in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, where the characters (and the reader) are subtly led away from the true murderer.
