Editing 109: Spoiler Alert

{{comic
| number    = 109
| date      = May 31, 2006
| title     = Spoiler Alert
| image     = spoiler_alert.png
| titletext = And then it turns out they're both Tyler Durden.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic refers to several unexpected plot twists from various Hollywood movies and combines them into one giant twist invented by [[Randall Munroe|Randall]]. A "{{w|spoiler (media)|spoiler}}" is a term used to describe information about the plot of any media that could spoil the media for someone who has not viewed it. The term "spoiler alert" has become popularized as a warning to potential readers used to precede such spoilers, particularly in online posting. It is also a phrase often used ironically or angrily to suggest that something someone has just said is a spoiler. It is also used jokingly to suggest that something just said (or is about to be said) was a spoiler so long ago that "everyone" should have heard of it by now (e.g. "Spoiler alert, Vader is Luke's father").

{{w|Severus Snape}} is a character from J.K. Rowling's ''{{w|Harry Potter}}'' series of books.

{{w|Trinity (The Matrix)|Trinity}} is a character from ''{{w|The Matrix (franchise)|The Matrix}}'' trilogy of movies.

Rosebud is from the 1941 film ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}''.

From the title text, {{w|Fight Club (novel)#Tyler Durden|Tyler Durden}} is a character from the {{w|Fight Club (novel)|novel}} and movie ''{{w|Fight Club}}''.

All four references share the common ground that they are all involved in significant events or ideas in their respective movies that have been often spoiled by careless viewers for those who have not yet seen the movies. Here, the relevant events are mashed together into one and spoiled in one go.

=== Spoilers ===
In this comic, Snape is depicted knocking Trinity off a high place with a wooden sled named Rosebud.

* Snape {{Spoiler|kills someone important, by knocking them off a building.}}

* Trinity {{Spoiler|dies}}

* Rosebud is {{Spoiler|a sled}}

* Tyler Durden is {{Spoiler|both characters}}

The event depicted in the comic did not actually occur in any movie.{{Citation needed}}

Trinity (the female protagonist in {{w|The Matrix (franchise)|''The Matrix'' series}}) is {{Spoiler|killed}} in the third film, ''{{w|The Matrix Revolutions}}''. The central mystery of the classic film ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' is the meaning of "Rosebud" (the title character's last word), which is revealed at the end of the film to be {{Spoiler|the name of his childhood sled}}. In {{w|Harry Potter}}, Snape (a professor at the Hogwarts school) {{Spoiler|kills Dumbledore (the headmaster) at the top of the Astronomy Tower}} in the penultimate book of the series, "{{w|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince}}" (in the final book, we learn that it was {{Spoiler|part of Dumbledore's plan}}).

The title text refers to the film ''{{w|Fight Club}}'', at the end of which it is revealed that the character played by {{w|Edward Norton}} {{Spoiler|is actually Tyler Durden (the name}} {{w|Brad Pitt}}'s {{Spoiler|character goes by); and Pitt's character is really just a figment of the Norton character's imagination; and that the viewer has been watching from Norton's point of view, seeing Pitt doing things Norton did not want to admit to himself he was capable of. In other words, the two roles are one and the same character.
Near the end of the movie Spoiler|Edward Norton kills Tyler Durden (his split personality) at the top of a skyscraper}}.

==Transcript==
:[At the top of the panel there is a large heading:]
:'''Spoiler Alert!'''

:[Below that Severus Snape with long black hair is smacking a trenchcoat-clad Trinity off the top of a building with a brown sled. Below them is the following caption:]
:Snape kills Trinity with Rosebud!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:The Matrix]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Fight Club]]