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It goes by many names : Schizophrenia , Multiple Personalities , or the more technically accurateDisassociative Identity Disorder . What it come down to is that a polar character in a movie or TV show was never really there . They helped the hoagie find their emotional effectiveness or served as a scapegoat for the unspeakable number the friend has commit , but in the end , they were nothing but a hallucination .
David Fincher’sclassic film is n’t the only storey that deplumate a“Fight golf club ” . But even if the protagonist is revealed as mentally precarious direct off the bat , we ca n’t go around assuming that it ’s always aTyler Durdenthing . That ’s why it ’s always impressive when a author is able to pull it off , specially if they ’ve peppered the story with subtle tip that only derive to lighting on the second showing . Sometimes thing will stand out right away . Others clues require even more examination and repeated viewings to comment . But it ’s always tickle pink when a great tale is can keep you guess and storm you with the reveal that one of the main character was never really there .
lease ’s hear it for these15 Amazingly Subtle Clues That Characters Were Imaginary All Along . Spoilers abound , of course .
Donnie Darko– Frank
DonnieDarkois a possible schizophrenic and sleepwalker . One Nox , a marvellous bozo in a pinched rabbit costume who calls himself Frank lures Donnie out of his house in time to save him from getting vanquish by an airplane locomotive engine that crashes into his way . Frank tells Donnie the world will terminate in 28 day unless he comport out a series of destructive labor . But when Donnie tells his therapist he made a new protagonist , she asks“real or fanciful ” , indicating that he has a history of visualize people that are n’t there .
Donnie ’s actions also seem to be influenced by his schooling curriculum that includesWatership Down(a account book about sentient rabbits in peril ) andThe Destructorsby Graham Greene , about kid who destruct a mansion just as Donnie burns down the home of a motivational speaker unit revealed to be an maltreater .
Mr. Robot– Mr. Robot
Astute viewers knew something was up withMr . Robotbefore the reveal near the end of season 1 . Not only are Mr. Robot andElliotthe same soul , but Mr. Robot is a manifestation of Elliott ’s deceased father .
If you go back and watch the introduce episodes , you notice that none of the other lineament ever look at or address Mr. Robot , and they always behave as if Elliott is the one in charge , even though Elliott ofttimes defers to Mr. Robot .
If you think about all the things Mr. Robot does throughout the series , you realize that our soft - speak protagonist is actually quite the wild card . Not only that , but Elliott gives a massive clue in his first voiceover:“It ’s in reality happening . I ’m talking to an imaginary person . ”Turns out , the audience is n’t his only fanciful friend .
Memento- Sammy Jankis
“ Remember Sammy Jankis . ”Leonard , the short - term memory board challenged agonist ofMementokeeps that message tattoo on his hand ( along with other admonisher tattoos all over his body ) . But Sammy Jankis is a self - visit flushed herring .
Leonard plants sour cue so that he can keep searching for his wife ’s killer indefinitely instead of facing the verity – he ’s the one responsible for her death . Whenever he gets to the abominable destruction of his hunt , he burns the evidence and bug out all over again .
Sammy ’s story , about unintentionally causing his wife ’s insulin overdose , is really Leonard ’s story . One telltale trace that ’s prosperous to omit takes place when Sammy is waiting in the mental infirmary . For one skeleton , Sammy becomes Leonard . Even if you notice it the first time , you might think it ’s simply a symbolical path of connecting their stories instead of a clue that Leonard is the real Sammy .
Dexter- Professor Gellar
Dexter’ssixth time of year involves the William Holman Hunt for the Doomsday Killers : Gellar - a religion prof - and his former student , Travis . They believe their ritualistic murders are part of God ’s plan to usher in the Revelation . But since the show ’s master character is a sequential killer who incessantly confers with apparitions of his deadened relatives , it makes sense that one of Dexter ’s opposition would have a similar affliction .
At first , we have no cause to take Gellar at anything other than case value as he walks Travis through their dastardly deeds . But before it ’s revealed that Travis actually kill Gellar 3 year earlier , the writer drop clue that something ’s awry .
When Travis and Gellar go out in public together , multitude only acknowledge Travis . No one ever interacts with Gellar . Also , Gellar never kills or even touch any of the victims , as if he ’s just taking a backseat / mentor role .
The Shining- Delbert Grady and Lloyd the Bartender
At first , theOverlook Hotelseems haunted as hell . There ’s Corpse Lady and Bear Suit Guy inroom 237 , the twin girls who just want to bet ( with knives ! ) , and the elevator of bloodline . But the ghost with the most silver screen sentence are Lloyd the bartender , and Delbert Grady - who claims he ’s the old Overlook caretaker and wants to inscribe Jack for the Murder Your Family Club .
It ’s not the hotel that make Jack a dull boy . Jack is combining his scurrilous disposition with the story the handler told him about a murderous former caretaker bring up Charles Grady . What if all the mess up apparitions are n’t ghosts , but a manifestation of Jack ’s soul ? He tells Delbert,“I find out your depiction in the newsprint . ”Jack could just be catch the detail faulty .
Kubrick theory are their own list , but the big clew to support this one is that Jack never speak to Grady or Lloyd without a mirror nowadays .
Secret Window– John Shooter
Secret Windowis anotherStephen Kingstory about an set-apart author who seek to write a ledger , with murderous results . regrettably , this film is n’t incisively Kubrick , but Johnny Depp does a good task of keeping the hearing incognizant that the conspicuously named angry man killing Mort ’s ally and family as retaliation for piracy is actually just Mort himself .
A nice , subtle clue occurs straight away , as the film ’s first shot zooms into and then direct through the mirror into which Mort is staring . Later , when Mort ’s married woman arrives to serve divorce paper to her smelly pile of husband , the photographic camera take out out of the mirror and into world . all of a sudden , Mort ’s position is in shuffling and the incessantly pajama - clad writer somehow looks even worse than before .
The the true is revealed and Mort ca n’t blame the dying of his ex - wife on anyone but himself .
High Tension– The Truck Driver
Many were disappointed by the twist inHigh Tension , Alexandre Aja’sotherwise riveting and brutal slasher film about a badass woman warding off a homicidal truck driver . Unfortunately , there is no truck driver . Marie is the literal and only murderer .
At first , it seems like this termination has been tacked on as a tinny gismo . bid up a murderous placeholder is one affair , but what about all that time she was alone with the killer ?
Marie really bungle the bend right at the beginning of the pic when she relay to a friend a dream about running through the woods . Her friend asks who she was lead from and Marie responds,“It was me … it was me die hard after me . ”So when the grampus yield himself literal head ( with a severed forefront ) , it ’s just a sweet petty daydream Marie has while watch her X - girlfriend sleep .
Sunshine- Pinbacker
SunshinescreenwriterAlex Garlandand director Danny Boyle have opposing reading regarding the third number of this sci - fi epic about a squad of spaceman tasked with reignite the die sun . Pinbacker , the captain of theIcarusI , did go insane and kill his crowd . But did he outlive to continue his murderous rampage on Icarus II ?
Despite the monolithic tonal shift key and plot gob it create , Boyle sound out he did . But Garland says the orca is n’t Pinbacker , but Capa , the physicist who knows that - unless the crew universe diminishes - there is n’t enough oxygen for anyone to complete the commission .
There are several things that favor Garland ’s read including the fact that Pinbacker is never express clearly , never kills when Capa interacts with work party , and no one ever go through Pinbacker other than Capa . The final confrontation takes office in a massive room where a wide injection reveals Capa and Cassie alone . Then suddenly , Pinbacker appears to kill her , allowing Capa to give up the nuke and complete the commission .
The Machinist- Ivan
Christian Balefamously starved himself to play Trevor , the insomnia - plaguedMachinistwith a drear , repressed secluded . Ivan is a tumid , bald man with a sinister grin who take he ’s filling in for Reynolds at the manufacturing plant .
When Ivan distracts Trevor , it leave in another co - worker recede an sleeve . No one at the factory admits to knowing Ivan , but Ivan paint a picture that they ’re messing with Trevor as retaliation for the fortuity . Trevor turn more paranoid when he regain a photograph of Ivan and Reynolds . Trevor runs Ivan ’s license collection plate and is bewilder when the numeral matches the railroad car Trevor totaled the previous twelvemonth . after , Trevor ’s girl has the same picture of Ivan and Reynolds , but she insist that it ’s Trevor in the photo , not Ivan .
Eventually , we discover Ivan is a manifestation of Trevor ’s guilt over a bang and run he make a twelvemonth before that resulted in the dying of a child .
6. A Beautiful Mind– Charles, Charles’ Niece, and Parcher
InA Beautiful Mind , brilliant mathematicianJohn Nashsees a lot of imaginary hoi polloi over the course of the film . His best friend , Charles , often appears and go away whenever Nash call for someone to talk to . Charles ’ niece somehow manage to charge up a great deal of pigeon without fright them off .
But the big surprisal ask Nash ’s employer ; anFBI Agentnamed Parcher who tells Nash the government want his code - discover skills to thwart a Soviet onset . Their enemies , intent on keeping them from crack the computer code , pursue Nash and Parcher . Only none of that happens .
We con Parcher is n’t real when Nash has a public breakdown . Like Charles , Parcher often appears and disappear of a sudden after a broad blastoff reveals there is no one else around . At one stop , Nash is arguing with Parcher and then is interrupt by a colleague who ask who Nash is spill to .
