Your favourite plot points?

It sounds vague, but what is part of a plot from a book, movie, TV show, game etc, that has stood out to you? It could be a twist, a piece of lore, a theme or motif etc. Keeping it broad:

Some of mine:
Fairy Tail- The Curse of Contradiction
When someone uses black magic to control life and death they are cursed. The curse makes them immortal, and the more value they have for the life of those around them, the more likely the curse is to kill them. On the flip side, the less value they place in the life of those around them, the more control they have over this black magic.

Spoiler:

The only way for a person with this curse to die, is to love another person with the same curse, so that their respective curses kill eachother.

From a storytelling perspective I just love the depth it added to the characters who were afflicted by it, and the range it gave them on both sides of the spectrum. Honestly, one of my favourite parts of the series.

Sword Art Online Alicization- The Seal of the right eye

Spoiler:

In an attempt to create an AI that didn't need to be preprogrammed for any specific set of circumstances, Rath learned how to create a digital copy of the human soul. As copying the soul of an adult would lead the copy to have an existential crisis and self-destruct, they copied the souls of infants, placing them in a virtual world and accelerating the pace of time. However, someone at Rath wanting to sabotage the project, wrote in a function to the digital souls which was eventually named the Seal of the Right Eye. The governing body of the virtual environment, the church, had a set of laws forbidding things like killing, stealing etc, and the seal of the right eye made it impossible for people to break those laws.

On it's own, this already is a cool world building point, especially when someone who isn't affected by it (like Kirito when he full-dives in to this digital world). Like, early on someone puts an axe back in the shed, and Kirito says "Aren't you gonna lock it?" and the response is "why? It's forbidden to steal."

Where it gets really interesting though is when someone with the Seal is willing to break the law, an error message displays over their right eye causing them pain, and if they continue to fight to break the law, their eye explodes but they are free from the seal. This happens when one character sees the law being used to hurt people and the only way to stop it is to break it. They break the Seal and gain the freedom to break the law if they choose. Granted the scene where it happens is pretty disturbing but overall the idea is one that I love.

The Eon Academy (a bloke can have pride in his own writing, can't he?)-* Like Jon, but different

Spoiler:

During the Spiritwater Crisis, whilst the League is fighting to stop Agatha, there is a third party. Brianna Levine, who has her own goals and assists the league occasionally in order to further them.

Dylan is investigating Brianna and knows she said her name is Brianna Levine whilst under the effect of a spell that prevents her from lying. However when searching government databases, he cant find anyone called Brianna Levine.

When talking to Jon, Jon makes a comment along the lines of "Then my name isn't Jon Drake".

Jon's real name is Ryan Mason, however he goes by his middle name, Jonathan, and uses his wife's surname though before that used his mother's maiden name.

Dylan realises that Jon technically wasn't lying when he said his name was Jon Drake and realises that Brianna is using the same trick. Brianna is her middle name, not her first name, and Levine is not her surname but one close to her.

I love the parallel, especially since both Jon and Brianna had their mothers murdered as children, and despite going in different ways (Jon running away, Brianna getting revenge), use the same trick to give themselves a new identity.

Will add more as I think of them.

Heck, Eon Academy has a LOT of great plot points, but that is an interesting one!

All of these are from games, so there’s that. :P

OMORI – Photographs (MAJOR SPOILERS!)

Spoiler:

When you find out the truth behind OMORI’s/Sunny’s guilt in Black Space, especially with the trail of photographs. Black Space was already a deranged and effed-up place in this game, but the part where you collect the photographs and understand how everything goes together was a very “oh damn” moment (it plays out like a very slow slideshow that shows Sunny unintentionally killed his sister Mari). Provided you were careful with not running into spoilers prior to getting to this point in the game, it’s a heck of a reveal. But overall, the overlapping between what happens in the real world and Sunny’s dream world (headspace) has a lot of very interesting parallels, but this part struck me as the most profound. Plus dang, the different in endings that you can get based on such tiny little choices is pretty insane.

Seasons After Fall

Spoiler:

I was gifted this game as part of a Secret Santa thing and it’s a relatively safe and fun platformer (you can’t really die in it). The part I liked the most about it was being able to switch seasons on the fly at any time. The whole game is based around that and it’s a heck of an interesting concept. You can switch to winter to freeze a lake to cross it where you couldn’t before when it was water. Switching to autumn allows mushrooms to grow so you can reach higher elevations. And there’s a TON of other uses for it but I really enjoyed this nifty game mechanic and arguably pretty cool superpower that affects the entire world around you. And the whole time, you’re playing as a fox (it’s kind of a long story but you assimilate him as a kind of spiritual “seed”).

Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit: Changing Points of View

Spoiler:

Besides having an interesting storyline and some crazy interactive cinematic chases and action/combat scenes, this game has you playing as both the fugitive who doesn’t understand what and why he was driven to commit a ritualistic murder in a diner and as the pair of investigators going after him. The storyline takes a lot of strange and supernatural turns, but the way it allows you to play the game and see both sides of the story is quite unique and there are different routes you can take during the course of the game (some definitely favor one side over another). It reminds me of a TV series called Boomtown where you saw the story play out from the perspectives of multiple characters at different places and times (but were still woven together) and it was such a neat and unique way to tell the story.

Anything involving a heroic sacrifice where the character sacrificing themselves lives and is reunited with the others. That and found family.

--Collecting so many shiny things to save the world
--the rag tag band of misfits that save the world
--the sports feel good story

Will think of more later.

I too, have a certain fondness for bad guys redeeming themselves and doing something to help the good guys that makes all the difference in the end, especially if they're pretty cool and badass characters.

On the flip side, betrayals against the good guys are dang effective and can really put the protagonist(s) in a tight spot, although it's best when it happens with a character you'd never suspect. Too many times I've seen it where it was pretty obvious from the start that certain characters weren't going to be dependable for the protagonist characters. If a certain character seems condescending, pretentious, or narcissistic, that's usually a sign they'll stab someone in the back. People generally don't like those types of personalities and they don't want to see them succeed. But if they're warm and friendly and have a pretty jolly nature to them before they drop the hammer and go full evil, those get you good, especially if there's virtually nothing that gives their dark secrets and agendas away. xD

I also like cute and lovable unlikely heroes, as long as they can hold their own and have unique and unlikely traits that give them an unexpected edge. As in sure, they might (and should!) struggle when it comes to accomplishing their goals and objectives and their hopes and dreams, but they aren't completely helpless without their allies. I don't want them too powerful either, though. It has to be a good balance, kind of like you how spend attribute points in any kind of RPG character creator. They can and should be great in something, but then not so great in other things. And the things they're not so great in are what your supporting characters should be able to handle.

And lastly, powerful and seemingly unstoppable villains that are annoying, cheeky, overly-confident, have insanely good luck, and make life a living hell for the protagonists over and over again (basically, you want your Mary Sues to be the villains). You HATE them but LOVE them at the same time for being so effectively detestable. These are the kinds of villains that make stories a page-turner because you HUNGER to see them get pulverized and eat their just desserts. Sure, it's one thing to have imposing and dark villains like Darth Vader and Predator and those can be great and effective, but it's something on a whole other level if a cheeky, sugary, overly-cute and snotty character that has insane god-like powers be the real problem that makes the reader want to go full nuclear on them. xD

@Neo Emolga

I love me some redeemed bad guys too (Avatar: The Last Airbender does this beautifully)
The comical bad guys
The powerful bad guy with a weakness you would never expect
Respectful relationships, be they romantic or friendships.