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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.

Contents 1 Examples in film 2 Examples in video games 3 Examples in television 4 Examples in books 5 See also

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.

In the film Donnie Darko, a silent, overweight man dressed entirely in a bright red tracksuit makes several appearances throughout the film, usually behaving like he's eavesdropping or stalking the main characters, yet he never directly interacts with them. He has no other role in the plot. The author obviously wrote him as a very literal red herring, complete with the appropriate color, shady, distracting qualities and ultimate uselessness to the plot.

In the film The Machinist a more literal sort of red herring appears. The blood that viewers see seeping from the protagonist's freezer is later revealed to be that of a fish which he had caught over a year before, and not related to any sort of murder, as is hinted at.

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 and Amiga called Spellbound 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.

In the town of Termi, Motavia in Phantasy Star IV, there is a souvenir shop. Two items, a Termi pennant and a wooden sandworm sculpture, are completely useless except as decorations in Chaz and Alys's home in Aiedo.

In Sanitarium three literal examples of red herrings exist in the title. The second chapter features a hut with a large paint impression of a red herring on the roof, the character states his disappointment of the fact it contains no useful items or objects. The third chapter features a man with a large red fish in the asylum courtyard, who will begin dancing when a certain record is put on, but otherwise offers no real help or aid to gameplay. The other instance of a red herring exists in lost village chapter and is found in the water temple after you enter, Olmec verbally mentions how it must be useful due to its 'crimson color'.

Starflight features an alien artifact called Red Herring that can be found while exploring the surface of planets. It is slightly too big for the player to collect it by means of the surface vehicle. As such, it is not useless but rather impossible to obtain.

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.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is filled with red herrings, both physically and metaphorically.

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 Fight Club, Tyler Durden's relationship with Marla Singer is used to lead the reader away from thinking that he and the Narrator could be the same person.

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.

The plots in the Harry Potter books rely on red herrings, almost always using them as part of their final twist ending:

• In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the main characters are convinced that professor Snape is seeking the Philosopher's Stone, while in fact it is professor Quirrell that is the real culprit.
• In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we are led to believe that Draco Malfoy is Slytherin's heir and that he opened the Chamber, while in fact Ginny Weasley, controlled by Tom Riddle's journal, opened the Chamber.
• Almost all of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a gigantic misdirection to lead the reader (and Harry) to believe that Sirius Black wants to kill him, while in fact he only wants to see and protect Harry, Peter Pettigrew being the real culprit in this case.

• Foreshadowing
• MacGuffin