Have you ever reflected on game a few days after finishing it only to realize some major plot point slipped under the radar? It could be a killer who wasn't unmasked, or a key bit of info everyone seemingly forgot about. At first these thoughts don't make sense. Surely they addressed this at some point, you rationalize. They wouldn't just leave this kind of thing hanging. Sadly, that's where you're wrong. Some plot points are introduced only to wither on the vine, never to be seen nor heard from again.

Until now. I've rounded up some of the juiciest, most dead-ended plot lines from a variety of games. Not only were these details clearly stated in their respective storylines, but they were all later dropped without a trace - almost as if they never existed in the first place. I've also included some insights into how these lost tidbits could have manifested themselves in their respective games, had they not been so abruptly abandoned.

What was abandoned: Zero being Dr. Wily's final creation. This is strongly , of all places) as a major part of Zero's mysterious backstory. But at X5's climax, this 'major reveal' is still only vaguely referenced. We see the iconic Wily 'W' projected on the background should you fight against Zero, and Wily's silhouette appearing during Zero's ending. And that's about it. The big mystery of Zero's parentage doesn't amount to much of anything, and is largely ignored in subsequent games.

What could have changed: a creation-versus-creator storyline. Dr. Wily creating Zero goes hand-in-hand with another abandoned plot point: Dr. Wily is still "alive" in the MMX timeline. Wily's presence would force Zero to grapple between who he is and who he was meant to be. Plus, the entire MMX universe revolves around robots with free will being corrupted by sinister influences. Zero grappling with the machinations of his creator would have been the perfect thematic fit.

What was abandoned: The dark energy subplot, which was introduced during Tali'Zorah's . Tali was collecting data on a star that was dying prematurely, before she and her team were ambushed by Geth. Based on that data, Tali theorized "dark energy" was behind the star's demise. Shepard then states "A lot of Quarians died here. What [that data] worth it?" I guess not, because by the third game dark energy and its impact are never discussed again.

What could have changed: According to Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer on the first two Mass Effect games, this concept of dark energy could have been behind the Reaper's motivations. In an interview with AM 60, reported by , Karpyshyn said, "The Reapers kept wiping out organic life because organics would eventually evolve to where they were using biotics and dark energy, and that was an entropic effect that potentially was going to hasten the end of the universe. And being immortal beings, that is something they did not want to see."

What was abandoned: Corporal Adrian Shephard, protagonist of Half-Life side story Opposing Force. Like Gordon Freeman, Shephard also gets caught up in the Resonance Cascade catastrophe at Black Mesa, shoots a bunch of monsters, gets lost on an alien world, and is ultimately detained by the G-Man at the . But while Gordon later awakes at City-17 at the start of Half-Life 2, our poor Colonel is neither seen nor heard from again. He's still locked away in the G-Man's extradimensional storage locker somewhere, eagerly awaiting Episode 3.

What could have changed: Shephard was ripe to become the perfect "bad guy" version of Gordon Freeman. In the Half-Life 2 episodes, we see G-Man having some trouble maintaining control over the scientist-turned-savior. If their connection was ever completely cut, who better to fall back on than Shephard? He went through the same trials as Freeman and was also hand-picked by the G-Man. He also worked for one of the main antagonist groups in the original Half-Life; the man is prime villain material.

What was abandoned: The Deleter. Throughout Other M, Samus learns there's a traitor among Adam's team of Federation soldiers. That traitor - who Samus dubs "The Deleter" - is killing off soldiers one by one. A lot of time is spent thread: we see The Deleter shoot other soldiers, kick them into lava, and you even fight against someone who is almost certainly The Deleter in a giant mech suit. And then, this person just quietly fades away. By the end of the game, all of Adam's team is either dead or MIA, and Samus shows no concern over discovering The Deleter's identity. Basically, no one cares.

What could have changed: Well, for one thing, Samus and crew would seem a little more believable as human beings if they showed a bit more concern about confirming who in their group was trying murder them all. The Deleter's presence could have also shed a harsh light on the Federation - or some conspiratorial group within the Federation - seeing as how The Deleter went to such great (and murderous) lengths to try and cover up the BOTTLE SHIP's connection to the Federation.

What was abandoned: The captured soul of Ares. If you had the wherewithal to actually complete God of War on the game's hardest difficulty setting - God Mode - you unlocked from Kratos himself. Kratos congratulations you on a job well done before revealing that he has located the soul of Ares in a secret chamber. Kratos isn't sure how it ended up there, or what it could be used for, but figures it could help him put the hurt on Zeus in the next game. Only it doesn't, because the soul and this secret chamber are never mentioned again.

What could have changed: In the God of War games, Kratos draws strength from all sorts of mystical weapons and artifacts, so the soul of a dead god really wouldn't be that out-of-place in his arsenal. But perhaps it would have been a double-edged sword, with the fallen god Ares whispering in Kratos’ ear, driving his already already fragile mind deeper into madness. Perhaps Ares' influence could have been the primary motivator for Kratos' angst at the opening of GOW2.

What was abandoned: Ethan Mars' periodic blackouts. For all of its creativity, Heavy Rain isn't exactly rock solid when it comes to storytelling. Ethan's blackouts are a prime example. Throughout the game, it's implied these blackouts are no mere coincidence. Ethan finds a folded paper crane in his hand after one blackout, leading him to believe there's a connection between himself and the Origami Killer. Maybe he IS the Origami Killer. All this existential dread, however, just gets swept under the rug as the game enters its final act and Ethan simply stops blacking out.

What could have changed: Not much, according to the developers at least. In this , developer Quantic Dreams runs through some of Heavy Rain's deleted scenes. Among them are several relating to Ethan's blackouts. Apparently, Ethan was supposed to establish some sort of psychic link with the real Origami Killer. The blackouts were a result of this connection, and players would swim through a surreal dream sequence while Ethan was unconscious. They had nothing to do with Ethan being the killer.

Destiny’s lore is vast and complex, but you’ll only be exposed to it if you go looking for it. Why? Because much of it exists in the Grimoire cards – the out-of-game encyclopaedia you unlock as you play. If you actually go and read those small bits of text on bungie.net or the companion app you’ll find some fascinating stories about the characters, guns, enemies, and much more.

The best thing about it all? The stories are still incomplete. Players are still uncovering the mysteries of Destiny’s universe, piecing together weapon descriptions, Grimoire text and spoken dialogue to understand the overall picture. There is some truly amazing storytelling in Destiny and, while the hunt for Destiny’s tales is something every player must undertake themselves, here is just a small glimpse of the secret narrative threads woven deep into the game.

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Finishing Destiny's first raid was quite the team effort with it's winding paths, challenging bosses, and teamwork-focused trials. But all that cooperation would all be for naught if Kabr and his fellow guardians didn't explore the Vault first. See, there's a relic in the Vault of Glass that is essential to defeating the Templar and Atheon himself, and Kabr was the one who made it.

The Grimoire says that Kabr entered the Vault on his own, killed a Gorgon (a Vex that erases your existence from time), and crafted a light-infused shield for future guardians to use against the Vex. After he created the relic, Kabr was assimilated by the Vex and disappeared leaving only his armor to be found by other Titans.

If you've been playing Destiny, you've seen this guy's name all over item descriptions and bounties. Well, it turns out, he is a very important character. Toland is a Guardian, but not the heroic kind of Guardian. He's more of a mad scientist type. He studied the Hive, and was actually one of the Guardians in Eris Morn's (the creepy-eyed lady that shows up in the Tower with the Dark Below DLC) fireteam that attempted to destroy Crota before the rest of us got a crack at him.

Toland delved into the dark side. He studied the Darkness to such a degree that he was able to commune with it, resulting in him hearing voices, creating dark weapons like the exotic pulse rifle Bad Juju, and experiencing all sorts of unpleasant things. Because other guardians thought he'd gone too far, he was exiled from the city for his practices and considered him a madman, but some Guardians thought his knowledge invaluable. Toland definitely lives in a the grey area between good and evil. Hopefully we'll see him return in the future.

Who or what is the Traveler? Yeah, it's that floating moon thing hanging over the city and it somehow gives the Guardians their powers, but that's pretty much everything the in-game narrative tells you. In the Dreams of Alpha Lupi Grimoire cards, you get a little more detail on what the Traveler is through rather interesting poetic verse detailing visions of the solar system, the Traveler, and the Darkness.

There are a few details to pull from the cards. The Traveler isn't actually the floating sphere you see from the tower, but is a god that drags a moon-sized ball around that contains its memories. For untold eons it's traveled around solar systems establishing civilizations and terraforming worlds. Most importantly, it ushered humanity into the Golden Age. But all that creation work the Traveler was doing came to a grinding halt when the Darkness started chasing after it. Eventually the Darkness caught up to the Traveler, stripped it of it's power, and left a husk hovering over Earth.

When you fire up Destiny for the first time, you're treated to a cinematic showing astronauts landing on Mars and finding a giant, floating sphere. If you collect the right Grimoire cards you'll find the backstory behind this scene detailing the astronaut Jacob Hardy and his crew's discovery of the Traveler. This is the time before the Golden Age, when humans were basically living like we do now, except, they have things like lightspeed travel. The Traveler had been spotted jumping around our solar system and eventually landed on Mars. Because the alien object was coming a bit too close for comfort, humanity decided to investigate.

This event was essentially the equivalent of the real life moon landing (but in the Destiny universe). The Ares 1 crew was the first expedition to investigate the alien sphere on Mars, Jacob Hardy said the famous words, "We're walking into a rising wind," upon setting foot on the planet, and they made contact with the Traveler. What's most interesting about the tale, is that after being exposed to the Traveler's Light, Jacob Hardy inherited a longer life span, saying he felt like a young man at 90 years old.

The next two slides are connected so pay attention. This Wild West tale is told from the perspective of a young boy living in a backwater town ruled by an abusive magistrate named Loken. One day the mysterious Jaren Ward, a Guardian, walks into the town carrying the hand cannon, The Last Word, and at some point (which isn't entirely clear in the Grimoire) rids the townsfolk of their dictator with a lightning fast draw and a bullet between the eyes. The last exchange between to two men: "Those gonna be your last words then, boy?" said Loken. POW. "Yours, not mine," Jaren replied. Pretty badass, huh?

Yup, Jaren Ward is the righteous hero. Eventually, it seems the young boy becomes a Guardian years later and joins up with the hunter Jaren Ward and his group (probably though , lol). The last time the young Guardian hears of Jaren Ward was the sound of a duel between Jaren's Last Word and something "more sinister." And without formation from the Grimoire, we're left with a cliffhanger. That is, until you read about Thorn and the evil Dredgen Yor.

Dredgen Yor's story tells of a once great man and hero who looked to the secrets of the Hive to find a way to destroy the Darkness. But it seems, that the fallen hero lost control because of the evil magic from the Hive weapon Thorn, and got really tired of being a good guy. Once a champion of the Crucible, Yor turns to the dark side, and becomes responsible for the murder of several guardians and more .

The details on the character are still pretty scattered, but one theory out there links Dredgen Yor to the guardian Jaren Ward. As in, they are both the same person. Yor is said to have killed Ward in a duel, but other clues in the Grimoire cards suggest that the two are of the same body. It seems Ward was seduced by the Darkness. The Guardian ceased to be Jaren Ward and became Dredgen Yor. And when that happened, the good man that was Jaren Ward was destroyed. So, what the Grimoire tells us is true - from a certain point of view. Sounds like a familiar plotline, right (hint: Star Wars)? Even Jaren Ward's adopted son grows up to become the hunter that kills Dredgen Yor with the Last Word!

Something strange happens during The Archive mission on Venus – something you probably registered once and then glossed over with every repeated Daily playthrough. When you step into the Archive, you’re called Dr Shim – and your Ghost brushes it off as nothing. While it could be nothing more than your Ghost using Dr Shim’s credentials to power up the bunker (some fans have speculated you play as a revived Dr Shim, which seems unlikely given the evidence, while others instead prefer the theory that you’re Jaren Ward’s protégé Shin Malphur), reading into Dr Shim’s story uncovers a great subplot involving research into the Vex that uncovered a higher definition, but otherwise complete and intact, virtual simulation of the real world inside the Vex’s mind.

When four researchers discovered simulations of themselves debating that very topic inside the Vex mind, it sparked a discussion about reality versus unreality, the morality of preserving their simulated selves over pulling the plug, and whether the Warmind is capable of infiltrating the Vex consciousness and rescuing the simulations of humans. And you thought Inception was complicated.

You’ve seen their decals on the side of weapons and you’ve probably completed many a mission for this faction, but did you know that Future War Cult was formed around a machine called The Device that could predict the future? The FWC Grimoire entry records this story in detail: those who entered The Device were sent mad by the visions (which predicted the Darkness’ coming and the destruction of mankind), so FWC needed to employ stronger minds to help withstand these sights without breaking.

And while not explicitly clear, the inference is that FWC either created, or discovered and repaired, the Exo in order to shoulder this job for them. Which brings us to the Exo Stranger. She’s clearly an important part of the story and we haven’t yet seen the last of her. And consider this: the Stranger’s Rifle she gifts you at the end of the main questline contains parts that shouldn’t yet exist…

During the main game’s story and The Dark Below, we come to learn plenty about Rasputin – the last surviving Warmind. Tasked with protecting humanity – a mission Rasputin believed impossible when the Darkness arrived – the Warmind changed his core’s programming and implemented the MIDNIGHT EXIGENT protocol; eventually powering down to survive the Darkness’ attack.

However, analysis of the Grimoire cards points to a much darker tale during the Darkness’ arrival. Without official confirmation this story teeters on the edge of conspiracy theory, but throughout Destiny we’re told that our souls are Light – and that Rasputin knew that Light must be harnessed to defeat the Darkness. After launching colony ships from the Cosmodrome to protect what little of humanity Rasputin could, the Warmind had to alter his own code in order to then sacrifice the rest of mankind on Earth to stand a chance in the battle against the Darkness, birthing the Awoken in the process.

Have you been following Destiny's lore like I have? Do you have any favorite stories? Have you pieced together any interesting tales? Keep searching for those grimoire cards and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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