Post History

If you have placed your clues and foreshadowing well, you can present the final clues and let the reader draw the conclusion.  You're aiming for an "oh wait, *what*?  Oh wow..." reaction as the reader draws a conclusion you never spelled out.  This is risky; not all readers *will* draw the conclusion.

A safer method, but still avoiding the live-action reveal you ask about, is to show your characters reacting.  Through their reactions you can convey information.

Your bad guys have been influencing magic throughout history.  For simplicity I'll use an example from an "Earth, but magic" world, because this technique relies on readers connecting dots (so I need to have some dots).  You would of course use the history and details from your world instead.


> "And this," the anthropology professor concluded, "is why, against all rationality, David Koresh's followers were ready to die for the man they believed to be God".

> *Weird*, thought Wayne.  *That guy was obviously nuts, evil.  What would possess...*

> And then it struck him.  Koresh.  Jonestown.  Heaven's Gate.  Such control over hundreds of followers seemed unnatural.  *Was* unnatural.  Only powerful magic could cause this, could *direct* this.  How far back did it go?  Klan?  Salem?  The crusades?  

> Wayne shivered in the over-heated lecture hall.  This was bad.  Maybe he was imagining it.  *Please let me be imagining it.*

> Wayne looked across the room and met Guido's gaze.  Guido's face was ashen, his lips quivering.  *Not just me, then*.

> The two locked gazes, nodded, and in unison, rose and hastily exited.  They had to report this to the boss *now*.