Some stories start in the middle. The first Star Wars film came out in 1977 as just Star Wars; in 1981 its opening words were changed to call it Episode IV. Episodes I to III were made later, from 1999 to 2005. A story set before one already told is a prequel: the earlier part, made later.
Old stories hint at the past→A prequel shows the past→Every hint must fit
A prequel is made because the name sells, as lesson 5 said, but the hero's story is finished. So it goes backwards. The trouble is that the past was already described. The old films were full of hints: a father who was a pilot, an old war, a teacher. Every hint is now a promise the prequel must keep.
Old films'a great pilot'
↓→
The prequelthe father's story
The old films said the hero's father was a great pilot. The prequel is about the father. What must it do?
Make the father a great pilot, or explain why he was called one.
Right. The hint was a promise. A prequel that shows a father who never flew has broken a promise made in a film people have watched for decades.
Nothing. The prequel comes first, so it sets the facts.
Not yet. It comes first in the story and last on the shelf. The old films set the facts years ago, and millions of people know them.
Ignore the old films; they are a different set of films.
Not yet. Same name, same hero, same father. A prequel is sold as the same story, which is the whole reason the hints bind it.
1977'an energy field'
↓→
1999a count, from a drop of blood
↓→
The old filmsnow had it all along
A prequel also adds facts to the past, which land on every later story. In 1977 the Force, the power the heroes use, was an energy field. In 1999 a prequel said it worked through tiny living things in every cell, counted from a drop of blood. Now the old films always had that count, and never mentioned it.
2004, set in 1964Metal Gear Solid 3
++
2011, set firstSkyward Sword
Metal Gear Solid 3, from 2004, is set in 1964, decades before the story of the first Metal Gear game, released in 1987, and had to fit every hint since. Nintendo's Zelda chart puts Skyward Sword, made in 2011, before every other game, and Breath of the Wild, from 2017, off the far end with its 2023 sequel.
These Zelda games are listed with the year they were released. Put them in the order their STORY happens, as Nintendo's own chart has it.
Tap them in the order they happen, first to last. Each tap gets a number.
Skyward Sword (2011)→Ocarina of Time (1998)→Breath of the Wild (2017)
Right. Skyward Sword first, then Ocarina of Time, then Breath of the Wild. The game made in 2011 is set earliest, and it had to fit every hint about the beginning that more than a dozen earlier games had dropped.
Picture a series of ten parts with 300 promises. Move where a new part is set in the story and watch how many old hints about that time it must fit. Made up to show the shape.
Old hints about this time40 made up
Promises carried300 made up
Where the new part is set: Before everything
Before everything: 40 hints to fit. Ten parts have all mentioned the beginning in passing.
Old hints about this time25 made up
Promises carried300 made up
Where the new part is set: Between parts 3 and 4
Between parts 3 and 4: 25 hints. Both sides already described these years.
Old hints about this time0 made up
Promises carried300 made up
Where the new part is set: After part 10
After part 10: no hints yet about this time. Only the 300 promises to carry forward, and a free hand.
Why does a prequel tangle a story more easily than a sequel?
Because it is made by a different team.
Not yet. The team may be the same. The frames do not move with the team; they move with where in the story the new part is set.
Because it has more promises to carry.
Not yet. All three frames carry the same 300. The difference is the hints about the chosen time, and the far past has the most of them.
Because the time it is set in was already described, in hints, by every later story.
Right. A sequel writes about a time nobody has described yet. A prequel writes about a time ten parts have mentioned, and each mention was a promise.
Move the control.
An old readersaw IV first
vsvs
A new readersaw I first
One more thing. Some readers meet a prequel first: a child today may watch Episode I before Episode IV. So the hints have to work both ways: the prequel must fit the old films, and the old films must still make sense to someone who saw the prequel first.
200 years earlier
++
Eight games of hints
++
?
A game company announces a prequel set 200 years before its first game. Which is the most likely new problem?
Eight games have mentioned that time in passing, and the prequel must agree with every mention.
Right. The far past is the most-hinted-at time in any series, because every part looks back at the beginning. Those hints are the prequel's promises before it writes a word.
The prequel will have no promises to keep, because it is first.
Not yet. It is first in the story and ninth on the shelf. Eight games of hints about the beginning are already on the list.
Readers will refuse a story with a new hero.
Not yet. A new hero is common and readers accept one. The problem is the old hints, not the new face.
Lesson complete
A prequel is set in a past the old stories already described. Every old hint is now a promise.