Back when I was talking about The Hero's Journey, I mentioned that the hero will often rely on a "magic weapon" to get themselves out of difficulty.
This could literally be a magic weapon (as in many Greek myths), or it might be something in the right place at the right time because of something that happened earlier, or it might be words of wisdom someone spoke at the beginning of the quest for no apparent reason, or...
I just watched the first episode of a Netflix time-travel series called Timeless. As the heroes are about to travel back in time, for the first time, the lead female character (stereotypically, perhaps) complains about the inauthenticity of the clothes she has to wear. Back then, she says, they didn't have the fabric her blouse was made of. And they certainly didn't have underwire bras!
'Okay,' I though. 'That seems a little unnecessary. Let's see if it comes up again.'
As they race against time to stop the bad guy from changing their history, they are locked up by the local police.
There is generally some sort of delay in the story arc, to ratchet the tension up.
The lead male character says he could pick the lock on the cell door, if he had a hair-pin - which, of course, the lead female character is too modern to have in her hair.
Despite hair-pins and bra underwires not really being anything alike, I begin a mental count-down.
They stop for a little soul-searching and racism, but, three and a half minutes later, he turns to her and tells her "Take off your bra!" Probably because that's more titillating than having him just explain what he's doing. Then he uses the underwire to pick the lock, and they escape.
In this instance, the bra underwire was the magic weapon.
Writers will always mention these things way in advance, trying to make sure we think nothing of them, because having a magic weapon appear from nowhere is unsatisfying for the discerning reader or viewer. nd, having mentioned them before gives the reader or viewer the chance to make a mental connection and feel good about it.
Once you know, you will see magic weapons all over the place (in Quest/Hero's Journey stories). But don't let that spoil your enjoyment.
An imaginary Gold Star to the next person who spots one!
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