When a piece of art or entertainment is sent out into the world, the world is going to consume it. And immediately, where that creation goes is largely out of the hands of the creator.
For an illustration, look no further than fan fiction and fan theories in chat rooms across the internet.
It seems that if you look hard enough, just about every story told has been probed and supplemented by a fanatical group of followers.
And although we usually can never know whether the creators approve or disapprove, sometimes it doesn't matter. Sometimes the theory is so compelling that we decide to believe it just for the heck of it.
AwkwardJeweler asked, "What fan theory do you 100% accept as true?"
Many theories hinge on one character in particular.
Often based on an overlooked side character or an overlooked aspect of a main character, these theories imbue a once-minor piece of the fictional world with a whole new significance.
Secret Genius
"Kevin Malone, if not actually a genius, is certainly much smarter than he lets on in The Office. Clearly he's lazy, and gluttonous, and blah-blah-blah..."
"...but after the merger with Stamford, and its revealed that Martin had served time, Kevin realizes that he needs to give plausible deniability to any sort of financial maleficence that the accountants have been doing, and flanderizes himself in front of the camera."
"Occasionally he slips up and reveals himself to be something a math genius, and has to backtrack, and play it off as some kind of Food-based idiot savant."
"It's how he was able to afford ownership of the bar at the end of the series, I'm sure he made a bit just cashing in all those free drinks, but actually enough to buy a bar? I don't believe it."
A Very Suave Red Herring
"James Bond's primary purpose is to be a distraction to keep attention off the spies who actually spy. Villains and other spies know him, he rarely takes an alias, he makes his presence known early on and keeps messing up operations for the villains..."
"...but other spies have already infiltrated their ranks and work while Bond does as much visible damage as possible to keep the others safe."
More Office Lore
"My own theory that in The Office when Andy proposes to Angela the people playing his parents are different actors because they are literally actors."
"As in he hired them to pose as his 'perfect parents' because his own parents couldn't be bothered to come. The people in the season 9 episode Garden Party are his real parents, who clearly are di**s."
Tough Upbringing
"Ed from Ed Edd n' Eddy is mentally stunted, which is why he's one of the "dumber" characters in the show despite appearing older than the other two Eds (he's about as tall as Kevin and Rolf, who are some of the oldest kids in the cul-de-sac)."
"Also that his parents are abusive to him because of his mental handicap (literally removing the stairs when he was grounded), and his sister's attitude towards him is learned behavior from their parents."
"This is further reinforced by him living in the basement, having non-existent hygiene habits, and 'retreating' into obsession with TV and sci-fi comics.
"In fact, the other two Eds come from troubled homes as well, which is why they're social outcasts in the cul-de-sac. It's been heavily implied that Eddy's parents knew his older brother was physically abusive to him and let it happen."
"Meanwhile, Double D's parents spend zero time with him, and won't even directly communicate with their son, choosing instead to leave him notes for chores instead."
-- Kent_Knifen
Still a Witch
"Glinda dropped Dorothy's house on the Wicked a Witch of the East, not the tornado, and uses her to gain control of Oz."
"One of the first things Glinda tells Dorothy is that SHE killed the witch. They praise her so she'll accept it, and when the Witch of the West comes along, who killed her sister? Dorothy."
"Glinda then puts the ruby slippers on Dorothy's feet but DOES NOT TELL HER THAT SHE CAN USE THEM TO GO HOME. Instead, she sends Dorothy to Oz in possession of objects that a witch would MURDER her for."
"Dorothy, being forced into a situation where her only salvation is Oz and her worst enemy is the queen inadvertently exposes the Wizard of Oz as a fraud AND murders the Witch of the West."
"Now, who's left to rule Oz? Glinda fu**in' witch of the north. She used Dorothy as an expendable pawn to gain control of Oz without having to leave her bubble. And when Dorothy is done upheaving the two biggest powers in Oz, Glinda sends her home and makes her think it was all a dream"
-- taz20075
Saboteur
"The Empire Strikes Back: Admiral Ozzel is a rebel spy."
"Everything Ozzel does in his brief bits of screen time is to the detriment of the Empire. When the probe Droid finds the rebel shield generator, Ozzel tries to dismiss it as smugglers before Piet speaks out of turn and gets Vader involved."
"Later, Ozzel orders the fleet out of hyperspace too quickly, giving the rebels plenty of time to activate the aformentioned shield generator that Ozzel knew about."
"'Clumsy as he is stupid' or Rebel sympathizer who gave is life to give the Alliance as much time to evacuate their base as possible? I side on the latter."
-- JustafanIV
What Could She Possibly See in Bowser?
"Peach is totally into being kidnapped, no one who isn't doesn't have that little security" -- Time-Vault
"Even more than that, she's having an affair with Bowser but doesn't know how to leave Mario. Bowser isn't kidnapping her, she leaves with him."
"That's why every time she gets saved she's like 'oh yay, you saved me again.' " -- Good_Cop_Yes_Donut
Other fan theories are based on glimpsed connections between two fictional worlds that hail from different stories.
These ideas propose that two universes once assumed to be disparate are actually linked quite closely, and the linkage can suggest some pretty diabolical transitions.
Classism
"The Jetsons and the Flintstones are living at the same time in a dystopian future where the 'haves' live above the clouds and the 'have nots' are stuck on a wasted Earth."
"The signs include that Flintstones celebrate things like Christmas and other holidays which doesn't make sense and The Great Gazoo alien appears in both series."
Beware of Dancing
"The town from Footloose is the same town from Tremors. The ban on dancing wasn't a puritanical attempt to control the youth."
"The town elders were aware of the graboid threat, and banned dancing out of the fear that it would cause rythmic vibrations waking up the creatures sleeping below the town."
"Kevin Bacon's character in Footloose stayed in the town, growing up to be his character in Tremors, at which point he has to try and contain the danger he inadvertently released."
Lots of Talk About Warps
"Event Horizon is a prequel to the Warhammer 40k universe." -- FeasibleBeaver
"The writer, Phil Eisner, tweeted at one point that he plays 40K, so it was definitely an influence on the script. That's as good as canon for me." -- ch1burashka
"YES. It makes the movie so much more fun in my opinion, they probably show this movie to people to illustrate what happens when you go through the warp without a Gellar Shield." -- waywardhero
And last, some people are all about adding a new lens to experience the story through. They jump on a couple key details and fill in a few more.
The result is a brand new--and convincing--context through which we can experience the story we already know and love.
Evidence
"The reason each It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode starts with a date and time is because they're all testifying against each other in court." -- BigDirtii
"If this isn't how the show ends I'll be disappointed" -- Jupigorg
"I really hope they see this" -- AndroidDoctorr
Letting Kids Run the Show
"Pokedex entries are written by young trainers. When a professor sends a bunch of ten year olds out into the world to document Pokemon, of course the "research" can't be expected to be professional in the least."
"This is how we end up with the creepy legends of ghost pokemon that might have been passed around as playground rumors, or impossible facts like macargo being hotter than the actual sun."
"There's no reason why out of all the Pokemon professors, one of them couldn't have revised their dex information and correct the tidbit about pidgeot breaking the speed of light or gardevoir creating black holes or blazikens jumping over 30 story buildings."
"It's likely they leave the kids to their own devices without bothering to fact check, and kids, being kids, are going to exaggerate."
Layers and Layers
"The 'real world' in the Matrix movies is just another layer of the Matrix, designed specifically to appeal to people unwilling to conform to the normal Martrix."
"Humans in this outer Matrix have confirmation of their belief that something was wrong, and get to indulge in the fantasy of being a heroic freedom fighter against the faceless evil machines, thus choosing to accept this false reality."
"The anomaly of the One is that he's capable of rejecting both realities, which is the reason why he had powers in the real world."
-- Mikeavelli
Not of Sound Mind
"That Loki was controlled by the tesseract more than he let on."
"His eyes glowed multiple times and he shed a tear when Thor tried to talk sense into him."
-- ELW98
Where He Came From
"In Disney's Ratatouille, the old lady in the beginning of the movie living in the house next to the river is the food critic, Anton Ego's, mother."
"In the flashback scene where he eats the ratatouille you can see similarities of the house from the beginning, her face and I think the bridge."
-- Bev-Low
Just as Scary
"I 100% believe the two men accompanying the woman in the original 'Blair Witch Project' planned and successfully executed a plan to murder her while they were deep in the woods."
"Too many factors point to good old fashion murder than a supernatural occurrence."
Through Dog Eyes
"The monsters in Courage the Cowardly Dog are regular people but seem monstrous from Courage's perspective (since he's cowardly)."
"Also they live in the middle of nowhere because his owners never take him out so that's how he views the world."
-- DaRoosta321
The question that remains is how we're supposed to take these theories.
Are they to be compartmentalized, interpreted as less meaningul than the original source material?
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People Break Down Which Episode Of Television Was So Bad It Ruined The Entire Series For Them
You've probably heard that we live in the golden age of television. That's awesome.
For a monthly subscription fee--or a few, as many are willing to pay for--we binge on incredible storytelling, lights out acting, and character arcs that leave us crying or shouting into our Twitter feeds.
Fortunately for us viewers, such a packed array of excellent content creates a virtuous cycle: the shows are great, every studio wants to make great shows to compete, they pour gobs of money into production, so even more great shows come out.
But now that the playing field hums along facing such high expectations, the slightest slip-up is enough to send people running to another show that's more worth their time.
Sometimes, it only takes one bad episode for viewer to call it quits.
A recent Reddit thread asked people to share the particular episodes that drove them to nearly throw in the towel on a show they once loved.
AutumnHopFrog asked, "What episode of a television show was so bad that it nearly ruined the entire series for you?"
Fortunately for us viewers, such a packed array of excellent content creates a virtuous cycle: the shows are great, every studio wants to make great shows to compete, they pour gobs of money into production, so even more great shows come out.
But now that the playing field hums along facing such high expectations, the slightest slip-up is enough to send people running to another show that's more worth their time.
Sometimes, it only takes one bad episode for viewer to call it quits.
A recent Reddit thread asked people to share the particular episodes that drove them to nearly throw in the towel on a show they once loved.
AutumnHopFrog asked, "What episode of a television show was so bad that it nearly ruined the entire series for you?"
Well You Knew This One Was Coming
"Throughout Season 8 of [Game of Thrones] I was preaching patience. Let's see how it plays out. I didn't mind the white walkers not being the ultimate bad guy. I thought Dany's turn was odd but could potentially pay off. I was holding on to a thread of hope that there was a vision."
"So you can imagine my frustration with the finale. Lifeless. Soulless. An utter disdain for the show and its fanbase."
-- doubledYou
Suddenly, a Psychopath
"I stopped watching Bones after one of the sweet side characters was revealed to be the apprentice of a serial killer. Completely out of left field and totally stupid." -- glory87
"Bones. It's been so long that I don't even remember the details, but one of the main cast suddenly murdered people and went to jail for some bizarre reason. I stopped watching after that, so it did ruin the series for me." -- tjeepdrv2
High Standards for Continuity
"The King of the Hill episode where Hank doesn't realize what sticker price is when buying a new truck, and then attempts to vandalize the dealership."
"It was super out of character for Hank to not know how to purchase a vehicle and retaliate so childishly. It's a later season episode that I simply skip now."
-- lod001
A Few Gripes
"Two last episodes of How I Met Your Mother."
"Deleted tons of character development and made the entire last seasons story obsolete." -- Magnus-Krogsoe
"How i met your mother. She died the way she lived. Off screen." -- CambaceresDM
Always Eric and Donna
"That 70's Show had two."
"The first is when Eric and Donna broke up. I knew the entire next season was going to suck and focus on them both dating around before they got back together."
"The second was when Eric decides to propose to Donna. I knew that meant they weren't going to college and the were just going to be bums and I was right."
"The last 3 seasons of that show were unwatchable."
Cool Hair, Though
"Stanger Things when Eleven runs away and chills with some street rats for some reason in an episode - hated it" -- DeschainesBrain
"Hahaha i totally forgot about that. What a weird waste of an episode" -- MrProfessorPhD
"I heard somewhere that was a test for a new direction for the show. But test audiences hated it so that idea was scrapped but the episodes and tie in were kept. Dunno if its true or not but seems plausible given how unrelated that is to everything else." -- Chriogenosis
Budgetary Concerns?
"Murder She Wrote; They had an episode set in 'Australia' with American actors dong Australian Accents even though there were Australian Actors living in LA at the time."
"The accents were that bad that I was too embarrassed to tell anyone that I ever watched the show. Drive time comedy on the radio had an absolute field day with it."
Cash Grab
"The entirety of The Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life put me off the original series, which used to be my favourite comfort watch."
"I really wish Amy Sherman-Palladino did not mess with something that originally ended on a good, satisfying note."
-- boop_attack
4th Time's the Nosedive
"So no one is going to say 'Sherlock season 4'? Do I have to be the one to bring that monstrosity up?" -- More-Consequences
"Sherlock seasons 1-3 I had seen multiple times. I would just put it on in the background when I was doing other stuff because it was nice to follow along."
"When season 4 came out I was excited and watched it all in one day. I have not watched the show at all since then. Totally ruined it for me." -- MazerRakam
Sounds Riveting
"That once episode in Voyager where that one guy and the captain become giant lizard things after a failed tinkering with warp 10. Like what" -- Labrat_The_Man
Doctor WTF?
"there was an episode of doctor who, where they go to robin hood times? and turns out the castle is a space ship? and the knights are alien robots that shoot lasers? and they get all the prisoners in the dungeon to revolt against the robots by reflecting the laser beams with dinner plates?"
"and then the castle/space ship takes off, and doctor who, robin hood, and his companion all help to pull back a bow really far to shoot the golden arrow that doctor who won in an archery tournament at the castle ship because apparently it's allergic to gold and it just explodes out of the sky."
"now that i type it out, i take it back, that episode is great."
-- raulduke05
Unsound Business Decisions
"The Charles Minor episodes of The Office."
"Michael and the branch are the top performers at your failing company so instead of sending someone to the ailing branches you send a babysitter to your one profiting branch to piss off your BEST manager????"
-- InfinitumGamers
Binge Break
"I know most people hate grey's anatomy, but my (adopted) sister and I bonded over it so we're huge fans. It took me a while but it was the episode where Amelia and Hunt's marriage fails and not because of the tumor but because of teddy."
"The back and forth was just so annoying and they were living together and didn't think it would happen? It was so annoying I took a break from the binge"
-- [deleted]
Wit vs. Shenanigans
"Furious D was the beginning of the end of the Simpsons for me. It was just dumb shenanigans for the sake of it."
"None of the wit, parody, or satire that had gone before. The decline might have started before then, but that one sticks in my head for some reason."
-- AlterEdward
Trailer Park Tunes
"Trailerpark Boys, Season 10, I don't know the episode number because that season was spectacularly bad."
"But the one where Bubbles won't shut up about performing at an open mic at the Moose Lodge and Snoop takes the stage with him and it's just a boring song for WAAAAYYY TOO LLOOOONG."
"That season is so bad, but that episode is by far the worst of the whole series."
Growing Pains
"Much of season 1 of Star Trek TNG."
"One of my favorite shows, and it consistently gets better as it goes on, but many of those first season episodes, notably 'Code of Honor' and 'Shades of Grey,' are poorly written, painful to watch, and as awkward as a 13-year-old boy at a girls pool party. Uhg."
-- DrEnter
One-Off Nonsense
"I loved the Battlestar Galactica reboot and while a lot of people hated the finale I was okay with it."
"But there was one episode that featured Lee Adama getting mixed up with a random girl who was a sort-of-sex worker and a black market ring ... It was an ugly mess of an episode and none of the issues raised - about the black market, or Lee's lost love from Caprica - ever came up again."
-- madcats323
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I don't mean to nitpick, but...
In Back To The Future, Marty makes sure that his parents end up together. Being such an important part of their relationship and why they're married, wouldn't they remember him? Or wonder why their son looks just like the guy that brought them together?
Redditor u/crabsmoker75 asked people about the biggest plot holes they've ever seen, and people broke down why even their most favorite movies and shows were flawed.
10. Professor Xavier wasn't thinking smart
"In X-Men, Xavier can't track Magneto because of his helmet, but he knows Sabertooth is there with him, so why not just track him?"
9. A good premise that fell apart
"In the Butterfly Effect, the entire premise and point of the movie was that tiny changes in the past can drastically change the future.
Yet, while in jail, the main character went back in time to stab his hands so that he would have "the stigmata' on his hands to scare someone. This made zero sense in the context of the movie, and was a complete a**-pull that went against the entire rest of the movie."
8. Players sat there asking, "Why can't Fawkes do it?"
"Fallout 3 before DLC, having to die instead of having your super mutant friend handle the massive radiation."
7. Maybe Ariel knew she had sloppy handwriting
"The Little Mermaid. Ariel can write. She could have just wrote it down for Eric. No miming involved."
6. Harry making his life harder for some reason
"why doesn't Harry Potter use his magic to cure his eyes so he doesn't have to wear glasses?:
"Why does he try and grab a letter out of the air instead of one of the hundreds on the ground? He's not the brightest which is a shame because his parents were extremely bright and talented."
5. Meanwhile, Dumbledore wasn't the best decision maker either
"All Dumbledore had to do was get the Ministry to check Sirius Black's memories and they would've known he was innocent. Especially since at that time he had a lot of influence in the Ministry. It was said by Hagrid in the first book that people had been wanting Dumbledore to be Minister for a while."
4. When editors make bad cuts
"The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The scene of the boat with the T-Rex arriving at the harbor. With the edits and scene cuts that were made here, this scene makes zero sense. How did everyone onboard die? What killed them? The Rex is in the hold and clearly didn't get out. Even if it had, how did it get to the crew on the bridge without completely destroying it?
Supposedly there were raptors on the boat as well, but this bit was cut from the final print, yet the aftermath of their presence is left in the film? Why?"
3. Is he a prince or not?
"I'm sure someone else will say this too, but in Aladdin, his first wish was 'Make me a Prince' then he makes a grand princely entrance. Then for the rest of the movie, he's struggling with the fact that he's a beggar and not a prince but ... the most powerful being in the universe (with ittty bitty living space) made him a prince ... so how is he not a prince?2. Time makes no sense in the Dragon Ball universe, just deal with it
"Namek will blow up in 5 minutes."
1. Rich parents?
"How spongebob manage to have his own home with a garden , a massive library , sun roof and other extremities and still manage to afford boating school given that mr crabs is extremely stingy"
People Explain Which Fictional Character's Death Hit Them The Hardest
Warning: This article contains character death spoilers for books, films, and television shows.
We're all victims of good writing; characters so developed and thought out that we become invested in their fictional lives. It doesn't matter if we know them for the length of a novel or for a couple of hours of a movie or show. Nor does it matter that we'll never meet them outside of our imaginations. A well written character can be as dear to our hearts as a living being can be.
But then, some creators like to rip our new found friends away from us. With just a moment on the screen or the turn of the page, creators crush fans' hearts by killing off beloved characters all of the time.
Redditor u/BeansAreNotCorn opened up some old wounds when they asked... "Which fictional character's death hit you the hardest?"
**spoilers ahead**
20. One of the saddest video game deaths
"Lee Telltales the walking Dead Clementines desperation just broke my heart"
19. Disney knows how to hurt us
"Ellie Frederickson from UP. I wasn't really phased by it when I was young. But in retrospect, her death is pretty heartbreaking."
18. So iconic, that I don't have to give a source
"'Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good.'"
17. The whole movie is about a dog that dies over and over again
"the Retriever and German Shepherd in A Dogs Purpose"
16. An educated prediction
"Hasnt happened yet but when and if it does it'll be All Might's"
15. This hit many people hard
"Arthur Morgan from red dead Redemption two. This is the first time I've ever cried bc of a game character. The whole story line made him feel so real."
14. Poor Newt
"Newt from maze runner. Got really attached to him as a character from the books."
13. I didn't see it coming and I couldn't believe it
"Eddie Kaspbrak's from IT Chapter two"
12. No one understands
"jack dawson from the titanic. i watched that movie every day as a kid and i couldn't understand why he couldn't climb on the board with her."
11. I never thought I'd cry for a spider
"Charlotte from Charlotte's Web. I read the book to my daughter when she was a toddler and I couldn't finish it from crying so hard. The cartoon movie kills me as well."
10. "I'm tired, boss."
"'I'm tired, boss.'
Cried the first time I saw John Coffey die in the Green Mile, and will cry any time I watch it
Also, the little girl in the red coat in Schindler's List."
9. We all cried when our teacher showed us this movie
"The Iron Giant's death. 'I go. You stay. No following.'"
8. “I wanna go home Forrest”
"I'm surprised nobody has mention Bubba from Forrest Gump
That 'I wanna go home Forrest' line KILLS me every time and I've seen the movie at least 8 times. I almost teared up just now thinking about it."
7. My jaw hit the floor when I first read the book
"Leslie Burke in Bridge To Terebithia. I couldn't handle it the first time I read it, and it took me ages to actually finish the book"
6. Everything is sadder after a pet dies
"Lee Scoresby and Hester in His Dark Materials. It was a heart wrenching scene on its own, but my bunny had died not too long before the first time I read the book. I still skip that part on every re-read."
5. Every little thing will not be alright
"The dog from I Am Legend. You can bet I let my dog sleep in the bed with me that night."
4. It was an awful way to be written off
"Prince Oberyn.
I wasn't even attached to the character, it was just the way that he died. I saw it coming as soon as he got cocky but did not expect it to be so brutal!"
3. And I made up my mind to stop watching the show
"Hank from Breaking bad. DID NOT EXPECT THAT."
"He made up his mind ten minutes ago."
2. Every “Potter” reader has had their heart shattered
"Sirius Black. Sorry Dumbledore, Dobby, Hedwig, Snape, and the 99999 others that died"
"Dobby hit me hard. Such a beautiful place, to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friend, Harry Potter."
1. The saddest cartoon death, no arguments
"Mufasa"
"That's the one that gets me too!! No other movie can do that to me, when simba's pawing at his dad and realizing he's dead actually breaks my heart. Every time."