What are your favorite fan theories (possible spoilers)?

[The Romulan Republic]

Every fandom is full of them. Many of them suck, many of them directly contravene canon, but some of them are actually pretty good.

Some of my favorites, to start with (some of these I've posted before, here or elsewhere):

Harry Potter:

-Dumbledore intended for Snape to assassinate Voldemort, or at least to be a backup assassin if Harry failed to stop him. I think there's some very good circumstantial evidence for this one: He arranges for his most trusted and dangerous agent to gain the mastery of the Elder Wand, for him to be in a position of the highest trust within Voldemort's forces, and he had to have known that Harry's death (if Harry failed to survive) would provide plenty of motivation for Snape to kill Voldemort. Normally, Snape would be no match for Voldemort. But a pissed off Snape who has the drop on Voldemort and the loyalty of the Elder Wand against a Voldemort who had his power nerfed by Harry's sacrifice? Snape has a real chance.

It may even have been intended partly as a reward for Snape's service, as being the one to kill Voldemort would help repair his reputation, and also give him the chance to personally avenge Lily's murder and whatever else he personally suffered in Voldemort's service.

-The Statute of Secrecy will inevitably fail, and it will be a massive disaster when it does. Between expanding populations and modern surveillance technology and digital media, as well as expanding scientific knowledge, secrecy will get harder and harder to maintain. It already almost failed in the '20s. And when it does, and people find out that a secret civilization has been existing in hiding for centuries, and engaging in mass mind-wipes, with the awareness/collusion of political leaders, well... fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the Dark Side.

Star Wars:

-Padme died due to medical malpractice. Because no doctor worth the paper their medical licence was printed on would offer "She's lost the will to live" as a diagnosis.

-Snoke is a surviving Imperial Inquisitor. It just fits his abilities, resources, style, personality, and motives so well, in my opinion. Likely one who was off either searching for lost Sith artifacts (this fits his "Dark Side philosopher" shtick) or overseeing secret weapons research projects (thus explaining his having a weapon like Starkiller Base).

-Rey is a reincarnation of/a new manifestation of the Chosen One. This is almost canon, being heavily implied by some of Snoke's comments in TLJ, but as its not explicitly stated...

Batman:

-If Batman's parents had never died, he would likely have become a doctor. His father was one, and from what I recall of The Long Halloween, Bruce kind of idolized his father's profession as a kid. I also like the idea of Bruce being a hero because he's a good man, rather than simply as a reaction to tragedy, and that he still would have tried to help people in some way even if he had had a happy life.

The Dresden Files:

-This is another one that's almost canon, in my opinion, but basically, I have this theory that most of what's happening in the series is Dresden's mother trying to undo her own mistakes. Its clear that she was a rebel against the White Council, and fell in with some very bad people, some of whom are Black Council. Its likely (if not confirmed explicitly) that she played a role in the Black Council's formation. Perhaps it was originally intended (at least on her part) simply to disrupt the established order and/or replace the White Council with a more liberal or more interventionist organization. But at some point, it began to be influenced and taken over by darker forces, particularly the Outsiders in their bid to bring about the apocalypse (this fits with the different motives of various Black Council members and pawns in the series). At some point, Maggie Dresden realized this and ran for it. She then (as established in canon) laid various plans in place to help her sons down the line- but perhaps, I think, to do more than merely help them survive. Think about it: the amulets and soul gaze to help Thomas and Harry identify each other, Lea's guardianship/mentoring (in her sadistic way) of Harry, the ties that brings to Mab (who just happens to be tasked with keeping Outsiders out of our reality), Harry's birth being timed to give him power over Outsiders, her death curse being aimed at the Outsider-aligned Lord Raith... All of which gives her sons the tools to undermine the Black Council, and undo the organization she helped created.

Basically, the entire series is a massive series of post-mortem Xanatos Gambits by Maggie Dresden against her younger self.

[Q99]

On Padme's death, my headcanon is that she and Anakin had a link, and what killed her was him drawing on that link to live.

[LadyTevar]

On Padme's death, my headcanon is that she and Anakin had a link, and what killed her was him drawing on that link to live.

Agreed. Anakin had wounded her badly as well.

[Crazedwraith]

I don't know if it's a fan theory in more than just I'm a fan and it's my theory. Rashid/Gatekeeper of The Dresden files is a time traveller possibly a time displaced future Dresden. Tall, noted to have a facial scar in the same book Dresden gets some. It's tenuous I admit but there you go.

[TheFeniX]

On Padme's death, my headcanon is that she and Anakin had a link, and what killed her was him drawing on that link to live.

Was there ever any word of God on this? We know force users can affect change on people possibly light-years away. And they seem to have some kind of sympathetic connection as well: the closer someone is to you personally, the more effect you can have/the easier they are to find. Though this is sketchy at best.

The shock of what had happened (Padme had been kind of flanderized to being completely beholden to Anakin at this point), the force choking, and the juxtaposition of Anakin's Cyborging and Padme''s deliver suggest a lot more than "lost the will to live."

I had always assumed Anakin's grief and anger was influencing Padme and/or possibly killing her outright, with the "help" of Palpatine, combined with Padme's already injured state and detroyed emotions. Nothing can really explain the Droid's comment of "lost the will to live" though.

[Civil War Man]

Signs
The aliens are actually demons, and they were only burned because the water in the house was holy water.

James Bond
James Bond is a code name that is assigned to the MI-6 Agent who receives the 007 designation.

Batman vs. Superman
Batman's more brutal behavior and more grim outlook is because Robin had a psychotic break from the stress of the crime fighting lifestyle and turned into the Joker.

The Dark Knight
Heath Ledger's Joker is a bitter and disillusioned ex-soldier.

Game of Thrones
Westeros is set on ancient Mars. The strange weather and different seasons are due to the differences between Earth's and Mars's orbit, and dragons are a thing because the lower gravity on Mars makes it more feasible for large creatures to evolve flight.

[TheFeniX]

FInal Fantasy XIV
Heavily lampshaded, and Squeenix still has a story to tell so it may/may not pan out. The Warrior of Light (your character in the game) is a true primal (as in an entity brought into being by worship and large amounts of Aether/Magic). Summoned at the beginning of the game by the despair of the people and grows more and more powerful as more people become aware of his/her actions, which explains the power-creep.

Or is somehow drawing power as a Spoken (basically means "human.") from people's prayers in the same way Primals draw power. The end boss of Heavensward did this, but he had to fully become a primal first.

While normally attributed to the Echo (a blessing by the FFXIV World Goddess), at one point you're completely cut off from the Power of Light and continue to murder-roll your way through Demi-Gods. It gets so bad, some bosses will literally ask, mid-fight, "just what kind of being are you?"

EDIT: It's also referenced that without the Blessing of Light you shouldn't be able to put up any sort of fight against certain opponents, yet you annihilate them. This is mentioned near verbatim by the "True Big Bads" of the game who are as confused as anyone else about it./EDIT

The end-game would be, since primals draw power from Aether and removing Aether destroys the planet, the WoL will have to kill themselves at some point. Since that would be grim even for FFXIV, I'm more of the mind they give up their power and (literally) walk off into the sunset if the game ever ends.

On that topic, I did totally call what happened with Minfillia. We quit before they bothered dealing with her. But when we were talking about it, I was drunk and said "She's probably been called up by the Mother Goddess and is sitting in space being as useless as ever." Got it in one.

American Psycho
The entirety of all the violence was merely a delusion by an already bored and unhinged yuppie's decent into some form of mental illness. Not exactly the biggest leap. And The Interwebs have only helped solidify my belief in this.

The Borg
Going from Tech Scavengers to Infectious Space Vampires, Locutus messed them up. I can only assume they were unprepared to have a someone like Picard brought into the collective. And Picard was a big pusher of "Humanity is super-awesome and will only continue to get more super awesome" which explains their entire societal shift into assimilating people rather than technology.

Resident Evil 5
While, if you fail you will die, the canon playthrough of the game (not dieing) when dealing with Wesker is essentially Wesker toying with Chris Redfield. Wesker can move so fast it seems as if he's teleporting and can punch through steel. Chris is just a beefcake, but still a normal human.* The fights should be totally one sided. Wesker doesn't actually want to kill Chris because the injections he takes not only increase his strength, but also his personality traits. Wesker has always been over the top and hammy and the virus he uses dials this up past 11. Without a Redfield to try and mess up his plan, it's pointless. He HAS to monolgue and belittle his opponent. ANY opponent. And Chris gives him the advantage of having a personal stake in the plot.

*The idea of Redfield and Sheva surviving in an active volcano (in the middle of the ocean....) and Redfield punching a boulder out of the way that had to weigh tons means they've both been infected (and successfully assimilated) Oroburus(SP). Though later Resident Evil games shut this down, there's no other way that ending fight makes even the barest amount of sense.

World of Warcraft
This gained even more traction for me since the last update and what The Horde pulled. The only reason Lor'Themar won't take the Blood Elves over to the Alliance is because he knows that it will be open season on his people. While under Thrall's leadership, his people were quite safe so he could afford to stay with the Horde due to multiple issues. But when Garrosh took over, and now Sylvannas, he knows that Silvermoon City will be overrun by Forsaken the moment he steps out of line and his people will be converted into more fodder for the Lich Queen. It's also why he never challenges her in any cutscene: As long as Sylvannas has Humans and Night Elves to slaughter, she'll leave his people alone.

A bit of Lore: out of all the Horde races, only Elves can be converted into Forsaken.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't know if it's a fan theory in more than just I'm a fan and it's my theory. Rashid/Gatekeeper of The Dresden files is a time traveller possibly a time displaced future Dresden. Tall, noted to have a facial scar in the same book Dresden gets some. It's tenuous I admit but there you go.

That would be interesting. But I'm curious as to what made Dresden convert to Islam at some point (unless Rashid's faith is just part of his cover).

Signs
The aliens are actually demons, and they were only burned because the water in the house was holy water.

James Bond
James Bond is a code name that is assigned to the MI-6 Agent who receives the 007 designation.

Batman vs. Superman
Batman's more brutal behavior and more grim outlook is because Robin had a psychotic break from the stress of the crime fighting lifestyle and turned into the Joker.

The Dark Knight
Heath Ledger's Joker is a bitter and disillusioned ex-soldier.

Game of Thrones
Westeros is set on ancient Mars. The strange weather and different seasons are due to the differences between Earth's and Mars's orbit, and dragons are a thing because the lower gravity on Mars makes it more feasible for large creatures to evolve flight.

I really like these, except for the Batman vs. Superman one- I'd rather just forget that DC filmverse Joker exists.

On Padme's death, my headcanon is that she and Anakin had a link, and what killed her was him drawing on that link to live.

Agreed. Anakin had wounded her badly as well.

That or "Palpatine killed her via the Force" seem to be the most popular theories from what I've seen. Thematically, I think Anakin being responsible probably works better. Although really, just the strain of her physical injuries plus giving birth probably could have caused her death.

But still... "lost the will to live"? Robot chicken pretty much summed up my thoughts on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKtZ_r0V6E

Dr. Ball said

"She's lost the will to live? What is your degree in, poetry? You sorry bunch of hippies, for God's sakes, don't use the billions of dollars of medical equipment around us. W-why don't we all just get down on our knees and pray?"[/quote]

[The Romulan Republic]

Man, I fucked up that quote. Just missed the edit window too.

[Q99]

That or "Palpatine killed her via the Force" seem to be the most popular theories from what I've seen. Thematically, I think Anakin being responsible probably works better. Although really, just the strain of her physical injuries plus giving birth probably could have caused her death.

But still... "lost the will to live"? Robot chicken pretty much summed up my thoughts on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKtZ_r0V6E

To make it worse, her physical injuries aren't *that* severe and they're at a medical facility with doctor droids! Would replenishing her blood supply be that hard? Do they not have obstetricians in a Galaxy Far Far Away??

Force stuff is the only thing that makes the slightest sense.


And with Palpatine, if he's involved, I think it'd be on a 'facilitate said same transfer from Padme to Anakin.'

Was there ever any word of God on this? We know force users can affect change on people possibly light-years away. And they seem to have some kind of sympathetic connection as well: the closer someone is to you personally, the more effect you can have/the easier they are to find. Though this is sketchy at best.

The shock of what had happened (Padme had been kind of flanderized to being completely beholden to Anakin at this point), the force choking, and the juxtaposition of Anakin's Cyborging and Padme''s deliver suggest a lot more than "lost the will to live."

I had always assumed Anakin's grief and anger was influencing Padme and/or possibly killing her outright, with the "help" of Palpatine, combined with Padme's already injured state and detroyed emotions. Nothing can really explain the Droid's comment of "lost the will to live" though.

To my knowledge, nope, no-one ever said jack on this theory.

[Solauren]

With Padme....

I'm of mind that Anakin was subconciously using the Force to keep her from dying (thereby having discovered the power he wanted without realizing it).
That weakened him to the point he couldn't clear Obi-wan when he jumped.

When he was on the operating table, Anakin cut the link due to the pain he was in, and then Padme died.

He go the power he wanted by joining the Dark Side, but ultimately sacrificed it, and her, for his own survival.

[tezunegari]

Star Trek 2009:
The Differences in design of ships, especially the Kelvin.

The Narada is the cause of the whole timeline being fucked up... but it appears AFTER the changes of its arrival have had an impact because all the time travel that happened after the Kelvin Incident.
No Kirk traveling to the 60s to investigate Gary Seven.
No Sisko traveling to the 2024 to change the Bell Riots.
No time traveller that could travel back in time so his time pod can get stolen by Berlinghoff Rasmussen.
No Voyager/Aeon traveling back in time to Earth in 1960s/1996 to change technological development by introducing ChronoWerX.

All the Time travel done after the Kelvin Incident never happened, or not in the same way at least.
So the Narada appeared in the already changed timeline and by it's actions changed it even further.

[Batman]

The 'Kara isn't actually stronger than Clark, he just holds back ALL the time' theory for Superman and related stories in DC Comics. Superman has lived amongst human so long he subconsciously 'always' holds back, even when he doesn't need to and shouldn't (like against the likes of Darkseid or Mongul). The 'world of cardboard' idea. Whereas Kara, being a relatively recent arrival (she wasn't reintroduced to the DCU until-'06, I think) goes 'You wanna tango, let's tango' and gives it all she's got

[Q99]

The 'Kara isn't actually stronger than Clark, he just holds back ALL the time' theory for Superman and related stories in DC Comics. Superman has lived amongst human so long he subconsciously 'always' holds back, even when he doesn't need to and shouldn't (like against the likes of Darkseid or Mongul). The 'world of cardboard' idea. Whereas Kara, being a relatively recent arrival (she wasn't reintroduced to the DCU until-'06, I think) goes 'You wanna tango, let's tango' and gives it all she's got

Iirc that's not just fanon, but they flat out say it or at least very strongly indicate it. There was a bit where she was split into good and evil side, both at full power... and Clark and Diana subdued both fairly easy because the vets can handle her full power.


Also, going waaaay back in the Legion of Superhero days, I think they had it as "Clark the strongest, Kara the fastest, and Mon-el the toughest," or something like that- which itself might be fan theory, but it makes sense to me.

[The Romulan Republic]

Another Harry Potter one:

Snape would have been a Dumbledore/Grindlewald/Voldemort-level wizard if he hadn't had such a shitty life.

Snape is one of the more capable wizards we see in the series, outside of the big three. He invents deadly curses and improves on the official potions recipes as a teenager, he's one of only two wizards (the other being Voldemort) known to have learned flight, he's a highly capable duelist, can cast a patronus, etc.

We also know that, according to Dumbledore, a depressed/despairing mental state can affect the strength of ones' magic (an obvious implication of this is that its why Dementors make such effective guards). Dumbledore suggests this, IIRC, as a reason why Voldemort's mother didn't use magic to save herself.

Snape is constantly miserable for most of his life.

Conclusion: Snape would have been a top-tier wizard, if he had not been a miserable bastard his whole life.

[The Romulan Republic]

Also, don't know if this counts, but:

Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire is basically just an unlicensed adaptation of Robert Frost's poem Fire and Ice:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

[Gandalf]

The HPverse is essentially an Orwellian nightmare fuelled by magic, where people are kept in line through the sheer terror of the Ministry and their apparatus.

[The Romulan Republic]

The HPverse is essentially an Orwellian nightmare fuelled by magic, where people are kept in line through the sheer terror of the Ministry and their apparatus.

I wouldn't say canon is outright Orwellian, though there is definitely an ugly, ugly underbelly beneath that colorful, whimsical outer coating.

But then again... how would they know? Given the capabilities of Potterverse magic at altering memories and emotional states, dissidents could be being routinely mind-wiped, given false memories, having their emotions manipulated, and they'd never fucking know it.

The only indication that this is not the case is that the Ministry by-and-large comes off in-universe as bumbling and ineffective, but if you want to go full-conspiracy theorist with it, maybe that's part of the plan. Maybe the Ministry we see is just the seemingly ineffective public face, behind which is the real shadow ministry, controlling everything through subtle use of memory charms and such. Every now and then they allow a puppet ministry to be toppled, but the real powers remain intact, and undetected.

Hmm... that sounds a bit too much like Trump's "deep state", now that I think about it. Could make for a good mind screw fanfic, though.

Edit: On that note:

Hermione's parents suffered a complete mental breakdown after she unobliviated them, because the entire life they remembered was a lie, their own daughter mind-wiped them, and they have no way of knowing if this new reality is any more real than the last one or if Hermione is just some wizard trying to con them, and not their real daughter.

Also, or alternatively- Hermione got her parents' permission to mind wipe them before doing so. Just because it makes Hermione... not a complete monster.

[Civil War Man]

Honorable mention:

Fight Club/Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The narrator in Fight Club was Cameron Frye. Ferris Bueller was not real, and only existed in Cameron's head, serving as a personality who could act on all of the impulses that Cameron couldn't do himself. The titular day off was actually just Cameron and Sloane spending the day together. After graduating, the Ferris personality morphed into Tyler Durden as Cameron became more jaded and bitter.

[The Romulan Republic]

Star Wars: Rey could have mastered the Vappad form of lightsaber combat, if there were a living master versed in it to teach her.

The essence of Vappad was to channel ones' anger without actually falling to the Dark Side. Rey seems to be a natural at this, frequently showing signs of anger in battle (as Kylo Ren noted in TLJ) without actually falling.

Doctor Who: The real hero is the TARDIS, and all of the Doctor's adventures are simply part of her master plan.

This one is nearly canon/heavily-implied, particularly by "The Doctor's Wife", in which the Doctor confronts the personification of the TARDIS over never taking him where he wants to go, and she replies that she always took him where he needed to go. Add to that the fact that the TARDIS claims she chose the Doctor, and that she's precognitive, and its not a big leap to say that she likely foresaw various future threats, and maneuvered the Doctor to be in a position to stop them (since her abilities to interact directly with the world are limited). The Doctor is merely her instrument to save the universe.

[Gandalf]

The HPverse is essentially an Orwellian nightmare fuelled by magic, where people are kept in line through the sheer terror of the Ministry and their apparatus.

I wouldn't say canon is outright Orwellian, though there is definitely an ugly, ugly underbelly beneath that colorful, whimsical outer coating.

But then again... how would they know? Given the capabilities of Potterverse magic at altering memories and emotional states, dissidents could be being routinely mind-wiped, given false memories, having their emotions manipulated, and they'd never fucking know it.

Indeed. You don't need Room 101 when you can point and click people's memories away.

The only indication that this is not the case is that the Ministry by-and-large comes off in-universe as bumbling and ineffective, but if you want to go full-conspiracy theorist with it, maybe that's part of the plan. Maybe the Ministry we see is just the seemingly ineffective public face, behind which is the real shadow ministry, controlling everything through subtle use of memory charms and such. Every now and then they allow a puppet ministry to be toppled, but the real powers remain intact, and undetected.

Hmm... that sounds a bit too much like Trump's "deep state", now that I think about it. Could make for a good mind screw fanfic, though.

Or just a garden variety police state where power flows through the apparatus. In this case their bizarre justice system, dementors represent the open and terrifying face, but a few representatives here and there can keep things in line. Fudge doesn't bother them, and he gets to stay in power.

[The Romulan Republic]

The weird thing is, you don't see much indication that the average wizard is terrified of the government coming to get them if they criticize Minister Fudge. They probably should be, given the presence of shit like Dementors and the seeming lack of effective checks and balances on the Minister's office, but we don't see it. Sure, you can put it down to shoddy world-building, but that's where I'm getting the "secret despotism via mind-control" idea from, basically.

The most powerful despotism is the one the people don't even know exists.

[Gandalf]

Indeed. I wonder if Average Wizard just thinks of themselves in such a position of privilege over the Muggle class that they never think to ask why they're all so keen on a government which holds such power.

[Q99]

My favorite fan theory is when protagonists of Japanese isekai stories get hit by a truck, it's all the same truck purposefully sending people to other worlds.

Conclusion: Snape would have been a top-tier wizard, if he had not been a miserable bastard his whole life.

Yea, I can buy that.

[FaxModem1]

Battlestar Galactica remake: All the Colonials died from Stone Age problems such as starvation, disease, frostbite, appendicitis , etc and their throwing away of modern technology because they wanted a fresh start. Nevermind the inability to learn from the past by intentionally forgetting it, dooming any potential descendents to death by disease, discrimination, and religious hatred.