Fan theories are as varied and numerous as fans themselves. But how many of them actually hold any water?
It’s easy enough to wave most of them away as crazy, but a few make you stop and think…
Here are a few shows and movies that Reddit thinks it might have actually blown wide open…
1. The Office
Kevin Malone, if not actually a genius, is certainly much smarter than he lets on.
Clearly he’s lazy, and gluttonous, and blah-blah-blah, but after the merger with Stamford, and its reveal 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.
– Six_Foot_Dwarf
2. Back to the Future
Marty McFly develops the inability to back down when called chicken in the second movie and on because in the first film, he creates a timeline where his father has confidence, changing the parenting style of his own background
– DrunkDialtotheDevil
3. 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
4.Footloose / Tremors
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 rhythmic 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.
– CorporateNonperson
5. Frozen
The trolls from Frozen kidnapped kristoff.
In classic Scandinavian mythology, trolls would take infant babies and replace them with their own. If I remember correctly the human parents would then raise the baby long enough to realize it was a troll and the human child would be put into slavery by the trolls.
When kristoff and Sven are discovered following the trolls, they’re found and that one troll says “I think I’ll keep you” she meant it.
That’s also why we never hear anything about kristoff’s real family.
Considering all of the detail and research Disney did while making frozen I 100% believe this was intentional.
– Fuzzylittleb**tard
6. Star Wars
The theory is that the kyber crystal in Luke’s green lightsaber is the same one from Qui Gon Jinn’s.
After Kenobi defeats Darth Maul with his master’s lightsaber, he would have kept it as a keepsake, despite rebuilding his own saber. It’s likely he would have retrieved it and kept it with him after the Order 66 attack.
After the empire takes over, they destroy all artifacts and memory of the Jedi in their purge of changing the history, and most Kyber crystals go towards powering the Death Star. Because of this, any lightsaber crystal would have been very difficult for Luke to find after he loses the Skywalker saber.
BUT we know he returns to Tatooine to complete his new lightsaber, likely returning to Ben Kenobi’s home for components, where he would have found Qui Gon Jinn’s lightsaber and recycled its crystal.
– OB1KenO-B
7. The Wizard of Oz
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 f**kin’ 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
8. Pokemon
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. Its likely they leave the kids to their own devices without bothering to fact check, and kids, being kids, are going to exaggerate.
– cold_french_fry
9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy’s mother Joyce’s brain aneurysm occurred indirectly because of Dawn. Not through magic or anything directly supernatural. But she was Dawn’s mother and therefore she would have the most artificially created memories (conception, pregnancy, life, thoughts, fears, etc).
This caused so much real physical change to her brain overnight, that it created real medical problems and killed her. This is never hinted at at all in the show.
– QuarterNoteBandit
10. American History X
I don’t know if this is a fan theory but I always believed the boy that shot Danny was the younger brother of the guy Derek curb stomped and killed. That kid exacting revenge on his brother’s killer by murdering the killer’s brother speaks volumes imo. It also ties in beautifully with Danny’s final speech about hate being baggage.
So I always accepted that to be 100% true.
– punk-a**-punk
11. Toy Story
Sid isn’t a bad kid by any means — just has a very troubled home life:
1) the s**t he does to those toys is undeniably creative. It’s also his escape
2) there’s a small clip where his dad is seen sleeping on a chair. Idk if y’all noticed by I saw a few beer cans next to the chair but it could just be me.
3) watch the scene at Sid’s house again and tell me why the sister has all this nice s**t and a neat room — whereas Sid’s room is a complete dump. Granted that’s just teenage dude instinct to leave a room like that, but there’s also the fact that all the toys he f**ks with are his sisters. There’s obviously some jealousy and resentment towards his sister cuz of his parents sucking as people and choosing favorites.
All in all I feel bad for the guy. He just wants to do what kids do and not have to deal the his harsh reality. Even grows up to work as a garbage man (which granted I hear pays decently but correct me if I’m wrong please). But I’m glad he looks happy and somewhat content in Toy Story 3 tho. Dudes just vibing but still has a lot of personal issues probably.
– [deleted user]
12. Rick and Morty
Rick is Morty, and evil Morty is just a Morty that knows he’ll become Rick if he doesn’t deviate. Rick said “I used to wear blue pants” and when he’s drunk he asks for redheads (Morty likes redheads).
Can’t think of other coincidences off the top of my head but I rewatched some of those episodes under that context and it made sense
– Destroyer11id1
13. The Matrix
The Matrix has an inner core and then an outer shell designed to give the illusion of escape.
It’s basically a corral where they can keep the “escaped” humans until the defense mechanism, the machines, can purge them.
This is why Neo could use his powers outside the Matrix, why Smith could leave, and why Cypher could go in without anyone noticing.
– reallygoodbee
14. The Magic School Bus
Mrs Frizzle from The Magic School Bus is a Time Lord hiding from the Time War.
The Bus is a Tardis with a working Chameleon Circuit.
Much like The Doctor, she has a strange affinity for humanity, but instead of traveling across time and space preventing disasters she teaches a class of fifth graders for… reasons.
– grendus
15. Inception
Leonardo’s wedding ring is his totem. Not the spinning top.
If you watch, he only wears it in dreams, never takes it off or puts it on, and no one ever touches it.
The top was Mal’s and doesn’t work for him which is why he always picked it up before a full spin.
– Iboughtcheeseonce
Really makes you think…
Do you have any particular favorite fan theories?
Share them with us in the comments.