I was watching one of those fan theory videos, and while it started somewhere interesting at first, it fell apart in the second half. That prompted me to think of a set of commandments for fan theories to follow, in order to prevent so much of the bullshit I keep seeing everywhere:
- If the text doesn't prompt you to doubt whether its events are supposed to actually be happening to the characters, assume that it is actually happening. No "dream theories", or coma creepypastas.
- Only source from canon. If your ideas can't be supported by evidence from the text itself, then it has no place being a theory. If you want to write fanfic, just do that instead.
- Related to the above rule, do not bring other texts into the fold unless the original work is explicitly tied to them in some way. For example, The Legend of Bum-bo is acceptable material for fan theories about The Binding of Isaac, since the two share a continuity. Trying to tie Earthbound and Undertale, meanwhile, would violate this rule since the two have no explicit ties and are made by entirely different creative teams.
- No outright denying or contradicting the text; you can’t say a story takes place on Neptune, when it’s consistently shown to take place on Earth, and vice versa.
- No diagnosing fictional characters with mental disorders the text doesn’t either state or intentionally imply they have. I don’t care what degrees you have, Princess Peach does not have Borderline Personality Disorder. Christian Grey is a lot of things: a liar, a manipulator, and all-around abuser. What he is not is diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder.
- Word of God is law. If the author explicitly contradicts or denies the thesis of your theory, throw out the theory.
- When others point out flaws in your theory, any amendments you make to it must NOT make any leaps of logic that violate commandments #2 and #4.
Now, with these laws established, let’s run through some popular fan theories and see which ones stack up under them:
