History Fridge / DreamSMP

* When acting, Wilbur the content creator is very prone to {{Aside Glance}}s, along with physically acting out his character's emotions and actions, which implies that the glances are actions that Wilbur the character does as well. Of course, since Wilbur the character views his life as a story and his existence as playing a role in a narrative, it would seem quite obvious for him to acknowledge "the audience" every once in a while.

%% I don't get this one V

%% Fine, needs to be condensed V
%% * Some of Jschlatt's last words are asking if anyone else can smell toast. It's not just another NonSequitur that Jschlatt belted out in an alcohol-induced fit -- it's a reference to a famous myth that smelling burnt toast is a symptom of a ''stroke'', which can be caused by, among other things, ''excessive alcoholism''. It's entirely possible that Jschlatt was dying of a ''stroke'' and ''not'' a heart attack as Tubbo proclaimed. It should be noted that smelling burnt toast isn't a ''symptom'' of a stroke, but the person experiencing a stroke ''can'' have [[https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322698 phantosmia]] (olfactory hallucinations, or smelling phantom smells) due to the brain's senses being messed with during the stroke. Therefore, it is possibly a ''subversion'' of ArtisticLicenseMedicine in that Schlatt smelled burnt toast while having a stroke, as it is still scientifically possible despite being entrenched in urban legend.
%% ** Other than smelling toast, Schlatt also says something about his arm just before he dies. Muscle strength in the arm often weakens during a stroke, and Schlatt would obviously notice if his muscle strength was weakening, because he was heavily working out throughout the confrontation in the Camarvan, other than drinking himself shitless.

* Quackity seemed to very quickly bounce back from his abusive relationship with Schlatt and [[OnTheRebound quickly entered another relationship]], this time a healthier one with Karl and Sapnap ''the day after'' the Manburg-Pogtopia War. While this form of rebounding may seem unusual at first, it makes more sense when you realize it is [[https://www.bustle.com/wellness/signs-you-are-experiencing-trauma-after-a-toxic-relationship a possible symptom of relationship trauma]], sometimes known as [[https://www.healthline.com/health/relationships/relationship-ptsd Post-Traumatic Relationship Syndrome (PTRS)]], an unofficial subtype of PTSD. And considering his rather unorthodox (and unhealthy) coping mechanisms during Schlatt's funeral[[note]]cosplaying as Schlatt to his funeral, taking his heart and straight-up eating it, and then gathering his dead ex's bones to try to resurrect him as a political puppet[[/note]], even though we took it as a non-serious bit at the time, [[HarsherInHindsight in hindsight]], we probably should have expected his spiral in Season 3 much earlier.

* While Techno's hatred for being {{dehumaniz|ation}}ed is often contradicted with himself dehumanizing others in return, such as regarding Tubbo as "government" just after being shooed into the Presidential position of New L'Manburg involuntarily, it's more chilling with the knowledge he had been doing this dehumanization thing ''way'' longer than initially thought -- he called Quackity a non-sentient player (not to his face) during Minecraft Mondays Week 6 and chose to go after him in the first round of Survival Games due to this 'judgement'. And since Minecraft Mondays are part of the DSMP SharedUniverse, through Schlatt who explicitly canonized MCM Week 6 where he teamed with Techno, and through Quackity and his pre-canon PTSD, it just makes Techno's hypocrisy stand out even more... which would probably explain his bad habit of dehumanizing his 'foes' -- that it wasn't a gained trait during the days of the DSMP, he'd always been this way.

* When telling Ranboo about his own execution, Tubbo claims that both Quackity and Schlatt were fully on board, while in reality, Quackity protested ''heavily'' against the execution, and left Manburg days later, with the execution being one of the reasons why. It seems odd that Tubbo would either lie about or misremember such a key detail... Except forgetting or blocking out important aspects of traumatic events is a [[https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/symptoms symptom of PTSD]], which Tubbo is showing other signs of as well (hypervigilance, emotional numbness, reckless/self-destructive behavior).
** Another explanation goes that Tubbo felt that directing anger and blame towards Techno was unsafe for himself, since, you know, Techno nuked his whole country to the ground and threatened to do so again if he put one step out of line (read: the Syndicate's SecretPolice-style visit to Snowchester), with the latter incident being a threat to ''his son's'' life as well, so he deliberately [[MisplacedRetribution misdirected the blame]] to someone else on the scene.

* In a flashback to Season 2, Dream mentions that his reasons for killing off Vikk and Lazar were 1) because [[ElderAbuse they were "old"]] and people might dismiss their deaths to be an accident, 2) because they were out of the way and thus their deaths would go unnoticed, and 3) [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade because they could tattle about the revive-book]]. However, there could be other reasons related to that:

* When Dream sent Ghostbur out into the wilderness to get him away from Tommy's party, he wasn't just trying to distract him. Ghostbur said it was raining when Dream told him to go, and Dream ''knows'' that Ghostbur melts in the rain. Ghostbur, at that point, was Tommy's only other source of support and comfort... And Dream tried to ''kill him.''

* In TheStinger of "The Maze", XD mentions that he had appointed a ''previous'' time-traveller before Karl, but their LossOfIdentity persisted to the point they lost their ''own'' memory that they were a time-traveller in the first place, which prompted XD to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness "[get] rid of"]] them, and for now, we have no idea what happened to the ''previous'' Traveller. So [[NothingIsScarier what, pray tell, will happen]] to Karl if his memory deteriorates to ''that'' extent?

** Technoblade and Schlatt also can be connected to different games, though they're less obvious.
*** Technoblade is associated with TabletopGame/{{Risk}}, a game all about wars and alliances. The constant conflict between different people is an obvious part of it, but in Risk, the stronger force will always win, and Technoblade retreating into the Arctic could be connected to the old Risk strategy of bunkering in Australia to defend yourself and build your strength to become an unstoppable force. It's also [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking interesting]] to note that Techno was once part of WebVideo/SMPEarth and managed to take over the world as the leader of the Antarctic Empire, which one can draw parallels with Risk from.
*** Schlatt is associated with the card game President, also known as Asshole, Scum, or Capitalism. It's a game akin to Uno, where you do your best to discard your hand, and it's also known for often being a drinking game. It's also funny to note that all the names of the card game can be associated with Schlatt in some way, being the President of Manburg who had a ZeroPercentApprovalRating due to his {{jerkass}}ery, i.e. tendency to treat everyone around him like scum, and also known to be a businessman.

* George was likely in Manburg's cabinet on Dream's orders, as if he were intentionally planted there to allow Dream some degree of control within the nation. It's also likely that he hoped to have George manipulate Jschlatt to do what Dream wants him to do. Which leads to the fact that Dream's deciding to join Pogtopia is perfectly timed with George becoming completely inactive within Manburg -- upon realizing that George wouldn't be of any political help and that Jschlatt would carry on his own agenda of conquest, Dream decided to enter the fray on his own terms, intending to eliminate Jschlatt and then destroy L'Manburg.

** A similar bonus applies to his [[SuperDrowningSkills inability to swim]], which Fundy attributes to muscle atrophy in "A Spy's Diary". In the real world, other than ageing[[note]]since several people have claimed Schlatt to be "old" and "senile"[[/note]], muscle atrophy is a symptom of alcoholic myopathy, which causes pain and weakness in muscles due to excessive drinking over long periods of time. Several other medical conditions can be traced back to excessive alcoholism, which now begs the question of not whether but ''how much'' of Schlatt's behaviour during his presidency can be attributed to his alcoholism and [[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/alcohol-good-or-bad its effects]] [[https://www.healthline.com/health/alcohol/effects-on-body on his health]].
** In addition, at the Manberg Festival, there was much [[RunningGag recurring speculation]] among the Manbergian cabinet about how Schlatt's fingers were "mouldy". One of their theories was that it was from picking up the ashes from smoking with his bare hands. While this is ''[[ArtisticLicenseMedicine not]]'' medically accurate at all, the root of this problem can still be attributed to smoking. Tar is made from the combustion of tobacco and other plant material when smoking, and smoking too much can stain the fingers yellowish [[https://www.google.com/search?q=tar+stained+fingers&sxsrf=ALeKk02Z7cOFa6-qEjXxNB257RKX1s2zdw:1624615742750&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAuPihxbLxAhUGyIsBHV6hBUsQ_AUoAXoECAEQBA&biw=1536&bih=722 (TW graphic images)]] with this tobacco residue... which would also explain why both Tubbo and Quackity think of Schlatt's "mouldy" fingers as "gross".
* The remainder of the Sleepy Boys joined within the same lifespan of Wilbur's remaining life, with Technoblade joining soon after he lost his second life and Philza joining only to be taking the final life himself.

** ...Which gets its ''own'' moment of brilliance when you realize that ''George's ineffectiveness and political incompetence is'' '''''exactly''''' ''why Dream named him as heir instead of Sapnap''. He wasn't passing on his crown to someone he saw as worthy, he was passing on his crown to someone he knew would do ''absolutely nothing''. By putting George in charge as a PuppetKing, it allowed Dream to still keep his power (now as TheManBehindTheMan) long after his rule was meant to end, and also allowed him to stay out of the public eye in order to allow his plans to go unnoticed.
* Schlatt's "I'm a man!" jab towards Fundy, while being a transphobic remark, is also racist when you realize Fundy's skin (and some animatics) depict him as a [[FoxFolk humanoid fox]]. Narrative-wise, it is ambiguous enough to be interpreted as either one or even both.
* Some of Jschlatt's last words are asking if anyone else can smell toast. It's not just another NonSequitur that Jschlatt belted out in an alcohol-induced fit -- it's a reference to a famous myth that smelling burnt toast is a symptom of a ''stroke'', which can be caused by, among other things, ''excessive alcoholism''. It's entirely possible that Jschlatt was dying of a ''stroke'' and ''not'' a heart attack as Tubbo proclaimed.
** It should be noted that smelling burnt toast isn't a ''symptom'' of a stroke, but the person experiencing a stroke ''can'' have [[https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322698 phantosmia]] (olfactory hallucinations, or smelling phantom smells) due to the brain's senses being messed with during the stroke. Therefore, it is possibly a ''subversion'' of ArtisticLicenseMedicine in that Schlatt smelled burnt toast while having a stroke, as it is still scientifically possible despite being entrenched in urban legend.
** Other than smelling toast, Schlatt also says something about his arm just before he dies. Muscle strength in the arm often weakens during a stroke, and Schlatt would obviously notice if his muscle strength was weakening, because he was heavily working out throughout the confrontation in the Camarvan, other than drinking himself shitless.

** In retrospect, with the knowledge that Dream can bring entities BackFromTheDead, it can also be suggested that he doesn't give a fuck about Spirit because he can bring the horse back whenever he wants to, if he wants to.

** Moreover, considering the whole "Flatty Patty" thing still remains a BerserkButton for him, as seen in his March 16th lore stream, it wouldn't be too big of a stretch to say that it's not the only mark the Schlatt administration (and his [[DomesticAbuse relationship]] within it) left on him, since it's also implied that his desire for control and power is a [[DeconstructedTrope coping mechanism]] stemming from his lack of control and power over state affairs as Schlatt's [[VicePresidentWho Vice President]].

** While in reality, Wilbur and Tommy were exiled from L'Manburg after losing the election to Schlatt, [[UnreliableNarrator Wilbur wrote to Phil]] that he won the election, handed the presidency to someone he trusted (Phil immediately assuming this was Tubbo), and left voluntarily to make his own nation. Phil is under the assumption that all the tyrannical acts of Manburg were carried out by ''Tubbo's'' cabinet instead, including the ones that drove Wilbur to his mental spiral.
** Phil is under the impression that he arrived right after the Festival, when that was almost a month earlier. He has no idea of the things that Techno has done to frighten the L'Manburgians, like executing Tubbo on stage, beating Tommy to a pulp for the right to be angry about it, openly encouraging Wilbur to blow up L'Manburg to further his own goals, despite Wilbur being very obviously not in his right mind, and hiding his true motives from Pogtopia up until the formation of the new cabinet, at which point he shot Tubbo, started calling the Pogtopians traitors, and spawned the Withers. From Phil's perspective, given the lies he'd been told and the [[UnreliableNarrator heavily biased version]] of events Techno gave him, the attack of the Butcher's Army was completely unprovoked.
** While how much he knows about the actual L'Manburg Rebellion isn't clear, it's heavily implied that Phil sees the L'Manburg Rebellion as just a spat, or a friendly rivalry. He has no idea about the sheer ''level'' of violence that the Dream Team employed, he likely doesn't know the impact of Eret's betrayal, nor does he know that the betrayal [[CynicismCatalyst completely shattered]] Wilbur's mental state and worldview. Phil also doesn't realize that L'Manburg, the country he wrote off as being ruled by a bunch of tyrants, was created to ''escape'' tyranny, and that by letting Dream aid him, he was actively helping the biggest tyrant on the server destroy his most significant political enemy.
** This also puts Wilbur's line about how Technoblade was the traitor in a new light. At first, it seemed as though Dream bringing up how there were no traitors was MetaphoricallyTrue and that there were actually ''two'', but when Dream talks about it, he exclusively brings up that the traitor was actually Wilbur and denies Technoblade being one, as evidenced when he immediately says "no, the traitor was Wilbur" to Tommy when he exclaimed that the traitor was Technoblade. Wilbur, on the other hand, believes wholeheartedly that Technoblade is the traitor and never once brought up himself being part of it. Even in his death, he lied to Phil about his part.

* The one thing the two arguably most pure evil villains of the server (Dream and Schlatt) have in common is that they don't/didn't stream their perspective of events, meaning the audience can't see their thought process or reasoning behind their actions. As Quackity slips further and further into his "villain arc", his streams are increasingly told, not from his own perspective, but from other people's, most obviously seen with Fundy's dream sequence (entirely from Fundy's perspective) and Charlie's introduction (perspective flipping between the two).

** Moreover, back in "The Pit", the Inbetween threatened Karl not to go through the portal to the Other Side with lines that imply that his good, unwarped memories of Quackity might have been removed as 'punishment' for escaping its gaslighting by crossing the portal.
--->''"You may never remember your friends again if you go into this portal. [...] Do not let these visions get to you. This will not end well. You will lose everything."''
** After the episode "The Maze" was livestreamed, Karl [[IKnewIt confirms]] by WordOfGod that the episode's ending lined up with when he met up with Quackity in the "Las Nevadas" finale... meaning this definitely lines up.
** In the same incident lies a form of {{Irony}} -- one of Karl's ArcWords throughout ''Tales'' was "Don't forget who you are". He didn't forget who ''[[ExactWords he]]'' was... he forgot who his loved ones were.

** Vikk could just as easily have been targeted because Tommy "idolized" him, and we all know that Dream is basically a StalkerWithoutACrush to Tommy and wanted to break him and his RebelliousSpirit...
** Lazar once visited Tommy in Exile and witnessed (and at least enabled) the abuse that took place during that time. [[HeKnowsTooMuch It's entirely possible that Dream had more than the revive-book to keep Lazar quiet about]].

* Quackity's entire relationship (to use a more neutral term) with Schlatt ''as a whole'' applies, especially since the {{domestic abuse}} aspect is played mainly light-heartedly or semi-seriously at most in the season. Here are a few smaller details:
** After killing Schlatt canonically and running into the woods behind what used to be the White House, Quackity reflects on his situation, comes to the conclusion that Schlatt used him... and contemplates ''going back to Manburg'' (because, in his own words, "I don't even know anymore"). If Tommy weren't [[ExactEavesdropping watching the scene]] and didn't recruit him into Pogtopia, goodness knows if Quackity would end up in an even worse position in the present day (which is already pretty bad). A ContinuityNod occurs in the Camarvan confrontation in the Manburg-Pogtopia War, where Quackity straight-up confirms that if Schlatt hadn't taken down the White House, he would have stayed in Manburg.
** Later in the season, while preparing to try and scam Schlatt out of the presidency of Manburg, Quackity claimed that if he tried to make Schlatt sign divorce papers, [[PsychoEx Schlatt]] would respond by killing him on the spot and/or "pull out whatever's he's got underneath the"... ''something'', and refused to go into any more detail. One would wonder what ''[[NothingIsScarier exactly]]'' Quackity refused to speak of further than that.
** Moreover, although Schlatt the content creator is a young adult, his character was implied to be much older than that due to his various health ailments, and the jokes that Schlatt was old and senile line up with [[DirtyOldMan his]] [[TheCaligula behaviour]] in the Dream SMP canon. Considering Quackity's age is implied to be similar to that of his content creator counterpart (19 in Season 1)... well, even if it's never stated outright in canon, [[MalMariee the]] [[TrophyWife implications]] are there.
** As of Season 3, it's implied to have become AscendedFridgeHorror, and an entire CerebusRetcon seemed to be enacted once Q's trauma starts rearing its ugly head in the "Las Nevadas" storyline.

** It's worth remembering that Ghostbur's amnesia has impaired his mental state to the point where he can't even conceive of the idea that Dream might not have his best interests at heart. Dream sent a mentally disabled man off into an environment he ''knew'' would hurt him, ''just'' to torture [[WouldHurtAChild sixteen-year-old Tommy]] even more.

* If one watches the ''WebVideo/GameTheory'' videos on Minecraft, the Withers become a whole lot scarier when used in the Dream SMP. For context, [=MatPat=]'s backstory for the Withers is that they were made by the ancestors of Builders like Steve and, by extension, the Dream SMP cast, in an attempt to overcome death. It backfired and the Withers destroyed all of civilization, forcing those ancestors to take refuge in The End, where they slowly turned into the Endermen. With this knowledge in mind (especially if you came into the Dream SMP via the Game Theory revolving around Jschlatt), this makes Technoblade owning the means to summon dozens of Withers a whole lot scarier given that they are his ultimate weapon to destroying the government... since they had succeeded ''before''. And then there's the fact that, somehow, death managed to be conquered anyways with the book.

* When Puffy and Tommy go to rescue Sam from the Egg, he's carrying around pieces of rotten flesh, which he says are bits of his skin that have fallen off. Later, during Ant's stream, Ant keeps gathering bits of rotten flesh to feed to the Egg... with the ''extremely'' disturbing implication that the Egg was EATING SAM ALIVE!
** Despite this, it was later explicitly confirmed that Sam had been [[{{Autocannibalism}} eating HIMSELF]], due to a lack of food inside the Egg... which doesn't make it any better ''at all''.

* Sapnap's message from Dream to Ranboo translates to ":)", an emoticon that's shown up before in Ranboo's memory book. Afterwards, Ranboo undergoes a ''drastic'' change in behavior, going from friendly and talkative to being creepily silent and moves to the Nether Portal. This implies that ":)" is essentially a TriggerPhrase for Dream to make Ranboo do bad things without the latter properly remembering it (such as vandalizing Tommy's old home with netherrack and fire during the Disunion Era). As such, what's Dream doing with putting ":)" in Ranboo's memory book? ''Make him do the bad deeds for him and cover up for him''. This is why Dream only got his comeuppance when he's in his secret base with Tommy and Tubbo; at that point, Ranboo isn't an important individual in the conflict in question (being between Tommy and Tubbo against Dream, with Punz bringing forth half of the server to correct justice).
** Later ''confirmed'' through Dream's January 14th 2022 lore video, which shows Dream presumably commanding an Enderwalking Ranboo to do something... most likely detonating the prison to trigger the lockdown, and possibly blowing up the Community House as well.

* The Afterlife is a void devoid of any sensory stimulation for the dead who inhabit it. For those on the mortal plane Tommy spent two days in the Afterlife, but for Tommy, it felt like two ''months'' had passed. This is horrifying enough knowledge on its own, but then you remember that Wilbur and Schlatt have been dead since '''''November'''''.
** This has not been lost on the creators, and has in fact been [[AscendedFridgeHorror addressed in canon]] -- after Wilbur is revived, he claims to have spent at least a ''decade'' in the Afterlife. Tommy experienced one month for every day in the real world and assuming Wilbur experienced the same, then from his perspective he's been dead for ''thirteen and a half years'', matching up fairly well with what he claims to have experienced.
** Combined with Fridge [[TearJerker/DreamSMP Tear Jerker]]. Considering that how time passes in the Dream SMP proper is parallel to real life, as seen by Doomsday, and going by the assumption that the characters' birthdays are on the same day as their content creators', Tommy would have mentally [[ABirthdayNotABreak spent his 17th birthday while dead in the Afterlife]].

* The fact that Bad invited Sapnap to the Red Banquet in the first place, which was all a ruse to sacrifice the attendees to feed the Egg. In case anyone is missing the memo, Sapnap is Bad's ''[[OffingTheOffspring son]]'' in SMP canon.
** An even darker fan interpretation suggests that due to the off-putting nature of the soup served at the Banquet and Dream SMP's common references to [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]], this may all connect to be referencing the myth of [[ImAHumanitarian Tantalus]], who killed his own son and fed his body to the gods during a dinner event without telling them.[[note]]This theory quickly gained traction in the fandom and was dubbed "Soupnap".[[/note]]
** This gets offset by the [[https://twitter.com/sparklingco2/status/1454517747027611651 revelation]] that Bad [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments went back on this to protect Sapnap]], just that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/DreamSMP it wasn't shown onscreen because Sapnap the content creator wasn't available for lore]].

** What makes this FridgeHorror is that Wilbur was almost certainly relying on ''Ghostbur's'' memories related to Exile, when Ghostbur ''[[TraumaInducedAmnesia forgot unhappy and/or painful memories]]'' because his mind couldn't handle them. Considering the abuse of his younger brother-figure whom he loved dearly would probably classify as unhappy/painful memories, Ghostbur most likely knew very little about Exile by the time he was revived as Alivebur... which points towards the idea that what we, the audience, saw about Exile was only a ''[[NothingIsScarier fraction]]'' of how bad Exile was.
** Another thing that makes this FridgeHorror is the fact that despite [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids the beliefs that he developed during his spiral]], ''Wilbur is a pacifist at heart''. So ''[[NothingIsScarier what]]'', pray tell, can be so heinous that his gut instinct in reaction to it was to ''violate his own moral code'' and [[KnightTemplarBigBrother kill the person who committed the crime]] ''slowly and painfully?''
** This becomes AscendedFridgeHorror come Season 4 once Tommy told him what happened during Exile: Upon hearing that Dream caused his younger brother-figure to almost kill himself, Wilbur blacked out and had an ImagineSpot of screaming at Dream while he was imprisoned ''while killing him with his bare hands repeatedly''.

* When asked how he lost his first canon life, Connor said it was because he was having a bad day. While the statement is ambiguous and ultimately innocuous, many fans interpreted it as meaning Connor lost his first life via [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]. Even Charlie's (who had asked about Connor's lives in the first place) stream chat reacted with upset emotes and statements of how things suddenly got dark.

* Connor is aware of Karl's time travelling, which he references a few times in dialogue, but you wouldn't notice it was explicitly confirmed unless you read his in-game diary, in which he says he "knows [Karl's] secret".
** Connor [[EpilepticTrees may be a time traveler himself]], although this is never outright confirmed -- in the two ''Tales'' episodes he appears in, he appears as just being himself. This is referenced by Karl, who notices in "The Wild West" that the Connor in the town appears just like the Connor back home in the SMP.
** As a counter-proposal to that, some fans theorize that Connor may be ''immortal'', due to his appearances in both past and future episodes of ''Tales'' ("The Wild West" and "The Haunted Mansion", respectively).

** In a blink-it-and-miss-it moment in one of the ''earlier'' Manburg-era streams where Schlatt told Quackity ''this'':
--->''"If you come to me tomorrow and you're looking as [[BabyDontGotBack flat]] as you did today, oh my God, we're gonna have a problem. […] We'll turn you into Rosemary Kennedy if we need to."''
** After killing Schlatt canonically and running into the woods behind what used to be the White House, Quackity reflects on his situation, comes to the conclusion that Schlatt used him... and contemplates ''going back to Manburg'' (because, in his own words, "I don't even know anymore"). If Tommy weren't [[ExactEavesdropping watching the scene]] and didn't recruit him into Pogtopia, goodness knows if Quackity would end up in an even worse position in the present day (which is already pretty bad).
*** A ContinuityNod occurs in the Camarvan confrontation in the Manburg-Pogtopia War, where Quackity straight-up confirms that if Schlatt hadn't taken down the White House, he would have stayed in Manburg.

** It's not just alcohol and anabolic steroids that took its toll on Schlatt's body. At the Manberg Festival, there was much [[RunningGag recurring speculation]] among the Manbergian cabinet about how Schlatt's fingers were "mouldy". One of their theories was that it was from picking up the ashes from smoking with his bare hands. While this is ''[[ArtisticLicenseMedicine not]]'' medically accurate at all, the root of this problem can still be attributed to smoking. Tar is made from the combustion of tobacco and other plant material when smoking, and smoking too much can stain the fingers yellowish [[https://www.google.com/search?q=tar+stained+fingers&sxsrf=ALeKk02Z7cOFa6-qEjXxNB257RKX1s2zdw:1624615742750&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAuPihxbLxAhUGyIsBHV6hBUsQ_AUoAXoECAEQBA&biw=1536&bih=722 (TW graphic images)]] with this tobacco residue... which would also explain why both Tubbo and Quackity think of Schlatt's "mouldy" fingers as "gross".

** Other than smelling toast, Schlatt also says something about his arm just before he dies. What makes it qualified for this trope is that muscle strength in the arm often weakens during a stroke; and Schlatt would obviously notice if his muscle strength was weakening, because he was heavily working out throughout the confrontation in the Camarvan, other than drinking himself shitless.

* When exposed to the Egg, Tommy had no negative or positive reactions to it or its influence, and as a result, the Egg ordered his demise to its followers. While this could be explained by Tommy's neutrality to it (or PlotArmor) and the extremism of the Eggpire, there is another possible (albeit [[EpilepticTrees very jokey]]) explanation. One of the few things that seems to release people from the Egg is [[HolyBurnsEvil holy water]] from Church Prime, and the Church's robes are used as protective suits. Who was one of the original founders of Church Prime? Tommy, who was specifically called TheChosenOne or [[MessianicArchetype the Messiah]]. On a meta note, Tommy joining the server was such a crucial event that the [[https://dreamteam.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Dream_SMP Dream SMP Wiki]] splits the early days of the SMP's history into "Before Tommy" or "After Tommy"... which leads to the idea that Tommy is the SMP equivalent to '''''UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.'''''
** Pushing this even more is the events around Tommy's death. He was brutally murdered, only to rise again three days later (in real time, at least, as Dream claims it was only two days). Sound familiar?

* Slimecicle is also known as Charlie in the fandom because [[TheDanza that's the name of his content creator counterpart]]... 'Charlie' as a name is a diminutive of Charles, which is derived from a Germanic word meaning "man". Usually, unless he trusts them with the knowledge, Slime claims that he is actually human and definitely not a slime... and considering [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Slime's age]] (meaning it's possible for him to know something about ancient Germanic languages), it can be suggested that he is, albeit unintentionally, using [[MeaningfulName the naming equivalent]] of HughMann.
** This becomes retroactively funnier in the "Las Nevadas" finale's epilogue, where Quackity explicitly gives Charlie his name because, and quoted, "You're more than slime, you're human." Through name etymology, take from that what you will.
* Considering the major theme of 'legacy' associated with Las Nevadas, the first five members Quackity recruited for Las Nevadas have lost legacies in all four tenses of time:
** '''None:''' Slimecicle, prior to his meeting with Quackity, had no legacy to speak of.
** '''Past:''' Fundy lost L'Manburg three times and as such, lost his legacy.
** '''Present:''' Purpled loses his UFO in front of him during Quackity's recruitment drive. On the flipside, we have Sam who represents a legacy he currently owns and regrets: Pandora's Vault.
** '''Future:''' Foolish has his legacy in the form of his Egyptian statues, with Quackity saying how he'll lose this legacy if he doesn't join Las Nevadas.

*** Not only is this a {{lobotomy}} threat, but it becomes even ''more'' NightmareFuel with some historical context: Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomy [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]] and reduced her mental capacity to the equivalent of a toddler's. And not just that, it is unlikely that anyone at that mental capacity would be able to ''consent''... and considering Schlatt's known behaviours towards Q in canon can already be classified as sexual harassment, it arguably makes the lobotomy threat [[ImpliedRape even more sinister]].

*** A ContinuityNod occurs in the Camarvan confrontation in the Manburg-Pogtopia War, where Quackity straight-up confirms that [[ForWantOfANail if Schlatt hadn't taken down the White House, he would have stayed in Manburg]].

* As of the actual Elections, there were four political parties competing against each other--[=POG2020=] (Politicians of Gaming), [=SWAG2020=] (So We Are Gamers), [=Coconut2020=], and [=Schlatt2020=]. The first three all have fairly silly names, fitting in with the comedic, non-serious tone of the arc, but [=Schlatt2020=] is the OddNameOut, being a campaign named after the guy running for President like in the real world. One might even call it {{Foreshadowing}} to say that just like how Schlatt was running for President seriously, the arc that ''involves'' him as the President would be played out [[CerebusSyndrome dead-seriously]] as well.

* George was likely in Manburg's cabinet on Dream's orders, as if he were intentionally planted there to allow Dream some degree of control within the nation. It's also likely that he hoped to have George manipulate Jschlatt to do what Dream wants him to do. Which leads to the fact that Dream's deciding to join Pogtopia is perfectly timed with George becoming completely inactive within Manburg--upon realizing that George wouldn't be of any political help and that Jschlatt would carry on his own agenda of conquest, Dream decided to enter the fray on his own terms, intending to eliminate Jschlatt and then destroy L'Manburg.

* Back in the L'Manburg War of Independence, Sapnap has much anger at Dream naming George his heir. Said anger proves to have merit after the L'Manburg Civil War when, despite being named the king of the Dream SMP (fulfilling Dream's promise to name him his heir), George is a CluelessBoss with no interest in politics and is merely a PuppetKing for Dream (who remains the true leader of the Dream SMP and the one who actually handles the responsibilities of ruling--hell, L'Manburg outright ignores George's promotion and names Dream as their biggest threat). Had Sapnap been named king instead, he might have actually done something with the title...

* Some of Jschlatt's last words are asking if anyone else can smell toast. It's not just another NonSequitur that Jschlatt belted out in an alcohol-induced fit--it's a reference to a famous myth that smelling burnt toast is a symptom of a ''stroke'', which can be caused by, among other things, ''excessive alcoholism''. It's entirely possible that Jschlatt was dying of a ''stroke'' and ''not'' a heart attack as Tubbo proclaimed.

* Before detonating Manburg with Plan Bomb, Wilbur [[MeaningfulEcho repeated Eret's line]] that "It was never meant to be", most likely intending for them to be [[DrivenToSuicide his last words]]... but in a sense, they ''were''--the original iteration of the quote marked [[BreakTheCutie the death of]] [[CynicismCatalyst Wilbur's idealism]].

* Dream and Techno's team-up in the Doomsday War (the finale of the Vengeance arc in Season 2) is the ''third'' time L'Manburg has faced the threat of destruction--and this time, Dream and Techno make sure that the nation is buried for good. Coming back from two death blows (from the L'Manburg War of Independence and the L'Manburg Civil War) [[RuleOfThree only to be permanently destroyed by a third]]... seems like L'Manburg also fell under some form of the "Three Canon Lives" rule.

* While Techno's hatred for being {{dehumaniz|ation}}ed is often contradicted with himself dehumanizing others in return, such as regarding Tubbo as "government" just after being shooed into the Presidential position of New L'Manburg involuntarily, it's more chilling with the knowledge he had been doing this dehumanization thing ''way'' longer than initially thought--he called Quackity a non-sentient player (not to his face) during Minecraft Mondays Week 6 and chose to go after him in the first round of Survival Games due to this 'judgement'. And since Minecraft Mondays are part of the DSMP SharedUniverse, through Schlatt who explicitly canonized MCM Week 6 where he teamed with Techno, and through Quackity and his pre-canon PTSD, it just makes Techno's hypocrisy stand out even more... which would probably explain his bad habit of dehumanizing his 'foes'--that it wasn't a gained trait during the days of the DSMP, he'd always been this way.

* Fundy's appearance at the Red Banquet might be brushed off as a "secondary" guest as he was not offered a "guest of honor" title like several prominent Pro-Omelette attendees (along with Niki, George and H), but upon closer recounting of events, it's possible that Fundy's attendance was deliberate--after Fundy returned from recovering from his DespairEventHorizon during the Doomsday War, he learnt about the Egg and told Tommy that the Egg was "red cum" in response to Tommy asking what the Egg was. Tommy accidentally let this spill to BBH, who responded that "Fundy will be taken care of", and Fundy eventually escaped an attempt by Antfrost to trap him in with the Egg. Considering the Eggpire's WithUsOrAgainstUs mentality, the Crimson probably decided that it was not going to let all this slide after all.

* During his May 22nd lore stream, Quackity crashes into a building while flying with a pair of Elytra. Regardless of where he got the Elytra from, one might immediately assume that the scene was just cc!Quackity's comparative lack of Minecraft skills PlayedForLaughs, but there's a Watsonian explanation for this as well--depth perception is extremely important to flying, especially when it comes to ''landing'', where it could be outright dangerous if one landed while having poor depth perception. Since Quackity [[EyeScream lost (at least part of) his vision in one eye]] after his duel with Techno, his depth perception would probably had become worse... which was exactly why he ''[[DeconstructedTrope almost died]]'' during his landing (losing all but 3 hearts of health).

** This becomes retroactively funnier in the "Las Nevadas" finale's epilogue, where Quackity explicitly gives Charlie his name because, and quoted, "You're more than slime, you're human". Through name etymology, take from that what you will.

* Just before confronting Quackity on the November 27th "Las Nevadas" stream, Karl is seen coming up a ladder. And where does that ladder lead? The secret room that contains his time-travelling tales. Karl has most likely ''just returned'' from a trip to the past or future, which means his memory has presumably just deteriorated further, and since those trips can be quite traumatizing at times (e.g. "The Masquerade"), maybe it isn't that surprising that he treated Quackity with such hostility--it could be a mixture of lashing out in response to trauma ''mixed with'' memory warping.

** In the same incident lies a form of {{Irony}}--one of Karl's ArcWords throughout ''Tales'' was "Don't forget who you are". He didn't forget who ''[[ExactWords he]]'' was... he forgot who his loved ones were.

** This has not been lost on the creators, and has in fact been [[AscendedFridgeHorror addressed in canon]]--after Wilbur is revived, he claims to have spent at least a ''decade'' in the Afterlife. Tommy experienced one month for every day in the real world and assuming Wilbur experienced the same, then from his perspective he's been dead for ''thirteen and a half years'', matching up fairly well with what he claims to have experienced.

* When exposed to the Egg, Tommy had no negative or positive reactions to it or its influence, and as a result, the Egg ordered his demise to its followers. While this could be explained by Tommy's neutrality to it (or PlotArmor) and the extremism of the Eggpire, there is another possible (albeit [[EpilepticTrees very jokey]]) explanation. One of the few things that seems to release people from the Egg is [[HolyBurnsEvil holy water]] from Church Prime, and the Church's robes are used as protective suits. Who was one of the original founders of Church Prime? Tommy, who was specifically called TheChosenOne or TheMessiah. On a meta note, Tommy joining the server was such a crucial event that the [[https://dreamteam.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Dream_SMP Dream SMP Wiki]] splits the early days of the SMP's history into "Before Tommy" or "After Tommy"... which leads to the idea that Tommy is the SMP equivalent to '''''UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.'''''

* The L'Manberg anthem uses the same melody as Music/LeonardCohen's song "Hallelujah", a song that gets used in a lot of movies and TV shows, most notably for [[{{Tearjerker}} sad moments]]. The entire anthem was setting up for one giant tearjerker.

[[folder:Fridge Brilliance--General/Cross-Seasonal]]

[[folder:Fridge Brilliance--Season 1]]

[[folder:Fridge Brilliance--Season 2]]

[[folder:Fridge Brilliance--Season 3]]

[[folder:Fridge Brilliance--Season 4]]

** Connor [[EpilepticTrees may be a time traveler himself]], although this is never outright confirmed - in the two ''Tales'' episodes he appears in, he appears as just being himself. This is referenced by Karl, who notices in "The Wild West" that the Connor in the town appears just like the Connor back home in the SMP.

*** Technoblade is associated with TabletopGame/{{Risk}}, a game all about wars and alliances. The constant conflict between different people is an obvious part of it, but in Risk, the stronger force will always win, and Technoblade retreating into the Arctic could be connected to the old Risk strategy of bunkering in Australia to defend yourself and build your strength to become an unstoppable force. It's also [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking interesting]] to note that Techno was once part of WebOriginal/SMPEarth and managed to take over the world as the leader of the Antarctic Empire, which one can draw parallels with Risk from.

** This becomes AscendedFridgeHorror come Season 4 once Tommy told him what happened during Exile: Upon hearing that Dream caused his younger brother-figure to almost kill himself, Wilbur blacked out and has a revenge fantasy of screaming at Dream while he was imprisoned ''while killing him with his bare hands repeatedly''.

%% Eret and Ponk use any pronouns, and this page doesn't default to any one set. Please don't go through this page to "correct" pronoun discrepancies.

* Quackity seemed to very quickly bounce back from his abusive relationship with Schlatt and [[OnTheRebound quickly entered another relationship]], this time a healthier one with Karl and Sapnap ''the day after'' the Manburg-Pogtopia War. While this form of rebounding may seem unusual at first, it makes more sense when you realize it is [[https://www.bustle.com/wellness/signs-you-are-experiencing-trauma-after-a-toxic-relationship a possible symptom of relationship trauma]], sometimes known as [[https://www.healthline.com/health/relationships/relationship-ptsd Post-Traumatic Relationship Syndrome (PTRS)]], an unofficial subtype of PTSD. And considering his rather unorthodox (and unhealthy) coping mechanisms during Schlatt's funeral[[note]]cosplaying as Schlatt to his funeral, taking his heart and straight-up eating it, and then gathering his dead ex's bones to try to resurrect him as a political puppet[[/note]], even though we took it as a non-serious bit at the time, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment in hindsight]], we probably should have expected his spiral in Season 3 much earlier.

* While Techno's hatred for being {{dehumaniz|ation}}ed is often contradicted with himself dehumanizing others in return, such as regarding Tubbo as "government" just after being shooed into the Presidential position of New L'Manburg involuntarily, it's more chilling with the knowledge he had been doing this dehumanization thing ''way'' longer than initially thought--he called Quackity a non-sentient player (not to his face) during Minecraft Mondays Week 6 and chose to go after him in the first round of Survival Games due to this 'judgement'. And since Minecraft Mondays are part of the DSMP SharedUniverse, through Schlatt who explicitly canonized MCM Week 6 where he teamed with Techno, and through Quackity and his pre-canon PTSD, it just makes Techno's hypocrisy stand out even more... which would probably explain his bad habits--that it wasn't a gained trait during the days of the DSMP, he'd always been this way.