History Main / ImpossiblyMundaneExplanation

* ''Fanfic/MariaCampbellOfTheAstralClocktower'': When Prince Alan finally witnesses Maria's incredible fighting skills, he goes to speak to his father the king about it. They can't figure out how such an impossibly skilled sword fighter could appear out of nowhere; she has no history of training and no one in her home village reported her practicing with the sword growing up. They come up with all sorts of theories about her being a reincarnate from an older age or even summoned from another world... and then Alan admits that it's also possible that Maria just trained quietly in her home her entire life and never told anyone. It says a lot about Maria that either theory is viable. The audience, of course, knows that it's a combination: Maria is a reincarnate, but while she kept her memories of her sword skills she did have to train her body up to be able to use them again. And she trained secretly because she didn't want to bother her mother.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Batman has many high-tech or skilled means of locating criminals or discovering secret identities. But his SherlockScan ability, high position in society/the business world, and reputation as a ditzy billionaire playboy sometimes allow him to find answers by simply walking up to someone he suspects and talking to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** Some of Perry's means of escape from Doofenschmirtz's traps defy the laws of physics and explanation. Others however, are completely mundane (and kind of obvious). In "Toy To the World", Doof rapidly builds a tiny brick box around Perry, supposedly trapping him. Perry simply pushes the bricks aside because Doof didn't use cement or anything to keep the bricks from moving.
** Phineas and Ferb do/build so many impossible things in a day that any suggestion that they would do something mundane is often met with disbelief. The few times they've actually done something mundane/semi-mundane nearly drove Candace crazy as she couldn't believe that they wouldn't do something impossible and drove herself to hysterics looking for their non-existent project.

* ''Fanfic/TheNewRecruit'': How is it that Matt Garetty hasn't heard of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, a living legend and someone that all of SHIELD's agents (including Coulson) geek out over? Because Matt was never that interested in history (being a fairly average student) and either didn't study Cap and his commandos or didn't remember doing it.

** Dirk does this to some extent in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul''. When he meets a girl who constantly recites the previous day's stock quotes (in real time, just with a 24-hour delay), he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble when she isn't getting any kind of obvious benefit out of the whole arrangement. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not the specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing Literature/SherlockHolmes' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable (that this girl has masterminded an elaborate plot to make everything ''think'' she's receiving the prices out of thin air by having someone discreetly provide the information to her), and whatever remains, however impossible (that she actually ''is'' receiving this information out of nothing), must be the truth.

* In Creator/HPLovecraft's "The Alchemist" men of the narrator's family all die at the age of 32, supposedly due to a curse laid on the family by the son of an alchemist one of his ancestors killed 600 years ago. While researching the curse, he dismisses the possibility that his ancestors were assassinated by descendants of the alchemist, [[spoiler:but it turns out that the alchemist's son has, in fact, been murdering them by assorted means over the centuries. This entails him having invented an elixir of immortality so that he could stick around and see the job done, so it's not an ''entirely'' mundane solution.]]

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Window of Opportunity": Jack has prior knowledge of a briefing Carter is giving, and claims that he's remembering things from the future. Carter suggests, "Maybe you read my report?". Daniel gives her a look and repeats, "Maybe he ''read your report''?" as if it was the more ludicrous suggestion. Everyone else (O'Neill included) seems to agree. Even Carter's tone as she says it suggests she thinks it's highly unlikely.

** There's also the time that Xander was possessed by a hyena. Buffy quickly figured out he was possessed while Giles believed he [[TeensAreMonsters was just being a teenage boy]]. Knowing Giles' teen years, this assumption makes a bit more sense.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Dirk Gently:

* ''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-darker-path-worm-fanfic.1037109/page-22#post-87132883 A Darker Path]]'': While investigating Sophia Hess's murder, Battery puts forth the idea she was killed by someone she was bullying, having found considerable evidence on her phone she was bullying someone. Specifically, Battery figures that Sophia was planning on beating her victim, only to get beaten in turn and died because they happened to kick her in the chest at just the right time to stop her heart. Alternately, that her victim hired someone to kill Sophia. Instead, she and Armsmaster come up with a complicated scenario where Othala can grant Changer powers but never revealed as such and gave them to Cricket who came to Winslow, transformed into Sophia and killed her, then left and the Empire 88 simply never claimed credit. In reality, Taylor did it using her Thinker powers and the identical clothing Armsmaster noticed was because Taylor stole Sophia's spare sneakers and jeans since her own clothing had been ruined by the locker incident.
* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': Harry paraphrases Dirk Gently (seen below in ''Literature'') with the explanation that the flatly impossible often has an integrity which the wildly improbable frequently lacks: an impossible thing only requires one thing you "know" to be wrong, but a desperately improbable speculation requires many things to happen in order. The example in question: The Weasely twins, on a budget of only forty galleons, somehow manage to fake a massive amount of evidence to convince Rita Skeeter that Harry is engaged to Ginny, then get rid of all the evidence after Rita publishes her article, in order to discredit her. No one can figure out how they did it, and everyone comes up with utterly bizarre explanations. As it turns out, [[spoiler:they got Quirrel to false-memory charm Rita into ''thinking'' she saw the evidence, then had their own memories wiped. Quirrel certainly isn't telling]]. This solution is so simple and straightforward that ''nobody'' realizes it even after the fact.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', the eponymous protagonist paraphrases Dirk Gently (seen below in ''Literature'') with the explanation that the flatly impossible often has an integrity which the wildly improbable frequently lacks: an impossible thing only requires one thing you "know" to be wrong, but a desperately improbable speculation requires many things to happen in order. [[spoiler: It so transpires that the actual story is even simpler: they got Quirrelmort to do it instead, but agreed to or were forced to be memory-wiped afterwards, and the professor certainly isn't telling. This solution is so simple and straightforward that ''nobody'' realizes it after the fact.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00520.htm some]] fun with this. Apparently, Florence is a vampire. Either that, or she really swam in the cold water a bit too long.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the group are trying to figure out why the griffin Andrea hasn't found the location to return to her homeworld. Ashley wonders if maybe Andrea [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2015-11-30 has a bad sense of direction]]. She's in the middle of second-guessing herself when Andrea's partner Tara remarks, "That... sounds ''exactly like'' Andrea." [[spoiler: Diane's guess is most accurate: two Immortals distracted Andrea to exploit her vampire-killing skills.]]

Compare StatingTheSimpleSolution and MundaneSolution.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Window of Opportunity": Jack has prior knowledge of a briefing Carter is giving, and claims that he's remembering things from the future. Carter suggests, "Maybe you read my report?". Daniel gives her a look and repeats, "Maybe he ''read your report''?" as if it was the most ludicrous suggestion. Everyone else (O'Neill included) seems to agree. Even Carter's tone as she says it suggests she thinks it's highly unlikely.

** Dirk does this to some extent in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul''. When he meets a girl who constantly recites the previous day's stock quotes (in real time, just with a 24-hour delay), he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble when she isn't getting any kind of obvious benefit out of the whole arrangement. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not the specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing SherlockHolmes' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable (that this girl has masterminded an elaborate plot to make everything ''think'' she's receiving the prices out of thin air by having someone discreetly provide the information to her), and whatever remains, however impossible (that she actually ''is'' receiving this information out of nothing), must be the truth.

* Dirk Gently does this to some extent in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul''. When he meets a girl who constantly recites the previous day's stock quotes (in real time, just with a 24-hour delay), he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble when she isn't getting any kind of obvious benefit out of the whole arrangement. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not the specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing SherlockHolmes' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable (that this girl has masterminded an elaborate plot to make everything ''think'' she's receiving the prices out of thin air by having someone discreetly provide the information to her), and whatever remains, however impossible (that she actually ''is'' receiving this information out of nothing), must be the truth.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'', the eponymous protagonist paraphrases Dirk Gently (seen below in ''Literature'') with the explanation that the flatly impossible often has an integrity which the wildly improbable frequently lacks: an impossible thing only requires one thing you "know" to be wrong, but a desperately improbable speculation requires many things to happen in order. [[spoiler: It so transpires that the actual story is even simpler: they got Quirrelmort to do it instead, but agreed to or were forced to be memory-wiped afterwards, and the professor certainly isn't telling.]]

* Dirk Gently does this to some extent in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul''. When he meets a girl who constantly recites the previous day's stock quotes (in real time, just with a 24-hour delay), he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not the specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing SherlockHolmes' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable, and whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.

'''O'chul:''' You find the idea that I have some sort of secret knowledge implanted in my brain by the elders of the Sapphire Guard that has been so deeply suppressed that no magical effect can unearth it to be ''simpler''... than the idea that I just don't know anything?\\

* In Creator/HPLovecraft's "The Alchemist" men of the narrator's family all die at the age of 32, supposedly due to a curse laid on the family by the son of an alchemist one of his ancestors killed 600 years ago. While researching the curse he dismisses the possibility that his ancestors were assassinated by descendants of the alchemist [[spoiler:but it turns out that the alchemist's son has, in fact, been murdering them by assorted means over the centuries. This entails him having invented an elixir of immortality so that he could stick around and see the job done, so it's not entirely a mundane solution]].
* Dirk Gently does this to some extent in ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul''. When he meets a girl who constantly recites the previous day's stock quotes (in real time, just with a 24-hour delay), he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing SherlockHolmes' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable, and whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.
* At the climax of ''Literature/ColdDays'', Harry Dresden [[LetsYouAndHimFight faces off against another hero]], set on him by one of TheFairFolk, [[CannotTellALie who told Fix that Harry is the villain]]. After getting his butt thoroughly kicked, Harry sums up the situation thusly: Either a being who CannotTellALie ''has'', or [[PerpetualPoverty Harry]] [[HonorBeforeReason Blackstone]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Copperfield]] [[WeHelpTheHelpless Dresden]] is an evil mastermind. Faced with the evidence, Fix [[OhCrap realizes he's been used]].

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Window of Opportunity": Jack has prior knowledge of a briefing Carter is giving, and claims that he's remembering things from the future. Carter suggests, "Maybe he read my report?". Daniel gives her a look and repeats, "Maybe he ''read your report''?" as if it was the most ludicrous suggestion. Everyone else (O'Neill included) seems to agree.

'''Willow:''' (''nods'')

* Played with in Series/{{Dexter}}, when Astor asks what Lumen is doing in Dexter's house. Dexter claims they're not dating, and she's just a tenant. While she's much more than that, Dexter never lied. They aren't dating at this point.

'''Alan:''' Dear God, my own mother's trying to kill me.\\

-->'''Redcloak''': I find it ''far'' more probable that you are somehow resisting my magic. This [[HonorBeforeReason "Soon's Oath"]] story is just that -- a cover story designed by your leaders. [...]
-->'''O'chul''': You find the idea that I have some sort of secret knowledge implanted in my brain by the elders of the Sapphire Guard that has been so deeply suppressed that no magical effect can unearth it to be ''simpler''... than the idea that I just don't know anything?
-->''({{beat}})''
-->'''Redcloak''': I liked the way I phrased it better.
-->'''O'chul''': No doubt.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', the Emperor explains that the mysterious, unexplainable Tyrant Star is actually simply a peeping hole for beings in the {{retcon}}nian.
[[/folder]]

* In Creator/HPLovecraft's "The Alchemist" men of the narrator's family all die at the age of 32, supposedly due to a curse laid on the family by the son of an alchemist one of his ancestor's killed 600 years ago. While researching the curse he dismisses the possibility that his ancestors were assassinated by descendants of the alchemist [[spoiler: but it turns out that the alchemist's son has, in fact, been murdering them by assorted means over the centuries.]]