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1A justified {{trope}} is one which, in its common usage, runs counter to the normal laws of logic and probability but in a particular instance has a concrete reason InUniverse for applying to the story. In other words, a trope is "justified" if it is ''required'' by other pre-existing elements in the story--otherwise the explanation is a HandWave.
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3Note that there are varying degrees of justifying a trope and a spectrum of justification from the completely logical to AWizardDidIt. For a justification to be more than just AWizardDidIt, there has to be reasons that make it make sense ''in context''.
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5Here's a couple example scenarios:
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7* A protagonist uses a [[PowerGlows glowing sword]].
8* A character's [[EveryCarIsAPinto car explodes upon crashing]].
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10The justified case:
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12* The protagonist uses a glowy sword because he fights [[LivingShadow sentient shadows]].
13* The car blew up upon crashing because of the nitroglycerin that was put in the trunk earlier as part of a ploy to blast through a bank vault.
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15Now, how would these same scenarios look if the justifications were [[HandWave Hand Waves]] that [[VoodooShark raise more questions]] and require you [[MST3KMantra to turn your brain off]]?
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17* The protagonist uses a glowy sword because the power source is leaky. ([[FridgeLogic But wait, shouldn't that cause other problems? We also know that he has the tools to fix it!]])
18* The car blew up upon being shot because the shooter aimed for the gas tank and said he used tracer rounds. (But wait, why would he have tracer rounds in his service pistol?)
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20A justified trope has common ground with [[LampshadeHanging Lampshading]] in that both often deal with tropes that are typically illogical or otherwise problematic.
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22Remember that a trope being justified is not about it ultimately being good or bad or effective or ineffective -- it's about whether or not it ''makes sense from an in-universe point of view''. A trope can be perfectly justified and still ruin a show. Contrarily, a trope may be completely unjustified and [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality make the story better]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Do not assume that the existence of a trope is inherently a sign of]] bad writing.
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24See TheWatson, whose job is to explain justifications, and MetaTropeIntro which compares this with many other ways that a trope can be used. If the Justified Trope falls short, it's a HandWave. If the justification just makes the illogic of the trope ''worse'', then it becomes a VoodooShark.
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26'''One thing to note, if you think a trope is "justified", you should never use a Administrivia/JustifyingEdit'''. If you were {{Pot Hole}}d here by a Administrivia/JustifyingEdit, integrate the potholed text to the main text or delete it outright. See Administrivia/JustifyingEdit for more on this.
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28Some justified tropes are tropes of their own.
29* ItOnlyWorksOnce is when NeverRecycleYourSchemes is justified.
30* PortalToThePast is a justification of SanDimasTime.
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32Don't put any examples here. Wicks on other pages '''[[Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly must be in-universe]]''' and also [[Administrivia/ExamplesAreNotArguable Not Arguable]]. (That is, when writing one, resist the temptation to use WeaselWords like "possibly" "probably," "somewhat" or "part[ial]ly") If you want to see examples, you'll have to look for them elsewhere. Or you could go into the PlayingWithWiki for hypothetical examples.
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34Notably, instead of redirecting here, the single-word {{Justified}} is a [[AmbiguityIndex disambiguation page]]. If you're looking for the FX series, you're looking for ''{{Series/Justified}}''.

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