[[WMG: Two Wild Mass Guesses -- the world of ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' is a skewed vision of our world, and ''The Man In The High Castle'' is a skewed vision of a real alternate world where the Axis won.]]
A little confusing, I know, but bear with me. Both ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' in the book and ''The Man In The High Castle'' in real life were written with the aid of the I Ching, with each and every plot development decided upon by consulting it. In the book, this results in ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', the story of an Allied-victory world that is rather over-the-top and somewhat implausible in just how total this victory is. And in real life, this resulted in ''The Man in the High Castle'', the story of an Axis-victory world that is rather over-the-top and somewhat implausible in just how total this victory is.

So the WMG is: not only is ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' a skewed and flawed look at our world -- the real world -- as seen through the I Ching by Hawthorne Abendsen, but ''The Man in the High Castle'' is a skewed and flawed look at an Axis-victory world -- an ''equally real'' world -- as seen through the I Ching by Philip K Dick.

And just to extend the WMG a little more: in that real Axis-victory world, circa 1962, an author named Hawthorne Abendsen wrote a novel called ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', which featured a book-within-a-book called ''The Man In The High Castle'' written by a fictional character called Philip K Dick...

[[WMG: The Man in the High Castle in an in-universe Japanese novel]]
Which is why it has bizarre I Ching and reality-related themes and the Japanese are portrayed as being fairly nice compared to the Nazis despite the fact in reality they were as cruel and nasty as the Nazis (see the Rape of Nanking for example).

[[WMG: The Man in the High Castle's universe is a living film series]]
The Book version, indeed, lives in books, and the Amazon/Netflix film series is interconnected with films. Hence the reason why the book version could not conceive of bringing along film proof - they're subconsciously focused on bringing books - so that the readers will be convinced to buy more books. And the tv series convinces viewers that more television solves everything and they should get a prime account to watch the other stuff that's on.

[[WMG: People in ''The Man in the High Castle'' are slowly losing their collective grip on reality due to the stress of living in a world where the Axis won.]]
The devotion to the I Ching, the hallucinatory scene where the world suddenly shifts into another alt-history where the Allies won, the presence of ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', and all the overcomplicated social maneuvering point to something being very fundamentally off with human society. The madness of really living in the Axis power's dream is too much for the collective of humanity to handle, and that's why the Greater German Reich and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere are going to mutually annihilate each other right after the end of the book: Not because they are both superpowers, and not because they believe each other to be inferior, but because humanity has developed a collective death wish that makes such an obviously suicidal course of action look good on a subconscious level.

[[WMG: At some point, a non-Nazi alternate world is going to launch an all-out invasion.]]
It’s well established that nobody can enter an alternate universe unless their alternate self is dead. Presumably, there’s a whole lot of worlds where the Holocaust didn't occur, or didn't occur to the same extent as in MITHC. Therefore, all these worlds have access to a millions-strong population of people capable of invading. In a twist of irony, the civilization with grand plans to invade alternate dimensions enables the same fate to be carried out on itself.
* [[spoiler: This is one interpretation of what happens at the end of the series.]]

[[WMG: The "world" that the special newsreels show is not ours, but the one from "Valhalla" by Gregory Benford]]
In the novel on which the series is based, World War II ended in 1947. In our world, the war ended in 1945, but in the world of Gregory Benford's short story, World War II ended in 1947 as well, only there it was a complete and utter defeat of Nazi Germany. In that timeline, the world took even greater steps to crush Germany under its heel because of its humiliation of the Soviets and extermination of all the Jews in Europe. The even more triumphal nature of the reels would easily account for the shock the "Castle" timeline people experience when they see them.

[[WMG: Obergruppenfuehrer Smith is Joe Blake's father]]
There's a very paternal relationship going on, Joe didn't know his father, and Smith has given him second chances where it'd be more likely Joe would be executed if there wasn't a special reason.
* Jossed: Season 2 reveals Blake's father is the architect of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa Atlantropa]], a hydroelectric dam built across the Strait of Gibraltar.

[[WMG: Joe Blake's father is Adolf Hitler]]
He's Hitler's illegitimate son.
* So what you're both saying is that Joe Blake is a bastard?
** Jossed: Season 2 reveals Blake's father is the architect of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa Atlantropa]], a hydroelectric dam built across the Strait of Gibraltar. [[spoiler:Aaand then he becomes the next Furher.]]

[[WMG: The "Concorde" style aeroplanes are actually rocket-planes, not regular jets]]
Rocketry was one of Nazi Germany's strongsuits and rocket planes were researched by Germany during the Second World War, the comment about Germans travelling by "rocket ships" implies that in this timeline they pursued that avenue much further and made it viable for widespread use
* Not exactly Jossed, but not likely either: The problem with rocket-powered aircraft is that they have to carry a lot of fuel and have a short range. The only one that the Germans ended up putting into service, the Me-163 fighter, was only suited for the role of point-defense interceptor (that is, it could only fly straight up, attack incoming bombers, and glide back down). The "rocket ships" are probably something entirely different from the supersonic airliners, most likely suborbital spaceplanes.

[[WMG: Smith will end up being the hero of the piece, Joe and Nicole will end up being the BigBad]]
The revelation that Smith was a high-ranking officer in the American military prior to the nazi victory, as well as the extremely uncomfortable look on his face after he is applauded and saluted by the Reichstag, suggests that Smith doesn't buy into the Nazi cause, and is simply doing what he thinks is best for his family and his country. His exposure to all of the Grasshopper Lies Heavy films in Hitler's archive will probably force him into taking meaningful action against the Nazis. The resistance has been shown to be little more than a bunch of misfits who don't even trust each other. Only a fifth column movement inside the Nazi-run government would be capable of ending the occupation and restoring the United States.
Joe will feel obligated to finish his father's work, and Nicole's extremely skewed view on the world (Nazi environmentalist) will lead to all manner of atrocities committed in the name of The Greater Good.

[[WMG: Hitler saves the day]]
Tagomi's ability to cross into an alternate reality is foreshadowing that Hitler's moments of instability that potentially cost him the war will be revealed to have been caused by an alternate version of him accepting that the Third Reich can't be successful in any universe and actively performing acts of self-sabotage culminating in his suicide. This may even erase the Man in the High Castle timeline (along with every doomed timeline of Nazi victory) entirely.
* '''Jossed:''' Though even Hitler realizes that all-out nuclear annihilation of the only remaining rival superpower and its resources would be the tipping point that turns the Third Reich into a self-destructive hellhole, and orders the rest of the Reich to NOT DO THIS STUPID THING.

[[WMG: In season 3, John Smith is going to try to find an alternate timeline version of his son.]]
Given that Thomas has been presumably executed by the Nazi government, the Smith family no doubt is in mourning for him. The trailer indicates that John Smith learns of the existence of other timelines and it will likely not take too long to realize there might be one his son is still alive in. This could easily provide the impetus for a HeelFaceTurn as he realizes that if the Nazis can reach other realities, he will lose his son all over again.
* Not in Season 3, but he shows strong signs of thinking about it. Wait for season 4.
** [[spoiler:'''Confirmed:''' Season 4 has him replacing an alternate version of Smith to try and get in contact with Alt-Thomas. Alas, YouCantFightFate and John will once again have to watch his son march off willingly to his death.... in the form of the impending UsefulNotes/VietnamWar.]]

[[WMG: Thomas's Facioscapulohumeral resulted from being exposed to the A-Bomb dropped on DC while in-utero.]]
Helen was pregnant with Thomas when she observed the A-bomb explosion that destroyed Washington DC. She could have also been exposed later that night when the fallout coalesced (it was in the middle of winter, so a bout of black rain or black snow could have followed and caused direct exposure). This will be revealed when neither of Smith's daughters have the disease, and none of the Thomases in the films have it either.

[[WMG: Fat-Man was never invented in this universe]]
It's been shown that the Nazis' a-bombs aren't any more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, even though they've had two decades to make improvements. If they were stuck with the extremely inefficient Little-Boy "gun mechanism" design, there really wasn't much improvement that could be made.

[[WMG: Joe Blake will become a traveller.]]
spoiler: Since Julianna killed Joe from this reality, another will show up, like her sister.

[[WMG: Julianna traveled at the end of Season 3 into one of the other Nazi-controlled universes]]

She cannot travel into the Allied Victory universe, since she is still alive in that one, but since she is dead in the universe where she keeps having visions of, she has free reign to go into there.
* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCYQ9Cp_iu0 clip]] seems to indicate that she is in a universe where the US still exists, implying either an Allied victory, or some sort of cease fire between the Axis and Allies. Because she is alive in the "normal" universe, it's unlikely that she is in that one.
** '''Ultimately Jossed:''' [[spoiler:The Alternate-USA Juliana travels to in Season 4 already had her alternate self killed in her childhood along with her parents in a car crash years ago.]]

[[WMG: Julianna travelled at the end of Season 3 into an alternate Allied victory universe]]
As mentioned above, she can't travel into the "normal" universe, since she is still alive in that one, but it is possible she is in an alternate universe where the US and UK are in a cold war, like in the books.
* '''Jossed:''' Part of Season 4 takes place in a "normal" Allied victory version of USA, with the UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar just around the corner.

[[WMG: The series will show an alternate Allied victory universe like in the book, where the US and the UK are in a cold war.]]

[[WMG: The Nazis HAD to fixate themselves on the United States in order to receive a bureaucratic and industrial ''heart transplant'']]
Why is the Third Reich so obsessed with controlling America? We barely hear any mention of Europe other than Germany, which would be a more reasonable location to focus and expand upon. Smith gaining any international recognition should not have happened seeing as he's former American brass. Himmler himself visits America on the day that its culture is brutally executed, which [[spoiler:was a really stupid plan as he is quickly shot by agitated Americans]].
Because it can't survive without America, at least at the moment. FacistButInefficient is currently in play, and America has both the factories and experience duping its citizens with the proper bureaucracy to path the leak.

[[WMG: Thomas is still alive]]
It was noted that the Nazis [[NeverFoundTheBody never returned]] Thomas's body to his parents. This leads Helen to speculate that he might still be alive, but John quickly shoots this down. We also learn that the Nazis use "useless eaters" for human experimentation. Thomas chose to volunteer for medical experiments, instead of choosing a painless death.
* '''Jossed.''' Season 3 and 4 does confirm his death multiple times.

[[WMG: The Nazis assassinate JFK in a Grasshopper world]]
What better way to ''send a message'' through time and space by the Nazi Traveler scouts than by killing JFK in a Grasshopper timeline, which prompts all the travelers running ''away'' from that universe to take footage of that event with them, thereby 'proving' dimension travel does work? And on a non-technical note, Nazi high command might order the assassination "for the hell of it".
* [[spoiler:'''Confirmed:''' In the Alternate-USA that Juliana briefly escapes to in Season 4, JFK had just been assassinated, with the implication that his killing is one of thousands planned by the Nazis in the prime timeline as part of the sabotage program aimed at weakening the rest of the multiverse for future invasions.]]

[[WMG: Helen Smith is dead, or the couple is divorced in the universe Juliana travels into]]
The season 4 trailer seems to hint towards some sort of relationship between Juliana and (alternate) John. Unless infidelity is coming into play.
* '''Jossed:''' Alt-Helen is alive, well and more importantly, HappilyMarried to John.

[[WMG: The final season will hammer in the theme of brutality and totalitarianism across all alternate-universe empires by showing that US of America at its supposed height can also be secretly controlled by complete sociopaths]]
It would be an essential component of any dystopia fiction: that the return to totalitarianism is always closer than you think, or may even exist where you believe it has been defeated. In a Grasshopper universe where the Allies won the war, life continues without the overt genocides, but as Juliana's Traveler status lets her infiltrate higher circles of power, she finds that even a 'victorious' United States is also on a road to genocidal totalitarianism, with its own arrogant leaders who think they know what is best for the masses even as they lead them to ruin. And even if the show doesn't fulfill any conspiracy theorist's fantasy, racism, homophobia, and the gated-community standard in the American 1950's-1960's are almost guaranteed to be fully portrayed.
* '''Downplayed:''' The alternate timeline seen from Juliana's perspective [[spoiler:and later John Smith]] is not much different from our own. With the historically typical racist implications exemplified in S4E5: "Mauvaise Foi", when two black patrons defiantly try to exercise their civil rights to be served equally to the whites. It ends with them being arrested by the authorities for "public nuisance" with the redneck customers laughing it up afterwards.

[[WMG: Juliana wants to kill Smith-prime so the alternate universe one she met can replace him]]
In the trailer for the final season, Juliana says the only reason she came back from the Better Universe was to kill John Smith. She's doing this so that the other one can come through and take his place. (This becomes unnecessary, though, because she finds that Smith-prime has already started working with the resistance).
* [[spoiler:'''Jossed:''' Juliana has come to kill Prime-John Smith because of her visions from Tagomi hinting that his death is vital to maintain the multiverse's integrity due to of Nazi plans to meddle with the multiverse. Also, Alt-Smith is just a normal salesman in a "normal" 1960s America who is unfortunately killed by one of Prime-Smith's goons, though unintentionally. Prime-Smith attempts to capitulate on this circumstance to temporarily replace Alt-Smith just to see his son again later.]]

[[WMG: Smith is a pivot point.]]
The Man in the High Castle will reveal that after studying the films he's determined that Smith is an independent variable (whereas Juliana is a constant), whichever way he chooses to go will determine the fate of the universe (no matter which way things go, Smith will always be on the winning side). He convinces Smith of this (this is actually what he was trying to tell him when Juliana's universe-shifting interrupted them), and Smith decides to aid the resistance, leading to the defeat of the Nazis.
* '''Downplayed''': Juliana gets ghost-messages from Tagomi claiming that Prime Smith must be removed from the equation before he eventually leads the GNR to bring ruin to America and the multiverse. And indeed, he has to be.

[[WMG: Jim Jones would have been a villain in later seasons.]]
Even in the one season where they appeared, cracks have begun to show in the BCR. There are some members who are all for freedom from oppression and self-rule, but aren't really communists. There are also members who want to bring back the old U.S. as a way of unifying the country. The mid-to-late 60s in when Jim Jones first became active, and it isn't all that crazy of an idea that he would become a lightning rod for hard-liners in the BCR, even if he is white.

[[WMG: In all universes that contain Jennifer Smith...]]
...her number is [[Music/TommyTutone 867-5309]]. In fact, Jennifer Smith could potentially still be born in the alternate universe and have that number.

[[WMG: This is the same universe as 1984. Airstrip One is Nazi Britain]]