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"Eureka!" Moment

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Yup. Criminals are the superstitious ones.
Wilson: I've just given you the answer, haven't I? And now you're going to walk out of here without saying a word.
House: [walking out the door] Nope.
House, episode "Joy"

All complex problems are solved by sudden epiphany!

In every Locked Room Mystery, the detective can't solve the crime just by examining the relevant evidence. They always need some external inspiration (apparently) completely unrelated to everything, something along the lines of:

Sharona: Oh well, looks like you don't solve the crime. Whatever. Let's go get milkshakes.
Monk: Milkshakes… The killer is lactose intolerant. So is the victim's ex-wife! Of course!!

…or…

Bob: No tea, please.
Dave: That's how that letter found its way twenty miles to a dead man in Sudbury!

Can take the form of a Flashback-Montage Realization and will lead directly to The Summation, unless there's an Evidence Scavenger Hunt in between. Often the character having the epiphany will tell the person whose offhand remark inspired it that they're "a genius" or the like; the remarker will then variously nod in a befuddled manner, ask "I'm what?", or simply demand an explanation. A character who wants clarification about what they just heard will often ask the other person to Repeat What You Just Said.

Named for perhaps the most famous non-detective related example, Archimedes' exclamation of "Eureka!" after jumping into a bath and realizing that held the key to the problem he was trying to solve. (See below for details.)

The Eureka Moment shows up a lot on diagnosis-mystery medical shows, such as House, in which he does it in nearly every episode, and in the first episode of Grey's Anatomy, which isn't even a medical detective show! It may also show up on telenovelas or soap operas with some ongoing secret that defines a character or even the main plot. The truth is often almost revealed several times, by easily overheard conversations or weak evidence, and each time the status quo is kept with some contrived explanation. When the Eureka Moment takes place, The Reveal is not the result of a confession or an evidence that is too solid to be ignored, but instead the result of the hero putting all the small hints together and figuring out the truth by himself. In this case, expect a wave of several flashbacks of those hints before the "Eureka!".

Not to be confused with a Bat Deduction. While both can initially appear almost identical, a Eureka Moment leads to a coherent chain of reasoning that the detective can explain to the bystanders later; whereas a Bat Deduction, if it gets explained at all, makes even less sense after the explanation. However, although logically sound, the Eureka Moment may be enough to convince the one who came to it, but not to convince others (specially a court of law). In this case, the character may began a quest to obtain a Smoking Gun to prove things beyond any reasonable doubt.

Often used as a Deus ex machina, albeit one that is acceptable more often than annoying. If the detective actually takes the idea literally rather than using it as an inspiration, that is I Was Just Joking. Can even happen in your sleep, with Dreaming the Truth.

Compare Luck-Based Search Technique and You Were Trying Too Hard. See Placebo Eureka Moment for when there wasn't any external inspiration, but they act like there was, and Love Epiphany, when the insight gained is that one party loves the other. See also Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! for a similar situation where instead of finding a solution, someone becomes aware of a problem.

May contain unmarked spoilers.


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    Advertising 
  • A commercial for Shell gasoline shows a scientist trying to figure out how to explore for petroleum reserves underwater without building multiple derricks and drilling dozens of holes. While at a restaurant with his son, his son uses a bendy-straw upside down to suck up the last bits of milkshake at the very bottom of the glass, causing an epiphany. Cue the scientist making a pitch for a "bendy-drill" design.
  • Breakstone's cottage cheese had two:
    • One has Paul Breakstone sitting in a bathtub while wondering how to make his cottage cheese more practical. Meanwhile, his wife is yelling at him that his bath time is over. Just before the commercial ends, his wife walks by and says "Get out of that tub!" He then gets the idea to package the cottage cheese in individual cups.
    • Another has him sitting under a peach tree, wondering what he can put in his cheese so kids would eat it. "Maybe something sweet," he says, as peaches start to fall around him. Then he exclaims, "I've got it! Pineapple!" (He may have Failed a Spot Check there, but the completed product has both peach and pineapple varieties.)
  • In an 80s commercial for Lucky Charms, Lucky was pondering what new marshmallow shape to add to his cereal, when an angry purple horse kicked him in the butt; he quickly thought of Purple Horseshoes. ("Eh, the idea just hit me!" he told the kids, while rubbing his behind.)

    Anime & Manga 
  • Case Closed does this a lot.
    • One time, Conan solved a murder he had been stuck on just by Ran mentioning that she had bought new pajamas for them. (To be more specific, she mentioned that said PJs were a matched pair, leading Conan to realize that the murderer was a set of identical twins.)
    • Conan is a brilliant detective hiding in the body of a small child, so if he figures something out before anyone else, it's not uncommon for him to subtly lead those around him to their own Eureka Moment, rather than raising suspicions about himself by voicing his deductions directly.
    • There is also a certain part wherein Heiji and Conan figure out a dying message, but start, at Heiji's prompting, to subtly lead Kazuha to deciphering it to make her feel better, as she was about to cry.
    • As well as Conan deliberately inducing Eureka moments to Kogoro due to Kogoro's It's Personal attitude after the murder of one of his old judo teammates.
  • Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk: In Chapter 38, after seeing a modeling photo of Hana (who he knows is a boy) and Udon (who he knows is actually Shimazaki), Yuzuru sees Shimazaki walking by with Hanae. He suddenly realizes who Hana really is.
  • In an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura, wherein two of her magical allies were cursed with Shapeshifter Mode Lock and could not effectively masquerade as non-magical, she had no idea how to break the spell until she was given a dead crab as a gift. She was inspired by the crab's shell which protects it "just like a shield!" and deduced that she could use her Shield card to protect her allies from the curse's outside interference long enough for them to transform.
    • This was also how she first defeated the Watery card. As she was at the aquarium with Yukito, she stares at his ice drink for a bit...then realizes that, since Watery is water, it can be stopped by freezing it.
  • Vegeta gets one during the final battle against Buu in Dragon Ball Z. When Goku doesn't have the energy to push the Spirit Bomb to destroy Buu, Vegeta tries to get Mr. Satan to talk the people of Earth into giving more energy, and Mr. Satan refuses, because it would probably kill them (as they had already donated their energy to form the Spirit Bomb in the first place). Vegeta angrily points out that if it wasn't for his plan to use the Namekian Dragon Balls to wish back Earth and its people, they'd all still be dead... and then Vegeta realizes that they still have a wish left, which they use to restore Goku's energy.
  • In the éX-Driver film, after they are captured on Wang Somin's orders, Angela Gambino tells Souichi Sugano that she rigged a car to crash when they first met and later made an exploding AI cleaning car severely damage the track, all in an effort to ultimately stop her father Rico from gambling on the race.
  • Happens twice in Fullmetal Alchemist, within the same scene. When trying to decipher a code from Scar's brother's notes, the group takes a break to reassemble Al who is in pieces, like a puzzle. May rips the bindings of the notes and with Scar and Marcoh's help reassemble it to see the nationwide transmutation circle (which Ed and Al figured out beforehand). When trying to think there was a silver lining in this, Yoki sneezes and causes the papers to shift. They're annoyed that the papers have been 'flipped over', and Al comes to his realization that the papers needed to be turned over to see the other half of the hidden message: a second transmutation circle which can be used to reverse the effects of the first.
  • Naru has these regularly in Ghost Hunt, usually due to an offhand comment from Mai.
  • Togusa gets two of these moments, early in the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and in both of them, he's in a bathroom, looking at the mirror. In the second, the mirror is crucial: He realizes that, from the batch of pictures he's examining, all of them show a mirror or other reflective surface, but the camera isn't visible in any of them.
    • In fact, this is basically his main schtick. It's one of the reasons he's one of Section 9's most effective members; he's really good at putting the pieces together.
  • Double Subverted during the Culture festival arc of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War when a Phantom Thief steals all the extra heart shaped balloons class 2-B had and then leaves behind a clue to their next target that has a bunch of clock faces on it. Fujiwara seemingly sovles it when Erika makes a comment about the sun setting earlier in the winter (making her come to the conclusion that the different times on the clocks corrospond to timezones). When she runs off to the computer lab for further information, Kaguya mentions to Hayasaka that Fujiwara was probably just making stuff up, but a comment that she made about how "all mysteries exist to be solved" caused her to figure out the actual answer. Namely that there isn't one. Shirogane just threw a bunch of meaningless symbols together to keep the riddle loving Fujiwara distracted so she wouldn't interfere with his Grand Romantic Gesture to Kaguya.
  • In The Kindaichi Case Files, whenever Kindaichi feels stuck trying to deduce a murder plot, something seemingly unrelated soon jolts him into the realization that will help him to solve the case at hand.
  • In Magic Kaito, another work by author Gosho Aoyama (author of the aforementioned Case Closed), Kaito figures out how an old, poor magician got a parliamentary pen after a kidnapper claiming to be the Kaitou Kid took the Prime Minister after Aoko tells him the key to beating the boss of their video game is to defeat the king controlling him first.
  • Maria no Danzai: While comforting Yajima over her trauma and her wishing that Kowase was never found, Maria muses how, after being bullied like she was, it's not strange that she would wish death upon Kowase. It certainly wouldn't be that strange if someone in her position considered outright killing people, either. She then remembers that there was another victim mentioned in Kiritaka's diary: the student he saved when he first became Okaya's target. Maria quickly guesses that said student, Akihiro Yuda, may have been the one responsible for murdering Iijima a couple of weeks before, and goes to talk to him about it; his reaction practically confirms her suspicions.
  • In Mister Ajikko, whenever Yoichi is unsure about what to do to solve his culinary problems at hand, expect him to encounter something seemingly unrelated that will inspire and lead him to a needed solution soon afterwards.
  • In the Moldiver episode "Intruder", Mirai Ozora is cornered by the Machinegal Dolls in their Super Doll uniforms. However, she quickly deduces the suits are partly protected by a pseudo-molecule as opposed to the Moldiver suit, which is fully protected by said molecule and comes up with a plan to take the Dolls down.
  • Naruto has more than a few of these when trying to learn new jutsus.
    • When learning the Rasengan's rotation step, which involves bursting a water balloon, he struggles with getting the water to rotate in the desired fashion until he happens upon a cat batting one of his water balloons around. He gets the idea of using his other hand to start the rotation, and quickly masters the step.
    • When Naruto's learning the Rasenshuriken, an advanced form of the Rasengan that also involves adding wind element chakra into the Rasengan, Naruto, who already needs a Shadow Clone to handle the "control" step of the Rasengan, complains that adding the wind chakra is like looking left and right at the same time. Kakashi then summons a Shadow Clone to show Naruto how he can do that, inspiring Naruto to add an additional clone to do just that.
    • Late in Naruto's Sage Mode training, Naruto, struggling with how to use sage chakra in battle when he has to sit still in order to gather it, hears the previous "look left and right" phrase again, and comes up with the plan to have a Shadow Clone gather sage chakra.
  • Occurs in Patlabor: The Movie. Our heroes are trying to find out what's causing some Humongous Mecha with a new OS to go out of control. While taking a break while the investigation seems to be leading nowhere, Noah sees a dog barking at something they can't see & mentions they can hear things humans can't, cluing Shinohara in to the fact that ultrasonic waves are the culprit.
    • Shinohara actually gets two of these in the film. The second comes when they learn that the evil genius who created the program had a plan to make all the robots in Tokyo to go crazy at once & are trying to figure out what could cause enough ultrasonic waves to make it happen. When a whistling tea kettle causes a nearby figurine in a glass case to shake they realize it's sympathetic vibrations in skyscrapers caused by the wind. Fortunately, it'd take a mind-bogglingly huge building & incredibly powerful winds for a city-wide disaster to occur. Unfortunately a giant factory complex has just finished construction in Tokyo Bay & a record-breaking typhoon is due to hit in three days…
  • Pokémon: The Series:
    • Ash Ketchum has one of these in pretty much every Gym battle to turn it around (granted, his epiphanies don't always make the most sense). If you see him panicking because his opponent is pulling some kind of unbeatable schtick, then snap his head up with a thousand-yard stare and say "wait, that's it!", chances are someone's about to get their ass beat.
    • Sometimes his companions do it too. May and Dawn get a few of these during their contest battles.
    • Invoked by Cameron by snapping his headband back if he's in a pinch during a Pokemon battle. It doesn't always work though.
  • In Super Cub, Koguma is busy trying to find a cheap way of protecting her eyes, since she can't afford a helmet with a face shield, when she sees a man cleaning her school's library with a protective face mask and goggles. She then realizes goggles are a cheap but practical solution.
  • In Utawarerumono (the visual novel), Hakuoro studies a strand of Mutikapa's fur in frustration, unable to explain why the creature fled the previous night when it had him and Eruruw in its grasp. Unable, that is, until Eruruw drenches him and the fur in tea and this trope ensues.
  • Arguably the entire point of Yakitate!! Japan, but applied to making bread. For example, one of these moments leads to the creation of Kazuma's "sushi-style" melon bread.
  • Once per Episode in Vicky the Viking, Vicky and his crew of Vikings will be stuck in some terrible dilemma. Vicky will rub his nose for a bit, then inspiration for the resolution will strike.
  • Similar to Ash Ketchum above, Yugi Muto from Yu-Gi-Oh! gets these when he realizes how to beat an opponent's seemingly unbeatable combo. One of his most triumphant examples is when he figures out how to defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon.
  • Happens to Misawa in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX as a way to break himself out of the resident cult's More than Mind Control. It's also a Shout-Out to Archimedes' original eureka moment, so keep the Brain Bleach handy. (The dub edited in a pair of underpants.)

    Comic Books 
  • Art Ops: The Body has one from seeing Juliet eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. Thinking of how the two complement each other, it leads him to realise that the best way to track down the Mona Lisa is to release Bruno, the Mona Lisa's own Foil.
  • Batman: Batman's Eureka Moment from way, way back in Detective Comics #27 defined his career:
    Bruce Wayne: Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible…
    [window blows open, and a certain species winged mammal flies in]
    Bruce: A BAT!
  • Berrybrook Middle School:
    • After some words from Ms. Tobins, Peppi gets the idea to unite the Art and Science clubs through a project that combines their talents.
    • In "Brave", after Jensen says that Akilah and Jenny's fight was a lizard brain moment, the former realizes that he's absolutely right, and she finds it in herself to both make amends (though it's mostly Jenny who apologizes) and help get Felicity out of suspension.
  • Daredevil: Parodied in a "how to draw the characters" variant cover:
    1. A lot of comic artists use photo reference when drawing! So, for this one, pull up an image of someone who resembles Daredevil, like popular New York District Attorney Matt Murdock!
    2. Use a light blue pencil to rough out the shape of his head and placement of features. Ha! Just noticed that Murdock wears red glasses!
    3. As most of you know, Matt Murdock is blind, so he may not even realize that Daredevil's main color of choice is red! Anyway! Sketch out the rest of his features!
    4. Now, with a darker pencil, use the blue template to sketch out the shape of Daredevil's head, and give him some eyes! How does he see through those tiny red lenses! Ha ha!
    5. Okay! Now you can add all the details that make him Daredevil! I mean, makes the HEAD Daredevil, not Murdock! Though Murdock does have a great knowledge of the law and criminals, and being blind in public would really throw people off your-
    6. Oh my god
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe: In one Gyro Gearloose story, the Beagle Boys steal Gyro's thinking cap (a device that he needs to come up with great ideas) and threaten to destroy it unless Gyro builds them special gear to help them with heists. Helpless, Gyro is forced to comply and while the Beagles go on a crime spree, laments that he can't come up with a brilliant idea to stop the crooks. This gets him thinking- Does the idea have to be brilliant? After all, fancy tools or not, the Beagle Boys are the same greedy thugs they've always been. He defeats the Beagles by creating a knockout gas bomb disguised as a diamond, and simply waits for the Beagles to steal it.
  • Green Lantern: When Katma Tui is tasked with recruiting an inhabitant of the Ophidian Depths into the Green Lantern Corps, she has some difficulty due to the recruit Rot Lop Fan being of a blind species and therefore being unable to understand Katma's attempts at informing him about the Green Lantern Corps and their oath due to having no concept of color or light. When Rot Lop Fan says the word "ring" while trying to sympathize with her difficulty in getting him to understand, Katma Tui realizes a way to work around the issue when she instead makes Rot Lop Fan an F-Sharp Bell and explains the power ring and oath to him using terms related to sound.
  • Iznogoud: Evil characters also can have this, as Iznogoud proves:
    Iznogoud: Do you have an idea how I could get rid of the Caliph, Wa'at Alahf?
    Wa'at Alahf: Sir, I'd rather feed my tongue to a cat!
    Iznogoud: [thinking] Tongue to a cat... the cat is a predator... the tiger is also a predator... the tiger is a man-eater... the Caliph is a man... so the tiger is a Caliph-eater!
    Iznogoud: [aloud] That's a great idea of you, organizing a tiger hunt!
    Wa'at Alahf: A tiger hunt? Me? What?
  • Justice League of America: Used in the Origins Episode story for Grant Morrison's JLA (1997). Starro has taken over a tower filled with people along with The Flash (Wally West). A temporary team, comprised of the rest of Morrison's first line up — Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) — have gathered, only for The Spectre to step in and tell them "no". After being shown a Bad Future, Batman decides to go in alone. When the Spectre isn't stopping Batman, Spectre points out that Batman is only human, that Starro is aiming for metahumans. Superman realizes that the answer is right there and asks Spectre to strip them of their powers so they can aid Batman.
  • Justice Society of America: In Classified, at the end of The Fall and Rise of Vandal Savage story arc of, Vandal Savage is at his lowest point. He's dying of a brain tumor, all of his resources are gone, and he just failed to kill Alan Scott whom he sees as an embodiment of "The Green", a bogeyman of death that has haunted Vandal Savage throughout his long life. He bitterly realizes that Alan Scott will outlive him. The disfigured clone Vandal Savage made of himself as part of his failed scheme then asks him if there's anything he can do to make Savage comfortable and addresses him as "father". Vandal Savage pauses then asks the clone to repeat what he just called him. The clone calls him father again. This leads to Vandal realizing that the clone is technically a descendant of his, and since Vandal's immortality is rejuvenated by eating the flesh of his descendants...
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992): A librarian gets the idea for a hot air balloon from a boy who draws an analogy to his bubble bath.
  • The Maze Agency: In almost every issue, some seemingly random comment or event will start the gears spinning in Gabe's head and cause him to suddenly see the solution to the current mystery.
  • Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero: Lampshaded. Naomi asks Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld, who helped develop the Jaegers, to recount the development of technology. She refers to the anecdotal story that he got the idea to build giant robots to fight the Kaiju when watching his son play with action figures as his "famous Eureka moment".
  • Rat Queens: A flashback shows Violet condemned to a miserable life of fulfilling family obligations. Then she meets Morgan who has escaped by just ignoring the obligations. Shortly afterward Violet does the same.
  • Spider-Man: In The Amazing Spider-Man (Dan Slott) #648, Mister Fantastic and Iron Man have literally minutes to defuse a bomb left by Doctor Octopus that would destroy New York City, while the rest of the Fantastic Four and The Avengers look on. Johnny Storm suggests that Spider-Man could come up with a "fallback plan", prompting Spider-Man to point at a clock reading nearly 2 a.m., saying "There's no time for me to come up with a fallback… fall back… THAT'S IT!" He then syncs the bomb's electronic timer with its main OS system's internal clock. Turns out it was the first Sunday in November, meaning the end of Daylight Savings Time, when people set their clocks back an hour or "Fall back". By syncing the bomb's timer, Spider-Man was able to extend the countdown by an hour, giving the FF and the Avengers enough time to take the bombs out to sea to explode harmlessly.
    • Ultimate Spider-Man: Kong (who up until now has been the Dumb Muscle school bully) remembers several things: the incident with Peter Parker and the weird spider at Oscorp, that Pete suddenly became a great basketball player, that he broke Flash's hand, that Spider-Man debuted at the wrestling club shortly after the gang visited it, that Spider-Man showed up to save the school when the Green Goblin began to attack it...and Kong suddenly realizes Peter Parker is Spider-Man! Being Kong, his response to this is to then run through the school yelling this to the world.
  • Supergod: Reddin has a literal one while sitting on the toilet, foreshadowing that it's a really crap idea, given that his idea causes The End of the World as We Know It.
  • Superman: In Superman: Space Age, Flash's ship-in-a-bottle gift gives Superman the idea to use Kryptonian crystals as an ark for humanity.
  • Star Wars: In one Star Wars Legends comic, Darth Vader has been able to torture out the means of hunting down the Rebel Alliance's hyperdrive paths and sought to capture prisoners to find the Rebel Fleet, but kept getting stopped by the targets being obliterated. After the second target was destroyed, Vader attempted to Force Choke the General in anger, who refused to apologize for what happened, stating he was inspired by the Empire's destruction of Alderaan. Through the Force, Vader realizes they're being played and set up a test with a certain gunner at a place claimed to be a Rebel Base, which he destroyed. Vader ended up setting it up as a Batman Gambit: had the gunner not been the sabotaur, the base would have suffered minimal damage. If he was, then, as he learns to his horror, he just destroyed one of the last surviving colonies of Alderaan, his homeworld.

    Comic Strips 
  • The Far Side; one cartoon shows Albert Einstein having written and crossed out on a blackboard "E=mc^3", "E=mc^4", and many other variations with the number different. He notices the cleaning lady who has just straightened out his desk saying, "There we go, everything squared away. Squaaaared away."

    Fan Works 
Calvin and Hobbes

Crossover

  • Fantasy of Utter Ridiculousness (Megas XLR & Touhou Project): Reimu experiences one of these. When Coop is able to attack both Yuuka and her clone in the midst of a Double Spark, she has a flashback to the events of Imperishable Night and the teamwork needed to resolve the incident... and it's there that she's finally able to figure out how to get everyone out of the fight alive.
  • Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail:
    • When Chloe struggles to figure out what her story is going to be about, having been hit with writer's block for three days, describes this as constantly chasing after something...and then creates a story that is basically a Revenge Fic on how she hates Goh chasing after Mew.
    • The chapter later when Chloe is praised by Titus for having figured out the answer to his question — "What does she have in common to previous passengers" — she says that forgiving Lexi (For having lashed out at his father and getting Chloe hot water burns when trying to stop the fight) wasn't that big a deal. She realizes that the answer to the question is that all passengers had the potential to change for the better.
    • An even bigger moment happens when Atticus wishes to know about the tales of Pokémon in Chloe's world. Chloe realizes that even if she doesn't like being a Professor or Trainer, she could still be involved with the monsters in some way by researching the numerous legends and myths surrounding them.
  • Kyon: Big Damn Hero (Haruhi Suzumiya & TV Tropes; author Died During Production): Mikuru realizes a loophole to allow a time traveler to change history without violating causality after commenting to Kyon that the dinner she just cooked was "add[ing] some things from outside of the normal recipe".

Danganronpa

  • Graduate Meeting of Mutual Killing: Trial 2. The surviving characters need to find a culprit candidate besides Hikasa, the one that's already under suspicion, and the Mastermind, a former suspect. However, there's almost no evidence that could point towards anybody else. Toriumi has spent the whole trial forcing people to throw a ball around in what she said was "a way to keep hands nimble and our minds even more nimble". Then Ogata realizes the true purpose of this ruse: to find who among the survivors is left-handed, as only a left-handed person could have killed the victim the way it happened, without alerting the culprit. And how did it result? It succeeded.

Godzilla

  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): A little downplayed. Hearing Martin ask whether Monster X would be more comparable to God (like Godzilla) or the Devil (like Ghidorah) after they've discovered that Monster X has developed silver in its biology prompts Dr. Ilene Chen to, after a moment's deliberation, recall a couple mythological god-devil fusions like Baphomet and Abraxas, comparing Monster X to them.

Harry Potter

  • In The Chronicles of Merlin: The Return Dumbledore and Fudge battle over custody of Harry, who wants neither of them to win. When Ron comments that they'll probably be fighting over it for weeks, Harry realizes that if he gets other people to join in, they'll all be so busy fighting that nobody will get custody of him, buying him some time.
  • In Harry, Just Harry Harry is experiencing erratic magic and a Muggle-oriented aversion field due to an unidentified ailment. When Madame Pomfrey mentions that some Muggle medical books she borrowed for research purposes are a bit dusty, it reminds Harry of a Muggle classmate named Dustin who died of multiple sclerosis when he was nine. This leads Harry to the speculation that his illness might be damaging the protective shields around his "magic filaments", similar to the way that MS damages nerve coverings.
  • In Harry Potter and the Curse of Durand Harry and his friends are in the library trying to solve a riddle and Madame Pince shushes them when an argument between Ron and Hermione gets a little too loud. This makes Hermione realize that the answer to "To make one yield you almost seek, but first must call for hush" is shield.
  • In Harry Potter and the Lady of the Lake Daphne and Neville are trying to identify two Polyjuiced people who raped Harry by examining them in a Pensieve memory. When Neville notices that the grip on one of their wands is part metal and comments that it can't exactly be common, Daphne recalls Ollivander's boast that he remembers the purchaser of every wand he's ever sold.
  • Harry Potter And The Rune Stone Path: In chapter 41, Luna translates Hermione's Magi Babble into Layman's Terms as they explain to the extra credit Defense Against the Dark Arts class why the shield spell absorbs some spells and reflects others. Harry Potter overhears while he's trying to figure out why his runic cluster isn't absorbing the pieces of Voldemort's soul.
    Harry [thinking]: Incompatible energies… absorption vs. banishment… Souls can't be absorbed… souls can't be absorbed!
    [Harry erases the Absorption rune and replaces it with a Banishment rune]
    Harry [shouting]: Haha! Got it! Take that you bloody thing! Who's the runemaster now, huh!
  • Harrys Loophole: In chapter 1, during Ron and Harry's first argument concerning Harry's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, Ron accidentally gives Harry the idea to show up to the events but not try; It'll be competing, but without the danger. Another positive is that hearing Harry proclaim that he's gonna go with his idea convinces Ron that Harry didn't put his name in and that he's not a glory hound, thus averting their months-long fight.
  • Just An Errant Thought: Harry listens to the prophecy orb after retrieving it, decides it's utter nonsense and wonders how he can make a mockery of it. Then his cousin asks what the orb is.
    Harry: This is a genuine magical prophecy orb courtesy of the Ministry for Magic’s Department of Mysteries.
    Dudley: You make it sound like something to be found only in stores and on sale.
    Harry: Say that again?
    Dudley: You made it sound like an advertisement offering a one of a kind prophecy orb. "For five pounds, you too could own your very own prophecy orb!"
    Harry: Dudley...you, you are a genius!
  • In Winds of Change Neville mentions how Harry's presence always made Hogwarts seem more homelike, leading Harry to the conclusion that a depressed, divorced Fleur needs to go home to France.

The Loud House

  • Mall Rats: Lincoln is impatient with Leni rejecting all his shoe choices, but when he complains to himself that she's "turning them down flat", he gets an idea about wearing the top she rejected with a pair of flats and wearing the heels she rejected earlier with a romper.

Miraculous Ladybug

  • Fashion Upgrade:
    • Marinette decides the theme for the fashion show will be the temporary heroes of Paris after she prevents Chat Noir from falling off her couch and he thanks her calling her "his hero".
    • Discussed. When asked how she came up with the idea of making Mayura the main character in the class play, which allows it to fit the chosen theme without hitting Paris’s Hawk Moth-shaped Trauma Button, Rose credits “a visit from inspiration.” “Inspiration” more frequently goes by the name Marinette Dupain-Cheng, but Rose can’t admit this because the class isn’t supposed to have outside help or discuss the details of their project with others.

My Little Pony

  • In Earth and Sky, Twilight first starts working on how to help non-pegasus ponies fly after her conversations with Pinkie and Pumpkin, but doesn't settle on the idea of using artificial wings until she sees Sweetie Belle wearing a pair as part of her Princess Celestia costume.
  • A Taste of the Good Life: Scootaloo comments that when she was out on her own she would have tried to sneak into restaurants for scraps. "Heck, I would have eaten the empty bowls if I could have." This gives Main Course the idea of making edible soup bowls out of bread rolls.
  • We Can Do This Forever: Starlight Glimmer issues the titular statement during her battle across time with Twilight Sparkle, causing Twilight to realize how she can eventually defeat Starlight. As The Ageless, Twilight literally can fight Starlight forever, whereas Starlight will eventually grow old and die.

Naruto

  • Naru-Hina Chronicles:
    • Shizune needs to find someone who can be a messenger in charge of running important messages between Konoha and Suna, or else she'll have to do that job herself. She asks Naruto if he's willing to do that, but he declines, much to her disappointment. Naruto then wishes he knew someone who wanted to go to Suna alone, only to immediately realize that Shikamaru might be that person. The latter accepts the job, as it will allow him to spend more time with Temari, although Naruto never even thought about that and only assumed Shikamaru would accept it just because he doesn't mind being by himself and the job requires little work.
    • During a picnic with Hinata in Chapter 90, Naruto has a conversation with her that leads to him having an idea regarding a jutsu he's practicing.
    • In Chapter 95, Naruto has an epiphany regarding his jutsu after Hinata says "I guess if we are both feeling it... then we must be one...". However, he mispronounces it as "an apipananny".

One Piece

  • This Bites!: During the Thriller Bark arc, the crew ends up dealing with Moria who had Awakened his Devil Fruit powers, leading Su to snark that Soundbite was as helpless as the rest of them even though he's on the same level. This causes Soundbite to snap and go into a rant that he's still a snail and his powers still have limits, and that Awakened abilities take god-tier amounts of energy to use, topped off by saying even Moria's pushing it since he just Awakened, and that even if he had ten times his normal energy, Soundbite wouldn't be able to use as much power as Moria's using for ten minutes without burning out. Upon reaching those last two words, Cross and Soundbite realize how to defeat him.
    Cross: (high-eying Soundbite) And that is why we stick together!
    Soundbite: That and you wipe my ass!

Once Upon a Studio

Star Wars

  • In A Sword to Pass, Rau and Bo-katan have one when the conversation for a representative for the pacifist moves to the Wrens. They both realize that Alrich would be the perfect person to find a suitable representative and that no one would dare to assassinate such a high profiled member of House Vizsla.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

  • Fallen King: Joey and Tristan ramble about The Wizard of Oz and wanting to fly home like Dorothy, and suddenly remember Kaiba's helicopter.

Unsorted

  • In All Mixed Up!, Oscar, feeling frustrated after spending half a week trying to figure out why agents are turning into various objects, lashes out, remarking on how he and Otto are getting nowhere and how things get "all mixed up" no matter what they do. This allows Otto to figure out that the culprit is turning everyone into objects that are anagrams of their titles and names.
  • Dirty Sympathy: Apollo realizes that his bracelet helps him pinpoint lies when it reacts when Klavier says he can handle Daryan but it doesn't when Apollo goads him into admitting that he hates Daryan and would rather be with Apollo.
  • In The Egg Team, Eggman suddenly comes up with the idea of using Mobians to fight against Sonic and his friends while repairing Metal Sonic, who had been recently defeated.
  • In the Horseshoes and Hand Grenades story, SplitxEnd, Yayoi figures out how Gentaro was resurrected from the dead after seeing her best friend JK being possessed by Ryutaros and having to beat him up with a pillow.
    • In A Month of Sundays, Akiko as Kamen Rider Skull makes a comment about Shotaro not knowing about justice that makes Jun solve everything regarding Damballa's Carnival of the Human Spirit act clear.
  • Chapter 4 of Lucky At Cards: Cordelia learns that a spell was cast on her as a child to manipulate events so as to ensure she stays a virgin. That causes her to realize she should have stayed together with Xander. She dumped him on Valentine's Day in front of everyone right after he gave her a beautiful gift, all with some flimsy excuse about Harmony. Under normal circumstances, she'd have spent the night riding him like a rented mule but she broke up with him instead.
  • The Ouroboros: April, like the rest of her companions, is puzzled about how the Stable Time Loop they're supposedly enacting is meant to work, especially since their future counterparts have refused to offer any real explanations, citing 'spoilers'. Things click into place when she overhears a sulking Leo, sore over Donnie's teasing about how he's Not So Above It All, grumbles "No wonder our future selves don't want us to come home." This causes her to realize that their counterparts lied — they really don't want them to come home. Ever.
  • Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: In Act III chapter 42, with the revelation that Fairy Tale is still active and coming to attack Yokai Academy, Tsukune remarks to Moka that Akua and Kahlua said that Fairy Tale had been destroyed. At that very moment, Moka recalls the mystery vampire agent they fought in Ashton City during Act II, and from the evidence she failed to notice before (namely the agent's fighting style, voice over the radio, knowledge of Moka, and the fact that Akua just suddenly showed up right after they left Ashton City), realizes that Akua was said vampire agent; thus, Akua and Kahlua have been working for Fairy Tale all along.
  • Bakugo in Waiting is worth it figured out that Izuku's step-father Toshinori was All Might on his own simply from observation.

    Radio 
  • On Absolute Power (BBC), Martin's comments (usually that they should give up, or similarly unhelpful) often give Charles a Eureka Moment. Lampshade Hanging in the second episode:
    Charles: You have that ability, peculiar to the mediocre, of making the obvious statement that brings out the genius in a genius.
  • Parodied in the "Store Detective" skit in John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme:
    Casterbridge: You know, all along there's been something nagging me about this case. Something not quite right about it. And it took Sloman here to make me see it. "That's the way the cookie crumbles" he said. Clumsily and for no obvious reason.

    Theatre 
  • The SpongeBob Musical: During "Hero is My Middle Name", Spongebob tells Sandy that she's the only person in Bikini Bottom with the smarts to figure out a way to stop the eruption of Mount Humongous, then hastily adds "But no pressure!" This gives Sandy the idea to build a device to disrupt the building pressure in the volcano's magma chamber which will nullify the eruption.

    Toys 
  • Beast Wars: Uprising:
    • During "Trigger Warnings", at the climax, Wolfang has several of these; determining that the scribbling note he found on Lidar's body says "wings post-forging", that murder victim Twirl was trying to hide her original alt-mode, and that she was a Targetmaster. Then, when it looks like everything's wrapped up, he recalls something Blackarachnia told him, that Overrun, a nerdy tech guy, introduced Blackarachnia and Twirl. Because Overrun was also a Targetmaster, and he's the one who killed Twirl.
    • Early on in "Not All Megatrons", Megatron is ruminating on the Uprising, as he thinks about his old ant-droid farm. This is when he hits on the idea of severing proto-formers from their need for processed energon by taking on beast modes.

    Video Games 
  • Heart's Medicine tends to use this as a dramatic turning point; either at the end of the final chapter or the one just before it, with the possible exception of Season One, Allison will come to some realization from a passing remark and make a breakthrough that resolves an overarching patient storyline. Spoilers are at discretionary for the former two cases.
    • Time To Heal has Allison associate the father of a young girl, Lisa, with her own father's death when she was a child early on. As she begins clearing out with her stuff, one last look at her father's picture has her associate the bruises her father had shown before his death with the bruises on her patient, encouraging her to doubt the "autoimmune disease" diagnosis and discover the true cause; Dregen's Heart Parasites, which she manages to locate and treat through a very extreme gamble; injecting him with toxin to agitate them.
    • Hospital Heat has Allison confront her absentee mother Mathilda, who apparently requires a kidney transplant, and her stepbrother Ryan. After Ryan demonstrates the same catatonia as Mathilda when she remains unresponsive, Allison realizes that her mother's spacing out wasn't psychological, and soon after why her mother's condition isn't improving; Ruth diagnoses M Athilda with advanced Herkins disorder and prescribes conscious brain surgery. Unlike Time to Heal, the payoff isn't immediate in-universe; Mathilda is prepared quickly, but Allison needs to reclaim the hospital's sold neuro-endoscope from Queensburrow. In the meantime, the fire at Little Creek from the opening is explained as John Summers' cost-cutting, greedy former partner Victor's use of outdated ICU gear sparking it, and Allison must perform the surgery in the middle of a burning hospital.
    • The twist in Doctor's Oath is relatively latecoming, so spoiler warnings are in full effect; after losing Sophia to the overarching disease, Allison falls into a catatonic state and is interred in the psych ward, retreating into an idealized version for the chapter. As the dream collapses, and Allison comes to terms with Joe's death, her offhand comment on "rejecting anything that could really help her come back" causes her to have a breakthrough; the vaccine she tried on Sophia was rejected by her immune systems. Once the dream fully collapses, Heart rushes to save the rest of them with a risky gamble; locking herself in with the quarantine switch without a hazard suit and, without a suit, enclosing the medicine in a packet of each of her failing friends' (and her own) DNA to trick their immune systems, then quickly injecting the prepared doses. It works.
  • Parodied in the first season finale of Telltale's Sam & Max: Freelance Police series. Most fans had figured out by this point who the season villain was, so at the beginning of the episode Sam is trying to figure out who the villain is. Max has to drop increasingly obvious clues before Sam finally figures it out... through a nonsensical logical leap based on the fact that he's never said the word "morning."
  • In Grim Fandango, after Manny discovers a suitcase filled with tickets for the Number Nine 9 train, he comments that something about them feels off but he can't figure out what. Once he rescues Meche, she shows him more tickets in a room and says they just "sit there". Hearing that makes Manny remember that real Double-N tickets move around on their own and fly to the person they belong to, and realize the tickets he saw before were actually counterfeits.
  • Tomb Raider (2013): After cauterizing her wounded side, the intense pain gives Lara the idea to create Flaming Arrows.
  • Happens a few times in the Ace Attorney series.
    • In case 4 of the first game, you're backed into a corner, you have no proof that the witness isn't who he says he is, and it looks like you're going to lose. von Karma then says something as a joke which suddenly turns everything around: "Perhaps you would like to cross-examine the parrot for some comic relief?"
    • This trope is probably why the Edgeworth-based spin-off game makes his catchphrase "Eureka!" He actually does get one in AAI case 2, when Zinc LeBlanc falls over the railing in the plane's cargo bay, raising the possibility that the victim was pushed to his death, and died much earlier than Edgeworth realized.
    • At several points in AAI Edgeworth will hit a brick wall with his confrontations, but then the player is reminded of past innocuous scraps of conversation, then links together half a dozen or so pieces of logic, which leads to a whole new perspective on the case.
    • Dual Destinies features Revisualization (Thought Route in Japan), which shows the character's thought process as they come up with the Eureka Moment.
    • Spirit of Justice once again features Revisualization. However, the most noteworthy moment for the game comes in the final case, where Apollo has to, on the spot, and at gunpoint, figure out how to dethrone a country's queen. First he zeroes in on Ga'ran's obsession with the Founder's Orb, and rebel leader Dhurke's comments that the Orb is the key to overthrowing her. He figures that there must be some reason that Ga'ran wants the Orb so desperately. Thinking through the possibilities, he realizes that people want the Founder's Orb because it's said to grant spiritual power, which is one of the preresequites to claim the throne under the kingdom's laws, and if Ga'ran wants it because of that, that would mean that she has no spiritual power of her own. And if Ga'ran doesn't actually have any spiritual power, then that means that Ga'ran has no claim to the throne.
  • Sonic Adventure 2
    • When Sonic finds himself trapped in an escape pod rigged to explode with the fake Chaos Emerald that Tails created to sabotage the Eclipse Cannon, he recalls what Tails said about the fake Emerald: "It has the same wavelength and properties, but is less powerful than the real one." Realizing this, he figures that he can use even this fake Emerald to activate Chaos Control to teleport out of harm's way.
    • During the Last Story, as Amy begs Shadow to help the heroes prevent the ARK from destroying Earth, a certain phrase she uses triggers his dormant memory: when Amy says "Give them a chance", it leads to Shadow recalling that Maria didn't want him to carry out revenge on her behalf. Instead, her last words were "Give them a chance to be happy". Realizing that Maria wanted Shadow to protect humanity, he completes his Heel–Face Turn and joins Sonic in saving the Earth.
  • Heavy Rain: The clues start coming together in the last act for the characters (and, by extension, the player) this way.
  • In Assassin's Creed II, Ezio and an ally are trying to figure out how to get into the Doge's palace to prevent an assassination plot. The friend remarks that the walls are so high, "only a bird could get over them". Ezio hears this and mutters "A bird... yes...", then runs off to ask Leonardo da Vinci about that flying machine of his...
    • Leonardo later has his own Eureka Moment after they discover that said flying machine doesn't get very far on its own. In his frustration, he throws a piece of paper into the fire, where it starts to rise from the heat, inspiring the crew to set up bonfires across Venice.
    • Bartolomeo inspires Ezio to another Eureka Moment when he realizes that they have no chance of storming Baron de Valois's fortress to rescue Pantasilea. He starts wondering if it would just be best to just give himself up, leading Ezio to his idea of disguising the mercenaries as French soldiers and pretending that he surrendered himself to get past the gates.
  • Although he is no detective, Professor Layton has at least one per game.
  • Persona 4: Being a murder mystery, there's one such moment. However, it's the player who has to initiate it, fitting in with the theme of "Reaching out to the Truth". At a critical moment in the case, the player is given a review of the facts (several times), and then a list of names. You get 3 tries, and there is only one right answer. Fail and the case goes cold, leading to the Bad End. But if you get it right, and Protagonist will say the name out loud, leading to the team figuring out who The Killer might be.
  • Persona 5: Toward the end of the game Akechi has one while on a talk show to discuss the apparent suicide of the leader of the Phantom Thieves (whom Akechi believes he has successfully murdered), and recalls that he felt dizzy for a moment. Someone's cell phone rings, whereupon Akechi realizes that Sae, by showing him the cell phone, inadvertently shifted Akechi into the Metaverse and had him kill a cognitive replica of the protagonist. At that point, Akechi acts like nothing is wrong, but soon sets out to find the protagonist inside Shido's Palace and finish the job.
  • In Dawn of War 2: Retribution, Kaptain Bluddflagg has one of these when he figures out where Big Bad Kyras is hiding in the campaign map.
    Mr. Nailbrain: Maybe we should go 'ide out on dat place dey dakka'd before. Dey won't waste good dakka, right?...
    Bluddflagg: Hold on a squig! If dat Kyras-git is anglin' ta zog da hole sektor...
    Mr. Nailbrain: Right...
    Bluddflagg: And Kyras is in da Sektor...
    Mr. Nailbrain: Okay...
    Bluddflagg: And Kyras don't want ta get zogged...
    Mr. Nailbrain: Yeah... Yeah... Right...
    Bluddflagg: And dose big humie ships won't dakka da place dey dakka'd before...
    Mr. Nailbrain: Yeah?!
    Bluddflagg: Den Kyras... would go... ta da place... dey won't dakka! ... Which is dat place!
    Beat
    Mr. Nailbrain: ...Still not following ya kap'n.
  • RuneScape: During the events leading up to the destruction of the old wizards' tower, mages were baffled on how to make new teleportation spells. The Red apprentice was working on a different problem; how to increase the effectiveness of combat spells by bypassing defenses. He had an idea he thought would work, but couldn't figure out why it wasn't. So he showed it to the Grey apprentice, who had the Eureka Moment; his idea — sending the spell through a second plane with Law magic — was the solution to the teleportation problem.
  • In Emerald City Confidential, Petra, a private investigator, is hired by a Femme Fatale named Dee to find her Runaway Fiancé. Petra doesn't realize that Dee is in fact Dorothy Gale until Dee mentions tornadoes.
  • A meta example for Super Smash Bros.: Masahiro Sakurai gets swarmed with dozens of requests for characters to join the roster, and naturally, not everyone can make the cut. His solution to this? Let the players add who they want with Mii Fighters, complete with a variety of in-game costumes, three fighting styles to choose from, and twelve special attacks for each fighting style!
  • Mortal Kombat 9: Throughout the game, Raiden is desperately trying to Set Right What Once Went Wrong after receiving a message from his future self during the events of Armageddon, said message being the incredibly vague "He must win." After multiple screw-ups and becoming desperate enough to try striking a deal with Quan Chi when Shao Kahn launches a full-scale invasion of Earthrealm, Raiden points out to Quan Chi that Shao Kahn can only merge the realms through victory in a Mortal Kombat tournament; otherwise, he will face the judgment of the Elder Gods. As soon as those words are out of his mouth, Raiden realizes that "He must win" actually refers to Shao Kahn himself; as his invasion is considered an unlawful breach of the rules of Mortal Kombat, Shao Kahn must be allowed to merge the realms so the Elder Gods can punish him for his violation.
  • Mega Man 11 starts off with this. Dr. Wily once worked on a Double Gear project with Dr. Light back at Robot University, but for whatever reason he thought the project was not necessary to continue or incorporate into his work. However, as the nightmares of his repeated losses to Light and Mega Man start catching up to him, he starts to remember this work...
    Urgh... bad memories make the worst dreams! A genius of my caliber needs sleep in order to keep his brain in gear... ...wait... that research from my youth! Yeeees...! Now I'll show you, Light!!
  • Like a Dragon
    • Played for Laughs in Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 with "Revelations", wherein Kiryu and others observe odd happenings, recording them, and gain inspiration from them to develop new combat skills. When the feature is introduced in 3, it entails Kiryu taking pictures of an elderly woman on a scooter who got distracted by a poster of a sexy Korean actor, bumped into the rear fender of a car in front of her, and unwittingly performs a forward flip over the car. After witnessing this and taking the pictures, Kiryu blogs about it and gets inspiration for a new attack wherein he similarly flips over and dropkicks an enemy.
    • While the Revelations mechanic would be absent for the next few entries in the series, the idea returns in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth via Alo-Happy Tours, which send Kasuga and company on themed tours around Hawaii, each of which lead to inspiration that unlocks new jobs. To name one example: while parasailing, Kasuga falls off after narrowly avoiding a flying bird and saves himself from a nasty collision with the ground by catching onto and swinging around a palm tree, after which he swats away the subsequently falling coconuts with martial arts moves. He then realizes he was acting just like a hero from a Hong Kong film, which leads to the unlocking of the Action Star job. In the case of Female jobs Chitose is the one that has Revelations, such as after pulling off some incredibly impressive Yoga moves while all the guys just twist their backs she suddenly gets inspired to unlock the Kunoichi job.
  • A rare villainous version occurs in Final Fantasy IX with Kuja. Kuja's goal is to get the most powerful Eidolon possible in order to defeat his creator, Garland. Kuja has his lackeys attempt to forcibly extract Eiko's Eidolons, only to then see that Eiko's moogle companion, Mog, transforms into an Eidolon and kicks ass due to her wanting to protect Eiko. The scene gives Kuja an idea that will grant him a similar power. Since Trance gives people who are under extreme duress/emotion a huge boost in power, Kuja decides to let Zidane's party kick his ass in battle until Trance activates so that he can use his new powers to utterly crush Zidane and his friends.
  • Game & Watch: Meta example; Gunpei Yokoi watching a bored businessman play around with a calculator.
  • Civilization VI has this as a game mechanic. Completing certain actions will reward players with Eurekas and Inspirations, where the player gains a set amount of the Science or Culture needed for a Technology or Civic. These include things like building three Mines for the Eureka for Apprenticeship, which improves Mines further and also unlocks the Industrial Zone or building a Wonder for the Inspiration for Drama and Poetry, which unlocks the Theater Square.
  • In the Zero Escape series:
    • Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors,
      • In one ending, Junpei looks at Snake's dead body, whilst searching the Shower room for Clover, and notices his left arm's bone: the real Snake's left arm was in fact prosthetic. Snake is thus still alive, and Junpei slowly realizes who did it. In another route, Clover makes the connection.
      • Heck, the entire plot is based on the idea that a person being in danger and having enough of these moments can trigger morphogenetic fields, essentially allowing telepathy. Junpei gets possibly the best one, so Akane can contact him.
    • In Virtue's Last Reward, this happens to Sigma whenever he's in a tight situation and he suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, gains the knowledge to overcome it. There's also a few moments where Sigma accuses a character of being the one who planted the bombs due to suddenly knowing who it was for no apparent reason. Turns out whenever he has one of these moments, he's remembering something that he found out through "mind-jumping", where he jumps into the body of alternative timeline versions of himself. It's stated in game that one of the things needed for accessing the morphogenetic field is danger, hence why it typically only happens when he's in a tight spot. Sigma himself also doesn't remember his mind-jumping: From his perspective he IS just suddenly knowing information he can't know. In order to play through these moments, the player them-self has to have gone through one of the paths where the information is revealed through one way or another, before going back and having Sigma remember that information in the path where it isn't.
  • In Homescapes a clue to the mystery Austin and William are trying to solve is the word "Richard" engraved inside a suit of armor with a missing breastplate. When Olivia mentions that she'd like to visit the botanical gardens because flowers touch her heart, William realizes that the Richard in question is Richard the Lionheart.

    Web Animation 
  • In Red vs. Blue episode "Test Your Might", the only way to unlock an alien AI is to pass a test of physical ability and 'mental clarity'. After both Tucker and Agent Carolina fail, Caboose makes one of his stupid comments, prompting Church to groan, "Jesus, that empty-headed little... wait a minute. 'Empty-headed'." At that point, Church realizes that Caboose might be Too Dumb to Fool.
  • One of these happens in episode 10, "Wrip an' Vinkle", of No Evil. When Ichabod insists that the Black Tezcatlipoca should be bound by the rules of the pact formed in the second episode, "And the Raven Brought Fire", Huey comments that this one doesn't seem to know that. This inspires Ichabod to recreate the formation of the pact in miniature to bind the fragment of the Ick.
  • Minilife TV:
    • In "Trouble Ian Paradise", when Chris chases after Ian in their freezer, Ian loses his grip on a mountain of ice, leaving him and Chris hanging from it. Ian says he really needs to pee, which gives Chris the idea for Ian to melt some of the ice with his urine to create a small cave for them to take refuge in.
    • In "The X-Team Attacks", after the X-Team announces their plan to execute the fighters of the 28th Legondo World Martial Arts Tournament, Chris and Ian wonder what they can do to stop them. Ian asks Jack if the time machine at Minilife Studios is fixed, but Jack says its time-travelling function is still broken and it can only teleport. After Chris realizes it can still be used as a teleporter, they get the idea to teleport to the arena and rescue the fighters in time.

    Webcomics 
  • Revolver Ocelot experiences one in this Last Days of Foxhound strip. Of course, he is just playing dumb in order to be able to manipulate Solidus later.
  • Wapsi Square: Amanda you're a friggen genius!
  • In Homestuck, John figures out how to use the Alchemiter as a Merging Machine after reading about a card trick.
  • The Order of the Stick:
    • A monster of some kind has planted itself outside the entrance of Xykon's lair. Xykon wants it caught alive so Redcloak can tame it. Annoyed, Redcloak complains how difficult that is, and that the last monster they had only fell asleep after eating. This inspires the two villains to defeat the beast by feeding several dozen of their own minions to it, even going as far as giving that giant crackers and celery sticks.
    • Elan has one after Roy suggests not to focus on Tarquin and Nale as part of his family and that he should focus on his figurative family instead. He decides to send a message to Julio Scoundrél, whom he had met earlier.
    • Vaarsuvius has one when complaining about how incredibly difficult they're finding it to defeat Zzd'tri.
      Vaarsuvius: This is absurd! I am making the best use of my spell resources that I am able — but how in the infinite planes of existence am I supposed to be capable of defeating a wizard who has tailored not just his daily spells but his very build specifically to defeat... ...me.
    • Towards the end of Blood Runs in the Family and for a good majority of Utterly Dwarfed, Roy spends the two arcs convinced that Vampire Durkon is still really Durkon, when in reality the vampire is possessing Durkon's body. It isn't until "Giving Up Hope" that the vampire tries to bring down Roy by bringing up one of his darkest memories. Realizing that the real Durkon would never do something that cruel, Roy finally realizes Durkon is Not Himself.
      Roy: Oh. I understand. [snaps out of Domination] YOU'RE NOT DURKON AT ALL!!
  • In Ensign Sue Must Die, Spock has one. Spock Prime's reaction simply rubs the salt in the wound.
  • Dimentio has one in L's Empire here.
  • Taito from Consolers has one when her game starts going faster as she plays. "And why does it keep going faster now? This just makes it keep getting harder and-" "Wait a minute..." The next moment, she's ready to introduce difficulty curves to the gaming world.
  • In Freefall, when Florence and Winston are discussing his difficulty with space travel, he says he'll sleep on it, and she replies "Sleep on it! That's it!" and hugs him. Winston thinks "I said something clever. I don't know what and right now I really don't care."
    • There's also Sam Starfall finally figuring out why Mr. Kornada was trying to lobotomize every robot out there. A stray remark from another robot ("No, you can't have it. That's mine") makes him realize robots have property, stealable property that would go back to the manufacturer (and thus to Kornada) if they were killed or decerebrated like that. Being Sam, he finds it brilliant aside from its excess callousness.
  • In Narbonic, Dave has a particularly nonsensical one when he needs to figure out how to get back together with his ex-girlfriend. Despite his advice simply amounting to, "...Just do it!", when this triggers a Eureka in Dave Artie opines, "Somebody has to be the superintelligent one."
  • A Discussed Trope in Schlock Mercenary where it's noted that great scientific discoveries are more likely to be reacted to with "Hmm, that's funny...", except for the ones that get an Oh, Crap! response. However here Kevyn gives the more traditional response, then demands a bath as per tradition.
  • El Goonish Shive:
    • Tedd has such a moment when he realizes that the only way for Elliot to stop getting spells themed around turning into a girl is for one such spell to accurately reflect who he is. Magic is trying desperately to give him a spell that reflects his personality, but the gender bending, which is the one thing it is absolutely sure about, is also the one part it is getting wrong.
    • After having her clothes spontaneously grow back to full size off her shrunken body, Grace is able to figure out how magic's change gave her the ability to transform her clothes. She then proceeds to follow tradition by shouting "Eureka" and running around naked.

    Real Life 
  • The word "Eureka" originates from ancient Greek, meaning "I have found it!" Archimedes was consulted to figure out how to tell whether a crown that the king had commissioned was made from the pure gold he had supplied to the jeweler, or whether the jeweler had substituted silver for gold to make a crown the same weight. But Archimedes couldn't damage the crown in any way to do so, and as the crown was such an odd shape, he was unable to math it out. When Archimedes took a bath, some of the bathwater overflowed the edge of the tub, prompting him to realize that an object displaces its equal volume in water; and knowing that equal volumes of gold and silver have different weights, he now knew how to differentiate between an all-gold crown and a gilded silver one. Jumping out of the water, Archimedes shouted "Eureka!" and ran to report this discovery to the king. Naked. The subject of volume displacement in physics is, fittingly enough, known as "Archimedes' Law" because of this. (A Ted Talk presents an alternate theory that the project was building a massive ship, as "crown" and "keel" sound similar in Greek. See the video.)
  • Just in general, this is Truth in Television. It's been proven that people are more likely to reach an answer they can't think of by not thinking about it directly. Typically happens when you've forgotten something, when you're trying to think of an answer to some hard crossword, or something else mundane. If you're really struggling to think of it, then sitting back and thinking of other seemingly unrelated things has been shown to result in what you were looking for bubbling up.
    • Sometimes referred to as the "Toilet Moment" or the "Bed Eureka", due to this typically happening to people when they're on the toilet or trying to sleep. The reason being that people typically don't have anything to do when doing either of these things so their mind wanders, and somehow finds an answer to something or some sort of inspiration.
    • And the toilet and the bed aren't the only times when people are in this state of mind. There are others, like going to the fridge for a snack, and such is the inspiration for our very own trope titles Fridge Logic, Fridge Horror, and Fridge Brilliance. The idea is that when you're realizing how insightful something really is, or how it doesn't make quite as much sense as it should, either way it often comes in a Eureka Moment a few hours or minutes after the fact.
  • Isaac Newton's understanding of gravity supposedly came after an apple fell on his head. (Which never actually happened, but nobody cares about that.) The accepted explanation is usually that he came up with the law while thinking about apples falling from trees (or perhaps even saw an apple fall to the ground), but the story about one actually falling on his head is just fluff. Newton himself told this version later in life.
  • Friedrich August Kekule allegedly realized the structure of the benzene molecule after dreaming about a snake biting its own tail.
  • A similar tale surrounds the invention of the sewing machine: the inventor dreamed of spears with holes in them stabbing towards him, and realized upon waking that the eye of a needle to fit into a sewing machine had to be in the tip.
  • Supposedly, Eli Whitney came about the idea of the cotton gin by watching a cat wash itself.
  • According to IMDB, composer Bill Conti had a rocking theme all ready for the Training Montage, but couldn't figure out what to call it. Director Avildsen, impressed by the nameless piece, agreed that "It should be almost like Rocky is flying now."
  • Isaac Asimov has a famous quotation where he points out that, despite the example of Archimedes, great scientific discoveries are usually not heralded by "Eureka!" but instead with "Huh. That's strange..."
  • Gauss once wrote in his diary "EYPHKAnote ! num = Δ + Δ + Δ," thinking he'd proven Fermat's famously unproven polygonal number conjecture (yes, that's right, he did it more than once) for n = 3; he later realized that the proof in his head needed significant ironing out, but for an open question, he got it quickly enough.
  • Such a moment is largely responsible for Sir Andrew Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. His original attempt at a proof, during the formal checking, was found to have an error in one particular area. Wiles spent nearly a year trying to work out the error but was having no luck, even with help from fellow mathematician Richard Taylor, and was thinking about giving up when he had a sudden revelation regarding two of the mathematical techniques he was trying to employ and how they could shore up each other to provide the key to working out the error. This led to the revised proof which was accepted. Wiles was quoted as saying that he was so gobsmacked by the realisation that he stared at his notes for a good 20 minutes and kept coming back to his desk throughout the day to make sure that everything was still there and not just a figment of his imagination.
  • According to Cognitive Psychology, when it comes to problem solving those "Eureka Moments" are actually called insights which are deep, useful understandings of the nature of a problem. However, compared to the typical slow approach to a problem solution, insights often occur abruptly and almost without warning. Tasks that involve insight usually require something new and non-obvious to be done and in most cases they are difficult enough to predict that the initial solution attempt will be unsuccessful. This can lead to the so called "AHA-experience" where the solution pops up all of a sudden.
  • Merv Griffin came up with the name of his popular quiz show Jeopardy! after a network exec told him that the show, piloted under the name What's the Question?, needed "more jeopardies".
  • A Eureka Moment is what inspired J. K. Rowling to write the entire Harry Potter saga.
  • During the Apollo 13 mission, NASA engineers needed to make the Command Module's air filters fit the incompatible slots of the Lunar Module. The solution was devised by a engineer while he was driving to work. The film dramatization split this between an entire team of engineers, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.
  • In the late 90s, a few sitcom producers came up with pilots for Fox. The most promising one was about a group of teenagers growing up in The '70s. But there was a problem: their choices for titles all had possible legal issues. After a test screening, one member of the survey group gave them their title by saying "I loved That '70s Show."
  • After people started writing apps which made phone screens bright white so they could be used as flashlights, someone realized: "Wait, you know the camera flash? Why don't we just give it an on-switch?", and a much more practical flashlight app was born.
  • Bob Gale got the idea for Back to the Future when he visited his parents and looked through his father's high school yearbook, learning his father had been the class president. Remembering his own high school class president, who was somebody he didn't care for, Gale wondered if he would've been friends with his father had they gone to high school together.
  • Go Nagai got the idea for creating Mazinger Z after getting stuck in traffic one day and wishing for a way to get around.
  • "Stone Cold" Steve Austin got his nickname this way. He was trying to come up with a nickname he could use to reflect an ice-cold stoic badass character, but kept proverbially hitting his head against the wall, unable to come up with anything. Just before he was about to give up, his wife made him some tea and told him "drink it before it gets stone cold." A moment later, both Austin and his wife looked at each other and realized what they'd just come up with.
  • The Marvel Cinematic Universe got started this way. According to the Building a Cinematic Universe documentary, when Marvel Studios was first created, one of the first meetings featured a discussion of which properties they still had the rights to. As they listed off the properties they couldn't use at the time (Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Blade...), they slowly realized they still had the rights to most of the various characters who formed The Avengers.
    • This trope helped solved a hurdle in making Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: the writers were having trouble in trying to figure out how to get the heroes to the Quantum Realm and meeting Kang and how he would recognize them. They soon remembered they had unwittingly given themselves an answer from back in Ant-Man — Darren Cross, who was seemingly shrunken into nothingness in the climax.
  • Inventor Marion Donovan came up with an idea for a more waterproof kind of diaper while taking a shower and observing how well the shower curtain blocked water. Her prototype was actually made using a piece of an old shower curtain.

Alternative Title(s): Creek Moment

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The Missing Coal Truck

Upon finding a lost coal truck, Thomas and Lily decide to bring it with them so the Lost Engine can be revived.

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