It's well known that wild fan theories are prone to being Jossed.
Sometimes, however, the opposite happens: after much speculation, a fan theory is finally confirmed in canon, proving that the trees were, in fact, epileptic all along. Cue the perpetrators of the theory exclaiming: "I Knew It! Told you so!"
May overlap with The Untwist if the revelation is well-foreshadowed but most fans reject the theory exactly because it seems so obvious. And of course, may overlap with Epileptic Trees.
When, in universe, the characters say I told you so, see I Warned You.
Compare with Ascended Fanon, where the author canonizes the crazy fan theory in response to the fans. Also compare Belated Happy Ending.
Many fans corrected guessed which Espada had the ranks 1, 2, 3 before the Espada numbers were revealed.
A long running joke regarding Yammy's power ended up being true. It was joked Yammy was really the Zero Espada. He was.
Given Aizen's habit of claiming he'd planned things was reaching memetic proportions, fans were speculating Ichigo's growth in power was down to his planning, too. It was. In fact, Aizen's interest in Ichigo seems to have predated Ichigo not only being born but even being conceived.
A long running belief about Gin's motive for going with Aizen turned out to be true. The theory was that he was looking to betray Aizen and that it would have something to do with Rangiku. Both turned out to be the case.
A very, very old theory where fans theorized Isshin's shinigami identity turned out to be true. The theory was that he was a Shiba and the former tenth squad captain in charge of Rangiku and Hitsugaya prior to Hitsugaya becoming its captain. The theory was right on all accounts.
An equally old theory speculated about Masaki having the spiritual ability to see hollows to explain her behaviour the night she died. Yes, the theory was that she'd be revealed as a Quincy. Yes, the theory was that she'd be related to the Ishida clan. Yes, she turned out to be a Quincy and, yes, she turned out to be Ryuuken's cousin.
Recent chapters introduced readers to Katagiri, a maid in the employ of the Ishida family. Due to her closeness to Ryuken, everyone singled her out as Uryu's mother. To no one's surprise, this was eventually confirmed to be the case.
Many people guessed the ending of InuYasha since the first 20 chapters. What would happen with Naraku, Kohaku, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo and pretty much everyone in the entire show was figured out years before.
Naruto had so many fan theories going around that's some were bound to be true:
Itachi. Turns out his fans correctly guessed that he actually was a good guy all along and that he was under orders from Konoha's top brass to exterminate the Uchiha clan for plotting rebellion. Even Crispin Freeman predicted this, saying that it's the only reason Itachi spends all his time obsessing over Sasuke.
On the same level as Itachi's, and so bloody obvious we don't need spoilers. Be honest with me, how many of you didn't think Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son?
Not quite as many shouting victory, but people suggested Naruto's mother was the Kyuubi's last jinchuuriki not long after learning her name.
A few fans who paid attention to the Third Hokage's explanation of the Shiki Fuujin could have guessed that the Fourth Hokage's soul was also sealed inside Naruto.
Tobi in particular went back and forth on this. Initially, many people claimed that Tobi was really Obito, but a smaller group thought he was Madara Uchiha. Eventually, he publicly announced himself as Madara, only to have it eventually turn out that he really was Obito all along. Everyone got feel they're right at one point!*
Except the people who thought he was Izuna, they were just wrong.
Mizukage being a woman, which was an idea that was in about 60% of fanfiction that turned out to be right.
How many people had predicted that war monger Danzou had a Sharingan underneath those bandages?
Who thought that Kankuro would eventually gain Sasori as his new puppet?
Chapter 467 was full of I Knew Its for many tropers. This chapter reveals that: there is a ten-tailed bijuu, there is a combined form of all the bijuus (which happens to be the Ten-Tails), the moon does have something that the Sage of the Sixth Paths sealed in it, and Madara is going to use Tsukuyomi on the moon to cast a massive scale genjutsu on the world.
When Chapter 474 ended on a Cliff Hanger with Danzo taking some sort of seal off of his apparently non-functioning arm, and before the next chapter came out one person correctly guessed that it would be the eyes of a bunch of a bunch of other Uchiha killed attached to his arm.
Chapter 599: Tobi really is Obito, apparently. Only half of the fans are having this reaction, though; the other half are afflicted with a severe case of Flat "What.".
Boy were Saiyuki fans excited when Mad Scientist, Evil Priest, and Resident Plushophile Nii's missing Sutra turned out to actually be hidden within his stuffed bunny companion. Speculation had been made literally years in advance.
Also, fans had been assuming since Saiyuki Gaiden started that Hakuryuu/Jeep was the reincarnation of Dragon King of the West, Gojun. Guess what?
Fate/Zero, on the identity of the Servant Berserker, Black Knight. Let's see, grudge with King Arthur/Saber, ability to turn any weapons to Noble Phantasm (even a bloody F-15 fighter)? Why, of course he is... Lancelot. Considering his proficiency with any weapons and his affair with Arthur's wife Guinivere, it's bloody obvious.
The identity of Pride in the Full Metal Alchemist manga was surrounded in Wild Mass Guessing. Someone on Livejournal posted their "Pride Crack Theory" detailing their guess that Pride was really King Bradley's son, Selim based on subtle speech nuances and seemingly innocuous coincidences. Nine months later, they were proven right.
As of Chapter 100, the popular fan theory that Riza Hawkeye would somehow be used to force Roy Mustang to open the gate almost came true: at first, Roy couldn't choose between saving Riza or stopping the Big Bad's plans, but following her eye-signal about the cavalry arriving, he managed to refuse... But then Bradley appeared and literally forced him to open the gate anyway.
At least a few fans of Claymore said this during The Reveal that the Organization is responsible for creating both the Claymores and the Yoma, but not as many had guessed that the land the series takes place on is really a testing ground for living weapons in a large scale war.
The rumor that the Organization is responsible for causing Yoma attacks was mentioned in-setting by Rubel very early on (in one of his first appearances), long before there was any hint that it was true. Which turns into Fridge Brilliance when you realize he was actually The Mole - it's entirely possible he started that 'rumor' himself.
The Pokémon anime's fandom have said I Knew It a lot, including in regards to the Aipom/Buizel trade, which many saw coming a mile off.
Many fans predicted Ash would obtain Paul's Chimchar almost a year before it actually happened, the rationale being that Ash always has a Fire Pokémon on his team and that it seemed unlikely that the writers would give Ash a Magmortar or a Heatran. And if Ash was going to obtain a Chimchar, then why not the one that was introduced three episodes in and clearly had a less-than-perfect relationship with its trainer?
A Best Wishes prediction was whether or not Meowth was fired from Team Rocket or not. Some fans declared it ruined when he joined Ash and the group. It is shown that Meowth did a Heel Face Mole which is what the Genre Savvy audience figured out the minute they got the information that Meowth was fired.
One of the more awesome, yet unsubstantiated theories about Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was that Gaume the Steady, the alligatory-armadilloy member of Lord Genome's four Generals is the counterpart to Team Gurren's Team Pet, Boota. Cue Parallel Works #8.
The anime version of visual novel Koihime†Musou features Ryuubi (Liu Bei) as The One Guy, when the show was supposedly about an Improbably Female Cast. But there's also the announcement of Shin Koihime Musou, which features a female Ryuubi. It turns out to be true and that this Ryuubi is a Jerkass imposter.
Many new fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! by way of GX were sure that Judai/Jaden would duel Yugi on the last episode, which more seasoned fans dismissed as noobish nonsense. Of course, while that's actually what does end up happening, instead of dueling the present-time Yugi of GX, we're treated to a spastic Time Travel sequence where Judai duels the Yugi of the past while he still has the spirit of Atem, setting up a Stable Time Loop to ensure that Yugi would know to give Judai Winged Kuriboh before he enters Duel Academia.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, the mysterious Dark Glass and the amnesiac Bruno are the same person. V-Jump confirmed it.
Mahou Sensei Negima!: Around the time chapter 229 was released, a theory popped up on Wild Mass Guessing that the Asuna that was with Negi and co. was not the real Asuna, but a fake, while the real Asuna was kidnapped during the previous battle. It was based mostly on the fact that a) we never physically saw Asuna joining up with everybody after the battle and b) she was acting more out-of-it than normal. Then came chapter 233...
There are probably a number of fans who are happy that Mundus Magicus is, in fact, on Mars. Well, sort of.
An in-universe example: in one of the early chapters, a rumor gets started at Mahora that Negi is a prince. Some 200+ chapters later, it turns out...
Show of hands: who else guessed that Ku Fei's Pactio artifact could grow to ridiculous proportions ala Lavi's hammer?
Quite a while back, a theory popped up on WMG that Zazie was a demon. Guess what...
There was some Wild Mass Guessing that Ace would die during the war at Marineford and seriously traumatize Luffy in the process. Other people speculated that Whitebeard would die and effectively end the old Age of Pirates to begin the new. No one could have guessed that both would happen!
The idea that Mantra and Haki are the same? We were right.
As of Chapter 700, the theory that the letter that Buggy got pre-Time Skip from the World Government was an invitation for him to become one of the Shichibukai seems to be confirmed.
Following the literal bomb-dropping in Code Geass, many fans declared Nunnally and Sayoko Killed Off for Real (and the official website seemed to support them). However, one blogger posted a thorough essay explaining why he was convinced they had survived, using screencaps to suggest that there was a second airplane, and that Nunnally's had gotten away earlier while the second was caught in the blast. One month later, a battered Sayoko appears to Jeremiah and explains exactly how it happened.
In the second season of Darker than Black, some fans suggested that Mao was still alive despite having lost his consciousness at the end of the first series and having April kill his cat body in the first episode on the logic that his voice actor was credited in the first episode. Sure enough, he now inhabits Suo's pet squirrel and his consciousness has returned in that body.
Setsuna's Heel Face Turn in Fresh Pretty Cure!! was guessed by the fandom months before it actually happened... yet the same people still got incredibly angry when Toei put blatant spoilers for the event in question up on the side of an arcade game a month before it happened in the show. Note to creators: just because someone called it doesn't mean "give up completely".
When Suite Pretty Cure ♪ came out, it didn't take long for fanart featuring the Cures wielding magical electric guitars to appear. Thus far, Rhythm and Melody haven't received said instruments, and are still stuck with the belltiers they've been using since the beginning. Newcomer Cure Beat on the other hand?
Also from Suite: the identity of Cure Muse was revealed in promotional materials several weeks before the episode covering that revelation was released in October, but at least one fanartist on pixiv predicted that revelation back in May.
Another example: It took Hoshino 186 chapters(including the breaks in between) to finally reveal who was the person Kanda was searching for. During Journey to the Center of the Mind to which Allen is accidentally pulled along, it's shown that this person is a woman he had had feelings for in his past life. When the arc dealing with Kanda's past went on, some fans started to speculate that his childhood friend Alma was actually her, as Kanda saw form of this woman only when Alma was around the corner. To cut long story short after the journey: Alma becomes an Akuma, Kanda and him both get used as tools, fight ensues, barrier is broken so Allen's eye works again and- wait, that's the soul of the woman Kanda loved! Cut to several fans screaming I Knew It.
In chapter 70-something of Fairy Tail, Erza reveals through a flashback the face of the current arc's villain, Jellal. To everyone's surprise, he looks exactly like Siegrain, a council member introduced on the second page of the first chapter. By this point it's a solid fact that Siegrain is evil so the assumption would be they're one and the same, however, one is most definitly at the council while another is most definitely in a tower miles away. The assumption, considering this, is that they're one and the same. They were.
Some Higurashi no Naku Koro ni fans got I Knew It moments concerning the insane cast during the first season, such as Onikakushi-hen being filled with Keiichi's Hinamizawa-Sydrome-induced hallucinations. This could also apply to the big Twin Switch in Watanagashi-/Meakashi-hen, Takano being the villain all along, and Rika being more than she appeared to be.
The idea that Yuno was from an Alternate Universe in Mirai Nikki had been bounded around for months before it was finally confirmed.
Star Driver is notable for repeatedly Jossing fan's theories and defying their expectations. However, the fans have been right on the money about three things so far: Keito Nichi's identity as a maiden, Marino You being a Tomato in the Mirror, and Head is Takuto's father.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica probably set a record for this before half the episodes were even out. To count: the Soul Gems are Soul Jars, magical girls become witches, Kyuubey is straight out of a Cosmic Horror Story (and his name stood for something - namely, Incubator), Homura is a time traveller, and Madoka's dream in episode one was of an alternate timeline where she actually became a Puella Magi.Whoa.
In the character design notes for Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki says that the character, Kamatari, was based on a suggestion from one of his assistants around the pun, an "okama with a kama", or a "crossdresser with a scythe". This assistant was not mentioned by name, but everyone guessed that it was Eiichiro Oda. In a later interview, Watsuki confirmed that this guess was correct.
In The World God Only Knows, who held the Goddesses, and eventually which Goddess was in which host was greatly contested. However, the fact that Shiori held Minerva had been almost a foregone conclusion since the names of the Goddesses had been revealed. Yui holding Mars and Tsukiyo as the host of Vulcan was also a common theory, though not quite as prevalent as the Shiori example.
And later that Ayumi, rather than Chihiro, was Mercury's host.
Early on, many Tiger & Bunny fans hypothesized that Kaede, Kotetsu's daughter, would turn out to be a NEXT like her father. Episode 17 proved them right.
Another very popular fan theory that turned out to be chillingly accurate come episode 19 was that Maverick was behind Barnaby's parents' death. And he was the show's Big Bad to boot.
Many Bakugan fans guessed that the new Big Bad Mag Mel was actually Emperor Barodius, the Big Bad of the previous season, because they shared the same voice actor among other hints. They were right.
When Episode 11 of Gundam Age confirmed Yurin L'Ciel to be Flit's preferred Love Interest, longtime Gundam fans compared her to Lalah Sune and saw her inevitable death coming a mile away. Three episodes later, they were right.
Card Games
Just prior to the pre-release of Magic: The Gathering's Zendikar set, a game shop owner reported opening a valuable old card from a previous set in a Zendikar booster pack. His claims were largely dismissed by most players, but by the time the pre-released rolled around, other people began reporting similar findings. The idea that Wizards of the Coast would put an out-of-print card in every several hundred booster packs seemed outlandish at the time, but Wizards has been known for pulling outlandish stunts in the past as well; this one was just their most well-kept secret to date.
In another Magic: The Gathering -related story, back when Phil Foglio was writing monthly comic strips for Magic's official magazine he was asked to do a strip based on a soon to be released set. Unfortunately, he could not told what the theme of the set actually was as it was too big a secret. He proceeded to write a comic about what the lazy, obvious plot of the set would be based on it's name and the ongoing story that had wound through the last two sets. It was meant to be a parody. He was 90% correct.
Comic Books
In the Star Wars comics, the theories that Darth Krayt is A'Sharad Hett (Legacy) and that Revan and Malak are the Revanchist and Alek (Knights Of The Old Republic).
In The Saga Of Tuck, the fact that Tuck (Valerie) is intersexed.
One subplot of the Post-Zero Hour reboot of the Legion Of Super-Heroes was the search for the mystic artifact, the "Emerald Eye of Ekron". It was actually drawn in the background of the "collection" of one of Post Crisis Superboy's old villains, who had taken The Slow Path to the 30th century; some fans actually noticed it, but most wrote it off as an artist's in-joke. When Shrinking Violet was revealed to have had the Eye, it turns out that she'd first found it during that storyline.
In the beginning of her tenure as Wonder Girl, Cassandra Sandsmark was sweet, responsible, and competent. Sometime during her membership in the Teen Titans, she started taking on mild Jerkass tendencies and basically becoming a watered-down version of the Alpha Bitch with superpowers. Some readers suspected a correlation between her change and accepting greater powers and a "lasso of torture" from Ares. Confirmed in issue 64.
Brian Michael Bendis killed off Hawkeye. A few months later he created a new character called Ronin. Everybody online said it would be Clint Barton. Yoink, it's actually a barely known character called Echo. A month or three later again it turns out to be Clint Barton anyway, complete with a lampshade hung that he "loved going online and watch everybody guess his identity".
There are other takes on the story: In one, Bendis was in an interview, where the interviewer apparently unofficially asked if Ronin was Daredevil. Bendis confirmed this, since previous clues had said that Ronin had been the star of a feature film. Well, the interviewer revealed this information, so Bendis, in Armageddon 2001 fashion, changed the character to Echo.
In another, it originally was Daredevil, but the reason why this was changed is a mystery; Bendis was writing Daredevil at the time and as Avengers was starting, his Daredevil run was ending. Bendis was going to bring in the character for Avengers, but had also decided to end his run on Daredevil with Matt in jail. He decided the jail storyline was better so he dropped Daredevil as an Avenger.
In Young Avengers, the twist that Hulkling and Wiccan were a gay couple was so obvious to all the fans that Heinberg simply decided to treat it as such, rather than doing the reveal in issue #12 like he planned.
The X-Men "Operation: Zero Tolerance" story arc featured a mysterious anti-mutant leader called Bastion. Fan speculation ran the gamut, but one persistent theory was that he was Nimrod, the constantly-adapting Killer Robot from the future. Turns out his origin was a good bit more complicated, but he was indeed Nimrod.
In the DC Comics mega-crossover Armageddon 2001, enough fans guessed early on that the mysterious Big Bad Monarch (No, not that one) was actually an evil Captain Atom that DC rewrote the plot to have him be... Hawk, of Hawk and Dove.
When previous writer Ken Penders first announced his Word of Gay for the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic, two persistent theories on who he was referring to popped up: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, or Rotor the Walrus and Tommy Turtle, two periphery but popular couples at the time. Eventually, Ken confirmed Rotor was one of the characters referred to in the Word, though he dismissed Tommy as being the other.
Fan Fiction
My Immortal. Author Tara Gilesbie successfully predicted how the book series will end. This led to many a Wild Mass Guessing about her being J.K. Rowling, which if true would have to be the greatest trolling of fandom ever.
Melindaleo's Harry Potter fanfic The Seventh Horcrux correctly guessed that Bill and Fleur's wedding would end in an attack, the tiara in the Room of Requirement was Rowena Ravenclaw's and a horcrux, Remus and Tonks would die, one Weasley brother would die, and several other things.
Some readers of the Film/Thor fanfic Kismet reacted this way when Thor and Jane's baby was revealed to be a girl.
The Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic The Father-Son Talk correctly predicted that Greed would separate from Ling.
iCarly had a Spencer/Sam fanfic The Way They Are predicts side character/Ensemble Darkhorse Gibby being promoted to the main cast, and that Sam has a crush on Spencer. Written a year before either of those events happened, with both being very unlikely until they happened.
The My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic Progress ended up getting a surprising number of things right about Princess Luna's canon self. In the fic, she's a Fish Out of Temporal Water and Adorkable, both of which are traits of her canon character. She speaks with a Voice of the Legion when blowing up at one point, which the real Luna ended up doing in her "princess voice". And then there's this line, which actually wouldn't be that far out of place being said by the real Luna:
Similarly, one of most common criticisms of Romance Reports was that Luna was vastly different from the most common portrayals at the time, being mysterious, playful, slightly intimidating, and quite terrifying when she wanted to be. This turned out to be a lot closer to her official characterisation than the more common portrayals.
The fanfiction Writer's Block predicted Lesson Zero. There was a fanfiction that predicted Spike growing due to his instinctual greed and acting out a Kaiju parody. There was an episode that predicted Putting Your Hoof Down. Just check the [1] page. This happens all the time in the fandom.
Total Drama Chris had Chris treating the contestants especially cruelly, far more extreme than he was on the actual show... for the time, at least. A few years later, by the time Total Drama Revenge of the Island started airing, though, Chris' sinking to such depravity has become completely canon.
The infamous Fan Web ComicHow I Became Yours had Katara bloodbend Mai to death in broad daylight. This, along with numerous other departures from canon facts and characterization, caused quite an uproar because bloodbending is supposed to be impossible outside a full moon*
The moon empowers waterbenders while it is out, increasing depending on its fullness, and bloodbending is difficult enough that it can only be performed by a powerful Waterbender with the boost from the full moon
. Come The Legend of Korra, and it turns out there is an entire family that can bloodbend without a full moon.
A very strange example with Ace Attorney fan-case The Haunted Turnabout. Since the first half of the case was released as a teaser before the full thing was completed, so those who played it already had theories of how it would end. Just about everyone correctlyy guessed who the killer was ( Cedric Mapelthorpe, to be fair they did look Obviously Evil), but no-one came even close to guessing the exact curcumstances of the murder of motive. (Turns out the whole thing was an Accidental Murder and Cedric was a Not So StoicAnti-Villain, something that surprised everyone.)
Attacking with a multitude of miniature Rasengans? Check.
Yugito Nii resurrected as a Path of Pain? Check.
Kyuubi openly and readily working with Naruto to keep out from under Madara's thumb? Check.
Film
While there were several hints in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie that Tia Dalma was Calypso, Davy Jones' lover, it wasn't as obvious until the beginning of the third.
Galaxy Quest. Uber-fan Brandon's reaction to Nesmith telling him that everything in the show is actually real.
This zig-zags the trope. The show wasn't "real" back when it was being produced but became real thanks to an entire alien civilization becoming hardcore fans who themselves thought the show was real because they don't have fiction.
As much as the creators of The Dark Knight Rises tried to deny that new characters Miranda Tate and John Blake were anything more than they appeared, it was correctly guessed that they would be Talia al Ghul and Robin, respectively long before the film hit theaters.
It is true that many fans predicted that John Blake would replace Batman at some point in the movie. He is bequeathed the Batcave and all its tech, though it isn't shown what he does with it. And he is only Robin in the sense that its part of his legal name which is not the real name of any other Robin in the Batman mythos.
In-universe case in Hoodwinked: the Wolf and Twitchy agree, "Never trust a bunny," after Boingo tells them of a shortcut to Granny's house. Said shortcut involves traveling through a water-logged cave populated with bats. Furthermore, the Wolf's distrust of Boingo stems from the fact that he wrote the illegible directions on an Easter Egg. After Flippers makes The Reveal that Boingo has to be the Goody Bandit, the Wolf even says "I knew it!"
Wreck It Ralph fans guessed long before the movie came out that King Candy was the Big Bad and that Nice Guy Fix-It Felix Jr. and Action Girl Sergeant Calhoun were going to fall in love. Also, shortly after the first trailer came out in June 2012 (the movie itself came out in November), one fan on the movie's WMG page guessed that Vanellope was the Princess of Sugar Rush. That fan totally called it.
Fans of the Saw series guessed the final twist in the series, that Dr. Gordon survived the events of the first film to become Jigsaw's greatest apprentice around the time of the second movie. This is an odd case, since while the twist appears to be heavily foreshadowed, it's entirely possible this was just a fan theory that was so popular it was adopted by the film makers, making it Ascended Fanon rather than I Knew It.
Literature
In Harry Potter: R.A.B was Regulus Black, Harry was a Horcrux, Snape loved Lily... But really, with the sheer number of theories circulating, at least some of them had to become true.
Everyone knew Regulus Black... the impressive people knew immediately after reading the initials (based on the locket found in his home early in the 5th book, obsessive readers were able to recall that easily). Everyone else knew because the Internet let them compare notes with other languages' editions— the initials were R.A.S. where the Black family's name was translated to Svaart, R.A.M. where it was Musta, etc.
The bartender in the Hog's Head being Dumbledore's brother.
John Noe of Potter Cast predicted the Knights of Hogwarts bit of Deathly Hallows. It was awesome.
It was predicted early in the series that Harry would marry Ginny and Ron would marry Hermione. People who were Genre Savvy enough probably figured this out about halfway through Philosopher's Stone — First Girl Wins, both for Ron and Harry.
The entirety of Accio Deathly Hallows. Honestly. I feel the need to mark this entire thing as a spoiler.
The Dresden Files: Harry will give Fidelacchius to Karrin Murphy, as confirmed in Small Favor. Then the substance of the theory was promptly Jossed when she turned down the offer after drawing the sword once, although that could change at any time.
Also, Wizard Peabody is the turn coat.
One from the Wild Mass Guessing of Dresden Files, was the person who guessed "Morgan will be framed as a Traitor."
Jared Kincaid was the assassin at the end of Changes. This was The Untwist— he killed Harry using the exact method he'd explained he would use for exactly that task— but there was a real twist not in who shot Harry, but why.
The conception of Renesmee in Breaking Dawn, for trueTwilight fans, the kind that didn't put apologies for "going against" the Word Of God in their Fanfics in which they had Bella getting pregnant. Because really, the only reason such cryptic statements had to be made in the first place was that too many people were guessing the plot twist, and so Stephenie Meyer made some statements that sounded superficially like a Jossing, but when examined closely, weren't. She said that "vampires can not get pregnant", and they can't—but a half-human half-vampirewith a human mother is just fine.
In the Wheel of Time series, Mat says to Tuon (in exasperation) "you are my wife" three times. In the section 2.5.7 of the FAQ for the Wheel Of Time series, a fan was quoted as saying: "What if Seanchan marriage customs are such that all you have to do to be married is say it three times? If this is the case, they're already married! The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. I think this is my new pet loony theory." In Knife of Dreams, this turned out to be more or less accurate: under Seanchan marriage customs, she merely has to respond "you are my husband" three times to seal the deal, and later does so.
This one wasn't so out-there. The look on Tuon's face was just too telling. It's also in-character for Mat for something like the above to happen. Reference The Finn, his discovery of the ladies in the Stone of Tear, and his discovery of Birgitte's identity
Everyone Inheritance Cycle reader probably saw this coming, but Eragon's father isn't who Paolini made you think he was. He's Brom.
The Ciaphas Cain novel Cain's Last Stand confirmed two long-standing fetishes of the Warhammer 40000 fandom, namely the existence of female Commissars and Sisters of Battle not having to be celibate.
Sunrise: Leafpool and Crowfeather being the Three's real parents.
Also from Sunrise: Anyone who predicted that Hollyleaf was Ashfur's murderer, deserves a prize.
Speaking of Ashfur, anyone who managed to pick up that he betrayed Firestar got a big I Knew It moment in Long Shadows.
The Forgotten Warrior had a massive one: Hollyleaf isn't dead. She was just hiding in the tunnels.
Long Shadows: The Ancients are the Tribe of Rushing Water.
Sol being the eponymous stranger from the SkyClan and the Stranger manga was predicted by some and scoffed at by others. In the end, the first group was right.
George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, was once asked about an event in the Back Story in which the crown prince's wife and her two children were slain. Martin confirmed that two of the characters had died... and immediately fans jumped on this as proof that the third was in hiding, their Death Faked For Them. Fast forward to Book 5, and guess who is indeed alive? (The character in question: Aegon Targaryen, Rhaegar's son, still a babe at the breast when Varys snuck him away and furnished Elia of Dorne with an imposter.)
Live Action TV
Doctor Who fans and the return of the Master in the new series. Granted, this got more and more obvious as the show went on, but some fans had this figured out from the trailer. Others had this worked out even before that based on what DVD box sets of the classic series the BBC was releasing. (The box set in question being the "New Beginnings" trilogy, which returned the Master to recurring character status in the original series.) Others rejected this theory because they felt that The BBC wouldn't be "that obvious".
In possibly the most extreme example, the possible connection between Jack Harkness and The Face of Boe was predicted ahead of time.
In his recap of the second-to-last episode of the first season of Nu Who, Jacob of Television Without Pity incorporated a lengthy rant on Gnosticism and the parallels thereto in the revived series. He concluded from this analysis that, among other things, the season finale would have to involve the Doctor as the Devil battling a "fake bastard God" and being saved by a female character ("I hope it's the TARDIS, but it's probably Rose") as the incarnation of the goddess of wisdom. In his recap of the actual finale, he doesn't so much gloat as express relief that he doesn't look insane.
There was a theory that in the episode "Flesh and Stone", the reason that the Doctor was wearing the jacket that he had just lost wasn't because of continuity errors, but because he was actually the Doctor from the future who had come back in time to talk to Amy. Those who subscribed to this theory were entirely correct.
Quite a few fans predicted that River Song was Amy and Rory's daughter. They were right.
And on the subject of River, it was widely suggested that "The Good Man" that River killed would turn out to be the Doctor himself - it was. He survived (sort of).
How many jokes were there about the Statue of Liberty being a Weeping Angel before Angels Take Manhattan? A lot. How horrified was everyone that the jokes were right? Very.
The final Cylon model in Battlestar Galactica has turned out to be one of the first people we all suspected of being one — despite events in between that seemed, at the time, to make this impossible.
After the first few episodes of Power Rangers SPD, one member of a popular Power Rangers forum declared that the Red Ranger of the SPD A-Squadwas in fact a woman. After hearing the voice of the Red Ranger, the forum member deduced from his experience with sound engineering that the voice was that of a woman which had been electronically adjusted to make it sound like a guy. Nobody believed him, because there had never been a female Red Ranger in the history of Power Rangers (or Super Sentai). Eight months and thirty episodes later, the helmet comes off and... the Red Ranger is a woman! Said forum member celebrates by creating a new thread dedicated to his own awesomeness, mocking the people who didn't believe him and filling the thread with flashing GIFs declaring "I WAS RIGHT". Good game, sir. Of course, there was also the fact she was revealed to be evil... Oh wait, some even guessed that as well.
Of amusing note is that he later put his "I WAS RIGHT" line on a homemade t-shirt and got the cast to sign it. The show's executive producer was reportedly flabbergasted that he had guessed correctly that early.
Also in Power Rangers, most fans called the "Dillon's missing sister" subplot in Power Rangers RPM because it played out just like a subplot from Power Rangers in Space years before: the resident villainess is the missing sister, having forgotten her former life.
While it was pretty obvious from the beginning, the SupernaturalFanon that Child!Dean acted like a mother (or tried to be a replacement for Mary, if you want to go that even more screwed-up route) to both Sam and his dad was only stated outright in My Time of Dying. He took care both of them when he shouldn't have had to, tried to break up their fights (often getting completely ignored in the process) and never complained, not once.
Speculation for season four included many crazy theories about how Dean would escape hell, like this insane idea that an angel was going to rescue him and recruit him to do God's work and... wait, what? Really?
Fans who thought Mary doomed her family and made a deal/huge mistake to screw Sam over from birth? You all get a cookie.
The Supernatural WMG predicted that Dean was the vessel for Michael and Sam was the vessel for Lucifer—both confirmed within the first three episodes of season 5.
Some Supernatural fans actually call this being Kripked. The Super-wiki even calls this triva by this name, and links to its own page for Jossed.
A similar dialog to the Galaxy Quest example occurs between Chuck (the guy who writes the "Supernatural" books in-universe, who had thought they were just fiction that came to him) and Becky, his #1 fan/fanfic writer.
Becky: Yes, I'm a fan, but I really don't appreciate being mocked. I know that "Supernatural" is just a book, okay? I know the difference between fantasy and reality. Chuck: Becky, it's all real. Becky: I knew it!
Firefly's comic spin-offs eventually validated the theory that Book was an operative, although it's really not that far a leap after his role in Serenity, and that Zoe was pregnant with Wash's baby.
If you pay attention it's peppered with small hints that Jayne has a thing for Kaylee. The audio commentary for the episode "Serenity" confirms this.
In early seasons of House, a good percentage of the fanbase thought that House had been abused as a child. While nobody thought that it would be the psychological abuse of ice baths and being made to sleep outside (most of them thought it would end up as either sexual abuse or physical), "One Day, One Room" proved them right.
Heroes Season 3 actually made canonical two of the most off-the-wall fan theories there were: Sylar being Peter's brother, and the Big Bad being Arthur Petrelli.
They also seem to be playing with the "Sylar is Peter" theory from season 1 before Sylar's identity was revealed, by giving Peter Sylar's homicidal urges.
And then there was an I Knew It against the above I Knew It: Sylar isn't the third Petrelli brother; Angela just told him so to manipulate him using his mommy issues, and then Arthur tweaked the lie a little to turn Sylar around to his side.
From Volume Four: Micah is Rebel
Volume Five: Sylar is good now! To be fair, Volume Five being titled "Redemption" at the beginning made this kind of a "No duh!"
Early in Babylon 5, fandom quickly came to the conclusion that Sinclair was really Valen. By the time of The Reveal in Season 3's "War Without End", nobody is surprised. And there is some evidence that, in the original B5 storyline, this wasn't supposed to be revealed until the last episode of the show.
Dollhouse: Half the viewers who saw the episode where Victor is imprinted with Dominic's mind immediately pounced on his use of the word "whiskey" in the presence of Dr. Saunders. Guess who turned out to be a former Active?
Neighbours: Kate and Declan. They'd been making eyes at each other since Bridget's funeral!
Chuck: When Orion is first introduced, the episode ends with his apparent death. Fan theories began circulating that A: Orion wasn't really dead, and B: He was actually Chuck's father. A few episodes later, these theories were confirmed.
Dexter's Season One serial killer is Dexter's brother. Rather obvious after he shows how much he knew about Dex.
It's also not hard to predict that the Ice Truck Killer is the prosthesis doctor since it's the kind of thing that would be way too ironic for the show to pass up.
From Season 6, the revelation that Gellar was Dead All Along was predicted by a majority of fans early on.
LOST, despite being the Trope Namer for Epileptic Trees, has some of this. Fans knew from the first moment Locke used to be paralyzed (to simply name one of the earliest). Though, among all the Wild Mass Guessing probably everything was expected by someone in the fandom.
You knew all those fans who said they were in purgatory? They were correct, they just had the season wrong.
Several contingents of Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes fans were very happy with the finale, because it confirmed a TON of Epileptic Trees:
The theory that Sam and Alex - and everyone else - have been Dead All Along? Confirmed.
The theory that Gene Hunt is the ghostly copper that's been haunting Alex during season 3? Confirmed.
The theory that Nelson was more than he appeared? Confirmed. He's even an equivalent of Saint Peter, the gatekeeper to the afterlife.
The theory that Keats was something supernatural, either the Angel of Death or the Devil himself? Confirmed, he's Satan himself.
The theory that Gene didn't kill Sam, he helped him cross over to the afterlife? Confirmed, though with a bit of Angel Unaware - Gene doesn't remember his duties as the self-appointed psychopomp of Dead Copper's Purgatory.
During the first Sherlock series finale, someone on the Kink Meme requested a fic in which Jim from IT turned out to be Moriarty. Minutes later, we're at the pool, and out steps "Jim Moriarty. Hi-i!"
There were theories about Mel being part Cirronian going around long before it was confirmed on Tracker.
A very unusual example occuring between shows. Davis of Corner Gas proposed a very unusual theory about the original Battlestar Galactica and how all humans on earth could have decended from the citizens on the Galactica. Several years after the show, guess how the remake ends.
In Once Upon a Time, many were theorising Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin still remembered everything. They were right, of course.
They were also right about Bae being Neal Cassady.
It was speculated by several Tracker fans that Mel was a Half-Human Hybrid long before her Cirronian heritage was officially revealed.
There were quite a few entries on the PrettyLittleLiars page about several plot twists in the show before they were released, including Mona being A,and Spencer and Toby joining the A team.
In Glee the user GenialTheParadox guessed that David Karofsky was gay and in love with Kurt two months before Never Been Kissed aired.
Klaine break-up, principaly because Blaine cheating , was the base of a lot of Kurt/no-Blaine fanfics. We even had a fics that recreated most of the reasons of the break-up.
Toys
It was a heavily discussed and controversial theory among BIONICLE fans that Physical God Mata Nui might actually be an enormous mechanoid, and that the Matoran Universe is housed within his body. This is, of course, the real deal. Although the theory did have its share of supporters, in the form of fans who happened to stumble upon an illegally leaked teaser video earlier that year, which revealed just about the biggest surprise of the entire story.
In fact theorizing is one of the absolute favorite pastimes of the fandom, so arguably every twist or reveal will have someone going ''Well, fancy that, folks — it would appear my views on the issue have been apt all along."
A popular fan theory was that Silver, The Rival of the second generation, is Giovanni's son. This was hinted at in FireRed and LeafGreen when one member of Team Rocket mentions that Giovanni's kid has red hair, and ultimately proven correct in HeartGold and SoulSilver as part of a sidequest unlocked by an event Celebi.
While on the subject of the event, the fact it requires a promotional Celebi meant it was possible it would be given away as a promotional distribution event to promote the the next movie, and that meant it had a role in the movie. Come the announcement of the thirteenth movie, guess who's in it?
The same goes for Pignite, although that was used for the second evolution of the Fire starter instead of the first. Similarly, some guessed "Emboar" for the final evolution (bonus points for sounding similar to its Japanese name, "Enbuoh"), and it turned out to be correct too.
Some people came up with the off-the-wall theory that Oshawott would evolve into samurai otters. They were mostly right; it's final evolution is more of a samurai sea lion, but it's first evolution is definitely a samurai otter.
During the promotions for Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 people began to suspect that Generation V will have a shorter run compared to two previous generations which lasted four years each. The basis for this was the fact the event Pokémon Keldeo, Meloetta, and Genesect were all officially revealed within the same year instead of spread out like Generation IV's event Pokémon. With the announcement that Generation VI begins on October 2013 worldwide with the release of Pokémon X and Y, it is definite that Generation V will only have a run a bit over three years in Japan and less than that in the rest of the world.
Many fans were certain that Gen VI would introduce a new Eeveelution, due to the previous pattern of two in Gen II and two in Gen IV. Cue the reveal of Sylveon in February 2013.
After the release of The Burning Crusade, some World of Warcraft players theorized that M'uru's capture was actually voluntary on his part, a plan to explose the blood elves to the Light as it truly is. Then patch 2.4.0 came out. Ouch!
Similarily, lore fans cried "VARIAN WRYNN" the moment the World of Warcraft comic was revealed to have "an amnesiac hero who washes up on the shores of Kalimdor with great warrior skills whose origins he has no idea of". The theory was so widely accepted that many were sure the obvious hints were Red Herrings.
Weeks before players actually got to kill the Lich King, it was revealed that someone else needs to take his mantle, or hell breaks loose. Bolvar Fordragon, who was well-alive and Arthas's prisoner at the time, was one of the first few guesses.
Around the time of the first expansion, The Burning Crusade, players theorized that the little-known kingdom of Gilneas (which had isolated itself from the rest of the world) had succumbed to the worgen curse, and this theory was often used to suggest playable worgen. Guess which race became playable in the third expansion, Cataclysm, and guess which kingdom they're from. Possibly includes a dash of Sure, Why Not? since around the same time that the theories popped up, the folks at Blizzard Entertainment admitted that they had forgotten about Gilneas.
In the upcoming End Time instance, the popular theory that Nozdormu eventually becomes the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight, Murozond is confirmed.
Two guys were cool enough to guess what was going to be in the Mists of Pandaria expansion. They detail everything they predicted here.
Some people thought Zelda would be the Twilight Princess. Others knew that since Ocarina of Time, any subtitle in the series would be the introduction of what the subtitle mentioned. Since Midna was introduced in the game, and Zelda was not, it was clear who the subtitle was referring to.
Remember those wacky fans during that whole timeline wank thing that claimed that Zelda was split into two timelines after Ocarina of Time? Well, it turns out they were right! (A few years later, there's actually a third timeline documented in Hyrule Historia, but that's neither here nor there)
Even then, there were a few fans who, able to fit several games together but unable to fit them into either of the Ocarina of Time timelines, put them in a separate timeline altogether. These games were revealed in Hyrule Historia to be a third timeline, though no one expected it to be based on an alternate universe where the Link from Ocarina of Time failed.
Same goes for Tetra, however with a twist: Half of the fanbase (mostly the ones who still believe that Zelda is Link's sister) believed that Aryll was going to be Zelda, while the other half, who noticed the small similarities in appearance between Tetra and Sheik (blond hair, tan skin, bandages around the arms and an conceptual-artwork that shows her with red eyes) guessed it was gonna be her. Correctly.
Between E3 2009 (where the first piece of concept art for the upcoming Wii game Skyward Sword was revealed) and E3 2010 (where some details of the game, including its title, were announced), people thought that the mysterious blue figure in the piece was the Master Sword (or more specifically, a more humanoid version of the Master Sword). Then in E3 of 2010, it was revealed that this mysterious blue figure was none other than the spirit of the Master Sword.
The game gave credence to the long-standing theory that Ganon is the reincarnation of a much older demon. Or rather, that the essence of the demon's hatred manifested as Ganon, but either way, Ganon's exists because of an ancient demon.
It has been confirmed that the popular theory of the Hero's Shade from Twilight Princess being the Link from Ocarina of Time (due to strong, but cryptic hints given in-game) is indeed true. Additionally, the theories of the Link in TP being descended from the OoT Link are also true, with the exact quote from Hyrule Historia reading, "Link is taught secrets by the ghost of the Hero of Time, who is his ancestor. After he was returned to the time of his childhood, he felt regret at leaving behind his role as the Hero."
Also as of Hyrule Historia, it turns out that the owl in Ocarina of Time, Kaepora Gaebora was indeed a form of Rauru. People had deduced it from the Gossip Stone hints, but now it's been confirmed. The exact quote being "Rauru. He's the sage who built the Temple of Time in ancient times. Before Link pulled the Master Sword out, he followed Link's adventures as the owl Kaepora Gaebora." Do you want to hear what I said again?
Yes ← No
Fans were also right about Minish Cap being the first game timeline when it was originally released (it was kinda obvious: the Master sword doesn't appear, Ganondorf isn't even mentioned, and it explains where Link's trademark pointy hat came from [even though a canonically earlier Link, explained later, had it]). It held the position of first game in the timeline until Skyward Sword was released several years later which was set even earlier.
Of course, part of this had to do with Four Swords being claimed as the first in the timeline by Aonuma, and Minish Cap seemingly being a prequel.
There has been a fan theory that Dalton brought down Guardia between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. The bonus dungeon in the DS Version confirmed the theory.
Super Robot WarsOriginal Generation has this. After the bonus section of the remake, fans were fearing that Lamia Loveless were Killed Off for Real, though some doubts that she'd be killed that easy, considering the text says To Be Continued shortly after her death. And the result? In Original Generation Gaiden, she's Not Quite Dead, only just came back with a bit dose of Brainwashed and Crazy. And the brainwasher is Duminuss, one who was able to bring Master Asia from the dead and completely control him in Super Robot Wars R (so in fact, all that death stuff was a hint that Lamia would play Master Asia's role of 'dead friend resurrected from the dead' in R). Whoever saved her, however, was totally unexpected.
The Spin-Off game Mugen no Frontier SRW OG Saga introduces Aschen Brodel, a seemingly okay Expy of Lamia, starting from her android origins, same voice actress and color scheme. But then, comes her Split Personality problems to a Genki Girl, mentioning Code DTD. And eventually it's confirmed that... she's a missing predecessor of Lamia, W07.
The Wild Mass Guessing page for Metal Gear mentioned the theory that Liquid never really came back from the dead and Ocelot was faking it to destroy the Patriots. It was very close to the mark with what happened with MGS4.
Additionally fans speculated that Mr. Sigint from MGS3 and the DARPA Chief Donald Anderson from MGS1 were one and the same. MGS4 confirmed this by making him and the rest of Naked Snake's support crew into the founders of the Patriots (might be a case of Sure, Why Not?).
For Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance people were putting out theories that the Black Knight was Zelgius and Bertram was Renning, which were proven right for Radiant Dawn. However, it was backed by an analysis of the game disc's contents by hackers (Bertram's portrait matched up with an unused portrait of Renning). Of course, for those trying to avoid spoilers for the latter game definitely got a shock when a press release basically spoiled the Black Knight/Zelgius connection.
In Shadow Dragon (the remake of The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light; yes, the one with Marth in it), there is a four-chapter prologue detailing Marth's escape from his homeland Altea. This section introduces a new cavalier (in addition to Cain, Abel, and Jagen) named Frey. The last chapter of the prologue forces the player to designate one of his allies as a decoy scapegoat in order to ward off an approaching force of enemy units who are attempting to capture and kill Prince Marth. However, if you play on Hard, the prologue is skipped entirely and Frey is nowhere to be seen, leading many players to believe that he was the canonical sacrifice.New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow (the remake of Mystery of the Emblem, a retelling of the first game and a sequel to it) confirms to be true, but with a twist: upon being discovered as a fake, Frey was wounded and Left for Dead, but managed to survive his injuries (the only consequences of the attack being a scar on his face and temporary amnesia).
In Disgaea 2, there is an simple explanation for why Adell's Mom accidentally summoned Rozalin when trying to get Overlord Zenon and for why Adell is the only one who remains human under the influence of Zenon's curse. Rozalin is Overlord Zenon reborn with his/her memories submerged under a new persona. Unbeknownst to Adell and his mother, they were right when they remarked that Overlord Zenon was a girl and 'cute' for an Overlord shortly after the supposedly botched summon. As for Adell, he is just a demon who happens to think he is a human. His ear tips are hidden underneath his hair the whole timeHe has a birth defect that makes his ears look like human ears, so he could just have been in denial the whole time or too dumb to notice that the big difference between some of the most humanoid demons and humans is ear shape, eye-color and pointiness of teeth, that is, if he didn't come out looking completely human because his parents were in human-form disguise at the time.
Keep in mind, he's probably doesn't even remember regular humans have round ears, the curse has been around since he was a little kid, after all.
Several Mortal Kombat fans theorized that Noob Saibot was the elder Sub-Zero (the one who starred in Mythologies and was killed at the end of the first game) long before it was confirmed to be fact in Deception.
Similarly, Ed Boon'sTwitter update on September 10, 2011 contained a picture of a single leg, clearly belonging to a female character. Many guessed either a redesign for Sindel or (judging from the symbol on the loincloth) Sareena (an Implied Love Interest of both Sub-Zeroes and an Ensemble Darkhorse/Ascended Extra from Mythologies). Others guessed that was it Skarlet, a rumored character from II believed to be encountered when selecting between the blue Kitana and the purple/pink Mileena. The latter school of thought was ultimately correct, with a character known as Skarlet (originally known as "The Lady in Red") making her debut in 9 as DLC. The fact that Shaun Himmerick mentioned in an interview that "hidden characters that didn't exist, we're gonna make sure they exist now" makes the notion of this being an Ascended Glitch very plausible.
In Gold, the Lin Kuei-turned cyborg Cyrax was revealed to bedark-skinned in his ending despite his clan being based in China. Cue the fan theory that the Lin Kuei kidnaps and enlists members into their ranks. Again, 9 lends credibility to this; Cyrax's bio states that he's Motswana and was recruited to join the Lin Kuei, while Smoke hails from Prague (as in, the Czech Republic).
A somewhat meta example: it was suspected almost from the very start that the Sniper Update for Team Fortress 2 was more than it appeared. Valve had mentioned in passing that they didn't want to see servers flooding with the single class that was being updated, since the players hated that situation so much. When people noticed the Dead Ringer in the spy's hands on the blog, it became nearly a certainty that the Spy would be getting updated at the same time. It was also suspected that Jarate was not just a joke, but there wasn't much of a basis for that suspicion.
The Scout Update unlocks resemble suggestions from the forums too much to be coincidence.
The "Meet the Pyro" video reveals that the Pyro is in fact either insane or seriously drugged (or both), as Pyro perceives the slaughter and pain and mutilation they inflict on others as harmless playing in a Sugar Bowl world. This has led to much pleasure among some silly fans who always thought of the character as this way.
The basic plot of MOTHER 3 was predicted as early as 2000 on STARMEN.net. It was quite the impressive feat considering it was based on a handful of screenshots for a version that was cancelled half a decade before the game eventually came out in 2006.
Golden Sun DS. Oh, come on, Lost Age in no way concluded the story. When it was announced, there was much rejoicing.
At one point, in around 2007 or so, one fan wrote a lengthy essay comparing Golden Sun's mythos to Hermeticism, comparing each version of Alchemy and various associated symbols such as the flying eyeball (The Wise One). As an afterthought, they suggested that if Camelot extended the series, it seemed likely that they would similarly expand the mythology to powers not derived from Alchemy, in particular those governed by celestial objects. The big plot twist of Golden Sun Dark Dawn was the existence of Light and Dark Psynergy, powers ungoverned by Alchemy, revealed during the Grave Eclipse, an artificial conjunction of celestial objects. And here we thought Camelot pulled that one out of their asses...
Kinzo was already dead in Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Intended to be revealed in episode 5, but instead revealed in episode 4 as the theory became hugely popular.
Also two other important theories, namely: Pony theory and Shkanon. The first tells about the motive for the murders (though when it comes down to it, it's about more than just a pony) and the second reveals that Kanon and Shannon are the same person. Not only that, but they're also both Beatrice.
A trailer for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was shown at the end of the Japan-only game Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+. In it, the faces of the three main characters, Terra, Aqua and Ventus, were shown. When Terra's face was revealed to look a lot like the Big Bad of the series, and the Big Bad in BBS shared a name with said Big Bad, it didn't take long for the fans to put two and two together. Turns out they were right: the Big Bad of BBS possesses Terra's body, altering him physically to look like the Big Bad the fans know from the other games.
Though it wasn't as widespread, it was speculated that as Roxas was Sora's Nobody, Vanitas would look like Sora as Ven looked like Roxas, and be Ven's Nobody or Heartless. Well, they were right on him looking like Sora.
Remember back around the time of II and Days where certain fans were staunch in their belief that Nobodies actually did possess hearts and weren't lying through their teeth? Along comes 3D and, hey, turns out Demyx was right. The catch is that Xemnas and Xigbar knew this all along and specifically manipulated the remainder of Organization XIII to keep up the charade.
Also, some fics correctly guessed that Axel would gain a Keyblade.
When the Mysterious FigureAKA Young Xehanort appeared in the US, PAL and Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, some fans deduced from his weapons, which had clock hands as hilts, his battle stance (holding his weapon in a way that resembles clock hands), his rewind ability and the clock motifs present on the Keyblade you are rewarded for defeating him that he was a Time Traveler
When Super Smash Bros. Brawl's development blog, Smash Bros. Dojo, introduced the Subspace Army, it had been widely speculated that the seemingly Original Generation Ancient Minister was actually R.O.B. in disguise, some even going as far as to sketch it out◊. Some disagreed, pointing out that R.O.B.s were already in the game as Mecha-Mooks. Guess who won out?
Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith introduced Sanae, Stage 5 boss and Battle Butler to the Final Boss. Having noticed a pattern with previous similar characters (Sakuya and Youmu) and her inexplicable appearance in the next game, Subterranean Animism, fans immediately declared that she would become playable and a major character for several games. Sure enough, she is playable in Undefined Fantastic Object, Hisoutensoku and Ten Desires.
On these very forums, people suggested that certain characters would be in Ten Desires. Yuyuko and Kogasa. They are - Yuyuko as stage 1 boss, Kogasa as stage 3 midboss.
Speaking of Kogasa, after her debut it became a joke that she would make surprise, inexplicable appearances in subsequent games due to how her powers worked. Guess who inexplicably showed up for Ten Desires?
Portal 2: in the WMG page someone was cleverly speculating that Chell was a daughter from employees of Aperture Science who was brought there in the bring your daughter to work day and in the sequel, you find that one of the potato science experiments that said daughters brought along in said day, the horribly overgrown one, was done by a little girl named Chell.
In 2006, a fanfic about Maplestory, Revolt of the Archers, had a character say that " Final Attack is the key to the legendary fourth job." Come 2011, in the Jump! Update, a new skill called Advanced Final Attack was introduced to the 4th job skill tier.
In Ninja Gaiden II for the 360, players are introduced to Sonia, a CIA agent who assumed a role very similar to that of Irene Lew (Ryu Hayabusa's main squeeze who also happened to be a CIA agent) from the original NES trilogy, right down to pinballing between Action Girl and Faux Action Girl status. While the two look significantly different (Irene being a mousy brunette, Sonia a buxom, pale-skinned blond), fan theories linking the two together began to pop up. Come Dead Or Alive: Dimensions, it turns out that "Sonia" (already implied to not be the character's real name) was merely an alias for Irene Lew, making the two characters one in the same. While this does create a few continuity problems (such as Ryu and Irene not meeting until the original game or the question of how Irene went from cute toHOT DAMN, both of which are still minor enough to be fixed via retcons), this does help establish a more viable link between the old trilogy and the current-gen games (previously, there were only a few hints that the new titles were prequels to Dead or Alive and the NES trilogy, such as Ayane popping up to help Ryu from time to time).
An interview with one of Call of Duty's former design team members confirmed that the World War II era Captain Price is the grandfather of the Modern Warfare's Captain Price. It was Infinity Ward's intention that there always be a Captain Price in their games, as a sort of a meta/mascot character.
The professions of Guild Wars 2 were revealed over an 18 month period between the first and last official releases. All of the professions were guessed from concept art soon after the first reveal, and the mesmer was almost certain as the final profession from about 10 months before the official reveal.
In Transformers: War for Cybertron, Optimus Prime goes to the core of Cybertron and ends up talking with a being in the core. While the credits only listed the being as "Core", many fans spectulated that it was Primus, the Transformers version of God. Transformers Prime takes place in the same universe and during his recap of the events in "One Shall Rise, Part 3", Ratchet confirms that it was Primus Optimus talked to.
Someone going by screwoffreg on the Bioware forums predicted, word-for-word, the... controversial ending of Mass Effect 3way back in 2010.
"There are two endings I wouldn't like for ME 3. One being a random GOD LIKE force that saves the Galaxy or another being that to defeat the Reapers, everyone has to become a primitivist and destroy the Relays, Citadel, etc. Both would make me pretty unhappy as those endings have been done to death."
—screwoffreg, a.k.a. "the Prophet".
The notion of defecting Reaper troops in multiplayer was bandied about on the message boards, especially after the Leviathan DLC. Then came the Collector Adept.
In-universe example with Mass Effect 2. The geth speculated that Reapers, synthetic life so very different from them, were Mind Hives made up of billions of organics, but this was only one of many theories they came up with. You only know it even was a theory if some specific circumstances are met, and it's far from an I Warned You.
Assassin's Creed fans assumed before the game came out that Daniel Cross, the protagonist-of-sorts from Assassin's Creed: The Fall would appear in the third game. Cue people smiling smugly when Cross appears in the present-day segments.
Web Original
Jobe is a side character in the Whateley Universe. He's a sociopathic Knight Templar who thinks he knows better than everyone else in the world. And he's only fourteen! He has a really unhealthy interest in biologically building a Drow body to be his perfect girlfriend. Several people predicted he'd accidentally get infected with his own serum. It just happened.
On the Sonic Stadium Message Board (due to external circumstances, it has received a total wipe), a few members had the assumption that, in Sonic Unleashed, newcomer Chip was really Light Gaia. (Of course, they had the aid of a translation of his Japanese bio...)
One Atop The Fourth Wall fan suggested that Mechakara was Linkara's robot Pollo, which was quickly seized on by many other posters. It turned out to be partially right; Linkara notes in a commentary on the final Mechakara episode that no one had guessed it was a Pollo from an Alternate Universe.
A lot of people guessed that the Entity was The Missing No...they're right.
In a much more fangirly use of the trope, The Nostalgia Critic's tie and Linkara's hat apparently do always stay on during sex, confirmed by "Spooning With Spoony".
In the Suburban Knights commentary, Lindsay says that the Chick and Critic have a "history". TGWTG shippers punched the air in joy.
Speaking of Suburban Knights a lot of people guessed that Ma-Ti would be the key to defeating the Big Bad. They were right, but no one called that it would be a Heroic Sacrifice for Ma-Ti
A fair few fanfics suggested that the Chick would get over Spoony raping her by raping him right back, or at least showing him who's boss in the bedroom. She's so kind to us.
The Classic Doctor Who Twitter Blog basically runs on this, despite the proprietor being armed with major Late Arrival Spoilers.
Fans of Red vs. Blue predicted the reveal of Tex to be a girl several episodes before it happened. Years later, similar Epileptic Trees were validated at the end of Reconstruction where Church was revealed to be the Alpha AI instead of a ghost.
This was the reaction of several Survival of the Fittest members when it transpired that Andrea Vanlandingham had not died (despite her death being announced by Danya) and was running around with no collar.
Many fans of Marble Hornets were convinced that the mysterious masked man (Masky) was actually Tim. Come Entry# 35, they were proven right.
In 2007, a debate among Homestar Runner fans arose regarding the characters' increased usage of the phrase, "DNA Evidence". Some regarded it as just another silly Catch Phrase, while some thought the scenes featuring the words would build up to something. After one week passed without any Homestar characters saying, "DNA Evidence", it seemed like the former group of fans was right...until a new toon paid off the utterances of the phrase by revealing a heretofore unseen connection.
Webcomics
In Ctrl+Alt+Del, several fans speculated that Lucas' blind date Kate was wearing a fat suit as a Secret Test of Character to see if he was a nice guy, and upon the revelation she was thin they would become a couple.
The funniest part of this is that on 4Chan, the reasoning for this speculation was that it was the stupidest and most offensive ending Buckley could think of. Sure enough...
8-Bit Theater hands us a truly spectacular one in #1133: Sarda is the Onion Kid.
Occurred in Amazoness with the revelation that Eutropia is a boy. At least one reader had guessed this several comics before, and by the time the actual reveal occurred a good number had already figured out where it was going.
In Penny and Aggie, when Aggie came across Duane prostrate on the school floor, he claimed he was looking for a contact lens. A few fans speculated on the forum that he was engaging in Islamic prayer. A roughly equal number of fans said that was the most ridiculous and baseless speculation on the comic they'd ever heard. A few weeks later, the side-story arc "Conversion" revealed that Duane had indeed begun secretly exploring Islam.
Homestuck is a weird example of this. Mostly it's Ascended Fanon rather than this trope, because Andrew Hussie reads nearly all the fan theories and likes to incorporate them into the story. He stated at one point that "90% of 'calling it' is really influencing it in disguise". On the other hand, Hussie says that he never reads Homestuck fanfiction, so when a fanfic manages to predict some canon plot twist, we can be reasonably sure it's this trope. For example:
Red Dead Virgo ends with the alternate-universe trolls scratching their unwinnable SGRUB session, at which point Feferi (on the advice of the Horrorterrors) kills her friends**
well, she couldn't get to Kanaya or Eridan in time, and Vriska had already been killed by Jack Noir
and herself, so they can persist as ghosts rather than getting erased in the Scratch—and then the Scratch creates canon Alternia. Months later, Homestuck canon revealed that the troll ancestors scratched their SGRUB session, and Meenah (Feferi's ancestor) killed her friends and herself so they would persist as ghosts, and then the Scratch created Alternia as we know it.
Tower of God - Slave.In.Utero's plot twists are generally unknowable and unpredictable, since the twists are planned but well concealed and there are Red Herrings a plenty, to the point where statement's about how S.I.U. would do it receive humored rejection from the get go, but fans actually managed to guess that Hwa Ryun not only played a major role in the series' background, but was actually working for Yu Hansung.
When William Aussek showed up in Mortifer, several people noticed that he was always smiling, wore gloves all the time, was a Neat Freak, Hates Being Touched, and that the readers never see his right eye (Both of his eyes are hidden behind massive sunglasses, but we can occasionally see his left eye through the lens). All of these traits also apply to the comic's resident Magnificent Bastard Joey Von Krause (Though he wears an Eyepatch instead of sunglasses). Naturally a few readers theorized that the two characters were one and the same. Theywereright.
In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, the titular doc says this after being told by Dracula that the cure for cancer has been hidden on Mars. Comic here.
In El Goonish Shive, the author Dan Shive has mentioned in commentaries instances where fans have have messaged him accurate predictions regarding certain plot points.
This has happened several times over the 10 year run of Drowtales, but the best example so far was when a fan correctly guessed that the second parent of the character Kalki was Mel'arnach Val'Sarghress. Most other fans dismissed this theory, in part because it would mean that both of her parents were women only for chapter 25 to show this to be exactly right.
Western Animation
In Avatar The Last Airbender, Ursa being a part of Fire Lord Azulon's assassination was finally confirmed in season 3. Sort of an Untwist since it was heavily implied from the beginning.
The general fan consensus was that the series' final showdown would be Aang vs. Ozai and Zuko vs. Azula. Of course, that was pretty clearly spelled out throughout the series, so (in the absence of a totally out-of-left-field-plot-twist) it's not a big surprise it turned out that way.
It's also what happened in the Ember Island players, during Sozin's Comet, making it an in-universeI Knew It.
Even the name of Katara's mother (Kya) got called. Of course, it had shown up in the pilot as Katara's alternate name.
One Fan artist was actually awesome enough to guess what Ozai's face looked like months before season 3 started. No◊ Seriously◊
The infamous season 2 finale was particularly effective because everyone was calling Zuko's Heel Face Turn from various points in the series (by "The Blue Spirit" the fandom had pretty much guessed this fate for him).
For Transformers Animated, nearly everyone guessed from the start that Sari was actually a robot/cyborg. A smaller contigent figured out that the Autobots' ship was actually Omega Supreme and that Magnus was a title rather than a name.
Mind you, the full form of the most commonly seen "Sari is a robot" theory was " Sari is actually Arcee, or should we say "Arsi"," which turned out to be completely wrong. (And thank Primus it did. Seriously, "Arsi"?)
Some Batman Beyond fans speculated that Terry and Matt's parents were divorced because the boys both look nothing like their father (they have black hair, compared with Mary who is a redhead and Warren whose hair is light brown - genetically improbable). Flash forward to the Justice League Unlimited episode Epilogue which doubles as a Fully Absorbed Finale, and guess what? CADMUS had Warren's genetic material overwritten with Bruce Wayne's, making him the boys' biological father. According to the series' staff, this decision was a Sure, Why Not? motivated by the realization of said genetic improbability.
At the end of The Venture Brothers first season, Hank and Dean are killed by The Monarch's henchmen, and the two prominent fan theories about the second season were that Hank and Dean were clones (Dr. Venture's comment upon seeing the bodies was a deadpan "Get the clones") or that Thaddius and Jonas, Jr. would be the "Venture Brothers" of the second season. The first theory proved correct and served as a major plot point for the next several seasons.
The second theory was also subverted, as the title sequence in the first episode of season two featured Thaddius and Jonas Jr. replacing Hank and Dean.
In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "May the Best Pet Win", Rainbow Dash is looking for a pet. Obviously, given her personality, she wants to find the fastest, most awesome pet around, but she ends up with a tortoise. This had been one guess as to what Rainbow Dash's pet might be for a while (and the runner-up, a falcon, was another option). It wasn't Ascended Fanon, though - the episode was conceived nearly a year before it aired, and this was simply a case of the fans and creators thinking the same thing.
Princess Luna had many theories surrounding her, but nearly all of them shared some common elements, such as being a Fish Out of Temporal Water due to 1000 years of culture shock, becoming The Atoner because of that whole Nightmare Moon thing, many ponies still hate and fear her because of her past, and one - or all of - the mane six helping her adjust and be accepted. When her A Day in the Limelight episode was released, it confirmed every single one of these. (Although it went in the complete opposite direction from the usual fan-made Shrinking Violet portrayal by making her VERYLOUD instead.)
As ruler of the night, it has long been speculated that Luna has dominion over dreams, or is even a Dream Weaver. "Sleepless in Ponyville" confirmed that she is a Dream Walker, and that keeping ponies safe in their dreams is one of her duties.
Many fans theorised that, after the events of "Boast Busters", The Great and Powerful Trixie's livelyhood was essentially ruined by her being exposed as a fraud, and she would one day return seeking revenge on Twilight Sparkle. Others claimed she would eventually fall into Defeat Equals Friendship. Cue the series three episode "Magic Duel" and both turned out to be true! Unlike Luna's case, by this time the writers were well aware of the show's fandom, so this could have been a case of Ascended Fanon.
Ever since "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" it was widely speculated that the parents of Big Macintosh, Applejack and Apple Bloom were dead. "Apple Family Reunion" hinted at this, and after the episode the staff confirmed that they were indeed dead and the shooting stars at the end were meant to represent them.
Scootaloo's Hero Worship of Rainbow Dash, combined with how she's the only Cutie Mark Crusader without a sister, led to speculation that Scootaloo views Rainbow Dash as her Cool Big Sis, which is confirmed by "Sleepless in Ponyville."
"Keep Calm and Flutter On" confirms a huge chunk of the theories surrounding Discord, including that he's still aware of his surroundings after being sealed in stone, that somepony releases him to try and reform him (though going against all expectations Celestia is the one to do it), that Fluttershy attempts to change his ways (and succeeds!) by being kind yet firm, and that he's a colossal jerk because he's never had a single friend.
Before the airing of the Season 3 finale, "Magical Mystery Cure", some fans have discussed and correctly guessed about Twilight herself being turned into an alicorn princess.
In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, fans thought that since Mayor Jones looks nothing like Fred and acts like a Jerkass to him that he can't possibly be Fred's father. The season one finale proved them right.
Some fans of Ed Edd N Eddy correctly guessed that The Movie would reveal Eddy's brother and turn out to be the antagonist.
Whenever Larry on Clue Club starts breaking down in detail how a crime was committed, Woofer (one of the Club's mascot dogs) will tell Wimper that he knew who the suspect was all the time. He does this with every person pointed out who may have had a motive.
