Well after a point it stops being a Chekhov's Gun... you need to have a chance to disregard the item in question, once it's been used two or three times you'll be expecting it to be used again.
Doctor
I'm finding a few instances in this Trope that's actually just a chekov's gun. The description is specific, but is there some way we can narrow it down more?
Hide / Show Replies
I came here to the discussion page to point out the same thing! That needs to be cleaned up.
Why Chekhov's Boomerang? No explanation in the description or the examples...
Hide / Show Replies
Olaf's Hammer used to be a trope describing a similar situation where a plot device was introduced at one point with the authorial intention being that it was just there to be there and then later on the writer realizes they can use it for something that's actually plot-relevant. Will Turner's sword-throwing trick from Pirates Of The Caribbean is a good example of an Olaf's Hammer. The writer's initially figured it would just be a fun trick and it wasn't until they were writing the scene of Will rescuing Jack that they realized it could actually be a useful one.
Why did we merge these, by the way? Because differentiating between them was rather enjoyable, if only for the sake of being able to see when a writer was clever on purpose vs. clever on accident.
Edited by JurassicMosquito
Determining whether or not the trope was used by accident is a hopelessly subjective argument. It's a lot easier to just lump them all under the same page and have that specific information in the individual examples.
See you in the discussion pages.
Should there be a separate trope for when a Chekhov's Gun is fired ludicrously many times, instead of just two or three?
That's me. Hide / Show Replies