History Main / ArkhamsRazor

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' plays with this in the next to last stage. When fighting what appears to be Magnus and Dark Lord Gaol, Pit and Palutena suspect that Dyntos, god of the forge, had made fake copies of them, like he'd done with [[BossRush almost every other boss in the game]]. [[spoiler: It turns out that he just invited the real ones over.]]

** In the MusicalEpisode, Giles's first theory as to what is causing the outbreak of deadly singing and dancing is "a dancing demon", which he immediately dismisses. Of course, he's right.

* Unsurprisingly lampshaded in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': When the rest of the cast jump to a wild conclusion regarding the parentage of a child, OnlySaneMan ([[AbiguousGender or woman]]) V points out that they have nowhere near enough evidence to reach said conclusion... but given their past experience, that probably means they're right anyway.

* Unsurprisingly lampshaded in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': When the rest of the cast jump to a wild conclusion regarding the parentage of a child, OnlySaneMan V points out that they have nowhere near enough evidence to reach said conclusion... but given their past experience, that probably means they're right anyway.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Some of ComicBook/TheRiddler's riddles work this way. For a relatively grounded example, his first-ever crime used the clue "banquet", sending Batman and the police to a charity dinner. The real and much less conventional meaning of the clue was that the Riddler had ''flooded a bank vault'' -- gotten a "bank wet" -- to defeat its pressure-sensitive locking mechanism and was looting it in scuba gear.

A trope mostly in comedic works where, when given multiple explanations for an event, the oddest one is most likely to be true. The inverse of OccamsRazor. As such, it can be summarized as "When you hear hoofbeats, think zombie zebras from outer space, not horses."[[note]]Provided you don't live on the zombie space Serengeti[[/note]] The name is a take off of OccamsRazor, combined with Arkham, which refers to the fictional Massachusetts town in the works of Creator/HPLovecraft, and also to the fictional insane asylum in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic books. Thus, the term "Arkham" is closely tied to the idea of madness or surprise.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', it's frequently suggested, half-jokingly, that the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be cursed since no DADA professor ever lasts more than one school year. The reader isn't invited to take this very seriously -- until Book 6 when Dumbledore reveals that it actually was cursed by Voldemort.

* Thanks to a related trope, BatDeduction, some of ComicBook/TheRiddler's riddles work this way. For a relatively grounded example, his first-ever crime used the clue "banquet," sending Batman and the police to a charity dinner. The real, and much less conventional meaning of the clue was that the Riddler had ''flooded a bank vault'' -- gotten a "bank wet" -- to defeat its pressure-sensitive locking mechanism and was looting it in scuba gear.

* In one scene in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', the heroes have been imprisoned by the King of the Moon. The Queen of the Moon -- who, like her husband, has a detachable head -- comes to their rescue in head-form. She giggles and moans constantly as she tries to unlock the cage, and Sally asks the Baron what she's laughing about. The Baron tells the little girl, "Um, her body is with the King, and he is, uh... tickling her feet." Cut to the royal chamber where the King is in bed with the Queen's body, and he is in fact... tickling her feet!
* The first time we meet Tootles in the movie ''Film/{{Hook}}'', he's searching frantically for something. When Peter asks him what he's doing, he says, "I've lost my marbles!" Which Peter of course interprets metaphorically, thinking that Tootle's has gone insane. Much later in the movie, Peter learns that Tootles used to be a Lost Boy, and that he left his (quite literal) marbles behind in Neverland.
* Early in the movie ''Film/GirlInterrupted'', the main character is told that she may have to have therapy with "Dr. Wick". "Wick's a girl." the other girls joke. "Wick's a chick." It's far from clear whether they are being literal, or simply demeaning a physician they don't like, so it comes as something as a surprise when we meet the man himself, and he turns out to be -- [[spoiler:Vanessa Redgrave]].
* In the movie ''Film/TrueGrit'' (1969), Mattie makes repeated references to her lawyer "J. Noble Daggett". She pulls out his name every time she wants something done, threatening legal action against those who get in her way. After about the fifth time, Rooster and [=LeBoeuf=] express skepticism as to whether this "Lawyer Daggett" even exists, and the audience might be inclined to agree with them. But at the end of the film a little man in glasses walks into Rooster's room, and introduces himself as lawyer Daggett himself!

* In ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeaTimeOfTheSoul'', the protagonist inverts Sherlock Holmes' famous quote, saying "When you have eliminated all which is improbable, then whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth." This is the person who owns an I Ching calculator that returns any answer higher than four as "a suffusion of yellow", practices zen driving (rather than just drive where you want to, find another driver that seems to know where they are going, and follow them), and claims that the perpetrator of a particularly grisly closed room murder got out by travelling to another dimension. [[spoiler: He is entirely correct about the last one.]]
* The real culprit of most of ''Literature/TheBoxcarChildren's'' later installments is invariably whichever suspect is not actually suspected by the title heroes.

* The backstory to the novel ''Easy Avenue'' is that Mrs. O'Driscoll's husband went "missing" in the war. All the characters understand that "missing" means "dead", but Mrs. O'Driscoll sometimes indulges in fantasies about him surviving and living it up on some tropical island. This sounds wildly improbable until the very end of the book when the characters are having a picnic and [[spoiler: Mr. O'Driscoll suddenly turns up!]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', Dibbler claims his anti-dragon cream is manufactured by [[TheShangriLa saffron-wearing monks in the high mountains]], but Captain Vimes brushes it off as Dibbler's standard false advertising. [[BrickJoke At the end of the book]], we find some monks loading up a yak with bottles of herbal cream bound for Ankh-Morpork, and one of them wonders what the hell Dibbler ''does'' with them.
* Shows up at several points in the works of Creator/GKChesterton. {{Justified}} by at least one character. As he puts it, "This priest tells me that an Irishman can appeal to a God I know nothing about to avenge him according to some Higher Law I also know nothing about. Well, there's nothing for me to say except that I know nothing about it. But you ask me to disbelieve in the world as it appears to my own five wits."
* In ''[[https://www.amazon.com/Lion-Tharthee-Grant-Callin/dp/0671653571 A Lion On Tharthee]]'', Junior mocks the group of people who thought intelligent life only needed a "big brain" to evolve, saying "OccamsRazor was dulling itself trying to shave a pickle."
* In ''One Rainy Night'' by Richard Laymon, an explanation for the black rain that turns everyone it touches into homicidal maniacs is given very early on, when a character half-jokingly says that it's [[spoiler: Voodoo magic.]] Cut to the end of the book and it turns out that the rain is being caused by [[spoiler: a naked old guy invoking a Voodoo curse on the town by spitting black ink onto a canvas.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' the gang is arguing about who was the most "badass" as a kid. All of their tales of [[FormerTeenRebel youthful rebellion are eventually proven false,]] except for TeamMom (and literal mom) and kindergarten teacher Lily, who painted a picture of herself as basically an {{Expy}} of [[KarmicThief Omar Little]] from ''Series/TheWire''. Naturally, at the end of the episode this is proven true.
* Double-subverted in ''Series/{{Community}}'' when the study group cannot work out what happened to Annie's missing pen. Unwilling to believe any of the group stole it, they agree to believe Troy's manufactured story that a ghost took it. In fact, [[spoiler: it was Troy's escaped pet monkey, Annie's Boobs.]]
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': In "Jake and Amy," a bomb threat is called in, ruining Jake and Amy's wedding. Naturally, Jake says it's just an idle threat to ruin the day (since it would be counter productive to actually warn them that a bomb was going to go off at a particular time), but the bomb-disposal technician (who is openly in love with Amy and wants to break up the wedding himself) says something along the lines of "well, what if the bomber's daughter found blueprints and felt guilty and called to warn you?" [[spoiler: True to the trope, this is ''exactly'' what happened]].
* Interestingly used as part of how the WeirdnessCensor is {{justified|Trope}} on early seasons of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', where the police (who know the truth about the town's vampire problem) have little trouble convincing most people that the vampires are just PCP addicts. As Oz points out when he's told the real story, the vampire explanation actually makes more sense.

* Often played non-comedically in ''Series/{{House}}''. In medical jargon, an unexpected diagnosis is referred to as a "[[http://house.wikia.com/wiki/Zebra zebra]]". Justified, in this case, because dealing with the zebra cases is [[AnthropicPrinciple the entire reason for House's department]] ''existing''. They only get the weird cases that the regular doctors can't figure out, similar to how Franchise/SherlockHolmes probably didn't deal with many conventional crimes that Scotland Yard was able to deal with on their own.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' has a body found in the ocean with what looks like large teethmarks. While the police posit ideas like a shark, or an unusual knife, "psychic" detective Shawn immediately says a dinosaur did it. No prize for guessing who was right. When he explains his logic ''after'' the ColdOpening, it actually makes sense. The fact that it's completely ridiculous is what throws people off, and the chain of events that led to said injuries and death is convoluted and bizarre, but his initial deduction was spot-on and perfectly reasonable.
* The ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Balancing Act": When JD ([[ChekhovsClassroom who recently watched a relevant TV program]]) suggests a patient may be infected with a flesh-eating bacteria rather than a simple case of cellulitis, Cox immediately rejects this, explains the concept of OccamsRazor ("Think horses, not zebras"). JD, however, turns out to be right. Apart from that instance the trope is usually averted.
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' ran on this trope. Usually in form of simple statements that end up being correct in an utterly bizarre way.
** The pilot has a character seeing a group of gays protesting a yacht club and comments "I have that same top." Turns out [[spoiler: it was actually her top and her husband had mistaken the party she was as a pirate-themed party due to an offhand comment, then accidentally got onto a bus with a group of gay protesters (whom he thought were dressed similar to pirates) and ended up protesting the party he was supposed to be attending.]]
** Toyed with, with a doctor who was always incorrectly literal. Telling the family "He's all right" when in fact he was saying [[spoiler: he's "all right" because a seal bit off and ate his left hand.]]
** And of course, "there's always money in the banana stand." [[spoiler: There was literally $100,000 in cash hidden in the banana stand.]]

* The magazine dedicated to the investigation of strange phenomena, ''Magazine/ForteanTimes'', takes the sensible point of view that OccamsRazor is generally the right approach to take in evaluating evidence. But FT is keen to point out that Arkham's Razor should not be scorned and may, in some circumstances at least, be more entertaining -- and maybe even potentially useful. If you deal with strange things where all the usual bets are off, you need a different approach.

* Emerald and Neo in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' are this. The audience knew little beforehand about either character, but knew that Neo could create "illusions" somehow, that had previously been dispelled by Yang shattering them while the real Neo got away. She was later seen with an altered appearance and seems to change her eye color repeatedly just to do so. Pressing the point that she could alter what people see was her various disguises taken during the Vytal Tournament, with her pink and brown eyes being the only hint to her identity. Thus, when presented with clear situations where someone was messing with what a character sees and hears, fans assumed it was Neo. There were the odd fans that insisted it was Mercury or more likely Emerald who had the illusion power (mainly due to one of the biggest uses of said illusions occurred to a character who was hunting Emerald down and couldn't find her), but they were promptly shouted down and considered ignorant of canon. It later turned out that Emerald ''was'' the person crafting illusions, though Neo still retains the strange reality-altering powers she had before, which have yet to be explained.

* This shows up a couple of times in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent''.

** Used in almost every episode of ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo''. During TheSummation, every suspect is listed... and the one character who isn't listed for whatever reason (too unlikely, had an alibi, or just plain the writers didn't feel like including them) is invariably the culprit.
** Used in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', the real culprit behind the mask is usually someone who is only seen once or has little to no connection to the subject the Mystery Inc. are investigating. In fact, one of the villains was seen earlier in a mascot outfit for only a few seconds.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': After rehearsing for a Christmas pageant, Sally talks about waiting for Harold Angel to sing. Charlie Brown thinks this is just the standard {{Mondegreen}} for "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" until a kid named Harold Angel shows up looking for Sally.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Bubble Buddy", [=SpongeBob=] makes a bubble mannequin and [[CompanionCube acts as if he were alive]]. The others get tired of [=SpongeBob's=] antics and try to pop the bubble, but just as they are about to Bubble Buddy suddenly comes to life and stops them, confirming that he was alive all along.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' episode "Bengeance is Mine" Ben is convinced a man named Bill Gacks is really Vilgax in disguise despite Rook's scanner confirming he isn't because it's too much of a coincidence that he closely resembles Vilgax, has a similar sounding name and just happens to be around whenever a holographic projection of Vilgax appears. [[spoiler: In this case, Ben is wrong.]]
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', Sheen's action figure is stolen. After ruling out all the other suspects, Jimmy quotes the original Sherlock story when he realizes the true thief must be the one they first ignored due to being too ridiculous: [[spoiler:a bunch of squirrels]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' "Who Shot Mr. Burns" TwoPartEpisode, the family watches the news report that Smithers has been found innocent, and Marge comments that it's never the most likely suspect. Lisa counters that [[RealityEnsues actually, in 95% of cases it IS the most likely suspect]], and the rest of the time it's [[AnticlimacticUnmasking just some random person with no motive at all]]. Incidentally, the actual culprit fits this trope nicely: it was [[spoiler:baby Maggie]], of all people.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' Rule Of Funny dictates that the silliest explanation for something [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight invariably turns out to be correct]]. Usually it's Starfire's proposal, but sometimes others are the lead.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "A Pharaoh To Remember," the characters travel to [[SpaceRomans O'Cyrus IV]], which obviously resembles Ancient Egypt. When Fry finds out that its inhabitants visited Egypt thousands of years ago, he [[AncientAstronauts concludes that the theories were right]]... but is quickly told that the aliens took their culture from the Egyptians, who taught them pyramid-building. [[DoubleSubverted This itself is subverted seasons later]] in "That Darn Katz!", [[spoiler:which reveals that the pyramids were in fact built by a ''different'' alien race, meaning that the O'Cyrians got the knowledge thirdhand.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "A Pharaoh To Remember," the characters travel to [[SpaceRomans O'Cyrus IV]], which obviously resembles Ancient Egypt. When Fry finds out that its inhabitants visited Egypt thousands of years ago, he [[AncientAstronauts concludes that the theories were right]]...but is quickly told that the aliens took their culture from the Egyptians, who taught them pyramid-building. [[DoubleSubverted This itself is subverted seasons later]] in "That Darn Katz!", [[spoiler:which reveals that the pyramids were in fact built by a ''different'' alien race, meaning that the O'Cyrians got the knowledge thirdhand.]]

* In ''One Rainy Night'' by Richard Laymon, an explanation for the black rain that turns everyone it touches into homicidal maniacs is given very early on, when a character half-jokingly says that it's [[spoiler: Voodoo magic.]] Cut to the end of the book and it turns out that the rain is being caused by [[spoiler: a naked old guy invoking a Voodoo curse on the town by spitting black ink onto a canvas.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "A Pharaoh To Remember," the characters travel to [[SpaceRomans O'Cyrus IV]], which obviously resembles Ancient Egypt. When Fry finds out that its inhabitants visited Egypt thousands of years ago, he [[AncientAstronauts concludes that the theories were right]]...but is quickly told that the aliens took their culture from the Egyptians, who taught them pyramid-building. [[DoubleSubverted This itself is subverted seasons later]] in "That Darn Katz!", [[spoiler:which reveals that the pyramids were in fact built by a ''different'' alien race, meaning that the O'Cyrians got it thirdhand.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "A Pharaoh To Remember," the characters visit [[SpaceRomans O'Cyrus IV]], which obviously resembles Ancient Egypt. When Fry finds out that its inhabitants visited Egypt thousands of years ago, he [[AncientAstronauts concludes that the theories were right]]...but is quickly told that the aliens took their culture from the Egyptians, who taught them pyramid-building. [[DoubleSubverted This itself is subverted seasons later]] in "That Darn Katz!", [[spoiler:which reveals that the pyramids were in fact built by a ''different'' alien race, meaning that the O'Cyrians got it thirdhand.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "A Pharaoh To Remember," the characters visit [[SpaceRomans O'Cyrus IV]], which obviously resembles Ancient Egypt. When Fry finds out that its inhabitants visited Egypt thousands of years ago, he [[AncientAstronauts concludes that the theories were right]]...but is quickly told that the aliens learned to build pyramids from the Egyptians. [[DoubleSubverted This itself is subverted seasons later]] in "That Darn Katz!", [[spoiler:which reveals that the pyramids were in fact built by a ''different'' alien race, meaning that the O'Cyrians got it thirdhand.]]

A trope mostly in comedic works where, when given multiple explanations for an event, the oddest one is most likely to be true. The inverse of OccamsRazor. As such, it can be summarized as "When you hear hoofbeats; think zombie zebras from outer space, not horses."[[note]]Provided you don't live on the zombie space Serengeti[[/note]] The name is a take off of OccamsRazor, combined with Arkham, which refers to the fictional Massachusetts town in the works of Creator/HPLovecraft, and also to the fictional insane asylum in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic books. Thus, the term "Arkham" is closely tied to the idea of madness or surprise.

A trope mostly in comedic works where, when given multiple explanations for an event, the oddest one is most likely to be true. The inverse of OccamsRazor. As such, it can be summarized as "When you hear hoofbeats; think zombie zebras from outer space, not horses."[[note]]Provided you don't live on the Serengeti[[/note]] The name is a take off of OccamsRazor, combined with Arkham, which refers to the fictional Massachusetts town in the works of Creator/HPLovecraft, and also to the fictional insane asylum in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic books. Thus, the term "Arkham" is closely tied to the idea of madness or surprise.

** Used in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', the real culprit behind the mask is usually someone who is only seen once or has little to no connection to the subject the Mystery Inc. are investigating. In fact, one of the villains was seen earlier is in a mascot outfit for only a few seconds.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' "Who Shot Mr. Burns" TwoParter, the family watches the news report that Smithers has been found innocent, and Marge comments that it's never the most likely suspect. Lisa counters that [[RealityEnsues actually, in 95% of cases it IS the most likely suspect]], and the rest of the time it's [[AnticlimacticUnmasking just some random person with no motive at all]]. Incidentally, the actual culprit fits this trope nicely: it was [[spoiler:baby Maggie]], of all people.

[[folder:Magazines]]
* The magazine dedicated to the investigation of strange phenomena, ''Magazine/ForteanTimes'', takes the sensible point of view that OccamsRazor is generally the right approach to take in evaluating evidence. But FT is keen to point out that Arkham's Razor should not be scorned and may, in some circumstances at least, be more entertaining - and maybe even potentially useful. If you deal with strange things where all the usual bets are off, you need a different approach.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', Sheen's action figure is stolen. After ruling out all the other suspects, Jimmy quotes the original Sherlock story when he realizes the true thief must be the one they first ignored due to being too ridiculous: [[spoiler: a bunch of squirrels]].

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' plays with this in the next to last stage. When fighting what appears to be Magnus and Dark Lord Gaol, Pit and Palutena suspect that Dyntos, god of the forge, had made fake copies of them, like he'd done with [[BossRush almost every other boss in the game]]. [[spoiler: It turns out that he just invited the real ones over.]]
[[/folder]]