History Main / RuleOfSeven

* DoctorWho's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes to War]] was the 7th episode in its series, and the 777th in the show's nearly fifty-year run. Three days after it aired, on June 7, the BBC officially announced Series 7.

* [[ScottPilgrim Seven Evil Exes]]. Gideon takes the [[ArcNumber "seven" motif]] UpToEleven. He then takes it up to ''[[BeyondTheImpossible twelve]]'' in TheMovie, even stating after he swallows his gum that "[[LargeHam It's gonna be in my digestive tract for SEVEN YEARS!]]"

* One of the best ''{{Tetris}}: The Grand Master'' players in Japan goes by the initials 777.

** The NintendoDS is also the only Nintendo handheld which has had seven main series [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo Pokémon games/versions]] developed for it.

** In ''[[PokemonRedAndBlue Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen]]'', the Sevii Islands are are seven normally accessible islands (though certain event lets you access two more) and they were all made in 7 days, according to a lady on Quest Island, the seventh island.

** ''[[PokémonMysteryDungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky]]'' all feature the Seven Treasures, items which are obtained by defeating seven bosses that guard seven secret dungeons.

* In ''{{Pokemon}}'' the best you can get at the slots is triple sevens.
** In ''Pokémon'' fire red and leaf green, there are seven normally accessible islands (though event lets you access two more) and they were all made in 7 days, according to a lady on the seventh island.
** As of Generation IV, Eevee has 7 evolutions.
** In Gen V, the villainous Team Plasma includes a group of high-ranking members known as the Seven Sages.
* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' series has seven sages in ''LinkToThePast'' and ''OcarinaOfTime'', and there ''were'' seven sages in ''TwilightPrincess'' before [[spoiler: [[HijackedByGanon Ganondorf]]]] killed one of them.

* Lampshaded in LordDarcy books, where the characters are making fun of a sect for thinking 7 is a magical number - in that world's magic, only five - and, to a lesser extent, six - are.

** There were six Chaos Emeralds in [[Game/SonicTheHedgehog the first Sonic game]]. Anyone want to guess [[DragonBall what inspired the change?]]

** The seven Millennium Items in the original ''[=~Yu-Gi-Oh!~=]''.

* T''heMagnificentSeven''.

** Seven Star Pieces in ''SuperMarioRPG: Legend of the '''Seven''' Stars''.

** Seven Star Spirits in ''PaperMario''.
** Seven Crystal Stars in ''Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door''.
** ''Super Paper Mario'' has ''eight'' Pure Hearts... but you start the game with one of them, so you've still got to get seven.

** How did ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the ''Seven'' Stars'' get missed?

** There are seven tetrominoes: I, T, O, S, Z, L, reverse-L.

* In chemistry, the pH scale is neutral at 7. And it's not arbitrary at all, since H+ molarity in water is approximately 10^(-7), and pH is a logarithmic scale.
** More of accidentally arbitrary, since molarity comes from the mole, itself arbitrarily defined. But, yes, it is a nice coincidence.

* In chemistry, the pH scale is neutral at 7.
** It is not arbitrary at all, though, since H+ molarity in water is approximately 10^(-7), and pH is a logarithmic scale.

* In the ''SuperMarioBros.'' series, Bowser has seven Koopalings ([[SuperMarioSunshine Bowser]] [[NewSuperMarioBros Jr.]] doesn't count).

* 21 (7×3) in blackjack.

In the natural world, one of the origins of this significance come from the seven celestial bodies that could be seen with the naked eye, (Sun, Moon, and the planets up to Saturn), that were worsipped as deities, and the days named after them were the days of the week.

Later natural phenomena were intentionally shoehoned into this "significant" number, for example the colors of the rainbow or the number of continents can be seven, depending on how you count them.

Since the Bible, and especially the Book of Revelations used it repeatedly, it became even more famous as a divine number, or as the number of perfection.

* DC's [[SevenSoldiers Seven Soldiers of Victory]], both in the Golden Age and the anthology series by GrantMorrison.
** In Seven Soldiers #0, a team is assembled with only ''six'' members because one didn't show up. Dan the Dyno-mite remarks that the significance of the number 7 can't be overstated, especially since 6 is extremely unlucky in comparison. [[spoiler:Then they all die.]]
* GrantMorrison also did a JusticeLeague arc after he expanded the team centered around the number seven, ranging from seven villains attacking Washington [=DC=] to Martian Manhunter calling in the Atom because he was the seventh "new member" since the League's inception.

* TheMagnificentSeven.
* And The SevenSamurai, upon which the previous was based.

** Invoked by Voldemort, who planned on splitting his own soul into seven pieces - six [[SoulJar Soul Jars]] plus the piece still in his body. [[spoiler: Then he made Harry the seventh Horcrux without knowing it...]]

** This would have culminated with book 7 being released on 7/7/07, but [[HarsherInHindsight the bomb attacks on London]] the year before put a damper on that, so they released it on the 21st (7+7+7) instead.
* Practically every number you run across in the ''SeptimusHeap'' series is either somehow related to the number seven(often by adding the numbers together), or an homage to something or other. There's even a list at the end of the first book.

* In Gilbert L. Morris's books "The Seven Sleepers" series. About seven teenagers who have adventures in a post-nuclear attacked world.

** Subverted: [[spoiler: There used to be eight, and #7 was unlucky enough to be Abel to Cavil's Cain]].

* {{Survivor}} season seven winner Sandra Diaz-Twine became the first (and, so far, ''only'') two time winner by winning season twenty, seven years after her first win.

* French rap group IAM wrote an entire song about the symbolic virtues of the number Seven.

** Which is in turn caused by there being seven celestial objects regularly visible from Earth - the sun, moon, and five planets.

** This is actually a [[AssPull contrivance]] of the well-known scientist and not-well-known mystic Isaac Newton. [[NewerThanTheyThink Observing the spectrum of sunlight produced by his prism]], he convinced himself that the area between blue and purple was a separate colour, indigo, because seven colours would fit his numerology better. The joke of this is, he missed a real seventh colour: cyan, between green and blue.

* 21 (7 x 3) in blackjack.
* Seven is the most likely roll of a pair of standard 6-sided dice. In craps, you can win by rolling a seven (or eleven) first, and lose by getting seven on any subsequent roll.

* Almost all mammals have 7 cervical vertebrae.
* Seven-spotted ladybug.
* The atomic number of Nitrogen, which makes up the majority of Earth's atmosphere.

** Seven Star Spirits in PaperMario.
** Seven Crystal Stars in Paper Mario: And the Thousand Year Door.
** How did Super Mario RPG: Legend of the ''Seven'' Stars get missed?

** Even when it's not Chaos Emeralds, there are seven MacGuffin-style items to collect. [[SonicAndTheSecretRings Seven Rings in Hand]], anyone?

* Seven personalities in ''Killer7'', along with a revolver that has 7 chambers.

** There are seven tetrominoes (I, T, O, S, Z, L, reverse-L)

* In ''Pokemon,'' the best you can get a the slots is triple sevens.
** In Pokemon firered and leafgreen, there are seven normally accessible islands (though event lets you access two more) and they were all made in 7 days, according to a lady on the seventh island.

* Seven occurs all over TheBible - seven days of creation, David was the seventh of his father's sons. In Revelation, TheDragon has seven heads, The Beast has seven heads with seven crowns, seven churches in Asia Minor, seven seals, seven last plagues...

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Right after [[RuleOfThree three]], seven is the most commonly used "ominous" number in fiction. This can be traced back to the ancient times, just think of the Seven Wonders, the Seven Days of Creation, or the Seven Hills of Rome.