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* A trope-enforcing natural force explicitly exists in the setting -- 24/50 -- 48%
* Tropes exist, without reference to in-universe causation -- 4/50 -- 8%
* Characters engineer some outcome without reference to narrative conventions -- 3/50 -- 6%
* An in-universe pattern of behavior exists, without reference to narrative conventions -- 3/50 -- 6%
* Other examples -- 6/50 -- 12%
* ZCE, sinkholes, and insufficient context -- 10/50 -- 20%
In both counts, the primary definition -- "an in-universe force exists that enforces genre conventions/narrative laws are treated as a form of physical law" -- make up about half of the examples. Other uses, outside of the general accretion of zero-context potholes usually found in these things, includes concepts covered by other meta tropes like the AnthropicPrinciple, GenreSavvy, and BreakingTheFourthWall, plus things like "characters engineer specific outcomes to happen", "characters have pattern recognition", "in-universe cycle of behavior", and "paracausal events", "game abilities that let players reroll or alter dice rolls", and "minor characters are not given names that the audience is told about".
The notable thing to me, more so that then frequency of any one kind of misuse, is the commonality and vagueness of misuse. There seems to be some confusion regarding what the trope is actually about, so that, approximately half the time it gets used, it's taken to refer to basically any situation where some metafictional thing happens, a trope is particularly notable to the audience, and/or someone notices or manipulates some in-universe thing or group.
I think that the issue is largely in the name, which favors making a fandom reference over conciseness. I would argue that a rename and a general cleanup effort are probably the best option here. The original thing that prompted me to make this wick check was a repeated cycle of arguments concerning the TLP draft [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=91yver26xool6ulg5itka2d2 Trope-Enforcing Magic]], which strikes me as a clearer and more concise attempt to describe what this trope is trying to be, so I'm half-tempted to just commandeer that as a replacement name.
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Changed line(s) 80,86 (click to see context) from:
[[folder:Wick Check]]
* ArtisticLicenseCars: Towards the climax of the British movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'', the main characters find a getaway vehicle that was [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece stored inside an underground bunker...]] '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality because the plot said so]].''' The car was stored there for at least [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty-seven years]]. Even if it were fresh off the assembly line, most of the car parts wouldn't work from lack of use. The metal would become stiff and the rubber in the tires would start to rot, among other things. The gasoline in its tank would also have gone bad many years previously.
* CastFromHitPoints: The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the plot demands]]''' that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: "Also, do not confuse this trope with events unfolding according to the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality." Trope refers to characters realizing that a conflict wouldn't have existed had something been done differently.
* ExcuseMeComingThrough: Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where it's an important part of TheoryOfNarrativeCausality -- complete with two men carrying a pane of glass.
* FreakierThanFiction: Originating in the Creator/LordByron quote "Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction," later fine-tuned into '''"[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense,]]"''' attributed to Creator/TomClancy. No matter how weird, freaky, or {{squick}}y fiction gets, there will be something in RealLife that is even weirder, freakier, or {{squick}}ier.
* GracefulLoser: At the end of ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', Nate Grey (the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsXMan X-Man]]) realises that he was wrong about the concept of relationships of any kind being a bad thing and that in fact, connections to other people are part of what make us human. This is thanks to a mixture of slowly dawning realisation, developing hatred of the MindRape involved in maintaining the ''[[CrapsaccharineWorld Age of X-Man]]'', and being whacked in the face with the fact that he's NotSoAboveItAll by [[spoiler: a subconsciously created copy of his ex-girlfriend, Dani Moonstar]]. Accordingly, he restores the X-Men's memories and lets them go. Given that he was [[WellIntentionedExtremist actually trying to]] ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist help]]'' [[WellIntentionedExtremist them]] (by breaking '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the endless cycle of conflict they're trapped in]]''') and the X-Men admitted that he had some very good points, while he ended up reforming the AOX after they left ('no secret police' was the first change), it's debatable how much he actually lost.
* ArtisticLicenseCars: Towards the climax of the British movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'', the main characters find a getaway vehicle that was [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece stored inside an underground bunker...]] '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality because the plot said so]].''' The car was stored there for at least [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty-seven years]]. Even if it were fresh off the assembly line, most of the car parts wouldn't work from lack of use. The metal would become stiff and the rubber in the tires would start to rot, among other things. The gasoline in its tank would also have gone bad many years previously.
* CastFromHitPoints: The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the plot demands]]''' that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: "Also, do not confuse this trope with events unfolding according to the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality." Trope refers to characters realizing that a conflict wouldn't have existed had something been done differently.
* ExcuseMeComingThrough: Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where it's an important part of TheoryOfNarrativeCausality -- complete with two men carrying a pane of glass.
* FreakierThanFiction: Originating in the Creator/LordByron quote "Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction," later fine-tuned into '''"[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense,]]"''' attributed to Creator/TomClancy. No matter how weird, freaky, or {{squick}}y fiction gets, there will be something in RealLife that is even weirder, freakier, or {{squick}}ier.
* GracefulLoser: At the end of ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', Nate Grey (the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsXMan X-Man]]) realises that he was wrong about the concept of relationships of any kind being a bad thing and that in fact, connections to other people are part of what make us human. This is thanks to a mixture of slowly dawning realisation, developing hatred of the MindRape involved in maintaining the ''[[CrapsaccharineWorld Age of X-Man]]'', and being whacked in the face with the fact that he's NotSoAboveItAll by [[spoiler: a subconsciously created copy of his ex-girlfriend, Dani Moonstar]]. Accordingly, he restores the X-Men's memories and lets them go. Given that he was [[WellIntentionedExtremist actually trying to]] ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist help]]'' [[WellIntentionedExtremist them]] (by breaking '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the endless cycle of conflict they're trapped in]]''') and the X-Men admitted that he had some very good points, while he ended up reforming the AOX after they left ('no secret police' was the first change), it's debatable how much he actually lost.
to:
* ArtisticLicenseCars: Towards the climax of the British movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'', the main characters find a getaway vehicle
[[folder:A force exists in-universe that
* CastFromHitPoints: The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the plot demands]]''' that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: "Also, do not confuse this trope with events unfolding according to the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality." Trope refers to characters realizing that a conflict wouldn't have existed had something been done differently.
* ExcuseMeComingThrough: Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where it's an important part of TheoryOfNarrativeCausality -- complete with two men carrying a pane of glass.
* FreakierThanFiction: Originating in the Creator/LordByron quote "Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction," later fine-tuned into '''"[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense,]]"''' attributed to Creator/TomClancy. No matter how weird, freaky, or {{squick}}y fiction gets, there will be something in RealLife that is even weirder, freakier, or {{squick}}ier.
* GracefulLoser: At the end of ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', Nate Grey (the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsXMan X-Man]]) realises that he was wrong about the concept of relationships of any kind being a bad thing and that in fact, connections to other people are part of what make us human. This is thanks to a mixture of slowly dawning realisation, developing hatred of the MindRape involved in maintaining the ''[[CrapsaccharineWorld Age of X-Man]]'', and being whacked in the face with the fact that he's NotSoAboveItAll by [[spoiler: a subconsciously created copy of his ex-girlfriend, Dani Moonstar]]. Accordingly, he restores the X-Men's memories and lets them go. Given that he was [[WellIntentionedExtremist actually trying to]] ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist help]]'' [[WellIntentionedExtremist them]] (by breaking '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the endless cycle of conflict they're trapped in]]''') and the X-Men admitted that he had some very good points, while he ended up reforming the AOX after they left ('no secret police' was the first change), it's debatable how much he actually lost.
Changed line(s) 90,92 (click to see context) from:
* OffscreenTeleportation: Always behind them. Because that's how things are ''done''. This is justified because tropes like this are '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality practically immutable laws of physics]]''' on the Disc. '''10'''
* PositionOfLiteralPower: This is a major part of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as it synergizes with the [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrativium]] that the Disc runs on. Made explicit in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'':
-->"DEATH IS WHOEVER DOES DEATH'S JOB'" -- Death's apprentice
* PositionOfLiteralPower: This is a major part of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as it synergizes with the [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrativium]] that the Disc runs on. Made explicit in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'':
-->"DEATH IS WHOEVER DOES DEATH'S JOB'" -- Death's apprentice
to:
* OffscreenTeleportation: Always behind them. Because that's how things are ''done''. This is justified because tropes like this are '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality practically immutable laws of physics]]''' on the Disc. '''10'''\n* PositionOfLiteralPower: This is a major part of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as it synergizes with the [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrativium]] that the Disc runs on. Made explicit in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'':\n-->"DEATH IS WHOEVER DOES DEATH'S JOB'" -- Death's apprentice
Deleted line(s) 94 (click to see context) :
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Yes, she is. If she isn't, she eventually will be. ResistanceIsFutile. [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrative Causality]] compels you.
Deleted line(s) 98 (click to see context) :
* Awesome.IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice: The Gorger-Lord slays Bulgo, swatting the halfling from Sir Whamri's shoulders. Whamri, enraged at the death of his friend, charges the Gorger-Lord in melee. The Gorger-Lord's combined toughness rating and wounds threshold is so tremendous that only the most obscene amounts of damage could hope to seriously hurt him. Whamuudes rolls a natural 10. Magnus gloats that Sir Whamri's mere 13 damage isn't nearly enough to harm the Gorger-Lord... only for [[RulesLawyer the Grand Provost Marshal]] to remind him that, by the rules of the game, rolling a natural 10 on a damage roll means Whamuudes gets to roll for ''additional damage''. '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Whamuudes then proceeds to roll nat-10 after nat-10]]''', building his single axe-strike up to ''122 damage'', enough to pass the Gorger-Lord's defenses, wipe out his wounds, ''and'' deal a severe CriticalHit that severs his arm at the shoulder. Forget becoming a Knight of the Realm: such a feat would land Sir Whamri ''[[ThePaladin Grail Knighthood]]''.
Changed line(s) 101,102 (click to see context) from:
* Characters.SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ: Once [the Queen of Fables] uses her powers, both herself and her targets are mostly bound to follow the rules of the story. '''20'''
* ComicBook.AgeOfXMan: Nate discusses this in great detail in the last issue of ''Marvelous X-Men'' and in ''Age of X-Man: Omega'', noting how he tried to break the X-Men out of their everlasting cycle of conflict and heartbreak.
* ComicBook.AgeOfXMan: Nate discusses this in great detail in the last issue of ''Marvelous X-Men'' and in ''Age of X-Man: Omega'', noting how he tried to break the X-Men out of their everlasting cycle of conflict and heartbreak.
to:
* Characters.SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ: Once [the Queen of Fables] uses her powers, both herself and her targets are mostly bound to follow the rules of the story. '''20'''\n* ComicBook.AgeOfXMan: Nate discusses this in great detail in the last issue of ''Marvelous X-Men'' and in ''Age of X-Man: Omega'', noting how he tried to break the X-Men out of their everlasting cycle of conflict and heartbreak.
Deleted line(s) 104 (click to see context) :
* DeadpanSnarker.Literature: Samuel Vimes and Esmerelda Weatherwax. They are both aware of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, though with Vimes it's more of an instinctive understanding.
Deleted line(s) 106,112 (click to see context) :
* Fanfic.ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton: It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Celestials are enforcing a "script" on the universe with Thanos, who must be defeated by the Avengers, with Doom and Reed convincing them to "edit" things to give Earth a better chance.]]
* Film.TheMatrixReloaded: The Merovingian openly mocks the heroes for their not knowing why they came to see him beyond the Oracle telling them to meet with him, Morpheus concludes that their disastrous meeting with the Merovingian occurred exactly as it should have gone because they are still alive, and the Keymaker knows about all the failsafes guarding the door [[spoiler:to the Architect]] because "I know, because I must know. It's the reason I'm here. Same reason we're all here."
* Fridge.YandereSimulator: The background details for all three of the current Befriend/Betray missions become this if you're in any way familiar with certain hentai tropes, compounded by both the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and how {{Troperiffic}} the Game's universe is:
* Headscratchers.GreenLantern: Might be multiple sets from different points in Earth's history coexisting. ComicBook/SevenSoldiers states outright that Earth has had several dozen Camelots throughout its history, with similar persons and events happening each time in a recurring historical motif. Cain and Abel were probably something similar -- the first murder in any society or subspecies probably just kept following that motif of two brothers, one a shepherd and one a farmer.\\\
tl;dr TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
* Headscratchers.TheSarahJaneAdventures: Aside from TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, why does the situation in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]" have to be either/or? Why can't [[spoiler: Peter just get married to Sarah Jane and then join the gang fighting aliens?]]
* KingdomHearts.TropesPToZ: StarsAreSouls: ''Kingdom Hearts'' is a bit iffy on this one. Usually, the stars in the ''KH'' universe represent worlds as a whole and they disappear from the night sky when that particular world is submerged in darkness. Then, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', we have the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] as a world, which reaffirms the plot point that the old rulers of Pride Rock become stars in the sky upon death. This is also shown in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', when, after [[spoiler:Master Xehanort strikes down Master Eraqus in front of a horrified Terra]], Yen Sid notes, [[spoiler:"Eraqus's star has blinked out."]] The contradictions can just be chalked up to the world running on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. '''30'''
* Film.TheMatrixReloaded: The Merovingian openly mocks the heroes for their not knowing why they came to see him beyond the Oracle telling them to meet with him, Morpheus concludes that their disastrous meeting with the Merovingian occurred exactly as it should have gone because they are still alive, and the Keymaker knows about all the failsafes guarding the door [[spoiler:to the Architect]] because "I know, because I must know. It's the reason I'm here. Same reason we're all here."
* Fridge.YandereSimulator: The background details for all three of the current Befriend/Betray missions become this if you're in any way familiar with certain hentai tropes, compounded by both the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and how {{Troperiffic}} the Game's universe is:
* Headscratchers.GreenLantern: Might be multiple sets from different points in Earth's history coexisting. ComicBook/SevenSoldiers states outright that Earth has had several dozen Camelots throughout its history, with similar persons and events happening each time in a recurring historical motif. Cain and Abel were probably something similar -- the first murder in any society or subspecies probably just kept following that motif of two brothers, one a shepherd and one a farmer.\\\
tl;dr TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
* Headscratchers.TheSarahJaneAdventures: Aside from TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, why does the situation in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]" have to be either/or? Why can't [[spoiler: Peter just get married to Sarah Jane and then join the gang fighting aliens?]]
* KingdomHearts.TropesPToZ: StarsAreSouls: ''Kingdom Hearts'' is a bit iffy on this one. Usually, the stars in the ''KH'' universe represent worlds as a whole and they disappear from the night sky when that particular world is submerged in darkness. Then, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', we have the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] as a world, which reaffirms the plot point that the old rulers of Pride Rock become stars in the sky upon death. This is also shown in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', when, after [[spoiler:Master Xehanort strikes down Master Eraqus in front of a horrified Terra]], Yen Sid notes, [[spoiler:"Eraqus's star has blinked out."]] The contradictions can just be chalked up to the world running on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. '''30'''
Deleted line(s) 114 (click to see context) :
* Literature.NothingLikeTheSun: The inability of the main character to turn off her GlowingEyes turns out to be just for narrative convenience, and nothing actually prevents her from doing so.
Deleted line(s) 116 (click to see context) :
* Monster.{{Discworld}}: ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'' is a [[LongRunningBookSeries long-running]] fantasy series which runs on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality.
Deleted line(s) 121,122 (click to see context) :
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E17MadeInManehattan: Repeatedly {{invoked}} by Rarity and Applejack as the reason they are the only two summoned to Manehattan by the Cutie Map.
* Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS2E11EffectAndCause: Kate theorizes about the paramedics and the grocery boy coming to her house just before she needed them, concluding that they came to her because they ''knew'' she would need them. '''(Note: Recap description mentions that the character has developed an ability to make effect precede cause.)'''
* Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS2E11EffectAndCause: Kate theorizes about the paramedics and the grocery boy coming to her house just before she needed them, concluding that they came to her because they ''knew'' she would need them. '''(Note: Recap description mentions that the character has developed an ability to make effect precede cause.)'''
Deleted line(s) 126 (click to see context) :
* VideoGame.DiscworldNoir: GenreSavvy: Some of the villains, '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality not that it surprises anyone.]]'''
Deleted line(s) 129,132 (click to see context) :
* YMMV.MagicTheGathering: The Phyrexia storyline from 2021-23 has also gotten this. Previously, Wizards of the Coast has specifically said that Phyrexia would never be able to travel between planes because that would simply make them take over the entire multiverse. Then they started compleating planeswalkers, and then they created the Realmbreaker, rendering that limitation null and void and leaving readers [[FridgeLogic wondering why]] they don't simply spray every plane with glistening oil and let it run its course, other than that it would violate the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow. (The ''numerous'' IdiotBall and TooDumbToLive moments in the ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' story have not helped the criticism in the least.)
* Fanfic.SongsOfTheSpheres: This is basically what ''ka'' runs on...People with the abilities of a Prophet can manipulate this, some better than others.
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMcColts: HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Fluttershy's ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal communicate with small woodland creatures]] proves to be [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the reason the Map summoned her]] because only the critters remember how the feud started. '''("In-universe intelligent entity makes an informed decision about how to leverage people's skills.")'''
* VideoGame.CriticalMass1995: FeaturelessProtagonist: Your character gets a last name and a callsign. Your squadmates [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality don't even get names]].
* Fanfic.SongsOfTheSpheres: This is basically what ''ka'' runs on...People with the abilities of a Prophet can manipulate this, some better than others.
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMcColts: HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Fluttershy's ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal communicate with small woodland creatures]] proves to be [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the reason the Map summoned her]] because only the critters remember how the feud started. '''("In-universe intelligent entity makes an informed decision about how to leverage people's skills.")'''
* VideoGame.CriticalMass1995: FeaturelessProtagonist: Your character gets a last name and a callsign. Your squadmates [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality don't even get names]].
Added DiffLines:
[[folder:Plot contrivances and artistic license, in-universe causation not referenced]]
* ArtisticLicenseCars: Towards the climax of the British movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'', the main characters find a getaway vehicle that was [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece stored inside an underground bunker...]] '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality because the plot said so]].''' The car was stored there for at least [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty-seven years]]. Even if it were fresh off the assembly line, most of the car parts wouldn't work from lack of use. The metal would become stiff and the rubber in the tires would start to rot, among other things. The gasoline in its tank would also have gone bad many years previously.
* CastFromHitPoints: The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the plot demands]]''' that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* Fridge.YandereSimulator: The background details for all three of the current Befriend/Betray missions become this if you're in any way familiar with certain hentai tropes, compounded by both the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and how {{Troperiffic}} the Game's universe is:
* YMMV.MagicTheGathering: The Phyrexia storyline from 2021-23 has also gotten this. Previously, Wizards of the Coast has specifically said that Phyrexia would never be able to travel between planes because that would simply make them take over the entire multiverse. Then they started compleating planeswalkers, and then they created the Realmbreaker, rendering that limitation null and void and leaving readers [[FridgeLogic wondering why]] they don't simply spray every plane with glistening oil and let it run its course, other than that it would violate the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow. (The ''numerous'' IdiotBall and TooDumbToLive moments in the ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' story have not helped the criticism in the least.)
[[/folder]]
[[folder:A character engineers events to get a certain outcome, in-universe narrative thinking not referenced]]
* Fanfic.ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton: It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Celestials are enforcing a "script" on the universe with Thanos, who must be defeated by the Avengers, with Doom and Reed convincing them to "edit" things to give Earth a better chance.]]
* Film.TheMatrixReloaded: The Merovingian openly mocks the heroes for their not knowing why they came to see him beyond the Oracle telling them to meet with him, Morpheus concludes that their disastrous meeting with the Merovingian occurred exactly as it should have gone because they are still alive, and the Keymaker knows about all the failsafes guarding the door [[spoiler:to the Architect]] because "I know, because I must know. It's the reason I'm here. Same reason we're all here."
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMcColts: HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Fluttershy's ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal communicate with small woodland creatures]] proves to be '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the reason the Map summoned her]]''' because only the critters remember how the feud started. '''("In-universe intelligent entity makes an informed decision about how to leverage people's skills.")'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:An in-universe cycle or pattern of behavior exists, in-universe genre conventions not referenced]]
* GracefulLoser: At the end of ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', Nate Grey (the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsXMan X-Man]]) realises that he was wrong about the concept of relationships of any kind being a bad thing and that in fact, connections to other people are part of what make us human. This is thanks to a mixture of slowly dawning realisation, developing hatred of the MindRape involved in maintaining the ''[[CrapsaccharineWorld Age of X-Man]]'', and being whacked in the face with the fact that he's NotSoAboveItAll by [[spoiler: a subconsciously created copy of his ex-girlfriend, Dani Moonstar]]. Accordingly, he restores the X-Men's memories and lets them go. Given that he was [[WellIntentionedExtremist actually trying to]] ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist help]]'' [[WellIntentionedExtremist them]] (by breaking '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the endless cycle of conflict they're trapped in]]''') and the X-Men admitted that he had some very good points, while he ended up reforming the AOX after they left ('no secret police' was the first change), it's debatable how much he actually lost.
* ComicBook.AgeOfXMan: Nate discusses this in great detail in the last issue of ''Marvelous X-Men'' and in ''Age of X-Man: Omega'', noting how he tried to break the X-Men out of their everlasting cycle of conflict and heartbreak.
* Headscratchers.GreenLantern: Might be multiple sets from different points in Earth's history coexisting. ComicBook/SevenSoldiers states outright that Earth has had several dozen Camelots throughout its history, with similar persons and events happening each time in a recurring historical motif. Cain and Abel were probably something similar -- the first murder in any society or subspecies probably just kept following that motif of two brothers, one a shepherd and one a farmer.\\\
tl;dr TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other/unclear/no clear pattern]]
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: "Also, do not confuse this trope with events unfolding according to the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality." Trope refers to characters realizing that a conflict wouldn't have existed had something been done differently.
* FreakierThanFiction: Originating in the Creator/LordByron quote "Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction," later fine-tuned into '''"[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense,]]"''' attributed to Creator/TomClancy. No matter how weird, freaky, or {{squick}}y fiction gets, there will be something in RealLife that is even weirder, freakier, or {{squick}}ier.
* Awesome.IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice: The Gorger-Lord slays Bulgo, swatting the halfling from Sir Whamri's shoulders. Whamri, enraged at the death of his friend, charges the Gorger-Lord in melee. The Gorger-Lord's combined toughness rating and wounds threshold is so tremendous that only the most obscene amounts of damage could hope to seriously hurt him. Whamuudes rolls a natural 10. Magnus gloats that Sir Whamri's mere 13 damage isn't nearly enough to harm the Gorger-Lord... only for [[RulesLawyer the Grand Provost Marshal]] to remind him that, by the rules of the game, rolling a natural 10 on a damage roll means Whamuudes gets to roll for ''additional damage''. '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Whamuudes then proceeds to roll nat-10 after nat-10]]''', building his single axe-strike up to ''122 damage'', enough to pass the Gorger-Lord's defenses, wipe out his wounds, ''and'' deal a severe CriticalHit that severs his arm at the shoulder. Forget becoming a Knight of the Realm: such a feat would land Sir Whamri ''[[ThePaladin Grail Knighthood]]''.
* KingdomHearts.TropesPToZ: StarsAreSouls: ''Kingdom Hearts'' is a bit iffy on this one. Usually, the stars in the ''KH'' universe represent worlds as a whole and they disappear from the night sky when that particular world is submerged in darkness. Then, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', we have the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] as a world, which reaffirms the plot point that the old rulers of Pride Rock become stars in the sky upon death. This is also shown in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', when, after [[spoiler:Master Xehanort strikes down Master Eraqus in front of a horrified Terra]], Yen Sid notes, [[spoiler:"Eraqus's star has blinked out."]] The contradictions can just be chalked up to the world running on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality.
* Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS2E11EffectAndCause: Kate theorizes about the paramedics and the grocery boy coming to her house just before she needed them, concluding that they came to her because they ''knew'' she would need them. '''(Note: Recap description mentions that the character has developed an ability to make effect precede cause.)'''
* VideoGame.CriticalMass1995: FeaturelessProtagonist: Your character gets a last name and a callsign. Your squadmates [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality don't even get names]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:ZCE, sinkholes, and insufficient context]]
* ExcuseMeComingThrough: Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where it's an important part of TheoryOfNarrativeCausality -- complete with two men carrying a pane of glass.
* PositionOfLiteralPower: This is a major part of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as it synergizes with the [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrativium]] that the Disc runs on. Made explicit in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'':
-->"DEATH IS WHOEVER DOES DEATH'S JOB'" -- Death's apprentice
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Yes, she is. If she isn't, she eventually will be. ResistanceIsFutile. [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrative Causality]] compels you.
* DeadpanSnarker.Literature: Samuel Vimes and Esmerelda Weatherwax. They are both aware of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, though with Vimes it's more of an instinctive understanding.
* Headscratchers.TheSarahJaneAdventures: Aside from TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, why does the situation in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]" have to be either/or? Why can't [[spoiler: Peter just get married to Sarah Jane and then join the gang fighting aliens?]]
* Literature.NothingLikeTheSun: The inability of the main character to turn off her GlowingEyes turns out to be just for narrative convenience, and nothing actually prevents her from doing so. '''(Unclear if an in-universe cause is or isn't at play.)'''
* Monster.{{Discworld}}: ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'' is a [[LongRunningBookSeries long-running]] fantasy series which runs on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality.
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E17MadeInManehattan: Repeatedly {{invoked}} by Rarity and Applejack as the reason they are the only two summoned to Manehattan by the Cutie Map.
* VideoGame.DiscworldNoir: GenreSavvy: Some of the villains, '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality not that it surprises anyone.]]'''
* Fanfic.SongsOfTheSpheres: This is basically what ''ka'' runs on...People with the abilities of a Prophet can manipulate this, some better than others.
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* Literature.NothingLikeTheSun: The inability of the main character to turn off her GlowingEyes turns out to be just for narrative convenience, and nothing actually prevents her from doing so.
* Literature/TheMaskedCity InvokedTrope: Realizing how much high-chaos worlds [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality run on narrative]], Irene uses The Language to [[spoiler:write herself into The Horse's story, as The Princess who frees The Horse from The Rider, and in turn The Horse helps her and her friends escape]].
* Monster.{{Discworld}}: ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'' is a [[LongRunningBookSeries long-running]] fantasy series which runs on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality.
* Pantheon.ExtraterrestrialBehaviour: Perhaps the most alarming was using [[PortalBook SCP-826]] on the 12-page story ''The Generally Nice, Friendly Thing That Can And Will Kill SCP-682 Permanently if it So Much As Spots That Damn Lizard'' and luring SCP-682 in. [[HeroKiller SCP-682 killed the Thing]] and escaped the story, now the 209-page ''The Generally Nice, Friendly Thing That Tried To Kill SCP-682 Permanently But Failed''. While testing of SCP-826 show TheoryOfNarrativeCausality does not apply, the possibility that SCP-682 [[BeyondTheImpossible can break the most fundamental rule of fiction, and thus the Pantheon]], has disturbed all but the most insane deities.
* Quotes.{{Discworld}}:
->''"Stories are important. People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way round. Stories... have evolved... the strongest have survived, and they have grown fat... Stories etch grooves deep enough for people to follow... a thousand wolves have eaten grandmother, a thousand princesses have been kissed... stories don't care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats."''
-->-- Describing the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E17MadeInManehattan: Repeatedly {{invoked}} by Rarity and Applejack as the reason they are the only two summoned to Manehattan by the Cutie Map.
* Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS2E11EffectAndCause: Kate theorizes about the paramedics and the grocery boy coming to her house just before she needed them, concluding that they came to her because they ''knew'' she would need them. '''(Note: Recap description mentions that the character has developed an ability to make effect precede cause.)'''
* Series.ThatMitchellAndWebbLook: The radio version of the "[[ThoseWackyNazis Are we the Baddies?]]" sketch has the worried Nazi officer begin to realise that the course of the war has begun to resemble the plot of every single UnderdogsNeverLose film ever (with the Allies in the role of 'underdogs'), and that he's never actually seen a film where the good guys start off strong, have a few setbacks, but then win anyway:
-->"I'm increasingly worried about our place in the narrative structure of this war..."
* TabletopGame.PrincessTheHopeful: FixFic: An in universe example. The Embassy to Stories opens with a FixFic where SantaClaus marries ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' to ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' and they all live HappilyEverAfter. Since the Embassy believes the '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality world runs on stories]]''' they tend to do this a lot, mostly to people's lives. '''40'''
* VideoGame.DiscworldNoir: GenreSavvy: Some of the villains, '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality not that it surprises anyone.]]'''
* WMG.{{Exalted}}: Great A'Tuin is the Primordial of '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrative]]''', who realised that the Exalted were going to win the Primordial War and wandered off into the Wyld with a chunk of Creation to play out his stories in peace.
* Webcomic.PatchworkChampions: TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: As fundamental to the workings of this universe as the laws of physics. So much so that characters who [[GenreSavvy know how stories work]] can use it to their advantage.
* YMMV.MagicTheGathering: The Phyrexia storyline from 2021-23 has also gotten this. Previously, Wizards of the Coast has specifically said that Phyrexia would never be able to travel between planes because that would simply make them take over the entire multiverse. Then they started compleating planeswalkers, and then they created the Realmbreaker, rendering that limitation null and void and leaving readers [[FridgeLogic wondering why]] they don't simply spray every plane with glistening oil and let it run its course, other than that it would violate the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow. (The ''numerous'' IdiotBall and TooDumbToLive moments in the ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' story have not helped the criticism in the least.)
* Fanfic.SongsOfTheSpheres: This is basically what ''ka'' runs on...People with the abilities of a Prophet can manipulate this, some better than others.
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMcColts: HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Fluttershy's ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal communicate with small woodland creatures]] proves to be [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the reason the Map summoned her]] because only the critters remember how the feud started. '''("In-universe intelligent entity makes an informed decision about how to leverage people's skills.")'''
* VideoGame.CriticalMass1995: FeaturelessProtagonist: Your character gets a last name and a callsign. Your squadmates [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality don't even get names]].
* YMMV.{{Roommates}}: HarsherInHindsight: Let's just say that after the ''Dark!Jareth arc'' Jareth's well-meaning but [[HeroWithAnFInGood missguided]] or [[VillainBallMagnet misunderstood]] antics become a lot less funny... For him acting ''good'' is [[YouCantFightFate going against]] his {{canon}} and that has a '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality price]]'''.
* Quotes/MageTower:
->Every wizard had a tower, even in twenty-first century New York. [[SlaveToPR It was the expected, required thing]], and magic had rules and bindings more powerful than aught else. It had to, made as it was out of words and will and belief. '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Certain things had to be true]]''', or the magic crumbled to dust and nothingness.
-->-- ''Painted Birds and Shivered Bones'', by Kat Howard
* Literature.NurseryCrime: CowboyCop: Jack, particularly in the second book, where his unconventional gambits increase in frequency and he relies on several questionably-legal gambits to solve cases. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''The Big Over Easy'', where Jack is a ByTheBookCop compared to Chymes, [[spoiler:who outright falsifies many of his cases]]. Throughout the series he relies on unusual allies and '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality narrative]]''' [[GenreSavvy intuition]] more than conventional police tactics. '''50'''
* Literature/TheMaskedCity InvokedTrope: Realizing how much high-chaos worlds [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality run on narrative]], Irene uses The Language to [[spoiler:write herself into The Horse's story, as The Princess who frees The Horse from The Rider, and in turn The Horse helps her and her friends escape]].
* Monster.{{Discworld}}: ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'' is a [[LongRunningBookSeries long-running]] fantasy series which runs on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality.
* Pantheon.ExtraterrestrialBehaviour: Perhaps the most alarming was using [[PortalBook SCP-826]] on the 12-page story ''The Generally Nice, Friendly Thing That Can And Will Kill SCP-682 Permanently if it So Much As Spots That Damn Lizard'' and luring SCP-682 in. [[HeroKiller SCP-682 killed the Thing]] and escaped the story, now the 209-page ''The Generally Nice, Friendly Thing That Tried To Kill SCP-682 Permanently But Failed''. While testing of SCP-826 show TheoryOfNarrativeCausality does not apply, the possibility that SCP-682 [[BeyondTheImpossible can break the most fundamental rule of fiction, and thus the Pantheon]], has disturbed all but the most insane deities.
* Quotes.{{Discworld}}:
->''"Stories are important. People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way round. Stories... have evolved... the strongest have survived, and they have grown fat... Stories etch grooves deep enough for people to follow... a thousand wolves have eaten grandmother, a thousand princesses have been kissed... stories don't care who takes part in them. All that matters is that the story gets told, that the story repeats."''
-->-- Describing the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E17MadeInManehattan: Repeatedly {{invoked}} by Rarity and Applejack as the reason they are the only two summoned to Manehattan by the Cutie Map.
* Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS2E11EffectAndCause: Kate theorizes about the paramedics and the grocery boy coming to her house just before she needed them, concluding that they came to her because they ''knew'' she would need them. '''(Note: Recap description mentions that the character has developed an ability to make effect precede cause.)'''
* Series.ThatMitchellAndWebbLook: The radio version of the "[[ThoseWackyNazis Are we the Baddies?]]" sketch has the worried Nazi officer begin to realise that the course of the war has begun to resemble the plot of every single UnderdogsNeverLose film ever (with the Allies in the role of 'underdogs'), and that he's never actually seen a film where the good guys start off strong, have a few setbacks, but then win anyway:
-->"I'm increasingly worried about our place in the narrative structure of this war..."
* TabletopGame.PrincessTheHopeful: FixFic: An in universe example. The Embassy to Stories opens with a FixFic where SantaClaus marries ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' to ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' and they all live HappilyEverAfter. Since the Embassy believes the '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality world runs on stories]]''' they tend to do this a lot, mostly to people's lives. '''40'''
* VideoGame.DiscworldNoir: GenreSavvy: Some of the villains, '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality not that it surprises anyone.]]'''
* WMG.{{Exalted}}: Great A'Tuin is the Primordial of '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrative]]''', who realised that the Exalted were going to win the Primordial War and wandered off into the Wyld with a chunk of Creation to play out his stories in peace.
* Webcomic.PatchworkChampions: TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: As fundamental to the workings of this universe as the laws of physics. So much so that characters who [[GenreSavvy know how stories work]] can use it to their advantage.
* YMMV.MagicTheGathering: The Phyrexia storyline from 2021-23 has also gotten this. Previously, Wizards of the Coast has specifically said that Phyrexia would never be able to travel between planes because that would simply make them take over the entire multiverse. Then they started compleating planeswalkers, and then they created the Realmbreaker, rendering that limitation null and void and leaving readers [[FridgeLogic wondering why]] they don't simply spray every plane with glistening oil and let it run its course, other than that it would violate the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow. (The ''numerous'' IdiotBall and TooDumbToLive moments in the ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' story have not helped the criticism in the least.)
* Fanfic.SongsOfTheSpheres: This is basically what ''ka'' runs on...People with the abilities of a Prophet can manipulate this, some better than others.
* Recap.MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMcColts: HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Fluttershy's ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal communicate with small woodland creatures]] proves to be [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the reason the Map summoned her]] because only the critters remember how the feud started. '''("In-universe intelligent entity makes an informed decision about how to leverage people's skills.")'''
* VideoGame.CriticalMass1995: FeaturelessProtagonist: Your character gets a last name and a callsign. Your squadmates [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality don't even get names]].
* YMMV.{{Roommates}}: HarsherInHindsight: Let's just say that after the ''Dark!Jareth arc'' Jareth's well-meaning but [[HeroWithAnFInGood missguided]] or [[VillainBallMagnet misunderstood]] antics become a lot less funny... For him acting ''good'' is [[YouCantFightFate going against]] his {{canon}} and that has a '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality price]]'''.
* Quotes/MageTower:
->Every wizard had a tower, even in twenty-first century New York. [[SlaveToPR It was the expected, required thing]], and magic had rules and bindings more powerful than aught else. It had to, made as it was out of words and will and belief. '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Certain things had to be true]]''', or the magic crumbled to dust and nothingness.
-->-- ''Painted Birds and Shivered Bones'', by Kat Howard
* Literature.NurseryCrime: CowboyCop: Jack, particularly in the second book, where his unconventional gambits increase in frequency and he relies on several questionably-legal gambits to solve cases. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''The Big Over Easy'', where Jack is a ByTheBookCop compared to Chymes, [[spoiler:who outright falsifies many of his cases]]. Throughout the series he relies on unusual allies and '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality narrative]]''' [[GenreSavvy intuition]] more than conventional police tactics. '''50'''
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
The description seems a little ambivalent to begin with, which is never a great sign. The first main paragraph mostly just rattles off a list of unrelated tropes, but it does describe this as being what happens when there is some in-universe force or natural law that enforces tropes and causes them to happen ("Reality itself is mutable before the will of the plot. In stories where this is strong, {{tropes}} may as well be laws of physics.")
to:
The description seems a little ambivalent to begin with, which is never a great sign. The first main paragraph mostly just rattles off a long list of unrelated tropes, tropes that it describes this as being the cause of, but it does eventually describe this as being what happens when there is some in-universe force or natural law that enforces tropes and causes them to happen ("Reality itself is mutable before the will of the plot. In stories where this is strong, {{tropes}} may as well be laws of physics.")
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* A character is GenrySavvy, without reference to an in-universe trope enforcement -- 3/25 -- 12%
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* A character is GenrySavvy, GenreSavvy, without reference to an in-universe trope enforcement -- 3/25 -- 12%
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This trope has been the subject of some confusion regarding its scope and definition, so I decided to have a look at it.
The description seems a little ambivalent to begin with, which is never a great sign. The first main paragraph mostly just rattles off a list of unrelated tropes, but it does describe this as being what happens when there is some in-universe force or natural law that enforces tropes and causes them to happen ("Reality itself is mutable before the will of the plot. In stories where this is strong, {{tropes}} may as well be laws of physics.")
The next few lines claim that to describe "Another way to look at it" but are actually talking about the AnthropicPrinciple -- plenty of unremarkable people and stories exist, but of course the real-life work will focus on interesting things ("If they weren't remarkable people with remarkable feats and tales to their name, there wouldn't be a story about them and you wouldn't be hearing it in the first place").
Essentially, we've got two opposite concepts presented as if they were rewordings of one thing:
* '''Amazing things happen to the main characters because they're the main characters''' -- an in-universe force exists that causes story-like things to occur. Narrative tropes and character status have an in-universe presence.
* '''The main characters are the main characters because amazing things happen to them''' -- a meta principle where a story is by necessity going to focus on some interesting thing going on in its world instead of one of a thousand everyday things.
So what are the examples like?
[[folder:Trope-enforcing natural force]]
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': Played with. [[spoiler:Fakir]] is (apparently) capable of RewritingReality, but it's never quite clear if he's making things happen by writing them down, just writing down what would have happened anyway, or a little bit of both.
* ''RolePlay/DoofQuest'': Besides RuleOfFunny toons function on this and [[TheBadGuysWin given the setting]] they have a variety of different reactions to it. Some are uncaring and just live their lives (Goofy and Ludivine), some love it and play into it for fun (like the Phantom Blot), while some hate it and even successfully change their narrative (Wile E. Coyote and Max), while others take advantage of their sick senses of humor to hurt and kill people like Negaduck and Judge Doom.
* ''Fanfic/SongsOfTheSpheres'': This is one of the story's major driving points. Amongst other things, ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' exists within that multiverse, and so ''ka'' is a real and tangible thing. The Tower is programmed to ''need'' a good story, and so things often happen solely to fulfill that obligation. More than one character carries a ''ka'' sensor at all times just to see when the narrative is going to force itself upon them, and many react at the presence of the 'camera'. And that's to say nothing of the ''[[WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum Flowers]]'', who ''weaponize'' this.
* ''Literature/DanielFaust'': The Enemy is the bad guy in some sort of cosmic cautionary tale that's been repeating itself over and over for millions of years. His goal is to break free from the narrative, which always ends with his defeat, but most of his powers are locked away by the plot of the story itself, so he has to enact parts of it to unlock the seals, usually by substituting {{Unwitting Pawn}}s into the role of other characters in the play, whose skills he needs, that would otherwise die horrible deaths.
* ''Literature/HarrowTheNinth'': When the Sleeper is dominant in Harrow's bubble she renders necromancy impotent and herself invincible. Eventually they manage to call a spirit to contest her rules, but because he was summoned via an epic poem things now happen like the poem -- her guns stop working and they have a lengthy one-on-one duel, inflicting superficial injuries and talking in meter, while everyone else stands aside because ganging up would break form and might give control back to the Sleeper. Near the end one witness does find a way to help in narratively appropriate fashion by [[GiveMeASword throwing him a sword when he's disarmed]].
* ''Literature/TerraIgnota'': The fourth and final book, in which WorldWarIII is fought, finds itself shaped into a semi-retelling of ''Literature/TheIliad'' due to the influence of a RealityWarper. Since said reality warper was a child with a child's understanding of the Iliad, only major events are replicated (mostly the deaths of important figures) and not necessarily in the right order (the main character undergoes ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' concurrently with the war), and which side is supposed to be Troy shifts throughout the book, meaning the final outcome can't necessarily be predicted. The main character, realizing what's happening, tries and fails several times to save certain characters before their scripted deaths, and ultimately embraces his role as Odysseus to perform the [[TrojanHorse infiltration]] that truly ends the war.
* "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More, with Feeling]]" forces the town to run on the rules of musicals. The characters are compelled to break into dance and/or sing about their private thoughts, misgivings, and secrets. Unlike in a normal musical, everyone around can hear their secrets. This forces characters to deal with problems they were repressing and moves the plot forward in leaps.
-->"Life's a show, and we all play a part, and when the music starts -- we open up our hearts." ~ Buffy
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'': In general, the FourthWall is flimsy at best in the 'verse and major players are ''very'' aware of main character privileges, occasionally attempting to usurp the position. In the remake of ''Disgaea 2'', this can even succeed and net you a NonstandardGameOver.
* ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'': As the cast consists of personified game consoles and concepts and a cheerfully optional fourth wall, the game embraces and plays with this idea. It's at its most blatant at the start of ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'': Neptune and Nepgear are dropped through a mysterious vortex and land in a post-apocalyptic hellscape with cracks through the very earth and sky, filled with monsters they've never seen before. Nepgear is frightened, and Neptune tells her not to worry... because she's the protagonist and this is the tutorial dungeon, so there's no way they'll lose.
* ''WebVideo/OculusImperia'': "The Daemon: A Treatise On The Nature of the Daemonic" makes clear that Daemons in general operate on this logic. They don't instruct their followers to carry out complex rituals and human sacrificies because "the sound of a human meat-flap" have any special power; what they have is ''narrative significance'', emotional weight borne of millenia of story-telling; since Daemons are, ultimately, psychic creatures born from the emotions of sapient beings, they're shaped by the stories those beings tell. As the Historitor rather chillingly puts it:
--> '''Occulus:''' They are stories... and they are stories that ''hate us.''
* ''Webcomic/{{Footloose}}'' is built around this trope, with the Plot being an active force in the universe that can be predicted by the [[GenreSavvy Fae]].
* ''Webcomic/MixedMyth'': The villains use a filmic version of this. The elves worship a power called "Cynamatik" and use it to fuel their magic. As the name suggests, the elves have a limited ability to control this force, because it will always cause the most dramatically appropriate circumstances -- so the elves are only on top for as long as it's dramatically appropriate, and, the instant the story calls for their defeat, it's impossible that they ''won't'' lose the battle.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anthropic principle – story ignores uninteresting people and follows interesting ones]]
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': Parodied in the "Science Fiction Sketch", where the Narrator begins by describing a perfectly ordinary couple, notes that nothing interesting generally happens to people like them, and leaves to go pay attention to someone more interest. This being Monty Python, they of course [[spoiler: turn out to be very significant indeed]].
-->'''Narrator:''' It was day like many another, and Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Brainsample were a perfectly ordinary couple, leading perfectly ordinary lives; the sort of people to whom nothing extraordinary ever happened, and not the kind of people to be at the center of one of the most astounding incidents in the history of mankind. So let's forget about them, and follow instead...
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Characters are genre savvy; whether or not something is actually enforcing genre conventions is unclear]]
* ''Film/AustinPowers'': Austin's father irritatedly lectures a {{mook|s}} about to attack him that he's an obvious RedShirt who doesn't even have a name tag, and should just lie down right now. He complies.
* ''Film/LastActionHero'':
** The GenreSavvy protagonist tries to exploit the rules of the action-movie universe he's [[TrappedInTVLand trapped in]] to his advantage, playing chicken with the bad guy's car ''on his bicycle''. [[spoiler:Just in time, he realizes he's the PluckyComicRelief, not the hero, and swerves out of the way.]]
** One of the villains kills the manager of a convenience store and expects the police to arrive immediately. When they do not, he is puzzled.
* ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'': Cited by the GenreSavvy Prince Lir, when begged by Lady Amalthea [[spoiler:(the transformed unicorn)]] to abandon the quest so that they can be together. He replies that in stories, things must happen at their due and proper time; he can't abandon his quest half-done, and the happy ending needs to wait until the ending.
--> "The true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch's door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fourth wall breaking/script reading]]
* ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'': After losing an archery contest against a master archer, Robin double-checks the script, confirming he's "not supposed to lose."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:A character engineers events to get a certain outcome, in-universe narrative thinking not referenced]]
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': Early in his career, the Red Hulk punched Uatu, the Watcher, which made a vastly powerful villain take an interest in him. Much earlier than he was supposed to, which, according to another Watcher, changed the history to one where said villain would kill Red Hulk. Seeing this as Uatu's fault and violation of Watchers' oath to never interfere, another Watcher tried to fix it. When the villain came looking for Red Hulk, the Watcher hid him in a fake reality where he had similar adventures that the Incredible Hulk had during the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' story and pulls him out later, so he that he can confront the villain when he was originally supposed to. '''Watcher uses this trope to justify why this isn't further interference -- since the Red Hulk is a character derived from the original Hulk, it means [[RecycledPremise something like that was very likely to happen to him in the future anyway]].'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:In-universe pattern recognition, in-universe narrative thinking not referenced]]
* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2018'' opens with the line "every X-Men story is the same", and has the characters riffing on how the latest mutant hating politician is so drearily familiar. [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]], the AntiVillain of the first arc and a RealityWarper with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]] and a decidedly [[CrazySane strange outlook]], is entirely aware of it and cites it in the follow-up BatFamilyCrossover, ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', as why he created the titular reality -- he was trying to free the X-Men from their constant self-destructive cycle.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': After the first couple of Friendship Missions directed by the [[MagneticPlotDevice Friendship Map]], the mane characters realize that the map calls specific ponies because of their specific talents, abilities, and personalities. When Rarity and Applejack are called to Manehattan to solve a problem, they comment that the problem could have been solved quickly and easily with Twilight's magic, but the map must have good reasons for only summoning the two of them. The result is a community-building experience that wouldn't have happened if the more mundane matters had been fixed with a wave of a magic horn.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other/unclear/ZCE]]
* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'': Briefly discussed in the first issue. One Monitor says to another, "Behold: we monitors who were faceless once... We all have names now, and stories. There are heroes and villains... secrets and lovers." Translation: Nothing happened to us as long as they didn't write us into the stories. Now we're in them, and all hell is breaking loose.
* ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'': Mocked with a sketch of the Three Little Pigs. The first two pigs have built houses out of straw and sticks respectively owing to narrative convention; the supposedly weak house turning out to have some element that will do the Big Bad Wolf in. The third pig has built a house out of bricks... because that's what houses are ''made of''.
* ''Webcomic/TheWayOfTheMetagamer'': Narrativium not only exists, but can be manipulated through use of a literal PlotHole.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Game mechanics that lets players reroll dice or get bonuses]]
* ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' and its related games have "fate points". They are refreshed every play session and can be used to gain rerolls or manipulate results in various ways. They can also be permanently burned to allow a doomed player to survive in some contrived fashion. Major enemies intended to be recurring foes get them too.
* Some roleplaying games grant players the sporadic ability to outright alter the narrative of the game directly, such as by saying that there is some new feature or object in a room that wasn't there before which allows them to escape some difficulty. In some cases they can even make things harder on themselves by adding things working against them, for a bonus later. Perhaps the most extreme version of this is ''TabletopGame/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', which is a game which centers entirely around this mechanic. Every player begins with a pool of coins or chips, and each player tells some story of their adventures, based on a question asked to them by one of the other players. The other players, during the story, may interfere by asking questions which add some sort of twist to the story and pushing forward a number of coins in challenge; the person telling the story must then incorporate some means of overcoming the challenge into the story (and thus take the coins) or push forward as many coins of their own and give them to the challenger, informing them that they are mistaken. At the end of the game, the players then must "vote" with their coins for the best stories; thus accumulating more coins gives you more votes at the end.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Serenity}}'' has acquirable "plot" points that the game master can distribute to players as reward, usually for doing things in a more creative way than expected. They exist out of character, and the players can choose to spend them to force plot conveniences or twists beyond the normal scope of their characters skillsets. For example, if a character who doesn't know machines very well is required to do repairs on an engine or die, a player might spend a plot point, and suddenly their character finds a handy user manual stowed nearby.
[[/folder]]
So what do we get?
* A trope-enforcing natural force explicitly exists in the setting -- 12/25 -- 48%
* Anthropic principle -- the story ignores uninteresting people and follows interesting -- – 1/30 -- 4%
* A character is GenrySavvy, without reference to an in-universe trope enforcement -- 3/25 -- 12%
* Characters break the fourth wall -- 1/25 – 4%
* Characters engineer some outcome without reference to a narrative -- 1/25 – 4%
* In-universe pattern recognition -- 2/25 – 8%
* Other -- 3/25 – 12%
As for the wick check, looking at 50 examples:
[[folder:Wick Check]]
* ArtisticLicenseCars: Towards the climax of the British movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'', the main characters find a getaway vehicle that was [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece stored inside an underground bunker...]] '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality because the plot said so]].''' The car was stored there for at least [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty-seven years]]. Even if it were fresh off the assembly line, most of the car parts wouldn't work from lack of use. The metal would become stiff and the rubber in the tires would start to rot, among other things. The gasoline in its tank would also have gone bad many years previously.
* CastFromHitPoints: The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the plot demands]]''' that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: "Also, do not confuse this trope with events unfolding according to the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality." Trope refers to characters realizing that a conflict wouldn't have existed had something been done differently.
* ExcuseMeComingThrough: Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where it's an important part of TheoryOfNarrativeCausality -- complete with two men carrying a pane of glass.
* FreakierThanFiction: Originating in the Creator/LordByron quote "Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction," later fine-tuned into '''"[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense,]]"''' attributed to Creator/TomClancy. No matter how weird, freaky, or {{squick}}y fiction gets, there will be something in RealLife that is even weirder, freakier, or {{squick}}ier.
* GracefulLoser: At the end of ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', Nate Grey (the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsXMan X-Man]]) realises that he was wrong about the concept of relationships of any kind being a bad thing and that in fact, connections to other people are part of what make us human. This is thanks to a mixture of slowly dawning realisation, developing hatred of the MindRape involved in maintaining the ''[[CrapsaccharineWorld Age of X-Man]]'', and being whacked in the face with the fact that he's NotSoAboveItAll by [[spoiler: a subconsciously created copy of his ex-girlfriend, Dani Moonstar]]. Accordingly, he restores the X-Men's memories and lets them go. Given that he was [[WellIntentionedExtremist actually trying to]] ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist help]]'' [[WellIntentionedExtremist them]] (by breaking '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the endless cycle of conflict they're trapped in]]''') and the X-Men admitted that he had some very good points, while he ended up reforming the AOX after they left ('no secret police' was the first change), it's debatable how much he actually lost.
* ImmuneToFate: In ''Manga/MedakaBox'', [[spoiler:Zenkichi]] gains this power during the Successor arc. What it actually does is negate any form of '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality narrative causality]]''', meaning that no dramatic manga-style plot contrivances like {{Heroic Second Wind}}s or {{Eleventh Hour Superpower}}s will affect either [[spoiler:Zenkichi]] or anyone who fights [[spoiler:him]], but with the series's heavy lampshading it effectively qualifies as this trope.
* LawfulEvil: General Tarquin's version of Lawful Evil comes through GenreSavvy: Tarquin treats his life as an ongoing narrative arc in a HeroicFantasy (in which he is the EvilOverlord fated to one day fall in an epic battle against a worthy hero), making him GenreSavvy because he knows the tropes and clichés and can act appropriately to shape it to his liking in accordance with the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. On the flip side, it means he judges people according to their story role (or, at least, what ''he'' thinks is their role) and has [[LackOfEmpathy little to no understanding of them as people]]. He's quick to get rid of (or, in the rare cases where they matter to him for some reason, correct) people who don't stick to his vision of the script, all while refusing to ever acknowledge the possibility that [[WrongGenreSavvy he may not have the right view of the script to begin with]].
* MirrorUniverse: Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/JLAEarth2'', the graphic novel that re-introduced the "anti-matter" version of the Crime Syndicate, [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed the trope]]: even the ''TheoryOfNarrativeCausality'' was reversed in the mirror universe, so the Justice League's attempt to save it was as doomed as the Syndicate's attempt to conquer Franchise/TheDCU.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Always behind them. Because that's how things are ''done''. This is justified because tropes like this are '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality practically immutable laws of physics]]''' on the Disc. '''10'''
* PositionOfLiteralPower: This is a major part of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as it synergizes with the [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrativium]] that the Disc runs on. Made explicit in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'':
-->"DEATH IS WHOEVER DOES DEATH'S JOB'" -- Death's apprentice
* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: Invoked in ''Literature/{{Wintersmith}}'', where Roland has to descend into "an" underworld to rescue the Summer Lady, because '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality that sort of thing is expected in these situations]]'''.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Yes, she is. If she isn't, she eventually will be. ResistanceIsFutile. [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrative Causality]] compels you.
* SupernaturalAngst: ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'': Several characters (Jareth, the Erlkönig, James Norrington, etc.) angst on the futility of fighting their story. They are self-aware fictional beings, so they tend to be painfully aware that their choices are severely limited (if not outright dictated) by the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and the whims of the storytellers.
* TuxedoAndMartini: ''Literature/TheJenniferMorgue'': The subject of both AffectionateParody and TakeThat in the Creator/CharlesStross novel. Because of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, the protagonist [[spoiler:and his girlfriend]] starts acting out James Bond tropes, commenting how much he differs from Bond. In regard to Bond's signature drink, every time it's ordered in the novel, there are comments on how awful it tastes.
* WildMagic: ''Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'': Loki claims that magic runs on [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality story]] and so it has a will of its own. The series [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans on the fourth wall]] very hard.
* Awesome.IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice: The Gorger-Lord slays Bulgo, swatting the halfling from Sir Whamri's shoulders. Whamri, enraged at the death of his friend, charges the Gorger-Lord in melee. The Gorger-Lord's combined toughness rating and wounds threshold is so tremendous that only the most obscene amounts of damage could hope to seriously hurt him. Whamuudes rolls a natural 10. Magnus gloats that Sir Whamri's mere 13 damage isn't nearly enough to harm the Gorger-Lord... only for [[RulesLawyer the Grand Provost Marshal]] to remind him that, by the rules of the game, rolling a natural 10 on a damage roll means Whamuudes gets to roll for ''additional damage''. '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Whamuudes then proceeds to roll nat-10 after nat-10]]''', building his single axe-strike up to ''122 damage'', enough to pass the Gorger-Lord's defenses, wipe out his wounds, ''and'' deal a severe CriticalHit that severs his arm at the shoulder. Forget becoming a Knight of the Realm: such a feat would land Sir Whamri ''[[ThePaladin Grail Knighthood]]''.
* Characters.CoreLineStringrayIndustries: DeathSeeker: No longer ''actively'' looking for it, but he pretty much acknowledges that the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality ''may'' force him into RedemptionEqualsDeath whether he wants to or not.
* Characters.MarvelComicsLoki: Not that he was ever averse to playing with the fourth wall occasionally, but his young incarnations are especially strong believers in the power of the narrative. Not only have they something against the authors, but they also had at least three plans involving rewriting the story, be it their own or that of his uncle, Cul Borson. It's no wonder they became the [[spoiler:God of Stories]].
* Characters.SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ: Once [the Queen of Fables] uses her powers, both herself and her targets are mostly bound to follow the rules of the story. '''20'''
* ComicBook.AgeOfXMan: Nate discusses this in great detail in the last issue of ''Marvelous X-Men'' and in ''Age of X-Man: Omega'', noting how he tried to break the X-Men out of their everlasting cycle of conflict and heartbreak.
* CrazyPrepared.Literature: ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents''. Due to Malicia's [[GenreSavvy awareness]] of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, she carries an adventuring bag with such items as a grapnel, a rope ladder, laxative for surviving on a coconut diet on a deserted island, and cotton-wool for blocking the vents of a giant underwater mechanical squid. She lives several hundred miles inland. These come in handy repeatedly, though not for their intended purpose because Malicia is WrongGenreSavvy.
* DeadpanSnarker.Literature: Samuel Vimes and Esmerelda Weatherwax. They are both aware of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, though with Vimes it's more of an instinctive understanding.
* Fanfic.LokiAgentOfDoomgard: Any narrative deity can mess with the story. It's [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy ill-advised]] to do so lightly though as the [[WildMagic story]] has its own ''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality rules]]'''.
* Fanfic.ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton: It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Celestials are enforcing a "script" on the universe with Thanos, who must be defeated by the Avengers, with Doom and Reed convincing them to "edit" things to give Earth a better chance.]]
* Film.TheMatrixReloaded: The Merovingian openly mocks the heroes for their not knowing why they came to see him beyond the Oracle telling them to meet with him, Morpheus concludes that their disastrous meeting with the Merovingian occurred exactly as it should have gone because they are still alive, and the Keymaker knows about all the failsafes guarding the door [[spoiler:to the Architect]] because "I know, because I must know. It's the reason I'm here. Same reason we're all here."
* Fridge.YandereSimulator: The background details for all three of the current Befriend/Betray missions become this if you're in any way familiar with certain hentai tropes, compounded by both the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and how {{Troperiffic}} the Game's universe is:
* Headscratchers.GreenLantern: Might be multiple sets from different points in Earth's history coexisting. ComicBook/SevenSoldiers states outright that Earth has had several dozen Camelots throughout its history, with similar persons and events happening each time in a recurring historical motif. Cain and Abel were probably something similar -- the first murder in any society or subspecies probably just kept following that motif of two brothers, one a shepherd and one a farmer.\\\
tl;dr TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
* Headscratchers.TheSarahJaneAdventures: Aside from TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, why does the situation in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]" have to be either/or? Why can't [[spoiler: Peter just get married to Sarah Jane and then join the gang fighting aliens?]]
* KingdomHearts.TropesPToZ: StarsAreSouls: ''Kingdom Hearts'' is a bit iffy on this one. Usually, the stars in the ''KH'' universe represent worlds as a whole and they disappear from the night sky when that particular world is submerged in darkness. Then, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', we have the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] as a world, which reaffirms the plot point that the old rulers of Pride Rock become stars in the sky upon death. This is also shown in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', when, after [[spoiler:Master Xehanort strikes down Master Eraqus in front of a horrified Terra]], Yen Sid notes, [[spoiler:"Eraqus's star has blinked out."]] The contradictions can just be chalked up to the world running on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. '''30'''
* Literature.{{Exordia}}: The rules of narrative are not just known to the rest of the galaxy, but they are enshrined as rules of nature: Arateic science is what allows the Exordia to enact the pinion, which bends free will and probability to make it so that other species ''will lose'' if they try to fight back against the empire.
[[/folder]]
----
The description seems a little ambivalent to begin with, which is never a great sign. The first main paragraph mostly just rattles off a list of unrelated tropes, but it does describe this as being what happens when there is some in-universe force or natural law that enforces tropes and causes them to happen ("Reality itself is mutable before the will of the plot. In stories where this is strong, {{tropes}} may as well be laws of physics.")
The next few lines claim that to describe "Another way to look at it" but are actually talking about the AnthropicPrinciple -- plenty of unremarkable people and stories exist, but of course the real-life work will focus on interesting things ("If they weren't remarkable people with remarkable feats and tales to their name, there wouldn't be a story about them and you wouldn't be hearing it in the first place").
Essentially, we've got two opposite concepts presented as if they were rewordings of one thing:
* '''Amazing things happen to the main characters because they're the main characters''' -- an in-universe force exists that causes story-like things to occur. Narrative tropes and character status have an in-universe presence.
* '''The main characters are the main characters because amazing things happen to them''' -- a meta principle where a story is by necessity going to focus on some interesting thing going on in its world instead of one of a thousand everyday things.
So what are the examples like?
[[folder:Trope-enforcing natural force]]
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': Played with. [[spoiler:Fakir]] is (apparently) capable of RewritingReality, but it's never quite clear if he's making things happen by writing them down, just writing down what would have happened anyway, or a little bit of both.
* ''RolePlay/DoofQuest'': Besides RuleOfFunny toons function on this and [[TheBadGuysWin given the setting]] they have a variety of different reactions to it. Some are uncaring and just live their lives (Goofy and Ludivine), some love it and play into it for fun (like the Phantom Blot), while some hate it and even successfully change their narrative (Wile E. Coyote and Max), while others take advantage of their sick senses of humor to hurt and kill people like Negaduck and Judge Doom.
* ''Fanfic/SongsOfTheSpheres'': This is one of the story's major driving points. Amongst other things, ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' exists within that multiverse, and so ''ka'' is a real and tangible thing. The Tower is programmed to ''need'' a good story, and so things often happen solely to fulfill that obligation. More than one character carries a ''ka'' sensor at all times just to see when the narrative is going to force itself upon them, and many react at the presence of the 'camera'. And that's to say nothing of the ''[[WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum Flowers]]'', who ''weaponize'' this.
* ''Literature/DanielFaust'': The Enemy is the bad guy in some sort of cosmic cautionary tale that's been repeating itself over and over for millions of years. His goal is to break free from the narrative, which always ends with his defeat, but most of his powers are locked away by the plot of the story itself, so he has to enact parts of it to unlock the seals, usually by substituting {{Unwitting Pawn}}s into the role of other characters in the play, whose skills he needs, that would otherwise die horrible deaths.
* ''Literature/HarrowTheNinth'': When the Sleeper is dominant in Harrow's bubble she renders necromancy impotent and herself invincible. Eventually they manage to call a spirit to contest her rules, but because he was summoned via an epic poem things now happen like the poem -- her guns stop working and they have a lengthy one-on-one duel, inflicting superficial injuries and talking in meter, while everyone else stands aside because ganging up would break form and might give control back to the Sleeper. Near the end one witness does find a way to help in narratively appropriate fashion by [[GiveMeASword throwing him a sword when he's disarmed]].
* ''Literature/TerraIgnota'': The fourth and final book, in which WorldWarIII is fought, finds itself shaped into a semi-retelling of ''Literature/TheIliad'' due to the influence of a RealityWarper. Since said reality warper was a child with a child's understanding of the Iliad, only major events are replicated (mostly the deaths of important figures) and not necessarily in the right order (the main character undergoes ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' concurrently with the war), and which side is supposed to be Troy shifts throughout the book, meaning the final outcome can't necessarily be predicted. The main character, realizing what's happening, tries and fails several times to save certain characters before their scripted deaths, and ultimately embraces his role as Odysseus to perform the [[TrojanHorse infiltration]] that truly ends the war.
* "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More, with Feeling]]" forces the town to run on the rules of musicals. The characters are compelled to break into dance and/or sing about their private thoughts, misgivings, and secrets. Unlike in a normal musical, everyone around can hear their secrets. This forces characters to deal with problems they were repressing and moves the plot forward in leaps.
-->"Life's a show, and we all play a part, and when the music starts -- we open up our hearts." ~ Buffy
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'': In general, the FourthWall is flimsy at best in the 'verse and major players are ''very'' aware of main character privileges, occasionally attempting to usurp the position. In the remake of ''Disgaea 2'', this can even succeed and net you a NonstandardGameOver.
* ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'': As the cast consists of personified game consoles and concepts and a cheerfully optional fourth wall, the game embraces and plays with this idea. It's at its most blatant at the start of ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'': Neptune and Nepgear are dropped through a mysterious vortex and land in a post-apocalyptic hellscape with cracks through the very earth and sky, filled with monsters they've never seen before. Nepgear is frightened, and Neptune tells her not to worry... because she's the protagonist and this is the tutorial dungeon, so there's no way they'll lose.
* ''WebVideo/OculusImperia'': "The Daemon: A Treatise On The Nature of the Daemonic" makes clear that Daemons in general operate on this logic. They don't instruct their followers to carry out complex rituals and human sacrificies because "the sound of a human meat-flap" have any special power; what they have is ''narrative significance'', emotional weight borne of millenia of story-telling; since Daemons are, ultimately, psychic creatures born from the emotions of sapient beings, they're shaped by the stories those beings tell. As the Historitor rather chillingly puts it:
--> '''Occulus:''' They are stories... and they are stories that ''hate us.''
* ''Webcomic/{{Footloose}}'' is built around this trope, with the Plot being an active force in the universe that can be predicted by the [[GenreSavvy Fae]].
* ''Webcomic/MixedMyth'': The villains use a filmic version of this. The elves worship a power called "Cynamatik" and use it to fuel their magic. As the name suggests, the elves have a limited ability to control this force, because it will always cause the most dramatically appropriate circumstances -- so the elves are only on top for as long as it's dramatically appropriate, and, the instant the story calls for their defeat, it's impossible that they ''won't'' lose the battle.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anthropic principle – story ignores uninteresting people and follows interesting ones]]
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': Parodied in the "Science Fiction Sketch", where the Narrator begins by describing a perfectly ordinary couple, notes that nothing interesting generally happens to people like them, and leaves to go pay attention to someone more interest. This being Monty Python, they of course [[spoiler: turn out to be very significant indeed]].
-->'''Narrator:''' It was day like many another, and Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Brainsample were a perfectly ordinary couple, leading perfectly ordinary lives; the sort of people to whom nothing extraordinary ever happened, and not the kind of people to be at the center of one of the most astounding incidents in the history of mankind. So let's forget about them, and follow instead...
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Characters are genre savvy; whether or not something is actually enforcing genre conventions is unclear]]
* ''Film/AustinPowers'': Austin's father irritatedly lectures a {{mook|s}} about to attack him that he's an obvious RedShirt who doesn't even have a name tag, and should just lie down right now. He complies.
* ''Film/LastActionHero'':
** The GenreSavvy protagonist tries to exploit the rules of the action-movie universe he's [[TrappedInTVLand trapped in]] to his advantage, playing chicken with the bad guy's car ''on his bicycle''. [[spoiler:Just in time, he realizes he's the PluckyComicRelief, not the hero, and swerves out of the way.]]
** One of the villains kills the manager of a convenience store and expects the police to arrive immediately. When they do not, he is puzzled.
* ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'': Cited by the GenreSavvy Prince Lir, when begged by Lady Amalthea [[spoiler:(the transformed unicorn)]] to abandon the quest so that they can be together. He replies that in stories, things must happen at their due and proper time; he can't abandon his quest half-done, and the happy ending needs to wait until the ending.
--> "The true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch's door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fourth wall breaking/script reading]]
* ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'': After losing an archery contest against a master archer, Robin double-checks the script, confirming he's "not supposed to lose."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:A character engineers events to get a certain outcome, in-universe narrative thinking not referenced]]
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': Early in his career, the Red Hulk punched Uatu, the Watcher, which made a vastly powerful villain take an interest in him. Much earlier than he was supposed to, which, according to another Watcher, changed the history to one where said villain would kill Red Hulk. Seeing this as Uatu's fault and violation of Watchers' oath to never interfere, another Watcher tried to fix it. When the villain came looking for Red Hulk, the Watcher hid him in a fake reality where he had similar adventures that the Incredible Hulk had during the ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' story and pulls him out later, so he that he can confront the villain when he was originally supposed to. '''Watcher uses this trope to justify why this isn't further interference -- since the Red Hulk is a character derived from the original Hulk, it means [[RecycledPremise something like that was very likely to happen to him in the future anyway]].'''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:In-universe pattern recognition, in-universe narrative thinking not referenced]]
* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2018'' opens with the line "every X-Men story is the same", and has the characters riffing on how the latest mutant hating politician is so drearily familiar. [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]], the AntiVillain of the first arc and a RealityWarper with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]] and a decidedly [[CrazySane strange outlook]], is entirely aware of it and cites it in the follow-up BatFamilyCrossover, ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', as why he created the titular reality -- he was trying to free the X-Men from their constant self-destructive cycle.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': After the first couple of Friendship Missions directed by the [[MagneticPlotDevice Friendship Map]], the mane characters realize that the map calls specific ponies because of their specific talents, abilities, and personalities. When Rarity and Applejack are called to Manehattan to solve a problem, they comment that the problem could have been solved quickly and easily with Twilight's magic, but the map must have good reasons for only summoning the two of them. The result is a community-building experience that wouldn't have happened if the more mundane matters had been fixed with a wave of a magic horn.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other/unclear/ZCE]]
* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'': Briefly discussed in the first issue. One Monitor says to another, "Behold: we monitors who were faceless once... We all have names now, and stories. There are heroes and villains... secrets and lovers." Translation: Nothing happened to us as long as they didn't write us into the stories. Now we're in them, and all hell is breaking loose.
* ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'': Mocked with a sketch of the Three Little Pigs. The first two pigs have built houses out of straw and sticks respectively owing to narrative convention; the supposedly weak house turning out to have some element that will do the Big Bad Wolf in. The third pig has built a house out of bricks... because that's what houses are ''made of''.
* ''Webcomic/TheWayOfTheMetagamer'': Narrativium not only exists, but can be manipulated through use of a literal PlotHole.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Game mechanics that lets players reroll dice or get bonuses]]
* ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' and its related games have "fate points". They are refreshed every play session and can be used to gain rerolls or manipulate results in various ways. They can also be permanently burned to allow a doomed player to survive in some contrived fashion. Major enemies intended to be recurring foes get them too.
* Some roleplaying games grant players the sporadic ability to outright alter the narrative of the game directly, such as by saying that there is some new feature or object in a room that wasn't there before which allows them to escape some difficulty. In some cases they can even make things harder on themselves by adding things working against them, for a bonus later. Perhaps the most extreme version of this is ''TabletopGame/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', which is a game which centers entirely around this mechanic. Every player begins with a pool of coins or chips, and each player tells some story of their adventures, based on a question asked to them by one of the other players. The other players, during the story, may interfere by asking questions which add some sort of twist to the story and pushing forward a number of coins in challenge; the person telling the story must then incorporate some means of overcoming the challenge into the story (and thus take the coins) or push forward as many coins of their own and give them to the challenger, informing them that they are mistaken. At the end of the game, the players then must "vote" with their coins for the best stories; thus accumulating more coins gives you more votes at the end.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Serenity}}'' has acquirable "plot" points that the game master can distribute to players as reward, usually for doing things in a more creative way than expected. They exist out of character, and the players can choose to spend them to force plot conveniences or twists beyond the normal scope of their characters skillsets. For example, if a character who doesn't know machines very well is required to do repairs on an engine or die, a player might spend a plot point, and suddenly their character finds a handy user manual stowed nearby.
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So what do we get?
* A trope-enforcing natural force explicitly exists in the setting -- 12/25 -- 48%
* Anthropic principle -- the story ignores uninteresting people and follows interesting -- – 1/30 -- 4%
* A character is GenrySavvy, without reference to an in-universe trope enforcement -- 3/25 -- 12%
* Characters break the fourth wall -- 1/25 – 4%
* Characters engineer some outcome without reference to a narrative -- 1/25 – 4%
* In-universe pattern recognition -- 2/25 – 8%
* Other -- 3/25 – 12%
As for the wick check, looking at 50 examples:
[[folder:Wick Check]]
* ArtisticLicenseCars: Towards the climax of the British movie ''Film/{{Doomsday}}'', the main characters find a getaway vehicle that was [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece stored inside an underground bunker...]] '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality because the plot said so]].''' The car was stored there for at least [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty-seven years]]. Even if it were fresh off the assembly line, most of the car parts wouldn't work from lack of use. The metal would become stiff and the rubber in the tires would start to rot, among other things. The gasoline in its tank would also have gone bad many years previously.
* CastFromHitPoints: The effects of this on the magic itself vary as well. A spell cast from HP may work normally, but more often than not '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the plot demands]]''' that the use of life itself must amplify the effect dramatically. If done well, this may represent the caster's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: "Also, do not confuse this trope with events unfolding according to the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality." Trope refers to characters realizing that a conflict wouldn't have existed had something been done differently.
* ExcuseMeComingThrough: Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where it's an important part of TheoryOfNarrativeCausality -- complete with two men carrying a pane of glass.
* FreakierThanFiction: Originating in the Creator/LordByron quote "Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction," later fine-tuned into '''"[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense,]]"''' attributed to Creator/TomClancy. No matter how weird, freaky, or {{squick}}y fiction gets, there will be something in RealLife that is even weirder, freakier, or {{squick}}ier.
* GracefulLoser: At the end of ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan'', Nate Grey (the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsXMan X-Man]]) realises that he was wrong about the concept of relationships of any kind being a bad thing and that in fact, connections to other people are part of what make us human. This is thanks to a mixture of slowly dawning realisation, developing hatred of the MindRape involved in maintaining the ''[[CrapsaccharineWorld Age of X-Man]]'', and being whacked in the face with the fact that he's NotSoAboveItAll by [[spoiler: a subconsciously created copy of his ex-girlfriend, Dani Moonstar]]. Accordingly, he restores the X-Men's memories and lets them go. Given that he was [[WellIntentionedExtremist actually trying to]] ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist help]]'' [[WellIntentionedExtremist them]] (by breaking '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality the endless cycle of conflict they're trapped in]]''') and the X-Men admitted that he had some very good points, while he ended up reforming the AOX after they left ('no secret police' was the first change), it's debatable how much he actually lost.
* ImmuneToFate: In ''Manga/MedakaBox'', [[spoiler:Zenkichi]] gains this power during the Successor arc. What it actually does is negate any form of '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality narrative causality]]''', meaning that no dramatic manga-style plot contrivances like {{Heroic Second Wind}}s or {{Eleventh Hour Superpower}}s will affect either [[spoiler:Zenkichi]] or anyone who fights [[spoiler:him]], but with the series's heavy lampshading it effectively qualifies as this trope.
* LawfulEvil: General Tarquin's version of Lawful Evil comes through GenreSavvy: Tarquin treats his life as an ongoing narrative arc in a HeroicFantasy (in which he is the EvilOverlord fated to one day fall in an epic battle against a worthy hero), making him GenreSavvy because he knows the tropes and clichés and can act appropriately to shape it to his liking in accordance with the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. On the flip side, it means he judges people according to their story role (or, at least, what ''he'' thinks is their role) and has [[LackOfEmpathy little to no understanding of them as people]]. He's quick to get rid of (or, in the rare cases where they matter to him for some reason, correct) people who don't stick to his vision of the script, all while refusing to ever acknowledge the possibility that [[WrongGenreSavvy he may not have the right view of the script to begin with]].
* MirrorUniverse: Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/JLAEarth2'', the graphic novel that re-introduced the "anti-matter" version of the Crime Syndicate, [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed the trope]]: even the ''TheoryOfNarrativeCausality'' was reversed in the mirror universe, so the Justice League's attempt to save it was as doomed as the Syndicate's attempt to conquer Franchise/TheDCU.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Always behind them. Because that's how things are ''done''. This is justified because tropes like this are '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality practically immutable laws of physics]]''' on the Disc. '''10'''
* PositionOfLiteralPower: This is a major part of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as it synergizes with the [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrativium]] that the Disc runs on. Made explicit in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'':
-->"DEATH IS WHOEVER DOES DEATH'S JOB'" -- Death's apprentice
* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: Invoked in ''Literature/{{Wintersmith}}'', where Roland has to descend into "an" underworld to rescue the Summer Lady, because '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality that sort of thing is expected in these situations]]'''.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Yes, she is. If she isn't, she eventually will be. ResistanceIsFutile. [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Narrative Causality]] compels you.
* SupernaturalAngst: ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'': Several characters (Jareth, the Erlkönig, James Norrington, etc.) angst on the futility of fighting their story. They are self-aware fictional beings, so they tend to be painfully aware that their choices are severely limited (if not outright dictated) by the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and the whims of the storytellers.
* TuxedoAndMartini: ''Literature/TheJenniferMorgue'': The subject of both AffectionateParody and TakeThat in the Creator/CharlesStross novel. Because of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, the protagonist [[spoiler:and his girlfriend]] starts acting out James Bond tropes, commenting how much he differs from Bond. In regard to Bond's signature drink, every time it's ordered in the novel, there are comments on how awful it tastes.
* WildMagic: ''Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'': Loki claims that magic runs on [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality story]] and so it has a will of its own. The series [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans on the fourth wall]] very hard.
* Awesome.IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice: The Gorger-Lord slays Bulgo, swatting the halfling from Sir Whamri's shoulders. Whamri, enraged at the death of his friend, charges the Gorger-Lord in melee. The Gorger-Lord's combined toughness rating and wounds threshold is so tremendous that only the most obscene amounts of damage could hope to seriously hurt him. Whamuudes rolls a natural 10. Magnus gloats that Sir Whamri's mere 13 damage isn't nearly enough to harm the Gorger-Lord... only for [[RulesLawyer the Grand Provost Marshal]] to remind him that, by the rules of the game, rolling a natural 10 on a damage roll means Whamuudes gets to roll for ''additional damage''. '''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality Whamuudes then proceeds to roll nat-10 after nat-10]]''', building his single axe-strike up to ''122 damage'', enough to pass the Gorger-Lord's defenses, wipe out his wounds, ''and'' deal a severe CriticalHit that severs his arm at the shoulder. Forget becoming a Knight of the Realm: such a feat would land Sir Whamri ''[[ThePaladin Grail Knighthood]]''.
* Characters.CoreLineStringrayIndustries: DeathSeeker: No longer ''actively'' looking for it, but he pretty much acknowledges that the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality ''may'' force him into RedemptionEqualsDeath whether he wants to or not.
* Characters.MarvelComicsLoki: Not that he was ever averse to playing with the fourth wall occasionally, but his young incarnations are especially strong believers in the power of the narrative. Not only have they something against the authors, but they also had at least three plans involving rewriting the story, be it their own or that of his uncle, Cul Borson. It's no wonder they became the [[spoiler:God of Stories]].
* Characters.SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ: Once [the Queen of Fables] uses her powers, both herself and her targets are mostly bound to follow the rules of the story. '''20'''
* ComicBook.AgeOfXMan: Nate discusses this in great detail in the last issue of ''Marvelous X-Men'' and in ''Age of X-Man: Omega'', noting how he tried to break the X-Men out of their everlasting cycle of conflict and heartbreak.
* CrazyPrepared.Literature: ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents''. Due to Malicia's [[GenreSavvy awareness]] of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, she carries an adventuring bag with such items as a grapnel, a rope ladder, laxative for surviving on a coconut diet on a deserted island, and cotton-wool for blocking the vents of a giant underwater mechanical squid. She lives several hundred miles inland. These come in handy repeatedly, though not for their intended purpose because Malicia is WrongGenreSavvy.
* DeadpanSnarker.Literature: Samuel Vimes and Esmerelda Weatherwax. They are both aware of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, though with Vimes it's more of an instinctive understanding.
* Fanfic.LokiAgentOfDoomgard: Any narrative deity can mess with the story. It's [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy ill-advised]] to do so lightly though as the [[WildMagic story]] has its own ''[[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality rules]]'''.
* Fanfic.ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton: It's revealed that [[spoiler:the Celestials are enforcing a "script" on the universe with Thanos, who must be defeated by the Avengers, with Doom and Reed convincing them to "edit" things to give Earth a better chance.]]
* Film.TheMatrixReloaded: The Merovingian openly mocks the heroes for their not knowing why they came to see him beyond the Oracle telling them to meet with him, Morpheus concludes that their disastrous meeting with the Merovingian occurred exactly as it should have gone because they are still alive, and the Keymaker knows about all the failsafes guarding the door [[spoiler:to the Architect]] because "I know, because I must know. It's the reason I'm here. Same reason we're all here."
* Fridge.YandereSimulator: The background details for all three of the current Befriend/Betray missions become this if you're in any way familiar with certain hentai tropes, compounded by both the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and how {{Troperiffic}} the Game's universe is:
* Headscratchers.GreenLantern: Might be multiple sets from different points in Earth's history coexisting. ComicBook/SevenSoldiers states outright that Earth has had several dozen Camelots throughout its history, with similar persons and events happening each time in a recurring historical motif. Cain and Abel were probably something similar -- the first murder in any society or subspecies probably just kept following that motif of two brothers, one a shepherd and one a farmer.\\\
tl;dr TheoryOfNarrativeCausality
* Headscratchers.TheSarahJaneAdventures: Aside from TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, why does the situation in "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E5E6TheWeddingOfSarahJaneSmith The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]" have to be either/or? Why can't [[spoiler: Peter just get married to Sarah Jane and then join the gang fighting aliens?]]
* KingdomHearts.TropesPToZ: StarsAreSouls: ''Kingdom Hearts'' is a bit iffy on this one. Usually, the stars in the ''KH'' universe represent worlds as a whole and they disappear from the night sky when that particular world is submerged in darkness. Then, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', we have the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Pride Lands]] as a world, which reaffirms the plot point that the old rulers of Pride Rock become stars in the sky upon death. This is also shown in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', when, after [[spoiler:Master Xehanort strikes down Master Eraqus in front of a horrified Terra]], Yen Sid notes, [[spoiler:"Eraqus's star has blinked out."]] The contradictions can just be chalked up to the world running on the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality. '''30'''
* Literature.{{Exordia}}: The rules of narrative are not just known to the rest of the galaxy, but they are enshrined as rules of nature: Arateic science is what allows the Exordia to enact the pinion, which bends free will and probability to make it so that other species ''will lose'' if they try to fight back against the empire.
[[/folder]]
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