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The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.

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Veanne Since: Jul, 2012
2025-01-06 02:34:37

The Nose Knows is a superpower, but for supposedly ordinary characters knowing the smells they logically shouldn't, umm. Things Are More Effective in Hollywood ?

For the other one, start from Smells Sexy

Scorpion451 (Edited uphill both ways)
2025-01-07 13:01:48

Memory Trigger. It's Truth in Television that Olfactory memory is one of the most intense and resilient types of memory in most people, even if we don't consciously realize it. One of Marcel Proust's stories provides a stock example that even appears in psychology textbooks, where the smell of a particular type of cookie triggers a rush of intense childhood memories for the narrator.

Edited by Scorpion451
Veanne Since: Jul, 2012
2025-01-07 22:49:07

Yes, but to remember something you have to have encountered it, which the OP's example character explicitly hasn't.

Strontiumsun Since: May, 2015
2025-01-08 08:17:18

It’s not so much about scent memory, more about how scents are always clearly described in fiction - even if it doesn’t make narrative sense for the character to be able to so clearly identify the scent. I’ve got a sensitive nose and I’ve worked for years on memorizing common fragrance scents, but I’m a little crazy like that, and most characters in fiction are not.

Creator of Heroes of Thantopolis: http://heroesofthantopolis.com/
Veanne Since: Jul, 2012
2025-01-08 22:10:33

Exactly, but it would be one of the Acceptable Breaks from Reality - something a person in the field can tell wouldn't work, but it smooths the story down, saving on explanations and setup. I have this with characters learning languages from watching television - sometimes it harms my suspension of disbelief.

Strontiumsun Since: May, 2015
2025-01-09 15:00:40

I agree it’s an Acceptable Break from Reality, just not sure if it deserves its own page. What about the second trope? Thinking about it more, it’s less about the scents being identified and more about how a character identifying another’s scent is a tell that they’re the love interest. Not sure that lines up exactly with Smells Sexy?

Creator of Heroes of Thantopolis: http://heroesofthantopolis.com/
Veanne Since: Jul, 2012
2025-01-09 22:04:03

Well, in Archipelago Riley is given Alice's scent by Dragonfly and told this is the scent of his True Love, and sure enough, he's head over heels as soon as he actually meets her. But we actually don't have this trope listed there.

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