Fan theories are those little pockets of gold that try to add to a film, game, book etc. or attempt to answer questions left in the wake of a great story regardless of the medium it was told in. Finding previously unrecognised links and following a long web trailing to an often crazy conclusion, fan theories are amazing. Some theories go that bit further making many people treat them as fact and wish that the denied theories were true. Die-hard fans commonly use or create fan theories to fill in plot holes and protect their favourite stories, whilst other theories are the spark of genius created from hours of endless dedication to discussing that all-time favourite story.
Warm-up theory: Marvel
There are plenty of fan theories around Marvel, many retaining to the comics, due to its extensive universe and multiverses. However, since many people who have never even picked up a comic book love the Marvel cinematic universe here is an MCU (and other marvel movies) fan theory: Stan Lee is the Watcher. The MCU strive for continuity, yet Stan Lee appears in his cameo role time and time again as a different character each time. One explanation for this is that Stan is actually playing the same character dawning different disguises, thus not messing up the much strived for continuity of the MCU and other marvel films. Whilst the watcher is not supposed to interfere and Stan clearly does to a minor degree so too did Uatu the Watcher, in the comic books. The character of Uatu was, in fact, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s.
If this theory is true, what could it mean? Not only does it add more purpose to the cameos and fix continuity issues but it may connect all the movies that Stan Lee featured in, such as Fox’s Hulk movie series, the multiple Spider-man movies by Sony and the X-Men franchise as well as the more recent Deadpool. Clearly, all these movies cannot co-exist within one universe but the connection created by Stan Lee’s appearance may be signs that all the storylines are set within one larger Marvel multiverse, with the earths being observed by Uatu the Watcher.
Main Theory: Harry Potter
Harry Potter is not short of fan theories. This one, however, is particularly prevalent due to the way it casts Dumbledore in a much different light and changes the way you will read the books and watch the movies in future. The theory is that Dumbledore’s pet phoenix Fawkes is Dumbledore’s horcrux. At face value the idea of Dumbledore creating a horcrux seems ludicrous but this theory makes sense for a multitude of reasons.
Firstly, within Harry Potter you cannot create a horcrux without having killed someone, which at first glance Dumbledore has not done. In actual fact Dumbledore’s sister, may have been killed by him during a fight between Dumbledore, his brother Aberforth and Grindelwald. Even if Dumbledore did not cast the spell that killed her, Dumbledore blamed himself for her death and that may have been enough for him to conjure up a horcrux by splitting his soul. After the death of his sister we are left with an unstable, yet powerful Dumbledore – the most likely time for him to turn to dark magic and, perhaps, an attempt to separate his grief from his body by transferring them into a horcrux. Secondly, assuming, at this point, Dumbledore did create a horcrux we now have reason for his vast understanding of them and his hatred of them which was demonstrated by this quote from Professor Slughorn, “Horcruxes are a banned subject at Hogwarts you know. Dumbledore is particularly fierce about it”.
This theory is in a way two theories -Dumbledore created a horcrux as explained above and that that horcrux is Fawkes. Many people have claimed Fawkes was purely plot convenience for The Chamber of Secrets and The Order of the Phoenix (when members of the Ministry of Magic had Dumbledore cornered and he was unable to apparate because they were inside Hogwarts) but maybe Fawkes was not just shoehorned in and does serve a greater purpose to the story. It is also revealed that the phoenix feathers that reside in Harry and Voldemort’s wand came from Fawkes, which is a cool fact but it adds nothing to the story and still gives Fawkes no relevance aside from being a feathery convenience.
When we reassess then that the tail feathers in Harry and Voldemort’s wands both come from Fawkes, under the assumption that Fawkes is a horcrux and that the tail feathers were given after Fawkes became a horcrux then it stands to reason that a tiny piece of Dumbledore’s soul is inside both of their wands. This connects Harry, Voldemort, and Dumbledore once more and whilst it is not essential to the story it does fit in with J.K Rowling’s love of trinities – the three deathly hallows, the three main characters; Harry, Hermione, and Ron, three main wand cores; phoenix tail feather, unicorn hair and dragon heartstring as well as three unforgivable curses.
It would also make sense that for Dumbledore to stay dead Harrys wand containing a piece of his soul was broken and Fawkes was struck with a killing curse – killing all the pieces of Dumbledore’s soul inside both Fawkes and the wand. It is uncertain what happened to Voldemort’s wand as he discarded it when he took the elder wand but it is possible that the piece of Dumbledore’s soul that was in the wand left when his killing curse rebounded when he attempted to kill Harry Potter at Godric’s hollow. Not only did the killing curse expel the piece of Dumbledore’s soul but the piece of soul may have even attached itself to harry when harry became a horcrux. Whilst this seems outlandish it is a plausible explanation for why Dumbledore was also present alongside the piece of Voldemort’s soul inside Harry when Harry was struck with a killing curse by Voldemort at the Battle of Hogwarts. The idea that a piece of Dumbledore’s soul is inside harry also offers another explanation for why his wand chose him, as it was two pieces of Dumbledore’s soul coming together.
If we are to revisit the chamber of secrets scene in which Fawkes comes to Harry’s aid, under the assumption that Fawkes is Dumbledore’s horcrux then things start to make more sense. When being taken from the grounds of Hogwarts in book two Dumbledore says, “I will never truly be gone unless none here are loyal to me. Help shall always be given at Hogwarts to those that ask for it.” – words that come true when Harry receives help from Fawkes in the chamber of secrets after showing loyalty to Dumbledore. Having shown loyalty to Dumbledore Harry had, at least in part, shown loyalty to Fawkes or the piece of Dumbledore residing inside him which explains why Fawkes came to assist Harry. In addition, having a creature as a horcrux makes Dumbledore a better foil to Voldemort who also had a creature for a horcrux – his snake, Nagini.
As well as this, Dumbledore’s realisation that Nagini is a horcrux further demonstrates Dumbledore’s knowledge and understanding of horcruxes, a knowledge likely arising from creating his own horcrux. Dumbledore works out Nagini is a horcrux based on the facts that Voldemort has great control over her, always keeps her close and is particularly fond of her. In a similar way, Dumbledore has great control over Fawkes, as demonstrated by summoning him in the aforementioned confrontation with members of the Ministry in his office. Dumbledore also keeps Fawkes close having him in his office with him and it’s safe to say that he is fond of his phoenix.
Harry is shocked at the realisation that animals can also be made horcruxes to which Dumbledore replies, “Well it inadvisable to do so because to confide part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is very risky business.” – which sounds a lot like he is talking from experience.
Cool down theory: Super Mario
Super Mario’s Wario is not a villain. One fan theory is that he is, in fact, an over the top fan boy. The crazy guy that lives and breathes for the famous, celebrity Mario. Wario may not be his name but in fact a self-given nickname to honour his hero – Mario. In super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario is the final boss living in a mansion with a giant statue of Mario outside. It transpires that Wario stole the castle but maybe he really is just a crazed fan trying to live the life of his hero, and building giant statues of Mario in his spare time, of course.
This concludes the first part of this article on fan theories, covering some of the best known, biggest selling brands. Hopefully you found this entertaining, make sure to check out part two looking at DC and Disney.
