The truth is out there…damn, wrong movie.

Fan theories are a lot of fun. They can range from something fairly innocuous to a game changing revelation that turns your whole understanding of the film or novel on it’s side. Sure, some can be completely ludicrous and insane, but every now and then, a couple of theories come along that make so much sense, they can actually change our understanding of the work in question. Here are ten of some of the more fun and interesting fan theories from film and literature.

10. Avatar: Jake is brainwashed by the Pandoran god

The Film: Avatar is one of the most paradoxical films of recent memory. During its theatrical run, it became the highest grossing movie of all time (a distinction it still holds) as well as the first to make over two billion dollars worldwide. And yet, it has had almost no impact on pop culture other than the aforementioned fact of it being the highest grossing film of all time. Anyway, the story is essentially a retelling of Dances with Wolves, as a former soldier befriends an indigenous local population, the Nav’i and helps them fight off his former allies.

The Theory: The reason our protagonist, Jake Sully, turns against his own species is because he was brainwashed.

The Evidence: During the film, Jake and his love interest Neytiri spend the night together at a place called the Tree of Souls (or something). It is during this occurrence that Jake attaches his braid thingy to the tree and hears the voices of Nav’i ancestors, as well as their god, Eywa (again, if none of this is familiar to you, the movie hasn’t really aged that well, so…). Following this encounter, Jake starts showing more commitment to helping the Nav’i fight against the invading humans first by hindering their efforts to bulldoze the Tree, and then by leading an ultimately successful uprising against them.

So why would Jake, who up until this time was mostly skeptical of the Nav’i teachings, turn against his own species? Because Eywa brainwashed him to do so. The film establishes a few rules with the braid meld thing. Jake and other Nav’i use it to ride alien horses and flying creatures and are in total control when they do so. So who’s in control when Jake plugs into the community Wi-Fi? The voices he hears are Eywa turning him against his own people, thus protecting the Nav’i and the planet of Pandora, making him less a noble hero sticking up for the underdog and more of a successful Manchurian candidate of future.

9. E.T. is a Jedi

The Film: Steven Spielberg’s film tells the story of a curious alien who gets left behind by his people during a scouting mission on Earth. He ends up befriending a young boy named Elliot, as well as his siblings, as the two figure out a way to make contact with the alien’s family so he may return home. Heartwarming hijinks ensue.

The Theory: E.T. is a Jedi.

The Evidence: E.T. is seen as having some telekinetic abilities throughout the film. He makes umbrellas and bikes fly, he brings a dead flower back to life, and heals a cut on Elliot’s finger which establishes a kind of psychic link between the two. But as there are more telekinetic types powers in science fiction, where does the Jedi stuff come in?

The plan to contact E.T.’s friends happens on Halloween, where E.T. poses as Elliot’s younger sister Gertie and dresses up as a ghost. As they leave the house to go trick or treating, they pass by several different children in costume. One of these children is dressed up as Yoda from the Star Wars series. As they pass, E.T. turns around and follows the costumed child saying, “Home, home.” It makes for a fun gag in the movie, but given that E.T. is not a whatever species Yoda is, why does he react to that costume in the way that he does? Because he knows Yoda. Or at least knows of him. E.T.’s powers, while never fully explained, have many similarities to the Force that is used throughout the Star Wars films. Considering that Spielberg and George Lucas are good friends in real life, it isn’t surprising that they borrowed certain elements from each other. Combined with the fact that E.T. makes an appearance in The Phantom Menace and this theory looks more and more likely.

8. Terminator: Skynet keeps humanity alive to give itself a purpose

The Film: Starting in 1984, The Terminator made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star and introduced the world to a young director named James Cameron. The series tells the story of the Connors (Sarah and John) who become embroiled in a battle across time to save the future of the human race, with John Connor destined to be the savior of humanity following a nuclear war as he leads mankind against a sentient artificial intelligence called Skynet, that is determined to terminate the entire human race.

The Theory: Skynet keeps humanity alive so it has a purpose.

The Evidence: The Terminator franchise has established a lot about both sides of the war against the machines. Skynet was initially created as a military defense program that was designed to keep the world safe before it decided that all of humanity was a threat to its existence. Following the destruction, Skynet unleashed an army of humanoid robots called Terminators whose sole job was to hunt down the remnants of humanity. The problem with Skynet’s plan is that it’s incredibly inefficient. Not only does it need to make hundreds if not thousands of Terminators and other machines seen throughout the series, but there is a much easier way for Skynet to destroy all the humans: poison the atmosphere. Seriously, give Skynet a few years and an aerial viral attack and regardless of how many cinematographers John Connor yells at, mankind is ultimately doomed.

So why does Skynet decide to defeat humanity this way? Because, what else would it do with its time? Once all of the humans have been killed, Skynet will be left in charge of a planet that is only populated by kill bots with nothing left to kill. What is Skynet going to do with all of those spare Terminators that are undoubtedly going to be left behind? This even explains the time loop that the series has been forced to try and explain. Skynet sends a Terminator to kill Sarah Connor knowing full well that the remaining pieces of the destroyed Terminator will lead to both its existence and the only enemy that is capable of beating him: John Connor.

7. Total Recall: The entire film is a dream

The Film: Total Recall tells the story of a man who has memories of being a secret agent on Mars implanted in his brain (or a secret agent on a ruined Earth in the dumb remake). During the procedure, though, it is revealed that he was, in fact, a secret agent on Mars who had his memory wiped to protect state secrets and bring down a resistance leader.

The Theory: The entire film, or at least the ending, is a dream.

The Evidence: There are actually two ways of interpreting this theory. One way is that the film is a dream once our hero Doug Quaid gets the procedure done at the beginning of the movie. The audience never actually sees Quaid go through with the procedure. He tells the doctor what he wants to see and experience and passes out before he is put in the memory machine or whatever its called. The audience next sees him freaking out about his cover being blown and the doctors saying they never performed the procedure. Quaid is also visited by a representative of Rekal (the place that sells the fake memories) who says he has gone off script and is making everything up as he goes along. The doctor also describes exactly what happens for the rest of the movie from the shifting alliances as well as the prevalence of aliens.

The second way is that the first two thirds of the film are real but the ending, starting from his second procedure in the memory machine, is a dream. The evidence for this is that the film turns from a sci-fi spy movie and essentially changes into an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie as he rips free from his restraints and becomes an almost unstoppable killing machine. Combine both interpretations of this theory with the ending shot of the scene fading to white and there is significant evidence that the film ends with Quaid’s lobotomy. The original director, Paul Verhoeven, has neither confirmed nor denied this theory, but its pretty clear that he leans more toward the side that the whole film is a dream.

6. Fight Club: Tyler Durden is a grown up Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes

The Film: Fight Club tells the story of an unnamed insomniac who is stuck working a dead end job, while living an equally dead end and uninspiring life. That is, until he meets the enigmatic Tyler Durden, a man who helps him find a sense of Nirvana by starting Fight Club, a male support group of sorts where instead of talking about feelings, you beat the ever-loving crap out of each other. Fight Club eventually escalates into a full blown terrorist operation with designs towards causing as much mischief and mayhem as possible.

*Spoilers for the film follow, so do read with caution.*

The Theory: The unnamed narrator is a grown up Calvin and Tyler Durden is the new version of Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes.

The Evidence: The big twist of the film is the fact that Tyler Durden is actually an alternate personality the narrator made up as a way of escaping his depressing life. All those times he fought with Tyler was simply him punching himself. And all those times he watched Tyler fight or be involved with some nefarious scheme, he imagined himself as one of the spectators. So what does a dark and depressing movie like Fight Club have in common with the sweet and lovable Calvin and Hobbes?

Well for one thing, Calvin also likes to punch himself. No, seriously, he does. It’s established in Calvin and Hobbes that Calvin is the only one who can talk to Hobbes as everyone else sees him as a stuffed animal. Despite this, every time Calvin gets into a fight with Hobbes he often comes back battered and bruised, much like the narrator during his fights with Tyler. Combine that with the fact that both Hobbes and Tyler are very different from their alter egos; both cool, collected philosopher types compared to the more whiny Calvin and the narrator. Combine these two properties and you get an interesting look into the mental breakdown of one of the most lovable comic characters ever. Presumably following years of therapy, Calvin has suppressed Hobbes and started his own mundane life. After years of soul sucking day-to-day life, Hobbes resurrects himself as the more adult Tyler Durden, and the rest is cinematic history.

*Be sure to check back next week for Part 2, where we count down the top 5 fan theories in cinematic and literary history*

Click the logo to go straight to our Amazon page and check out our Short Fiction Collections!