r/AskScienceFiction Apr 06 '25

[Subreddit Business] Clarifications on our Watsonian/Doylist rule, general questions, and r/WhatIfFiction

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Hi guys,

If you're new, welcome to r/AskScienceFiction, and if you're a returning user, welcome back! This subreddit is designed to be like the r/AskScience subreddit, but for fictional universes, and with all questions and answers written from a Watsonian perspective. That is to say, the questions and answers should be based on the in-universe information, rules, and logic of the fictional work. All fictional works are welcome here, not just sci-fi.

Lately we've been seeing some confusion over what counts as Watsonian, what counts as Doylist, what sort of questions would be off-topic on this subreddit, and what sort of answers are allowed. This stickied post is meant to address such uncertainties and clear things up.

1) Watsonian vs Doylist

The term "Watsonian" means based on the in-universe information, rules, and logic of the fictional work. In contrast, "Doylist" means discussions based on out-of-universe considerations. So, for example, if someone asked, "Why didn't the Fellowship ride the Eagles to Mordor?", a possible Watsonian answer would be, "The Eagles are a proud and noble race, they are not a taxi service." Whereas a rule-breaking Doylist answer might be something like, "Because then the story would be over in ten minutes, and that'd be boring."

We should note that answering in a Watsonian fashion does not necessarily mean that we should pretend that these works are all real, or that we should ignore the fact that they are movies or shows or books or games, or that the creators' statements on the nature of these works should be disregarded.

To give an example, if someone asked, "How powerful would Darth Vader have been if he never got burned?", we can quote George Lucas:

"Anakin, as Skywalker, as a human being, was going to be extremely powerful, but he ended up losing his arms and a leg and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed at this point, because, as a living form, there’s not that much of him left. So his ability to be twice as good as the Emperor disappeared, and now he’s maybe 20 percent less than the Emperor."

In such a case, "according to George Lucas, he would've been around twice as powerful as the Emperor" would be a perfectly acceptable Watsonian answer, because Lucas is also speaking from a Watsonian perspective.

Whereas if someone associated with the creation of Star Wars had said something like, "He'd be as powerful as we need him to be to make the story interesting", this would be a Doylist answer because it's based on out-of-universe reasoning. It would not be an acceptable answer on this subreddit even though it is also a quote from the creators of the fictional work.

2) General questions

General questions often do not have a meaningful Watsonian answer, because it frequently boils down to "whatever the author decides". For instance, if someone asked, "How does FTL space travel work?", the answer would vary widely with universe and author intent; how FTL works in Star Trek differs from how it works in Star Wars, which differs from how it works in Dune, which differs from how it works in Mass Effect, which differs from how it works in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc. General questions like this, in which the answer just boils down to "whatever the author wants", will be removed.

There are some general questions that can have meaningful Watsonian answers, though. For example, questions that are asking for specific examples of things can be given Watsonian answers. "Which superheroes have broken their no-kill rules?" or "Which fictional wars have had the highest casualty counts?" are examples of general questions that can be answered in a Watsonian way, because commenters can pull up specific in-universe information.

We address general questions on a case-by-case basis, so if you feel a question is too general to answer in a Watsonian way, please report the question and the mod team will review it.

3) r/WhatIfFiction

We want questions and answers here to be based on in-universe information and reasonable deductions that can be made from them. Questions that are too open-ended to give meaningful Watsonian answers should go on our sister subreddit, r/WhatIfFiction, which accepts a broader range of hypothetical questions and answers. Examples of questions that should go on r/WhatIfFiction include:

  • "What if Tony Stark had been killed by the Ten Rings at the beginning of Iron Man? How would this change the MCU?" This question would be fun to speculate about, but the ripple effect from this one change would be too widespread to give a meaningful Watsonian answer, so this should go on r/WhatIfFiction.
  • "What would (X character) from the (X universe) think if he was transported to (Y universe)?" Speculating about what characters would think or do if they were isekai'd to another universe can be fun, but since such crossover questions often involve wildly different settings and in-universe rules, the answers would be purely speculative and not meaningfully Watsonian, so such questions belong on r/WhatIfFiction.

We should note, though, that some hypothetical questions or crossover questions can have meaningful Watsonian answers. For example, if someone asked, "Can a Star Wars lightsaber cut through Captain America's shield?", we can actually say "Quite possibly yes, because vibranium's canonical melting point is 5,475 degrees Fahrenheit, while lightsabers are sticks of plasma, and plasma's temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more." This answer is meaningfully Watsonian because it involves a deduction using specific and canonical in-universe information, and is not simply purely speculative.

4) Reporting rule-breaking posts and comments

The r/AskScienceFiction mod team always endeavors to keep the subreddit on-topic and remove rule-breaking content as soon as possible, but because we're all volunteers with day jobs, sometimes things will escape our notice. Therefore, it'd be a great help if you, our users, could report rule-breaking posts or comments when you see them. This will bring the issue to the mod team's attention and allow us to review it as soon as we can.


r/AskScienceFiction 1h ago

[Marvel] Dr Doom canonically possesses pieces from the original cross Christ was crucified for defense against vampires. Since he dabbles in the supernatural along with science, what are his thoughts on the reality of there being a supernatural God greater than him, specifically given his giamt ego?

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Question in title.


r/AskScienceFiction 7h ago

[Marvel Comics/MCU] What exactly does Thor's hammer latch on to when someone unworthy tries to lift it without knowing they're doing it?

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This question courtesy of the scene in Avengers 2012 where Hulk tries to lift Mjölnir on the SHIELD helicarrier. It's said that you can't simply lift the ground under Thor's hammer, because if you tried lifting it by scooping the dirt under it it'd just fall down, and while it can go up in an elevator, you can't lift it while in there. A common explanation is that the hammer reads your intent and thwarts it

But the helicarrier in the Avengers scene is a single closed object, and Hulk is singularly strong, so in theory he should be able to lift the ,helicarrier, but if Mjölnir's in it then isn't he technically lifting it? Even if one says the helicarrier would refuse to get lifted, then why does it take off normally? The helicarrier engineers gave the instructions to the turbines to spin up after all. How about the simple case of lifting a table the hammer was sitting on, then can you lift it? If you can't, then the hammer also manipulates physical machinery, which does track with people being unable to move it using cranes and trucks


r/AskScienceFiction 5h ago

[Green lantern]Does the size of mogo the living planet, affect how he uses the powers of the ring?

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Like would creating planet size constructs drain the power of the ring faster?


r/AskScienceFiction 2h ago

[DnD] What happens to the children and decendants of a mortal who ascended to godhood after they were born?

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I'm planning a mini campaing of my own and one of the core idea is a mortal, who's ascendant is a minor god. How this works? Do they stay mortal, become an demigod or just have special gifts?


r/AskScienceFiction 12h ago

[The Silmarillion] Just how big was Ancalagon the Black?

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r/AskScienceFiction 14h ago

[DC COMICS] Where are the New Gods treated as, well, gods?

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I'm a Fourth World/New Gods fan (there are TENS of us!), mostly of the Walt Simonson run, Ram V's current run, Ngozi Ukazu's two books, and like 80% of Tom King's Mr. Miracle run (but that 20% hoo boy).

While I do love Scott and Barda, I think they and Darkseid have kinda monopolized the whole New Gods corner because they have a great story/relationship, and New Genesis can come off as boring/impenetrable (I don't agree with this, but it's a widely held opinion). I know the New 52 and post-Rebirth have had some stories where New Genesis and the Lantern Corps have some conflict, I'm into that idea but I haven't read the storyline yet.

But across the broader cosmic landscape, aside from their own planet, do any of y'all know of examples or planets in that series, or Green Lantern, Superman/Supergirl, Adam Strange or other DC media, where the gods of New Genesis in particular are actually worshipped as a religion?


r/AskScienceFiction 23h ago

[The Dark Knight] Did Batman have any specific contingencies for the two boats experiment Joker was pulling off? We see him mainly going after Joker and fighting him, but in the meantime was he solely counting on the innate goodness in people to not blow the other boat up?

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Question in title.


r/AskScienceFiction 6h ago

[Nacho Libre] was Ramses a fraud and why did he forfeit so fast?

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Ramses was the best wrestler in that region of Mexico. though the way he’s idolized he might be the best wrestler in all of Mexico. he seemed significantly bigger and stronger than most other wrestlers we see. though we do see him cheating by having his body covered in oil likely to give himself an advantage against other wrestlers. he also ignored the rules that the referee set at the beginning of the match like no closed fist punches.

but he seemed significantly better than Nacho, he was beating him up the whole match. granted nacho sucked and lost every fight he was in.

ramses had his foot on nachos head and nacho seemed he was about to lose, then out of nowhere he pushes Ramses away and gets back up, then nacho lands 3 good hits and throws him out of the ring, then Ramses runs away allowing himself to get pinned from behind.

if running away is a forfeit why’d he do it so fast. also did nacho even need to pin him at all? wouldn’t he have just won automatically. nacho seemed to overcome Ramses cheating and Ramses had no answer to it and quickly gave up, whats the deal there.


r/AskScienceFiction 20h ago

[MCU] How much of the nazi ideology of HYDRA survive to the modern day, if any at all?

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Outside of Zola and Whitehall, I’m pretty sure all the OG HYDRA guys are dead by the Winter Soldier. Did the overall organization actually stick to the nazi ideology as a whole and serve as the basis for neo Nazi groups or did they throw it away and use whatever they needed in the pursuit of power for each cell? Like the hydra cell in shield just telling everyone to cut it out with the Nazi shit and to just be the deep state and everyone just went along except like Whitehall and the weird alien cult dude?


r/AskScienceFiction 3h ago

[Halo] An Overshield gives a user extra layers of energy shielding, but how?

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r/AskScienceFiction 17m ago

[Cask of Amontillado] Do we know what Fortunado said to Montressor for him to react the way he did?

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Like what the title says, I'm asking this because I'm working on a character analysis paper about Montressor for a project and I just feel like montressor is just petty as fuck?? Unless I'm missing/misunderstanding a few things.

(NOTE: I wasn't able to fully read Cask of Amontillado but it was one of our lessons in school and usually textbook versions of stories are kinda buns so yeah)


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Avengers: Infinity War] Thanos himself is casually walking down a New York alleyway. I, a regular MCU pedestrian, just happen to be walking by on my way to work. Can't help but look up at him in awe because he's so big and purple... Does he do anything to me or let me live?

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I don't plan on interfering with whatever plan he has in mind. I just gave him a quick, awkward 'hello' and kept walking. It's hard not to stare though.

Bonus question: I know he's a bad dude, but could I ask for his autograph? Or would I be pushing my luck too far?


r/AskScienceFiction 17h ago

[ASOIF/GoT] What did people in Winterfell think of Theon Greyjoy before he turned on Robb?

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Was he generally liked? Did most people think he was an asshole?, or was it somewhere in the middle?. I know Jory is shown in the series to have liked him when he speaks to Jaime and in both versions Theon expresses regret that he and Ser Rodrik are now enemies which suggests Theon genuinely liked him at least.


r/AskScienceFiction 1h ago

[Witch Hat Atelier] Would spells work with our modern knowledge of science?

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So in witch hat atelier, the rules of magecraft are fixed as in the manga the artist draws every component of the spell so that the logic of the spell works like flight or fire. Over on the fandom, some of the fans got a bit too creative, making spells like microwave and black hole.

The thing is, a black hole, cancer and time travel are arbitrary concepts. A real black hole isn't merely highly concentrated matter. You'd need energy so you'd need more of the fire sigils. Where does that energy come from or are the spells easier to make than I thought?


r/AskScienceFiction 1h ago

[Star Trek] Bashir hates section 31 for their any means nessecarry tactics yet he is close friends with Garak who is also willing to torture and even commit genocide for his goals, is there a rational reason for why he sees them as different or is he just blinded by affection for his friend?

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r/AskScienceFiction 2h ago

[Hannibal/General Fiction] What non-murderous characters would Hannibal enjoy having as patients?

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The few times Hannibal shows interest in other people and has a genuine curiosity to find out how they tick it almost always has to do with driving to be murderers(Will Graham) or just be better at it(Dolarhyde).

Would any characters removed from that particular impulse catch his attention?

Sherlock Holmes(BBC or Elementary), Terence Fletcher or some of the asshole version of Reed Richards could maybe scratch his itch to probe interesting minds?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Terminator] making complex robots like the t 800 terminator is a horrible, costly idea skynet had

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in the terminator movies and video game it's made pretty clear the fear and devastation a single t 800 can cause. But we also see in terminator 2 the resistance soldiers basically holding their own using the plasma weapons.

Since (using cold sad logic) a human only requires basic food, water and shelter vs whatever advanced metals and energy and resources they use to make the terminator robots, wouldnt each loss of a terminator be way more devastating than a single loss of a human?


r/AskScienceFiction 55m ago

[Doctor Who] Turning the Doctor into the Human Torch Spoiler

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Ok so hear me out, in the past we have seen the Doctor use regeneration energy as a fiery offensive capability, notably during his 11->12 regeneration where he used lots of excess energy to vaporize a massive dalek ship right out of the sky.

Since the doctor is the timeless child meaning his regeneration energy is theoretically infinite, couldn’t he just run around blasting whatever universal threats he runs into (ex. daleks, cybermen, angels, etc) without having to worry about wasting lives?

(I know it’s not in his character to run around, blasting aliens like captain marvel, but it’s possible right?)

I have not been a major Doctor who fan for a couple years now (this idea just randomly popped in my head) so feel free to criticize what little knowledge I have retained over the years or bring up anything from the recent instalments that may debunk this theory

tldr: regeneration go BOOM, but timeless child mean infinite BOOM to kill many evil alien?


r/AskScienceFiction 18h ago

[WWE] Does Paul Bearer genuinely love Kane and Undertaker?

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r/AskScienceFiction 11h ago

[Jojo] in the anime, why Star Platinum change appearance trought the part? Can a user choose how its stand look like?

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I'm not talking only about muscles but also colors and some details like the boots

Here to understand what i mean : https://www.reddit.com/r/StardustCrusaders/comments/qqo9uz/star_platinums_design_sheets_in_anime_part_346/


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[MiB] Do recruits just disappear? Official records can be altered or erased but what do J's former police coworkers think happened to him?

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r/AskScienceFiction 11h ago

[DC/Marvel] What DC Characters would Hela hate the most? Who would she like the most?

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r/AskScienceFiction 18h ago

[Fire Force] what is Yona supposed to be?

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So i finished volume 29 of Fire Force but i still don't get what Yona is.

I get that Adolla is the world born from mankind's imagination, ideas and tought but still, what Yona is then? Is he a demon? A sort of doppelganger (since he come from Adolla)?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Re:Zero] why do worlds with magic and sorcery seem to progress technologically slower than the worlds without?

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Lugunica's main method of transportation are still dragon carriages. Rem said that it takes 2 days to travel from Lugunica's capital to Roswaal's Mansion with a dragon carriage. A Subaru Leone RX Turbo could probably travel the distance in less time than that. With the help of magic, I thought technology would progress faster than what humans can achieve.