History Main / AmbiguousSituation

* ''{{Homestuck}}''. The short version: A character who has the explicit ability to return from any death, except one that is either ''heroic'' or ''just'', dies and does not return. Hardly any readers think this is a heroic death, but there's ambiguous evidence suggesting that it's not a just death either, and that the real reason the character doesn't return is because of a cosmic accident cheating them out of their revival. [[hottip:Spoiler:The character in question is Vriska, the comic's BaseBreaker and reigning queen of AlternateCharacterInterpretation. She had committed many murders, was deliberately responsible for the creation of [[BigBad Bec Noir]], and was killed while leaving to fight Bec Noir--if Vriska had not been stopped, Bec Noir would have killed all her friends. However, Vriska's FreudianExcuse, her eleventh-hour remorse over prior misdeeds, and her desire to reform may or may not have redeemed her enough that her death no longer qualified as just. Further complicating the matter, the simultaneous ([[TimeyWimeyBall for a given value of "simultaneous"]]) destruction of a magic clock, whose pendulum was swinging between ''heroic'' and ''just'', may or may not have interfered with the universe making the right ruling on the nature of her death. Death sure is confusing!]] [[WordOfGod Word of Hussie]] [[http://www.formspring.me/mspadventures/q/205977743303664796 has outright stated]] that he intended for this to be ambiguous and divisive.

* ''{{Homestuck}}''. The short version: A character who has the explicit ability to return from any death, except one that is either ''heroic'' or ''just'', dies and does not return. Hardly any readers think this is a heroic death, but there's ambiguous evidence suggesting that it's not a just death either, and that the real reason the character doesn't return is because of a cosmic accident cheating them out of their revival. [[hottip:Spoiler:The character in question is Vriska, the comic's BaseBreaker and reigning queen of AlternateCharacterInterpretation.]] [[WordOfGod Word of Hussie]] [[http://www.formspring.me/mspadventures/q/205977743303664796 has outright stated]] that he intended for this to be ambiguous and divisive.

* SourCode ends with Colter going back into the titular program and completly averts the destruction of the train using everything he had learned from his previous attempts. Then we see Goodwyn recieving a text message he had sent from within the program, and acting surpised when she hears that the bombing had been prevented, so did Colter actually change the past, or is he now in an alternate timeline within the program?

* Kirk and Spock's relationship on StarTrek is left ambiguous. There is enough evidence on both sides to support them being in love or [[HeterosexualLifePartners like brothers]]. Sometimes the same "evidence" (for example the Vulcan word t'hy'la, which means friend/brother/lover) can b and is used by both sides, meaning that fans can debate until the end of time and not come to a consensus.

Compare MaybeMagicMaybeMundane for another kind of uncertainty. Contrast EpilepticTrees, which are conclusions that viewers draw when they don't limit themselves to information objectively present within the work.

* The sixth season of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' has an episode called "Normal Again", which follows the CuckooNest trope: Buffy is injected with a poison that make her hallucinate... Or is it the other way around? According to a psychiatriest, who may or may not be a real person, she is in fact getting better: She has been sick all along, and now she's finally waking up from years of catatonic schizophrenia. So, the whole series is either ThisIsReality or a mad AllJustADream with a dash of TheSchizophreniaConspiracy. In the end, Buffy choses her live in sunnydale over her life in the mental institution, but the ending leaves it ambiguous whether or not the world she settled for is the real one.
* ''LawAndOrderSVU'' loves to leave stuff unresolved for the audience to ponder. Usually it's on the simple level whether the guy is guilty or not (such as in the episode "Doubt"), but sometimes they take it to a much deeper level. The detectives just keep spawning new theories, and none of them either gets verified. For example, the episode "Slaves" features a husband, his wife, and their nanny/girlfriend/SexSlave Elena. They keep the relationship hidden...

* ''{{Inception}}'' ends with an EsotericHappyEnding where Cobb is so happy to see his children again that he forgets to check if his totem stops spinning or not. Will it stop spinning shortly after the scene? If so, the ending is EarnYourHappyEnding, with an implied HappilyEverAfter. Or will it not? If so, it's kinda a LotusEaterMachine.

* ''{{Inception}}'' ends with a [[EarnYourHappyEnding hard-earned happy ending]] where Cobb is so happy to see his children again that he forgets to check if his totem stops spinning or not. Will it stop spinning shortly after the scene? If so, the ending is HappilyEverAfter. If not, it's kinda a LotusEaterMachine.

* ''{{Inception}}'' ends with an EsotericHappyEnding where Cobb is so happy to see his children again that he forgets to check if his totem stops spinning or not. Will it stop spinning shortly after the scene? If so, the ending is HappilyEverAfter. Or will it not? If so, it's kinda a LotusEaterMachine.

* The 2008 movie ''Doubt'' invokes this. You're left never really knowing if the priest is actually guilty of the allegations.

* In ''TheMatrix'', Neo have superpowers because he is in a computer simulation. In the sequel, he is revealed to have superpowers in the real world as well. Does this make him a SuperHero kind of TheMessiah? Or does it simply man that the "reality" is actually a computer-generated DreamWithinADream?

* In ShadowOfTheColossus, the only clear part of the plot is that Wander is trying to revive Mono by unsealing Dormin, and Lord Emon wants to stop this. This leaves us with a whole boatload of varying interpretations - for a small sample, is Wander a VillainProtagonist or a [[TheWoobie Woobie]]? Is Dormin displaying DarkIsEvil or DarkIsNotEvil? Is Emon a HeroAntagonist or a KnightTemplar? Indeed, director Fumito Ueda is on the record as wanting each player to form their own story, and boy has the fandom taken him up on that.

In ShadowOfTheColossus, the only clear part of the plot is that Wander is trying to revive Mono by unsealing Dormin, and Lord Emon wants to stop this. This leaves us with a whole boatload of varying interpretations - for a small sample, is Wander a VillainProtagonist or a [[TheWoobie Woobie]]? Is Dormin displaying DarkIsEvil or DarkIsNotEvil? Is Emon a HeroAntagonist or a KnightTemplar? Indeed, director Fumito Ueda is on the record as wanting each player to form their own story, and boy has the fandom taken him up on that.

[[AC:Webcomics]]

A trope is being played. But ''what'' trope, that depends on a premise that we cannot know for sure: Either some vital piece of information is missing, or we are left with contradictiong information and no definite verification about what is correct and what is not. Take for example the page quote above, quoted from a song about an unidentified character. This song could be one of several different tropes, depending on who ''he'' is.

When ''played straight'', the characters probably (but not necessarily) know what they are talking about, but they're not giving the audience all the information needed to know the situation for sure. (Again with the song, teh singer's character surely know who he's talking about, but he sticks to calling him "he" plus various honorifics, never telling th eaudience what kind of character he's really talking about.)

The art of playing mutually exclusive tropes at the same time, by making the situation itself ambiguous so the viewers/readers can't know for sure what's going on. While this trope can come into play unintentionally, for example as a side effect of FauxSymbolism, it's normally intentionally played by the authors. This can be done to make the story moe interesting in general, as a way of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, or simply to appeal to several audiences at the same time - each of them likely to interpret the situation in whatever way they are most familiar with.

* {{Inception}} ends with an EsotericHappyEnding where Cobb is so happy to see his children again that he forgets to check if his totem stops spinning or not. Will it stop spinning shortly after the scene? If so, the ending is HappilyEverAfter. Or will it not? If so, it's kinda a LotusEaterMachine.

* In TheMatrix, Neo have superpowers because he is in a computer simulation. In the sequel, he is revealed to have superpowers in the real world as well. Does this make him a SuperHero kind of TheMessiah? Or does it simply man that the "reality" is actually a computer-generated DreamWithinADream?
* * The 2008 movie ''doubt'' invokes this. You're left never really knowing if the priest is actually guilty of the allegations.

* Is the main relationship in the novel TheStoryOfO simply CasualKink and PropertyOfLove, or is it DestructiveRomance presented as AbusivelySexy? The novel exists in two versions. These versions have very different endings, casting the rest of the story in very different light. In the most popular version (which most adaptations are built on), the first option might be the most likely. In the alternative version, the second option is far more likely. [[spoiler: That version of the novel ends with the protagonist and her boyfriend agreeing that she should commit suicide... and she does.]]

* The sixth season of BuffyTheVampireSlayer has an episode called "Normal Again", which follows the CuckooNest trope: Buffy is injected with a poison that make her hallucinate... Or is it the other way around? According to a psychiatriest, who may or may not be a real person, she is in fact getting better: She has been sick all along, and now she's finally waking up from years of catatonic schizophrenia. So, the whole series is either ThisIsReality or a mad AllJustADream with a dash of TheSchizophreniaConspiracy. In the end, Buffy choses her live in sunnydale over her life in the mental institution, but the ending leaves it ambiguous whether or not the world she settled for is the real one.
* LawAndOrderSVU loves to leave stuff unresolved for the audience to ponder. Usually it's on the simple level whether the guy is guilty or not (such as in the episode "Doubt"), but sometimes they take it to a much deeper level. The detectives just keep spawning new theories, and none of them either gets verified. For example, the episode "Slaves" features a husband, his wife, and their nanny/girlfriend/SexSlave Elena. They keep the relationship hidden...

* {{Blutengel}}'s song Solitary Angel (see page quote) is about a saviour who is "not from heaven sent" - which means it could be a secular force or a spirutal force other then the god of christianity. This character could be a powerful human, since "angel" is a common metaphor for generic benevolence. The character could also be a powerful vampire, since most of the songs from the same band are about vampires and they routinely use "angel" as a euphemism for "vampire" or "lover". And of course, it could also be referring to an angel in the literal religious sense - either one that simply works on it's own accord, or a fallen one. So, what trope or tropes is this?

* Invoked in Miley Cyrus' song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7_vtsrk-J8 Who Owns My Heart]]: the protagonist is having a strong emotional reaction. But she doesn't know if it's caused by ThePowerOfLove or by CrowningMusicOfAwesome.

* The sixth season of BuffyTheVampireSlayer has an episode called "Normal Again", in which Buffy is injected with a poison that make her hallucinate... Or is it the other way around? According to a psychiatriest, who may or may not be a real person, she is in fact getting better: She has been sick all along, and now she's finally waking up from years of catatonic schizophrenia. So, the whole series is either ThisIsReality or a mad AllJustADream with a dash of TheSchizophreniaConspiracy. In the end, Buffy choses her live in sunnydale over her life in the mental institution, but the ending leaves it ambiguous whether or not the world she settled for is the real one.

The art of playing mutually exclusive tropes at the same time, by making the situation itself ambiguous so the viewers/readers can't know for sure what's going on. While this trope can come into play unintentionally, for example as a side effect of FauxSymbolism, i's normally intentionally played by the authors. This can be done to make the story moe interesting in general, as a way of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, or simply to appeal to several audiences at the same time - each of them likely to interpret the situation in whatever way they are most familiar with.