History Main / MindScrewdriver

* One of the biggest, EpilepticTrees spawning questions in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' was the question of the games' timeline--how did they all fit into each other? Which games preceded others, and which were immediate sequels? Fans spent ''decades'' trying to figure it all out, until, in the New Tens, Nintendo published ''Hyrule Historia,'' a book all about the games and their universe. This book revealed a key piece of information--canonically, the games follow a set path until ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime.'' At the end of that game, the timeline splits into ''three'' distinct paths: the "Adult" Timeline, wherein Link defeats Ganondorf as an adult and returns to the past (which leads to the events of ''Wind Waker'' and its direct sequels); the "Child" Timeline, which has Link tell Zelda about Ganondorf's plots before he can even enact them (which created the events of ''Majora's Mask'' and ''Twilight Princess''); and, most depressing of all, the "Fallen" Timeline, where Link ''dies'' fighting Ganondorf and forces the Sages to bind the wizard at full power (which corrupts the Sacred Realm and produces the world of ''A Link to the Past'' and even the ''original'' Zelda). ''Hyrule Historia'' is [[WordOfGod officially canon]], and while websites (including this one!) have spread the information beyond it, the book remains the Screwdriver that solves the puzzle that plagued players for so long. This however didn't stop the MindScrew from returning in the very next mainline game to release after ''Hyrule Historia'': ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' which had oddities and mutually exclusive events (the Rito and the Zora both exist, despite the Rito only existing in ''Wind Waker'' because the Zora were forced to evolve) that once more cast confusion on how time in Hyrule was flowing, WordOfGod stating that it's a merging point and all three timelines eventually lead to ''Breath of the Wild'' but that just [[VoodooShark raises more questions]].

[[folder:Other]]
* If you have some mental condition or something else that makes you suffer delusions or just makes you very quirky, finding out you have that condition might really help you understand why you’re so different.
[[/folder]]

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

* ''[[VideoGame/ReturnToMonkeyIsland]]'' plays it straight in the opening but plays with later in the tale.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': ''Recreation'' and ''Revelation'' serve to explain a large amount of the wackier elements of previous seasons, most noticeably the "time travel" incident in Season 3 and any point in the series where a character died and got back up again.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' managed to clear up the plot of ''[=MGS2=]'', at the price of creating a truly spectacular ContinuityLockout and DoingInTheWizard. And if that weren't enough, the free "MGS Database" app released to promote Metal Gear Solid 4 further clarifies things.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' was essentially the first half of the series' screwdriving process. Specific example: although it's very easy to miss, the whole subplot with The Sorrow serves to very neatly retroactively explain why Ocelot could be possessed by Liquid in the second game: [[spoiler:[[InTheBlood because Ocelot's father was a medium]]]].
** Speaking of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', the game was going to contain a Mind Screwdriver of its own in the form of Psycho Mantis' mask as an unlockable. It was going to let you hear the thoughts of other characters during cutscenes/codec calls, and those thoughts were supposedly going to give you a major clue to what was really going on in the game's plot. But alas, [[ChristmasRushed the game was rushed for the holidays]], so it didn't get implemented.

* ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' pretty much exists entirely to clear up the MindScrew at the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. ([[JustHereForGodzilla And/or action scenes.]]) Or at least assure the world that they hadn't intended the ending to be a KillEmAll. It does leave unanswered questions of its own.

* The story that Music/PeterGabriel wrote for the liner notes of the Music/{{Genesis}} ConceptAlbum ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway''. Though it actually doesn't explain things very much. For that, see [[http://www.bloovis.com/music/lamb.html this site]]. And prepare to walk away ''still'' [[GainaxEnding not sure]]...

* The final season of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was supposed to be this. It both succeeded and/or failed spectacularly. Fans were divided. It didn't help that some subplots from the previous season had been cut, taking away the chance for the past events to be as fleshed out as they were originally intended. The season six DVDs contain an epilogue which explains a whole lot of the remaining mysteries.

* ''FanFic/ThousandShinji'' delivers a LampshadeHanging[=/=]TakeThat to the MindScrew of the original ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': "For those of you prepared to rant at me, there is one more chapter to this story, so unlike Gainax, you will actually get an [[YouMakeMeSic explaination]] as part of the denouement." It then proceeds to do just that, having [[spoiler:the canon!40k gods]] explain what looked like a GainaxEnding.

* The ''Franchise/EvilliousChronicles'' is much more easy to understand with the novels, which carry the bulk of the story that is often confusingly condensed into the songs (which are released first). Still, while fans are waiting on that for their clarification, Music/{{mothy}} often releases his albums with exposition booklets that serve as this.

* ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' pretty much exists entirely to clear up the MindScrew at the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. ([[JustHereForGodzilla And action scenes.]]) Or at least assure the world that they hadn't intended the ending to be a KillEmAll. It does leave unanswered questions of its own.

* ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' pretty much exists entirely to clear up the MindScrew at the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Or at least assure the world that they hadn't intended the ending to be a KillEmAll.

* ''VideoGame/BalanWonderworld'' has no coherent narrative, no dialogue in cutscenes except at the very beginning and very end, and the characters are all SpeakingSimlish. It has a tie-in novel that explains ''everything''.

* The DVD commentary for ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' clears some things up.
* The 13 episode ''Anime/{{Kyousogiga}}'' anime series is this to its [[MindScrew infamous Episode 0.]]
* ''Anime/BoogiepopPhantom'' makes a lot more sense if you've read the "Boogiepop and Others" and "Boogiepop At Dawn" light-novels beforehand (neither of which were localized when the anime was.)

* ''Film/SouthlandTales'' has a tie-in graphic novel which explains a lot of background for the film's convoluted plot. However, for many viewers, it suffers from being so ambitious that they're not willing to decipher it. While the books (the movie's only part 4-6; 1-3 are a graphic novel) do fill in lots of backstory, online director interviews and other breakdowns are quite helpful in clarifying the deep, yet admittedly confusing, film.

* Several small scenes during the credits of ''Film/WildThings'' piece together the otherwise incomprehensible series of twists and turns the story takes.

* ''Literature/PicnicAtHangingRock'' had an 18th chapter which explained just what happened to the missing girls. It was excised by the publisher. It was later released as ''The Secret of Hanging Rock'' decades later[[note]]What happened, basically, is the missing girls went through a "hole in space"[[/note]].

* Bruce Kalish had to explain a good deal of ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'''s plotholes in interviews after the fact. Also, the official website explained that A-Squad had been brainwashed (as opposed to the improbable apparent scenario in-show: the whole team deciding to [[FaceHeelTurn go bad]]).

* The GrandFinale of ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' impressively managed to be one of these for not just ''Ashes'' but its parent series ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''.

* The Franchise/EvilliousChronicles is much more easy to understand with the novels, which carry the bulk of the story that is often confusingly condensed into the songs (which are released first). Still, while fans are waiting on that for their clarification, Music/{{mothy}} often releases his albums with exposition booklets that serve as this.
* The concept of ''Heartland'' by Music/OwenPallett is not explicitly explained in the lyrics and there is no booklet, so the only reason anyone knows what it's about is that [[WordOfGod Pallet has explained it]] in interviews. It's about a "young, ultra violent" 14th Century farmer named Lewis who lives in a land called Spectrum. He knows that he and his world are creations of Pallett, but it's unclear whether he's always known or if he figured it out at some point. It's impossible to fully understand any of the songs unless you're Pallett (and maybe not even then), but certain things can be gleaned. For example, in the penultimate song "Tryst with Mephistopheles", [[spoiler:Lewis kills Pallett]].

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': The Secret Reports. Of course, getting them all unlocks TheStinger, which is more confusing than anything in the actual plot.
** Similarly, the Ansem Reports in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' game, by the same people.
*** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' is also a Mind Screwdriver, filling most of the holes left by its predecessors... of course, only to set up plot elements that evolve into an even ''bigger'' MindScrew in the ''next'' entry of the series, ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance''.
* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' managed to clear up the plot of ''[=MGS2=]'', at the price of creating a truly spectacular ContinuityLockout and DoingInTheWizard. And if that weren't enough, the free "MGS Database" app released to promote Metal Gear Solid 4 further clarifies things.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' was essentially the first half of the series' screwdriving process. Specific example: although it's very easy to miss, the whole subplot with The Sorrow serves to very neatly retroactively explain why Ocelot could be possessed by Liquid in the second game: [[spoiler:[[InTheBlood because Ocelot's father was a medium]]]].
** Speaking of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', the game was going to contain a Mind Screwdriver of its own in the form of Psycho Mantis' mask as an unlockable. It was going to let you hear the thoughts of other characters during cutscenes/codec calls, and those thoughts were supposedly going to give you a major clue to what was really going on in the game's plot. But alas, [[ChristmasRushed the game was rushed for the holidays]], so it didn't get implemented.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'' is a retelling of several games in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series which attempts to fill in the plot holes the previous games left behind. (''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' featured a video, on a bonus disc, which tried to do the same; "The Wesker Report" was subsequently made obsolete when the next games retconned the story in a different way.)
** And ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' had a nice Author's Saving Throw, though it might be a VoodooShark, explaining what was up with how Wesker got better, one of the main parts that was kept. [[spoiler: Original Version. Wesker got a secret formula that turns people into sentient uber-not-zombies. Second explanation, turns out Wesker was part of an old Umbrella project, it was leaked to him, and the formula only works for him thanks to injections he takes to keep from going OneWingedAngel.]]
* The game version of ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' was made to further flesh out the characters in the original story as well as answer the question as to why AM was doing what it was.
* ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2'' explains what exactly the MindScrew that was the GainaxEnding of ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' meant (making ''perfect sense'', by the way).
* The Once Upon A Time chapter that shows up at the end of ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'' is one of these, if you get the good ending.
* Trilby's Notes, of the VideoGame/ChzoMythos, ended with the title character being saved by an unknown man in red. The identity of this man was not revealed until the ending of the next game, and it was itself a mind screw. It also explains how the man was able to revive Trilby.
** The Special Edition versions of the games (especially 6 Days) provide a few other Screwdrivers as well, most notably [[spoiler:why Chzo was interested in the FailureIsTheOnlyOption {{plan}} at all.]] The commentary and extended ending of 6 Days also explicitly explain [[spoiler:the Tall Man's behavior in Trilby's Notes and 6 Days.]]

* Hand in ''VideoGame/Killer7'' was ''supposed'' to be this, but because it was made before the game was finished, some of the material in it wasn't used in the game. So, while reading Hand in [=Killer7=] makes sense of some of the plot, it makes the rest of it [[MindScrew even more mind screwy]].
** Devil's Due Publishing started releasing a comic adaptation as well that would attempt to make the plot more coherent, but only four of the issues were released before the whole thing was canceled, leaving the explanation half-finished.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
** The [[AuthorsSavingThrow Extended Cut]] of the game's infamous endings clarifies (and possibly outright {{retcon}}s) the original, [[GainaxEnding confusing]] {{Esoteric Happy Ending}}s that had the fandom up in arms with rage.
** The ''Leviathan DLC'' [[spoiler: gives more clarity on the Catalyst's and Reapers origins.]]

*** The mysterious photo that Jacket releases to the wind in the game's ending. [[spoiler: It's a picture of him and Beard in Hawaii during the war, before his life went wrong. Beard gave it to him as a keepsake after saving his life, on the condition that he send him a copy once they get home. Unfortunately, he died before Jacket could do it.]]
* At the end of ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', [=LeChuck=] can explain the ending of ''[[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge Monkey Island 2]]'', if prompted. It takes some time.
* The VideoGame/{{Myst}} series has a lot of mysteries (of course), though the side-novels (canon, and written by the creators) explain massive chunks of backstory. Why was Gehn trapped in Riven? How did Myst Island come to be? What is Atrus's backstory? How was the Dn'i destroyed? The books explain all of this.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Halsey's Journal in the ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' Limited and Legendary Editions, as well as the various ONI Reports released before the 10th Anniversary UpdatedRerelease of the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved original game]], serve the purpose of placing the events of ''Reach'' within the previously established timeline of the Fall of Reach (specifically, the one given in the original ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach''). The success of this is questionable due to the sheer number of retcons and the severity of those retcons, including what was previously a battle that lasted for less than a few days now taking the better part of a few months.
* The final ending of ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', Ending 20 of Afterbirth+, has [[spoiler:Isaac in his toy chest, his life flashing before him. You hear his mom and dad arguing, and see a shot of Isaac watching his mother cry in front of her TV. As Isaac begins to turn blue from lack of oxygen, we see Isaac holding a family photo with his dad's face burned away, with other photos that have received the same treatment and (perhaps most heart-wrenching of all) a series of Isaac's drawings, showing his descent into self-loathing and suicidal insanity (BAD BAD BAD I'M THE DEVIL). Finally, we see a shot of Isaac's skeleton within the chest as his mother opens it, and the missing poster from Ending 15 flies away, symbolizing Isaac's demise. The final shot of the ending is Isaac walking through the afterlife from Ending 17, while a somber remix of the title theme plays]]. To clarify the entire thing, [[spoiler:the entire game has been Isaac's DyingDream as he suffocated to death in the toy chest that he locked himself into]]. [[DownerEnding It's a depressing note to end things on]], but given the nature of the game in general, it's all too appropriate.
* One of the biggest, EpilepticTrees spawning questions in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' was the question of the games' timeline--how did they all fit into each other? Which games preceded others, and which were immediate sequels? Fans spent ''decades'' trying to figure it all out, until, in the New Tens, Nintendo published ''Hyrule Historia,'' a book all about the games and their universe. This book revealed a key piece of information--canonically, the games follow a set path until ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime.'' At the end of that game, the timeline splits into ''three'' distinct paths: the "Adult" Timeline, wherein Link defeats Ganondorf as an adult and returns to the past (which leads to the events of ''Wind Waker'' and its direct sequels); the "Child" Timeline, which has Link tell Zelda about Ganondorf's plots before he can even enact them (which created the events of ''Majora's Mask'' and ''Twilight Princess''); and, most depressing of all, the "Fallen" Timeline, where Link ''dies'' fighting Ganondorf and forces the Sages to bind the wizard at full power (which corrupts the Sacred Realm and produces the world of ''A Link to the Past'' and even the ''original'' Zelda). ''Hyrule Historia'' is [[WordOfGod officially canon]], and while websites (including this one!) have spread the information beyond it, the book remains the Screwdriver that solves the puzzle that plagued players for so long. This however didn't stop the MindScrew from returning in the very next mainline game to release after ''Hyrule Historia'': ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' which had oddities and mutually exclusive events (the Rito and the Zora both exist, despite the Rito only existing in ''Wind Waker'' because the Zora were forced to evolve) that once more cast confusion on how time in Hyrule was flowing, WordOfGod stating that it's a merging point and all three timelines eventually lead to ''Breath of the Wild'' but that just [[VoodooShark raises more questions.]]

* The "True Ending" of ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'' clears up just about every mystery in the game. And some things that weren't, but were probably misinterpreted.

* In ''VisualNovel/AreaX'', Ferim's route is the last one you can do for this reason. Though Rexus and Livan's routes explain enough of the overall plot to give a general gist of what's going, both are heavily biased towards Rexus/Livan, respectively, and have to withhold spoilers for the other route, and so explain significant events only from the respective LoveInterest's POV. Ferim's route, on the other hand, shows the entire story, pieced together, and explains exactly why [[spoiler:the timelines are falling apart]].

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': ''Recreation'' and ''Revelation'' serve to explain a large amount of the wackier elements of previous seasons, most noticeably the "time travel" incident in Season 3 and any point in the series where a character died and got back up again.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* Team Titans makes no sense towards the end, as it is vaguely revealed that the team and its creation was all lies created by renegade Titan Hawk/Monarch. The "true purpose" of the team was supposed to be revealed in Zero Hour, but little was revealed and outside of Terra II and Mirage (and the Team Titans who were existing Titan characters hanging around), the entire team was wiped out of existence with zero build-up or follow-up when their timeline got nuked.
** Terra II and her origin is another one, along with the Amanda Connor's Terra mini-series that focused on the third Terra, as well as Brad Meltzer's aborted storyline involving Deathstroke and Terra's half-brother Geo-Force in Justice League of America. Interviews with the writers had to sort things out as far as explaining away the entire thing, due to the comics offering no answers: Terra II was a soldier from a non-humanoid subterranian kingdom who took Terra's form under the (unknowing) notion that the surface world would accept her as an emissary if she looked like a fallen "hero" (the kingdom did not know Terra was a traitor). Time Trapper got a hold of her and mindwiped her, then planted her in a future timeline that Monarch was using to raise the Team Titans as his private evil army. Deathstroke later stole the original Terra's body so he could duplicate the process of how Terra got her powers. Deathstroke used his knowledge to force his half-sister's powers onto Geo-Force, knowing he would not be able to control them. To further torment Brion, Slade also implied that the powers would eventually drive him insane "like his sister", as Slade then claimed Terra only went evil because of her powers affecting her mind and the mind control serum he used on Batgirl Cassandra Caine not working well together and causing irreversible madness. Slade wanted Geo-Force to betray the Justice League for him but Geo-Force stopped Slade and (off-panel) it was revealed that everything Slade said to Brion about Terra was lies designed to terrorize Brion and further manipulate him into serving Slade lest he go insane from his newfound powers. And Terra III? After Terra II died at the hand of Black Adam in "52", the princess of the undergound kingdom underwent a similar process to make her human though with a completely different appearance.

* Bruce Kalish had to explain a good deal of ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'''s plotholes in interviews after the fact. Also, the official website explained that A-Squad had been brainwashed (as opposed to the improbable apparent scenario in-show: the whole team deciding to [[FaceHeelTurn go bad]].)
* The final season of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was supposed to be this. It both succeeded and/or failed spectacularly. Fans were divided. It didn't help that some subplots from the previous season had been cut, taking away the chance for the past events to be as fleshed out as they were originally intended. The season six DVD's contains an epilogue which explains a whole lot of the remaining mysteries.

* ''Hand in VideoGame/Killer7'' was ''supposed'' to be this, but because it was made before the game was finished, some of the material in it wasn't used in the game. So, while reading Hand in [=Killer7=] makes sense of some of the plot, it makes the rest of it [[MindScrew even more mind screwy]].

* One of the biggest, EpilepticTrees spawning questions in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' was the question of the games' timeline--how did they all fit into each other? Which games preceded others, and which were immediate sequels? Fans spent ''decades'' trying to figure it all out, until, in the New Tens, Nintendo published ''Hyrule Historia,'' a book all about the games and their universe. This book revealed a key piece of information--canonically, the games follow a set path until ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime.'' At the end of that game, the timeline splits into ''three'' distinct paths: the "Adult" Timeline, wherein Link defeats Ganondorf as an adult and returns to the past (which leads to the events of ''Wind Waker'' and its direct sequels); the "Child" Timeline, which has Link tell Zelda about Ganondorf's plots before he can even enact them (which created the events of ''Majora's Mask'' and ''Twilight Princess''); and, most depressing of all, the "Fallen" Timeline, where Link ''dies'' fighting Ganondorf and forces the Sages to bind the wizard at full power (which corrupts the Sacred Realm and produces the world of ''A Link to the Past'' and even the ''original'' Zelda). ''Hyrule Historia'' is [[WordOfGod officially canon]], and while websites (including this one!) have spread the information beyond it, the book remains the Screwdriver that solves the puzzle that plagued players for so long. This however didn't stop the MindScrew from returning in the very next mainline game to release after ''Hyrule Historia'': ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' which had oddities and mutually exclusive events (the Rito and the Zora both exist, despite the Rito only existing in ''Wind Waker'' because the Zora were forced to evolve) that once more cast confusion on how time in Hyrule was flowing, WordOfGod stating that it's a merging point and all three timelines eventually lead to ''Breath of the Wild'' but that just [[VoodooShark raises more question.]].

* ''Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses'' takes place in its own fictional universe, with the reviewers playing avatars of themselves, ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' and ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment''. At the end of the fourth year anniversary, reveals a void called the PlotHole which in it removed all logical continuity. So literally any unrealistic thing, or paradox can happen and it would make perfect sense in their universe. (Despite all that happened long before the plot hole appeared, so literally asking questions about the logic in that universe is pointless now. Because there is none)

** Before the Plot Hole was created, Linkara made one for a point in the third anniversary event. A major reveal in that event was that magical is incredibly draining and potentially lethal, unless the Gauntlet was used to cast it. In the commentary, Linkara realizes that this creates massive continuity issues with his own show (where he routinely uses a gun that's described as magic), so he says that he's always been safe because [[{{handwave}} his hat protects him]].

* One of the biggest, EpilepticTrees spawning questions in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' was the question of the games' timeline--how did they all fit into each other? Which games preceded others, and which were immediate sequels? Fans spent ''decades'' trying to figure it all out, until, in the New Tens, Nintendo published ''Hyrule Historia,'' a book all about the games and their universe. This book revealed a key piece of information--canonically, the games follow a set path until ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime.'' At the end of that game, the timeline splits into ''three'' distinct paths: the "Adult" Timeline, wherein Link defeats Ganondorf as an adult and returns to the past (which leads to the events of ''Wind Waker'' and its direct sequels); the "Child" Timeline, which has Link tell Zelda about Ganondorf's plots before he can even enact them (which created the events of ''Majora's Mask'' and ''Twilight Princess''); and, most depressing of all, the "Fallen" Timeline, where Link ''dies'' fighting Ganondorf and forces the Sages to bind the wizard at full power (which corrupts the Sacred Realm and produces the world of ''A Link to the Past'' and even the ''original'' Zelda). ''Hyrule Historia'' is [[WordOfGod officially canon]], and while websites (including this one!) have spread the information beyond it, the book remains the Screwdriver that solves the puzzle that plagued players for so long. This however didn't stop the MindScrew from returning in the very next mainline game to release after ''Hyrule Historia'': ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' which had oddities and mutually exclusive events (the Rito and the Zora both exist, despite the Rito only existing in ''Wind Waker'' because the Zora were forced to evolve) that once more cast confusion on how time in Hyrule was flowing.

* One of the biggest, EpilepticTrees spawning questions in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' was the question of the games' timeline--how did they all fit into each other? Which games preceded others, and which were immediate sequels? Fans spent ''decades'' trying to figure it all out, until, in the New Tens, Nintendo published ''Hyrule Historia,'' a book all about the games and their universe. This book revealed a key piece of information--canonically, the games follow a set path until ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime.'' At the end of that game, the timeline splits into ''three'' distinct paths: the "Adult" Timeline, wherein Link defeats Ganondorf as an adult and returns to the past (which leads to the events of ''Wind Waker'' and its direct sequels); the "Child" Timeline, which has Link tell Zelda about Ganondorf's plots before he can even enact them (which created the events of ''Majora's Mask'' and ''Twilight Princess''); and, most depressing of all, the "Fallen" Timeline, where Link ''dies'' fighting Ganondorf and forces the Sages to bind the wizard at full power (which corrupts the Sacred Realm and produces the world of ''A Link to the Past'' and even the ''original'' Zelda). ''Hyrule Historia'' is [[WordOfGod officially canon]], and while websites (including this one!) have spread the information beyond it, the book remains the Screwdriver that solves the puzzle that plagued players for so long.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' managed to clear up the plot of ''[=MGS2=]'', at the price of creating a truly spectacular ContinuityLockout and DoingInTheWizard. And if that weren't enough, the free "MGS Database" app released to promote Metal Gear Solid 4 further clarifies things.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'' is a retelling of several games in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series which attempts to fill in the plot holes the previous games left behind. (''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' featured a video, on a bonus disc, which tried to do the same; "The Wesker Report" was subsequently made obsolete when the next games retconned the story in a different way.)

* The [[AuthorsSavingThrow Extended Cut]] of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''s infamous endings clarifies (and possibly outright {{retcon}}s) the original, [[GainaxEnding confusing]] {{Esoteric Happy Ending}}s that had the fandom up in arms with rage.
** The Leviathan DLC [[spoiler: gives more clarity on the Catalyst's and Reapers origins.]]

* The "True Ending" of ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' clears up a lot of mysteries (though it has its own [[TheStinger stinger]]), but on top of that, [[http://www.aksysgames.com/999/answers there's an interview with the director of the game]] [[AllThereInTheManual that offers additional information and clarifies some of the stranger points.]]

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5389450/3/The_Finale_of_the_Ultimate_Meta_Mega_Crossover The Finale of the Ultimate Meta Mega Crossover]]'' by Creator/EliezerYudkowsky manages to answer the philosophical questions posed by the ending of ''Literature/PermutationCity'' by Creator/GregEgan better than [[http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/PERMUTATION/FAQ/FAQ.html the author himself could]].

A Mind Screwdriver is a side-story, sequel, or piece of bonus/AllThereInTheManual material that exists at least partially for the purpose of clearing up a MindScrew and/or GainaxEnding. When done well (and presented in such a way that viewers can easily find it), a Mind Screwdriver can make an already interesting plot that much more so, and even add a new layer of depth to the story. When done poorly, it can feel like a rather lame attempt to clear things up that the creators really should have just explained the first time around, or [[FanDislikedExplanation a total cop-out]] for those who ''did'' enjoy the nonsensical nature of the original scenario. Rarely, a Mind Screwdriver can actually become a Mind Screw in its own right, answering some questions while raising countless others of its own: when that happens, you might have a case of VoodooShark.

A Mind Screwdriver is a side-story, sequel, or piece of bonus/AllThereInTheManual material that exists at least partially for the purpose of clearing up a MindScrew and/or GainaxEnding. When done well (and presented in such a way that viewers can easily find it), a Mind Screwdriver can make an already interesting plot that much more so, and even add a new layer of depth to the story. When done poorly, it can feel like a rather lame cop-out by writers who didn't care enough to solve the problems (continuity-related or otherwise) that their additional information created.