Arc Number: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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This is the number that pops up over and over again in a given work, often in seemingly unrelated contexts. Sometimes the number really is significant; sometimes, it's just an in-joke or [[Stock Shout-Outs]]. That is, it's the numeric equivalent of [[Arc Words]].
Compare [[Numerological Motif]], which is about the way numbers are used across multiple works. A good indication that a number is an
{{examples}}
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* "21" in the appropriately named [[Eyeshield 21]].
** It shows up more often than any number. It was Sena's number [[Foreshadowing|for the Deimon entrance exam.]] Sena's birth date is December 21. It was Hiruma's winning number from blackjack, earning them enough money to return home from America. Even {{spoiler|Yamato}}'s prediction of 42-0 for the {{spoiler|Deimon-Teikoku game}} could be interpreted as 2 * 21 = 42. When {{spoiler|Hiruma and Agon}} combined for the Dragon Fly, their jersey numbers are 1 and 2 respectively. Also {{spoiler|Yamato before the Japan-America game}} confronts {{spoiler|Mr Don}} at a casino and bets on red. The ball lands on Red 21.
* ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula]]'': The number 11 plays a part in the ''Double-One'' arc. The story takes place during the 11th CF Grand Prix, Asurada has been upgraded into the Super Asurada AKF-11, and it is also the title for 2 consecutive championship wins in CF. In addition, the first episode of the OVA came out in November
* ''[[Betterman]]'' has 26 as an arc number.
* ''[[Speed Racer]]'' has 5's in many places; in one episode, Speed applied for some big testing program and was ''by total coincidence'' assigned the applicant number 555. (This is unsurprising, considering the [[Punny Name]] given the series in Japanese.)
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* in Lucid, (a 2005 Canadian film,) the number 209 comes up frequently; clocks display 2:09, the group therapy group is group 209, etc. {{spoiler|This is because, except for the beginning, it was All Just A Dream. The main character is dreaming, staring at a digital clock, and it is 2:09 in the morning.}}
* In ''[[Inception]]'', Cobb forces Fisher to tell him the first six numbers that come into his mind, claiming that his father might have given him the code to his safe without Fisher knowing it was a code. Held at gunpoint, Fisher comes up with 528491. Since it is all a dream in which all the details are filled in by the dreamers, this number becomes the code for all further locks they later encounter in the dreams. Even the rooms in the Hotel have the numbers 528 and 491, even though one is supposed to be the one right below the other.
* In the [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film ''[[The 39 Steps]]'', the numbers 3 and 5 appear quite frequently. A couple examples include the numbers 5 and 10 (5 x 2) appearing in the corners of the film, the title being "39" (3 and 3 x 9, or 3 x 13), and the scenes being roughly 3
* 47 in ''[[Inland Empire]]''.
* The numbers 180 and 23 crop up a lot in the ''[[Final Destination]]'' series, usually when a character is about to be killed.
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* Humorist Dave Barry seems to have a thing for the number 2038. This likely has to do with the "Chuckletrousers Incident" (partially recounted in ''Dave Barry In Cyberspace''), in which Dave Barry accidentally sent a profanity-filled message to his Usenet fan group instead of by e-mail to Michael Bywater, whom he was replying to. Michael Bywater subsequently claimed to have received 2,038 forwarded copies of the message. It may or may not also have something to do with the [[wikipedia:Year 2038 problem|2038 Problem]].
* The number 16, in the ''[[Mistborn]]'' trilogy. (Especially in ''Hero of Ages''.)
** Which is also a meta-
* Katherine Neville novels:
** ''The Eight'' has an
** ''The Fire'' has 64, for the number of squares in a chessboard.
* ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' has 86 (for ideals), 64 (for realism) and 22 (for shortcoming and goals.) [[Captain Obvious|22, of course, being the difference between 86 and 64.]]
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* 10 is important in ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'', mostly related to the Ten Heralds we meet at the beginning of the first book.
** More like they are just another example of it. There are ten orders of Knights Radiant, ten forms of surgebinding, ten levels of voidbinding, the ten Fools, ten original Silver Kingdoms, ten major gemstones, ten trait combinations - there are a lot of these.
** A big problem facing the hardcore fans is that this book series takes place in the same universe as the Mistborn example above. At least one piece of evidence (namely, the number of Shards) indicates the number sixteen is the
* In ''[[A Void]]'' by Perec, a book written without the letter 'e', the two numbers are 26 and (always referring to the fifth out of all the 26 things being missing) the other is 25. (Meta: referring to the missing 'e'. Which really only works in the original French because there's no 'e' in 'vingt' (twenty in French).)
* The number 7 in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', among others:
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* [[J.J. Abrams]] and his writers apparently tried their hardest to get the number 47 to appear in ''every single episode of'' ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]''.
* Abrams does the same thing with ''{{Fringe.
* ''[[Lost]]'' has six
* On that note, ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has the number 9. We still don't know why it's relevant, but it was on a bus that Isaac painted. It was also Maury's apartment number in Volume 2.
* The number 12 on the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]'' appears quite often. The number 13 also appears with nearly as much frequency. Usually the thirteenth member of a group is somewhat different than their twelve predecessors and usually [[Thirteen Is Unlucky|meets an unfortunate end]]. There's also 33, which is central to the mythology of the first episode then never turns up again in any significant way. Why? [[Shrug of God|Because even Ron Moore doesn't give a shit]], [http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Numerology#33 that's why].
* ''[[The X-Files]]'' frequently uses arc numbers with the most common being 1013 (series creator Chris Carter's birthday and the name of his production company) and 1121 (Carter's wife's birthday). Use as times (10:13) and dates (November
* During the fourth season of ''[[CSI: NY]]'', the number 333 popped up in a lot of episodes (Mac would be called at 3.33am, or a murder on the [[New York Subway|3 train at 33rd St station]]).
* Barely an episode of the third season of ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' goes by without 6-6-2-0 showing up. {{spoiler|It turns out to be the collar number Gene was wearing when he was killed.}}
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== Music ==
* [["Weird Al" Yankovic|Weird Al Yankovic]] has the number 27 appear a number of times in various songs, album covers, specials etc.
* The number 27 is pretty much an
** Amy Winehouse too.
* In the [[Gorillaz]]-verse, the number 23 seems to come up an awful lot, as noted in the "autobiography" ''Demon Days''.
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** By Jesus' day "77" or "seventy times seven" had a similar use. Adjusted for inflation?
** Three: The Bible does the [[Rule of Three]] a ''lot'', but the New Testament identifies it with God (as in the Trinity). Also, Seraphim have three sets of wings.
*** To the ancient Hebrews, three represented consistency. Thus the prophet Isaiah's [[Heroic BSOD|freakout]] when [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206:%201-7&version=NKJV he found himself in the throne room of God with angels saying]: “[[Rule of Three|Holy, holy, holy]] is the [[God|LORD]] of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” because it meant that God was consistently holy while Isaiah . . . [[Humans Are Flawed|wasn't]]. Keeping this in mind, we also know that seven represented the "perfect number" to many cultures at the time, including the Jews. The number ''six'', therefore, was short of perfection; so the number [[Satan|666]] represented consistent ''im''perfection.
** Four: Usually identified with the created world: "The winds of the Earth", "the corners of the Earth", and the four beasts who stand before the Throne which show up in both Testaments. Also, there are four Gospels.
** Seven: Applied to time and refer to completion. Seven days in a week, and the seventh is the Sabbath. Likewise, every seven years was a Sabbath Year when the fields were supposed to lie fallow, and the 50th year (seven times seven, plus one) was the Year of Jubilee, when all debts were cancelled, Jewish slaves were set free, and land reverted back to its original owner. Seven also shows up in prophecies about the end of the world: Daniel's "Seven Weeks" and there's a whole host of sevens in the Revelation of John (seven seals, seven bowls, seven trumpets, seven heads on the Beast, just to name a few.)
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* [[Norse Mythology]] has the number 9 all over it. There are Nine Worlds, Odin learns "nine runes and eighteen (2x9) charms" and at Ragnarok, Thor will {{spoiler|slay the Midgard Serpent but be poisoned by its dying breath, and stagger back nine steps before falling dead himself}}.
* In American Indian mythologies, at least in North America, the number four shows up a lot. Mayan mythology also used the number 13, while plains mythologies liked the number 7.
* 23 and 5 (= 2 + 3) are significant in [[Discordia
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Eberron]]'': 12+ 1, a Baker's dozen. The guy who designed ''[[Eberron]]'' is named Keith Baker. There are lots of examples where you get twelve obvious things and a hidden one. Twelve dragonmarked
* Each [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos God]] in ''[[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]]'' has a favorite number that tends to show up in connection with them (six for [[Sense Freak|Slaanesh]], seven for [[Affably Evil|Nurgle]], eight for [[Ax Crazy|Khorne]], and nine for [[The Chessmaster|Tzeentch]]). The Imperium tends to prefer things be in units of ten.
* Mocked, [[Lampshade Hanging|like so much else,]] in the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting for AD&D. According to the ''Rule of Three'', everything always appears in sets of three. Since reality is very much [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|defined by what people believe]], this remarkably often proves to be true. Though some cynics quite rightfully point out that it works with every number if you just look long enough.
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== Video Games ==
* [[Square Enix]] ''loves'' doing this. Most of their games have multiple Arc Numbers, but the [[Trope Codifier]] for [[Video Games]] has to be ''[[Final Fantasy]]''. [[Strictly Formula|If the number is in the title of the game]], it is most likely an
** ''[[Final Fantasy]]'': There is ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' (and [[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years|its sequel]]), ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' (including the ''Compilation''), ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'', ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia]]'', and possibly more. Interestingly, the number II is mentioned enough on [[This Very Wiki]] and the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' pages to make it an
** ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' repeats the number
*** And then we have [[Four Is Death|four]] shown blatantly throughout the game. You have four major bosses, four locations to fight those bosses, four controllable characters....the list goes on. [[Fridge Brilliance|It's even in]] [[Fridge Brilliance|''Shi''buya]] and ''[[Lost in Translation|the original Japanese title itself]].''
** The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series tends to make heavy use of the numbers 3, 7, and 13, though the first two are played more subtly.
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** Knocking five times on the door of one of the Jungle Island dwellings will elicit a response from the people living inside.
* 13 in ''[[The Longest Journey]]''.
* 7 in the ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' trilogy, and later ''[[Video/Halo|Halo]]''. In fact 7 appears to be an
* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'':
** There's a strong implication implies the number 12 is evil, what with the Sinister Dodecahedron, fuzzy dice killing you if they get boxcars, the level 12 quest being to start a war, etc. This may or may not be related to Jick's apparent hatred of the number 13. Look at the object numbers carefully.
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** In many cell-phone games that feature the [[Konami Code]], "B and A" at the end is often substituted with 573.
** ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Dawn of Sorrow]]'' has three areas where you need a certain three digits at the end of your money amount to open doors. One of them is, yes, 573.
* Similarly, a lot of Namco games use the number 765. This comes from nana-mutsu-go, which becomes na-mu-
* More of a Chekhov's Gun, really, but two one six is important in ''[[Fallout]] 3''. It's introduced at the very beginning of the game as the chapter and verse of the PC's mother's favorite Bible passage, Revelation 21:6. It's mentioned a few times during gameplay. Fully twenty years later, at the very end of the game, it recurs as the keycode to the [[MacGuffin]]-two-one-six. The importance of this sequence is NEVER explicitly told to the player by anyone who would know it, but it does show up as one of the response options when the player is interrogated for the code (providing the closest thing to a direct clue in the game as to what the code might actually be).
** Also in ''[[Fallout 3]]'', the number 2 scrawled on the walls of nearly every building with a heavy Raider presence.
** ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' has 6. 6 Couriers, 6 items, 6 destinations. You can also find a canyon wall {{spoiler|full of graffitti tellin [[Player Character|Courier Six]] to come home.}}
* The number seven has a cropped up constantly in many of Nasu Kinoko's works. Examples include the seven Servants of the Holy Grail War, Ciel being the seventh agent of the Burial Agency (which is, of course, made up of seven members), the Seventh Holy Scripture (Nanako), the Seventeen Piece Dissection (Shiki's 'signature move'), the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors and so on. It is explained in Tsukihime that the number seven is considered "the most perfect number".
* Several ''[[Silent Hill]]'' games use at least one
* The magic number in ''[[Half Minute Hero]]'', as one might guess, is 30. Each of the four main modes is 30 stages long, and also 30 seconds long, barring any attempts to turn back the clock.
* Pi in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' shows up on number plates on cars, posters on walls, and in the lyrics to a song, amongst other places, probably to symbolise how [[Ouroboros]]-shaped the plot is.
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* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' has 113. The number is also something of an [[Author Catchphrase]] for Tom Siddell; considering that the number has appeared in his artwork that predates and/or has nothing to do with ''Gunnerkrigg'', it does seem more likely that the number has personal meaning for Mr. Siddell, rather than a meaning specific to the comic.
* ''[[Homestuck]]'' of [[MS Paint Adventures]] gets a ton of mileage out of this trope.
** There's 413, corresponding to the date that the comic debuted (April
*** Also, for a while, [http://twitter.com/#!/andrewhussie/status/26057436429 Andrew Hussie lived in area code 413]
*** Additionally, the '''4'''th anniversary of Homestuck will be in April 20'''13'''
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Ben Drowned]]'': Also known as Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge story, has 423 popping up in pretty much everything related to the story.
** April
** [[Arc Words|You shouldn't have done that...]] appears on screen in DROWNED.wmv at 4 minutes and 23 seconds in.
** Ryukaki moved into Ben's old house on April
** One of the login details, mhftt has been revealed by [[Word of God|Jadusable]] to mean Matt Hubris four two three.
** The last note in [[Apocalyptic Log|TheTruth.rtf]] by Jadusable was written at 4:23PM.
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** There's also 2*pi, the ratio of a circle's radius to its diameter. There's a movement to start using that number (represented by Tau (τ)) instead. For example, e^(i*τ)=1, sine and cosine both have a period of τ, etc.
* Mostly averted in programming, where repeatedly using a number whose significance may not obvious is known as using "magic numbers" or "magic constants"; this is generally thought to be bad style, making code harder to understand. The alternative is to declare a constant, tying a unique name to the number that can be used in place of it.
** Played straight with programing limits, where anyone who didn't know better would wonder why the numbers like 8, 256, and 1024 show up so much. The answer is since data is digital (1 or 0) the amount of data that can be stored in any given number of bits, n, is 2^n. It also has the effect of causing numbers that are (2^n)-1 showing up a lot.<ref>The extra place is reserved for 0</ref>
* Everyone even a bit versed in European history knows about the multitude of revolutions that broke out all across the continent in 1848. The most successful was arguably the one in Hungary that required not one but ''two'' superpowers to break down.<ref>the country was under Habsburg control for quite some time and the revolution was aimed at changing this; taking advantage of the fact that most of the Habsburg forces were bogged down in the west, Hungary actually managed to fight off the local forces and gain independence... until the Russians entered the fray on behalf of the Habsburgs</ref>
* There's a reason one book on English history was titled ''1066 and All That'' ("All That" being the rest of English history).
* 69 is a common
* 10, as the base of the most widely-used number system.
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