Deus Ex Machina: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

The term is Latin for ''god out of the machine'' ([[Latin Pronunciation Guide|pronunciation]]: '''Day-oos eks MAH-kee-nah''') and has its origins in [[Older Than Feudalism|ancient Greek theater]]. It refers to situations in which a crane (''machine'') was used to lower actors or statues playing a god or gods (''deus'') onto the stage to set things right, often near the end of the play. It has since come to be used as a general term for any event in which a seemingly fatal plot twist is resolved by an event never foreshadowed or set up.

 

 

 

 

In the early years of the film industry, however, the concept came back into vogue due to the [[Hays Code]]. Villains, and anyone else who didn't toe the moral line, were absolutely not allowed to get away with their crimes, but as everyone knows, [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|Evil is Cool]]. [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|The solution]] was to let them be awesome for the duration of the movie, then [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|drop a bridge on them]] in the last five minutes. It worked, of course.

 

 

As noted below, this happens plenty in real life. Of course, [[Real Life]] is a much more complex system than most fictionalized versions of it, and so this ends up a legitimate plot twist. Fiction is also limited by the [[Law of Conservation of Detail]], while real life clearly is not.

 

 

 

''Also'' also, '''please make sure you have read the above criteria BEFORE submitting an entry. This is a not a place to [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|Complain About Plot Twists You Don't Like]].'''

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Bleach]]'' has so many examples it's hard to list, for the sake of space, probably the worst/ most blatant instance:

** The much reviled and oft-mentioned moment of Ichigo being able to go [[Super-Powered Evil Side|full Hollow]] is often accused of being this, but it ultimately did make sense. [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now|It wasn't good writing]], but it was foreshadowed a number of times. {{spoiler|Aizen's final defeat}} is the true deus ex machina, because of [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]]. [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now|Having proven to be increasingly invincible against the strongest members of the cast]], Ichigo scores a new, never before mentioned power, and utterly destroys him.

* Played absolutely straight in ''[[Slayers]] NEXT''. Nearly the entire plot revolves around Lina's [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|refusal to cast the Giga Slave]] after her discovery that miscasting it may end the world. Hellmaster Phibrizo eventually blackmails Lina into casting it and ensures that the casting fails, only for the power called upon by the spell, the supreme creator goddess of the Slayers universe, the Lord of Nightmares, to take Lina's body as an avatar instead and promptly annihilate the previously invincible (to the heroes) demon lord with a casual gesture. She also plays [[Reset Button]] by bringing everyone back to life that Phibrizzo had killed (Lina's breaking point about casting the spell was his threat to [[Deader Than Dead|obliterate their souls as well]]).

** Not only [[Justified]] and foreshadowed ''just'' enough to turn the event from a [[Ass Pull|cop-out]] to a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], but implications of [[The Reveal]] cast the whole series in a [[Mysterious Employer|very different light]].

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' loves and thrives on this, and many seemingly unwinnable situations are weaseled their way out of by Arceus Ex Machina.

** The second involves a situation involving a showdown between Team Rocket and "the twerps" where either Team Rocket seems to have the upper hand or the two sides have been forced into a dangerous stalemate. Cue a single, recurring Pokémon, typically either Marker-Jigglypuff or Misty's Togepi. The former will sing their soothing music and cause everyone to fall asleep (thus enraging it and causing it to doodle vengefully on everyone), or the latter will start using the metronome attack, which causes a burst of random Deus Ex Machina energy to fill the room and set everything right.

*** It was explained (in the tag scene) as a function of the Sea Temple, but wasn't really adequately foreshadowed (to put it kindly).

** There was one episode where Team Rocket grabs Pikachu and flies off in their balloon. How does Ash get him back? He ''jumps five stories straight up'' into the balloon basket, with no assistance from any nearby plot devices. It looked exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.

*** This was actually foreshadowed earlier in the movie.

** There's a subversion in the Ash vs. Paul full battle by Lake Acuity. Even though Ash's Chimchar evolves into Monferno after beating Paul's Ursaring, it's unable to beat his Electabuzz. Though even if it ''had'' been able to, Ash would've lost eventually because Paul still would have had three Pokémon left.

** What may be the most ridiculous was Ash's battle against Tate and Liza, where Ash's Pikachu and Swellow, the last of which was at a disadvantage against their Lunatone and Solrock, inexplicably pulled out the infamous golden "lightning armor" gambit and knocked their opponents out.

* Batou is saved from certain death in ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' by an extraordinary literal example.

* The heroes in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' seem to win solely on pulling the one card out of a forty card plus deck that can save them from doom. Many times, these cards are not alluded to prior to their save the world moment and turn the tide of the battle completely 180 degrees. After all, how many times have you heard the line "It all comes down to this one card" only to have them draw a complete waste of a card?

'''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yami Yugi]]''': Tell it to the writing staff!! }}

** In the manga version of the story, this is actually ''Yami Yugi's superpower''. Which of course says nothing about the fact that other characters pull the same stunt.

*** In Seasons 2 and 3, Marik's Millennium Rod likes showing Kaiba visions, since Kaiba owned the Rod in a past life. When Marik orders the Rod to show him those same visions, it doesn't obey him.

** Some episodes attempt to justify this by having characters note they need the right card to turn the duel around, but they don't get it for several turns and they have to stall. And there ''are'' only 40-45 cards in the decks, if you stall long enough you'll draw what you need sooner or later.

* ''[[Sonic X]]'' has one of these in the finale of its final season, where the stone Cosmo has been wearing since the beginning of the series is revealed to be a magical amulet that can automatically accelerate her growth so that she reaches the stage of becoming a tree (as is apparently the fate of all her species) early, attaches herself to the bad guy and weaken him so that the Good Guys can shoot and destroy. We had heard pretty much nothing about this earlier in the series.

** Said stone MAY only be magical by default, depending on whether you believe the dubbing. Previously ALL seedrians were seen to be wearing a similar stone, so it might just be a general species thing. Either way it was still kind of an Asspull.

** In an earlier series, this is what saved Star Saber from Deathsaurus in ''[[Transformers Victory]]''. Deathsaurus delivers a vicious, merciless beatdown, driving Star Saber to the point of deactivation. He's about to deliver the final blow when his living metal-destroying cannon...runs out of batteries.

** Another example comes from ''[[Transformers Zone]]'': Metrotitan is devastating Earth with a freeze gun, and Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber are for some reason powerless to stop him. All of a sudden, Road Fire appear, with a heat ray that's just the thing to revert Metrotitan's effects, and then proceeds to single-handedly kick Metrotitan's retrocharger.

** Note: this is very likely true. Also note that it's not nearly as bad as it sounds because this series takes [[The Power of Love]] and runs with it.

** There is some [[Fridge Brilliance]] to be had here, too. Considering that the Scub Coral was in the process of awakening ([[The End of the World as We Know It|which would ultimately cause reality to unravel]]) and given the link between the coral and the giant mech itself, it is reasonable to think that some new powers would become available.

** Another one comes at the end of Part 5, when Giorno fights Diavolo. Giorno is {{spoiler|pierced by the Requiem Arrow}}, and his Stand Gold Experience gains the ability to {{spoiler|''negate any action taken by an opponent.''}} Stands had been shown to develop new abilities thanks to the arrow before, but that power is ridiculously broken.

* A borderline case appears in the second season of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'': with the forces of {{spoiler|Celestial Being}} about to be defeated, {{spoiler|Setsuna, who has been slowly undergoing Innovation (a cornerstone of the show's ongoing [[Gambit Roulette]]), finally achieves it. This, in turn, triggers a hidden system of his machine, the [[Trans Am]] Burst, which spread on a much larger scale the effects the machine was already known to have (healing, telepathy, etc). Given that [[The Chessmaster]] had already been established to have built-in hidden subroutine in his mobile suit to be triggered as his roulette demanded, and that it's shortly thereafter that a world-wide mind-meld was a key point of said roulette}}, fan opinion is divided as to how much of a Deus Ex this is, if at all, and if so, whether it qualifies as an old school Greco-Roman Deus Ex, or the [[Fridge Brilliance]] variety.

* In ''[[Asatte no Houkou]]'', Karada and Shokou are able to {{spoiler|switch back to their original ages}} when {{spoiler|Kotomi gives them a second wishing stone}}, which she had never previously mentioned or hinted at having. This, of course, didn't happen in the manga.

* ''[[Star Blazers]]'' (Comet Empire War); The near-Godlike Treleina of Telezart turns up at the very last moment to {{spoiler|obliterate Prince Zordar's warship and save Earth.}} Possibly partially subverted as Captain Wildstar had already begun the process of {{spoiler|sacrificing the Argo in a ramming attack}} to achieve the same end.

* A literal Deus Ex Machina is attributed to everyone's survival after the [[Final Battle]] of ''[[Rave Master]].'' This despite several characters using a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] to win their battles. The characters theorize that since they saved the world, the world decided to save them back.

* Mic Sounders of ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'' is arguably a walking Deus Ex Machina. His Disk P [[Theme Music Power-Up]] powers up (and seemingly to a small degree repairs) all of the heroes within earshot (and is also continually used throughout the series). Disk M can disable mechanical systems in only the bad guys (it?s ability to selectively deactivate the bad guys system is in itself somewhat deus ex machina-y). On the much more dangerous side he has his disk x which destroys things at the molecular level, meaning there is literally nothing it cannot destroy and the even more powerful disk F which {{spoiler|can produce a Gao Figh Gar armed with the Goldion Hammer}} to destroy anything in his path. Basically if Mic were to ever receive a major upgrade, much like some of the other mechas receive, then he would render GGG totally obsolete since the only step up from Disk X and F is a disk that completely controls the very fabric of reality.

* A staple of the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' anime. Two notable instances would be all the heroines dying only to be randomly resurrected; and our heroine throwing herself from a floating island, then inexplicably sprouting wings on the way down.

* Played straight (and literally) in the last few volumes of the ''[[Fushigi Yugi]]'' manga. Taka buys Miaka a pager. {{spoiler|Suzaku then ends up taking up residence, essentially, in the pager, so that he can contact his priestess.}}

* In ''[[Initial D]]'', when Takumi battles the Todo School's rally driver with the School's demo car at Happogahara, he is absolutely going to lose {{spoiler|until a cat jumps out in front of the Civic just before the final corner. When the driver swerves to miss it, Takumi passes, not seeing the cat because his lights were off.}}

** The ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' anime's second season, Traumend, also ends with a major Deus Ex Machina. {{spoiler|All of the dolls are defeated in the Alice game, and Barasuishou becomes Alice. Just when everything looks lost, she suddenly starts to crumble apart. This is explained along the lines of "she can't handle the purity of Alice", or something like that, as she's not really a Rozen Maiden. All the other dolls return to life, and everything works out fine.}}

*** Not all. {{spoiler|Only those killed by Barasuishou. Those killed by legitimate Rozen Maiden stay dead.}}

** Arguably, Trunks killing Frieza was of little consequence, since Goku arrives not long afterwards and it was Frieza's plan from the start to wait for Goku to arrive before destroying the planet. The very existence of Trunks's future implies that Frieza had little time to terrorize the Earth before Goku arrived and defeated him. Perhaps a better example of Deus Ex Machina in Dragon Ball Z happens in the movies. In order to beat powerful enemies like Lord Slug and Broly, the Z Fighters transfer their power to Goku, which gives the latter a tremendous boost in strength, more than enough to destroy the enemy in a dominating fashion. Said ability is never elaborated (at least not to that extent) in the main series, where it would have no doubt made some of the biggest fights a lot simpler.

* ''[[Detective Conan]]'', Conan can do ''anything'' at given times from riding a motor boat, a helicopter, and shooting guns with a common excuse of "My dad thought me that in Hawaii."

** There's also Hei [[Changed My Mind, Kid|deciding to help]] just as Sniper blows up the truck.

* Brilliantly justified and subverted in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. At first, it would seem completely coincidental how Homura seemed to arrive on the screen to save the day it seemed, as well as extremely unlikely. {{spoiler|It turns out, however, that she is a Time Traveller and had repeated the same span of time over and over again, knowing what events were to happen and when the events would occur. With her power over time, she could appear when it is thought to be very unlikely.}}

** And another one is when Sakura encounters the illusion card, which, on the date of her dead mother's birthday, adopts her form, and thus lures Sakura into falling off a cliff. Before hitting the ground nonetheless a translucid hand (that of her real mom) appears out of nowhere and slows down her fall. And as a backup Deus Ex Machina Yukito just happened to be passing by at that precise moment to come and catch her.

 

* [[Batman]] often solves situations by just happening to have a gadget on hand.

** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0UJaprpxrk Hand me down the shark repellent Bat-Spray!]"

** On [[Batman (TV series)|the TV series]], anti-[fill-in-the-blank] pills were commonplace, including Anti-Penguin-Gas (taken before attending a town hall meeting held by The Penguin) and Anti-Hypnosis (to block the effect of The Joker's hypnotic music box) pills.

* The titular character of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'' was saved many, many times by a Deus Ex Machina. To the point where he really should look into playing the lottery.

** ''Tintin In America'' alone must have set some kind of record:

** And don't forget Sergeant Blip and the Rubber Pants Commandos, they are almost a Deus Ex Machina incarnated; They only appear to save Sam & Max of whathever. Almost every time without an explanation.

*** Taken to the extreme in the Hit the Road comic that the Lucasarts game was based on. Sam and Max narrowly avoid being dunked in scalding hot wax by nefarious pirates by [[Remember the New Guy?|Ratso, Sam and Max' octopus pal]]

{{spoiler|Vegan Policeman (to the villain) - "FREEZE! Vegan police. You were caught eating gelato this morning."}} }}

** Lampshaded again in the Great Fables Crossover by Science Fiction, the AP of the science fiction genre, who proclaims that the Fables would be wiped out by a surprise legion of Nebularian attack cruisers, because otherwise, how would they win at the end? Dex also makes an appearance to mock the trope, popping up several times throughout the story to inform anyone who will listen that he won't do anything yet, and only showing up to save the day when it was decided that it was impossible to permanently stop the [[Big Bad]].

* In the "Caged Angels" arc of ''[[Thunderbolts]]'', a group of telepaths mange to infiltrate Thunderbolts Mountain and wreak havoc by mentally controlling the team. The telepaths are finally defeated when Bullseye (who was critically injured in the previous arc and hadn't shown up at all for several issues) wakes up in the hospital and randomly decides to do target practice in the holding cells.

** On top of which, for some sudden handwaved reason, said telepaths couldn't control his mind. Note that Bullseye is [[Badass Normal]] and until then did not have any kind of immunity from [[Psychic Powers]].

*** Possibly explained due to the fact many of Bullseye's bones including spine and skull are reinforced with strips of adamantium (think a lesser version of Wolverine's procedure). This could account for the immunity.

* [[Superman]] builds a literal Machina with the Miracle Machine in ''[[Final Crisis]]''.

{{quote|'''Dr Manhattan''': Now, I believe we have a conversation scheduled.

'''Laurie''': God, Yes. Yes, I was just thinking... But Jon, how did you know? I need to see you, you appear... I mean, it's all so Deus Ex Machina...

* Justified by the [[Time Travel]] plot in ''[[Universal War One]]'': {{spoiler|the heroes are saved by invincible warriors coming from a civilization they will create in the past.}} It is one of the very few examples of a plot-relevant ''deus ex machina''.

* The Mirage ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage]]'' comics were a ''little'' too fond of having the day saved by some random (and often unannounced) outside element instead of letting the Turtles themselves contribute to the solution of the plot. Occasionally, though, it was put to [[Rule of Cool|very good effect]], such as Renet's unexpected appearance in ''Juliet's Revenge'' or Splinter being able to send a devastating psychic strike at the bad guy from ''several miles away'' in the last part of the ''River'' trilogy.

** Of course, {{spoiler|Grant Morrison's run was all about toying around with the fourth wall, so it doesn't really come out of left field as one might expect from the above description.}}

 

{{quote|{{spoiler|''Ghost Controlled Trainer''}}: This is the most fun we've had in decades!}}

* In ''[[In This World and the Next]]'', [[Harry Potter|Harry and Hermione]] are sentenced to the [[Fate Worse Than Death|Dementor's Kiss]] for killing [[Ron the Death Eater]]. Instead, the Dementor ''[[Made of Explodium|explodes]]'' and releases their life force, allowing them to [[Peggy Sue|go back in time]].

 

* In the movie adaption of ''[[The Bad Seed]]'', Rhoda has gotten away with murder, so in the last second of the movie, she is hit by a bolt of lightning and falls into the nearby wharf, supposedly from God's wrath.

* The example listed in [[Fridge Brilliance]] comes from ''[[Die Hard]]'', where [[Family Matters|Carl Winslow]], who doesn't ever want to use his gun in the line of duty, shoots [[Not Quite Dead|the suddenly-risen]] Karl from behind to save [[Bruce Willis|John McClane]].

* Semi-literal in ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'', where {{spoiler|after the original alien machine was blown up, we find out that a totally separate yet completely identical machine was built half-way across the world,}} thus not only solving the problem but also putting the main character in the driver's seat of the machine. This also occurred in the [[Contact (Literature)|novel]] the film is based on.

** An unusual example of a deus ex machina as a [[Take That]]: [[Executive Meddling]] forced the creators to {{spoiler|change the ending from the heroes losing to them finding the aforementioned treasure chest}}. Hence the obvious [[Lampshade Hanging]].

* Used spectacularly in ''[[The Abyss]]''.

** This one bears some analysis. It is indeed a very formal example of Deus Ex Machina, in which our protagonist loses his agency altogether and becomes a passive bystander, a witness (or non-witness, as the case may be) to the climax. And yet few people walk away from the film complaining about this fact. In other words, Tropes Are Not All Bad.

* Used magnificently in the climax of ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'', in which after saying their prayers, the four main characters are miraculously saved from hanging by a scheduled flood, lightly mentioned earlier within the film.

** Also, instead of going back to hell, as a reward for his sacrifice, Kenny {{spoiler|is sent to heaven where he is greeted by large-breasted angels.}}

** Regina ex machina. But wasn't the idea supposed to be that Queen Bess is on Shakespeare's side, and deliberately helping him?

** There's also the line where she asks Shakespeare to come as "himself", heavily implying that she knew when he was disguised as "Wilhelmina" at the court in Greenwich.

** That was not a deus ex machina. The ending of ''Jurassic Park 3'', however, definitely was.

*** Considering the T-Rex is huge and loud, his sudden appearance is hard to explain.

*** The original script had the bones of the T. Rex skeleton falling on and killing the Raptors. Rexxy showed up because the animators felt it was just too awesome not to use again. The end of 3 is more-or-less faithful to the book, with the Costa Rican government saving the day.

** See the bottom of the article for [[Samuel L. Jackson]] for more on the stealthy T-Rex.

** It's suggested that {{spoiler|the butler is Harry's hallucination, representing his good side}}.

*** If so, that [[Voodoo Shark|makes it even worse]].

* In the 2008 remake of ''[[Day of the Dead]]'', the zombified Bud, despite being a zombie, {{spoiler|suddenly remembers how to shoot a gun and wants to help humans instead of eat them, and shoots a zombie attacking the lead character, letting her escape and kill them all.}} Towards the beginning of the movie, Bud explains that {{spoiler|he is a vegetarian}}.

* In ''Dresden'' the protagonist and his love interest are holed up to avoid the carbon monoxide poisoning and fires (yeah, THAT will work), while their oxygen slowly runs out. Then, suddenly the protagonist sees a miraculous chink of light, where fresh air is coming in! They dig themselves out into another room, which has an iron-rung staircase leading out - saved!

* In ''[[National Treasure]]'', the characters follow cryptic clues all over the world to discover a massive treasure hidden under Trinity Church, but only after the [[Big Bad]] has left them stranded underground with no way out... except for the convenient back door exit to the treasure room. Somewhat justified, seeing as the main characters tricked the [[Big Bad]] into leaving them stranded, specifically because they had guessed that there would be a back door.

** In ''[[Monty Python's Life of Brian]]'', where Brian nearly falls to his death, a passing UFO just happens to abduct him and then crashland shortly afterwards. Brian is fine.

*** Random Camp Passer-By: Ooh, you ''lucky'' bastard!

* ''[[Tyler Perry|The Family That Preys]]'' had one at the end when Alice, Pam, and Nick come in to the board room meeting as major stockholders, something never explained prior, and voted to prevent Charlotte from getting voted out of her own company.

* ''[[Apocalypto]]'' {{spoiler|has (in a scene strikingly similar to the Lord of the Flies example) Spanish Conquistadors and Missionaries as this trope}}, however for some people this carried [[Unfortunate Implications]].

* The [[Michael J. Fox]] film ''For Love Or Money''. He gets the girl but loses the guy who has agreed to finance the construction of his hotel. On his wedding day, Mike is called by a real estate tycoon who agrees to bankroll the project. The tycoon was [[Chekhov's Gunman|the man who's marriage Mike helped rekindle]].

** Much of this can be blamed on [[Adaptation Decay]]. The book explains a lot of these questions, especially why the witches had the cauldron and how the heroes were able to find them.

* ''[[George of the Jungle (film)|George of the Jungle]] 2'' uses a #2 version for laughs. The villain has the heroes at gun point then begins arguing with and then insulting the narrator. [[Tempting Fate|Then he asks the narrator what he is going to do.]] It turns out the narrator is [[God|the big man himself]] and a giant hand descends from the sky and carries off the villain while giving him a wedgie.

* ''[[Casino]]'': Though based on a real-life event, the {{spoiler|metal plate under the driver's seat of Sam's car comes across as this}}.

* In the climax finale of ''[[The Traveler]]'', {{spoiler|Detective Black stumbled upon his daughter Mary's ghost and acquired a life-saving tip that can enable him to defeat Mr Nobody}}.

* ''Inverted'' in the western ''Ulzana's Raid''. The renegade Apaches have a settler trapped inside his house, which appears to be well-built to resist such an occurrence. Suddenly we hear the sound of a bugler sounding "Charge", the Apaches disappear, and the settler exits his house, praising God. It turns out that {{spoiler|one of the Apaches had a bugle and they were just luring him out of his house}}. When the real cavalry arrives hours later, they find the man [[Nightmare Fuel|tortured to death]].

* A very good type 4 happens near the end of ''[[The Naked Gun|Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear]]''. The villain survives falling out of a window thanks to an awning cushioning his fall. When he gets up, [[Karma Houdini|it seems like he is going to escape]]. Just then, a lion appears out of nowhere and kills him on the spot. It looks like a type 1 until one remembers that earlier in the film Drebin released a bunch of animals from the zoo.

 

* Most famously portrayed in ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]],'' with the woodcutter appearing out of nowhere to save her just in the nick of time; though he is established earlier in the plot, nevertheless he isn't following Red around to protect her, but pops up to kill the Wolf anyway.

** That's because in the original version there was no woodcutter.

** In his sixth Oz book, ''The Emerald City of Oz'', the Nomes and a few other unruly tribes of creatures plan to invade Oz, destroy it, and enslave the people. The surprise is initially ruined by Ozma's convenient Magic Picture, allowing her to plan ahead of time. With her trusty [[Chekhov's Gun]], the Magic Belt Dorothy stole from the Nome king in a previous book, Ozma uses its power to dehydrate the army, whose invasion tunnel is conveniently right next to the fountain containing the Water of Oblivion, which makes anyone who drinks of it forget everything. The first thing the invaders do when they come out of the tunnel is drink the water; war avoided.

* [[Cory Doctorow]] ''loves'' this trope. In ''[[Little Brother]]'', the protagonist is being waterboarded and the cavalry rush in to save the day, in Someone Comes To Town Someone Leaves Town the protagonist's flying girlfriend whisks him away from danger to a desert island and in [[Eastern Standard Tribe]] the protagonist just happens to become friends with a doctor at the asylum he is in who can and will free him.

* Richard Adams' ''[[Watership Down]]'' has the rabbit protagonist saved by a human in one of the final chapters (appropriately named "dea ex machina"). Whether this is a true Deus Ex Machina is debatable, because the event is very logical from a human point of view, if not from a rabbit's.

** A similar example comes earlier in the book, when the heroes cross train tracks safely, but their pursuers aren't so lucky. The rabbits take it for a literal Act of Frith (god), one unironically says something like, "You might think it's amazing to be saved by Frith, but it's really quite terrifying."

** Especially as we know that General Tilney is not amazingly steadfast, we've seen him be fickle in the course of the story, so we know that ''something'' will make him relent.

* The entire plot of ''[[Jules Verne]]'s'' ''[[The Mysterious Island]]'' is about characters trying to find out why and how someone bails them out of seemingly hopeless situations. (And that "someone", being {{spoiler|Captain Nemo}}, does it in the [[Big Damn Heroes|most dramatic manner possible]] all the time.)

** In the book after spoiler: the [[Fallen Angel]] Lasciel's Shadow (who had been providing him with [[Hellfire]]) {{spoiler|sacrifices herself to save Harry from a psychic attack}}, he is provided in the next book with access to Hellfire's [[Good Counterpart]], Soulfire, by [[Archangel Uriel]].

* Beginning with the novel ''Sahara'', author Clive Cussler has often written his heroes into impossible situations, whereupon a minor character shows up and gives them the assistance they need to continue - a minor character by the name of [[Author Avatar|Clive Cussler]]!

** A lot of the ridiculous gadgets and technologies that can be accessed from anyone on earth and from anyone who owns them in a matter of hours is a bit of a consistent Deus Ex Machina. In ''Golden Buddah'', for example, the Oregon is facing a couple of Chinese warships, so they just call in favors from an American submarine nearby that has on board a super-high-tech, top-secret missile that blasts a huge EMP to disable the warships.

* Steven Erikson's ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' has Dei Ex Machina galore. Some examples:

** The appearance of the titular Gardens in ''Gardens of the Moon''.

** The appearance of {{spoiler|the army of Bridgeburner ghosts}} in ''House of Chains''.

* In [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s ''[[The Riftwar Cycle|Tear of the Gods]]'', the bad guy, "Bear", kills a bar girl somewhere around chapter 2. Her boyfriend vows revenge. The rest of the book happens, and the good guys finally manage to corner Bear. Unfortunately, they are unable to kill him because he is literally invincible and super strong. Suddenly, the god of vengeance incarnates in boyfriend and strikes Bear down. Good guys return victorious.

* [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, which relied upon the conceit that King himself was [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|authoring the events as they took place]], includes several instances in which King throws a bone to the characters to get them out of a sticky situation. In one [[Lampshade Hanging]] moment, a character finds a note from King reading "DON'T WORRY; HERE COMES THE DEUS EX MACHINA!"

** Another one happens when Alex is running from some gunmen and ultimately runs to the rooftop of a building with no way done and the gunmen on the stairs. BUT WAIT!!! Alex remembers seeing a giant orange cone/construction equipment (not mentioned before) and jumps off the building into, allowing him to slide from safety away from his assailants!

* Also by King: ''[[The Stand]],'' which inspired a limerick: Oh, the Superflu caused so much pain, oh! / And with evil a raging volcano / Flagg's triumph seemed certain / Until King rang the curtain / By pulling a ''Deus ex ano!''

** Though, not all of those are actually Deus Ex Machina. {{spoiler|All of the information on vampires not being able to reproduce was always said from a man's perspective, never on the female side of it. Stephanie Meyer was actually clever withholding that information because she didn't want anyone to guess her plot twist. And with Bella's ability, it was foreshadowed in the second book that her ability was beyond the Volturi's powers, when they couldn't effect her as a human. Considering other vampires can extend their powers as well, it wasn't a surprise that she could as well. Though, Jacob falling in love with the baby was pretty much spot on for Dues Ex Machina.}}

* In [[James Thurber]]'s ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'', when Prince Zorn and the Golux have brought the duke the jewels, he counts them: they are nine hundred and ninety-nine, not the thousand he had demanded. The Golux stares at his ring, and a diamond falls out. Which lets the duke gnarl about a ''Golux ex machina''.

** Tolkien called them a dangerous machine that he dared not use often with credibility. He thought them a deus ex machina, though in the books he justified them better.

** The Eagles are Manwë's messengers, so this is a arguably a legitimate case of a true Deus Ex Machina.

** Common objections: The Eagles' place in Middle-Earth's greater cosmology that's [[All There in the Manual]], Gandalf being a wizard and getting this sort of thing as a perk, defining Deus Ex Machina to play a crucial role in the quest when, in ''Rings'', the quest was completed on the main characters' own power and getting out of Mordor alive was no part of it.

** What's most irritating about the Giant Eagles is that they [[Fridge Logic|raise]] serious [[Plot Hole|questions]] about [http://www.angryflower.com/lordot.gif the story's foundations]. Possible objections: Sauron would definitely notice and set up Nazgûl interception and/or tens of thousands of Orcs on the mountain, the Eagles weren't even at the Council of Elrond, Manwë wouldn't send his eagles on a suicide mission, God thinks that defeating evil effortlessly would eventually backfire, Mount Doom is the seat of the greatest power in Middle-Earth and it's uncertain whether anyone could toss away its embodiment there willingly, the Ring corrupts the powerful so that Galadriel and Gandalf refuse to even touch it - and you want to put the thing on Gwahir the Windlord for days on end?!

** The main reason Firestar was able to win his fight against Tigerstar in ''Forest of Secrets'' was because Tigerstar slipped on some blood. No, really.

** For that matter, {{spoiler|Brambleclaw picking up a wooden stake and twisting around just in time to impale Hawkfrost with it as he was about to deliver his killing blow}} at the end of ''Sunset'' seems a bit ''too'' convenient.

* How many fairy tales have one of these? In multiple versions of "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]" and "[[Sleeping Beauty]]" (their Disney versions being huge exceptions), the prince never appears until the end to perform his heroic deed. In Snow White's case, the fact that a kiss can wake her isn't previously mentioned. Rapunzel's tears cure the prince's blindness. A hunter just happens to walk by Grandma's house as the wolf is attacking Red Riding Hood. Although it occurs midway in the story, there is also Cinderella's fairy godmother.

* Spike Milligan's ''Badjelly the Witch''. The titular witch is chasing the hero and heroine, who are fleeing her lair, when {{spoiler|''God Himself''}} intervenes. When she refuses to back down and tries to {{spoiler|blind him ''with her fingernails''}}, he annihilates her.

* In [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''Wisdom of the Fox'', {{spoiler|The protagonists manage to trick the gods into solving the apparently impossible problem for them.}}

* [[Michael Crichton]] novels live on this. The main characters work heroically to try to solve a problem (which as often as not was created essentially by a couple of bad decisions, followed by a series of events where ''exactly the worst possible thing'' happens in each case), almost but not quite succeeding at several points, only to find out in the end that the problem effectively goes away on its own. To be fair, that can be part of the appeal.

* A {{spoiler|[[Incredibly Lame Pun|Draco Ex Machina]] conveniently kills the villains}} at the end of ''[[Earthsea Trilogy|Tehanu]]''.

* At the end of Dave Duncan's tetralogy ''A Handful of Men'', the heroes are in a totally hopeless situation. Thanks to his army of sorcerers with [[Mind Control|loyalty spells]] on them, the [[Big Bad]] has become the most powerful sorcerer ''ever''. He's even become more powerful than the main character was at the end of the previous series - and said main character was a demigod (one [[Power Level]] higher than a sorcerer) who only avoided a [[Superpower Meltdown]] because his [[Love Interest]] managed to [[De-Power]] him before he burst into flames and died from. Having been on the run from the [[Big Bad]] throughout the whole series, the heroes have finally been captured and are about to be killed. They end up being saved when {{spoiler|two of the heroes achieve the [[Power Level]] above "sorcerer" without having a [[Superpower Meltdown]] by becoming a complete god instead of a demigod, and proceed to free everyone from the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Mind Control]] sorcery. Several of the main characters knew how to do this, but, normally, becoming a full-fledged god means that you [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]] and simply stop caring about what happens to mere mortals, so it's never mentioned as a way to stop the [[Big Bad]] until it happens.}}

* M.M. Buckner's titular ''Watermind'' survives everything the humans throw at it before being killed by {{spoiler|contact with salt water.}} Okay, there was foreshadowing, but getting it would have taken someone who was both better at science {{spoiler|(salt water being a better electrical conductor than fresh)}} ''and'' geography {{spoiler|(the lake they were driving the Watermind into being a tidal basin)}} than the protagonists, which takes [[Viewers Are Geniuses]] to levels that would make [[Death Note|Light Yagami]] throw up his hands in disgust.

* A frequent criticism of ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'', where after Tom's plan to free Jim fails miserably, he reveals that Jim's owner had died off-screen, her will manumitting him, and the whole thing had just been for fun. [[Ernest Hemingway]] famously referred to this ending as "cheating."

* Anything by Simon R. Green, especially his ''Deathstalker'' series, lives and sustains itself on this trope. All of the heroes' asses must be sore from pulling plot devices and powers out of them.

** You could say that {{spoiler|Fawkes coming into the Chamber of Secrets to save Harry}} is a ''[[Subverted Trope|subversion]]'' of this trope if you assume that it was foreshadowed by Dumbledore's vague parting words before he was asked to leave Hogwarts.

*** This leads to [[Fridge Brilliance]] when you realize that Dumbledore stated that he'd only ''truly'' be gone from the school when there were none left who were loyal to him. Fast-forward to {{spoiler|Harry's conversation with Tom Riddle in the Chamber, and we see him say that Dumbledore is the world's greatest sorcerer, not Voldemort, showing his loyalty}}.

* In ''[[The Blue Sword]]'' by [[Robin McKinley]], the main character, Hari, is vastly outnumbered by the enemy army but she sends her ragtag group of friends out to fight them anyway. Then, {{spoiler|most of them die, and she gets super upset. She climbs to the top of a mountain that wasn't there a minute ago, and uses her amazing magic powers that she didn't know she had to bring an entire mountain range down on the enemy army. Wouldn't it have been nice if she'd done that to begin with?}}

* Happens in ''[[The House of Night]]'', with a literal goddess (Nyx) appearing in ''Awakened'' at {{spoiler|Jack's funeral}} to comfort Jack's boyfriend Damien, and to help the Raven Mocker Rephaim get over his demonic nature (by turning him into a boy at night) so he can truly love Stevie Rae.

* Deliberately done in ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'', where after {{spoiler|Jack sets the island on fire to kill Ralph}}, a Navy ship shows up out of nowhere to rescue them, symbolizing how quickly the appearance of an authority can change everything.

* At the end of ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' its mentioned that Darnay and Carton happen to look a lot alike. {{spoiler|Carton uses this to switch places with Darnay in prison, so the cad is redeemed with his sacrifice and Darnay gets to live out his life with Lucy.}}

** Actually, the resemblance is mentioned early on in the story, {{spoiler|when Darnay is on trial for being a "spy".}}

* Throughout David Weber's ''[[Out of the Dark]]'' the Shongairi invaders consistently lose ground battles to humans but [[Death From Above|pulverize the entire area from orbit]] afterwards. Towards the end they learn enough human tactics to capture a rebel village without resorting to orbital bombardment and develop a bioweapon to destroy what's left of humanity. But just as they're about to deploy the virus {{spoiler|the leader of the village they captured to experiment on turns out to be freakin' ''[[Dracula]]'' and he and a handful of newly-spawned vampires single-handedly wipe out the entire invasion force}}. Hints that {{spoiler|Dracula}} was present were scattered throughout the book, but were relatively subtle, and the reader is expecting a hard sci-fi war novel, and not {{spoiler|fantasy elements to creep in and sucker punch them}}.

* In Bulgakov's ''[[The Fatal Eggs]]'', an army of giant tropical animals is advvancing towards Moscow, when they are all killed off by an unexpected frost. Bulgakov calls the chapter "A Frosty Deus Ex Machina".

* In ''[[Who Cut the Cheese?]]'' by Stilton Jarlsberg, a cat slaughters the rats in CheesyUniverse and saves Ho from starvation.

 

* Some ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fans would nominate the sudden appearance in "Touched" of a [[Forgotten Superweapon]] in the sewers, immediately followed in "End of Days" by the discovery of a "feminine counterbalance" to the Watchers (who had female members anyway) hiding in a pyramid-shaped crypt that Buffy had patrolled past for the entire seventh season.

** The conclusion of series 4, when they suddenly discover that they can all magically pool their power together so that Buffy is some sort of demigod, allowing a previously nigh-on indestructible foe to be abruptly, casually eliminated with a single blow. They then never use this power again (although this is explained by the potentially fatal nightmares it causes in the next episode).

*** A definite runner up would be Olaf's Troll Hammer suddenly being the weapon of a god.

* On ''[[Angel]]'', Lilah actually uses the trope (although she says ''God'' ex Machina) to describe the situation after Angelus tricks everyone into believing he was Angel again.

** The power doesn't just exterminate demon slugs. It purifies darkness. Huge light = death to creepy monsters from "Darkest of the Dark Worlds".

* When the time came for hosting duties to be handed over on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', Joel Robinson's escape was facilitated by a hidden escape pod actually ''called'' the ''Deus Ex Machina''; the explanation for its remaining undiscovered throughout the run of the series was that it had been hidden in a crate of Hamdingers, a particularly repulsive snack food that none of the crew wanted to touch.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Doomsday", reversing the effects of opening a breach to the void that's been pulling Cybermen and Daleks through not only seals the void, but pulls back in any material that passed through it due to them holding background radiation. Also, it can be closed from one end.

** The Season 3 finale is a glaring example of a Deus Ex Machina. A satellite network which was used for subtle mind control by the Master is suddenly capable of giving the Doctor superpowers (telekinesis, regeneration, de-aging, flight and a force-field) provided everyone in the world thinks the word "Doctor" at the same time.

*** In "The Big Bang", the Doctor is permanently sealed inside the Pandorica with his Sonic Screwdriver, which is the only thing that could be used to open it from the outside. Suddenly, a future Doctor appears to give Rory the Screwdriver, allowing him to open the Pandorica, thus allowing the Doctor to escape and give the Screwdriver to Rory.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', "All Hell Breaks Loose": Okay, so the gates of hell had been opened but it's still a bit unbelievable/convenient that just as Azazel is about to shoot a restrained Dean, Sparkly!John fights him off just in time for Dean to get the Colt and finally kill the [[Big Bad]] himself.

* Used repeatedly by ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' for comic effect, when they weren't otherwise deconstructing narrative convention. Think Graham Chapman's colonel stopping a sketch because it had become "silly". They have stated that they would do this when they had no idea how to end a sketch.

** In A.C. Crispin's novelization, instead of sparkle-glow, Elizabeth hacks into the doomsday weapon's countdown sequence, and inserts an infinite loop. This was at least somewhat more justifiable, in that the novel contains earlier scenes in which Elizabeth was ''seen'' demonstrating a knack for mathematical puzzle-solving to go along with her unusally-rapid physical growth. The change to Sparkly Psychic Powers was the due to the usual [[Executive Meddling]], because we all know that [[Viewers are Morons]] and wouldn't be able to get their heads around the idea of a 6-year-old alien star child being able to hack a computer.

** "Charlie X". At the end the Thasians show up and take Charlie away.

** In "Shore Leave", after the Enterprise crew faces innumerable threats to their safety, the Keeper shows up and reveals that the planet is just an amusement park.

** And then there's possibly a third Deus Ex Machina with the whole event that started the war. When humans and Minbari first meet, the humans accidently killed a few Minbari. What are the chances that the first Minbari ship they ever encounter was currently transporting the supreme religious leader and that he would be among those killed by exploding power lines?

* ''[[Medium]]'' had two Deus ex Machinas when Allison was faced with spiritual enemies: {{spoiler|The bad doctor (played by [[Battlestar Galactica|Romo Lampkin]] is finally caught by (presumably) the spirits of his wife and his mother. The [[Knight Templar]] stalker (he thinks psychics interfere with God's plan by catching criminals and saving people) is dragged to hell by the victims (almost two dozen in the space of about a week) of his psychic interference.}}

* ''[[Primeval]]'' had one of these at the end of the most recent series, when a baby raptor just happened to follow Helen and Danny Quinn through an anomaly and then proceeded to leap at Helen, throwing her off a cliff just as she was about to leg it. A real [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Deus Rex Machina]].

** Since the entire series is about creatures randomly wandering through time anomalies, it's not so much of an example. A much better example is the end of the first season: {{spoiler|The monster from the first episode shows up for no reason and eats the monster of the last episode. Completely awesome, but completely out of nowhere. }}

*** Well, seeing as the cast was in the gorgonopsid's ''time period'', it isn't that unusual that a gorgon would come charging down to face an intruder in its territory. In fact, seeing as the {{spoiler|Permian segment of this episode [[Timey-Wimey Ball|takes place before the Permian events of the first]], this could in fact be the same gorgonopsid seen in the very beginning of the series.}}

* An episode of ''[[Lost]]'' titled "Deus Ex Machina" features a literal case when Locke and Boone find a crashed Beechcraft plane filled with Virgin Mary statues (which turn out to be filled with heroin) and a radio. However, this improbable event [[Diabolus Ex Machina|only makes things worse]] ({{spoiler|killing Boone, breaking Locke's faith, and fueling Charlie's drug habit}}). At the end of the episode, another literal case occurs when Locke is banging on and screaming at the metal hatch he and Boone found. A light comes out of the door which renews Locke's faith in the island ({{spoiler|although this later turns out to have been caused by Desmond}}). {{spoiler|Strangely, though, Locke's screaming actually stopped Desmond from committing suicide, so this was a real Deus Ex Machina moment after all}}.

* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' featured several Deus Ex Machinas in the form of the ''Daedalus'' ship.

** Or the ZPM conveniently found in Egypt in the season 1->2 Siege storyline, enabling {{spoiler|the Marines to come to the rescue.}}

** In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'''s fan-special ''200'', this trope (among others) is parodied and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by the characters. The Deus Ex Machina comes in the form of the Asgard beaming the heroes out of danger [[Just in Time]], which happened a few times in the show normal.

* The producers of the Aussie soap ''Return to Eden'' were sort of forced into making one to tie up the loose ends from the final ep's [[Cliff Hanger]] ending, under the belief that they couldn't sell a show like that overseas. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzZsI79jghI Video.]

* In the finale of ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'', [[Big Good|Zordon]] pulls off an [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] suicide bomber attack that kills all the villains, transforms the redeemable ones into [[Human Aliens]] free of the taint of evil magic, and brings the red ranger's dead sister back to life after a few minute delay, neatly tying up all the loose ends of the series.

* ''[[Prison Break]]'' season four opens with Sucre, Bellick, and T-Bag somehow escaped from Sona. T-Bag could actually be explained, but not the other two.

 

* In the [[Music Video]] for Cyndi Lauper's ''"The Goonies 'R' Good Enough"'', [[Andre the Giant]] appears out of nowhere (literally, just a puff of smoke, and there he is) to chase off the bad guys.

 

* Funnily enough, there are many times in Greek Mythology where the gods and goddesses fail to do this all the way through; they may do something which only partly rectifies the situation or has its own shortcomings to it - though that may be due to them being [[Jerkass Gods]].

** Not all instances from classical mythology are subversions, though. For example, at one point Hera offers her aid to the argonauts to get them through. It's the only time in all of antiquity when she was depicted as acting nice, let alone toward heroes. In fact, the entire name of the trope came from the theatrical device used (via a cherry-picker like machine) in ancient Greek plays based on the Greeks' myths.

 

 

* For some DMs, this is going to happen eventually. Whether it be a [[Total Party Kill]] where it shouldn't be, the players making a decision that turns out to be much worse than they could imagine, or other misadventure, a group of players will find themselves in a situation where the only way out is to basically cheat. Some DMs will just rewrite recent events, but for DMs who like to maintain the narrative, this may be the only way out.

** Interestingly, one of the theories behind the Damned Legionnaires' appearance is that they are extensions of the God-Emperor's will. Although he's more like [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Deus IN Machina]]. {{spoiler|[[Don't Explain the Joke|You know, the Golden Throne?]]}}

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]'' and ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' have the [[1-Up|Fate Points]], which will unfailingly pull a character out of certain death and put them in a position where you are safe for the immediate moment. For small stuff a Fate Point will turn a killing blow to a glancing one, cause the enemies to take you prisoner instead of killing you on the spot, or let you dodge that lethal fall pit, but it becomes one of these when, say, you've just been killed by being spaced, caught inside a collapsing mine or building, or by having a [[Cosmic Horror]] biting your head off.

* In ''[[GURPS]]'', a character can buy an Advantage called Serendipity, which allows one extremely fortunate event per game session to take place at the player's discretion. Who knew "Deus Ex Machina" and "Serendipity" rhymed?

** The Gizmos advantage is designed to let players imitate fictional characters like Batman and James Bond, as described above.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' actually has a rule about this, called Hand Of God. When a PC ends up in some sort of [[No One Could Survive That|hopeless situation]], the PC's player can invoke the Hand Of God, having the GM save the PC via some form of Deus Ex Machina. There's a catch, of course: it has a hefty experience-point cost, and it can only be used once per character.

* An actual game mechanic in ''World of Synnibarr'' (really). If your character is on the verge of death with no hope of salvation, you actually get a ''dice roll'' to see if your patron deity turns up to haul your arse out of the fire.

 

** Euripides is actually pretty notorious for this: he did it in ''[[Alcestis]]'' and ''[[Medea]]''. [[Aristotle]] called him on it in ''[[Poetics]]''.

*** And [[Aristophanes]] made him a character in one of his plays who at one point enters the stage with a crane.

*** Compare with the other Orestes, by [[Aeschylus]], the idealist of Greek theater. In his version (the play is called ''[[Eumenides]]''), it is Athena and not Apollo who sets things right in the end, and she calls for a trial. She suggests that the matter should be resolved not by blind obedience to the ancient law, but by having the accused judged for his crime in a court of law. Essentially, she says that human beings have matured enough to dispense justice themselves, without relying on supernatural forces and beliefs, and to vote whether they should punish or absolve, in the spirit of fairness. Moreover, the law should err on the side of compassion: when the jury comes up with a split vote, Orestes is found innocent. So, although technically you still have an actor and a crane at the end, this is NOT a deus ex machina. The goddess appears, but for a reason. Indeed, she drives home the whole point of the play. Aeschylus made a social commentary about crime, punishment and justice, and the goddess is a legitimate storytelling device. While Euripides made an action flick, pushed himself into a corner with a ridiculously convoluted plot, and then had to resort to a deus ex machina, a god who simply barges in and announces that Orestes is innocent for no apparent reason. Happy ending, have a good night. (At the time, that was actually considered modern, since a tragedy's normal ending was a huge bodycount.)

* In the prologue to his ''Amphitryon'', the Roman playwright [[Plautus|Titus Maccius Plautus]] parodied and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this trope somewhat by having the god Mercury explain to the audience that there's a precedent for having the gods be active characters in this play: wasn't it just last year that somebody performed a play on this very stage in which someone in dire straits called on Jupiter and (lo and behold) out popped Jupiter to save the situation?

* Parodied in P.D.Q. Bach's ''The Stoned Guest''. At the end of the opera, [[Kill'Em All|every character is killed or otherwise dies]]. Then, for literally ''no reason at all'', they all spring back to life and sing about how it's a happy ending.

* Parodied in the [[Bertolt Brecht|Brecht]] play ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', where the playwright actually goes to the length of having his characters explain that the play really ends differently... but, for the sake of a happy ending, a royal official enters on horseback to make everything better. The play ends with a comment saying how unlike real life this is.

** Brecht was very fond of parodying - and thwarting - an audience's need for closure and happy endings, as it was part of his theatrical manifesto to leave an audience ''un''satisfied, and thus hopefully motivated to go out into the world and change things for the better.

* This is the case for a good 90% of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] operettas.

*** Or maybe it's when it when they all instantly surrender when ordered to do so in the name of the Queen. The person who announces that they're all {{spoiler|noblemen who have gone wrong}} [[Blatant Lies|doesn't seem to have any way of knowing]].

** cf. ''Trial by Jury'' and ''HMS Pinafore''

**** It's not Ralph it's Reif

* [[Moliere]] tended to lean on this to wrap up many of his comedies. In ''[[Tartuffe]]'' the protagonists are saved in the last act when a police officer shows up out of the blue with an order from the king arresting the villain. The conclusion of ''The School for Wives'' is so bizarrely complicated that we're still not quite sure what happened, but the gist is that the starcrossed lover's respective families show up to let them know that they had arranged their marriage years ahead of time (without either of them knowing it).

{{quote|'''Diabetes''': God is dead.}}

 

* While ''[[Deus Ex]]'', along with the two other games in the series, were ''named'' after the trope, they do not really feature it, though the original game does feature a [[Deus Est Machina]].

** The protagonist of the first game was the dues ex. The beginning of the game is set in a crapsack world where corporations and conspiracies rule the world and it looks like nothing can improve it. Then Denton comes along and everything is changed. Almost no one could have predicted Denton's actions or just how drastically he would change the world around him. Thus to the any normal person looking to change the world Denton would appear to be a Deus Ex Machina. This is made all the more obvious by the fact that Denton is arguable a [[Deus Est Machina]] himself, being one of the worlds first nano-augmented soldiers.

* Possible subversion in the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series; Raiden, Earthrealm's god of thunder and supposed Protector, seems to be in the perfect position to pull this each and every time the baddies go after our home realm (which they do in every game), but due to harsh Prime Directive meddling by his supervisors the Elder Gods, can't get away with it without either giving up his godly status temporarily and/or hiring human proxies to do his work for him...and even then, he's punished severely for his meddling.

* Regal Bryant from ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]''. For the entire game, he runs around wearing shackles, and fights with nothing but kicks. However, at one point late in the game, {{spoiler|everybody is caught and put into a cell. Regal then casually uses his hands and destroys the bars of the cell with a chi blast, a feat that no other character can accomplish... then tells everybody that he'll continue fighting with his feet only.}}

** Justified, as Regal had said he wouldn't take his shackles off until [[Big Bad|Cruxis]] was defeated and that he would never kill with his hands again. Also justified in that he said he was much more powerful fighting with his hands than with his feet.

** The only inclination the player had about that is that {{spoiler|Sonic hadn't shown up yet, despite being the most awaited character in the game.}}

** Slightly justified due to [[Real Life]] circumstances. {{spoiler|Sonic was added to the game very late in the development process, likely when the whole Subspace Emissary story was nearing completion. Of course, the developers had to add him into it ''somewhere.''}}

* ''[[Sonic Rush Series|Sonic Rush Adventure]]'': Following the fight between Super Sonic & Burning Blaze and the Egg Wizard, the mech begins to unleash its ultimate attack, only to be distracted by Marine firing some kind of energy beam from her fist. Up until this point, there was nothing in the story that suggested that she was anything but a normal, if a tad annoying, little girl.

* In ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'', those useless BOBs who would get in your way just to get shredded by aliens save your life after you are captured. TWICE.

* The existence and implications of Deus Ex Machinas is a huge plot point in ''[[Resonance of Fate]]''.

* At the end of ''Ys V'', when the [[Ominous Floating Castle|city of Kefin]] is disintegrating, all the characters manage to escape except for Nina, and she is at first presumed to have been destroyed along with the city. However it is later revealed that the phantom Stoker teleported her out at the last second.

** In the ending of ''Ys: The Ark of Napishtim'', Adol is trapped inside the collapsing [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]] of Napishtim, with no apparent way out, and it seems [[No One Could Survive That]]. Even worse, Napishtim has summoned a Mega Tsunami in a final act of [[Gaia's Vengeance]] {also a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]} to wipe out the "false civilizations" of Eresia. Then the goddess Alma(or some say it's a manifestation of the souls of the Rehda), in the form of a glowing angelic figure, descends from the heavens and casts a [[Beam Spam]] which nullifies the mega-tsunami and the Great Vortex, averting [[The End of the World as We Know It]], and Adol is safely returned to shore.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Mother 3]]'' when Lucas and company fall from an aircraft. Lucas and Boney land in a conveniently-placed pile of hay. Turns out the ghost of Hinawa told Alec to pile hay in the exact spot where they would fall, through a dream. Wess remarks on this dream of Alec's, saying it's "as strange as strange can be".

** Oh, and additionally, Kumatora and Duster just happen to land in places where they are rescued by friendly folk. This part is not lampshaded, or even explained at all.

* The dramatic mood of the scene betrays the fact that the 'Azoth Dagger' from ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' came out of nowhere. The fact that Rin had been brutally assaulted such that there is no way she could have hidden it, makes you wonder about the possible meanings of it's name...

** No so much out of nowhere if you know ''[[Fate/Zero]]''. But yeah, the hiding this is a bit weird, unless she has a pocket large enough to fit a shortsword in her Grade S [[Zettai Ryouiki]] skirt.

* ''[[Mega Man X]] 6'' had a huge ass pull when regarding the return of Zero. Despite being blown up with nothing but an upper body torso left in ''X5'', he appears healthy and alive in ''X6'' with [[Unexplained Recovery|absolutely no explanation of how he survived]]. Though this is easily side stepped by the fact that he is a robot, and robots don't truly die.

** Fortunately, X6 at least acknowledges this. Though Zero claims that he 'hid himself away to repair himself', there's a conversation between Zero and Dr. Light where Zero asks Dr. Light if he knows who it was that repaired him. He doesn't get an answer, but it's still a better explanation than the [[Ass Pull]] one that Zero gives.

** The second example may be somewhat justified, as it's implied that {{spoiler|it was done by [[God|Arceus]]}}

* ''[[Riviera: The Promised Land]]'' has one of those right in the ending, when {{spoiler|the girl you love, having been sacrificed by Hector to bring Seth back, is revived with no further explanation by Ursula.}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]] -Interlude'', after {{spoiler|Rydia}} leaves the party while going up {{spoiler|the tower of Babil}} you are attacked by three robots. After taking some damage they unite into one robot which proceeds to knock you into critical status. {{spoiler|Edge}} comes out of nowhere and helps you saves you by stunning it. {{spoiler|Lampshaded by the fact its name is the Deus Ex Machina.}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', late in the third disc of the game Squall and Rinoa have been set adrift in space, and are rapidly running out of oxygen. Then, out of nowhere, a massive adrift spacecraft known as the Ragnarok floats toward them without warning and they manage to board it. It fortunately has enough oxygen and working systems that they can pilot it back to the planet. Though it does come out of nowhere at first, exactly why the Ragnarok was out there and how it came to its current state is eventually explained.

* In ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', {{spoiler|[[The Bad Guys Win]] (it helps that it was a case of [[Evil Versus Evil]]), and technically speaking, Shibuya should have been destroyed. Why wasn't it? Well, because the one who had planned on destroying it developed a fascination with the protagonist's ass.}} No, really.

** The reason behind ''why' {{spoiler|it wasn't destroyed}} is actually not a Deus ex Machina if you follow what Neku says at the end and possibly {{spoiler|his refusal to shoot Joshua}}. The game gives a perfectly legitimate reason behind why it happened like it did.

* Although not part of the story, Saber in Fate/Extra tells the player character a story that introduces about ''one hundred'' characters, only for them to all be ignored. When asked about what happened to them, she mentions they're all made happy by a Deus ex Machina.

 

* In an apparently unintentional [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] example, Miranda of ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' has taken to calling herself "Deus Ex Momina," being a rather jarring [[Parent Ex Machina]] in what is neither a sitcom nor starred by a teenager. [[Word of God]] states the joke was her terrible delivery of the joke rather than being one of the most [[Meta Guy]] moments the comic's ever had. There are other events where this happens, sometimes even being mentioned by the cast. "[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2004-03-01\]"

* Justified: ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' features a literal Dea Ex Machina who is not a literary Deus Ex Machina in the "[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040519 That Which Redeems]" story arc. The goddess of good has been trapped in the Demon King's refrigerator since the conquest of her world, but as the story had been told within the comic years previously, her appearance was widely predicted by the readers. So when she's freed from the fridge and sets things right, no one's really surprised.

** Also in that unsealing the goddess was a Torg's deliberate goal that he struggled and sacrificed for, whereas a Deus Ex Machina is by definition easy and out of nowhere. This is really more [[Sealed Good in a Can]] (though if it were a can instead of a leaky ziplock, we'd be short several plotlines).

** The end of 'Oceans Unmoving' literally has a god from out of nowhere, or at least his blood relative. While the sudden appearance of the brother of a Time God living in the basement of a timeless dimension is thematically consistent, he really seemed to appear just in time to wrap up the storyline quicker. Bonus points for wrapping the continuity to the beginning of the series though, and explaining Bun-bun's appearance without revealing any mysteries about his past.

*** This is lampshaded, since Uncle Time automatically assumes that Bun-Bun [[Riddle Me This|solved his riddle]], which led him there. Bun-Bun has never even heard of the riddle or Uncle Time, despite all of the lore and myths that the story invokes.

* The plot of ''[[Errant Story]]'' is kicked off when Meji casts a spell to invoke a Deus Ex Machina so she can find a way to complete her senior project and graduate from wizard school. As a result, she accidentally discovers, in the school library, the only surviving copy of a book that contains some information that the elves were trying to keep secret. Oddly, despite the [[Lampshade Hanging|name of the trope being mentioned]], this is ''not'' a normal example of the literary trope, because it serves to drive the plot rather than resolve it.

** Fits to a tee, but not the first time it's happens. So at least the author can claim he didn't ''completely'' [[Ass Pull|pull out from nowhere]].

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' on several occasions. Also lampshaded [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20050319.html here].

** There is [[Wild Mass Guessing]] that it can do that because it has Wish as a spell-like ability. However, almost all creatures with such abilities are Outsiders, which have oddly-colored [[Speech Bubbles]] in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''. The MitD has normal [[Speech Bubbles]].

*** Seeing as different Outsiders have different [[Painting the Medium|speech bubble colors]] and OoTS is [[No Fourth Wall|exactly the sort of series]] that would use [[Medium Awareness]] as a plot point, it's fully possible that MitD is just a kind of creature that uses [[Speech Bubbles]] that are white with black text and outlines.

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0441.html This comic] also features something that is hard to accept at face value (no air turbulence and coincidence). It's deliberately played off under [[Rule of Funny]] so it is excusable, but still tastes like a [[Writer Cop Out]]. Receives [[Lampshading]] [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0504.html here].

* ''[[Bob and George]]'', where rather often various "convenient plot devices" were thrown in (to the point that even the author of the series himself became a regular cast member).

* In ''[[Game Destroyers]]'', Ferahgo is a purposeful example of this, and Jipples has become a minor, though lazy, example of this as well.

* Actually named in ''[[Gone With the Blastwave]]''.

 

* Critics of the ending to ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' v1 tend to claim that the only reason that Adam Dodd won was a series of these. Others who believe that the alternate universe "Afterlife" RP signifies the existence of the supernatural in SOTF claim that the spirits of [[True Companions|his dead friends]] may have been [[The Power of Friendship|protecting him]].

* Averted during the course of [[The Nostalgia Chick|The Dark Nella Saga]] with the jar of mayonaise. While it does allow for teleportation {{spoiler|and resurrection}} it was shown being injected with "a plot device" by Lord [[MacGuffin]] early on in the saga. The only remaining question is how [[Mad Scientist|Dr.]] [[Hot Scientist|Tease]] got the jar in the first place...

 

** This was clearly meant to be a [[Chekhov's Gun]] given Nicodemus' earlier line "Courage of the heart is very rare...The stone has a power when it's there." However, given that the power is never specified, it qualifies as a Deus Ex.

** May be [[Fridge Brilliance]] though; the stone represents all that the rats have been trying to achieve - a higher level of existence and independence, maybe even obtaining supernatural powers (although that may be too far out).

** The stone was given to Mrs. Brisby by Nicodemus. He's got mysticism and uncertain yet mighty power all over the place when he's on screen, even before we fully see him. It would be a shocker if the stone ''wasn't'' profoundly magical in some way that Nicodemus failed to mention.

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[American Dad]]''; just when Stan and his family are about to be stoned to death, George Bush and the army arrive to save them with the line "Democracy has arrived!", throwing an American flag through the judge. Instantly, all of Saudi Arabia becomes some kind of democratic paradise, and Stan gives a line parodying the end of [[It's a Wonderful Life]]. However, none of it mattered in the end, as it was [[All Just a Dream]].

* Spoofed in the [[Christmas Special]] ''[[Olive the Other Reindeer]]'': Olive gets locked in the van of a mean-spirited mailman who wants to ruin Christmas. Her method of escape is contained within a box addressed "To: Olive From: Deus Ex Machina"

* ''[[South Park]]'': Mintberry Crunch of the Superhero arc, full stop.

** Don't forget the ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'' parody episode where all the kids are left stuck on the island at the end and [[James Earl Jones]], in a voiceover narration role, says that they were eventually saved by "...oh, let's say, Moe".

** [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'', where Maggie shows up to defeat the villain completely out of nowhere.

* The ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' TV series [[Lampshade Hanging|hung an enormous lantern]] in the form of a [[Parental Bonus]]: One episode involved the hunt for the "Orb of Machina", a [[MacGuffin]] intended to cure Genie's cold.

* At the end of the ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' episode "A Prime Problem", Megatron throws Spike out of his rocket, but then Powerglide shows up out of nowhere and saves him. It could be assumed that he was there all along and simply hadn't appeared on screen, except for the fact that before this episode, all but two of the Autobots had had land-based altmodes.

** Later, in ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce]]'', The Autobots are revealed to be equipped with non-lethal knockout gas just as Decepticon zombies attack Rome.

* ''[[The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie]]'' writes itself into a corner that can only be rectified by a wonderfully ridiculous parody of [[Twisted Sister]]'s I Wanna Rock. The villain's plans are undone by the explosive [[The Power of Rock|power of rock]] music. Once the smoke clears, SpongeBob is left dangling on the end of a rope suspended above the stage in a neat reference to the literal Greek tragedy deus ex machina.

** It's a bit of a subversion because in "The Library" Sokka observes [[Chekhov's Gun|a picture of a Lion Turtle]].

* ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'': Lumpus is riding atop his walking lawnchair the elves built him (don't ask). He has Santa, who is armed with naught but a tetherball, down on the ground (''don't'' ask). Slinkman and the kids have failed in rescuing the jolly old elf and are lying in a heap. This looks like the end...'til Lumpus is hit by a meteor. There ''was'' mention of a meteor shower at the very beginning, but still.

** Perry and Doof in "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted".

* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' loved doing this.

*** They at least [[Lampshade Hanging]] it this time.

'''Cyborg''': I'm sure it was a one-time deal. }}

**** And they explain the mechanic fine (Blood was trying so hard to use his [[Psychic Powers]] to control Cyborg's mind that he accidentally allowed Cyborg to access them). The problem was, they explained this ''after the fact'', with no indication beforehand that something like this was possible or that Blood had anything but complete control over his powers. This is especially jarring precisely because it ''wouldn't have taken much foreshadowing to establish the mechanic beforehand''. Sigh.

'''Rhinox''': ''History's still being made!'' }}

** Actually, it's not a Deus Ex Machina. If you watch the of Optimal Situation, you can see the Maximals constructing an outpost inside of Mt St. Hillary out of scrap metal, but their only use of the Ark is piggybacking on its power systems. [[Fridge Brilliance|Presumably,]] [[Butterfly of Doom|they didn't want to screw with history anymore than they absolutely had to.]]

* ''[[Winx Club]]'': In the tenth episode of season 2, Bloom discovers her healing powers when she brings Sky back from the dead.

{{quote|'''Buster:''' I was wondering how our hack writers would get us out of this one.}}

* Several ''[[Earthworm Jim (animation)|Earthworm Jim]]'' episodes ended with very blatant examples, all operating under [[Rule of Funny]]. An example is when Evil the cat unleashed a [[Monster Clown]] [[Cosmic Horror]] that was unstoppable. Jim calls an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]], who demands the [[Cosmic Horror]] obtains a license to destroy the universe, the stacked-up application form for which extends above the atmosphere. Which must be filled in in triplicate of course. This is discounting the many times were the bad guy is beaten, somehow gets back into power in the last few seconds, then gets hit by the [[Running Gag|falling cow.]]

** Before [[Cerebus Syndrome]], an episode about Hexadecimal changing all of Mainframe [[Taken for Granite|to stone]] concluded with Hex deciding she was bored and snapping her fingers to de-petrify everyone. Admittedly, it took a little [[Talking the Monster to Death|prompting]] from Bob. And it is [[Mad God|Hexadecimal]]...

*** This one is excusable. Hexadecimal's main purpose is to spread chaos, and while the Medusa bug was causing chaos at first, the end result was order. Bob merely pointed this out to Hexadecimal and that was enough to make her delete the bug.

* The ending of the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Lois Kills Stewie". No, before we find it out it was a [[All Just a Dream|simulation]]. When Stewie is about to shoot Lois, she is saved when he is shot by Peter... who was last seen on the couch at home.

* Many of [[Doug]]'s problems were solved in this way. Some examples include being able to wear a mask at the party to cover a pimple because it's a costume party and his video that he doesn't want Patti to see actually going to Mr. Bone.

* ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' has an episode titled [[Invoked Trope|Deus Ex Machina]]. In it the B plot of Miko caught by a security guard is wrapped up by Agent Fowler suddenly showing up to solve the problem. Miko even [[Lampshade Hanging|explains how the trope works]] just before Fowler shows up to execute it.

** It should be noted that the episode is based on a comic book arc by John Byrne, and it makes much more sense in the original.

{{quote|'''Norbert''': Where in the name of Deus Ex Machina did that T-REX come from?!}}

** {{spoiler|As it turns out, [[What an Idiot!|Dagget happened to bring home the T-rex from an amusement park prior to the Killer Whale,]] [[Here We Go Again|and are promptly chased by a new more vicious predator]].}}

 

* The ''shinpu'' (in English, "Divine Wind", also known as "kamikaze") were a set of typhoons in the years 1274 and 1281 which prevented Mongol invasions of Japan.

** Note: Typhoons in that area only happen once in a thousand years.

** The Russian term for it is General Winter. He defeats a lot of enemies.

* The "Protestant Wind" is a name used for two extremely unlikely yet valid incidents. One is the storm which wrecked the Spanish Armada in 1588, saving England from a Spanish invasion (Spain being a Catholic country, hence "Protestant Wind"). The other is the bizarre wind patterns that allowed William III of Orange to ''successfully'' invade England and depose King James II in the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. (James II was a Catholic, which his subjects did not like, and William was a Protestant. Again, "Protestant Wind".)

* [http://www.cracked.com/article_18894_6-real-historic-battles-decided-by-divine-intervention.html Deus Ex Machina] basically gave America the win for quite a few battles in some pretty important wars.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]

[[Category:Consistency]]

[[Category:Ending Tropes]]

[[Category:Plot Twist]]

[[Category:Suspiciously Convenient Index]]

[[Category:Writer Cop Out]]