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Eureka Moment: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
In every [[Locked Room Mystery]], the detective can't solve the crime just by examining the relevant evidence. They always need some external inspiration (apparently) completely unrelated to everything, something along the lines of:
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Has no relation to [[Eureka|a small town full of scientists]]. Or [[Eureka Seven|mecha with surfboards]].
[[Sub-Trope]] of [[Epiphany (trope)|Epiphany]]. Compare [[Shaggy Search Technique]] and [[You Were Trying Too Hard]]. See [[Placebo Eureka Moment]] for when there wasn't any external inspiration, but they act like there was.
{{examples}}
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* In ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' (the visual novel), Hakuoro studies a strand of Mutikapa's fur in frustration, unable to explain why the creature fled the previous night when it had him and Eruruw in its grasp. Unable, that is, until Aruruw drenches him and the fur in tea and this trope ensues.
* Arguably the entire point of ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'', but applied to making bread. For example, one of these moments leads to the creation of Kazuma's "sushi-style" melon bread.
* In ''Magic Kaito'', another work by author Gosho Aoyama (author of the aforementioned ''[[Detective Conan]]''), Kaito figures out how an old, poor magician got a parliamentary pen after a kidnapper claiming to be the Kaitou Kid took the Prime Minister after Aoko tells him the key to beating the [[The Dragon|boss]] of their video game is to defeat the [[Big Bad|king]] controlling him first.
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'': Ash Ketchum has one of these in pretty much every Gym battle to turn it around (granted, his epiphanies don't [[Screw the Rules I Have Plot|always]] [[Ass Pull|make]] the [[You Fail Physics Forever|most]] [[MST3K Mantra|sense]]). If you see him panicking because his opponent is pulling some kind of unbeatable schtick, then snap his head up with a thousand-yard stare and say "wait, that's it!", chances are someone's about to get their ass beat.
** Sometimes his companions do it too. May and Dawn get a few of these during their contest battles.
* Togusa gets two of these moments, early in the first season of ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', and in both of them, he's in a bathroom, looking at the mirror. In the second, the mirror is crucial: He realizes that, from the batch of pictures he's examining, all of them show a mirror or other reflective surface, but {{spoiler|the camera}} isn't visible in any of them.
* Occurs in ''[[Patlabor
** Shinohara actually gets two of these in the film. The second comes when they learn that the evil genius who created the program had a plan to make all the robots in Tokyo to go crazy at once
* Naru has these regularly in ''[[Ghost Hunt]]'', usually due to an offhand comment from Mai.
* Happens to Misawa in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' as a way to break himself out of the resident cult's [[More Than Mind Control]]. It's also a [[Shout-Out]] to Archimedes' original eureka moment, so keep the [[Brain Bleach]] handy. (The dub edited in a pair of underpants.)
* Happens twice in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', within the same scene. When trying to decipher a code {{spoiler|from Scar's brother's notes, the group takes a break to reassemble Al who is in 'pieces', like a puzzle. May rips the bindings of the notes and with Scar and Marcoh's help reassemble it to see the nationwide transmutation circle (which Ed and Al figured out beforehand). When trying to think there was a silver lining in this, Yoki sneezes and causes the papers to shift. They're annoyed that the papers have been 'flipped over', and Al comes to his realization that the papers needed to be turned over to see the other half of the hidden message: a ''second'' transmutation circle [[Chekhov's Gun|which can be used to reverse the effects of the first.]]}}
== Comic Books ==
* [[Batman]]'s Eureka Moment from way, way back in ''[[The Golden Age of Comic Books|
{{quote|'''Bruce Wayne:''' Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible...
(Window blows open, and a certain species winged mammal flies in.)
'''Bruce:''' ''A BAT!'' }}
* Evil characters also can have this, as ''[[Iznogoud]]'' proves:
{{quote|Iznogoud: Do you have an idea how I could get rid of the Caliph, Wa'at Alaaf?
Wa'at Alaaf: Sir, I'd rather feed my tongue to a cat!
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== Film ==
* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', <s>Hedy</s> Hedley Lamarr's evil plans all come as a result of these.
* ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]'': Ryan, mulling over how Capt. Ramius could manage to get the rest of his crew off the sub as part of his plan to defect.
{{quote|"We don't have to figure out how to get the crew off the sub. He's already done that, he would have had to. All we gotta do is figure out what he's gonna do. So how's he gonna get the crew off the sub? They have to want to get off. How do you get a crew to want to get off a submarine? How do you get a crew to want to get off a ''nuclear'' sub..."}}
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* ''[[Dogma]]'' has one of these near the end; Jay tells Bethany (while trying to get it on, because the world's about to end) about a boardwalk he once took a girl to on a date. Bethany, after learning that the boardwalk has Skeeball, realizes that "John Doe Jersey," of whom her minister was sermonizing about earlier, is God, trapped in a comatose mortal body.
** Hey, Jay was a prophet (or is that profit?), after all.
* ''[[L: Change the World]]'' has one character hiding clues in math problems. L figures out the solution when accidentally given a clue.
* ''[[In the Line of Fire]]'': Clint Eastwood's character figures out the meaning of a word with seven letters after a chance remark by a character played by Joshua Malina.
* ''[[Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus]]''. After having sex the two [[Hot Scientist]]s realize pheromones are the key. To capturing the monsters, that is.
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** What's more, {{spoiler|the shop clerk who triggered the Eureka Moment is one of the killers herself. [[I Never Said It Was Poison|Oops]].}}
* ''[[Major League]]'': The Indians' manager is about to send hopelessly wild pitcher Ricky Vaughn back to the minor leagues. During their conversation, the manager off-handedly mentions another pitcher who went down to the minors and had a successful career. Vaughn squints in the pitcher's direction, and the manager realizes all his problems are related to poor vision.
* In ''[[K-9]]'' Dooley is growing frustrated with a case he's working. His girlfriend Tracy told him that he needed to relax, and the answer would come to him. Not much later, things are getting romantic between the two, when lo and behold, Dooley has an [[Epiphany (trope)|epiphany]] and must rush out the door with his four-legged sidekick.
* In ''[[Tangled]]'', when Rapunzel and Flynn are trapped in a dark cave filling rapidly with water and need light to see by, this exchange occurs:
{{quote|'''Flynn''': My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. I figured someone should know.
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== Literature ==
* Miranda has one at the end of
{{quote|I am jumping up and down because at the very moment Dick Clark said the word "Go," it was like an invisible hand reached out and snatched away my veil. And for almost a minute, I understood everything. When that veil isn't hanging down right in front of a person's face, a minute is long enough to realize a lot of things.}}
* [[Agatha Christie]] loved doing this in the
* Every ''Cat Who...'' novel by Lillian Jackson Braun features Koko the Siamese doing something odd which eventually leads to Qwilleran having a Eureka Moment. How plausible Koko's behavior is, either taken at face value or with the strong hint he's ''trying'' to give clues, varies considerably.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams'': While Bernie Rhodenbarr is talking with a friend, she mentions the ''Cat Who...'' series, when his cat suddenly launches into strange behavior and Bernie solves the crime. {{spoiler|Subverted, in that he'd already solved the crime, but didn't care about revealing the result. When the cat acted, as if on cue, he decided to play along.}}
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* In ''[[American Gods]]'', this is how Shadow figures out where a {{spoiler|small-town serial killer has been hiding his victims' bodies,}} acting on a comment from a god who knew what was going on, and was trying to clue him onto it.
* This is nearly Elijah Baley's entire ''modus operandi'' in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''Robot'' novels. The third and final book in the series even barely gets away with justifying it.
** In ''[[The Caves of Steel]]'',
** Asimov also wrote an essay about how this sort of thought process works called "the Eureka effect". It's even made it into a few high school literature books.
* An extremely complicated version of this trope is pretty much the premise of ''Chasing Vermeer''.
* [[Timothy Zahn]] likes this trope. Or, more accurately, this trope fits his style. Many of Zahn's original works are [[First-Person Smartass]], and the settings are similar to Hitchcock-style suspense/intrigue mysteries, so there's guaranteed to be one when the protagonist finally puts the pieces together. (Though the reader, unless he figures it out too—which is sometimes possible and sometimes not—won't know until [[The Summation]].) Some examples:
** ''[[The Icarus Hunt]]'' has at least two: One when a comment makes the protagonist realize another person's murder was connected with something completely different than he'd been assuming; another when a different comment triggers a flashback. [[The Summation]] indicates he may have had another couple more along the way that the audience wasn't even privy to.
** The ''[[Quadrail Series]]'' tends to have one per book, minimum; most notably, the moment in ''Night Train to Rigel'' when Compton figures out how the FTL trains work.
** This even shows up in his ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' work, though those get more promptly revealed to the reader: in ''[[Outbound Flight|Survivor's Quest]]'', a random comment by Luke triggers a flashback for Mara, in which she recognizes a major inconsistency in some of their companions' back story.
** And finally, one for Leia in ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy|The Last Command]]''. Talon Karrde mentions how he was a ''Chimaera'' prisoner, and for Leia, "suddenly, all the pieces had fallen into place...and the picture they formed was one of potential disaster."
* Aside from the few times they recognize the answer instantly, the characters in ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' seem to rely solely on this trope to solve all the various puzzles and sub-puzzles. For the last puzzle before the book's climax, we don't actually get to see the main character work out the answer.
* [[Nero Wolfe]] does this quite a bit. He's got all the pieces, but can't make them fit together, Archie (or one of the suspects) says something that causes him to look at one particular thing in a different way, and everything falls into place. He will often admit to Archie when it was something that he said or did; if it was someone else, he saves the information for the [[The Summation|Parlor Scene.]] Both Archie and the reader know one has just occurred when Nero starts doing his "lip exercises".
* Subverted, while lampshading the subversion, in Mil Millington's
* In ''
* In ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]'', near the climax of the third novel, [[Magical Native American|Binabik the troll]] has a classic Eureka Moment during his party's escape from the [[The Fair Folk|Norns]] beneath Asu'a, as a result of an offhand comment from the dwarrows who are aiding them. Unconventionally, this leads not to the solution to the plot but the [[Oh Crap|horrifying realization]] that the heroes have been doing the [[Big Bad]]'s bidding the entire time.
* In the grand tradition of mystery novels, happens frequently in [[Ngaio Marsh]]'s ''Inspector Alleyn'' series. An interesting departure is that the Eureka moment for Alleyn usually occurs near the middle of the book, with the reader catching up as more evidence is gathered.
* Subverted in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Feet of Clay|Feet of Clay]]'' where Vimes specifically warns against this.
** Played straight at the end of the book, when remarks of [[The Ditz|Detritus and Fred Colon]] make Vimes realize the [[Big Bad]] had been rubbing the hints of his plot in Vimes' face, assuming Vimes wouldn't get them.
** Lampshaded in that "eureka" is a Ephebian word meaning "Bring me a towel".
* In [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]'s ''Whose Body?'', [[Lord Peter Wimsey]]'s moment of revelation is explicitly compared to staring at jumbled letters until they formed a word of their own inclination.
▲* In ''[[The Caves of Steel]]'', Lije Bailey figures out the murder mystery when his partner casually brings up {{spoiler|Enderby's glasses. All pieces of the puzzle then come together: Lije realizes that Enderby (who was earlier established to be psychologically incapable of killing a human) accidentally murdered a person, instead of destroying their robotic lookalike, because he couldn't see clearly when his glasses shattered}}.
* In ''[[Remote Man]]'', Ned comes up with his plan to bring down Laana's smuggling operation when he's browsing in a dime store. He picks up a pin cushion that he discovers has a music box inside playing a familiar tune: ''The Entertainer.'' This brings back memories of watching ''[[The Sting]]'' with his father, which in turn sparks his plan, which is to invent a person, a rich businessman with his own fabricated website, to be a client of Laana.
** Earlier, Ned overhears a conversation mentioning "an anchorman in Kingston". When he later learns that Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, he realises that what he heard was "a nanka-man", nanka being a local term for the Jamaican Boa.
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== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The Dutch Detective show ''[[Baantjer]]'' featured, in ''each and every episode'', a Eureka moment when the protagonists were in their usual bar, when the barman makes an offhand remark. The Euraka moment always looks and sounds the same too. Eventually Lampshaded, when the barman asks if he doesn't deserve be put on the police payroll.
* ''[[Jonathan Creek]]'' actually used this so much that at one stage another character [[Genre Savvy|actually ''anticipated'']] that a totally random object would trigger a Eureka Moment in Jonathan, and so caused a distraction.
* Hong Kong prime time dramas seems to love this trope. Case in point, the period drama ''Song Shijie'', where the eponymous character is a court lawyer who seems to be surrounded by people and incidents that randomly give him pivotal clues.
* In ''[[Angel]]'' this is lampshaded when Angel announces that they're waiting for Wesley's Eureka Moment - at which point Wesley promptly shouts "Eureka!"
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* In the pilot episode of ''[[Bones]]'', Brennan is sitting down to have a drink and discussing a book written by the episode's original patsy, when they come across the patron saint of fish, and Brennan realizes who the real baddie was, based on the fact that he kept tropical fish tanks that used a certain type of diatomaceous earth, and runs off to take him down by herself.
* This trope was regularly parodied in the 1960s [[Batman (TV series)|Batman]] TV show. "That's it, Robin! The man in the grey suit was whistling 'The Star-Spangled Banner' BACKWARDS! The Joker's lair must be in the old fireworks factory! [[To the Bat Noun|To the Batmobile]]!"
* The title character of ''[[Castle]]''
** Castle and Beckett will often have these moments simultaneously (or near simultaneously) in order to demonstrate how they click (in [[UST|more ways than one]]). For one example, Beckett was writing something on [[The Big Board]] when she suddenly had a brainwave... and Castle at the exact same time ran in from the elevator, having obviously had the exact same brainwave.
* Happens with astonishing regularity in ''[[The Closer]]''. Brenda has them all the time... in fact, she had one when she was at her father's hospital bed, and another when she was trying on her wedding gown.
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** Josh and Donna had a few of these over the series. Another one concerned judicial nominees after the death of a Supreme Court Justice, and the declining health of the Chief Justice. Although all the characters were unhappy that they couldn't get the nominees they wanted confirmed, it wasn't until Donna told Josh the story of how her parents got their cats (they went to an animal shelter, and they couldn't decide between two, so they got both) that he has the idea of letting the Republicans name whoever they want for the open seat, if they will accept the Democratic nominee for Chief Justice.
* Spoofed in ''[[Garth Marenghi's Darkplace]]'' ("The Apes of Wrath") when people start devolving into monkeys due to contaminated water. The hero suddenly puts all the pieces together (the fact that his friends turned into monkeys after drinking a cup of water, the only two people who haven't turned into monkeys aren't drinking the water, and that the water's a sickly green color) and concludes... that he's thirsty.
*
* On ''[[Good Eats]]'', Alton was agonizing on what to do for an avocado-themed episode (while his assistants are suggesting varieties of guacamole) when one rolls into a sink full of water. He shouts "Eureka!" when he sees that the avocado floats.
* ''[[Ultraman Mebius]]'' has such a moment in episode 34, when watching Ryuu light a campfire by twirling a stick on a piece of wood allows him to develop the [[Everything's Better with Spinning|drill kick]] technique he uses to defeat the [[Kaiju]] [[Monster of the Week|Of The Week]]
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{{quote|'''Murdoch''': I wasn't aware I had resigned myself to anything, Miss Ogden. But you have given me some insight into this case.
'''Ruby Ogden''': I have? I didn't intend to. }}
* Classic example, from ''[[
{{quote|'''Hawkeye''': A-ha! He whistles ''louder''...
'''All''': ...When he's ''bluffing''! }}
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* In the ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' episode "Five of a Kind", T.J.'s watching video footage of the Rangers' last fight against the [[Psycho Rangers]] (who the Rangers have struggled badly against up to this point, as each Psycho copies their individual fighting style) when the color disappears from the video. The monochrome footage gives him the idea to disguise the entire team in the same color uniform, so the Psychos won't know who is who.
* Frequently used in ''[[Columbo]]'' where the detective would see something that would ''inspire'' him and would only be revealed at the end, once that critical detail had been used to lure the killer into revealing their crime unwittingly.
* ''[[Married... with Children
* ''[[The Finder]]'' has Walter Sherman having these in the middle of a [[Dream Sequence]].
* Parodied on ''[[The Goodies]]''.
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'''Tim:''' Why, what do you mean?
'''Graeme:''' ...I dunno, I shall have to think. }}
* This is also a [[Once an Episode]] occurrence on the 1975-6 ''[[Ellery Queen]]'' TV series. In the final act Ellery will be in some mundane activity, usually with his police Inspector father, say "Of course!" and [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|break the fourth wall]] to outline the evidence and then ask the audience if they've solved the mystery.
== Newspaper Comics ==
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''(Notices Linus with his blanket)''
'''Lucy:''' THAT'S IT!}}
** She then proceeds to conduct a study [[Security Blanket|
== Radio ==
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** This trope is probably why the Edgeworth-based spin-off game makes his [[Catch Phrase]] "Eureka!" (Though quite a few fans thought this was a little [[Narm]]-y.) He actually does get one in AAI case 2, when {{spoiler|1=Zinc LeBlanc falls over the railing in the plane's cargo bay}}.
** At several points in AAI Edgeworth will hit a brick wall with his confrontations, but then the player is reminded of past innocuous scraps of conversation, then links together half a dozen or so pieces of logic, which leads to a whole new perspective on the case. Sufficiently awesome music starts up to accompany this.
* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' - The clues start coming together in the last act for the characters (and, by extension, the player) this way.
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed]] II'', Ezio and an ally are trying to figure out how to get into the Doge's palace to prevent an assassination plot. The friend remarks that the walls are so high, "only a bird could get over them". Ezio hears this and mutters "A bird... yes...", then runs off to ask [[Leonardo da Vinci]] about that flying machine of his...
* In ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'', {{spoiler|Junpei looks at Snake's dead body, whilst searching the Shower room for Clover, and notices his left arm's bone: the real Snake's left arm was in fact prosthetic. Snake was thus alive, and Junpei slowly realizes who did it.}}
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* [http://xkcd.com/712/ This] ''[[xkcd]]'' comic.
* Revolver Ocelot experiences one in ''[http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=111 this]'' ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound|Last Days of Foxhound]]'' strip. Of course, he is {{spoiler|just [[Obfuscating Stupidity|playing dumb]] in order to be able to manipulate Solidus later.}}
* ''[[Wapsi Square]]'': [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/stalling/ Amanda you're a friggen genius!]
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', John figures out how to use the Alchemiter as a [[Merging Machine]] after reading about a card trick.
* In ''[[Ensign Sue Must Die]]'', Spock has [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725144219/http://www.interrobangstudios.com/potluck/index.php?strip_id=1048 one.] Spock Prime's reaction simply rubs the salt in the wound.
* Dimentio has one in ''[[L's
== [[Web Original]] ==
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'''Alfred:''' Imagine if I'd gotten around to telling him about the salad.}}
* ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'': "...Set it off... now? Yes! That's it! We'll set the trap off ''now!''"
* ''[[A Bug's
{{quote|'''Princess Atta:''' I mean, even Hopper's afraid of birds--
'''Flick:''' Haha, yeah, I -- say that again? }}
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** In one flashback episode, several people congratulated Homer because Marge had become pregnant (with Maggie). Homer, himself unaware of the pregnancy, misinterpreted these comments (even the ridiculously direct ones) as regarding his new job. Then one character congratulates him on the new job, prompting Homer to respond, "New job? MARGE IS PREGNANT!?" That's "ridiculously direct", as in "Hey, Homer, way to get Marge pregnant!" "This is getting increasingly abstract, but yes, I do enjoy working at the bowling alley"
** When the family is trying to figure out a way to keep Apu from being deported, Abe mentions he could try living in a balloon. Lisa exclaims "That's it!", leading Bart to declare that she's as dumb as him. She explains that she connects him being a grandfather with grandfather clause, with his statement being irrelevant.
* ''[[Captain Flamingo]]'' runs on this trope. Every use of the eponymous character's "Bird Brain" is either this, or a full-on [[I Was Just Joking]], depending on [[Rule of Funny|which would be funnier.]] Either way, it's played for laughs, as the ideas he gets are usually ridiculous... but always manage to work.
* According to ''[[Animaniacs]]'', Albert Einstein conceived his famous mass/energy equivalence formula (you know, E=mc^2) while watching Wakko writing "Acme" backwards (his "a" looked like a "2"). In a similar episode, the Warners were cleaning Beethoven's chimney (badly, of course) and humming an obnoxious tune that went a little something like "Hm hm hm hmmmmmmmm". As they're leaving, ol' Ludwig finally has the inspiration for his Fifth Symphony. The next house on the Warners' route is "that Van Gogh grouch again", and Wakko picks a sunflower to help cheer him up.
* In an episode of ''[[The Raccoons]]'', Cyril is accused of stealing a gem during a blackout. Bert is trying to solve the crime but is stumped until he sees Cedric drop his [[Nerd Glasses]] in the river. It's then that he realizes that the gem was not stolen but knocked in an aquarium, and was rendered invisible by water refraction, same as Cedric's lenses.
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*** Parodied by Discworld, by suggesting that DNA might have been faster but only licensed to carry 14 people, if he'd been looking at an elevator during the Eureka moment.
* [[Isaac Asimov]] has a famous quotation where he points out that, [[Averted Trope|despite the example of Archimedes]], great scientific discoveries are usually not heralded by "Eureka!" but instead with "Huh. That's strange..."
* Gauss once wrote in his diary "EYPHKA! num = Δ + Δ + Δ," thinking he'd proven Fermat's famously unproven polygonal number conjecture (yes, that's right, [[
* According to Cognitive Psychology, when it comes to problem solving those "Eureka Moments" are actually called insights which are deep, useful understandings of the nature of a problem. However, compared to the typical slow approach to a problem solution, insights often occur abruptly and almost without warning. Tasks that involve insight usually require something new and non-obvious to be done and in most cases they are difficult enough to predict that the initial solution attempt will be unsuccessful. This can lead to the so called "AHA-experience" where the solution pops up all of a sudden.
* [[Merv Griffin]] came up with the name of his popular quiz show format ''[[Jeopardy!]]'' after a network exec told him that the show, piloted under the name ''That's the Question'', needed "more jeopardies".
* An Eureka Moment is what inspired [[J. K. Rowling]] to write the entire ''[[Harry Potter]]'' saga.{{context}} <!-- MOD: What kind of eureka moment, about what? -->
{{reflist}}
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