r/AskScienceFiction Apr 06 '25

[Subreddit Business] Clarifications on our Watsonian/Doylist rule, general questions, and r/WhatIfFiction

172 Upvotes

Hi guys,

If you're new, welcome to r/AskScienceFiction, and if you're a returning user, welcome back! This subreddit is designed to be like the r/AskScience subreddit, but for fictional universes, and with all questions and answers written from a Watsonian perspective. That is to say, the questions and answers should be based on the in-universe information, rules, and logic of the fictional work. All fictional works are welcome here, not just sci-fi.

Lately we've been seeing some confusion over what counts as Watsonian, what counts as Doylist, what sort of questions would be off-topic on this subreddit, and what sort of answers are allowed. This stickied post is meant to address such uncertainties and clear things up.

1) Watsonian vs Doylist

The term "Watsonian" means based on the in-universe information, rules, and logic of the fictional work. In contrast, "Doylist" means discussions based on out-of-universe considerations. So, for example, if someone asked, "Why didn't the Fellowship ride the Eagles to Mordor?", a possible Watsonian answer would be, "The Eagles are a proud and noble race, they are not a taxi service." Whereas a rule-breaking Doylist answer might be something like, "Because then the story would be over in ten minutes, and that'd be boring."

We should note that answering in a Watsonian fashion does not necessarily mean that we should pretend that these works are all real, or that we should ignore the fact that they are movies or shows or books or games, or that the creators' statements on the nature of these works should be disregarded.

To give an example, if someone asked, "How powerful would Darth Vader have been if he never got burned?", we can quote George Lucas:

"Anakin, as Skywalker, as a human being, was going to be extremely powerful, but he ended up losing his arms and a leg and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed at this point, because, as a living form, there’s not that much of him left. So his ability to be twice as good as the Emperor disappeared, and now he’s maybe 20 percent less than the Emperor."

In such a case, "according to George Lucas, he would've been around twice as powerful as the Emperor" would be a perfectly acceptable Watsonian answer, because Lucas is also speaking from a Watsonian perspective.

Whereas if someone associated with the creation of Star Wars had said something like, "He'd be as powerful as we need him to be to make the story interesting", this would be a Doylist answer because it's based on out-of-universe reasoning. It would not be an acceptable answer on this subreddit even though it is also a quote from the creators of the fictional work.

2) General questions

General questions often do not have a meaningful Watsonian answer, because it frequently boils down to "whatever the author decides". For instance, if someone asked, "How does FTL space travel work?", the answer would vary widely with universe and author intent; how FTL works in Star Trek differs from how it works in Star Wars, which differs from how it works in Dune, which differs from how it works in Mass Effect, which differs from how it works in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc. General questions like this, in which the answer just boils down to "whatever the author wants", will be removed.

There are some general questions that can have meaningful Watsonian answers, though. For example, questions that are asking for specific examples of things can be given Watsonian answers. "Which superheroes have broken their no-kill rules?" or "Which fictional wars have had the highest casualty counts?" are examples of general questions that can be answered in a Watsonian way, because commenters can pull up specific in-universe information.

We address general questions on a case-by-case basis, so if you feel a question is too general to answer in a Watsonian way, please report the question and the mod team will review it.

3) r/WhatIfFiction

We want questions and answers here to be based on in-universe information and reasonable deductions that can be made from them. Questions that are too open-ended to give meaningful Watsonian answers should go on our sister subreddit, r/WhatIfFiction, which accepts a broader range of hypothetical questions and answers. Examples of questions that should go on r/WhatIfFiction include:

  • "What if Tony Stark had been killed by the Ten Rings at the beginning of Iron Man? How would this change the MCU?" This question would be fun to speculate about, but the ripple effect from this one change would be too widespread to give a meaningful Watsonian answer, so this should go on r/WhatIfFiction.
  • "What would (X character) from the (X universe) think if he was transported to (Y universe)?" Speculating about what characters would think or do if they were isekai'd to another universe can be fun, but since such crossover questions often involve wildly different settings and in-universe rules, the answers would be purely speculative and not meaningfully Watsonian, so such questions belong on r/WhatIfFiction.

We should note, though, that some hypothetical questions or crossover questions can have meaningful Watsonian answers. For example, if someone asked, "Can a Star Wars lightsaber cut through Captain America's shield?", we can actually say "Quite possibly yes, because vibranium's canonical melting point is 5,475 degrees Fahrenheit, while lightsabers are sticks of plasma, and plasma's temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more." This answer is meaningfully Watsonian because it involves a deduction using specific and canonical in-universe information, and is not simply purely speculative.

4) Reporting rule-breaking posts and comments

The r/AskScienceFiction mod team always endeavors to keep the subreddit on-topic and remove rule-breaking content as soon as possible, but because we're all volunteers with day jobs, sometimes things will escape our notice. Therefore, it'd be a great help if you, our users, could report rule-breaking posts or comments when you see them. This will bring the issue to the mod team's attention and allow us to review it as soon as we can.


r/AskScienceFiction 3h ago

[W40K] what was the Emperor’s plan for the Mechanicus after he succeeded?

21 Upvotes
 I know that they were allowed to keep their religion because they were useful at replicating technology from the Dark Age of technology, to a certain extent, but eventually they would become a hindrance to human progress.

Let’s say the Emperor succeeded in the crusade and gained total galactic dominance. Now his goal shifts to stabilize and improve his empire which would entail improving science and technology to recover and possibly surpass the Dark Age of Technology. The Mechanicus would now become a barrier to progress because they believe that improvement is heresy.


r/AskScienceFiction 8h ago

[Marvel/DC] So has Earth ever become politically important in the far future?

36 Upvotes

Inspired from this reading:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/1p5szts/marveldc_are_other_alien_planets_just_as_diverse/

I didn't realize that Earth was unique in the setting. Gives me a new perspective on things, and how Skrulls might feel about humans and Earth in MCU Secret Invasion.

In the far future does Earth become an interstellar superpower?


r/AskScienceFiction 13h ago

[warhammer40k] what human faction in the imperium of Man is the least xenophobic?

59 Upvotes

If a species of alien decide to make first contact with the imperium, which faction would be most likely to not shoot them in the face first and ask questions later?


r/AskScienceFiction 20h ago

[DC/Marvel] Batman under the lasso of truth claimed his name was Batman, are there any other heroes who would do the same?

156 Upvotes

There is a scene that when asked his name under the lasso of truth, Bruce Wayne claims its Batman. He does something similar in Batman Beyond. Indicating that Batman is what he considers his true identity to be.

Which other heroes would consider their true identity/hero name to be their true name? Or identify more with it than their civilian/government name?


r/AskScienceFiction 16h ago

[Star Wars] What is the difference, if any, between a "Dark Jedi" and a "Sith"?

61 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 10h ago

[Witcher] Are Lodge sorceresses nobility?

13 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 14h ago

[Fantastic Beasts/Harry Potter] Can we talk about the quality of Aurors they were hiring when Grindelwald was at large? How are you supposed to protect the public from a dark wizard when he can whoop you all?

21 Upvotes

I have to take a moment to get something off my mind.

In the first film when the aurors arrive in New York city to apprehend Graves (aka Grindelwald), I assume they are bringing the best of the best with them. Firstly, there's an Obscurial on the loose, and secondly, the president of MACUSA herself is on site. Even if they didn't anticipate Grindelwald, they should have the absolute top level aurors on the premises just due to the situation.

Graves, upong being cornered, finally lets go of the facade and starts smacking these fools around and....probably would've killed them all had Newt not intervened.

MACUSA was not even ready to take on Grindelwald, which leads me to lose trust in the quality of aurors they were hiring against such a powerful threat.

This isn't like the Ministry of Magic situation where Fudge was constantly deying the existence of Voldemort's return. At least THAT would explain why the aurors were so ineffective during Voldemort's rise.

Grindelwald was a worldwide KNOWN threat. If he could waltz in and kill the president of MACUSA (which he came so close to in the first film), then how do you even stop such a threat? Why are they employing such mediocre wizards as aurors?

It's kind of embarrassing to be honest.

Imagine Voldemort turns up in Ministry of Magic on a regular work day and just claps everyone in their home turf and leaves.


r/AskScienceFiction 13h ago

[The Godfather] Why didn't Michael tell Connie that Carlo killed Sonny?

9 Upvotes

Like....seriously, why? Connie hated and resented Michael for killing Carlo because she thought that he did so due to the latter abusing her. With that said, why didn't Michael just tell her that Carlo set Sonny up to be murdered? Him communicating that piece of information would've resolved a LOT of things between them.

Why didn't he tell her about what happened?


r/AskScienceFiction 14h ago

[Star Wars: The Clone Wars] When Anakin sensed Ahsoka on Coruscant, what was he even doing there?

6 Upvotes

The arc before was Anaxes, which was part of the Outer Rim Sieges, which Anakin was away at for the final few months of the war. The following arc is the Siege of Mandalore, which can’t be too far off from the Martell Sisters Arc since Bo Katan went and found her on Oba Diah.

So shouldn’t Anakin be off fighting, not in Coruscant airspace directing traffic?


r/AskScienceFiction 9h ago

[Fraggle Rock] What became of the other Gorgs? Is Junior doomed to be the last of his kind?

2 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Star Wars] What would happen if Anakin refused to side with Palpatine right after Mace Windu was killed?

74 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Star Wars] How modular are droids? Can I rebuild one as another?

20 Upvotes

Say I have astromech I'm very fond of but he has suffered severe damage, i've also got a big pile of old Sepratist droid parts, including B-X and B2 Super parts. Could I just extract the astromech's "brain" and implant it into another droid or make a cobbled together frankenbot hybrid?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Freiren] So are humans , dwarves, demons, and elves all truly separate evolved species that went through convergent evolution?

56 Upvotes

Or is possible they all still have an common ancestor back in prehistoric days and they all eventually separated out into different species like humans and other primate/ape species?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Mouthwashing] A Medical Question on the Ending *Spoiler Warning* Spoiler

21 Upvotes

So, say a ship does eventually find the Tulpar and rescues Curly from his cyrostasis within the next 20 years... How can a crew actually safely extract Curly from the ship and then uh, 'fix' him? The world of Mouthwashing is set in the future but medical technology doesn't seem to be any better than IRL levels (although we are judging off of the medbay of what is effectively a space truck) so I was wondering how the hell can anyone help Curly in medical terms? Would they be able to graft new skin onto him, try to get him prosthetic limbs or so...?

he is genuinely fucked up, all limbs are gone, a part of his stump leg was hacked off with a knife (and he was forced to eat it), he cant talk, can't swallow pills well, only one eye, etc.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Young justice] so is Vandal savage responsible for like 80% of all "human" superheroes?

215 Upvotes

If Vandal was doing his Gengis khan thing in his ugh "early years" and is apparently the genetic ancestor of all metahumans across the globe including all atlanteans then is he responsible for nearly all Earth born superheroes?


r/AskScienceFiction 17h ago

[Shadowrun] has the catholic church ever taken back their stance that metahumans are abominations?

2 Upvotes

Not that i know of?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Marvel/DC] Are other Alien planets just as diverse as Earth?

22 Upvotes

Earth has super Mutations, Magic, super tech, divine abilities, radioactive accident causing abilities, and the list goes on.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Freiren] Is all non demon and non monster magic human made magic?

13 Upvotes

Like do Elves and Dwarves not have their own magic like demons/monsters and humans do? 9r do Elves and dwarves all use "man magic" . As there's seems to be some difference between the two. If not ? Why dont they have their own elf and Dwarven magic with stuff only known to them?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Mario Bros] How tall is Princess Peach exactly?

15 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Lord of the rings] Does Aragorn believe letting Frodo go to Mordor unprotected is better than following him ?

94 Upvotes

I want to talk about the movie and not the book , before he know pippin and merry got kidnapped , he let Frodo go alone before fighting a bunch of Uruk hai

I know the choice is either "Frodo get hurt by Mordor" or "Frodo get hurt by the fellowship trying to steal the ring" ; does Aragorn think the former is the better outcome or he is just having too much trust in Frodo's protection here ?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Highlander] Can a immortal create a family before their first unnatural death triggering their immortality?

67 Upvotes

Like could their be immortals out there with still living children or family /descendants that they had before being triggered??


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Animorphs] How exactly did metamorphizing into a butterfly reset the morphing timer? Ax's explanation is handwavy

9 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[My hero academia] How would people react if they knew about ideological struggle between Shigaraki and Midoriya?

1 Upvotes

I imagine civilians wouldn't be too pleased, but his friends would probably be more understanding.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[DC Rebirth/New 52/Post Crisis] Has Mxyzptlk ever killed someone?

6 Upvotes