It’s been a busy few weeks (Episode VII? What!?) and I’ve let this feature fall by the wayside. But it’s back! Trope Tuesday is our regular feature that dives into Tropes, literary themes, devices, and elements that make our favorite pieces of entertainment chug along. This week, we’re looking at one called Epileptic Trees.

A term for wild, off-the-wall theories. Named after a leading tinfoil-hat theory explaining the mysterious shaking, rustling trees on Lost during the first season of that program. The theory? The trees are having epileptic fits. Can be traced back to H. P. Lovecraft‘s story “The Colour out of Space”.

Not only common, but expected for Mind Screw series. A major species of Tree is Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory. An ongoing series which uses Chekhovs Guns to the point of becoming a Chekhov’s Armoury encourages Trees because all newly introduced objects/people/skills/etc will be suspected of being a Chekhov’s Gun. Horrible epileptic trees are known as Poison Oak Epileptic Trees.

See Stock Epileptic Trees for other common examples.

Epileptic Trees suggested by characters are a sign of Scully Syndrome. When an Epileptic Tree is rendered null and void by the official Canon, it’s said to be Jossed. When an Epileptic Tree becomesCanon, you’re allowed to say, “I Knew It!” – unless it became Canon because it was an Epileptic Tree, in which case it’s Ascended Fanon. See also Inferred Survival, Urban Legend of Zelda and Schrödinger’s Butterfly.

Boy howdy, is the Star Wars fandom getting swamped in this lately. There’s all sorts of conjecture and theories as to what Episode VII might be. We’ve got everything from the Expanded Universe being overwritten (because George Lucas hates Mara Jade*) to Darth Vader’s coming back from the dead (because why not). Fans are busy trying to find any sort of clue or hint from the films, books, and television that they might be able to use to divine the future of the franchise.

Brace yourselves. It’s going to be a long three years.

*No proof of this claim