That's not a plot hole!

[elvor0]

To do a 180 on the OT: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is rife with them. They're massively bad plot holes, not one anyone can actually argue over like the LOTR ones. Slytherin symbol on the tap of the sink that leads to the chamber:

Okay so this is a castle, stated as being built in the 11th century, which was when the chamber was also constructed, so at some point someone would've had to have built that bathroom, presumably with in the last 100 years to account for the plumbing, hot water porcelain objects etc. And we're supposed to believe that no one investigated down there? And that none of the teachers with all their powerful magic noticed it? Nevermind the fact that whoever built the bathroom built it with all those mechanisms in it for when they opened it. Yeah fuck off.

The Basalisk moves through the pipes. Pipes are tiny, and the Basalisk is huge, where the fuck did it get in and out? Through the taps? And why the hell did it not eat any of the people it petrified? That's how Basalisks hunt, they paralyse people then eat them. I mean I know Rowling isn't exactly the greatest author but how did she overlook that?

The only plot holes I ever see are usually unimportant ones that can be attributed to artistic license, such as the sound of TIE-fighters in space.

That's more to do with the fact that it would be boring as hell to have everything silent and also isn't a plot hole.

You know I did some math at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, and

Spoiler

There is NO WAY Batman would be able to fly the bomb out of there fast enough with the timer being on what it was. Bane said the bomb had a six mile blast radius, and even though I forgot how to do the math, the Bat would have had to fly around 2,000 MPH to clear that. Not to mention some of the fallout would blow back.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that, I prefer to take it as Batman actually died and Alfred just "imagined" seeing him. Further more, Batman usually tries to kill himself heroically and it takes another supe to step in at the last second and pull him out.(See Starcrossed in Justice League) That and Batman /needs/ to be Batman because he's nuts, there's no way he'd just give it up like that to go live in Florence.

OK asshole you can't figure this out, fine! THE EYE OF SAURON WOULD SEE THEM! You know the giant fucking eye that sees all of Mordor and is constantly looking for the ring...

Oh, you mean the exact same problem they faced in Return of the King, which they solved by sending an army on a suicide mission as a distraction?

Yeah... something flying through the air is kind of a lot more noticeable than two little hobbits sneaking around in the dust.

Also, I don't know if you noticed but it took an awful lot of time, work, and convincing to send that army.

Not to mention luck from the getting the Palantir, Pippin looking in it and then Aragon essentially calling Sauron chicken through it.

 

[wulf3n]

OK asshole you can't figure this out, fine! THE EYE OF SAURON WOULD SEE THEM! You know the giant fucking eye that sees all of Mordor and is constantly looking for the ring...

Oh, you mean the exact same problem they faced in Return of the King, which they solved by sending an army on a suicide mission as a distraction?

Yeah... something flying through the air is kind of a lot more noticeable than two little hobbits sneaking around in the dust.

Also, I don't know if you noticed but it took an awful lot of time, work, and convincing to send that army.

I know I was just being a smug asshole

Though I do believe sending 9 people to hand deliver the ring to the volcano wasn't the best Idea, but it's not a plot hole.

 

[Lieju]

OK asshole you can't figure this out, fine! THE EYE OF SAURON WOULD SEE THEM! You know the giant fucking eye that sees all of Mordor and is constantly looking for the ring...

Oh, you mean the exact same problem they faced in Return of the King, which they solved by sending an army on a suicide mission as a distraction?

It's not the same thing, though. Frodo already was in Mordor at that point.

The eagles of Manwë were too obvious, and something Sauron would have been wary of and have defenses against. The reason Frodo and Sam succeeded was because the plan was so crazy Sauron never anticipated it.

Eagles, though, would have been spotted, and even without the Fellbeasts you could just shoot them out of the sky, and Sauron had other flying creatures, at least bats.

 

[The Funslinger]

People with Anterograde Amnesia know that they have amnesia. I don't how it works, but they know.

The fact that there's all this stuff they can't remember might be a hint...

Plus Amnesia victims still have some recall, for instance Clive Wearing, who read the same magazine over and over, as though it was new, but after several rereads, could predict what would happen, though he could never recall reading it.

And the character was investigating a guy who had anterograde amnesia, explaining his in depth knowledge of the condition. So yeah, pretty excusable.

The Eagles thing gets me too. Yeeeeaaah, sure, it's not like the walls of Mordor might not be DEFENDED!

Y'know, with balistas and such?

 

[Flames66]

To do a 180 on the OT: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is rife with them. They're massively bad plot holes, not one anyone can actually argue over like the LOTR ones. Slytherin symbol on the tap of the sink that leads to the chamber:

Okay so this is a castle, stated as being built in the 11th century, which was when the chamber was also constructed, so at some point someone would've had to have built that bathroom, presumably with in the last 100 years to account for the plumbing, hot water porcelain objects etc. And we're supposed to believe that no one investigated down there? And that none of the teachers with all their powerful magic noticed it? Nevermind the fact that whoever built the bathroom built it with all those mechanisms in it for when they opened it. Yeah fuck off.

The Basalisk moves through the pipes. Pipes are tiny, and the Basalisk is huge, where the fuck did it get in and out? Through the taps? And why the hell did it not eat any of the people it petrified? That's how Basalisks hunt, they paralyse people then eat them. I mean I know Rowling isn't exactly the greatest author but how did she overlook that?

The only plot holes I ever see are usually unimportant ones that can be attributed to artistic license, such as the sound of TIE-fighters in space.

Magic. Fixes all dem holes. Especially the pipes. It is a magic snake with magic pipes. And the taps are magic. And so are the toilets. The toilet magic is just shit. Shit magic. Like someone was ill and made a brown potion in the bowl. Also moving stairs.

 

[Da Orky Man]

You know I did some math at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, and

Spoiler

There is NO WAY Batman would be able to fly the bomb out of there fast enough with the timer being on what it was. Bane said the bomb had a six mile blast radius, and even though I forgot how to do the math, the Bat would have had to fly around 2,000 MPH to clear that. Not to mention some of the fallout would blow back.

Something else they forgot.

Its mentioned earlier in the film that the bomb was a neutron bomb, which would mean that it actually has a rather tiny blast radius. However, the main effect of a neutron bomb is to flood the surrounding area with one of the deadliest kinds of radiation, a kind that literally turns things temporarily radioactive themselves.

To get rid of said neutron, you need hydrogen molecules. Which water has in plentiful quantities. Batman could have flown out maybe less than a mile, dropped the bomb, and the hydrogen nuclei in the water molecules would have soaked up the dangerous bit.

Of course, these two plotholes kind of even each other out, if not for the fact that I believe it shows the bomb detonating above the water.

 

[Denamic]

I just hate it when people assume unexplained things = plot hole.

 

[chiggerwood]

OK asshole you can't figure this out, fine! THE EYE OF SAURON WOULD SEE THEM! You know the giant fucking eye that sees all of Mordor and is constantly looking for the ring...

Oh, you mean the exact same problem they faced in Return of the King, which they solved by sending an army on a suicide mission as a distraction?

They didn't have that army until near the end of the trilogy which was over a year later in the story, and Aaragon had ascended to the throne, which he had no interest in doing so at the beginning. So your solution is thus: To sit on the ring for over a year, while the nazgul and every ************ that works for Sauron looks for it/enacts a scorched earth campaign against all of middle earth, convince the strider to become king, (a position he avoids like a rapist plague rat with super AIDS, and only takes after he's completed his own hero's journey) then assault the front gates, put Frodo's hobbit ass on a GIANT HIGHLY NOTICEABLE EAGLE with the ring of power in tow and hope against all hopes that Middle earth hasn't been overrun, or there isn't a guard posted anywhere, or that nobody looks up, or that Sauron doesn't see the GIANT HIGHLY NOTICEABLE EAGLES bearing the ring of power, and send his nazgul after them, and also hope that the one ring hasn't taken too much of a hold over Frodo, which by the end, lest we forget, it fucking does! This is your solution? The only reason the suicide mission worked was due to the fact that Frodo is small, can hide, and was already in Mordor and wasn't on a giant fucking eagle, and B. because of Gollum being the insane little bastard that he is, bit Frodo's finger off and was pushed into the lava. Remember at this point Frodo had already tried to give the ring back to Sauron and was saved by Sam, and at the end had decided not to throw the Ring into mount doom because the ring overtook him. Sorry still not a plot hole.

 

[elvor0]

I just hate it when people assume unexplained things = plot hole.

That's called bad writing. Just introducing something then saying "it works because it does" is a massive cop out, second only to the power of love.

 

[GloatingSwine]

We've all heard them, usually from the insufferably smug, and we all hate them. Plot holes that are not plot holes. What are your least favorite? Here's mine,

Lord Of The Rings: There's two that annoy me to no end and make me want to slap the person that belches them out, the first being the most obvious, "Why didn't they just fly the ring to Mordor?"

Actually, the answer is "the Eagles are heralds of Eru and answer to no man, elf, or Wizard". Just because they owe you a favour doesn't mean they're going to do anything you ask.

 

[wulf3n]

They didn't have that army until near the end of the trilogy which was over a year later in the story, and Aaragon had ascended to the throne, which he had no interest in doing so at the beginning. So your solution is thus: To sit on the ring for over a year, while the nazgul and every ************ that works for Sauron looks for it/enacts a scorched earth campaign against all of middle earth, convince the strider to become king, (a position he avoids like a rapist plague rat with super AIDS, and only takes after he's completed his own hero's journey) then assault the front gates, put Frodo's hobbit ass on a GIANT HIGHLY NOTICEABLE EAGLE with the ring of power in tow and hope against all hopes that Middle earth hasn't been overrun, or there isn't a guard posted anywhere, or that nobody looks up, or that Sauron doesn't see the GIANT HIGHLY NOTICEABLE EAGLES bearing the ring of power, and send his nazgul after them, and also hope that the one ring hasn't taken too much of a hold over Frodo, which by the end, lest we forget, it fucking does! This is your solution? The only reason the suicide mission worked was due to the fact that Frodo is small, can hide, and was already in Mordor and wasn't on a giant fucking eagle, and B. because of Gollum being the insane little bastard that he is, bit Frodo's finger off and was pushed into the lava. Remember at this point Frodo had already tried to give the ring back to Sauron and was saved by Sam, and at the end had decided not to throw the Ring into mount doom because the ring overtook him. Sorry still not a plot hole.

Even though I was just joking, and arguing the merits of a plot hole in a fantasy/sci-fi setting seems somewhat pointless as there are no real "rules" to the universe, merely what the creator dreamt up at any given time, but I must counter 1 point.

Why do you think it would be only 1 or 2 giant birds? Everyone always tries to counter "The birds would be spotted instantly, then the Nazgul would be sent and it's all over" and yes, that's a terrible idea, even more terrible than sending a couple of hobbits to destroy the ring.

But what about 100 birds? or 1000? or the whole damned race? Sure it might be a difficult sell, but when half the world is on fire, they should be a bit more receptive.

Now I hear you saying "Well they'd just attack the bird with the hobbit and get the ring instantly", to which I reply, get the entire shire to ride the birds to the last hobbit. They don't like it? tough cookies, we'll tie you to the birds if we have to.

Now there's still a chance the bird with the ring gets hit/killed/captured, but that's not the point of the argument. The real question is, are the odds of the Nazgul/Sauron's defences taking out the bird with the ring before it can fly into the volcano better/worse than the odds 2 hobbits can waltz through enemy territory without being killed/captured...which we can never really know because it's fantasy.

But I've never really considered it a plot hole, because no solution is %100 fool proof, thereby any path they took is valid to some extent.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I only notice plot holes after I'm done consuming the media in question, that means I've been thinking about it and found some things which I can't help but question.

Same here. I instinctively cut things more slack the first time through unless my suspension of disbelief gets completely annihilated, then rewatch / replay it later on to let things sink in more. I'm still somewhat critical on the first watch / playthrough, however, just not as much. For emample, I still bitched about Far Cry 3 (great gameplay, horrid story) and A Canterlot Wedding even while playing / watching them, and Dark Knight Rises still felt all around mediocre and nonsensical the one time that I've bothered watching it. Still, I inherently do more of my critiquing after the first time through.

 

[thedoclc]

Though I do believe sending 9 people to hand deliver the ring to the volcano wasn't the best Idea, but it's not a plot hole.

A lot of folks are arguing for rational, practical solutions. Er, that's not Tolkien. See, it's not a plot hole when you are an angel and are sort of in tune with what God wants to happen and how God was manipulating events on his own. That is exactly what Gandalf is - all five wizards, Radagast, Saruman, Gandalf, and the two guys who sort of just exist in foot notes - are angelic beings sent by Eru and his Valar to guide the Free People of Middle Earth.

And as soon as God is secretly manipulating events, all rationality is off the table.

To compare it to another work, think about Stephen King's The Stand. God directly tells his chosen what to do, and they are only successful when they say, "Thy will be done" in their own hearts and agree to do it. Rationality, planning, organization, order - that's all Randall Flagg's schtick.

Do I agree with it? Who cares. Is that what was going on in Middle Earth? Damn straight.

 

[Woodsey]

It'd be quicker to just link to another thread about plot holes, no one seems to know what they are.

The only one I've ever really noticed was in Looper, which renders the entire film pointless.

Spoiler

The Rainmaker is a naughty boy because Bruce Willis shoots him through the cheek and kills his mother in front of him. This never happens in the first timeline, so Bruce Willis would have no reason to go back.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Just introducing something then saying "it works because it does" is a massive cop out, second only to the power of love.

Speaking of which, I remember seeing a lot of people giving the Season 2 finale for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic a hard time, because they thought that was how it ended. Uhh... No, it didn't.
It wasn't "The Power of Love" at all. It was the Power of that force field that Shining Armor established at the beginning of the episode, remember? And Cadence used magic to charge him up. It's not love. It's a magic force field. Don't get 'em mixed up.

I've also seen people cry foul over some "plotholes" in a couple of Sonic games.

Sonic Adventure 2
People whine about why Eggman had an American space shuttle just sitting around in his pyramid, even though he had a teleporter to take him to the ARK. Excuse me? What makes you think that pyramid was even his to begin with? It was an emergency base. He normally builds much more complex, modern structures when he has the time. Also, it's important to have a spare mode of transportation when your only other method of reaching the Spacy Colony ARK is a teleporter that intruders could break. Considering that pyramid was certainly there, I wouldn't doubt that shuttle was there too. Or nearby. In fact, the military is heavily-involved in this game's story. Who's to say he didn't just snatch it up beforehand?

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
Now I know this game is simply LOADED with plotholes. But I have picked out a couple instances in the story that people insist are plotholes even though they aren't.

Some people insist that Silver retconned most of the series when he took a chaos emerald into the past and left it with Elise, rendering Sonic unable to use them to go Super in previous games. Heck, no. These people don't understand the difference between addition and subtraction. Taking a chaos emerald into the past and leaving it there wouldn't make there be 6 chaos emeralds. There would be 8!

Another bit is that people ask why Shadow didn't use that big sonic boom burst attack in the first place that he's seen using at the very end of his story. Simple: you have to unlock that attack near the end of the game before you can use it.

 

[Navarone9942]

Just because this thread is generating enough "RAARRRRR FUCKING EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!" rage to power a small city.
From the other side of the fence. (IMO eagles = fail but bear with me)

1. My understanding is that Mordor, while large, is not epic, gigazmo, covering the rest of the world, therefor if the eagles were to fly in so that the volcano is between them and the Eye then they wouldn't be seen (by the Eye at least)

2. Eagles *FLY* Who exactly, pray tell, can hit an eagle (giant, mind) with a large chunk of rock that travels slower than its target (remember the boulder has to get to the same altitude as the target (Eagle, giant x1)) **is like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet whilst wearing a blindfold, riding a horse.** Couldn't have said it better myself.

3. Birds have this ability, what was it again? Oh yeah, the ability to HOVER and LAND (also not killing themselves on power lines but I digress) so they wouldn't need to "calculate the speed of the eagle, the weight and the fallen speed of the ring." They could just land on the rim and then one of the (assuming more than one eagle/rider goes) riders could easily just drop the ring into the mouth, as it were.

---------- Fission Mailed ---------

My pet plot hole is Terminator
How exactly is John Conner even there to begin with, Kyle only met Sarah because John sent him back to protect her from the 1st T800 and the T800 is sent back to kill the Survivors leaders mother and in doing so creates said leader. Kinda like the old time travel back and kill your grandfather, cant because you would never be born and then kill him so he lives and you are born.

 

[bug_of_war]

I'd also like to point out how annoying it is when people use the term 'deus ex machina' wrong. Too many times do I hear people say this about a game/film where in reality it is nowhere near a DEM. Recent example is in an Angry Joe video for Lara Croft, I can't remember exactly what he was talking about, but I do remember stopping the video and questioning how the thing was a DEM.

As for plot holes, I can't remember anything (that hasn't already been put on this thread) that has caught my attention as being wrong.

 

[The_Echo]

I've heard, on occasion, that the Kingdom Hearts series has its fair share of plot holes.

But having played every game multiple times... I've never spotted a single one. So I'm pretty sure they don't actually exist.

 

[bafrali]

I hate people who point out tiny plot holes, like those horrific 'everything wrong with' youtube videos. It's like they don't actually enjoy movies and just have a nilhistic desire to piss everyone off by pointing out flaws in things they like...

Anyhoo, you actually mentioned the one that annoys me most, the whole eagle thing. Can't quite think of another one off the top of my head.

Come on. It is obvious that they are made for fun rather thanlegit criticism. I thought the maker of the video made this apperarent with the runing gag of lap dance. Just chill bro.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Most of the time I just notice bad writing. Time travel, whenever it is used, always opens up massive plot holes if you thin about it too much, which is something I do.

Hm...perhaps my biggest plot hole, if it could be called that (and I don't think so) is the fact that the Jedi suck in Revenge of the Sith. These are supposed to be amazingly skilled warriors who can sense danger coming, and yet when it's time to step up, they get floored. Yes, I know that it's hard to win against an entire unit of tanks, or dozens of Clone Troopers, but come on. The steps leading up to the Jedi Temple, and the Temple itself, should have been littered with dead Clone Troopers. Obi and Yoda should have had to watch where they step based on how awesome we've been told they Jedi are. Okay, so the top ones were out fighting the war ( by the way, good job Ki-Adi, at least you managed to take two of them with you. Unlike everyone else). That doesn't mean that the Temple was left in the care of little kids. There were fully trained Jedi there, and it still turned into a massacre, but only on the Jedi side.
The battle of the Temple should have been like it was in Star Wars Battlefront 2: Desperate, with the Jedi cutting down swathes of Clones before finally being taken down.

Then again, I have tons of problems with Revenge of the Sith. Easily my least favorite Star Wars movie.

Oh, what about in Assassin's Creed III, when Desmond goes in to the Abstergo office? He murders dozens of people, and then pulls out the Apple and he can literally walk out without harming a soul. Why didn't he do that coming in?!