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Originally Posted by Courant
I think a deus ex machina is a specific type of twist, although a deus ex machina doesn't have to be a twist, there are some that you can see coming.
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Sorry, but I think you've slightly misunderstood "deus ex machina". From Nil Desperandum - A Dictionary of Latin Tags and Phrases, by Eugene Ehrlich:
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deus ex machina
an unlikely and providential intervention.
Deus ex machina, literally "a god out of a machine", describes an unexpected occurrence that rescues someone or something from an apparently hopeless predicament... This is the stuff that bad fiction or drama is made of, so it is no surprise that deus ex machina is usually applied to narrative works, especially to the work of playwrights and novelists who find themselves enmeshed in complexities of their own devising and incapable of bringing their plots to a close without relying on improbable coincidence.
The expression has its origin in ancient Greek theatre, especially in certain plays of Euripides. When the complexities of plot and character appeared incapable of resolution. a god was set down on stage by a mechanical crane to sort things out and make them right. Greek gods could do anything.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Courant
I think the idea that MSWallack is talking would be like a book series where the first few books are a light hearted found family adventure, but the last book involves the cast spliting up and engaging in serious introspection in order for each character to compelete his arc.
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Perhaps, but I was replying to DrNefario's point about ending with a major twist from nowhere. I still think that that sounds like a deus ex machina.