This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab. Then let them speculate. Listen to them as they speculate. When they come up with an idea you really, really like, tell them, 'You finally guessed right. That was my reasoning all along. This is when Fanon is promoted to canonicity ; whether it's officially shown in a canonical work is another matter, as it may "only" reach the status of Word of God.
This happens when the creators see some theory brought up by a fan, usually something that the creators haven't thought heavily about or planned beforehand, but rather than Joss it into oblivion, see no harm in officially accepting it as part of the work.
This is much more common in fanfiction and Webcomics , which often aren't planned from the start. Small doujin companies are also in famous for this sort of thing, as their characters are designed and occasionally modified accordingly to appeal to their fanbase.
However, this sort of thing can get creators in trouble if the person who came up with the fanon accuses them of plagiarism β one of the reasons why many companies forbid people working for them from reading unsolicited fan-ideas and fanfiction. Compare with I Knew It! You could argue this is the creators' decision to Throw It In. When it happens as a result of a mistake or error mostly in video games it's an Ascended Glitch , and in the case of a translational error that fans like, a Good Bad Translation.
Inverse of Shrug of God when the creator s refuses to give a concrete answer and Outdated by Canon when a later element or explanation in canon outright contradicts the popular fanon of the time. When this happens between fictional characters, it's a Sure, Let's Go with That. If a particular work has a long and continuous run, fanon may be promoted to canonicity because a Promoted Fanboy is now calling all the shots. Ascended House Rules is a related gaming trope, for cases where a fan House Rule later becomes an official rule of the game.
