View source for Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki:Speculation & Headcanons

'''Speculation''', for the purposes of this wiki, refers to a piece of information which isn't based on fact or verifiable evidence, but instead conjecture and hypothesis. In other words, if something can't be easily given a source for where the information was pulled from, it's likely speculative in nature. Speculation is heavily frowned against, as '''this is a fact-based wiki''', meant to give readers '''''canonical''''' information about ''Fullmetal Alchemist'', not to be a platform to push an editor's fan theories.

Occasionally, some minor speculation on unconfirmed facts can be appropriate to include on this wiki, but only if '''all evidence points to it being indisputably true''', or is '''the only <u>reasonable</u> conclusion'''. Examples of "appropriate" speculation are include below.

A '''Headcanon''' may refer to a fan's own speculation of, interpretation of, or fan theory about a character, important events, etc. It could have some basis in canon, or it could be completely made up from thin air.

Unlike speculation, which can occasionally be reasonable to include on the wiki, headcanons are virtually always inappropriate to be included on this wiki and can be seen as the most extreme version of speculation, which is usually much more minor by comparison. (Note that headcanons, fan theories, etc. ARE allowed to be discussed in a discussion post, poll, or mentioned on your own user page.) A vast majority of "ships" fall under headcanon territory as the vast majority of them cannot be reasonably proven.

==Speculation Examples==
===<u>Unacceptable</u>===
An example of unacceptable speculation would be saying that [[May Chang]]'s first name should be spelt Mei because her homeland, [[Xing]], is inspired by China. While this is a fair point to be made, her name has consistently been translated as "May" in all known Japanese sources, never "Mei". Additionally, while Xing is ''inspired'' by China, it isn't actually China, it's Xing, so the real world naming conventions of China have little relevance to this wiki.

Another example of speculation would be saying that [[Olivier Armstrong]] is a butch lesbian due to rejecting [[Roy Mustang]]'s flirtations, and/or because she seems to not care about traditionally "feminine" things like flowers. The truth is, straight women are not required to find Mustang attractive or reciprocate his advances if they don't want to, no matter how much the fandom may like Mustang. Similarly, rejecting flowers does not say anything meaningful about Olivier's sexuality, as there are many other reasons she could have for not liking flowers.

Speculation can also be used in a meta sense. Many minor characters in the English dub of the series were never credited for their vocal performances. While it may be tempting to look at Funimation's voice cast and find a match (a practice known as "voice matching"), if there isn't an actual credits list that can be cited, it's not appropriate for this fact-based wiki.

===<u>Acceptable</u>===
In some cases, there may be additional information which can be used to match a voice to an uncredited role. Most often, there will be an "Additional Voices" credit section, with several names listed in it. If, for example, there is only one female voice actor listed on this list, and there is an uncredited female character in the same episode, it can be '''reasonably''' deduced that the only female "additional voice" actor is the one who provided the voice for the uncredited character. Even in cases like this, though, the actor's name shouldn't be listed without a source. Instead, a note should be added with the [[Template:Refn]] explaining how the conclusion was reached.

Another example of appropriate meta speculation would be the case of [[Erik Jan Hanussen]] from the movie ''[[Conqueror of Shamballa]]''. That character has no voice actor credited for the English dub cast, although it does have a credit for the Japanese voice cast. Despite this, the actor Troy Baker is listed under the dub credits as voicing [[Frank Archer]], a character who doesn't even appear in the film. Considering that Erik Jan Hanussen and Frank Archer's dub voices also sound very similar to each other, it can be safely assumed from all available information that this erroneous "Frank Archer" credit was meant to refer to the otherwise uncredited Erik Jan Hanussen character.

==Headcanon Examples==
As stated before, there are virtually no headcanons which are acceptable to include on this wiki.

One example of what would be considered a headcanon is that [[Winry Rockbell|Winry]] wanted to stage her own abduction by [[Scar]] in the ''Brotherhood'' episode [[Episode 39 (2009 Anime)|Daydream]] to be close to Scar, because secretly, Winry actually is really in love with him. While it's true that this fake-kidnapping ruse puts her in close proximity to Scar, and that she's putting some trust into Scar, Winry is never shown to harbour any romantic feelings for him. Considering Scar is also the one who murdered her parents while she was still a child, something which traumatised her and lead to a tense stand off where she held him at gunpoint. As such, all available evidence points to this '''not''' being a '''reasonable''' conclusion to make, thus being completely inappropriate to include on this wiki.

[[Category:Rules and Policies]]
{{Guidebook}}