Editing Plot device (section)

=== Deus ex machina ===
{{main|Deus ex machina}}
The term ''deus ex machina'' is used to refer to a narrative ending in which an improbable event is used to resolve all problematic situations and bring the story to a (generally happy) conclusion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deus%20ex%20machina |title=deus ex machina |work=Merriam Webster Online |access-date=2013-09-22}}</ref>

The Latin phrase "[[deus]] ex machina" has its origins in the conventions of [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek tragedy]], and refers to situations in which a [[mechane]] (crane) was used to lower actors playing a [[Greek god|god]] or gods onto the stage at the end of a play.

The Greek [[Tragedy|tragedian]] [[Euripides]] is notorious for using this plot device as a means to resolve a hopeless situation. For example, in Euripides' play ''[[Alcestis (play)|Alcestis]]'', the [[eponymous]] heroine agrees to give up her own life to Death in exchange for sparing the life of her husband, Admetus. In doing so, however, Admetus grows to regret his choice, realizing that the grief of her death would never leave him. Admetus is seized by guilt and sadness, wishing to keep her or die alongside her, but held by his obligations to raise their children. In the end, though, [[Heracles]] shows up and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and freeing Admetus from the grief that consumed him.<ref>{{ Cite journal | author = Smith W | title = The Ironic Structure in "Alcestis" | journal = Phoenix | volume = 14 | issue = 3 | pages = 127–45 | date = 1960 | doi = 10.2307/1086298| jstor = 1086298 }}</ref> Another example of a ''deus ex machina'' is [[Gandalf]] in ''[[The Hobbit]].''<ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D7eOal3UhFcC&q=%22Deus+ex+machina%22+gandalf+the+hobbit&pg=PT24 | title = Tolkien's Art: A Mythology for England | isbn = 0813138094 | last1 = Chance | first1 = Jane | date = 2001-10-26 | publisher = University Press of Kentucky }} {{pn|date=September 2021}}</ref> With the help of seemingly limitless magical capabilities, he rescues the other main characters from all sorts of troubles. Likewise, the eagles in both ''The Hobbit'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' perform unexpected rescues, serving both as the eucatastrophic emissary and the agent of redemption.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartley |first1=Gregory |title=A Wind from the West:The Role of the Holy Spirit in Tolkien's Middle-Earth |journal=Christianity and Literature |date=Autumn 2012 |volume=62 |pages=95–120 |doi=10.1177/014833311206200106 |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/52470200/A_Wind_from_the_West.pdf}}{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The first person known to have criticized the device was [[Aristotle]] in his ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'', where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/resources/poetics/poettran.htm |title=Aristotle's Poetics, adapted from the translation by S.H. Butcher |access-date=2007-10-13}}</ref>