3

In the Wheel of Time series, there's an item called an A'dam which creates a sort of link between two women who can channel. I'd like to ask a theoretical question about the A'dam(The question is "Can the bracelet be modified to work with other bracelets to make linking easier?").

Are these theoretical questions on topic?

3
  • Yes, you are not required to have read a work at all to ask questions about it. Relevant meta, possibly dupe: scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2372/…
    – Edlothiad
    Nov 16, 2017 at 16:24
  • 1
    @Edlothiad: I've edited my question. The future works part really had no bearing on what I wanted to ask, but I had put it there to explain that though the question and answer may be only be a theoretical to me at the time of reading, future works may or may not(this is the key) have a real answer. What I'd really meant was more of a "Can I ask a question about X being possible?"
    – PiousVenom
    Nov 16, 2017 at 18:14
  • I see, I've retracted my close vote, although the logic seems to be the same, in my opinion. I'm also certain this meta exist, I will dig it out later :)
    – Edlothiad
    Nov 16, 2017 at 21:33

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

I can't see why this question wouldn't be on-topic. We have a great many questions of the form "can X be done in this particular work of sci-fi/fantasy?", including several in the WoT tag:

Many "what if" questions are still answerable and therefore not close-worthy:

  • If the question is trivially answered in one of the later books of the series, then it may be downvoted (although this is very hard to predict) but it shouldn't be closed - it's perfectly answerable and on-topic, even if 'obvious' to someone who's finished the series.
  • If the question isn't explicitly answered anywhere in the series, then it may have been answered in other canon material (for WoT, there are a lot of author interviews), or it may be deducible from other in-universe properties of the item in question, or the answer may simply be "we don't know".

Also, it's perfectly fine to ask questions about a series you're still in the middle of reading. That's one of the things this site is here for. Be warned though: if such a question is trivially answered in a later book in the series, it may get downvoted, as noted above.

5
  • So you're agreeing with the consensus in the link post? It should then be a dupe?
    – Edlothiad
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:12
  • 1
    @Edlothiad It may be a dupe, but I didn't think it was a clear enough one to modhammer (this isn't just "haven't read the series", but "currently in the middle of reading the series"). Feel free to VTC and see what people think.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:22
  • They seem to be pretty much the same imo
    – Edlothiad
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:45
  • I shouldn't have mentioned I'm reading the series, it has no bearing on the real question i wanted to ask. Edited it for clarification.
    – PiousVenom
    Nov 16, 2017 at 19:15
  • @MyCodeSucks OK, edited my answer, but a lot of it still applies. TL;DR: this question sounds fine.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Nov 17, 2017 at 10:54
2

On-topic, but still may be opinion based

What it depends on is if there is enough canon information to give a relatively accurate answer supported by the work or by word-of-god statements.

I have seen tons of "theoretical" questions. Some stay open, some get closed. However, there is no requirement that you have had to read/watched a work to ask questions on it. So what you will want to strive for is writing a good concise question that shows some level of research.

After that, the community decides... The voting on the question will be your guide. My advice would be to know this risk (down-votes, closure) before asking such a question.

4
  • 1
    A question doesn't become POB just because there isn't enough canon information to give a definite answer. See your own meta about "we don't know" answers, and its dupe targets Are questions without enough data 'unanswerable'? and Should all questions without explicit canon answers be closed?
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:01
  • 2
    @Randal'Thor hence why I included that the community decided. By this logic we should never close a question as POB.
    – Skooba
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:07
  • No, there are plenty of valid reasons to close a question as POB. I can't see what logic you're using to get from "this particular thing doesn't make a question POB" to "nothing should ever be closed as POB".
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:08
  • 1
    @Randal'Thor All question can have a "We don't know answer". I am not suggesting an answer need a direct canon answer. It needs to show effort though, as all questions and answers do.
    – Skooba
    Nov 16, 2017 at 17:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .