Word
Deus ex machina
A sudden solution that resolves a story's conflict without being caused or prepared by what came before
Examples
The detective's unknown twin appears in the final scene, confesses, and solves the case: a classic deus ex machina.
Calling a bailout a deus ex machina suggests that it ended the emergency without fixing its cause.
Origin
Latin for “god from the machine,” based on the Greek phrase apo mēchanēs theos. In ancient Greek theater, the mēchanē was a crane that lifted an actor above the stage, often as a god. Today the phrase means a solution the story did not prepare.
How it connects
The phrase names a solution the story did not prepare, and remembers the crane that once delivered it.
This word appeared in When the ending comes from nowhere, the Involves connection for August 4, 2026, which asked: Why does a sudden solution feel like cheating?
Check yourself
Which ending is a deus ex machina?
A long-lost twin appears in the final scene, confesses, and solves the case without earlier preparation.. Right. The conflict ends, but not because of the characters, choices, or causes the story established.
What the sources establish
The Latin phrase translates a Greek expression referring to the mēchanē, the stage crane used to lift an actor, often as a god, above the action in Greek theater.
In modern usage the phrase means a solution that resolves a conflict without being prepared by what came before, in fiction or in life.
Sources
Deus ex machina (Encyclopaedia Britannica), Origin in Greek stage machinery; extended modern usage