History Main / BackstoryInvader

** In ''Fanfic/AWitchInBroadDaylight'', [[spoiler:Scootaloo]] possesses a [[RealityWarper reality distortion field]], which she uses to retroactively make herself [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash's little sister]]. It only works within ten miles of her, but everyone within its radius acts as though things have always been that while, while those who exit its range reverts to normal, recalling nothing about their modified memories.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Shukuro Tsukishima has the reality-warping variant as a power. He did a RememberTheNewGuy on near everyone Ichigo knows, as part of a gambit to confuse Ichigo into handing over his life. By adding details, he can do things such as change the environment, learn about others, or make them collapse from the stress of conflicting info. Most importantly, he can reality-warp an entire fanfiction about himself as a captain's personal apprentice - which lets him use that one-on-one training against them when he undoes the insert. This particular method has a weakness, however, in that [[LogicalWeakness Tsukishima can't counter tactics or techniques his opponent has never used before]] (read "[[IndyPloy is improvising on the spot]]").

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', when Master Makarov selects the candidates for the S-Class exams, one of them is Mest, a character we have never seen before, yet everybody claims he is a valued Fairy Tail member. He is a spy who inflicted FakeMemories on everybody. And then, hundreds of chapters later, he is revealed to be a Fairy Tail member from the beginning who even erased his own memories to spy on the Magic Council.

The reason is some kind of in-universe SF or fantasy phenomenon. Common examples are FakeMemories, where the characters' memories have been altered without actually changing the past, or outright RealityWarping, where the timeline has been forcibly altered to insert the new character. At times this may be a particularly visible effect of a larger-scale CosmicRetcon.

** "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E7TheName The Name]]" mixes this with SelfServingMemory: [[SplitPersonality Zach]] changes Gumball's memories where he failed in situations where he would always win in a spectacular way to erase his original personality.

** In "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E7TheName The Name]]", Zach changes Gumball's memories so he would always win in a spectacular way, corrupting his experiences and erasing his original personality in the process.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' introduces a few new characters this way in the season 4 episode [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS4E4TheOthers "The Others"]]. Since Gumball is so self-centered that he believes the entire world revolves around him, he and Darwin (and thus, the audience) only ever saw the students of their own class... and Anais who is a year above her brother and half-brother. After [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHknXuwuWJU&t=45 opening their minds]], Gumball and Darwin realize that there are dozens of students and several faculty members that they never noticed before.

* The ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E4TotalRickall Total Rickall]]" has the family become infested by alien parasites that breed via fake memories and take the form of wacky characters. This starts off with parodies of typical sitcom characters such as Uncle Steve and Cousin Nicky and eventually spirals into the house being filled with all sorts of fantastical characters. Most prominent is Mr. Poopybutthole, who is not only there from the start, but is also edited into the intro. Eventually, they realize that the parasites can only create happy memories and that the real ones are the people they have horrible memories of. However, Mr. Poopybutthole turns out to be real; he ''really'' is just that great of a guy. Unfortunately, the family learns this in the worst possible way when Becky shoots him.

* The ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E4TotalRickall Total Rickall]]" has the family become infested by alien parasites that breed via fake memories and take the form of wacky characters. This starts off with parodies of typical sitcom characters such as Uncle Steve and Cousin Nicky and eventually spirals into the house being filled with all sorts of fantastical characters. Most prominent is Mr. Poopybutthole, who is not only there from the start, but is also edited into the intro. Eventually, they realize that the parasites can only create happy memories and that the real ones are the people they have horrible memories of. However, Mr. Poopybutthole turns out to be real; he ''really'' is just that great of a guy.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Shukuro Tsukishima has the reality-warping variant as a power. He did a RememberTheNewGuy on near everyone Ichigo knows, as part of a gambit to confuse Ichigo into handing over his life. By adding details, he can do things such as change the environment, learn about others, or make them collapse from the stress of conflicting info. Most importantly, he can reality-warp an entire fanfiction about himself as a captain's personal apprentice - which lets him use that one-on-one training against them when he undoes the insert.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Mr. Tsukishima has the reality-warping variant as a power. He did a RememberTheNewGuy on near everyone Ichigo knows, as part of a gambit to confuse Ichigo into handing over his life. By adding details, he can do things such as change the environment, learn about others, or make them collapse from the stress of conflicting info. Most importantly, he can reality-warp an entire fanfiction about himself as a captain's personal apprentice - which lets him use that one-on-one training against them when he undoes the insert.

* Done InUniverse in ''Literature/TheVampireDiaries'' story "Return to Mystic Falls" by Elena who is really Katherine. She had a witch make people think she had been there all along to fool people, [[EspeciallyZoidberg especially Stefan]].

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Played with in Tasha Yar during the AlternateTimeline in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]", in which she insists that she's always been good friends with Guinan. Guinan, of course, never met Tasha and thanks to her species's RippleEffectProofMemory, instinctively knows this is untrue.
** Possibly the first lampshaded use of this is during the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E14Conundrum Conundrum]]". The entire crew is hit with amnesia and forget their ranks. The executive officer, [=MacDuff=], is someone the audience has never before met. Turns out he is an alien intruder, trying to trick the ''Enterprise'' into attacking the enemies of his species.
* Quite a clever example appears in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E11LatentImage Latent Image]]" when the EMH finds evidence of crew member Ahni Jetal who he cannot remember ever being on Voyager. It turns out that his memories of her were deleted when he failed to save her life, an event too traumatic for his programming to take. Considering that she really had never appeared on the show before, a possible reading is that the entire series up until that point reflects the EMH's edited memories, and Jetal could have been around and involved in major plot points.

* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', Chibiusa hypnotizes Usagi's family into thinking she's a cousin who regularly stays with them. In the anime, this comes complete with a fake photo album. Granted, she technically is related to them being Usagi's time-travelling daughter from the future. Unlike most examples, we usually see this from the perspective of Usagi, who is completely aware something fishy is going on.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The Silver-Age/Earth-One ComicBook/SteveTrevor's second death cannot seem to be undone so the version of Steve from another universe is brought in and he and Diana's memories are altered to ensure there are no discrepancies. When they find out about this manipulation they both sever ties almost entirely with Paradise Island, though by this point Steve had been merged with what remained of the Earth-One Steve after another near death experience.
* In ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', the ComicBook/New52's version of Wally West was retconned to be a separate character from the original Wally West with ''ComicBook/TheButton'' and ''ComicBook/FlashWar'' later explaining that Wallace, as the New 52 Wally started going by, was the result of the {{Cosmic Retcon}}s [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Dr. Manhattan]] had pulled on the DCU. Initially, ''Rebith'' had the original Wally mention that Wallace was a younger cousin and they were both named after the same grandfather. It wasn't until Wallace travelled to the 25th Century and learned from the Flash Museum the truth of his existence, seeing evidence that clearly indicated Wally ''never'' had a similarly named cousin in the pre-Flashpoint universe.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

** [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/344092/bbbcf BBBCF]] explains why Cadance and Shining Armor suddenly appeared at the end of season 2 by making Shining Armor a newly spawned changeling drone, with the whole wedding a contrived excuse to distract Chrysalis from Cadance's importance.
** In ''[[Fanfic/TheAlarmaverse Den Fjerde Vaeg]]'', some force from another universe is altering the past to insert new characters, and altering everypony's memories to match. Only the ponies with [[FourthWallObserver fourth wall awareness]] retain RippleEffectProofMemory. When Maud Pie pops into existence, Pinkie is a bit disturbed at suddenly gaining an older sister. When [[BrokenMasquerade Twilight Sparkle learns of the fourth wall]], she abruptly regains memories of being an only child, from before her older brother Shining Armor was retconned in.
* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheNatural20'', Milo is a {{Munchkin}} with the standard ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' PlayerCharacter ability to add details to his backstory at will. So naturally, he exploits this trope for all it's worth.
-->"What did you do?" Relkin asked in a hushed voice.\\
"I remembered each and every one of them as a treasured friend or relative from my backstory," Milo said quietly. "One who would never, ever raise a hand against me or impede the cause of Justice or the furthering of Good. And who gets +2 and a reroll against magical orders against their nature."
* In ''Fanfic/LongTermMemories'', original villain Spinel replaces Garnet and imposes fake memories on the other characters so that they believe she's always been there instead of her.

* Done InUniverse in ''Literature/TheVampireDiaries'' story "Return to Mystic Falls" by Elena who is really Katherine. She had a witch make people think she had been there all along to fool people, [[EspeciallyZoidberg especially Stefan.]]

* In ''Grinny'' by Creator/NicholasFisk, the title character has this as an explicit power: by saying "You remember me", she can make adults (but not children) think they've known her all their lives.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' does this with Bebe a.k.a. Charlotte/Nagisa, Mami's pet witch. Mami claims to have adopted her long before meeting Madoka and Sayaka, and that they were inseparable ever since; but Bebe appeared only briefly in the original series, when she literally ''bit Mami's head off'', and then got blown up by Homura. She was never Mami's pet before the movie, but none of the characters can remember her being anything else. It turns out that Homura has manipulated the memories of most of the cast, including herself, and "Bebe" is only the tip of the iceberg.

* DC's Moon Maiden and Triumph, and Marvel's ComicBook/TheSentry. All three are modern characters retconned as heroes from UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} who happened to save the world in a way that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erases everyone's memories of them]]. Leading up to the series that introduced the Sentry, Marvel got comic news sources in on the joke; they ran stories about how he really '''was''' a Silver Age hero who was created back then but never used and promptly forgotten. Nor was this the first time Marvel had tried this tactic. 3-D Man was made in the Seventies but his story had him as active since the Fifties. There was even a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' story where he was present as a founding member of a '50s version of ComicBook/TheAvengers[[note]]this story would later inspire ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas'', which consisted of the same team minus 3-D Man, but had his LegacyCharacter, the second 3-D Man, [[MythologyGag join up later]][[/note]].

* When [[Characters/MarvelComicsMarvels Genis-Vell]] went mad and helped destroy the universe, it was restored shortly afterward, but with slight changes: Genis discovered that he suddenly had a sister, Phyla, and apparently always had had one.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': "The Fifth Man" starts with SG-1 having to leave Jack and new member Lt. Tyler behind as they flee a bunch of Jaffa. When they get to the SGC and say that Tyler was injured, Hammond says "who?" Tyler eventually comes clean that he's an alien who secretes a pheromone that makes one perceive them as a familiar (even if fictitious) figure they have always known. Since he was running from their mutual enemies they let him go. In later episodes, they use the memory-altering compound to infiltrate enemy organizations.

** Possibly the first lampshaded use of this was during the episode "Conundrum". The entire crew is hit with amnesia and forget their ranks. The executive officer, [=MacDuff=], is someone the audience has never before met. Turns out he is an alien intruder, trying to trick the ''Enterprise'' into attacking the enemies of his species.
** Played with in Tasha Yar during the AlternateTimeline in "Yesterday's Enterprise", where she insists she's always been good friends with Guinan. Guinan, of course, never met Tasha and thanks to her species's RippleEffectProofMemory, instinctively knows this is untrue.
* Quite a clever example appears in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' when the EMH finds evidence of crew member Ahni Jetal who he cannot remember ever being on Voyager. It turns out that his memories of her were deleted when he failed to save her life, an event too traumatic for his programming to take. Considering that she really had never appeared on the show before, a possible reading is that the entire series up until that point reflects the EMH's edited memories, and Jetal could have been around and involved in major plot points.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "The Lateness of the Hour", a wealthy, reclusive couple's android servants have implanted "memories" and are programmed to believe that they have been in their positions for years. All hell breaks loose when the couple's grown daughter figures out that this applies to her too.
* Inverted in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat", about various false memory syndromes including repressed memories and the Mandela Effect. Reggie, the guy who tells Mulder and Scully about the memory conspiracy, insists he's known them for years, and eventually claims to have founded the X-Files, but nobody apart from him remembers this because he's being erased. He turns out to probably just be crazy. Or is he?

[[folder:VisualNovel]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', the episode "Total Rickall" has the family become infested by alien parasites that breed via fake memories and take the form of wacky characters. This starts off with parodies of typical sitcom characters such as Uncle Steve and Cousin Nicky and eventually spirals into the house being filled with all sorts of fantastical characters. Most prominent is Mr. Poopybutthole, who is not only there from the start, but is also edited into the intro. Eventually, they realize that the parasites can only create happy memories and that the real ones are the people they have horrible memories of. However, Mr. Poopybutthole turns out to be real; he ''really'' is just that great of a guy.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Parodied in "Red Man's Greed", when a random kid with "ALEX" written on his shirt appears in multiple scenes, each time giving a generic line any other character could have said. It takes until the very end of the episode for anyone to comment on it:

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Mother Mae-Eye from her eponymous episode is a witch who successfully brainwashes the Titans into believing she's always been their caretaker.

* When [[Characters/MarvelComicsMarvels Genis-Vell]] went mad and helped destroy the universe, it was restored shortly afterward, but with slight changes: Genis discovered that he suddenly had a sister, [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Phyla]], and apparently always had had one.

* When [[Characters/MarvelComicsMarvels Genis-Vell]] went mad and helped destroy the universe, it was restored shortly afterward, but with slight changes: Genis discovered that he suddenly had a sister, Phyla, and apparently always had had one.

->''Our memories define us. Adam changed those memories, he changed who we are.''
-->'''Captain Jack Harkness''', ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E5Adam Adam]]"

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', Chibiusa hypnotizes Usagi's family into thinking she's a cousin who regularly stays with them. In the anime, this comes complete with a fake photo album. Granted, she technically is related to them [[spoiler: being Usagi's time-travelling daughter from the future]]. Unlike most examples, we usually see this from the perspective of Usagi, who is completely aware something fishy is going on.
** Later, another little girl, going by Chibi-Chibi, assumes the identity of Usagi's younger sister. In the manga, [[spoiler: she is Sailor Cosmos, who is an incarnation of Sailor Moon, though it's never really elaborated if she and Usagi are indeed the same person.]] In the anime, [[spoiler: she's the Light of Hope in human form.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', the episode "Total Rickall" has the family become infested by alien parasites that breed via fake memories and take the form of wacky characters. This starts off with parodies of typical sitcom characters such as Uncle Steve and Cousin Nicky and eventually spirals into the house being filled with all sorts of fantastical characters. Most prominent is Mr. Poopybutthole, who is not only there from the start, but is also edited into the intro. Eventually they realize that the parasites can only create happy memories and that the real ones are the people they have horrible memories of. [[spoiler:However, Mr. Poopybutthole turns out to be real; he ''really'' is just that great of a guy.]]

* In ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', the ComicBook/New52's version of Wally West was retconned to be a separate character from the original Wally West with ''ComicBook/TheButton'' and ''ComicBook/FlashWar'' later explaining that Wallace, as the New 52 Wally started going by, was the result of the {{Cosmic Retcon}}s [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Dr. Manhattan]] had pulled on the DCU.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': One of the most significant examples is the case of Buffy's little sister Dawn, whom everyone treated as always being around despite only debuting in the fifth season. She actually ''didn't'' exist before her first appearance; she's really a cosmic key between dimensions, [[MacGuffinTurnedHuman transformed into a human being]] in order to hide her from a demon goddess. The monks who transformed her also [[FakeMemories created memories of her in everyone's minds]] to ensure that she has the Slayer to protect her. The trope goes far enough that Dawn is referenced on ''Series/{{Angel}}'', the spin-off show she never appeared on, because Angel himself would have met Dawn in the first season of ''Buffy''. She also appears in comics and novels set before the fifth season, on the grounds that the characters would have remembered her being there even though she wasn't there before. When a ''Buffy'' animated series, set during their high school years, was in development, Dawn was planned as a main character.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Mother Mae-Eye from her eponymous episode is a witch who successfully brainwashes the Titans into believing she's always been their caretaker.

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': This seemed to happen with Moonraker's sudden appearance in ''Force Works'' during''ComicBook/TheCrossing''. Everybody knew him and he even was in an ongoing relationship with ComicBook/SpiderWoman. However, Rachel (Spider-Woman's daughter) notices she had never seen him before. Some issues later, Moonraker reveals he was really implanted into the team's history via time travel to warn them and the Avengers about an upcoming attack by Kang -- and that he's really Libra, [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Mantis]]'s father. Much like everything else about ''The Crossing'', this was retconned to be a Space Phantom working for Immortus in ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' and the real Libra was confused by the Avengers acting like Moonraker was him.