History Main / BornInTheWrongCentury

* With the glaring exception of Budd, '''every''' warrior in the ''KillBill'' universe, who live (and die) by honor and the sword, '''especially''' Beatrix Kiddo, O-ren Ishii and Bill.

*** King George VI may have shown signs of this- both he and Churchill wanted to visit Normandy very shortly after D-Day, when there wasn't a safe area to take VIPs to. Montgomery managed to get round this by telling each "If I take you, I have to take him, and he's far too valuable to lose." Both backed down (getting yourself killed is not as bad as getting someone else killed).

-> -- '''Gilbert and Sullivan''', ''The Mikado'', "As Someday It May Happen" (aka "I've Got a Little List")

-> -- '''{{The Beach Boys}}''', ''Pet Sounds'', "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"

There's a certain type of character who yearns for YeGoodeOldeDays, when things were more exciting, or simpler, or better in some other way. Or maybe they feel they'd fit in better in a time other than their own. Or maybe they're just history buffs and would like to have been around when all that history was happening.

Characters of this sort often find themselves involved in TimeTravel adventures -- maybe they jump at the chance to test out some new time travel technology; maybe they're selected because their knowledge of the era will be useful to their fellow time travelers; maybe they just want to travel through time so badly that the fabric of spacetime folds itself for them for no adequately explained reason. Sometimes, these characters learn that the time they wanted to live in [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor isn't so great after all]], but just as often they don't. If so, they may [[IChooseToStay choose to stay.]]

Note that this trope usually involves characters who live in modern indusrialized democracies where they have a great deal of freedom and luxuries, which can make their nostalgia hard to take seriously. Characters from [[CrapSackWorld a crapsack country]] ravaged by plague, famine, or an evil dictator, are probably justified in feeling this way, but are rarely depicted unless they live in a future dystopia.

* HPLovecraft was quite fond of the 18th century -- partly for the actual culture of the time and partly because he disapproved of the Revolutionary War -- and apparently would sometimes date his letters 200 years before the actual time of writing.

** The last 200 years have not been kind to Emperors in general. Asian, Austrian, French, [P]Russian, Brazilian, San Franciscan...
* Inventor Nikola Tesla invented the radio, experimented with wireless electricity, designed a fluorescent lightbulb, had plans for a proto-internet, developed alternating currents, and build a machine that could ''shoot lightning''. And did I mention he claimed that electrically-powered airships would transport passengers from New York to London in three hours, traveling eight miles above the ground. He also imagined that airships might draw their power from the very atmosphere, never needing to stop for refueling. That. Is. Awesome.

* Leonardo Da Vinci.
* Jules Verne.
* Japanese writer Yukio Mishima pined for the days of Imperial Japan, and actually tried to overthrow the government. When he saw that nobody else listened to his rallying speech, he succumbed to despair and committed {{Seppuku}}.

* Stated word-for-word in reference to Marv in SinCity.

* This is how G K Chesterton characterised the historical [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Austria John of Austria]], "the last knight of Europe", in his epic poem ''Lepanto''.

There's a certain type of character who yearns for YeGoodeOldeDays, when things were more exciting, or simpler, or better in some other way. Or maybe they feel they'd fit in better in a time other than their own. Or maybe they're just history buffs and would like to have been around when all that history was happening. No matter what the reason, though, this character feels that he or she was born in the wrong century.

Characters of this sort often find themselves involved in TimeTravel adventures -- maybe they jump at the chance to test out some new time travel technology; maybe they're selected because their knowledge of the era will be useful to their fellow time travelers; maybe they just want to go back in time so badly that the fabric of spacetime folds itself for them for no adequately explained reason. Sometimes, these characters learn that [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the past wasn't so great after all]], but just as often they don't. If so, they may [[IChooseToStay choose to stay.]]

* During ''{{Sin City}}'', Dwight appears briefly in Marv's story to point out that Marv would be perfectly at home in the Roman arena as a gladiator.

* The protagonist of Jack Finney's ''TimeAndAgain'' is one of those who volunteers for a time travel experiment (though it doesn't actually involve any technology).
** [[spoiler: And the follow-through: he ultimately decides to stay in 1882.]]

* Guy Crouchback in ''SwordOfHonour'' by EvelynWaugh. Crouchback always tries to be a KnightInShiningArmor -- during World War II. Funny thing is, he actually is a rather effective soldier. But he always seems out of place.

* This is how G K Chesterton characterised the historical [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Austria John of Austria]], "the last knight of Europe", in his epic poem ''Lepanto''.
-->The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,\\
That once went singing southward when all the world was young.

* Tom Paris of ''StarTrekVoyager'' is a real 20th century aficionado. Since this ''is'' the ''StarTrek'' universe, this knowledge proves useful time and time again, whether it's actually time travel or just a holodeck misadventure.
** And Janeway is a big fan of her last century; she says about Kirk and co.:
--->'''Janeway''': It was a very different time, Mister Kim. Captain Sulu, [[TheKirk Captain Kirk]], [[TheMcCoy Doctor McCoy]]. They all belonged to a different breed of Starfleet officers. Imagine the era they lived in: the Alpha quadrant still largely unexplored... Humanity on verge of war with Klingons, Romulans hiding behind every nebula. Even the technology we take for granted was still in its early stages: no plasma weapons, no multi-phasic shields... Their ships were half as fast.
--->'''Kim''': No replicators. No holodecks. You know, ever since I took Starfleet history at the Academy, I've always wondered what it would be like to live in those days.
--->'''Janeway''': Space must have seemed a whole lot bigger back then. It's not surprising they had to bend the rules a little. They were a little slower to invoke the Prime Directive, and a little quicker to pull their phasers. Of course, the whole bunch of them would be booted out of Starfleet today. But I have to admit: I would have loved to ride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that.
*** Interestingly, all of these comparisons were bases for complaints from fans.

* While his voice was quite suitable for [[CarefulWithThatAxe what h]][[{{Grindcore}} e did,]] Pissy (best known as a member of Intestinal Disgorge) also showed at points that he was quite fit to sing HairMetal or Disco.
** The Howling Void, said band's frontman, occasionally displays his interest in Elizabethan-era writing.

* Currently working for Oracle in ''BirdsOfPrey'' is Zinda Blake, better known as Lady Blackhawk, a hero from the 1950's, who found herself in the modern day after a time warp sends her forward several decades. Due to her highly liberal and controversial beliefs, at least for the 50's, she finds herself much more comfortable in the modern day DC Universe. The only notable problems she seems to have is that her taste in music is more in tune with today's senior citizens, some of whom she actually knew and worked with.

** This troper attributes that sort of genetic defect to the fact that Britain's gene pool, which has remained largely isolated from the rest of the world, has been steadily thinning out over the decades.

* Inventor Nikola Tesla invented the radio, experimented with wireless electricity, designed a fluorescent lightbulb, had plans for a proto-internet, developed a method for wireless transmission of electricity (Alternating currents were also his), and build a machine that could ''shoot lightning''. And did I mention he claimed that electrically-powered airships would transport passengers from New York to London in three hours, traveling eight miles above the ground. He also imagined that airships might draw their power from the very atmosphere, never needing to stop for refueling. That. Is. Awesome.

* Inventor Nikola Tesla invented the radio, experimented with wireless electricity, designed a fluorescent lightbulb, made an earthquake machine, and designed a freaking death ray. And did I mention he claimed that electrically-powered airships would transport passengers from New York to London in three hours, traveling eight miles above the ground. He also imagined that airships might draw their power from the very atmosphere, never needing to stop for refueling. That. Is. Awesome.

* In the 1996 version of ''[[{{RomeoandJuliet}} Romeo + Juliet]]'' the title characters talk they are from the 1500's when this version the story takes place in the 1990's.

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* Not quite the wrong '''century''', but Henry Harrison, the title character of ''TheExtraMan'', would have fit in much better in [[TheRoaringTwenties the '20s]] than TheEighties.

* ''TheTwilightZone'' episode "A Stop at Willboughby" is all about this.