History Main / EarthThatWas

* Creator/RALafferty's ''Past Master'', Earth, or Old Earth, has apparently been rendered uninhabitable to humans. Humanity has all migrated to the planet Golden Astrobe. The planet is very much a CrapsaccharineWorld. Astrobe seems at first to be a utopia. However, many of its inhabitants choose to walk away from that so-called perfect society and live in squalor. It’s actually a dystopia, because its Dream is so heavily policed that everyone must fall in line.

** The [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] for its [[SpiritualSequel spiritual prequel]], ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', is similar. Humans left Earth in AD 2510 due to a space-time anomaly. The only reference to Earth in the game, though, is in the intro, and it is called "the main planet."
** The SpiritualSequel ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', Earth is outright destroyed as collateral damage due to a war between two alien factions. Humanity flees in colony ships before that happens, but they're harassed by one of the alien factions, and one of the ships crash land on an uninhabited planet, and the game starts with the main character awakening on this planet.

** Subverted in the SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth''. While the trailer clearly shows the Earth in the middle of an ecological catastrophe, and the new colony is completely cut off from the homeworld, two of the endings allow you to open a portal back to Earth.
** In the other (unofficial) SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/PandoraFirstContact'', Earth isn't doing very well. Humanity is steadily moving out to space habitats and other planets in the Solar System, although their lives are hardly ideal. Then the AI tasked with restoring Earth to habitability decides that humans are the biggest problem for the planet and forces everyone else out, locking down the planet and hiding it under a thick cloud cover. All anyone knows is that strange seismic activity is taking place somewhere on Earth, but the AI is silent on what's happening. This all happens after the departure of the colony ships to the Nashira (Gamma Capricorni) system, though.

** [[spoiler:Eventually played straight when the remaining nuclear reactors break down and produce the Primfaya death wave, turning nearly the entire surface into a desolate wasteland. The few survivors try to resettle in a valley that miraculously escaped serious harm, only to come into conflict with a returning group of criminal miners (in cryosleep since before the first apocalypse), and that haven ends up destroyed as well. They have no choice but to abandon Earth completely, taking the miners’ ship and going to a habitable planet in another system.]]

** The Vaulters are the descendants of Mezari humans stranded on the planet Augria but were eventually forced to restore their ancient ship to escape when the planet's biosphere began to collapse. When they return during their faction quest the planet is a lifeless ice planet.

** The titular Endless originated from the planet Tor but they were forced to depart after over-exploitation destabilized its core. As with Augria, the planet is now a barren ice planet.

* In the opening of ''[[WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois Once Upon a Time... Man]]'' an astronaut, fleeing from a sinister mob, boards a rocket and and takes off from Earth, which promptly explodes.

* "Earth That Was" is referenced many times in the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' series, as well the movie ''Serenity'', which provides the page quote. It's suggested that civilization on Earth simply collapsed due to overpopulation and[=/=]or ecological damage, which the original colonists of the series' star system escaped in either GenerationShips, {{Sleeper Starship}}s or a mix of both an unspecified (at least in the show proper) but seemingly very long time before the series began. It's never explicitly stated whether or not civilisation back on Earth is completely gone, or if there are any other groups of human settlements on other worlds out there somewhere, but with the setting having no FasterThanLightTravel it's impossible to know for certain anyway.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': To start a game of Sburb, the planet that initiated the game must be [[spoiler:scoured with meteors]]. This happens to Earth at the beginning of the webcomic when the four main protagonists first begin the game, [[spoiler:and it results in large areas (if not all) of the planet being reduced to arid desert where none of the previous life survives]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': To start a game of sburb the planet that initiated the game must be [[spoiler:scoured with meteors]]. This happens to Earth near the beginning of the webcomic when the four main protagonists first begin the game, [[spoiler:and results in large areas (if not all) of the planet being reduced to arid desert where none of the previous life survives]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Earth was originally stated to have been a desolate hellhole ''before'' the fascist Grineer took it over. Retcons have changed things so that most of the planet is overrun with a rainforest of super weeds and packs of [[SavageWolves feral kubrow]]. As of the Plains of Eidilon update, [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter we can now visit one of the remaining settlements]], although each faction maintains its headquarters in other locations.

* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': Humanity relocates to ships like the ''Axiom'' for 700 years.

* One of the fixed systems in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' is the Sol system. It is the starting system of the [[UnitedNationsIsASpuerpower United Nations of Earth]], but the UNE is only one of the possible preset empires. If no empire spawns in the Sol system, then the Sol system has a 50% chance of spawning, and can spawn in one of four states, one of them being as a Tomb World with [[CockroachesWillRuleTheEarth Roachoids]] as the dominant species. Neither an empire spawning in the Sol System or Sol III Spawning in another state is any guarantee Sol III will stay safe either: one of the possible Empire origin is [[AfterTheEnd Post Apocalyptic]], or it can spawn in a WW II state that, if it goes on long enough, can go out of hand and end up in the natives wiping each other in nuclear warfare. And even then, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential if Sol III spawns in either the present day, medieval era, or as the capital of another empire]], [[OrbitalBombardment nuking it from orbit]], firing a [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet Cracker]] or [[DepopulationBomb Neutron Sweep]] at Sol III is an option. And even then, the UNE might make an ill advised deal with the [[CosmicHorrorStory Worm-in Waiting]], the [[PlanetEater Devourer of Worlds]] or even the [[DealWithTheDevil End of the Cycle]]...

* One of the fixed systems in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' is the Sol system. It is the starting system of the [[UnitedNationsIsASpuerpower United Nations of Earth]], but the UNE is only one of the possible preset empires. If no empire spawns in the Sol system, then the Sol system has a 50% chance of spawning, and can spawn in one of four states, one of them being as a Tomb World with [[CockroachesWillRuleTheEarth]] Roachoids as the dominant species. Neither an empire spawning in the Sol System or Sol III Spawning in another state is any guarantee Sol III will stay safe either: one of the possible Empire origin is [[AfterTheEnd Post Apocalyptic]], or it can spawn in a WW II state that, if it goes on long enough, can go out of hand and end up in the natives wiping each other in nuclear warfare. And even then, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential if Sol III spawns in either the present day, medieval era, or as the capital of another empire]], [[OrbitalBombardment nuking it from orbit]], firing a [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet Cracker]] or [[DepopulationBomb Neutron Sweep]] at Sol III is an option. And even then, the UNE might make an ill advised deal with the [[CosmicHorrorStory Worm-in Waiting]], the [[PlanetEater Devourer of Worlds]] or even the [[DealWithTheDevil End of the Cycle]]...

* In ''Anime/GargantiaOnTheVerdurousPlanet'', Earth is only a legend to the Human Galactic Alliance, the civilization the protagonist Ledo hails from. Their ancestors left Earth because of an Ice Age; when [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler Ledo rediscovers Earth]], he learns that ice has since melted, resulting in a [[SingleBiomePlanet planet covered by a giant ocean]] instead. People ''do'' still live there, however, sailing in giant fleets.

* In FanFic/TheAgeOfDusk, Earth (and the rest of the Solar System for that matter) has been completely corrupted by Chaos to the point that not even Chaos Marines can survive there.

* ''Anime/CowBoyBebop'': Earth was abandoned by mankind after the Astral Gate incident of 2021 where an astral gate, a portal designed to allow hyperspace travel through the Solar System, exploded and destroyed most of the Moon, causing all the debris to rain upon the planet's surface at a near-constant rate, cuasing untold damage and consting the life of near 4.7 billion people. Despite this, there still some humans living on Earth though they are typically regarded as insane and uncivillized by intergalactic society. Earth is generally ignored by humanity as a whole, as "nothing good ever comes from Earth" as Jet stated.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Lunar}}'' series, the humans of Lunar came from the Blue Star, a planet visible in the sky, in time immemorial. According to lore, the Goddess Althena made Lunar habitable and moved people there when the Blue Star was ruined. Given that [[AllMythsAreTrue all of this proves to be true]] and that outlines of real-world continents appear on its surface, it's pretty clear what the Blue Star used to be.

* The Planet of the Apes franchise does this a lot. In the second film, the last ultimate weapon is set off, destroying the planet. As for the first film, . . .

* In Harry Harrison's ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' books, Earth was lost even before the Breakdown, and it's unclear whether it was actually called "Earth" or "Dirt". (In a later book, the Rat actually has to ''go to Earth'' through a time warp to warn of its impending doom. So it ''was'' destroyed. Humanity actually spread to the stars from the terraformed Mars.)
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'': The setting takes place a thousand of years into TheFuture, compared to ''Literature/TheEmpireNovels'', leaving Earth [[TenThousandYears far in the past]]. By the time of "Literature/TheEncyclopedists", archaeological-inclined scholars in the First [[GalacticSuperpower Galactic Empire]] debate over which planet is the homeworld of humanity, and if there even was one. Centuries later, in ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'', the name "Earth" now represents the "origin question". If they find the original homeworld of humanity, they've found Earth.
* Happens multiple times in ''Literature/ADeepnessInTheSky'' by Creator/VernorVinge: The Earth is said to have been recolonized three times after the previous colony could no longer support itself. This also happens to basically every other planet humans colonize, and in ''Literature/AFireUponTheDeep'' is stated to be the fate of all civilizations in the Slow Zone. Eventually, interstellar civilization collapses and humans settle on Nyjora, and end up rediscovering space travel and abandoning Nyjora in exactly the same way.

* This happens during ''Literature/BlueMars'': The Earth is now becoming overpopulated so humanity is forced to move to the other planets.

* In most of Bruce Sterling's ''Literature/{{Schismatrix}}'', Earth is only referred to as [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet a place no-one in their right mind would visit]] - humanity has since spread out to other planets and man-made structures in the Solar System and its immediate vicinity. When we do actually visit Earth, we find that its civilization has [[CrapsackWorld degenerated]] into spatterings of identical [[MegaCity city-states]], each apparently [[OneWorldOrder fanatically worshiping]] some kind of [[GodEmperor dictator deity]], while the surrounding landscape is a [[PollutedWasteland toxic wasteland]].

* In Robert Charles Wilson's ''[[Literature/{{Spin}} Vortex]]'', Earth has been abandoned and rendered uninhabitable in one of the book's parallel storylines. Justified, since the events are taking place millions of years in the future (from the viewpoint of the universe), although [[TimeDilation only 10,000 years from the viewpoint of Earth]], and the Sun has expanded and prepares to scorch Earth. Thanks to the Hypotheticals and their [[PortalNetwork Arches]], humanity has spread to other planets from Earth and Mars (which has also suffered the same fate as Earth), although it's mentioned that not everyone was able to make it out before dying. One group is determined to get back to Earth and contact the Hypotheticals. While the Arch to Earth is no longer functional, they hope that one of the new "arrivals" will act as a key to activate the portal. [[spoiler:It works, but Earth turns out to be an unlivable hellhole. The Hypotheticals attack Vox Core and kill everyone but the three main characters. They witness the Arch start to break apart on Earth and have to find an alternative means to get off the planet]].
* In Christopher Nuttall's series ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind'', Earth (and most of the rest of the Solar System) was pulverized in the Breakaway Wars, which presumably took place between the different space colonies and UN-dominated Earth. It gets mentioned that the last remains of civilization there are small settlements in asteroids.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] on ''Series/{{The 100}}''. Ninety-seven years after a nuclear war, the remnants of humanity [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts living aboard the Ark space station]] believe they're in an Earth That Was situation, since their calculations say the radioactive fallout on Earth won't subside to safe levels for two hundred years. However, when desperation forces them to send a group of people down to Earth, not only do they find the planet is livable, but they discover that there have been people living down here the whole time. Then double-subverted, as the Earth is still radioactive, it's just that some humans (including the space-born protagonists) have evolved to adapt to higher radiation levels.

* Kobol, the human homeworld in the new ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', is revealed to have suffered a nuclear war several millennia in its past. While inhabitable now, it was necessary to leave at the time, and is even "cursed" to exact blood from those who return. [[spoiler:It ''no longer'' remains to be seen if the [[LostColony 13th colony known as Earth]] is also a radioactive wasteland.]]
** What exactly occurred on Kobol is far from clear. With the apparent 'Cycle of Time' the humans and Cylons exist in, it could have been nuclear in origin, as happened to the Colonies as well, but apart from references to a 'Blaze' that pursued the tribes on Kobol and a 'Flood' that wiped out most of humanity specific references have been thin on the ground, likely as the characters have no way of knowing either.
* Although likely to be averted, the Earth is faced with this fate in ''Series/{{Crusade}}'', having been contaminated with a slow-acting bioweapon that is expected to destroy all life within 5 years. As the planet is under strict quarantine by other races, off-world humans are effectively cut off from their species' homeworld, as surely as if it was already dead or lost.
** [[spoiler: The DistantFinale to season 4 of ''Series/BabylonFive'' and the series finale say otherwise.]]
** WordOfGod on the Drakh Plague is that it would have [[spoiler: been cured somewhere mid-S2, allowing other plot threads to take over, most notably a conspiracy within the Earth Gov to use Shadow technology.]]

* In ''Series/{{Earth 2}}'' humanity has largely abandoned a hopelessly polluted Earth, and is in the process of colonizing Earth 2.

* ''Nova Praxis'' had Earth trashed by one of the two major powers of the backstory deploying the "Technophage", which was supposed to destroy their enemy's capital and force them to sue for peace. Instead, it refused to accept the shutdown command and devastated both sides, forcing everyone to leave.