History Main / ForWantOfANail

* In the ''Superjail!'' fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8885128/1/An-Unexpected-Child An Unexpected Child]], the Mistress becomes pregnant with the Warden's child after the events of her debut episode "Ladies' Night". This of course leads to a strange chain of events, involving a maze in the center of the Earth and a circus that gets its entertainment from slaughtering, that ultimately result in Mistress having the baby, [[spoiler: a one-month premature little girl whom she decides to name after [[DeadGuyJunior her mother and also Warden's mother]] in their honor]], at the end.

* ''HarryPotter'':

** In "What if Snape Died", we see a timeline where James fails to save Snape's life. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were expelled from Hogwarts for the prank. That and James having no time for friends ever since he and Lily started dating resulted in Peter Pettigrew being a loner for the rest of his days as a Hogwarts student. Pettigrew [[InSpiteOfANail still became a Death Eater]] but never had a chance to spy on the Light or frame Sirius with anything. After graduation, James, Sirius and Remus had no news from Pettigrew until his death during a raid that took place after James and Lily's marriage. Because nobody overheard the prophecy, Dumbledore decided to keep it to himself out of fear the Potters and[=/=]or the Longbottoms might accidentally call Voldemort's attention to it if they knew. Harry grew up with both parents until he was five. Then, while they were out to shop, Voldemort and some Death Eaters showed up. [[InSpiteOfANail Lily sacrificed herself to save Harry, Voldemort was defeated and Harry became the Boy-Who-Lived]]. James and Sirius were around to raise Harry despite Dumbledore still wanting him to live with the Dursleys. James said [[FateWorseThanDeath he'd rather kill Harry]].

* Discussed by AlPacino's character in ''Any Given Sunday'' (see the quotes page).

* A FanFic of the show ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', called ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8737926/1/The-Walking-Dead-Better-Angels Better Angels]]'', has Shane Walsh [[spoiler: killing Rick Grimes during their confrontation at the end of Season 2]]. This creates an obvious change in later events as [[spoiler: Shane's]] leadership propels the group into The Prison.

* ''FanFic/RainboomsAndRoyalty'' is a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic in which the central conceit is that Princess Celestia was in Cloudsdale rather than Canterlot when the Mane Cast earned their cutie marks, and took Rainbow Dash as her student rather than Twilight Sparkle, despite knowing that the Pegasus was more inclined to athletics rather than academics. [[BetterThanItSounds It is very, very good.]]

* In the past of Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse, Celestia went evil instead of Luna. Everything changes because of it.

* ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'' diverges from [[WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures canon]] at the start of season 4, where, rather than releasing [[SealedEvilInACan Tarakudo]], Daolon Wong's improvised spell instead transforms Jade back into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Queen of the Shadowkhan]]. After this, the story transpires [[InSpiteOfANail almost the same]] as canon (minus Jade as the BigBad), but with a growing number of differences -- Viper, El Toro and Paco have a larger role in events, for starters, and there's a secondary group of {{MacGuffin}}s that wasn't present on the show.

* ''FanFic/{{Horseshoes and Hand Grenades}}'' is a [[Series/KamenRiderFourze Kamen Rider Fourze]] fic that starts with Kengo trying to save Gentaro from death (ep. 32). What actually happens? Gentaro was resurrected by a serpent called Ophiuchus who brainwashed him to believe that his friends didn't care that he died. This has caused the Kamen Rider Club to do their best to fight their former friend, brought in ''seven'' Kamen Riders and characters from their shows, and ''many'' stories detailing SimultaneousArcs involved with many other secondary characters.
* What might have happened if [[{{Manga/Bleach}} Ichigo]] had been a few seconds slower when recovering his powers in the Shattered Shaft? [[Fanfic/NotQuiteAsPlanned Not Quite as Planned]] answers that question in the most awesome way possible.

* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' [[spoiler:Sarda in his anger sends White Mage into a pocket universe, only to discover years later that the pocket universe was actually our own universe before it started, and this made White Mage "The Creator". Sarda had planned to become "The Creator" but he arrives a few minutes too late.]]

** In UminekoNoNakuKoroNi we have [[spoiler: Lion, who appears in a fragment where Natsuhi accepted the baby that Kinzo gave her and didn't throw it over the cliff and therefore didn't grow up as Yasu.]] Though ultimately subverted in that [[spoiler: Lion is still murdered during the massacre as Bernkastel gleefully shows.]]
*** A subversion is mentioned in the Ep 8 manga where it is mentioned that even if [[spoiler: Battler would have kept his promise to Shannon/Yasu, Yasu would have still thought him/herself as furniture and so it still wouldn't have saved him/her]].

* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' has a bad case of this; every arc it's something else in the initial factors--minor things like a man moving into the village or even Keiichi giving someone a ''doll''--that sets off a completely different scenario of bloody tragedy.
** In UminekoNoNakuKoroNi we have [[spoiler: Lion, who appears in a fragment where Natsuhi accepted the baby that Kinzo gave her and didn't throw it over the cliff and therefore didn't grow up as Yasu.]] Though ultimately subverted in that [[spoiler: Lion is still murdered during the massacre as Bernkastel gleefully shows.]]
*** A subversion is mentioned in the Ep 8 manga where it is mentioned that even if [[spoiler: Battler would have kept his promise to Shannon/Yasu, Yasu would have still thought him/herself as furniture and so it still wouldn't have saved him/her]]

* In Manga/DragonBall Z, the main timeline ends up being VERY different than the one Trunks comes from for reasons that aren't really well explained. For example, Androids #17 and #18 are much more powerful in the main timeline but not really all that evil (they do initially intend to kill Goku out of boredom but don't really go out of their way to hurt anyone else). Android #19 didn't exist in the Trunks' timeline nor did Android #20 (Dr. Gero had never turned himself into an Android). Goku also got sick MUCH later than he did in Trunks' timeline.

* ForWantOfANail/RealLife

* What might have happened if [[{{Manga/Bleach}} Ichigo]] had been a few seconds slower when recovering his powers in the Shattered Shaft? [[Fanfic/NotQuiteAsPlanned Not Quite as Planned]] answers that question in the most awesome way possible.

* TheWalkingDead has a FanFic called ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8737926/1/The-Walking-Dead-Better-Angels Better Angels]]'' where Shane Walsh [[spoiler: kills Rick Grimes during their confrontation (at the end of Season 2)]]. This creates an obvious change in later events as [[spoiler: Shane's]] leadership propels the group into The Prison.

* An exam proctor gets food poisoning results in Naruto becoming a ninja two years early in the FanFic/FirstTrySeries.

[[caption-width-right:278:If the [[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel Nazis]] just[[TheBadGuyWins had one more of these...]]]]

[[caption-width-right:278:[[GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel If the Nazis just]] [[TheBadGuyWins had one more of these...]]]]

->''"What happens if Bobo causes one of those weird numbers where [[Literature/ASoundOfThunder he goes back into the past and steps on a butterfly or something]], [[ButterflyOfDoom and because of that mammals as we know them never evolve]], and because of that [[MundaneUtility mankind never invents slot machines]], and my favorite hobby goes straight down the toity, huh?!"''

->''"What happens if Bobo causes one of those weird numbers where [[Literature/ASoundOfThunder he goes back into the past and steps on a butterfly or something, and because of that mammals as we know them never evolve]], and because of that mankind never invents slot machines, and my favorite hobby goes straight down the toity, huh?!"''

** Actually much of this was explained. 17 and 18 were altered to be more powerful because of Trunks's arrival and the power increases of the other characters. Since Goku died in Trunks's timeline he saw no need and spent time making the androids into world domination machines (adjusting their personalities for the task) still strong enough to take on inexperienced Super Saiyans but still weaker than the main timeline versions. Gero probably altered himself and created Android 19 because of the appearance of more combatants with formidable power levels. This was because Trunks warned them about the androids and they trained to become more powerful. Also, in Trunks's timeline Goku was the one who fought Frieza on Earth by teleporting using instant transmission and the fight caused the virus to take affect when it did. Since he didn't go through any big fight, when Trunks killed Frieza, Goku never caused the virus's progress to accelerate and kill him when it did in Trunks's time.