History Main / ForWantOfANail

*** [[spoiler: The game also implies that, after the events of his route, Ignis either is too traumatized by the events of his route to eat anything or his digestive tract magically disappeared. His appetite is fine during [[CanonEnding Misyr's route.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Il (and his associated side characters) undergoes much of the same character development and even overthrows the EvilGod of his world in both his and [[CanonEnding Misyr's]] routes. The main differences are that, if Kotone gets romantically involved with Il, then Il is forced to kill against his will, gets his mind wiped, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]], and essentially gets his soul shredded in the process, leaving his mind broken in his route alone.]]
** [[spoiler: In Rindo's route, Kotone helping Rindo's best friend buy a gift for his girlfriend helps him go over the edge and unleash a deadly monster unto his workplace, leading the deaths of an untold number of people and Rindo nearly dying. Rindo is then [[EmergencyTransformation turned into an obvious non-human]] [[WhatHaveIBecome against against his explicit wishes.]] He loses practically every piece of his old life, including his apartment, his job, any activities or friends he had outside of the main cast, and, by the end of his route, the lives of both his best friend and sister. None of this happens in Misyr's route, where everything is resolved peacefully and calmly instead, and Rindo isn't driven to brink of death.]]

*** [[spoiler: Misyr's route is extra special because the protagonist also ruins her own life in his route. Long story short, Kotone falling in love with Misyr puts her life in danger multiple times, gets her kidnapped multiple times by different people, her body destroyed, her soul merged with Noah's, and then becomes either planet or dimension, a process previously described as excruciating. At the end of Misyr's route, Kotone is no longer able to exist in her homeworld. She can at best override the cafe she and her beloved grandfather once cherished and roam, still trapped within the walls of the former cafe for the rest of her existence, as a ghost-like being for all eternity. All because she went with Misyr to a bookstore in the common route.]]

* ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'' reveals that everything in the ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series happened For Want of a ''Snail''. If there hadn't been a snail in the middle of a jogging path at a particular moment in time, [[spoiler:a jogger wouldn't have taken a different path to avoid it, she wouldn't have gotten murdered by a psychopathic little girl waiting on that path for a random person to kill, and an innocent man wouldn't have been wrongly accused of the crime. The man wouldn't have been arrested just before he could get into the taxi he called, and that taxi wouldn't have picked up a surgeon instead and gotten into a wreck, killing both the driver and passenger. A boy at the hospital who needed surgery wouldn't have died as a result of the surgeon never showing up. The innocent man's wife wouldn't have been so distraught by his execution that she commits suicide and orphans their two kids [[VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors Aoi and Akane]]. Not being orphaned would have made those two kids a lot harder to kidnap and put in a Nonary Game, which would mean Akane wouldn't need to mastermind a second Nonary Game [[StableTimeLoop prevent her own death in the first one]]. An old man who shared a hospital room with the boy who needed surgery wouldn't have taken inspiration from Akane to become Zero II and mastermind the Decision Game, which caused the Radical-6 pandemic that killed 6 billion people and required a ''third'' Nonary Game to be set up 45 years later in order to train Sigma and Phi in MentalTimeTravel so they could go back and stop it]].

* ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'' introduces the biggest Nail in the ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series: a snail on the road. [[spoiler: Had a young mother not avoid the path with the snail on her jogging route, she wouldn't have been killed by a little girl and gotten an innocent man falsely accused of the crime. He wouldn't have been avoided by his taxi driver, who in turn wouldn't have gotten into a fatal car crash with the surgeon he ''did'' pick up, killing the boy who would have been operated on in the process (who himself wound up the inspiration for Sean). The man's wife wouldn't have been so distraught by his execution that she commits suicide and orphans their two kids [[VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors Aoi and Akane]], which in the long run would have led to a lack of 6 billion man viral body count and a lot less Nonary Games.]]

* Parodied [[http://chainsawsuit.com/2010/08/26/lazy-dog/ here]] on ''Webcomic/{{Chainsawsuit}}''.

* [[http://www.viruscomix.com/page556.html This]] ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'' strip. If you look closely enough, the last panel nearly spells out this trope.

* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'':
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2006-05-28 Squigly calls a butterfly a murderer for producing such effects]], and [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2006-06-13 then imagines his own effects.]]
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2007-06-09 Squigly predicts this for a cocoon]], who thinks "Cool!". Later [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2008-04-05 Buddha]] fixed it, though.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00291.htm they blame Sam rather than a butterfly.]]

** [[spoiler: Il (and his associated side characters) undergoes much of the same character development and even overthrows the EvilGod of his world in both his and Misyr's routes. The main differences are that, if Kotone gets romantically involved with Il, then Il is forced to kill against his will, gets his mind wiped, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]], and essentially gets his soul shredded in the process, leaving his mind broken in his route alone.]]
** [[spoiler: In Rindo's route, Kotone helping Rindo's best friend buy a gift for his girlfriend helps him go over the edge and unleash a deadly monster unto his workplace, leading the deaths of an untold number of people and Rindo nearly dying. Rindo is then [[EmergencyTransformation turned into an obvious non-human against against his wishes]] and loses practically every piece of his old life, including his apartment, his job, any activities or friends he had outside of the main cast, and, by the end of his route, the lives of both his best friend and sister. None of this happens in Misyr's route, where everything is resolved peacefully and calmly instead and Rindo isn't driven to brink of death.]]
** [[spoiler: Last but not least is Misyr himself. Kotone getting romantically involved with Misyr ticks off BigBad [[OmnicidalManiac Noah]] so much that tries to [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 destroy all worlds across dimensions]]. He succeeds at wiping entire regions of the various worlds that we know of and killing possibly trillions before he is stopped. Misyr is also permanently turned to a weak, mortal human and severely injured in his route. Noah does not try to end all worlds in other routes.]]
*** [[spoiler: Misyr's route is extra special because the protagonist also ruins her own life in his route. Long story short, Kotone falling in love with Misyr puts her life in danger multiple times, gets her kidnapped multiple times, her body destroyed, her soul merged with Noah's, and then becomes either planet or dimension, a process previously described as excruciating. At the end of Misyr's route, Kotone is no longer able to exist in her homeworld. She can at best override the cafe she and her beloved grandfather once cherished and roam, still trapped within the walls of the former cafe for the rest of her existence, as a ghost-like being for all eternity. All because she went with Misyr to a bookstore in the common route.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ80SVOHKoo An ad series]] for [=DirecTV=] starts with a customer experiencing some flaw associated with digital cable, and their reaction cascading into random scenarios like waking up in a roadside ditch, attending their own funeral in a disguise, or re-enacting scenes from ''Film/{{Platoon}}'' with Creator/CharlieSheen.

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[[quoteright:350:[[NurseryRhyme https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_for_want_of_a_nail.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"But I can't take you into battle with a loose shoe...!"]]

A SubTrope of WhatIf, and related to UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom, SmallRoleBigImpact, DiceRollDeath, SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight. A SuperTrope of CloseEnoughTimeline and BigFirstChoice (when ''the player'' decides about the nail). If the originals meet their alternates, may result in OtherMeAnnoysMe or FutureMeScaresMe. The ItsAWonderfulPlot is a SubTrope. See MirrorCharacter. Often overlaps with InSpiteOfANail, because many stories wouldn't be that interesting if ''everything'' was different. Compare ItBeganWithATwistOfFate and ContrivedCoincidence. Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

* In Cafe Enchante, an [[RomanceGame otome game]], [[spoiler: [[CanonEnding Misyr's route]]]] implies that Kotone's (the protagonist's) romantic involvement with the love interests [[spoiler: ruins their lives in some way and results in the deaths of many]] that doesn't if she doesn't get romantically involved. [[spoiler: The only exception is probably Canis' route, which plays out more or less the same.]] All of these examples start with Kotone inheriting a cafe from her grandfather and hanging out with one client more than the others.

* In Cafe Enchante, an otome game, [[spoiler: [[CanonEnding: Misyr's route]]]] implies that Kotone's (the protagonist's) romantic involvement with the love interests [[spoiler: ruins their lives]] in some way that doesn't happen if she doesn't get romantically involved. [[spoiler: The only exception is Canis' route, which plays out more or less the same.]] All of these examples start with Kotone inheriting a cafe from her grandfather and hanging out with one client more than the others.
** The game implies that [[spoiler: Ignis licking Kotone's wound at the beginning of his route started his HorrorHunger, which eventually gets so intense that he goes berserk and enters a frenzied state, which leads to him participating in his own kind's extinction, committing cannibalism, and eating a good chunk of Kotone's arm. If the protagonist goes after Misyr instead of Ignis, Ignis' HorrorHunger doesn't appear at all.]]

** [[spoiler: In Rindo's route, Kotone helping Rindo's best friend buy a gift for his girlfriend helps him go over the edge and unleash a deadly monster unto his workplace, leading the deaths of an untold number of people and Rindo nearly dying. Rindo is then turned into an obvious non-human against against his wishes and loses practically every piece of his old life, including his apartment, his job, any activities or friends he had outside of the main cast, and, by the end of his route, the lives of both his best friend and sister. None of this happens in Misyr's route, where everything is resolved peacefully and calmly instead and Rindo isn't driven to brink of death.]]
** [[spoiler: Last but not least is Misyr himself. Kotone getting romantically involved with Misyr ticks off BigBad [[OmnicidalManiac Noah]] so much that tries to [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 destroy all worlds across dimentions]]. He succeeds at wiping entire regions of various worlds that we know of and killing possibly trillions before he is stopped. Misyr is also permanently turned to a weak, mortal human and severely injured in his route. Noah does not try to end all worlds in other routes.]]
*** [[spoiler: Misyr's route is extra special because the protagonist mainly ruins her own life in his route. Long story short, Kotone falling in love with Misyr puts her life in danger multiple times, gets her kidnapped multiple times, her body destroyed, her soul merged with Noah's, and then becomes either planet or dimension, a process previously described as excruciating. In the end of Misyr's route, Kotone is no longer able to exist in her homeworld. She can at best override the cafe she and her beloved grandfather once cherished and roam, still trapped within the walls of the former cafe for the rest of her existence, as a ghost-like being for all eternity. All because she went with Misyr to a bookstore in the common route.]]

* In Cafe Enchante, an otome game, [[spoiler: Misyr's route]] implies that Kotone's (the protagonist's) romantic involvement with the love interests [[spoiler: (except Canis)]] ruins their lives in some way that doesn't happen if she doesn't get romantically involved. All of these examples start with Kotone inheriting a cafe from her grandfather and hanging out with one client more than the others.
** The game implies that [[spoiler: Ignis licking Kotone's wound at the beginning of his route started his HorrorHunger, which eventually gets so intense that he goes berserk and commits cannibalism. If the protagonist goes after Misyr instead of Ignis, Ignis' HorrorHunger doesn't appear at all.]]
** [[spoiler: Il (and his associated side characters) undergoes much of the same character development and even overthrows the EvilGod of his world in both his and Misyr's routes. The main differences are that, if Kotone gets romantically involved with Il, then Il gets his mind wiped, experiences a ton of angst and pain, and essentially gets his soul shredded in the process, leaving his mind broken in his route alone.]]
** [[spoiler: Somehow, in Rindo's route, Kotone helping Rindo's best friend buy a gift for his girlfriend helps him go over the edge and unleash a deadly monster unto his workplace, leading the deaths of an untold number of people and Rindo nearly dying. Rindo is then turned into a non-human against his will and loses practically every piece of his old life, including his apartment, his job, any activities or friends he had outside of the main cast, and, by the end of his route, the lives of both his best friend and sister. None of this happens in Misyr's route, where everything is resolved peacefully and calmly instead and Rindo remains human.]]
** [[spoiler: Last but not least is Misyr himself. Kotone getting romantically involved with Misyr ticks off BigBad Noah so much that he tries to destroy all worlds. He succeeds at wiping entire regions of various worlds and killing possibly millions before he is stopped. Misyr is also permanently turned to a weak, mortal human in his route. Noah does not try to end all worlds in other routes.]]
*** [[spoiler: Misyr's route is extra special because the protagonist mainly ruins her own life in his route. Long story short, Kotone falling in love with Misyr puts her life in danger multiple times, gets her kidnapped, her body destroyed, her soul merged with Noah's, and then becomes either planet or dimension, a process previously described as excruciating. In the end of Misyr's route, Kotone is no longer able to exist in her homeworld. She can at best "override" the cafe she and her beloved grandfather once cherished and roam, trapped within the walls of the former cafe for the rest of her existence, as a ghost-like being for all eternity. All because she went with him to a bookstore in the common route.]]

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** The game implies that [[spoiler: Ignis licking Kotone's wound at the beginning of his route started his HorrorHunger, which eventually gets so intense that he goes berserk and unwilling commits cannibalism. If the protagonist goes after Misyr instead of Ignis, Ignis' HorrorHunger doesn't appear at all.]]
** [[spoiler: Il (and his associated side characters) undergoes much of the same character development and even overthrows the EvilGod of his world in both his and Misyr's routes. The difference is that, if Kotone gets romantically involved with Il, then Il gets his mind wiped, experiences a ton of angst and pain, and essentially gets his soul shredded in the process, leaving his mind broken in his route alone.]]

** [[spoiler: Last but not least is Misyr himself. Kotone getting involved with Misyr romantically ticks off BigBad Noah so much that he tries to destroy all worlds. He succeeds at wiping entire regions of various worlds and killing possibly millions before he is stopped. Misyr is also permanently turned to a weak, mortal human in his route. Noah does not seriously try to end all worlds in other routes.]]

* In Cafe Enchante, an otome game, [[spoiler: Misyr's route]] implies that Kotone's (the protagonist's) romantic involvement with the love interests [[spoiler:: (except Canis)]] ruins their lives in some way that doesn't happen if she doesn't get romantically involved. All of these examples start with Kotone inheriting a cafe from her grandfather and hanging out with one client more than the others.

* In Cafe Enchante, an otome game, [[spoiler: Misyr's route implies that Kotone's (the protagonist's) romantic involvement with the love interests (except Canis) ruins their lives in some way that doesn't happen if she doesn't get romantically involved. All of these examples start with Kotone inheriting a cafe from her grandfather and hanging out with one client more than the others.]]

* In Cafe Enchante, an otome game, [[spoiler: Misyr's route implies that Kotone's (the protagonist's) romantic involvement with the love interests (except Canis) ruins their lives in some way that doesn't happen if she doesn't get romantically involved. All of these examples start with Kotone inheriting a cafe from her grandfather.]]

** [[spoiler: Il (and his associated side characters) undergoes much of the same character development and even overthrows the EvilGod of his world in both his and Misyr's routes. The difference is that, if Kotone gets romantically involved with Il, Il gets his mind wiped, experiences a ton of angst and pain, and essentially gets his soul shredded in the process, leaving his mind broken in his route and his route alone.]]

*** [[spoiler: Misyr's route is extra special because the protagonist ruins her own life in his route. Long story short, Kotone falling in love with Misyr puts her life in danger multiple times, gets her kidnapped, her body destroyed, her soul merged with Noah's, and then becomes either planet or dimension, a process previously described as excruciating. In the end of Misyr's route, Kotone is no longer able to exist in her homeworld. She can at best "override" the cafe she and her beloved grandfather once cherished and roam, trapped within the walls of the former cafe for the rest of her existence, as a ghost-like being for all eternity.]]

* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Finn experiences [[{{Seer}} a vision of the future]] that points to a specific date where everything went wrong and the superheroes became known to the government. The agent recounting the details of it states that, if even a tiny thing had gone differently on that date, then it would lead to a worse future where more people die and the superheroes are exposed to the entire public instead. Said date happens to be the day of final exams, which is set to pass a few days after Finn's vision.

Derives from a proverb-turned-poem which traces its origins as far back as the 14th century (making this OlderThanPrint). Probably the most well-known version is the one which appeared in Creator/BenjaminFranklin's ''Poor Richard's Almanac'':

* ForWantOfANail/{{Film}}

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': If Jafar hadn't attempted to kill Aladdin after he found the lamp, Abu wouldn't have stolen it and then bit Jafar. Because of this, Aladdin became the genie's master rather than Jafar. This eventually leads to Jafar's own demise at Aladdin's hands as well as a complete change in Aladdin's fate where he goes from a poor unknown thief to the future sultan of Agrabah, something Jafar had wanted to become with the lamp. Years of planning and searching amount to someone else getting his coveted prize all because he wanted to screw Aladdin over.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'', [=Lightning McQueen=] is enjoying his time as a Piston Cup champion when all of a sudden, a rookie named Jackson Storm appears out of nowhere on the last lap and overtakes him for the win. Because of this, several veterans are replaced by new high-tech racers like Storm, and Lightning eventually loses control at the last race of the season, resulting in a horrible crash. The owners of his sponsor, Rust-eze, decide to sell the sponsor to a businessman named Sterling, who builds an elaborate training center so he can make a comeback. But upon causing damage to the equipment, Sterling considers retiring Lightning in favor of becoming a spokesman for a brand, but Lightning begs for one more chance. Sterling agrees on one condition: if Lightning doesn’t win the first race of the new season in Florida, he has to retire. Over the course of the movie, fellow trainer Cruz Ramirez helps him in many ways, and he eventually discovers her dream to be a racer as well. [[spoiler: When the day of the Florida 500 arrives, Sterling shows up and pesters Cruz to come back to the training center because she’s not a racer. Lightning hears their argument over the mic, inspiring him to let Cruz take over for him mid-race to prove Sterling wrong and let her fulfill her dream, even if it means giving up his bet.]]
** The entire ''Cars'' franchise only happens because Lightning's tires blow out at a specific spot on the track during the Piston Cup finals, leading to a 3 way tie. If his tires blew out 20 feet earlier or later, he would either win the Piston Cup outright or fail to be invited to the tiebreaker race. In the same vein, if the Piston Cup leaders had chosen to hold the tiebreaker race anywhere within a day's drive of the previous track, Lightning would have never fallen out of the truck (preventing him from ending up in Radiator Springs).
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'', Barry Allen A.K.A. the Flash, wakes up to find his world turned upside down. Thomas Wayne is Batman instead of Bruce, Superman doesn't exist, and the world is on the verge of ending due to a war between Atlantis and Themyscira. At the film's climax, it's revealed one change in the past resulted in this BadPresent; [[spoiler:Barry went back in time to save his mother's life]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', Mike forgets to file his paperwork on time, and can't get it in himself because he has a date with his girlfriend Celia at a restaurant that's near impossible to get reservations at. Mike can either go back and get the paperwork but lose his restaurant reservation and therefore his dinner date, or proceed with dinner and risk getting fired for not filing his paperwork. Because of this, he sends his friend Sulley to get it submitted. Sulley then finds a door to the human world that shouldn't be there, and through that door comes a little girl. Sulley and Mike hide her in their apartment, and their attempts to get her back [[spoiler: uncover a conspiracy by Monsters Inc. CEO Waternoose to kidnap human children to solve the city's energy crisis.]]
* In the DirectToVideo ''WesternAnimation/OurFriendMartin'', a teenaged African American boy, his white best friend, and two other kids, another white boy and a Latina girl, go back in time to save a teenaged Martin Luther King Jr. after learning that he was assassinated. When they come back [[BadPresent to the present]], the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement never happened and as a result, the protagonist's "best friend" angrily tells him he doesn't talk to "negroes", Jim Crow laws are still in effect, the Latina girl works as a cleaning girl alongside her mother and doesn't speak English, [[StayInTheKitchen the feminist principal now teaches home-ec.]], and doesn't respond to the principal's sexist insult. When he goes home, he learns that his mother, formerly a self-employed businesswoman, works as a maid. Things only go back to normal when King decides to back in time, and accept his role in history.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Farquaad is so into his idea of how to get Fiona and make her his queen, he refuses to listen to the Magic Mirror when it tries to warn him of Fiona's curse. If he had, he wouldn't have sent Shrek to rescue her, thus nothing else in the series would have happened.
** ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'': RulesLawyer and borderline JackassGenie Rumpelstiltskin offers Shrek a DealWithTheDevil. Shrek gets one day as a lawless ogre in exchange for one day from his past. Rumpelstiltskin takes the day Shrek was born, thus creating a world in which Shrek never existed. One of the biggest changes is the fate of Fiona, who without anyone to save her from the tower chose to ScrewDestiny and simply escaped by herself. In addition, in this universe Far Far Away is a dystopia ruled by Rumple- since Shrek wasn't alive to rescue Fiona in the nick of time, the king and queen were tricked into signing their kingdom to Rumple.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', there literally is a nail involved, as Homer was working to hammer down a nail on the roof. The entire plot wouldn't have happened if [[spoiler: Bart didn't laugh at Homer lodging the hammer's claw into his eye. Angered at how his own son would dare laugh at his own father's pain, this led to Bart trying to rationalize his laughing out of Homer's signature strangling of Bart's neck, which led to Homer daring Bart to skate naked to Krusty Burger, which led to Homer finding a pig at Krusty Burger, which led to Homer keeping the pig as a pet and choosing to dump the pig's wastes into a lake, leading to a catastrophe where the head of Environmental Protection Agency and film's villain, Russ Cargill, tried to bomb Springfield for desire of a clean, sanitary and unpopulated area. In the end, Homer and Bart are not only back to square one, but now they have to rebuild their entire house, not just repair the roof.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', as when Andy grew up and was about to go to college, [[spoiler: he put all his toys (save Woody) inside a black bag to store them in the attic. However, Andy's mom mistook the bag for garbage and put it next to the garbage cans, leading to all the toys except Woody into thinking that Andy outright tried to get rid of them and so they wanted to stay at Sunnyside Daycare Center, where new children will play with them and the leader there Lotso appeared friendly and welcoming. However, later on, Andy's toys are assigned to dangerous infants who play rough and Lotso turns out to be a sadistic bully who wants them to be tortured, if not broken to death, so that he and his chosen cronies won't. Once the toys do figure out a master strategy to escape their prisons, Lotso drags them all with him into a garbage chute where they nearly get burned and destroyed by an incinerator.]]
** Heck, Andy deciding to have one last play with his toys in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'' not only leads to him obtaining Jessie, Bullseye, and the LGM, but also leads to [[spoiler:their lives being saved when Lotso betrays them to the incinerator, thanks to Mr. Potato Head saving the LGM's lives]]. The person who had a delivery from Pizza Planet should be thanked as well.
* ''WesternAnimation/DCShowcaseBatmanDeathInTheFamily'' explores the idea of trying to change Jason Todd's fate.
** Allowing it to play as normal leads to a retelling of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'' [[spoiler:with Bruce narrating the story to Clark Kent, who reassures him that everything will be okay in the end.]]
** If Jason survives, [[spoiler:he's badly burned by heavily disillusioned by everything. He dons a new Robin look making him resemble the villain Hush and goes on a violent murdering spree. He is ultimately confronted by Talia al Ghul, wanting him to help raise her and Bruce's child, Damian, which Jason agrees to so he can take revenge on Bruce and the al Ghuls.]]
** If Batman saves Jason, [[spoiler: Batman is the one killed instead, the Bat-Family bury him with his parents and Dick takes over as Batman]]. This splits into two paths:
*** [[spoiler:Jason will end up finding the Joker hiding in a diner and, realizing who he is, murders him.]] ''This'' splits into two paths:
*** [[spoiler:If Jason is arrested, he becomes a violent inmate, dealing justice his own way with a "Jailbird" persona.]]
*** [[spoiler: If Jason escapes, he becomes Red Robin, killing other villains his own way. He ultimately confronts Two-Face, who flips his signature coin when he has the vigilante pinned.]]
*** [[spoiler: If it's heads, Two-Face attempts to kill Red Robin, only to be saved by a young Tim Drake, who convinces him to stop going down his violent path. Jason realizes what he's done and backs away, rejoining the Bat-Family and bringing Tim in as "Batkid".]]
*** [[spoiler: If it's tails, Two-Face lets Jason live, declaring it a CruelMercy, a FateWorseThanDeath to know how far he's fallen and, disgusted with it all, Jason retires]].
*** [[spoiler:If Jason decides to uphold his promise not to kill, trying to lure the Joker out by donning the clown's identity as the Red Hood. He confronts Joker and realizes he's been murdering criminals and repressing his memories, leading to two choices, but regardless if you have Jason spare the Joker or kill him, Jason becomes a fugitive and ultimately confronts Talia and a revived Bruce Wayne, lost in madness. Regardless on if you spare or kill the Joker, you're given the choice to save Bruce or kill him. If Jason kills Bruce, Bruce in his last moments reveals a bomb that kills the three of them. If Jason just tazes Bruce and takes out Talia, Dick arriving to bring the two home so Jason can heal and the Bat-Family can try and restore Bruce.]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/BlindChance'' is an example of AlternateHistory at the individual level. Have one small detail play out differently (catching or not a train while noticing or not someone in the crowd), and the man's entire life will change as a result. The way how the entire story is told inspired the next two movies listed below.
* ''Lola rennt'' (a.k.a. ''Film/RunLolaRun''): the wildly variant endings of Lola's twenty-minute GroundhogDayLoop can all be traced back to Lola's reaction to the boy with the dog on the staircase.
* ''Film/SlidingDoors'' has catching/not catching a train as the "nail" and ends with dramatically different versions of the protagonist. The 'nail' moment was marked with music and later in the film when the protagonist had to make a decision the music was played again. Although we didn't follow this 'split' it implied that there were more points where a single decision would be important.
* In the movie ''Film/{{Frequency}}'', a son manages to send a message back in time and save his firefighter father's life. However, because of this change, his mother, who was a nurse, never left the hospital to make funeral arrangements and so was on duty to save the life of a man who would've died. This man turns out to be a serial killer who kills the mother and is now still at large in the present of the son.
* The vast majority of ''Film/{{Brazil}}''[='s=] plot occurs because of a swatted fly that fell into a typewriter, causing an arrest warrant for Harry '''T'''uttle to instead be made out for Harry '''B'''uttle.
* The whole "Pottersville" sequence in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' is an example of this. George's having never been born turns out to have an indelible effect on the lives of pretty much everyone he's ever known in real life. (Of course, the whole idea of the movie is how much one man can make a difference.)
* The ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' film trilogy is a series of nails showing what would have happened if a certain event did or didn't occur:
** In the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first movie]], Marty [=McFly's=] father was a wimp who couldn't stand up to the bully Biff Tannen, but after Marty changed events concerning his father in 1955, he becomes a more confident and successful man who has Biff eating out of his hand, and Marty's family life has also improved.
** Also in the second movie, an automobile accident that would have happened in the third movie when Marty was racing with his friend Needles was the nail that caused Marty's future history to go down the toilet by 2015, eventually resulting in him being fired from the company he and Needles were working for. When the accident was avoided in the third movie, the YOU'RE FIRED message that Marty's girlfriend/future wife Jennifer Parker had received from the future was erased, meaning that their future could potentially become a better one.
* Pointed out by the scriptwriters in the Audio Commentary of ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''. The entire plot is basically kicked off by a ''corset being laced too tightly'', causing the wearer of the corset to fall into the water, causing the cursed coin she's also wearing to summon the undead pirates who capture her, setting off the rescue mission by the other two main characters that makes up most of the plot.
* ''Film/TheGodsMustBeCrazy'': Because a pilot throws an empty Coca-Cola bottle out of an airplane... a primitive tribe abruptly discovers civilization.
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'': Nancy's mother explains that the reason Freddy is on the loose is because [[spoiler: he was supposed to have been arrested, but his warrant was never signed in the right place, meaning he got off right then and there and the parents of Springwood were left to [[TorchesAndPitchforks take matters into their own hands...]]]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The ''Narada'' being sent back through time causes a divergence, creating a brand new timeline in ''Film/StarTrek2009''. James Kirk's father dies by [[RammingAlwaysWorks suicide-charging]] his ship into it, James himself is born in space rather than Iowa, he and Spock do not meet on the best of terms, [[spoiler: and Vulcan is completely destroyed.]]
** This continues into ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', where [[spoiler:Khan/John Harrison]] is found and awakened almost a decade before he was originally, and Starfleet is in no condition for the coming war with the Klingons (when the emergency is called, only about a dozen captains and their {{Number One}}s are present at the meeting). It's also implied that the Praxis incident happened much earlier than expected, possibly due to misuse of technology obtained from studying the ''Narada''.
** ...and on into ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' where due to one species not accepting a peace offering from another and forcing Kirk to keep the artifact in question, the [[spoiler: ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) is destroyed]] some 22 years before it did in the original timeline and [[spoiler: the ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701-A) is commissioned]] roughly over 20 years sooner as well.
* In ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'', the titular organization make small changes in order to keep humanity following their plan. Had Elise not been caught crashing a wedding, she never would've been hiding in the bathroom where David was practicing his concession speech and inspired him to get rid of his fake persona to become a man of the people. The conversation is intended to spurn both of them into their planned fates as President and a master choreographer. However, when he happens to meet her a second time the bureau tries to separate them because their romance will derail both of their plans.
* Invoked by Creator/AlPacino's character in ''Film/AnyGivenSunday'' to light some fire in his players at half-time (see the quotes page).
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', as is mostly canonically adapted from [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the books]] (though occasionally not), bounces the outcome of its story backwards and forwards through the many separate applications of this trope within its work. Here are the lost nails, in numerical order:
** ''1.'' Sauron, with his left hand firmly holding the IdiotBall (as well as his mace), ''extends his right hand -- the one carrying the Ring of Power -- out to Isildur''.
** ''2.'' Isildur, apparently catching the Ball as Sauron throws it, ''keeps the Ring''.
** ''3.'' [[spoiler:Deagol]] finds the Ring while fishing.
** ''4.'' Smeagol loses the Ring, allowing Bilbo to steal it.
** ''5.'' Merry and Pippin, having stolen produce from Farmor Maggot, bump into Frodo and Sam as they run.
** ''6.'' Frodo decides to travel through Moria [[spoiler:instead of scaling Calahdras]].
** ''7.'' Merry and Pippin disinterestedly disturb the waters outside the entrance to Moria.
** ''8.'' Pippin knocks a skeleton down a well within Moria.
** ''9.'' Galadriel gives the Fellowship several gifts.
** ''10.'' Aragorn [[spoiler:advises Theoden to spare Grima Wormtongue]].
** ''11.'' Smeagol [[spoiler:dips in the Forbidden Pool]].
** ''12.'' Pippin [[spoiler:finds one of the Lost Seeing Stones at the foot of the Tower of Orthanc]].
** ''13.'' Orcs [[spoiler:argue about the distribution of Frodo's possessions]].
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The BadFuture faced by the cast of the original trilogy all came about due to the assassination of Dr. Bolivar Trask in 1973.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': Because of the changes to the original timeline, the public is aware of mutants nearly three decades earlier. This leads to En Sabah Nur gaining a cult, Agent Moira [=MacTaggert=] investigating it, and the ancient mutant waking up when he otherwise didn't.
* A petty argument about a character's choice of decoration snowballs into [[spoiler:a full-blown race riot]] in ''Film/DoTheRightThing''. Buggin' Out attempts to start a boycott on Sal's pizzeria because Sal won't put up pictures of black people on his Wall of Fame. [[spoiler: He succeeds in getting [[TheBigGuy Radio]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Raheem]] and [[InspirationallyDisabled Smiley]] on the protest, [[BerserkButton and they begin protesting Sal,]] which led to Sal breaking Radio Raheem's radio, which led to Raheem's attack on Sal, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which led to the cops showing up and killing Radio Raheem,]] which led to Mookie starting a riot by throwing a trash can at Sal's pizzeria, which led to the pizzeria being burnt down...over some pictures]]. Everything that happened in the spoilered part was bad, but none of it would've happened if Buggin' Out wasn't so [[MinorInsultMeltdown insistent]] on the pictures.
* In ''Film/TwoThousandAndNineLostMemories'', Korea and Japan's (and by extension, much of Asia's) future hinges on the survival or assassination of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%C5%8D_Hirobumi Ito Hirobumi]] in 1909. In the AlternateTimeline most of the movie takes place in, Hirobumi survives, Japan goes on to retain most of its colonial holdings (including Korea), and becomes an ally instead of an enemy to the Allied Powers in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII -- which results in the nuclear bombs being detonated in Berlin instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* The major conflict of the second half of ''Film/ProjectAlmanac''. [[spoiler:When they first fired up the machine, it blew the power on the street which caused the school's star basketball player to get run over and get his leg broken. Since he was benched, the team never made it to the championship, and those that would have attended went elsewhere instead. One particular parent was a pilot, who ends up crashing a plane and killing a lot of people as a result. David's frantic attempts to correct for this only further makes a mess of things]].
* ''Film/{{Retroactive}}'': Karen keeps having to travel back through the time machine to stop Frank from murdering his wife because each loop keeps getting worse. She goes back 20 minutes and ends up in the same place each time in Frank's car after he picked her up, but her different attempts to stop him (warning the Sheriff, stealing Frank's gun, etc.) only result in Frank going on an even bigger killing spree. [[spoiler:She eventually decides to go back to before she got in Frank's car, which results in Frank turning on his partner and getting shot by Rayanne.]]
* ''Film/AlexanderAndTheTerribleHorribleNoGoodVeryBadDay'': Alexander drops his brother Trevor's pacifier in the sink, Ben accidentally turns on the garbage chute that destroys it, causing Trevor to cry all night, forcing Emily to rehearse for her play in the cold car, making her extremely sick; forgetting to turn the lights off which drains the car of its battery and making Kelly late for work the next day. And Ben being forced to look after an extremely unhappy Trevor makes his day and job interview a nightmare and he embarrasses himself at a Japanese restaurant meeting. Only Anthony's next day was not directly affected by the pacifier accident; instead, this was tied to an argument with Alexander that led to a miscommunication with his girlfriend, causing them to nearly break up and him getting detention, failing his driver's test and wrecking the family car trying to fix things up. Also, he gets a zit.
* The ''Film/FinalDestination'' films each involve premonitions allowing people to escape a mass disaster, only for Death to come after everyone who should have died according to "Death's design". The second film leans heavily on this trope; it's revealed halfway through that the first film's characters avoiding the Flight 180 crash created ripple effects as Death hunted them down, allowing others to escape their fates. (For example, one character in the first film is hit by a bus, which means that one of the passengers on that bus doesn't make it to the hotel she was planning on staying in that night, which means she survives when a gas leak suffocates everyone else in the hotel) It's implied (and was explicit in the original script) that the highway pile-up in the second film was arranged by Death to take out a number of these 'ripple survivors' in one go.
** [[spoiler: In the final film of the series, the final scene reveals that the film is a prequel, and that the Flight 180 disaster was a means of catching up to two survivors of an earlier bridge collapse, meaning that if those survivors had been a little bit slower escaping the bridge, the first two movies wouldn't have happened]].
** [[spoiler: However, the fourth film (and the most recent events in-universe) reveal that actually this isn't a result of this trope but was in fact Death's plan for each person all along. The premonitions were Death's way of making sure that the protagonists survived long enough to reach their intended deaths.]]
* In ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'', the bar bet turns into a nightmare for Lou. The squirrel that was vomited on in an earlier scene changes the history of the NFL playoff game as it disrupts John Elway's pass on the field.
* The beginning of Tajomaru's story in ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'' starts like this: he was drifting off to sleep in a forest, but is awakened by the sound of hoofbeats and opens his eyes to see the samurai and his veiled wife passing by. He initially isn't interested, and drifts off again when a breeze stirs his hair and lifts the veil of the woman, causing him to want her, and from there, the events snowball into a murder which results in the trial. He blames the whole incident on the breeze revealing the woman's face and rousing him to view the face. Admittedly if the samurai hadn't stopped to inspect this strange, half-clothed man reclining by a tree at the edge of the forest road and kept moving, the breeze would have arrived later and Tajomaru wouldn't have given the couple a second thought.
* At the start of ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Andy Dufresne contemplates murdering his wife and her lover but instead throws his gun away after sobering up and deciding not to murder them. They're murdered by someone else and Andy is charged. Andy's only defense is he couldn't have done it because he threw his gun in the river. Had he not thrown away his gun, the bullets recovered from their bodies would have proven his gun was not used to commit the crime. This is actually pointed out by the District Attorney.
* In ''Film/MoneyForNothing'', Joey, while being driven home by his friend when there was not enough work at the docks, sees a metal bin that would make a nice toolbox and has his friend stop. The bin turns out to be from an armoured car and contains two canvas bags with $1.2 million meant for a casino. Joey takes the bags and leaves bin. Had he also taken the bin, the police would never have found out where and how the money left the truck and thus been unable to question the two kids who saw everything, including the make and colour of Joey's friend's car, and likely would never find Joey. However, the ending states the real Joey was acquitted on a plea of temporary insanity, so he wasn't thinking right.
* In ''Film/SpiderMan1'', this idea is particularly strong. If Peter Parker had not had a crush on Mary Jane Watson for most of his life, he wouldn't have had to work up the nerve to talk to her at Columbia's science lab (sowing the seeds of later friendship and romance), which also means he wouldn't have lingered long enough to be bitten by the GM spider. He wouldn't have had his conflict with Ben or the fight with Flash Thompson, he wouldn't have gone out for the wrestling show, he wouldn't have let the thief go, and Uncle Ben would not have been killed. Despite the upside of the Parker family not losing Ben, the seminal events of Spider-Man's origin would never have happened, leaving New York without its most iconic superhero. This potentially means that Norman Osborn would still have become the Green Goblin, but there would have been nobody capable of stopping him. (Not as important, but he also never would have gained the confidence he needed to confess his feelings to MJ as Peter or save her life and catch her eye as Spider-Man, and however dragged out, they wouldn't have gotten together.)
* Much of the above applies to ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' with the added wrinkle that if Peter had never worked with Curt Connors in recreating the OO formula, Connors would never have been able to turn himself into the Lizard. Had Peter still become Spider-Man, this means the defining moment where he goes from vigilante to hero would never have occurred (though he might have succeeded in catching Ben's killer). Interestingly, while Captain Stacy's death by impalement at the claws of the Lizard never would have happened, his profession meant that there could always have been another day he didn't make it home to his family.
* In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', the only reason that Peter managed to discover Mysterio's deception is that he accidentally fired his web on an AttackDrone which led to MJ picking it up and led them to discover the fact that the Elementals were in truth, illusions created by Mysterio's crew. Had Peter fired his web just a little bit off the mark, or if MJ hadn't walked out of the concert to follow Peter, the crew would have recovered the drone and Mysterio's scheme of becoming the next Iron Man would have gone off without a hitch, and Peter would have likely retired from being a superhero in favor of having a normal life, having passed down the E.D.I.T.H glasses as well as the title Tony Stark's successor in favor of Quentin Beck.
* ''Film/MollysGame'': Had the pinestick that resulted in Molly's freak accident been in any other position or any other angle, chances are the accident, and Molly being involved in organizing poker games would've never happened.
* The plot of ''Film/Rewind2013'' revolves around three time-travelers attempting to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong undo]] a chain of events that led to New York City being destroyed: in 1929, a poor young man is desperate for money to take care of his little sister. He turns to crime but is caught. As he sits in jail, his sister dies of tuberculosis while in foster care. Having nothing left to live for, he falls into a pattern of alcoholism and drug use, committing robberies and muggings to feed his addictions. During one mugging, he accidentally kills the young wife of a brilliant scientist. The scientist never recovers from this heartbreak, turning cold and bitter. When the scientist hears about an experimental time travel technology, he builds a bomb and takes the city of New York hostage. The scientist does not care if New York is destroyed, because he knows the time travel technology will be used to save the city - and possibly his wife in the process.
* In the Christian movie ''Second Chance'', the lead character, who is a Christian, sees all the fun his friends are having apart from him and wishes that he never was a Christian. An angel shows and says his prayers have been answered, and thus in his new non-Christian life, he sees that his parents are divorced, his mother is going out with other men constantly, and his friends see him as a sleazy jerk who is always sleeping around. During a scene where he is being chased by a few guys and desperately prays for his life to be restored, he reaches the doors of a church and finds out that the guys chasing him became his friends again, thus indicating that he was now given a second chance.
* In a brief moment at the beginning of ''Film/TheFugitive'', Richard Kimble's friend [[spoiler: Charles Nichols returns his keys to him and thanks him for loaning him his car]]. Not until the end of the movie does Gerard realize and tell Richard that [[spoiler: Nichols used the keys to let the one-armed man into Kimble's home]]. Kimble laughs bitterly at this, realizing that his wife would still be alive had he not done something as common as loaning his friend his car.
** In a cruel irony, this also saves Kimble's life while simultaneously contributing to his ordeal--had he not received an emergency call from the hospital, he would arrived home with Helen and likely been murdered along with her. The call saved his life, yet left him alive to be accused of killing her.
* The musical movie adaptation of Literature/OliverTwist. The famous scene where Oliver asks for more food came about only because he'd happened to draw the shortest straw among the boys.
* While ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' would probably still have ended badly for nearly everyone concerned in the long term, it starts to really snowball out of control because Carl made a simple mistake and forgot to switch the getaway car's plates. This gets three people killed and leads to the police getting involved, causing the plan to become doomed in a much faster and messier way than it otherwise might have been.
* ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': As confirmed in the Disney canon (and by Creator/DaveFiloni himself), Qui-Gon Jinn's death in a Naboo power plant at the lightsaber blade of Darth Maul is the singular event that cemented that Anakin Skywalker's path would (eventually) be to the Dark Side.
* ''Film/TalesFromTheHood2'': Pretty much the crux of "The Sacrifice". The old man explains to Henry that if Emmett Till chooses to live instead of die then his sacrifice will never occur and the civil rights movement will not progress to the point where Henry has a choice at all.
* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: retrieving the infinity stones via TimeTravel and resurrecting everyone]] only happens because a ''rat ran across Ant-Man's control panel'', bringing him back discovering how to travel through time.
* The entirety of the plot from the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' movies happened thanks to [[spoiler: a drug addict opening a door at the worst moment, causing John Kramer's wife to have a miscarriage. Said drug addict would become the first victim of his many, many twisted traps...]]
* The entire plot of ''Film/Avatar2009'' is made possible because the protagonist's brother had been killed and mugged.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jokes]]
* A king calls an augur to predict his future. Watching the birds, the augur, with a somewhat disbelieving look, proceeds to tell the king that he shall eat his own son. Heavily struck by this prediction, the king kills himself to keep it from coming true. During the week-long mourning, the kingdom was invaded. Elsewhere, a pair of birds [[TalkingAnimal converse]] about how one of them was out of his place the day of the king's death.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples subpages:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* [[PlotTriggeringDeath For want of Raye Penber]], ''Manga/DeathNote'' lasted much shorter than it could.
** Even earlier than that, the human who picked up Ryuk's fallen Note happening to be both crazy enough and smart enough to use it constantly without getting caught [[spoiler:initially]].
** The first two [[Film/DeathNoteSeries live-action films]] showed that the whole second arc could have been avoided [[spoiler:if L thought to write ''his own'' name in the Death Note.]]
* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', mistakes on their map cost Team Touden a day of dungeon delving, and a trap caused them to lose three day's worth of food. The party was not at their best due to hunger when they encountered the red dragon, causing Falin to be eaten, and the start of our story. Had things been otherwise, there likely would have been a very different fight with the dragon. Considering their reduced party, with Senshi admitting he's not much of a fighter, were [[spoiler: able to kill the dragon without any deaths later, they likely would have been very successful.]]
* The basis for the plot of ''Anime/DualParallelTroubleAdventure'' is that reality splits depending on whether a construction worker on site when LostTechnology is found takes a sample home when his crew's ordered to destroy the evidence. TheHero, Kazuki is at first able to see into the other reality, and eventually crosses over.
* The reboot of the ''Manga/RozenMaiden'' manga features Jun, the protagonist of the original manga, who decided to take the [[RedPillBluePill blue pill]] path instead, resulting in him not meeting the dolls and remaining a {{hikikomori}} for the remainder of his mid-school duration. We meet him as a disgruntled college student with a bad side job, and frequently being laughed at due to his past status as a hikikomori. That is until Shinku and the other dolls from the original continuity appear in his continuity...
* One of the recurring themes in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', where seemingly minor events cause a huge impact on history. What if Kircheis had been armed during Ansbach's assassination attempt [[spoiler:and survived instead of died]]? What if the supply depot Muller attacked had fought back instead of surrendering so that he couldn't rescue Reinhard? What if Hilde hadn't persuaded Mittermeyer to attack Heinessen to force a ceasefire, or if Yang ignored said ceasefire? What if Yang hadn't allowed the "Imperial escorts" on his ship [[spoiler:so that they couldn't assassinate him]]?
* In the Lactic Acid Bacteria arc in ''Manga/CellsAtWork'', a somatic cell rescuing the four titular bacteria ends up foiling Cancer Cell's scheme, since bringing them to the intestine tips the scales of a large battle against malign gut flora in the immune system's favor, cutting off the emissions of toxin which Cancer Cell was using to proliferate and allowing Neutrophil, NK and Memory T to gain the upper hand against him.
* In the ''Manga/MyOtome'' manga, Sergay is not Nina's father and Nagi, while not a very good person, is not the main antagonist. As a result, Nina stays on the heroes' side for the entire story.
** On a lesser scale, Sergay is not anonymously paying for Arika's education in the manga, forcing her to take on several side jobs and leaving her no time to study, at one point putting her in danger of failing and dropping out.
* In ''Manga/DragonBallZ'', the main timeline ends up being ''very'' different than the one Trunks comes from. 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) whereas in the future timeline, since Goku was already dead, they were made explicitly for world domination but were far less powerful because they did not account for Super Saiyans.[[note]]The difference in strength between the main and alternate timeline versions of #17 & #18 was explained differently in the manga, Trunks simply not knowing his version of the Androids' full power.[[/note]] 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.
* In ''Anime/BloodPlus'', [[spoiler: Saya and Diva]] are twin sisters. Joel raised [[spoiler: Saya]] like a daughter, whereas Amshel kept [[spoiler: Diva]] locked in a tower, treating her like an experiment. When [[spoiler: Saya]] receives this history lesson, she can't help but sympathize with her sister, knowing full well that they could just as easily wound up with their roles switched.
* As revealed in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', just about ''everything'' that's happened in the Universal Century, from the Earth Federation's MO to the One Year War and beyond, could be traced in some form or another to the Laplace incident in UC 0001.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': During Episode 5, Sayaka laments not contracting earlier, wondering aloud if doing so would have [[spoiler:saved Mami's life]]. ''The Different Story'' reveals that yes, it would have. [[spoiler:[[MaskOfSanity However, this is not necessarily a good thing]]]].
** ''The series in general'' happened because [[spoiler:in the original timeline, Homura was saved from a witch by Madoka; when the latter died fighting Walpurisnacht, Kyubey granted Homura's wish to rewind time and protect Madoka out of pity. This begins the timelines that eventually result in Madoka becoming a Goddess, and [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion eventually]], Homura becoming a demon]].
* All the events of ''Anime/TokyoMarbleChocolate'' would never have happened if the pet store hadn't mixed up the delivery of the pet animal Yuudai intended to give to Chizuru; instead [[spoiler: Chizuru would have broken up with Yuudai right at the beginning]].
* ''Anime/RanpoKitanGameOfLaplace'' [[spoiler: It's the driving plot device behind the events.]]
* The prequel arc of ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'' reveals that nigh everything that happened in the main story is the result of [[TheStoic Tatsuya]] smiling at some friends he happened to meet while guarding Miyuki, his sister. This makes Miyuki realize that 1: her brother has emotions and is in fact a human being just like her (although their family considers him TheUnfavourite), and 2: he has never, ever smiled like that at her. He's closer to those people than he is with his own family. And then Miyuki starts to really ''question'' why that is, and to realize how bigoted her family is. This starts the chain reaction that led to her and Tatsuya becoming friends and (successfully) rebelling against their clan, who are a major national power. And none of that would have happened if Tatsuya hadn't smiled, or Miyuki hadn't seen him do it, or his friends hadn't attended ''that'' party, or if their elitism had overwhelmed their affection for him.
* The titular character in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has a moment where he reflects on this trope, stating that if events had been slightly different, he and Sasuke could have ended up switching places in the story, as the two [[NotSoDifferentRemark weren't so different]].
--> '''Naruto''': "You know, Sasuke, there's a chance our roles could've been reversed."
** However, if we talk about the trope, then almost all the events of the series could be avoided if [[spoiler:[[TheHeavy Obito Uchiha]] never fell under the rocks.]]
* The entire plot of ''Manga/{{Horimiya}}'' can be traced back to Hori's little brother Souta tripping when he was scared by a dog. If it wasn't for that, Miyamura wouldn't have had any reason to walk him home. Hori never would have seen what Miyamura looked like outside of school, meaning the two of them never would have become friends or fallen in love, and Miyamura would still be a social outcast. Miyamura even wonders in the penultimate chapter just how different his school life would have been had certain key events not taken place.
* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is about an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl who finds herself reincarnated as the main villain of an otome game, and sets out to avoid the bad endings in store for her if everything follows the original script. For all her efforts, all it really takes to go from a despised RichBitch to a beloved heroine is being a decent human being; by giving the rest of the cast the emotional support they desperately needed, she helps them develop into better people and ends up charming every single one of them ([[EvenTheGirlsWantHer even the girls]]), effectively pulling off a wholly unintentional HostileShowTakeover.
** The series does it to itself in the spin-off subtitled ''On the Verge of Doom!''. In the original novel, Catarina regains her memories of Earth when she's a child, giving her a seven-year head start on the events of the game. In the spin-off, she doesn't regain her memories until after the game has already begun, which leaves her panicked that it's far too late to try and save herself.
* The whole of ''Manga/UQHolder'' is an alternate universe to ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' in which Asuna didn't get sent back in time, resulting in a much worse series of events. To give a brief summary, in both universes Asuna went into stasis to stabilise the Magic World until it could be permanently stabilised by a separate plan. In the Negima universe, Asuna was sent back in time (after coming out of stasis) to the series' present. This greatly raised her friends' spirits which, combined with her [[AntiMagic unique power]], allowed them to defeat the Lifemaker, save Nagi (who was being possessed by the Lifemaker) and carefully reveal magic to the world. In the UQ Holder universe, Asuna was never sent back, her friends were not able to properly defeat the Lifemaker, the Lifemaker took Negi as a new host, several of Negi's allies were brainwashed into pawns or killed, and society has numerous problems due to an imperfect integration of magic.
* The creator of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' points out that if Haruhi and the Host Club members had never met Tamaki, their lives would've been drastically different and profoundly more unhappy, since it's his presence and influence that encourages them to address their character flaws and grow positively as individuals. To elaborate; the twins would've become completely emotionally insulated from everyone but each other, Kyoya would've become more of TheSociopath as he insisted on only doing what would benefit himself, Mori and Huny would've stagnated as people, and Haruhi wouldn't have learned how to relate to and deal with people, which would've caused her to fail at her dream of being a lawyer without understanding why. In addition, without the formation of the Host Club, all of the people they helped would've been left to deal with their problems on their own (and they weren't dealing with them well).
* In the backstory of ''Manga/BoardingSchoolJuliet'', inclement weather sparked a conversation between two people ([[spoiler:Chiwa and Turkish]]) who would never have spoken otherwise due to their differing races and classes. They [[StarCrossedLovers hooked up, were discovered, and bullied into dropping out of school and returning to their respective nations]] much earlier than planned...where they got married to other people and had children who are the series' protagonists. ([[spoiler:Chiwa]] sees the [[GenerationXerox parallels]], and thinks they're awesome.) These shenanigans are also a nail in themselves because if Romeo's mother were any Towan other than [[spoiler:Chiwa]], she would've ended her son's also-SecretRelationship when he accidentally revealed it to her.
* According to an interview with ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure''[='s=] director, the series actually ran on this, but we only saw small snippets of it in-series. According to the director, [[spoiler:the future where Hugtan, Harry and the BigBad of the series came from was a timeline where Hana never transferred schools. Because she remained in such a hostile environment, she never bothered to better herself and the only real friend she had was the main BigBad George. This also meant that Saaya, Homare, and Emiru never broke away from their poor situations as well. It's heavily implied that this combined with the stresses of being a Pretty Cure caused Hana to be DrivenToSuicide.]]
* In ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'':
** If Haruka didn't get seriously injured, Ayato would never have gone to Seidoukan Academy to search for her; he wouldn't have befriended Julis, Lester, Saya, Kirin, or Claudia; he wouldn't have obtained Ser-Veresta; and he wouldn't have defeated Kirin to become the top-ranking fighter at Seidoukan and free her from her uncle's grasp.
** If Lester hadn't attempted to bully Ser-Veresta into compliance, it wouldn't have caused the weapon to go berserk and Ayato wouldn't become its rightful owner.
** If Ernesta hadn't sent out Silas to take out the strongest students at Seidoukan to win the Phoenix Festa, Julis wouldn't have been kidnapped, Lester wouldn't have realized Silas's true colors, Ayato wouldn't have rescued her after being tipped off by Saya and Claudia, Arlequint would never have been discovered to be behind the assassination attempts, and the deal between Arlequint and Seidoukan wouldn't have gone ahead.
* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'':
** If Azazel didn't have Raynare murder Issei because of his Sacred Gear, not only would she not go out on a date with Issei, but Rias wouldn't have transformed him into a Devil after he was fatally wounded, he wouldn't have befriended Asia, Raynare's plot to steal her Sacred Gear would've never been discovered, and Azazel wouldn't have joined the Occult Research Club.
** If Zeoticus didn't arrange for Rias to marry Riser, not only would Issei not have his EngagementChallenge, but Rias would've never continued to pursue her relationship with Issei, and Ravel wouldn't have transferred to Kuoh Academy and joined the Occult Research Club.
** If Diodora hadn't stabbed himself and had Asia heal him, she wouldn't have been exiled from the Church as a heretic, she wouldn't have formed a friendship with either Issei, Xenovia or Irina, and Diodora wouldn't have been curb-stomped by Issei.
** If Xenovia and Irina would've just found the Excalibur swords by themselves instead of teaming up with the Occult Research Club, Xenovia wouldn't have encountered Asia, the truth that GodIsDead wouldn't have been discovered, Kokabiel wouldn't have captured by Vali, Xenovia wouldn't have been excommunicated from the Church as a heretic and befriended Asia, and Kokabiel's plans for the Great War would've gone ahead.
** Azazel sent Baraqiel on a mission, only for the latter to be wounded, discovered by Shuri Himejima, and have their daughter, Akeno. If Shuri wouldn't have been killed by her own relatives, Akeno wouldn't have disowned her father and joined the Occult Research Club, and she ultimately wouldn't have started a relationship with Issei.
** If Azazel didn't negotiate a peace treaty between the Fallen Angels, Angels and Devils, the Khaos Brigade would've never been discovered, Vali wouldn't have gained a rival-turned-friendship in the form of Issei, the youkai wouldn't have formed an alliance with the devils, Yasaka wouldn't have been rescued by Issei and Sun Wukong wouldn't have helped Issei defeat Cao Cao.
* In ''LightNovel/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'', if Stella hadn't transferred to Hagun Academy, she might not have met Ikki and lost in the mock battle with him, which resulted in her becoming his girlfriend.
* In ''LightNovel/TheTestamentOfSisterNewDevil'', if the man from the hero village didn't steal Brynhildr, not only would Basara's TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening might have been avoided, but most of his fellow friends wouldn't have accidentally been killed by his Banishing Shift, and he wouldn't have been exiled.
* If it weren't for a carriage accident one night back in 1868, George Joestar wouldn't have mistaken Dario Brando's attempt at looting his body as him trying to save George's life, he never would've adopted Dario's son Dio, Dio wouldn't have become a vampire, his own son Johnathan never would've learned Hamon, the Joestar lineage wouldn't have been around to fight evil, and the events of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' would've never taken place.
* ''Anime/AkudamaDrive'': For refusing to pay for a takoyaki meal with a 500 yen coin on the ground, Swindler ends up caught in a complicated scheme alongside some of the most dangerous criminals in all of Japan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The Creator/BishopBarron video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38greleOBYM Stephen Colbert and Providence]]" demonstrates the way God can work to create incredible effects from small things by following an intergenerational chain of thought.
## Barron begins by tracing the joy Creator/StephenColbert found in faith after the accident that killed his two brothers and father to this quote, "Are not all of God's punishments also gifts?"
## He traces that quote back to an obscure letter by Creator/JRRTolkien responding to a question about
a Character Death's connection to real death.
## Tolkien in turn only had that wisdom because the orphan Tolkien was taken in and educated by a priest named Father Morgan.
## Yet Morgan only knew that God's punishments could be gifts because he was educated in the Birmingham Oratory, founded by John Henry Newman.
## John Henry Newman was an Anglican priest who was rejected by English society when he converted to Catholicism and kept at arms-lengths by wary cradle Catholics. Alone in the world, Newman discovered an abandoned oratory and began to educate there, using his experience of rejection to teach people to find joy in pain.
:: : In summary, without Newman's lesson, Morgan would never be able to comfort and raise the orphan Tolkien, who would never be able to use his spirituality to create the world of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', which would never be able to comfort a young Creator/StephenColbert, whose comedy could never comfort and save people maybe not even born yet.
* In ''WebVideo/CounterMonkey'', Spoony recounts the "Leaping Wizards" incident wherein he was serving as DM for a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module for the RPGA. Reading through the module, he found a particularly pathetic ambush by three wizards, each with a single spell. Knowing the encounter would be a cakewalk, he altered each wizard's spell so that, rather than each having the default Magic Missile, it was a variety of Sleep, Charm, and Ray of Enfeeblement. Through a combination of this change and some lucky rolls, the vastly outclassed wizards killed two party members before going down... much to the displeasure of the RPGA, as the module was ''intentionally'' weak to prevent player deaths.
* ''Literature/FearLoathingAndGumboOnTheCampaignTrailSeventyTwo'': John Julian [=McKeithen=], a former governor of Louisiana, decides to stand for the 1972 Democratic nomination instead of George [=McGovern=]. A more moderate figure than [=McGovern=] that can appeal to a wider audience, he wrangles with Nixon for months before Nixon decides to withdraw for the good of the country and allow him to become President. Soon afterward, he dies in a plane crash. Things only get worse from there.
* ''Literature/AGiantSuckingSound'': Ross Perot is able to win the 1992 election first by ''not'' withdrawing in August, and by choosing Jerry Brown as his running mate.
* Website/FourChan:
** The /co/ board had a thread that speculated what would happen if Bruce Wayne's parents never died. The result? Bruce and a certain fellow named "[[ComicBook/TheJoker Jack Napier]]" end up becoming best friends, Gotham City goes through a golden age, and the readers cried manly tears.
** The /tg/ board does this as well, some of the more recent ones, the crusades are won in the third crusade, the slew of changes involve a massive Kingdom of Jerusalem, The Library of Baghdad still stands, the reconquista never happened to its fullest extent, and the rising heresies move the reformation in a very different direction (Cathars, Flagellants and Waldensians rather than Anglicans, Calvinists, and Lutherans.) And these are the most normal things to come from it.
* [[http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac-software/how-backup-mac-data-archive-3584440/ This Macworld article]] warns that solid-state drives are sometimes not all they're cracked up to be, as they can be even ''more'' unstable than hard disk drives at times. Each data cell in an SSD can only be written to so many times before it gives out, and most of the time that takes years, but the author admits his Macbook Air crapped out after only a month because of this very issue, which is why he wrote the article (he had no backup at the time). Basically, solid-state drives sort of know that their cells can give out for any reason, and so 10-20% of the cells included in an SSD are meant as remedy cells for use when others give out... but once that remedial supply is gone, any further cell failures are totally gone too. He writes that once this happens, the drive can simply refuse to boot up at all, meaning that if you want any shot at fixing the drive, you have to format it... losing everything on it forever. You can't retrieve data from an SSD the same way you can from an HD, because on the latter the data is not ''really'' deleted once you move to delete it, but on an SSD for data to be recognized as deleted it has to actually ''be'' deleted.
* According to ''Podcast/PlumbingTheDeathStar'''s "Why Is the Death Star Spherical?", putting a friendlier management on the Death Star and renaming it the "Love Sphere" would make the Stormtroopers more open about the Death Star's structural problems; this would allow the Empire to cover up the exhaust port, allowing them to destroy Alderaan, the Rebellion, and Luke while derailing the entire ''Franchise/StarWars'' saga.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaxBFnIUTrc Rage]] by [[https://www.youtube.com/user/guyjcollins/videos Guy Collins Animation]] starts with a butterfly extinguishing a man's last match, which triggers a chain of rage-inducing events that ends with an EarthShatteringKaboom.
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': On January 13, 1917, an 11-year-old boy is waiting with his mother for his father, who had just returned home from Europe. In one timeline, she held his hand and the two barely managed to avoid a speeding car. In another, she had brought a present for his father, which allowed the boy to run out into the street in excitement and the car to hit him. His parents mourn him, but history moves on. The biggest difference is that the organization the boy would one day found never comes into being. Welcome to [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/unfounded-hub Unfounded]].
* Channel Awesome's Fanscription series is a "What if?" series that talks about how things would have played out if big events in film history took a different turn.
** In ''Film/RockyIV'', the premise of the movie is that Apollo Creed is killed in the ring by Ivan Drago and that Rocky then challenges Drago to a rematch in Russia to avenge his friend. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDcMXPCKYus But what if Apollo hadn't died?]] What if Rocky, not wanting to see Apollo's pride lead to his death,[[note]]Apollo was going through a midlife crisis at this point in the movies' timeline, as it was around this point that he cheated on his wife and gave birth to his illegitimate son Adonis, protagonist of the ''Film/{{Creed}}'' [[Film/Creed2 movies]]. His pride had cost him his championship in his match with Rocky in the second ''Rocky'' film.[[/note]] threw in the towel before Drago could land the fatal blow on Apollo?
*** Apollo is hospitalized and while he recovers, he is permanently paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Rocky visits Apollo in the hospital, but Apollo is angry at Rocky's decision to throw in the towel and kicks him out of the room. Frustrated, this leads Rocky to turn his anger and frustration on Drago. Apollo eventually understands why Rocky made his choices and reconciles to travel with Adrian to Russia to be by Rocky's side while Rocky is training. Apart from some minor alterations, the main plot is the same up until the bout with Drago in Russia, which Rocky enters in much better spirits than in the movie.
*** The grudge match between Rocky and Drago goes slightly differently, with Drago getting the upper hand on Rocky in the opening rounds, enough so that Apollo considers throwing in the towel before Rocky meets the same fate as him, at least until the tides change and Rocky takes away Drago's advantage. It's words of motivation from Apollo (mixed with some of Tony's lines) that give Rocky the final push to win over Drago by TKO.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u_YeVtLH5s Fanscription did another video]] highlighting how ''Film/RockyV'' would've differed as a result of the above changes to ''Rocky IV''. The what-if in this case also borrows elements from the later movies.
*** Rocky hangs up his gloves after the Drago match due to the potential brain damage he sustained. Five years later, Rocky's fortune is wiped out thanks to his shady accountants and he has to move back to his old neighborhood.
*** Tommy Gunn's storyline is consolidated with that of Mason Dixon from ''Film/RockyBalboa'' and Union Cane from ''Rocky V''. Tommy has been with his promoter George Washington Duke for several years, and the crowd is not impressed by how easily he wins fights. The heavyweight division's reputation is on the outs, and with Duke in command, many of Tommy's fights aren't 100% legitimate. Duke and his partner Merlin begin thinking of a way to regain public support, ultimately deciding to pull Rocky out of retirement.
*** Apollo has been doing charity work since the physical injuries from his bout with Drago ended his boxing career. His reputation has been very much restored. During a press conference, he's asked about Duke's pitch.
*** Duke does everything to try to goad Rocky into the match with Tommy Gunn. When none of this works, he sees an article about another charity event Apollo is overseeing and gets an idea. He calls a press conference and exposes Rocky's criminal record to the public. Not only that, but he also reveals the truth about Apollo's son Adonis. Apollo's and Rocky's reputations are tarnished. Apollo reaches out to Adonis and he decides to take him in.
*** Rocky and Paulie are accosted by Duke and Tommy at a bar as a publicity stunt. Rocky decides he's had enough and agrees to the match. He goes to the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission and reapplies for a boxing license (as seen in ''Film/RockyBalboa''). The panel is hesitant but is swayed in Rocky's favor by his motivational speech. He has a falling out and shouting match with Adrian and Robert over going back into the career that crippled his friend, and ultimately reconciles with Robert. He decides that the match with Tommy will be his last fight before he retires from boxing for good.
*** There's lots riding on the climactic exhibition match, as Rocky and Apollo are seeking to restore their reputations and Rocky needs to get out of his financial hole. The match goes twelve rounds, with Rocky winning over Tommy by TKO in the twelfth.
*** The ending scene of Rocky and Robert at the Rocky statue, where Rocky gives his son Rocky Marciano's cufflink. Except here, Apollo, young Adonis, and Tony are also present.
* The ''Literature/MagicMetahumansMartiansAndMushroomCloudsAnAlternateColdWar'' timeline is built on the premise that the paranormal is discovered to be real during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and is then heavily researched and adapted by both sides of the Cold War, while also becoming prevalent on its own. Quite a few changes compound over the years as things play out.
** Beria is executed by Stalin in 1945 for trying to disprove the OSP's (the Soviets' paranormal research organization) efforts by shooting Renzaoren (a RidiculouslyHumanRobot found in a crashed alien ship).
** For unspecified reasons, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia%2C_Pennsylvania Centralia]] is never destroyed by its underground coal fire.
** Thanks to the intervention of Prometheus and Typhon, the monarchists lose the Greek Civil War, turning Greece into a communist state.
** Because of how things turned out in Greece, America provides more aid to the Kuomintang, allowing them to win the Chinese Civil War, reducing the PRC to just Manchuria. This also means that without a communist superpower at their back to support them, North Korea never invades the South.
** Trofim Lysenko is purged by Stalin for opposing the Soviet use of mysticism.
** Thanks to having golems boosting their regular military forces, Israel does well enough in the Arab-Israeli War to take and keep control of the Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal. This causes a more embittered and paranoid Naguib to crack down on potential rebellion, including executing Nasser before he can overthrow him.
** The Nationalists winning the Chinese Civil War helps prevent the Red Scare. As a result of this, Eisenhower stays out of the Republican primaries in 1952, causing the nomination to go to Robert Taft, who then loses to Adlai Stevenson. Party fatigue then allows Nixon to win in 1956.
** Subhas Bose never dies in a plane crash, and goes on to take over India after becoming a metahuman. Even after his death, his followers stay in control, keeping India as a dictatorship.
** South Africa's imposition of apartheid leads to a native rebellion spearheaded by metahumans and shamans, which successfully overthrows the white minority government.
** The collapse of Churchill's reputation (from his obsessive search for Excalibur) allows Anthony Eden to take over leadership of the Conservatives years sooner. He also become Prime Minister a few years ahead of OTL due to public fear after a metahuman gangster's rampage.
** The US provides the Batista government in Cuba with the Lazarus zombie virus, which enables them to crush Castro's revolution. Conversely, attempts to use zombies to remove Francois Duvalier's regime fails due to Papa Doc fighting back with his own {{Voodoo Zombie}}s, solidifying his regime; in response to the Americans' actions, Duvalier seeks closer ties to the Soviets, leading to Haiti taking the place of Cuba in a resulting missile crisis.
** Stalin survives his 1953 stroke due to the intervention of Koschei the Deathless (who was freed by the OSP and brought into Soviet service), going on to carry out several more purges, including a mini-pogrom against the Jewish population over the "Doctor's Plot" and executing Kruschev and Zhukov on Koschei's advice. When he finally does die in '58, Malenkov has him revived via BrainUploading, only to pull the plug when this results in insanity and a nuke being launched at Moscow. With Malenkov's reputation ruined and much of the government dead from radiation poisoning, Dmitri Shepilov takes over as General-Secretary.
** Martin Luther King is murdered in 1957 by a metahuman Klansman.
** Without the Red Scare, Joe [=McCarthy=]'s witch hunts are instead built around supposed Satanic influence in the government.
** The 1953 Iranian coup is prevented due to Mosaddegh getting a warning about it from the afterlife.
** Similarly, the 1955 coup against Juan Peron is averted due to people being more focused on the alien parasite outbreak in Patagonia.
** Nicolae Ceausescu's obsession with eliminating Romania's vampire problem at the expense of all other political matters eventually leads to a MilitaryCoup in 1973, ousting him in favor of Ion Mihai Pacepa.
** The French with the Battle of Dien Bien Phu thanks to the paranormal research at their disposal, and are able to get Kai-Shek's China on the anti-communist side in the war.
** Nixon is assassinated in 1964 by a metahuman associated with the Vietnamese communists. His Vice-President, Harold Stassen, wins the subsequent election by a landslide, only to then lose against JFK in '68.
** Pol Pot never changes his name from Saloth Sar, drifts more towards mysticism than communism, and eventually turns himself and his followers into Nagas to give them an edge against the French.
** The chaos that engulfs Paris in May 1968 -- partly due to existing tensions from both the left and right wings but primarily because of an invasion from an AlternateUniverse where the Bonaparte dynasty conquered the world -- weakens people's faith in Charles de Gaulle and leads to him losing reelection later that year.
** Syngman Rhee is never ousted as President of South Korea, due to a precognitive warning him of the coup. Instead, he ends up making himself the face of a new Christian movement led by Ahn Sahng-hong, who later creates a [[FountainOfYouth youth serum]] for him. [[spoiler: The Americans eventually try to enable a pro-democracy coup against him, and when it fails he cuts an alliance with North Korea, keeping both nations separate politically but united against foreign intervention in their affairs. Rhee even shares the youth serum with Kim Il-Sung.]]
** The Kuomintang are at first less willing to annex Tibet than the Communists were in OTL, due to not wanting to potentially upset the ''[[WarriorMonk Yuzhou de fangshi]]'' monks (who played a part in them winning their civil war) in the process. And when they do eventually invade, as does India, they're forced back by Tibet's metahumans and supply of mystical artifacts.
** The stress of the Himalayan War proves to be too much for Kai-Shek, and he dies three years sooner than OTL.
** The advanced technology at the Soviets' disposal because of Renzaoren and his ship allows them to put the first man on the moon (Alexei Leonov, specifically) in 1962. This spurs on the American space efforts to the point that, with aid from {{Magitek}} reverse-engineered from the Roswell ship, a manned flight is successfully sent to Mars and back in 1970/71 (composed of Buzz Aldrin and Frank Borman).
** Enoch Powell becomes British Prime Minister in 1970, leading to strained relations with JFK's America over Northern Ireland. He ends up resigning after attempts to alter history by killing George Washington cause a TimeCrash.
** Thanks to having access to necromancy, Idi Amin conquers Kenya and Tanzania, turning Uganda into one of the most powerful nations in Africa.
** Francisco Franco's [[BrainUploading digitization of his mind]] into an Atlantean supercomputer and refusal to let go of power means that the transition to Luis Blanco's reformist government (which happened peacefully in reality) only happens after a bloody CivilWar.
** Thanks to access to magic, the Manson Family blows up multiple buildings, and then Manson himself [[SpontaneousHumanCombustion self-immolates]] when federal authorities raid his compound.
** Instead of joining and eventually leading the Branch Davidians, David Koresh (still going by his birth name of Vernon Howell) joins Eden's Gate (OTL Heaven's Gate) and ends up trying to assassinate President Hatfield; when he fails, that's what triggers the Gate's mass suicide.
** Instead of Christian fundamentalism, Jim Jones and Lum Jouret form cults dedicated to worship of the "Great Devourer", as does Shoko Asahara instead of forming Aum Shinrikyo.
** Thanks to ''djinn'' employed by the Iraqi government, the Baathists never come to power, with Saddam Hussein and other leaders being purged. Later, an archaeologist becomes possessed by Nergal, who [[DecapitationStrike wipes out the government]] and starts a chaotic {{civil war}}.
** Josef Mengele comes out of hiding in South America to provide the apartheid government of Rhodesia with genetically engineered hybrid dinosaurs (or "dracosaurs" as he calls them), which they use to regain the upper hand on the black rebels, including killing Herbert Chitepo and Robert Mugabe. This allows the ruling white minority to stay in power for several more years until [[{{Realpolitik}} diplomatic and economic pressure forces them to transition to racial equality.]]
* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' presents "[[https://www.cracked.com/image-pictofact-6071-14-tiny-sparks-that-blew-up-history-as-we-know-it/ 14 Tiny Sparks That Blew Up History As We Know It]]".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'': RulesLawyer and borderline JerkassGenie Rumpelstiltskin offers Shrek a DealWithTheDevil. Shrek gets one day as a lawless ogre in exchange for one day from his past. Rumpelstiltskin takes the day Shrek was born, thus creating a world in which Shrek never existed. One of the biggest changes is the fate of Fiona, who without anyone to save her from the tower chose to ScrewDestiny and simply escaped by herself. In addition, in this universe Far Far Away is a dystopia ruled by Rumple- since Shrek wasn't alive to rescue Fiona in the nick of time, the king and queen were tricked into signing their kingdom to Rumple.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

A SubTrope of WhatIf, and related to UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom, SmallRoleBigImpact, DiceRollDeath, SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight. A SuperTrope of CloseEnoughTimeline and BigFirstChoice (when ''the player'' decides about the nail). If the originals meet their alternates, may result in OtherMeAnnoysMe or FutureMeScaresMe. The ItsAWonderfulPlot is a SubTrope. Often overlaps with InSpiteOfANail, because many stories wouldn't be that interesting if ''everything'' was different. Compare ItBeganWithATwistOfFate and ContrivedCoincidence. Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

* The titular character in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has a moment where he reflects on this trope, stating that if events had been slightly different, he and Sasuke could have ended up switching places in the story, as the two were NotSoDifferent.