History Main / GoBackToTheSource

* ''Film/TheMatrix'': "Returning to The Source" were ArcWords about returning to the heart of the Matrix's mainframe, where everything originated and hitting a ResetButton (or something like that).

Related to NowDoItAgainBackwards (Wanna destroy something? Then go back to where it was created), {{Bookends}}, and ItWasWithYouAllAlong. If it involves time travel, then it could be BackToTheEarlyInstallment. Also could be a supertrope to WhereItAllBegan.

* At the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Harry invokes this trope outright:

** In the next book, Hermione proposes an actual reason for going there. All is ultimately subverted when [[spoiler:nothing beneficial happens there. They don't find any of the unknown horcruxes, they don't find any information on the Deathly Hallows, Harry is nearly killed by Voldemort's snake, his wand is broken when he's rescued, and he later laments that he didn't even get a chance to kill the snake while he was at it (the snake being a horcrux)]].

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}: TheMovie'' involves Kokomon repeatedly telling Willis to "go back to the beginning", which Willis and the others try to figure out the meaning of.
** Don't worry, Willis. The audience was [[LostInTranslation just as confused as you were]].
* ''Film/{{Pokemon}}'':

* Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses: In ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', Malachite's Hand is [[spoiler:hidden in the same place the quest started from]].

* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', the All Spark is the artifact which gave the Transformers life, in fact rather similar to the Source talisman in ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}''.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe Remember Me]]" has a twofer. To retrieve the missing Dr Crusher, the ''Enterprise'' has to return to the point in space where she disappeared (Starbase 133), while Dr Crusher in her alternate reality has to return to Engineering, where her trouble began.

* Two for one in ''Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe'': to retrieve the missing Dr Crusher the Enterprise has to return to the point in space where she disappeared, while Dr Crusher in her alternate reality has to return to Engineering, where her trouble began.

* The end of ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' had Amaterasu confront the ultimate darkness at the [[spoiler:Ark of Yamato, the vessel from which all monsters arrived from the Celestial Realm]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 The Return of Harmony, Part 1]]", [[BigBad Discord]] steals the Elements of Harmony and presents the Mane Six a riddle to find them again: "[[RhymesOnADime Twists and turns are my master plan / Then find the Elements back where you began]]". [[spoiler:After an episode-long wild goose chase, the heroes realize in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 Part 2]]" that the "back where you began" part referred to the book where they first learned about the Elements of Harmony in the first episode (i.e., where their journey began), which is where the Elements are kept]].

A situation in which a character (usually the MacGuffin of the plotline) must return to the place where they or an important plot device originated from. This can involve taking the character back to where they came from, or going to the literal source of something, such as the place where an object of power was created..

[[folder: Anime/Manga ]]

[[folder: Film -- Animated ]]

[[folder: Film -- Live Action ]]

* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', the All Spark is the artifact which gave the Transformers life, in fact rather similar to the Source talisman in ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Nine}} 9]]''.

[[folder: Literature ]]

--> "I thought I might go back to Godric's Hollow... For me, it started there, all of it. I've just got a feeling I need to go there."
** In the next book, Hermione proposes an actual reason for going there. All is ultimately subverted when [[spoiler:nothing beneficial happens there. They don't find any of the unknown horcruxes, they don't find any information on the Deathly Hallows, Harry is nearly killed by Voldemort's snake, his wand is broken when he's rescued, and he later laments that he didn't even get a chance to kill the snake while he was at it (the snake being a horcrux).]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

* In the series finale of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Desmond - and later, Jack - return to the cave that was first seen in the earliest part of the series timeline. Inside is the source of life, death and rebirth; fans quickly dubbed it "the Source." This is probably directly inspired by ''Literature/HarounAndTheSeaOfStories'' (above), [[{{Foreshadowing}}which Desmond was reading while sitting next to Jack on the plane]] in the season premiere. The site also happens to be right next to the bamboo grove where the series's first scene took place.

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Toys ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Videogame/{{Earthbound}}'': Ness and the others must fight Giygas at its weakest point in time, which is when it was first created.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', the humans [[spoiler: and Elites]] must travel to the [[spoiler: Ark, where the titular Halos were constructed, to find the "solution" to the Flood. Turns out, the solution is a brand new MacGuffin it just coughed up.]]

** The first game has you, after going to all the worlds and finding all the pages, go back to [[spoiler:the location you started at, specifically, the dock marker switch so you can retrieve the final page and complete the game.]]
** Its sequel ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'' has a telescope as the first thing you see when entering the world. [[spoiler:After finding the code to open the hatch, you end the game ([[MultipleEndings albeit with many possible endings]]) by lowering said telescope to crack the glass under said hatch and reopen the star fissure to signal Atrus.]]

* The end of ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' had Amaterasu confront the ultimate darkness at the [[spoiler: Ark of Yamato, the vessel from which all monsters arrived from the Celestial Realm.]]
* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', the portal that leads to the BigBad's fortress is [[spoiler:revealed to be hidden in the room where The Nameless One woke up in at the beginning of the game.]]

--> '''Ripper:''' Return to where you began, the library, the Ripper book! Remove it from the shelf, and...dig in! *evil chuckle*
* Almost the exact same phrasing is used in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', when [[spoiler:[[BigGood Trahearne]] is only able to purify Orr of Zhaitan's corruption by journeying to the heart of its waterways, which is also where the Six Gods first stepped into Tyria. Zhaitan itself is defeated in Arah, the seat of the first human kingdom.]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/BenTen'' the Omnitrix must occasionally return to the artificial planet Primus, where all the alien DNA it collects is recorded.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 The Return of Harmony, Part 1]]", [[BigBad Discord]] steals the Elements of Harmony and presents the Mane Six a riddle to find them again: "[[RhymesOnADime Twists and turns are my master plan / Then find the Elements back where you began]]." [[spoiler:After an episode-long wild goose chase, the heroes realize in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 Part 2]]" that the "back where you began" part referred to the book where they first learned about the Elements of Harmony in the first episode (i.e., where their journey began), which is where the Elements are kept]].

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Justin Trudeau was born during his father [[UsefulNotes/PierreTrudeau Pierre]]'s time as [[UsefulNotes/CanadianPolitics Prime Minister of Canada]], spending his early childhood living at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, the PM's official residence. So, when he himself became PM in 2015, moving into 24 Sussex was effectively returning to his childhood home.