History Main / MentalTimeTravel

* ''Manga/EdensZero'': It turns out this is the true power of [[spoiler:Rebecca's]] Ether Gear [[spoiler:Cat Leaper, which allows her to use a TimeRewindMechanic in order to avoid danger.]] What makes this a notable spoiler is that [[spoiler:she [[AchievementsInIgnorance wasn't even consciously aware she had this power]] for nearly a decade of her life, instead interpreting her future experiences as more "gut feelings" that saved her from life-threatening situations. She only successfully pulled her first true travel with RippleEffectProofMemory after becoming aware of the power thanks to outside forces.]]

* The obscure 3DO FirstPersonShooter ''Immercenary'' features an odd variant: the player's consciousness is projected into the future and directly into a virtual reality game in which much of humanity will eventually become trapped, in the hopes of shutting it down from within.

* In the final story of ''ComicBook/TheAdventuresOfBarryWeenBoyGenius'', the titular character's prototype time machine essentially works like this by overwriting his past self with his current self cell by cell. It only had a range of 18 minutes, leaving him just barely enough time to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, and he mentions that the only time he tested it previously he had a heart attack.
* Professor Carter Nichols invented "time-travel hypnosis" in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' stories, although the stories were [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane always vague]] as to whether the subject ''actually'' travelled in time or not. He inevitably returned in ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison''.
* Marvel's modern-day ComicBook/BlackKnight Dane Whitman is prone to this, having repeatedly had his consciousness hurtled backwards in time into the body of a medieval ancestor who previously carried the name.

* Dr. Manhattan of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' perceives all moments of his life simultaneously, though his ability to comprehend the full story they form seems to be limited. He also claims that he can't change the events he observes: "I'm just a puppet who can see the strings."
* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** In the original ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' storyline, Kitty Pryde travels back in time by switching minds with her younger self.

* In ''Film/AboutTime'' Tim can send his mind back into his past self. It's only one way though.
* By studying the alien language in ''Film/{{Arrival}}'', Louise acquires the ability to incarnate into her future self. Knowledge gained during those experiences later help her solve the crisis in the present.
* In ''Film/AssassinsCreed2016'' protagonist Cal Lynch uses the Aminus to relive the experiences of his ancestor, spectating the past behind his ancestor’s eyes.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' Evan finds that when he reads from his adolescent journals, he travels back in time, and he is able to "redo" parts of his past, thereby causing the blackouts he experienced as a child. There are consequences to his choices, however as he continues to do this he realizes that [[NotQuiteTheRightThing even though his intentions are good his actions have unforeseen consequences.]]

* The ending of ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', After finishing the [[DeathWorld game]] where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou the two protagonists return to when their bodies when they first started it, 26 years earlier.

* In the movie ''Film/{{Next|2007}}'', Nicholas Cage's character has a power somewhat like this. He has two minute long precognition, but what he sees are merely possible futures. It's difficult to explain but a few examples should do a trick. He 'tried out' different approaches when hitting on a girl. He saw that casually beating up the girl's stalker ex boyfriend (who was present at the time) would prompt the girl to just walk away, but letting the guy punch him in the face would win the girl's sympathy, so he let this happen. He can also dodge bullets or search a huge area in almost no time using his ability.

* ''Literature/AllYouNeedIsKill''. The protagonist is trapped in a GroundhogDayLoop where he gets killed in battle, then wakes up 30 hours before his death. He's later told that he's not actually going back in time, but when he dies a tachyon pulse of his memories to that moment are sent back in time, and he perceives the events that led to his death as an extremely detailed dream. The alien invaders he accidentally got the power from have been using it to adapt to all human strategies; he uses it to become a OneManArmy by learning from experience over and over in the course of a day.

** The protagonist (a Harder) starts suspecting the existence of these bootleg devices when a space liner explodes. While it looks like a typical malfunction (and it is), he does find it strange that a full third of the passengers have cancelled their tickets several days before boarding. It turns out they all have these devices.
*** He also finds out that a Harder was on the same flight but managed to survive. The Harder reveals that he spent countless iterations trying to stop the explosion. Eventually, though, his traumatized mind forced him to board an EscapePod moments before the explosion. He ends up having his Iscape removed and committing suicide.

* Creator/ShermanAlexie's novel ''Literature/{{Flight}}'' has the protagonist inhabiting various people's bodies, ranging in time from the Indian wars to present day.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/ForerunnerForay'', Ziantha is sent back by the artifact into the body of Vintra, entombed with the corpse of Turan -- which is revived by another mind sent back. After they hunt for the artifact's other element, Ziatha is sent back again into the body of D'Eyree of the Eyes. She apports the other eye back to that time, and they return to the tomb, which allows her to apport them both back.

* In Eric Nylund's ''Literature/AGameOfUniverse'', Germain possesses a powerful bit of magic that can rewind time, but only for seven seconds (and it can only be used once).
* The book ''Literature/AGiftOfMagic'' by Lois Duncan has a main character who has (among other powers) the ability to look into the past. It comes in handy, because her grandmother had the ability to look into the future, allowing the two of them to "meet" on the day the grandmother died.
* The plot of R.L. Stine's ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' novel ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'' is based around a cuckoo clock which causes the protagonist to jump back to earlier points in his life starting with the previous day. The problem is that it keeps going further back in time with no sign of stopping, probably [[RetGone erasing him from existence]] eventually.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/ALordFromPlanetEarth'', the main character finds himself on an alien planet in the middle of an invasion. He is given a pair of [[{{Precursors}} Seeder]] artifacts with an unknown function. During the first confrontation with the BigBad, one of his new friends is brutally killed, and the BigBad is an inch away from slicing the protagonist open. In desperation, he breaks one of the pencil-shaped crystals and [[TimeStandsStill time freezes]], while he hears a voice telling him of a "temporal event" of some sort. He then finds himself several hours prior with full knowledge of things to come. The only difference is he only has one artifact left. He also finds that it's pretty difficult to try to change things, as the universe keeps trying to maintain continuity. He does manage to save his friend (twice, by using the other crystal) and alter the final fight with the villain to strike him while the BigBad is moving in for the kill. Also, physical time travel is possible as well.

* In Eric Norden's novella ''Literature/ThePrimalSolution'', an elderly Jewish scientist - a Holocaust survivor who had lost his entire family - discovers a means of mental time travel, which enables him to project his mind into the past and take over the body of the young UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in the Vienna of the early 1910s. Resolved to force Hitler into suicide, the vengeful professor can't resist humiliating him first and forcing him to drink sewer water in front of surprised passersby, before making him jump into the Danube - but in the moment before drowning, Hitler regains control of his body and returns home shaken. The Professor is trapped inside Hitler's mind, but is able to "hear" him think "The Jews? Why did the Jews do this to me? I have never harmed them!". Able to access Hitler's memories, the trapped Professor suddenly realizes that until this moment the young Hitler had not at all been an anti-Semite and was in fact on good terms with some Jews. Only because something inexplicable had entered Hitler's mind - something which totally hated him and was implacably bent on his destruction, and which identified itself as being Jewish and acting on behalf of all Jews - did he become the genocidal Hitler known to history. Never daring to tell anybody of this presence in his mind, for fear of being considered insane, Hitler would gradually develop the idea that only by killing all Jews would he be free of that haunting presence. In short, the very act intended to avert the Holocaust ends up being its direct cause.

* In ''Literature/TheSchizogenicMan'', the supercomputer MEQMAT is able to send people's minds back in time while their body lies unconscious. Each time traveler shares a brain with someone who lived in the past, and is able to access that person's knowledge and memories. How much control the time traveler has depends on the strength of the body's personality - when Heron shares a brain with Nikias Rhodios, he is able to do whatever he wants, but when he's placed in the body of Diomedes, he has trouble doing anything other than what Diomedes wants to do. The target never realizes what's happening. [[spoiler:When Heron was a young man, he and his friend Jemmy assassinated three politicians. He learns years later that a time traveler forced him to do it in a failed attempt to avert war with [[DividedStatesOfAmerica Texas]].]]
* Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/TheShadowOutOfTime'' twists this trope by combining it with GrandTheftMe: the protagonist has his body stolen by a researcher from a StarfishAlien civilization that flourished on Earth millennia in the past, and spends several years living in the researcher's body while the researcher uses his to learn about the twentieth century.

* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' has an entire species who use this ability regularly: "The Yeti is able to save its time at a certain point, and then venture forth knowing that if it dies, it can just resume its life from the point it saved at with the knowledge it acquired before death. It is effectively a highly evolved, albeit slightly painful form of foretelling." This is, in all likelihood, a direct reference to [[SaveScumming saving in video games]].

* Creator/HBeamPiper's first published story (1947), "Literature/TimeAndTimeAgain" (no relation to Jack Finney's book): The main character, dying in WorldWarIII in 1975, awoke in his thirteen-year-old body in 1945. Being a trained chemist with the scientific knowledge of 1975, he'd have an advantage going into the chemical industry; he also had quite a good memory for horse-race winners. He planned to build a fortune and use it to prevent the war he'd died in by, among other things, getting his father elected president in 1960. Two of Piper's later stories, set in the '60s, imply that he was successful in that part, at least.
-->"All right, son, I'll do just what you tell me, and when you grow up, I'll be president...."
* ''Literature/{{Timequake}}'', by Kurt Vonnegut, features the ''entire world'' -- and, it's implied, the ''entire '''universe''''' -- being mentally sent back 10 years and completely unable to change anything until that period is over.
* "Unsound Variations", a short story by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin has an antagonist who utilises this repeatedly and obsessively to wreck/steal the successes of his former college buddies.

* [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] in the {{Roguelike}} ''VideoGame/TheConsumingShadow'', where the main character retrains the experience he has gotten over the playthroughs, and sometimes mentions the he dimly remembers that he has seen or dreamt about similar things before. This being an [[Creator/HPLovecraft lovecraftian]] story, he of course thinks it is a sign that he is going insane.

* In ''VideoGame/KatanaZERO'' the main character has precognition from a drug called Chronos. Any in-game deaths are just failed plans that the protagonist runs through in his head.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has time travel work this way: if one goes back in time, they need to have a physical body waiting at the desination. [[spoiler:...unless they don't ''have'' a physical body to begin with, like a Heartless.]]

* ''Mabinogi'' invokes Mental Time Travel for many of the "RP" quests-the Player Character(s) experience the memories of other characters after placing items personal to those characters on dungeon altars. An early example is a party of three characters experiencing the memories of the Three Missing Warriors, which puts the players on the path to saving a Goddess.

* ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie'''s [[spoiler:TEMPEST machine]]. The way it works is actually quite different from other examples: Forward time travel works like normal, but travelling backwards [[spoiler:destroys your body and takes your consciousness to any number of alternate universes]].
* f ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'': This is how Sorin sees his anterograde amnesia. Since he constantly forgets the events of each day, to him it's like his past self from the day of the accident is constantly time-traveling to replace his future self. Ellen also ''thinks'' she did this, [[spoiler:but the true culprit was actually gaslighting her.]]
* The second ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' trilogy allows you to rewind up to ten seconds. Near the end of ''The Sands of Time'', the [[NoNameGiven Prince]] uses it to kiss a girl without her knowing it.
** ''Warrior Within'' also has physical time travel.
** The [[Film/PrinceOfPersia film]] has this as well, with CGI effects showing the prince watching the events rewind from a third-person perspective. [[spoiler:At the end, he rewinds time to just after the invasion of Alamut]].

* The Phonewave [[RunningGag (name subject to change)]] in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' is eventually upgraded in such a way that it allows to send a person's memories back in time, effectively letting the person in question relive up to the past 48 hours since they used the machine while retaining the memories from the future. The mechanics of this are tied to Okabe's cell phone, so in theory, anyone who picks it can receive the memories, even if they didn't originally belong to the receiver. This is frequently used by Okabe to [[spoiler:find a timeline where Mayuri and (later) Kurisu don't die]], and once by [[spoiler:a future version of Nae seeking revenge for her father's death]]. Notably, the process itself is shown to hurt like hell, with Okabe screaming in agony and describing the pain in creatively gruesome ways, at least the first couple of times before he gets used to it.
** In the spinoff game ''Linear Bounded Phenogram'', it is also used by [[spoiler:Kurisu, Luka, and Mayuri in their respective chapters; Kurisu uses it to speak to Okabe before he becomes catatonic and encourages him to save Mayuri, Luka uses it to make Mayuri's last day fun and later to help Okabe regain his drive to save Mayuri, and Mayuri herself uses it in an attempt to find a way to save Kurisu without sacrificing herself]].
** Also used in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGateZero'' when [[spoiler:Okabe sees the death of Mayuri and Suzuha. Though he has to make it from scratch and without Kurusu, using only his knowledge and assistance from Daru and Maho]]. It's also used in a different path where [[spoiler:Okabe ends up ''decades'' ahead of where he's supposed to be, still with the 48 hour limit for each time leap. He somehow ends up back where he was before, even when there are many situations where he shouldn't have been able to use it.]

* A Substory in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' has Kiryu talking with a girl named Miku who believes she did this jumping from 2017 to 2016. The story’s name is ''Anime/TheGirlWhoLeaptThroughTime''.
* In the Visual Novel ''VisualNovel/YoJinBo'', the protagonist ended up traveling through time via a magical pendant and put her in a body of a princess.
* ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'':
** In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors,'' [[spoiler:June/Akane Kurashiki/Zero has this ability, and can in fact explore multiple possibilities. All the game's MultipleEndings are essentially just her SaveScumming in the future, trying to find the sequence of events that leads to her own life being saved in the past/present, which is part of the purpose of the Nonary Game she created]].
** The sequel, ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' takes the concept even further. [[spoiler:The entire second Nonary game ([[HijackedByGanon once again made by Akane]]) exists to train Sigma and Phi in mental time-travel so they can go back in time and stop an outbreak of a virus.]]
** Rounding up the trilogy is ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', which takes place [[spoiler:a year after ''999'' and before ''VLR'', with the cast of VLR trying to win the Decision Game ''and'' prevent Radical-6 being released]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Zero II/Delta is well aware of their powers]]. Fortunately, [[StealthMentor he is the one who set things up so they would master their powers in the first place]], [[TheExtremistWasRight all as part of his plan]] to create a perfect timeline where the world [[spoiler:does not get destroyed by either the virus or the religious fanatic he created the virus to stop]].

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* In ''Fanfic/TheLifeIsAGameMultiverse'', [[Franchise/MassEffect John Shepherd]] gets to loop back this way. Jane isn't as lucky; her trip back is triggered by a more traumatic event.

* ''Fanfic/HogyokuExMachina'' contains this form of time travel for [[PeggySue Aizen and Ichigo]]. However, due to the nature of how they go back, Ichigo keeps all his power-ups from the final battle, while Aizen does not. This has advantages and disadvantages for both of them.
* ''A Life Rescued'' starts off in the not-too-distant future, where a now-adult Jess Aarons, volunteering to be part of a mental time-travel project, realize he can use this opportunity to send his mind back to several decades ago to prevent the childhood incident which killed Leslie Burke from even taking place. It doesn't work as perfectly as expected, though (TemporalSickness, for starters, making him throw up on Mr. Burke when trying to find Leslie) and there's a bunch of hiccups along the way which took several chapters (1 until 5) to fix.
* The [[FandomSpecificPlot/BuffyTheVampireSlayer popularity]] of this premise has led to some fansites making 'time-travel' [[http://dark-solace.org/elysian/browse.php?type=categories&catid=19 its own category]].

* How time travel seems to work in ''[[https://a-student-out-of-time.tumblr.com/ A Student Out of Time]]''. In a direct nod to ''Danganronpa''[='s=] sister series ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'', a person's consciousness is able able to swap places with another version of themselves along the timeline, as happened with Hajime Hinata [[spoiler:and [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpaAnother2 Yoruko Kabuya]]]]. The only way to detect that someone is a time traveler is to follow their tachyon trace, which maps out both where they'd been at any given moment in the previous timeline and where they are in the new one.
* ''[[Fanfic/SecondChanceMoDaoZuShi Second Chances]]'' asks what if ''every'' character does this. The repercussions are significant.
* A remarkably high percentage of AU fics are like this. Usually it's Harry that does the rewind, sometimes the 'Golden Trio', occasionally Ginny to mix things up, and at least once it was the Trio, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Sirius, and Lupin, and maybe a few more in addition. After the seventh book, there were fanfics with Snape going back to the "Snape's Worst Memory" scene right after his death. Usually with the purpose of him [[LoserGetsTheGirl getting the girl]].
* In ''Fanfic/BackwardWithPurpose'', Ron and Ginny's parents immediately notice how different their children are behaving after their minds are overwritten by the memories of their adult selves. Unaware of the actual cause, they think Harry is being a ToxicFriendInfluence.
* ''Fanfic/OhGodNotAgain'': Harry is less than pleased at finding himself back in his childhood due to this. [[spoiler:Sirius]] is also affected.
* ''Fanfic/AQuestionOfWhen'': Romilda gained this ability through unspecified means, and uses it to try and win Harry's heart through SaveScumming. As opposed to, say, warning the Wizarding World about Voldemort's return.

* ''Been There Blown That Up'' has Tony and Nebula go back in time to 2012 with their future memories. Needless to say, the two of them have a hard time explaining the events of the future in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
* This is the underlying concept of [=BairnSidhe=]'s ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/7970908/chapters/18232489 Bodies in Time]].''
* ''Fanfic/BornOfTheSameImpulse'' has Dr. Strange use the time stone to send himself and Tony back to five years before the climax of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' to change the future and stop Thanos from winning. However, while Tony managed to prevent the [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Age of Ultron]] and [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]] from happening, he cannot immediately get over the emotional hurt and trust issues that arose from those aforementioned conflict, and this adds another source of drama since he cannot really open up to his teammates about his pain, when the events that caused them has been undone.
* Thor himself isn't sent back to the past in ''Fanfic/IfICouldStartAgain'', but rather his mind after he killed Thanos in ''Infinity War'' is sent back to his pre-coronation body after he picks up the Time Stone from the gauntlet (later speculated by the Ancient One to be the result of Thanos creating a link between the Time and Mind Stones moments prior to Thor's arrival when he used Time to undo Mind's destruction).
* ''Fanfic/ZToA'' opens with Peter and Wanda being sent back from two years post-''Film/AvengersEndgame'' to the Battle of Leipzig Airport (''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'') by the remnants of the Infinity Stones. Each Stone choses one key individual to send back in a similar manner, with the other four heroes sent back being Tony, T'Challa, Fury and Thor (each chosen because they had particular contact with key Stones).

* ''Fanfic/AllButOne'': One man's Quirk enables him to send people's consciousness back to any moment in time, provided he was alive during that period. With the aid of other Quirks and government technology, he's able to push his power to the absolute limit, sending All Might back approximately twenty-six years, right around the time the Quirk bearer had just been born.
* ''[[Fanfic/FlashbackMHA Flashback]]'' has [[AscendedExtra Eri]] do this, going from a BadFuture to when [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Toshinori Yagi]] was about to pass [[BequeathedPower One for All]] to Izuku. Thing is, Izuku from the main timeline had passed One for All to Eri during the Bad Future to enable her to go back...[[ForWantOfANail and it was still with her when she arrived in the past.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheFundamentalEssenceOfVillainy'': ZigZagged. Izuku is taking the place of his past self; however, he has his more muscular frame from around the time he was sent back, as well as a vestigeless One for All despite not having met All Might yet, not to mention [[spoiler:All for One and all of the quirks that entails, similarly without vestiges]].
-->'''Izuku:''' If my consciousness got rewinded back to 2 years in the past, [[LampshadeHanging why am I still in-shape?!]]
* ''Fanfic/KarmaInRetrograde'' has a variation. When Dabi is hit with a [[FountainOfYouth deaging Quirk]], he's reverted physically, mentally, and emotionally to his sixteen-year-old self as Touya Todoroki. From Touya's perspective, he suddenly jumped five years into the future where Shouto is the same age as him, Endeavor is the number one hero, and All Might is a retired, shriveled husk of his former glory. The last thing he remembers is calling home to speak to Shouto while studying for one of Midnight's exams before waking up in the warehouse where Shouto and Dabi were fighting.
* ''Fanfic/{{Prescience}}'': Izuku's Quirk works this way: he experiences events, then blinks and finds himself back before they played out, giving him a chance to avert what happened.
* A [[FandomSpecificPlot/{{Naruto}} popular plotline]] is having one or several characters wake up in their old bodies, having been sent back to try and prevent the Fourth Shinobi War or some other grim outcome.
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17645477 the bridge that always burns behind us]]'', Shikamaru and Neji are sent back further than they originally intended, finding themselves landing on the day ''right'' before the Uchiha Massacre. A {{Flashback}} reveals that Naruto [[AmbiguousSituation may or may not]] have done this intentionally; though he wistfully expressed a desire to avert that tragedy, he agreed with Shikamaru that they likely wouldn't be able to do anything as children.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Fanfic/IAmNotGoingThroughPubertyAgain'', which parodies the usual premise: none of the participants actually ''wanted'' to go back in time, having been satisfied with how their lives turned out.
* ''[[Fanfic/AWrinkleInTimeNaruto A Wrinkle in Time]]'': While Naruto, Shikamaru and Lee all ''deliberately'' made the trip back with Kurama's help, they later discover that [[spoiler:Gaara was also]] unintentionally subjected to this, despite the fact that they'd already ''died'' by the time the group leapt back. Kurama speculates that this is due to [[spoiler:Shukaku's influence]].
* ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': Shinji, Asuka and Rei's minds were sent back in time to three months before the beginning of the Angel War (and later they find out they are not the only returnees). Asuka jokingly suggests they pretend everything was just a prophetic dream or something, and theorizes Kaworu has something to do with their return.
* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': When Shinji decides in Third Impact to 'go back', Lilith takes a different idea of what 'go back' means. She inserts a steel rod into his back to make up for his complete lack of a spine, then sends him back into the past. Shinji then wakes up in his fourteen-year-old body, staring at the payphone he was trying to use right when Sachiel attacked at the beginning of the series.

-->''He didn't finish the sentence. The last remains of sleep vanished instantly as he saw it.''\\
''Her hair. Her long, flowing hair.''\\
''And it wasn't just that. Her face, what he could see of it in the dark, seemed more round and soft, her cheeks not as defined; her body as well was shorter and slimmer, the muscles on her bare arms that had been toned from strenuous work with the garden and the machines seemingly faded...''\\
''She was young.''\\
''She didn't look much older than on the day they had met so long ago.''\\
''His mind was racing, trying to comprehend such an impossibility, but none of the thousands of thoughts could give him an answer he liked. He literally jumped out of the bed, almost throwing Asuka aside, as he unbelievingly took in the surroundings. A small and tidy room. He could make out the shape of a cello case in one corner, the familiar silhouette of a S-DAT player on the desk near the bed.''\\
''This wasn't their bedroom at home, this was his old room in Misato's apartment – but without any dirt and debris, without any sign of destruction at all.''\\
''But it wasn't just everything around him. His body, too, felt different as though changes that were supposed to come slow enough to adapt to had been made instantly. He may never have had as distinctive and hard features as his father, but reaching up to his face, he also could only feel smooth skin, not even a hint of stubble''.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/47804596/chapters/120513832 A Countable Infinity]]'' sees Ash returned from his peak of accomplishment to the morning he set out as a trainer, remembering everything from his adventures... but with a twist: he's in the ''VideoGame/PokemonInfiniteFusion'' universe.
* PlayedWith in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines''. Arceus sends Ash's consciousness back to the day he began his Pokémon journey to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, but things get garbled in the transition creating an entirely new timeline. And one of the first things Ash notices when he wakes up is that he has physically aged ''up'' instead of down, unlike most cases of this trope. His Pokemon can also do this, but unlike Ash they tend to end up at the power and evolutionary level they had at the time of arrival, meaning that all of them have to retrain themselves.
* ''FanFic/TheSwordOfJusticeAndTheShieldOfTime'' has [[spoiler:Homura ''[[DidntSeeThatComing accidentally]]'' doing this to Sayaka due to holding her hand while she activated her shield to turn back time, not expecting her powers to drag Sayaka back with her and merely meaning it as a gesture of affirming her newly awakened desire to get a GoldenEnding where EverybodyLives. Thankfully, Sayaka had become a staunch ally, so she managed to adjust rather quickly once she tracked down Homura for answers.]]
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13528077/chapters/31032834 Ranma's Sudden Wedding]]'', Ranma finds himself jumping to random points in his timeline.
* This trope is heavily [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in ''Fanfic/FightingForTheFuture''. Weiss' memories up to Volume 7 are time traveled to before the start of the series, but they end up completely overwhelming the then eight-year-old Schnee. This caused her to try and arrest her father for crimes he had yet to commit, and was subsequently thrown into a mental asylum for her troubles. In addition, by the time the story starts she has trouble recalling some of the less important memories and has trouble discerning her memories from reality.
* ''Fanfic/PetalsInTheAsh'' twists this around: Cinder is sent back from the Fall of Beacon to Ruby's first day... inside of Ruby's body.
* The ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Days Of Future Smurfed" has Empath flashing between his present-time self and his future-time self at various points in time after he received visions of the future from his great-grandson Traveler. During his "visits" he sees [[KingOnHisDeathBed Papa Smurf die]], then he sees [[ImMelting Smurfette die]], then he sees [[SugarApocalypse the Smurf Village destroyed by an earthquake]] and [[DeathByMaterialism Brainy die trying to save his works from perishing]].
* ''Fanfic/TheRavensPlan'' does this to an unspecified but considerable number of people in '''the entirety of Planetos'''. Originally, the remnants of an alliance between the Starks, Lannisters, Targaryens, wildlings and such were making a LastStand against the Others, but the situation became so bleak that they resorted to some sort of ritual on the Isle of Faces with this trope in mind. It was only meant to affect a select few people, but the ritual went awry and countless people, nobles and peasants alike, carry memories up to when they died in the course of the original story when they all awaken prior to King Robert's departure for Winterfell. This leads to such events as: [[OffTheRails Ser Jaime, Ser Barristan and Sandor leaving King's Landing with the entirety of the capital's Lannister contingent, King Robert killing the High Sparrow when the latter tries to jump start the Faith Militant and Daenerys immediately taking Pentos when she cottons on that the Unsullied there also remember the past]], among many others. A few people, such as Petyr Baelish, Cersei Lannister and Euron Greyjoy were deliberately prevented from having this done to them while others like Mace Tyrell and Viserys Targaryen were among those randomly spared. [[spoiler:Melisandre doesn't have her memories either, but this is because the act of being what is essentially a surge protector for the ritual rendered her [[EmptyShell brain-dead]].]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'' fics involving [[http://delicious.com/Lanta/star_wars+timetravel time travel]] are surprisingly common, and a high percentage of them involve various characters being sent back to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong after dying.
* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8835418/1/If-I-Knew-Then-What-I-Know-Now If I Knew Then What I Know Now]]" features Dean being sent back to the moment of his mother’s death, with his memories of the future possessing his four-year-old self. Despite this, Dean is also able to bring back various artefacts from the future, including John’s journal and weapons such as the Colt, and Castiel travels back in his usual state.

[[index]]
* MentalTimeTravel/AnimeAndManga
* MentalTimeTravel/FanWorks
* MentalTimeTravel/LiveActionTV
* MentalTimeTravel/VideoGames
[[/index]]

* Professor Carter Nichols invented "time-travel hypnosis" in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' stories, although the stories were [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane always vague]] as to whether the subject ''actually'' travelled in time or not. He inevitably returned in ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison''.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* In ''Anime/YourName'', [[spoiler:the big {{Reveal}} is that Taki and Mitsuha were actually three years apart, which is part of the reason their attempts to meet face-to-face (or at least to speak to each other via cellphones) always failed. The other part is that Mitsuha [[DeadAllAlong died when a passing comet destroyed her town]]]].

* The premise of ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' is that there are people with PsychicPowers, called "The Whispered", who receive information from the distant future. This is how they can have various bits of supertech, most notably HumongousMecha, being built in an otherwise PresentDay setting.

* In the ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' novels, this is true for Yuki Nagato and ''only'' for Yuki Nagato. In the GroundhogDayLoop short story ''Endless Eight'', everyone's [[spoiler:memories get reset, although they start experiencing déjà vu. Apparently, Yuki is not affected by this because time is not an obstacle for her]].
** This isn't the first time either. When Kyon and Mikuru travel to [[ArcWords three years ago]], Yuki from that time effectively downloads the memories of her future self, becoming her future self in the process. [[StableTimeLoop However much sense that makes]].

* [[spoiler:Rat/Nezumi]] from ''Literature/JuniTaisenZodiacWar'' has an ability that's a variation of this: they get to experience up to 100 potential futures branching from a single point in time, and then they go back to the branching point and can choose any one future they like to become real. The tradeoff is that they [[spoiler:become chronically fatigued as a result]]. Their ability also does not guarantee a good outcome for them, as shown when they attempted to confess to a crush by using their ability, but was rejected in every single timeline.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'''s Returns to the Past.
** Although Jérémie retaining a picture taken before one of them caused massive speculation among the fanbase.
** Also the fact that it can't retcon out someone's death.

* In ''Film/57Seconds'', protagonist Franklin gets hold of a ring that, when pressed, rewinds time by [[TitleDrop 57 seconds]], but allowing the user to remember everything that happened during that time. [[spoiler:Anyone who touches the user also retains their memory.]] It then goes inert for the same time span, so you can't unwind time further back. [[spoiler:The BigGood says he wants ''everyone'' to have this power, so accidents and pain can be avoided at all times.]]

A common variation is that the time traveler isn't going back to their own body, but to someone else's, maybe sharing their consciousness and having mental conversations or maybe a full GrandTheftMe. This gets around the disadvantage of the destination being within a few decades of the starting point, while still avoiding some of the logical problems with paradox.

A common variation is that the time traveler isn't going back to their own body, but to someone else's, maybe sharing their consciousness and having mental conversations or maybe a full GrandTheftMe. This gets around the disadvantage of the destination being with a few decades of the starting point, while still avoiding some of the logical problems with paradox.

A form of TimeTravel where you don't physically go back in time. Instead, your body goes back to where it was in the state that it was, but you keep your memories from the future. The advantage is that, if done correctly, it neatly sidesteps many of the logical conundrums and paradoxes associated with time travel. The disadvantage is that your range of times to travel to is limited to the time your body can function for these purposes, a few decades at most.

* In the Marvel Universe, time traveling by magic often seems to work this way, with ComicBook/DoctorStrange or some other magician sending the traveler back in astral form, to temporarily usurp the body of someone from that period. Both Franchise/SpiderMan and ComicBook/SpiderWoman have gone on missions to the distant past this way.