History Main / MultipleChoicePast

* An odd case is the main character of ''ThisImmortal'' by RogerZelazny, who time and again tells [[UnreliableNarrator some different story about himself]]. The novel opens with Conrad/Konstatin's new wife finding out he's ''not'' twenty like she is, he's around eighty. Then other characters wonder if he's somehow connected to other Greeks named Konstantin with his same (very distinctive likeness), who happen to be even older, one of whom was a world-famous terrorist. Then ''more'' characters come into the story, and they have their own stories about his past. [[spoiler:He's hundreds of years old, has never physically aged past 23, and he was ''every one'' of these people.]]

** Also true of Galadriel and Celeborn—''Unfinished Tales'' gives multiple drafts of their history that Tolkien wrote, with no clear chronology to tell us which version is the latest (and presumably most authoritative, though some version cause other continuity problems) and with more notes that suggest Tolkien [[AuthorExistenceFailure was planning on revising it again before the publication]] of ''TheSilmarillion''. We don’t even know whether Celeborn was a Sindarin or Teleri elf, or whether Galadriel was actually part of Fëanor’s rebellion or just went along because she wanted to carve out her own kingdom in Middle-Earth. And those are some pretty major differences.
*** An often repeated sentence is some variant: "Of this matter two things are said, the truth of which is known only to the Wise Ones who are gone. . . "

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' provides one of three choices for how the game begins from the first game (aside from importing a save file from ''Origins'': "Hero of Ferelden" (a BigGood Human Noble defeated the Archdemon and survived the fifth Blight, Alistair is king of Ferelden), "The Martyr" (a cynical Dalish Elf [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed herself]] to kill the Archdemon and end the blight, Alistair and Anora marry and rule Ferelden together), or "No Compromise" (a [[TheDeterminator Determinator]] Dwarven Noble let another Grey Warden die to defeat the Archdemon, Alistair is exiled from Ferelden, and Anora is queen).

* Subverted in ''{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}}'': with each separate route, the minute-but-important details of Shiki's childhood ''appear'' to change or even be downright inconsistent with the other routes. Only after finishing all the routes can the actual backstory be inferred, by piecing together the revelations and details from each route ([[JigsawPuzzlePlot like a convoluted puzzle]]).
* In some ways, this is the entire premise of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''. [[spoiler: Except all choices wind up being true.]]

* Subverted in ''{{Tsukihime}}'': with each separate route, the minute-but-important details of Shiki's childhood ''appear'' to change or even be downright inconsistent with the other routes. Only after finishing all the routes can the actual backstory be inferred, by piecing together the revelations and details from each route (like a convoluted puzzle).

** This trope was originally supposed to be played straight for the origins of Herman's (the fellow who runs Springfield's military surplus store [[PunnyName Bloodbath and Beyond]]) missing arm, but this idea was dropped after his first appearance (to this day, he's only told us that he lost his arm when he stuck it out the window of a moving school bus).

-->[[spoiler:'''Batman:''' [[PreAssKickingOneLiner No. But I know how you got ''these'']].]]

** They later gave them both a definite past. The Monarch's version, while not complete, did get most of the facts right (Phantom Limb was Billy's professor, not roommate and the latter had already [[ItMakesSenseInContext lost his arm to a rabid pitbull]] prior to the incident). The comment about him not knowing ended up becoming a CerebusRetcon because of this. Turns out he doesn't remember because [[spoiler: OSI wiped his memory]]. When Billy learns of the deception, he rather suitibly flips the fuck out.

* Done with the entire ''species'' of illithids (Mind Flayers) in ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]].'' One of the earlier versions says that they're mutants outcast from a long-gone human society in the Astromundi crystal sphere (solar system). Another version puts them as emerging when parasites from "[[CosmicHorror the Outside]]" entered the game's reality and began [[TheVirus bonding with and mutating]] humanoids, and went on to rule an interstellar empire millennia ago which has since fallen. An old {{Dragon}} magazine article depicts them as invaders from an alternate Prime Material Plane, trying to reshape whatever world your characters are from in the image of their homeworld. A later version says they're ''from the future'' and traveled back in time to escape a nameless enemy that was destroying them, and to prepare better for that enemy while in the past. It's ultimately left up to the Game Master to decide which of these is the "truth," or if perhaps they're all successive layers of lies used to disguise the illithids' origins and that the latest retcon is just another lie. However, in the 4th Edition rules, Mind Flayers are once again from the Far Realm - beyond the borders of the universe. This certainty may be only because there haven't been enough years into the new edition to let their webs of deceit get fully developed yet, however.

* There have been various stories of how Joe Swanson from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' lost the use of his legs, some serious and some humorous; one story being that he fell off a roof chasing a criminal and broke his legs, and the other later story being that another criminal shot him in the legs repeatedly.

* TheGoldenGirls tended to have extended families that varied over the years. Blanche seemed especially vulnerable to this. She was the middle of three sisters, then a brother appeared. She had three sons and a daughter, but two different daughters were named during the show's run. It is also unclear whether or not she was faithful to her husband George - one episode says yes, another says no. And don't anyone ask her age.

* TheGoldenGirls tended to have extended families that varied over the years. Blanche seemed especially vulnerable to this. She was the middle of three sisters, then a [[Spoilers: gay]] brother appeared. She had three sons and a daughter, but two different daughters were named during the show's run. It is also unclear whether or not she was faithful to her husband George - one episode says yes, another says no. And don't anyone ask her age.

-->[[spoiler:'''Joker:''' Say, did I ever tell you how I got these scars?]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Batman:''' [[PreAssKickingOneLiner No. But I know how you got these]].]]

->''"Something like that... happened to me, you know? Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another; if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be ''[[TropeNamer multiple choice]]''!"''\\
--'''SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker''', ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''

* Played with in ''Batman: Joker's Daughter''; the Joker's Daughter has three entirely incompatable origins which she relives when the Anchorite uses her power on her. The twist is [[spoiler: not only are ''none'' of them true, but the Joker's Daughter's big secret that she can't even admit to herself is she never ''had'' an origin; she was living a life that was entirely unremarkable in every way, and just decided she wanted to be the Joker's Daughter]].

** In Shadow of the Bat #38, ''Tears of a Clown'', TheJoker celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive StandUpComedy club for a unfunny act. Being desperately poor, this marks his StartOfDarkness as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. So he kidnaps all the patrons that didn’t laugh with him and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. The funny thing is that the patrons are really hardcore StandUpComedy fans, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday so they have seen so many acts that nobody remembers the act of a bad comedian]]. TheJoker cannot even be sure that this StartOfDarkness really happened.

** ''WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'' uses this Trope to prove a point: [[spoiler:there must always be a Batman, regardless of retcons and alternate realities.]]

* Parodied in an issue of ''ComicBook/BlueDevil''. MadameXanadu and ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger narrate entirely different origin stories for Comicbook/BlackOrchid; when this is pointed out they start arguing about whose version is right.

* PowerGirl has a particularly interesting multiple choice past. Originally, she was ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s equivalent from Earth-2. After ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' {{retcon}}ned all the alternate Earths out of existence, Power Girl was kept around, but now lacked an origin or even a defined species, as Superman was now the only Kryptonian around. Over the years, different writers tried different takes, giving her a magical Atlantean past, an alien Daxamite heritage, and so on. With the return of the multiverse in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Power Girl's history has now become her origin: she was from Earth-2, but after it ceased to exist the universe spent years trying to make her fit, but her true Kryptonian heritage has now been re-established.

* One issue of ''Secret Origins'' gave four different, mutually-exclusive origins for the mysterious [[ThePhantomStranger Phantom Stranger]]. According to the WordOfGod, they're ''all'' true.
** When a Black Lantern tried to eat the Phantom Stranger's heart during ''BlackestNight'', it saw three of those backstories, leaving it stunned long enough for the Stranger to spring a trap. The Stranger's response? "You have seen everything and you have seen nothing."
** Aaaaaand then the [[{{New 52}} reboot happened]] and he actually does have a concrete origin now, where he's heavily implied to be [[spoiler: [[Literature/TheBible Judas Iscariot.]] ]]
* Parodied in an issue of ''ComicBook/BlueDevil''. MadameXanadu and ThePhantomStranger narrate entirely different origin stories for Comicbook/BlackOrchid; when this is pointed out they start arguing about whose version is right.

* An in-show version in the ''{{Sanctuary}}'' episode "Hero" -- a comics-loving ordinary citizen discovers a suit which gives him superpowers. When Magnus' crew capture him, he feeds Will a made-up origin that's a hodge-podge of TheJuggernaut, ComicStrip/ThePhantom and GreenArrow. Will buys it, until his comic-book loving friend Henry tells him.

** They later gave them both a definite past. The Monarch's version, while not complete, did get most of the facts right (Phantom Limb was Billy's professor, not roommate and the latter had already [[ItMakesSenseInContext lost his arm to a rabid pitbull]] prior to the incident). The comment about him not knowing ended up becoming a CerebusRetcon because of this. Turns out he dosen't remember because [[spoiler: OSI wiped his memory]]. When Billy learns of the deception, he rather suitibly flips the fuck out.

** {{Superman}}, for example, has a ''canonical'' multiple-choice past: he was given the choice between two of his innumerable origin stories, and he picked the one that he liked more (and, incidentally, made more sense).

* PowerGirl has a particularly interesting multiple choice past. Originally, she was {{Supergirl}}'s equivalent from Earth-2. After CrisisOnInfiniteEarths {{retcon}}ned all the alternate Earths out of existence, Power Girl was kept around, but now lacked an origin or even a defined species, as Superman was now the only Kryptonian around. Over the years, different writers tried different takes, giving her a magical Atlantean past, an alien Daxamite heritage, and so on. With the return of the mutiverse in InfiniteCrisis, Power Girl's history has now become her origin: she was from Earth-2, but after it ceased to exist the universe spent years trying to make her fit, but her true Kryptonian heritage has now been re-established.

* King Shark was introduced in Karl Kesel's ''{{Superboy}}'' as ''possibly'' the son of a Hawaiian shark-god and a mortal woman. Later in the same run, Kesel introduced circumatantial evidence suggesting he was actually one of the mutated animals from the Wild Lands. Later still, Kesel's run on ''Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}'' confirmed the shark-god story.