History Main / StrangerInAFamiliarLand

* On the plus side, those freed from Zenoira's brainwashing have no memory of the brutality they inflicted on the underserving while under the empire's thrall [[spoiler:due to the nature of the spell used on them]]. Unfortunately, for those liberated like this, there is a massive gap in their lives to greet them as well as the enmity of those who suffered at their possessed hands. From his perspective, mercenary Bruno was charging at Zenoiran vassals one moment alongside his trusted comrades, and then was suddenly surrounded by strangers an old friend tells him he was commanding just a few seconds before. Former Cornian paragons who Emperor Galerius thought would be more useful alive like Hodrick and Renault have an entire decade lost to them once they regain their senses.

Prominent real-life examples are usually based on [[ReturningWarVet soldiers returning home]], most commonly from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI or UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, or prisoners who find after serving their sentences that they can't adapt to life "outside", or college students returning home after exploring new ideas who find they no longer fit in with their communities. This is also relatively common among anthropologists and related fieldworkers who come home after a long stint in another society only to realize how bizarre their own culture really is. Another common case is [[ChildOfTwoWorlds people who were raised in another culture]] who [[RediscoveringRootsTrip travel back to their family's homeland]] -- despite sharing cultural ties due to their family's past, they experience HeritageDisconnect and find themselves alienated due to their foreign upbringing.

Prominent real-life examples are usually based on [[ReturningWarVet soldiers returning home]], most commonly from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI or UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, or prisoners who find after serving their sentences that they can't adapt to life "outside". This is also relatively common among anthropologists and related fieldworkers who come home after a long stint in another society only to realize how bizarre their own culture really is. Another common case is [[ChildOfTwoWorlds people who were raised in another culture]] who [[RediscoveringRootsTrip travel back to their family's homeland]] -- despite sharing cultural ties due to their family's past, they experience HeritageDisconnect and find themselves alienated due to their foreign upbringing.

* ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'': This happens to Travis Morgan whenever he returns to Earth. These visits just reinforce Morgan's belief that the LostWorld of Skartaris is where he truly belongs.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E45TheTroubleWithTempleton The Trouble with Templeton]]", Booth Templeton is sent back to 1927 and meets his beloved wife Laura and his best friend Barney Flueger, both long dead, in a speakeasy. They soon shun and insult him. Laura even slaps him and says, "Go back where you came from! We don't want you here!" [[spoiler:As Laura had a script entitled ''What to Do When Booth Comes Back'', Booth realizes that it was merely a performance to shake him out of his obsession with the past and convince him to live his own life.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' has this as the theme of the series finale ("Things Change"). After spending most of the season on the road in a HeroesUnlimited plot, they come home to find all their favourite stores are gone and a monster the likes of which they've never seen is on the loose. Oh, and [[spoiler:there's a dead ringer for Terra wandering around who wants nothing to do with the hero life.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Parodied in the episode “Sandy’s Rocket.” When [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick go on Sandy’s Rocket, they land back in Bikini Bottom, although they think they’re on the moon. They capture everyone in town since they think that they’re aliens. When [=SpongeBob=] returns “home,” he actually lands on the moon. He says that Bikini Bottom sure looks different.
-->'''Everyone''': [=SpongeBob=], we aliens would like a word with you!

-->'''Teresa Cristina''': "I do not know how to tell what was the impression I had upon seeing again, after 28 years, my fatherland and not to find anyone for whom I cared."

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} of Creator/AAPessimal, [[AmoralAfrikaner Johanna Smith-Rhodes]] has been living in Ankh-Morpork for over twenty years. Every time she returns to [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Rimwards Howondaland]] she feels as if she has less and less in common with the cultural and social preconceptions of her native country. This makes her acutely aware that this happens, even more so, to students at the Assassins' School who arrive from Howondaland to be educated in Ankh-Morpork for seven years. She pus it down to Ankh-Morpork changing people.
* In ''Fanfic/UsWitheringUnderTheSun'', when he's hanging out with all his friends from high school, all of whom have stayed in touch while he isolated himself and left the country altogether, Woo-jin is dismayed to hear just how much he missed after he left and can contribute little to the conversation.

* Music/ThePogues' song ''Sally MacLennane'' tells of a man named Jimmy who moves away from his home town, is given a fond send-off by his friends, and has career success elsewhere. After several years Jimmy returns to his home town to find all his friends have moved away except the barman narrator. Jimmy drinks himself to death that night.

* In ''Film/TheColorPurple'' after a character returns from prison after so many years, she weeps after commenting that she doesn't know any of her friends or family anymore.

* ''ComicBook/{{Nova}}'': Richard Rider had difficulties returning to Earth after that ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} business. It didn't help that he'd returned right after ComicBook/CivilWar, and is disturbed by the news of everything that's happened (including that his former girlfriend died right at the beginning of the event). After an attack by a supervillain, followed by the Thunderbolts when he arrests said supervillain, where he's treated as the villain just because he's there, Rich finally decides to leave, announcing "I think the world's gone insane, and I want off". So, after one disturbing conversation with a psychologically damaged Speedball, he leaves.