History Main / TheGump

* DonRosa likes to do this too. In ''TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'', Scrooge is shown to be the reason Theodore Roosevelt went back into politics (and the origin of some of Roosevelt's famous quotes). Scrooge also gave Buffalo Bill the idea to do Wild West shows, and was a major influence on Jack London's ''TheCallOfTheWild''. He also meets Wyatt Earp, sails on the Cutty Sark and witnesses the eruption of Krakatoa, nearly became the owner of the real world Anaconda Copper Mine, causes ''the sinking of Titanic'', etc. etc. etc.

* The ''LifeOfBrian'' shows Brian [[PalsWithJesus interacting with]] Jesus, being [[SeeminglyProfoundFool mistaken for]] Jesus, and being involved in numerous other [[TheBible Bible]] [[JesusWasWayCool shenanigans]].

* An episode of ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' takes a slightly different track. During an episode where much of the main cast was transported to the time period of [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series,]] they were responsible for many offscreen events which took place during "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode. Thus, it is an example of ''[=DS9=]'' playing The Gump to another fictional series.
** Particularly notable because the technology used to insert Forrest Gump in historical footage is exactly the one used to create this episode. The very episode was inspired by a technician showing off some quick'n'dirty insertion in an original StarTrek episode. (It helped that the [=TOS=] masters were surprisingly well preserved.)

* ''{{The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen}}'' features Orlando, a gender-changing Immortal who fights in every major war from Troy to World War II, as well as causing the rift between Romulus and Remus and posing for the Mona Lisa. Also, he started the Renaissance.

* According to an interview by a Film/{{Bill and Ted}} fansite, Bill and Ted was originally going to be one of these movies. With these two idiots causing the Titanic and the Holocaust as they travelled through time, but this was considered "too dark".

* The Brazilian novel ''{{O Homem Que Matou Getulio Vargas}}'' (released in English as ''Twelve Fingers: Biography of an Anarchist'') has an interesting inversion - he main character, a Serbian assassin, would be responsible for several historical events, like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the transport of french troops to the Marne and the bribery of the Jury who put Al Capone in jail, if he didn't always screw up. He does however "suicide" the titular Brazilian president (who is distantly related to him).
* Another Brazilian book, ''{{O Vampiro que Descobriu O Brasil}}'' has a Portuguese vampire coming after the body snatching one that bit him, leading both to Brazil. They stumble on every possible historical fact, of course.

* ''Discworld/{{The Science of Discworld}}'' novels posit our world being a sort of novelty science experiment on the Discworld, where the wizards' meddling is not only responsible for life in general, but more specifically {{Shakespeare}}'s and Darwin's successes.

* ''Ender's Shadow'' retells ''[[EndersGame Ender's Game]]'' from the perspective of Bean, who is revealed to have been [[ManBehindTheMan responsible for a lot of Ender's successes]], making him this trope in a fictional setting. (And provoking some people to consider him a CanonSue.)

** Xena was ''responsible for Lucifer's fall from grace.'' She also ''gave a donkey to a certain pregnant couple on their way to Nazareth.'' '''''By way of Greece.''''' She took the Sword out of the Stone and then put it back in. She aided Boadicea's army and was the pirate captain that captured JuliusCaesar. Yes. Xena is the master chef of the [[AnachronismStew Anachronism Stew]]. She puts a bit of herself into each delicious bowl.

** Ditto with Ezio Auditore da Firenze in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', with the most notable example being a friendship with {{Leonardo da Vinci}} and Machiavelli, as well as an involvement with the infamous "Bonfire of the Vanities." If it happened during the Renaissance, Ezio probably had something to do with it.
*** An attempt at a comprehensive list: he [[spoiler:personally defended Lorenzo de' Medici from the assassination attempt at Florence's cathedral and escorted him to safety, killed Francesco de' Pazzi and hung his body from the Palazzo della Signoria, personally hunted down and assassinated his co-conspirators, then was involved with no less than three consecutive ''doge''s of Venice -- Giovanni Mocenigo (failed to protect and framed for the killing), Marco Barbarigo (assassinated by Ezio), and Agostino Barbarigo (succeeded Marco) -- before assisting Cristoforo Colombo in sailing to "the New World," then fought in both the conflict following the death of the lord of Forli and Imola, and in the Bonfire of the Vanities (mercy-killing the "[[SinisterMinister mad monk]]" Girolamo Savanarola -- for which Rodrigo Borgia's papacy would take credit). Afterward, Ezio ''personally assaulted {{the Pope}} right after Christmas'' (ahistorical), undermined the Borgia papacy for three years, caused the Pope's death (albeit having been on his way to kill him), directly caused Cesare Borgia's downfall and arrest, and then was the man who threw Cesare from a wall to his death in 1507]]. Whew! *takes a breath*

** Connor of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' looks to become one too, as he will work with [[spoiler:GeorgeWashington, BenjaminFranklin and Charles Lee]] during this game.

* The collective story of the [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=85097 AH.com Eternals]] strays into this. The immortal named Gregorios has so far served as an ambassador for the Emperor Anastasius, been a trader on the Silk Road, lived as a farmer (and charged as a witch) in [[AngloSaxons Anglo-Saxon]] England, been "executed" by the Sassanids, fought in the Battle of Septimania, inspired the writing of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'', worked as a merchant in Tang China, lived as a Yakut nomad, served in the Byzantine navy, defended Paris against a Viking invasion, circumnavigated medieval Ireland, fought in the Welsh armies against the invading Anglo-Saxons, went with Leif Ericsson to discover Vinland, became a tribal chief in the Miqmaq nation, served as an interpreter in the Crusader States, became Balian of Ibelin, was sold as a slave after the Venetians sacked Constantinople, served as interpreter and guide for Creator/MarcoPolo, inspired the image of {{the Grim Reaper}}, fathered the Romanov dynasty, fought at the final {{fall of Constantinople}}, sailed with ChristopherColumbus to the New World, got painted into "The Last Judgement Day," fought with the Catholic League during the French Wars of Religion, took part in the first production of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet,'' became one of the founding members of the Plymouth Colony, served as a professor or languages at Harvard, rode circuit as a doctor in colonial Virginia, dumped tea at the Boston Tea Party, and fought in both the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.]] And he's only told his story up to 1827.

* The 1953 Disney cartoon ''{{Ben and Me}}'' was about a mouse who was responsible for most of Benjamin Franklin's greatest achievements, and even had an indirect role in the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

* The cold open for the ''{{WesternAnimation/Arthur}}'' episode "Arthur Wrecks a Computer" shows Arthur in different time periods accidentally smashing off the Sphinx's nose, breaking of Venus de Milo's arms, and cracking the Liberty Bell.

-->"The heroine is a sort of super-Mata-Hari, who is, alternately and sometimes simultaneously, in the pay of the Nazis, the Soviets, the Vatican, Chiang Kai-Shek, the Japanese Emperor, and the Jewish International Bankers, and she sleeps with everybody but Joe Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, and of course, she is in on every step of the A-bomb project. She even manages to stow away on the ''Enola Gay'', with the help of a general she's spent fifty incandescent pages seducing."

*** Not to mention the side character who killed Jack the Ripper. ''Side'' character.

* The TropeNamer, of course, also inspired a WeirdAlYankovic song.

* Nick "Ace" Geraci, from ''TheGodfather'' sequels, is a rare case where The Gump turns out to be the canon explanation for events as the licensed continuation of the franchise. He is responsible for beating the two college kids who assaulted Bonasera's daughter. He executed Tessio in the first chapter of ''The Godfather Returns'' as a test of loyalty to the Family. Later on, he manipulates Fredo into unwittingly betraying Michael by offering him help with a plan that would show his worth to Michael. Finally, he kidnaps and executes [[spoiler: Tom Hagen]] by strapping him into a car and driving him into the Florida Everglades.

* One ''CodeMonkeys'' episode had Dave give the phrase "jam on" to MichaelJackson, while working on what would be ''Moonwalker''. He also offers up several that he's [[ItsLikeIAlwaysSay said over the years]], such as "talk to the hand", "my bad" and "''[[RapeAsComedy this is TOTALLY rape]]''". By the end of the episode, the staff at Gameavision is responsible for everything wrong with Michael that wasn't the fault of [[FinancialAbuse his father or various gold diggers]].

* Although the write-ups usually try to hint rather than state things outright (it's more fun that way), several [[SCPFoundation SCPs]] are implied to have been involved or caused various historical events, including what we thought was the atomic bomb.

* A blink-and-you'll-miss-it example from the ''HarryPotter'' series: If you take all the information gleaned from the books about Grindelwald, you'll note that when he rose to power, Dumbledore was called on to stop him, but Dumbledore postponed the fight for some five years, until finally dueling and defeating him [[{{WorldWarTwo}} in 1945.]]

* ''The Young IndianaJones Chronicles''. Befriending T.E. Lawrence and helping him take Jerusalem, drinking with Picasso, losing his virginity to Mata Hari, inspiring the RedBaron to paint his plane red, killing {{Dracula}} himself, and hunting Al Capone is just some of the ''less'' extreme contrivances in young Henry Jones Junior's life. If he or she's famous in the 20th century, Indy has probably met, befriended, fought, fallen in love with, killed or slept with that person.

* The time-travel-humor webcomic TimesLikeThis goes Gump on a regular basis. A sampling of some "Gumpifications" (as the author calls them):

* In the episode of ''XiaolinShowdown'' where [[OurDragonsareDifferent Dojo]] turns into an evil, two-headed monster, the reason why Dojo had to be locked in a cage whenever he becomes this form (in which [[MakingaSplash Omi]] accidentally freed) is because, according to [[OldMaster Master Fung]], the last time Dojo became evil he actually sunk Atlantis.

* Alex Mason, the protagonist from ''CallOfDutyBlackOps'', fights in Havana during the Bay of Pigs invasion and assassinates Castro (actually a body double). Once captured, he is sent to the infamous Vorkuta gulag. Upon his release, he receives his orders from Robert [=McNamara=] and JFK themselves. He almost single-handedly saves Khe Sanh in the precursor to the Tet offensive. [[spoiler: And it is later revealed that he was the second shooter who killed JFK]].

* The collective story of the [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=85097 AH.com Eternals]] strays into this. The immortal named Gregorios has so far served as an ambassador for the Emperor Anastasius, been a trader on the Silk Road, lived as a farmer (and charged as a witch) in {{Anglo-Saxon|s}} England, been "executed" by the Sassanids, fought in the Battle of Septimania, inspired the writing of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'', worked as a merchant in Tang China, lived as a Yakut nomad, served in the Byzantine navy, defended Paris against a Viking invasion, circumnavigated medieval Ireland, fought in the Welsh armies against the invading Anglo-Saxons, went with Leif Ericsson to discover Vinland, became a tribal chief in the Miqmaq nation, served as an interpreter in the Crusader States, became Balian of Ibelin, was sold as a slave after the Venetians sacked Constantinople, served as interpreter and guide for Creator/MarcoPolo, inspired the image of {{the Grim Reaper}}, fathered the Romanov dynasty, fought at the final {{fall of Constantinople}}, sailed with ChristopherColumbus to the New World, got painted into "The Last Judgement Day," fought with the Catholic League during the French Wars of Religion, took part in the first production of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet,'' became one of the founding members of the Plymouth Colony, served as a professor or languages at Harvard, rode circuit as a doctor in colonial Virginia, dumped tea at the Boston Tea Party, and fought in both the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.]] And he's only told his story up to 1827.

* The collective story of the [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=85097 AH.com Eternals]] strays into this. The immortal named Gregorios has so far [[spoiler:served as an ambassador for the Emperor Anastasius, been a trader on the Silk Road, lived as a farmer (and charged as a witch) in Anglo-Saxon England, been "executed" by the Sassanids, fought in the Battle of Septimania, inspired the writing of ''Beowulf,'' worked as a merchant in Tang China, lived as a Yakut nomad, served in the Byzantine navy, defended Paris against a Viking invasion, circumnavigated medieval Ireland, fought in the Welsh armies against the invading Anglo-Saxons, went with Lief Ericsson to discover Vinland, became a tribal chief in the Miqmaq nation, served as an interpreter in the Crusader States, became Balian of Ibelin, was sold as a slave after the Venetians sacked Constantinople, served as interpreter and guide for Marco Polo, inspired the image of the Grim Reaper, fathered the Romanov dynasty, fought at the final fall of Constantinople, sailed with Columbus to the New World, got painted into "The Last Judgement Day," fought with the Catholic League during the French Wars of Religion, took part in the first production of ''Romeo and Juliet,'' became one of the founding members of the Plymouth Colony, served as a professor or languages at Harvard, rode circuit as a doctor in colonial Virginia, dumped tea at the Boston Tea Party, and fought in both the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.]] And he's only told his story up to 1827.

* Similarly, {{Histeria}} had a group of kids what would appear in every era, interact with several historical figures, and somehow inspiring them. They've given Benjamin Franklin several of his famous proverbs, invented the Franklin Stove, and helped him discover electricity in lightning. They also inspired Rosa Parks not to move to the back of the bus, inspire Thomas Edison to invent the lightbulb, among other things.