History Main / TheTimeTravellersDilemma

** In another ''Voyager'' episode, a NegativeSpaceWedgie splits the ship into various time periods, though which only Chakotay may pass. At the end, Janeway from just before the mission wants to have the ship be restored to ''her'' time, thus preventing the ship from being trapped in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay refuses, claiming that they have helped far too many people in the Delta Quadrant to erase this, as well as the fact that it would add yet another complication into an already-risky solution. (He conveniently neglects to mentions that his own ship would still be trapped in the Delta Quadrant if they follow Past!Janeway's plan.)

* In the 5th season premiere of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Jake is in a PlaceBeyondTime, looking at the disastrous consequence of Finn's wish that the [[BigBad Lich]] never existed. [[BenevolentGenie Prismo]] can still grant Jake's wish to fix things, but points out how dangerous timeline alteration are, which is so intimidating Jake {{Stress Vomit}}s.

** Averted in the episode "The Savage Time", where Alternate Batman doesn't like living in an authoritarian regime after the Allies lost UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
--->'''Martian Manhunter''': You understand that if we do change the past, you - this version of you - will never have existed?\\

** Also, when Alternate Batman mentions his parents were killed for opposing the government, he later seems hopeful that they'll have survived if the Justice League changes the past. Superman mentions very tactfully that this may not be the case ([[DeathByOriginStory they don't]]).
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Yesteryear". We certainly hope Thelen the Andorian got a comparably good job in the rewritten timeline. At least he accepts his fate bravely and Spock wished him a long and prosperous life in whatever circumstances he would be placed in. (Like most Trek time travel, it's unclear whether or not he got to stick around in a [[AlternateHistory divergent timeline.]])
* It never seems to occur to ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' that if he succeeds in going back in time and stopping Aku, all the people who he meets and helps in "the future that is Aku" will not exist in the new timeline. [[spoiler: This becomes extremely relevant in the last two minutes of the show.]]

* In the 5th season premiere of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Jake is faced with something resembling this dilemma. While this example deals with an alternate timeline created by [[spoiler:Finn's wish for the [[BigBad Lich]] to have never existed]] rather than genuine time travel, Jake is informed by [[spoiler:Prismo]] that:
--> "...There's rules to this stuff. Wishing an event to be changes elements before and after it; memories will be destroyed, ''[[RetGone babies will not be born!]]'' [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds Potential]] ''[[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds worlds]]'' [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds could be]] ''[[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds evaporated.]]'' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis By. Your. Wish.]]
** This warning causes Jake to throw up in stress.

* Kyon of ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' once changed the world back to his old one via TimeTravel. He still has nightmares of the implications of what he did, mostly because [[spoiler:it was a world where Yuki Nagato had her fondest wish: being human and quite possibly in love with Kyon.]].
* The second half of ''[[VisualNovel/SteinsGate Steins;Gate]]'' revolves around this. Realizing that the D-Mail experiments he's been conducting help cement a BadFuture [[spoiler:and guarantee the death of his childhood friend]], Okabe has to negate each one in order to avoid it. The problem? Most of those D-Mails altered the past in ways that granted his friends a good deal of happiness - including his own, as [[spoiler:the first D-mail prevented the death of the woman he's fallen in love with]].

* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Children of Time" has the Defiant crash on a world populated by the crew's descendants (and a future Odo), thanks to a time loop. The characters decide they have no choice but to make sure these people live, and prepare to trap themselves in the past. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, future Odo couldn't stand to let Kira die again, so he screws with the ship, allowing it to escape and erase the entire colony.]] Kira doesn't take it well.

There's a very dark possibility of a SadisticChoice here. What if there's no such thing as InSpiteOfANail? What if the holocaust you're trying to prevent resulted in someone being born who will [[RetGone no longer exist]] if the situation of his parents getting together changes? What if there's [[ForWantOfANail millions of people who will be changed or erased against their will?]] What if this timeline had someone do a HeelFaceTurn who won't in the original timeline?

* The''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Children of Time" has the Defiant crash on a world populated by the crew's descendants (and a future Odo), thanks to a time loop. The characters decide they have no choice but to make sure these people live, and prepare to trap themselves in the past. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, future Odo couldn't stand to let Kira die again, so he screws with the ship, allowing it to escape and erase the entire colony.]] Kira doesn't take it well.

** Played straight in the episode "Timeless", in which Harry Kim is driven to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, a mistake on his part which killed the crew except for him and Chakotay who were in the Delta Flyer, but both Chakotay and his girlfriend know that this will cause them never to meet. Starfleet also saw it as dangerous and sent [=LaForge=] to stop them. This is fully discussed by [=LaForge=] himself, who says he completely understands what they are trying to do and would [[NotSoDifferent do the same thing in their place]], but he has to think of the timeline and his own crew who will be changed by this.

** There are other sides to Citizen Brown's chastising. Returning everything to Marty's timeline would erase Brown (replace him with Doc Brown from the first two episodes, who has different personality) and his family and everything in his world. Once he bitterly concludes that his opinion doesn't matter, because Marty will erase him anyways.

** In another ''Voyager'' episode, a NegativeSpaceWedgie splits the ship into various time periods, though which only Chakotay may pass. At the end, Janeway from just before the mission offers to have the ship be restored to ''her'' time, thus preventing the ship from being trapped in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay refuses, claiming that they have helped far too many people in the Delta Quadrant to erase this. He conveniently neglects to mentions that his own ship would still be trapped in the Delta Quadrant if they follow Past!Janeway's plan.

* It never seems to occur to ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' that his goal, going back in time and stopping Aku, should it be successful will result in all the people who he meets and helps will stop existing due to how drastically Aku changed everything. [[spoiler: This becomes relevant in the last two minutes of the show.]]

** Played straight in the episode "Timeless", in which Harry Kim is driven to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, a mistake on his part which killed the crew except for him and Chakotay who were in the Delta Flyer, but both Chakotay and his girlfriend know that this will cause them never to meet. Starfleet also saw it as dangerous and sent [=LaForge=] to stop them. This is fully discussed by [=LaForge=] himself, who says he completely understands what they are trying to do and would [[NotSoDifferent do the samething in their place]], but he has to think of the timeline and his own crew who will be changed by this.

* In the 5th season premiere of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Jake is faced with something resembling this dilemma. While this example deals with an alternate timeline created by [[spoiler: Finn's wish for the [[BigBad Lich]] to have never existed]] rather than genuine time travel, Jake is informed by [[spoiler: Primso]] that:

There's a very dark possibility of a SadisticChoice here. What if there's no such thing as InSpiteOfANail? What if the holocaust you're trying to prevent resulted in someone being born who will [[RetGone no longer exist]] if the situation of his parents getting together changes? What if there's [[ButterflyEffect millions of people who will be changed or erased against their will?]] What if this timeline had someone do a HeelFaceTurn who won't in the original timeline?

** Subverted when the government in the new timeline refuse to help the team try to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. To punctuate this, the character who berates them was estranged from his family in the "good" timeline, but HappilyMarried in the altered one. And earlier, the alternate version of Colonel O'Neill that SG-1 encounters in the Arctic didn't tragically lose his son Tyler to a gun accident.

* While it's hard to tell (since the game is currently in alpha), the plot of ''VideoGame/{{Achron}}'' will probably explore this. It's already been referenced on the developer blog before.

* In Telltale's ''VideoGame/BackToTheFuture'', First Citizen Brown (an alternate version of Doc) pulls this on Marty when he discovers that, in Marty's timeline, [[spoiler:Brown's wife Edna is a lonely batty mess]]. It turns out that Marty inadvertently fixes things anyway, as [[spoiler:Marty inadvertently fixes up Edna with Kid Tannen, and they end up being moderating influences on each other.]]

** Played straight in the episode "Timeless", in which Harry Kim is driven to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, a mistake on his part which killed the crew except for him and Chakotay who were in the Delta Flyer, but both Chakotay and his girlfriend know that this will cause them never to meet. Starfleet also saw it as dangerous and sent [=LaForge=] to stop them. This is fully discussed by [=LaForge=] himself, who says he completely understands what they are trying to do and would [[NotSoDifferent dp the samething in their place]], but he has to think of the timeline and his own crew who will be changed by this.

* The ending of ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' invokes this trope: [[spoiler: The main character goes back to the beginning, and ends his lifelong friendship/love (depending on the timeline in question) with the female lead before it starts. It works.]]

** Subverted when the government in the new timeline refuse to help the team try to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. To punctuate this, the character who berates them was estranged from his family in the "good" timeline, but HappilyMarried in the altered one. And earlier, the alternate version of Colonel O'Neill that SG-1 encounters in the Arctic didn't lose his son Tyler to a gun accident.

** Subverted when the government in the new timeline refuse to help the team try to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.

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* This weighs on Edward throughout ''Fanfic/MyMasterEd''. [[spoiler: If Ed manages to [[SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong save Xerxes]], Amestris as a country won't exist. If Hohenheim never becomes immortal, he won't live long enough to meet Trisha, and [[RetGone Alphonse will never be born]]. Ed is acutely, ''painfully'' aware of this'']].

* A ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' SlashFic called [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9035781/1/Redo "Redo"]] explores this problem. Ed and Al, living TwentyMinutesInTheFuture from the end of the manga/''Brotherhood'', are sent back in time by a rogue alchemist to right before they traveled to Lior. They struggle with how they're now given the opportunity to save some people who died and situations they screwed up the first time, but also need to make sure everything that went ''right'' before does as well.

** [[CrowningMomentOfFunny This warning causes Jake to throw up in stress.]]