History UnreliableNarrator / FanFiction

[[UnreliableNarrator Back to the main page]].

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* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/creppypasta12300/favourites/59332234/spongebob-2 Angelica's Diary]]'', Angelica is the narrator, but, being delusional and three years old, she is very unreliable. For instance, she claims Charlotte goes for long runs but the implication is that she's cheating on Drew with Jonathan, and Angelica claims that there are rocks everywhere with the babies' names on, but really it's a cemetery and the babies are dead.
%% * ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' fanfic ''FanFic/CicadasCaseOfTheEndlessDreamer'' is unreliable narration '''[[UpToEleven HE]][[MindScrew LL]]!'''
* ''Fanfic/CodePrimeR1Rebellion'': Megatron is this during a conversation with Suzaku regarding the War for Cybertron - [[HiddenDepths while he acknowledges that neither side is completely good or evil]], he implies that the planet becoming uninhabitable was a result of the conflict getting out of control, [[NeverMyFault rather than him deliberately poisoning the core with Dark Energon to try and gain planetary domination]]. He also insinuates that he gathered the Decepticons and rose up against the ruling council because they refused to accept Optimus' peaceful solution to dealing with planetary unrest, when in actuality, they stepped down willingly and named Optimus the new leader, causing the [[DrivenByEnvy envious Megatron]] to rise up over not getting what he wanted. And lastly, Megatron indicates that he tried to reach out to Optimus and seek some form of alliance, only to be rejected, conveniently leaving out that Megatron was turned away because he was a despot whose own actions are the entire reason Optimus turned against him.
* ''Fanfic/ConceptRoad''. For a character preemptively familiar with [[MegaCrossover all the worlds he goes to]], Louis Starsky sure doesn't always have his facts together. For example, he believes that Miku Hatsune was the first Music/{{Vocaloid}} preceding Meiko Sakine and Kaito. He's also convinced that Kino from ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' is a dude. It should also be noted that several context clues within the same chapter(s) strongly suggest that this is ''not'' a {{critical research failure}} on the actual author's end.
* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': [[http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/posts/2578680/ In chapter 49]] a character is being filled in on the history of the Angel War and the post-Impact world. However Misato had some ''creative'' interpretations of the events. Asuka suggests him that he ignores everything Misato said.
* The ''Steven Universe'' fic ''Fanfic/DarkDarkOceanDark'' is tagged with "unreliable narrator", but it's unclear what Jasper is being unreliable about.
* Navarone is an in-universe example in ''FanFic/DiariesOfAMadman'', as he often leaves stuff out or puts misleading information in his journals. [[spoiler: Discord is a straighter example, as he flat out lies to the reader]].
* Similarly, Dogbertcarroll's stories on Fanfiction dot net include one where [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Xander Harris]] has a cosmic event happen and gets dropped into the Justice league, literally during a meeting. He describes Batman as being possibly the most sociologically driven man in the DC Universe but also deadly necessary. Of course, this is Xander's viewpoint, and the man has been somewhat unreliable narrating himself, as anyone who's ever watched/critiqued "The Zeppo" can tell you.
* Loose Change, the narrator of ''FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed'', has a tendency to present her conspiracies as fact, which is both disorienting and highly amusing. She often makes [[InsaneTrollLogic unbelievable, sometimes asinine leaps in logic]] in an attempt to twist what she finds to fit her own theories, and any holes in her logic are {{Hand Wave}}d away by Loose Change with [[VoodooShark strange explanations that poke even more holes in her logic]]. But it is this nature of hers that the entire concept of the fic centers around. It is possible to get a glimpse of actual Equestrian history through her eyes, once one wades through the enormous fallacies and insane conspiracy theories she presents. But the fic mostly consists solely of Equestrian history as seen through Loose Change, whether the reader wants to accept it as accurate or not.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Fanfic/{{Game Theory|LyricalNanoha}}'', in which [[CuteKitten Vesta's]] narration is filled with {{Suspiciously Specific Denial}}s and IMeantToDoThat.
* The ''Fanfic/GettingBackOnYourHooves'' side story "Another Happy Mother's Day" is [[VillainEpisode told from the perspective of]] [[BigBad Checker Monarch]] after her defeat and [[VillainousBreakdown fall into]] [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness insanity]] at the end of the original fic. Considering she's insane to the point she's suffered a LossOfIdentity and created FalseMemories, it's impossible to tell what details of her past she gave are real and which are false.
* ''FanFic/HomeWithTheFairies'' downplays this. Maddie is not trying to lie, but her misunderstandings affect the narration, especially in the early chapters, when the LanguageBarrier is still a major problem. For example, Maddie visits the town of Fornost, but it might not be Fornost; Maddie later uses the name "maybe-not-Fornost". Then in chapter 13, Maddie believes that Lord Kinsey will fire her if "gossip gets out", but this might not be true; Lord Kinsey might or might not believe the gossip. A writer's note on chapter 14 declares Maddie as an unreliable narrator.
* ''FanFic/HuntingTheUnicorn'' makes liberal use of this--though there isn't any intentional misleading, there are two instances that make use of this for ''huge'' impact: "The Hunters" reveals that [[spoiler: Blaine isn't a virgin]], and it's elaborated [[LoveHurts very painfully]] in the following chapter. "The Butterfly" is where David tells a counselor [[spoiler: that Blaine has a stalker and has ''no idea of it'']].
* All over the place in ''[[Fanfic/ImHereToHelp I'm Here to Help]]''. Emerald's narration portrays Crystal Tokyo as a CrapsaccharineWorld where everyone is brainwashed and the senshi rule with an iron fist, but the only reasons actually given for how the kingdom is bad boil down to "it's boring". It doesn't help that Emerald is several hundred years old and insane. ([[spoiler:Pluto's]] interference near the end could indicate some truth to his argument, but [[spoiler:she]] gives no reason for [[spoiler:her]] actions beyond "I don't like how Crystal Tokyo turned out", which still gives nothing solid to go off of.) Meanwhile, the two sections told from the point of views of the future senshi depict Emerald as a dangerous murderer, while the past senshi and Luna see him as shifty and untrustworthy. It's difficult to say exactly how much of this was intentional. [[spoiler:The author's notes at the end say that there was a lot more going on than we see, but we're never told what it was. The possibility of everything being revealed in a sequel was mentioned, but that never came around.]]
* The museum curator from "[[FanFic/KingSuperman The Courier Who Had Cheated Death]]" averts this trope. On one hand, every detail from the story he told was true. On the other hand, he ''was'' the murderous psychopath from the story, and the 'display dummy' he mentions offhandedly is implied to be another of his victims.
* [[TheStoryteller Brett's mother]] in ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'' recounts long-past events with [[InfallibleNarrator inhuman precision]], but she also embellishes some details, fills in gaps with informed guesswork, and lets her biases influence some characterizations. Indeed, those cartoonish elements in [[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama the original]] that are retained in the reimagining could well be chalked up to her embellishments. It’s called a “legend” for a reason.
* Elspeth of ''Fanfic/{{Luminosity}}'' narrates the second book, and whenever under Allirea's power sees her as "not important". This leads to glossing over some important dialogue, with a little UnspokenPlanGuarantee.
* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', Izuku's perceptions can color the third-person narration. It calls Katsuki Bakugou a "stand-up guy" right before he begins threatening to beat up another kid for taking the last cupcake.
* All over the place in ''FanFic/TheNewRetcons'' since for most of the story it's written in the style of the characters writing letters. Including an insane Elly. In the comments for one of the letters, the authors and fans discussed this trope with regard to Liz, and whether she was one about [[spoiler: [[AttemptedRape the going after]]]].
* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fic ''{{Fanfic/Obsession}}'' shows Corbin as a caring father who simply doesn't know how to care for his [[{{Anime/Pokemon 2000}} strange son]]. Said son is narrating, however, and describes his father as a heartless fool and constant embarrassment. He's also narrating as an adult, so this isn't just a child's perspective.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6949110/1/A_Piece_Of_Glass A Piece Of Glass]]'', the story is sandwiched together from the POV of the Joker, his OriginalCharacter accomplice, Breech Loader, and Batman himself. The Joker sees his demented social experiments as perfectly acceptable. Breech repeatedly insists that morals and sanity are moot points, being a matter of perspective. Neither is sane, but ThroughTheEyesOfMadness both are convinced they are right. Interestingly, through Batman's POV, he's NotSoDifferent...
* Possibly Dominic in ''FanFic/PinkPersonalHellAndAlteringFate''. Early in the story, he tells the reader how [[ButtMonkey bad he has it]], such as how his group doesn't bother to communicate with him and dumps half the project on him. However, when he arrives to give a presentation with Gummy attached to his finger (ItMakesSenseInContext) they actually laugh ''with'' him. Granted, later on, the mirror shows moments he'd rather not see...
** One thing that also makes a bit of sense with the story's main twist is [[spoiler: Pink Personal Hell is revealed to be InMediasRes to Altering Fate - it can be read in a way that Dominic is remembering his so-called "Pink Personal Hell" during the events of the "Altering Fate" narrative from his perspective - which still plays true to this trope as Dominic glosses over a ''lot'' of events.]]
* ''FanFic/{{Pipeline}}'' is primarily told through third-person limited, using Kevin's thoughts and perceptions of things to tell the story. Kevin's kind of a... self-informed guy, so this has interesting results. He's got the best of intentions, really, but his perceptions of the way Ben is acting towards him are much harsher than Ben means them to, and his irrational dislike of Dexter makes the boy genius out to be the bad guy sometimes when they really have similar values and goals.
* Suggested in ''Fanfic/ThePowerOfSeven''; Snape reflects that Harry's current multiple relationships are similar to James's reputation when he was at school, but considering Snape’s views of James there is no way to be sure if he’s exaggerating just how many women James was actually involved with.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''[[http://shinodaholic.deviantart.com/art/Revenge-of-the-Narrator-201034142 Revenge of the Narrator]]'', the replacement Narrator tells the reader halfway through that [[spoiler: everything the original Narrator had said]] was a lie.
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/535958/chapters/951592 A Splitting Of The Mind]]'': The main character Gerard is [[spoiler: schizophrenic and we are told that "they" were after him. It is later revealed that it was all a hallucination]]
* [[spoiler:Carlos]] in his chapters of [[Fanfic/TheStrexFamily ''Compliance'' and ''Procedure'']]. His narration includes, for instance, [[spoiler:domestic abuse, emotional manipulation not being mentioned as such, and sexual assault/rape being seen as consensual sex (the following chapter proves that it very much is not)]].
* The Sassgardian is the worst offender in ''Fanfic/SuperheroRPF''. He insists, for example, that ''Loki'' is a LovableRogue with [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a heart of gold]]; he even has his Tumblr to prove it! [[spoiler:He ''is'' Loki.]] But several other characters are super heroes or villains too, protecting their secret identities, so being unreliable narrators is pretty much unavoidable.
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/10799406/chapters/23958186 The War is Far from Over Now]]'', most of the character's point of view is colored by their own biases regarding a current situation and/or simply not having all the information. Notably, Tony Stark doesn't view himself as an official Avenger, merely a consultant, and doesn't understand why everyone acts like he's the leader of the Avengers. Others viewpoints make it clear that Tony has been handling pretty much everything regarding the Avengers, especially after action clean up and the media, and Fury viewed the whole "consultant" thing as merely a formality and is genuinely confused as to why Tony doesn't realize he's the leader of the Avengers.
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* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/creppypasta12300/favourites/59332234/spongebob-2 Angelica's Diary]]'', Angelica is the narrator, but, being delusional and three years old, she is very unreliable. For instance, she claims Charlotte goes for long runs but the implication is that she's [[YourCheatingHeart cheating on Drew with Jonathan]], and Angelica claims that there are rocks everywhere with the babies' names on, but really it's a cemetery and the babies are dead.