Line #26 Main/AndYourRewardIsInfancy


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3	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings!
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7	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1481556101073884900
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10	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d6dd030256607926f10054e0dd39821a_5.jpg]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:350:From death to birth.]]
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13	%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here:
14	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900
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17	->''"Do you know the only reward you get for being Batman?\
18	You get to be Batman.\
19	And--when you're a child--you get a handful of years of real happiness, with your father, with me.\
20	It's more than some people get."''
21	-->-- ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader''
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23	So it's the end of the story. Our hero has fought the good fight, and now it's time for them to go on to something greater. Will they find themself in FluffyCloudHeaven? Will they AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence? No, it turns out that their ultimate reward is to... stay right here. As a baby. Huh.
24
25	Note that this is not [[MerlinSickness the natural end result of someone aging backwards]]. This is the universe giving a well-deserving character new life, often returning them to the people who loved them in their old life. This can be especially touching when it happens to a character whose life has been full of hardship, fighting, or suffering; now they can return to a time of innocence, being taken care of instead of having to care for everyone else.
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27	This may involve {{Reincarnation}}, but not necessarily; other methods for employing this trope can include [[FountainOfYouth De-Aging]] or [[FreakyFridayFlip Body-Swap]].
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29	The villainous version is RaiseHimRightThisTime. See also BirthDeathJuxtaposition, DeadGuyJunior and SomeoneToRememberHimBy, which often serve as ''metaphorical'' versions of this, occasionally even approaching an ImpliedTrope.
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31	!!As this is an {{Ending Trope\|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].
32	----
33	!!Examples
34	[[foldercontrol]]
35
36	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
37	* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', after defeating Devimon, Angemon himself dies with him, and comes back as a Digi-Egg. (Worth noting is that this is what happens to all benevolent Digimon when they die, as explained after the party defeats [=MetalSeadramon=] much later on.)
38	* Pride, from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Once he's defeated, he's returned as a tiny infant to Mrs. Bradley, who manages to raise him as she would a normal boy.
39	* ''Anime/{{Genocyber}}'' has the AmbiguousInnocence AntiVillain psychic cyborg sister protagonist turning into babies after exhausting their powers.
40	* The first series of ''Anime/MagicalPrincessMinkyMomo'' ends with our heroine being run over by a truck--she goes through an afterlife heroquest, and as a result comes back as the [[HumanityEnsues biological baby daughter]] of her MuggleFosterParents.
41	* The ending of ''[[Anime/SaberMarionetteJ Saber Marionette J to X]]'' is this trope exactly: [[spoiler:Otaru's three marionettes sacrifice themselves, but their souls are reborn as human babies and Otaru raises them as his adopted daughters.]]
42	* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' this happens to [[spoiler: Hotaru]] after her HeroicSacrifice. It's strongly implied that would not have happened were it not for Sailor Moon's desperate intervention.
43	* At the end of ''Manga/VampireGame'', Duzell, who gave a HeroicSacrifice, is reincarnated as the son of Ishtar, the woman he loved.
44	* ''VisualNovel/YamiToBoushiToHonNoTabibito'' ends with [[spoiler:Hatsumi being reborn as her lover Hazuki's daughter]].
45	* Happens to Reira at the end of the Fusion Dimension arc in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''. After joining forces with [[BigGood Ray]], they manage to defeat [[BigBad Zarc]] and seal him within Reira's body. When the dimensions are rebooted and the damage Zarc inflicted has been undone, Reira is seen being turned into a baby. In the post-CosmicRetcon Pendulum Dimension, Reira is shown to be well-taken care of by his adoptive mother. However, his de-aging is seen as a bad thing, as he's practically catatonic and shows no joy. His family seek Yuya to "bring back Reira's smile" and turn him back.
46	[[/folder]]
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48	[[folder:Comic Books]]
49	* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Dream grants rebirth to his former lover Nada. Nada was noble and virtuous, but had been made to suffer so much that, of the options Dream gave her after rescuing her from Hell, she felt this clean break was best.
50	* In ''ComicBook/StarBrand'', Ken Connell is reborn as a Star Child ''a la'' ''2001''.
51	%%* This happens to [[spoiler:the two main characters]] at the end of the ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'' series.
52	* In ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'', Batman/Bruce Wayne is shown to be in an eternal cycle of recurrence. Each of his lives is different, but he’s always going to be Batman. See the page quote.
53	[[/folder]]
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55	[[folder:Fan Works]]
56	* ''Fanfic/MessageInABottleStarscribe'': In [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/368986/89/message-in-a-bottle/epilogue "Epilogue"]], Olivia gets her reward of a life without violence by being reborn years after her death, in a new safer world, who is also her DeadGuyJunior.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
60	* Dave in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', as seen above. Though the book and [[Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact sequel]] show he actually became a CosmicEntity called "The Star Child."
61	* The protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby'' chooses to become a true baby, mind and all, at the end of the film.
62	%%* The ending of ''Film/EnterTheVoid'' (assuming it wasn't all a DyingDream).
63	* One of the various movies in the Italian comedy series ''Film/{{Fantozzi}}'' has this trope PlayedForLaughs at the end when the titular protagonist, [[ButtMonkey Ugo Fantozzi]][[note]](enough of a [[TheChewToy chew toy]] to have that trope named after him in the Italian version of Tv Tropes!)[[/note]] dies, crushed under a steamroller (and receiving a flat coffin as a result)... only to be born again, ''as himself'', even coming out of the womb with the very same clothes, indicating his future life is going to be just as sucky as the previous one. His internal monologue, serving as the punchline, put it best:
64	--> ''[[SarcasmMode "Wow, how lucky I am."]]''
65	* Invoked in the film version of ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome'', where the hero and his wife choose reincarnation over heaven and hell.
66	[[/folder]]
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68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* One ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel features a [[ItMakesSenseInContext guru-abbot from an order of time-traveling monks]] who's been in a cycle of death and rebirth for hundreds of years. After his most recent death, his spirit hovers over the house of a nice married couple as he waits to be conceived. The real kicker comes after that when he's right back to being a guru, drooling and bonking senior monks with his rattle whilst dispensing wisdom.
70	* In ''Literature/{{Elsewhere\|2005}}'', when people enter the afterlife they start again backwards from the age they were when they died to 7 days old at which point they are reborn again on Earth. [[spoiler: At the very end the main protagonist Liz goes through this process.]]
71	* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the dwarves believe that their greatest king Durin will be born seven times and live seven lives. And, indeed, there already were several dwarves in the line of Durin [[GenerationXerox very similar]] to the original Durin, believed to be Durin's reincarnations, and there is one more to go, if the belief is right.
72	* Happens in ''Literature/TheObsidianTrilogy'' to [[spoiler:Idalia Tavadon]] after performing a HeroicSacrifice that ended up saving the entire world. "The entire world" includes WildMagic, which is ''extremely'' grateful to the point where [[spoiler:Idalia's reincarnation is an elf, giving her enough longevity to spend life with her true love, once she grows up again.]] According to elven lore, this is the standard result when you perform a service for Wild Magic that greatly outweighs what Wild Magic has done for you.
73	* The inciting incident of ''Literature/RebornToMasterTheBlade'' is the good King Inglis being granted a wish on his deathbed in reward for his wise ruling over a people who crowned him king for being a heroic mercenary. He regrets not being able to ''truly'' master the blade due to his kingly responsibilities and wishes to be reborn as someone who can, and wakes as the newborn [[ReincarnatedAsTheOppositeSex daughter]] of a Knight many, many years in the future.
74	* In a ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'' short story, an ambitious man who murders some moving-in-next-door aliens gets this treatment from the one surviving alien when he begs for mercy for his family. The Twilight Zone twist is [[spoiler:he's now one of the aliens]].
75	[[/folder]]
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77	[[folder:Live-ActionTV]]
78	* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown Boom Town]]" sees Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen turned into an egg by the TARDIS, giving her a chance to be redeemed by starting fresh.
79	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': At the end of Season 7, Dr. Clayton Forrester ends up as a baby in a parody of the ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' climax.
80	[[/folder]]
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82	%%[[folder:Music]]
83	%%* The ending of the music video of Music/{{Moby}}'s ''Natural Blues''.
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86	[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
87	* In UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}, if you did good in this life but have not realized truth in the universe (to attain nirvana), you will likely be reborn as another human. Did bad, you'll become an animal or a minor demon.
88	[[/folder]]
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90	[[folder:Video Games]]
91	* In ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}''' ''Night Warriors'', Hsien-Ko and her sister Mei-Ling are reincarnated as human children after defeating Pyron.
92	* In ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'', after traipsing around the ghost world frantically figuring out the cause of his death, [[spoiler:Sissel gets to live forever as a family kitten. He's pretty happy with his fate.]]
93	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' did this, but didn't exactly play it straight. Link skipped forward seven years a third of the way into the game so his reward at the end is to regain those lost years. Though later games seem to show that this causes a lot of problems with the two timelines later on.
94	* The Truth ending to the horror game ''VideoGame/{{Misao}}'' (accessible after you've completed the Good Ending) [[spoiler: involves the Main Character returning to the Otherworld to free the people who were killed in the main game, which for the most part makes them return as infants. Ayaka is straight-up resurrected by Onigawara because she's the only one of them who Misao didn't have a grudge against, and Mr. Sohta is reincarnated as a cat (presumably, he's unable to return as a human because as Misao's killer, his crime was too great to allow it).]]
95	* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'', though it's ambiguous whether it's a reward, punishment, or just something that happened to the character in question.
96	* One ending of ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'', which happens when [[spoiler: you collect all the sigils and, following the guidance of Elohim, gain "Eternal Life" beyond the gate in temple C]], you restart the game at the beginning.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Webcomics]]
100	* Teddy Weddy in ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'', although he technically isn't "staying right here" as the whole cast is now moving to Oregon.
101	* ''Webcomic/MomImSorry'': After Henry dies, he is judged for his noble deeds but also for [[OutlivingOnesOffspring making his mother Olivia suffer from his death]]. He is allowed to be reborn, [[spoiler:albeit to an abusive mother. Fortunately, his friends and family find him, and Olivia adopts him back into the family]].
102	[[/folder]]
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