Line #124 Main/PensieveFlashback


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10	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/Spider2002 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spider_pensieve_flashback.jpg]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:350: [[AndThatLittleGirlWasMe And that little boy was me.]]]]
12
13	->''"Okay. Gotcha. Like I'm in a movie. Only ''I'm'' the movie. Or something."''
14	-->-- '''Hal Jordan''', ''[[ComicBook/GreenLantern Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn]]''
15
16	Let's face it: {{flashback}}s can be pretty boring. At the end of the day, they are a blatant form of exposition that can make it feel like the story has been put on hold, and depending on the circumstances, may only serve as a recap for information the audience is already fully aware of. But since they are also the most direct way to explain a character's past if you want to keep to the all-important ShowDontTell rule of storytelling, they're an inevitability in many genres. So what's a good method of making flashbacks ''not'' boring? One popular variant, particularly in fantasy and science-fiction works, is to have the flashbackee or someone else be an observer to the events.
17
18	There are a few ways that this can be achieved within the narrative, but the end result is that the character is now walking around in a representation of their or someone else's memories. This leads to moments of them echoing the audience by asking questions like "[[IHatePastMe Was I really like that?]]" or "[[UsedToBeASweetKid How did such a sweet kid become so cruel?]]" If it's their own memories and another person is in there with them, this fellow observer may berate them for their pathetic life choices or show them what they have to live for. In some cases the character may be dealing with FakeMemories, and so must use the details they're seeing to reconstruct the truth of their past.
19
20	The {{Trope Namer\|s}} is the Pensieve, a magical object in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' universe that allows characters to do just this.
21
22	Similar to the ExpositionBeam, which essentially transfers these memories from one character to another, allowing them to experience it in their own POV. Can overlap with TimeTravel, particularly IntangibleTimeTravel, if the character is actually sent back in time to view the events of their past.
23
24	----
25	!!Examples:
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
30	* ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'': The [[{{Cyberspace}} Bonus Stage]] in Friend Land is effectively a Pensieve Flashback to [[spoiler:the area and time period Kenji and his classmates grew up in]], albeit one where you can interact with the virtual people [[spoiler:and certain details are missing.]] This is played with in at least one scene where what appeared to be a genuine flashback only the audience sees [[TomatoSurprise is really just another visit to Bonus Stage]].
31	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:After Eren and Zeke make their connection to Ymir, they experience each other's memories, including their father Grisha. Until it turns out Eren forced Grisha's actions prior to the series as a result of the Attack Titan's power connected to a person's history]].
32	* In ''Dr. Kishiwada's Scientific Affection'', Dr. Kishiwada uses virtual reality security cameras to go back into the past, find the culprit of a crime and trace him back to his "hideout". Being Dr. Kishiwada this is all pretty normal stuff.
33	* In ''Manga/FutureDiary'', Yukki is shown Yuno killing [[spoiler:Past Yuno]] in this way. [[spoiler:It turns out this Yuno is from an alternative timeline who came back to take over and be with Yukki once more.]]
34	* Caro's flashback in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' had her observing her past self. Also, the [[AllThereInTheManual sound stages]] had Hayate and Reinforce Zwei accessing the memories of the Book of Darkness on two separate occasions, allowing them to observe the past of the [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Book of Darkness and the Wolkenritter]] with the first Reinforce to guide them.
35	* ''Literature/{{Maoyu}}'': The Demon King is able to use memory-projecting lamps to great effect. Of course, they're a bit too easy to use, so sometimes hilarity ensues... [[spoiler:Cue the Hero finding out she keeps a body pillow version of him for KissingWarmUp, incidentally revealing she's known what he looks like for a long time before they first met.]] More on point, the Demon King is able to use the Hero's memories to [[spoiler: point out some economic implications he'd never considered about how the different nations handle war time]] as well as share scenes from a dream [[spoiler: of peace that she holds close to her heart.]]
36	* Most of ''Anime/MillenniumActress'' is a variation of this. As the eponymous character tells her life story to a documentarian and his cameraman, the events are shown, with the two men as observers--and later, participants. Lampshaded when it cuts back to the present day interview-- and they're ''acting the flashback out''.
37	* Played with in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. [[spoiler:Itachi]] puts Sasuke in a Pensieve Flashback via [[MasterOfIllusion genjutsu]] to show him [[spoiler:the history of Madara Uchiha and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan]] explaining what he wants out of Sasuke, but it later appears that his account [[UnreliableExpositor may not have been completely accurate]].
38	* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
39	** Negi and Asuna use a spell to get an OutOfClothesExperience inside Negi's memories of the destruction of his DoomedHometown. "It's a lot quicker than talking," you see.
40	** Later in the [[MagicLand Magic world]], Rakan reveals a kind of [[{{Magitek}} technology]] that can read memories and turn them into a film reel, since Raken hates talking. This helps the drama considerably.
41	* ''Anime/{{Noein}}'''s Haruka does this all the time. Also, future badasses Karasu and Fukurou. And Yuu's mother, Miyuki Gotou, also did it once.
42	* In ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'' a three-dimensional flashback is invoked during the climax of the story.
43	* In ''Anime/SandsOfDestruction'', while trapped in the Cave of Memories, Morte dreams of when [[spoiler:her brother told her he was leaving to join the Golden Lions]] and screams at her younger self to not let him go because he'll be killed; naturally, the memory doesn't hear her and simply plays out the way it originally happened. A later dream averts this, as she actually becomes her (even younger) self and is able to interact with the other characters in her dream.
44	* In ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', Syaoran picks up a magic book that shows him Kurogane's past. He is unable to close the book until he finishes watching Kurogane's youth, though he can't interfere.
45	* Noah puts the Kaiba brothers through these during the Virtual Nightmare arc of ''Anime/YuGiOh''.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Books]]
49	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': In one version of Hal Jordan's origin story, his ring does this so he can experience the final battle of his predecessor, Abin Sur.
50	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ''Spectacular Spider-Man Annual'' #14 has Spidey find a computer disk that allows him to explore the events of Norman Osborn's life.
51	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
52	** In ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}: Adventures of Superman'', Pre-Crisis ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} walks through a series of three-dimensional visions narrating her life since [[ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton1959 her arrival on Earth]] to [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths her impeding death]].
53	** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', Charlie Kweskill is walked through a series of visions narrating the past of Krypton, the discovery of the Phantom Zone, the imprisonment of its inmates -including him-, and finally Krypton's explosive demise.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Fan Works]]
57	* ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'': Jorougumo's ability is bringing someone to their past and reliving it to realize a truth about themselves. We see this happen with Hoshi, where the trope gets played with. He recounts the events through his own eyes and not as a third party like other examples.
58	* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/147617/crashback Crashback]]'' involves Twilight Sparkle using a potion in an attempt to relive her childhood in this manner. She ends up [[spoiler: [[PrimalScene accidentally witnessing her own conception.]] ]]
59	* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'' and its spinoffs make frequent use of memory orbs, which contain copied or extracted memories of other characters. When accessed, the viewer relives the memory from the host's perspective, seeing and feeling everything they did.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Films — Animated]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'': Batman has several, mostly of his memories of Jason Todd as Robin.
64	* In ''Anime/FateStayNightHeavensFeel'', Ilya shares the memories of the creation of the Greater Grail to Shirou this way in order for him to project the Jeweled Blade of Zelretch needed to fight [[spoiler:Sakura]].
65	* ''Anime/MaryAndTheWitchsFlower'': The Red-Haired Witch draws Mary into a flashback in third-person, allowing her to relive the events in the prologue.
66	* ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'': When Hisako fills Anna in on Marnie's life story, we see Anna being present in the flashbacks.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
70	* Woody Allen's older movie, ''Film/AnnieHall'', used this. Also, the use of NoFourthWall sometimes let other characters speak to the audience, such as when he asks his former classmates from elementary school what they're doing now.
71	-->'''Little girl:''' I'm into leather.
72	* Played with in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. The audience is shown a flashback to Tony Stark's last conversation with his parents before their deaths, at the end of which the adult Tony is visible watching from a doorway -- then there's a ProsceniumReveal and it turns out that Tony is physically present in a holodeck simulation based on his memories.
73	* ''Film/{{Click}}'' features a UniversalRemoteControl which, among other features, allows Michael to rewind back to any point in his life. It's played for everything from comedy (when he checks out the "Making Of" bonus feature) to tear-jerker (replaying his last conversation with his father). Bonus points: it has a commentary track by Creator/JamesEarlJones.
74	* The film ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' halfway uses this, in that the character who is flashing back (as his memory is being erased) is participating in the action, but he's also commenting on it to his girlfriend. When he breaks course and flashes back to his childhood, he and his girlfriend are still themselves (that is, played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet), but they are still acting out his memories (he's in his five-year-old's rocket pajamas, she's dressed up like his mom. It plays out a lot better on-screen.
75	* The MadeForTVMovie based on the book ''Literature/TheFivePeopleYouMeetInHeaven'' by Mitch Albom is chock-full of this. In it, an elderly man named Eddie dies in a roller coaster accident at Ruby Pier, the fairground where he worked his entire life. When he goes to heaven, he meets five people who tell him the meaning of his life and tell things from their lives as well. The person who did it the most was Ruby, the [[spoiler: namesake for Ruby Pier]].
76	* ''Film/PacificRim'': During their first test drive together of Gipsy Danger, thanks to the Drift allowing to share memories, when Mako relives Onibaba's attack on Tokyo she experienced as a little girl, Raleigh is present in the flashback, standing next to her while witnessing everything, and trying to convince her to come back.
77	* The title character in ''Film/{{Spider\|2002}}'', a mentally ill man, has Pensieve Flashbacks to his childhood in which he follows himself as a young boy play out a key drama in his life. We see alternately through the boy's point of view and the man's.
78	* ''Film/WildStrawberries'': The plot deals with Isak Borg, a retired doctor, reliving his childhood/young adulthood days. He explores these memories by seemingly walking through them and bearing witness to the events.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Literature]]
82	* The title character of the ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' novels, [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers due to his studies in esoteric mental disciplines]], is able to mentally reconstruct and experience the past in his own mind.
83	* OlderThanRadio: Scrooge has these kind of flashbacks given to him by the Ghosts of Christmas in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''.
84	* ''Literature/TheCurseOfM'', telepaths are capable of doing this, with varying levels of success. Done right, they can witness the memories of another as though they were actually there, but messing around with them usually drives the person they're reading insane.
85	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
86	** The Pensieve from which [[TropeNamers this trope gets its name]] allows people to relive or share memories in this manner.
87	** Tom Riddle's diary from ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' has the ability to show people the memories of Tom Riddle as he saw them, similar to the mechanics of a Pensieve that would be introduced in later books.
88	* In ''Literature/HauntingChristmasTales'' short story ''The Weeping Maid'', Alice, the titular spectral Maid, directly imparts to protagonist Laura memories of boyfriend Bertie's death in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.
89	* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' series does this with full-3D documentaries about the creation of the supercomputer Deep Thought and the history of the planet Krikkit.
90	* [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghosts]] in ''Literature/{{Pact}}'' serve this purpose. Being essentially an imprint left on the world by an event of great emotion, trauma, or inspiration, they replay that moment to whoever interacts with them. Notably, though death is the most common source of ghosts seen in the story, the event that creates a ghost doesn't have to kill the person that it involved. At one point, [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Conquest]] weaponizes this feature to summon the ghosts of the most traumatic experiences Blake Thorburn has ever had and forces him to relive them.'
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
94	* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Faith and Angelus enter Angel's subconscious thanks to a mystical drug that links their minds. They observe Angel's past mistakes, snipe at each other and eventually start fighting... inside the flashback.
95	* In an episode from ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}'', "[[Recap/BattlestarGalactica2003S03E17Maelstrom Maelstrom]]", a figure who looks like her enemy Leoben guides Kara "Starbuck" Thrace through flashbacks of her troubled relationship with her mother, in order to help her achieve closure and embrace her destiny.
96	* ''Series/{{The Boys\|2019}}'': In "[[Recap/TheBoysS03E07HereComesACandleToLightYouToBed Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed]]", Black Noir retreats to an abandoned Buster Beaver's in the wake of Soldier Boy's return, as the restaurant's cartoon animals have acted as his {{imaginary friend}}s. The mascots tell Noir that he can't hide from Soldier Boy, and decide to help him by putting on stage play reenactments of key moments in Noir's relationship with Soldier Boy.
97	* ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'':
98	** Pops up a few times, firstly in "A Paige from the Past" where Paige is sent back in time to her teenage years to relive her parents' last day. She becomes herself but Leo sits on the sidelines to guide her. A similar version happens later on when Paige takes Kyle Brody back to his childhood but he doesn't assume his younger self.
99	** Leo's vision quest in "Someone To Witch Over You" where he is shown flashbacks of his life with Chris as his guide.
100	** Phoebe takes another one in the episode "Generation Hex" where she sees all her past loves.
101	* ''Series/CriminologistHimuraAndMysteryWriterArisugawa'': This is how some testimonies are shown, with the witness explaining events while the flashback version of them moves around the scene. Gets particularly creative in "A Study in Vermilion", when Mutobe recounts climbing the stairs of an apartment -- still images of his past self are placed along the stairway for him to "step" into as he retraces his movements exactly.
102	* ''Series/TheDeadZone'': In the TV series, some of Johnny Smith's visions work in this manner and he can even rewind or replay the vision in BulletTime to get a better perspective of the events he's seeing.
103	* The ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' episode "Daphne Returns" had a couple of flashbacks of past Niles and Daphne moments, with present day Frasier and Niles observing. The best one is a memorable scene from older episode that Frasier finds ''so preposterous'' (largely due to a lack of context) that he ''denies it could have possibly happened.''
104	* The sensory deprivation tank in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' coupled with LSD and electrodes allowed Olivia to experience John Scott's memories as an observer in this manner.
105	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The Three-Eyed Raven has Bran go through several of them to explore his family's past, and the effect is subsequently occasionally re-used when Bran uses his power.
106	* In an episode of ''Series/HannahMontana'', after Miley and Jackson explain [[RashomonStyle their different interpretations]] of what's got Robbie Ray so worked up about them, they enter the flashback to see what happened. In the flashback, they find a bunch of birthday cards on the tape, making them realize that they forgot his 40th birthday.
107	* ''Series/TheHauntingOfBlyManor'' establishes that ghosts have a hard time staying in the present moment, instead disappearing and getting "tucked away" in their own first-person memories at various points, with zero control over when this occurs or for how long. At first they are completely unaware of this, reliving the memory as if they are experiencing it for the first time, but after enough repetitions they start noticing it. It becomes especially unnerving for them when the characters in the memories will break off-script to briefly talk to them, and then go back on-script as if nothing happened, and even once they know exactly what is going to happen, they are unable to change the events in any way.
108	* In the sitcom ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'', One episode has each of the three core characters going to a therapist. Each time the character and the therapist become observers of some kind of event in that character's childlife. They then go on to argue with someone in the flashback. The last one even has him getting into a fight with his younger self.
109	* Part of Ptonomy's mutant power in ''Series/{{Legion\|2017}}'' allows him to help others see their past from a different POV. Needless to say, when he helps David do this, things get weird.
110	* As with all flashback tropes, this was used on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. The episode "Maternity Leave" features Claire recovering a memory of her abduction by "watching" herself talking with Ethan outside the Staff Station.
111	* ''Series/MadMen'' has something like this in the first episode of season three, where Don looks on as flashbacks show how he was conceived, born and adopted. However, they're obviously not his own memories, since he was [[SonOfAWhore a prostitute's worst fear]]/a fetus/a newborn when they took place.
112	* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
113	** The premiere of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' feature the team using videotape footage and a holographic computer simulation to recreate a laboratory explosion.
114	** ''Series/{{Daredevil\|2015}}'': In "The Perfect Game", as Wilson Fisk reads through files on Dex to get his backstory, the events play out like a stage play going on in the penthouse, with Fisk acting as a silent observer.
115	** ''Series/{{Luke Cage\|2016}}'': Misty Knight's reconstruction of crime scenes plays out in this way, with Misty seemingly standing at the scene like an invisible observer as the events enact themselves around her. More often than not, the scene then transitions to show that this is what Misty is seeing in her head as she studies crime scene pictures on the wall behind her desk.
116	--->'''Rafael Scarfe:''' You're doing it again. I hate it when you do that.\
117	'''Misty Knight:''' Hate it when I do what?\
118	'''Rafael Scarfe:''' Stare at the photos like they're about to start moving.\
119	'''Misty Knight:''' They are talkin' and movin'. You just have to be still enough to hear what they're sayin'.\
120	'''Rafael Scarfe:''' Whatever, Horton. A clue is a clue, no matter how small.
121	** ''Series/WandaVision'': In episode 8, Agatha casts a spell that allows her to view a few of Wanda's memories as a third-party observer. Wanda herself flips between being a third-party observer and a participant.
122	* ''Series/MythQuest'': Alex travels into a Norse myth and encounters Thor. He has questions about the history between Thor and Loki, so Thor brings him into two different flashblacks that they observe together.
123	* ''Series/{{The Sandman\|2022}}'': In "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E03DreamALittleDreamOfMe Dream a Little Dream of Me]]", Morpheus enters Johanna's dreams to find her current location. She's having a FlashbackNightmare, and Morpheus is shown as a bystander in the remembered scene, watching it unfold.
124	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
125	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Q offers Picard, hovering near death thanks to an old heart wound, the chance to relive the events surrounding his original heart injury and SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Q inserts himself into the flashback as a deliveryman at one point.
126	** ''TNG'' often uses the holodeck to recreate events or memories as an investigative aid. Troi has all the victims of subspace alien abduction in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E5Schisms Schisms]]" relate their experiences and recreate the scenario on the holodeck.
127	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
128	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E7ExPostFacto Ex Post Facto]]", it is normal on Badea to force murderers to relive the dying memory of their victims. [[spoiler:Subverted in the individual case of Tom Paris, where the memory was intentionally tampered as a method of a spy getting data to an enemy and frame a person who would leave the planet.]]
129	** The appropriately named episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E2Flashback Flashback]]" has a telepathy-induced flashback. The person whose memories they are has to act his role in them all along. Unique in that one of the characters observing the events wasn't there when they actually happened (In fact, she wasn't even born yet). It gets even weirder when the flashback somehow malfunctions (!?) and the characters in the flashback suddenly stop ignoring the observers and the flashbackee's asides to them. It's finally subverted, as the exact memory that's troubling the flashbackee isn't even his own, but planted there by a virus.
130	* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One]]", the Yellow-Eyed Demon shows Sam how his mother died in a dream where they were both present, but unable to interact.
131	* Used at least OncePerEpisode in ''Series/{{Unforgettable}}''. Protagonist Carrie Wells has [[PhotographicMemory hyperthymesia]] and literally ''cannot'' forget anything she's ever experienced. The show uses an effect of present-time Carrie walking through her memories of a few hours or days before when Carrie puts her gift/curse to work in solving murders.
132	* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''' Season 4 premiere has Elena experience a buried memory as though she's seeing it from outside her body.
133	* ''Series/Warehouse13'' has Horace Westlake Frink's Bronze Baby Shoes, which "will 'walk' you through memories you seek if you concentrate on a question while holding them", but they carry the risk of trapping the user in their own memories. Best to bring someone else along as an anchor, preferably someone who didn't share the experience you're trying to remember.
134	* ''Series/{{Wednesday}}'': In "[[Recap/WednesdayS1E3FriendOrWoe Friend or Woe]]", unlike with her previous visions which were just quick flashes of the past/future going through her mind, Wednesday experiences the lengthy flashback of [[spoiler:the Outcast massacre by the pilgrims]] as if she was living the scene, hiding to not be seen out of reflex. Toward the end, she's even coughing from breathing the smoke, emphasizing how realistic it feels for her.
135	* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' features a twist, with Dolores manufacturing a variation of these. In order to recreate the deceased Arnold as the host Bernard, she recreates a memory of a conversation she had with Arnold (replaced with Bernard), where he tested her level of consciousness. The purpose of this is to get Bernard's mind to be similar enough to Arnold's that, when faced with the exact same situation Arnold was (Dolores showing signs of self-awareness), and implanted with approximation's of Arnold's memories, Bernard will react (without scripting) ''exactly'' as Arnold did. This leads to some flashbacks becoming ambiguous as to whether they are Arnold testing Dolores, or actually this trope with Dolores testing Bernard.
136	* The short flashback nightmare at the beginning of the ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS04E23Demons Demons]]" shows Mulder as his younger self as well as him as an adult observing the scene.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Podcasts]]
140	* In ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'', this is how the Temporal Chalice's flashbacks work.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Roleplay]]
144	* Psychics in ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'' can use their powers to allow people and Pokémon within a certain radius to see the memories of themselves and others as observers. Aura can be kneaded into the projection to get around the difficulties most Dark types have with this.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
148	* This is how the AkashicRecords work in ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}.'' As a metaphysical record of all events, recorded automatically as they happen, visitors can select moments to experience in flawless clarity, free of personal bias and perception. This allows these flashbacks for clear retrospection.
149	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Blood Angels chapter of Space Marines collectively suffers from a disease known as the Red Thirst, where they relive the agonizing final moments of their Primarch Sanguinius (due to the implants being taken from his own genetic material), going absolutely berserk.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Theatre]]
153	* In the third act of ''Theatre/OurTown'', Emily, now deceased, is given the chance to relive one day of her life. She is advised to make it an unimportant one, since the experience of watching herself alive will be painful for her. The date she chooses is that of her twelfth birthday (Tuesday, February 11th, 1899).
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder:Video Games]]
157	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': After losing consciousness and awakening in [[EldritchLocation Hinterland]], Ann travels through the terrain where she sees her memories of the incident that caused [[spoiler:[[EvilMeScaresMe Amok]] to awakened within her, that subsequently led to Ann losing control and attacked her brother Ryan, [[EyeScream damaging his eye]], which made Ann moved out of her family home out of fear of hurting them]].
158	* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': After viewing an Elder Scroll, the player is transported to the moment a few Nord heroes banished the dragon [[BigBad Alduin]], thousands of years ago. However, the player can only observe the battle take place and is unable to move around without the use of bugs.
159	* One of ''VideoGame/{{Fe}}'''s collectible item categories is the Silent Helmets, whose [[CrystalBall crystal orbs]] provide insight into the Silent Ones' backstory from a first-person view.
160	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
161	** A rather interesting case occurs in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' as a crucial part of game's story. The heroine Tifa enters the catatonic hero Cloud's mind and helps him sort through his muddled memories. Together, she and Cloud (his subconsciousness, really) go over experiences they shared in the past to determine what memories were real, which were invented, and which were implanted.
162	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' also uses this for the orphanage revelation.
163	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' had three variations:
164	*** The pyreflies can form visions of people or events when there are enough of them, such as in the Farplane or especially [[spoiler:Zanarkand Dome]], where you see visions of [[spoiler:Jecht, Auron, and Braska]]. [[spoiler:Auron]] in particular goes wild and repeatedly tries to attack his flashback self for being an idiot.
165	*** When you reach Zanarkand and find out that [[spoiler:Zanarkand is the Fayth's dreams of their memories of the old city, making it one big Pensieve Flashback that carried on where the real city left off when it was destroyed]].
166	* ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'': The Celestial Strait in ''What Makes The Sky Blue: Paradise Lost'' is a dangerous route according to Rackam. One of the reasons why many skyfarers never make it out of this route is due to a space-time distortion. When the crew do manage to enter the Strait, they experience visions alongside the stormy weather. These visions are actually events that happened in the past, before and during the War, including a vision of Lucifer meeting his friend, Lucillius.
167	* These are an integral part of ch. 20 of the Story mode in ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd''. Kiana and Bronya travel to Mt. Taixuan to find clues about [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Fu Hua]], and encounter feathers which, when touched, allow them to experience memories that Fu Hua has excised from her mind for one reason or another, ranging from her teenage years in the Previous Era to her time as [[SuperSoldier a MANTIS soldier]] to when she was the "Celestial" and training students on Mt. Taixuan.
168	* In ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObraDinn'', the player character solves the mystery of what happened to the ''Obra Dinn'' by finding corpses and using the Memento Mortem to look into their last memories.
169	* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'': This is Tikal's M.O. for giving each of the playable characters {{exposition}} on the backstory of Chaos and the ancient Echidna civilization.
170	* ''VideoGame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' has Zeratul's chain, which consist of Raynor taking a look at Zeratul's memories via an Ihan Crystal that shows the Protoss [[spoiler:learning about the BadFuture that could happen should Kerrigan get killed]].
171	* The Memory Maze in ''VideoGame/WildArms2'', which had [[spoiler:the Sword Magess, Anastasia]] guiding Ashley through her memories.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Webcomics]]
175	%%* This happens to Skye in ''Webcomic/{{Alternate}}'', accompanied by his [[TheConscience conscience]] Dominique.
176	* In ''Webcomic/{{Blip}}'', Liz's portion of the RashomonStyle flashback involves Hester and Mary stepping directly into her memory. ("This is cool, right? [[LampshadeHanging Just like in]] ''Literature/HarryPotter''".) Memory Liz within the flashback acts as the mouthpiece for modern-day Liz, and Hester (briefly forgetting that these are not actual events) punches one of the memories.
177	* In ''[[http://www.cansofbeans.com/ Cans of Beans]]'', Carl gets to watch some significant memories as they replay inside the MentalWorld he shares with his [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf alter ego]].
178	* The nameless protagonist of ''Webcomic/{{HERO}}'', when he picks up a compass containing a memory, experiences one of these -- though he experiences it in first person, the only thing he can do that deviates from the memory is to think, [[spoiler:and technically, it's Eira's memory.]]
179	* The dream bubbles in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. They act both as the dream world and the afterlife and are composed of the memories of the dreaming/dead people. The main twist is, originally when dreaming the character's memory is retold verbatim, but once they realize it isn't a memory they are free to manipulate stuff at their will.
180	* In ''Webcomic/{{Juathuur}}'', Arvval and Faevv watch this way Faerun's [[spoiler:disapperance]].
181	* ''Webcomic/KaitenMutenmaru'': The crystals in the Ruins of Time draw [[spoiler:Tetsujin]] into [[spoiler:Astar's encounter with Sick]], whose horrific past the rest of Mutenmaru's group relive.
182	[[/folder]]
183
184	[[folder:Western Animation]]
185	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': When Aang and Roku visit Roku's past to teach Aang in "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", Aang is able to see his past self. No one else sees any of this, leading to a joke where Aang's allies watch him mediating silently, wondering if he has to relieve himself.
186	* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'': One episode has Azmuth use a hologram projector to show Ben, Gwen, and Kevin his past, particularly as it pertains to Old George and the Forever Knights. Gwen make the obvious connection to ''A Christmas Carol'', [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure only for Azmuth to state that he's never heard of it]].
187	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'': In "[[Recap/CentaurworldS2E5BunchOScrunch Bunch O' Scrunch]]" Horse learns "backstory magic", a spell that allows her to experience other characters' most defining memories as if she were present there. She immediately uses it on four of her friends.
188	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' has this be the solution to Mung's teacher telling everyone awful stories about him. They make him tell the story, then jump into his flashback to alter the past. It works flawlessly... except that Chowder decided to grab his past self [[TemporalParadox and pull him to the present.]]
189	* The ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Every Which Way But Ed" has the Eds get mixed up in flashbacks within flashbacks.
190	* In the early ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Death Lives", Peter has a trip down memory lane with [[TheGrimReaper Death]] following a NearDeathExperience, who both observe [[HowDadMetMom the story of how Peter came to marrying Lois]] through this method. Interestingly enough, later episodes (such as "Meet the Quagmires") shows that Death actually has much more literal TimeTravel powers where [[ButterflyOfDoom causing any changes in the past can affect the present]], [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness making this one instance a unique exception]].
191	* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In "Episode 4", while on a mission to harvest power from a dying star, Gary suddenly gets one about his childhood. He relives the day he and his dad watched the launch of the new Imperium T3 cruiser together, the day his dad was about to leave on his last mission, making young Gary promise him that he would have many adventures of his own, and the day his dad died during that mission.
192	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' plays with this as Professor Farnsworth tells the story of the original Planet Express crew to the current crew, on the 50th anniversary of the original crew's disappearance in the episode, "Möbius Dick". We see the events, including a younger Zoidberg with hair. Amy is incredulous that he had hair, to which the Professor responds, "I never said he had hair! If you chose to imagine him that way, that's your business!" As he finishes the story, we see Zoidberg's hair turned white. Amy comments on this, to which the professor tells her he grew hair and it turned white from the shock.
193	* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'' [[spoiler: Hilda’s maternal grandfather Phinium uses this to explain their family history. It shows how he and his sister Astrid became friends with Lydia, how family moved to Tofoten, and why Phinium and Lydia abandoned Johanna]].
194	* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': Every passenger has a tape of their own memories that can be viewed, either by themselves or others, in this fashion. As Tulip discovers in [[Recap/InfinityTrainS1E5TheCatsCar "The Cat's Car"]], watching your ''own'' tape can lead to you being trapped inside forever.
195	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': In "A Sitch In Time", Kim finds herself traveling through time to prevent Drakken, Shego, Monkey Fist and Duff Killigan from altering her history. At one point, she gets to witness the moment when she and Ron first met in kindergarten and became friends, and gets quite wistful about it.
196	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
197	** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 The Return of Harmony, Part 2]]", Discord shows Twilight one of these (using his RealityWarper abilities) to show her the [[RiddleMeThis riddle he gave her]] near the beginning of her quest, in order to reveal that [[spoiler:she was taking it the wrong way the whole time and he was JustToyingWithThem.]]
198	** In the season 4 premiere "Princess Twilight Sparkle", Twilight drinks a potion provided by Zecora that allows her to peer into Equestria's past. She sees Celestia's battle with Nightmare Moon, then Celestia and Luna's original confrontation with Discord, then finally Celestia and Luna finding the original Elements of Harmony at the Tree of Harmony.
199	** In "For Whom the Sweetie Bell Tolls", Princess Luna takes Sweetie Belle into a flashback explaining the truth about Rarity's actions at Sweetie's fifth birthday party.
200	** In "The Cutie Re-Mark" Starlight uses a time travel spell to actually take Twilight back in time to show her an event from her past. It's more literal than most examples, but it plays out almost exactly the same as this.
201	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "A Single Pale Rose", Pearl uses the MentalWorld inside her gem to show Steven what she knows about [[spoiler:Pink Diamond]]. Not only does it convey more than speaking could, it lets her get around [[CouldSayItBut her inability to speak of it]].
202	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\|2003}}'', the Utroms show the Turtles and Splinter why and how they landed on Earth via virtual simulation pods. Then, Stockman hacks into the system and [[spoiler:Past-Shredder]] stops ignoring the Turtles.
203	* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', Keith is shown as a third-person observer in the flashbacks to his parents' past.
204	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PensieveFlashback