Line #11 Main/WhenItAllBegan


1	->''"What was the start of all this?\
2	When did the cogs of fate begin to turn?\
3	Perhaps it is impossible to grasp that answer now\
4	From deep within the flow of time..."''
5	-->-- ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' opening text
6
7	A single very significant moment, related to the fate of every single main character, and driving the entire plot, that happened before the beginning of the story.
8
9	That event will probably be discussed, interpreted, viewed through flashbacks, and a TheReveal might show its true meaning later. In cases where the characters have any way of interfering with the past, this event will be their target.
10
11	Since these events are more exciting, and more detailed than your average [[{{Backstory}} background story]], they are frequently used as the setting for a {{Prequel}}.
12
13	The lines "Everything started x years ago", or "It all began when..." are very likely to be uttered.
14
15	See also GreatOffscreenWar and HowDadMetMom. Not to be confused with WhereItAllBegan, which entails returning to a familiar place for the finale (though they can overlap if TimeTravel is involved, specifically in cases of SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong).
16
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', where the Fourth Hokage seals the Nine-Tailed Fox into a baby (Naruto) when the Fox attacked Konoha. The act cost the beloved Fourth Hokage his life, which becomes very significant later on. Later, we learn that [[spoiler: The Fourth Hokage is actually Naruto's father, and that Naruto's mother was the previous host of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Chapters 500 - 504 (or more) depict the events of that night, from their perspective.]]
23	** We get another one from the First Hokage himself [[spoiler: describing first his final battle with Madara, then flashing back to their childhood and the [[CrapsackWorld wartorn]] [[ForeverWar world]] both had to grow up in.]]
24	** And still another when the Sage of the Six Paths [[spoiler:explains how he created the Tailed Beasts and the very concept of Ninja, along with the origin of the feud between the Senju and Uchiha clans that drove so much of the story]].
25	* ''Anime/TheBigO'': The disaster forty years earlier that destroyed civilization and caused universal amnesia in the inhabitants of Paradigm City.
26	* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Second Impact]].
27	* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'': "Three years ago", something paranormal happened, possibly the universe was created, or at least most of the main characters were retconned into existence. It's also a recurring time travel destination.
28	* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'': The curse of Oyashiro-sama. Either the first death five years prior to the story or Satoshi's disappearance one year prior.
29	* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': [[spoiler:The child from 18 years ago, the sin from six years ago, Battler abandoning his family 6 years ago, Beatrice dying 18 years ago, some of the children being born 18 years ago, etc.]]
30	* ''Manga/DragonBall'' has several of these: the arrival of a lone Namekian on Earth, the genocide of the Saiyans, and the arrival of a lone Saiyan infant on Earth.
31	* ''Manga/NabariNoOu'': The "incident ten years ago", when the [[RealityWarper Shinrabanshou]] was used.
32	* The execution of Gold Roger, triggering ''Manga/OnePiece'''s great age of piracy.
33	* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', the invasion of Japan, and the attack on Lelouch's family.
34	* In ''Anime/DenNohCoil'', there are three of these, five years ago, four years ago, and one year ago.
35	* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' everything happened because of events from 50 years ago.
36	* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Edward and Alphonse's disastrous attempt at bringing their mother back to life through human transmutation, and the Ishvalan War, which takes place a little bit before the former incident.
37	* In ''Literature/{{Baccano}}!'', in 1711 aboard the Advena Avis, around thirty alchemists summon a 'demon' to grant them immortality. He gives it to them at no cost, tells them how to end it when they get [[WhoWantsToLiveForever tired of living]], and gives one of them the secret to making the elixir that grants it to anyone who drinks it. Mass murder ensues.
38	* In ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', [[spoiler: Yanagisawa/Shirou's experiments on anti-matter, with the original God of Death as a human test subject. The modifications to his body, and the influence of Aguri Yukimura, Class E's original teacher, would lead to him becoming the super-being teacher that is Koro-sensei who would teach Class E in Aguri's place after her death. The experiments also resulted in the partial destruction of the moon that Koro-sensei took credit for.]]
39	* Several times in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. The first chapter starts with an introduction into the main characters as innocent kids with a loving family before the sudden appearance of the Colossal Titan, so large that it actually stands a full ten meters taller than the already fifty-meter walls surrounding the last bastion of humanity in a world overrun by titans. The Colossal Titan kicks in the gate, allowing titans to pour into the main characters' home and start slaughtering people. Then the Armored Titan appears, its entire body covered in armor that is invulnerable to even cannonfire, and busts through the inner gate with sheer momentum, allowing the titans to flood into the outer ring of the Walled Kingdom, resulting in the deaths of almost a third of humanity, which kicks off the plot. Then the Colossal and Armored Titans disappear and are not seen again for years. This day, and what leads up to it, are then retold from a different perspective: [[spoiler:the perspective of the wielders of the Colossal and Armored Titans, who were in fact merely kids themselves, terrified and scared for their lives, believing that they were on a mission to save the world.]]
40	** Late in the story, we are also shown the origin of the Titans and how it all started.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Comic Books]]
44	* ''ComicBook/BlackMagick'' #6 is a one-shot that tells the story of Rowan becoming a full witch, how that affected her, and shows how long the [[spoiler:council of demons shown in issue #5 have been manipulating her]].
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Fan Works]]
48	* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': The chaotic Mass Awakening of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' essentially led to the entire plot of the fic, with San's severed head and a revived, mutating Dr. Vivienne Graham inside it becoming reborn as TwoBeingsOneBody (the fic's protagonists), [[spoiler:and with San's old head after their births enabling Alan Jonah's group to create [[TheVirus the Many]] and enabling Ghidorah itself to regenerate as the fic's true world-threatening BigBad. And even at the fic's end, Jonah's meddling with Ghidorah's DNA and Ghidorah's manipulation of him has left far-reaching ramifications for the expanded [=AbraxasVerse=], in the form of [[HalfHumanHybrid the Zmeyevich]] scattered around the world]].
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
52	* ''WesternAnimation/ArloTheAlligatorBoy'': The whole movie begins fifteen years before the main story, when Arlo was forsaken by his birth father Ansel into the sewers of New York, before floating out to sea and ending up on the doorstep of local Louisiana swamp hermit Edmée.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
56	* In the ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' franchise, the source of the HatePlague ZombieApocalypse which has wiped out society and the population on mainland Great Britain is depicted in the {{distant prologue}} of the first movie (and in the movies' tie-in graphic novel ''28 Days Later: The Aftermath'') -- an AnimalWrongsGroup broke into a Cambridge laboratory that was inhumanely experimenting on chimps and they released one, unaware of the extremely virulent and fast-spreading virus that it was carrying.
57	* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' starts with a narration by Jake Sully explaining how he wound up on Pandora. His twin brother Tom was supposed to go on an expedition to the planet, except he died in a grocery store robbery beforehand. The mortician who burns his body at the start of the film recommends as he does so that Jake go to Pandora himself for a fresh start.
58	* The Franchise/MonsterVerse franchise which spawned from ''Film/Godzilla2014'' has a couple major points:
59	** Although the details have been massively overhauled via CanonDiscontinuity in the ''Series/MonarchLegacyOfMonsters'' series; the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Japan led to the founding of the franchise-central, monster-hunting, quasi-governmental agency Monarch.
60	** The events of the original 2014 movie wherein Godzilla's and {{Kaiju}}'s existence was [[TheUnmasquedWorld exposed to the world]] amid the destructions of Honolulu (called "G-Day Minus Two" through to "G-Day") have lasting ramifications across every [=MonsterVerse=] instalment that chronologically takes place afterwards, directly or indirectly catalyzing the ''entire'' conflicts of ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'' and ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', and to a lesser extent the conflict of the 2015 storyline in ''Series/MonarchLegacyOfMonsters''.
61	* The heist in ''Film/ReservoirDogs''.
62	* The oft-alluded-to discovery of warp flight and how it started the brand-new era of space travel in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' verse, actually becomes the setting of the not-quite prequel ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. That movie also uses the first attempted Borg invasion as a second kind of backstory.
63	** ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]" was the WhenItAllBegan for ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]''.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Literature]]
67	* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', an ancestor of the protagonist killed a dragon. He ''really'' shouldn't have done that. Three protagonist meet in a the cave where the eponymous dragon bones, the skeleton of a dragon who was ''obviously'' killed (it is in chains) are located. While there is some political conflict, the plot itself is fueled by the dragon bones, alone.
68	* ''Literature/TreasureIsland'': Captain Flint buried his treasure on the island.
69	* From ''Literature/HarryPotter'', The first war with Voldemort, particularly the death of the Potter parents, Harry's marking, and Voldemorts downfall, all in a single scene.
70	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The tourney at Harrenhal in the year of the false Spring. The events that transpired over these three days led directly to the beginning of Robert's Rebellion, which instigated many of the events in the series.
71	* The main characters in ''Literature/EdenGreen'' would never have been infected with an alien needle symbiote if Patient Zero, Tedrin, hadn't been attacked and infected a year beforehand.
72	* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
73	** "Literature/TheDeadPast":
74	*** Fifty years ago, Sterbinski and [=LaMarr=] published a scientific paper on the principles of neutrinics that explained the basis of the chronoscope [[{{Chronoscope}} and time-viewing in general]]. This began the government's efforts to conceal the information about the field. The main character, Arnold Potterley, is a historian desperate to prove his thesis about Carthage, and convinces a physicist who studied pseudo-gravitics to work on neutrinics and prove that the government is trying to hold back scientific advancement.
75	*** Potterley's desperation comes from an accidental fire that took the life of his daughter when she was three years old. He may have forgotten to stub out a cigarette before falling asleep, and he's displaced that blame to his study of Carthage. Their ancient enemies (Rome and Greece) would claim that Carthaginian citizens would sacrifice their children to Moloch by tossing them into a furnace.
76	** "{{Literature/Lenny}}": There are weekly tourists that come through the robot-design room, and one of the technicians forgot to lock the keyboard. So when Mortimer, one of the visitors, toyed with the console, it caused a portion of the positronic brain design for the LNE-prototype to be [[AIIsACrapshoot hopelessly jumbled]], making it the intellectual equivalent of a newborn baby.
77	* ''Literature/TheCosmere'': The events in every book in this meta-series can be traced back to the Shattering of Adonalsium. Thus far the event has not been depicted, only alluded to, though Sanderson plans to eventually write a series called ''Dragonsteel'' which will tell that story.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
81	* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': The seventh-season premiere of the series saw the Dukes and Cooter say, "Happy Birthday, General Lee." The episode establishes several key things that became part of the official series' bible. Set in 1976 (more than two years before the series' premiere), Bo and Luke, freshly placed on probation for illegal transportation of alcohol, purchase a banged-up Dodge Charger to compete in one of Boss Hogg's races; Daisy is a recent high school graduate who gets a job at Hogg's Boar's Nest. The General Lee, in its previous life, had been owned by a jewel thief and his girlfriend, who – after robbing a jewelry store – stash the booty in the dashboard, but then crash the car. Since the car's owner was in jail and forfeited it, Bo and Luke are able to purchase the car, soup it up and use it to foil every one of Boss' countless schemes.
82	* [[spoiler:The nuclear holocaust of Old Earth]] in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''.
83	* ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'' begins three years ''after'' the arrival of the Taelons.
84	* Khitomer in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', as it had a profound effect on many of the characters, and the empires themselves.
85	* The Cardassian occupation of Bajor in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Almost all the non-Starfleet characters participated and lived through it, and many of the Starfleet characters were involved as well.
86	* The Time War in the revived ''Series/DoctorWho''.
87	** Somewhat coyly alluded to in the twentieth anniversary special, ''The Five Doctors": "So you're going to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?" "Why not, that's how it all started!"
88	* ''Series/{{War of the Worlds\|1988}}'' (1988-1990) took place 35 years after the Martian invasion depicted in the 1953 George Pal movie.
89	* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' has this with the Unification War.
90	* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has the meteor shower in the pilot, which brought Kal-El to Earth, baldness to Lex, and increasingly ridiculous superpowers to numerous civilians.
91	* ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'':
92	** The "[[GratuitousEnglish Begins Night]]", the case in which Shotaro [[MyGreatestFailure accidentally caused the death of his mentor]], met his future partner Philip, and became Kamen Rider Double for the first time; it also qualifies for Philip because it marks the point where he starts taking responsibility for helping make [[AppliedPhlebotinum Gaia]] [[TransformationTrinket Memories]]. They actually use the term as a shorthand for this trope later on; when they meet [[SixthRanger Ryu Terui]], Philip comments that the murder of his family was his own personal Begins Night.
93	** Almost all the Double characters had their "Begins Nights", the events that make them the person/rider/monster they are. [[MentorArchetype Narumi]]'s Begins Night was when he first encountered the Dopants and was given his Driver and Gaia Memory from Shroud, while [[SuperSoldier Daido]] gets two. The first is when he dies and is the first subject of the [[BackFromTheDead NEVER experiment]] and the second is when he went to Island S where his mind practically unravels. As for Phillip, well, [[spoiler:his began the moment he fell into the Gaia Memory well, while his mother's began when she protested at her husband wanting to use Phillip to make Gaia Memories. The murderer of Ryu's family's night began when said mother gives ''him'' a Gaia Memory]].
94	* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Adar temporary killed Sauron off-screen, which turned Sauron into a RetiredMonster for a while, taking a human form and wondering in the middle of the sea where he meets Galadriel. And from there, his journey is about regaining his confidence and strength to continue what he initially started, and worse. When Sauron returns to the Southlands, Adar asks him who is he, not recognizing Sauron's new form, and when he does, he knows he is screwed.
95	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s antepenultimate episode, "Across the Sea," was a WholeEpisodeFlashback to the birth of Jacob and the Man in Black, revealing how they came to be who they are, which set in motion events continuing 2000 years into the future.
96	* In ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'', Queen Ygraine cannot concieve and so King Uther makes a deal with the enchantress Nimueh to provide him with a son. Unbeknownst to him, [[BalancingDeathsBooks someone must die in order for a life to be created]], and it ends up being Ygraine's. Thus, the future Myth/KingArthur is born, and a grief/guilt-stricken Uther imposes a ban upon all magic in the realm, thus setting up the conflict for the entirety of the show: that Merlin cannot reveal his magic to anyone.
97	* The Nora Allen murder case is the main driving mystery for most of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' Season 1. [[spoiler:Eobard Thawne the Reverse-Flash travelled back in time to murder young Barry Allen. Fortunately, Barry Allen of the future/The Flash was right in his heels, and thwarted Thawne. Thawne decided to take Nora's life as consolation instead. Thawne learns too late that his skirmish with the Flash caused him to lose his connection to the Speed Force, leaving him TrappedInThePast, setting off most of the events of the Season.]] That's not the end of it, as Season 2 ended with [[spoiler:Barry travelling back in time to stop Thawne from murdering Nora, which created the alternate reality ''Flashpoint'', which then led to further problems in the ''next'' season.]]
98	** The Particle Accelerator "accident" in Season 1 is also a byproduct of the aforementioned murder mystery, but it has its own merits as the reason for the rise of superpowers in the whole ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' franchise. Most of the villains in Season 1 are transformed by the accident, but it is revisited when a few new villains in ''The Flash'' have also been victims of the accelerator: Sam Scudder (Season 3), Amunet Black and Clifford [=Devoe=] (both from Season 4).
99	* [[ItWasHisSled Mary Winchester's death]] from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' is often highlighted as the event that kickstarted the series, driving [[CrusadingWidow John Winchester]] to become an obsessed hunter and to raise Sam and Dean as [[ChildSoldier Child Soldiers]]. [[TheLostLenore Jess's death]] is also a tipping point, sending Sam back into hunting when [[IJustWantToBeNormal he'd been trying to stay out of it]]. Both deaths are referenced multiple times throughout the series and heavily motivate both the plot and the main characters. As the show goes on, however, it becomes apparent that It All Began much, ''much'' [[AncientConspiracy before]] either of those particular deaths.
100	* The actual disaster in ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' is initially not shown (instead starting with a scene two years later and then skipping to a few seconds later), but drives everything else in the show. You don't find out the details of what happened until the final episode.
101	* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' plays with this trope in the episode "The Betrayal", when it jumps 10 years back to show the exact moment where Jerry accidentally created his bizarre relationship with his new neighbor, Kramer. Since the entire episode [[BackToFront runs backwards]] with each scene explaining all the ones that came before it, this event is implied to have been the underlying cause for everything else in the plot -- and potentially even for everything that has happened in every episode on the show.
102
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Music]]
106	* In Music/TheProtomen, Act II, the {{prequel}}, details how Dr. Wily took over, setting up the events of Act I.
107	* "19 You + Me" by Music/DanAndShay is a summertime nostalgia love song which uses the lyric "It was our first week at Myrtle Beach, where it all began" as BookEnds.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Toys]]
111	* Just about everything in ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' can be traced back to either one of these handful events:
112	** "[[GreatOffscreenWar The Core War]]", when the planet Spherus Magna was split into three, which lead to the hectic and error-laden creation of the Matoran Universe, [[HumongousMecha the giant robot]] [[PhysicalGod Mata Nui]], where most of the story takes place. Happened 100,000 years prior to the beginning of the story.
113	** 80,000 years ago the League of Six Kingdoms, lead by the Barraki warlords, tried to usurp Mata Nui and take over the Matoran Universe, unaware that he ''was'' the universe. The Brotherhood of Makuta, an organization of demigod-like bio-engineers formed an army to retaliate, but one Makuta named Teridax was inspired by the Barraki's plan. After the Brotherhood replaced the former Kingdoms under the guise of governing over and protecting the universe, Teridax began using their influence for his own desires, taking over from behind the scenes. Due to an error in the Makuta's creation, they gradually became evil and forgot their purpose.
114	** "The Great Cataclysm", when Teridax (oftentimes called simply "The Makuta") made his evil nature public and successfully cast Mata Nui into a deep slumber, causing him to crash down from space. This forced the Matoran people living in Metru Nui (Mata Nui's "brain module") to evacuate, lose their memories and start a new life closer to nature, and re-activated the elite Toa Mata team who become the main heroes for most of the story. Happened 1,000 years prior. The main plot isn't just about the Toa undoing the Makuta's evil and saving Mata Nui's life but also figuring out who or what their "god" even is.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Video Games]]
118	* Although it's not really apparent until the end of the series, pretty much ''everything'' that happens in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' universe has its roots in [[spoiler:August 1964, the Virtuous Mission which sparked Operation Snake Eater and led to the creation of the Patriots]], as shown in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', chronologically the first game. The best example? The Boss's last wish: [[spoiler: a unified world]]. Big Boss's and Zero's differing interpretations of that wish and how to fulfill it lead to almost everything that happens in the rest of the series, including the creation of Outer Heaven and the creation of [[spoiler: [[NebulousEvilOrganization the Patriots]]]], which leads directly to the events of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots 4]]''.
119	%% ** The formation of The Philosophers in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' franchise.
120	* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' has the incident in Temsik Park 10 years ago. [[spoiler:Lynne was taken hostage by Yomiel, who was fleeing Detective Jowd. Yomiel died from a Temsik shard to the back, but gained ghost tricks and an immortal, undead body. After [[GoMadFromTheIsolation sinking into darkness due to his isolation from humanity]], he set out to take his revenge on everyone involved, causing the deadly events of the game.]]
121	* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': [[Literature/FateZero The last Holy Grail War 10 years ago]], especially its final battle.
122	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
123	** What happened in Nibelheim five years prior to the events of the game in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.
124	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', the Sorceress' War, 18 years before the game takes place, sets off the events of the game, though due to TimeTravel, the beginning point is itself affected during gameplay.
125	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has the 13 days prior to the start of the game in flashbacks throughout the main game, which manages to link all of the main characters to the plot by way of a single event.
126	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'': [[spoiler:After the final boss, Demise, is defeated, he casts a curse on Link and Zelda, insinuating that anyone like them will be chased forever by "an incarnation of his hatred". This explains how Ganondorf keeps on coming back in later games, since ''Skyward Sword'' takes place before all the the other games including ''Ocarina of Time''.]]
127	** There also are some details about the genesis of the world that would eventually become Hyrule in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', and later expended in the ''Hyrule Historia'' book. The world was created by the three goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore. When they left, a golden artifact called the Triforce appeared, symbolizing their powers (respectively Force, Wisdom and Courage) [[spoiler:which was left under the custody of the goddess Hylia. She protected the Triforce from numerous evil creatures including Demise the Avatar of Nothingness. Unable to totally defeat him (he was at most momentarily sealed) she decided to use the Triforce to do so, but her status of goddess forbade her to directly use it. She decided then to renounce her goddess status and reborned as a human (who would eventually be named Zelda) on Skyloft, a floating island keeping the humans safe from the ravages on the war going on land. The warrior Impa from the Sheikah clan was given the task to protect the Triforce in the absence of Hylia as well as the fragile human child she would become.]] Then ''Skyward Sword'' begins...
128	** Also according to ''Hyrule Historia'', the Ocarina of Time is made out of Timeshift Stones.
129	* Almost all the events of the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' games can be traced to Revan and Malak leading roughly half of the Jedi to fight in the Mandalorian Wars. And much of that can be narrowed down to the Battle of Malachor V, especially in the sequel.
130	%% ** In the first game, Bastilla's defeat of Revan.
131	* ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}''[='=]s Calamity [[FramingDevice happens just before the game]]. Rucks says it best;
132	-->'''Rucks:''' ''"A proper story's supposed to start at the beginnin'... this one ain't so simple."''
133	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
134	** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' has Shepard's visions from the Prothean Beacon lead them to Ilos, the location of the underground base where the last Prothean scientists worked and ultimately sacrificed themselves to delay the Reaper invasion of Shepard's time.
135	** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has Shepard return to Eden Prime, the location where they first had their vision.
136	* The events surrounding the death of Lord Indoril Nerevar several thousand years prior to the time the game takes place essentially establish the plot of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind''. Throughout the game, the player can find RashomonStyle accounts from various parties which give conflicting reports of what happened there and who is to blame. [[CorruptChurch The Tribunal Temple]], the Dissident Priests, [[NobleSavage the Ashlanders]], [[BigBad Dagoth Ur]], [[PhysicalGod Vivec]], and [[TheChessmaster Azura]] all tell different stories. The actual truth is never revealed, leaving the player to make his or her own conclusions. All that is known for sure is that Nerevar was slain, the Tribunal and Dagoth Ur [[DeityOfHumanOrigin made themselves into gods]], and [[PowersThatBe Azura]] is not happy about it.
137	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' all started with the Keyblade War, warriors wielding Keyblades fought for the light with [[CosmicKeystone Kingdom Hearts]], but they ended up driving the light into the Realm of Darkness and fracturing the universe into hundreds of smaller worlds. The series has been one gigantic GambitPileup by the BigBad to forge the weapon that can unlock Kingdom Hearts for him.
138	** It's a little more complicated than that. As detailed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', before the Keyblade War, five Unions of Keyblade wielders gathered Lux to drive off the coming darkness detailed in the Union's Foretellers' Books of Prophecy, given to them by their Master. As things escalated to the Keyblade War, Kingdom Hearts plunged into the Realm of Darkness, the X-Blade that could unlock Kingdom Hearts, and that all Keyblades were modeled after shattered into twenty pieces, seven light, and thirteen dark, and the world fell to the darkness. Light from those who survived the war recreated the worlds in their fractured form. Since then, BigBad Xehanort has been trying to reforge the X-Blade, first by attempting to balance [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Ventus and Vanitas's hearts (originally Ventus's whole heart), and made a proto-X-Blade, which Aqua shattered.]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI His Heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, tried to reach Kingdom Hearts by drowning worlds in darkness]], while [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 his Nobody, Xemnas, tried to insert pieces of his heart into thirteen candidates, the Organization XIII,]] of which only two succeeded before Sora [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories brought that]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII crashing down.]] But he knew he'd fail at both of those goals, so in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', he assembles a new Organization consisting of himself, his younger self, his Heartless, Nobody, and nine others to clash with seven guardians of light. And sure enough, that clash finally happens in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', and [[spoiler:he finally succeeds... only for Sora to defeat him once more]].
139	** To note is that Xehanort's Keyblade has existed since the Age of Fairy Tales. It was first carried by the Master's sixth apprentice, Luxu, who passed it down from master to apprentice until Xehanort got it. Embedded in that blade is the Master's Gazing Eye, which allowed him to see the future to write the aforementioned Books of Prophecy. On the last page is 'And on that land will the darkness triumph, and light expire,' referring to the events of ''III''. Speaking of ''III'', [[spoiler:it turns out Luxu has been {{Body Surf}}ing to see that Keyblade passed down through the generations. And at the end of this game, Luxu ends up reclaiming the ancient blade]].
140	* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}} 2'', Cody witnesses the destruction of Baba Village in the past, which has been a mystery for the entire game.
141	* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' reveals possibly the most pivotal moment in the mythology of [[Franchise/ResidentEvil the series]] in a letter found lying around in a lab: [[spoiler:a young Oswell Spencer getting lost in the Carpathian Mountains on a hiking trip and being found by Miranda, who subsequently showed him the megamycete beneath her village and the affects it could have on the human body. This inspired his views on [[EvilutionaryBiologist eugenics and evolution]] and directly led to the founding of the Umbrella Corporation, the driving force behind the majority of events in the series. The name "Umbrella" even came from Spencer's interpretation of a symbol found carved on significant structures in the village.]]
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
145	* ThatOneCase in nearly every ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' game is always the trigger of each installment's overarching plot, and is alluded to many, many times via "X years ago":
146	** The DL-6 incident, happening 15 years before [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney the first game]]. Defense attorney Gregory Edgeworth was shot dead in an elevator whose power had run out due to an earthquake in the courthouse. This scarred Miles Edgeworth, his son, and was the moment where he stopped wanting to be a defense lawyer and instead took the path of a prosecutor under Mandred von Karma's custody. [[spoiler:The most tragic thing is that von Karma was the killer.]] Misty Fey's subsequent disgrace and disappearance following the true killer failing to be convicted ruined the Fey clan's reputation and significantly affects Mia and Maya's backstories as well.
147	** The kidnapping of a kid in the backstory of ''Trials and Tribulations''. Terry Fawles abducted [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne]] and wouldn't release her until Valerie (her sister) delivered a red diamond which was worth over one million dollars. Dahlia fell to a river and [[NeverFoundTheBody her body was never found]]. [[spoiler:Of course, Dahlia survived and proceeded to become the main villain of ''Trials and Tribulations'' with her long chain of murders. Even the kidnapping was a charade planned by her, Valerie and Fawles.]]
148	** The trial where Phoenix presented forged evidence and was subsequently disbarred 7 years prior to ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney''. It was Phoenix's CynicismCatalyst, and the beginning of [[spoiler:his 7-year-long gambit to take Kristoph Gavin, the man that made him present the evidence, to justice]].
149	** The KG-8 incident in ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Investigations]]''. [[spoiler:Manny Coachen]] killed Cece Yew as he was told to by [[spoiler:the international smuggling ring]], which led to the creation of the Great Thief Yatagarasu and later [[spoiler:the murder of Kay's father]], which in turn prompted Kay to continue the Yatagarasu's legacy.
150	** The IS-7 incident was the trigger for the main series of games, being the case that [[spoiler:Gregory argued in court the day he was killed]], leading to DL-6.
151	** The UR-1 incident 8 years before ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]''. [[spoiler:Metis Cykes, Athena's mother,]] was murdered because [[HeKnowsTooMuch she knew top secret information about her killer]], leading to the conviction of [[spoiler:Simon Blackquill]] and Athena's quest to [[spoiler:prove his innocence in court, which is accomplished in the final case]].
152	** The assassination of Khura'in's queen 23 years prior to the events of ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''. It led to the enactment of the Defense Culpability Act, a fiat by which lawyers who defended criminals [[FelonyMisdemeanor would be punished just the same as those criminals]], killing off nearly every defense attorney in the kingdom.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Web Animation]]
156	* ''WebAnimation/BrawlOfTheObjects'': The show itself isn't canonically the first ''Brawl of the Objects'' to happen. The creator of the series, Creator/AntonyKos, provided several hints for a ''Brawl of the Objects'' that happened before the show. Probably one of the biggest ones happens to be in "Rookie Mistakes," where Rook had a flashback where [[spoiler:he was in a similar racing challenge that Shieldy and Shelly went to in "How it All Ended."]] Anthony eventually posted a video called "''WebAnimation/TheRookExplanationVideo''", which explains the finale of the original, [[HistoricalFiction fictionally]] medieval ''BOTO''.
157	[[/folder]]
158
159	[[folder:Webcomics]]
160	* The prequel of ''Webcomic/{{APOC}}'' begins with the kids breaking out of the secret lab, and the Big Bad deciding to see whether the kids will destroy the world without any guidance. They did not.
161	* ''Webcomic/DriveDaveKellett'': If it weren't for the fleeing pre-maker's actions, humanity wouldn't have gained access to the Ring Drive.
162	* A huge chunk of Chapter 34 of ''Webcomic/JoeVsElanSchool'' is devoted to telling the story of the drug arrest that spurred Joe's parents to send him to the abusive Elan School in Maine.
163	[[/folder]]
164
165	[[folder:Western Animation]]
166	* The extinction of the Air Nomads and the disappearance of the Avatar occurs 100 years before the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
167	* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' had two:
168	** "Dora's First Trip" in the fourth season is a WholeEpisodeFlashback to the day Dora first became an explorer, showing how she learned to be one from her Mami and Papi, how she met Boots and how he became her best friend, the first time encountering Swiper and the very first "SwiperNoSwiping", how they met Benny, Isa and Tico, as well as the Fiesta Trio, and most importantly, Dora's very first adventure where she and Boots have to return the Fiesta Trio's instruments so they can play a song for the Queen Bee on Tallest Mountain. Said episode also chronicles the first Spanish lessons, the first FakeInteractivity prompts and challenges, and especially the first [[SettingOffSong Travel Song]]. The only bit that does not get an origin was the "We Did It" song at the end.
169	** "Backpack" in the first season is a more minor example, as it shows detail on how Dora first got her sentient Backpack as a gift from Mami and Papi and her first time asking her for what she needs, how she read Map for the first time, and especially the very first three-picture pop-up sequence Dora uses when passing a location.
170	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': The special "WesternAnimation/AbraCatastrophe" begins with Timmy celebrating one year since he first recieved Cosmo and Wanda as his fairy godparents; during the party, we are given a flashback to when Timmy was eight years old and his parents started to spend extended time out of the house; that's when they first hired BabysitterFromHell Vicky when she was 14, which led to endless torture for him nonstop. We then jump to one year later to the day Vicky has made him so miserable and helpless enough that's when he first met Cosmo and Wanda and became his plucky TrueCompanions.
171	* The Nanite Event of ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' is the catalyst for everything that happens in the series.
172	* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', we have the fateful meeting of Kim and Ron the first day of Pre-K, and the equally eventful typo on a computer that resulted in them becoming world-saving heroes.
173	* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' you could argue that there are two different events that mark the beginning. One would be the banishment of Princess Luna, and the other would be the Sonic Rainboom that sparked the discovery of the Mane 6 Cutie marks.
174	* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' season 4 gave several flashbacks to before the series began. These explained the origins of Megabyte and Hexadecimal and how the main characters were involved in it. A mix of NiceJobBreakingItHero from Bob and a GoneHorriblyWrong from Dot kickstarted everything.
175	* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': A past scene in "The Waste of Time" shows how Sylvia as a bounty hunter first met Wander (then-known as "Tumbleweed"), and how they became a duo; her calling him a "wandering weirdo" is also how he got his name.
176	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WhenItAllBegan