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Each of us plays a role; each time a different role. Maybe the last time I was the interrogator and you were the prisoner. The players change, the story remains the same.
One or more of the main characters is the reincarnation of someone from the past, and they are forced to live with the effects of their previous incarnation's life, loves and choices. A device seen in some Shojo stories, often allowing for a " destined love that survives death" plot element. Also used for a "duty that survives death" plot as well. Sometimes allows for Time Travel to previous incarnations in the form of Visions Of Another Self.
Usually, just like an Identical Grandson, a reincarnated person looks exactly like their previous self, unless the contrast is used for some irony — i.e., a pair of lovers being reincarnated as the opposite genders. Roles can change as well for dramatic effect. The Woobie might be reborn as The Hero, a villain finds redemption as a florist, but the bickering Vitriolic Best Buds are still at it!
When it's used in a Western series, the greater religious aspects (which, of course, make this Older Than Dirt) are often ignored.
If you're looking for a reincarnation that occurs over the course of a series, see Back From The Dead.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Kagome in Inu Yasha. Thanks to Time Travel and a little magic, she co-exists with the person she is a reincarnation of.
- Tuxedo Mask and all of the earth's senshi aside from Chibi Moon in Sailor Moon. In the manga, Sailor Pluto dies in the future, then reincarnates backwards in time so that her present self can still guard the Time Gate while still helping out.
- Setsuna in Angel Sanctuary. The reincarnation may share some similarities with Alexiel but is not exactly alike each also it changes gender randomly.
- In the manga, it's revealed that Sara is a reincarnation of Gabriel.
- Dragon Ball love this trope: Piccolo being the reincarnation of Piccolo Sr. and Uub being the reincarnation of Kid Buu. Interestingly, both of them are good guys, are reincarnations of Big Bads who had epic fights with Son Goku and both had a "rematch" with him in a Tenka'ichi Budokai.
- AIR revolves around the descendants of a samurai and a psychic (who, incidentally, also happen to be said couple reincarnated over and over) searching for the reincarnation of the one they failed to protect. However, unlike many other examples, they look nothing like their original selves.
- The Big Bad in Tsukihime became a reincarnator as his own style of obtaining immortality, his mind/powers surfacing in one host after the other. His appearance/gender change freely with each appearance.
- Several major characters in Yu-Gi-Oh are reincarnations of people from ancient Egypt.
- Also, in Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Judai/Jaden is the reincarnation of Haou/the Supreme King
- Technically, Haou is the title of the person who has the power of the creative, good Darkness. Juudai has that power. He had it in his first life and in his current, and if they go around again, he'll probably have it then. It was stated clearly that the power is his no matter what. But he, and Yubel, do reincarnate.
- Himeko and Chikane in Kannazuki No Miko are the reincarnations of the priestesses of the sun and moon.
- Yoh and Hao in Shaman King are both reincarnations of the original Hao.
- Eriol Hiiragizawa of Card Captor Sakura and in the manga, the main character's father as well is the reincarnation of Clow Reed. In fact, Eriol's whole purpose in existing was to continue Clow's plans after Clow's death.
- Reincarnation is one of the main themes of Osamu Tezuka's lifework, Phoenix.
- It's a major theme in most of them, especially Houou (Karma in the U.S.), but it's actually a key element of Sun's unorthodox plot structure, which keeps flipping back and forth between past and future, with each time period being presented as the protagonist's "dreams". The truth, of course, is that these are two different lives lived by the protagonist, and both the past and the future scenarios are mirror halves of a tale of love, betrayal and redemption spanning centuries, in addition to setting up some of the events seen in the previous volumes.
- In Elfen Lied Two twins, young friends of Kouta's daughter, are implied to be the reincarnation of Nyu and Lucy.
- In Princess Tutu, Fakir is revealed to be a knight from a fairytale "reborn" to protect his prince, who escaped from the story after the writer died before he could be completed. In the first season, he constantly struggles with trying to live up to the Knight while not having the same end (being torn apart by the claws of an evil Raven). In the second season, he slowly begins to give up on the role to take on his true calling as a writer...of the reality-warping variety. He has a birthmark that looks like a scar from the wound that killed the knight to confirm his identity.
- The three younger knights in Pretear are implied to be reincarnations of three knights that were killed during a battle—we see the knights in flashbacks, and although their faces are always obscured they have the same outfits and hair.
- Most of the cast of Please Save My Earth, which includes a pair of lovers who were both reincarnated as boys.
- In one of the final episodes of Sister Princess, sorceress Chikage reveals to her brother Wataru that they had been lovers in a previous life.
- All of the high school warriors in Ikki Tousen are reincarnations of the main characters in Romance Of The Three Kingdoms. A lot of them wound up in perky girl's bodies, which doesn't seem to affect their bloodthirstiness — or their names — in the least. Of course, one wonders why some of the greatest strategists in Chinese history would bother fighting over the control of Japanese high schools in the first place.
- In Otogi Zoshi, set in feudal Japan most of the cast got killed by the middle of the anime. Knowing there is another half to go, this troper expected them to be brought back from the dead. Instead, they reincarnated everyone in modern Tokyo. Main characters kept names and basic appearances, but changed haircuts as to be more modern. Not everyone was lucky enough to get reincarnated as humans, through - one of their opponents seems to have become a cat. Or maybe just got a cat named after him.
- Three of the four main characters in Saiyuki are reincarnations of gods who died protecting Son Goku.
Comic Books
- The original (and current) DC Comics Hawkman and Hawkgirl were reincarnated lovers; Justice League Unlimited combined this and the Silver Age science-fiction version by making it unclear whether the memories of past lives were real or caused by a malfunctioning memory-recorder device (though a later episode seemingly implied the former). Recent comics make more of their continual cycle of reincarnation, destined to be killed when they find love with each other (hence the current versions, knowing this, keep each other at arms' length not that that seems to have helped).
- Also continually reincarnated is their archenemy Hath-Set, who is the one destined to kill them. Their son Hank was reincarnated once, but has since followed his own son into the Dreaming.
- Batman eventually ends up reincarnated at the end of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" He is eventually reincarnated... as himself. Because he won't go to heaven or hell, his fate is that he gets to keep on being Batman.
Film
- In the Bollywood movie Om Shanti Om, Om is reincarnated and looks exactly like he did in his previous life — complete with his tattoo becoming some sort of birthmark.
- Dead Again: It becomes apparent that the protagonists are reincarnated spirits of murder victims. It turns out he was she and she was he in the previous incarnation.
- The romantic comedy Chances Are has a reincarnated man romancing his own widow.
- In the film Fluke, it starts with the main character being reincarnated. It turns out that anyone who dies gets reincarnated - including Rumbo, who'd not only died before the start of the movie, and had been reincarnated as a dog, but then later dies and is reincarnated as a squirrel.
Literature
- In The Wheel Of Time series, people who become legendary heroes are put on a special track of reincarnation, each life resembling the other and creating its own batch of legends. They hang out in the World of Dreams between lives and are forbidden from interacting with mortals. Everyone else is also reincarnated but are of less central importance to the pattern. The Dragon Reborn is unique in that everyone knows who he is a reincarnation of, when even those who have also lived past lives as great heroes cannot be identified and rarely discover this for themselves. Mat Cauthon is one of the few who has, living many past lives as a great general and, much to his personal disappointment, having little choice but to avail himself of that past life knowledge in his current incarnation.
- Kim Stanley Robinson's epic novel The Years Of Rice And Salt has the protagonists in a cycle of eternal reincarnation in order to explore 1000 (or more) years worth of history if the black death had killed all of Europe. In line witht he original concept the nakama play out different roles, relationships and genders (although their names always have the same first letter) in different reincarnations.
- In Dragaera, reincarnation is a fact of "life." For instance, Vlad is a reincarnation of Kieron the Conqueror's brother, founder of house Jhereg, and Aliera is a reincarnation of his sister. This has the occasionally useful side-effect of allowing Vlad to use the hereditary amorphia-creation powers of Kieron's family, despite now being a different species.
- This is the essential theme of Katharine Kerr's long-running Deverry series, which feature a "present day" plot along with multiple parallel flashbacks featuring previous incarnations of the same characters. Later books often include a chart to keep track of them all.
- One story by Science Fiction writer F.M. Busby used Reincarnation, a Gender Bender and two StableTimeLoops to combine Truly Single Parent with Screw Yourself: The protagonist is reincarnated twice, first as his wife and later as their daughter. It makes you wonder why she never said anything.
- Kim Stanley Robinson's Years Of Rice And Salt follows various characters through their many reincarnations through an Alternate History.
- On Discworld, you are (possibly) guaranteed reincarnation if you die while possessing a potato, though not necessarily a human incarnation. The abbot of the History Monks also practices reincarnation, and therefore spends most of his book appearances as a baby.
- You don't always have to believe in reincarnation for this to happen. Reincarnation just has to believe in you.
Real Life
- Famous American general George S. Patton believed that he had been reincarnated several times prior to his "current" life. He even believed himself to be the reincarnation of Hannibal (not that Hannibal).
- Between ten and twenty percent of Britons with a "traditional" Western religious background (ie. not including Hindus, Buddhists etc.) apparently believe in reincarnation. source
Walter, T. & Waterhouse, H. (1999) A Very Private Belief: Reincarnation in Contemporary England. Sociology of Religion 60: p188
Television
- Lois And Clark had an episode with Superman and Lois Lane as reincarnated lovers (explaining that Superman's soul was from Earth, not Krypton), and had them time-travel to their past-life bodies to undo an ancient curse.
- It even hits the soap operas: one 90's Brazilian soap titled A Viagem, based in spiritist theories, has the main couple being lovers from their past lives, and they fall in deep love again in their actual incarnation. The little fact that they die midway the story didn't stop their affair, as they encounters again in the afterlife by the force of their love.
- Speaking of soaps, the original Dark Shadows used this trope heavily, along with every other excuse they could think of to keep casting the same actors in different time periods and dimensions.
- The premise of Mada Koi wa Hajimaranai, a dorama series from 1995, where the story revolves around a pair of reincarnated lovers from 200 years ago, and whether or not they'll get together this time around.
- Xena Warrior Princess does this a lot, including a very funny episode where an obsessive Xena fan (played by Lawless) turned out to be the reincarnation of Joxer.
- The Minbari of Babylon 5 believe in reincarnation in a semi-closed system where the same pool of souls is constantly reborn. This is a key plot point in several ways.
- The X Files episode "The Field Where I Died". Mulder comes to believe that he was married to a female member of a cult in a past life, and under hypnosis claims to remember not only her but Scully and Cancer Man as reincarnated friends and enemies respectively.
Tabletop Games
- The Freedom City setting for Mutants And Masterminds has The Scarab, a superhero who was originally the Pharoah Heru-Ra. Like Hawkman, he is destined to be killed by the reincarnation of the priest who killed him the first time, Tan-Aktor, who is currently Overshadow, the setting's Supreme Hydra Captain Ersatz.
Video Games
- Link and Zelda in every game are always reincarnations of the original Link and Zelda from The Minish Cap (or possibly earlier, but that's generally agreed upon as being the earliest game in the series). While Zelda is always reincarnated in her own bloodline, Link can be anyone, though somehow he always looks similar to his predecessors. Link and Zelda are always reincarnated at about the same time and they are always the respective bearers of the Triforces of Courage and Wisdom. Even their personalities can vary, but they usually don't. The notable exception is Tetra, who is the Wind Waker incarnation of Zelda; having been raised by pirates, she's a bossy tomboy. She's still a worthy carrier of the Triforce of Wisdom, since she's just as smart as all past Zeldas.
- I seem to recall it being a plot point that the Wind Waker link wasn't a reincarnation of the Hero of Time.
- There were hints in both directions. The King of Red Lions was unsure, because he didn't share all of old Link's threats. The Deku Tree first was sure, but when he found Link being unable to understand ancient Hyrulean, he got doubts as well. Ganondorf, however, is 100% covinced that WW Link is Oo T-Link's reincarnation. This was, after he reassembled the triforce of courage. This trooper likes to believe, that the splitting of the timeline (and the erasure of Oo T-Link from the Wind Waker Timeline) messed around with Link's reincarnations (explaining why it took him so long this time to return) and oblitterated a part of his soul completly. Probably the Kokiri part, since he seems to dislike the Kokiri clothing.
- The entire main cast in Tales Of Innocence. The main character, Ruca, was a general named Asras on one side of a war in Heaven dedicated to capturing the "Souseiryoku" and reuniting Heaven with Earth. Throughout the entire game, the characters explore the distinction between themselves and their past lives, with a climax in which Ruca discovers that two of the other playable characters' old identities betrayed Asras, and goes through a fairly explosive Heroic BSOD before having to reconcile his friends and comrades with the actions of their previous selves. In the end, he decides to go through with Asras' plan, with all of his allies (including some of Asras' old enemies) helping.
- The point translates into gameplay, as every reincarnated person can assume their original form through a process called "Awakening", and each main character's Awakening is their Hi-Ougi.
- Of course, the big reveal in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is that Soma Cruz is the Reincarnation of Dracula. The original Aria game left some wiggle room over what that meant, but the sequel solidified it.
- Fei and Elly from Xenogears.
- In Okami, Amaterasu is the reincarntion of Shiranui. Thanks to messing about with time travel, the two meet up a couple of times.
- Fae and Arasai (an Evil Twin race) from Ever Quest II all go through this process, so long as their spirit bud remains intact inbetween lives.
- Disgaea: Rozalin happens to be having some dreams about a blood-smeared battlefield after her sudden departure from her luxurious mansion. These are actually vivid memories of her past life as the real Overlord Zenon. That life comes back to haunt her more than any reincarnation normally should.
- In many Nippon Ichi games, reincarnation is a vital tool to power up your Player Mooks, you can even reincarnate the hero but he will still have the same form he did before reincarnating.
- Reincarnation is a central theme of the Soul Blazer trilogy, for the hero and the many creatures he interacts with. Blazer is implied to have been reincarnated many times in the service of The Master (Deathtoll calls him a "creature that suffers eternal transmigration of the soul and cannot die"), and Will and his friends reincarnate and meet each other at the end of his journey. Terranigma's Ark has reincarnation play out for him in a horribly depressing way. He is fated to continue the cycle of death and rebirth; resurrecting one world and destroying the other; himself included, each time switching between Light and Dark. It's said that he has done this countless times in countless lives and will continue to do it countless times again.
Webcomics
- Aleksander and Alison from My Life In Blue have been reincarnated together many times over the ages, brutally dying every time.
Western Animation
- In Avatar The Last Airbender, every time the avatar dies, he or she is reincarnated. It isn't specified how many Avatars there have been, but it is implied that Aang is at least the one thousand and first avatar ("I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thouand lifetimes, and now I must do it once more"). It is also stated that if he is killed during The Avatar State there will be no more reincarnations.
- It's implied that the avatar's friends and lover are always reincarnated as well.
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