History Main / AndYourRewardIsInfancy

* In ''Literature/{{Elsewhere}}'', when people enter the afterlife they start again backwards from the age they were when they died to 7 days old at which point they are reborn again on Earth. [[spoiler: At the very end the main protagonist Liz goes through this process.]]

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

'''Also, this is an EndingTrope, so Spoilers Ahoy!'''

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d6dd030256607926f10054e0dd39821a_5.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:From death to birth.]]

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* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Dream grants rebirth to his former lover Nada. Nada was noble and virtuous, but had been made to suffer so much that, of the options Dream gave her after rescuing her from Hell, she felt this clean break was best.

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[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* At the end of season 10 episode 28 of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', when Happy S. breaks the gun that can age its targets, it ends up hitting Careful S. and Kalo, turning them into babies. Cue DownerEnding.
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[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Anime/{{Genocyber}} has the AmbiguousInnocence AntiVillain psychic cyborg sister protagonist turning into babies after exhausting their powers.

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* in ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'' series ''ComicBook/StarBrand'', Ken Connell is reborn as a Star Child ''a la'' ''2001''.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Boom Town" sees Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen turned into an egg by the TARDIS, giving her a chance to be redeemed by starting fresh.

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* ''VisualNovel/YamiToBoushiToHonNoTabibito'' ends with [[spoiler:Hatsumi being reborn as her lover Hazuki's daughter]].
* The first series of ''Anime/MagicalPrincessMinkyMomo'' ends with our heroine being run over by a truck--she goes through an afterlife heroquest, and as a result comes back as the [[HumanityEnsues biological baby daughter]] of her MuggleFosterParents.
* At the end of ''Manga/VampireGame'', Duzell, who gave a HeroicSacrifice, is reincarnated as the son of Ishtar, the woman he loved.
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' this happens to [[spoiler: Hotaru]] after her HeroicSacrifice. It's strongly implied that would not have happened were it not for Sailor Moon's desperate intervention.

* Happens to Reira at the end of the Fusion Dimension arc in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''. After joining forces with [[BigGood Ray]], they manage to defeat [[BigBad Zarc]] and seal him within Reira's body. When the dimensions are rebooted and the damage Zarc inflicted has been undone, Reira is seen being turned into a baby. In the post-CosmicRetcon Pendulum Dimension, Reira is shown to be well-taken care of by his adoptive mother. However, his de-aging is seen as a bad thing, as he's practically catatonic and shows no joy. His family seek Yuya to "bring back Reira's smile" and turn him back.
* Anime/{{Genocyber}} has the AmbiguousInnocence AntiVillain psychic cyborg sister protagonist turning into babies after exhausting their powers.

%%* The ending of ''Saber Marionette J to X'' is this trope exactly.

* In ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'', Batman/Bruce Wayne is shown to be in an eternal cycle of recurrence. Each of his lives is different, but he’s always going to be Batman. See the page quote.

* This happens to [[spoiler:the two main characters]] at the end of the ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'' series.

* The ending of ''Film/EnterTheVoid'' (assuming it wasn't all a DyingDream).

* In a ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'' short story, an ambitious man who murders some moving-in-next-door aliens gets this treatment from the one surviving alien when he begs for mercy for his family. The Twilight Zone twist is [[spoiler:he's now one of the aliens]].

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* The ending of the music video of Music/{{Moby}}'s ''Natural Blues''.

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%% ''7th Saga''
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' did this, but didn't exactly play it straight. Link skipped forward seven years a third of the way into the game so his reward at the end is to regain those lost years. Though later games seem to show that this causes a lot of problems with the two timelines later on.
* In ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'', after traipsing around the ghost world frantically figuring out the cause of his death, [[spoiler:Sissel gets to live forever as a family kitten. He's pretty happy with his fate.]]
%% Occurs [[spoiler:in the "Truth" ending]] of the game ''VideoGame/{{Misao}}''.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Night Warriors]]'', Hsien-Ko and her sister Mei-Ling are reincarnated as human children after defeating Pyron.

* The Truth ending to the horror game ''VideoGame/{{Misao}}'' (accessible after you've completed the Good Ending) [[spoiler: involves the Main Character returning to the Otherworld to free the people who were killed in the main game, which for the most part makes them return as infants. Ayaka is straight-up resurrected by Onigawara because she's the only one of them who Misao didn't have a grudge against, and Mr. Sohta is reincarnated as a cat (presumably, he's unable to return as a human because as Misao's killer, his crime was too great to allow it).]]

* The inciting incident of ''Literature/RebornToMasterTheBlade'' is the good King Inglis being granted a wish on his deathbed in reward for his wise ruling over a people who crowned him king for being a heroic mercenary. He regrets not being able to ''truly'' master the blade due to his kingly responsibilities and wishes to be reborn as someone who can, and wakes as [[ReincarnatedAsTheOppositeSex the daughter]] of a Knight many, many years in the future.

* A staple of many Hong Kong ghost stories from the Seventies to the present day. The protagonist ghost (usually someone who died "wrongly") has finally avenged their death/defeated the big bad spirit causing problems in town. Cue the rush to the hospital just in time to start their new life, frequently as the child of the human protagonist and his girlfriend/wife, who has been pregnant throughout the movie.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', Dream grants rebirth to his former lover Nada. Nada was noble and virtuous, but had been made to suffer so much that, of the options Dream gave her after rescuing her from Hell, she felt this clean break was best.

* Pride, from ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist''. Once he's defeated, he's returned as a tiny infant to Mrs. Bradley, who manages to raise him as she would a normal boy.
* The ending of ''Saber Marionette J to X'' is this trope exactly.

* A staple of many Hong Kong ghost stories from the Seventies to the present day. The protagonist ghost(usually someone who died "wrongly") has finally avenged their death/defeated the big bad spirit causing problems in town. Cue the rush to the hospital just in time to start their new life, frequently as the child of the human protagonist and his girlfriend/wife, who has been pregnant throughout the movie.

* ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'': ComicBook/StarBrand is reborn as a Star Child ''a la'' ''2001''.

* ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'': Star Brand is reborn as a Star Child ''a la'' ''2001''.

* ''VisualNovel/YamiToBoushiToHonNoTabibito'' ends with [[spoiler:Hatsumi being reborn as [[SchoolgirlLesbians her lover]] Hazuki's daughter]].

* In ''Literature/{{Elsewhere}}'', the book ends with the reincarnated Liz being reborn as a baby, ready to begin a new life.

* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' this happens to [[spoiler: Hotaru]] after her HeroicSacrifice.

* The ending of [[spoiler:''Saber Marionette J to X'']] is this trope exactly.

* Batman in ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader''

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', Dream does this for his former lover Nada. Nada was noble and virtuous, but had been made to suffer so much that, of the options Dream gave her after rescuing her from Hell, she felt this clean break was best.

* Pride, from Anime/FullmetalAlchemist. Once he's defeated, he's returned as a tiny infant to Mrs. Bradley, who manages to raise him as she would a normal boy.
* The ending of [[spoiler: Saber Marionette J to X]] is this trope exactly