History Main / HowDidWeGetBackHome

[[AC: This is an EndingTrope, beware of spoilers.]]

[[AC:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'': In the planning stages of the Secret Invasion, the Illuminati[[note]](Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Professor Xavier, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange)[[/note]] are sitting around a table as they discuss the events of their assault on the Skrull homeworld. Dr. Strange tries to cast a spell and they wonder how they got home... [[spoiler:Then a War Skrull bursts in and kills them all. It's all right, though, because [[ExpendableClone they're clones]].]]

[[AC: Films -- Animation]]

[[AC: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Music]]

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]

[[AC: Video Games]]

[[AC:Web Videos]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

Compare BoringReturnJourney.

Often the Heroes are dumbfounded about how they got back. Maybe they think it was AllJustADream. The use of the transfer can have further unspoken implication that you may find useful. After a tense moment, it feels like a sweet release and actually increases the drama of what went before. It may imply that the PocketDimension stopped existing, or that the dangerous connection has been severed, you've managed to SaveBothWorlds and now you can't return or just the implication that TheMagicGoesAway.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Happens if the {{PC}}s succeed in killing Lolth in the adventure Q1 ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits''.

** After TheClimax of season two, the Trix sisters are stranded in the Realix dimension, which can only be accessed by reuniting the pieces of the Codex. Since the portal closed and they don't have the pieces on the other side, it's practically impossible for them to return to the Magix dimension. Come the next season and they are shown being transported to a high-security prison without any explanation given.
** The BigBad of season six traps the Trix in the Legendarium's PocketDimension. It's explicitly stated there's no way for them to come back now that the aforementioned book has been sealed forever. Yet, they appear mid-season seven just like that.

* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': After TheClimax of season two, the Trix sisters are stranded in the Realix dimension, which can only be accessed by reuniting the pieces of the Codex. Since the portal closed and they don't have the pieces on the other side, it's practically impossible for them to return to the Magix dimension. Come the next season and they are shown being transported to a high-security prison without any explanation given.

* ''WebVideo/ALZIProduction'':
In "Harley Quinn", Harley {{discusse|d}}s this trope when asked about whether the BigBad and his mooks will stay dead. BreakingTheFourthWall, she answers that they are just actors that will somehow come back home soon.

In "Harley Quinn", Harley {{discusse|d}}s this trope when asked about whether the BigBad and his mooks will stay death. BreakingTheFourthWall, she answers that they are just actors that will come back home soon.

* ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'': At the end of the game, [[spoiler:the main characters wake up from [[CessationOfExistence their entire universe being deleted]] with no explanation of how they're still alive, or how their universe is still intact. Maria speculates on it for a minute, but the party ultimately decides to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere not worry about it and just go home]].]]
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': {{Downplayed}} in the mainline [=RPGs=]. After you beat the Elite Four, the game places you back outside your home at the beginning of the game. Played with in some entries, where you actually see your character make the long trek back home over the credits sequence that plays the first time you beat the game. This can be a bit frustrating if you're using the Elite Four for LevelGrinding a team for competitive since you just have to turn around and go right back.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration 2'': [[spoiler: [[BigBad Neue Regisseur]] pulls everyone back to Earth's Orbit where Neue fuses with the White Star becoming [[TrueFinalBoss Stern Regisseur]] and plans to ColonyDrop Earth]]
** In this particular case, it only happens in the "TrueFinalBoss [[MultipleEndings ending]]". The normal ending begins with the heroes essentially using a CombinedEnergyAttack-fueled teleporter to return home.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'': One minute, you're taking out the BigBad in [[StormingTheCastle his castle]], and the next, you're back in your homeworld in front of Tycoon Castle. [[spoiler: {{Subverted}} in that you're not back in your homeworld; you're on the new world created by merging the two worlds together. Also, you're only two-thirds through the plot]].
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': At the end of the game, after defeating [[BigBad Bowser]] and rescuing Peach, Bowser's galaxy explodes and destroys the universe. The Lumas all throw themselves inside the black hole that is tearing up the universe in an attempt to stop it, and after their sacrifice results in the birth of a completely new universe altogether, Rosalina appears and tells Mario that the material left from dead stars are actually used to create new ones, followed by him, Peach, and Bowser finding themselves back in the Mushroom Kingdom as if nothing even happened.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie: Bender's Game [[spoiler: After Mom gets the MacGuffin she, Fry, Leela, Hermes, Zoidberg and the rest return back to Earth.]]

* Happens twice in ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'': First when Johnny somehow escapes Scorpion's dimension, and then at the end when the heroes somehow escape Outworld.
* At the end of ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'', Mulder and Scully are stuck in Antarctica with a SnowCat with no gas and on the verge of consciousness. The next scene shows them back in Washington D.C. without any explanation as to how they got there. When this is brought up three seasons later by an admirer, Mulder and Scully comically bicker with each other and do not give a straight answer.

* Robert A. Heinlein's ''Literature/HaveSpacesuitWillTravel'' ends with the return to the protagonist's home.

* The last track of Music/{{Ayreon}}'s ''Into the Electric Castle'' describes the characters returning to their respective time periods without the memory of the Castle or Forever, but knowing that ''something'' happened.

* Happens if the {{PC}}s succeed in killing Lolth in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure Q1 ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits''.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', [[spoiler:the main characters wake up from [[CessationOfExistence their entire universe being deleted]] with no explanation of how they're still alive, or how their universe is still intact. Maria speculates on it for a minute, but the party ultimately decides to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere not worry about it and just go home]].]]
* Downplayed in the mainline ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' [=RPGs=]: after you beat the Elite Four, the game places you back outside your home at the beginning of the game. Played with in some entries, where you actually see your character make the long trek back home over the credits sequence that plays the first time you beat the game. This can be a bit frustrating, if you're using the Elite Four for LevelGrinding a team for competitive and like, since you just have to turn around and go right back.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration 2'' [[spoiler: [[BigBad Neue Regisseur]] pulls everyone back to Earth's Orbit where Neue fuses with the White Star becoming [[TrueFinalBoss Stern Regisseur]] and plans to ColonyDrop Earth]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'': One minute, you're taking out the BigBad in [[StormingTheCastle his castle]], and the next, you're back in your homeworld in front of Tycoon Castle. [[spoiler:Subverted in that you're not back in your homeworld; you're on the new world created by merging the two worlds together. Also, you're only two-thirds through the plot]].
* At the end of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', after defeating [[BigBad Bowser]] and rescuing Peach, Bowser's galaxy explodes and destroys the universe. The Lumas all throw themselves inside the black hole that is tearing up the universe as an attempt to stop it, and after their sacrifice results in the birth of a completely new universe altogether, Rosalina appears and tells Mario that the material left from dead stars are actually used to create new ones, followed by him, Peach, and Bowser finding themselves back in the Mushroom Kingdom as if nothing even happened.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', the split timelines are united ("fixed"), and everyone supposedly returns to their respective home, with Serge waking up at the Opassa Beach by Leena's side. Worth of note is that he can always flee from the FinalBattle if he so wish, but it's Schala's power that sends him back after the job is done.

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[[folder: Film]]

* At the end of ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'', Mulder and Scully are stuck in Antarctica with a SnowCat with no gas on the verge of consciousness. The next scene shows them back in Washington D.C. without any explanation to how they got there. When this is brought up three seasons later by an admirer, Mulder and Scully comically bicker with each other and do not give a straight answer.
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[[folder: Literature]]
* Robert A. Heinlein's ''Literature/HaveSpacesuitWillTravel'' ends with the return of the protagonists home.
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[[folder: Music]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG]]

-->After a short, dizzying, gut-twisting spin, they will black out, regaining consciousness somewhere on their own world...If characters delve into these events, they might learn that they were rescued by their gods as a reward for their services.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'': One minute, you're taking out the BigBad in [[StormingTheCastle his castle]], the next, you're back in your homeworld in front of Tycoon Castle. [[spoiler:Subverted in that you're not back in your homeworld; you're on the new world created by merging the two worlds together. Also, you're only two-thirds through the plot]].

* At the end of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', the split timelines are united ("fixed"), and everyone supposedly return to their respective home, with Serge waking up at the Opassa Beach by Leena's side. Worth of note is that he can always flee from the FinalBattle if he so wish, but it's Schala's power that sends him back after the job is done.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' video games do this every time you beat the Elite Four. Rather frustrating, especially if you're LevelGrinding and just have to turn around and go right back.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In the ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' movie [[spoiler:after the meteorite fragment is returned back to the meteorite, both Worlds start to fuse together, and Mario and Koopa arrive back in Brooklyn]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

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[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]