History Main / InternalRetcon

* The StarWarsExpandedUniverse introduced [[JediAcademyTrilogy Admiral Daala]], one of the few high-ranking women in the Empire, and [[NeverASelfMadeWoman Tarkin's lover]]. [[InformedAbility Said to be a genius]], she turned out to be an extraordinary GeneralFailure, able to snatch defeat from even the easiest of victories. She once wasted a prime chance for a surprise attack, when ''no one'' knew she and her fleet were there, in order to wipe out a civilian colony for no reason beyond letting people know [[KickTheDog who the villain was]]. The novel DeathStar, set before and during ANewHope, establishes that Daala suffered severe brain damage in a shuttle crash.

-->'''''SouthPark''''', "[[MilestoneCelebration 200]]"

* [[FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn]] has you trying to prevent war from racing across the world in order to keep the evil goddess Yune [[SealedEvilInACan sealed within the Fire Emblem.]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption She wakes up anyway,]] but you learn that she's [[OrderVersusChaos chaotic, not evil.]] Her KnightTemplar counterpart is [[{{Instrumentality}} pretty nutty though.]] The only surviving person who knows what actually happened in the first place is the [[ThatOneBoss king of the Dragons,]] and he's the one who fabricated all sorts of stories and villified the chaos god. Why? [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption To prevent war from breaking out in the first place!]]

** The most extreme example of ret-conning is during Hate Week, when the orator who is busily lauding their ally Eastasia and condemning their enemy Eurasia switches the name of the two mid pause. As the crowd gradually realises that the celebratory flags and decorations of Eastasia are all around, they tear them down, supposing that saboteurs must have arranged for them to be put up. After all, "We've always been at war with Eastasia!"

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* Persons who witness [[AliensInCardiff alien incursions in Cardiff, Wales]] are entitled to 1 (one) free drink courtesy of [[TorchWood Captain Jack Harkness]] and a warning to get home quickly before the [[IncrediblyLamePun Retcon they just took internally]] takes effect.

* A big part of how ''MenInBlack'' works is that agents use Neuralyzers to wipe people's memories of alien encounters, replacing these memories with more plausible ones. When first involved in the use of one, WillSmith gets mad at TommyLeeJones for making a woman believe that her husband left her instead of getting killed and his body used by an alien, and promptly narrates a different RetCon stating that she kicked him out, that she's happy she kicked him out, and that now she wants to go shopping for nice things.

* The StarWarsExpandedUniverse introduced [[JediAcademyTrilogy Admiral Daala]], one of the few high-ranking women in the Empire, and [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily Tarkin's lover]]. [[InformedAbility Said to be a genius]], she turned out to be an extraordinary GeneralFailure, able to snatch defeat from even the easiest of victories. She once wasted a prime chance for a surprise attack, when ''no one'' knew she and her fleet were there, in order to wipe out a civilian colony for no reason beyond letting people know [[KickTheDog who the villain was]]. The novel DeathStar, set before and during ANewHope, establishes that Daala suffered severe brain damage in a shuttle crash.

* The government in ''{{1984}}'' engages in this trope liberally. In fact the protagonist Winston Smith works at the [=RecDep=] of the Ministry of Truth, who are responsible for "correcting historical records" (ie, editing and censoring anything that disagrees with The Party's current statements.)

* One of these is integral in making the ending of ''{{Watchmen}}'' work — [[spoiler:and the one character who refuses to go along with the plan is naturally killed]].

* The government in ''1984'' engages in this trope liberally. In fact the protagonist Winston Smith works at the [=RecDep=] of the Ministry of Truth, who are responsible for "correcting historical records" (ie, editing and censoring anything that disagrees with The Party's current statements.)

* Nothing particularly interesting happened in [[NightmareOnElmStreet Springwood, Ohio]], in 1974. Nothing of great interest happened in the years between 1984 and [[FreddyVsJason 2003 either]].

* The StarWarsExpandedUniverse introduced [[JediAcademyTrilogy Admiral Daala]], one of the few high-ranking women in the Empire, and [[FemaleSucessIsFamily Tarkin's lover]]. [[InformedAbility Said to be a genius]], she turned out to be an extraordinary GeneralFailure, able to snatch defeat from even the easiest of victories. She once wasted a prime chance for a surprise attack, when ''no one'' knew she and her fleet were there, in order to wipe out a civilian colony for no reason beyond letting people know [[KickTheDog who the villain was]]. The novel DeathStar, set before and during ANewHope, establishes that Daala suffered severe brain damage in a shuttle crash.

* An open-ended example occurs in ''OrderOfTheStick'' where [[spoiler:Haley agrees to act as if her "leaving" the Thieves' Guild was a highly elaborate ploy to make adventurers everywhere hesitant to accept a Thief without Guild approval in their party lest that Thief turn out to be a secret assassin. It's open-ended because Haley kills Crystal and leaves the Thieves' Guild again—but it likely isn't in Bazzok's current interest to undo the Retcon, since it would also undo the public relations scheme]].
** Ironically in the prequel book it turns out [[spoiler: Roy wouldn't hire a non-guild thief already, and she had to show him a forged membership card to get in the party in the first place.]]

[[AC:{{Live Action TV}}]]
* Persons who witness [[AliensInCardiff alien incursions in Cardiff, Wales]] are entitled to 1 (one) free drink courtesy of [[TorchWood Captain Jack Harkness]] and a warning to get home quickly before the [[IncrediblyLamePun Retcon they just took internally]] takes effect.

* The Star Wars EU introduced Admiral Daala, one of the few female admirals of the empire who possessed a lot of InformedAbility and could snatch defeat from even the easiest of victories. The novel DeathStar, set just before a New Hope, establish that Daala suffered severe brain damage from a shuttle crash.

* The government in ''1984'' engages in this trope liberally. In fact the protagonist Winston Smith works at the RecDep of the Ministry of Truth, who are responsible for "correcting historical records" (ie, editing and censoring anything that disagrees with The Party's current statements.)

* Batman in ''TheDarkKnight'' willingly takes the blame for Two-Face's crimes in order to preserve Harvey Dent's image (and thus all the criminal convictions he racked up) and to restore hope to the people of Gotham and Commissioner Gordon reluctantly goes along with this plan.

* Batman in ''TheDarkKnight'' willingly takes the blame for Two-Face's crimes in order to preserve Harvey Dent's image and to restore hope to the people of Gotham and Commissioner Gordon reluctantly goes along with this plan.

* A big part of how ''MenInBlack'' works is that agents use Neuralyzers to wipe people's memories of alien encounters, replacing these memories with more plausible ones. When first involved in the use of one, WillSmith gets mad at TommyLeeJones for making a woman believe that her husband left her instead of getting possessed by aliens, and promptly narrates a different RetCon stating that she kicked him out, that she's happy she kicked him out, and that now she wants to go shopping for nice things.

* [[FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn]] has you trying to prevent war from racing across the world in order to keep the evil goddess Yune [[SealedEvilInACan sealed within the Fire Emblem.]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption She wakes up anyway,]] but you learn that she's [[OrderVersusChaos chaotic, not evil.]] Her KnightTemplar counterpart is [[{{Instrumentality}} pretty nutty though.]] The only surviving person who had all the details is the [[ThatOneBoss king of the Dragons,]] and he fabricated all sorts of stories and villified the chaos god to prevent war from breaking out in the first place.

* [[FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: ''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn'']] has you trying to prevent war from racing across the world in order to keep the evil goddess Yune [[SealedEvilInACan sealed within the Fire Emblem.]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption She wakes up anyway,]] but you learn that she's [[OrderVersusChaos chaotic, not evil.]] Her KnightTemplar counterpart is [[{{Instrumentality}} pretty nutty though.]] The only surviving person who had all the details is the [[ThatOneBoss king of the Dragons,]] and he fabricated all sorts of stories and villified the chaos god to prevent war from breaking out in the first place.

* [[FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: ''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn'']] has you trying to prevent war from racing across the world in order to keep the evil goddess Yune [[SealedEvilInACan sealed within the Fire Emblem.]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption She wakes up anyway,]] but you learn that she's [[LawVersusChaos chaotic, not evil.]] Her KnightTemplar counterpart is [[Instrumentality pretty nutty though.]] The only surviving person who had all the details is the [[ThatOneBoss king of the Dragons,]] and he fabricated all sorts of stories and villified the chaos god to prevent war from breaking out in the first place.

{{UnPerson}} is a variety where ''someone'' is "retconned away". See TreacheryCoverUp for another sub-trope.

* In the Kinky Friedman novel ''Armadillos and Old Lace'' this trope may be the motive for murder.

* ''TheSimpsons'': Armin Tamzarian was legally declared the one and only Seymour Skinner, and nobody was ever to mention it again under peanalty of law.