History Main / InternalRetcon

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' legend holds that an ancient hero saved Galar on the Darkest Day and was made king. This legend quickly falls apart, especially when an ancient mural is destroyed to reveal a statue commemorating the ''two'' heroes and the Pokémon who fought at their side. Post-game the descendants of the royal family admit that their ancestors deliberately covered up the statues, presumably to hog the glory for themselves.

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': "[[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS2E14SuchSweetSorrowPartTwo Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2]]" addresses sundry {{Continuity Snarl}}s the series created by [[spoiler:sending the USS ''Discovery and all its crew far into the future. Starfleet officially declares ''Discovery'' lost with all hands and classifies everything having to do with the ship OverTheTopSecret to prevent [[spoiler:Control from getting its hands on ''Discovery'' and causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the three-part opening arc of Season 2 involves a Bajoran hero named Li Nalas, famous for his single-handed defeat of an infamous Cardassian war criminal. As Li eventually explains to Sisko, he almost literally stumbled over said Cardassian as the latter was bathing, and shot as he was reaching for his own phaser. He related the events accurately, but because the Cardassian was so hated, his friends got it in their heads that it had been a heroic struggle and repeated this story all over Bajor, such that Li became a symbol for the Resistance, much to his own disdain. (However, over the course of the arc, it becomes clear that even if that particular story was heavily embellished, he ''does'' truly have heroic traits, ultimately culminating in [[spoiler:his making a HeroicSacrifice to save Sisko.]])

** In "To Live and Die in Dixie", the Griffins are relocated to a hick town when Chris sees a crook commit a robbery and Peter [[WhatAnIdiot gives the crook their address]]. The town holds an annual [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]] reenactment where Ulysses S. Grant is depicted as a drunkard who was easily defeated by Robert E. Lee. When Peter protests that the Union won, the townsfolk, particularly the ones who were actual Confederate soldiers, don't take it lying down.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Remember the {{cliffhanger}} of the first season, which was resolved by revealing that Eric Cartman's father was his own mother, who was actually a {{hermaphrodite}}? [[spoiler:It turned out that it was all a cover-up for the sake of the Denver Broncos, who didn't want to generate any controversy in an otherwise good year for them. The specific Bronco who fathered Cartman was actually Jack Tenorman, the right tackle of the team and the only Bronco who lived in South Park. He was bored during the week of the Drunken Barn Dance and had an affair with Cartman's mother. In a [[MoralEventHorizon sad]] bit of {{irony}}, Cartman only learned this long after he'd set up Jack and his legal wife to be killed and then ground them into chili, which he'd fed to Jack's legitimate son and Cartman's half-brother Scott Tenorman.]]

* In the ending of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory'', [[spoiler: Kou is initially court-martialed and receives a prison sentence for stealing the GP-03. All data on this Gundam and the other machines that were part of the Gundam Development Project are later deleted, in order to get rid of any evidence that the Federation was developing nuclear weapons. Kou is then released, as he can't have stolen a Gundam that doesn't exist.]]

* In ''Videogame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'', if you establish your gender as female or other, it is established as you having been said gender during the events of ''Videogame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'' but your parents were attempting to disguise you as a boy to hide you from the government. Even after you confirm your gender in-game the boys still think that you're just a strangely feminine boy, which is why they let you hang out with them.

** In "Road to Europe", Brian and Stewie go to Munich, and while riding a tour bus Brian points out that the travel brochures completely omit any mention of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The tour guide is infuriated by Brian's transgression and starts angrily yelling in German, [[ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject causing Brian to fearfully try to change the subject]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Remember the {{cliffhanger}} of the first season, which was resolved by revealing that Eric Cartman's father was his own mother, who was actually a {{hermaphrodite}}? [[spoiler:It turned out that it was all a cover-up for the sake of the Denver Broncos, who didn't want to generate any controversy in an otherwise good year for them. The specific Bronco who fathered Cartman was actually Jack Tenorman, the right tackle of the team and the only Bronco who lived in South Park. He was bored during the week of the Drunken Barn Dance and had an affair with Cartman's mother. In a [[MoralEventHorizon sad]] bit of {{irony}}, Cartman only learned this long after he'd set up Jack and his legal wife to be killed and then ground them into chili, which he'd fed to Jack's legitimate son and Cartman's half-broter Scott Tenorman.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Great Diamond Authority leading the Homeworld Gems have been apparently doing their best to cover up how badly things went for them in the Rebellion. They even went as far as to [[spoiler:UnPerson Pink Diamond after Rose Quartz allegedly shattered her, to the point that only Rebellion veterans seem to remember that she existed ''at all'',]].

** In "To Live and Die in Dixie" the Griffins are relocated to a hick town when Chris sees a crook commit a robbery and Peter [[WhatAnIdiot gives the crook their address]]. The town holds an annual [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]] reenactment where Ulysses S. Grant is depicted as a drunkard who was easily defeated by Robert E. Lee. When Peter protests that the Union won, the townsfolk, particularly the ones who were actual Confederate soldiers, don't take it lying down.
** In "Road to Europe" Brian and Stewie go to Munich, and while riding a tour bus Brian points out that the travel brochures completely omit any mention of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The tour guide is infuriated by Brian's transgression and starts angrily yelling in German.

** The Elves: Despite the EnslavedElves of [[TheEmpire Tevinter]] fighting alongside [[CrystalDragonJesus Andraste]], the Chantry's "Bride of the Maker," to free all of Southern Thedas (human and elf alike) from [[TheMagocracy Tevinter's]] iron grip, a few centuries later the Chantry [[UnPerson struck Andraste's elven general Shartan out of all historical and religious texts and declared any mention of him blasphemy]], just because of their war against the Elven Dales. Even after forcibly converting the entire elven race to either convert to Chantry worship or hide out in the woods, the Chantry refuses to acknowledge any past elven heroes, going so far as to RaceLift [[spoiler:Ameridan, an elven mage dual-Creators/Maker worshiper from the Dales who lived shortly before the Fall of the Dales]] to a devout Andrastian human muggle because it fit their own ideal image.

** They also do this to ''[[CrystalDragonJesus Andraste herself]]''. One Chantry sister, in the first game, comments on how current Chantry preachers would have you believe that Andraste converted most of Southern Thedas and defeated [[TheMagocracy Tevinter]] by handing out flowers and singing, when in actuality she was a ruthless ''[[GoodIsNotNice war general]]'' who defeated her enemies through [[WarIsHell brutal war campaigns]].

* A story in ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' deals with a child growing up in the Zirr Empire, an alien regime that keeps getting into conflict with the [[TheFantasticFaux First Family]], a superhero team. The Family are constantly framed as aggressors standing in the way of galactic peace, who have been trounced by the Zirr on every occasion (barring the tragic death of their Prince). But as the story goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that the Zirr's take on the Family is a fabrication, and most of their victories were nothing of the sort. The instigating event of the story is the Zirr abducting a "war criminal" (actually just the wife of a member of the Family, who has no powers) and putting her into trial-by-combat, and they frame the Family attempting to rescue her as "a treacherous and undeclared act of aggression." At the end of the issue, the news broadcast claims that the Family left because the Emperor decided to grant them mercy and exile them, and they destroyed a piece of artwork in the throne room in a fit of pique. However, the child, who understands the language the broadcast isn't bothering to translate, realizes that the "artwork" was a vital piece of communications tech, and its destruction will leave their military crippled for some time.

* A story in ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' deals with a child growing up in the Zirr Empire, an alien regime that keeps getting into conflict with the [[FantasticFaux First Family]], a superhero team. The Family are constantly framed as aggressors standing in the way of galactic peace, who have been trounced by the Zirr on every occasion (barring the tragic death of their Prince). But as the story goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that the Zirr's take on the Family is a fabrication, and most of their victories were nothing of the sort. The instigating event of the story is the Zirr abducting a "war criminal" (actually just the wife of a member of the Family, who has no powers) and putting her into trial-by-combat, and they frame the Family attempting to rescue her as "a treacherous and undeclared act of aggression." At the end of the issue, the news broadcast claims that the Family left because the Emperor decided to grant them mercy and exile them, and they destroyed a piece of artwork in the throne room in a fit of pique. However, the child, who understands the language the broadcast isn't bothering to translate, realizes that the "artwork" was a vital piece of communications tech, and its destruction will leave their military crippled for some time.

Subtrope of, and is most likely to happen when history is, WrittenByTheWinners. UnPerson is a variety where individuals are "retconned away". DeceasedFallGuyGambit is another form of this. For when the past isn't so much completely changed as painted in a more favorable or less favorable light, see TreacheryCoverUp and HistoricalVillainUpgrade. When this trope is about constantly denied fears or threats, then it is NoMereWindmill. If the authorities ''literally'' change the past, that's a CosmicRetcon. Not to be confused with the Doylist OrwellianRetcon, where later editions of earlier parts of the work are changed to fit into the retcon.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Lie of the Land", the aliens that have taken over Earth brainwash everyone with propaganda that they have always been there, guiding the evolution of humanity and civilization. People who disagree with the so-called "True History" are arrested by the Memory Police and sent to a forced labor camp.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Lie of the Land," the aliens that have taken over Earth brainwash everyone with propaganda that they have always been there, guiding the evolution of humanity and civilization. People who disagree with this history are arrested by the Memory Police and sent to a forced labor camp.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' the Third Hokage made it illegal for anyone to talk about the Kyuubi being sealed into Naruto in an attempt to give him a normal childhood. The children were simply told that the Fourth had defeated the Kyuubi.

** The Chantry also does this for minor personal details, such as your love interests. In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', if the PlayerCharacter is male and romances [[GayOption Dorian]], Dorian can remark at one point that he wonders how long [[BuryYourGays before the Chantry writes]] ''[[BuryYourGays that]]'' [[BuryYourGays part out of retellings]] of the Inquisitor's life, though not so much because they're both men but because Dorian is from the Tevinter Imperium, who are pretty much considered heretical by the Southern Chantry.[[labelnote:*]]Mainly because they have their ''own'' version of the Chantry, who both considers the "Southern" Chantry heretical and is in turn considered heretical by the Southern Chantry themselves. Suffice to say they're not on good terms at all.[[/labelnote]]

** The Chantry also does this for minor personal details, like [[BuryYourGays sexuality]]. In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', if the PlayerCharacter is male and romances [[GayOption Dorian]], Dorian can remark at one point that he wonders how long before the Chantry writes ''that'' part out of retellings of the Inquisitor's life?
*** That probably has to do with the fact he's from Tevinter and nothing to do with the fact they're both men.