History Main / NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe

* TimeTravel related example from ''FateStayNight'': [[spoiler:Archer, Emiya Shirou's]] future self is unidentifiable as such, because overuse of his magic has resulted in every distinguishing feature he has being changed. His hair and eyes and even ''skin colour'' are now different. The one constant? ''Eyebrows''. Oh, and facial structure, which would work if [[spoiler:Archer]] weren't such a tightwad all the time. Or if [[OnlySixFaces everyone didn't have almost the same face.]]

* Inverted in the 1960 version of ''TheTimeMachine'' (this troper, not having seen the 2002 remake, doesn't know whether it has a similar scene). During his trip through time, George stops briefly in the year 1917 and meets James Filby, son of his good friend David Filby. When George meets James a second time during a stop in the 1960s, James is visibly shocked by the realization that George's appearance--including his outfit--hasn't changed at all in the 45 or so years since the two last met.

* ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The younger Zuko portrayed in flashbacks (particularly from The Storm and Zuko Alone) doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He appears to be kind-hearted, mostly passive, and respectful of those above his rank ([[CompleteMonster unless, of course, they suggest essentially murdering their own solders for no apparent reason other then their own amusement]]), [[NotSoDifferent not unlike Aang himself]]. Cut to two years later, after being permanently scarred, disowned by [[WellDoneSonGuy the only parent]] [[ParentalAbandonment he has left]], had his right to the thrown revoked and presumably given to his [[ParentalFavoritism sociopath of a sister]], set out to sea with a crew who hates his guts, encountering failure after failure in his goal, and having to now chase around some speedy little brat and his friends all over the world with little success. Oh, did we mention he [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lost his honor?]]

*** The shanty song "The Mariner's Revenge Song" by [[TheDecemberists The Decemberists]] tells a tale of two men trapped in the stomach of a whale, but one has a [[MyNameisInigoMontoya last tale to tell the other]].

** There's an English ballad called "John Riley" with the same plot. (Although apparently some versions have a final verse where after he [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean gets what he came for]] he's revealed [[TheMartinGuerre not to be John Riley after all]].)

* One notable real life example: Syd Barrett, after being apart from his bandmates in PinkFloyd for a number of years, walked anonymously in to one of their recording sessions. The formerly lithe and wavy-haired pop idol had become quite overweight and completely bald, and was not recognized by his old friends for the better part of an hour. Reportedly, the song being recorded when Syd walked in happened to be a tribute to him.

** Actually, at the start of the series it's been two years since he was exiled, not since his mom disappeared (that was probably more like 5-10 years, given how young he and Azula were in those flashbacks)

-> '''Sweeney Todd:''' The years, no doubt, have changed me, sir. But I suppose the face of a barber...the face of a prisoner in the dock...is not particularly memorable.\\

* ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The younger Zuko portrayed in flashbacks (particularly from The Storm and Zuko Alone) doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He appears to be kind-hearted, mostly passive, and respectful of those above his rank ([[CompleteMonster unless, of course, they suggest essentially murdering their own solders for no apparent reason other then their own amusement]]), not unlike Aang himself. Cut to two years later, after being permanently scarred, disowned by [[WellDoneSonGuy the only parent]] [[ParentalAbandonment he has left]], had his right to the thrown revoked and presumably given to his [[ParentalFavoritism sociopath of a sister]], set out to sea with a crew who hates his guts, encountering failure after failure in his goal, and having to now chase around some speedy little brat and his friends all over the world with little success. Oh, did we mention he [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lost his honor?]]

* ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The younger Zuko portrayed in flashbacks (particularly from The Storm and Zuko Alone) doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He appears to be kind-hearted, mostly passive, and respectful of those above his rank (unless, of course, they suggest essentially murdering their own solders for no apparent reason other then their own amusement), not unlike Aang himself. Cut to two years later, after being permanently scarred, disowned by [[WellDoneSonGuy the only parent]] [[ParentalAbandonment he has left]], had his right to the thrown revoked and presumably given to his [[ParentalFavoritism sociopath of a sister]], set out to sea with a crew who hates his guts, encountering failure after failure in his goal, and having to now chase around a speedy kid and his friends all over the world with little success. Oh, did we mention he [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking lost his honor?]]

* ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The younger Zuko portrayed in flashbacks (particularly from The Storm and Zuko Alone) doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He appears to be kind-hearted, mostly passive, and respectful of those above his rank (unless, of course, they suggest essentially murdering their own solders for no apparent reason other then their own amusement), not unlike Aang himself. Cut to two years later, after being permanently scarred, disowned by the only parent his has left, had his right to the thrown revoked and presumably given to his [[ParentalFavoritism sociopath of a sister]], set out to sea with a crew who hates his guts, encountering failure after failure in his goal, and having to now chase around a speedy kid and his friends all over the world with little success. Oh, did we mention he lost his honor?

* A very unusual example: in Andrzej Sapkowski's [[TheWitcher Witcher]] Cycle: Emhyr var Emereis, [[EvilOverlord Emperor of Nilfgaard]] and one of the main antagonists from the second book onwards, turns out to have been [[spoiler: Duny, a fairly likable cursed prince whom Geralt, the main character, helped during one of the early stories. What's more, Duny didn't seek revenge at all; rather, he just happened to be the exiled prince of [[TheEmpire Nilfgaard]] rather than a more innocuous kingdom, not to mention enough of a {{Magnificent Bastard}} to reclaim his throne and launch a {{Xanatos Gambit}} to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over]]/[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans save the world]].]] Not too long after the Reveal (Geralt actually somehow recognising him when they finally meet face to face), the Emperor [[spoiler:pretty much abandons his pursuit of the heroes and also signs peace with the Northern Kingdoms, ceasing to be an antagonist (it's not nearly as absurd or anticlimactic as it sounds, mind you)]].

* ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The younger Zuko portrayed in flashbacks (particularly from The Storm and Zuko Alone) doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He appears to be kind-hearted, mostly passive, and respectful of those above his rank (unless, of course, they suggest essentially murdering their own solders for no apparent reason other then their own amusement), not unlike Aang himself. Cut to two years later, after being permanently scarred, disowned by the only parent his has left, had his right to the thrown revoked and presumably given to his [[TheFavorite sociopath of a sister]], set out to sea with a crew who hates his guts, encountering failure after failure in his goal, and having to now chase around a speedy kid and his friends all over the world with little success. Oh, did we mention he lost his honor?

* ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The younger Zuko portrayed in flashbacks (particularly from The Storm and Zuko Alone) doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He appears to be kind-hearted, mostly passive, and respectful of those above his rank (unless, of course, they suggest essentially murdering their own solders for no apparent reason other then their own amusement), not unlike Aang himself. Cut to two years later, after being permanently scarred, disowned by the only parent his has left, had his right to the thrown revoked and presumably given to his sociopath of a sister, set out to sea with a crew who hates his guts, encountering failure after failure in his goal, and having to now chase around a speedy kid and his friends all over the world with little success. Oh, did we mention he lost his honor?

'''Sweeney Todd:''' spoiler: BENJAMIN BARKER!!!

'''Judge Turpin:''' [''[[OhCrap in immense shock]]''] [[spoiler:Benjamin...Barker!]]\\
'''Sweeney Todd:''' [[spoiler: BENJAMIN BARKER!!!]]

* Parodied in BackToTheFuture Part II: When Doc Brown returns from the future to pick up Marty in the beginning, he's wearing a latex mask of himself so Marty will recognize him, as he's received rejuvenation treatments. When he takes off the mask, telling Marty to brace himself for a surprise, he looks exactly the same.

* In ThePrincessBride Rugen is surprised to recognize [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya Inigo Montoya]] as the young boy whose father he killed.

* {{Bones}} took a while to recognize her father when he first reappeared. Justified in that he also had some plastic surgery done to hide his identity, being a wanted felon.

* Happens in VandalHearts 2 when the hero runs across a prostitute in a large city who turns out to be his little sister, Rosaly. His childhood friend Clive is her protector. He then finds the ousted king and current drunken lout, Nicola, at the same pub. Small world.

* In ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'', very few people realize that Child Link and Adult Link are the same person (and mostly the ones who do are the ones in on the plan to fight Ganondorf). Justified in the case of his Kokiri Friends - they thought that Link was one of them and no Kokiri child grows up. This is also used in ''Majora's Mask'', when Link fails to recognize [[spoiler:the Skull Kid as the one he met in ''Ocarina of Time'']], but then it was a rather brief encounter and entirely optional at that.

** And then there's the infamous exchange from TheMovie of the G1 series;

--> ''' Galvatron''': [[BackFromTheDead HERE'S A HINT!]] (kills him)

* One notable real life example: Syd Barrett, after being apart from his bandmates in Pink Floyd for a number of years, walked anonymously in to one of their recording sessions. The formerly lithe and wavy-haired pop idol had become quite overweight and completely bald, and was not recognized by his old friends for the better part of an hour. Reportedly, the song being recorded when Syd walked in happened to be a tribute to him.

* Another variant is in Guy de Maupassant's story ''The Necklace'', where a woman who borrowed some jewelry from a rich friend lost it and had to take menial and laborious jobs to pay for it. The story explicitly states that the years of hard work are not kind to the lady, and when she eventually runs into the rich friend she is not recognized. [[spoiler: And then to add insult to injury, it turns out the jewelry was cheap costume stuff.]]

* The {{Flashman}} novel ''Flashman and the Redskins'' starts out with Flashman as a young man in America under an assumed identity and then has a second part in which he returns several years later under his own identity, as as a person of importance. In the first part, he betrays a woman and sells her into sexual slavery, and she returns in the second part to take revenge in this style.