History Main / PastLifeMemories

* One of the most well-known cases in the West is James Leininger, whose supposed previous life as a WW2 pilot James Hudson (Who died during the battle of Iwo Jima) initially gave him horrible recurring nightmares, so his parents could not just dismiss it as imagination or overlook it. Another well known case is Ryan Hammons, who recalled a life of Hollywood extra, later a succesful talent agency owner, Marty Martyn. Both of these cases are detailed in the documentary series ''Series/SurvivingDeath''.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' many male channelers develop a form of insanity that results in a breakdown of the barriers between their past lives and their current life. For most, this results in simple insanity. However, Rand, who TheHero and TheChosenOne of the series, is able to take advantage of knowledge and skills gained from his past life even as it is slowly driving him into a SplitPersonality insanity. [[spoiler: Rand eventually undergoes a SplitPersonalityMerge, causing him to gain all the memories and knowledge of his previous incarnation, making him much more powerful.]]

* Cinderheart in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' has memories of her past life as Cinderpelt, but she has only ever shown signs of remembering them in her dreams, or recalls her past life subconsciously; for example, Cinderpelt's former apprentice Leafpool notes Cinderheart flicks her paw in the same way Cinderpelt did, as well as another character once thinking she was acting WiseBeyondHerYears, and Cinderheart remembering the distance between the Great Sycamore and [=ThunderClan=]'s camp in the Forest, even though she had been born after the Clans had left the Forest. Eventually - after a night of dreaming about Cinderpelt's life - she is told[=/=]realizes who she really is.

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reincarnation_of_Peter_Proud_(novel) The Reincarnation of Peter Proud]]''. A man has nightmares about being murdered. He investigates and finds out that he was indeed murdered in a previous life. Later made into TheFilmOfTheBook.
* While Returned in ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' don't retain memories of their human lives, they do keep any skills they may have possessed. Also, as they draw close to doing (or not doing) the thing that they came back to accomplish, they may get flashbacks to their human life.

* All of the reborn Companions of the Hall in ''Literature/CompanionsCodex'' are fully aware of their previous lives, with all experiences included. This sometimes causes problems for them in ''The Companions'', because they need to remember to act like children, not their adult selves.
* In ''Literature/ADogsPurpose'', the protagonist has all of his past memories no matter how many times he reincarnates.
* In the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', Sormo E'nath and the other [[ChildMage child warlocks]] retain all their memories, knowledge and skills from [[{{Reincarnation}} their previous lives]] and have no need to be taught anything, enabling them to serve in Fist Coltaine's army at the tender age of ten or below in their current life.

* In the works of Creator/MichaelMoorcock, this is how John Daker starts to receive the message that he is Erekose, the latest manifestation of the Eternal Champion: dreams and memories of past or alternate lives start to surface.

* The Nameless One can do this in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. In fact, everything you learn in the game (ability wise) is actually the Nameless One remembering old fighting, thievery, and magic skills he had in his previous lives except for a very few times when an NPC teaches you something new.
* In ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', [[spoiler: Heather]] occasionally has [[spoiler: Alessa]]'s memories, even before she discovers she is her reincarnation. Some of the memories might also be [[spoiler: Cheryl's.]]
* A major plot point in ''VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': For Hieda no Akyuu, it's one part this and one part GeneticMemory, as she constantly reincarnates into her own bloodline (like certain figures in RealLife religions).

* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' this is effectively the case for [[spoiler: Ringabel being Alternis Dim. His 'life' as Dim ended when he [[TraumaInducedAmnesia lost his memory]] and fell through the Holy Pillar of his world. He acknowledges he ''is'' a version of the Dark Knight, and later journal entries have him becoming more accustomed to the idea, at one point describing the fifth world's Alternis as 'my past self'. Oddly, the third world's version of Alternis thinks of Ringabel as an ''earlier'' version of himself because he lacks the anger and self-loathing that Alternis expresses after crossing the DespairEventHorizon at the death of that world's Edea.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' titles, this is a bad thing. The protagonist, Soma Cruz, is the next incarnation of Dracula's soul, and if he gains too much of his past life's memories, he will lose his own identity and become the King of Vampires all over again. This happens in the bad ending of both games (losing to Chaos in ''Aria'', watching Mina die in ''Dawn''), and unlocks an alternate storyline where Julius Belmont has to take him down.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', the angara, a race native to the Andromeda galaxy, believe in reincarnation. In one mission, you have to trigger memories of a past life within a modern angara by having him touch a glove that was worn by his previous life. Not only is it successful, but the resulting memories are accurate enough that he's even able to lead you to the mummified remains of his previous life. Milky Way scientists are baffled, but theorize that GeneticMemory was at play.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Actually "Parallel Life Memories". Ellen was given memories of a version of herself from another universe to alleviate the stress of being an OppositeSexClone and, supposedly, prevent her from going insane due to how [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls]] work. She gained great singing skill from this, as well as the experience of losing her virginity. She is still technically a virgin in the main universe, though.
** Also a variant with fairies. As part of their periodic reincarnations, a fairy can magically encode important memories to be passed on to their next self, preserving any information they think they will need. However, these memories are experienced at one remove, as if the fairy were reading them in a book or watching a movie.
* In ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'', Misho Thrice-Radiant, a Solar, recalls his past life with perfect clarity due to taking both the "past life memory" and "eidetic memory" perks. However, for some reason he cannot recall anything of his current life before exaltation.
* In ''Webcomic/AmongTheChosen'' Aleph Stevens [[PosthumousCharacter was]] a "conditional past-life regressor" who used memories of her past lives to assist anthropologists. [[spoiler: She's also Jason Whitehouse's previous incarnation.]]
* In ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'', [[spoiler:Layla's]] past life memories as an evil vampire queen are reawakened [[spoiler:when the bit of the queen that was inside her sister Nina was transferred to Layla]]. Said memories eventually start to overwrite Layla's memories [[spoiler:to the point that she doesn't even remember Nina's name.]]
* In ''WebComic/SailorMoonCosmosArc'', after [[spoiler: Chibiusa]] breaks her brainwashing, she starts getting the memories back of [[spoiler: her previous time-traveling incarnation]], who had disappeared via TemporalParadox.
[[/folder]]

* [[PersonOfMassDestruction Tennyo]] from the Literature/WhateleyUniverse is slowly remembering the life of the Star Stalker.
* In WebAnimation/PeteraDzive, Peter, the title character, tells of how his grandfather recommended drinking booze mixed with toothpaste to improve memory. Peter tries this and realizes that he was a cactus in his past life.

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' gains memories of her previous life as Princess Serenity, and all the Senshi gain their memories of their lives during the Silver Millennium. The completeness of these memories depends on the individual senshi and the version of the series.
* Eclair from ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' starts to remember her past lives after a few dodgy missions. All the others "reincarnated" characters never lose theirs to begin with.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Juudai remembered the vow he made in his past life to love only Yubel when he inflicts damage on her through her Duel Monsters avatar. It's implied strongly that remembering this vow also restores his love for her.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': The outcome of the previous iteration in the GroundhogDayLoop flash in Madoka's dream. It's also seen in an earlier timeline, when she starts to recall Homura's name despite not having met her yet. Later, she gets a "mental static" during a certain event with Homura. Then things snowball into her AbstractApotheosis.
* ''Manga/TenYoriMoHoshiYoriMo'' involves ReincarnationRomance. The three leads were in a love triangle in their past lives ''and'' their current ones, but only one of them remembers what happened clearly. (Or so he says)
* Einhart of ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'' gets these from her ancestor Hegemon Ingvalt, although she's quick to mention that she's her own person and not a continued existence of Ingvalt. Before the series, she only receives memories of his regrets of not being able prevent Sankt Kaiser Olivie's HeroicSacrifice during the Ancient Belka Wars, but after Einhart meets and becomes friends with [[CloneJesus Olivie's clone]], Vivio, she starts gaining memories of his happier times with Olivie.

* ''Manga/SpiritCircle'' has the main character, Fuuta, reliving his seven last lives as a major part of the story. In fact, most chapters are focused on following each incarnations' life.
* In ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'', Ken Murata retains the memories of Shinou's Great Wise Man from 4000 years ago, as well as the memories of all the lives he's lived in between then and now. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] when it's revealed that he was in psychological therapy as a kid because of the serious personal identity issues this caused him.
* ''Franchise/KagerouProject'': This is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:Shintaro Kisaragi]]'s power in the [[Anime/MekakucityActors anime's]] 8th episode. [[spoiler:He very suddenly remembers every timeline ever experienced (including the other events of the light novel, manga and music videos) when his power manifests itself properly. The memories play an essential role in the happy ending]].
* An important trope in ''LightNovel/SeikenTsukaiNoWorldBreak''. The students at the school are heroes from a past life reincarnated, and as such, they retain the memories, along with the weapons their past selves used.

* ''Anime/DaisukiBuBuChacha'': Chacha, despite being reincarnated into a toy car, still retains all his previous memories from when he's still alive.
* Tamura from ''Manga/BokuraNoHentai'' thinks he has memories of a past life as a nymphomanic woman. This is subverted as, in reality, [[spoiler:they're his repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse resurfacing]].
* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' After receiving a head injury at the age of 8, Katarina regains her memories as the "monkey girl", a high school student and otaku from modern-day Japan who died at 17 in a traffic accident. Within these memories are farming experiences with her grandmother, a talent for climbing and knowledge of the otome game ''Fortune Lover'', which Katarina uses to alter events in order to avoid the BadFuture ensured for her in the game itself. These awakened memories have also caused a MentalFusion within Katarina, combining the monkey girl's BlitheSpirit with Katarina's original [[SpoiledBrat bratty]] attitude to create the current Katarina's kind personality. [[spoiler:The monkey girl's best friend Atsuko also reincarnated into the game as Sophia, though their memories only come to her when she's asleep and she quickly forgets them when she wakes up.]]

* Subverted by Creator/MarvelComics' Starhawk. He lives his life in a GroundhogDayLoop, returning to birth every time he dies. So he remembers his past life, but it's identical to his current life.

* ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'': Torquemada starts to remember the lives of his previous incarnations because [[spoiler:Thoth is killing them off one by one as revenge.]]

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* In ''Bringing Me To Life'' [[spoiler: Max starts to have dreams of his past life as Neo.]]
* ''Fanfic/CastlevaniaNocturneOfRuin'': OriginalCharacter Mariabella Fox, who is soon revealed to be the reincarnation of Maria Renard, starts getting flashes of memory and knowledge during her time in Castlevania, first by knowing the names of Death's CoDragons, then by being an InstantExpert with magic, and finally having flashbacks to Maria's life.
* In the ''Fanfic/TheShadowWars'' universe, several character relationships hinge on conscious or unconscious past life memories.
** Most notably, it's why Princess Luna [[ReincarnationRomance falls in love]] with Twilight Sparkle; Twilight was Luna's [[TrueLove beloved]] [[GenderBender ''husband'']] Dusk Skyshine during Luna's incarnation as Moondreamer.
** Twilight's OddFriendship with Rainbow Dash stems from the same source: back when Twilight was Dusk Skyshine, Rainbow was Dusk's best friend Dash Firehooves.
** Pinkie Pie instantly recognizes Twilight Sparkle as a reincarnation of her best friend Minty from the World That Was Not. (Pinkie, due to her origins and relationship with [[DeusEstMachina The Paradise Entity]], has semi-conscious access to many of her past-life memories).
** A [[DarkerAndEdgier particularly nasty]] version of this happens to Dissy, the [[UsedToBeASweetKid young (and benevolent)]] son of Shady, when he is claimed and consumed by the [[DarkSide ''true'' incarnation]] of his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Cosmic Self]] -- which [[MeaningfulRename prefers to be called Discord]].
* The ''Vocaloid'' fanfic ''Fanfic/RottingCamellias'' has Miku [[spoiler: dreaming of her past life as a mage with Luka and Meiko.]]
* In the ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' fic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6082452/chapters/20673787 Cyclical]]'', experience from her past incarnation briefly flares through Rukia's head when she first taps into her spiritual energy. (Unfortunately, her mind may have centuries worth of combat training, but her body does not.)

* ''Webcomic/ATaleOfTwoRulers'':
** Ganondorf awakened his past life memories in his teens.
** Zelda has memories of past lives, but they're fleeting and not as clear as Ganondorf's.

* ''Fanfic/FlashbackMHA'' has Izuku receiving these after obtaining One For All, allowing him to develop Full Cowl and Shoot Style far earlier than he did in canon. [[spoiler:After all, this One For All was used by him in a BadFuture before being passed down to Eri, who used it to travel back in time and gave it back to Izuku.]]

* The film ''Film/DeadAgain'' has a hypnotist who specializes in PastLifeRegression hypnotherapy of his subjects -- to help them overcome psychological obstacles, and to help him find and procure antiques they encountered in their previous lives. He even does it to the film's protagonsists.
* There's a film called ''Film/UncleBoonmeeWhoCanRecallHisPastLives''. Although, surprisingly given the title, Boonmee does not remember his past lives other than once when he visits a cave and remembers that e was born there in a past life.

* ''Film/TheMaster'': [[ChurchOfHappyology The Cause]]'s "processing" involves recalling these, and dealing with the trauma left bythem (just like Scientology's "auditing"). However, [[TheMaster Dodd]] later {{RetCon}}s this, though he claims to have known Freddie before in 1871 during the siege of Paris.
* In ''Film/{{Fluke}}'', the titular dog character Fluke gradually regains his memories of his time as a human known as Thomas Johnson, or just Tom. This eventually leads him to go on a search for the wife and son he left behind.

* One of the most well known cases in the West is James Leininger, whose supposed previous life as a WW2 pilot James Hudson (Who died during the battle of Iwo Jima) initially gave him horrible recurring nightmares, so his parents could not just dismiss it as imagination or overlook it. Another well known case is Ryan Hammons, who recalled a life of hollywood extra, later a succesful talent agency owner, Marty Martyn.

* In one of the Thanksgiving episodes of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe is asked what her worst Thanksgiving memory is. She recalls the time she was a nurse in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.

* In one episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'' the [Something] Of The Week claims that she and Mulder were lovers in a previous life during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. He goes under hypnosis and seems to not only confirm it but discovers its a full Reincarnation Romance where several of the important people in his life (friends, family, and even ''enemies'') are always involved (Scully is usually his close friend, sibling or his superior; his sister is someone close who he loses every time, etc). Unfortunately, their romance rarely goes ''happily'', this encounter being no exception.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "The Creeps" Finn has a vision of a ghostly, monstrous woman. A later episode, "The Vault", shows that the ghost has been haunting Finn's nightmares. Though a hypnosis-inducing BMO game, Finn unlocks the memories of his past lives and discovers that he is the reincarnation of the ghost (originally a woman named Shoko).

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', the [[OldMaster abbot]] of the History Monks is a master of serial reincarnation, currently in the body of a toddler. He retains the wisdom of his years, but his speech is often interrupted by the demands of the child. "...''Bikkit bikkit wanna bikkit.'' Unfortunately, young bodies have a mind of their own ''BIKKIT!''"

* In RealLife, there are people who claim that a person can unlock memories of their past incarnations under hypnosis, usually the directly preceding one. Often, this is declared to be a reason for that person's mental problems, essentially a case of suppressed memories taken UpToEleven. Needless to say, psychologists are skeptical, especially as the very idea of suppressed memories as a cause of problems is rapidly becoming discredited. This is probably one of the more common kinds of reincarnation claims in the Western world.

* Hypnosis and past-life regression is generally considered to be inaccurate, while there are verifiable cases, a lot of people may claim to be the same person (such as someone famous), for example.

* One of the most well known cases in the West is James Leininger, whose supposed previous life as a WW2 pilot James Hudson (Who died during the battle of Iwo Jima) initially gave him horrible recurring nightmares, so his parents could not just dismiss it as imagination or overlook it.

* Past life researchers usually rely on spontaneous recall, which occurs with some small children (they usually fade before age of 10). The most well known researchers in this field are Ian Stevenson and Jim B. Tucker. They were able to find many cases and even confirm (compare the child's claims to actual information about deceased people) many of them. However, their work was criticised as being a result of cryptomnesia and confabulation, mostly because they performed the majority of their research in areas with pre-existing belief in reincarnation (hinduist and buddhist majority countries). It is possible, though, that such cases mostly appear there, because parents are more likely to take children's recall seriously, unlike monotheists or atheists, who are prevalent in the West. To adress this, Stevenson also investigated specific cases in Europe.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' After receiving a head injury at the age of 8, Katarina regains her memories as the "monkey girl", a high school student and otaku from modern-day Japan who died at 17 in a traffic accident. Within these memories are farming experiences with her grandmother, a talent for climbing and knowledge of the otome game ''Fortune Lover'', which Katarina uses to alter events in order to avoid the BadFuture ensured for her in the game itself. These awakened memories have also caused a MentalFusion within Katarina, combining the monkey girl's BlitheSpirit with Katarina's original [[SpoiledBrat bratty]] attitude to create the current Katarina's [[SpoiledSweet kind]] personality. [[spoiler:The monkey girl's best friend Atsuko also reincarnated into the game as Sophia, though their memories only come to her when she's asleep and she quickly forgets them when she wakes up.]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'',the Original Eliatropes and their Dragon siblings normally lose all memories of their past lives when they reincarnate. [[spoiler:Qilby and his sister Shinonome are the exceptions]] as befitting their roles as the knowledge-keepers of Eliatrope society.

* In ''Fanfic/BringingMeToLife'' [[spoiler: Max starts to have dreams of his past life as Neo.]]
* ''FanFic/CastlevaniaNocturneOfRuin'': OriginalCharacter Mariabella Fox, who is soon revealed to be the reincarnation of Maria Renard, starts getting flashes of memory and knowledge during her time in Castlevania, first by knowing the names of Death's CoDragons, then by being an InstantExpert with magic, and finally having flashbacks to Maria's life.

** Zelda has memorirs of past lives, but they're fleeting and not as clear as Ganondorf's.

* Tamura from ''Manga/BokuraNoHentai'' thinks he has memories of a past life as a nymphomanic woman. In reality, [[spoiler:they're his repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse resurfacing]].

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* The Trill in ''Series/StarTrek'' have developed a process that allows them to create a symbiotic connection with a species of intelligent and extremely long-lived worms native to their planet. The host and symbiont start to think as a single mind and have complete access to each others memories. When the Trill dies from old age or injury, the worm retains all its memories and shares them with the next host body. Especially in the weeks and months after becoming a new host for such a worm, the Trill is affected by constant flashbacks of things experienced in the worms previous lives in a humanoid body. While new candidates are usually carefully selected to be of a compatible personalty, over the course of more than a dozen lifetimes and several centuries, some host may pick up unusual tastes and foreign customs, that later ones might find absolutely disgusting or horrifying. While still having all the memories of having enjoyed it greatly.