History Main / PastLifeMemories

* 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.

* Despite sounding like a complete fantasy, this phenomenon is present in real life and is a subject of serious research, although it is also dismissed by many as simple false memories. Potential past life memories usually manifest with small children (2-5 years of age) and tend to fade before the child reaches 10 years.
* 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 or even physical problems (such as chronic pains), essentially a case of suppressed memories taken to the next level. 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.
* Some of the more prominent practicioners of past life regression are Brian Weiss, Michael Newton (who called his technique "life between lives hypnotherapy"), Carol Bowman (who also investigated spontaneous memories) and Helen Wambach, who (succesfully) attempted to verify historical informations and statistics - gender, social class etc. of her subjects.
* 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. Regression memories are also harder to verify than spontaneous, as the time interval between last death and birth is usually decades or even centuries, while with spontaneous memories, the average time interval is 4 years, and median only 16 months.
* 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, while Tucker focused on American cases.
* Stevenson also investigated possible link between birthmarks or birth defects and (usually fatal) wounds of the previous person. He was often even able to verify these corresponding wounds in autopsy reports. He also reported the possibility of xenoglossy, a partial transfer of language knowledge from previous life (although most cases were too weak to be taken as an evidence).
* According to Stevenson's research, past life recall happens more often if the previous life ended in a violent manner or at least prematurely.

* Implied in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. Link's reward for completing all 120 shrines is a set of clothes resembling his iconic green outfit featured as his main look in every ''Zelda'' game except for this one. The description for each piece specifically mentions how familiar and comfortable it seems...

* The Trill in ''Franchise/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.

* 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.

* A major plot point in ''VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence''.

* 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 or even physical problems (such as chronic pains), 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.

* ''Manhwa/DoctorElise'': The protagonist Song Ji Hyeon has memories of her previous life as RoyalBrat Elise De Clorence. It's these memories that lead her to become a surgeon as a way of atoning.

* The 1957 Creator/RogerCorman film ''The Undead'', a psychic hypnotises a prostitute who then {{Mental Time Travel}}s back to a past life as a woman about to be condemned for being a witch.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[spoiler:Greedling gains the memories of the original Greed after killing Bido. These memories lead to his HeelFaceTurn]].

'''This is a spoiler trope, so expect unmarked spoilers ahead.'''

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle''

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Elves [[TheSleepless don't truly sleep]], but "trance" for a few hours each night. Young elves experience flashes of memory from their previous incarnations while they trance, and are considered to have entered adulthood when they instead have memories from their current life.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', elves [[TheSleepless don't truly sleep]], but "trance" for a few hours each night. Young elves experience flashes of memory from their previous incarnations while they trance, and are considered to have entered adulthood when they instead have memories from their current life.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The Spark of Exaltation (the godly thing that allows you to [[{{Ubermensch}} kick ass and chew bubblegum]]) attaches to the soul of its recipient, receiving the Exalt's memories in the progress. When an Exalt dies, the attached memory is normally removed by Lytek (the god of exaltation) because human souls aren't meant to house memories other than their own. However, the Sparks captured by the [[{{Hell}} Yozis]] aren't purified this way, so a Green Sun Prince can draw upon the memories of the previous Exalt his or her spark is attached to, gaining sudden skill as a result. It has its dangers too: due to the potential depth and vastness of the tapped memories, the previous Exalt's personality might overwhelm the current, obviously-younger Green Sun Prince. An official example was a (male) Infernal letting go of an elder Sidereal[[note]]kung fu ninja who controls fate[[/note]] instead of dealing the final blow, because that Sidereal was his/her husband in previous life. That's an override of gender, allegiance, and possibly sexual orientation.

* In a variation, the Past Lives attunement in ''TabletopGame/InNomine'' lets Servitors of Destiny view the memories of ''someone else's'' previous incarnations, even though the person in question doesn't consciously remember anything themselves.

* The Corinthian from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' had two incarnations; the first was deemed a failure and uncreated. A part of him was included in the second, including some memories and traits.

* 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.]]

* For an overall skeptical view of the idea, see [[https://infidels.org/library/modern/keith_augustine/HNDEs.html here]].

* One of the most well-known cases in the West is James Leininger, whose supposed previous life as a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 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''.

* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls'': [[spoiler:Sombra has these due to being a {{Reincarnation}} of the Soul Queen's Consort, though he mentions to Twilight that the memories are fragmented, took him centuries to put together enough to make sense of, and notes that some or much of it could be corrupted, misinterpreted or false.]]

* 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.

* 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.

* ''{{Literature/Alterien}}'' sort of plays this trope out when Oberon gains memories from the life he's forgotten by coming into contact with his family. His power of {{psychometry}} is put to great use.

* ''{{Series/Pandora}}'': Jax starts having dreams of a woman that looks just like her from 150 years ago. Ralen, whose people firmly believe in past lives, thinks it's this and performs a ritual which helps retrieve more memories. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope However]], it turns out to be something else.]]

* In a variation, the Past Lives attunement in ''TabletopGame/{{In Nomine}}'' lets Servitors of Destiny view the memories of ''someone else's'' previous incarnations, even though the person in question doesn't consciously remember anything themselves.

* Happens often enough in ''Videogame/PillarsOfEternity'' that there's an in-universe term for it: Awakening. People can be Awakened in various ways. The most common way is to encounter something [[spoiler:or in the case of the protagonist, ''someone'']] that has a connection with a past life. Being Awakened has its advantages, but the stress of having memories from other lives (particularly if said lives were bad ones) tends to offset them.

* ''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).

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Roleplay/LegendariesLost has Thanatos the Duskull, who was a Darumaka in a previous life, and once per day, can use a move from that list instead of his own.
* 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.
* While taking a break from streaming [[Creator/{{Nijisanji}} Mito Tsukino]] visited a place that does past-life regression with a friend, and talked about the experience on her stream after her return. Apparently according to the results of the therapy Mito was a priestess in a past life, while her friend had been a blue-skinned alien.
* [[PersonOfMassDestruction Tennyo]] from the Literature/WhateleyUniverse is slowly remembering the life of the Star Stalker.
[[/folder]]

* 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.

* 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 or even physical problems (such as chronic pains) 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.

* Stevenson also investigated possible link between birthmarks or birth defects and (usually fatal) wounds of the previous person. He was often even able to verify these corresponding wounds in autopsy reports. he also reported the possibility of xenoglossy, a partial transfer of language knowledge from previous life (although most cases were too weak to be taken as an evidence).