History Main / ReincarnationIdentifyingTrait

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* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', the BigDamnMovie features Riku and Shuvi, the predecessors of Sora and Shiro. On top of having huge physical resemblance and same voices, albeit with some minor differences like hair color and species difference, they notably share their successors [[GodlikeGamer immense talent at games]]. In fact it's implied Tet sought out Sora and Shiro because he suspected they were the reincarnations of these two legendary gamers.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* {{Implied}} in ''Series/SevenDays'', where a villain with a birthmark under his eye dies and the episode ends with a shot of a newborn baby with the same birthmark.

** In a bit of FridgeBrilliance, this trope is probably also how the [[sppiler:Atsuko personality buried within Sophia]] recognized that Catarina was [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname the Monkey Girl.]] Unlike [[spoiler:Sophia]], Catarina has recovered her past life to the point her old self essentially took over the new one, and so she acts ''exactly'' like how the Monkey Girl used to in their past life, including being a [[TheDitz guillible,]] [[TheIngenue guileless,]] BookDumb [[{{Tomboy}} tree-climbing]] [[MagneticHero magnet]] for [[DudeMagnet admi]][[EvenTheGirlsWantHer rers]] and [[CoincidenceMagnet trouble.]]

** Sophia's HimeCut hairstyle is literally just a wavy version of her previous life Atsuko's with additional sidelocks. In addition, Sophia's love for romance novels also mirrors Atsuko's love for anime, manga, and otome games, their names are {{Significant Monogram}}s of one another (if you take into account the difference in name order conventions between Japan and Sorcier), and [[SignificantDoubleCasting they even share the same voice actress]].
** In a bit of FridgeBrilliance, this trope is probably also how the Atsuko personality buried within Sophia recognized that Catarina was [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname the Monkey Girl.]] Unlike Sophia, Catarina has recovered her past life to the point her old self essentially took over the new one, and so she acts ''exactly'' like how the Monkey Girl used to in their past life, including being a [[TheDitz guillible,]] [[TheIngenue guileless,]] BookDumb [[{{Tomboy}} tree-climbing]] [[MagneticHero magnet]] for [[DudeMagnet admi]][[EvenTheGirlsWantHer rers]] and [[CoincidenceMagnet trouble.]]

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'':
** Sophia's HimeCut hairstyle is literally just a wavy version of her previous life Atsuko's with additional sidelocks. In addition, Sophia's love for romance novels also mirrors Atsuko's love for anime, manga, and otome games, their names are {{Significant Monogram}}s of one another (if you take into account the difference in name order conventions between Japan and Sorcier), and [[SignificantDoubleCasting they even share the same voice actress]].
** In a bit of FridgeBrilliance, this trope is probably also how the Atsuko personality buried within Sophia recognized that Catarina was [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname the Monkey Girl.]] Unlike Sophia, Catarina has recovered her past life to the point her old self essentially took over the new one, and so she acts ''exactly'' like how the Monkey Girl used to in their past life, including being a [[TheDitz guillible,]] [[TheIngenue guileless,]] BookDumb [[{{Tomboy}} tree-climbing]] [[MagneticHero magnet]] for [[DudeMagnet admi]][[EvenTheGirlsWantHer rers]] and [[CoincidenceMagnet trouble.]]

* The various past lives of Comicbook/{{Hawkman}}/Carter Hall have a hawk motif. Many of them share the current incarnation's power of flight, but even when they don't, the hawk imagery is present. (They include existing DC characters Nighthawk, a masked cowboy with a stylised hawk on his chest, and the Silent Knight, an anonymous knight who not only had a hawk on his shield but operated with a trained falcon named Slasher.) Some of them also have names that sound like "Carter Hall"; this was initially just his first incarnation of Pharoah Khufu Maat Kha-Tar (along with Shiera's first incarnation as Queen Chay-Ara), but ''Comicbook/Hawkman2018'' revealed Carter had many incarnations on other planets which he'd been previously unaware of, including the Thangarian Katar Hol (the ''other'' Hawkman, previously thought to be a coincidence), the Kryptonian Catar-Ol, and the Rannian Katarthul. His ''actual'' first incarnation was named Ktar.

* ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'':
** Every reincarnator has a mysterious glitch-like skill called [="N%I=W"=]. Anyone with a sufficiently-advanced [[EnemyScan Appraisal skill or Appraisal Stone]] can see it on the reincarnator's skill list. The skill itself cannot be appraised, making it impossible to determine it's purpose unless one is already aware that this skill is only held by the reincarnated characters, in which case it serves to identify them as one.
** Since all the reincarnators come from Japan, speaking or writing in Japanese is almost always a sign of a reincarnator. This is how [[ReincarnationFriendship Shun and Katia]] recognized each other as kids. In most cases, characters have to introduce themselves before their past profile is connected to the current one, but in at least one notable case, one reincarnator was identified solely through their recognizable speech patterns.
** Later in the story, the protagonist obtains a skill called "Wisdom", which reveals even more information than [[SoLastSeason Appraisal]]. Among many other things, if used to examine a reincarnated character, it will display the names of both their current and past lives, a characteristic unique to the reincarnated characters.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Hollyleaf and Leafpool recognize Cinderheart's way of flicking her paw as identical to Cinderpelt, of whom Cinderheart is a reincarnation.
* ''In Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'', the continuously reincarnating characters are identified by [[AlphabeticalThemeNaming their shared initials]], such as Kyu and Kokila.

** Later in the story, the protagonist obtains a skill called "Wisdom", which reveals even more information than [[SoLastSeason Appraisal]]. Among many other things, if used to examine a reincarnated character, it will display the names of both their current and past lives, a characteristic unique to the reincarnated characters. This is how the protagonist discovers her connection with [[spoiler:Sophia Keren/Negishi Shouko]]. More importantly, [[spoiler:the ''absence'' of any names whatsoever any time the protagonist examines herself with Wisdom is a big hint that the protagonist isn't actually who she thinks she is.]]

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'', every reincarnator coming from the Earth into the new world has a mysterious glitch-like skill called [="N%I=W"=]. Anyone with a sufficiently-advanced [[EnemyScan Appraisal skill or Appraisal Stone]] can see it on the reincarnator's skill list, although the skill itself cannot be appraised. Since all the reincarnators come from Japan, speaking or writing in Japanese is also a clear sign of a reincarnator, though it doesn't positively identify anyone until that person introduces themselves. This is how Shun and Katia recognized each other as kids. Later in the story, the protagonist obtains the skill [[spoiler:Wisdom]], which reveals even more information than [[SoLastSeason Appraisal]], including explicitly revealing the original identity of any reincarnator she examines with it. This is how the protagonist discovers her connection with [[spoiler:Sophia Keren/Negishi Shouko.]]

* In the ''Manga/NanatsuNoTaizai'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13855614/5/3-000-Years 3,000 Years]]'', the 108th reincarnation of Elizabeth has the same feather birthmark on her shoulder as the first one did, which symbolizes that she will be the last. Her EternalLove, who doesn't know that last part, is scared by the possible meanings of it.

* ''Film/{{Reincarnation 2005}}'': Yuka's neck birthmark marks her as the reincarnation of [[spoiler:a maid who was hung on the night of the massacre.]]

** The tie-in novel, ''Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi'' {{Deconstruction}}s this trope when it describes the Earth Kingdom method. Since it's the largest and most populous nation, they use geomancy to keep cutting the search area in half until they're on the young Avatar's doorstep. This method actually didn't work for Kyoshi as her parents were bandits who didn't stay in one place long enough to be found. The previous Avatar Kuruk's friends Kelsang and Jianzhu searched for years and years to find the Avatar to no avail. They ended up thinking it was a guy named Yun because they found him hustling adults at [[SmartPeoplePlayChess pai-sho]] using Kuruk's outside the box strategy. Kyoshi is basically Yun's nanny and it's not until she starts singing a song that Kuruk wrote and only showed Kelsang that they realize they picked [[ThePoorlyChosenOne the wrong kid]]. Kelsang muses that in their desperation to find Kuruk's reincarnation they had lowered their standards so much, because sometimes resemblance to someone you once knew really is just pure chance.

* ''Film/{{Reincarnation}}'': Yuka's neck birthmark marks her as the reincarnation of [[spoiler:a maid who was hung on the night of the massacre.]]

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainVoyageOfWisteria:'' Warbler is a quite music-note that doesn't look like she could be a reincarnation of a passenger (as it's established that if a passenger should die on the Train before completing their quest, their soul is to reincarnate). It's not until the Comm-Switch Car that there is a trait. If she gets a voice, it sounds similar to Grace Monroe, the former leader of the Apex.

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'', every reincarnator coming from the Earth into the new world has a mysterious glitch-like skill called [="N%I=W"=]. Anyone with a sufficiently-advanced [[EnemyScan Appraisal skill or Appraisal Stone]] can see it on the reincarnator's skill list, although the skill itself cannot be appraised. Since all the reincarnators come from Japan, speaking or writing in Japanese is also a clear sign of a reincarnator, though it doesn't positively identify anyone until that person introduces themselves. This is how Shun and Katia recognized each other as kids. Later in the story, the protagonist obtains the skill [[spoiler:Wisdom]], which [[UpToEleven reveals even more information than]] [[SoLastSeason Appraisal]], including explicitly revealing the original identity of any reincarnator she examines with it. This is how the protagonist discovers her connection with [[spoiler:Sophia Keren/Negishi Shouko.]]

* The various past lives of Comicbook/{{Hawkman}}/Carter Hall have a hawk motif. Many of them share the current incarnation's power of flight, but even when they don't, the hawk imagery is present. (They include existing DC characters Nighthawk, a masked cowboy with a stylised hawk on his chest, and the Silent Knight, an anonymous knight who not only had a hawk on his shield but operated with a trained falcon named Slasher.) Some of them also have names that sound like "Carter Hall"; this was initially just his first incarnation of Pharoah Khufu Maat Kha-Tar (along with Shiera's first incarnation as Queen Chay-Ara), but the 2018 ''Hawkman'' comic revealed Carter had many incarnations on other planets which he'd been previously unaware of, including the Thangarian Katar Hol (the ''other'' Hawkman, previously thought to be a coincidence), the Kryptonian Catar-Ol, and the Rannian Katarthul. His ''actual'' first incarnation was named Ktar.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The Avatar is the perpetually-reincarnated embodiment of light and peace capable of bending all elements. When an Avatar dies, the ElementalNation next in the cycle has to locate the current one.
** The show explains the Air Nomad method. The tribe has their infant children pick four toys out of many. Every historical Air Nomad Avatar chooses the same four toys, known as the Avatar relics, so the infant who chooses said toys during the test is identified as the current reincarnation.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': In the first episode, the White Lotus arrive at the four-or-so-year-old Korra's parents' home ready to test her for being the Avatar... and then she busts through a wall already bending ''three'' elements, leaving no doubt that she's the Avatar. Note that other Avatars don't begin training until their ''teens'' and require mental preparation before beginning.

* Sophia's HimeCut hairstyle in ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is literally just a wavy version of her previous life Atsuko's with additional sidelocks. In addition, Sophia's love for romance novels also mirrors Atsuko's love for anime, manga, and otome games, their names are {{Significant Monogram}}s of one another (if you take into account the difference in name order conventions between Japan and Sorcier), and [[SignificantDoubleCasting they even share the same voice actress]].

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* ''VideoGame/CerealSoup'': A LoadingScreen tip describes one of the gods, Omni-Alpha, with having the ability to reincarnate with [[ScarsAreForever all the scars from his past lives]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** The tie-in novel, ''Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi'' {{Deconstruction}}s this trope when it describes the Earth Kingdom method. Since it's the largest and most populous nation, they use geomancy to keep cutting the search area in half until they're on the young Avatar's doorstep. This method actually didn't work for Kyoshi as her parents were bandits who didn't stay in one place long enough to be found. The previous Avatar Kuruk's friends Kelsang and Jianzhu searched for years and years to find the Avatar to no avail. They ended up thinking it was a guy named Yun because they found him hustling adults at [[SmartPeoplePlayChess pai-sho]] using Kuruk's outside the box strategy. Kyoshi is basically Yun's nanny and it's not until she starts singing a song that Kuruk wrote in front of Kelsang until they realize they picked [[ThePoorlyChosenOne the wrong kid]]. Kelsang muses that in their desperation to find Kuruk's reincarnation they had lowered their standards so much, because sometimes resemblance to someone you once knew really is just pure chance.

* Astronaut Grimaldi's daughter from ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' witnesses the demise of the last Taarakian warrior as she vanquishes the BigBad. Escaping her home just before it's blown to smithereens, Grimaldi's daughter discovers a featherless bird has come to her side. Her hair turns white in the moonlight, and she develops a ring-and-sword birthmark on her neck, which indicates that she has become the newest Taarakian warrior. Some closing exposition by August Schellenberg as the narrator verifies this spirit-transfer.

* Bear from ''Film/ADogsPurpose'' tries to invoke this. He [[PastLifeMemories remembers all his lives]] and finds himself back with one of his previous owners, Ethan. Bear tries to show Ethan that he's his childhood dog Bailey by doing the same tail trick Bailey did, but it takes a while for Ethan to understand its anything but a coincidence.

* ''Bollywood/OmShantiOm'': OK's wrist bears a birthmark that looks like Om's tattoo. Since his face isn't shown until afterwards, this is the first indication to the audience that he is Om reincarnated. Later, Pappu realizes that OK is Om's reincarnation after hearing his awards speech, which Om had spoken thirty years prior.