History Main / TroubleFromThePast

* A recurring theme in the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' franchise. ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of Light and Wily's feud in the form of the Maverick Virus, ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the [[TheGreatOffscreenWar Elf Wars]] and the corruption of X's dream of mutual peace in the form of Neo Arcadia, ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' has the cast dealing with the fallout of Zero failing to completely kill Dr. Weil, and ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of their Elysium precursors in the form of the [[DepopulationBomb Carbon Reinitialization Program.]]

** The main troublemakers in each game have included a mutated mastermind created by exposure to a pre-War PsychoSerum he accidentally stumbled upon, the remnants of the evil pre-War U.S. shadow government, ''two separate'' pre-War supercomputers who got it in their heads that they should be running things and most of the inhabitants of the Wastelands needed to die, and the amoral descendants of M.I.T. In fact the only main villain who ''doesn't'' have any ties to the past and arose naturally in the post-atomic world is Caesar and his Legion from ''New Vegas''.

* A recurring theme in the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' franchise. ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of Light and Wily's feud in the form of the Maverick Virus, ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the [[TheGreatOffscreenWar Elf Wars]] and the corruption of X's dream of mutual peace in the form of Neo Arcadia, ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' has the cast dealing with the fallout of Zero failing to completely kill Dr. Weil, and ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the humans who created them in the form of the [[DepopulationBomb Carbon Reinitialization Program.]]

* A recurring theme in the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' franchise. ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of Light and Wily's feud in the form of the Maverick Virus, ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the [[TheGreatOffscreenWar Elf Wars]], ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' has the cast dealing with the fallout of Zero failing to completely kill Dr. Weil, and ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the humans who created them in the form of the [[DepopulationBomb Carbon Reinitialization Program.]]

* A recurring theme in the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' franchise. ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of Light and Wily's feud in the form of the Maverick Virus, ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the [[TheGreatOffscreenWar Elf Wars]], ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' has the cast dealing with the fallout of Zero failing to completely kill Dr. Weil, and ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' has the cast having to deal with the fallout of the humans who created them in the form of the [[PopulationBomb Carbon Reinitialization Program.]]

A SuperTrope to both SealedEvilInACan (where the past generations' mistake was to seal the evil, rather than destroy it) and SinsOfOurFathers (where the "generation" part requires ''literal'' direct descent). BreakOutTheMuseumPiece may be required to deal with it.

* The interdimensional community in the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series is more or less a technological Utopia still reeling from the Belkan War 80 years ago. Every season so far revolved around a piece of Belkan legacy from said war (although the original series' Jewel Seeds were more of a catalyst than a driving force for the plot).

* The interdimensional community in the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series is more or less a technological Utopia still reeling from the Belkan War 80 years ago. Every season except the first revolved around a piece of Belkan legacy from said war.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings:'' About three thousand years in the story past, Isildur defeated Sauron in battle, but did not destroy Sauron's ring (the One Ring To Rule Them All) when he had the chance. Then the ring was lost. And later, much later, it was found, and started trying to make its way back to Sauron …

* The interdimensional community in the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series is more or less a technological Utopia still reeling from the Belkan War 80 years ago. Every season so far has revolved around a piece of Belkan legacy from said war.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:FanFiction]]
* ''FanFic/ActionPack'': The Konoha village just can’t keep out of the Uzumaki’s new lives.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* It would seem all past to us, but in the Literature/{{Deryni}} works, the twelfth century Gwynedd has to deal with the evils done in the ninth and tenth centuries (invasion and conquest, a nasty {{Magocracy}}, a rebellion that leads to a backlash, and then two more centuries of FantasticRacism).
* In ''{{Uglies}}'' by Scott Westerfeld, people in the future still have to clean up the hole in the ozone layer and contain a species of nigh-invulnerable genetically engineered ecosystem-destroying orchids.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* The [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 3.5E D&D]] supplement ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Lost Empires of Faerûn]]'' suggests several fantasy variations of this as plot hooks.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', the people who return to Earth still have to clean up their ancestors' mess of garbage.

** In ''{{Enterprise}}'', some Augment embryos were revived and raised to adulthood by a rogue scientist and the crew had to fight them.

* The interdimensional community in the ''LyricalNanoha'' series is more or less a technological Utopia still reeling from the Belkan War 80 years ago. Every season so far has revolved around a piece of Belkan legacy from said war.
* The whole purpose of [[spoiler:the Proxies]] in ''ErgoProxy'' is to clean up Earth's ruined environment for humanity [[spoiler:at large to be able to return from space. And then the Proxies are supposed to die.]]

* The ''Beautiful Faraway'' series by SergeyLukyanenko is set on a future Earth where humanity mastered everything there was to master, but heavily damaged its own genetic code in the process. Because of this, one of the protagonists cannot have children with the woman he loves, as their genes would produce dangerous mutations if combined.
* It would seem all past to us, but in the {{Deryni}} works, the twelfth century Gwynedd has to deal with the evils done in the ninth and tenth centuries (invasion and conquest, a nasty {{Magocracy}}, a rebellion that leads to a backlash, and then two more centuries of FantasticRacism).

** In ''Space Seed'' and the follow-up ''StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', the genetically engineered superhuman Augment leader Khan Noonien Singh from the Eugenics Wars is found to have escaped Earth on a sleeper ship and becomes a great enemy to Kirk.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', the people who return to Earth still have to clean up their ancestors' mess of garbage.

* ''FinalFantasyX'' works on this principle. The inhabitants of Spira all consider Sin to be their punishment for not following Yevon's teachings. A summoner must [[spoiler:give their life]] in order to vanquish Sin for 10 years. Then, it comes back again. The player attempts to find a way around this clause and destroy Sin for good.

* The future of ''{{Futurama}}'' may not be a utopia, but poverty has been mostly eliminated; however, it came at the expense of many a DystopianEdict. The unemployed are forced to take jobs against their will, the remaining poor have been sent to insane asylums, and mutants are forced to live in the sewers. Also, in the episode "A Big Piece of Garbage", the people of the 31st century have to deal with the garbage problems of the 21st century.

* ''FinalFantasyX'' works on this principle. The inhabitants of Spira all consider Sin to be their punishment for not following Yevon's teachings. A summoner must [[spoiler:give their life]] in order to vanquish Sin for 10 years. Then, it comes back again. The player attempts to find a way around this clause.

It's TheFuture (or AlternateUniverse), whether [[{{Utopia}} bright and shiny]] or [[AfterTheEnd gritty and violent]], and as if its residents didn't have enough on their minds, a major issue from their civilization's collective DarkAndTroubledPast arises once more and has to be dealt with ASAP, kicking off the plot. Said issue may have something to do with {{Great Offscreen War}}s, {{Forgotten Superweapon}}s, [[ThePlague deadly diseases]] still on the loose, but not necessarily. Often, the nature of the issue is the object of the author's criticism of contemporary state of the world (so expect the future generations to go "WhatAnIdiot!" over their ancestors' actions); this trope lends itself well to {{Green Aesop}}s.

* ''Literature/{{Federation}}'': [[spoiler:Adrik Thorsen]] in the TOS and TNG timelines.

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' {{verse}} we have the Eugenics Wars of the mid-1990s, the "sanctuary districts" of the early 21st century where the homeless, jobless, and mentlly ill were left to rot, and the post-atomic horror following WorldWarThree in the late 21st century.

* Half of the problems in the entire ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series are leftovers from the past, either in the form of radiation, old world machines, or other leftover messes.
** The Vaults themselves were the product of a failed social experiment, and in many Vaults survival is often hampered ''by design'' as a result.

It's TheFuture (or AlternateUniverse), whether [[{{Utopia}} bright and shiny]] or [[AfterTheEnd gritty and violent]], and as if its residents didn't have enough on their minds, an major issue from their civilization's collective DarkAndTroubledPast arises once more and has to be dealt with ASAP, kicking off the plot. Said issue may have something to do with {{Great Offscreen War}}s, {{Forgotten Superweapon}}s, [[ThePlague deadly diseases]] still on the loose, but not necessarily. Often, the nature of the issue is the object of the author's criticism of contemporary state of the world (so expect the future generations to go "WhatAnIdiot!" over their ancestors' actions); this trope lends itself well to {{Green Aesop}}s.

!!Examples (NoRealLifeExamplesPlease):

* Half of the problems in the entire ''{{Fallout}}'' series are leftovers from the past, either in the form of radiation, old world machines, or other leftover messes.

* In ''{{Wall-E}}'', the people who return to Earth still have to clean up their ancestors' mess of garbage.

* In the ''StarTrek'' {{verse}} we have the Eugenics Wars of the mid-1990s, the "sanctuary districts" of the early 21st century where the homeless, jobless, and mentlly ill were left to rot, and the post-atomic horror following WorldWarThree in the late 21st century.
** In ''StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', the humans of the past hunted whales to extinction and that turned out to be a bad idea.