History Series / DaysOfOurLives

* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome:
** Belle and EJ are probably the most egregious examples. Weirdly inverted in the case of former character Mike Horton, who was kept in his twenties for a good two decades.
** Philip and Chelsea are actually worse examples than Belle, though no one comes close to touching the insanity of how much E.J. was aged up.
** Nicholas Alamain is a very weird example. He was aged about 10 years to his 20's in the 2000s. Over a decade later, he comes back to the show as another actor and is even younger than what he was aged the first time around.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Sami has four children, and none of them were planned while Nicole supposedly cannot have children anymore despite desperately wanting to secure her relationship with EJ. Shawn and Belle had Claire during a one night stand (that they didn't even realize they had due to convenient hypothermia) while Philip and Mimi have trouble conceiving.

* SerialKiller: Salem Stalker, Salem Strangler.
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: The Salem Stalker killed one woman [[spoiler: (who was going to marry the man she loved)]] and was forced to keep killing people in order to cover up the murders.

* PutOnABus: Lots of characters have left town with short reasons but some have gotten more bizarre exits. Colin Murphy (or his body) is still lost at sea. Don Craig hasn't returned yet from mailing a letter. Peter Blake is still in jail although Stefano told him he'd be eligible for parole (back in 1998).Jeremey Horton is apparently still on the run from the law. Chris went into his office one day and was never heard from again (his actor is now playing Roman Brady).

*** It's now been revealed that John isn't the real Ryan Brady - the real Ryan Brady died shortly after birsth and Colleen was misled into thinking John was her son. Cue John's son Brady hooking up with Theresa (the daughter of the real Ryan Brady's cousin and thus thought to be Brady's second cousin until the latest retcon).

** Made even more confusing by the fact two people not killed by that serial killer were also on the island as well as a character that had been off-screen for years.

* RetCon: Mime. Sex.
** Some very complicated examples. Originally, John Black got his alias from the Vietnam War memorial and it was revealed he was Roman Brady...then it was revealed that the real Roman Brady was alive and John was really Lawrence's brother Forrest Alamain. Later it was revealed John got his alias from Stefano during his years of being "The Pawn". Then it was revealed he was Tony Dimera's [[LukeIAmYourFather half-brother on their mother's side]](!). Then it was revealed he was actually Ryan Brady, the son of Collen Brady (Roman's aunt) and Santo Dimera (Stefano's father). Any man who has this much trouble remembering his birth name might actually have to give up.

** Tony Dimera was originally the son of Stefano and his mistress Daphne. Then he slept with Stefano's daughter Renee before knowing they were siblings. Then it turns out he's the son of Daphne and the stable boy Enrico. Then he comes back and marries Stefano's adopted daughter Kristen and he's back to being Stefano's son again. Then Kristen ends up with his supposed brother John. Then he becomes evil and dies. Comes back is good then evil then dies again. Then it turns out for the past 20 years he was alive and stranded on an island by his identical cousin Andre. Then it turns out Andre is really alive too. Then both die. Oh, and Andre wasn't really his cousin...Tony really was the gardner's son.

* PutOnABus: Cassie was last heard of taking a nap upstairs in Brady Pub, Don Craig hasn't returned yet from mailing a letter, Steve and Kayla are still in Salem and mentioned occaisionally but their portrayors have been fired. Chris went into his office one day and was never heard from again (his actor is now playing Roman Brady).
** Kayla has recently returned onscreen. Steve is presumably still in their invisible home with their invisible son Joe.

* TheOtherDarrin: Many characters have been recast throughout the years. Recent ones that come to mind are Brady, Philip, Belle, Shawn, Will and Eve. Roman has been recast for years by Josh Taylor, but people still do not accept his version.

* FaceHeelTurn: Kristen Blake Dimera begins as a WhiteSheep for the Dimera clan, but when she loses John to Marlena, she turns insane and engages in all manner of over-the-top evil schemes to get him back. Nick Fallon starts out as a nice guy and a HollywoodNerd, only to become a drug addicted murderer and stalker, and after a difficult stint in prison, a blackmailer, homophobe and would-be rapist.

** Some very complicated examples. Originally, John Black got his alias from the Vietnam War memorial and it was revealed he was Roman Brady...then it was revealed that the real Roman Brady was alive and John was really Lawrence's brother Forrest Alamain. Later it was revealed John got his alias from Stefano during his years of being "The Pawn". Then it was revealed he was Tony Dimera's half-brother on their mother's side. Then it was revealed he was actually Ryan Brady, the son of Collen Brady (Roman's aunt) and Santo Dimera (Stefano's father).

* HeelFaceTurn: Several characters, but Sami Brady is the queen of this.

* TheMafia: The [=DiMeras=] vary on how evil, competent, or realistic they are, but they're always Italian mobsters.

** Before that, even in the early 1980s the show followed ''GeneralHospital'' in presenting more action-oriented storylines and fewer storylines dealing with medical or domestic drama.

* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: Billie and Bo (Julie Pinson being the recast), Belle and Shawn (Martha Madison recreating scenes by the originator Kirsten Storms).
* GroinAttack: When Steffano got wind that Rafe had been hooking up with his ex-wife Kate, he decided the best response was to send a goon to make Rafe a eunuch. [[spoiler:Too bad for him, Sami was there with a gun.]]

* TheOtherDarrin: Many characters have been recast throughout the years. Recent ones that come to mind are Brady, Philip, Belle, Shawn and Will. Roman has been recast for years by Josh Taylor, but people still do not accept his version.

** Kristen DiMera drugs and rapes saintly and pious Father Eric Brady, and she takes video of the encounter and has it edited to look like its consensual. Eric winds up leaving the church in disgrace, accusing Nicole of being his attacker and sitting around while Nicole and Daniel look for the medical proof to clear his name. After Eric declares his love for Nicole, Nicole shreds the proof she has found, which leads to much drama.

* Sympatheticmurderer Gabi Hernandez kills her obsessive, stalking, mentally unstable ex-husband Nick Fallon. Nick had been blackmailing her into a relationship, blackmailing multiple people she loved and had a fixation on keeping Gabi's infant daughter away from her biological father, Will Horton. Gabi lacked the moral courage to come forward to defuse Nick's blackmail, but she ultimately steps up and takes responsibility for her in-cold-blood shooting of Nick. Gabi's guilt is revealed after a classic Whodunnit that portrays most of Salem having a motive to kill Nick.

* CharacterShilling: Dr. Daniel Jonas. A large number of characters are given dialogue explaining how wonderful, brilliant sexy, handsome, moral and brave Dr. Jonas is. It is especially common for Nurse Maxine, Nicole, Father Eric and Daniel's biological mother Maggie Horton to praise him as well as criticize his critics.

* HospitalHottie: Dr. Daniel Jonas. His main role seems to be falling in love with his patients.

** Will and Sonny share cousins in JJ and Abigail. Abigail, in fact, introduces them as her cousins from different sides of her family.

* TheOtherDarrin: Many characters have been recast throughout the years. Recent ones that come to mind are Brady, Philip, Belle, and Shawn. Roman has been recast for years by Josh Taylor, but people still do not accept his version.

* CreepyChild: Ciara Brady is starting to become this.

A very ''very'' [[LongRunners long-running]] US Daytime {{Soap Opera}}; running since 1965, it rivals ''CoronationStreet'' for popularity and longevity.

Originally, it focused on the Hortons, a family who tended to become doctors. As time went on, more focus was given to the rivalry between the Italian [=DiMeras=] and the Irish Bradys, while still keeping the Hortons at the forefront.

Despite being generally grounded in reality, the show has featured stories involving aliens, ghosts, and {{mad scientist}}s. These are generally considered to be the worst seasons -- [[SoBadItsGood or the best.]]

!!''Days'' provides examples of:

* ABNegative - Philip has a rare blood type as do many others on the show.
* AbsenteeActor - Unfortunately Frances Reid (Alice) due to her health. Her last appearance before her death in 2010 was in 2007.
* AbusiveParents - Jack and Steve's biological dad, Melanie's adoptive dad, Nicole's dad, Austin and Billie's dad
* AnyoneCanDie - But lots of the times, they regretted the decision thus the next trope.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology - The many mystery diseases and treatments.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography - Salem is the center of the universe. Many characters leave Salem to live in "Europe," as if it's one city or country.
* BackFromTheDead - Just about 90 of the cast has been killed off at one point of another...

** During one story line, characters were shown killed in over the top ways, had funerals with open caskets, and were shown as ghosts. They still all came back at the conclusion of the storyline several months later.
* TheBeautifulElite - and how!
* BigBad - Stefano [=DiMera=] since the early '80s, but to a lesser extent most members of his family at various times.
** Victor Kiriakis was also this, to the point that he was arguably an {{Expy}} for the show's own villain Stefano, through the mid-late '80s. He was eventually [[HeelFaceTurn redeemed]], while retaining more than a bit of an edge, and is now even married to the show's BigGood Maggie Horton.
* BigGood - Alice Horton, the matriarch of the Horton family (originally the main focus of all the show's storylines) and one of the show's original 1965 characters. Even though she didn't really have any storylines since the '70s and the Horton family eventually receded in favor of other families, she was in a very real sense the center of the show, until her actress Frances Reid stopped appearing on screen by 2007 due to illness (Reid died in 2010 at the age of 95; she was still on contract). Her place has been more or less taken by her daughter-in-law Maggie Horton.
* BlackSheep - Sami used to be considered the Black Sheep of the Brady family.
* BrandX - an extreme case where the sleeping pill causing Hope's nighttime FaceHeelTurn is obviously an {{Expy}} of notorious weirdmaker pill Ambien, but is never even given a name.
* BrotherChuck - Numerous characters have just disappeared with no explanation.
* BuriedAlive - Carly Manning was famously buried alive by Vivian in one of the soap's more known moments.

* ButICantBePregnant - Nicole and more.
* ButtMonkey - Chloe. She started out as "the weird goth chick who sings" and the target of frequent pranks by classmates. Despite having no discernable negative qualities apart from being a bit of a slut (albeit less so than some ''married'' characters), she still gets no respect whatsoever from anyone.
** Roman got a bit of this treatment back in the 90s when it was revealed that Belle was John's daughter and not his. Even though Marlena cheated on Roman with John, ''Roman'' was vilified for refusing to raise another man's daughter. Especially considering the other man was still alive and Marlena was ''still'' having an affair with him!
* CharacterOutlivesActor: Bill Horton. The 3 previous actors who played the role had all died but that didn't stop them from bringing back the character for his mother's funeral in 2010. The mother (the show's matriarch Alice Horton) was killed off for good because the actress who played her died.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder - Stefano, EJ, Sami, Nicole, among others...
* CircusOfFear - Tony (Andre) Dimera was the ring leader of this particular circus and was about to reveal the identity of the Salem Stalker when the Stalker sent a tiger at him.
* CitizenshipMarriage - Sami decides to stay married to EJ and this is one of the reasons. (EJ is, legally, an American citizen, but came into the US without the right papers. Then again, EJ is also [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome 11 years old.]])
* ClassTrip - Sami and Lucas go camping with their son Will's class and decide to give their relationship a chance.
* CreepyChild - Ciara Brady is starting to become this.
* DatingDoSiDo - It would probably be faster to list the characters who ''haven't'' been together at one point or another in the past...
* DeadpanSnarker - Victor and Melanie.

* DemonicPossession - Marlena
* DisabledLoveInterest - Just at the birth of the Kayla/Steve supercouple. After an aggression, Kayla gets into a gas explosion, and despite having no [[MadeOfIron other visible injuries]], she wakes up with (seemingly) permanent hearing damage and a useless voice box. She later gets her hearing back because of a risky, experimental surgery, after deciding to marry Steve, and [[ThePowerOfLove her voice returns just in time to exchange her wedding vows]].
* DullSurprise - Crystal Chappell's default expression (Botox may be involved); it usually indicates "perma-frazzled", though she also uses it for "angry" and "scared".
* EvenEvilHasStandards - The morally bankrupt of Salem (about half the cast) all consider Stefano to be the worst one. Nicole to a lesser degree is hated by "pious saints" Kate and Sami.
* EyepatchOfPower - Steve Johnson wore a patch over his damaged eye and was generally the most BadAss character on the show during at least his first run.
* EvilTwin - Tony and Andre Dimera (albeit they are cousins).

* {{Fainting}} - If you faint, then you must be pregnant.
* FeudingFamilies - The Bradys and Dimeras are lifelong enemies. Recently, the Kiriakis and Dimera family have started a new feud.
* {{Filler}} - Many stories move so slowly that one can miss a few episodes and still know exactly what's going on.
* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin - Billie and Bo (Julie Pinson being the recast), Belle and Shawn (Martha Madison recreating scenes by the originator Kirsten Storms).

* HeelFaceTurn - Several characters, but Sami Brady is the queen of this.
* TheHero - Bo Brady
** Well, really there have been hundreds (John Black being another big one). But Bo Brady is by far the most notable and long-lasting.
* HighSchoolSweethearts - Jennifer and Frankie, Shawn and Belle, and Chloe and Philip.
* HijackedbyGanon - Stefano [=DiMera=] is usually revealed to be the true mastermind behind the various criminal organisations that routinely target the characters.
* HospitalHottie - Dr. Daniel Jonas. His main role seems to be falling in love with his patients.
* IdiotBall - Hope, in the current Carly/Bo/Hope/Justin storyline. Hope's jealousy of Carly is understandable, but her constant angsting over her marriage to Bo has been going on so long, you wonder why she takes offense to Bo and Carly if she was the one who walked out.
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies - Somewhat reversed. Sami will not be with EJ because his life is too dangerous.
** Also because he raped her. And just kidnapped their daughter.
* KissingCousins - Most of the Days characters are inter-related somehow. Max Brady has dated not one but two of his nieces (Stephanie Johnson and Chelsea Brady), albeit they are not blood related due to Max being adopted but he is still considered their uncle. Also, if you look at it from a sufficiently skewed perspective, Carly is Frankie Brady's sister, so when Hope dumped Bo and Bo took up with Carly...
** Belle and Shawn are also cousins (even though this rarely seemed to be mentioned on the show).
*** Belle and Shawn are in fact not cousins, or even biologically related. They do however have a startling amount of relatives in common. They could also be considered second step-cousins.
* LargeHam - Many. Joe Mascolo, Drake Hogestyn, Lauren Koslow, (formerly) Judi Evans, but above all, honey-glazed with a side of biscuits and red-eye gravy, Louise Sorel as the flamboyantly insane Vivian.
* LawOfInverseFertility - Sami has four children, and none of them were planned while Nicole supposedly cannot have children anymore despite desperating wanting to secure her relationship with EJ. Shawn and Belle had Claire during a one night stand (that they didn't even realize they had due to convenient hypothermia) while Philip and Mimi have trouble conceiving.

* LongRunner - It has been airing since 1965.
** TheSimpsons parodied it as ''It Never Ends''. "Like the cleaning of a house, it never ends..."
* LoveAtFirstSight - EJ Dimera and Taylor, in what became known as the infamous scarf incident.
** Their "love" was so ridiculously instantaneous that it was later lampshaded by EJ himself in this exchange:

'''Nicole:''' ''(sarcastically)'' Well if you can manage it, yeah.\\
'''EJ:''' What did your sister and I see in eachother? What did we see in eachother. . .I have no earthly idea.
* LoveDodecahedron - Sami/EJ/Nicole/Brady/Lucas/Chloe/Daniel/Kate/ohlorditjustgoesonandon
** Sami in particular has shared a LOT of men with her nemeses Carrie, Kate and Nicole. Or they date the others relatives.
* LoveRedeems - Steve Johnson, Jack Deveraux, Sami Brady
* LoveableRogue - Jack Deveraux (Philip Kiriakis, to a lesser extent)
* TheMafia - DependingOnTheWriter, the [=DiMeras=] may be a Mafia family.
** I can't think of a writer or time period when the [=DiMeras=] were ''not'' a Mafia family. They vary on how evil, competent or realistic they are, but they're always Italian mobsters.

* MagicPlasticSurgery - Hattie, Andre, Philip
* MeddlingParents - Kate Roberts (to a ''psychotic'' degree)
* NeverFoundTheBody - Roman Brady is presumed dead, only to reappear portrayed by a different actor. Several years later, the previous actor returned to the show and re-assumed the role.
* OfficerOHara - The Bradys tend to become cops. The Hortons had have a number of doctors, Tom, Tommy, Bill, Mike and Nathan. Four generations.
* TheOtherDarrin - Many characters have been recast throughout the years. Recent ones that come to mind are Brady, Philip, Belle, and Shawn. Roman has been recast for years by Josh Taylor but people still do not accept his version.
* PinkySwear - Nicole and EJ

* PsychicPower - Celeste and lately Bo.
* PutOnABus - Cassie was last heard of taking a nap upstairs in Brady Pub, Don Craig hasn't returned yet from mailing a letter, Steve and Kayla are still in Salem and mentioned occaisionally but their portrayors have been fired. Chris went into his office one day and was never heard from again (his actor is now playing Roman Brady).
** Kayla has recently returned on-screen. Steve is presumably still in their invisible home with their invisible son Joe.
* RapePortrayedAsRedemption - Stephanie and somewhat Sami.
** Sami really didn't get much redemption after her first rape (shortly afterwards she drugged and slept with her sister's boyfriend). And it's pretty sad to point out that's she's been raped TWICE, although some viewers still question whether the second time was "rape-rape."
* RapeAsDrama- Jack raping Kayla led to much drama

* RetCon- Two Words: Mime. Sex.
** Some very complicated examples. Originally John Black got his alias from the Vietnam War memorial and it was revealed he was Roman Brady. Then it was revealed that the real Roman Brady was alive and John was really Lawrence's brother Forrest Alamain. Later it was revealed John got his alias from Stefano during his years of being "The Pawn". Then it was revealed he was Tony Dimera's half-brother on their mother's side. Then it was revealed he was actually Ryan Brady the son of Collen Brady (Roman's aunt) and Santo Dimera (Stefano's father).
** Tony Dimera was originally the son of Stefano and his mistress Daphne. Then he slept with Stefano's daughter Renee before knowing they were siblings. Then it turns out he's the son of Daphne and the stable boy Enrico. Then he comes back and marries Stefano's adopted daughter Kristen and he's back to being Stefano's son again. Then Kristen ends up with his supposed brother John. Then he becomes evil and dies. Comes back is good then evil then dies again. Then it turns out for the past 20 years he was alive and stranded on an island by his identical cousin Andre. Then it turns out Andre is really alive too. Then both die. Oh and Andre wasn't really his cousin...Tony really was the gardner's son.
* {{Retool}}: Originally, the show was a medical soap drama. In the 1990's, the premise was radically altered and wilder and wilder plots begun showing up. 2000's saw story arcs that dramatically deviated from the traditional SoapOpera: characters fighting terrorists in {{Qurac}}, a volcanic island adventure and spiritual forces impacting things to name a few.
** Before that, even in the early '80s the show followed {{General Hospital}} in presenting more action-oriented storylines and fewer storylines dealing with medical or domestic drama.
* {{Ruritania}} - Alamania, a small European country where the show's often villainous Alamain family (including Laurence, Vivian, and Nicholas Alamain) are royalty. In an aversion of the trope, Alamania is implied to be somewhere around France, Germany, and/or Switzerland, but the country's government is portrayed as so corrupt and autocratic it's depicted more along the lines of a former Soviet Bloc country than a western European one.
* SaunaOfDeath - Sami and EJ
* SerialKiller - Salem Stalker, Salem Strangler
* ShowWithinAShow - It is this to Friends, where Joey plays a doctor is a slightly more ridiculous version of the show. Many non-American Friends fans don't realise Days of Our Lives is a real show.
* SoapOpera

** Philip and Chelsea are actually worse examples than Belle, though no one comes close to touching the insanity of how much E.J. was aged up.
** Nicholas Alamain is a very weird example. He was aged about 10 years to his 20's in the 2000's. Over a decade later he comes back to the show as another actor and is even younger than what he was aged the first time around.
* SplitPersonality - Kimberly Brady; Hope
* SupernaturalSoapOpera - Marlena's possession, the Gemini twins.
* TakeThat- During the Salem Stalker storyline, they did a dream sequence when a then evil Marlena rants about what a worthless person her daughter Belle is, running off several major fan complaints about the character.
* TitleDrop- One of the most dramatic and well done moments in the entire series is when Hope performs a title drop at Alice's funeral.
* TheirFirstTime - Belle and Shawn discussed this a lot and eventually decided to wear purity rings. Ultimately, however, Belle's first was with Philip while Shawn's was with Jan.
* UnexplainedRecovery - Stefano [=DiMera=] was conceived as this from the very beginning, but seldom is anyone in Salem truly dead for good.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield - The whereabouts of Salem is never mentioned but it has been hinted that it is somewhere near Chicago. (It was evidently originally [[LovecraftCountry Salem, MA]], but the writers stopped paying attention a long time ago, and many of the characters (particularly Bo) make frequent references to being Cubs fans.)
* WhiteSheep - For many years Alexandra "Lexie" Carver was this to long-running villains the [=DiMera=] family, as was her brother Tony [=DiMera=], at least when he wasn't being impersonated by his homicidal cousin Andre. But even they dabbled with being villains.

* WhosYourDaddy - If a character has slept with two men quite recently, chances are she will become pregnant and not know the daddy.
** In Sami's case she slept with two men EJ and Lucas and ended up pregnant with fraternal twins. Both men were the fathers of one of the twins.
* WickedCultured - Stefano [=DiMera=]. Occasionally Victor Kirakis and Brady Black will make Greek references.

* YouLookFamiliar - Josh Taylor as Chris and Roman, Wayne Northrop as Roman and Alex North, Judi Evans as Adrienne and Bonnie, Tamara Braun as Ava and [[TheOtherDarrin Taylor]].

** And now Vivian is locked in a sarcophagus that she ''intended'' for Maggy but ''said'' was for the remains of Victor's daughter. Not quite "burried", as the thing ''is'' above ground, but still "live person where you'd expect a dead body".

** I believe Stefano and Tony have died about 20 times so far... [[spoiler:each...]]