Line #318 Main/WhereItAllBegan


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10	[[quoteright:255:[[VideoGame/BreathOfFireII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/svscmvu.png]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:255:It took 10 years and 38 levels [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence to get that door open.]]]]
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16
17	->''"Why are you so surprised? You have wandered in great circles across the planes in these countless lives you have lived. Such symmetry. Such futility. Go now, back to where it began. Go back, and die."''
18	-->-- '''Trias''', ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''
19
20	Your rookie hero has left his hometown to answer the call. He learns from his mentor, fights minions, develops some really flashy attacks, perhaps takes down TheDragon, and angsts a lot. But now it's time to face the BigBad, and what better place to do it than back at his hometown, Where It All Began?
21
22	Alternatively, Where It All Began can be where the BigBad first struck. Sometimes this and the hero's home [[DoomedHometown are one and the same]]; that's [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive why the hero was chosen]].
23
24	There's a certain poetic symmetry to the idea that the hero's journey is a circular one, and indeed, returning home for the final showdown is often referred to as "coming full circle." It also reminds the audience (and the hero, who may take a moment to [[ContemplateOurNavels reminisce]]) how much the hero has grown since the last time we were here.
25
26	But most importantly, [[CutAndPasteEnvironments it means the producers get to use the old sets again.]]
27
28	Compare HereWeGoAgain, {{Bookends}}, GoBackToTheSource, FinalDungeonPreview, and BrickJoke. SoNearYetSoFar is a variant where even the final climactic goal is known and likely even visible from the start, but you can't accomplish that goal until the finale. Not related to WhenItAllBegan; that is a chronology trope (although TimeTravel can cause them to overlap, specifically in cases of SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong).
29
30	!!This is an EndingTrope, so beware of unmarked spoilers in the examples below.
31	----
32	!!Example subpages:
33
34	[[index]]
35	* WhereItAllBegan/VideoGames
36	[[/index]]
37
38	!!Other examples:
39
40	[[foldercontrol]]
41
42	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
43	* In ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' (manga only), Hikaru and Athena fight on a flat Layer, just like the one that Hikaru first fought on and the one that Athena used when she inspired Misaki to create Hikaru. This despite the fact that this entire TournamentArc used elaborate terrain layers.
44	* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', the city of Shighanshina is where the Colossal and Armored Titans first appeared and breached the Walls. Five years later, both are defeated in battle against the Survey Corps. Notably, Eren and Armin are the ones to bring down the Colossal Titan, while Mikasa strikes the final blow to defeat the Armored Titan. Reiner narrowly escapes thanks to his superiors, while Bertolt is abandoned to his fate. He's later EatenAlive, allowing Armin to inherit the power of the Colossal Titan.
45	* In the manga version of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'', the final battle between Chrono and Aion takes place in the demon world of Pandaemonium -- the place Chrono first decided to join Aion over 50 years ago.
46	* In ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' Raki returns to his hometown after the seven year TimeSkip as a [[FutureBadass badass Yoma-asskicking warrior]]. And yet they still talk shit about him. [[ShamingTheMob Raki sets them straight, though]].
47	* In ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', the episode "Bad To The Bones" had the [=DigiDestined=] return to the Village of Flames, which was the first location in the Digital World that they set foot in, and where Takuya first became Agunimon. This time, the village is under attack by Lucemon's forces.
48	* The final scene of the first ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'' OVA takes place at Shinonome High School, where Ifurita first encountered Makoto in the present.
49	* The FinalBattle of ''Manga/FairyTail'' between Ishgal's wizards and Acnologia takes place in Hargeon, the same PortTown where Lucy first met Natsu and Happy at the beginning of the series. [[LampshadeHanging She makes note of this to Happy]], since part of the reason for the battle is to save Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers from the [[PrisonDimension Space Between Time]], essentially "meeting" Natsu again.
50	* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', the final battle between Kenshiro and Raoh over Yuria takes place at the Hokuto Renkitouza, which is the place where the three of them met as children.
51	** The final story arc of the manga (which went beyond the Shura story arc the anime adaptation concluded the series with) is set at the same village where Kenshiro met Bat and Lin.
52	* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' had Liore, also lampshaded in Episode 41 with a bar in Liore called Motherland.
53	* Subverted in ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' when, just as Mithril is making its final preparations to recapture Merida Island, Amalgam seizes a Soviet nuclear missile base in Badakhsha, Afghanistan, and threatens to launch its arsenal. Having basically grown up in the middle of the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, Sousuke considers the location to be utterly life-defining...which leads him to realize that Amalgam chose the location specifically to lead Sousuke ''away'' from the actual battle he's needed for so that Leonard can enact his plan without Mithril's trump card, the Laevatein, around to counter him. Thus, Sousuke decides to let the rest of Mithril's SRT handle Afghanistan while he and Tessa themselves confront Leonard at Merida.
54	* Kagome, from ''Manga/InuYasha'', was first sucked into Feudal Japan via the Bone Eater's well. This is where Naraku's (and the Shikon Jewel's) final destruction takes place.
55	* The final showdown in ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' takes place on Mars, the place where the Jovians first attacked and Akito's DoomedHometown from the prologue. And in TheMovie, they go back there ''again'' for the final battle against a (slightly) different opponent.
56	* The final battle of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' does this not with a ''location'', but with its HumongousMecha. It is not between overpowered machines and a culmination of the LensmanArmsRace. No, it is Setsuna reclaiming his old Gundam Exia, his first machine he used, going up against Ribbons using a suspiciously-recolored 0 Gundam, the first ever made using the first GN Drive. Made doubly more interesting since Ribbons is Evil Amuro due to his voice actor and the latter Gundam is a deliberate homage to the original [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam RX-78-2]].
57	* The WildGooseChase for [[MacGuffin Laplace's Box]] in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' begins and ends in the very same space colony: Industrial 7.
58	* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In Chapter 398, All Might's LastDance with All for One takes him to a place he recognizes - Tatoin Station, the place where he first met Izuku all the way back in Chapter 1, and he sees the rooftop where he revealed to him the truth about One for All.
59	* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the final duel between Naruto and Sasuke takes place at the Valley of the End, where they both fought once before as children and where their past incarnations Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha also battled long ago.
60	* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Pirate King Gold Roger was finally brought to execution at his home town, Logue Town. For this reason, Logue Town is known as "The Town of the Beginning and the End." It's even a themed name, as it refers to ''pro''logue and ''epi''logue.
61	** Twenty-two years later, the protagonist Luffy arrives at Logue Town. He is captured and placed in a stockade, ironically on the very execution stand upon which the Pirate King died. There, he proclaims that he ''will'' be the Pirate King, and as Buggy's sword came down to end his life, he apologizes to his crew... and smiles, echoing the death of the previous Pirate King. At this point, Luffy is saved by dumb luck (lightning strikes Buggy), and his act of defiance spurs Smoker, a Marine captain, who witnessed the Pirate King's execution decades before, to chase after him. Thus, WhereItAllBegan is where the adventure begins again, but this time, with a new Pirate King.
62	* The [[BigBad obsessive collector]] in ''Anime/Pokemon2000'' quotes this at the end, when he finds the first card he ever collected in the smashed ruins of everything ''else'' he collected.
63	--> "How it all began. And how it will begin, again."
64	* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', the eponymous hero (and quite a few of his friends/rivals) first acquired his [[GenderBender curse]] at the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo. The final arc involves returning to Jusenkyo to prevent the villains from draining it (and thus destroying a possible cure to the curses).
65	* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', the secret behind the [[FlowerMotifs Rose Gate]] turns out to be Anthy's resting place as the witch impaled by the million swords...which is where Utena first made her pledge to become a prince and save her as a child. Since the series is a bit of a MindScrew and full of CharacterDevelopment, even Utena doesn't remember the importance of it until about three episodes before the finale.
66	* ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'': The final act occurs with Emma and the other returning to confront Peter Ratri and end the conflict with the Demons at Grace Field House, where they escaped from at the beginning.
67	* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' ends in Clow Country, where it all began. Specifically, at the eponymous reservoir, where [[PurpleProse the wheels of fate were torn asunder by the foolishness of love gone astray]] in the backstory.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Comic Books]]
71	* ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'': In many stories where the heroes have to travel across the city or the world, the last chapter takes place on the T.I.A. headquarters, where they were assigned their mission.
72	* "Everything You Know About WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls is Wrong" (DC run) has the kids of Pokey Oaks Kindergarten swapping stories of how the girls first came about, using the origins of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/SpiderMan and ComicBook/TheFantasticFour as parallels. When the girls themselves interject how they really came about, they get a failing grade as the kids were taking part in a creative writing lesson.
73	* ComicBook/RedSonja's ''Queen of Plagues'' arc opens with Sonja and Annisia in the fighting pit of the King of Zamora and stages the climactic fight in the same place under similar circumstances.
74	* Dynamite's ''ComicBook/TheShadow'' Girasol arc started in New York City, and after traveling the world, returns to NYC for the finale.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
78	* The climactic blizzard and Anna's ActofTrueLove near the end of ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' both take place within Arendelle's harbor.
79	* In ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'', the final battle against [[BigBad Alameda Slim]] takes place on Little Patch of Heaven, which Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway all left at the start of their adventure in order to save it.
80	* In ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'', Kubo fights the BigBad, the Moon King, in [[DoomedHometown the ruins of the village where he used to spend his days]]. The battle actually ends at the nearby graveyard, however -- which also happens to be where the Moon King's forces first go after Kubo.
81	* ''Franchise/KungFuPanda'':
82	** The original ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen almost ended like this]]. The Wuxi Finger Hold was still going to happen, only Po and Tai Lung would crash land in Po's bedroom, where Tai Lung would see all the Furious Five merchandise, and be confused. Basically the script would not change aside from taking place in a different location. The writers moved the final confrontation to outside Ping's noodle shop, since the original version did not make as much sense.
83	** Played straight in the [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 third film]]. After defeating Kai and being made the new master of the Jade Palace by Oogway, Po trains the others to use Chi in the Palace Arena, the same place where he was chosen to be the Dragon Warrior in the first film.
84	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King\|1994}}'' ends with Simba returning to the Pride Lands to defeat Scar and take his rightful place as king.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'' has the climax take place at the Central Park Zoo, the same place that Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria left in the first movie.
86	* The final battle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'' takes place in Canterlot, which was the starting location of not only the film, but the series.
87	* Near the end of ''{{WesternAnimation/Onward}}'', the Phoenix Gem is located [[spoiler: right in front of Ian and Barley's high school.]] And then, because of [[spoiler: a curse]], [[spoiler: the school turns into a stone dragon...]]
88	* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011'', the titular cat's journey ultimately leads him straight back to the village of San Ricardo, his hometown. And it's there, on the same bridge outside of town, where Puss once again finds himself having to choose between his loyalty to the village and his brother Humpty.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
92	* The protagonist of ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' is introduced lying in a hospital bed and ends up in a similar setting towards the end of the film. The DVD commentary explains that it was deliberately done to invoke this trope (i.e., going full circle).
93	* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' opens with the Avengers attacking HYDRA at Sokovia. The final battle with Ultron also takes place in Sokovia.
94	* Marty's destination in ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' is to get back to where the movie started. We even get to see a scene from the beginning of the movie again at the end.
95	* Both versions of ''Film/TheButterflyEffect''. The original does it well when the main character goes back to the birthday party where he first met the love of his life and gets her to not want to see him again effectively erasing her from his life, but the director's cut takes it to the ultimate extreme where the main character commits suicide by strangling himself (in utero!)
96	* In a cruel twist of fate, the test subjects in ''Film/{{Cube}}'' learn that the exit room was the very room they started out in, making their trek through the titular deathtrap dungeon a pointless waste of time and human life.
97	* ''Film/TheFugitive'' starts out at a hospital benefit at a swanky Chicago hotel, and ends at a similar conference at another one.
98	* The first and third films of ''Film/TheHangover'' trilogy mostly take place in Las Vegas. The Wolfpack even shows some annoyance that similar crap is happening to them for the third time.
99	* ''Film/Halloween5TheRevengeOfMichaelMyers'': Loomis and Jamie set up a trap for Michael in Michael's childhood home, the place of his StartOfDarkness.
100	** Similarly, ''Film/HalloweenKills'' also climaxes with a confrontation with Michael in the old Myers house.
101	* The final fight of ''Film/HanselAndGretelWitchHunters'' takes place right at the gingerbread house where the original story and the movie's prologue ended. The witch even uses the trope name when she comments on it. Hansel and Gretel react with an understandable "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
102	* ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' ends with Connor returning with Brenda to Scotland, where he was born.
103	* ''Film/{{Highwaymen}}'': In the opening, a SerialKiller named Fargo uses his car to run over the protagonist James Cray's wife. To spite Cray, Fargo kidnaps Molly, a lone victim whom Cray saved, and returns to the now abandoned motel (which Fargo bought in the intervening years) where he initially killed Cray's late wife to play the murder out again.
104	* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'' has its climax and ending in Arthur's home.
105	* Film/JamesBond film ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' begins in Gibraltar and after much business in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Afghanistan and Pakistan ends in Tangier, just three dozen miles southwest.
106	* ''Film/TheLastSharknadoItsAboutTime'' 's last scene takes place in Fin's bar from the first film, but because they've been erased from history, there's no sharknado this time around.
107	* ''Film/LordOfIllusions'' opens in the Cultists' compound in the Mojave desert before moving to Los Angeles, and the climax takes us back there when Nix is revived.
108	* ''Film/ResidentEvilTheFinalChapter'' sees Alice return to the Hive underneath Raccoon City, [[Film/ResidentEvil2002 where the series started]].
109	* Happens a ridiculous amount of times throughout the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise.
110	** ''Film/SawI'' features detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing attempting to arrest Jigsaw at his hideout, which is where the now-solo Tapp (after Sing died in the first attempt) pursues Jigsaw to again in the climax.
111	** ''Film/SawII'' drops the bombshell that the movie's main game took place in the same building as the first movie, and that the Bathroom (the first film's centerpiece) is merely one of its many rooms.
112	** After being absent since the first movie, Lawrence makes a return in ''Film/Saw3D'', and the climax reveals that the reason for his survival was because he was nursed back to health by Jigsaw to aid him as an accomplice (though not an official apprentice). His final task was to lock Hoffman, an apprentice who [[BastardUnderstudy went out of his way to continue Jigsaw's legacy with his own ideals]], in the same aforementioned Bathroom.
113	* ''Film/TheSecretOfMoonacre'''s climax takes place at the clifftop where the Moon Princess married Sir Wrolf Merryweather.
114	* ''Film/SoulMates2023'': The maze takes the two leads through a lot of rooms, but at the end it turns out they were going in a circle and they arrived back at the room they started at.
115	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
116	** It doesn't conclude the movie, but Luke returns to his home planet of Tatooine for ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.
117	--->'''Luke''': I used to live here, you know.
118	--->'''Han''': You're going to die here, you know. Convenient.
119	** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' brings the whole Skywalker Saga full circle, as in its last scene, Rey returns to the moisture farm on Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia's lightsabers, with the very last shot being her and BB-8 looking out at the setting suns just like Luke did back in the original film.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Literature]]
123	* Happened in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series. In the first book, Tavi is a young, powerless shepherd who takes shelter from a storm full of angry [[ElementalEmbodiment air elementals]] in a prince's tomb. In the final book, he has now learned to use his vast power and learned his true identity as the son of that very prince, and he pursues the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord Queen]] across the landscape, finally killing her at his father's tomb, using two immensely powerful elementals to weaken her.
124	* ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'', the last Literature/HerculePoirot novel, is set in Styles Court, where the first novel, ''Literature/TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles'', took place.
125	* ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' starts out in the Louvre, and we end up back at the Louvre only to discover that the museum is the final resting place of Mary Magdelene.
126	* ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'':
127	** In the first series, Lief and co. traveled back to Del after they [[GottaCatchThemAll gathered the]] [[PlotCoupons seven gems of the Belt of Deltora]] to drive back the [[EvilOverlord Shadow Lord]] from their land with the power of the belt and heir, Dain.
128	** In the third series' last book, ''The Sister of the South'', Lief and co. came back to Del once they figured out the last deadly Sister was inside the capital.
129	* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' the protagonist leaves castle Hurog, travels far away from home...and in the end, it is all about the eponymous dragon bones, which he has already seen at the start of the novel. The villains meet their end in the very cave where Ward found the dragon bones.
130	* The final showdown in Eric Nylund's ''Literature/AGameOfUniverse'' takes place in the same casino where the novel started.
131	* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, "where it all began" is [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]]. For both Harry and Voldemort it's the place where they first felt at home and free from their confining upbringings. Of course, Hogwarts is where 90% of the series takes place, but Harry spends the last book, ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', away from school on a MacGuffin hunt, only to eventually realize he must return there for the last one. Voldemort figures out what he's up to at the same time, and events snowball into a GrandFinale battle royale.
132	** When Harry is hit by Voldemort's killing curse in the Forbidden Forest, he finds himself in King's Cross Station, where his new life truly began.
133	* T. S. Eliot's poem "Little Gidding" (the last of his ''Four Quartets'') includes these lines:
134	-->We shall not cease from exploration\
135	And the end of all our exploring\
136	Will be to arrive where we started\
137	And know the place for the first time.
138	* The One Ring in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' can only be destroyed in the same place it was created.
139	** Also, the Scouring of the Shire (for the books only), in which Saruman is defeated for good in the hobbits' homeland.
140	** Sam speaks the very last words of the story in Bag End, where Bilbo was right at the beginning of ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
141	* Simon, the lead of Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' series, starts out as a kitchen boy in the Hayholt and is [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive forced to flee]] when his mentor is slain by TheDragon. He finally returns after a [[TheHerosJourney long and circuitous path]] to confront the BigBad who has taken the place for his stronghold.
142	* ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'' has the protagonist going back to his hometown to battle Steve in the 11th and 12th books. Same with TheMovie, although much, much sooner.
143	* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''Literature/TheSevenCitadels''. The final sorcerer Kerish needs to find is in his homeland of Galkis -- but living deep in an unexplored jungle, nowhere near any place Kerish has been before.
144	* This happens twice in ''Literature/SoulMusic''. Susan goes back to the mountain road where her parents died in a coach accident in the prologue of the book: the first time using TimeTravel to witness the crash and confront [[TheGrimReaper Death]] (her maternal grandfather) about his letting her parents die; the second time to save Buddy and his band from going over the edge in the same spot.
145	* Lampshaded in-universe in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''SpaceCadet'', when Matt and Tex return to the academy ship PRS ''Randolph'':
146	-->Matt and Tex showed their orders to the officer of the watch and left with him the inevitable copies. He gave them their rooming assignments—in Hog Alley, in a room with a different number but otherwise like the one they had had. "Seems like we never left it," remarked Tex, as he unpacked his jump bag.
147	* Two of the books in the Shatnerverse of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' novels end this way. Star Trek: Avenger goes back to Tarsus IV, where a very young James Kirk survived the purges of Kodos. Star Trek: Preserver is the ending of the "Mirror Universe Sage" and ends at Halkan, the planet where Kirk first encountered the Mirror Universe.
148	* A character arc went like this in Literature/OpeningAtlantis by Creator/HarryTurtledove. Francois Kersauzon's story starts in the fortress of Noveau Redon. One long military campaign against the English later, and he is waiting out a siege. The siege ends with the English destroying the source of the fort's spring. This forces Kersauzon to move against them. He dies.
149	* In Creator/JamesSwallow's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} novel ''Faith & Fire'', Vaun's BackStory brings him back to where it all began; he explains, early in the novel, that he has been brought back to his birth place to deal with unfinished business.
150	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
151	** The Clans settle by a lake when their home is destroyed. Turns out that their ancestors (from way before the Clans ever formed) had lived in the exact same spot.
152	** In ''Graystripe's Vow'', Graystripe, the only cat that's been around since the first book in the series, decides to travel back to the place the Clans originally lived, where he was born. It's nostalgic and bittersweet for both him and the readers.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
156	* The series finale of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' involves a return to Mount Subasio, which was last featured in the first season when it played a significant role in launching the series' MythArc.
157	* Invoked in the Season 5 finale of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', as [[BigBad Prometheus]] kidnaps all of Oliver's loved ones and takes them to Lian Yu, the island Oliver spent most of his "five years in hell" on; Prometheus' plan is to kill Oliver where his journey towards becoming a hero began. The episode also brings the flashback storyline chronicling those five years to a close, by showing the events leading up to the series' opening shot of Oliver being rescued off the island.
158	* ''Series/AshVsEvilDead'': The VisionQuest Ash has halfway through the first season tells him that he needs to take the Necronomicon back to the cabin from the original movies and bury it there in order to stop the Deadites for good. The final episodes of the season take place there.
159	** The final episodes of Season 2 take this even further, as Ash and co. go back in time to the 80s, to the days before the events of the original movie, to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong try and prevent it all from happening]].
160	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
161	** The first season centers around The Master attempting to open the Hellmouth. From then on, no seasonal BigBad cared about the Hellmouth itself until the last one, who once again attempted to open it. The high school was even rebuilt on top of it at the beginning of the season, allowing the heroes to return there as well.
162	** Buffy also had one other WhereItAllBegan with the same location; in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E11Doomed Doomed]]", a trio of one-episode baddies tries to open the Hellmouth, necessitating a return to the ruins of the original high school. All of the characters comment on the memories, mostly painful, this evokes.
163	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}''. The series begins with Sam coming out of the backroom and opening the bar. The series ends with Sam closing the bar and walking into the backroom.
164	* Bryce's storyline on ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' ended the second season finale WhereItAllBegan in the pilot: jumping into an Intersect control room to implant a powerful computer in Chuck's brain to keep a NebulousEvilOrganization from doing it to their own people first.
165	** The series finale also ends on the same beach where Chuck and Sarah ended their first date, only this time Chuck is telling an amnesiac Sarah to trust him, rather than her telling him.
166	* The 20th anniversary episode of ''Series/DoctorWho'', "The Five Doctors," notes at the conclusion, after the newly-appointed president of Gallifrey -- the Doctor -- bug off in the TARDIS with Tegan and Turlough:
167	-->'''Tegan:''' You mean you're running away from your own people in a dilapidated old TARDIS?
168	-->'''Doctor:''' Why not? After all, that's how it all started.
169	** This seems to have happened in all 10th anniversary specials. "The Three Doctors" ends with the Doctor regaining his freedom to travel in time and space. In the 30th anniversary story for Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine the First Doctor and Susan are shown leaving Gallifrey. The 40th anniversary story "Zagreus" from AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho has the Doctor again leaving Gallifrey, for new adventures in the Divergent Universe. For the 50th anniversary, "The Name of the Doctor" shows the Doctor leaving Gallifrey, while "The Day of the Doctor" reverses this with the Doctor departing to find Gallifrey and saying he has always been going "Home. The long way round." And in the story that started the 25th season "Remembrance of the Daleks" the Doctor returns to Totter's Yard and Coal Hill School where the series began. Also "The Day of the Doctor" begins with a Policeman walking past the Totter's Lane sign and Clara being a teacher at Coal Hill School like the Doctor's earliest new companions. Also a clock she passes at the beginning says 17:16, when the first episode aired.
170	** The RTD era of Doctor Who (2005-2010) basically began with the Doctor meeting Rose in the Powell estate in 2005. It ends roughly with the Doctor [[HaveWeMetYet meeting Rose]] in the Powell Estate earlier in 2005, though only briefly to prevent her recognising him later.
171	** Amy Pond's time on the show began with her meeting the Doctor in her garden at the age of seven. At the end of her final episode, the Doctor goes back to meet the young Amy just after he left and she is shown waiting in the garden for him.
172	** After nine series, the Doctor returns to Gallifrey in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]. Specifically, [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the barn he lived]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen in as a child.]]
173	* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' opens with the protagonist sheriff and his daughter driving into town and seeing themselves driving out of town. In the last scene of the last episode, as they drive out of town, they see themselves driving in.
174	* The final showdown of ''Series/TheFugitive'' takes place in Kimble's home town of Stafford, Illinois.
175	* ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'''s FinalBattle occurred at the mountain where the Grongi were originally sealed.
176	* It has been revealed that the final goal of the heroes of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is to protect a magical light that is located in the same bamboo grove Jack awoke in in the first episode.
177	** The final scene of the series mirrors its beginning, with Jack lying down in the bamboo field. Only this time he closes his eyes as he dies.
178	* ''Series/TheLastKingdom'': In Season 5, [[spoiler: [[DarkActionGirl Brida]] lures [[TheHero Uhtred]] to [[DoomedHometown the ruins of Earl Ragnar's estate]], their late [[ParentalSubstitute adoptive father]], where [[ChildhoodFriendRomance they grew up and fell in love as teenagers]], for their [[DuelToTheDeath final confrontation]] after a lifetime [[WeUsedToBeFriends clashing on opposite sides of the divide]] between Saxons and Danes]].
179	-->'''Uhtred''': You [[PrematurelyMarkedGrave dug your own grave]]?
180	-->'''[[spoiler:Brida]]''': Mine, or yours. I'm prepared. Either way, it ends where it began.
181	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
182	** ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy's'' "Journey's End" ends with the inhabitants of space-station Terra Venture escaping from it to the planet Miranoi, where the Rangers escaped from in the premiere.
183	** The ending of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' has Dillon revisit the lone flower he passed on the way to Corinth now part of a beautiful garden in a healing world.
184	* ''Series/SquidGame'': The area where the first game took place in "[[Recap/SquidGameS1E1RedLightGreenLight Red Light, Green Light]]" is the location of the last one in "[[Recap/SquidGameS1E9OneLuckyDay One Lucky Day]]".
185	* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
186	** The Season 6 finale "Full Circle" was originally envisioned as a series finale. The series was renewed, so the plot was altered. It still however featured a showdown between SG-1 and Anubis on Abydos, the planet where both the pilot episode took place, as well as the movie.
187	** "Moebius", which was also meant to be the series finale, revisited Ancient Egypt under Ra's rule, and Apophis's prison on Chulak from the pilot episode -- the alternate timeline SG-1 even got to recruit Teal'c again.
188	** Also the climax of ''Film/StargateTheArkOfTruth'' takes place in the City of the Ori, a place that Daniel and Vala visited early on in the ninth season. While not the start of the show itself, it was the start of the Ori storyline.
189	** Within the show's story, when the Jaffa kicked the Goa'uld's asses once and for all, the final battle took place on Dakara and they chose Dakara as the capital of their new country; for the express reason that it was also the place where they first became slaves. It was also a significant religious site like Mecca is to Muslims.
190	* The ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' (NX-01) visits the planet Rigel in the last episode, just like they did in the first.
191	** ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' not only had the same villain in the finale as they did in the first episode (Q), but they finished a story thread started in that episode, and through shifting timelines, we got to meet the ''Enterprise''-D as it was in that episode, including the old crew. Picard and Q also face off in the same replica 22nd century courtroom that Q brought him to in that premiere episode. Picard even comments on this in the finale.
192	** ''[[Series/StarTrekPicard Picard]]'' goes one further as [[spoiler:the senior officers of the USS ''Enterprise''-D are reunited with the rebuilt ''Enterprise''-D for one last showdown with the Borg, the ''TNG'' era threat that hung over so many heads and would drive many a person in that era]].
193	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' almost did this. The pilot episode opens with the Winchesters living in their home in Lawrence, Kansas. The climax of the season 5 finale takes place in a graveyard in Lawrence, Kansas. Creator/EricKripke said that the choice was deliberate, as he wanted to have Dean's and Sam's journey ending up full circle. However, [[PostScriptSeason the series kept getting renewed for more and more seasons after that]].
194	* ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'':
195	** One of the final episodes of Season 3, "Clear", has Rick, Carl and Michonne return to King County (the place where Rick awakened from his coma and first encountered the undead) one last time in order to scavenge supplies to fight against The Governor, while encountering Rick's friend Morgan (who had stayed behind in the town).
196	** In the "Red Machete" webseries, the final episode has the main character, Mandy, return to her old homestead, which she abandoned (in the first episode) in the wake of her father's death and subsequent raid by thieves, and encounters walkers when she goes back to examine the site.
197	[[/folder]]
198
199	[[folder:Music]]
200	* The final chord played in the song Octavarium by Music/DreamTheater is the same as the first chord on the album. This is referenced by the final line "The story ends where it began."
201	* Music/{{Sabaton}}'s "1648" mentions that Prague was both where the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar started (in the Defenestration of Prague, which kicked off the war) and where its last battle was fought.
202	* The penultimate song in Green Day's album ''Music/AmericanIdiot'', aptly titled "Homecoming" is about the protagonist, a young runaway, finally [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin returning to his home]] after hitting rock bottom. In the final song he is presumably still there as he tries to move on with his life.
203	* Music/DanAndShay's "19 You + Me" is book-ended by the lyric "It was our first week at Myrtle Beach, where it all began."
204	* Many songs end with a repeat of the first verse, but here are two particularly noteworthy examples relating to this category. In "There's a Hole in the Bucket," each successive attempt to fix the hole requires something new to make the previous necessity usable, with the last one requiring water--but there's a hole in the bucket! The song "La romance du muguet" (The Story of the Lily of the Valley) lampshades this: The song begins "Voulez-vous que l'on vous chante 'La romance du muguet'?" {idiomatic translation--"Would you like to hear 'La romance du muguet'?") The succeeding verses tell the prospective listener all the virtues of the song, with the next to last verse is "Elle finit et elle commence" ("It finishes and it starts"), followed by a repetition of the the first verse.
205	[[/folder]]
206
207	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
208	* The epic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil'' was written as a SpiritualSuccessor to -- what else? -- ''TabletopGame/TheTempleOfElementalEvil''. The players visit a few of the locations in the original game there, including Homlett, Nulb, and the Moathouse, but very little happens in those places (except the Moathouse) and can even visit the infamous Temple if they want, but at first, it seems deserted. Most of the module takes place in another temple complex called [[TempleOfDoom the Temple of All Consumption]]. However, the finale of the adventure does indeed take the heroes back to the true Temple of Elemental Evil for one final titanic battle.
209	* The Grand Conjunction adventure-arc for the TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} D&D setting concludes at Castle Ravenloft: site of the award-winning module that originally inspired the game-setting, ''and'' of the in-Verse events that created the Land of Mists.
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder:Theatre]]
213	* The stage adaptation of ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' has the two protagonists who left town returning in the second to last scene and each of the play's storylines finally coming together to reach the climax when they do. Specifically Johnny comes home from the city, apparently sober or at least attempting to be, Tunny returns from his military service having lost his leg but with the Extraordinary Girl now his girlfriend, and Will and Heather appear to finally reach a point where they can be friends and raise their baby together despite no longer being a couple when they welcome their friends home.
214	* In ''Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung'', to save the world the Ring must be returned to the Rhine, from which its gold was stolen in the first scene of ''Das Rheingold''. The final act of ''Götterdämmerung'' begins on the banks of that river, and though the scene moves away, the river ultimately moves back in as the Rhinemaidens recover the ring forged from the gold. Reprises of the earliest musical themes of ''Das Rheingold'' drive the point home.
215	** Also the second act of ''Das Rheingold'' showed Valhalla having just been constructed. The final scene also shows Valhalla being burnt down.
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder:Webcomics]]
219	* In ''Webcomic/{{Endstone}}'', [[http://endstone.net/2011/04/21/5-28/ Kyri returns not to her original home but where she lived with her husband and daughter.]]
220	* ''Webcomic/HomeStuck'': After The Scratch, the story is visibly shown rewinding, back to the first panel of John's introduction, and then a fade to white. No surprise, considering the nature of The Scratch. The beginning of the next Act is then very similar to Act 1, with the first panel extremely similar to John's introduction.
221	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick:'' The final confrontation of the comic is set up in the very last stretch of Kraagor's Tomb (which is a series of ''dozens and dozens'' of consecutive dungeons)... which looks pretty much ''exactly'' like the initial levels of Dorukan's Dungeon, where the comic started out. For bonus points, the party immediately gets sidetracked into a SeinfeldianConversation with the exact same sort of D&D-related observational humor that the strip started out with, while their new companions [[MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness look on utterly baffled]].
222	[[/folder]]
223
224	[[folder:Web Original]]
225	* Website/ChannelAwesome:
226	** In ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', [[MacGuffin Malachite's Hand]] is buried in the same field that the team start off in.
227	** In ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', the swallowed team ends up in the same field as the final battle in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights''.
228	* In ''Literature/MaleRising'', Paulo Abacar the ex-slave lived in a house at Oyo Square, Sokoto. 177 years later, his great-great-great-granddaughter Laila Abacar visits the house - now a museum and shrine - in the epilogue. She considers moving her family there at the end.
229	* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'': In the Season 7 finale, Sonic realizes the answer to The Creator's final clue is by heading to the intro screen to input the password to select The Creator's location.
230	[[/folder]]
231
232	[[folder:Western Animation]]
233	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Season 1's finale occurs at the same location as Act 1 [[spoiler:in the burned out ruin of the cannery factory where Powder accidentally killed most of her adoptive family, Vi's seeming abandonment of her, and the birth of the [[MadBomber Jinx persona]]. There Jinx offers Vi the return of her old personality Powder in return for her killing [[ImpliedLoveInterest Caitlyn]]. There Jinx shoots Silco in the heat of the moment to protect Vi, killing him at the same location where he adopted her. And its there that Jinx realizes that she and Vi cannot go back to their past relationship and chooses to blow up the Piltover Council with a weapon powered by Hextech crystal, the same item that she accidentally killed her family with.]]
234	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' episode "Paperback Writer" has the head of publishing firm Dot, Clot and Blot telling each of the boys to submit a book telling how the group came together. The boys' individual takes are rather far-fetched (Ringo a Shakespearean actor, Paul a scientist, George a secret agent, John a World War I pilot, and each scenario with the others in supporting roles). They're so outlandish that the publisher kicks them out of his office.
235	-->'''John:''' Say, how ''did'' we meet, anyway?\
236	'''Ringo:''' Same as now. We just sorta bumped into each other!
237	* "Awakening," the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', begins with the Wyvern Clan waking up from their stone sleep in Castle Wyvern. "Hunter's Moon," the final episode, ends with the Manhattan Clan going into stone sleep in Castle Wyvern.
238	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': The game ends at the same place it started: the bunker. Except that everyone now has their memories, knows more-or-less what's going on, and there's a big green button in the middle of the room that allows them to win the game.
239	* The ''WesternAnimation/IHeartArlo'' Season 1 finale "The Uncondemning" has Arlo and his gang travel back to the Louisiana swamp where Edmée raised him for fifteen years before leaving for New York, where they find it under a dark curse by the evil Bog Lady who has Edmée held up as bait to lure Arlo to her and convince him to stay forever.
240	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Return of Harmony Part 1", Discord tells the main characters that they can find the Elements of Harmony back where they began. In the next episode, Twilight Sparkle finds the elements in the book that she is reading at the beginning of the pilot episode.
241	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'' that takes place in a department store, the episode opens with the Hooded Claw about to end Penelope's life in an elevator shaft. At the end of the episode, she ends up going in the direction of the elevator shaft, where she [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this tope by saying "The elevator? That's where I started!" and the Hooded Claw responds with "And that's where you'll be finished!".
242	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Mr. Mojo's Rising" is in effect a "where it all began" episode. [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie The movie]] is essentially an inflated extension of the episode.
243	* The conflict in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' begins when Jack, in feudal Japan, fights Aku in his lair, only for Aku to open a time portal and fling Jack into the far future. After spending almost the entire series in the future, Jack is ''finally'' able to return to feudal Japan and finish Aku off once and for all in that very same place, and quite fittingly, shows up ''[[YearInsideHourOutside immediately]]'' after Aku had sent Jack into the future.
244	* Basically, this is how ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' concludes. When the Nibiru curse is destroyed, it reset everything in Crystal Cove as if the curse had never existed, and the gang -- once shunned by the townspeople -- are now considered productive members of the community. But the reset means there are no mysteries to solve and Fred's van is a plain, white van. After getting a recorded message from Creator/HarlanEllison, who had jumped the same timeline as the gang had, they dress up the van as their now-iconic "Mystery Machine" and set out on a road trip to solve whatever mysteries come their way.
245	* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': After Catra sets off the portal at the end of season 3, all of reality starts collapsing. Adora is told she has to go back "Where it began" in order to save reality. But she's already been to the Fright Zone (where the portal was set off and where she spent her childhood), the Whispering Woods (where she found the sword and became She-Ra for the first time), and Brightmoon (where she formally joined the the Rebellion and accepted the mantle of She-Ra). Since every "beginning" is already covered, she's at a loss for where she's supposed to go. [[spoiler: She needs to go to where her life on Etheria started, back where Hordak's first portal brought her when she was a baby, a location only seen in flashbacks which otherwise has no significant role in the story.]]
246	* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
247	** In the original ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' cartoon, the story began on the nearly drained Cybertron in "More Than Meet The Eye: Part 1". The final episodes take place on a recharged Cybertron in "The Rebirth: Part 3".
248	** The first season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' ends where the adventure began: in the cargo hold of Optimus Prime's ship, with Prime and Megatron fighting for the [=AllSpark=]. Megatron even points this out.
249	*** The two battle on board the same ship yet again near the end of the third season premiere, though that's a looser fit for this trope.
250	* The movie ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'' essentially does this for the entire ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' franchise; the third act is set in "Turtle Prime", the world of the original Turtles comic books.
251	* The third season of the ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' uses this. When Valtor challenges them for the final battle, he deliberately chooses the very world he first invaded after breaking out of prison: the Omega Dimension.
252	** Done again in Season 5 with the Sirenix Quest. After the Winx obtain the three gems, they find out the quest is not yet over and they must find the Source of Sirenix to officially earn the transformation; said source is found in the same place where the quest began: Lake Roccaluce.
253	[[/folder]]
254
255	[[folder:Real Life]]
256	* Salmon: These fish are born in high mountain streams, at times hundreds of miles inland, past rocks and rapids atop the bodies of their dead parents. They travel downstream as they grow in size, some but not many (relatively speaking) dodging gauntlets of predators on their journey to the sea. The survivors, the most fit whether by disease resistance, speed, strength or luck, are the only ones to reach the ocean, where they are further culled by merciless mother nature. It is here they continue their growth and development for a few years, honing their skills and growing in strength for what lies ahead. At some point, they are called to the place where it all began, to spawn and join their ancestors in the hallowed halls of salmon valhalla. So they return, the only way they can, the hard way, swimming and leaping up the rapids and short waterfalls the entire route. Overwhelming their predators, man, bears and manbearpigs with sheer numbers, rock solid [[TheDeterminator determination]] and belly-filling deliciousness, eventually enough of them make it back and engage in an orgy of death and babymaking before they shed their mortal shells and ascend into the heavens.
257	* Eels: Their life history is in many ways a mirror image of salmon. Instead of being born in high mountain streams, they are born in the open sea. They drift with the ocean currents, growing in size and eventually swimming on their own while dodging their own gauntlets of predators on their journey to fresh water. The survivors swim up rivers and streams, where they continue to grow for as long as 15 years while avoiding a new set of predators. Then, they go downstream, even crossing wet grasslands, until they reach the ocean. Eels then cross hundreds or even thousands of miles of ocean, overwhelming their predators in much the same way that salmon do, with enough of them making it back to the breeding grounds before entering eel valhalla.
258	* Sea turtles: The females somehow always remember where their home beach is and always return there to lay eggs whenever needed. (Once males enter the sea, they never return to land, mating in the sea.)
259	* Humanity: The oldest modern human skeleton was found at Awash River.
260	* Evolution has done this many, many times, most commonly when a species whose ancestors left the oceans and adapted to land then returns to a marine habitat, with the most iconic evolution caused by this phenomenon being the whales.
261	* Deliberately invoked by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in World War II. During World War I, the Germans signed a surrender with the French in a railway dining car; this was followed by the Treaty of Versailles which helped lead to the Great Depression and hard times for Germany. After the German Army defeated the French in the second World War, he went out of his way to move the dining car (by then in a museum) to the original spot that the surrender had been signed in to drive home the severity of their defeat. The car was destroyed by an SS unit before V-E Day to prevent this coming back to bite him.
262	* A pilgrimage to the city of UsefulNotes/{{Mecca}}, the birthplace of [[UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad Muhammad]] and also the site of his first revelation of Literature/TheQuran and thus the ''de facto'' birthplace of UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}, is ''de rigueur'' for Muslims.
263	* Ichiro Suzuki was the first Japanese fielder to make it big in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball, signing with the Seattle Mariners in 2001 following nine seasons with NPB's Orix [=BlueWave=]. After twelve seasons with the Mariners he was traded to the New York Yankees, with whom he played for two and a half seasons before signing with the Miami Marlins for three more. He re-signed with the Mariners in 2018, and finally announced his retirement from professional baseball after a two-game series between the Mariners and Oakland A's on March 21, 2019 in Tokyo, where the teams were playing those games.
264	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WhereItAllBegan