History Main / TheStoryThatNeverWas

This can be treated as utterly tragic, since it undoes CharacterDevelopment, and may even be a sadistic choice (the "inciting incident" in question is often some sort of tragedy, such as the protagonist's death, or [[ShootTheDog an innocent party they now have to personally harm]]. Other times it has a slightly more optimistic spin, with it being implied that some of the nicer events that transpired will take place InSpiteOfANail (a slightly awkward scene of the main character befriending a character, especially a LoveInterest, who they no longer know is a popular one). In worse cases, it might even be AllForNothing, with it implied that the catastrophe that was averted could easily happen again (and the next people to experience it might be more selfish).

This can be treated as utterly tragic, since it undoes CharacterDevelopment, and may even be a sadistic choice (the "nail" in question is often some sort of tragedy, such as the protagonist's death, or [[ShootTheDog an innocent party they now have to personally harm]]. Other times it has a slightly more optimistic spin, with it being implied that some of the nicer events that transpired will take place InSpiteOfANail (a slightly awkward scene of the main character befriending a character, especially a LoveInterest, who they no longer know is a popular one). In worse cases, it might even be AllForNothing, with it implied that the catastrophe that was averted could easily happen again (and the next people to experience it might be more selfish).

Sometimes the protagonist will wake up and find out that it was AllJustADream. This is a slightly darker take that shows up in speculative fiction that deals with TimeTravel, {{Reality Warp|er}}ing and alternate realities; the events really took place, but some key IncitingIncident near the beginning [[SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong must be undone]] to resolve the plot's key conflict. It could be the solution to ending a GroundhogDayLoop (as opposed to getting the loop perfect), a matter of realizing that a single trip was a case of MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight, or it could just be a case of the option to RetGone everything coming up in the finale. Reasons can include BalancingDeathsBooks, preventing a TimeParadox, or simply discovering that the unintended consequences of the event in question outweigh the good it does. More often than not, the event in question is the same one that brought about said conflict, making this an odd sort of CuttingTheKnot solution.

* The original ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Final Fantasy]]'' saw this happen upon the Light Warriors destroying Chaos and ending the cycle of Garland going back in time to become him[[note]]The time loop is effectively: 1) Garland is defeated by the Light Warriors and sent back in time by the present day Fiends, 2) Garland in the past becomes Chaos and sends the past Fiends to the future, 3) the Light Warriors travel back in time and are killed by Chaos. The time loop can only be broken is Garland at step 1 defeats the Light Warriors, or the Light Warriors at step 3 defeat Chaos, which is what happened in the game[[/note]]. The ending text makes it clear that ''no one'' will remember the events of the game, since they never happened (the Fiends were defeated in the past ''before'' Garland could send them to the present), and that it's incumbent on the ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall player]]'' to remember the events as the true arbiter of the legend.

Sometimes the protagonist will wake up and find out that it was AllJustADream. This is a slightly darker take that shows up in speculative fiction that deals with TimeTravel, {{Reality Warp|er}}ing and alternate realities; the events really took place, but some key ForWantOfANail near the beginning [[SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong must be undone]] to resolve the plot's key conflict. It could be the solution to ending a GroundhogDayLoop (as opposed to getting the loop perfect), a matter of realizing that a single trip was a case of MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight, or it could just be a case of the option to RetGone everything coming up in the finale. Reasons can include BalancingDeathsBooks, preventing a TimeParadox, or simply discovering that the unintended consequences of the event in question outweigh the good it does. More often than not, the event in question is the same one that brought about said conflict, making this an odd sort of CuttingTheKnot solution.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', an episode set on New Years eve revolves around Francis Grey, a clock-repair man who, because of his family's dire financial straits, stole an expensive watch, leading to a cavalcade of DisasterDominoes which [[UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime landed him 17 years in prison]]. After developing TimeMaster powers during his prison stay, allowing him to rewind time 20 seconds with only himself retaining the knowledge of what happeneed in those 20 seconds, he uses them to set in motion an EvilPlan which eventually succeeds, killing the bat family, a large group of New Years Eve celebrators, and... his now-adult son who he was reunited with seconds before his plan succeeded and thus got caught in the blast. When he realizes that twenty seconds is not enough to save his son, the resultant BigNo DespairEventHorizon-fueled SkywardScream supercharges his powers, rewinding time 17 years to the moment before he stole the watch - and to before he even got his powers. With the knowledge of the future in hand, he decides to leave the watch alone and just work overtime instead. Fast forward to the New Years eve from the start, and the Bat-Family is discussing New Years resolutions just as they did in the opening of the episode, but a clock that Alfred had trouble repairing in the opening has been fixed by none other than Francis himself. The episode ends less than a few minutes after it chronologically started with Francis returning to his van labelled "Grey and Son, Clock Repair" before heading home to spend New Year's with his family, with absolutely none of the Bat-family having a clue that Francis has SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.

** In [[Recap/FuturamaS2E16AnthologyOfInterestI "Anthology of Interest I"]], Fry asks the "WhatIf" Machine what would have happened if he hadn't been cryogenically frozen in 1999--that is, if the entire premise of the show were undone. Turns out this would cause a TimeParadox--because the future ''needs'' Fry for an unexplained reason--and this damage to the timeline attracts the attention of UsefulNotes/AlGore and the Vice Presidential Action Squad. When they figure out that Fry ''needs'' to get frozen to save the timeline, Fry disbelieves them and breaks the freezer. The temporal paradox then implodes the entire universe--stranding Fry and the rest in a white void, with nothing to do but play play ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' for the rest of eternity. Examples of the trope which tend to be a ShootTheDog are also briefly parodied when Al Gore et al assume Fry was supposed to die, and get confused when trying to murder him doesn't fix anything.
** [[Recap/FuturamaS4E10TheWhyOfFry "The Why of Fry"]] teases at this. The brain spawn's last-ditch effort to destroy the universe is to send Fry (the only person capable of stopping them) back to 1999 to prevent himself from getting frozen. But Nibbler gives future-Fry a pep talk that convinces him that getting frozen and sent to the year 3000 is necessary. Fry instead makes a minor change that ensures he isn't in a position to be tempted by the brain spawn in the first place.

* In ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'' saga, ComicBook/{{Thanos}} managed to get the Infinity Gauntlet, a powerful AppliedPhlebotinum that can modify everything, so he erased the half of sentient life of the universe to please Ms. Death, among other things like defeating the Cosmic Entities of the Main/MarvelUniverse. After the battle against the MadGod, finally [[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]] got the infinity Gauntlet from Thanos and used to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong by restoring all the lives lost in the event (not just the ones erased by Thanos, also the deaths of heroes battling Thanos) and also managed to convince everyone in the universe that it was AllJustADream.

* Played out bleakly in ComicBook/Marauders2022. Back when Tempo and Jun Tenta (aka 'Sumo') were in the villainous MLF, a Eugenix hit squad killed both the MLF and their adversaries in ComicBook/XForce. At Jun's insistence, Tempo used her powers to rewrite history, the two of them travelling through time. Shortly afterwards, X-Force's leader Cable, who knew nothing about what they'd done to save him, [[BoomHeadshot shot Jun in the head]]. Years later, Tempo feels she's the only one who remembers Jun as a hero, not just dumb muscle for the MLF.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''Fanfic/{{Daemorphing}}'''s take on the below-mentioned Elfangor's Secret plays with this interestingly. While only the epilogue actually happened in the real timeline, the retained memories of the alternate timeline and the time travel trip substantially change the course of the overall series by revealing that the Andalite rescue the team is trying to stall for is not a good thing and Earth has to win on its own.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''

* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}: Be Careful What You Wish For'': Samatha Byrd gets a gift of three wishes from the witch Clarissa. But, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor as expected]], all these wishes come with terrible side effects. At the end, Samatha uses her final request to wish that she had never met Clarissa.

** The second is ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', and it goes even further than that: due to the events of ''9'', Kronika, the keeper of time, plans to restart time with the intention of removing Raiden from her designs, buying time and collecting the required {{MacGuffin}}s so she can reverse the hourglass. By the time the heroes reach her keep, time indeed begins going backwards, with the newly-crowned Fire God Liu Kang being unaffected by these events and fighting Kronika ToThePain. Kronika is defeated in two of the endings, but Liu Kang lost almost all of his friends and allies (with the exception of Kitana in one of the endings).
*** In the DLC ''Aftermath'' Kronika's role on the story is reduced as it progresses until Shang Tsung takes over the crown and begins rewinding time so ''his'' future is told, thus rendering the new timeline non-existant. By the time the DLC ends, one of two endings take place: either Shang Tsung consumes Liu Kang's power and turns everyone into his slaves, or Liu Kang erases Shang Tsung from history and begins reshaping the timeline anew. ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' takes place in Liu Kang's restored timeline.

** The first is ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', which begins with Shao Kahn emerging as the canonical winner of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'' and thus ruling over all of existence. The last being on foot is Raiden, who proceeds to send a message to his past self from the events of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1992''. The rest of the game is figuring out what the ArcWords ("He must win") actually mean. This being [[BloodierAndGorier Mortal Kombat]], it involves [[DeathByCanon the deaths of many named characters]] until Raiden figures out the meaning of the answer and prevents Shao Kahn from becoming the ruler. It also turns the original Midway timeline into a BadFuture that has to be avoided.
** The second is ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', and it goes even further than that: due to the events of ''9'', Kronika, the keeper of time, plans to restart time with the intention of removing Raiden from her designs, buying time and collecting the required MacGuffins so she can reverse the hourglass. By the time the heroes reach her keep, time indeed begins going backwards, with the newly-crowned Fire God Liu Kang being unaffected by these events and fighting Kronika ToThePain. Kronika is defeated in two of the endings, but Liu Kang lost almost all of his friends and allies (with the exception of Kitana in one of the endings).

Contrast AllJustADream, where the events are revealed to simply never have happened, LeaveYourQuestTest where undoing everything would be seen as a copout on the heroes' part, and StableTimeLoop, where changes to the timeline are either inevitable or meshed in perfectly (although it's still possible to run into the "bad outweighs the good" problem).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', an episode set on New Years eve revolves around Francis Grey, a clock-repair man who, because of his family's dire financial straits, stole an expensive watch, leading to a cavalcade of DisasterDominoes which [[UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime landed him 17 years in prison]]. After developing TimeMaster powers during his prison stay, allowing him to rewind time 20 seconds with only himself retaining the knowledge of what happeneed in those 20 seconds, he uses them to set in motion an EvilPlan which eventually succeeds, killing the bat family, a large group of New Years Eve celebrators, and... his now-adult son who he was reunited with seconds before his plan succeeded and thus got caught in the blast. When he realizes that twenty seconds is not enough to save his son, the resultant BigNo DespairEventHorizon-fueled SkywardScream supercharges his powers, rewinding time 17 years to the moment before he stole the watch - and to before he even got his powers. With the knowledge of the future in hand, he decides to leave the watch alone and just work overtime instead. Fast forward to the New Years eve from the start, and the Bat-Family is discussing New Years resolutions just as they did in the opening of the episode, but a clock that Alfred had trouble repairing in the opening has been fixed by none other than Francis himself. The episode ends less than a few minutes after it chronologically started with Francis returning to his van labelled "Grey and Son, Clock Repair" before heading home to spend New Year's with his family, with absolutely none of the Bat-family having a clue that Francis has SetRightWhatOnceWhenWrong.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', an episode set on New Years eve revolves around Francis Grey, a clock-repair man who, because of his family's dire financial straits, stole an expensive watch, leading to a This leads to a cavalcade of DisasterDominoes which [[UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime landed him 17 years in prison]]. After developing TimeMaster powers allowing him to rewind time 20 seconds with only himself retaining the knowledge of what happeneed in those 20 seconds, he uses them to set in motion an EvilPlan which accidentally kills his son. The resultant BigNo DespairEventHorizon supercharges his powers, rewinding time to the moment before he stole the watch - and to before he even got his powers. With the knowledge of the future in hand, he decides to leave the watch alone and just work overtime instead. Fast forward to the New Years eve from the start, and the Bat-Family is discussing New Years resolutions just as they did in the opening of the episode, but a clock that Alfred had trouble repairing in the original timeline has been fixed by none other than Francis himself. The episode ends less than a few minutes after it chronologically started with Francis returning to his van labelled "Grey and Son, Clock Repair" before heading home to spend New Year's with his family.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', an episode revolves around Francis Grey, a clock-repair man who, because of his family's dire financial straits, stole an expensive watch. This leads to a cavalcade of DisasterDominoes which [[UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime landed him 17 years in prison]]. After developing TimeMaster powers and using them to lash out with an EvilPlan, he accidentally kills his son. Then he supercharges his powers and goes back to the moment before he stole the watch--this time, wisely deciding to just work overtime instead. The episode ends as it began; with the Bat-Family discussing New Years resolutions, but a clock that Alfred had trouble repairing has been fixed by none other than Francis himself. The episode ends less than a few minutes after it chronologically started with Francis returning to his van labelled "Grey and Son, Clock Repair" to spend New Year's with his family.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In a season-one episode, there's a time paradox centered on a polaron-based power grid on a pre-warp civilization's planet in the Delta Quadrant. Tom Paris and Captain Janeway end up falling through a hole in time that was caused by the power grid's accidental detonation. The twist is that the future-Voyager-crew's own attempt to rescue Paris and Janeway is what ''caused'' the detonation, and Janeway realizing this and using a phaser to stop the rescue attempt resets the timeline, preventing the detonation and in turn preventing them from going back in time in the first place.
** The two-parter "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year of Hell]]" is also this. ''Voyager'' ventures into a region of space controlled by an enemy, the Krenim, that has the power to change the past by erasing objects or people from history, and after a messy first contact, they find themselves at war with the Krenim. At the climax of the episode, Janeway destroys the mechanism they use to change time, causing it to blow up and erase ''itself'' from history. The final scene of the episode shows them back at the beginning, with the events of the episode never having happened. With the correct balance of power now restored, their first contact with this version of the Krenim is much more civil, and the conflict (and subsequent Year of Hell) is avoided.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible - [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E13 A]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E14 Sitch]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E15 in Time]]'' had Kim and Ron being separated due to his mother getting a new job in Norway, leaving them unable to stop their archenemies from stealing the Tempus Simia (Time Monkey) idol and traveling back in time to try to stop them from being the heroes they are today. This fails, whereas Shego goes on to create a BadFuture where she is the supreme overlord, forcing the duo to team up with their now-grown-up friends to defeat their enemies' future selves. It would also be revealed Shego was responsible for Ron's mother's new job in Norway. The mission eventually ends with [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner Ron destroying the Time Monkey]], preventing the bad future, [[WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain let alone the whole story]], from happening.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible - [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E13 A]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E14 Sitch]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E15 in Time]]'' had Kim and Ron being separated due to his mother getting a new job in Norway, leaving them unable to stop their archenemies from stealing the Tempus Simia (Time Monkey) idol and traveling back in time to try to stop them from being the heroes they are today. This fails, whereas Shego goes on to create a BadFuture where she is the supreme overlord, forcing the duo to team up with their now-grown-up friends to defeat their enemies' future selves. It would also be revealed Shego was responsible for Ron's mother's new job in Norway. The mission eventually ends with [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner Ron destroying the Time Monkey]], preventing the bad future from happening.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible - [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E13 A]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E14 Sitch]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E15 in Time]]'' had Kim and Ron being separated due to his mother getting a new job in Norway, leaving them unable to stop their archenemies from stealing the Tempus Simia (Time Monkey) idol and traveling back in time to try to stop them from being the heroes they are today. It is revealed that Shego was responsible for breaking up Kim and Ron and would go on to create a BadFuture where she is the supreme overlord, forcing the duo to team up with their now-grown-up friends to defeat their enemies' future selves. The mission eventually ends with [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner Ron destroying the Time Monkey]], preventing the bad future from happening.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible - [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E13 A]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E14 Sitch]] [[Recap/KimPossibleASitchInTimeS2E15 in Time]]'' had Kim and Ron being separated due to his mother getting a new job in Norway, leaving them unable to stop their archenemies from stealing the Tempus Simia (Time Monkey) idol and traveling back in time to try to stop them from being the heroes they are today. [[spoiler:It is revealed that Shego was responsible for breaking up Kim and Ron and would go on to create a BadFuture where she is the supreme overlord, forcing the duo to team up with their now-grown-up friends to defeat their enemies' future selves. The mission eventually ends with [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner Ron destroying the Time Monkey]], preventing the bad future from happening.]]

Compare SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, where undoing a specific event is the overall goal (which might lead to this trope), TheGreatestStoryNeverTold (which happened, but was simply kept secret), VictoryGuidedAmnesia (the events happened, but memories of them were erased), ResetButtonEnding, which returns the work to its {{Status Quo|IsGod}} without resolving the conflict on its own (and doesn't always include altering history), and BetterIfNotBornPlot (where the protagonist RetGoning themselves is portrayed as a net poitive).

Compare SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, where undoing a specific event is the overall goal (which might lead to this trope), TheGreatestStoryNeverTold (which happened, but was simply kept secret), VictoryGuidedAmnesia (the events happened, but memories of them were erased) and ResetButtonEnding, which returns the work to its {{Status Quo|IsGod}} without resolving the conflict on its own (and doesn't always include altering history). Contrast AllJustADream, where the events are revealed to simply never have happened, LeaveYourQuestTest where undoing everything would be seen as a copout on the heroes' part, and StableTimeLoop, where changes to the timeline are either inevitable or meshed in perfectly (although it's still possible to run into the "bad outweighs the good" problem).

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

* During the [[GainaxEnding highly ambiguous ending]] of ''Film/TooManyCooks'', [[spoiler: the realities of the various TV shows seen so far seem to break down and crash together, creating incomprehensible pain and chaos for the characters trapped within. With the last of his strength, a dying Smarf reaches out for a large red button which he finds in the kitchen. Everything then fades to white and he awakens in what appears to be the sitcom from the first part of the film, restored but with pieces of the various other shows mixed into it. This suggests that he succeeded in (imperfectly) resetting reality somehow, which is backed up by the heavy implication that Bill, who Smarf killed earlier, is now also alive again.]]

* During the [[GainaxEnding highly ambiguous ending]] of ''Film/TooManyCooks'', [[spoiler: the realities of the various TV shows seen so far seem to break down and crash together, creating incomprehensible pain and chaos for the characters trapped within. With the last of his strength, a dying Smarf reaches out for a large red button which he finds in the kitchen. Everything then fades to white and he awakens in what appears to be the sitcom from the first part of the film, restored but with pieces of the various other shows mixed into it. This suggests that he succeeded in (imperfectly) resetting reality somehow, which is backed up by the heavy implication that Bill, who Smarf killed earlier, is now also alive again.]]

** The premise of the sequel is that the setting and much of the cast is identical to the first, except with the addition of new [[HalfHumanHybrid Blood Maiden]] Tsuu and the formerly-DeathByOriginStory Little Mermaid. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that Little Mermaid's death was how the Dawn discovered that Blood Maidens can fall into [[TheBerserker Blood Skelter]] under stress, things go [[ButterflyOfDoom very]] [[KillEmAll badly]]. In the True Ending, Tsuu remembers that she was originally a Nightmare who used a Jail core to reset time and rescue Little Mermaid, and so the couple decide to use the Jail core to undo Tsuu's actions and re-rail the timeline...[[ShootTheShaggyDog leading to Mermaid's death as described in the first game's prequel novel]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' involved lots of time travel, and Dr. Eggman trying to harness the power of the god Solaris to conquer everything. Predictably, Solaris gets out of control and destroys almost all of time and space before Sonic and friends can stop him. The final cutscene involves one last bit of time travel, in which where Sonic and Elise extinguish the flame of Solaris, thereby preventing the lab accident that set the entire plot in motion. As the rest of the game wasn't very good, Sonic fans didn't particularly mind that it ended by erasing itself from the series timeline.