Basic Trope: Past times are considered superior to the present.
- Straight: In his conversations with many a plucky youth, the wise Master Garwin often recalls the good old days of the Gilded Kingdom before its fall and reorganization into the Black Rose Republic.
- Exaggerated: Master Garwin talks of life in the Kingdom as paradise on earth, and its transformation into the Republic as being thrown into Hell.
- Downplayed: The Kingdom had its problems, which Master Garwin freely admits, but he nonetheless holds that living there was better than in the current situation.
- Justified: Life in the Republic really is that bad; older folks who lived in the Kingdom can remember what life was like before and understand how awful the situation has become.
- Master Garwin is using the memory of the old Kingdom to give his desperate young charges something to fight for besides food.
- Inverted: Life in the Black Rose Republic is a distinct improvement over the Kingdom, and Master Garwin is just an embittered curmudgeon.
- Subverted: Master Garwin was a prestigious minister in the Kingdom, and is projecting his good feelings for the ''ancien regime'' onto the Kingdom as a whole. Most of the common people are ambivalent about its demise, and a few are even glad it's gone.
- Parodied: The Kingdom was a place where you worked one hour a week, the king tipped his crown to everyone he met, and chicken dinners were free on Sundays—at least that's what Master Garwin remembers.
- Zig Zagged: Master Garwin wasn't always a stickler for the Kingdom, and even championed the Republic at first, despite its flaws. Only with time and seeing the worst excesses of the new order come to light has he come to regret casting his lot with them and supports a restoration, albeit in terms of reform rather than overthrow.
- Averted: Master Garwin makes no comparisons between past and present.
- Enforced: Being a firm believer in tradition makes Master Garwin hold the past in high regard.
- Lampshaded: "I know you're tired of hearing me talk about how good it was 'back in my day', but I really mean it!"
- Invoked: Master Garwin believes most changes are for the worst, and finds his various discontents give creedence to the strict but orderly life the people once had under the Kingdom.
- Exploited: The dispossessed elements of the king's former government find a useful mouthpiece for their views in Master Garwin.
- Defied: Master Garwin flat-out states the Kingdom was a dungheap, and that life under the Republic is better in almost every way.
- Discussed: The conversations between Master Garwin and the young people blossom into a full-on debate on the merits of tradition versus progression.
- Conversed: A series of speeches from Master Garwin help spread awareness of the shortcomings of the Republic.
- Implied: Master Garwin shakes his head at the various untoward acts of the "revolutionaries".
- Deconstructed: During his attempts to resurrect the old royal government, Master Garwin is sharply reminded of several unsavory aspects of life under the crown. Unfortunately, by the time he comes to regret telling the young people his tales, they've already become inspired to start various reactionary movements to try and overthrow the Republic in favor of a restoration.
- Reconstructed: In the end, Master Garwin manages to cow the reactionaries using his authority, and learns to accept the good of the present while attempting to incorporate the best features of the past into the new order.
Tropers used to use the header to return to the main page. Before the dark times... before the link.
