Backstory: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Bleach]]''. Almost every important character has been given some sort of flashback/backstory, and whenever one of the baddies ( {{spoiler|or anyone for that matter, if Gin's recent death is anything to go by}}) is about to die, you can bet that there will be some form of a backstory.

In [[Code Geass]], this is provided by the sound and picture episodes.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

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* For being such an obscure character until his movies, [[Blade (film)|Blade]] had some history. Marvel did a pretty good job about taking from the movies without messing up his back story or character development in the comics he appeared in, until Marc Guggenheim [[Did Not Do the Research]] and then [[Retcon|rewrote past events]] to cover his mistakes. To be fair, Blade's history ''was'' complex for an obscure character and Marc didn't want to write about him. Still could have done better for being paid.

* In ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|The Amazing Spider-Man]]'', Mary Jane "MJ" Watson was the happy-go-lucky [[Betty and Veronica|Veronica]] to Peter Parker's Archie...until she returned to the book in the early '80s after a few years' absence, and revealed at one point that she knew he was Spider-Man. In the following issue, MJ decided to confide in Peter, revealing her unknown back story. Turns out that she was [[Stepford Smiler|laughing to hide the tears of her broken home.]]

== [[Fan Works]] ==

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** We see bits and pieces of Sir Loin's life, including the development of his relationship with Adelle, during the chapter where {{spoiler|he died}}.

** Cheney explains to Tweigel his history with {{spoiler|Freise}} before joining House Bowen and properly explains why he left House Bowen.

== [[Film]] ==

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* The eponymous ''[[Mystery Team]]'' once held the respect of the entire town; now they're nothing but a joke.

* ''[[The Man Who Saves the World]]'' [[Info Dump]] prologue reveals a backstory bigger than many movies' plots that completely fails to make sense, as apparently mankind has homogenized in the Galaxy Age, and the Earth got blown up once or twice, but that's okay because they've built a force field made out of human brains to protect it now.

* Maui from Disney's ''[[Moana]]'' has his entire history depicted in [[Animated Tattoo]]s all over his body, which he uses in the number "Thank You" to establish who he is to Moana. In what may well be an intentional [[Visual Pun]], the story of the earliest years of his life are depicted on his back.

== [[Literature]] ==

* Since [[J. R. R. ~~Tolkien|JRR~~ Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth stories (''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', etc) span a world over thousands of years, and he wrote on it all his life, there is a lot of information on a variety of topics, history, and characters' lives. In fact, ''The Lord Of The Rings'' is more backstory with a novel than a novel with a backstory. Tolkien wrote the history of Middle-Earth as part of long running idea to create a British mythology that rivalled the far richer folklore such as Norse mythology. The novels themselves evolved out of this. His work went so far as to invent entire languages with their own character sets and long running genealogies detailing every major family, be they human, elf or otherwise.

* Since [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth stories (''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', etc) span a world over thousands of years, and he wrote on it all his life, there is a lot of information on a variety of topics, history, and characters' lives. In fact, ''The Lord Of The Rings'' is more backstory with a novel than a novel with a backstory. Tolkien wrote the history of Middle-Earth as part of long running idea to create a British mythology that rivalled the far richer folklore such as Norse mythology. The novels themselves evolved out of this. His work went so far as to invent entire languages with their own character sets and long running genealogies detailing every major family, be they human, elf or otherwise.

* The ''entire'' main plot of ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban|Harry Potter]]'' is rooted in the incredibly twisted tragic backstory of Harry's parents, their friends, and the events that led to their death. The other plot threads are a) an [[Ironic Echo]] of the backstory plot, and b) metaphors for overcoming your personal demons of the past (i.e., another echo of the plot).

** ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter]]'' establishes in detail a lot of the back story of Lord Voldemort, the principal villain, as well as the school life of Snape and Harry's parents.

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* Kavi has a particularly unpleasant one in [[Hilari Bell]]'s [[Farsala Trilogy]].

* Explored a lot with different characters in the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' series. There's ''The Rise of Scourge'', ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', ''Crookedstar's Promise'', ''Yellowfang's Secret'', and then a number of short stories in the field guides, such as the one about Barley's past. Even the main series has some of these moments.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

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* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' had a vast back story. In the first season, events such as Earth's first contact with alien life, the Dilgar War that established Earth as a major power and the Earth-Minbari War that came within a hair's breadth of exterminating Humanity only to have the Minbari inexplicably surrender at the last moment. And that's just the Earth-related stuff: all the major alien races also had impressive back-stories, as did most of the characters.

* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' had a ''massive'' backstory that explained how Veronica, a formerly girly high school student, became a hard-boiled sardonic detective. Apparently all it takes is: 1) having the Sheriff be your father; 2) have your best friend murdered under mysterious circumstances; 3) have your father disgraced by the rich locals after he fails to close the case; 4) lose face with your peers because you stand by him; 5) go to a party with your peers only to get roofied and raped. The result? A jaded, cynical 17 year-old girl with an appetite for getting the truth—the perfect story telling recipe for awesome.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' has this as an option during character creation in the form of "Preludes." Which are essentially how the character you've made came to acquire/awaken/discover/what-have-you his or her powers. Vampires have Sires, Werewolves get their First Changes, Mages get their Awakenings, Changelings have Durances in [[Arcadia]] and so on.

== [[Video Games]] ==

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* Each hero in ''[[Defense of the Ancients]]'' has some kind of backstory. Many of them are [[Sure Why Not|created by fans and put in the game]].

* [[Fallout]] has a rather extensive backstory as a result of taking place in an alternate history. The point of divergence seems to be somewhere during or immediately after World War II, and is used to explain the presence of rayguns, robots, and other [[Zeerust]]. It also explains why the US flag is different, and clarifies the origin and goals of the Enclave. All told, it's probably most relevant to ''Fallout 2'' and ''3.''

== [[Visual Novels]] ==

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** Most of the other major character also have very important backstories, in particular [[Rape as Backstory|Sakura]] and [[Long-Lost Relative|Rin]]. These are also covered, largely, in [[Fate/Zero]]. The backstory of Archer, however, is not well explained.

* ''[[Tsukihime]]'' freaking ''exists'' because of this. The backstory is unbelievably complex and well-written, with each route giving off a small amount of information about the past. The entire backstory can be put together (like a puzzle) only after playing all of the routes.

== [[Web Comics]] ==

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* In ''[[Endstone]]''—lots. Starting with the way Kyri's estranged husband tried to destroy the world.

* Details of the Valkyrie backstory in ''[[Cwynhild's Loom]]'' are slowly revealed in the comic, and a brief written history is available on the website.

== [[Web Original]] ==

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* The ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' is powered by backstory. All but one of the major characters of Team Kimba (and some of the other main characters) had a full novel or novella covering how they got to the [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy for their freshman year. Since then, we've seen backstory on everyone from the headmistress (who seems to have enough backstory for her own series) and the Chief of Whateley Security to side characters and even some of the villains. [[Word of God]] has revealed that the [[Canon]] authors are working from a 400-page 'bible' of backstories and characters and stuff that hasn't even been seen yet in the published material.

* In ''[[The Gungan Council]]'', all characters have some sort of backstory given in their first biography. However, in roleplays such as "It's Not That I Keep Hanging On, I'm Never Letting Go," the backstory for characters is described in detail to explain character relationships never written out before.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

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* ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'' had the first season episode "The Chipmunks Story", showing how Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were discovered by David Seville. The third season followed this up with, appropriately enough, "The Chipette Story", which explored the backstory of the [[Distaff Counterpart]]s.

* From ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]],'' several characters' backstories are ''essential'' to understanding how they are in the present, particularly Zuko. Strangely, even though we see most of the main characters' backstories in the form of flashbacks, all we know about Iroh's backstory is [[Mysterious Past|vague statements]] by various characters who all know more than we do.

* [[He-Man and the Masters of the ~~Universe|He Man and The Masters of The~~ Universe]]: In the 80s cartoon, episodes give us back-stories to show us how Man-at-Arms became Teela's father, how Cringer first became Battle-Cat, how Orko first came to live at the Royal Palace, and how the Sorceress became the Sorceress.

* [[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]: In the 80s cartoon, episodes give us back-stories to show us how Man-at-Arms became Teela's father, how Cringer first became Battle-Cat, how Orko first came to live at the Royal Palace, and how the Sorceress became the Sorceress.

** In the 2002 series, we're given back-stories on the Sword of Power and King Greyskull, the same backstory for Orko as we saw in the 80s series (although he lost a wand this time instead of the original medallion), how Man-At-Arms became Teela's father (different to the 80s series) and how the Sorceress was able to become a mother in the first place.

** "The Secret of the Swords" was the 80s set-up for the original ''[[She-Ra: ~~Princess of Power|She Ra~~ Princess of Power]]'' series to give us the back-story on why Adam had a twin sister no-one had ever heard of.

** "The Secret of the Swords" was the 80s set-up for the original ''[[She-Ra: Princess of Power]]'' series to give us the back-story on why Adam had a twin sister no-one had ever heard of.

* ''[[My Little Pony: ~~Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony~~ Friendship Is Magic]]'': "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" provides backstory to the "Mane Six", showing how each of them obtained their cutie marks.

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'': "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" provides backstory to the "Mane Six", showing how each of them obtained their cutie marks.

** And "Hearth's Warming Eve" tells the backstory of their kingdom, Equestria.

** "Family Appreciation Day" has Granny Smith tell her backstory. It notably involves her {{spoiler|attracting so many ponies to their farm that they found Ponyville.}}

* In the episode "The Call of The Squirrel Dog" of the 2010 version of ''[[Pound Puppies]]'', the story of how helper squirrel Mr. Nut-Nut came to be part of the team was framed as a bedtime story for three puppies who, unfamiliar with his role, chased him around the lair.

* In ''[[~~Thundercats 2011|~~ThunderCats (2011)]]'', the episode "Old Friends" delves into the [[We Used to Be Friends|past friendship]] between [[Old Soldier]] Panthro and [[Evil Former Friend]] Grune, while "Into the Astral Plane" explores the childhoods of Cheetara and Tygra, including how the former became a Cleric.

* In [[ThunderCats (2011 series)|the 2011 ''ThunderCats'']], the episode "Old Friends" delves into the [[We Used to Be Friends|past friendship]] between [[Old Soldier]] Panthro and [[Evil Former Friend]] Grune, while "Into the Astral Plane" explores the childhoods of Cheetara and Tygra, including how the former became a Cleric.

== [[Real Life]] ==