Multiple Choice Past: Difference between revisions

 

Compare: [[Continuity Snarl]], [[Expansion Pack Past]], [[Sliding Time Scale]], [[Broad Strokes]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', {{spoiler|the swirly-mask shinobi says he is either Tobi or Madara. Could be the Sage of Six Paths' elder son.}}

* A single-author example is ''[[Golgo 13]]''; Taiko Saito prefers to keep his past a mystery, so there are several different histories for him.

'''Harley:''' ''(crying)'' Circus... He told me it was the circus.

'''Batman:''' He's got a million of them, Harley. }}

* [[Deadpool]] of [[Marvel Comics]] also has a large number competing origins for his past. There's also some disagreement as to whether Wade Wilson is his real name or a name he stole from someone else. Pretty much the only thing all the origin stories have in common is that his regeneration abilities are a result of time spent as a Weapon X test subject. Like the Joker, Deadpool is insane enough that he probably has no idea himself which one is correct. He does seem fairly certain that Wade Wilson is his real name, however.

** Somewhat ambiguous whether or not he really has an actual Multiple Choice Past or not. The only person that ever brought up the possibility does so during a [[Mind Screw]].

* In ''[[Supreme Power]]'', Zarda gives three conflicting origin stories that involve both her and Hyperion when he asks her where she came from. Since Zarda's demonstrably insane, it's safe to say none of them are even close to true.

* In the original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' comics (and later, the movies and the '00s cartoon), Splinter was originally the beloved pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, who saw his master's assassination and then later was mutated into a humanoid intelligent rat-being. In the '80s cartoon series and the spinoff comic books, Splinter is Hamato Yoshi himself, forced into exile and living in the sewer when he first encountered the mutagen. Having recently been in contact with sewer rats, the mutagen turned him into a humanoid rat.

** In his profile on the DVD of the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|first live-action movie]], it's said that Splinter's origins are "shrouded in mystery" and that either one of them is possible.

* One issue of ''Secret Origins'' gave four different, mutually-exclusive origins for the mysterious [[The Phantom Stranger|Phantom Stranger]].

* Spoofed in [http://www.gocomics.com/inkpen/2009/08/30/ this installment] of ''[[Ink Pen]]''.

* Played with in [[Alan Moore]]'s first twelve issues of ''[[Supreme]]'', where the [[retcon]]s are part of the in-story universe, and the multiple past Supremes exist in their own dimension.

* [[Marvel Comics]]' [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Hell Lords]] have one mutual origin, but most also have their own versions. It doesn't help that they are demons, so ''everything'' they say can be a lie and each story has set arguments and events that either supports or deny it.

** The mutual story connects them to the [[Eldritch Abomination|Elder Gods]], the first generation of Earth gods. When evil god Set found out that he could steal the power of other gods by killing them, he caused the first war between gods. Gaea gave birth to Atum, who promised to destroy all evil gods. But their evil energy corrupted him, and he turned into the monstrous Demogorge, the God-Eater. Demogorge killed all gods who didn't escape to another dimension. Then he released all power he couldn't contain. This power has been consciously or unconsciously shaped by young humanity into the form of their fears, creating Hell-Lords, the first demons.

* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Hot Shots]]!'': Admiral Benson (a very old man who is depicted as senile or maybe just a [[Cloudcuckoolander]]) seems to remember having participated in every American war of the past 150 years!

** He also lost a body part in each of these conflicts.

 

== Literature ==

* Lucien of ''Character Issues'' continuously claims that his father died in a variety of ways, ranging from crushed by a TV to poisoned by an Elf-like creature which snuck into his house at midnight every night. Depending on the view point, this is either hilarious or [[Nightmare Fuel]].

* [[Terry Pratchett]] has said "There are no continuity errors in ''[[Discworld]]'', just alternate pasts."

* A mystery novella serialized by the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper during [[The Nineties]], wherein the [[Big Bad]] offered up a different explanation for the huge scar across his face in every installment. In the final chapter, it's revealed that the wound was merely the result of a nasty fall at a grocery store.

** Likewise, Hawk from the [[Simon R. Green|Hawk & Fisher]] novels tells people all kinds of improbable stories for how he lost his eye, such as he pawned it or lost it in a card game. In fact, {{spoiler|he got clawed in the face by a demon in ''Blue Moon Rising'', back when he still went by his given name as Prince Rupert of the Forest Kingdom.}}

** Either confusing pasts is a theme with Zelazny, or he just has trouble making up his mind when he's writing a story: the Chronicles of Amber involves ''dozens'' of "histories" for Corwin, and he spends much of the series trying to unravel which ones are true. (Adding to the confusion: Corwin is immortal, he can travel to as many worlds as he wants, there are "shadows" of him in a lot of those worlds, ''and'' he has about 15 siblings with similar powers who all lie and scheme and plot.)

* In ''The Thirteenth Tale'', one of the main characters is an author who tells a different life story every time she's interviewed. It's implied that she has difficulty breaking this habit, even when she starts out with the intention of telling the truth.

 

** Garak also had a Multiple Choice Past. The second-season episode "The Wire" had him confess to different, contradictory stories about why he's on the station, and other people offer contradictory information about what they knew of his past. At the end, Bashir confronts him about it, only to have Garak declare that they were all true.

{{quote|'''Bashir:''' Even the lies?

'''Garak:''' ''Especially'' the lies. }}

* [[Almighty Janitor|The Janitor]] from ''[[Scrubs]]'' has given many contradictory tales of his past, from massively different stories about his tortured childhood, to forgetting whether he went to Harvard or Yale. It's implied he does this largely to mess with J.D.

** He ''is'', however, a world-class track runner, capable of sprinting a hundred meters, ''with hurdles'', in about ten seconds.

{{quote|'''J.D.:''' Was ''any'' of that true?

'''Janitor:''' Someone would have to read it back to me. }}

* [[Stephen Colbert]]'s character shares some of his history with the actor (ten brothers and sisters, born in South Carolina) but the rest of it tends to change from episode to episode according to the [[Rule of Funny]] - including the names of his wife and children. Some fans have [[Wild Mass Guessing|theorized]] that the ''character'' may be making it up as he goes along.

** His book ''[[I Am America (And So Can You!)]]'' starts with his "first memory" involving a babysitter. A few chapters later, he off-handedly mentions that that he made that up.

** Averted in New Who with the Cybermen: an alternative origin story, in which the Cybermen are invented on Earth by a wealthy human attempting to prevent his own death, is set in an alternate universe. The Mondas Cybermen didn't show up until 2010 (not counting the museum piece in "Dalek").

** The [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novel ''Unnatural History'' suggests that the Doctor's many contradictory origins - being loomed, having parents, being half-human, coming from the 49th century, etc. - could all be true. This caused [[Internet Backdraft|considerable debate]] at the time.

* ''[[MacGyver]]'' presented two completely different versions of the title character's original meeting with Pete Thornton: a first-season version told in passing to give the characters' relationship a quick backstory and sense of long-term depth, and a full-blown (and totally incompatible) second-season version, told in flashbacks, that formed the focus of an entire episode (''Partners''). The underlying reason was that the show had a new producer, the concept had been overhauled and Mac's backstory was rewritten to eliminate his association with the military. The retcon also added a retroactive [[Arch Nemesis]], Murdoc.

* ''[[The Odd Couple]]'' had multiple episodes depicting how Felix and Oscar first met.

* On one episode of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', Lucy casually mentions that she met Ricky on a blind date. Later, the first episode of ''The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour'' gives an extended depiction of how they first met, and it's a totally different story.

* Parker from ''[[Leverage]]'', has had several flashbacks to her past, which appear to all be true, but are somewhat contradictory: the first episode shows Parker, age 9 or so, running away from home after [[Crosses the Line Twice|blowing up her foster parents]] after [[Disproportionate Retribution|they yelled at her for stealing]], another episode indicates that she was raised as an orphan, and another revealed she had a younger brother who was killed in an accident when she was twelve. All of these can be [[Fan Wank|rationalized]] by her having one or more foster families, but it's still confusing.

** Also, Vala's past. She was brought up on a nice planet with a conventional life (and fiance) until she was chosen by Qetesh, OR she was sold to a weapon dealer and killed him to earn her freedom, OR she was brought up by her bitchy mother and conman father, and also ''how'' many times was she married?

* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' Sylar's reason for being a killer was changed so often, he probably doesn't know himself anymore why he is one: inferiority complex, "hunger" as side effect of his ability, being manipulated by the Company and finally simply being a psychopath. This may be justified by the notion that he was lying (and possibly lying to himself) about his motives.

* Captain Peacock from ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]'' could never quite keep straight his stories of just what he did in [[World War II]].

* An in-show version in the ''[[Sanctuary]]'' episode "Hero"—a comics-loving ordinary citizen discovers a suit which gives him superpowers. When Magnus' crew capture him, he feeds Will a made-up origin that's a hodge-podge of [[The Juggernaut]], [[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]] and [[Green Arrow]]. Will buys it, until his comic-book loving friend Henry tells him.

 

 

* In any body of mythological stories, this tends to happen over time as [[Depending on the Writer|multiple authors]] have their own ideas, and [[Shared Universe|whole towns or regions]] may have different versions of a story.

* In [[Greek Mythology]], for example, different authors gave different parents to many heroes and deities, and told events in their pasts differently. The Kabeiroi, Kouretes, and Korybantes, related sets of minor deities, had several different genealogies and origin stories. Humanity itself had separate creation myths in different cities, along with different explanations for how they got fire, writing, and so forth.

** There were two stories of why Hephaestus had a bad limp: either he was born lame, or Zeus threw him off of Mount Olympus during a quarrel and he was injured in the fall. [[Homer]] told both versions in ''[[The Iliad]]''.

* Ancient Egyptian authors also differed on the parentage of various gods. This isn't surprising, given that such family relations were often more a matter of local cult rather than "myth" as such. By the end of the New Kingdom, many gods were worshipped in threesomes identified as husband, wife, and son, and temples in different regions used different combinations of gods.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Flemeth combines this trope with [[Unreliable Narrator]]. At least two different versions of her story, the legend and the story she told Morrigan, have been told thus far, and Morrigan even says she doubts Flemeth told her the truth.

* ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' has a set of questions in the character creation that asks you about your character's past. This sets up your character's starting stats and equipment.

** Note that the Mario Bros. have never been seen in the Mushroom Kingdom between the time they were babies and the present. It can be pretty easy to put the pieces together and say that they were taken to Brooklyn to be protected, because, seriously, who in their right mind wouldn't move after all the stuff that happened to Baby Mario and Baby Luigi?

* Like his [[Fandom Rivalry|rival Mario]], [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] has a fairly inconsistent past as well, though the video games themselves have never done much to elaborate on his past. Tails, Dr. <s> Robotnik</s> Eggman, and especially Blaze have similar inconsistent pasts.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', about five versions of Cloud's past in Nibelheim have been officially released so far. At least one of these (the most detailed) is eventually revealed as a lie within the story, although due to the circumstances of the lie and due to it covering more than the others do, it's still debatable whether huge chunks of it are true or not. The other four are wildly divergent with ''Crisis Core'' and ''Final Fantasy VII''`s "[[The Reveal|true]]" account having roughly equal canoninity despite ''Crisis Core'' having an entirely new character provoke Sephiroth's downwards spiral and despite the fact that Zack doesn't get the opportunity to do all the silly things ''Final Fantasy VII'''`s "lie" account implied he did. The OVA ''Last Order'' is also diverging, but probably the most radical in terms of what it implies about Cloud's past - it contains a strange scene where Cloud summons a great strength and his eyes begin glowing, causing Sephiroth to ask "What are you?", ''long'' before Cloud was granted with Mako abilities in the original ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', implying that Cloud isn't human or was experimented on previously.

* This happens in [[Hyperdimension Neptunia]] and its sequel. In the original, Compa meets Neptune after she falls out of the sky, and IF is met (and unknowingly tricked) into joining Neptune and Compa's party. In the sequel, Compa and IF were childhood friends, and they met Neptune (and Nepgear, who is exclusive to the sequel) after she fell off the top of the 10,000 story tower.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Plot Hole (yes, that's his real name) from ''[[Acrobat]]'', during a story that was supposed to tell his secret origin, told multiple stories, ripping off the origins of [[Superman]], [[Batman]] and partly [[Spider-Man]], making Plot Twist a villain in every single one - they don't match with each other, or Plot Twist's origin, and hint that Plot Hole doesn't even know what his [[Arch Enemy]] really looks like. The only thing he's sure is that he was somehow created by Plot Twist, but even that cannot be found as absolute truth, because he's obviously obsessed with him.

* In [http://www.superstupor.com/sust08042008.shtml this] ''[[Super Stupor]]'' webcomic, a character is grieving that her background was [[retcon]]ned (''you know, it never happened''), yet she still remembers it.

 

== Web Original ==

* There is no single definitive version of [[The Slender Man Mythos]]. Even his ''appearance'', though built around a basic template, varies from story to story. The central tenet of [[The Slender Man Mythos]] is [[Rule of Scary]].

** ''[[Marble Hornets]]'' season two features the protagonist doing this (badly). Jay goes through three contradictory stories explaining his presence in the hotel to Jessica, much to her confusion.

** The Foundation itself according to SCP-001 propositions

 

== Western Animation ==

* The ''[[Tale Spin]]'' episode "The Time Bandits" (itself a [[Recycled Script]] from [[DuckTales (1987)]]) says that Rebecca inherited Higher For Hire from her father, despite the [[Five Episode Pilot]] having introduced her as buying Baloo's air cargo company after it was foreclosed upon.

** As the information in ''The Time Bandits'' was given by a government employee of [[Glorious Mother Russia|Thembria]]. Nothing's saying that official facts have to be truthful.

** One of those multiple choice futures takes place... in 2010. Kind of weird to think about, [[Nightmare Fuel|since Maggie was now born in]] ''2009''.

** This trope was originally supposed to be played straight for the origins of Herman's (the fellow who runs Springfield's military surplus store [[Punny Name|Bloodbath and Beyond]]) missing arm, but this idea was dropped after his first appearance (to this day, he's only told us that he lost his arm when he stuck it out the window of a moving school bus).

** The series had multiple explanations for why Homer lost his hair including having torn out his hair after finding out Marge was pregnant and as a side effect from an army experiment he participated in to avoid dinner with Marge's sisters.

** It must be true because it gels with Rainbow Dash's story. Pinkie Pie actually ends her story with, "And that's how Equestria was made" and later suggests telling how she got her cutie mark. Pinkie Pie, [[Cloudcuckoolander|being Pinkie Pie]], simply forgot which origin story she had just told.

 

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]

[[Category:Backstory Tropes]]