When It All Began: Difference between revisions

''When did the cogs of fate begin to turn?''

''Perhaps it is impossible to grasp that answer now''

 

A single very significant moment, related to the fate of every single main character, and driving the entire plot, that happened before the beginning of the story.

 

See also [[Great Offscreen War]].

{{examples}}

* ''[[Naruto]]'', where the Fourth Hokage seals the Nine-Tailed Fox into a baby (the titular character) when the Fox attacked Konoha. The act cost the beloved Fourth Hokage his life, which becomes very significant later on. Later, we learn that {{spoiler|The Fourth Hokage is actually Naruto's father, and that Naruto's mother was the previous host of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Chapters 500-504(or more) depict the events of that night, from their perspective.}}

* ''[[The Big O]]'': The disaster forty years earlier that destroyed civilization and caused universal amnesia in the inhabitants of Paradigm City.

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', the [[The End of the World as We Know It|Second Impact]].

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': The curse of Oyashiro-sama. Either the first death five years prior to the story or Satoshi's disappearance one year prior.

* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'': {{spoiler|The child from 18 years ago, the sin from six years ago, Battler abandoning his family 6 years ago, Beatrice dying 18 years ago, some of the children being born 18 years ago, etc.}}

* The execution of Gold Roger, triggering ''[[One Piece]]'''s great age of piracy.

* ''[[Steins;Gate]]''

* In ''[[Dennou Coil]]'', there are three of these, five years ago, four years ago, and one year ago.

* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'' everything happened because of events from 50 years ago.

* In [[Fullmetal Alchemist]], Edward and Alphonse's disastrous attempt at bringing their mother back to life through human transmutation, and the Ishvalan War, which takes place a little bit before the former incident.

 

== Film ==

* The heist in ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]''.

* ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' starts with a narration by Jake Sully explaining how he wound up on Pandora. His twin brother Tom was supposed to go on an expedition to the planet, except he died in a grocery store robbery beforehand. The mortician who burns his body at the start of the film recommends as he does so that Jake go to Pandora himself for a fresh start.

 

== Literature ==

* Robert's Rebellion from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]].

 

* ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' begins three years ''after'' the arrival of the Taelons.

* Khitomer in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', as it had a profound effect on many of the characters, and the empires themselves.

* ''[[War of the Worlds (TV series)|War of the Worlds]]'' (1988-1990) took place 35 years after the Martian invasion depicted in the 1953 George Pal movie.

* ''[[Firefly]]'' has this with the Unification War.

* ''[[Kamen Rider W]]'' has the "[[Gratuitous English|Begins Night]]", the case in which Shotaro [[My Greatest Failure|accidentally caused the death of his mentor]], met his future partner Philip, and became Kamen Rider Double for the first time; it also qualifies for Philip because it marks the point where he starts taking responsibility for helping make [[Applied Phlebotinum|Gaia Memories]]. They actually use the term as a shorthand for this trope later on; when they meet [[Second Rider|Ryu Terui]], Philip comments that the murder of his family was his own personal Begins Night.

 

== Music ==

 

== Video Games ==

* The DL-6 incident from ''[[Ace Attorney]]''.

** The IS-7 incident in ''Investigations 2'' links everything together even moreso, {{spoiler|being the case that Gregory argued in court the day he was killed.}}

* ''[[Ghost Trick]]'' has the incident in Temsik Park 10 years ago. {{spoiler|Lynne was taken hostage by Yomiel, who was fleeing Detective Jowd. Yomiel died from a Temsik shard to the back, but gained ghost tricks and an immortal, undead body. After [[Go Mad From the Isolation|sinking into darkness due to his isolation from humanity]], he set out to take his revenge on everyone involved, causing the deadly events of the game.}}

** The third game has Shepard return to Eden Prime, the location where they first had their vision.

 

* ''[[Drive (webcomic)|Drive]]'': If it weren't for the fleeing pre-maker's actions, humanity wouldn't have gained access to the Ring Drive.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The extinction of the Air Nomads and the disappearance of the Avatar occurs 100 years before the beginning of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Flashbacks and Chronology]]

[[Category:Beginning Tropes]]