History Main / GreatOffscreenWar

* The Universal War in ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', which is long over by the beginning of the comic's story. It was a DivineConflict free-for-all between all the Demiurges that took a millennia to die down, and whittled the Demiurges' numbers down from over a million to seven. Many of the surviving seven obtained their power during the War, having been born mundane during or shortly prior to its beginning, and at least one [[ShellShockedVeteran appears to be motivated by what he experienced during the war]]. Another character is revealed to have had the makings of one of the seven, but had a revelation about the pointlessness of winning such a war and abandoned all power.

* The Universal War in ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', which is long over by the beginning of the comic's story. It was a DivineConflict free-for-all between all the Demiurges that took a millennia to die down, and whittled the Demiurges' numbers down from over a million to seven. Many of the surviving seven obtained their power during the War, having been born mundane during or shortly prior to its beginning, and at least one [[ShellShockedVeteran appears to be motivated by what he experienced during the war]].

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series has two examples - the wizard wars which serve as an example of why wizards shouldn't actually cast spells, and the wars of the Evil Empire, which serve as the origin story of the Orcs. The latter may or may not be the same as the "big old wars" mentioned in "Troll Bridge", in which Cohen the Barbarian fought for a bright new future and the [[ShoutOut return of the king]], and Mica the troll fought because a big troll with a whip told him to.

* In ''Literature/TheDreamsideRoad'', the conflict with Thunderworks totally reshaped the world's governments and earned [[TheDrifter Orson Gregory]], a.k.a. Wayfarer One, a reputation for heroism and badassery.

** The First Wizarding War against Voldemort.

* In the ''[[Literature/SwordOfTruth The Sword of Truth]]'' series, many of the {{MacGuffin}}s, events and plots of the entire series are a result of the direct influence of the events in the Great Wizard War that happened over 3000 years ago.
* The setting of ''Literature/TerraIgnota'' was shaped by the Church Wars, a religious war about "two interpretations of the same god" which was so horrific that it discredited the entire concept of the nation-state: starting in Europe, all borders were dissolved in protest, and citizenship to any nation became voluntary and could be renounced at will (national sovereignty becoming secondary to a set of humanistic Universal Laws applicable to everyone, everywhere). It also led to a taboo against organized religion that stands strong even centuries later. Few details are given about the war itself, but America is both clearly singled out as the aggressor and has seemingly ceased to exist in global politics and culture by the time the books take place.

* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': Long ago, there was a Wizard War that left large tracts of Fantasyland as Waste Areas, devastated by magical pollution that persists into the present. Few details are given of what exactly happened. However, this is one of just two historical periods which ever get referenced.

* ''[[Literature/{{Lensman}} Triplanetary]]'' mentions the first and fourth Jovian Wars, which resulted in the formation of the Triplanetary League from Venus, Tellus, and Mars.
* In ''Literature/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', the Secret War. It's referred to several times as the reason for much of the chaos in the world. No longer offscreen after the fifth volume, which reveals the lead-up to the war and the war itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Much of what occurs in the series has its roots in a war that took place 5,750 years ago, in which [[HordeOfAlienLocusts an alien race known as the Gems]] fought over the colonization of Earth. The splinter group devoted to protecting the planet, the Crystal Gems, won a PyrrhicVictory after a thousand years, losing all but 4 warriors to a final attack that turned the rest into [[MonsterOfTheWeek berserk monsters]]. The advancement that was made in colonizing the planet also led to a completely different geography and an AlternateHistory where various wars were never fought and most holidays never developed.

* Not ''exactly'' a war, but ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has the Fire Nation's destruction of the Air Nomads 100 years prior to the start of the series.
** The Hundred-Year War itself is an an interesting variation in the show, as while it is ongoing, it still fits within the realms of this trope: We see much of the actual effects of the war, with the show taking place during its final year, but we get little information concerning the period between the Fire Nation beginning their expansion and colonization of other countries at the start of the war to the present. We only see some snippets of the raids on the Southern Water Tribe and Iroh's assault on Ba Sing Se through flashbacks while most other battles are only alluded to. Even over the course of the show itself we don 't see that much of the actual war, with only a small handful of major military battles being shown. (four, ''maybe'' five if you count "The Drill"). In fact, the entire century of conflict between Aang's freezing to when Katara frees him is mostly untouched, even in fan fiction.

** There's also the first year of the Second Robotnik War, which saw Dr. Eggman regain his power base and promptly retake Mobius after Sonic had been thought killed in battle.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' and the continuation ''Webcomic/SonicTheComicOnline'' has the Great War between the Echidnas of Megopolis City and the Drakons of the invading Drakon Empire which took place eight thousand years ago over Mobius' Emerald mines which could contain the Chaos energy, a powerful but highly unstable energy source created by scientists on Drak the Drakons home planet, the Drakons were able to steal seven Emeralds before the war began. The gems, when combined with the Chaos energy, formed the legendary Chaos Emeralds. Two days before the war began, Pochacamac, leader of the Megopolis tribe, managed to steal the sacred Emeralds back from the Drakons, both to keep to return them to their true home and to prevent the Drakons from conquering the entire galaxy. Angered, the Drakons sent out a scout to examine the Echidna defenses before sending a full-scale invasion force to claim the Emeralds. A battle erupted inside Pochacmac's command room, with Drakon Prosecutors and Sentinels fighting against Sonic the Hedgehog and echidnas armed with Guardian Robots. The fight was briefly interrupted when a Prosecutor struck the Emeralds with his Dimensional Staff, causing a chain reaction that turned a fallen Drakon warrior into the mighty Chaos. The ensuing explosion weakened the gathered Drakon soldiers enough for Knuckles and the other tribesmen to fight back while Sonic and Pochacmac took care of Chaos. After a final push, the echidnas drove the Drakon invaders out of the city, but the war was far from over. Although no victor was ever declared, the failure of the Drakons to claim their intended prize suggests the Mobian defence held out, albeit at a great cost.
* Continuing the trend, ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' partially deals with the aftermath of a rebellion against Eggman's army, referencing the one that took place in ''VideoGame/SonicForces''. The machinery, social impact, and reconstruction efforts are very much present throughout the comic.

* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' is set sometime after both WorldWarIII ''and'' [[WorldWarWhatever IV]], AKA, Vietnam War 2.

* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' is set sometime after both WorldWarIII ''and'' [[WorldWarWhatever IV]].