History Main / HisStoryRepeatsItself

* Juri in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' has in her backstory been in a romantic triangle with Shiori and another nameless boy from the duelling club. The boy was interested in her, Juri was in love with Shiori, and Shiori was uninterested in the boy but interested in hurting Juri and so convinced the boy to go out with her instead. During the Akio Ohtori Arc, Ruka, the former captain of the Duelist club appears and starts going out with Shiori, although he's really interested in Juri and is trying to make Juri forget her infatuation with Shiori.
* ''Anime/DaphneInTheBrilliantBlue'' ends with Maia applying for the Oceans Academy again, like in the first episode (in which she failed)... Or does it?

* ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'': during the ''Gun Gale Online'' arc, Kirito is faced with a player who had survived being trapped in SAO with him who was a member of a player-killer guild, who is now killing players in the real world from within GGO.
* ''Manga/{{Aruosumente}}'' has an intergenerational example. Oracle Kian had to die because he got too involved with matters of the military, after which a rule was established that the Oracle may not have any connections to the military. His son Legna's quest to find the source of the killing intent [[DreamingOfThingsToCome he dreamed of]], however, forces him to investigate more than the Senate would ever approve, and he becomes friends with Lante — the commander of the White Knights — threatening him to unwittingly repeat what his father did.
* Following the Eclipse in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', Guts went on a two-year-long vendetta against Griffith, his ex-commander who condemned him and every one of his comrades to die at the hands of ravening monsters from hell, and drove his lover Casca to insanity in [[RapeAsDrama one of the most horrible ways possible]] as his first act upon becoming a demon god. But in so doing, he left Casca behind, a decision that would cost him dearly. When Guts learns how he fucked up in leaving her behind, he goes through hell and high water to save her, a situation made even more complicated by an event similar to the Eclipse going down, culminating in [[spoiler:Griffith's rebirth into the mortal realm. With his chance for vengeance finally at hand, Guts is only stopped by Casca as he realizes that he has to choose, once again, between his hatred and his love. He chooses his love]].

* A backstory told during ''Fanfic/HopeForTheHeartless'' reveals that Avalina's currently in the same situation with [[VillainProtagonist the Horned King]] as she was four years earlier with her CoolHorse Mitternacht, even if she's unaware of it. The girl alone could see that the [[HellishHorse furious horse]] everyone believed to be a lost cause was just acting out of grief from losing his rider, and she had to tame him before a time limit was up and he'd be put down. {{The dreaded}} Horned King has a time limit to complete his [[RedemptionQuest only chance]] to earn his freedom from [[SoulJar the Black Cauldron]], and Avalina slowly comes to make them both realize [[BeingEvilSucks how lonely he is]]. Also, Avalina met both Mitternacht and the Horned King after being lost, goes through physical and emotional pain before she gets through to them (a task no one quite believes to be possible) and [[MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast has her musical talents as an asset]].
* In ''Fanfic/FracturedFates'', [[spoiler:Kaneki failed to save her younger sister, Yuna, from dying in an accident that Kaneki herself was indirectly responsible for. Several years later, she befriends her classmate [[TokenMiniMoe Asuna Izumi]] during the killing game, becoming something of a surrogate big sister towards her to try and make up for what happened to Yuna]]. [[spoiler:Then, in Chapter 2, Kaneki finds out that Asuna is most likely being targeted for murder. This time, Kaneki vows that "it'll be different this time" and that she will do whatever it takes to prevent Asuna from dying as Yuna did. She ultimately succeeds, but ends up murdered in Asuna's place]].
* ''FanFic/OfPatienceAndPettiness'': Alya's refusal to listen to Marinette costs her their friendship, despite her attempts to [[IRejectYourReality deny that painful truth]] and insist that they're still friends. Later, [[NewTransferStudent Eden arrives]], and they become friends... until [[spoiler:Adrien accuses her of being Ladybug]]. At this point, Alya proves that [[spoiler:she's learned ''nothing'' from her past mistakes, as she furiously leaps to all the wrong conclusions and berates Eden, ripping into her harshly enough that the poor girl dissolves into tears and winds up akumatized, effectively ruining ''that'' friendship as well]].

* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'':
** Jason met Terry and Matty in almost the exact same way Bruce met him all those years ago: as Batman, in Park Row, with his future children trying to steal parts of the Batmobile. Just like him, Terry became Robin, and became increasingly violent, leading to a confrontation [[spoiler:with the Joker]] where he almost died. ''Unlike'' him, Jason's love for Terry managed to reach him, and not only did Terry ''not'' follow the dark path Jason did, but also proved himself to be the true successor to Jason as Batman.
** [[spoiler:David Cain killed Carolyn Wu-San to "free" her sister Sandra, the woman that would become Lady Shiva. Decades later, he kills Shiva to "free" their daughter Cassandra from their legacy and then sacrifices himself to save her from Shiva cultists, finally allowing her to live her own life]].

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10895506/15/Thunder-in-Kanto Thunder in Kanto]]'' Once again people are unable to challenge Erika from trivial reasons. And once again Celadon Gym is set ablaze by someone banned from entering it. Due to Erika's and her crew incompetenct she's once again is in trouble (this time, it's her own life that 's on the line). And it's up to another person banned from entering gym at all to save the day and prevent even bigger disaster caused by her own unprofessionalism.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/{{Hook}}'', Hook gets eaten by the (apparently not dead) crocodile that bit his hand off.
* ''Film/TopGun'': The main character's co-pilot is killed in a freak accident after their plane stalls because they flew through another plane's "jet wash." In the final battle, the same thing happens, with a number of implications played out (Maverick keeps his plane in the air this time, but loses his nerve, and starts to flee before having an Underdog Comeback moment and saving the day).

* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'': The galaxy at large is forced to suffer another war between LaResistance and TheEmpire--one a RagtagBunchOfMisfits and the other ANaziByAnyOtherName--which results in the destruction of a corrupt and ignorant Galactic Republic who had fallen to decadence and the subsequent slaughter of millions who dared to defy the bad guys, a member of the Skywalker family falling to the Dark Side and slaughtering the Jedi Order because his teachers feared the worst in him, and a young force-sensitive with a troubled lineage struggling between the light and dark side standing up to challenge his evil...all because [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi everything had transpired according to Palpatine's design.]]
* ''Film/SpiderMan3'': Peter Parker gets a chance to confront his Uncle's killer, as he did in the first film, only it's not the previously-suspected Dennis Carradine, but Flint Marko. In his encounter with Carradine, he startled him and caused the thief to trip over himself and fall to his death. When he encounters Flint, he tries killing him, apparently succeeding (though he's not really dead). When he encounters him again, he lets Flint explain what happened, and properly forgives him this time, allowing both men to move on.
* ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'': In ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man [[spoiler:failed to save Gwen Stacy when she fell to her doom during a battle against the Green Goblin.]] This time, against an entirely different [[Creator/WillemDafoe Gobby]], Michelle Jones, the Gwen to Tom Holland's Spider-Man, is placed in a similar situation. [[spoiler:This time, Garfield's Spider-Man saves her by avoiding the same mistake he made the last time, and is able to find the redemption he sought. He even breaks down in tears when he realizes what happened.]]

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Obsession", where Captain Kirk couldn't save people from a monster.

* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series deserves its own section.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Snake's inability to [[ShootTheDog kill Fox to ensure an easy victory]], because he had learned from his mistakes of killing Fox and Big Boss in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''.
** The non-canon ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'': Snake retires after the adventure in Outer Heaven back in ''VideoGame/MetalGear1''. He comes out of retirement to deal with another Metal Gear threat in Galuade, a fortress built over the remains of Outer Heaven.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': Subtle one. Otacon loses his father - and almost his sister - due to a drowning suicide by the former. If he had been there, he would have been able to save them - but he was in his room [[{{Squick}} having sex with his stepmother]] at the time, and therefore didn't respond to his sister's cries for help. At the end of the Tanker chapter, Snake calls for Otacon to save him from drowning. This time Otacon saves him by ''riding a boat out onto the sea in a thunderstorm'', nearly getting pulled down himself with the sinking tanker, just to pull him out of the water.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'': Big Boss assassinated The Boss, but, when his old friend Python begs for him to finish him off the same way he did The Boss, he tries to save him instead.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'': [[spoiler: Naomi]] dies in similar circumstances to Sniper Wolf (even the music is the same), and Otacon is overwhelmed. However, instead of grieving, he quotes the line ''Snake'' uttered after Wolf's death ("I don't have any tears left to shed"), and shakily gets on with life.

* Shadow from ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Adventure 2}}'' is shocked into [[FakeMemories realizing his past]] after Amy Rose coincidentally uses the same phrase that the late Maria Robotnik did, and thus decides that, to make it up to Maria for the damage he's done, he'll stop the [[ColonyDrop Space Colony ARK from hitting the Earth]].
** Though it probably wasn't real, ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' featured a level where Shadow could have the choice to stop the G.U.N. soldiers from killing Maria.

* In ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion'', Gulcasa loses a number of people important to him through death and betrayal. He blames this on his own personal weakness (although every circumstance was pretty much out of his control) and vows to gain the power that he needs to really protect his loved ones. Three years later, another large-scale conflict starts; whether or not Gulcasa is capable of protecting his allies depends entirely on whether you're playing ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion'' ([[spoiler:he can't]]) or ''VideoGame/YggdraUnison'' ([[spoiler:he does]]).
* [[TearJerker Tatsuya Suou]]'s history in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}''. He pretty much threw the weight of the world on his shoulders and tasked himself to destroy [[EldritchAbomination Nyarlathotep]]'s plans before they started so his friends wouldn't have to suffer. He failed.
* In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', the HeroicSacrifice is a recurring theme for Laharl's character. [[spoiler:Part of his reason for hating love was that his mother, who tried to instill such ideals, sacrificed her life to cure Laharl of an incurable disease. This would later repeat itself at the end of the game where Flonne offers herself up to be punished by the Seraph so that Laharl and the others would be spared. Then, after defeating the Seraph, Laharl attempts to sacrifice his life to bring Flonne back to life, though whether he does so or not depends on the ending the player received[[note]]Canonically, he doesn't have to. Vyers stops Laharl moments before he sacrifices himself and the Seraph, having been spared by Laharl, brings Flonne back to life as a FallenAngel.[[/note]]]].
** And it continues to bite Laharl in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaDimension2''. [[spoiler:His little sister Sicily tries to give up her life in exchange for the kidnapped angels, but Laharl talks her out of it. He even comments that she's just like their mother. If the player receives a certain ending, though, Sicily chooses to sacrifice her life despite Laharl desperately pleading her not to and he's so overcome with grief that he suffers a DeathByDespair.]]
* In ''Videogame/TheLastOfUs'', a ZombieApocalypse breaks out and Joel has to carry his daughter to safety through a hostile environment. [[spoiler:At the end of the game (20 years later), he ends up having to carry his surrogate daughter to safety through a hostile environment.]]

* ''VideoGame/AceCombat''
** Early in ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', Nagase is almost shot down by a Yuktobanian missile but saved when her flight lead Captain Bartlett takes the hit for her and is forced to eject over open water. Bartlett isn't found, dead or alive, for much of the rest of the game, and the whole event weighs heavily on Nagase's conscience (demonstrated in gameplay by having her [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend stay close to your tail even when you give the squadron orders to disperse]]). A few months later, Nagase is finally shot down under similar circumstances, with no one to take the missile for her, but survives and emerges from the ordeal a [[InUniverseCatharsis much better-adjusted individual]].
** In a very meta way, the finale of ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' calls back to a particular mission of ''The Unsung War'', where [[spoiler:Chopper]] cannot eject from his crashing plane due to burnt-out circuitry, as you can only helplessly watch him die. In ''Assault Horizon'', Guts takes a missile for you (mirroring ''another'' {{wingman}}'s actions in ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar''), but Bishop (the player character of ''ACAH''), being an even more insane badass than Blaze (the ''[=AC5=]'' PC), puts up a spectacular display of high-altitude marksmanship and ''snipes'' off Guts' malfunctioning canopy with his machinegun in mid-air, so he can bail out into the sea.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'', [[TheRival Crow Amrbrust]] dies in [[TheHero Rean's arms]] after Crow sacrifices himself to give Rean an opening to save the crown prince. Flash forward to ''Cold Steel IV'' and [[spoiler:[[BackFromTheDead Crow]] is defeated again in his duel with Rean and is about to disappear for good when Rean decides he'll have none of it and demands that he live the life that he's been given, hugs him in his arms, and manages to send the energy Ordine was giving to Valimar, back to Ordine to make sure Crow lives.]]

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10895506/15/Thunder-in-Kanto Thunder in Kanto]]'' Once again people are unable to challenge Erika because of trivial reasons. And once again Celadon Gym is set ablaze by someone banned from entering it. Due to Erika's and her crew incompetenct she once again is in trouble (this time, it's her own life that 's on the line). And it's up to another person banned from entering gym at all to save the day and prevent even bigger disaster caused by her own unprofessionalism.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': Dante - who lost his mother as a child - nearly lost Trish as well, who basically is a demonic clone of her.

** And it continues to bite Laharl in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaDimension2''. [[spoiler:Sicily tries to give up her life in exchange for the kidnapped angels, but Laharl talks her out of it. He even comments that she's just like their mother. If the player receives a certain ending, though, Sicily chooses to sacrifice her life despite Laharl desperately pleading her not to.]]

** Early in ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', Nagase is almost shot down by a Yuktobanian missile but saved when her flight lead Captain Bartlett takes the hit for her and crashes. Bartlett isn't found, dead or alive, for much of the rest of the game, and the whole event weighs heavily on Nagase's conscience. A few months later, Nagase is finally shot down under similar circumstances, with no one to take the missile for her, but survives and emerges from the ordeal a [[InUniverseCatharsis much better-adjusted individual]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Birds of Prey}}'' did it with ComicBook/BlackCanary, recreating her traumatic kidnapping in order to allow her to come out ahead and prove to herself that she was stronger. Or something.

* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATime'':

When it comes to a character's {{Backstory}}, there is usually one event that stands out among all the rest and made the character what that character is. These characters watched their parents die. They killed someone... or failed to. They let someone down. They ran away from something. This event will surely be the core of their DarkAndTroubledPast, something that they have been spending the rest of their life coping with, living in the shadow of, accepting, or just trying to put out of memory...

When it comes to a character's {{Backstory}}, there is usually one event that stands out among all the rest and made the character what they are. They watched their parents die. They killed someone... or failed to. They let someone down. They ran away from something. This event will surely be the core of their DarkAndTroubledPast, something that they have been spending the rest of their life coping with, living in the shadow of, accepting, or just trying to put out of memory...

Simply put, backstory is a theme. And themes need resolutions. Thanks to the LawOfConservationOfDetail, you can probably bet that the resolution to a character's backstory will involve them facing the exact same or similar event that haunted their past, allowing them to conquer their demons once and for all... or die by them. Such an event is guaranteed to be a climax of some sort and is often [[InUniverseCatharsis highly cathartic]].

* Character finds themselves faced with the same decision as before. They'll either make the right decision this time or fail the same way again.
* Character finds themselves faced with a danger, obstacle, or enemy from their past, something they have a very strong, personal grudge against. If they failed the first time, or perhaps succeeded out of pure luck, they'll be able to stand up to it with their own skill this time... or fail again.
* Character finds themselves faced with the same type of tragedy from their past. This time, they'll be emotionally mature enough to handle it.
* Character sees someone else going through the same series of events they did. They'll have a chance to help... or use it against them.

* In ''Videogame/TheLastOfUs'' (which provides the trope image), a ZombieApocalypse breaks out and Joel has to carry his daughter to safety through a hostile environment. [[spoiler:At the end of the game (20 years later), he ends up having to carry his surrogate daughter to safety through a hostile environment.]]

[[caption-width-right:320:Top picture: the night of the ZombieApocalypse outbreak. Bottom picture: 20 years later.]]

* In ''Fanfic/FracturedFates'', [[spoiler:Kaneki failed to save her younger sister, Yuna, from getting accidentally dying in an incident that Kaneki herself was indirectly for. Several years later, she befriends her classmate [[TokenMiniMoe Asuna Izumi]] during the killing, becoming something of a surrogate big sister towards her to try and make up for what happened to Yuna]]. [[spoiler:Then, in Chapter 2, Kaneki finds out that Asuna is most likely being targeted for murder. This time, Kaneki vows that "it'll be different this time" and that she will do whatever it takes to prevent Asuna from dying as Yuna did. She ultimately succeeds but ends up murdered in Asuna's place]].

** In ''[[Recap/WarriorCatsTreesRoots Tree's Roots]]'', Tree's father dies when fighting a fox. Several moons later, a fox attacks him and Pebbleshine, and he fears that either he'll die (since the fox would have killed him if his father hadn't [[TakingTheBullet taken the hit]]) or that it'll kill Pebbleshine like the last one killed Tree. This time, the two of them are able to fight it off.

Simply put, backstory is a theme. And themes need resolutions. Thanks to the LawOfConservationOfDetail, you can probably bet that the resolution to a character's backstory will involve them facing the exact same or similar event that haunted their past, allowing them to conquer their demons once and for all... or die by them. Such event is guaranteed to be a climax of some sort, and is often [[InUniverseCatharsis highly cathartic]].

* Character finds themselves faced with the same decision as before. They'll either make the right decision this time, or fail the same way again.

* Juri in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' has in her backstory been in a romantic triangle with Shiori and another nameless boy from the duelling club. The boy was interested in her, Juri was in love with Shiori, and Shiori was uninterested in the boy but interested in hurting Juri and so convinced the boy to go out with her instead. During the Akio Ohtori Arc, Ruka, the former captain of the Duelist club appears, and starts going out with Shiori, although he's really interested in Juri and is trying to make Juri forget her infatuation with Shiori.

* For some students of the Afterlife High School in ''Anime/AngelBeats'', one of the reason you are there is to repeat your life's story, and making the right choice this time around. That, or simply having a good enough time.

* A backstory told during ''Fanfic/HopeForTheHeartless'' reveals that Avalina's currently in the same situation with [[VillainProtagonist the Horned King]] as she was four years earlier with her CoolHorse Mitternacht, even if she's unaware of it. The girl alone could see that the [[HellishHorse furious horse]] everyone believed to be a lost cause was just acting out of grief of losing his rider, and she had to tame him before a time limit was up and he'd be put down. {{The dreaded}} Horned King has a time limit to complete his [[RedemptionQuest only chance]] to earn his freedom from [[SoulJar the Black Cauldron]], and Avalina slowly comes to make them both realize [[BeingEvilSucks how lonely he is]]. Also, Avalina met both Mitternacht and the Horned King after being lost, goes through physical and emotional pain before she gets through to them (a task no one quite believes to be possible) and [[MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast has her musical talents as an asset]].
* In ''Fanfic/FracturedFates'', [[spoiler:Kaneki failed to save her younger sister, Yuna, from getting accidentally dying in an incident that Kaneki herself was indirectly for. Several years later, she befriends her classmate [[TokenMiniMoe Asuna Izumi]] during the killing, becoming something of a surrogate big sister towards her to try and make up for what happened to Yuna]]. [[spoiler:Then, in Chapter 2, Kaneki finds out that Asuna is most likely being targeted for a murder. This time, Kaneki vows that "it'll be different this time" and that she will do whatever it takes to prevent Asuna from dying like Yuna did. She ultimately succeeds, but ends up murdered in Asuna's place]].

** You could also say Tai Lung's story repeats itself too--after being denied the Dragon Scroll, he is defeated, paralyzed, and imprisoned; twenty years later he escapes, tries to claim it again, and is again defeated, even when he attempts to use on Po the same move which had defeated him the first time.
** Perhaps more importantly, the parallels between Tai Lung's and Tigress' training, and Shifu's differing reactions.

* The entire ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series revolves around how Harry miraculously survived a death spell from Voldemort ([[spoiler: thanks to his mother sacrificing herself to protect him]]), and chronicles how he gets strong enough to finally face him in a rematch. [[spoiler: Which he wins by being willing to sacrifice himself and miraculously surviving exactly the same spell]].
* At the very beginning of ''[[Literature/WarchildSeries Warchild]]'', Jos is abducted by pirates and abused by their captain Falcone. He escapes. Much of the rest of the book is spent showing him coping with that experience and the difficulties he has in trusting people because of it. But you know [[BigBad Falcone]] will be showing up again. Sure enough, in the climax, [[spoiler: he captures Jos yet again and repeats the same pattern of abuse. And this time Jos can't even repress the memory. Unusually, Jos isn't able to face his demon or die by them. He's rescued. Not that it stops him from killing Falcone the third time they meet, when it's Falcone who's been captured.]]

* This is often used in ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series''. In the past an Immortal enemy killed someone Duncan cared about. In the present Duncan must face him again and this time stop him from killing Duncan's friends and/or lover.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': Dante - who lost his his mother as a child - nearly lost Trish as well, who basically is a demonic clone of her.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'', [[TheRival Crow Amrbrust]] dies in [[TheHero Rean's arms]] after Crow sacrifices himself to give Rean an opening to save the crown prince. Flash forward to ''Cold Steel IV'' and [[spoiler:[[BackFromTheDead Crow]] is defeated again in his duel with Rean and is about to disappear for good when Rean decides he'll have none of it and demands that he live the life that he's been given, hugs him in his arms, and manages to send the energy Ordine was giving to Valimar, back to Ordine to make sure Crow lives.]]

* ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'': Dante - who lost his his mother as a child - nearly lost Trish as well, who basically is a demonic clone of her.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Happened over and over again with Zuko. Most notably was his final showdown with his father where he was about to get burned once more, but instead [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome deflected his father's lightning]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Happened over and over again with Zuko. Most notably was his final showdown with his father where he was about to get burned once more, but instead [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome deflected his father's lightning]]

Has nothing to do with putting your Music/MichaelJackson album on repeat all night.