History Main / LetThePastBurn

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Grandpa vs Sexual Inadequacy", Homer and Abe begin arguing after visiting the farmhouse where they lived before moving to Springfield. They both accidentally set the house on fire with out each other knowing, and they resolve the feud at the end of the episode as the farmhouse burns to the ground.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Grandpa vs Sexual Inadequacy", Homer and Abe begin arguing after visiting the farmhouse where they lived before moving to Springfield. They resolve the feud at the end of the episode, as the farmhouse burns to the ground.

* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', the film's DarkestHour is when Ra's al Ghul incapacitates Bruce Wayne, then sets Wayne Manor on fire and leaves Bruce to die there. Continuing his father's legacy (in this case, making Gotham a better, safer city) is one of Bruce's major motivations. Bruce is convinced at that moment that he's completely ruined Dad's legacy, and the destruction of his father's house is a very concrete representation of that.

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* The Elric brothers' OriginsArc in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' ends with them burning down their late mother's home where they grew up before they go out on a quest to get back Al's body (which was lost in an attempt to resurrect their mom in that very house). ''They'' say it's so they won't ever be tempted to turn back from the goal they've set. [[spoiler:Hohenheim]] doesn't agree with this line of thinking and says they really did it so they wouldn't have to face their mistakes, comparing the act to a child trying to burn the evidence of their soiled bedsheets after wetting the bed.

* The Elric Brothers' OriginsArc in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' ends with them burning their late mother's home where they grew up before they go out on a quest to get back Al's body (which was lost in an attempt to resurrect their mom in that very house). ''They'' say it's so they won't ever be tempted to turn back from the goal they've set. [[spoiler: Hohenheim]] says its more like a child trying to burn the evidence of their soiled bedsheets after wetting the bed.

* "Blown Away" by Music/CarrieUnderwood plays with the idea. The house isn't destroyed by a fire, but by a tornado. The protagonist of the song takes shelter from the tornado while letting her abusive father stay passed out on the couch without trying to wake him up, resulting in the house being destroyed and her father dying via MurderByInaction.

* Music/{{Pink}}'s "Funhouse" is about her burning down the house she shared with her abusive boyfriend/husband.
* "Independence Day" by Martina [=McBride=]. A strange triplicate example of this trope, KillItWithFire, and DrivenToSuicide, as the song is about escaping an abusive husband by burning down the house while the wife is in it with him.

* The plot of ''{{Videogame/Lucius}}'' is set in motion by a character performing satanic rituals in the basement of Dante Manor, which results in Lucius' soul becoming the property of the devil and him murdering the inhabitants of the house. During the final level, Lucius burns Dante Manor to the ground, along with the last of his victims, [[spoiler:his father Charles]].

* At the end of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned'', Johnny and his fellow gang members burn down the gang's clubhouse. Considering that they've just killed the gang leader Billy for attempting to turn states' evidence, it can be seen as a symbol of the gang dissolving for good.

* At the end of ''[[{{VideoGame/ChzoMythos}} 5 Days a Stranger]]'', the mansion [[spoiler:as well as the recently re-animated body of the then-unnamed [=DeFoe=] child]] is burnt down, freeing those that had been trapped within. [[spoiler:Except for AJ and Philip Harty, who were dead before the fire started.]]
* In one of ''[[VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest The 11th Hour]]'''s [[MultipleEndings three endings]], Stauf Mansion burns to the ground, which unfortunately [[BittersweetEnding also results in the death of Robin]].

* One of the end-goals of the Institute in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' is to destroy all traces of the pre-war United States, to pave the way for ''their'' own new order.

* Performing a meta version of this is a hallmark of many of Creator/{{Suda 51}}'s games (especially his aptly named "Kill The Past" series,) as protagonists from previous games have a tendency to either be confirmed dead in a later game, or show up alive, [[BackForTheDead but only for a few minutes at best.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime,'' Finn and Jake visit their other brother Jermaine in the house where they grew up. It holds no emotional baggage for Finn or Jake, but Jermaine is bound to maintain it, if only because he's imprisoning a demon their father had captured. The demon escapes during the episode and burns the house down, allowing Jermaine to move on with his life.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'': Johnathan's house burning down marks the end of the first arc, and the GenreShift from Glamorous Manly Victorian {{Melodrama}} to Glamorous Manly Supernatural Horror-Adventure.

* Kenshin does this in the flashback sections of ''{{Manga/Rurouni Kenshin}}'' (adapted as the ''Trust & Betrayal'' OVA) burning down the house where he lived with his first wife Tomoe until her HeroicSacrifice to double as both a funeral pyre for her and to emphasize his recommitting to his role as an assassin.

* Eric Draven burns down his old house during the events of ''ComicBook/TheCrow'' just before going out on his RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Dollar Bill and his gang.

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2359030/Artemiss_Liege Artemis's Liege]]'' has Rogue doing this and DestroyTheAbusiveHome (because of Mystique's manipulations) in order to prove to herself that she's moving on and leaving the past behind.

* Done at the end of ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape''. The protagonists light the house on fire to burn along with their deceased morbidly obese mother who is on the top floor, as this is the only way to dispose of her body without public humiliation. In this case, the fire symbolises protection.
* The Franchise/JamesBond film ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' has the titular manor burning down during the ending battle (with, of course, lots of [[StuffBlowingUp explosions]] and such). This is very symbolic, as Bond has linked it throughout the movie with his childhood, and certain... psychological baggage he's carried with him from there.
-->'''Bond:''' ''[As Skyfall burns down]'' I always hated this place.

* In ''Film/WhatAboutBob'', Dr. Leo Marvin's lakeside vacation house in New Hampshire is a symbol of his financial success at the cost of strained relationships with just about everyone. (His daughter calls the trip there "another vacation that isn't a vacation", and his neighbors--the Gutmans--hate Dr. Marvin because they were saving up to buy that house.) In the end, Dr. Marvin tries to kill Bob with explosives but ends up burning down the house instead. This is the straw that finally breaks Dr. Marvin, and in the next scene, he's more or less catatonic. And in the ''next'' scene, Bob unintentionally shocks Dr. Marvin back into full consciousness. Whether or not Dr. Marvin learned anything from the ordeal is an open question.
* ''Film/OfficeSpace'': Milton burns down the Initech building in revenge for the company's shabby treatment of him, in the process destroying Peter's letter of confession about embezzling money from the company. Everyone just assumes the arsonist was also the embezzler (and he ''does'' end up with the money in any case), and Peter gets off scot-free... and finds a new job in the field of construction, where one of his projects is cleaning up the remains of the building.

* In ''Film/TimeBandits'', the family home burns down at the end. Shortly after the parents pick up the rock of evil that was found in the wreckage and both disintegrate, leaving the boy an orphan.
* ''Film/{{Braindead}}'' ends this way, presumably destroying the remaining zombies.

* In the film ''Film/{{Andersonville}}'' after the defeat of the Raiders their base was burned, symbolic of the end of their reign of terror.
* At the end of ''Film/PsychoIVTheBeginning'', Norman Bates burns down his mother's old house, the place where all his unhappiness began. In a variation, he is nearly trapped inside, signifying his own difficulty in escaping his past.
* Near the end of the 1997 TV film of ''Literature/TheWomanInWhite'', Marian accidentally knocks over a lamp and sets fire to the church where her father was buried, trapping and killing Glyde and Sir Percival.
* In ''[[Film/TheLastJedi Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', one of the reasons why the disillusioned Luke Skywalker goes to Atch-To is to destroy the first Jedi Temple, believing that for all of their failures, it's time for the Jedi Order to end. After his will to do so falters, however, the Force-ghost of Yoda appears and summons a lightning bolt that splits the temple in half. He then tells Luke that it's time to stop dwelling on the past and ensure that the spirit of the Jedi Order survives.

* ''Film/IDreamInAnotherLanguage'': During the last half hour, [[spoiler: Evaristo sets Isauro’s (Who used to be his friend fifty years ago) house ablaze so as to make sure he can scrub every trace of him and their LoveTriangle with Maria from his life]].
* ''Film/BattleForSevastopol''. The sniper instructors make the female trainees burn all feminine articles in their possession--from clothes to personal items--to show them they need to toughen up for the war they're about to fight.
* At the end of ''Film/{{Intruders}}'', [[spoiler:Anna]] performs a ReusableLighterToss on the house (which had earlier been soaked in gasoline) that represents all of her past traumas. She watches it start to burnm and then turns around and walks off into the night.

* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's story "Literature/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher" ends this way, and the curse of the Usher family is brought to closure through the destruction of the house, as well as the protagonist's best friend.
* Unusually for this trope, ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' employs it smack in the middle of ''Changes''. [[spoiler: Harry's much-loved apartment is razed, with much of his possessions inside. To add insult to injury, he damages his spine while trying to help his elderly landlady, and is left paralyzed from the waist down. This leads to him accepting Mab's offer to become the Winter Knight, which in turn causes him to arrange his own murder at the end of the novel.]] The symbolism remains, though. It tells the reader that [[WhamEpisode this book pulls no punches]], and will live up to its name-NothingIsTheSameAnymore.

* At the end of ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors is burned down by two of those who'd been through it.

* The haunted hotel in ''Literature/TheShining'' burns up and dissolves into nothingness.
* In the Creator/GregEgan story "[[http://www.gregegan.net/BORDER/Complete/Border.html Border Guards]]", humanity has been effectively immortal for thousands of years; LivingForeverIsAwesome, but when people feel like they're stuck in a rut, they burn their houses and vanish without warning to start a new life elsewhere.
* At the end of "[[Literature/{{Kane}} Reflections on the Winter of my Soul]]", Kane sets the manor he has spent the story in on fire along with all the dead bodies inside and reflects on the life that he could have had -- at least for a while.
* In ''[[Literature/TheBridgeKingdomArchives Traitor Queen]]'' king Aren burns in a symbolic gesture the house on Midwatch that he shared with his wife Lara and where her betrayal came to light. The fact that it was used by enemy soldiers for almost a year and it shows probably helps him make that decision.

* The second season of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' ends with the barn of walkers being burned during the attack on the farm.
** The prison, which is the main base for the group from the beginning of Season 3, burns down during the battle in the Season 4 mid-season finale, and the group are separated as they are forced to flee.
** An earlier season 4 episode has [[spoiler: The Governor]] burn down Woodbury.
* In-universe example: in ''Series/JustShootMe'' this is how Dennis' student film ''The Burning House'' ends.

* ''{{Series/MASH}}'': Psychiatrist Sidney Freedman convinces Col. Potter to let the camp make a bonfire, burning many non-essential items which represent the stifling Army lifestyle. "You have to let them go crazy once in a while to keep from going crazy." Freedman himself tosses his fatigues into the blaze.
** Coincidentally, just before the final episode was filmed the ''MASH'' set burned down.

* In the season 3 finale of ''{{Series/Nikita}}'', Division (the central location of the show up to that point) is destroyed.
* Following the death of her last surviving family member in ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' Elena Gilbert burns down their family home, describing how the various items she destroys belonged to the various loved ones she had lost. It's less a matter of the past no longer controlling her and more her grief that she longer has anything remaining of her past life. She even leaves [[spoiler: Jeremy's]] body to burn in the fire, planning to use "death by tragic fire" as a more plausible explanation than the real cause.

* In the ''Series/EnemyAtTheDoor'' episode "No Quarter Given", a character's house and business are confiscated by the German occupying forces, and the woman he loves is killed by a drunken SS soldier, whose superior shelters him from prosecution. At the end of the episode, he decides to make a break for England and burns the house down as a parting gesture.
* In the ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' first season finale, [[spoiler:Cheryl]] burns the family mansion in hopes of breaking from the past, as her mother protests to no effect.

* Subverted in ''Series/Batwoman2019''. Mouse wants Alice to give up her revenge against her family and flee Gotham so they can be happy elsewhere. So Alice burns the copy of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' that represents all the trauma they suffered as children. [[spoiler:Then it turns out Alice has poisoned Mouse because her revenge is part of who she is, and even her love for Mouse isn't enough.]]

* "Independence Day" by Martina [=McBride=]. Inadvertently an example, as a house catches fire as a woman and her drunken, abusive husband are in an argument.

* Subverted in ''Series/Batwoman2019''. Mouse wants Alice to give up her revenge against her family and flee Gotham so they can be happy elsewhere. Alice appears to agree and burns the copy of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' that represents all the trauma they suffered as children. Then Alice reveals that she's poisoned Mouse because her revenge is part of who she is.

* This, along with DestroyTheAbusiveHome, occurs in ''Kiryuuin Chronicles'', when a mentally ill [[spoiler: Ragyo]], after dealing with years of her husband's abuse throughout their marriage, along with the memories and psychological damage thereof, in a fit of pent up rage burns their house down, destroying the house and killing him (whether or not she killed him in the fire or before she started to torch the house is never said).

->''"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you were meant to be."''
-->— '''Kylo Ren''', ''Film/TheLastJedi''

* "One More Minute" by Music/WeirdAlYankovic contains the line ''"So I pulled your name out of my Rolodex / And I tore all your pictures in two / And I burned down the malt shop where we used to go / Just because it reminds me of you"''.

* At the end of ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors is burned down by two of those who'd been through it.

* In ''[[Literature/TheBridgeKingdomArchives Traitor Queen]]'' king Aren burns in a symbolic gesture the house on Midwatch that he shared with his wife [[TheProtagonist Lara]] and where her betrayal came to light. The fact that it was used by enemy soldiers for almost a year and it shows probably helps him make that decision.

->''"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be."''

* In ''Film/StarWars: Film/TheLastJedi'', one of the reasons why the disillusioned Luke Skywalker goes to Atch-To is to destroy the first Jedi Temple, believing that for all of their failures, it's time for the Jedi Order to end. After his will to do so falters, however, the Force-ghost of Yoda appears and summons a lightning bolt that splits the temple in half. He then tells Luke that it's time to stop dwelling on the past and ensure that the spirit of the Jedi Order survives.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'': Johnathan's house burning down marks the end of the first arc, and the GenreShift from Glamorous Manly Elizabethan {{Melodrama}} to Glamorous Manly Supernatural Horror-Adventure.