History Main / NoOriginStoriesAllowed

** Creator/GeorgeLucas has stipulated that Yoda's species, homeworld, and origin cannot be revealed, and this still applies after the ContinuityReboot. It didn't stop ''Series/TheMandalorian'' from introducing an infant of the same species as Yoda, however.
** George Lucas forbade the ExpandedUniverse (now the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' continuity) from directly depicting the Clone Wars or the fall of the Old Republic and the rise of the Empire until the release of the prequel trilogy (some material ended up needing {{retcon}}s). Creator/DarkHorseComics did, however, depict the ancient wars between the Jedi and Sith in ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi''.

* In continuities where ComicBook/TheJoker is TheSpook for NothingIsScarier purposes, his backstory is forbidden from being revealed.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has a difficult relationship with this trope, as while the Doctor's never had a definitive origin story, the exact nature of the mystery around their origins ended up getting redefined as the show went along. There's nothing official to actually prohibit giving the Doctor an origin, and that it's never happened is largely a matter of chance and creator decisions (among other examples, the various feature film proposals in the Nineties were origin stories for the Doctor, and Creator/NeilGaiman proposed revealing the Doctor's origin in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]", but showrunner Creator/StevenMoffat turned it down).

** This got taken as a given by subsequent creators and fans, and as more and more was revealed about the Doctor's homeworld Gallifrey and his life there, the mystery of his origin got redefined to what caused him to leave his people, with at least one Expanded Universe story, Creator/EricSaward's short story "Birth of a Renegade", offering an explanation.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The 1996 TV Movie]] said the Doctor was half-human, a legacy of more detailed origin stories in various film proposals, and even that much caused fandom to detonate in controversy.
** A year later came the penultimate Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel, ''Lungbarrow'', which went in-depth on the hints dropped during the Cartmel era, explaining the Doctor was a reincarnation of the Other, a mysterious figure from Gallifrey's distant past, but revealed little of the Other themself, causing fandom to detonate all over again. Eventually, the specifics of ''Lungbarrow'''s story ended up getting contradicted by later TV episodes.

** This got taken as a given by subsequent creators and fans, and as more and more was revealed about the Doctor's homeworld Gallifrey and his life there, the mystery of his origin got redefined to what caused him to leave his people, with at least one Expanded Universe story, Eric Saward's short story "Birth of a Renegade", offering an explanation.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Forbidden via ExecutiveMeddling, the show was not allowed to include Franchise/{{Batman}}-related properties other than ComicBook/{{Robin}}, so Robin's origin story was completely untouchable, aside from a few implications.

* ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': The author has stated that he's never going to give an origin story for [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]] because doing so would risk making his behavior be less [[BlackComedy funny]] and more [[CryForTheDevil sympathetic]].
** The Kickstarter for the print editions allowed for three backers to choose characters to have short prequels made about them. One chose Belkar, and the only new information received was that he was an escaped slave at one point.

* ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': The author has stated that he's never going to give an origin story for [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]] because doing so would risk making his behavior be less BlackComedy and more [[CryForTheDevil sympathetic]].

* ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': The author has stated that he's never going to give an origin story for [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar]] because doing so would risk making his behavior be less BlackComedy and more sympathetic.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has a difficult relationship with this trope; while there's a largely unspoken, unofficial decision on the part of the creators not to give the Doctor an origin, there's nothing to actually prevent them from doing so aside from the honour system.

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': Unlike contemporary shows like ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' or ''Series/NYPDBlue'', this show was rather restrictive when it came to characters' backstories save for the occasional line of two about a memory, an observation or even a [[SelfDeprecation a joke]] about their home life. Around season seven however, the detectives/prosecutors' personal lives took more of a spotlight.

** There was a longtime ban on Darth Sidious's childhood and apprenticeship to Darth Plagueis. The latter ban was eventually lifted with the publishing of ''Literature/DarthPlagueis''.

* ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'': Tae's backstory and cause of death were intentionally kept a mystery because the creators felt like there wasn't any reason to reveal them.

* For many years, the various creators on the ''Series/DoctorWho'' franchise were determined to not provide an origin story for the Doctor. The penultimate Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Lungbarrow'' attempted to do so, but this proved highly controversial with fans and has been flatly contradicted by later TV episodes. Finally, the last episode of Series 12, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]", tried to do so and promptly sparked the biggest split within the fandom for decades.

** Creator/GeorgeLucas has stipulated that Yoda's species, homeworld, and origin cannot be revealed, and this still applies after the ContinuityReboot. FanFic doesn't abide by this, though; there's plenty of {{Fanon}} on it. It didn't stop ''Series/TheMandalorian'' from introducing an infant of the same species as Yoda, however.

There are some reasons why backstories might be banned. The creator might want to keep a sense of mystery around a character or plot element, and they think solving that mystery would make the franchise less interesting. This can also occur because the creator intends to eventually write the backstories themselves, so they forbid everyone else from writing them first. Another reason for this is that the creators may want the fans to come up with their own backstories. In cases where this applies to characters, a CaptainErsatz may be created alongside the character whose origins aren't allowed.

* ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': InUniverse for sbemail 123. A person emails Strong Bad asking him about The Stick's origins, to which Strong Bad declares he's sick of people asking about the origins of everything, sarcastically asking if they want to know the origins of Strong Sad's Belly Button (accompanied by a flashback of Lil' Strong Bad getting a power drill) or Bubs Concession Stand (accompanied by a fake story book of Bubs Concession stand falling from the sky and killing Mr. Bland and Senor Having-a-Little-Trouble). He states has no intention of sharing the stick's origin and would only share what makes it a spot worth hanging out at.

* ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'': Tae's backstory and [[spoiler:cause of death]] were intentionally kept a mystery because the creators felt like there wasn't any reason to reveal them.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'': The fate of the Unknown Primarchs and their Legions will never be revealed, originally to encourage fans to make up their own stories about them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Forbidden via ExecutiveMeddling, the show was not allowed to include Franchise/{{Batman}}-related properties other than ComicBook/{{Robin}}, so Robin's origin story was pretty much completely untouchable, aside from a few implications.

** Creator/GeorgeLucas has stipulated that Yoda's species, homeworld, and origin cannot be revealed, and this still applies after the ContinuityReboot. FanFic doesn't abide by this, though; there's plenty of {{Fanon}} on it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Forbidden via ExecutiveMeddling, the show was not allowed to include Franchise/{{Batman}}-related properties other than ComicBook/{{Robin}}, so Robin's origin story was pretty much completely untouchable.

* ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': InUniverse for sbemail 123. A person emails Strong Bad asking him about The Stick's origins, which Strong Bad says he has no intention of sharing and would only share what makes it a spot worth hanging out at.

* For many years, the various creators on the ''Series/DoctorWho'' franchise were determined to not provide an origin story for the Doctor. The penultimate Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Lungbarrow'' attempted to do so, but this proved highly controversial with fans and has been flatly contradicted by later TV episodes. Finally, the last episode of Series 12, "The Timeless Children", tried to do so and promptly sparked the biggest split within the fandom for decades.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Forbidden via ExecutiveMeddling, the show was not allowed to include Batman-related properties other than ComicBook/{{Robin}}, so Robin's origin story was pretty much completely untouchable.

* ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': The author has stated that he's never going to give an origin story for [[TokenEvilTeammate Belker]] because doing so would risk making his behavior be less BlackComedy and more sympathetic.