History Main / PointOfDivergence

* ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'' begins diverging from the main plot of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' in Chapter 4: Into the Woods, where Noel saves Jaune mid-launch during initiation. Because of this, the canonical teams don't form, with things continuing to diverge from there.

* ''The Silent Stars Go By'' by Creator/JamesWhite has as its point of divergence an Irish emissary from the King of Tara visiting Roman Alexandria in the mid-1st-century CE and recognizing the potential of Hero of Alexandria's real-life "aeolipile" primitive steam engine. By the alternate 1492, technology has progressed to the point of launching ships to habitable planets around other stars.

* Subverted in the two-part mirror universe episode of 'Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. The opening scene implies the point occurred when Zephram Cochrane spontaneously chose to murder the Vulcan explorers instead of peacefully meeting them during First Contact. However, Mirror-Phlox later determines this was ''not'' the case, as Earth and Mirror-Earth's histories had significant differences prior to First Contact, specifically with many classical authors writing different works of literature in each timeline, meaning the exact point is indeterminate.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'' is an alternate timeline to ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', with its major point of divergence being Shez's survival after they and their fellow mercenaries were attacked by Byleth, after which they end up saving the leaders of the three houses from bandits in Byleth's stead. From they, they go on to rescue Monica, a student kidnapped by those who slither in the dark, forcing the villains to accelerate their plans and causing the Fodlan civil war to break out years earlier.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': The point of divergence is UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and more specifically the United States refusing to sign anti-Japanese laws that they did in the real world. Thus, [[{{Americasia}} Japanese culture is allowed to flourish]]... and they bring their "reach a verdict as quick as possible" legal system with them.

** ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'' diverges from the main ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''Literature/FateZero'' (and ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'') timeline in that [[spoiler:instead of helping the Einzberns in the Fourth Holy Grail War, Kiritsugu chose to stay with Irisviel and Illya instead and killed the Einzberns, as well as discovering the truth about the Holy Grail and destroying it with Irisviel's help. The Fourth Holy Grail War continued without them, and judging by the presence of a Lord El-Melloi II (Waver) and Caren being in Fuyuki (as she came to replace Kirei after his death in the main timeline), [[InSpiteOfANail Kayneth still died]] and Kirei died. Illya was also [[AgeLift born later]].]]
*** [[spoiler:It's not entirely too clear what happened to cause the [[TheMagicGoesAway decline of magic]] in Miyu's timeline, other than that [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Pandora]] (Erika) never opened her box.]]

* This is what [[Fanfic/SuperRWBYSisters Super RWBY IF]] is about. For instance, in Chapter 19, King Bob-omb, under the advice of one of his Bob-omb soldiers, shoots Xena into the arctic tundra. Thankfully, she lands near where General Ironwood and Esdeath live and the latter adopts her after finding out she lost her family. In addition, they get help for Dark Xena/Yagami much earlier while Seryu is never driven to insanity thanks to landing in the snow instead of slamming into a fire hydrant while trying to intercede in a "arguing couple's argument" (who were hired by Jacques). Though there are some exceptions [[spoiler:such as Chapter 23 which turns into a crossover with the Sabrinaverse]]. In addition, starting with ''Hisuian Legend'', the characters start seeing the alternate universes as psychic visions.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'' is an alternate timeline to ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', with the point history changed is Monica being saved by Shez before "those who slither in the dark" can kill her, causing their premature exposure and leading to a much different political scene than ''Houses'' had.

* ''Fanfic/TheForceIsNotAQuirk'': It's amazing how many changes can spiral out from [[Franchise/Star Wars three Jedi, one clone captain, and one Senator]] being teleported to [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia U.A.]] a while before canon begins.
** Rex meets Izuku Midoriya in a shopping mall and, after learning how hard the boy has had it due to being Quirkless, personally resolves to train him to be a hero even without a Quirk. This is well before the Sludge Villain incident, and thus, Izuku remains Quirkless and never ends up meeting All Might.
** Obi-Wan points out several flaws in the rest of the teachers' teaching styles and what they could be doing instead, making all of them feel like students being lectured again. Principal Nedzu hires him as the new Heroics teacher on the spot, meaning All Might never becomes a teacher.
** It's still someone without a Quirk who rescues Bakugo from the sludge villain and inspires All Might to give One For All to them. But in this case, it's Padme, who stalls the sludge villain by opening a nearby fire hydrant and pulling Bakugo free, stalling the villain long enough for All Might to appear, and then scathingly lecturing the other heroes looking on about how they stood around instead of acting.
** And from there, while Padme accepts the offer, she wants to know everything he has to tell about One For All. And when Yagi finds he has more questions than answers, he reluctantly takes her to meet Gran Torino, whom she immediately lambasts for being a horrible teacher. The old man admits as much, due to his own grief at Nana's passing, and he immediately begins passing on knowledge and training Padme.
*** Between Padme undergoing her training with Gran, who hates traveling, and Rex seeing the cluttered Dagobah Beach as an ideal simulation spot for a messy battlefield, the beach never gets cleaned up and remains a junk heap. And between Padme being the successor and Obi-Wan taking over the Heroics course, All Might never becomes a U.A. teacher.
** Obi-Wan talks Inasa Yoarashi through his newfound hatred of Endeavor and his son, discerning that it stems from his own fear that he could become someone full of hate like them. As such, Inasa never withdraws his application and enrolls in U.A.
** Because All Might never became a U.A. teacher, the League of Villains never attacks the USJ. Instead, they attack All Might at the surprise press conference where he introduces Star Might. Among the attendants of said conference is Chitose Kizuki of the Meta Liberation Army, and seeing the damage that Shigaraki and company can do to their cause, the MLA silently and unwittingly declares war against the League of Villains far sooner than in canon.
** At Midnight's insistence, she and Obi-Wan play hooky while 1-A is at the USJ, but as they're about to enter a steakhouse, they hear the whimpering of a child in an alley, which turns out to be Eri. Seeing her state, Obi-Wan sends her handler away with a mind trick and stays beside her, only for the League's attack to cause the nearby building to come down on Obi-Wan. They escape thanks to the Force, but her handler ends up dead from the collapse. Thus, while Obi-Wan adopts Eri and Nedzu crafts her a new identity to ensure her erstwhile keepers never find her, Overhaul fully believes she's dead, and that the League of Villains is to blame.

* ''Fanfic/ForWantOfAName'' begins when Amamiya Ren ''remembers'' the face of the man who ruined his life with the false assault case and how the Phantom Thieves went after the man ''first'' as their target, shortly after the group was fully established.

* ''Fanfic/ASagaOfParallelWorlds'' diverges from canon when Hiroshi Yamauchi makes an urgent phone call to Norio Ohga in 1991. This sets into motion a chain of events that lead to a four-way console war between Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, and Bandai.