History Main / RealityRetcon

->''"I reckon there's been a lot of chaps in our position, down across the years. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Makes you wonder how much of the world is true."''
-->-- '''Fred Abberline''', ''Comicbook/FromHell''

Writers never let the facts get in the way of a good story. If reality doesn't fit the plot, it can be [[{{Retcon}} changed]]. History and myth are the most common targets of this--it's much easier to convince the viewers that a 9th century pope was actually a woman disguised as a man than that the current pope is female.

When this Reality Retcon is a story premise PlausibleDeniability is generally the aim, but the retcon remains a clear, deliberate, and direct contradiction of generally accepted facts.

Common examples are:
* AlternateLandmarkHistory: Landmarks and phenomena have a completely plot-relevant yet completely false (we hope) true explanation.
* AncientAstronauts: Gods or legendary figures were really [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien aliens]].
* AncientConspiracy: All history is just a charade, staged by a secret society.
* BeenThereShapedHistory: An original and/or unlikely character is TheManBehindTheMan causing well-known historical events.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: An historical character had a secret life.
* ETGaveUsWiFi: The development of human technology got a boost somewhere from little green men.
* HistoricalInJoke: History is rewritten for the sake of a single joke.
* JuliusBeethovenDaVinci: Many historical characters were all the same long-lived person.
* PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs: It wasn't a meteor that wiped dinosaurs out, but some powerful force relevant to the story.
* RealEventFictionalCause: A historical event is revealed to have had a fictional cause.
* RetroactiveLegacy: Pretending that a given debut work is actually the latest in a longer series going back years.
* WeirdHistoricalWar: A historical war with added fantastical, out-of-the-world elements.

** JuliusBeethovenDaVinci: Many historical characters were all the same long-lived person.

->"''I reckon there's been a lot of chaps in our position, down across the years. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Makes you wonder how much of the world is true.''"

Writers never let the facts get in the way of a good story. If reality doesn't fit the plot, it can be [[{{Retcon}} changed]]. History and myth are the most common targets of this - it's much easier to convince the viewers that a 9th century pope was actually a woman disguised as a man than that the current pope is female.

* HistoricalInjoke: History is rewritten for the sake of a single joke.

* HistoricalInjoke: history is rewritten for the sake of a single joke.

When this RealityRetcon is a story premise PlausibleDeniability is generally the aim, but the retcon remains a clear, deliberate, and direct contradiction of generally accepted facts.

-->-- '''Fred Abberline''', ''FromHell''