Line #29 Main/NarrativeBackpedaling


1	A sure way to veer a story into MindScrew territory is to have something completely shocking or nonsensical occur, then say "just kidding, none of that happened". Possibly the undone events were hallucinated by one character, or occurred in an alternate timeline, or the narrator was just pushing your buttons.
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3	A common calling card of the UnreliableNarrator. Can overlap with AllJustADream, but that trope does not fully include this one. Compare DaydreamSurprise, OnceMoreWithClarity, and ProsceniumReveal. If one of the listeners forces this you could be entering DerailedFairyTale territory. Often a variety of FlashbackTwist.
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5	!!''Warning:'' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, which means that ''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE'' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.
6	----
7	!!Examples:
8	[[foldercontrol]]
9	[[folder:Fan Works]]
10	* Commonly used in Main/YouTubePoop to undo a joke that ends in characters dying or the world ending.
11	[[/folder]]
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13	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
14	* Verbal Kint in ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' keeps backpedaling and changing his narrative at Kujan's prompting. The end of the film reveals the whole story was probably made up on the fly.
15	* In ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', the narrator tells us that Ursula told the fact that she no longer wants to marry Lyle to her parents, "who took it extremely well." We then see a scene showing exactly that. Then the narrator says, "Just kidding!", and Ursula's mother is shown screaming in a horrified manner.
16	* At the very end of ''Film/MeanGirls'', the narrator talks about "knowing how to deal" with anyone who would disturb her newly-found peace. We then see the three "[[GirlPosse Junior Plastics]]" hit by a bus, just as the AlphaBitch was earlier in the film. Then we see the same shot but with the girls hurriedly stepping back from the speeding bus instead, and the narrator says "just kidding!".
17	* In ''Film/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Olaf is shown being put through all the horrible things he put the Baudelaires through. Then it cuts to the kids in Mr. Poe's car, where it's revealed that he actually escaped after being discredited and is on the loose. A cut scene actually showed his escape, right from the scene just before the fake retribution scenes.
18	* In an interview scene in ''Film/ITonya'', Jeff denies abusing Tonya and claims she was abusive to him. Cut to a scene of Tonya screaming at him and firing a gun over his head, before [[BreakingTheFourthWall turning directly to camera]] and declaring "this never happened!"
19	[[/folder]]
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21	[[folder:Literature]]
22	* At one point in the third ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' book, ''The Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)'', the author tells about the three main characters falling to their death from a UFO after an attempted escape. The first sentence on the next page? "Just kidding."
23	* This happens a few times in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'', to the point where one narrator makes up an entire chapter and then laughs at the reader for believing it.
24	* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' does this frequently to achieve a CatScare:
25	** In "Why I'm Afraid Of Bees", chapter 19 ends with Gary in bee form being eaten by a dragonfly. The first page of chapter 20 reveals that it was just his imagination.
26	** In "The Headless Ghost", chapter 1 ends with a huge animal chewing off Duane's head. Chapter 2 starts by stating that the creature didn't really bite of his head, and it was really Stephanie in her costume.
27	* ''Literature/{{Redshirts}}'' ends with the narrator declaring that they all lived happily ever after...for six months, until the ship was destroyed by an asteroid and everyone on board died. The very short next chapter says "Just kidding, they're fine."
28	[[/folder]]
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30	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
31	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
32	** Future Ted (the Narrator) tells his kids that a stripper he vaguely met once is their mum. They react ("WHAT!?!?!?"), he then says "Just Kidding".
33	** Future Ted also messes up a story about his 30th birthday. It's near the end of the series and as he messes the story up he keeps correcting himself. He (finally) remembers, says 'Oh, wait, ''this'' is what actually happened' - then remembers it's the ''wrong story'', actually happening ''a year later'' and another at an unrevealed time in the future (but Future Ted's past). Not only does this remind the viewer that, hey, it was twenty years ago - Ted's memory's not perfect - but it also makes them want to keep watching (what's with the goat? and when will Lily be pregnant?) as they've only been shown some random stuff and want to know ''that'' story.
34	* ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode ''200'' begins with [=SG1=] ''finally'' meeting the legendary Furlings, only to lead the Goa'uld to their planet which is destroyed as a thermodynamic loop feeds back into the planet's core!
35	-->'''Carter''': Well, that never happened!
36	** ''200'' manages to pull the same trick again even after it becomes clear that the episode is a framing story for flights of fancy and ''what if'' scenarios. In what appears to be the "real" world of the framing story, the Stargate overloads leading to massive damage and the evacuation of the base. And then Cheyenne Mountain explodes. Cut to conference room.
37	-->'''Martin''': And ''that'' is the end of Act Two!
38	[[/folder]]
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40	[[folder:Video Games]]
41	* A variant can occur in ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge''. The majority of the game uses a HowWeGotHere framing device, with Guybrush explaining everything to Elaine; if the player lets Guybrush die during the acid pit sequence, Elaine calls him out on the obvious contradiction, and Guybrush is forced to backtrack and explain how it ''really'' went.
42	** This can happen in ''VideoGame/ReturnToMonkeyIsland'' as well (with Guybrush's son in place of Elaine) if you let Guybrush drown... unless you let him drown three times, in which case it cuts to the bench where Guybrush was telling the story, which is now empty, and a narration reveals that Guybrush died and never had any children.
43	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' is framed as a tale the Prince is telling. If you die, he says something to the effect of "No, wait, that's not what happened," [[JustifiedExtraLives then the game reverts to the last save point]]. Considering one of the central gameplay mechanics is [[MentalTimeTravel the ability to rewind time]], which the player ''will'' use to avoid dying in combat or {{death course}}s, it makes sense for the Prince's memory to be a little scrambled.
44	* In ''VideoGame/TexMurphy: Overseer'', the game is a prequel framed by Tex telling his date about his first case. Whenever the player 'dies' in the game Tex will quickly mumble something about "no wait, that's not right" and [[JustifiedExtraLives the game will pick up at an earlier point in the game allowing the player to replay the section]].
45	* Happens at least twice in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', when [[TheNarrator Varric]] lapses too far into the TallTale genre and Cassandra interrupts him to start over again and tell the ''real'' story. The first time is ATasteOfPower, with Hawke and their sibling being veritable gods amongst men, complete with RegeneratingHealth, very quick {{cooldown}}s, and {{Infinity Minus One Sword}}s. After Cassandra calls Varric on his crap, he tells her the real story. Varric does this again where he storms his brother's mansion late in the game and effortlessly takes out the guards, though there it's because he wants to leave out "the gory details."
46	* ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezGunslinger'' is full of these. Even the very first ShowdownAtHighNoon turns out to be an example of this. One great example is when Silas tells of how he found himself surrounded by Apaches. An audience member asks him what happened to the attacking cowboys he spoke of a moment ago, and Silas quickly corrects himself to saying that the cowboys attacked him in ''Apache style''. At the same moment the gunslinging Indians the player is fighting are suddenly replaced by cowboys.
47	* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' will start to pull this trope on ''you'', the player, if your SanityMeter gets too low. Examples include your character's limbs falling off one-by-one, standing on the ceiling, or the game mimicking a crash, all before the game snaps back to the start of the room with your character saying "[[SharePhrase This isn't really happening!]]"
48	* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2016'' is narrated by [[MilesGloriosus Captain Qwark]], who's naturally prone to exaggerating. At the end of an early planet, he claims Ratchet and Clank were attacked by a giant zombie T-Rex, before [[FramingDevice the cell-mate he's telling the story to]] questions it, and the story promptly re-winds.
49	* Getting killed by the ghost in ''VideoGame/ShoujoKidan'' will prompt the protagonist, who is recounting the events of the game to an unseen character, to claim that everything she said is a lie and leave. The implication given TheReveal is that, should the ghost/Kanako catch up to Minako, the former rewrites the memories of the latter entirely.
50	* ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'': The game over message while you're playing as Saga Anderson reads "That's Not How The Story Goes".
51	* If you die or do something that would get you caught in ''VideoGame/SpiderAndWeb'' (which is framed as you explaining your actions to the men who've captured you), the interrogator you're telling the story to will angrily berate you for wasting his time and make you start over. Do it too often, however, and he'll decide you're not worth the effort to deal with and have you executed, leading to a genuine Game Over.
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54	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
55	* Introduced retroactively after the first bad ending of ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}''. After the title character quits, leaving the protagonist to go back with Bethany, a note appears in the game, saying that that’s not what really happened. Then, the game cuts to the scene directly after the “correct” scene, in which Melody rips into Bethany for her abusiveness and kisses the protagonist (on her romantic path) right in front of her.
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58	[[folder:Webcomics]]
59	* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', stand-in narrator Doc Scratch, after telling of Jack Noir finding and slaying all the trolls in one fell swoop, explains: "[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/scratch.php?s=6&p=005736 What sort of story would this be]], with our Knight and Seer made to stay cadavers? Certainly not one the alpha timeline would allow. And not one she'd allow either." This reveals that the events he'd just told the reader were actually an alternate timeline that Terezi foresaw and averted.
60	* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'':When Momo asks Marten how he and Pintsize met, Marten [[https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2333 starts to tell her]] about when he applied for a RobotBuddy. When the story suddenly veers into [[SexForServices pornographic territory,]] it cuts back to Momo and Marten looking disgustedly at an impish Pintsize. Marten then tells her how the application process actually happened.
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63	[[folder:Western Animation]]
64	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
65	** In "Lost Our Lisa", Lenny and Carl are horrified that Homer let Lisa take a bus alone, but Homer assures them that Lisa's smart enough to handle it, and proceeds to tell a story about her brain being used to power a supercomputer. Carl [[LampshadeHanging says]] "that never, uh, happened, did it Homer?" Homer says, "[[BluntYes Yes]], but [[INeedToGoIronMyDog now I have to leave on a totally unrelated matter]]."
66	** In the second part of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" Kent Brockman, in universe as news anchor but out of universe as a recap, reports on Mr. Burns being shot.
67	--->At 3:00 p.m. Friday, local autocrat C. Montgomery Burns was shot following a tense confrontation at town hall. Burns was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was then transferred to a better hospital where doctors upgraded his condition to "alive."
68	** In "And Maggie Makes Three", Homer is telling a flashback story of when Maggie was born; when Homer finds out that Marge is pregnant his head explodes. We then find out that Bart had been narrating that part. The flashback continues for a moment with Homer headless; after Marge reminds him that he had a head, his head pops back up.
69	--->'''Marge:''' ''(voiceover)'' And your bottom was a little bigger.\
70	''(Homer in-flashback gains weight.)''
71	*** Later in the same episode Homer tells of an idea he had to make more people come to the bowling alley - shoot a rifle in the air while shouting "Bowling here!"
72	---->'''Lisa:''' ''(in the present)'' Mom, make Dad tell the story right!\
73	'''Marge:''' [[SubvertedTrope That's what really happened.]]
74	* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E24AnIndirectKiss An Indirect Kiss]]", when Steven is telling the story of healing Amethyst's cracked gem to Connie in {{flashback}} form and learns he doesn't have his Gem mother's healing tears:
75	-->'''Pearl:''' Oh, Steven. You don't have healing tears. You'll never have any ''real'' magic powers, and we don't want anything more to do with you.\
76	'''Connie:''' (in the present) She didn't really say that.\
77	'''Steven:''' No, but that's what it felt like.
78	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NarrativeBackpedaling