At the beginning of most stories, one would normally expect our main character to be introduced as a normal person living a normal life (at least by the setting's standards). Next thing they know, the Call to Adventure comes and they are suddenly thrust into some journey where they have to find sacred artifacts, meet new friends, and eventually save the world. There are a few cases, however, where our protagonist has already done some of if not all of those things to the point that they probably even Famed In-Story. It's just that, at this moment in time, they no longer have the items or abilities they've acquired and their allies are now elsewhere. And wouldn't you know it, it's during this particular situation that the villains of this story just so happen to be making their move. Guess you really do Always Need What You Gave Up.
Thus begins our Journey of Reclamation, where our hero (or villain in some cases) sets out to take back what's either been taken from them, lost, or in some cases even just been given away to others. How our protagonist lost them in the first place varies in circumstances. Maybe they've been asleep, imprisoned, or sealed away for a long time and their items were taken during that time. They could be suffering from some memory loss and literally forgot how to use certain abilities. Whatever the actual case, whether it's money, power, equipment, memories, or anything else of the like, this character will have to go around and re-gather whatever he had before, either to return to the badass they once were, to simultaneously regain the cozy life they once had, or simply to avoid the complications of getting new ones.
However, since part of the plot revolves around their retrieval, you can expect that the actual process is a lot easier said than done, as retrieving even one of these lost targets can take up a full story arc, if not be the focal point of the story itself. Their Ancestral Weapon is the prize of some tournament, they apparently added a few too many security details to their treasure vault, and, would you believe it, their strongest relic just so happens to be in enemy hands. And to top it all off, their tuxedo is at the dry cleaners. Oh, the humanit... wait what was that last one?
If the object of reclamation is a person, expect them to be The One That Got Away or an enemy the character feels only they're allowed to fight, which they'll either be just short of reaching or arbitrarily barred from until the plot allows it. While the latter of the two is usually a Big Bad Friend, both examples tend to be the result of some form of Mind Control that our protagonist needs to break at some point
Supertrope to Putting the Band Back Together, where it's specifically allies they need to reunite with, and Recollection Sidequest, where it's specifically memories. Compare Brought Down to Normal (or hopefully Brought Down to Badass), where a character with incredible powers temporarily loses them. Contrast with Clingy Macguffin, where the thing the character needs will stay with them even against their wishes. Usually overlaps with Bag of Spilling. Once the character retrieves an item(s) that they are most familiar with, it will more often than not turn into a He's Back! sequence where the character proves they Still Got It.
See also Rightful King Returns.
Video game variants of this trope will usually (but not always) give the player A Taste of Power before the journey actually starts and the powers are taken away.
Examples
- Near the end of Fairy Tail, as well as going into the Sequel Series, 100 Years Quest, Lucy vows that she will find Aquarius' new key that has appeared somewhere in the world so that the two of them can be reunited again after Lucy had to break Aquarius' original key back during the Tartaros arc.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: While it isn't revealed until very late in the series, pretty much all of Shirogane's academic plans were shaped by a desire to reclaim his father's pharmaceutical company that was bought out by Kaguya's eldest brother when he was a child. Prior to this point, he had actually been planning on an entirely different career path in astronomy.
- Knightfall: After Batman has his back broken by Bane, he genuinely considers hanging up the cowl. This is partially motivated by his belief that Jean-Paul Valley Jr will be a fine replacement, with both the skill and drive for justice needed for the role. However, when he begins hearing reports that the new Batman has become more ruthless and violent, he decides to retrace his original training journey in order to recover his edge in preparation for a final showdown with Jean-Paul to take back the mantle of the Bat.
- The first major arc of The Sandman (1989) has Dream reclaim the helm, ruby, and sandbag that were stolen from him when he was imprisoned.
- In the Tintin stories "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure", a major plot point was Captain Haddock reclaiming his ancestral home of Marlinspike Hall and his ancestor's lost treasure.
- Transformers: Dark Cybertron: A subplot of the Crisis Crossover involves Orion Pax (who had given up his name of Optimus Prime in order to secure peace on a reconstituted Cybertron) coming to terms with the fact that the lineage of Primes he represents is corrupt, but that doesn't mean it can't be used for good. Part of this journey involves confronting Nemesis Prime (who was once Nova Prime, one of his most revered predecessors) and reclaiming his name and title.
- The fanmade Warcraft III campaign "Rise of the Blood Elves
" sees the Blood Elves take back their homeland from the Scourge.
- Moana: Played with. The protagonist's journey is about other characters' reclamation. Moana is on a mission to restore the Heart of Te Fiti to its owner. Along the way, Maui is able to reclaim his hook.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish centers around Puss in Boots being brought down to his last life and going on a quest to find the Wishing Star to wish for his lives back.
- The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland follows Elmo trying to get his blanket back from a kleptomaniac named Huxley.
- The Hobbit: The dwarves seek to reclaim their home, the Lonely Mountain, from the dragon Smaug that drove them out generations ago.
- Somewhat downplayed in The Misfit of Demon King Academy. 2000 years ago, Demon King Anos Voldigoad allows the Hero Kanon to slay him in exchange for creating a barrier that would separate the realms of humans, demons, gods, and spirits for 1,000 years, hoping that the isolation would bring a proper end to their Forever War. However, Anos knew that he would eventually reincarnate. However, when he finally does so, he finds that it's "Avos Dilhevia" that's supposed to be Demon King, meaning that history had altered in some way, thus beginning his quest to retake his throne. But did you really think that Anos no longer being recognized as the Demon King would make him any weaker? Even if nobody believes him to be their reincarnated lord, that doesn't stop him from being a Comically Invincible Hero who can literally kill someone and bring them back to life on a whim.
- A Wild Last Boss Appeared! has an interesting take on this. After a 20 Minutes into the Future MMO gamer is 'defeated' by his guildmates in an event, the avatar for the game's administrators, Alovenus, offers him a new role. When he accepts, he finds himself in the body of his female game character, Lufas Maphaahl, 200 years after her defeat. Not knowing what else to do, he initially decides to see if any of his other guildmates were also reincarnated, while simultaneously gathering up Lufas' subordinates, The Twelve Heavenly Stars. While the latter of those goals qualifies for this trope, what makes this example interesting is that it turns out that "Lufas" was not only an actual person in that world but someone completely separate from her "creator's" design and influence. This means not only is the protagonist reclaiming things that are technically someone else's, but they also need to add the real Lufas' memories to his list of objectives.
- Avataro Sentai Donbrothers: Tsubasa is a fugitive seeking his lost girlfriend Natsumi whose kidnapping by The Juto a year prior to the show got him framed for murder; roped into becoming part of the team thanks to stumbling onto a DonBlaster. Tsubasa's quest to find her is the only thing that keeps him fighting at all and when he does find her...things get complicated. His journey to find her uncovers the threat of The Juto and the species' connection to him, Tsuyoshi, and Jiro.
- In the Doom Patrol (2019) episode "Dad Patrol", Jane has been usurped as Kay Challis' primary personality by Miranda, her predecessor. Hoping to prove that she is better than Miranda, Jane goes on a quest to Kay's childhood home, in order to retrieve a stuffed toy that Kay left behind years earlier, because Miranda has always been afraid to go back there.
- In Season 3 of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin must bathe in the waters of Mandalore, which is believed to have been made uninhabitable by the Great Purge, to regain his Mandalorian title after breaking the Creed by removing his helmet. After learning the planet's atmosphere is breathable, the Mandalorians go on a journey to reclaim their home planet.
- In The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, an adventure module released for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the adventure begins with the party members going to the Witchlight Carnival to regain something they lost when they were children. According to the text, each of the adventurers tried to sneak in without a ticket, got caught, got thrown out, and left something behind. Now, when the Carnival comes around again, the party members return to find that which they lost so long ago. Of course, this being the Feywild, what the adventurer lost is something less tangible, including something like a memory, a sense, or an ability. A player character could lose something like creativity, sense of direction, or a sense of fashion. One of the possible endings even allows the characters to forget a Dark and Troubled Past by sending them back in time with the Wish spell used by Iggwilv the Witch Queen. The adventurers are also assured that any traumatic events in their childhood won't happen, instead sending them as happy children to the Witchlight Carnival with their friends.
- One of the quests in Arcanum is from a miner who asks you to retrieve a family heirloom from a mine that's since been infested with monsters, which turns out to be a wooden toy.
- Altair from Assassin's Creed is already well-known for his skill as an Assassin at the beginning of the game, but he is stripped of ranks, gear, and ability before the story begins in earnest. The remainder of the game sees him reclaim all three with each successful elimination of a target.
- Several Donkey Kong games have plots where the Kongs need to reclaim something:
- Donkey Kong Country centers around DK and Diddy taking their banana hoard back from the Kremlings.
- Donkey Kong 64 centers around the Kongs recovering their Golden Banana hoard while also stopping the Kremlings from destroying DK Isle.
- Donkey Kong Country Returns has DK and Diddy once again seeking to retrieve their banana hoard, this time from the Tiki Tak Tribe.
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze centers around the Kongs taking back their island from the Snowmads.
- Dragon Age
- Dragon Age: Origins: The "Warden's Peak" DLC sees the Player Character, a member of The Order of Grey Wardens, reclaim a mountain fortress named Soldier's Peak, which had once belonged to their order before the latter was expelled from the lands and the fortress was abandoned to demons and the undead.
- Dragon Age II: The Companion-Specific Sidequest "Birthright" in Act 1, given to you by Carver or Bethany (depending on which sibling survives the prologue), has the Hawke siblings break into the basement of their mother's old family home in search of their grandfather's Lost Will and Testament, which would prove that their family still owns the home. That said, even if you skip the quest, the elder Hawke still buys the house back with their fortune in Act 2.
- The Elder Scrolls:
- Morrowind:
- As part of the Great House Redoran questline, you can help acting councilor Brara Morvayn reclaim her family manor from Corprus beasts that overran it and killed her husband, Remas. Doing so is required to be named a Redoran councilor yourself.
- Subverted in the sidequest "Search for Her Father's Amulet", where a woman named Satyana asks for your help in reclaiming her father's amulet from the family tomb. After fighting your way through to the amulet, if you refuse to give it to her, she reveals that it's not really her family's tomb and tries to kill you.
- In Oblivion, the sidequest "The Killing Field" has an old farmer request for you to escort his sons to reclaim the family farm that has been overrun by goblins.
- During Skyrim's main quest, you'll need to reclaim Sky Haven Temple, the ancient stronghold of the Blades in Skyrim. The base has been turned into a Forsworn camp and there is a dragon spawn point nearby as well, often turning the situation into a chaotic Mêlée à Trois. The inside is also full of traps and puzzles.
- Morrowind:
- Final Fantasy XIV:
- The plot of Shadowbringers centers around the heroes' attempts to restore the night to Norvandt after it was nearly consumed by a Flood of Light that maintains a veil of Everlasting Light across the entire continent. This requires the Warrior to kill each of the Lightwardens maintaining the Everlasting Light across the land, with each slain Lightwarden restoring the night to that section of Norvandt.
- This is also revealed to be the central motivation for the Ascians in the same expansion. 12,000 years before the present day, the world was a paradise before it was besieged by an apocalyptic event known as the Final Days. The ancient mankind was capable of creation magicks that could weave life out of nothing. And so they created the primal Zodiark to stabilize and restore life to the devastated world. But the world was then sundered into the Source and its thirteen Reflections by Hydaelyn, leaving the surviving Unsundered to become the Ascians in an attempt to restore their world.
- Knights of the Old Republic zig-zags the trope in that the player doesn't realize it's this until about the three-quarter mark. Those "visions" are what's left of your real memories and it's on you as to if you want to reclaim your throne as Dark Lord of the Sith.
- Legacy of Kain: The first game begins with the nobleman, Kain, dying and being resurrected as a vampire to gain revenge, with his second objective being to restore his humanity. As the game goes on though, he grows ever more contemptuous of mankind and eventually embraces his dark gift. As the series unfolds it's revealed that the Vampires were the original guardians of Nosgoth and Kain now seeks to restore their species to that postion, albiet more out of self-presevation then a sense of right.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has quite a few differences from the usual Zelda format, something that is made apparent from the opening alone. Not only does Link wake up from what is soon revealed to have been a hundred-year sleep, but he was apparently already The Chosen One who had taken up the Master Sword against Calamity Ganon before falling in battle. Now stripped of everything (both figuratively and literally) down to even his own memories, Link must now set forth to not only reclaim what Calamity Ganon has taken from the denizens of Hyrule but also to find traces of his past.
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom starts off with Link having the maximum amount of hearts and stamina he could have in Breath of the Wild along with the Master Sword. At the end of this prologue section, however, Ganondorf's tendrils of Gloom drain Link's health and stamina to the bare minimum and shatter the Master Sword. On top of that, Princess Zelda, who you had spent all of Breath of the Wild working to rescue, is teleported away in a sphere of light. The rest of the game involves restoring those hearts and stamina (which will involve Gloom visibly leaving your body with each upgrade) and searching for Zelda once again.
- While Samus Aran from the Metroid series can never seem to keep her suits fully equipped for some reason, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Dread have her not only lose her upgrades but also have them stolen and utilized by certain enemies of the games (Guardian Ing and E.M.M.Is respectively). While the bad news is that they're more than willing to use Samus' abilities against her, the good news is that, once she defeats them, she'll immediately get said ability back.
- Red Alert 3: After the Allied victory in the first game, Uprising's Soviet and Imperial campaigns focus on kicking the Allies/Soviets out of what they consider their own territory.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender has Zuko, the exiled prince of the Fire Nation, seeking to capture the Avatar in order to regain his honor.
- The DuckTales (2017) episode "Treasure of the Found Lamp!" has Faris Djinn seeking the lamp of the first genie that had been in his family for generations because it once held his genie ancestor and is considered a family heirloom.
