One fact of life is that many things change. Things in the present may be different from what they were in the past. Stories, the chief goal of them being "change", will also play with changes a lot.
Compare This Might Be an Index.
Not to be confused with Renamed Tropes or The Ex Index.
Tropes:
- Abandonment-Induced Animosity: Being left behind can often cause one to sever ties or change allegiances.
- Adopting the Abused: A character who's led a rough life/has been abused finds new people who become their friends/lover/family and give them a better life.
- Adoptive Name Change: A character changes their last (or even their full) name after being adopted (often taking the last name of the adopter).
- After the End
- The Atoner: A character who has done wrong now intends to make up for their transgressions.
- Became Their Own Antithesis
- Becoming the Mask: What was originally the undercover agent's cover becomes their real personality.
- The Beforetimes
- Breaking Old Trends
- Character Development: A character gradually develops into having a different personality from what they had at the series' start.
- Cinderella Plot: Usually involves a servant/slave girl being transformed into a princess, or a modern equivalent.
- Constantly Changing Name: A name is changed many times.
- Curiosity Causes Conversion: Redemption comes after a character becomes curious about the other side.
- Dead Sparks: A relationship becomes dispassionate.
- Defector from Decadence: Leaving behind a group out of disgust at their bad ways.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: A cold, unapproachable character develops into a warm-hearted and friendly character.
- Dumbass No More: A dumb character becomes intelligent.
- Dynamic Character
- Earth That Used to Be Better
- Earth-That-Was
- End of an Age: An era that, once over, cannot be returned to.
- Evil Former Friend: The villain used to be the hero's friend.
- Extinct Sapient Species
- Fallen Hero: A villain who used to be a respected hero.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: What was once a close-knit group has now disbanded.
- Former Bigot: A character that used to have bigoted views.
- Former Child Star: An adult who was a popular celebrity when they were a child.
- Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: A character used to be friends with the Alpha Bitch, but not anymore.
- Former Friends Photo
- Formerly Fat: A physically fit person was once obese.
- Formerly Fit: An overweight person was once of a healthy physique.
- Formerly Friendly Family: Family members that were once close to each other, but now hate each other.
- Formerly Sapient Species
- Former Sane Man: A character was once the voice of reason, but not anymore.
- Former Teen Rebel: A mature adult who used to be a unruly, troublesome child.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: A lawbreaker who used to serve in the military before their life of crime.
- From Hero to Mentor: A hero becomes a mentor.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: A feared and powerful villain started out as an insignificant person.
- From Zero to Hero: An insignificant person becomes a hero worthy of honor.
- Full-Circle Revolution
- Future Badass: In the future, a character will be way cooler than they are in the present day.
- Future Loser: In the future, someone will become more pathetic than they are now.
- Gaia's Lament
- Glory Days
- Grew a Spine: A weak-willed person becomes more strong-willed and assertive.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: A bald character used to have hair.
- Heel/Face Index
- Heel–Face Town: A place that used to be a Wretched Hive becomes a gentrified place.
- Here There Were Dragons: Magic used to be real.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen
- Humanity's Wake: Humans have gone extinct.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim
- I Was Quite a Looker: A person was more attractive when they were younger.
- Jaded Professional: A character who used to like their job, but now hates it.
- Jaded Washout: A character who used to be bright and successful, but is now a cynical, washed-up loser.
- The Magic Goes Away: Magic stops working.
- Meaningful Rename: A character had an old name before being given a new one.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore
- Once-Green Mars: There used to be life on Mars.
- The Paragon Always Rebels
- A Place Holds Memories: A specific place causes a character to reflect on the past and how things have changed.
- Post-ApocaLARP: Groups After the End deliberately imitate pre-apocalyptic groups that no longer exist.
- Princess in Rags
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: A student used to be loyal to their mentor.
- Rags to Riches: A character used to be poor, but now is rich and famous.
- Rags to Royalty:
- Recent Event Nostalgia: A character fondly remembers something they used to be doing a short time ago.
- Reformation Acknowledgement: Acknowledging that a villain is a good guy now.
- Reformed Bully: The character used to be a bully.
- Reformed Criminal
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: A character who was widely disliked by fans becomes better appreciated.
- Retired Badass: Someone was a badass in their youth, but has now grown old and weak.
- Riches to Rags: A character used to be rich, but now is poor.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn
- Running Gagged: A recurring gag is used a final time in the series before being retired for good.
- Saved from Development Hell: A work originally in Development Hell finally finishes production and gets released.
- Shed the Family Name
- Sickly Child Grew Up Strong
- Significant Name Shift
- Skeptic No Longer
- Sports Star to Scoundrel: A former athlete turns to crime, putting to use the skills they acquired from their previous career.
- Stopped Caring
- Symbolic Weapon Discarding: A character leaves behind, discards, or destroys a weapon as a sign of rejection of who they used to be.
- Technology Erasure Event: A technology or several suddenly stop working.
- That Man Is Dead: A person takes on a new identity and regards their original persona as non-existent.
- That One Summer: Summers end.
- Time Marches On
- Took a Level in Badass: A character becomes stronger, more powerful, and/or more competent than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Cheerfulness: A character becomes more lively and cheerful than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Cynic: A character becomes less trusting, caring, and generous than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: A character becomes dumber than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Idealism: A character becomes more trusting, caring, and generous than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: A character becomes meaner than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Kindness: A character becomes nicer than they were originally.
- Took a Level in Smartass: A character becomes snarkier than they were originally.
- The Trope Formerly Known as X
- Turning Into Your Parent: A character becomes similar to their parent in thought or behavior.
- Twilight of the Old West
- Twilight of the Supers: The world used to be full of superheroes, but now they've all either been killed, permanently de-powered, or forced into retirement.
- Unseen No More: A character who was initially only mentioned or had their face obscured finally shows up in person and completely visible.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A bad person was nicer when they were younger.
- Used to Be a Tomboy: A feminine girl used to be a Tomboy.
- Used to Be More Social: An asocial and solitary character used to be sociable and friendly.
- Vestigial Empire
- Vestigial Crime Syndicate: A formerly powerful organised crime organisation that is now on their last legs.
- Was Once a Man: A monster is revealed to be a transformed human.
- We Used to Be Friends: Two enemies used to be the best of friends.
- We Were Your Team
- Wham Episode: An episode, chapter, movie or event that changes the entire course of the rest of the work (sometimes resulting in Cerebus Syndrome).
- Wham Episode Fallout: The consequences of the Wham! Episode are shown, and it's not pretty.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: A celebrity unwilling to accept that they lost popularity.