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{{trope}}
You [[Time Travel]] into the past; something happens as a result of your time travel, and [[Butterfly of Doom|somebody dies]]. Somebody important and probably even famous, who you ''know'' stayed alive until after this date. What can you do to close the [[Stable Time Loop]], [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]], or at least [[Tricked
Usually, for added [[Rule of Drama|drama]], the person you're replacing is supposed to die in some other way in order to trigger a significant event, meaning that you expect replacing them to lead to a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. This is not to say that it actually does, though; you can often find a [[Take a Third Option|third option]] besides dying nobly in the past and screwing up the timeline.
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Compare and contrast [[Time Travel Escape]]; in particular, the third option in the more-dramatic version often involves pulling something like a [[Time Travel Escape]]. Also compare [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]], which is a supertrope to at least the [[Stable Time Loop]] version of this, and [[Emergency Impersonation]], a very similar plot that doesn't require time travel.
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Applies to the ([[Crisis
* This sort of happens in issue #5 of the original run on ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'', in which Dr. Doom (his first appearance) sends the foursome back in time and The Thing, who has always been a fan of stories of Blackbeard, ends up ''becoming'' Blackbeard.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[
* Happens several times in the ''[[Time Wars]]'' series:
** In ''The Pimpernel Plot'', a time traveller's action causes the death of Sir Percy Blakeney, a.k.a. the Scarlet Pimpernel. One of the Time Commandos is assigned to replace Sir Percy to ensure that the events described in ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (
** In ''The Zenda Vendetta'', the villains murder [[The Prisoner of Zenda|Rudolf Rassendyll]], again obliging one of the Time Commandos to take his place.
** In ''The Ivanhoe Gambit'', [[Ivanhoe
** Perhaps because this imposes a restriction on the plotting, the other ''Time Wars'' novels just have the heroes befriending historical figures, not replacing them.
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[
* In [[Tim Powers]]' ''[[The Anubis Gates]]'', the main character, expert in the study of a (fictional) Victorian poet, travels back in time and ends up being said poet in the past. This is the variant version mentioned in the description, as the poet in question didn't die and need replacing. He'd ''always been'' the time traveller, product of a [[Stable Time Loop]] with no discernible origin. [[Temporal Paradox|Nobody ever composed his poems, either]], which worries the protagonist more than the actual replacement does.
* ''Behold the Man'' by [[Michael Moorcock]]. You can probably figure out the subject in question from the [
* In one of [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''Time Patrol'' short stories, a time-traveler gets pressed into taking the place of an assassinated Persian royalty; history remembers him as Cyrus the Great.
** Another story in the same series, which has the magnificently awesome title "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth", has a time-travelling anthropologist trying to find the source of a particular legend involving the god Odin. He visits a dark-ages Goth community several times over the course of decades, and the locals, noting that he never seems to age (among other reasons), decide he is Odin. At the end he has to close the ''[[Stable Time Loop]]'' by doing what Odin is described as doing in the legend, even though it means killing two of his grandsons.
* The variety where the famous person never existed appears in at least two writings of [[Stanislaw Lem]].
* The protagonist of [[Manly Wade Wellman]]'s ''Twice in Time'' travels back to Renaissance Florence to meet [[Leonardo
* In the ''Found'' series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, this is combined with [[Time Travel Escape]]. A group of children who are adopted, but cannot find their birth parents find out they are long lost children of the past (such as Anastasia or Virginia Dare of the Roanoake Colony) that were taken by time travelers from the distant future. Unfortunately, the time machine went wrong and ended up at an airport in the 90s. In the second book, ''Sent'', this trope is almost played straight when Chip and Alex are found to be missing medieval princes who are meant to be killed.
* In ''The Door Into Summer'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], a professor who's invented a faulty form of time travel talks about how one of his students took the risk and went back in time. His name? [[Leonardo
* In ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', Harry thinks he sees his father send a remarkably powerful Patronus across the lake to save himself and Hermione. When they go back with the Time-Turner, Harry goes across the lake, hoping for a glimpse of his long-dead father... and realizes that ''he'' was the one who conjured the powerful Patronus, giving him the confidence and determination to do so.
== [[Live
* ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' two-parter "Past Tense", Sisko ends up in [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|the 21st century]] as the result of a [[Negative Space Wedgie|transporter accident]], where he has to impersonate the soon-to-be martyr Gabriel Bell after accidentally causing his death in a food line. At the end of the episode Starfleet Command has some questions to ask about why the picture of Gabriel Bell in the history books resembles him so closely; it gets [[Lampshaded]] again in a later episode when Nog is looking at a historical database and comments that Gabriel Bell looks an awful lot like Sisko.
** In an [[What Could Have Been|early draft]] of the ''[[Star Trek:
** ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' also has a strange example with a short timeframe. In "Visionary", O'Brien is time-jumping uncontrollably, and he sees the station blow up in the future. To prevent this, he decides to force a time-jump, find out how the disaster happens, and come back. Unfortunately, the device that makes this possible emits deadly radiation, and O'Brien overestimates his endurance; when it's time to go back, he realizes he won't survive the return trip. Solution? He gives his future self the device and sends ''him'' back. The disaster is averted, and at the end of the day there's still just one O'Brien, but he can't help wondering if he's really the same man.
* In ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' (the 80s version), the episode "Profile in Silver" has this as a plot. An academic from the future travels back in time and ends up saving JFK from the assassin's bullet. As a result, this creates an alternate timeline where the extinction of the human race via nuclear war is inevitable. Kennedy is informed of this and offers to go back to be assassinated in order to restore the timeline, only for the academic to send him to the future instead while he takes Kennedy's place in the limo and dies. We then see Kennedy in the future, giving a university lecture praising the sacrifice of heroes like the professor.
** Another episode of the '80s ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' qualifies as well. In "The Once and Future King", an Elvis impersonator goes back in time and meets the younger Elvis, who mistakes him for his brother. The impersonator is frustrated when Elvis shows no interest in becoming a rock singer, which eventually lead to a struggle that leads to Elvis' death. The impersonator ends up taking Elvis' place.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Hiro goes to 17th century Japan to find that his childhood idol, Takezo Kensei, doesn't even come close to meeting his expectations. While not actually doing (some of) the amazing things that Kensei would be credited for, Hiro definitely plays a part in the making of history. In fact, the writers actually try and fake out the audience to think this is what Hiro is going to do after {{spoiler|Kensei dies}}. However {{spoiler|it is revealed shortly afterward that he is a "Special" and his wounds heal}}.
* There's a TV-movie (read: [[Poorly
* A key plot point in ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=1970 Gamelet]'', a currently{{when}}-in-development video game, you play a time traveler who ends up having to act out the plot of ''[[Hamlet]]'', impersonating the title character.
* ''[[Jigsaw]]'' forces you to be the instigator of some of the twentieth century's worst disasters, starting with [[World War I|assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Futurama]]'', Fry eventually [[My Own Grampa|becomes his own grandfather]] after accidentally killing the person who was supposed to be/he thought was his grandfather.
* In a recent ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode, Stewie discovers [[Leonardo
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[[The Stinger|...and]] [[The Terminator|I'll be]] [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Bach]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Time Travel Tropes]]
[[Category:
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