origin tale
How something started
An origin tale is a story explaining how something came to be—a character's backstory, a tradition's beginnings, or a phenomenon's first occurrence.
The term appears most often in discussions of superhero narratives: Every superhero needs an origin tale.
It overlaps with origin story, though tale carries slightly more folkloric or mythic connotations.
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- creationMaking something exist
- creation storyAccount of existence's origin
- genesisPoint of creation
in the beginning · beginning · folklore · once upon a time · storytelling · oral tradition · ancestor · tribal elder · ancient · ancient times · birth · source · primordial · narrative · hero · hero's journey · journey · sacred
- Chinese Mythologycreation story, Jade Emperor, white snake, celestial beings, fox spirits
- nature storiessurvival stories, wilderness adventures, animal fable, survival story, wildlife documentary
origin talefinale
Concluding part of performance
sequel · conclusion · ending · final chapter · swan song
origin, tale, origins, original, originally, originate, originated, originating, origination