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I think it depends on the narcissist.
I know one narc who has a fairly firm fantasy worldview that stays consistent over time; her lies include: she was adopted. Her birth family is a long lineage of powerful magic users descended from the founding family of Rome. She performed on Broadway when she was young. She travelled, recorded, and performed with various country and western music stars when she was young. So why isn't she wealthy? Well, she married right out of high school and her ex husband got all her money from her youthful musical career when they divorced. She has mystical telepathic bonds with her service animal (a bird) and her 20-odd herd of horses. (she got that one from Mercedes Lackey books, which she has all of)
If you allow her internal fantasy world to be ‘true’ and don’t contradict her, all of her words and behavior are in line with these lies and stories she’s told many, many times over the years.
As far as ‘what she did yesterday’ or ‘what she heard you say’ or 'what you did' those are lies that she changes according to audience and what she wants from them; she has a habit of keeping her targets (lovers, husband, domestic partners) awake and exhausted, malnourished, and stressed out while she screams/cries her ‘truth’ over and over again until they believe her version of things even if they saw and heard the reality themselves. She basically sees and hears whatever will feed her wants and needs in the moment and she doesn’t care if it’s a lie or if it changes, she will just insist that whatever she is saying in that moment is the truth and that others are lying or mis-remembering whatever it is that contradicts her.
Another narcissist of my acquaintance had a completely chaotic world-view and none of her stories were consistent or matched up over time. One day she would tell you she had a successful singing career until her manager tried to sleep with her, so she had to quit. The next time you saw her, you’d ask about her singing career and she would say no, that’s not correct, she had owned a car dealership but her partners tried to sleep with her and when she sued them, they somehow managed to get control of the company away from her. And then the next time she saw you, she would deny that she’d ever said anything about singing or cars and tell you she’d been a world-renowned lion tamer or some other insane BS. Whatever the story, it always included some element of she was successful until someone tried to sleep with her and often there was a lawsuit involved. She was always talking about suing this person and that person. The reality is that she was a low level con artist who was on public assistance and had a number of aliases (combinations of her various first/middle names with various maiden and married names & various lovers' last names, along with various mixed up versions of her kids’ names) with which she defrauded government agencies out of welfare assistance.
Whether chaotic or consistent, the narcisssist’s past and back-story always seem to consist of being special, gifted, wealthy, and possibly even possessed of supernatural powers, and then being mistreated by other people.
There is no proof, of course, that they were ever rich, famous, or owned anything, but if you question it they will gaslight you and lie some more.
They honestly don’t seem to care about whether or not the story changes or if you believe them or not, as long as you are paying attention to them and they are getting what they want out of you, whether that’s an audience or a fight or someone to add to their long list of ‘people who did me wrong [and I had to sue them! In the court of MY MIND!]’
Bottom line: Whether they remember their lies and keep it consistent, if you contradict or call them out, it's going to be your fault, not theirs. They'll scream, cry, argue, fuss, fight, DARVO, and gaslight until you get your own memory messed up enough to agree with them or apologize.
So, don’t bother trying to keep track of the narc’s stories, they certainly do not. If you want to get along just nod and smile and don’t remind them of their inconsistencies. It’s easier and more peaceful to just leave that relationship altogether, if you can.
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