History Main / AmnesiaMissedASpot

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': When Dory is swimming around the chain in the Sydney harbor, having lost grip on her memories again, she remembers almost nothing except that she "lost someone". She could either be referring to Nemo, who she has been watching Marlin frantically track down for the last few days, or [[spoiler: Marlin himself, who has just left her behind - the reason she's now lost and confused in the first place.]] The memories return when she hears the name "Sydney", which she has been repeating to herself the whole movie. A bit of a different example, since Dory has a fairly accurate case of real-life anterograde amnesia; her memories simply fell apart because she lost the social connection she associates with them. The Sydney address, another connection she has to her friend, repairs them.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'': When J meets Dr. Weaver in the Morgue, they vaguely notice that they may have met before, but dismiss it as Deja Vu. In the beginning of the movie, they had met, but K had wiped both of their memories.

* ''Literature/TheMagicians'' reveals that those who fail the highly-demanding entrance exam to [[WizardingSchool Brakebills]] have their memories of the experience erased, before being given a suitable alibi for their absences and sent on their way. However, Quentin's friend Julia proves resistant enough to the effects to figure out what happened to her and even begin a few rudimentary magic studies of her own, eventually forming the basis of her chapters in the second book of the series, ''The Magician King.''

* In ''Literature/SuperPowereds'', this is done deliberately to [[spoiler: Nick, on the condition that he pass a SecretTestOfCharacter]]

* In ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'' Joey reveals that his tweaked augments make him immune to the Lethe Protocol they use for discussions of things so terrible that plausible deniability isn't enough. [[spoiler: He takes advantage of that immunity to jog Jacob's memory of voting to use the [[SyntheticPlague Guyaquil Complex]] that killed a billion people.]]

* ''VisualNovel/DanganRonpa'':

** Lupa has no memories from his [[[[Reincarnation}} previous life]] but he has kept all his combat abilities and behavioral patterns, and admits to feeling very familiar with the people he was previously acquainted with.

* Sera from ''Literature/QuantumDevilSagaAvatarTuner''. While she has a pretty bad case of amnesia, she often mutters things out of the blue about the nature of the Junkyard and then has no idea what she was saying or that she was saying anything in the first place.

* ''Franchise/StarwarsLegends'': ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has this as the backbone of the plot. [[spoiler:Revan's fragmented memories, as spied on through Bastila via the Force Bond]] were supposed to lead the Jedi to the Star Forge with your PlayerCharacter being none the wiser.

!!Examples

* The first ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' had this as the backbone of the plot. [[spoiler: Revan's fragmented memories, as spied on through Bastila via the Force Bond]] were supposed to lead the Jedi to the Star Forge with your PlayerCharacter being none the wiser.
** Of course, in this case the amnesia might or might not have been accidental. Depending on which it was, the trope is either [[InvokedTrope invoked]] ([[spoiler: if the Jedi ''deliberately'' wiped your memories, the ''intention'' must have been for it to miss spots so that they could be used to find the Star Forge]]) or [[ExploitedTrope exploited]] ([[spoiler: if the amnesia was an accidental result of the circumstances of your capture, the Jedi took advantage of this at least as soon as they realized what was going on, and potentially as soon as they realized the ''possibility'' of this trope]]).
* While closer to [[NewGamePlus recreating the world entirely]], the end result is that everyone in ''VideoGame/OneShot'' loses their memory of previous sessions when a new game is created. Everyone except [[PlayerCharacter Niko]], who is instead from another universe, and still remembers [[PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration the player's]] name, if not [[SpiritAdvisor who the player is or that they even exist]]. A solstice run further reveals that Niko can recover further memories with some effort, and that they find knowing of the player without understanding why or anything else about them is extremely disconcerting.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', ordinary people who don't experience the Dark Hour have their memories revised afterwards to explain anything strange that occurs during the Dark Hour. (Which they might notice after it passes). In one scene, Mitsuru mentions that so many people are coming down with Apathy Syndrome that the memory revision can't keep up.

** Also in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}''. [[spoiler: At the end of ''Innocent Sin'', Philemon recreates the world at the catch that everyone will forget everything. Tatsuya Suou, The Hero of ''Innocent Sin'', keeps his memories out of sheer willpower, but is forced to give them up at the end of ''Eternal Punishment''. Big Bad Nyarlathotep, of course, remembers everything due to his supernatural status and restored the memories of the Ax Crazy Pyromaniac Tatsuya Sudou.]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* This kicks off the main plot of the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Who Watches The Watchers"

* The memory drug in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', called 'RetCon', can sometimes leave nagging little details in the victim's mind. If they're distanced from all the weird things they've seen, it won't be a problem, but if something triggers it the memories come back. This is how Gwen re-learns of Torchwood in the pilot after Jack wipes her mind.
* Played with on ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'', When Fabian gets his amnesia curse. At first, he is still able to remember enough, like who Nina is, even though it does take a little work to trigger these memories. Though, eventually he does lose his entire memory, including his name.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', an entire sports stadium of people learn about the different mutants among them and their powers. To maintain their secret identities, Professor X tries to erase everyone's memory of the night, but blacks out before he can finish erasing Principal Kelly's mind. Principal Kelly later goes on to be very anti-mutant.

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[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

* In ''Anime/RahXephon'', the Mulian mind control is shown to be imperfect when Hiroko realizes she has forgotten something really important when she meets Ayato again after his disappearance.
* Some of the girls from ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'' remember stuff after Elsie erases their memories. They usually come up with their own version of what happened to explain. This is explicitly because New Hell has power issues, and only erases the absolute minimum. This can bite Keima in the ass; for example, he took a girl to an amusement park for a date, which ended in a kiss. According to her memories, he ditched her halfway through for no reason whatsoever.
* When [[spoiler:Albert Maverick {{Unperson}}s Kotetsu before framing him for murder]] in the 20th episode of ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' he slips up and misses mind-wiping two crucial individuals, [[spoiler:Kotetsu's former boss Ben Jackson and judge Yuri Petrov/vigilante Lunatic]]. Both turn out to be vital in helping [[spoiler:Kotetsu avoid capture by his former friends]].
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[spoiler: after having her memory wiped in the first season, Shirley finds a crumpled up letter that she had dropped beside her desk that tells her Lelouch is Zero. Then in the second season, she gets memory wiped ''again'', but eventually regains her full memories after being accidentally hit by Jeremiah Gottwald's new [[AntiMagic Geass Canceler]], which undoes the effects of both memory wipes.]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* ''FanFic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons'': Jetstream was so distraught by her lover Stonewing's death that she asked Vanity to remove the memories of him as she was going insane with grief. Vanity reluctantly agreed, but this only led to Jetstream's mental breakdown when their friend Big Macintosh dies. This triggers her to remember Stonewing and the realization of her lover and best friend's death drove her permanently insane.

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Finding Nemo}}'': When Dory is swimming around the chain in the Sydney harbor, having lost grip on her memories again, she remembers almost nothing except that she "lost someone". She could either be referring to Nemo, who she has been watching Marlin frantically track down for the last few days, or [[spoiler: Marlin himself, who has just left her behind - the reason she's now lost and confused in the first place.]] The memories return when she hears the name "Sydney", which she has been repeating to herself the whole movie. A bit of a different example, since Dory has a fairly accurate case of real-life anterograde amnesia; her memories simply fell apart because she lost the social connection she associates with them. The Sydney address, another connection she has to her friend, repairs them.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* ''Film/XMenFirstClass'': [[spoiler: At the end, Xavier wipes [=MacTaggert's=] memory to keep the mutants safe from the [=CIA=]. All [=MacTaggert=] remembers is a few glimpses of leaves and Xavier kissing her.]]
* The protagonist of ''Film/{{Paycheck}}'' has glimpses of what he was supposed to forget, along with the envelope full of [[NoteToSelf notes]], apparently because his last job used chemicals instead of the usual neuron-zapping, which is apparently complete.

* After his transformation to Film/{{RoboCop|1987}}, what remains of Officer Murphy's mind experiences flashbacks of his prior life despite his memory being wiped.
* The French sci-fi film ''Chrysalis'' features a memory-manipulating machine (capable of erasing and adding memories) which is used on the hero cop when he comes too close to a criminal conspiracy. He retains some flashes of information (and all of his fighting skills), which is enough to continue investigating. On the villain's side, the BigBad implanted the memories of his raped and then torched daughter on a ReplacementGoldfish young woman... and no matter how much he tried, he's unable to erase the memories of the rape (TheHero enters the memory manipulation room just as the doctor is in the middle of yet another try, and the man is having a VillainousBreakdown because the memories are doing a RewindReplayRepeat of the rapist's face).
* Invoked in ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'': the LaserGuidedAmnesia works by destroying the connections in the brain that are attached to the stored memories to be removed, causing the memories to fade away. When Joel changes his mind about having his memories of Clementine erased during the procedure, he tries to hide his memories of her within other memories where they don't logically belong. Unfortunately, the doctor performing the procedure is able to tell when he goes off the "map" and force him back onto it. However, in the end [[spoiler: Joel remembers just enough of Clementine that he is able to find her again and they start their relationship anew]].
* In ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'', [[spoiler: Jacob Kowalski has to have his memory erased after the climax in accordance with magical law, but at the end he's shown to have made pastry replicas of various magical creatures, without knowing where he got the ideas from. He also seems to remember Queenie when she visits him]].
** As explained in ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald'', [[spoiler:he didn't have his memory fully erased at all; the erasure only removed his ''bad'' memories of magic, but he didn't consider most of the memories bad. He was apparently just lying about not knowing where the magical beast ideas came from.]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''Literature/SuperPowereds'', this is done deliberately to [[spoiler: Nick, on the condition that he pass a SecretTestOfCharacter]]
* In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', Percy's memories of the events in the [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians previous series]] are almost completely wiped at the beginning of ''Son of Neptune''. The "almost" is his memory of his girlfriend, Annabeth, though it's dim. [[{{ThePowerOfLove}} Just knowing her name motivates him to keep fighting and gradually regain his other memories.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Matched}}'' by Ally Condie, witnesses to an event are ordered to take a mind-wiping pill, but the main character only pretends to and keeps her memory.
* In Spindles End by ''Creator/RobinMcKinley'', the two main adult characters try to hide attention from their young ward (the princess) by altering the memories of the entire village such that everybody "remembers" her coming to live with them a month earlier than she did. It's an almost perfect spell... and when the person it missed figures it out, all heck very nearly breaks loose.
* In Creator/MelissaMarr's ''Graveminder'', Amity keeps a notebook to try to get around the town's magical amnesia. It is suggested, however, that she has trouble remembering to check the notebook.

--> The deathless warriors of Annuvin halted as if at the faint stirring of some clouded memory. The moment passed and they strode on.

* In Creator/DianaWynneJones' ''Literature/FireAndHemlock'', the fairy queen wipes all traces of Thomas Lynn from Polly's life... except [[spoiler:her friend Fiona]]'s memory, which even Polly was unaware of.

* The "Not-Them" from ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchive'' are creatures who murder people and seemingly [[RetConjuration rewrite reality]] to take their place even though once they are finished, though they look human they don't resemble the person they replaced in any way. In every story featuring them, there is always a single person who knows they are not the real person (so far, someone who didn't know the person very well or was estranged from them). However, since said person is then taunted and tormented by the Not-Them, it's implied that they [[ForTheEvulz miss said people on purpose]].

Compare RippleEffectProofMemory, which may overlap, and GlamourFailure. Contrast LaserGuidedAmnesia, which is when the mojo works. WistfulAmnesia is a subtrope where a weaker version of this effect (that is, the victims don't remember more than that they've forgotten ''something'') is directly caused by ThePowerOfLove or ThePowerOfFriendship. AmnesiacLover can overlap with this trope if the "spot" was someone in a relationship with one of the victims.

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* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[spoiler: after having her memory wiped twice (once by different people) Shirley regains her memories after accidentally being hit by Jeremiah Gottwald's new [[AntiMagic Geass Canceler]].]]

** In ''Fade to Black'', the antagonists possess a scythe that can erase the memories of anyone it cuts, as well as everyone's memory of that person. Ichigo is able to recover immediately due to his powers having been awakened by Rukia, and Kon is completely unaffected.

* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'' novel ''The High King''. Arawn Deathlord created the Cauldron-Born by putting dead bodies inside his Black Cauldron. They are mindless zombies completely under Arawn's control with no memories of their previous lives. When the defenses of Caer Dathyl were breached and the Cauldron-Born prepared to enter they saw King Math standing before them.