History Main / AmnesiacsAreInnocent

** Averted in the ''Akito the Exiled'' OVA, in which [[spoiler:Lelouch is brainwashed to serve the Britannian Emperor (whom he loathes and wants dead) with complete and utter loyalty, while leaving his cleverness, ruthlessness and cunning. The result is the new Imperial Military Advisor, Lord Julius Kingsley, who is everything Lelouch despises; he carries out multiple aircraft bombings throughout the territory of Euro Britannia, each with the approximate strength of a F.L.E.I.J.A. nuclear warhead, then initiates massive war strikes with absolutely no concern for the massive loss of civilian life, enough to halt his fellow Britannian war leaders in their tracks]].

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Light [[MemoryGambit arranges things so that he forgets that he is Kira]]. Once L is convinced, he is entirely cooperative and wants to help L catch Kira until his memories are restored. Light was banking on his amnesiac self doing so to clear his own (and Misa's) names, since apparently his guilty self is not convincing enough to divert L's suspicions. It backfires slightly in that, upon losing his memory, Light's entire demeanor takes a conspicuous one-eighty, which makes L similarly suspicious; still, it convinces everyone else, which is more than enough for the plan to work.

* The ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokemon]]'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515115/ Ash's Adventure: Girls' Hunter Edition]]" is set in a world where human women can be captured and become '[=PokeGirls=]', humans with Pokemon abilities. At one point, Ash [[spoiler:is forced to capture Jessie of Team Rocket to save her life, but subsequent events result in Jessie being left with total amnesia of her identity, beyond a sense that Ash is her Master, leaving her horrified when May informs her what she was originally like]].

** In issue 5 of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'', Sonic and his friends come across Dr. Eggman, who lost his memory after the final battle of ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' and is living under the name of Mr. Tinker. As Mr. Tinker, Eggman is the exact opposite of [[SmugSnake his]] [[MadScientist usual]] [[{{Jerkass}} self]]: a humble and modest NiceGuy and FriendToAllChildren who enjoys helping people. Sonic even decides to let him be and go about his new life. [[spoiler:Sadly, that all comes to an end when Dr. Starline tracks Eggman down and brings his memory back, restoring him to his old villainous self again]].

* The ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokemon]]'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515115/ Ash's Adventures: Girls' Hunter Edition]]" is set in a world where human women can be captured and become '[=PokeGirls=]', humans with Pokemon abilities. At one point, Ash [[spoiler:is forced to capture Jessie of Team Rocket to save her life, but subsequent events result in Jessie being left with total amnesia of her identity, beyond a sense that Ash is her Master]].

* ''ComicBook/TheOutsiders'': When Halo is introduced, she is very sweet-natured and meek, in addition to having amnesia. Later in the series, she is reunited with her parents and learns that her pre-amnesic self was a sociopathic problem child who got involved with a drug dealer.

* Joshua Christopher from ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' has this happen to him in the anime version--despite being 15, the insanity [[ComesGreatInsanity caused by Chrono's horns]] make him forget most of his backstory, and he even seems unaware that he's grown older and still acts like a child the majority of the time. In the end, [[spoiler: he loses the horns and becomes sane again--but forgets even MORE of his past than he did before and becomes even more childlike!]]

** Averted in the Akito the Exiled OVA, in which [[spoiler: Lelouch is brainwashed to serve the Britannian Emperor (whom he loathes and wants dead) with complete and utter loyalty, while leaving his cleverness, ruthlessness and cunning. The result is the new Imperial Military Advisor, Lord Julius Kingsley, who is everything Lelouch despises; he carries out multiple aircraft bombings throughout the territory of Euro Britannia, each with the approximate strength of a F.L.E.I.J.A. nuclear warhead, then initiates massive war strikes with absolutely no concern for the massive loss of civilian life, enough to halt his fellow Britannian war leaders in their tracks.]]

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean,'' Weather Report is an ally of the heroes with no memories of his past. [[spoiler:When he gets them back, it turns out that he is much more of a sociopathic Jerkass who crossed the DespairEventHorizon a long time ago.]]
* In ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'', if a murderer somehow loses their memories after being exposed, the narrative will not hold them accountable for the crimes they commit before, and Kindaichi will [[KarmaHoudini allow them to "start over" with their new life]].
** The SerialKiller behind the Broken Heart Lake Legend Murder Case [[spoiler:blows himself up]] after his crimes are exposed. However, his suicide attempt fails and he gets an IdentityAmnesia instead, after which he is adopted by [[spoiler:Shimon Madarame from The Undying Butterfly Case, and assumes a new identity under the name Hikage Miyama.]] He is found innocent of the second case, and Kindaichi lets him live under his new identity. It helps that he shows none of his previous identity's psychotic thirst for vengeance, but has become noble and self-sacrificing and willing to risk his life to protect his beloved.
** In Demon God Site Murder Case, the culprit is struck by lightning just as they are about to kill themselves after completing their revenge, causing them to lose their memories of the case, but is left otherwise unharmed. Since they are incurably ill and are about to die anyway, Kindaichi and friends allow them to live the remainder of their days reconnecting with [[spoiler:her daughter, Satsuki, and allowing the latter to finally get to know her real mother.]]

* Kirika from ''{{Anime/Noir}}'' possibly deconstructs this, as she's an amnesiac 15 year old girl who's extremely naive -- who happens to be one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Her first memories upon waking up are finding a gun in her house and shortly after taking out a squad of {{Mooks}} sent to fight her, and much of her character arc revolves around finding out just how she learned these abilities.

* ''Manga/ZennouNoNoa'': a large group of people lose their memories in what's called a terrorist attack and are basically made to live in a separate city built under Tokyo. They're even called [=KIDz=], and regardless of age a lot of them do pick up fairly childish traits. This takes a dark turn as the protagonist [[spoiler:was the one who suppressed their memories in the first place as a test run, with the intention of ''erasing the memories of the entire human race'' so he could indoctrinate literally everyone and become God. He succeeds, but it's heavily implied it won't end well.]]

* During the events of "Oblivio" in ''Fanfic/TheOneToMakeItStay'', an [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesiac]] Chat Noir sees evidence that his crush already has a boyfriend and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy accepts this]], only confessing his own feelings to Ladybug so that he can get them off his chest. Naturally, he has no idea that his regular self has no problem making his feelings for Ladybug known, nor that [[EntitledToHaveYou he refuses to take no for an answer.]]

* ''Fanfic/ConcerningADrifter'': In this case, it's more that "Amnesiacs are Vulnerable", as, while she can't remember too much of anything (nor does she want to), Ryuuko's not completely amnesiac but, nevertheless, she's described as childlike and does act a like a child. An instance of this is, earlier, in the story, she asks Satsuki to tell her a story in much a way a child might. Her being traumatized with repressed memories drives Satsuki to want to protect her more.
* ''Fanfic/AVeryKaraChristmas'': In order to avoid uncomfortable questions about her deceased parents or her birthplace and excuse her weird behavior away, [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Linda]] pretends she is amnesiac as living in the orphanage.
* ''Fanfic/ToTheNightSky'': After being memory-wiped, Edward shows hints of being much more emotionally vulnerable and easily frightened by circumstances out of his control. When he's forced to trigger a human transmutation array in spite of being unable to fully remember or grasp the consequences, Truth openly compares him to a baby and refuses to harm him since he's wholly a victim.

* This trope is pretty much the plot of ''Film/RegardingHenry''. An unethical lawyer, who is distant from his family, and having an affair gets shot in the head. He recovers, but is very child like at first and rebuilds his family relationships. He also reveals evidence he'd previously suppressed to win a case.

* Literature/CalLeandros gets bitten by a monster that gives him amnesia in ''Blackout'', but it's an interesting case. He immediately figures out he's a morally ambiguous 'killer' and rolls with it, but once he gets reintroduced to his life he is ''very'' disturbed by a photograph of himself from before. Most of the book deals with his struggle between wondering if he should stay amnesiac and moral, or try to regain his memories and become who he was before. [[spoiler: When he realizes the latter will allow him to protect Niko better, he barely even hesitates restoring himself]].

* The narrator of ''Literature/{{Piranesi}}'' is cheerful, trusting, and earnest to be point of being childlike. [[spoiler: It is later revealed that Piranesi is actually a man named Matthew Rose Sorenson, who was trapped in the House by the Other. Matthew Rose Sorenson was a much angrier and more cynical man than the guileless Piranesi, who has a hard time understanding his past persona's behavior.]]
* Iapetus from ''Literature/TheDemigodFiles'' is a murderous, ten-foot tall titan who kills his enemies with a spear - that is, until he falls into the river Lithe. The river Lethe washes away all his memories, and Iapetus becomes calm, friendly, and is easily convinced that his name is "Bob".

* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', most everyone who goes through [[spoiler: the TAHITI process]] comes back as a nice person. Granted, most everyone who S.H.I.E.L.D. puts through it are generally good people to begin with, and it's only used to give people a new chance at life, without the baggage that comes from the terrible things they've done.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'': the protagonists meet and befriend an amnesiac, childish, and somewhat clumsy GentleGiant whom they end up nicknaming "Dai-chan" (effectively, "Mister Big"). When "Dai-chan" recovers his memories, however, all of his innocence is destroyed by the revelation that he is actually [[spoiler: the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent fangire]] Rook, a merciless mass murderer who makes a game out of killing as many people as he can in a set time limit, and is solely responsible for at least one genocide.]] Potentially the only remaining vestige of his nice-guy side is [[spoiler:his final character arc, where he abruptly decides to do good deeds in the hopes of getting into Heaven.]]

* Deconstructed in an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': A woman is brought into a hospital with amnesia, remembering nothing except that a bomb is going to be set off somewhere. The NCIS team comes in to investigate the claim and figure out where the bomb is. Obviously, the woman is their key witness in this regard and they treat her as an innocent victim. Turns out, [[spoiler: she was part of the conspiracy to set the bomb in the first place. The minute her memories come back, she continues trying to carry out the original plan.]]

* Notably averted in the GrandFinale of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': [[spoiler: a resurrected Lex Luthor gets dosed with an amnesia pill erasing his entire life. Despite this, within a decade he becomes President of the United States and the most evil man in the world.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''

* [[AmnesiacHero Abe no Seimei]] from ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'' definitely qualifies, even though he often fears that he might have [[AmnesiacDissonance done bad things in the past]]. [[spoiler: The only crime he committed then was to ''accidentally'' [[CreateYourOwnVillain create]] [[EvilCounterpart Kuro]] [[LiteralSplitPersonality Seimei]].]]

** Ultimately, at the end of the game, you discover that [[spoiler:this trope does ''not'' hold true for you. The First Incarnation's crime(s), [[NoodleIncident whatever they may have been]], were so terrible that the Nameless One's soul has earned an express ticket to the Lower Planes upon death, no matter what else he may have done with his other lives in-between. It says something that the First Incarnation implies he sought immortality just to have enough time to ''atone'' for his misdeeds... And then the nature of his immortality only made things ''worse''.]]
* [[spoiler: [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Darkrai]]]]'s memory is erased at the end of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky]]'' as a result of being hit by Palkia's attack while escaping through a portal after the heroes and Cresselia foil his evil plans to destroy the Pokemon world. After that, he can be encountered and recruited.

* John VideoGame/{{Yesterday}} is fairly sweet-natured and romantic if somewhat morose due to his amnesia...but this trope comes fully into effect when you consider [[spoiler: his past lives as the demented Choke and the murderous Satanic cultist Miguel. Possibly a JustifiedTrope considering Choke was a KnightTemplar and Miguel [[EvenEvilHasStandards had problems with the cult sacrificing a child]].]]

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': In Chapter 4, the group enters a virtual world to learn anything about the outside, [[spoiler:during their investigation, Gonta is manipulated by Kokichi into murdering Miu after he believed he would be performing a MercyKill for everyone. However, prior to entering the virtual world, Gonta accidentally placed his virtual headset plugins into the wrong outlets, as a result, he had no recollection of anything he did during his time in the virtual world, including killing Miu.]]

* The infamous ''Avatar'' comic ''Webcomic/HowIBecameYours'' uses this trope to redeem Azula (and hook her up with Sokka).

* While not complete amnesia (he still remembers his name and bits from his past), this is how Mammon is treated by his followers in ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons''. He's done horrible things in the name of greed, but now that he's millenia old and starting to [[TheFogOfAges lose his mind a bit]], he's abandonned much of his worst traits, now acting more like a semi-senile, kind grandfather rather that the power-hungry, greedy god he was.

* Eadoo Quest: Gatling ''eats'' most of Shenzi's twisted mind, [[FreudianExcuse up to the point when her mother murdered her sisters in front of her to harden her heart]]. She is permanently nicer as a "Gnoll Princess", though Eadoo and company manage to corrupt her in... [[BrotherSisterIncest other]] [[WifeHusbandry ways]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', we have this with an elderly Beatrice. Losing her memories (rather, the ability to recognize them) to senile dementia allows her to show a nicer side of herself and she's genuinely mindful of other people, however, while some of her actions (like [[spoiler: spiking Hollyhock's coffee with amphetamines]] for example) can be inferred as well-intentioned , they are ''not'' good, so things [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS4E10LovinThatCaliLifestyle don't end well]].
* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': Carmen runs into Gray after his memory is erased, and he's a friendly, well-meaning guy with none of the criminal impulses that led him to seek out V.I.L.E. in the first place. Carmen and Co. spend some time debating whether that means he's faking, whether he's been turned into a ManchurianAgent, or whether it's genuine. [[spoiler: Turns out to be {{invoked}} by V.I.L.E. While erasing memories, Dr. Bellum also alters their personality, because becoming involved in criminal acts could trigger their memories altogether. After Gray is deprogramed, his criminal instincts return, and he willingly returns to V.I.L.E.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':

* Played straight in the story, later invoked by the Daltons in the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' story "L'Amnesie des Daltons": on seeing an amnesiac inmate be freed, they decide to pass off as amnesiac themselves in order to leave the prison. Averell becomes genuinely amnesiac after a TapOnTheHead, and [[HilarityEnsues matters are complicated]] when the local governor decides to send them back to prison for breaking the law by any means necessary: encouraging them to rob banks and trains.

* ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'': Roland is a downplayed example, as he is a drug-addled SuperSoldier with an at best warped sense of morality and outlook on life, but with a few lines in the sand he will not cross. What few glimmers of memories he has of his previous life implies he was much worse before he lost them. [[spoiler:When Roland finally unlocks his old memories at the end of the novel [[AteHisGun he immediately commits suicide]], only for his implants to bring him back in an amnesiac state.]]

** Downplayed in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E24Warhead Warhead]]" when a sentient missile loses its memory and temporarily forgets it's a WeaponOfMassDestruction. Once restored however it proceeds with its mission, but the crew are able to convince it not to after discovering it was launched by accident.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Metallo suffers from amnesia after being caught in an explosion. He ends up befriending a pair of children, and even saves their lives. As soon as his memories return he immediately reverts to evil, and cons the children into continuing to help him while actually planning to kill Superman.

* Zap of ''Webcomic/{{Zap}}'' has LaserGuidedAmnesia and is cheerful, naive, and rather childish. His pre-amnesia self, however, was far more scheming, bordering on a ChessMaster.

* In ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'', [[AlienPrincess Princess]] [[PrincessProtagonist Erika]] aided the Baam military in their campaign to colonize the Earth, but lost her memories when her spaceship crashed and she suffered a traumatic head injury upon landing. She's discovered by our protagonist, and falls in love with him due to his kindness...until she regains her memories and realizes that their planets are at war. Understandably, her big brother Richter does ''not'' take it well when he finds out she's fallen for a human.

* Outside of his innate skill, Li doesn't remember who he is in ''Fanfic/{{Foxfire}}''. While he's still bad at socializing and hot-tempered as Zuko, he's far more sweeter and less angry. Li even smiles which stuns Iroh. Even Jet, who hates firebenders, gives Li a chance due to the latter's honesty and innocence.