History Main / CipherScything

** Besides the inability to have [[HeroicMime Link]] talk, let alone sing, the primary reason that he is absent in ''Theatre/{{Majora}}'' is because he - and his ability to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong rewind time and try again]] in the original ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' - would act as a DeusExMachina, removing all tension from the plot. Not having him present allows for more drama, creating more uncertainty and doubt over the fate of Termina.

* ''Anime/TanteiOperaMilkyHolmes'' does this with the male protagonist, Kobayashi Opera. He appears as an almost-unnoticeable cameo in the penultimate episode, though.

** This trope is averted in most ''Zelda'' manga, which give Link plenty of character and dialogue, with the semi-exception of the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' adaptation, which keeps Link silent.

** ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'' does this with the main character of its source video game, giving him a name, Yu Narukami -- but plays up the "generic" personality for all its worth, simultaneously being the resident [[ComicallySerious (comically)]] [[SeriousBusiness serious]], [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]], and [[TheStoic stoic]] guy. ''Anime/Persona5TheAnimation'' did something similar with its hero; Joker, now named Ren Amamiya.
** Preceding that, the ''VideoGame/Persona3'' manga adaptation gave the character a name (Makoto Yuki) and the distinct personality of a silent, laid back guy.

** In ''Fanfic/PokemonCrossing'', the player character is removed from the story in order to focus on the animal villagers. The villager Benedict takes on the player's role of being the character who moves into a new town and decides where to go from there.

** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', of course, has to do this with the ''3'' and ''4'' protagonists. You still get to name them, though. The sequel, ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' does it with the ''5'' and female ''3 Portable'' protagonists in addition to the returning other two.

* A sort of in-universe example is part of the premise of ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' (and several other stories [[RebornAsVillainessStory in the genre it popularized]]). The protagonist played the [[FictionalVideoGame fictional dating sim]] ''Fortune Lover'' before dying and reincarnating into the game's world as one of its character years before its events took place. But instead of the self-insert protagonist Maria Campbell, she becomes Katarina, the villain of two of the game's routes ([[CluelessChickMagnet not that this keeps her from becoming the center of attention]]). The Maria Campbell that Katarina meets has the same upbringing as her game counterpart, but her own reactions to it beyond Katarina's game knowledge. The anime visually distinguishes the two versions of Maria by hiding the game avatar's eyes in Katarina's flashbacks of playing ''Fortune Lover''.

* In ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', Maria Campbell is the main protagonist of the in-universe video game Fortune Lover. However, in the story, Katarina who is the BigBad of Geordo and Keith's routes in the game, regains her PastLifeMemories of an {{Otaku}} from the real world who played Fortune Lover. Fearing that she's going to be killed if she acts the way she does in the game, Katarina begins taking countermeasures and ends up becoming the main protagonist by being really nice to everyone and averts her "doom endings" which she ''never'' notices, ''ever''. When Maria does show up, Katarina learns that Maria has some major HiddenDepths, namely being bullied over her rare LightEmUp abilities that drove her dad away due to rumors that Maria's mom slept with a nobleman, but Katarina's defending Maria from bullies has Maria taking a level in cheerfulness and falling in love with Katarina who, of course, does not notice. The anime has Maria's eyes being hidden in Katarina's flashbacks of playing Fortune Lover.

* Played for laughs in ''Webcomic/LearningWithMangaFGO'', a webcomic SelfParody of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' which turns the loosely-defined hero of the game into a PsychoLesbian UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist whose personality is a parody of the game's ''players''.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' : The customizable player avatar, the Glaive, introduced from the expansion ''Comrades'' onwards. Not only are they completely AdaptedOut from the anime ''Anime/BrotherhoodFinalFantasyXV'' and other spin-offs, but the main game itself takes them off the story almost ''as soon as they enter it''. While they are the main protagonists in the Comrades expansion, the main game only allows you (as the non-customizable Noctis) to recruit them very late in the game, in Chapter 14. They never appear in subsequent cutscenes, however, and the rest of the plot is all focused on Noctis. [[spoiler:Even the final boss is fought only by Noctis instead of them, and the ending revolves so much around Noctis that it acts like the Glaive never existed]].
*** Like Shantotto and Prishe for ''XI'' and Y'shtola for XIV, Noctis is used as representative for ''XV'' in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyNT'' instead of the Glaive. Justified, as pre-''Comrades'' FFXV versions didn't feature the Glaive and Noctis was always meant as the protagonist.

* In ''Anime/DiamondDaydreams'', there is no sign of the male lead character of the ''Kita e'' {{visual novel}}s the show is based on, which results in a very compelling set of {{slice of life}} stories.

* The MassiveMultiplayerCrossover game ''VideoGame/SuperHeroineChronicle'' has a strange {{inversion}} with its adaptation of ''Literature/InfiniteStratos'', removing its infamously bland protagonist [[CluelessChickMagnet Ichika]] and [[SituationalSexuality transferring his harem to]] Hibiki from ''Anime/{{Symphogear}}''.

* In ''Anime/DiamondDaydreams'' there is no sign of the male lead character of the ''Kita e'' {{visual novel}}s the show is based on, which results in a very compelling set of {{slice of life}} stories.

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem''

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}''

** Link in [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 the 1989 animated adaptation]] makes the mute, no-personality cipher of the ''Legend of Zelda'' games of that [[UsefulNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames era]] an arrogant, wise-cracking hero keen on getting kissed by Princess Zelda.

* Franchise/{{Pokemon}}: