History Main / DeathOfPersonality

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Bartholomew Kuma slowly lost more and more of his humanity as he was surgically transformed into PX-0, the prototype of the [[HumanWeapon Pacifista]], until only his brain was left unmodified. By the Marineford Arc, Donquixote Donflamingo outright states [[ThatManIsDead that the old Bartholomew Kuma is ''effectively dead'']]. His last act of free will was a request to Doctor Vegapunk to program him with the directive to "Protect the ''Thousand Sunny'' until a member of the Straw Hat Pirates arrives to take the ship back".

* Bartholomew Kuma of ''Franchise/OnePiece'', over the course of his transmogrification into PX-0, slowly lost more and more of his humanity until only his brain was left unmodified. By the Paramount War, Donquixote Donflamingo outright states [[ThatManIsDead that the old Bartholomew Kuma is ''effectively dead'']]. His last act of free will, which was "Protect the ''Thousand Sunny'' until a Straw Hat Pirate arrives to take the ship back" being pre-programmed afterward at his behest before being reduced to effectively a soulless machine.

** [[spoiler:Luvbi]] is revealed at the end of Chapter 7 to be a [[MacGuffin Turned Human Pure Heart that was transformed into a nimbi to disguise it]]. This means that she will be gone forever if she returns to her true form. Since the last Pure Heart is needed to save the universe she chooses to do so after making peace with her adoptive parents. [[spoiler:In the PlayableEpilogue it is revealed that she was miraculously reborn after the universe was saved]].

* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' has Nastasia brainwash Luigi. However, he does not become like Bowser's minions whom Nastasia brainwashed, but he becomes Mr. L, who, while Bleck's minion and Mario's enemy, has a mind of his own as he is willing to disobey Bleck and Nastasia's orders. This trope comes around to permanently affect Mr. L rather than Luigi, as after he is killed by Dimentio and goes to the afterlife (returning to life shortly after), he is Luigi again, with no memory of being Mr. L.

* 'Webcomic/PeopleTurningIntoSmithClones'' explores this trope with Ava’s boyfriend after he’s infected surprisingly early on in the webcomic’s run, showing his slow induction into the HiveMind as he loses his memories of Ava and gains a strong urge to infect everyone in the base.

* ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'': The protagonist Shiki was born with two intertwined personalities, the female "Shiki" and the male "SHIKI". However, after a series of confusing events at [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday age 16]], she attempts to kill herself but instead ends up in a coma for three years, during which SHIKI dies, leaving Shiki with massive trauma and an ability to perceive the death of all things.

* This happens several times in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''. For example, in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E44TheLatenessOfTheHour The Lateness of the Hour]]", a woman discovers that she is actually a robot. Unable to cope, she goes mad and her "parents" reprogram her as a maid, effectively destroying her personality.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'', this is the consequence for draconification. Swallowing a Secret Stone will transform a person into an ultra-powerful immortal dragon, but their mind will be destroyed in the process, reducing them to a mindless, largely docile animal. [[spoiler:This happens to Zelda, who decides to swallow her Secret Stone in order to take TheSlowPath back to the present and restore the Master Sword in the process. In the present, she flies around the map as the Light Dragon, showing no signs of her old personality. Ganondorf does the same for the final battle, and after his death, Zelda is restored to her Hylian form with no memory of having been the Light Dragon.]]

* The process of "Tranquility" in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series is this, as mages are severed of all of their emotions, leaving them nothing but steadfastly obedient servants (or worse) that speak in a CreepyMonotone. It's ''supposed'' to be used as a way to prevent mages from going mad with power, and its original creators actually feared it being abused due to what it did, but in the time period of the games, [[CorruptChurch the Chantry]] uses it as the standard punishment for mages that prove troublesome or to silence dissent within the Circles of Magic. [[MageKiller Templars]] are also known for [[CorruptCop using it on undeserving mages]] who won't do what they want, with one particularly [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sickening]] example being Ser Karras.

* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', the immortal that would come to be known as Utsuro formed countless personalities to cope with humanity being [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer so afraid of him that they would inevitably kill him over and over again]]. Every time he was killed, one of his personalities would die and be replaced with another once his otherwise fatal injuries healed. Eventually Utsuro got sick of it and personally killed his remaining personalities when the last one, who went by the name of Yoshida Shoyo, [[SadisticChoice was about to be executed by Gintoki in order to spare Katsura and Takasugi's lives]]. [[SplitPersonalityTakeover What remained]] was [[BigBad an Utsuro completely devoid of emotion and dedicated to nothing less]] than [[EarthShatteringKaboom the destruction of the Earth]] in the hopes that [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery this would permanently kill him]].

* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', the immortal that would come to be known as Utsuro formed countless personalities to cope with humanity being [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer so afraid of him that they would inevitably kill him over and over again]]. Every time he was killed, one of his personalities would die and be replaced with another once his othersiwe fatal injuries healed. Eventually Utsuro got sick of it and personally killed his remaining personalities when the last one, who went by the name of Yoshida Shoyo, [[SadisticChoice was about to be executed by Gintoki in order to spare Katsura and Takasugi's lives]]. [[SplitPersonalityTakeover What remained]] was [[BigBad an Utsuro completely devoid of emotion and dedicated to nothing less]] than [[EarthShatteringKaboom the destruction of the Earth]] in the hopes that [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery this would permanently kill him]].

* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', the immortal that would come to be known as Utsuro formed countless personalities to cope with humanity being [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer so afraid of him that they would inevitably kill him over and over again]]. Every time he was killed, one of his personalities would die and be replaced with another once his othersiwe fatal injuries healed. Eventually Utsuro got sick of it and personally killed his remaining personalities when the last one, who went by the name of Yoshida Shoyo, [[SadisticChoice was about to be executed by Gintoki in order to spare Katsura and Takasugi's lives]]. What remained was an Utsuro completely devoid of emotion and dedicated to nothing less than [[EarthShatteringKaboom the destruction of the Earth]] in the hopes that [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery this would permanently kill him]].

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': The Night of the Black Knives culminated with [[spoiler:Godwyn the Golden]] having his soul killed. The thing is, because of the particular manner in which this happened, [[NotQuiteDead his body was, for all intents and purposes, still alive]]. And no, [[BodyHorror this was]] ''[[TheCorruption not]]'' [[SurrealHorror a good thing]].

* In ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger'', this is ultimately what happens to Jaune after [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Darth Nihilus's spirit]] pushes him past the DespairEventHorizon and then goads him into donning [[EvilMask his mask]]. What follows is a TransformationOfThePossessed, at the end of which Nihilus takes full control of his body and the narration explicitly states that spoiler:Jaune is "gone". This is also symbolized by the chapter's POV shifting from Jaune to Darth Nihilus. Although this is later subverted when Ruby restores Jaune's mind using her [[MagicalEye Silver Eyes]], the guilt of what he did while under Nihilus's possession, mixed with his inability to resist Nihilus's control for much longer, leads Jaune to commit suicide as a desperate attempt to KillTheHostBody.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'': Friston-3 is a robot created from the personality of [[spoiler:Trevor Friston the Preserver]], who was found and salvaged by Ho'olheyak after the self-destruct sequence wiped his memory but before his complete destruction.

* This is the fate that happens to most Infested Terrans in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' as the Zerg hive mind breaks down and assimilates the Infested's personality to make them subservient to the Swarm, with only a few select characters retaining their identities due to being designated as leaders and are left a significantly larger portion of free will.

* In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', ComicBook/WonderWoman accuses the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica of doing this to Dr. Light when she finds out about them erasing his memories and turning him from a sadistic rapist into a bungling goof. Diana argues that it would have been far better to simply kill him since what the League did to him was a FateWorseThanDeath.

** The Lich is defeated in this way: he undergoes the ReviveKillsZombie trope and is [[RaiseHimRightThisTime reborn as an innocent]] (and ''giant'') baby. Played with in that at least some part of the Lich's personality still exists inside said baby (and is implied to be trying to escape), but there doesn't seem to be much left of him at this point.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Bradford Buzzard's ultimate fate upon defeat, as he is turned into a mindless vulture by Magica. Theoretically Magica can restore him since it’s heavily implied she learned the reversal spell for Poe’s sake, but there’s no reason to believe she'd bother.

* Following the final battle in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow are [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] by Celestia, Luna, and Discord. It's implied that, like with Twilight but unlike with [[AndIMustScream Discord]], these three villains will be in a dreamless sleep, and Discord also implies it will last forever, thus leaving their minds in a perpetual state of nonexistence for all eternity, even though petrification in MLP has generally been non-lethal (except for the Storm King, who was [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered to pieces]]), and they could potentially be restored if a releasing spell were to be cast on them.

* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' was born when his mother Rose Quartz [[DeathByChildbirth "gave up her physical form" to birth him]]. Steven exists by virtue of the same "life force" provided by his mother's unique gemstone, he is capable of all the same powers, and referring to him with her name can be considered accurate in a LegacyCharacter sense, but he is decidedly not the same being that his mother was prior to his own form and identity coming into existence and replacing hers. "Change Your Mind" brings the complications stemming from this vaguely-defined ontological connection to a head by having the essence of the gemstone itself manifest separately from Steven's human body and take the form of Steven himself rather than re-birthing Rose Quartz (or her previous identity Pink Diamond). It loudly proclaims to the BigBad White Diamond, who has for some time been treating Steven as the exact same person his mother was, that his mother is "[[ThatManIsDead gone]]".

*** Keith Baker also thinks of fiends, celestials, and other immortal beings this way. Unlike other ''D&D'' settings, immortal beings cannot truly be killed, even in their own plane of origin, and always coming back to life in some form. While some immortals can return with their memories, this is not a concrete rule. The level of remembrance varies, from effectively being unaffected by death, while others lose some or all of their memories, personality, and appearance. One example given is a balor that represents Love Lost in Flames. Even if the individual personality dies, there will always be a balor that represents this concept. Even gnolls, which according to Keith started as werehyenas were made to consume fiends, ended up merging with those fiendish energies as they could not be destroyed.
*** This is also the fate that the Quori are trying to avoid. The Quori are monsters from the realm of dreams who are trying to take over Eberron to make sure that the central dream, which is currently a nightmare, never changes, because they are afraid that if it did, they would be all overwritten into entirely different beings, thus wiping them out. Although a few Quori disagree and believe that such a change would be positive thing and are actively trying to help the change to occur.

** The canonical ''Passing of the Techno-mages'' novel trilogy goes into more detail about Anna's death of personality, and it's even worse than we saw on the show. She had almost no memories of her original life left, thought of herself as a Shadow vessel in a human body, and the speech she gave Sheridan to lure him to Z'ha'dum was something she had to rehearse many times.

--> "If you become a bird, your mind becomes a bird's. Isn't that the same as dying?"

* In ''Videogame/ShadowrunReturns'''s "Dragonfall" DLC, Glory is essentially attempting Suicide of Personality by way of [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul excessive cyberware]]. As atonement for being made to kill her mother by a cult.

* You'll be hard pressed not to find a transformation in ''VideoGame/{{Changed}}'' that doesn't have this, considering almost all of the transfurs do this to Collin on a regular basis.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': Transcendence is said to involve this, especially if it involves multiple minds merging into one new one. The resulting elevated mind retains memories and aspects of personality from the original(s), but has changed so much on a fundamental level that it can't be considered the same "person". (Crossing TheSingularity without losing your identity is referred to as "Ascending" rather than "Transcending", but this is only possible at lower levels.)