History Main / GenuineImposter

* ''Literature/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'' has Jack Worthing posing as "Ernest" in London to his friend Algernon and LoveInterest Gwendolyn, while pretending in the countryside that "Ernest" is his wastrel younger brother. Algernon then goes to the countryside and assumes the "Ernest" identity in order to romance Jack's ward Cecily. Eventually, it is revealed that Jack is actually named Ernest and that Algernon really is his younger brother.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In volume 4 of ''ComicBook/AfterlifeInc'' [[spoiler: Gabriel, one of the long-lost archangels, returns to claim his rightful place as ruler of the afterlife. In reality, "Gabriel" is an imposter - a follower of the fanatical Council of Days who assumed the identity of Gabriel in an attempt to seize control of the afterlife from Jack. That no-one could remember what Gabriel actually looked like only helped make the deception easier to swallow.]]
[[/folder]]

* In volume 4 of ''[[ComicBook/AfterlifeInc]]'' [[spoiler: Gabriel, one of the long-lost archangels, returns to claim his rightful place as ruler of the afterlife. In reality, "Gabriel" is an imposter - a follower of the fanatical Council of Days who assumed the identity of Gabriel in an attempt to seize control of the afterlife from Jack. That no-one could remember what Gabriel actually looked like only helped make the deception easier to swallow.]]

* In one of the ''Captain Future'' books by Creator/EdmondHamilton, ''Planets in Peril'', the title character goes into an alternate universe to impersonate an [[KingInTheMountain ancient hero who promised to return when needed]]. The ending reveals the alternate universe to actually be EarthAllAlong, with which information it becomes apparent that the ancient hero's name, Khaffr, is a half-recalled distortion of "Captain Future".

* In one of the ''Captain Future'' books by Creator/EdmondHamilton, the title character goes into an alternate universe to impersonate an [[KingInTheMountain ancient hero who promised to return when needed]]. The ending reveals the alternate universe to actually be EarthAllAlong.

!!Examples

[[AC: Anime & Manga]]

** Carla claimed to be the Exceeds' princess to prevent Edolas!Erza from arresting her and Happy. Turns out that she really is Queen Chagot's daughter.

[[AC: Fanfiction]]

[[AC: Film]]

* ''Film/MurderByDeath'': during the finale each detective is claiming the killer to be a different person and each time he "confesses" and goes along with the story until the next detective enters and gives another identity. When Sam Diamond gives his he explains that the killer is the real Sam Diamond and he is an actor hired to play him. However the killer then denies this tale and later as everyone is leaving Sam admits that he actually is the real Sam Diamond. Why he made up the imposter story is left unexplained.

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]
* In a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' ColdOpen from 2007 Bill & Hillary Clinton have a Halloween masked ball. And who is that in the Barack Obama mask? Why it's none other than UsefulNotes/BarackObama (AsHimself).

[[AC: Magazines]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]
* In Creator/DonBluth's ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Anya is recruited by a couple of con men in order to deceive the Dowager Empress into thinking she is the missing princess, but by movie's ending has demonstrated that she actually is Anastasia.

Redirect to GenuineImpostor instead.

A [[TheCon con job]] or other circumstance requires a character to pose as another, usually powerful or important, person. However, it is eventually revealed that the character really IS that person. Frequently, this is a reveal to the would-be impostor as well as the other characters and the audience, while at other times, the "impostor" was aware of his or her true identity, but kept it hidden for various reasons.

For this trope to apply, the real identity doesn't have to be the exact same person that is being impersonated, but rather has to be a person that fills the same role as the false identity. A long-lost relative, a member of the same group, or holder of the same position may work just as well.

Often overlaps with IAmWho and ReallyRoyaltyReveal. May well lead to a YourCostumeNeedsWork reaction from other characters, since RealityIsUnrealistic. Related to YouWillBeBeethoven (where the character ''becomes'' the crucial person they're impersonating as part of a StableTimeLoop). Compare and contrast MistakenForAnImposter where the character was never attempting to impersonate anyone.

RecursiveCrossdressing is a SubTrope. ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself is another SubTrope that applies to (usually paranormal or costumed characters) who know their identity, but dress up as themselves for Halloween or a similar festive occasion. AccidentalTruth is the SuperTrope.

As this is frequently a plot twist, beware of '''spoilers''' in the examples below.

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!!Examples

[[AC: Anime & Manga]]
* The premise of ''Manga/{{Barrage}}'' involves Barrage, Prince of Industria, foisting his position and responsibility upon an IdenticalStranger named Astro. [[InstantDeathBullet Barrage then gets shot and killed]], while Astro reluctantly takes his place in the royal palace. Many chapters later, Astro discovers that he was the real Prince all along, and the Barrage who died was really his clone.
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'',
** Carla claimed to be the Exceeds' princess to prevent Edolas!Erza from arresting her and Happy. Turns out that she really is Queen Chagot's daughter.
** It had another case pop up some time after Carla's. In the Tenrou Island arc, a Fairy Tail member named Mest is introduced in a RememberTheNewGuy fashion. The RememberTheNewGuy thing eventually turns out to be justified when "Mest" turns out to be a member of the Magic Council named Doranbolt with memory manipulation powers, who infiltrated Fairy Tail and manipulated everyone's memory to have them think he had been there for years. After the arc ends, Doranbolt resumes being a Magic Council member. At the end of the Tartaros Arc, Doranbolt discovers he's actually a member of a wizard guild who infiltrated the Magic Council to get information for his guild master and wiped his own memory and that of all his guildmates except his master to reduce his chances of being discovered. His real identity: Mest Gryder from Fairy Tail.

[[AC: Fanfiction]]
* In ''Fanfic/DiamondAndSilversExcellentAdventure'', Silver Spoon gets paranoid about her allies possibly being someone else in disguise, and she checks them all for LatexPerfection masks. Princess Luna's face pops right off, revealing that she's actually... Princess Luna. When asked why she was disguised as herself, Luna answers that she can't remember why anymore, "But it sure seemed important at the time."

[[AC: Film]]
* In ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' a conman pretends to be long-lost Uncle Fester. It turns out he really is Uncle Fester, but he has amnesia.
* ''Film/MurderByDeath'': during the finale each detective is claiming the killer to be a different person and each time he "confesses" and goes along with the story until the next detective enters and gives another identity. When Sam Diamond gives his he explains that the killer is the real Sam Diamond and he is an actor hired to play him. However the killer then denies this tale and later as everyone is leaving Sam admits that he actually is the real Sam Diamond. Why he made up the imposter story is left unexplained.

[[AC: Literature]]
* Jennifer Nielson's ''Literature/AscendanceTrilogy''. ''The False Prince'' has four orphan boys competing for the role of Prince Jaron, who disappeared at sea years ago. The protagonist, Sage, turns out to actually be Jaron, hiding his identity for reasons of his own.
* In the novel ''Literature/BratFarrar'' by Josephine Tey, the title character is an impoverished jack-of-all-trades who is persuaded by a friend to take part in a scheme where [[DeadPersonImpersonation he pretends to be Patrick Ashby, the heir to a wealthy aristocratic family, who went missing years before and was presumed to have committed suicide]]. Along the way, Brat comes to understand that Patrick was murdered and whoever knows he's not the real Patrick was likely the killer. It is eventually revealed that while Brat is (obviously) not really Patrick, his similarity in appearance is not a coincidence, as he's the illegitimate son of a n'er-do-well Ashby cousin, and he ends up being "adopted" into the family.
* In one of the ''Captain Future'' books by Creator/EdmondHamilton, the title character goes into an alternate universe to impersonate an [[KingInTheMountain ancient hero who promised to return when needed]]. The ending reveals the alternate universe to actually be EarthAllAlong.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'': Orphan Shasta gets mixed up with Archenlander Prince Corin in a non-voluntary PrinceAndPauper plot, and goes along with it after he accidentally hears their secret plans and fears HeKnowsTooMuch to be allowed to leave. By the end of the book, it turns out that [[spoiler: he is Corin's long-lost twin brother, and so really was a Prince of Archenland all along.]]
* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** Approached from the other end in ''Discworld/MovingPictures'': the wizards decide to go to the movies, but as wizards can't be seen enjoying such base entertainments. So they go for disguises, and one of them comes up with the idea of twisting wire in their beards, so now they all look like regular people badly disguised as wizards. Which of course backfires when they need to identify themselves as wizards, but left the wires in.
** The same device is used again in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', wherein an entire troop of soldiers, excepting only its commanding officer, is composed of young women who have disguised themselves as men in order to join the army. When they decide to ''re''-disguise themselves as washerwomen to infiltrate the enemy-occupied palace, they've been pretending to be men for so long that the enemy guards notice all kinds of "giveaways" like one of the "men" still having a spot of shaving cream under one ear. [[spoiler: They end up having to flash the guards to prove their womanliness.]]
* In ''The Dragons of Babel'' by Creator/MichaelSwanwick, the king of Babel has been missing for a few decades. Will, the protagonist, falls in with a con man named Nat, who comes up with a plan to pass off Will as the king's bastard son and therefore the sole heir to the throne. In the end, it turns out that Nat is both the long-lost king and Will's biological father, meaning that Will really is the heir to the throne.
* ''Literature/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'' has Jack Worthing posing as "Ernest" in London to his friend Algernon and LoveInterest Gwendolyn, while pretending in the countryside that "Ernest" is his wastrel younger brother. Algernon then goes to the countryside and assumes the "Ernest" identity in order to romance Jack's ward Cecily. Eventually, it is revealed that Jack is actually named Ernest and that Algernon really is his younger brother.
* In ''The Ivy Tree'', by MaryStewart, tourist Mary Grey is approached by Con Winslow and eventually agrees to impersonate his cousin Annabel, who as a teenager ran away from the family farm. Con's aim is to secure the inheritance of the farm for himself, since Annabel's grandfather is elderly. Mary's aim is to see her home and family again , because she really is Annabel.
* In the Polish book ''Pięć przygód detektywa Konopki'', one of the stories involves criminals hijacking a passenger plane, and meeting on board a man who they believe to be the meek Detective Konopka disguised as a heavyweight boxer. They lower their guard around him, until suddenly he effortlessly punches them out. It turns out that he is, actually, a heavyweight boxer disguised as a detective disguised as a heavyweight boxer, who co-operated with the real detective to trap the criminals.
* Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/{{Westmark}}'' has a similar situation to ''Anastasia'' in which a pair of con men must pass off an orphan girl as a lost princess. However, Mickle is aware of her identity the entire time and goes along with the deception in order to out the EvilChancellor as a traitor.

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]
* In a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' ColdOpen from 2007 Bill & Hillary Clinton have a Halloween masked ball. And who is that in the Barack Obama mask? Why it's none other than UsefulNotes/BarackObama (AsHimself).
-->'''Barack Obama:''' Well, you know, Hillary, I have nothing to hide. I enjoy being myself. I'm not going to change just because it's Halloween.

[[AC: Magazines]]
* ''Magazine/MadMagazine'' did a Mad Look at Cosplaying and had the person who came in second at a Franchise/{{Superman}} costume contest turn out to really be Superman. Probably inspired by urban legends of celebrities like Dolly Parton and Charlie Chaplin coming in second at their own look-alike contests.

[[AC: Western Animation]]
* In Creator/DonBluth's ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Anya is recruited by a couple of con men in order to deceive the Dowager Empress into thinking she is the missing princess, but by movie's ending has demonstrated that she actually is Anastasia.
----

Redirect to "Genuine Impostor" for better spelling.

* In the Polish book ''Piec przygod detektywa Konopki'', one of the stories involves criminals hijacking a passenger plane, and meeting on board a man who they believe to be the meek Detective Konopka disguised as a heavyweight boxer. They lower their guard around him, until suddenly he effortlessly punches them out. It turns out that he is, actually, a heavyweight boxer disguised as a detective disguised as a heavyweight boxer, who co-operated with the real detective to trap the criminals.

* In one of the ''Captain Future'' books by Creator/EdmondHamilton, the titular character goes into an alternate universe to impersonate an [[KingInTheMountain ancient hero who promised to return when needed]]. The ending reveals the alternate universe to actually be EarthAllAlong.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'': Orphan Shasta gets mixed up with Archenlander Prince Corin in a non-voluntary PrinceAndPauper plot, and goes along with it after he accidentally hears their secret plans and fears HeKnowsTooMuch to be allowed to leave. By the end of the book, it turns out that [[spoiler: he is Corin's long-lost twin brother, and so really was a Prince of Archenland all along.]]

* Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/{{Westmark}}'', has a similar situation to ''Anastasia'' in which a pair of con men must pass off an orphan girl as a lost princess. However, Mickle is aware of her identity the entire time and goes along with the deception in order to out the EvilChancellor as a traitor.

* ''Film/MurderByDeath'': during the finale each detective is claiming the killer to be a different person and each time he "confesses" and goes along with the story until the next detective enters and gives another identity. When Sam Diamond gives his he explains that the killer is the real Sam Diamond and he is an actor hired to play him. However the killer then denies this tale and later as everyone is leaving Sam admits that he actually is the real Sam Diamond. (why he made up the imposter story is left unexplained)

As this is frequently a plot twist, beware of spoilers in the examples below.

* Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/{{Westmark}}'', has a similar situation to ''Anastasia'' in which a pair of con men must pass off an orphan girl as a lost princess. However, Mickle is aware of her identity the entire time and goes along with the deception in order to out the EvilChancellor as a traitor.
* ''Literature/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'' has Jack Worthing posing as "Ernest" in London to his friend Algernon and LoveInterest Gwendolyn, while pretending in the countryside that "Ernest" is his wastrel younger brother. Algernon then goes to the countryside and assumes the "Ernest" identity in order to romance Jack's ward Cecily. Eventually, it is revealed that Jack is actually named Ernest and that Algernon really is his younger brother.

* In ''The Dragons of Babel'' by Creator/MichaelSwanwick, the king of Babel has been missing for a few decades. Will, the protagonist, falls in with a con man named Nat, who comes up with a plan to pass off Will as the king's bastard son and therefore the sole heir to the throne. In the end, it turns out that Nat is both the long-lost king and Will's biological father, meaning that Will really is the heir to the throne.
* In ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', orphan Shasta gets mixed up with Archenlander Prince Corin in a non-voluntary PrinceAndPauper plot, and goes along with it after he accidentally hears their secret plans and fears HeKnowsTooMuch to be allowed to leave. By the end of the book, it turns out that [[spoiler: he is Corin's long-lost twin brother, and so really was a Prince of Archenland all along.]]

* In ''The Ivy Tree'', by MaryStewart, tourist Mary Grey is approached by Con Winslow and eventually agrees to impersonate his cousin Annabel, who as a teenager ran away from the family farm. Con's aim is to secure the inheritance of the farm for himself, since Annabel's grandfather is elderly. Mary's aim is to see her home and family again , because she really is Annabel.

* In Creator/DonBluth's ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Anya is recruited by a couple of con men in order to deceive the Dowager Empress into thinking she is the missing princess, but by movie's ending has demonstrated that she actually is Anastasia.

* In ''The Dragons of Babel'' by Michael Swanwick, the king of Babel has been missing for a few decades. Will, the protagonist, falls in with a con man named Nat, who comes up with a plan to pass off Will as the king's bastard son and therefore the sole heir to the throne. In the end, it turns out that Nat is both the long-lost king and Will's biological father, meaning that Will really is the heir to the throne.

* In Creator/DonBluth's ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', Anya is recruited by a couple of con men in order to deceive the Dowager Empress into thinking she is the missing princess, but by movie's ending has demonstrated that she actually is Anastasia.

** It had another case pop up some time after Carla's. In the Tenrou Island arc, a Fairy Tail member named Mest is introduced in a RememberTheNewGuy fashion. The RememberTheNewGuy thing eventually turns out to be justified when "Mest" turns out to be a member of the Magic Council named Doranbolt with memory manipulation powers, who infiltrated Fairy Tail and manipulated everyone's memory to have them think he had be there for years. After the arc ends, Doranbolt resumes being a Magic Council member. At the end of the Tartaros Arc, Doranbolt discovers he's actually a member of a wizard guild who infiltrated the Magic Council to get information for his guild master and wiped his own memory and that of all his guildmates except his master to reduce his chances of being discovered. His real identity: Mest Gryder from Fairy Tail.

* In Creator/DonBluth's ''{{WesternAnimation/Anastasia}}'', Anya is recruited by a couple of con men in order to deceive the Dowager Empress into thinking she is the missing princess, but by movie's ending has demonstrated that she actually is Anastasia.

* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': In the Monty Python version of ''Hamlet'' Hamlet is in a psychiatrist's office talking with a psychiatrist obsessed with sex. That psychiatrist gets chased out by Dr. Natal because the fist psychiatrist isn't "fully qualified." Dr. Natal then starts asking Hamlet about sex until he's chased off by a third psychiatrist, who apologizes for all the fake psychiatrists running around. He's chased off by a fourth, who is then chased off by Dr. Natal, who claims to Hamlet that it has all been a disorientation test.
-->'''Dr Natal:''' You see, I'm sorry it might have confused you a little, but we do this to try to establish a very good doctor/patient relationship, you see... we do it to sort of, as it were, to break down the barriers. All right?
-->'''Hamlet:''' Yes fine.
-->'''Dr Natal:''' Good! Well, you've got her legs up on the mantelpiece...

A [[TheCon con job]] or other circumstance require a character to pose as another, usually powerful or important, person. However, it is eventually revealed that the character really IS that person. Frequently, this is a reveal to the would-be impostor as well as the other characters and the audience, while at other times, the "impostor" was aware of his or her true identity, but kept it hidden for various reasons.

** MadMagazine did a Mad Look at Cosplaying and had the person who came in second at a {{Superman}} costume contest turn out to really be Superman. Probably inspired by urban legends of celebrities like Dolly Parton and Charlie Chaplin coming in second at their own look-alike contests.

* In ''Anime/FairyTail'', Carla claimed to be the Exceeds' princess to prevent Edolas!Erza from arresting her and Happy. Turns out that she really is Queen Chagot's daughter.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'' had another case pop up some time after Carla's.In the Tenrou Island arc, a Fairy Tail member named Mest is introduced in a RememberTheNewGuy fashion. The RememberTheNewGuy thing eventually turns out to be justified when "Mest" turns out to be a member of the Magic Council named Doranbolt with memory manipulation powers, who infiltrated Fairy Tail and manipulated everyone's memory to have them think he had be there for years. After the arc ends, Doranbolt resumes being a Magic Council member. At the end of the Tartaros Arc, Doranbolt discovers he's actually a member of a wizard guild who infiltrated the Magic Council to get information for his guild master and wiped his own memory and that of all his guildmates except his master to reduce his chances of being discovered. His real identity: Mest Gryder from Fairy Tail.