History Main / GrandTheftMe

* ''WebAnimation/{{Ducktalez}}'': In episode 3, Vegeta switches bodies with Scrooge to get a taste of his power. This winds up backfiring when he discovers [[{{Gasshole}} Scrooge's flatulence problem]] and can't bring himself to control it.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' episode "Two to Tangle", young sorcerer [[Necromancer Mozenrath]] is slowly dying from the effects of his magical gauntlet, and attempts to drain Aladdin's life force; the plan goes wrong when Mozenrath's soul ends up trapped inside our street rat hero's body.

* In the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' mini-series ''Scrapnik Island'', Mecha Sonic Mk-II prepares to do this with Sonic in order to get revenge on Dr. Eggman for abandoning him after his defeat in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''. Thankfully, the other Scrapniks save Sonic and stop the swap.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/IlReCervo'', King Deramo knows a spell for enforcing the trope. He shares it with his chief minister, who, being an EvilChancellor [[VillainousCrush in love with the queen]], quickly tricks Deramo into taking over the body of a stag and performs the spell himself to inhabit Deramo's body. It takes a DeusExMachina magician to rectify the resulting mess.

* An excellent story, "King's Crown", from the anthology ''Magazine/HeavyMetal'': in a certain land, [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority a tournament is held every so often to choose the strongest man to be the new king]]. Entrants must be vital and free of diseases. Every winner becomes a cruel tyrant, but the hero of the story (called weak and frail all his life) wants to become ruler and end the reign of evil. He wins, and at his "coronation", he's drugged, bound, his skull is cut open by robot surgeons (after he wakes up), his brain is crudely removed over his screaming protests, and the brain of the previous king is transplanted from his freshly-dead, used up, obese corpse. In death, however, the hero is victorious. The stress of the surgery sets off his congenital heart defect, and the tyrant is slain.

** The AU fic ''Fanfic/HurricaneHeartbeat'' diverges from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' when Ventus accidentally takes over four-year-old Sora's body, with no way of knowing what happened to Sora's heart.
** Similarly, ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15332802/chapters/35575143 Two Hearts, One Beat]]'', has Sora dying as a four-year-old from heart failure around the moment he encounters Ventus's heart, and he gives Ventus his body to keep it alive, as well as his memories to keep. Consequently, Ventus grows up in Sora's body and loses all of his own memories, and it's not until some time after ''Dream Drop Distance'' that anyone finds out what happened to Ventus, and that Vanitas was in there as well.

Has nothing to do with playing ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' with yourself, and the title of the trope is more of a call-out to the actual crime.

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': The angelic Kyriotates can possess animals and humans (and have to, since they can't have their own vessels like other angels), and can even possess multiple hosts simultaneously. The host's consciousness is subsumed during the act so the angels have little compunction about getting them involved in serious affairs, but they are specifically prohibited from leaving the host in worse condition than they found them (wounded/dead, lost possessions, in prison, etc) and must fix up any such damage first or suffer Dissonance.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/IlReCervo'', King Deramo knows a spell for enforcing the trope. He shares it with his chief minister, who, being an EvilChancellor [[VillainousCrush in love with the queen]], quickly tricks Deramo into taking over the body of a stag and performs the spell himself to inhabit Deramo's body. It takes a DeusExMachina magician to rectify the resulting mess.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/AllOfMe'', an heiress (Lily Tomlin) who was sick all her life wished to migrate into a younger, healthy body, that of a volunteer, upon her imminent death. The volunteer thought it was all superstitious nonsense, and only wanted to be named as the heir. Of course, it all went to hell, and the heiress ended up sharing brain-space with her lawyer, played by Creator/SteveMartin.

* This is the basic plot of BMovie and ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' subject ''Film/TheAtomicBrain''; a bitter old, rich woman hires a MadScientist to develop the technology to move her brain into one of three beautiful, disposable housekeepers.
* In the Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie original movie]], ''Film/{{Soulkeeper}}'', an entire cult is made up of formerly damned souls now inhabiting the bodies of the living in order to experience earthly pleasures. Eventually one of the main characters is threatened with having his body stolen by the demonic leader, Simon Magus, who shoots himself in the head in order to die and allow his soul to possess another.
* Also the central plot of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S05E13TheBrainThatWouldntDie episode]] ''Film/TheBrainThatWouldntDie'', although that involves a woman's head (aka "Jan-in-the-Pan") being transplanted onto a new body.
* This is the villain's plot in ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich''; all the major characters including Malkovich himself are more-or-less tricked into doing the work for him.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
** At the very end of the credits for ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', there is an EasterEgg scene in which [[spoiler: Professor Xavier, who was killed during the movie, is revealed to have implanted his mind into the body of a man who had been earlier revealed to have a functioning body, but no working mind. It is ironic because Xavier had lectured to a class earlier in the movie about the ethical dilemmas involved in such a transfusion of soul, so to speak.]]
** In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Logan essentially steals the body of his counterpart from the new timeline when he snaps back after changing the future.
** In ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', the titular villain has kept himself alive for millennia by transferring his consciousness into host mutant bodies, accumulating powers from each mutant he transfers himself into; for example, the most recent host had a HealingFactor. In the present day, his plan is to transfer his consciousness into [[spoiler: Professor Xavier,]] so he can "Be everywhere. Be everyone."
* Creator/RogerCorman's film adaptation of ''Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard'' ditches Creator/HPLovecraft's subversion and plays this trope straight.
* In ''Film/ChildsPlay'', serial killer Charles Lee Ray transfers his soul into a doll named Chucky and then spends much of the rest of the series trying to transfer into a human body. Until he suddenly has the epiphany that he actually digs being a killer doll and humanity is overrated.
* In ''Film/{{Fallen}}'', starring Creator/DenzelWashington, this is the villain's major ability. Specifically, he (the serial killer's spirit) can transfer to any person and take them over as long as they're within range. At the end of the movie, after [[spoiler: Denzel lures him out to a secluded cabin and poisons himself so that the spirit won't be able to transfer to a new body, the killer reveals he's able to possess animals as well. It was actually revealed earlier in the movie, when he possessed a cat (otherwise having him possess one at the end would have been the worst kind of AssPull). It's possible he can only possess humans and cats, which would make more sense as to why he thought he'd be unable to find anything to possess in the woods.]]
* Of course, the plot of ''Film/{{Freejack}}'', with the added bit of TimeTravel; the host is kidnapped from the timestream moments before his historical death in a horrific car crash, so no one would miss him.
* ''Film/TheLastLeprechaun'': The banshee steals Laura's body so she can have a body and be rich.

* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' franchise:
** Agents are able to do this to muggles any time they wish, which makes them nigh-impossible to escape and forces the Heroes into the ethical grey area of having to murder people before they are possessed.
** In ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'', Bane's mind gets [[YourMindMakesItReal overwritten]] by Agent Smith, who in the previous movie developed the ability to [[MesACrowd turn anyone into a clone of himself]]. Bane's body then becomes Smith's gateway to the real world, leading to a terrifying scene.

* ''Film/{{Scanners}}'' ends with [[spoiler: Revok and Vale in a psychic duel, and Revok completely destroying Vale's body, but there's a hint that Vale may have psychically switched bodies at the last second. Either that, or Revok ate Vale's consciousness, just as he said he would. "Everything you are is gonna become me."]]

* A twist midway though ''Film/{{Selfless}}'': A rich, dying old man's mind is moved into a young body that was artificially grown for that purpose. Except that it wasn't, so he commits Grand Theft Me unknowingly and has to deal with the consequences when he finds out the truth.
%%* The TwistEnding of ''Film/TheSkeletonKey.''

%%** Creator/RobertSheckley's novel ''Mindswap'' also fits the trope and is likely the inspiration for the movie.
* In ''Film/TheHidden'', an alien slug takes over the bodies of humans as unsuspecting prey and treats it like a joyride. It just wants to listen to death metal, drive expensive cars, rob banks, and blow things up. For fun.
* ''Film/{{Surrogates}}'': Unique variant; the remote-controlled body of [[spoiler:Greer's partner Jennifer Peters]] is hijacked by not one, but two different characters. [[spoiler:Lionel Canter kills and impersonates her via her Surrogate to use her as TheMole, and then Greer himself hijacks the surrogate, from the dead Canter's chair no less, to stop the surrogate-shutdown from killing billions.]]
%%* The central theme of the film ''Film/FaceOff''.
* A MaybeMagicMaybeMundane case in ''Film/TheLastWillOfDrMabuse'', in which it is left deliberately unclear whether the imprisoned and dying DiabolicalMastermind Dr. Mabuse managed to use evil psionic powers to take over the body of his psychiatrist Dr. Baum, or whether Baum went insane and developed [[NapoleonDelusion the delusion of being his former patient]].
* TheReveal of ''Film/GetOut2017'' shows that [[spoiler: [[BigBadDuumvirate the Armitage family]]]] has created and perfected the Coagula, a procedure that consists of putting the victim, [[spoiler: a young black person, into [[AndIMustScream "the Sunken Place"]]]] via hypnosis, surgically removing everything but the brain stem, and attaching the parts that contain the thoughts and emotions of [[spoiler: an old white person's]] brain, so that said [[spoiler: old white person]] can control his/her new [[spoiler: young black]] body.
* As it turns out, this is the villain's plan in ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu''. Using a specially-created helmet rig, he wants to hijack the body of [[spoiler:[[PhysicalGod Mewtwo]]]] and TakeOverTheWorld. [[spoiler:He actually pulls off the first one, too.]]
* ''Film/{{Possessor}}'' is about a woman who is paid to use technology to possess the bodies of targets and commit murder/suicides so that the deaths cannot be traced back to their real source.
* In ''Film/ArtOfTheDead'', the spirit of MadArtist Dorian Wilde can possess the body of anyone who been completely corrupted by one of his evil paintings. He possesses Gina after she has been completely corrupted by Lust.
* ''Film/TheHazing'': After Doug stupidly performs the ritual to open the door to the afterlife for Professor Kapps, Kapps' spirit takes over his body and starts using it as a host to kill everyone else in the house. After Doug's body is killed, Kapps does a BodySurf into Marsha.
* ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'': While Strange and America Chavez are in the 838 universe version of the New York Sanctum, that universe's Mordo tells them of a [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique dangerous spell]] in the Darkhold called Dreamwalking, which allows the wielder to take over the body of an alternate version of themselves in another universe. [[spoiler:Sacred Timeline Wanda uses the spell to possess her 838 counterpart to both see her sons and to attack the Illuminati in order to get to America. Strange later uses the same spell while in Sinister Strange's universe to possess the corpse of Defender Strange buried in the Sacred Timeline so that he can rescue America from Wanda.]]

* In UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, it's theoretically possible to use your spiritual power to hijack mindstream (the process that leads you through rebirth) to move your mind between bodies. The great master Kamalasila once gets out of his body to animate a rotting elephant corpse and move it out of the road. However, while he is busy doing it, another master, Dampa Sangye, appropriates his inert human body believing it to be a fresh corpse, as it was more beautiful than Sangye's own body. Kamalasila finds himself having to inhabit Sangye's body from that point.

* In UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, great master Kamalasila once gets out of his body to animate a rotting elephant corpse and move it out of the road. However, while he is busy doing it, another master, Dampa Sangye, appropriates his inert human body believing it to be a fresh corpse, as it was more beautiful than Sangye's own body. Kamalasila finds himself having to inhabit Sangye's body from that point.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In the ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' Sea of Lorelei arc, there's actually an ''heroic'' example of this trope. [[spoiler: Lucille is a GirlInABox with ''huge'' PsychicPowers who has been forcibly kept inside a capsule for 15 years ''and'' knows that the enemy is searching for her so they can force her become their BarrierMaiden... So she possesses the body of a teenage girl who not only has similar powers, but is the adoptive daughter of Lucille's former pupil, now a badass TeamDad and leader of the heroes of the story. That way she could guide the group towards herself, thwart the enemies's plans, and finally meet with her now grown-up pupil one last time so she could say goodbye before she could ''finally'' pass away in peace.]]
* In the ''Anime/AllPurposeCulturalCatGirlNukuNuku'' OVA series, Eimi plots to kill fellow RobotGirl Nuku Nuku and take her body, because Eimi's body is unstable and expected to explode soon.
* Kira of ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'' has spent thousands of years switching into and out of human bodies (with the promise that he'll fulfill whatever wish they want, [[DealWithTheDevil so long as he gets to take control]]).
* [[spoiler:Mykage]] does this to [[spoiler: Zessica Wong]] in ''Anime/AquarionEVOL''.
* Thanks to Licht performing Forbidden Magic using the magic stones, the reincarnated elves in ''Manga/BlackClover'' take over the bodies of humans throughout the Clover Kingdom, mostly of {{Magic Knight}}s. Their goal is to use the eleventh magic stone in the Shadow Palace to fully complete the reincarnation.
* Cibo from ''Manga/{{Blame}}'' pulls of the ''heroic'' version of this a few times. First she hijacks [[EvilCounterpart Sana-Kan's]] body after her own went all [[YourHeadASplode head-asplode-y]]. After the evil robot manages to break through all the MindRape ten or so years later Cibo takes over of her past self's who was unfortunate enough to be shunted into the fight by the gravity furnace.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'''s 8th Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz, has the ''Gabriel'' ability. It allows him to steal the spirit particles of someone's body and recreate himself after being killed, essentially resulting in a Grand Theft Me (only with the extra that the new body looks like the old one).
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[spoiler: Empress Marianne Vi Britannia]] has a [[MagicalEyes Geass]] with this effect, [[spoiler: allowing her to survive an assassination attempt without her enemies realizing by jumping into the body of a little girl who happened to witness the shooting. From that point in, she spent most of her time dormant, but could take full control of the girl's body whenever it was convenient]].
* The increasingly sympathetic but always horrifically monstrous Doctor Jizabel 'Death' Disraeli of the ''Manga/CountCain'' series acquires an assistant within Delilah during ''Godchild'', a middle-aged man with a hormone deficiency giving him the appearance of a young boy, working for the villain in hopes of a cure. They inadvertently bond, with Cassian developing paternal feelings toward the pathetic serial killer, and eventually Cassian dies saving Jizabel in a very touching scene...Jizabel then transplants Cassian's brain into the skull of a recently deceased mutual enemy.
** Cassian therefore has his dream, but he has the face of a man he really, really hates, has lost his own physical skills and identity, and has to live in hiding. He can't take the High Priest's identity firstly because he couldn't pull it off, secondly because the man was a major figure in the evil cult of evil, and thirdly because he committed a lot of very public crimes before dying. Cassian apparently hides in the sewers of London for a few volumes before reappearing in the finale to be mysterious and helpful.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** Shortly after Goku's ''long''-awaited arrival on the planet Namek, the leader of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Ginyu Force]] reveals his special ability of switching bodies at will. Naturally he keeps his own voice in Goku's body (and [[LarynxDissonance Bulma's]], later) and vice versa.
** And in the movie ''World's Strongest'', Doctor Wheelo is a scientist who lost his body in an avalanche. His brain is living in a giant mecha until he can find the world's strongest fighter and take their body.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', this turns out to be the explanation behind [[spoiler: Goku Black. He's an alternate future Zamasu who used the Super Dragon Balls to switch bodies with his timeline's Goku. Unlike Ginyu, he immediately killed Goku - and his entire family, just because he could.]]
* Near the end of ''Manga/EternalSabbath'', Isaac abandons his [[spoiler:dying]] body and takes over [[spoiler:Shuro's - while shunting Shuro's mind into his own body, which he set on fire while leaving. However, Mine and Sakaki arrive just before he does this, and Shuro hides his mind in Mine's head without Isaac's knowing it.]]
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', [[spoiler:Erza's mother, Irene, [[WasOnceAMan Was Once Human]], but was converted into a dragon by her own dragon slayer magic when it ran out of control. Desperate to restore her humanity at all costs, she attempted to steal her still human infant daughter's body. The spell failed, since it needed someone compatible that didn't share her blood, so she discarded her daughter like trash and left her to die. When they meet again, and Irene discovers that Erza's friend, Wendy, is a fellow dragon slaying enchantress with a ''resistance'' to the dragonification process, she uses the spell to steal hers. Wendy manages to reverse the process by jumping into Irene's discarded body and using the spell herself, and it's eventually revealed at the end that Irene [[ILied lied about the spell failing on Erza]]; it ''would'' have worked, but Irene snapped out of her madness before she could do it out of disgust with herself and left her at an orphanage out of fear that she would go through with it if/when she succumbed to madness and desperation again]].
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** From the manga, there is [[spoiler:Ling Yao, a Xingese prince that went to Amestris seeking the immortality in order to become emperor, so when Greed tried to take his body he accepted so he would be able to achieve his goal]].
** The second example is [[spoiler:Pride, who tried to take Ed's body after his own body started to collapse]].
** Among the alchemists seeking the Philosopher's Stone in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] is one who wants to use it to transfer their soul out of their current decaying body and into that of a new host. [[spoiler:Dante]], who also happens to be the main villain. [[spoiler: Hohenheim's]] body is also revealed to have belonged to someone else, and is decaying just like [[spoiler: Dante's]].
** And of course, also in the ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime]]'', [[spoiler:Ed steals the body of his alternate universe counterpart for about an hour before the counterpart dies]], though he was forced into this by the villain and didn't want to steal said body.
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'', a {{Cyberpunk}} world of removable brains and standardized artificial bodies, makes this easy.
* In his debut in ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'', Dr. Chaos intends to do this to acquire Mikami's in-her-early-twenties body, and leave aside his original over-one-millennium-old body. However, while he does make a good move in swapping souls with her hapless assistant Tadao Yokoshima, he didn't do terribly much research into him, like his [[LovableSexManiac more lust-addled]] tendencies...
* The premise of ''LightNovel/IzureShinwaNoRagnarok'' is that the gods possess human bodies to fight their wars in the real world. Worse yet, the personalities of the human hosts are completely overwritten.
* Dio Brando ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' lost his body and decided to rip his arch-enemy Jonathan Joestar's head off and replace it with his own. He keeps this body for the whole of the third major arc and its anime adaptation. [[spoiler:Subverted at the end of Part 3, where DIO seems to do this to Joseph after Jotaro gives Joseph a live-saving transfusion of DIO's blood. Joseph starts acting like DIO pulled this off when he wakes up, only for it to turn out that he was just joking.]]
* [[spoiler:The Colorless King]] from ''Anime/{{K}}'' has the power to BodySurf, and uses it to [[spoiler: body-snatch an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, commit a murder on video, then body-swap with a ''very'' powerful King, leaving that King in the body of the teenager framed for murder, with all of the Clans after him.]] He also body-snatches a Red Clansman and attacks the Blue King, and then body-snatches a Blue Clansman and attacks someone close to the Red King, to make the clans fight.
* In ''Manga/KaguyaHime'', clones are created to be used as organ donors for important personalities. The clones of course really resent learning this. [[spoiler:It's played straight, albeit mildly, when the clones are killed and their organs transplanted... but then inverted when the ''cells of the clone'' attack the original's body until, somehow, the clone's personality and memories takes over the original's. Also, in one case, the transplant occurred the other way around and the clone was brainwashed to have the original's personality.]]
* In ''Manga/MPDPsycho'', personalities can be transferred, copied, split and joined in any body with apparent ease (at least for the Gakuso experiment subjects). It's a common thing to do when the host body is captive or dying, or simply as a backup. Also, [[spoiler: several high-ranking Gakuso members and patrons have younger clones for obvious reasons]].
* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' this is revealed to be [[spoiler: [[GreaterScopeVillain All For One]]'s EvilPlan following his final defeat by [[BigGood All Might]]. The copy of his Quirk he gave Tomura also came equipped with a copy of his consciousness, which [[DemonicPossession at times overpowers Tomura's own]]. Once Tomura's mind is overwritten entirely, he intends to hijack his body and TakeOverTheWorld again.]]
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** BigBad Orochimaru is intent on becoming immortal by transferring his mind to other bodies. He seems to have a preference for angsty young males, too, making [[TroubledButCute Sasuke]] one of his favorite targets.
** This is the trademark jutsu of Ino and the rest of the Yamanaka Clan, though unlike most variants of this trope, it's a temporary thing and their hosts are able to regain their bodies in a short time. Of course, this won't stop the Yamanaka from walking your body to the edge of a cliff and then giving it back.
** In Shippuden [[spoiler:it turns out Pain is actually a series of bodies taken over and controlled by the piercings all over the various bodies]]. It's worth mentioning that we are talking about ''dead'' bodies here.
** In ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'', [[spoiler:it is revealed this is how the Otsutsuki Clan resurrect themselves through the use of Kama.]]
* ''Manga/PandoraHearts''
** Chapter 39 shows that [[spoiler: Glen has no permanent body of his own and must possess others to continue ruling the Baskerville household. 100 years ago, Gilbert was chosen to be his host. Thanks to Vincent, he escaped this fate.]]
** [[spoiler:Jack can also do this with Oz. Which is especially worrying, [[EvilAllAlong as of late]].]]
** [[spoiler:Leo isn't as lucky as Gilbert. In fact, he was taken over by Glen in one of the recent chapters.]]
* In ''Anime/RahXephon'', the human BigBad migrates into the body of his female assistant, who gave herself willingly, if only because he's a master manipulator who raised her from a small child. In fact, [[spoiler:he's been doing this repeatedly (generally with clones of himself) for the past several ten-thousand years in order to stay alive.]]
* In ''Manga/Reborn2004'', Rokudo Mukuro's goal is to take over Tsuna's body (the reason being that he can take revenge on the mafia by using Tsuna's status as the Vongola boss). He has also bodyjacked other characters before, which is how we find out that he can't just be killed.
** And now we have [[spoiler: Deamon Spade, who successfully pulled this on Mukuro.]]
* In ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'', [[spoiler: Karla the Grey Witch did this to both the priestess Leylia and the thief Woodchuck. Leylia got better. Woodchuck did NOT.]]
* The manga ''Seinei'' (''Baptism of Blood'') by Kazuo Umezu. An aging movie star suffering from a disfiguring skin condition has her brain transplanted to her young daughter, and assumes the girl's identity [[spoiler: -- or so the reader is led to believe. TheReveal is a cop-out that makes no sense whatsoever]].
* ''Manga/SgtFrog''
** Alien invader frog Kururu, following the orders of his commander Keroro, creates a Gashapon machine that steals the body of the one who activates it, allowing anyone else to swap bodies with that person afterwards.
** In the manga, Keroro switched bodies with Natsumi and irritated her to the point where she attacked him in her own body.[[spoiler: That was actually his plan since the start. He recorded the footage and gave it to his father, claiming that he was the one attacking a human girl in the video.]]
** In the anime, season 2 (Japanese season number), Keroro stole Natsumi's body to find her "weakness", but the situation quickly devolved into a FreakyFridayFlip.
** Later in season 6, Kururu switched bodies with Natsumi's grandmother, using that to make her obey him and Keroro. In the same story, after discovering what had happened, Natsumi switched bodies with Keroro's mother and had her revenge. However... Keroro's mother just disappears with Natsumi's body afterwards, wanting to sightsee Earth. Eventually she goes on a date with Giroro, buys a bikini and goes to the beach with him.
** In season 7, Keroro planned to switch bodies with Tamama, but everything goes out of control and he ends up switching accidentaly with a human girl, Momoka... who decides to not tell anyone about the situation in order to hang around with her crush, Fuyuki, for longer. [[spoiler: And the Fuyuki who was with her turns out to be Tamama, who switched bodies with Fuyuki and locked the real one, who was in Tamama's body, inside a cardboard box.]]
* [[spoiler:Azalie Caith-Sith]] uses white magic to trade places with [[spoiler:Childman Powderfield]] in ''LightNovel/SorcererStabberOrphen''. The reasons for this are very, ''very'' twisted: it's in part [[spoiler: revenge because she believes he tried to kill her when she became Bloody August]], in part [[spoiler: an EvilPlan to achieve revenge towards the Tower of Fangs in itself]], and in part to [[spoiler: be close to [[TrueLove the man she's been in love with]] [[PrecociousCrush ever since she was a teenage girl]].]]
* ''Manga/SoulEater'''s [[MagnificentBastard Medusa]] does this to a little girl named [[OrificeInvasion Rachel]]. In the manga Medusa moves from Rachel's body into [[spoiler: her sister Arachne's after getting Maka to kill her (Arachne, not Rachel who is recovered safely)]]; in the anime, [[spoiler: Maka manages to TakeAThirdOption and exorcise Medusa out ''without'' harming Rachel, then kills her.]]
* ''Anime/StarDriver'': Kou a.k.a. Needle Star's first phase power is to pull one of these -- and she can let someone else take over a second person's body at the same time.
* The Dr. Evil from ''Manga/SteamDetectives'' kidnapped the hero's nurse sidekick and put his brain in her body after his own body got blown up. Afterwards he wore a black trenchcoat and mummy bandages to conceal his/her identity.
* In ''LightNovel/StrikeTheBlood'' the protagonist Koujou gets his body stolen by [[spoiler: Yuuma, his childhood friend. Meanwhile, he is stuck in a [[GenderBender girl's body]].]]
* High Wizard Razen in ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'' does this to Shogo. It is impled that he has done this many times before, which is how he has served his country for centuries.
* ''Anime/ThrillerRestaurant'' does this when Anko's wart takes over the real Anko's [[BodyHorror body and mind,]] as well as forcibly trading faces with her victim. [[spoiler:If it wasn't for Shou and his wasp, the wart would've been the only Anko left.]]
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'':
** The Virtual World filler arc revolves around this, most of the action involves the villains dueling the heroes to win the right to take over their bodies. The only one who succeeds is [[spoiler:one of the Big Five, Nesbitt, who takes over Tristan's body after he deliberately loses a duel in order to save Joey's sister, Serenity.]] According to this arc, this is also why [[spoiler: Gozaburo Kaiba adopted Seto in the first place; he envisioned him as a replacement body first for his seriously-injured son, and then for himself.]]
** In ''Anime/YuGiOhCapsuleMonsters'', [[spoiler:Alexander the Great does this on his descendent, Alex Brisbane]].
* ''Anime/VariableGeo'': The purpose of the VG tournament is to gauge which of the participants is the most powerful, making them the ideal host to use as [[spoiler: [[TheDisembodied Miranda]]]]'s vessel. When [[NebulousEvilOrganization The Jahana Group]] learns that [[{{deuteragonist}} Satomi's]] latent fighting potential is one of the highest on record, they manipulate her into entering the tournament to that end.
* ''LightNovel/SpiritMigration'': An entity wakes up inside a dungeon and finds himself able to possess various monsters in the dungeon. He doesn't know what he is, or was as he lacks any memories prior to waking up. He also has the nifty power of {{hammerspace}} by taking items into his spiritual body. He tries to befriend humans, but he cannot speak their language in a monster's body and cannot control humans.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': "skinchangers" and "wargs" can do this to animals. A particularly powerful one can do it to a human, but most humans have the mental strength to resist their possession. When successful, the experience is extremely traumatic for the person.
* Robert Adams' ''Literature/{{Horseclans}}'' series has the Witchmen; twentieth-century scientists who transfer their minds into new bodies to stay alive AfterTheEnd. At first, this requires mechanical help, but they later learn to do without that.
%%* This is the main driver for the aliens in ''Literature/TheHost2008''.
* In Ira Levin's ''Literature/ThisPerfectDay'', leader and programmer Li Wei Chun's head (and brain) have been put on the body of an athlete, who volunteered for the honor.
* In the sci-fi short story "Learning to Be Me", the main character wonders about the Jewel. The jewel is a small crystalline computer implanted within everyone's brains at birth. It mimics the brain's responses perfectly, since it is always being adjusted to match the brain's responses. Eventually, people's brains are scraped out, leaving the jewel to act as them, in their bodies. He worries through the entire story, if replacing the human brain is a huge, society-wide case of this, or no big deal.
* In Creator/PiersAnthony's ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels, the ability to do this is the Sea Hag's magic talent; she's lived hundreds of years by stealing the bodies of [[VainSorceress young women]]. She can't do it if her target knows what she's doing, but she raises them herself to make sure they don't.
* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'', [[spoiler: R. Daneel Olivaw announces his plan to bodysnatch Fallom at the end.]]
* Happens to [[spoiler: Zelda]] in the second book of ''Literature/OksaPollock''
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold has some different versions in her works:
** In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', raising clones for brain-transplant purposes is a major industry in Jackson's Whole.
** In ''Literature/TheHallowedHunt'' the 'offspring' version of this trope was used. [[spoiler:Earl Horseriver, descendant of the last Hallowed King, ''is'' in fact the last Hallowed King. A spell to keep him going to fight the invasion five hundred years ago by transferring his consciousness sequentially into each of his male blood heirs is still in effect -- and he can't stop it. [[FateWorseThanDeath Think about it.]]]]
* Doro of Octavia Butler's ''Literature/{{Patternist}}'' series has this power; his lack of limitations on it makes him a nigh-unstoppable force.
* Used by Creator/OrsonScottCard in ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheMind'' when [[spoiler:Ender's soul is divided and housed in two other bodies, representing his brother and sister as teens, which he accidentally created when AI [[GreenRocks Jane]] took him into the sub-ether. Eventually, worn out by keeping track of three separate lives, his old body dies and his soul goes full time to the creation representing his brother as a teenager. Ender's friends deliberately drive his "sister" past the DespairEventHorizon (with her consent) so her body will be free for Jane to inhabit.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Axolotl}}'' by Julio Cortazar an [[http://www.bountyfishing.com/blog/images/axolotl.jpg axolotl]] switches minds with the protagonist. Before they switched the protagonist was drawn to the axolotl and was [[ContemplateOurNavels philosophizing on how fluid identity is]] and how [[MindScrew he and the axolotl are the same]].
* In ''Literature/TheLightOfOtherDays'' by Creator/ArthurCClarke and Stephen Baxter, one of the main characters is the son of an industrialist. Actually, he's a clone of the industrialist, and when he fails to grow up into a suitable heir, plan B is to overwrite his brain pattern with his father's. The attempt is foiled.
* ''Literature/TheAdventureOfTheAntiquariansNiece'', a Literature/SherlockHolmes[=/=]Creator/HPLovecraft-inspired short story by Creator/BarbaraHambly.
* Any magician in the ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'' who summons a demon into his own head risks this, as [[spoiler:Quentin Makepeace and his followers found out]].
* In Edmond Hamilton's short story ''The Avenger from Atlantis'' (also titled ''The Vengeance of Ulios''), the protagonist pursues his mortal enemy for thousands of years; both he and his quarry transfer their brains to numerous bodies to keep up the chase.
* In ''Literature/FallenDragon'' (2001) by Creator/PeterFHamilton, the rulers of one planet take over the bodies of young criminals. They offer their technique to the leader of the corporation [[SpacePirates raiding their planet]], but he is unimpressed because they don't do anything with their pseudo-immortality except maintain their power. The B7 council that secretly controls Earth in ''The Naked God'' does something similar by copying their memories to cloned bodies and instantly destroying the old one, unaware that those bodies also have souls that will pass on to The Beyond.
* In the [[Creator/RobertAHeinlein Heinlein]] novel ''Literature/IWillFearNoEvil'', an aging millionaire has his brain transferred into a young girl, but it's because she's the only person with the correct rare blood type and has recently died of head trauma (in a mugging). Furthermore, she was his friend, and he's shocked and grieves for her when he finds out whose body he's using. Luckily, she survives as a sort of SpiritAdvisor ([[CuckooNest unless he's hallucinating it]]).
** This leads to some quite odd scenes, like where the main character is having sex with the former occupant of the body's former lover and his former friend and lawyer.
---> (Oh, God, Eunice! Why didn't you ''tell'' me?) (Tell you what?) (That for a woman it's so much ''better!'')
* ''Literature/TheDosadiExperiment'' by Frank Herbert. Wonderful way to prolong life indefinitely at the expense of others, for those who have enough power. In the end, shop is closed, but this little secret does not leak too far.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/WarOfTheDreaming'', this happens to [[spoiler: KidHero Galen Waylock by his ancestor Azrael de Gray. Different in that Azrael did not do so to keep himself alive, but to escape the TailorMadePrison he's locked in]].
* Gyhard, the antagonist in Creator/TanyaHuff's ''Literature/FifthQuarter'', has been keeping himself alive this way for a couple of hundred years.
* Creator/HPLovecraft's short stories:
** ''Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard'' looks like a case of this, but [[spoiler:actually features an IdenticalGrandson compelled to resurrect his ancestor's corpse, who then kills him and takes his place.]]
** "Literature/TheThingOnTheDoorstep" is based on this concept: A man's wife is, in fact, his father-in-law, who now has designs to retake a male body.
** "Literature/TheShadowOutOfTime" is about a human being who has his mind switched with an alien scientist and is forced to live in ''its'' world in ''its'' body for six years. Except that its world is ''ancient Earth,'' making it a ''{{Time Travel}}ling'' Grand Theft Me.
*** Crosses over into InferredHolocaust territory when it becomes clear that the same aliens have apparently pulled this on entire ''species'' at least twice (once when coming to Earth in the first place, once jumping ahead into the distant future when their ancient enemies ''on'' Earth broke loose again) to escape their own extinction.
** In "The Challenge from Beyond", co-authored by a number of authors, Lovecraft finally gets the plot rolling by having the protagonist mind-swapped with an alien bent on conquest. Creator/RobertEHoward then [[spoiler: has the human in the alien body kick ass on the alien world, leaving the "victim" of the Grand Theft Me to commit a much more successful version than the original thief, who can't handle a human body's powerful urges and dies.]]
* The ''Literature/WarOfTheWorldsGlobalDispatches'' story "To Mars and Providence", which stars Lovecraft, has the Martians do this in a way similar to ''The Shadow Out of Time''.
* In one of Creator/LarryNiven's ''[[Literature/KnownSpace Gil the Arm]]'' stories, a notorious gangster and organlegger kidnapped a rich family. Both parents were killed; the ordeal left one of the children mute and the other traumatized and never really back to his old self. It turned out that the latter was actually the organlegger's brain transplanted into the kidnap victim's body.
* Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'' involves, among other complexities and weirdness, "Dogface Joe", who migrates from body to body, making sure to dose the one he's leaving with a lethal amount of poison in the process. He has to swap because the new body becomes extremely furry (a magical accident made him an avatar of a jackal-god). He can also, using his ability, supply someone with a new body (this requires two body-jumps, obviously). It becomes important to the overall plot.
* Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/MedusasWeb'' features a form of MentalTimeTravel in which a person may temporarily occupy the body of another person in another time. There are ways an unscrupulous person can extend the period of occupancy for a few minutes -- and ways a ''really'' unscrupulous person can make it a permanent arrangement, which is invariably bad for the person whose body it was.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, an [[TheIgor Igor]] whose body becomes too ruined to fix is broken down for spares and the brain preserved, where it can be transplanted into another body at a later point to effectively return the Igor to life again. The Igors ''do'' show consideration, however: The bodies they use for this are exclusively from people put in permanent vegetative states or killed by head injuries that are donated to the Igors by their next-of-kin.
* In the ExpandedUniverse of ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}'':
** [[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Palpatine cloned himself]] and uses the Force to transfer his soul into new bodies to live eternally. However, one of his underlings paid to have the Clonemaster damage the genetic material of the clones, causing them to decay within a few weeks. He attempted to possess Leia's newborn Anakin Solo, but a Jedi-in-hiding that was traveling with the gang intercepted his spirit, and died, taking Palpatine's soul with him to the afterlife.
** One of Palpatine's underlings, [[NietzscheWannabe Cronal]], planned to do the same thing to Luke in the novel ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' as part of a complex BatmanGambit -- he would allow Luke to defeat his CardCarryingVillain warlord persona, Lord Shadowspawn, and then claim his body as his own, using Luke's heroic reputation (which Cronal had been using his own propaganda machine to inflate on the side) to ultimately get himself installed emperor. After Luke escaped his clutches, he decided to try the same technique on the next best subject - [[{{Squick}} Leia]]. Thankfully, Cronal was defeated before that could happen.
** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' has a form of this done with a brutish wanted (male) criminal and almost-fourteen-year-old Tash Arranda, though Tash's brain is [[BrainInAJar put into a droid jar]]. The criminal was supposed to go into an adult male's body, and while he's fine with [[{{Squick}} being a pubescent girl]] briefly, he quickly starts to complain.
* Creator/MercedesLackey's works:
** The villain of ''Literature/JinxHigh'' is a witch who's been stealing her daughters' bodies for several hundred years; this seriously throws the protagonist, who's not expecting the skilled magician she's looking for to be in high school.
** The evil sorcerer [[BigBad Ma'ar]] from the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series manages to prolong his life for centuries by magically propelling his soul into a succession of bodies from his own bloodline (killing the original soul in the process). [[spoiler:His failure to do this completely the last time forms the basis of his eventual defeat.]] When the Mage Storms begin to [[spoiler:drive Firesong insane]], one sign is his growing obsession with finding an "ethical" version of Ma'ar's technique.
** ''Literature/TheWizardOfLondon''. Lady Cordelia plans to take over David Alderscroft's body and identity. Her primary aim is to gain the political power she can't claim in a female body, but it's indicated that she will also use this technique to become immortal (by moving into new bodies on a regular basis).
* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'':
** In the ''Dragonlance Legends'' books, the evil archmage Fistandantilus has been doing this to his most skilled apprentices for centuries -- he steals not only the bodies but also, it is implied, the arcane powers of his victims. He meets his downfall when [[spoiler:Raistlin Majere turns the trick around and steals Fistandantilus's body, along with all the centuries of magical power he's accumulated. Curiously, this does not cause Raistlin to assume Fistandantilus's appearance. Instead, he reverts to the appearance he himself had before the Test. Why the spell works differently for Raistlin is unclear; perhaps because Fistandantilus dies as Raistlin completes the ritual.]]
** In ''3 Wizards Too Many'' it turns out that at first Fistandantilus "hunted" in other worlds where he was not notorious (wider choice of victims, lesser risk that someone will track and thwart his plot), but eventually ran afoul of both [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Elminster]], who used the ''[[BreathWeapon Dragon Breath]]'' spell when they last met, and [[TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}} Mordenkainen]], who too somehow "taught him the wisdom of staying closer to home" (all 3 lived in adjacent [[TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} crystal spheres]]).
** In ''Literature/DragonlanceTheNewAdventures'', [[EvilSorceress Asvoria]] takes over [[spoiler:the dragon Raedon]]'s body, using it to attack the village and his allies.
* In R.A. Salvatore's ''Literature/{{Demonwars}}'' series, Chezru Chieftan Yakim Douan takes advantage of a prophecy of rebirth to literally be reborn for centuries by taking over the bodies of unborn children.
* In ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms King Pinch]]'', lich snatched the living man's body, but failed to destroy lifeforce, so victim managed to take his own discarded body in turn.
* ''Cadavres Exquis'', the first in a series of DarkerAndEdgier short-stories about obscure french proto-SuperHero/ GreatDetective Fascinax, has BigBad Numa Pergyll performing a Grand Theft Me on the titular hero's LoveInterest.
* Creator/JackVance's novella ''Château d'If''. [[spoiler: The young hosts ''pay'' for a mysterious adventure, though the old customers pay a lot more. Their brains are swapped.]]
* In Creator/DavidWeber's ''[[Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes Mutineer's Moon]]'', the bad guys have very long lives already, due to biotechnical enhancement, but they use this method to stretch it out even more...to the especial horror of the good guys when they discover that the latest victim was [[spoiler:the mother of heroine Jiltanith]].
* In ''The Quickening'' trilogy, Wyl is (involuntarily) granted the power that if someone "kills" him, he lives on in the body of the killer, erasing their existing personalities (although retaining certain memories and learned abilities). He occupies a number of bodies over the series, including that of [[spoiler: his sister]], who doesn't know about the power - she stabs the person responsible killing Wyl's previous incarnation, not knowing that this person's body is now occupied by Wyl and that she herself will be overwritten. At the end of the series, Wyl attempts to arrange matters so that [[spoiler: he dies at the hands of the BigBad (who was the king, and who just married Wyl's love interest.)]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''Shattered Alliance'', Mairsil the Pretender is revealed to have escaped death [[spoiler: by storing his soul inside his ring]] and tries to take over the body of [[spoiler: pyromancer Jaya Ballard, who had been wearing the ring since Mairsil was killed in an earlier book]].
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', the necromancer Capiorcorpus, AKA Corpsetaker, specializes in doing this, swapping bodies with her target. Despite the name, we only actually seem her stealing living bodies. The literal Latin translation of "corpus" is "body," so the name makes perfect sense and it's likely Harry just mucked up the translation (his Latin isn't great, plus "Corpsetaker" is a much better Necromancer name than "Bodytaker"). In ''Literature/GhostStory'' [[spoiler:Capiocorpus' ghost tries to get the power to manifest in the real world. She could then use her abilities to take whatever body she wanted, effectively coming back to life. Harry speculates this is the same method her mentor Kemmler used to return to life six times.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Hopscotch}}'' anyone can swap bodies with anyone else. One of the protagonists rents his body out to people who want to avoid unpleasant experiences.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. The primary antagonists of the series, the Yeerks, are basically sentient space-faring [[PuppeteerParasite parasites]] whose only major power is to take over the body of another organism. Or, at least one with an ear canal and a brain. Making matters worse, many of the Yeerks are torn between being forced to crush another creature's free will beneath their pseudopod, or spending the rest of their life as a wretched fish-sized slug [[FateWorseThanDeath deprived of sight, hearing, and...well, just about everything]]. Made worse once a Yeerk has a taste of how parasitic good life can be, and the fact that their leaders are quite crazy.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars The Master Mind of Mars]]'', the MadScientist Ras Thavas sells this. When Ulysses Paxton gets two victims restored to their own bodies, they briefly pretend to those who usurped them so as to abdicate; then Ulysses makes it appear to be a miraculous reversal.
* In Creator/AnneRice's aptly-titled novel ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles: The Tale of the Body Thief'', Lestat [[OurVampiresAreDifferent is tired of being a vampire]] and is contacted by a human who has this power and offers him a FreakyFriday-like adventure. Only it is a setup by the Body Thief to keep his immortal body.
* Happens a couple of times in T.A. Pratt's ''Literature/MarlaMason'' series. First, with the sorcerer and his young apprentice in San Francisco's Chinatown in the first book, and then also in book 4 when [[spoiler: Rondeau inadvertently steals B's body.]]
* Though it isn't the focus of the story, this does factor in to the plot of Creator/HarlanEllison's novella ''Mefisto In Onyx''.
* In Alastair Reynolds' ''Literature/RevelationSpace'', [[spoiler:the captain]] has done this to [[spoiler:Sajaki]] some time prior to the events in the book, requesting that the alien Pattern Jugglers overwrite his victim's mind with his own. A fanatical cult in the novella ''Turquoise Days'' hopes to use the same technique to sacrifice themselves voluntarily to allow their leader's personality to replace their own. There's also a case of Temporarily Borrow Me; [[spoiler: Dan Sylveste]] is drugged up so that his father's Beta-level simulation can control his body, which turns out to be possible only because [[spoiler:he's his father's clone, not his father's son]].
* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's short story [[spoiler: "The Pear-Shaped Man"]].
* Creator/JamesHSchmitz does the "heir" version in the Literature/TriggerArgee story "The Symbiotes".
* "Beyond lies the Wub", a short story by Creator/PhilipKDick. An Earthbound rocketship stops on Mars to take on food animals, including a wub -- a large, slovenly Martian pig. It turns out the wub is a sentient telepathic alien interested mainly in eating and philosophical discussion. The captain is determined to kill and eat the wub regardless, believing it to be a threat, and blows the wub's brains out despite the objections of his crew. The story ends with the captain enthusiastically tucking into cooked wub, watched glumly by the crew, who are further shocked when their 'captain' continues the philosophical discussion the wub was having "before we were interrupted".
* In books two and three of Thorarinn Gunnarsson's "Skateboard Dragons" trilogy, this is how the rulers of the evil Alasheran Empire have survived for thousands of years.
* In "When True Night Falls", book two of C. S. Friedman's ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy'', the Undying Prince survives this way.
* Two Creator/ChristopherPike books, [[spoiler: The Immortal]] and [[spoiler: The Blind Mirror]], use this as a twist- without the transferred soul initially remembering their true identity.
* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/MorgaineCycle'', the qhal (and their predecessors) could use the [[CoolGate Gates]] to transfer their minds into new hosts. [[spoiler: This tended to leave the two personalities struggling for control.]]
** [[spoiler:Morgaine herself seriously considers doing this sometime in her future, despite knowing how evil it is, because otherwise she won't live long enough to close all the Gates, and leaving even a single Gate standing simply isn't an option.]]
* The more modern version is done in ''Literature/HouseOfTheScorpion'' by Nancy Farmer, where [[spoiler: Matt turns out to be a clone raised only for his organs]].
* In Glen Duncan's ''Literature/ILucifer'' struggling writer Declan Gunn's body is possessed by none other than Lucifer himself, so that old Luce can sample the mortal life and a chance for redemption.
* ''Literature/{{Necroscope}}'':
** In book 5 of the saga [[spoiler:[[RetiredMonster Faethor Ferenczy]]]] tries this on Harry. It does not end well.
** The climax of book two has a twist on this. One of the heroes' has had his mind and soul destroyed leaving him basically a still breathing corpse. Harry, at this point, is a disembodied soul in search of a body and moves right in.
* There was an entire series based around this trope, with titles such as "Help, I'm trapped in my dog's body!" and "Help, I'm trapped in my gym teacher's body!".
* In ''Darkship Thieves'', Nat is convinced his lover Max has been possessed by the recently deceased father's ghost. He's right: Max was a clone of the father created specifically so that the elder could discard his old body and transplant his brain into a younger, healthier one. The father had achieved near immortality by murdering his sons over and over. But he screwed up in this generation by not realizing Max had a secret, gay relationship with Nat and thus [[OutOfCharacterAlert acting out of character]] to him. [[spoiler: The protagonists learn that the entire society is founded on this. The ruling oligarchs are the men who figured out how to do this and have been ruling the planet together for centuries.]]
* A book of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix,_Net_i_Nika a series popular only in Poland]] does that in its seventh part. The main antagonists of the story, if they can be called that, are three sisters. The story itself is set in modern times, yet the sisters were already non-young adults around the times of the Second World War, and don't look older than sixty in the story itself. How did they do it? This trope. [[spoiler:They took over the bodies of another set of triplet sisters, in a pharmaceutical way. The last chapter of the book itself is all about saving the protagonist girl, since one of the sisters' bodies has some sort of a spinal disease and she's looking for a replacement, finding the protagonist a replacement. A matter-warping, intelligent [[MineralMacGuffin huge mass of rock]] controlled by the sisters is also involved.]]
* One very strange no-sex "Sex Story" ''[[http://www.asstr.org/files/Collections/Alt.Sex.Stories.Moderated/Year2004/49003 Of One Flesh]]'' (still very NSFW, however) involves an oddly non-villainous version of this in which a man and a little girl take turns controlling her body until she lets him take full control and swap his body, which is magically stored in the form of a doll, with hers. A bit of backstory indicates that this arrangement arose from a very strange CursedWithAwesome situation involving a kind of mutual theft that left them both forced to inhabit one body at the same time; judging by their attitudes toward each other, they've managed to work out some kind of understanding with each other and turn this situation to their mutual advantage.
* In ''Literature/TheWishList'', [[spoiler:Belch eventually takes over the body of Meg's [[AbusiveParent father Franco]]]].
* The Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Story, ''Ligeia,'' which has a twist. [[spoiler: Not only does the old wife steal the new wife's body, she also transforms the new wife back into her old form.]]
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** Attempted -- the character Mordeth was a KnightTemplar EvilChancellor who lived roughly 2000 years before the main plot of the series, and he tried to fight [[GodOfEvil the Dark One]] using his own methods. The result unleashed an EldritchAbomination which consumed the city that was Mordeth's power base and left him immortal but [[SealedEvilInACan trapped there]]. However, if Mordeth could convince a living person to accompany him beyond the city, he could steal their body and escape. In the first book, he tries this on PunchClockVillain Padan Fain- but since Fain had been altered already by the Dark One to become a ScarilyCompetentTracker, the result was less a possession and more a merge. Mordeth/Fain became a major recurring villain in the series, has all sorts of weird superpowers, and as a result of the imperfect combination (and the Dark One's original taint on Fain) he's ''completely freakin' nuts''.
** A rare ''heroic'' example occurs in the final book. [[spoiler:Rand switches bodies with Moridin. Moridin ends up dying in Rand's body, thanks to the [[WoundThatWillNotHeal unhealable wounds]] that [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Moridin himself inflicted on Rand]].]]
* ''Literature/{{Flight}}'': The main character Zits is shot in the head and has a flashback where he is transformed into many historical characters.
* A rare positive variation appears in the ''Ghostly Companions'' collection of stories by Vivien Alcock. In "A Change of Aunts", a horrifying revenant (that used to be a nursemaid who [[DrivenToSuicide drowned herself]] in a pond [[MyGreatestFailure after she let the children in her care die]] when she visited her lover) attacks Meg and William's abusive Aunt Gertrude when it catches her beating the children. The undead nursemaid steals Gertrude's body for herself and leaves Gertrude trapped in her old rotting immobile corpse in the pond. [[MyGreatestSecondChance "Gertrude" treats the children with great care and kindness.]] When Meg realizes what happened, she understandably decides to leave her abusive aunt to her FateWorseThanDeath.
* In Creator/JohnWyndham's short story "Pillar To Post", the protagonist is a paraplegic who frequently takes drugs to cope with the pain, and who suddenly finds himself in a healthy body very far in the future. People of the future society live virtually forever by swapping bodies with the "feeble minded" of whom there are very many in the future. But then the original owner of the body, who engaged in mental time travel, takes back his body and the protagonist is back in the original, paralyzed and pain-wracked body - but he finds a way to return. Thereby, the two of them change places again and again, each trying to leave a "booby trap" which would destroy the paralyzed body while it is inhabited by his rival. The contest is finally resolved in a rather immoral way, by [[spoiler: letting a present-time mental patient be moved into into the paralyzed body and be burned to death]], leaving the two contestants in possession of two healthy bodies...
* Bob Shaw's story "Waltz of the Bodysnatchers" takes place in a future society in which a murderer is sentenced to change places with his or her victim, who is thus brought back to life and inherits the murderer's body. The story's cast of cynical and scheming characters abuse this legal provision by finding creative ways of manipulating a younger and healthier person into murdering them and getting caught...
* The ''Literature/TransformersTransTech'' story "I, Lowtech" involves the main character being convinced he's somehow been swapped into a different body while someone else is parading around with his, even though there's no tangible evidence that actually happened. [[spoiler: Eventually turns out he's right, and it happened courtesy of a Decepticon with the ability to seamlessly manipulate other people's sparks, but by then [[CassandraTruth his quest to prove he's right]] has already driven him to insanity.]]
* In ''Literature/HushHush'', fallen angels spend all their time tracking down nephilim and forcing them to submit to possession for two weeks out of every year. The nephilim all hate this, but are targeted because they won't die from it, unlike humans. [[spoiler:At the end of the story, Patch possesses Nora without her permission, and without warning. It's to fight off someone threatening her, but she still finds it terrifying]].
* In Creator/TimothyZahn's "Soulminder" stories, a technology is developed that can draw a person's essence from their body and store it elsewhere before returning it. It's meant to assist in lifesaving procedures, but naturally it doesn't take long for somebody to catch on that it also enables Grand Theft Me. Unfortunately for the first person who tries it, an aging, amoral, atheist crime boss, it turns out that placing your soul in someone else's body causes you to start taking on aspects of ''their'' personality. He is caught by the FBI while going to mass, and seems relieved that he was caught.
* ''Stranger With My Face'' is a teen novel by Creator/LoisDuncan in which identical twin sisters Laurie and Lia are separated in infancy when Laurie is adopted and Lia is not. Lia learns astral projection and uses it to visit Laurie when the girls are seventeen, and teaches Laurie to do it too - in order to trick Laurie into this trope.
* In the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' series, the mad scientist Ras Thavas does this through brain transplantation in the book "Master Mind of Mars", and makes a living out of it. Early on, the story's BigBad, an ugly queen, pays him to have her body switched with that of a very beautiful young woman, setting in motion the main plot of the book.
* ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDragokin'': [[spoiler: Mordak]] makes his return about midway by taking over Kalak's body. This begins the the second phase of the plot; two enemy camps.
* It is heavily implied that, unlike the four TV/film adaptations to date, the ''mother'' was responsible for swapping bodies with her daughter in the original book version of ''Literature/FreakyFriday''.
* In ''Literature/GardensOfTheMoon'', the first book in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', the Patron of Assassins, Cotillion, possesses a young fisher girl. He takes on her identity, renames her Sorry and through her spies on the Bridgeburners, an elite company of soldiers. It is heavily implied that the possession is so complete that had not Riggalai the Seer intervened and shielded the girl's spirit with her own, it would have been annihilated.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/ForerunnerForay'', the artifact throws Zianth and the other sensitive back in time to take over bodies. Dead ones, to be sure -- they stage a great BackFromTheDead.
* Occurs in the ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheNobleDead'' book ''The Dog in the Dark''. [[spoiler:Chap uses his power as a Fay to temporarily take over a human body]].
* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', the [[TheFairFolk Faerie exile]] Padraic does this to Maggie Holt by stealing her name and taking her form with {{Glamour}}, so that her own parents don't recognize her and he can take her role. Maggie is unable to reclaim her name from him, instead taking the name "Mags" for herself in order to reclaim what's left of her human relationships.
* ''Literature/AMagesPower'': After the shaman of Kyraa gives Eric the spirit of Dengel, she warns him to never give Dengel full control of his body, because if he does, then this could be the result. [[spoiler: At the climax, he crosses the GodzillaThreshold and does it anyway.]]
* This is more or less the premise of the novel Literature/{{Skinjumper}} by Lincoln Crisler. A failed necromantic ritual gives Terry Miller the power to switch bodies but only if he murders the person first. Terry attempts to use the power to improve his life but his stupidity and bad luck make it a BlackComedy of epic proportions.
* In the ''Literature/TowersTrilogy'', Xhea's closest-kept secret is that she once assisted in one. [[spoiler:She aided the spirit of Addis Edren in taking over the body of his younger brother Lorn Edren]].
* In the ''Literature/JacobsLadderTrilogy'', someone who has used BrainUploading to digitize their memories can convert their mind into a "daemon seed" and implant it into the nanomachine colony of another body. The daemon seed will then reprogram the nanites to erase the mind of the body's original owner and install the digitized mind in its place. This technique is used in ''Grail'' [[spoiler:by Ariane Conn, who tries to take over the bodies of Oliver Conn and Chelsea Conn. She is purged from the former, but succeeds in stealing the latter]].
* ''Literature/{{Dragonvarld}}'': This is the practice of [[spoiler:the Mistress of Dragons]], who never actually dies, instead living on in the form of a carefully chosen successor. The real people are still alive, but wish that they weren't.
* In ''Literature/TheNekropolisArchives'', a werewolf named Honani kills a prostitute. The protagonist, Matthew Richter, exacts justice by extracting Honani's soul and transferring the murdered woman's soul into his body.
* In ''Literature/ALandFitForHeroes'', the dwenda plan to resurrect the Illwrack Changeling, their Dark Lord and general who is currently stuck as SealedEvilInACan, by transferring his soul into the protagonist's body.
* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/EndOfWatch'', the villain gains the ability to project his consciousness into people who are in hypnotic trances, eventually becoming able to overwrite their minds and take complete control of them. It's implied that part of this is being used as a guinea pig by an unscrupulous doctor for testing an experimental drug for repairing brain damage.
* At the end of ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsIHaveANemesis'', Penny's robotic duplicate attempts to foil her plan by switching bodies with her. It's then foiled by Penny's invention power, who is now in Penny's organic body while she inhabits the robot body.
* Demons in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' can kick a person's soul out of their body into Hell and then take the body as their own. Fortunately, they can only pull this on the worst of the traitors, namely those who betray those under their hospitality.
* The plot of Dutch author Creator/TaisTeng's book ''Literature/DeadEyes'' revolves around an ancient Chinese Emperor who made a pact with an immortal EvilSorcerer for eternal life, which he granted him by periodically casting the Emperor into new host bodies. However, during the most recent transference, something messed up the ritual, and the Emperor becomes trapped inside the mind of the main character. The sorcerer then tracks him down while intending to use him as the new host.
* ''[[Literature/KaneSeries Darkness Weaves]]'' has Efrel who has been so badly mutilated and crippled that only being an EldritchAbomination has allowed her to stay alive. Since she is skilled in dark magic, she plans to transfer her soul in the body of a young woman [[spoiler: daughter of the man who mutilated her]], both to regain beauty and get her {{Revenge}}, since she aims to let the girl live in her former, ruined body.
* In ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'' Anushka the witch has survived for five hundred years by repeteadly transfering her soul into the body of a [[spoiler: female descendant]].
* ''Literature/ISitBehindTheEyes'': This is the MO of the titular EldritchAbomination. It usurps the soul of a chosen victim and gains their memories and characteristics. However, it instantly forgets its previous memories, resulting in a [[spoiler: TomatoInTheMirror]] scenario. This is a rare [[spoiler: heroic]] example, as it only possesses people who [[spoiler: threaten the lives of others]].
%%* ''Literature/{{Changeling}}'': In the second book, the villain attempts this.
* ''Literature/TitansForest'': Kirrik can transfer her soul into others' bodies to avoid death or to replace a failing, aging body, forcing their own souls out and into whatever afterlife may exist. She plans to do this to [[spoiler:Ular, but when she tries to do this in the climax her victim's god-bone amulet keeps her safe, so Kirrik steals the body of the rain goddess Ekhis instead. Unfortunately for her, however, a god's power resides strictly in their soul and she is left with a regular mortal body.]]
* In the seventh ''Literature/WarriorCats'' arc, ''The Broken Code'', a malevolent spirit tricks Shadowpaw into giving Bramblestar a "treatment" to his illness that actually results in him [[CatsHaveNineLives losing a life]]. While Bramblestar is dead, the spirit jumps into his body and takes over, pretending to be him and causing chaos in the Clans.
* In ''Literature/{{Sanctuary}}'', Araminta starts wearing the pendant that contains [[SealedEvilInACan the ghost eater]], allowing him to possess her and force her to destroy her studio to leave a message. Then he steals her corporeality, leaving her as a ghost while he becomes almost solid. [[spoiler:Morgan is eventually able to restore her corporeality.]]
* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Aliens'': Splortch and Miglick from ''Brian and the Aliens'' do this with Brian and his dog, switching bodies so they can go look around and determine if Earth's residents are really people. Then Brian and Lucky accidentally do the same thing to a couple of police.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Season six of ''Series/The100'' features the Primes of Sanctum, who have lived for hundreds of years by [[ImmortalityImmorality using mind drives to transfer their consciousness into other people]]. In addition, by maintaining a GodGuise to make the increasingly rare hosts willing to give up their bodies, they ensure that the entire society of Sanctum is essentially RaisedAsAHost. [[spoiler:Clarke]] is subjugated to this for several episodes, only regaining control with outside help and FightingFromTheInside.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** The episode "[[Recap/AngelS03E04CarpeNoctem Carpe Noctem]]". This includes a unique MistakenForGay, when the guy in Angel's body briefly believes Angel is gay.
** Illyria taking over [[spoiler: Fred Burkle]]'s body to live again in season five.
* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' in "Who's Who???" (subtitle: "Steed goes out of his mind. Emma is beside herself."). Steed and Emma's minds are switched with those of two enemy agents. They did not switch voices, if only because the plot demanded that the enemy use the heroes' hijacked bodies to infiltrate British security. In an amusing touch, after each commercial break, the episode also includes a "reminder" about the swap to the viewer, but the supposedly helpful voice-announcer merely gets progressively more confused.
* ''Series/BehindHerEyes'': [[spoiler: This is Rob's evil MO. The first time, he convinces Adele to swap bodies with him but refuses to switch back. With Louise, he tricks her into leaving her body so he can occupy it. ]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E3TheWitch}} The Witch]]", teenager Amy Madison's witch mother swaps bodies with her so that the mother can have a second shot at eternal fame and glory as a high school cheerleader.
** Then in the fourth season, Faith gets a posthumous gift of AppliedPhlebotinum from the Mayor that lets her pull this trick on Buffy.
** A rare heroic version occurs when Willow is kidnapped by Amy and Warren. She possesses Buffy to lead her to where she is imprisoned.
** And the Scoobies again possess Buffy, giving her all their powers in return, to help fight Adam.
** Warren nearly succeeded in stealing Willow's body.
* This is [[spoiler: Eddie's]] endgame in luring Mike back to Iron Hill in ''Series/ChannelZero''.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': A few cases of this but one in particular is ''Freaky Phoebe'' where an evil witch named Mara takes over Phoebe's body.
* ''Series/Cleopatra2525'' has an episode, "In Your Boots", where recurring villian Creegan does this to Hel.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E8TheFacelessOnes Welcome aboard Chameleon Tours. We'll miniaturize you, steal your identity, and slowly drain the life from you. Hmm... what's that Police Box doing on the runway?]]
** The Master has been known to do this from time to time:
*** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E6TheKeeperOfTraken The Keeper of Traken]]", the Master, at the end of the 13th and final regeneration of his Time Lord body, which is hideously decayed, steals the body of a major leader. However, he considers this a temporary situation and spends much of the rest of the original series determined to extend his life, preferably through a new set of regenerations.
*** In the 1996 [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie TV movie]], he takes over yet another hapless human and attempts to steal the Doctor's body.
*** The Master takes this to the ultimate extreme in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]" part 1 [[spoiler: by turning THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE into HIMSELF!]]
*** The spin-off audio ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho213TheTwoMasters The Two Masters]]'' sees the Master do this [[spoiler:to ''himself''; one of his older incarnations is manipulated by the Cult of the Heretic into attacking the burnt Master who was the last body in his original regeneration cycle so that the Cult can transfer the past Master into his future self (only telling the younger Master that the older Master is a dangerous renegade). The Cult's goal is to create a RealityBreakingParadox by killing the future Master in his past body, but the two Masters are able to escape and the Seventh Doctor eventually convinces them to return to their rightful bodies]].
** Happens ''repeatedly'' in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E1NewEarth New Earth]]", where Cassandra takes control of Rose's body to replace her old dying, immobile body.
--->'''Cassandra-in-Rose:''' Look at me! From class to brass! Although... ''[she pulls the zipper of her jacket down slightly and runs her hands over her body]'' Oh... curves... oh, baby... ''[she bounces up and down, Chip following suit]'' It's like living inside a [[BuxomIsBetter bouncy castle!]]
*** She even spends some time hijacking The Doctor's body. HilarityEnsues:
--->'''Cassandra-in-Doctor:''' Ah, ah! Two hearts! Oh baby, I'm beating out a samba!
*** When hijacking a plague victim: "Oh, sweet lord! I look disgusting!"
*** She finally winds up in the body of her abject worshiper, Chip, [[spoiler: for her last few minutes of life]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]]: Remember the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature Chameleon]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood Arch]], the GadgetWatch that can serve as a SoulJar for a Time Lord temporarily turned into another species, such as [[HumanityEnsues a human]]? And remember that opening the watch will turn the Time Lord back to normal? [[spoiler:Well, unlike John Smith in the earlier story, Professor Yana doesn't get any warning of what will happen when he opens his pocket watch and TheMaster takes over.]]
** Happens to [[spoiler: the TARDIS]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]". As a slight twist, the body snatcher stuffs the original inhabitant into a specially prepared brain-drained slave, not its old form.
** A story arc in the ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic strip: A fish-like alien tries to replace the Eighth Doctor's human companion Izzy, looking to escape their past. The plan backfires, the bodysnatcher dies, and Izzy ends up stuck in the other body with apparently no way to return to normal. Several stories pass with Izzy struggling with her now-inhuman appearance, before [[spoiler: the bodysnatcher turns out to be not so dead..]].
** In the Twelfth Doctor novel ''The Crawling Terror'', an insectoid alien general uses this technique to swap consciousnesses with Clara Oswald — and their bodies are on different ''planets'' at the time. The Doctor has to figure out how to reprogram the machine that facilitated this to reverse it.
%%** What about Crozier's brain transplant machine in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E2Mindwarp Mindwarp]]"? The Valeyard didn't make ''that'' up.
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'': Seemed almost inevitable for a show about brainwashed, sexy, young humans you can rent and have temporarily reprogrammed to be anyone you want. Sure enough, by episode 10 ("Haunted"), it comes up (briefly) when a murder victim is put inside one such body to confront her killer. Then, three episodes later, in "Epitaph One," we learn that [[spoiler:soon, [[MegaCorp Rossum, the gigantic corporation running the whole thing,]] will put the Dolls' bodies up for sale as biological "upgrades" -- new bodies for the minds of aging clients, and of course, corporate executives.]] "Epitaph Two" makes it worse, as Rossum executive Matthew Harding seems to wear his bodies with rich food and then discards them, putting himself in a new, fit body.
* In one episode of ''Series/TheDresdenFiles'', the VillainOfTheWeek has this as his modus operandi. Usually when he switches bodies it kills the old one, but Harry has to figure out how to avert that when he takes over Murphy's body.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** [[spoiler: Harrison Wells was replaced by Eobard Thawne, who took on Wells's appearance.]]
** Season 4's BigBad Clifford [=DeVoe=] does this to [[spoiler: Ralph Dibny, after [[BodySurf Body Surfing]] through several other metahumans beforehand, as Dibny's body was the only one that could contain so many metahuman abilities without degrading. Fortunately, it turned out that he had to keep Ralph's consciousness intact in order to keep the body alive and Ralph was eventually able to regain control.]]
* Done at least twice on ''Series/GhostWhisperer''. The first time Melinda had to deal with both the possess''or'' and the possess''ee'''s spirits; the second time was done by [[spoiler:Melinda's recently deceased husband. To his credit, he made sure his new body's former owner had passed on first.]]
%%* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'': The Ending of "The Dead Body".
* ''Series/HemlockGrove'': When Olivia becomes terminally ill due to an anti-Upir virus, she plans on hijacking someone else's body with her downloaded personality. She first attempts it with a billionaire CEO, but the imprint becomes damaged due to their lack of genetic compatibility. She then successively tries to download herself into all three of her children.
* [[MindRape Forcibly done]] to Sylar by Matt Parkman to contain Nathan's mind, on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Of course, this being Sylar, he quickly turns the tables by hiding out in Matt's mind and taking over ''his'' body and torments Matt's sanity in hopes that Parkman will be desperate and terrified enough to reunite Sylar's mind with his body. Matt, to his credit, attempts a TakingYouWithMe but it doesn't work and Sylar is reunited with his body anyway.
* Midway through ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Soichi Isurugi]] has been possessed by [[spoiler:Evolto, an alien Soichi encounters on Mars,]] the whole time. Later, [[spoiler:Evolto]] switches to [[spoiler:Ryuga (in order to get back his DNA from Ryuga]] and then [[spoiler:Sento (in order to try and take advantage of his higher Hazard Level)]] before getting a body of his own.
* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', the Man in Black can do this after [[spoiler: being turned into the smoke monster]] by assuming the form of those who have died. He most notably does it to [[spoiler: Locke]] during the last two seasons.
* Twice on ''Series/LostInSpace'': In 'Follow the Leader' John Robinson is possessed by the soul of a conqueror; Doctor Smith in 'The Space Creature', so the eponymous monster can get to Will Robinson.
* One episode of series 3 of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' has the gang working at a hospital as part of their community service. While Kelly's in the room of a comatose patient, machines start beeping and as she's freaking out Kelly grabs the coma girl's hand, triggering her power to switch bodies with whoever touches her. The girl in question, Jen, spends the entire episode in Kelly's body as she tries to get back with her boyfriend while the main characters attempt to swap the two of them back.
* ''Series/OctoberFaction'': A dead warlock can be summoned into a living body, provided their ashes are on hand. This is Alice's plan—she has the ashes of every warlock Presidio murdered when they destroyed her home, and she summons them back on a mass scale. However, they are not all onboard with this, feeling that they have moved on and it's not fair to the people whose bodies they're inhabiting.
* On ''Series/OnceUponATime'', [[spoiler:Peter Pan casts a spell that allows him to steal Henry's body in order for him to escape Neverland and to avoid being sucked into Pandora's Box.]]
* In ''Series/QuantumLeap'' Sam takes over somebody's body in the past and that person takes his body in the present. Usually, the person in the present simply waits or sleeps through the experience, but one person escaped the facility and caused some trouble with a Grand Theft Me of his own.
** At least, that was how the concept of leaping ''started out.'' The "rules" grew rather murky in the show's final seasons, sometimes hinting that Sam was taking on a person's ''appearance'' rather than inhabiting his or her physical body. (In one episode, for example, Sam leaps into a double amputee...but is still able to walk.)
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' had an episode where Lister allows Rimmer to use his body for a week with the promise of Rimmer getting him into shape (in return, the Holographic Rimmer is able to touch, smell, and taste for the first time since his death). When Rimmer spends his time eating and sleeping (causing Lister to actually ''gain'' weight), Lister demands his body back--only to have Rimmer outright steal it the next time he falls asleep.
* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', this is common.
** [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Tina Greer]] has posed as Lex, Chloe, Whitney, Lana, Clark, Jonathan and her own mother. Eva Greer (who may or may not be related) has taken the form of Chloe - even passably fooling Clark.
** Clark and Lionel once switched bodies, while Lionel was in prison.
** [[WickedWitch Isobel]] had possessed Lana in season four, and brought back her fellow witches who possessed Lois and Chloe.
** Dawn Stiles had possessed Lana, Martha, Lois, Clark, Chloe, as well as a few extras.
** Jor-El once possessed Lionel.
** A random ghost possessed Chloe in pursue of revenge.
** [[EvilTwin Bizarro]] has killed multiple hosts during his BodySurf, then impersonated Clark for several weeks after becoming his physical double. Lana has taken it hook, line and sinker but Chloe realized he is not the real Clark.
** Zod once possessed Lex, and Faora once possessed Lois.
** ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} once possessed Chloe, knowing that Clark would never hurt her.
** The Silver Banshee had possessed Chloe and Lois.
** Isis once possessed Lois.
** Darkseid once possessed [[spoiler:Oliver]].
* ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'':
** ''Series/StargateSG1'':
*** [[Recap/StargateSG1S2E17Holiday "Holiday"]]: There is a device that swaps Daniel's consciousness with that of a very old man (who had apparently built the device for that purpose, to prolong his own life), as well as the minds of O'Neill and Teal'c. HilarityEnsues.
*** The Goa'uld are all about this, especially since body-switching keeps the symbiote alive for up to thousands of years. The Tok'ra are something of a subversion of this trope, since they never take unwilling hosts and they share the body. So are the Asgard, who survive by swapping bodies with mindless clones created for this purpose.
*** And done significantly more seriously in SG-1's ninth season, except it is Daniel and Vala who (accidentally) seize control of bodies in another galaxy, only to (accidentally) leave just before [[spoiler:getting the people they swapped with killed by being [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]]]].
*** Later in the season, Vala jumps into Daniel's body from the Ori galaxy to warn [=SG1=] of the coming Ori invasion.
** Done slightly more seriously in the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode [[Recap/StargateAtlantisS02E16TheLongGoodbye "The Long Goodbye"]], where the last survivors of two enemy factions possess the bodies of Weir and Sheppard so that they can play out the end of their war and one can "win", wreaking merry havoc across Atlantis in the process.
*** Teyla's partial Wraith DNA unfortunately leaves her open to possession when she tries to make mental contact with them in [[Recap/StargateAtlantisS01E18TheGift "The Gift"]]. However, with a psychic boost from her unborn child, she is able to turn the tables and take over the body of a Wraith Queen in [[Recap/StargateAtlantisS04E12SpoilsOfWar "Spoils of War"]].
** ''Series/StargateUniverse'' has the traveling stones, which allow for voluntary mind transfer. But on several occasions, once the swap occurs, the new occupant does things the original would never have condoned. When the original swaps back in, HilarityEnsues.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E9Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]]" The Companion takes over the body of the dying Nancy Hedford, preventing the death of her physical body and forming a symbiot.
** The last episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E24TurnaboutIntruder Turnabout Intruder]]", in which the GirlOfTheWeek and MadScientist Dr. Janice Lester, used an alien device to swap her mind into Kirk's body (poor, desperate girl) in order to fulfill her dream of being a starship Captain, because, y'know, [[StayInTheKitchen chicks]] [[ValuesDissonance can't do that stuff]] in TheFuture... Anyhoo, HilarityEnsues, and we get to watch Creator/WilliamShatner act like an LargeHam with a side of girl, instead of the usual LargeHam.
** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E20ReturnToTomorrow}} Return to Tomorrow]]" has the aliens of the week temporarily take over the bodies of Kirk, Spock and a female crewmember in order to build themselves new bodies. Unfortunately, the one in Spock's body has no intention of returning it.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Dr. Ira Graves somehow is able to [[BrainUploading upload his consciousness]] onto Data.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** In "The Passenger", a disaster on a prisoner transfer ship frees a criminal with personality-transference implants hidden in his fingers, leaving the crew to play SpotTheImposter for the rest of the episode.
** Inverted in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E04InvasiveProcedures}} Invasive Procedures]]". Verad doesn't put his personality in Jadzia's body; he puts Jadzia's personality (well, part of it -- the Dax symbiont) into his body.
** The Prophets did this to Sisko's biological mother, Sarah, in order to ensure his existence. Once the Prophet left, she ran off.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''
** In "Warlord", though this time, the thief dies a few seconds before stealing Kes' body. That he is able to fool even Neelix for as long as he does is just a bit disturbing.
** In "Vis á Vis", an alien criminal swaps bodies with Tom Paris.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' absolutely loves this trope:
** There are numerous instances throughout the entire show of demonic possession, angelic possession, and shapeshifters stealing unfortunate victims' identities, to name but a few.
*** Demons are treated as mooks, and Sam and Dean often kill the host body while killing the demon. This is discussed onscreen a few times, but they never stop completely. There are also key moments over the series when a good character is revealed to be possessed by a demon such as [[spoiler: John Winchester]] or [[spoiler: Bobby Singer]].
*** Angels must get their host's permission before possessing them, but this is often portrayed as problematic with religious people, such as Castiel's vessel Jimmy, saying yes without comprehending what it entails.
*** It's rare for ghosts to be able to possess people, but a few angry spirits are shown to have this ability.
** In Season 2, Meg possesses Sam for an entire episode, going on a murder spree and terrorizing Jo.
** In Season 4, Sam and Dean meet their half-brother Adam [[spoiler: only to discover that it is, in fact, a ghoul who has taken Adam's form and their real brother has been DeadAllAlong.]]
** In Season 9, there's a complex case wherein Dean tricks Sam into inviting the angel Ezekiel into his body so the angel can heal him but [[spoiler: unbeknownst to Dean, it's not the good angel Ezekiel whom Cas has vouched for but a more morally ambiguous Gadreel. In order to help Sam break free, Crowley possesses him as well, making it two supernatural entities and one human soul in Sam's body.]]
** In the episode "Swap Meat", the main plotline is that Sam is forced via magic to switch bodies with a seventeen-year-old boy. HilarityEnsues.
** It turns out that the villain's millennia-in-the-making plan is for [[spoiler: Lucifer and Michael to commit Grand Theft Me on Sam and Dean respectively, and then duke it out for the fate of creation. Neither brother is okay with this.]]
** Fearful about what Amara will do to the world, Castiel invites Lucifer into his vessel.
** In "Let the Good Times Roll", [[spoiler: Alternate Michael goes back on his deal with Dean to share the latter's body after they kill Lucifer, leaving Michael in full control of Dean's body.]]
* In one episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'', a rich old man wanted a better body in order to attract a particular young woman. He gradually had all body parts surgically swapped with those of a young man -- a process that also left him dirt poor, as the donor required huge amounts of compensation. In the end, [[spoiler:this was all in vain. The woman was a gold digger and ran off with the now rich donor.]]
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
** In the episode "The Trade-Ins", an aging man decides to get a nice young body, but can't afford it for his wife, too (and the company isn't allowed to offer financing), then decides to give back the body and die a natural death with his aging wife. It isn't mentioned how the company that was selling him the brand new body or where they got it from.
** There is an episode involving magicians where this is the twist.
** And yet another episode where this is the YOUNG man's idea. He discovers he has the power to exchange traits with other people (an ill-defined ability, but hey...). So he finds a very rich old man and gets the multimillionaire to trade his fortune for renewed youth. Now old and rich, he proceeds to purchase youth a year at a time from a large number of young men at a thousand dollars a shot... eventually leaving him back at his original age, but with a lot of money.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Gramma", a young boy named Georgie has his body stolen by his monstrous bed-ridden witch-grandmother.
* ''Series/TwinPeaks'' had at least four different people intermittently possessed by at least three different entities - both good and evil - all of which entities did so to hide who they were and what they were doing.
* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' it has happened once in all the seasons so far.
** Emily possessed Bonnie in Season 1.
** Klaus possessed Alaric in Season 2.
** And now Esther possessed Rebekah in Season 3.
** As of the season 3 finale, Klaus now possesses Tyler, thanks to Bonnie.
** As of Season 5, the Travelers make this into a way of life with their "Passenger spell", which allows them to merge with and control seemingly anyone. They do this to get around a curse that prevents them from being able to really settle down anywhere for good. The passengers control over the possessed body can be temporary or permanent, depending on the rituals performed, though a special knife can kill the passenger and restore the original self either way. Notable people possessed include [[spoiler:Elena, Sheriff Forbes, and Tyler (again).]]
* Happens in ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' when Callisto switches bodies with Xena to get out of the underworld. Noteworthy that this actually lasts more than one episode due to Creator/LucyLawless having been injured and [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the show using Callisto's actress to get around it]].
* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
** Two part episode "Dreamland I" and "Dreamland II" had Mulder accidentally switching bodies with a Man in Black named Morris Fletcher (played by Michael [=McKean=]) due to some space-time anomaly caused by an experimental aircraft. Fletcher is having great fun with it while Mulder is miserable and desperately trying to get his body back.
** In "Small Potatoes", a shapeshifter locks Mulder up and then shapeshifts to look like him, pretty much [[PowerPerversionPotential just to try to get in Scully's pants.]]

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* OlderThanFeudalism: Yayati, after the curse of his father-in-law that he should become old and infirm, asked his sons to exchange their youthful body with his. All refused except the youngest son, Puru, who was crowned after his reign. Puru was the ancestor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas in the ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}''. His brother Yadu was the ancestor of the Yadavas - thus the ancestor of Krishna.
* In UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, great master Kamalasila once gets out of his body to animate a rotting elephant corpse and move it out of the road. However, while he is busy doing it, another master, Dampa Sangye, appropriates his inert human body believing it to be a fresh corpse, as it was more beautiful than Sangye's own body. Kamalasila finds himself having to inhabit Sangye's body from that point.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* In ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance,'' [[spoiler: the Animus Bell]] has this power, by forcibly removing a body's soul and allowing another to possess it. [[spoiler: The liches who run Wonderland take advantage of this to send out their victims with claims of finding great treasure, thus luring in more adventurers for them to torment.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* Creator/FrankieBoyle leverages implied pop culture knowledge of this trope in a riotous bit wherein he postulates, without prior set-up, that Prince Phillip may be trying to use dark magic to eject Princess Charlotte's soul from her body and take it for his own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* What may best sum up the system of arcade platformer ''VideoGame/AvengingSpirit''. You play as a disembodied spirit that can freely possess enemy characters with different abilities and use them for yourself. Just don't take too long to find one or you'll evaporate.
* Dracula does this, or tries this, in several ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' titles. [[spoiler:He succeeds in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'' (though the host he ends up with isn't the one he wanted), can succeed in both ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' titles if you screw up, gets halfway there in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Order of Ecclesia]]'' (meaning Albus was a fairly solid Plan B for resurrection), and it's implied that he intended to pull this on Simon Belmont in ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania II|SimonsQuest}}''.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'', a hidden conversation suggests that [[CuteWitch Deneb]] is like this, but it's not that surprising. It does, however, add a whole new dimension of {{Squick}} to her character.
* In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', this happens to [[HeroicMime Serge]]. Apparently, someone needed to get around the whole ChosenOne business, and switching bodies with Serge seemed like the best way to do it. Things get [[MindScrew even more confusing]] later on.
* In addition to trying to turn your ghost into an assassin, the villainous plot of ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}'' also involves [[DemonicPossession giving your now-empty body to a demon]]. Similar possessions happen during gameplay as well, and there is even a deathmatch mode revolving entirely around taking over someone's body and throwing it into a bottomless pit or similar.
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaWorldsOfAdventure2MartianDreams'' the Martians were wiped out by a plague and sent their minds into the [[DreamLand Dream Realm]] to survive. Now an evil overlord named Raxachk wants to escape from the Dream Realm, but needs a body to do so. To this end he sabotages a space cannon to bring suitable hosts to Mars so that he could inhabit one.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}: The Lost Chapters'', BigBad Jack of Blades is revealed to be an ancient entity living inside his mask, who has spent aeons influencing the world by moving from host body to host body.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII: VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', [[spoiler:BigBad Hojo did this to Weiss.]]
** This is the specialty of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''[='s=] BigBad Ultimecia, who possesses every sorceress she can get her hands on: [[spoiler:Edea, Rinoa and Adel, in that order]]. Luckily everyone makes a full recovery and Ultimecia is defeated. (Besides, she borrows instead of steals.)
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' - Having become a [[TheHeartless Heartless]] years before the first game began, Ansem / Xehanort possesses Riku once Maleficent has unwittingly carried out most of his plan for him (his idea of a reward is to force her into her dragon form and point her at the heroes).
** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'': [[spoiler:It turns out that the thing that possessed Riku was the result of a ''previous'' body-jacking: the original Xehanort took over Terra's body to increase his lifespan. In the same game, Vanitas commits this against Ven in order to forge the X-Blade (which can be created by forcibly merging a heart of pure darkness and a heart of pure light), although those two started out as one person; Ven defeats him but is rendered comatose. Vanitas also, had Ven proven not to be strong enough, intended to pull this on Aqua as a ClosestThingWeGot scenario since her heart is as close to "pure light" as one can get without being like Ven or a Princess of Heart.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]'': [[spoiler:Xehanort's ultimate plan is revealed to be splitting his heart across ''thirteen'' vessels. He's got Xigbar, Saix, and at least two time-travelling versions of himself. With Riku now "resistant" to darkness, he tries to turn Sora, of all people, into the 13th.]] At this point, he's practically TheVirus...
* In ''VideoGame/MystIVRevelation'', the central plot involves Atrus' evil son [[spoiler:Sirrus]] attempting to transfer his mind into the body of Atrus' young daughter Yeesha: partly to escape his imprisonment, but also so that he can learn the [[RewritingReality Art]] that Atrus was willing to teach her but not him.
* The (eventually revealed) main plot of ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier'' is that evil old crone Sharpei hopes to use a combination of nanotechnology and a shrink ray to implant her brain into a host body, to extend her waning lifespan. She was originally planning to use series hero Roger (assuming that he "wouldn't be missed"), but ends up kidnapping his best friend/love interest Stellar instead, forcing Roger to make a [[FantasticVoyagePlot rescue attempt]].
** Not the first time Roger had to fight this Trope, either. In the fourth (or twelfth game... TimeTravel is involved), he has to fight Vohaul, who is possessing his KidFromTheFuture.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'', the Iskai species does this regularly: The Trii of a newborn has some unique abilities during the first week of its life; if an adult Iskai (assuming it's a female in this case) touches the newborn's Trii against hers, she can transfer her entire self into the spirit of the child. She can then begin life anew in her newly acquired body, while the former, adult one dies at the same instant. This act is commonly referred to as the Sebai ritual. The child is obviously never asked.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', the entity known as [[spoiler:Miang Hawwa]] can manifest instantaneously in any one woman on the planet if the previous incarnation is killed. In the end, when her current vessel is defeated, she migrates into [[spoiler:Elly]].
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', a [[BossBattle boss]] named [[spoiler: Doopliss]] transforms into a shadow version of Mario. [[spoiler:After the battle is over, the player learns that Doopliss actually swapped bodies with Mario. What follows is a bizarre confrontation, where Mario (in the shadow body) and one of his enemies must fight Doopliss (in Mario's body) and all the [[PartyInMyPocket party members]] Mario has acquired by that point in the game.]] Bonus points because, unlike most examples of this, [[spoiler:Doopliss stole Mario's NAME as well as his body; While as a shadow, Mario's voice is muted if he tries to say his name (as shown when Vivian says she can't hear him)]].
** [[spoiler:Cackletta]] does this in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga''. [[spoiler:She takes over Bowser's body after she is reduced to a ghost and he is barely conscious.]] Worryingly, [[spoiler:Bowser]]'s body takes on several characteristics which her body had, and [[strike:one]] two she [[NonMammalMammaries didn't]].
** In a rare heroic example, ''Mario himself'' can do this as one of the main gameplay mechanics in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''. By throwing Cappy at them, Mario can possess things; not just standard enemies like Goombas, Koopas and Cheep Cheep, but also objects like fireballs or a rocket, and even other living creatures like frogs, people, and dinosaurs.
* [[MysteriousWaif Lycia Spodune]] and [[BigBad Creed Graphite]], the two SufficientlyAdvancedAliens of ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'', have had their bodies sealed away for two millennia. Lycia has had her consciousness passed down along the female successors of the Hearts clan, in the benign variant of this trope. Creed played the normal, evil version for a while before being finally sealed [[spoiler:inside the main character's body]].
* Towards the end of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', [[spoiler:[[BigBad Mithos]] has lost his body in a previous fight with the protagonists, though his soul lives on in his Cruxis Crystal.]] Realizing that the good guys are finally going to totally screw things up for him [[spoiler:he attempts to steal Lloyd's body, only to have the character who most likes Lloyd in that specific file interrupt and get possessed instead. Mithos promptly uses their own body to kidnap them.]] Due to the possibility of this happening to [[spoiler:one of seven characters]], dialogue gets slightly {{Narm}}y from trying to avoid gender pronouns afterwards. Interesting observation, though: [[spoiler:despite being Lloyd's dad, Kratos doesn't seem to lift a finger in this scene and is the only character who doesn't have the possibility of getting possessed]]. Granted he's just been beaten up, but still...
* ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' has an unusual case: the protagonist, Rhys, is a {{cyborg}} who accidentally [[spoiler:uploads an AI reconstruction of [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] into his brain. Jack attempts to take over Rhys' body several times, not always with Rhys' permission, although he usually only manages to take control of his cybernetic parts. In Episode 3, however, if you sided with Jack at the end of the last episode, it is possible for him to temporarily take full control of Rhys' body, voice and all, after Rhys takes a bad fall and is rendered unconscious -- this only serves to make the rest of the team baffled and angered by Rhys' apparently sudden smug attitude and casual machismo, as Jack doesn't exactly act nicely when in Rhys' body or even really try to act like him at all.]]
* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'':
** After [[PlayerCharacter V]] gets shot in the head with a brain implant carrying the VirtualGhost of Johnny Silverhand, the {{nanomachines}} within it [[WeCanRebuildHim repair the damaged brain matter]] while simultaneously working to overwrite V's consciousness with Johnny's. Johnny is [[AdaptationalJerkass initially hostile]] and attempts to speed up the process as he has no direct control over it, but he quickly comes around and acts as a [[MentorInSourArmor jaded]] SpiritAdvisor to V, helping him find a way to prevent his "death" and get back at [[EvilInc Arasaka]] at the same time. [[spoiler: In the "[[TarotMotifs Temperence]]" ending V can choose to [[HeroicSacrifice voluntarily surrender their body to Johnny]].]]
** In the "[[TarotMotifs The Devil]]" ending, [[spoiler: [[GreaterScopeVillain Saburo Arasaka]] does this to his son [[BigBad Yorinobu]] after [[SelfMadeOrphan his death at the latter's hands]], after it's shown that he preserved a copy of his consciousness with the same BrainUploading tech they used on Johnny.]]
* In the AdventureGame ''VideoGame/PostMortem2002'', one of the characters has used this method in order to live for hundreds of years.
* This is what happens if you get the bad ending in ''VideoGame/BlackDahlia''.
* The BigBad tries to do this to [[spoiler:Curtis]] in ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria}} 2''.
** Inverted in that [[spoiler:the Hecatomb ''is'' Curtis - or rather, the original Curtis Craig - and from ''his'' point of view it's the ''player'' who's stolen his life.]]
* The [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] to the ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' series reveals this as the dark god Tchernobog's method of reincarnation, with the Cabal formed after the first time he did it, just so he could always have a new body on hand. The penultimate cinematic explains that the [[EvilPlan entire plot of the game]] was so Tchernobog could take over Caleb's body, Caleb gaining power from killing off the entirety of the Cabal throughout the rest of the game so that when Tchernobog took his body over, he would have the power to "throw open the door between realities" and rule over everything that has and ever will exist. [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth Caleb apparently became too powerful]], though, since the plan backfires - Caleb gains his power and takes over his role as the One That Binds (with a major plot point in the sequel revolving around the repercussions of Caleb not realizing or particularly giving any shits about that being his responsibility now for a century), but otherwise remaining himself rather than becoming Tchernobog. [[spoiler:A cancelled expansion for the sequel would have revealed, however, that Tchernobog ''did'' successfully possess Caleb, and that ever since the end of the original game [[TomatoInTheMirror the player was controlling Tchernobog who was in turn controlling Caleb]], with the final confrontation of the expansion involving the BigBad stealing Tchernobog's essence, thus [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent having you control him]] in battle against Caleb.]]
* This is probably the case in the biggest [[TheReveal reveal]] in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 3'', where [[BigBad Dr. Weil]], prior to the start of the series, [[spoiler:stole ''Zero's'' original body, turning it into the AxCrazy Omega]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'', this is [[spoiler:what the Evil Queen plans to do to Yorda, and why Ico has to rescue her.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', [[spoiler:the witch Flemeth is said to have had many daughters, but only one of them, Morrigan, is encountered by the party; after reading Flemeth's grimoire, Morrigan becomes convinced that Flemeth has been possessing her daughters and plans to do it to her, though Flemeth denies it.]] ''Videogame/DragonAgeInquisition'' sheds some more light on this. [[spoiler:It's true, but according to Flemeth she can't ''steal'' a body. Consent is required.]]
** [[spoiler:The Archdemon, upon being slain, automatically does this to the nearest Darkspawn, making it impossible to kill -- unless a Grey Warden strikes the final blow (which forces the Archdemon's spirit to travel in the Warden). Since Darkspawn are essentially soulless, the Archdemon can possess another darkspawn with no problems. Attempting to do the same to a Grey Warden [[HeroicSacrifice destroys both of their souls.]]]]
** We also get the Envy demon who does this to the Templars and attempts to do so on The Inquisitor...worthy of note is WhatCouldHaveBeen suggests it could have been much [[FromBadToWorse worse.]]
* The villains of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' plot to [[spoiler:have a demon possess Zelda's body. The princess is justifiably... [[FreakOut displeased]]... when she learns this.]]
* After you defeat the Dark Lord in ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', [[spoiler: it is revealed that it was a mere bystander that was possessed by a vile entity called the Dark Curse. Said Dark Curse then tries to pull ''another'' Grand Theft Me on the player character, but the Great Sage takes the blow instead to protect them. Cue the Darker Lord, which gained the abilities of the Great Sage.]]
* ''VideoGame/MuramasaTheDemonBlade'':
** Happens to Momohime; Jinkuro, her possessor, accidentally possesses Momohime while trying to possess Yukinojo, another powerful samurai and Momohime's betrothed.
** Also happens to [[spoiler:Arashimaru in his second ending]].
* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers of Sky'' has this as [[spoiler:Dusknoir's back-up plan; he's going to lure Grovyle to a frozen tundra whose trees have the power to ''[[DeaderThanDead destroy souls]]'', kill him, take over his body, travel to the past to befriend the guild, and then ''destroy everyone there''. Or at least was, until he pulled a HeelFaceTurn at the last moment.]]
* Thanatos's plan for Dyluck in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''. [[spoiler:Dyluck is forced to kill himself at the end to stop this.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Stacking}}'' takes place in a world populated by Russian matryoshka dolls and as such, the main character, as a particularly small doll, can "stack" within larger dolls and make use of their various abilities.
* The Voodoo Lady's locket is the cause of this one in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan''. When played around with the button on the locket, pressing it can cause some possession effects with [[VoicesAreMental voice changes]], like the Voodoo Lady's possessions of De Cava and Guybrush, and [[GenderBender Guybrush's possession of the Voodoo Lady]].
* At the climax of ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'', after his latest body is destroyed, Sigma reverts to his virus form and decides to steal X's body, only to be thwarted at the last moment by Dr. Doppler.
* Happens to Adell in the worst ending of ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'' [[spoiler:when the [[OmnicidalManiac Real Overlord Zenon]] takes over his body, and then makes him [[ImAHumanitarian eat his little brother and sister]].]] Nightmare fuel, indeed.
* Kaine in ''VideoGame/NieR'' is partially possessed by the shade Tyrann, and he threatens to fully take over when she comes close to death or is overtaken by the Black Scrawl. [[spoiler:And in endings C and D, that's exactly what happens.]]
* Reptile falls victim to this in his ending in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'', which sees him getting possessed by the newly reborn Dragon King, Onaga. While still in Reptile's body, Onaga goes on to serve as the BigBad for the series' [[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception next installment]].
* A few instances in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe:
** In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' banshees can displace the soul of their target, granting you control of that unit perfectly, and destroying the banshee in the process. This is also played with by certain banshee mobs in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. This is because banshees are just souls: although if they find their previous bodies they can inhabit them. All undead actually can do this because their souls are not firmly connected to their bodies. Nathanos Blightcaller did this to his cousin Stephanos at the direction of Sylvanas Windrunner. It's unclear if Stephanos' soul is still around, or if it was destroyed in the ritual.
** The priest's ability Mind Control is essentially this, except temporary. Very few priests lorewise display the ability to do it so it clearly takes a high power level to pull off successfully. Theoretically it could be permanent: but doing that on an unwilling target would require absurd amounts of power.
** Sargeras, the evil Titan and leader of the Burning Legion did this to Medivh. Which rather put a dent in Medivh's ability to protect the world from Sargeras and the Burning Legion, like he was supposed to. But this situation was caused by the sexism of the human kingdoms: providing a good explanation for the widespread and unquestioned gender equality in what is otherwise a pretty medieval-style kingdom. However, to demonstrate the absurd power level this required: Medivh was frequently able to wrest back control of his body from Sargeras, and used these moments of lucidity to plot against the Titan. While Medivh was a powerful mage, he was just a mage while Sargeras is the strongest of all the Titans who are all godlike in power level.
** Essentially this is what the Lich King did to Arthas Menethil through Frostmourne. Because the sword took a piece of Arthas' soul, the Lich King was able to fill that void in Arthas with his own spirit. Which is why he turned all evil and stuff (although Arthas was doing questionable things already).
** This is a favorite tactic of the demons known as Dreadlords. In particular, there was Balnazzar, who stole the body of the Scarlet Crusade's leader. Since the Crusade was an influential faction in the Third War, this was quite a problem. Balnazzar goes on to reappear twice more, stealing other bodies of other important people.
** This is what was done to create the original death knights, although in that case the original inhabitant of the body was long gone. Orc warlocks were put into the bodies of Alliance soldiers, creating warriors who could both use magic and use advanced weapons techniques. This is likely not true of the Lich King's Death Knights, at least in the case of individuals who were already magic users. Rather, their spirits are matched with their original bodies just, you know, dead. They are essentially mind-controlled by the Lich King though through the Helm of Domination, but this is not body-swapping: rather he's giving them orders in their minds. Sort of like a cross between telepathy and hypnotism.
* Lobelia in ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' has the ability to steal bodies via necromancy, but oddly enough the only person she tries it on is the only one who is capable of stopping her.
* In ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', a storyline in Metropolis has Giganta getting help from Circe to create a ritual that will allow her to steal Wonder Girl's body. If you're playing as a hero, the ritual succeeds and Giganta obtains Wonder Girl's powers in addition to her own. If you're playing as a villain, Giganta botches the ritual and her powers are given to Wonder Girl, so the only difference depending on your faction is the dialogue and which of them do you fight once the ritual has been undone.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', [[spoiler:the Avatar was ''born'' to be a victim of this for Grima. Making things worse is that, in a way, they already ''are'' Grima. They weren't just born, but actually they were ''bred'' to become this. The Grimleal cult has been carrying a SuperBreedingProgram to get the perfect SoulJar for Grima ''for at very least four generations''. The Avatar is just the most perfected and pure "product" of it.]]
* In the horror game ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse'', it turns out that [[spoiler:Ellen, the title witch, has pulled this on your character Viola via some magic -- meaning, in essence, that you've been playing as Ellen the whole time. And the freaky legless thing that chases you down near the end? That's Viola in Ellen's old body, which Ellen did horrible things to. The worst part though? The spell to switch bodies requires [[ThePowerOfTrust a bond of mutual trust]], trust that no longer exists in either character at this point. Meaning Viola would never return to her old body even if she did capture Ellen]].
--> ''Just for a day? Hee hee... I guess I did say that.''
* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'', Ennard's goal is to hijack the PlayerCharacter's body in order to escape the pizzeria. [[spoiler: [[HiveMind They]] succeed, but [[MeaninglessVillainVictory their victory is short-lived]] as Michael Afton's body eventually rejects the machinery within it, forcing them out. Michael is left horribly disfigured, but lives to [[VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator continue his crusade]] against his ArchnemesisDad.]]
* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' [[spoiler:Darth Zash tried to pull that on her apprentice, the protagonist of the Inquisitor story line. She has been living under a Force illusion for quite a while; in reality, her body is desiccated and almost dead-like. When Force techniques that preserve a dying body were no longer enough, she decided to perform an ancient ritual and transfer her consciousness into another person, extinguishing the host mind in the process. Being the sly Sith she is, she makes the protagonist prepare everything for the ritual without revealing its true purpose until the very end. [[HoistbyHisOwnPetard It backfires hilariously.]]]]
** In ''Knights of the Fallen Empire'', [[spoiler:this is Emperor Valkorion aka the Sith Emperor Vitiate's ultimate goal. Everything he put The Outlander through was done for the purpose of making The Outlander a suitable host body for his spirit. Like with Zash, it ultimately backfires.]]
* This is the plan of the BigBad in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair''. [[spoiler: [[BigBad Junko Enoshima]] lives on as an AI and, using the old [[ApocalypseCult Ultimate Despair]] members currently residing in a [[LotusEaterMachine VR-Island]] to correct their ways by the Future Foundation, decides to play the Killing Game with them all. Anyone who died in the VR-Island would be available for her to download her consciousness into and roam the world again]].
* In ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', this is one of the many powers wielded by [[spoiler: Mycale. Since she's the spirit of a WickedWitch who has been on the loose since the Middle Ages, she uses the bodies of young women with magic and fighting potential to keep herself inside the EnemyCivilWar in the NebulousEvilOrganization known as ''Gessellschaft''. In-story her host is the 14-year-old Kati, but in [[ChurchMilitant Anonym]]'s ending she "surfs" her way into Anonym's body...]]
* In ''VideoGame/ChainsOfSatinav'', a villain [[spoiler: survives being burned at the stake by swapping souls with a raven right before it happens. Of course everyone assumes he's dead, so it comes as a surprise when they realize he's wreaking more havoc -- this time in raven form -- thirteen years later]].
* Happens a lot to Lynn in ''VideoGame/WitchesLegacy''. She can barely get through a game without someone - namely Elisabeth and Morgana - trying to steal her body.
* The final game of the ''VideoGame/DeepSleepTrilogy'' reveals that this is what is going on with the Shadow People -- they are monsters created out of people who had their bodies taken in their sleep, their minds trapped in a dark world ''for eternity'' unless they find someone else to pull the same thing on them. [[spoiler:It also reveals you were a victim of this by a Shadow Person in the second game, and the ending comes down to you having to choose whether or not to continue the cycle by taking over another person or remaining in dark world forever]].
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has ComicBook/TheJoker, now dead after the events of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', trying to hijack Batman's mind via his infected blood after Batman is exposed to Scarecrow's fear gas, appearing as a hallucination that, for the most part, simply makes jokes and heckles Batman, but gets stronger as the night goes on and tries to assert control. He even nearly succeeds couple times, most notably on Stagg's airship when Joker temporarily takes over and beats several militia soldiers nearly to death.
** Besides Batman, four other people are infected with Joker's blood and each takes on one of Joker's traits:
*** Prizefighter [[TheBrute Albert King]] inherits Joker's sociopathic violence and cruelty.
*** Professional singer [[LargeHam Johnny Charisma]] has his showmanship and ego boosted to Joker's deranged levels.
*** Businesswoman [[{{Yandere}} Christina Bell]] develops a Joker-level obsession with Batman, even thinking they're lovers.
*** College headmaster [[MagnificentBastard Henry Adams]] gains Joker's sinister intelligence, even being able to hide his infection enough to fool Batman into thinking he's immune.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler: resetting from the [[KillEmAll Genocide ending]] requires the player to [[DealWithTheDevil sell their soul to the Fallen Child]]. Going for the [[PacifistRun Pacifist Route's]] GoldenEnding after doing so will result in the Fallen Child again taking over the protagonist and killing everyone. You've [[EarnYourBadEnding Earned Your Bad Ending]].]]
* The ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fan game and alternate universe project ''VideoGame/UndertaleLastBreath'' presents a rare ''willing'' example of this trope, in which W.D. Gaster takes control of Sans’s body to fight the human face to face, having made sure Sans didn’t die despite the fact that he had been hit by the human earlier (his HP had fallen below 1, but hadn’t reached zero, instead existing in the decimal range). This works well for a while, but once Sans’s body tires out, the human strikes them again, killing Sans and potentially Gaster as well. However, their efforts are not in vain, as this instance of body hijacking gives Flowey and Asgore time to prepare an ambush that finally kills the human off, once and for all.
* In ''Cadenza 4: Fame, Theft and Murder'' a bum named Adam who's wanted by the police swaps bodies with hot young rock star Michael Valance and Mike has twelve hours to reverse the switch before it becomes permanent.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Scrapland}}'', D-Tritus is given a program that allows him to hack into The Great Database and overwrite any robot he wants.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'':
** Near the beginning of ''VideoGame/DevilSummoner'', Kyouji Kuzunoha dies in a mysterious accident, and then the protagonist is killed by Sid Davis. He then wakes up in Kyouji's body. Later on, Kyouji (now in [[spoiler:Takashi]]'s body) [[spoiler:hatches a plan to get his old body back by sending the protagonist to Hell, but it fails because he's been out of the body for too long]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona2'':
*** Kyouji Kuzunoha is back at it, now possessing the body of a middle-aged third-rate PI named Daisuke Todoroki, with no sign of leaving any time soon.
*** Tatsuya Suou pulls this in ''Eternal Punishment'', as he spends the entire game possessing the body of his AlternateSelf.
* This as a key factor of the gameplay in ''VideoGame/{{Paradroid}}''. The technical explanation given in the intro scroller of the game is that the player controls a helmet-like robot ("influence device") which can take over other robots, gaining access to their abilities (upgrade weaponry, movement speed and armor).
* In Needles Kane's ending in ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal: Head-On'', [[spoiler:he wishes to switch bodies with Calypso before ordering Calypso's men to kill the latter.]]
* ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'': This turns out to be [[spoiler: the true ''modus operandi'' behind the New Cyclops killer, Saito Sejiima. By using a prototype Psync machine, he was able to swap bodies with his victims and kill them to throw off the investigators [[SuspectExistenceFailure who repeatedly find their prime suspects as the next victims]].]] It's also the reason why [[spoiler: he's going after Date specifically: Date has been inhabiting his old body for the last six years and he wants it back.]]
[[/folder]]

* The WebVideo/MandelaCatalogue has the alternates, who do this to human bodies [[spoiler:after the victims commit suicide.]]

* ''[[Literature/{{Kane}} Darkness Weaves]]'' has Efrel who has been so badly mutilated and crippled that only being an EldritchAbomination has allowed her to stay alive. Since she is skilled in dark magic, she plans to transfer her soul in the body of a young woman [[spoiler: daughter of the man who mutilated her]], both to regain beauty and get her {{Revenge}}, since she aims to let the girl live in her former, ruined body.

** Lucius the Eternal, a Slaaneshi champion has this as his shtick (besides the usual Slaaneshi depravity, and excellent swordsmanship). Anyone who kills him finds a copy of his armour forming from them, then their body starts warping into a copy of his, and eventually he's back while they are reduced to one more screaming face on his armour. It only happens if whoever was lucky enough to kill him takes "any amount of satisfaction" from it. If they don't, fine. If they have even the smallest feeling of relief at killing him then hey, you're fucked! Unless he gets killed by a daemon from another god, [[RobotWar Necrons]], [[BugWar Tyranids]], or stray shots in battle. One short story had him killed by stepping on a mine. He ended up possessing the body of ''the worker who armed the mine at the factory'' when the worker felt satisfaction at a job well done.]]

** Lucius the Eternal, a Slaaneshi champion has this as his shtick (besides the usual Slaaneshi depravity, and excellent swordsmanship). Anyone who kills him finds a copy of his armour forming from them, then their body starts warping into a copy of his, and eventually he's back while they are reduced to one more screaming face on his armour. It only happens if whoever was lucky enough to kill him takes "any amount of satisfaction" from it. If they don't, fine. If they have even the smallest feeling of relief at killing him then hey, you're fucked! Unless he gets killed by a daemon from another god, [[RobotWar Necrons]], [[BugWar Tyranids]], or stray shots in battle.

* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'', Ennard's goal is to hijack the PlayerCharacter's body in order to escape the pizzeria. [[spoiler: [[HiveMind They]] succeed, but [[PyrrhicVillainy their victory is short-lived]] as Michael Afton's body eventually rejects the machinery within it, forcing them out. Michael is left horribly disfigured, but lives to [[VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator continue his crusade]] against his ArchnemesisDad.]]

* ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'': A recurring theme.
** Starting off, Brian Banner possesses the body of Sasquatch in order to get into the Hulk.
** Much later on down the line, it turns out [[spoiler:The Leader has been possessing Rick Jones' corpse since his apparent resurrection. A few issues later, he takes over the body of Del Frye, a teenager in Shadow Base's care. And then it turns out he's managed to take over the Green Scar Hulk personality. Exactly where Rick and the Green Scar's minds are during all this is unclear, but Frye's possession shows he's stuck reliving his own death over and over while the Leader steals his body.]]
** [[spoiler:When the Leader kills Doc Samson in such a way he can't restore his body, Samson ends up taking over the deceased body of Sasquach, becoming Doc Sasquach.]]

* ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'': While Strange and America Chavez are in the 838 universe version of the New York Sanctum, that universe's Mordo tells them of a [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique dangerous spell]] in the Darkhold called Dreamwalking, which allows the wielder to take over the body of an alternate version of themselves in another universe. [[spoiler:Sacred Timeline Wanda uses the spell to possess her 838 counterpart to both see her sons and to attack the Illuminati in order to get to America. Strange later turns it UpToEleven by using the same spell while in Sinister Strange's universe to possess the corpse of Defender Strange buried in the Sacred Timeline so that he can rescue America from Wanda.]]

** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]'' takes this UpToEleven: [[spoiler:Xehanort's ultimate plan is revealed to be splitting his heart across ''thirteen'' vessels. He's got Xigbar, Saix, and at least two time-travelling versions of himself. With Riku now "resistant" to darkness, he tries to turn Sora, of all people, into the 13th.]] At this point, he's practically TheVirus...

* In the AdventureGame ''VideoGame/PostMortem'', one of the characters has used this method in order to live for hundreds of years.