History Main / LossofIdentity

--> -- '''Touko''', ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners''

* ''Series/DarkMatter'': At the beginning of the show, the crew agree that they are not defined by their past actions as [[PsychoForHire ruthless mercenaries]], as they don't remember any of them. They decide to instead use their skills and equipment for what feels right to them as they are now without those memories, [[ThatManIsDead declining to even use their original names]] except when necessary, instead [[YouAreNumberSix going by One through Six]] in the order they awakened from stasis with amnesia. Although they all retain certain personality traits. For example, Two is the ''de facto'' captain of the ship, and was captain as Portia Lin before she lost her memories as well. The one who has changed the least, as Four notes in Season Three [[spoiler:when he recovers his original memories as Ryo Ishida]], is Five (an innocent-seeming TeenGenius girl whose presence amongst these hardened criminals starts out as [[MysteriousWaif a mystery]]), the only one whose birth name is initially unknown anyway as she has no rapsheet in the computer.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Matsuri at one point square his GenderBenderAngst by saying he is "not really [himself]" so long as his body remains female. However, he ''only'' expresses this concern to say dating Suzu as a girl would be [[AccidentalAdultery cheating on his "real" male self]]--which is treated not as a worrying sign of dissociation, but a ridiculous excuse to [[spoiler:avoid hooking up with Suzu once they know they love each other]].

* ''Literature/AllMySinsRemembered'': This is the problem facing Otto McGavin, and indeed all Prime Operators employed by the Confederacion, by the end of the book. A long career of having his real identity subsumed by false or stolen personalities has caused him to suffer a crisis of identity as his mind tried to reconcile his true memories with the various implanted ones used to shield him from detection on missions. He's ultimately left howling in madness as his handlers lament his fate due to him being one of their best agents, ultimately retiring him by permanently locking him in suspended animation.

--> -- '''Touko''', ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners''

* ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'':
** A major theme in the series. Shiki wakes up after a two-year coma and is only able to feel " " - literally nothing, emptiness. She is unable to connect herself to the "her" from her memories, and no longer [[spoiler:has the "split personality" that she had been born with to keep her company]]. Her finding something to continue living for is a major issue for the rest of the series.
** Also done on a lesser scale with Tohko, who at one point [[spoiler:created an ''exact'' duplicate of her body, down to the last detail, which made her realize that her own individuality was completely meaningless, as that body could exist as her on its own. She links it to her consciousness and sets it to wake up the instant her current body dies, so it quite literally ''is'' her, complete with memories and everything]].

* In ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'', Flat Escardos summons Jack the Ripper as his Servant. However, unlike the ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'' version, this Jack is an incarnation of the ''legend'' of the killer, and as thus unaware of the real identity of the Whitechapel murderer. The result is a hollow, bloodthirsty spirit that perfectly disguises as anyone, since, well... Jack could have been ''anyone''... a doctor, a prostitute, perhaps an organized group; even a demon, maybe...

* In ''LightNovel/TheExecutionerAndHerWayOfLife'', some people have Pure Concepts attached to their souls. A Pure Conce[t grants incredible power, but erodes the memories and personality of the wielder each time its used. Eventually, a user loses their entire personal identity and acts as nothing more than an avatar of the Pure Concept they wield.
* In ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'', Soldier 1 was raised from infancy as a soldier, and was never treated like a child, but a weapon. By the time the story starts, he's an EmptyShell fully devoted to his mission, whatever it is. He really doesn't have a concept of empathy or any idea of how to interact with others outside of combat. His Servant Watcher intends to break him out of this mindset; their first conversation has the boy renounce the title his superiors gave him and name himself Sigma.

* In VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry, part and parcel of [[spoiler:Sayo's]] emotional crisis leading up to the Rokkenjima Massacre was the fact that [[spoiler: they were essentially trying to be three different people at the same time]] and realized that they would eventually need to come clean and pick one, while at the same time hating themselves for tricking [[spoiler:people they loved]] like that.

* This is part of the hook of the Vertigo version of ''Human Target'': Christopher Chance has no real sense of his own identity after spending his life impersonating other people. Even worse is his onetime pupil Tom [=McFadden=], who managed to lose all memory of his original identity after some time impersonating Chance (and in turn impersonating a few others along the way) -- there's a scene where he struggles fruitlessly to think of something about himself besides what he can see in the mirror.

* The brutish but human Agent Maine in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' becomes the ruthless, savage killing machine known as [[ImplacableMan the Meta]] as a result of his AI [[TheCorrupter Sigma]]'s influence on him.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Oceanfalls}}'', this is potentially what happened to [[AmnesiacHero Nino]], if the implication that [[spoiler:the Phantom is his old self]] is correct. Later becomes a DiscussedTrope between him and Kaji, [[spoiler:another amnesiac, who explains to Nino that he's found that no matter what is forgotten, [[AvertedTrope a fundamental core part of a person still remains the same]], like their most fundamental values and beliefs. Kaji advises that Nino should locate the core of who he is, so that, whether he never remembers or he finds his memories undesirable, he won't lose himself in the process]].

* From ''Manga/CaterpillarGirlAndBadTexterBoy'', the titular girl Suzume Kikuo voices her fears about this. After she was [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a giant caterpillar]] she can't live normally or do everyday tasks. She also expresses that she can't taste things anymore and is afraid that, if she stays as she is, she'll lose what makes her "her". As the story progresses, protagonist Akane notices her starting to act out in ways unusual to how he knew her before, more and more frequently.

* In Fanfic/{{Justice}}, Lex comes to this conclusion about the Joker as the clown's encounter with Sanji costs him [[PutTheLaughterInSlaughter his laughter and smile]], the two major things that identify him. Without them, the Joker becomes far more deadly and unpredictable as he desperately tries to find something to make him laugh again, making criminals far more fearful of him than they were before.

* 1930s pulp hero Franchise/DocSavage maintained a secret installation where he used brain surgery and memory modification to 'cure' captured villains' criminal tendencies and turn them into productive members of society -- practices that would be considered torture and brainwashing [[ValuesDissonance nowadays]].

* While ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' fanfics adore this trope, the "Brotherhood of Shadow" fan-made expansion pack cranks it UpToEleven with virtually ''every'' major character abandoning, obliterating, and adopting new identities. A Twi'lek named Channa Mae was found by Jedi Master Solomon, who nicknamed her "Matilda." When the Mandalorian Wars came, Channa Mae abandoned Solomon and the Jedi, as well as the nickname, to fight for Revan's cause. After the war, she abandoned even the Channa Mae identity to become "Shadow," Revan's assassin/aide/secret apprentice. [[spoiler: When Revan "died," Shadow found her Force connection severed and became Sera Degana, a crewman on a smuggling vessel. But, then Revan and Solomon come back into her life...]] Another example is Kobayashi, [[spoiler: who was once a Jedi apprentice, and lost his own Force connection after his master was killed]], then took on a new identity as a scout and smuggler. Solomon also abandons ''his'' identity [[spoiler: after being critically wounded and thought dead on Taris. His goal is to kill Revan - and Shadow -- to avenge his former Padawan and his niece (who Channa had to kill in self-defense)]]. The Brotherhood of Shadow itself cements it all -- they were an elite Sith order who were critical in repelling the Rakatan invasion of their world, seeing themselves as a single unit, not as individuals. [[spoiler: When the first Sith Lords betrayed them, the entire Brotherhood was locked in a mind-trap. Over the millennia, they truly did become a single mind - one looking for a host]].

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Matsuri at one point square his GenderBenderAngst by say he is "not really [himself]" so long as his body remains female. However, he ''only'' expresses this concern to say dating Suzu as a girl would be [[AccidentalAdultery cheating on his "real" male self]]--which is treated not as a worrying sign of dissociation, but a ridiculous excuse to [[spoiler:avoid hooking up with Suzu once they know they love each other]].

* Music/DanielAmos: The album ''Music/VoxHumana'' has a short story in the liner notes where the narrator reaches an unusual conclusion: loss of identity comes not from changing too much, but from [[StaticCharacter the complete lack of change]].

** A more subtle one takes place for the leapee; we learn very little about him and don't even see his reflection, so he's even more lost than the other leapees that Sam replaces. ''Fridge Horror'' ensues: after Sam leaps out, delusions and disassociative personality disorder will feature on the patient's medical history, which they didn't before. Those were Sam, not him, but who will believe it?

* Touched on at intervals in ''Series/QuantumLeap'' via the "Swiss cheese memory" effect that causes leapers incomplete amnesia. In the pilot, Sam can barely remember his name, though it's temporary. Later he forgets that he can play piano, and never does figure out where he learned to roundhouse kick. The same happens to [[spoiler:Al when he becomes a leaper]] in "The Leap Back", but Sam is quick to fill him in.
** A much worse loss of identity happens in "Shock Theater", in which Sam leaps into a patient undergoing electro-shock therapy. Atmospheric conditions combine with the shock to knock Sam's "ego" out of his head and for the rest of the episode he takes on the identity of several former leapees. A more subtle one takes place for the leapee; we learn very little about him and don't even see his reflection, so he's even more lost than the other leapees that Sam replaces. ''Fridge Horror'' may ensue as after Sam leaps out, delusions and disassociative personality disorder will now feature on the patient's medical history, which they didn't before.

** Anyone caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi and eventually turned into White Zetsu lose their original selves' personalities and defining features.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', on the island of Dressrosa [[spoiler:the sentient toys were once humans transformed into toy creatures by a Devil Fruit power. It seems a majority of those close to the transformed victims not only don't recognize the victim they ''forget the person even existed.'']]

* In ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', Yubaba binds people to her service by stealing their names and memories. Even Chihiro, who is there for less than a day already begins to forget her real name.

* ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' has this as a potential side effect of the Demon Virus. The hardiest and strongest [[WasOnceAMan once-human]] enemies are almost all consumed by their demonic identities.