History Main / NotHimself

** It [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil appeared this way]] with Varsuuvius in but accepting that it ''was'' consistent with his character was part of his CharacterDevelopment.

Compare OutOfCharacterMoment and WeirderThanUsual. Contrast with SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay. See also VirusVictimSymptoms.

* ''Several examples in ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'':

* During the "Trinity" arc, it is revealed that Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/WonderWoman are "Keystones" of reality, inherent to the fabric of the universe, and that the endless Expies of them across the multiverse are the "Keystones" of their universe (including [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Apollo, Midnighter]] and [[ComicBook/WildCATs Zealot]] for the Creator/{{Wildstorm}} universe, whch makes... [[{{Grimdark}} a lot]] [[NinetiesAntihero of sense]]). When a trio of villains tries to usurp their position for ultimate power, the spell they use has the side effect of of causing them to take on each others personality traits, meaning on a mission to the MirrorUniverse, Superman goes LeeroyJenkins and [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomps]] the [[EvilTwin CSA]] while Batman tries to negotiate a peaceful solution and Wonder Woman broods on their out of character behaviour. Then when Superman sends Ultraman, Owlman and Superwoman out of their universe, it starts trying to force them to become the new Keystones, and they start acting like their CSA doubles as well as each other. Fortunately ComicBook/BlackCanary tells them to go home and get their act together.

** In "A Canterlot Wedding", Twilight's brother Shining Armor is engaged to her old foalsitter Princess Cadance, which excites her as she's gaining a sister-in-law. When she encounters Cadance in Canterlot however, she's suspicious when she doesn't recognize her SecretHandshake, makes constant demands, and casts a dark spell on Shining, and deduces she's evil. As it turns out, "Cadance" is actually the Changeling Queen Chrysalis in disguise, who disguised herself to feed on Shining's love, and imprisoned the real Cadance beneath Canterlot.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', the Canterlot High School students under the Dazzlings' spell become confrontational and ultra-competitive. It's most notable with Flash Sentry, for whom it's completely at odds with his NiceGuy persona from the first movie. He even snaps once at Twilight Sparkle, making her cry.

* ComicBook/CosmicBoy of DC's post-Zero Hour ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' spent a whole {{Arc}} being Not Himself and alienating his teammates at every opportunity [[spoiler: in order to set up an elaborate EngineeredPublicConfession which revealed the President's corruption and caused her removal from office]]. Some Legion fans never forgave him for it. (It didn't help that this particular arc occurred in the first couple years after a total reboot of the Legion, so it wasn't as clear as it might have been that this wasn't just Cos's new personality.)

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' fanfiction, Alan Jonah and half of his paramilitary slowly begin exhibiting this due to exposure to San's original head's psychic BrownNote. Jonah in particular one day decides to not only perform a violent napalm experiment on [[TwoBeingsOneBody San and Vivienne]], he goes out of his way to savagely rip Vivienne apart with words, and it doesn't go unnoticed by Vivienne later on that the infamous EcoTerrorist is behaving quite contrary to his normal, cold-hearted self. Tejada also says Kauffmann used to "like an open book" but changed after he was affected.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', Tom Riddle, through his diary, possesses Ginny Weasley to commit atrocities for him. It's stated several times that not only could she not fight him, she wasn't even aware of what he was doing while in control of her body and was unable to recall those events even after the fact. It wasn't until she realized her memory gaps coincided with the attacks that she started to put it together, but by then it was too late.
** This is also implied to be what happens to people placed under the Imperius Curse. Unfortunately, as [[spoiler:fake]] Moody explains in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', there's no way to tell after the fact whether someone had actually been a victim of the curse, making it quite difficult for the Ministry to tell the difference between those who had been truly Imperiused and those who were falsely claiming it as a defense.

* In ''[[Creator/WoodyAllen Everyone Says I Love You]]'', one of the characters becomes a Republican to the great surprise (and dismay) of his family. It turns out it was because of some sort of brain problem.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'':
** [[spoiler: Zidane]] displays this for a short while near the end of the game. Given his normally cheerful personality, this moment is notable as it hints at [[spoiler: what he was really capable of if he had been acting towards his intended purpose -- i.e., an angel of death and destroyer of worlds]].
** A good chunk of the game's first half is driven by Princess Garnet wanting to find out why her mother was not acting like herself. Turns out she was being influenced by Kuja.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', it is said at the beginning of the game that the King's behavior changed. [[FakeKing Of course...]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': in an early mission, you find a man being menaced by bad guys. You have a choice to either prioritize beating up the bad guys, or saving their victim. Choosing the former prompts the main character's best friend to ask if he's flipped his lid.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27736435 Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash]]'': When the main protagonists receive unexpected invitations to the wedding of "Circe and Marc Maddhouse", this immediately puts them on high alert: not only was the Circe they knew not involved in any romantic endeavors, let alone with a morally bankrupt sleazeball, she was an admitted lesbian--and thus had absolutely zero romantic interest in men. After the situation was resolved, [[spoiler:Circe confirmed that their judgments were spot on: Marc had manipulated her into drinking one of her own [[LovePotion love potions]], ensuring that she would see him as the perfect spouse for her.]]

* ''Series/ResidentAlien'': Isabelle, Harry's wife, is very aware that her acting really strangely. Naturally though she doesn't realize this is because he's dead, and "Harry" is an alien imposter.

* ''Series/ResidentAlien'': Izabella, Harry's wife, is very aware that her acting really strangely. Naturally though she doesn't realize this is because he's dead, and "Harry" is an alien imposter.

** Castiel, four times: at the end of season 4 where he was brainwashed, before Dean snaps him out of it. Then at the start of season 7, when the souls [[spoiler: and [[EldritchAbomination leviathans]] that he's absorbed in the season 6 finale start to mess with his mind. Then in season 8 when he is taken out of Purgatory and brainwashed by Naomi to serve as a ManchurianAgent without him realizing it and again in season 11, this time because he is possessed by Lucifer who is impersonating Cas when around the Winchester brothers.

** Dean in the back half of season 9 due to [[spoiler: the effects of the Mark of Cain]].
** Castiel, three times: at the end of season 4 where he was brainwashed, before Dean snaps him out of it. Then in season 8 when he is taken out of Purgatory and brainwashed by Naomi to serve as a ManchurianAgent without him realizing it and again in season 11, this time because he is possessed by Lucifer who is impersonating Cas when around the Winchester brothers.

-->'''Andrew Silas''': "We expected them to just be our friends and family with hooves and fur, we expected... I don't know what. The simplest way I can put it is that we expected it to be them. That they'd be something like the people we knew. Henry, though - you've heard this description a million times, but it just wasn't him in there."

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''

* ''Anime/MaiHime''. The anime is ambiguous about how much (if indeed at all) [[spoiler:the [=HiME=] star is affecting the [=HiME=] as it gets closer to earth. Is it playing with their emotions to provoke them to fight each other (thus causing Shizuru to go completely mad when she's rejected by Natsuki), or is it all a result of their normal psyches, just put under a lot of stress?]]

* ComicBook/CosmicBoy of DC's post-Zero Hour ''Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' spent a whole {{Arc}} being Not Himself and alienating his teammates at every opportunity [[spoiler: in order to set up an elaborate EngineeredPublicConfession which revealed the President's corruption and caused her removal from office]]. Some Legion fans never forgave him for it. (It didn't help that this particular arc occurred in the first couple years after a total reboot of the Legion, so it wasn't as clear as it might have been that this wasn't just Cos's new personality.)
* Apparently, hacking into {{Superman}}'s mind is like evil hypnotists' [[WikiVandal wikivandalism]]. Some bratty six-year-old in Minneapolis trips over a ouija board, next thing you know our Man of Steel is giving the Batman a wedgie.

* In the ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' fanfic series ''{{Fanfic/Heirverse}}'', Aizen usually when [[spoiler: Jac is getting to him or more rarely if he's emotional. Gin begins to figure this out after ''CF''.]]

* In the ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Retribution}}'', Spock convinces Kirk to forgive himself for [[Recap/StarTrekS2E12TheDeadlyYears his harsh words]] by forcing him to admit that the RapidAging was affecting his mind.

* ''[[FanFic/BurnTheWitchMiraculousLadybug BURN THE WITCH]]'': Tikki gets swept up in Witch Hunter's influence, encouraging Marinette to prioritize saving the city over protecting [[LiarRevealed Lila]] from the mob. This is partly due to her having experience with past witch hunts, and feeling no small amount of satisfaction at the thought of [[AssholeVictim somebody who actually]] ''[[AssholeVictim DESERVES]]'' [[AssholeVictim to suffer]] being the target this time, as well as wanting to protect Marinette from being hurt any further by [[ManipulativeBitch Lila's manipulations]].

---> "Who's up for... what did we used to do together? 'Playing video games and raging against the machine?'" "We're in!"

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "A Canterlot Wedding", Twilight's brother Shining Armor is engaged to her old foalsitter Princess Cadance, which excites her as she's gaining a sister-in-law. When she encounters Cadance in Canterlot however, she's suspicious when she doesn't recognize her SecretHandshake, makes constant demands, and casts a dark spell on Shining, and deduces she's evil. As it turns out, "Cadance" is actually the Changeling Queen Chrysalis in disguise, who disguised herself to feed on Shining's love, and imprisoned the real Cadance beneath Canterlot..