History Main / PhotographicMemory

* ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': Strong Bad admits to having an ''un''photographic memory in "[[Recap/StrongBadEmailE140Highschool highschool]]", and that his is more "[[ArtShift like a doodle memory]].

* Severian, the protagonist of ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun''. The narrative comprises Severian's journal, but although he claims to remember everything flawlessly, a careful examination of the text reveals that he does not always record those recollections consistently, suggesting that he either ''does'' have flaws in his memory or is lying. Pratchett's Brutha above may be a ShoutOut, as a minor character in ''Small Gods'' is named Severian and both have a CrystalDragonJesus version of the Catholic Church. A precise invokation of the trope, as described in the introduction above, occurs in this passage:

Sometimes paired with LaserGuidedAmnesia for ironic effect. If the narrator has this, he is an InfallibleNarrator. Occasionally this is a setup for a gag where they've [[SelfServingMemory grossly overestimated]] [[CrazyMemory what they do remember about an event]]. Supetrope to ElephantsNeverForget. One inversion is RepeatedRehearsalFailure, where even despite an effort to remember something and rehearsing or repeating it someone still forgets.

* Aoi, the oldest of the Sakurada siblings in ''Manga/CastleTownDandelion'', has this as her RoyaltySuperpower. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Except not really.]] Her ''actual'' power is a CompellingVoice, but seeing as she's such a humble NiceGirl, she absolutely refuses to use it, and keeps it a secret from almost everyone because she's scared of what they might think.]]
* Tokura Misaki from ''Anime/CardfightVanguard''. It's not a pretty situation for her because it comes packaged with [[spoiler:PTSD from witnessing her parents' car crash.]] The memory does prove useful in cardfights, where it helps her memorize and predict the content of her opponent's deck.

** According to the [[LongRunner eighth movie]], not only does Conan remember everything in crystal detail, but he can even rewind the last twenty-or-so minutes of film to let his eidetic memory take over in order to solve the murder.

* The titular Index from ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has photographic memory. It was used to remember a library worth of magic books. The side effect was the danger of Index's brain overflowing from too much memories, mandating wiping her memories every year. [[spoiler:The danger was in fact a lie to prevent her from rebelling -- someone with a library worth of magic books is extremely dangerous.]]
** Accelerator also has this, but only for what he sees. He memorizes a massive page of computer code by looking at it once, destroys it, and comments it was easy. He has forgotten his real name from not using it for a really long time, and he needed help to remember the lyrics for Index's song.
** According to Aureolus Izzard, vampires all have photographic memory.
* In ''Manga/CreoTheCrimsonCrises'', we have Creo who aces a physics quiz by flipping through the physics textbook and memorizing it a few minutes before the quiz.
* Lavi from ''Manga/DGrayMan'', as expected from a future [[TrueNeutral Bookman]], has a photographic memory. [[spoiler: He's able to find one particular key amongst thousands of its illusions, because 'The scratches, the dirt, all the patterns of the plating of the real key were recorded in his head ever since he first saw it.']]
* Minami Megumi aka Megu from ''Manga/DetectiveSchoolQ'' uses her photographic memory to aid her in solving mysteries.
** Also, one of the victims of the day was a famous artist who had a similar ability. [[spoiler: He also was Shino Katagiri's UnluckyChildhoodFriend, and as he lay dying he left some clues about the identity of his killer. Megu is the one who puts two and two together and, with Kyu's help, solves the case.]]
** Cerberus, a high-ranking member of Pluto, claims to one of prisoner guards keep watching on his cell he can re-read books without the book itself (he was blindfolded during this scene and he recites a quote from "Count of Monte Cristo" perfectly word by word) like a library, suggesting this ability. While the exchange and him reciting the quote is actually a preparation for his prison break, the fact that [[spoiler:he used to be in National Talent Development Research Institute]], a fact revealed much later, still supports this trope [[spoiler:as Megu was also a student there too]].

* In ''Manga/DrStone'', being an expert genius, Senku has this trait. When he's told to answer the measurements of a famous singer, he quickly recalls details of a photograph and was able to quickly deduce the numbers from the position where the picture was taken.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[CuteBookworm Sheska]]. When the library containing Dr. Marcoh's notes burns down, Sheska, a former employee, manages to write them all down from memory, and is subsequently hired to rewrite possibly the ''entire library''- this being the main branch and containing legal documents as well. In her case, her perfect recall seems to be limited to only what she has read, stemming from her obsession with books and reading.

** Vato Falman is able to recall every detail and information in any location without leaving physical evidence which is why [[TheChessMaster Roy Mustang]] picked him as one of his subordinates.
* [[TallDarkAndSnarky Naoki Irie]] from ''Manga/ItazuraNaKiss''. He doesn't study because he remembers everything he sees. He comes across the love letter Kotoko wrote to him (that he had refused reading initially) while she is asleep and then later proceeds to [[JerkAss recite it verbatim in front of their families to tease her]] earning him a well deserved slap.
* ''Franchise/KagerouProject'': [[spoiler:Shintaro Kisaragi]]'s eye-power is "Retaining-eyes", which basically means that they remember every single thing they've ever seen and experienced - even across the ''multiple timelines and adaptations'' of the series thus far. [[spoiler:Even when it lies dormant, he uses it subconsciously, hence his TeenGenius status. In at least one route, seeing all of the gruesome ends met by his friends and little sister [[DrivenToSuicide drives him to suicide]].]]
* Kaguya from ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has an exceptional memory, being able to memorize a photo from a mere glance. While she herself admits that it isn't perfect (she suffers from no less than 3 {{Forgotten First Meeting}}s due to [[TooImportantToRememberYou not considering the other party as important at the time]]), it's able to stretch back incredibly far [[spoiler:to the point that she has vague memories of her mother [[NoInfantileAmnesia despite the latter having died only 29 days after her birth]].]]
* Yasuri Nanami from ''Literature/{{Katanagatari}}'' uses a Photographic Memory to learn Kyoto Ryu, as well as to copy the moves of the Maniwa Insect Squad who attack her.

* Deconstructed in ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', where Lunge keeps all of his information and any new knowledge he comes across in an imaginary computer. It turns out that his memory has the same pitfall as any other; bias. This is why he keeps chasing Tenma in the face of evidence that he just doesn't fit the profile of the BigBad. In a discussion he has with Dr. Gillen, the latter points out that his tape recorder has the advantage of not being clouded by human emotion.

* Mashiro in ''Literature/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'' has a photographic memory that is closer to textbook definitions.
* In ''Literature/SagradaReset'', about half of all Sakurada residents have an ability, and the protagonist Kei's ability is a perfect memory. It applies to everything he's ever perceived, not just things he was paying attention to. This synergizes very well with Misora's ResetButton ability, which resets everyone's memory too (including hers), but doesn't touch Kei's, so he experiences them as MentalTimeTravel, allowing them to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong on a regular basis.

* ''Manga/SevenSeeds'':
** Sakuya from Team Autumn is capable of retaining a lot of information easily simply by looking at or reading through something. It's well known in his team, to the point that Ran and Akio know they don't have to write any information down that might come in helpful, since they know Sakuya will remember it.
** Shigeru gets easily flustered and doesn't have a whole lot of self-confidence, but when he remains calm, he is shown to have a really good memory, like remembering where Ango put scissors that he last used a week ago. Shigeru was also once so slow in finding words he couldn't remember in the dictionary, he simply learned every word in the dictionary by heart.
* ''Manga/SpecialA'': Top ranked in the scohol, Kei Takashima states in episode 1 that he only needs to see something once to remember it.
* ''Manga/SPYxFAMILY'': Loid Forger aka Twilight has this as one of his many skills as the best spy in the country. After hearing Yor's name, he mentally scrolled through every name and face of every unmarried woman from the files he read book. He's even able to remember the names and behaviors of 200 penguins in mere minutes.

** [[spoiler: Though shadows no longer exist in the new timeline, the now teenage reborn Haine has an eidetic memory.]] She demonstrates this ability in the sequel by memorizing a screen full of numbers that flash across a TV for only a few seconds.
* ''Anime/TenchiMuyoRyoOhki''. In 'Washu' Volume 3 of the ''True Tenchi Muyo'' novels, Mihoshi goes in to Washu's lab to cal her to lunch and a weather control device malfunctions causing a very localized blizzard soon after. Washu asks Mihoshi to tell her what happened while she was looking. Two hours latter the detail Washu needs to solve the problem surfaces.
* Asagi from ''Manga/ThouShaltNotDie'' as super memory which is a power that allow him to remember everything he learned and saw and can foresee outcomes based on all the information he gathered even those he subconsciously gathered. In a twisted joke, the power aged his brain and he suffers from dementia so while he remembers everything he'll just blank out mid conversation forgetting what he was talking about.
* Nico Vorgeil of ''Manga/UndeadUnluck'' has the Negator power of Unforgettable, meaning nothing he has seen since he acquired the power ever leaves his mind. Unfortunately [[spoiler:the power kicked in right as he was watching his wife die, and so he's constantly remembering that in completely perfect detail, while the happy memories he made with her before it manifested slowly fade.]]
* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': Breo. It helps him greatly, because he uses a Deck Destruction deck, and it is very important for him to keep track of the cards in his opponent's deck, hand, field, and graveyard.

* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'': The titular character lacks this ability. It seems his memory works like an ordinary human's, not like a computer's. He can forget things, has to study for college exams, doesn't automatically learn foreign languages (e.g., he's never bothered to learn Japanese), etc.
* The deaf heroine Echo, an [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avenger]] and former lover of ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}, has this ability. Whether it's a mutant power or natural aptitude is never clearly defined.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': The Red Skull recalls verbatim conversations that he had decades earlier. His character is roughly based on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, who seems to have had something like this in real life.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Bart Allen (a.k.a. Impulse, a.k.a. Kid Flash, a.k.a. the Flash), [[SuperSpeedReading superspeed-read]] ''the entire San Francisco Public Library''. This makes him an exception to most [[SuperSpeed speedsters]], who are able to learn something at an accelerated speed (Wally once learned how to, and then did, construct a fully functioning steel bridge in a matter of minutes) but not capable of ''retaining'' those memories. Bart's ability may be limited to perfectly recalling what he ''reads''.

* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': Villain Taskmaster has "photographic reflexes" -- if he sees something done, even on TV, he can easily replicate it regardless of complexity. He can pass as a master chef, use any fighting style, and even catch a bullet. The 2010 ''Taskmaster'' miniseries reveals that this comes at a cost. Copying so many moves has made him forget a lot of ''other'' memories -- including those about his personal life, like the fact that [[spoiler:he used to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, the true origin of his photographic ability and that he has a hot SpicyLatina as a wife]].

** ''ComicBook/TheLifeStoryOfSuperman'': Subverted. Some kids ask Superman if he can tell them about Krypton using his total recall, but Superman explains that, even though he has an eidetic memory, repeated exposure to Kryptonite over the years has caused gaps in his memory.
** In ''ComicBook/TheJungleLine'' it is told that Superman's memory is "vast enough to have every conceivable shape of snowflake precisely filed."

** ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'': Superman's able to construct a replica of the fantastically complex Miracle Machine after only glimpsing it (using XRayVision and such to see its insides, of course) for a second.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':

** Xenilla mentions he only needs to look over a page once to memorize it.

* ''Fanfic/{{Kitsune}}'': From "Chapter 9":
--> [Tome] read voraciously and had a near perfect photographic memory for written words and events.

* Marty Feldman's character in ''Film/TheAdventureOfSherlockHolmesSmarterBrother'' has ''phono''graphic memory: he can exactly repeat anything he has ever heard.
* ''Film/AtomicBlonde''. The ActionPrologue has a British agent being murdered for The List he's carrying of double agents. As a result his colleague refuses to help the Stasi turncoat Spyglass, who provided The List, because he's now worthless. Spyglass then reveals that he didn't make a copy, but he ''did'' memorize The List, making him a LivingMacGuffin from then on.

* "Lord Nikon" from the movie ''Film/{{Hackers}}'', [[MeaningfulName appropriately enough]]. He first shows it off by rattling off the names and phone numbers of every girl at a party, but later exploits it by posing as a florist's delivery man while going into Ellingson's offices, and watching as people type their passwords. However, Nikon later admits that he's not sure how much of what he got is useful. As he put it ([[BlatantLies albeit jokingly]]) earlier in the movie, "I got a photographic memory. [[CursedWithAwesome It's a curse.]]"
* The drug from ''Film/{{Limitless}}'' grants this ''retroactivley'' -- you can recall details from long before you took the drug. It does wear off, though.
* In ''Film/MoscowCassiopeia'', the government is selecting exceptional teenagers for an interstellar mission on a slower-than-light ship to the a star in the Cassiopeia constellation. One of the teens is a smug kid who was chosen for his eidetic memory. He claims to be able to perfectly recall ten pages of fine print after reading them once, a ChekhovsSkill that pops up a few times when it is needed.
* Franchise/RoboCop has a hard drive in his head. As [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Dick Jones]] remarks to [[TheDragon Boddicker]] in ''Film/RoboCop1987'', "his memory is admissible as evidence!"

* ''Film/TempleGrandin'' is a [[{{Biopic}} real-life account of the life of Temple Grandin]], quoted above. As she has said, her mind works like Google Images, and they have a scene in the film that shows just how that works. One of Temple's teachers remarks after Temple's favorite horse has died that we shouldn't remember him this way, but Temple proceeds to name off every single horse that looked like hers she has ever seen. Surprised, he asks her if she can bring everything she sees into her mind, even if it's something simple like a shoe (and not specific like horses that looked like hers) and she does the same thing again.
* ''Film/{{Thoughtcrimes}}'': Brendan has true eidetic memory. At on point, Freya asks him to visualize a scene so that ''she'' can [[{{Telepathy}} look through it]] to search for clues.
* Molly from ''Film/Molly1999'' perfectly remembers everything that she reads. Before, she didn't understand most of it, but after receiving her [[ThrowingOffTheDisability brain implant]], it all makes sense to her.
* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': Referenced by Carson Wells when he recalls the exact date he last met Anton Chigurh, asserting, "I remember dates, names, numbers."

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story "Lest We Remember", a man gains perfect memory through an experiment. He proceeds to blackmail people at work with the little details from the past that add up to new revelations about cheating spouses, stealing from accounts, etc. He becomes insufferable toward his girlfriend. The boss figures out what is going on and [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome gives him an injection to neutralize the experiment]]. [[spoiler:Luckily, it doesn't take, but it makes him humble again, and with his girlfriend's help he will proceed more cautiously in the future.]]
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' is able to recall anything in his surroundings and immediately selects whatever he needs in a situation for a quick plan.
* ''Literature/Fahrenheit451'' ends with [[spoiler:the main character joining a society where everyone is able to memorize an ''entire book''. They have to destroy the books after memorizing them to destroy all evidence. However, it's stated to be a technique that they promise to teach Guy, which implies that it's actually "total recall", since he only skimmed the book they need to him to remember]].
* FBI investigator Will Graham, hero of ''Literature/RedDragon'' and the man who first captured Hannibal Lecter, is explicitly identified as having eidetic memory. Lecter also exhibits such abilities.
* David Becker of Brown's ''Literature/DigitalFortress'', on the other hand, explicitly ''does'' have eidetic memory.
* Brian Caswell:
** Lesley and Gordon in ''Literature/ACageOfButterflies'' both possess photographic memories that allow them to play chess without a chessboard. This may be the only nonviolent, memory-based, chess-related case of badassery.
** ''Literature/{{Deucalion}}'' also featured several main characters with the ability to recall every memory they ever had.
* Christopher Boone, the 15-year-old hero of ''Literature/TheCuriousIncidentOfTheDogInTheNightTime'', possesses eidetic memory. However, this is somewhat {{justified|Trope}} by his autism spectrum disorder; autism is associated with slightly higher rates of savant syndrome.
* In ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' and ''Literature/TheHauntingOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'', "Know-It-All" Knowles can retain any information in full detail after reading it once, though it fades away after about a month. It actually goes beyond just memory; she ''understands'' everything she memorises, even if it's a subject she has no grounding in, and if it's something like a training manual for a skill, she acquires the skill without any need to practice it.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/SmallGods'', the main character Brutha is BookDumb but eventually reveals that he has a photographic memory. He uses it to smuggle a large portion of the scrolls of an entire library inside his head. Because he's illiterate, he can't ''understand'' what they say, he just knows what the pages look like.
-->'''Bishop:''' What's the first thing you remember?\\
'''Brutha:''' There was a bright light and someone hit me.

* In Creator/PiersAnthony's science fiction novel ''Literature/Ghost1986'', the captain of a spaceship has this ability. To the level that, in a demonstration for an admiral, he is able to answer the question, "What is the third word of the second sentence in the first paragraph of Volume 128a of the Space Regulatory Code?" Mentally, he opens the book, flips the pages, reads the word, and replies, "Celestial."
* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', security operative (and eventually Chief of Imperial Security) Simon Illyan has an artificial eidetic memory, due to a computer chip implanted in his brain. It should be noted that everyone else given such chips was eventually driven mad by the disconnect between their natural and artificial memories.
* Creator/GeneWolfe:
** Severian, the protagonist of ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun''. The narrative comprises Severian's journal, but although he claims to remember everything flawlessly, a careful examination of the text reveals that he does not always record those recollections consistently, suggesting that he either ''does'' have flaws in his memory or is lying. Pratchett's Brutha above may be a ShoutOut, as a minor character in ''Small Gods'' is named Severian and both have a CrystalDragonJesus version of the Catholic Church. A precise invokation of the trope, as described in the introduction above, occurs in this passage:
--->''I thought of the herd driven through Saltus and counted them from memory: one hundred and thirty-seven. Then there were the soldiers who had come singing up from Gyoll. The innkeeper had asked me how many there were and I had guessed at a figure, but I had never counted them until now. He might, or might not, have been a spy.''
** ''Literature/SoldierOfTheMist'' has an {{inver|tedTrope}}sion. The narrator, Latro, can only remember events up to one day in the past (a RealLife medical condition), and his journal (which again comprises the narrative) is a flawed substitute for his long-term memory.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** The characters [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Winter Celchu]] and [[Literature/XWingSeries Kirtan Loor]] both have an ability that approaches this, if not meeting it. This being ''Star Wars'', though, it is referred to as "holographic" memory, which depending on the quality of the hologram is probably more accurate. Coincidentally (or not), both became Intelligence officers, though on different sides of the war. Winter can remember conversations verbatim, and she famously has the drawback of being unable to forget things she's seen ''at all'', so if she witnessed a tragedy, she'd remember it as clearly twenty years later as she had the day after. (Winter being an [[DoomedHometown Alderaanian offworld at the time of Episode IV]], it gives her a certain melancholy.) She's also known to memorize the layout of Imperial facilities down to the millimeter, allowing her to provide ridiculously detailed maps for Rebel commandos who would later carry out a raid. Loor, meanwhile, could rattle off so many facts in succession that he would scare suspects into confessing (as they would assume that someone so knowledgeable must already have proof of their guilt anyway), but grew to rely overmuch on his memory, letting knowledge doing the work of actual intelligence and making assumptions. (He tried to overcome it when confronted with this flaw, but never quite managed it.)
** All of the Null-[=ARCs=] in the Clone Wars-era books have holographic memory. The writer makes it clear that all of them are unpredictable and more than a little psychotic.
** Ben Skywalker (son of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade) also has a holographic memory; this is first mentioned and utilized in ''[[Literature/LegacyOfTheForce Sacrifice]]'', and again in ''[[Literature/FateOfTheJedi Abyss]]'', but it's easily missed, since most writers tend to gloss over it or not mention it at all.
** The Camaasi species have a more limited version: their memory of any event of great emotional significance will be perfect in every detail. This is a factor in the pacifist nature of the average Camaasi: killing another sentient being would be of great emotional impact to most people, and not something they would want to remember in such detail.
* The title character in the story ''Literature/FunesTheMemorious'' by Creator/JorgeLuisBorges. This character's more-than-photographic memory(it captures not only images, but sounds, words, smells, temperature sensations, and everything else he experiences) is accompanied by heightened senses, which make it difficult for him to sleep or communicate normally(since he can remember everything precisely as it was, he hardly needs language to make generalizations). It's ambiguous whether he's BlessedWithSuck or better off than the rest of us. Although Funes often brags about his ability and thinks that everyone else lives in a shadowy PlatonicCave dream-world, he also compares his memory to a garbage heap.
* Danny Saunders in ''Literature/TheChosen'' seems to have one, to demonstrate, he asks narrator Reuven which portion of Talmud he is studying and proceeds to recite it word for word. Then he says he can do the same thing with ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}''.
* Creator/JRRTolkien
** The background materials for Middle-Earth indicate that all elves have this kind of memory.
** In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Bilbo steals a single gold cup from Smaug's DragonHoard. When Smaug wakes up and inspects his vast treasure, he instantly realizes the cup is missing.
* ''Literature/EndersShadow'': Bean has the real deal. It's explicitly stated that Bean can watch an entire video, and rewatch it in his mind to learn new details. [[spoiler:He's the result of his MadScientist uncle's crazy genetic experiments, gifting Bean with a raw intelligence that surpasses even ''Ender''.]] Bean even learns passwords by rewatching the blurred fingertips of the typist over and over again. And to be fair, at no point is this ever just waved off. Everyone aware of Bean's capabilities recognizes that Bean is far, far beyond them. And this takes place in a school designed to churn out {{Tyke Bomb}}s for command positions.
** This ends up being the plot point in ''Ender's Shadow''. Bean picks a random book to pretend to read while he does something else. When confronted about his choice of the book, he recalls it in his mind using this method (having glanced at it) and somehow uses that to [[spoiler:figure out the whole IF plan]]. To clarify, the book he chose was completely random.
* In ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'', the vampires are able to remember everything from the time of their becoming a vampire on.

%%* Lisbeth Salander of the "''[[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy Millennium]]''" trilogy.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** The titular character of "Literature/StarmanJones" has this. No one told him not to, so he read his uncle's astrogation books, from which he learned the calculus. He also happened to memorize every logarithm table and every table converting numbers into binary. Another character marvels at not being able to forget anything. "I've been able to forget a lot of things, thank Heaven." This skill becomes a plot point when the spaceship gets lost and their records are destroyed, so he has to retrace their route from memory.
** A number of Heinlein's characters have amazing recall: in ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'', they even make a profession out of it (people with the ability are licensed as "Fair Witnesses", and anything they are willing to say that they had heard or seen is assumed to be the truth). [[AuthorAvatar Lazarus Long]] also claims to have memorized the logarithm tables and says that he can learn a new language in one week, although his memory does degrade over time, especially since [[TheFogOfAges he's lived many centuries and keeps filling his head with new things]].
* From M. A. Foster's ''The Book of the Literature/{{Ler}}'', all of the ler (a forced evolution of humans) have this type of memory. They can also 'auto-forget', delete some or all of their memories.

* Creator/BrandonSanderson:
** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Shallan has a version of this. She needs to concentrate on something in order to take it as a Memory (she [[CapitalLettersAreMagic uses the capital M]] to distinguish it from ordinary remembering), but once she does, it's there permanently and in perfect detail (though she can choose to forget it if she no longer needs it -- usually after making a drawing of the Memory, since she's a sketch artist). Notably, when she takes a Memory and then draws a picture of it, the picture will show the normally invisible Cryptics. ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' implies that most, if not all, Lightweavers posses these abilities.
** ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'': Feruchemists use their magical powers to achieve something very like this; they can temorarily give up personal qualities (strength, speed, or most relevantly, memories) in order to store them in pieces of metal, and drew them out later. A feruchemist can effectively store any amount of information perfectly and indefinitely, provided they have enough metal to store it in. Sazed, the main feruchemist character, is a scholar who has information on virtually every religion in history. There are a few catches, though. Only the person who stores the information can access it, and they immediately forget the memory upon storing it, meaning they have to intentionally pull it back out in order to recall it. Doing so also degrades the memory, meaning that looking at the information too often will eventually result in losing it. Also, keeping track of where information is stored can be tricky, and Sazed mentions having a specific metalmind that is basically an Index for all his other info. At the end of the trilogy [[spoiler:Sazed has the opportunity to take up the powers of two gods and dump ''all'' the knowledge from his metalminds into his head right as he's taking up the power, giving him godlike knowledge to go with his godlike power, whereas everyone who had the power previously had just messed things up with their mere mortal knowledge]].
*** Kwaan, a Feruchemist who lived centuries before the novels take place, possessed the more traditional version of this in addition to the ability to use metalminds. His ability to perfectly remember information meant he was able to spot discrepancies between his memory and the contents of his metalminds [[spoiler:which is how he's able to work out that the information within the metalminds can be altered by Ruin]].

* Every Mentat in ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' possesses this skill. The Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers, on the other hand, have the memories of all their female ancestors going back to prehistory. In the prequel novels, it's even mentioned that the Reverend Mother designated with overseeing their breeding program doesn't keep any written or electronic records, instead keeping all the information in her Other Memory.

* The Chee from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' are a race of androids with perfect memory. They are also ridiculously strong, essentially immortal, and programmed to be completely nonviolent. In their first appearance, one of the Chee reprograms himself so that he can help the main characters in their fight against alien invaders, and immediately re-installs the prohibition against violence after his first battle, because he'll have to live with the memories of what he did, picture-perfect, forever.
* The main character in ''Literature/TheOwling'' has an eidetic memory, being able to instantaneously recall anything that she's ever seen, heard, or experienced in her lifetime at will. She [[spoiler:loses this ability later]] in the series' second book, which sucks for the plot but [[FridgeHorror might be a relief to the character]].
* ''Literature/ProfessorMmaasLecture'': The termites' "associative substance" (their brain equivalent) gives them a near-perfect memory.
* [[LadyOfWar Neda Pathkendle]] in ''Literature/TheChathrandVoyages'' has this; she originally only had a very good normal memory, but her witch mother cast a spell on her when she was a teenager to enhance her strongest natural aptitude, granting her this instead -- with the caveat that there are times that she's basically sucked into her own memory and can't stop her mind from replaying past events, no matter how painful (her younger brother [[GuileHero Pazel]] was affected by the spell too, in a different way -- [[CunningLinguist having always been good with languages]], he became an {{Omniglot}}, with the caveat that every so often he'll have a "mind fit" that renders him incapable of using or understanding language at all for several hours).
* In ''Literature/ThePowderMageTrilogy'', Inspector Adamat has an eidetic memory. In this case, it is an explicitly magical ability, called a Knack in universe, that allows him to recall anything he's ever seen, done or heard. It (unsurprisingly) makes him an extremely effective inspector and detective, as he is able to [[SherlockScan glance at things quickly]] and examine them in perfect detail later, as well as perfectly recall everyone he meets and exactly what they say.
* In Elizabeth Vaughan's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheWarlands'' series, everyone native to The Plains has this. These people have no need for written language, since they can perfectly recall oral lessons as long as they pay attention. In ''Destiny's Star'', the character Bethral reveals that she has this too because her mother was from The Plains. The elderly character Wild Winds discovers he's losing his perfect memory, possibly indicating he's developing Alzheimer's. The people of The Plains often poke fun at other people for having "poor memories", like when they discover the city-dweller Ezren can't play chess in his head like they can.
* Both Sasha and Chichi in ''Literature/AkataWitch'' have this, which is why neither of them goes to school.
* In ''[[Literature/RachelGriffin The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin]]'', the eponymous Rachel Griffin's perfect recall allows her to cancel out illusions by thinking back over what she has seen, as while her eyes may be decieved, her memory will not be. This turns out to be very helpful against villains who can make themselves invisible.
* Ronnie Cleveland in ''Literature/FlightToTheLonesomePlace'' has a problem when people think he understands more than he knows due to his memory that they used once before.
* In the ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' mystery series, Archie often describes Saul Panzer as having perfect recall of people's faces. One look at someone, and Saul will remember their face until the day he dies. Under Wolfe's training, Archie has developed the ability to recall and report extended conversations word-for-word.
* In ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'', both George "Sticky" Washington and the titular Nicholas Benedict have this. Rhonda Kazembie, one of Benedict's assistants, likely has it as well. Also, although it is never directly stated, the BigBad of the series, Ledroptha Curtain, may have it as well, as he is also a genius who just so happens to be Benedict's long lost identical twin.
* Brewster claims an eidetic memory in ''Literature/{{Bruiser}}'', but also states that it's largely confined to what he's read. He just has a very good memory everywhere else.
* Creator/DavidBaldacci's Literature/AmosDecker, from ''Memory Man'' and ''The Last Mile'', has uncontrollable eidetic memory as the result of a head injury on the football field. This is helpful for him in his line of work as a detective, but also means that he's never been able to forget every detail of the murder of his wife and child.
* Peter Clines's ''Literature/TheFold'' features Mike Erikson who has powers of total recall and analysis due to the "ants" in his head. Mike is short for [[spoiler:his childhood nickname of [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Mycroft]]]]. He's sent to audit the Albuquerque Door: a DARPA research project in teleportation, because the people involved in the project [[ClassifiedInformation refuse to share information]], so Mike is a HiddenInPlainSight method of smuggling the information out.
* Thomas Cromwell in ''Literature/WolfHall'' is a somewhat more realistic case. Cromwell picked up a "system" as a young soldier in Italy wherein one can remember things with precision by associating them with specific sensory experiences, and this plays out in how Cromwell's memories of past events are tied to specific objects and experiences (i.e., a type of fabric). Cromwell has also memorized several texts, including the Bible in Latin and in one scene, inquires about resuming a chess game started several years previously, offering to place the pieces precisely where play left off.[[note]]Although he said that mostly for effect; really he'd be placing pieces from how he remembers the man's ''style'' of play.[[/note]] Maybe that's why he never forgets any insult, ever.

* In ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'', the prodigy Librarian can perfectly memorize everything he reads.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmesAndDoctorWasNot'': Dr. Amelia Van Helsing possesses this quality in "The Locked Cell Murder". Holmes comments on how useful it is in their of work, and has her memorize the guards' files and recite the facts back to him as he needs them.
* In "Literature/ColdSnap", Susan has "eidetic memory... like photographic memory, but for sounds and the spoken word". She can remember a long and detailed set of instructions word-for-word after hearing it once.
* Daylen in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror'' figures out that this is one of the secondary applications of [[SwissArmySuperpower Lifebinding]], as he can enhance his memory enough to remember anything in his entire life, and even replay the memory in slow-motion to notice things he missed.
* March from ''Literature/TheEagleTree'' has one, although it mostly only works around trees. He perfectly remembers the pictures and captions in a book he read about birds last year, and he can navigate the forest with his eyes closed as long as it's an area he's already visited.
* In the ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'', this is one of the unique traits of Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo.
* Kiara from ''Literature/{{Rogue}}'' has no memory for faces, but she has a photographic memory for things she reads.
* Alsion, the main character of ''Literature/DifferentlyMorphous'', has an eidetic memory so perfect that it was confused for a magical talent.
* Creator/RobertSilverberg's "The Man Who Never Forgot" follows the life of a man who cannot forget anything, and has perfect recall of those memories. It's more or less about his journey from realizing what a great gift it is, to realizing how little use he gets from it, to seeing it as a curse and considering ending his life, to finding out his grandfather had the same gift and deciding that he needs to be sure he passes this on to his own descendants because others will be able to use it better.
* The [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Aeslin mice]] in ''Literature/InCryptid'' have this as their [[PlanetOfHats species hat]]. They also have an AnimalReligion based around worshipping the human Price family (the main characters). Since they never forget anything (often making up new rituals and holy days to commemorate mundane events), they're very useful as a living history of the family, and a single mouse is sent with [[spoiler:Antimony]] when she goes undercover, to serve as a black box and tell the family what happened if she doesn't make it back.

* Emmet from ''Literature/TheRoosevelt'' compares his brain to a camera. He remembers almost everything he sees, especially numbers. He can memorize fifty lines of code in one read-through, and he's always helping his mom find things because he can remember where she set them down last.
* Nathaniel from ''Literature/{{Mindblind}}'' remembers everything that's ever happened to him since he was one. He often gets caught up in a memory and spaces out, which causes some people to think he's having a seizure.
* Eddie from ''Literature/TheSocietyOfSylphs'' has memorized all his books and can commit any image he sees to memory with a brief effort.
* Sam from ''Literature/CountingToD'' is borderline illiterate due to dyslexia, but she has an audiographic memory, allowing her to memorize her textbooks by listening to the audiobooks.
* ''Literature/HoverCarRacer'': The Bug, Jason's autistic little brother and navigator, has a photographic memory, allowing him to remember the way through a complicated shortcut maze.
* In ''Literature/TheSyrenaLegacy'', the Syrena all have photographic memories. When Galen enrolls in a human high school, he aces all his classes even though he's ignorant of many things that humans would consider common knowledge.
* In ''Literature/TheVazulaChronicles'', dragons have the ability to reconstruct a memory in photographic detail so they can remember things they didn't notice the first time.
* ''Literature/TheStormSwimmer'': The sea people, a human subspecies that have adapted to live in the ocean, instantly form a detailed 3D map of every place they visit. The same ability allows Peri to memorise the pictures on each page of National Geographic as soon as he sees them, which helps him overcome the LanguageBarrier by pointing to pictures to communicate.
* ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'': Takeshi states in conversation that his envoy training has given him perfect recall. However, his internal narration will occasionally reference hazy memories about various topics, like the full plot of a movie he'd once seen. Given that Takeshi is a ConsummateLiar, he was apparently bluffing about his photographic memory.
* ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'': Referenced by Carson Wells when he recalls the exact date he last met Anton Chigurh, asserting, "I remember dates, names, numbers."

* [[InsufferableGenius Sheldon]] from ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' has an eidetic memory, and is able to recall the precise date and time of any event in his life and win complex card games through memorization, which he points out [[CursedWithAwesome takes away all the challenge, and consequently the fun]]. It's occasionally a plot point, such as when he is able to tell the gang what happened to their UsefulNotes/{{Bitcoin}} account several years earlier.
** He exhibits this in ''Series/YoungSheldon'', where he is able to remember an event that happened on Valentines Day when he was ''a month shy of two years old''.
** On another occasion in ''Young Sheldon'', Sheldon demonstrates that his eidetic memory functions without conscious attention. His math teacher catches him daydreaming in class and asks him to repeat what she'd just said. He does so perfectly, despite not having paid a lick of attention to the lecture.

* Spencer Reid, from ''Series/CriminalMinds''.
** Notable in that it applies to anything he has ''read''... A large part of the second season premiere is him trying to remember something he has ''heard.''
** He also displays the ability to see new things in his memories, mentioned in the main article; in one season one episode, in order to solve a case (long story) he pulls up a word search puzzle in his mind and finds new words in it.
** Also not limited to visuals. He is shown in ''100'' repeating a recently heard conversation word-for-word, on fast forward -- in which it sounds less as though he has deliberately memorized the conversation, and more as though he is listening to it over again and repeating the words as he hears them.

* Glenn Garth Gregory, played by Laurence Luckinbill in ''Series/TheDelphiBureau'', could remember everything he'd ever seen.

** The Eleventh Doctor has a photographic memory which he uses to find Prisoner Zero in his first episode and stop River from killing him in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Let's Kill Hitler]]". It is worth noting that the Doctor is in fact an alien, and that his race is perhaps the most technologically advanced in the entire universe. The contents of his mind are more than a human brain can handle.
** Among the Doctor's companions, this was a frequently displayed ability of the Second Doctor's companion Zoe (who was trained to do it), and an InformedAbility of the Sixth and Seventh Doctor's companion Mel.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''

** "[[Recap/FarscapeS02E17TheUglyTruth The Ugly Truth]]" has the protagonists being captured and questioned by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Plokavians]]. As this trait is their [[PlanetOfHats Hat]], they assume the vast deviations in their RashomonStyle recollection of events is deliberate falsehood.

* Olivia Dunham from ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', specifically an ability to recall numbers. [[spoiler:Olivia's [[AlternateSelf counterpart]] from the AlternateUniverse does not have this talent and has to put in serious effort to fake it while undercover as the main Olivia.]]

* Rory Gilmore from ''Series/GilmoreGirls'', in ridiculous extents according to one account she gives Logan.

* Charlie Andrew has this as her superpower in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. [[spoiler:Since Sylar kills her to steal this power, it can be assumed he develops this as well... at least until Hiro changes the past to prevent her murder.]]

* Malcolm from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' recalls every item stolen from a home robbery after inadvertently abetting the thief... much to the chagrin of the victims, who were counterfeiters.
** In a different episode, he looks at two credit cards for a few seconds, remembers the numbers perfectly, and then performs math using the numbers on them.
** His intelligence is actually discovered this way: he reels off everything that's wrong with a doctored psychotherapy image after taking only a momentary glance at it before knocking it aside (he's supposed to look at it for 60 seconds), because he was irritated and in a hurry, indicating a combination of eidetic memory, SherlockScan-like attention to detail, and super-fast reasoning abilities.

* Adrian Monk, from ''Series/{{Monk}}''. Monk's memory ever extends to his ''back''. In a flashback, he reveals that he remembered Trudy's phone number after she wrote it down on a paper propped against his back for a JerkJock. In the same episode, he uses the same skill to recall another number.

* Shawn Spencer from ''Series/{{Psych}}'' has a true photographic memory, being able to recall old memories and see new details in them. He also has an uncanny ability to remember several long serial numbers after nothing but a glance. This is coupled together with HyperAwareness to make him able to notice and remember pretty much everything.

** It's implied that this ability was developed [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower thanks to his father putting him through]] TrainingFromHell in order to prepare him for a future career as a cop. Too bad Shawn had other ideas.
* The early 2000s show ''Push Nevada'' has the protagonist playing chess without a board against two convicts.
* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': Sam has an eidetic memory, which may derive from his Doc Savage-inspired character; this was stated in the episode "Catch A Falling Star". In the episode "Trilogy Part 3", season 5 episode 10, he also says, "I have a photographic memory", approximately two-thirds through the episode.
** Unfortunately his memories are jumbled by the time jumps, so you can never be sure in any given episode how much of his memory he can access.

* This trick is used by Patrick Jane in ''Series/TheMentalist''; it is explicitly the result of considerable training and practice, not an innate ability.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Cardassians are stated to have photographic memories, but it isn't clarified whether this is an inherent trait of the species or something that they're taught to be able to do.
* Seven of Nine from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. She is, however, a {{cyborg}}. The Doctor also suspects that Kes has an eidetic memory as well when she remembers details about her medical studies easily ({{justified|Trope}} in that hers is a very short-lived species, and they ''have'' to learn quickly).
* Mike Ross of ''Series/{{Suits}}'' remembers every word of every book he's ever read and every fact he's ever come across. Before he got into the fake lawyering gig he used to memorize tests and sell the answers. It's what got him kicked out of school. A few times, we're shown him recalling (in black-and-white, for some reason) a scene in order to quickly notice an obscure detail he missed, such as the picture of Louis's nephew that just happened to be hanging in the Harvard admissions office when Mike came in to ask about a tour.

* ''Series/{{Unforgettable}}'' is all about a detective who has a photographic memory. Her ability to keep replaying and reexamining a memory for previously unnoticed details is key in solving the murder in the pilot episode.
** A key element of the show is that even with her amazing memory she is not immune from TraumaInducedAmnesia as she cannot remember the day when her sister was murdered and she found the body.
** In an amusing bit of stunt casting, Carrie's aunt, who was worried she was developing Alzheimer's, was played by Marilu Henner who is one of the rare people with the ability in real life.

** Neal has shown signs of having this, as well, but to a lesser extent. At the very least, he seems to have the ability to remember every move of every chess game he's ever played or witnessed.
** He's also able to remember that the fractal images he had seen eight years earlier were similar to one that Mozzie had recently decoded, but none of them were exact.

* TabletopGame/{{Blackjack}}: One way you can supposedly win at blackjack if you don't know how to count cards but do have eidetic memory: take a mental "snapshot" of the cards when the dealer spreads them out face up on the table before putting them in the shoe.

** The game's 5th Edition has the "Keen Mind" feat, which, in addition to allowing characters total recall of anything they've seen or heard in the last month, also grants them a perfect sense of direction (by always knowing true North), and what time it is (by how many hours until the next sunrise or sunset).

* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': Eidetic Memory is a two-point Merit, granting the character perfect recall. Unlike the ''New World of Darkness'', players don't automatically receive Merits and must buy them with their miscellaneous character creation points.
* ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'':
** Eidetic Memory (of the remember anything you've ever bothered to variety) is a two-Dot merit. For reference a starting PC gets a free 7 dots of merits, making this an extremely useful merit that is picked up by nearly EVERY non-physical character, and several physical. Along with this is Encyclopedic Knowledge, where a character is entitled to a roll to know anything through random happenstance. As this is a 4-Dot merit, it's quite common for a person to pick up both of these at character creation to have a character who remembers everything that has happened to him and some things that didn't.
** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': One of the abilities available to advanced members of the Mysterium (collectors of magical lore) is the ability to have an Eidetic Memory for any facts related to the Mysterium (which depending on ST interpretation, can be a fairly broad definition).

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Koriel, the Angel of Equal Justice and Heaven's main CrusadingLawyer, can flawlessly recall any detail of any case that she has ever defended.

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'''s [[AllPowerfulBystander Observers]] have, as a part of their assigned roles, the ability to quantum-observe reality and events as well as the inability to forget anything they've Observed, to the extent that they have RippleEffectProofMemory. For example, the most prominent Observer in the franchise, Rachel Alucard, remembers the entire GroundhogDayLoop scenario of the first game. That is, for the record, [[TimeAbyss 72,500 years]] of looped time, spread out over the course of 100 years looped 725 times, with only very slight, minor differences each and every loop. No wonder she seems both [[DeadpanSnarker bored and frustrated]] by the lack of progress.

** During the [[MagicalSociety Mage's Guild]] questline in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', [[TheArchmage Shalidor]] is revealed to have this through use of a spell, though it is limited to written texts. [[spoiler: At the end of the questline he grants this ability to the player, expanding their Lore Library.]]

%% * Officer Nick Brick of VideoGame/LegoIsland has one. %%This example needs some context.

* Bladewolf from ''Videogame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', unusually for a robot, averts this. His neural network was designed to work like an organic human brain and thus has the same limitations. Bladewolf admits that he's actually worse at remembering faces than the average human.

* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' Alakazam (and presumably its pre-evolutions) possesses a photographic memory, apparently because its system can replace lost neurons and have them undergo mitosis (the brain cells of your typical eumetazoan [[note]]any animal that isn't a sponge or the amoeba-like ''Trichoplax''[[/note]] cannot do either).
* The ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series has Hieda no Akyu, who [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnates]] with the perfect memory of her former reincarnation and, over her life, has photographic memory; she is the ninth reincarnation of the Child of Miare, tracing back 1200 years. She [[DirectLineToTheAuthor wrote, compiled, and edited]] the [[WorldBuilding character]] [[AllThereInTheManual compendiums]] ''Perfect Memento in Strict Sense'' and ''Symposium of Post-mysticism'', which are portions of an unreleased larger volume of in-series work called the ''Gensokyo Chronicles''.

* One of the characters in the MurderMystery VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/{{Jisei}}'' can perfectly recite the prices of cafe menu items, since he remembers everything he sees, smells, or hears in a location. His eidetic memory helps [[spoiler:fool the main character into believing that he is a regular at the cafe when it is actually his first time there]].
* ''VisualNovel/TheFruitOfGrisaia'': Both Makina and Kazuki is capable of this, when they see something, they store a perfect copy of it in their brain and can recall it from memory at any time, though their memory can get a little scrambled with time or on the details of ordering. They also skip recording things in color.
* ''VisualNovel/PrincessEvangile'' has Tamie Nogi, Vincennes' resident SchoolNewspaperNewsHound. While not emphasized in most of the routes, in her own route, this proves important for her when [[spoiler:she gets amnesia late in the first chapter]]. Thanks to this trope, she's able to recover within a matter of weeks.

* Artie from ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' is said to have an eidetic memory, but although this is the subject of a few jokes it's never a plot point. Possibly justified by Artie being a product of genetic engineering.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'', the [[SpaceElves Loroi's]] [[FantasticCasteSystem Listel caste]] is dedicated to data acquisition and analysis, and eidtic memory is a common trait among them. Beryl, the one Loroi from this caste introduced so far in the story, tells Alex that she can recall every word he's said in her presence since being rescued by the Loroi.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Carmilla (Sara Waite) has eidetic memory. This is because she's not human: she's mostly demon, and her cellular structure is closer to a living cancer than anything else modern medicine knows about. She knows how many grains of salt were spilled on the table that morning, etc.
** Some other students at the SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy have photographic memories: it's a common ability of high-level Exemplars.
* Strong Bad of ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' admits of having an ''un''photographic memory in the Strong Bad Email "highschool", and that his is more "[[ArtShift like a doodle memory]].
* In ''Literature/LovelaceOneTwo'', whatever granted Andi her SuperIntelligence also made her remember everything she ever observed -- even a television show her au pair was watching when she was five-and-a-half.
-->''Five years, seven months, eight days'' she didn't say, though it was on the tip of her tongue.
* Jeanette of ''Literature/FunnyBusiness'' not only ''can'' recall everything she's ever experienced, she ''has'' to, since [[spoiler: her world was created by her thoughts.]]
* Jamie, from ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', has a perfect memory as a result of extensive modifications made to his brain shortly after birth, allowing him to rapidly piece together disparate details and facts. However, his ability to apply this information is hampered by being relatively slow to react to present events and his status as the NonActionGuy, meaning he mostly functions as MrExposition for his team, though there are exceptions, such as when he identifies the family names of every member of a crowd of people in order to inform them, individually, that their family members have been killed to provoke them to riot.
* Website/QuestDen: After Chi from ''Shards'' meditates to unlock this power, she can open a book, flip and observe each page for but an instant, close the book and then read it from memory over the following months.

-->'''Batman:''' When you and The Atom worked together to stop the first AMAZO, he showed you the blueprints... and I suspect you have a photographic memory.
-->'''Luthor:''' [[BlatantLies I'm too modest to boast]].
* Ingrid Third in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'', who is taken by a genius because of that.
* Sonia from ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground'' claimed to have photographic memory.
* Brother Blood from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', implied to be a side-effect of his PsychicPowers. After looking at Cyborg's blueprints, he was able to, months later, not only copy the technology, but adapt it to various weapons ({{BFG}}s, robot armies, [[{{Cyborg}} himself]]).
%%* An old Russian cartoon involves a man visited at night by an alien, who grants him certain abilities, including telepathy, eidetic memory, X-ray vision, the ability to read a closed book in a second, and mad math skills. One interesting scene involves him walking by a book seller, who is advertising a brand-new novel. He glances at it and says he has read better. When the people complain that he couldn't possibly have read the book, he has them pick a page at random and have him recall it from memory. He recites the words verbatim, including a line-wrapped word from the previous page. He ends up losing these powers by accident at the end when he tells a couple of thieves "Game over", which is actually the code phrase implanted by the alien in case the man doesn't like his gift.%%This example has been commented out for not identifying the work from which it originates. Do not uncomment it without adding the work.

* [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPinkiePie Pinkie Pie]] of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a truly phenomenal memory for details, ranging from the precise date of everypony in town's birthday, exact time and location for every single party she throws, literary content down to the page number from a book she barely glanced, to being able to literally recognise a duplicate of an image she saw for less than a second. (It doesn't mean she can perfectly recall everything she remembers; in "Party of One" she was so wrapped up planning an "after-birthday" party for her pet alligator she totally forgot ''her own'' birthday.)

* Mysto from ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}'' has a literal one. He's able to create an aura sphere and flip through memories of his past like a slide show.
* In the animated ''WesternAnimation/MisterT'' series, there are occasional references to Kim having one.
* [[Characters/TheDragonPrinceCallum Prince Callum]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' has a perfect ''visual'' memory. Not only does this serve him well as an artist -- he's able to accurately sketch a view of a room he hasn't seen in months -- it also comes in handy in his endeavors as a self-taught mage, letting him perfectly recreate magic runes after only seeing them once.

* Carl from ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' has Asperger's Syndrome, so he's able to remember the precise times when events happened, as well as entire television specials (including the specific ''commercials'' that air alongside them), with impressive accuracy.

* Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), also known as hyperthymesia, is the talent to recall extremely specific personal (i.e. autobiographical) data. This does not extend outside of the self - so for instance, they may remember what they wore on a specific day of the week, but they wouldn't remember what was going on in the news that day unless it impacted them personally in some way. However, people who exhibit this trait also appear to exhibit symptoms of hoarding and OCD-like symptoms, and it is suggested that the actual cause for their extremely good personal recall (and their inability to recall other facts about those dates) is related - because they constantly reinforce their memories, via diary entries and keeping objects and obsession with dates, they reinforce these memories.

->''"Photographic is a misnomer. I have an ''eidetic'' memory, as I've told you many times. Most recently last year during lunch on the afternoon of May seventh. You had turkey and complained it was dry."''
-->-- '''Sheldon Cooper''', ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''

* Nico Vorgeil of ''Manga/UndeadUnluck'' has the Negator power of Unforgettable, meaning nothing he has seen since he acquired the power ever leaves his mind. Unfortunately [[spoiler:the power kicked in right as he was watching his wife die, and so he's constantly remembering that in completely perfect detail.]]

* ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'': Takeshi states in conversation that his envoy training has given him perfect recall. However, his internal narration will occasionally reference hazy memories about various topics, like the full plot of a movie he'd once seen. Given that Takeshi is a ConsumateLiar, he was apparently bluffing about his photographic memory.

* ''Film/TempleGrandin'' is a [[{{Biopic}} real-life account of the life of Temple Grandin]], quoted above. As she has said, her mind works like Google Images, and they have a scene in the film that shows just how that works. One of Temple's teachers remarks after Temple's favorite horse has died that we shouldn't remember him this way, but Temple proceeds to name off '''every single horse that looked like hers she has ever seen.''' Surprised, he asks her if she can bring everything she sees into her mind, even if it's something simple like a shoe (and not specific like horses that looked like hers) and she does the same thing again.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/SmallGods'', the main character Brutha's photographic memory is eventually used to smuggle a large portion of the scrolls of an entire library inside his head. Because he's illiterate, he can't ''understand'' what they say, he just knows what the pages look like. It's implied that this is actually a case of a neurological disorder, justifying it somewhat.

** He begins to understand eventually, although he only gets snippets of random information, like remembering that "squids have an internal cartilaginous structure" and that boats are "buoyed upwards by a force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid", without actually knowing what "cartilaginous" or "buoyed" means.

* ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs: Takeshi states in conversation that his envoy training has given him perfect recall. However, his internal narration will occasionally reference hazy memories about various topics, like the full plot of a movie he'd once seen. Given that Takeshi is a ConsumateLiar, he was apparently bluffing about his photographic memory.

* The titular Index from ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has photographic memory. It was used to remember a library worth of magic books. The side effect was the danger of Index's brain overflowing from too much memories, mandating wiping her memories every year. [[spoiler:Said danger was in fact a lie to prevent her from rebelling -- someone with a library worth of magic books is extremely dangerous.]]

** Cerberus, a high-ranking member of Pluto, claims to one of prisoner guards keep watching on his cell he can re-read books without the book itself (he was blindfolded during this scene and he recites a quote from "Count of Monte Cristo" perfectly word by word) like a library, suggesting this ability. While said exchange and him reciting the quote is actually a preparation for his prison break, the fact that [[spoiler:he used to be in National Talent Development Research Institute]], a fact revealed much later, still supports this trope [[spoiler:as Megu was also a student there too]].

* Creator/JRRTolkien wrote in his background materials for Middle-Earth that all elves have this kind of memory.
** In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Bilbo steals a single gold cup from Smaug's DragonHoard. When Smaug wakes up and inspects his treasure, he instantly realizes the cup is missing. For the record, Smaug's pile of treasure is '''[[{{Fiction 500}} HUGE]]'''.

** Commander Susan Ivanova claimed to have eidetic memory. She recalled a once-heard Minbari phrase perfectly, despite not speaking the language at the time she heard it. In another episode, she memorizes the long list of all [=EarthForce=] personnel perished in a battle in order to make sure they were burying people and not statistics.

* Kyle from ''Series/KyleXY'' combines this with his ability to draw photo-realistic pictures from said memories. Kyle has ''holographic'' memory meaning he can go back and see events as they happened in three dimensional space. This means that he can remember stuff he ''didn't actually see'' because it happened either behind his back or in a blind spot. Yes, this is as ridiculous as it sounds.

* Molly from ''Film/Molly1999'' perfectly remembers everything that she reads. Before, she didn't understand most of it, but after recieving her [[ThrowingOffTheDisability brain implant]], it all makes sense to her.

** X-Men founder and former headmaster Professor X has one as well, but an extremely weird one. He can transfer parts of his short-term memory to his long-term memory, getting a similar effect. At times, it's indicated that {{telepath|y}}s have perfect memories because they can ''read their own minds''.

* Ben Tennyson of the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' franchise has photographic memory as he was able to remember the runes on the Door to Anywhere after seeing them just once. He does not apply his photographic memory to schoolwork though.

* Lex Luthor in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', as revealed in the episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E11PanicInTheSky Panic in the Sky]]".

* Pinkie Pie of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a truly phenomenal memory for details, ranging from the precise date of everypony in town's birthday, exact time and location for every single party she throws, literary content down to the page number from a book she barely glanced, to being able to literally recognise a duplicate of an image she saw for less than a second. (It doesn't mean she can perfectly recall everything she remembers; in "Party of One" she was so wrapped up planning an "after-birthday" party for her pet alligator she totally forgot ''her own'' birthday.)

* Prince Callum of ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' has a perfect ''visual'' memory. Not only does this serve him well as an artist -- he's able to accurately sketch a view of a room he hasn't seen in months -- it also comes in handy in his endeavors as a self-taught mage, letting him perfectly recreate magic runes after only seeing them once.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', the vampires are able to remember everything from the time of their becoming a vampire on.

* Creator/DavidBaldacci's Amos Decker, from ''Memory Man'' and ''The Last Mile'', has uncontrollable eidetic memory as the result of a head injury on the football field. This is helpful for him in his line of work as a detective, but also means that he's never been able to forget every detail of the murder of his wife and child.