History Main / ProtagonistWithoutAPast

* The player character of the first ''Videogame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is another Amnesiac Hero and almost a completely blank slate. There turns out to be a good reason for that.

In some games, usually {{RPG}}s, a player character that does not start out in his actual home at the beginning of the scenario will usually have no prior history in the world of the game. They will never encounter people they know from before or have a hometown to visit. This is entirely justified in cases where the protagonist is in a foreign country or another world but is decidedly strange in cases in which it appears that the scenario takes place in the protagonist's homeland.

* Deconstructed (what else?) in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2''. Raiden initially seems to have no past and no life aside from the military. [[spoiler: Turns out he's an [[ShellShockedVeteran emotionally scarred former]] [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]] who doesn't want to remember his past.]]

* Like all humans in ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}'', the PlayerCharacter [[LaserGuidedAmnesia has no memory of their homeland, Fruma.]] During the quest Recover the Past, where a wizard uses a magical orb to dispel humans' amnesia of Fruma, the player inadvertently breaks the orb when the procedure is tried on them.

** The four protagonists in the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' do not have past at all, nor any dialogue, you can choose their names and jobs at the start, and at the end [[spoiler:they {{Retcon}} the world so they're (and the BigBad's actions) are erased and never happened in that particular way.]]

* Kelvin from ''LightNovel/BlackSummoner'' woke up in the middle of nowhere in a different world without his memories. He was told that he traded his memories for super powerful skills.

[[folder:Film]]

-->--'''Dr. Picard'''[[note]]No, not [[Franchise/StarTrek that one]][[/note]], ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''

-->--'''Dr. Picard'''[[note]]. No, not [[Franchise/StarTrek that one]][[/note]], ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''

-->--'''Dr. Picard'''[[note]]No, not [[Franchise/StarTrek that one]].[[/note]], ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''

* Marked one from ''[[VideoGame/STALKER]]'' is just a guy with amnesia in the zone chasing some "Strelok" a legend who reach the heart of the zone. [[spoiler: This is subverted later in the game, he is Strelok.]]

* The first time the Player in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' is seen, he nearly is run over, and then nearly shot. We learn nothing else about him, except that he doesn't talk much ([[SilentBob but when he does...]])

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] and [[JustifiedTrope Jusified]] in case of Arturia Pendragon in ''[[Fanfic/AKnightsTaleasInquisitor A Knight's Tale as Inquisitor]]''. While the audience is very much aware of her past since the very beginning of the story, Arturia has [[Franchise/DragonAge landed in a completely different setting than her own]]. Due to this, the other characters in this world have no information ''at all'' on who she is or where she comes from, making her a mystery to everyone around her, only rivaled by the BigBad themself.

* Marked one from ''[[VideoGame/STALKER]]'' is just a guy with amnesia in the zone chasing some "Strelok" a legendwho reach the heart of the zone. [[spoiler: This is subverted later in the game, he is Strelok.]]

* Marked one from ''[[VideoGame/STALKER]]'' is just a guy with amnesia in the zone chasing some "Strelok" a legend of the zone who reach the heart of the zone. [[spoiler: This is subverted later in the game, he is Strelok.]]

* From Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog:

** The world of ''Anime/SonicX'' gave background to most of the heroes, all based on their [[Videogame/SonicAdventure videogames]] [[Videogame/SonicAdventure2 counterparts]]. The one exception is Sonic, who seemingly has no past, yet he and Eggman has fought for a good while before the start of the series.

* ''VideoGame/TheNeverhood'' has the protagonist, Klaymen. The game opens up with an OntologicalMystery, with the game being more focused on the setting and characters than him. Eventually Klaymen's lack of a past is justified because [[spoiler:he literally did not have a life before waking up in the Nursery, and he was born literally seconds before the player begins to control him.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' usually averts this, and the Courier of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' appeared to be the first example in the series. Subverted as some their past is revealed, mostly confined to plot points pertinent to this game, but a few seeds for OntologicalMystery have been sown, and by the ''Lonesome Road'' DLC, the player is given a glimpse into a major event of the Courier's past. And even then, the dialog tree said [=DLC=] can allow you to insist to Ulysses that you don't know much about the place he's lured you to and/or might have mistaken you for someone else, which may very well be true.

* The player character of ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' wakes up in the middle of nowhere and starts punching trees.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' plays with the trope; Cloud's last memory of his hometown, Nibelheim, is of the entire town being destroyed in a fire started by the BigBad. When the party travels there, however, the town is perfectly intact and none of its citizens recognize him. This is later resolved when it's revealed that [[spoiler: The Shinra Corporation rebuilt the town and populated it with actors to cover up the failure of the Jenova Project.]] Also Cloud's memories of certain events in Nibelheim turn out to be [[UnreliableNarrator not quite correct]].
* The four protagonists in the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' do not have past at all, nor any dialogue, you can choose their names and jobs at the start, and at the end [[spoiler:they {{Retcon}} the world so they're (and the BigBad's actions) are erased and never happened in that particular way.]]
** And then you can play one of these in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' (which seems to Retcon the original Final Fantasy's plot into having only one Warrior), and this time, he gets talking cutscenes. In which you discover even he himself doesn't know where he came from (due to the nature of the endless cycle, every time he was resurrected, he would lose more of his memory, and he's been in the conflict since the very beginning). ''Dissidia 012'' reveals that [[spoiler: he doesn't have a past, as he was a Manikin infused with memory and personality.]] The end of that game and dialogue in ''Dissidia NT'' suggests, however, [[spoiler:that the Warrior of Light ended up at the start of the story in the original game after 012 ended, making the first two Dissidia games his past, and so as a result, [[StableTimeLoop he is based on himself]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', your character has "traveled far" from no place in particular to become an adventurer in the starting nation you choose. After this HandWave, the concept is never revisited, yet at the same time, your character clearly doesn't have a clue about a thing in Vana'diel.
** The game ''does'' mention that the continent on which the game takes place isn't the entire world. Most likely the player came from somewhere else to the [[CityOfAdventure continent of adventure]].

In some games, usually {{RPG}}s, a player character that does not start out in his actual home at the beginning of the scenario will usually have no prior history in the world of the game. They will never encounter people they know from before or have a hometown to visit. This is entirely justified in cases where the protagonist is in a foreign country or another world, but is decidedly strange in cases in which it appears that the scenario takes place in the protagonist's homeland.

* Jeudi [[spoiler: alias Alicia Brandel]] from ''Manga/HonooNoAlpenRose'', who as a little girl was found in the Swiss countryside alone and without any memories of her past. As a teenager she's forced to run away from a StalkerWithACrush, and then she starts to search for her past and family with her boyfriend Lundi.

* Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way of ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'' pops up out of absolutely nowhere. She is never given a past, although a lot off other characters do (even if said past...lacks something), and for all we know, she could be a telepathic alien from Pluto, just ''called'' a vampire.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] and [[JustifiedTrope Jusified]] in case of Arturia Pendragon in ''[[Fanfic/AKnightsTaleasInquisitor A Knight's Tale as Inquisitor]]''. While the audience is very much aware of her past since the very beginning of the story, Arturia has [[Franchise/DragonAge landed in an completely different setting than her own]]. Due to this, the other characters in this world have no information ''at all'' on who she is or where she comes from, making her mystery to everyone around her, only rivaled by the BigBad themself.

** In ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', his parents are mentioned several times although it is left ambiguous what they actually do. It's further left ambiguous whether Guybrush is a real 17th century adult or just an imaginative kid lost in a "Pirates of the Caribbean"-type ride.

* In ''VideoGame/BrokenSword'', it's never really indicated what George Stobbart's job is. He has spent most of the series being a tourist. The first game has him mentioning that he studied law. In the third it is explicitly stated that he is an attorney specialising in patent law. By the fourth he's become a bail bondsman. In the fifth, he is employed by an insurance company and finds himself their representative at a Paris art exhibit.

* Abel from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' is a French youth who was taken in by a mercenary after being rescued from a Shadaloo base as a little boy. His motives to fight in the SF tournament is to search for hints of who he truly is. [[spoiler: Many hints point at him being either a clone of the BigBad Seth, or the person whose DNA was used to create Seth himself.]]

** Her (probable) history can be reasoned out thanks to two facts. The first game mentions that there is a "Bring Your Daughter to Work" day. In the second game you can find a set of abandoned science fair projects, including one signed "Chell" which used a secret ingredient from Aperture. Assuming it isn't someone with same name, it's likely then that Chell was an employee's daughter (possibly adopted) who was in the facility when [=GLaDOS=] came online and has been there ever since.

** And then you can play one of these in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' (which seems to Retcon the original Final Fantasy's plot into having only one Warrior), and this time, he gets talking cutscenes. In which you discover even he himself doesn't know where he came from (due to the nature of the endless cycle, every time he was resurrected, he would lose more of his memory, and he's been in the conflict since the very beginning). ''Dissidia 012'' reveals that [[spoiler: he doesn't have a past, as he was a Manikin infused with memory and personality.]] The end of that game, and dialogue in ''Dissidia NT'' suggests, however, [[spoiler:that the Warrior of Light ended up at the start of the story in the original game after 012 ended, making the first two Dissidia games his past, and so as a result, [[StableTimeLoop he is based on himself]].]]
* Averted in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines''. The player character, as a newly sired vampire, has nothing to do with his/her former life out of own will. But at one point in the game one does run into a friend from before the siring, who wonders what happened to the character and offers to help. As, without interference, this friend will indeed call for help, the goal here is to keep up the {{Masquerade}}. You're given the option of killing her, talking her out of it or (if possible) using your vampire powers to brainwash her into not doing so.

** The Nerevarine, hero of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', downplays it further. All that is known about your character prior to the start of the game is that your parents were unknown, and that you were prisoner in the Imperial City. Additionally, if you are a Dunmer, it is explicitly stated that you are not from Morrowind. (This is all important because it qualifies you for the Nerevarine prophecy.)

** You start as a level 1 character who is just graduating from the Neverwinter Academy, so you wouldn't likely have any deeds to your name. However, you apparently never made any friends in the city of Neverwinter or any other place you visit during the game before hand. You're also quite unfamiliar with the rest of the city even though the Academy is inside it's walls.

* Played with interestingly in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' - the fact ''no one'' has a real past turns out to be major plot point, and an easily missable one.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', your character has "traveled far" from noplace in particular to become an adventurer in the starting nation you choose. After this HandWave, the concept is never revisited, yet at the same time your character clearly doesn't have a clue about a thing in Vana'diel.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' usually averts this, and the Courier of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' appeared to be the first example in the series. Subverted as some their past is revealed, mostly confined to plot points pertinent to this game, but a few seeds for OntologicalMystery have been sown and by the ''Lonesome Road'' DLC the player is given a glimpse into a major event of the Courier's past. And even then, the dialog tree said [=DLC=] can allow you to insist to Ulysses that you don't know much about the place he's lured you to and/or might have mistaken you for someone else, which may very well be true.

* Deconstructed (what else?) in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2''. Raiden initially seems to have no past, and no life aside from the military. [[spoiler: Turns out he's an [[ShellShockedVeteran emotionally scarred former]] [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]] who doesn't want to remember his past.]]
* The player controlled Styx in ''Videogame/StyxMasterOfShadows'' starts the game just awoke in a room with a headache and no memories about anything he did before, except a voice in his head telling him what is his goal.[[spoiler:Turns out he is a literal example of this trope. He is actually an ExpendableClone created by the original Styx to help him progress his scheme of stealing the heart of the world tree. The moment that players start taking control of him is actually the moment that he is BORN.]]