History Main / ThatManIsDead

* No one has done this quite as uniquely as Wrestling/BrayWyatt. After several years as a [[Film/CapeFear Max Cady]] {{Expy}}, Wyatt finally dropped the gimmick come 2019, remerging as the nightmarish Fiend. And just to drive the point home that his old character was dead, he arrived in his first match with a lantern [[https://gmsrp.cachefly.net/images/19/08/14/a6a8a2b9ffdc7cf062974ce165bc46d0/960.jpg resembling his severed head.]]

* The RealLife version of this is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_state Fugue state]], a form of Dissociative Identity Disorder which involves a person losing all connection with their past identity. A person in a Fugue state can lose some or all aspects of their old self in the adoption of their new identity, often losing episodic memories, and the condition can last anywhere from a few days to forever.

Played straight ater [[spoiler: he goes mad.]]

Occasionally, mentioning the old life may be a BerserkButton. If a SplitPersonality is involved, then it's a SplitPersonalityTakeover. Very common when somebody is BecomingTheMask. If they ever purposefully mention their previous life, they will remark that NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe. Commonly, these characters UsedToBeASweetKid.

* Almost literally done on the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP''. Ghostbur insists he's not Wilbur, and often speaks of his living self as if he's a whole separate person. [[spoiler:In fact, if Wilbur is to be believed, Ghostbur has an [[LiteralSplitPersonality entirely separate soul altogether]], as Wilbur apparently saw him [[DeathOfPersonality entering the Afterlife]] as Wilbur himself [[BackFromTheDead was leaving]]. One interpretation suggests that the original Wilbur's soul might have split into two fragments, the personification of the "vulnerabilities" that he severely repressed in his trauma to survive in the CrapsackWorld he lives in (e.g. trust and idealism), and the rest being the cultivation of his [[TraumaCongaLine less-than-stellar experiences]] on the SMP.]]

{{Stock Phrase|s}} uttered by someone who's been [[BecomingTheMask completely subsumed by their alter ego]]. The idea is that they have completely abandoned their past lives to the point where they wouldn't even recognize themselves. It's almost always a major turning point for the character, though there are a few cases where it merely emphasizes what the audience has already observed.

-->'''Molly''': Let me make this abundantly clear. My name is Molly. That person is dead and not me. It's just a person who had this body. They abandoned it, it's mine now.

--> [[spoiler: '''Lucien''']]: I am sorry, for whatever it's worth, that your friend is gone. [[IronicEcho Whatever part of me they were, is not of me anymore.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has Agent Maine getting slowly corrupted by his AI Sigma until he finally snaps and loses his human identity.

[[folder: Mythology and Religeon]]

* ThatManIsDead/{{Fanfiction}}

* It's not uncommon for some UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} people to refer to the names they were given at birth as their "dead names", given that they represent a lie they were forced to live and [[MaliciousMisnaming continuing to use their dead name]] implies that their fake self is preferable to their true gender, which is a supreme insult.

'''ComicBook/TheJoker:''' Jack? Jack is dead, my friend. But you can call me... Joker. And as you can see, I'm a lot happier.

* Played with in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole''. [[Creator/TravisWillingham Grog]] takes the pseudonym "Phillip" for a pit fight, which he promptly loses. When he comes back for a rematch, he says "Philip is dead! There is only [[LargeHam GROG THE VENGEFUL]]!"

* Rin's route in VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo has [[PlayerCharacter Hisao]] doing this on the school rooftop after spending weeks resenting his condition:
** ''After Rin leaves I finally let [[ManlyTears tears roll down my cheeks and cry for my condition for the first and only time in my life]]. Then I cast away that hollow person lying on the hospital bed, forever.''

* When Music/JoyDivision first formed, the members made a pact that should any one of their members be removed from the lineup for any reason, the band would change its name should it continue. Surely enough, lead singer Ian Curtis was DrivenToSuicide in 1980, at which point the surviving members of Joy Division renamed the group Music/NewOrder. For many years, they even refused to play and Joy Division songs in concert, though they were later added to setlists once they'd felt they'd established a distinct musical identity for New Order. Though Joy Division and New Order are for all intents and purposes the same band, the remaining members treat Joy Division as a separate, discontinued entity on account of both the pact and Curtis' death.

->'''[[TheDon Carl Grissom]]:''' Jack, listen! Maybe we can cut a deal!\\

* "Frank's not here... he never was." if the person everyone thought they knew was a mask.

* This is basically how being "Born Again" works in Christianity. God "executes" one's old nature (known as "The Flesh," because it's all the basic, temporal instincts that lead one to sin), allowing the supplicant to become a new person in-tune with His will. Baptism is a symbolic Death by Drowning sentence for the [[{{Greed}} selfish]], [[TheBully cruel]], [[{{Lust}} liscentious]] "old you." Of course, it doesn't (usually) involve taking on a new name.

* When Music/JoyDivision first formed, the members made a pact that should any one of their members be removed from the lineup for any reason, the band would change its name should it continue. Surely enough, lead singer Ian Curtis was DrivenToSuicide in 1980, at which point the surviving members of Joy Division renamed the group Music/NewOrder. Though Joy Division and New Order are for all intents and purposes the same band, the remaining members treat Joy Division as a separate, discontinued entity on account of both the pact and Curtis' death.