History Main / WhoIsThisGuyAgain

[[quoteright:328:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Canadasan_2540.png]] [[caption-width-right:328:Oh, it's [[AxisPowersHetalia Canad-]] wait, who?]]

** This can be invoked a few times in the first ''PaperMario'' with [[RecurringBoss Jr. Troopa]] [[spoiler:(and later, the Koopa Bros.)]]. He'll ask if you remember him, and you can answer "No" to tick him off.

* Due to its having LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, it can be hard to keep track of who each of the characters in ''TheSilmarillion'' are (particularly considering that several can go unmentioned for whole chapters at a time). The worst offenders are the House of Finwë, whose members often have very similar names (there's Celegorm, Carantir and Curufin, Amrod, Amras, Aegnor and Angrod, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Finrod and Fingon).

* In ''{{Portal 2}}'', despite him following you since the very beginning, you only "officially" learn Wheatley's name around [[spoiler: the time of his FaceHeelTurn]]. Granted, this only happens if you play with subtitles off and have ignored pretty much every prior coverage of the game, but still.

* One of the major problems EA's RPG, ''{{Lord of the Rings The Third Age}}'', is that the people in your "fellowship" rarely ever say each other's names. In the first with Idrial and Berethor, they're introduced properly, but in all the other cutscenes, playable characters are called by their race: [[TheHero Gondorian]], [[OurElvesAreBetter she-elf]], ranger, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarf]], [[MsFanservice human]]. Or, as they're known to the player, [[Expy Not Aragorn, Not Gimli...]] You can find out their names if you open up the memory , but if you're not into the game it's not going to stick.

* One of the major problem EA Game's RPG, ''{{Lord of the Rings The Third Age}}'' has, is that the playable characters of your "fellowship" rarely ever say each other's names. The exception is the very first scene where Idrial and Berethor introducing each other, in the other cutscenes, playable characters are called by their race: [[TheHero Gondorian]], [[OurElvesAreBetter she-elf]], ranger, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarf]], [[MsFanservice human]]. While it's easy to know their names just by opening up the menu, it's hard to memorize their names if you're not really into the game.

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[[quoteright:342:[[HetaliaAxisPowers C:\Users\Danielle\Pictures\Canada_Axis_powers_hetalia_by_megan16879.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:342:Who?]]

[[quoteright:342:[[HetaliaAxisPowers C:\Users\Danielle\Pictures\Canada_Axis_powers_hetalia_by_megan16879.jpg]]]]

* Xykon treats protagonists like this in general, particular Roy and the OotS. During their showdown at the battle of Azure City, he eventually recalls Roy from the dungeon with the first gate as "that guy! Who was angry about… something…"

* Canada in ''AxisPowersHetalia''.

-->[[LetsPlay Let's Fail]] [[NewSuperMarioBrosWii New Super Mario Bros. Wii]], long after misidentifying Roy Koopa as Morton Koopa Jr. earlier in their playthrough

** Possibly the writers thought the green hair would distinguish her enough.

* ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'' has a few [=NPCs=] that no one seems to be able to remember the name of. For starters, what's the champion of the Imperial City Arena's name? The Grey Prince, yes, but what about his ''real'' name? It's Agronak gro-Malog, for the record. Also, Dar-Ma's mother is ''always'' called just that in the community, but never by her real name. The kicker here? [[DarthWiki/WallBanger Every NPC's name comes up when they're selected in-game.]]

-->[[LetsPlay Let's Fail]] [[NewSuperMarioBrosWii New Super Mario Bros. Wii]], long after misidentiying Roy Koopa as Morton Koopa Jr. earlier in their playthrough

* In ''SaintLuminousMissionHighSchool'', most of the characters aren't addressed by name until the episode focusing on them.

* Poor [[SuzumiyaHaruhi Kunikida]] is so unknown that he hadn't even been mentioned yet. The novels make it a bit easier for him, since his name is mentioned whenever he appears (obviousily), but not by much.

* In ''FiftyTwo'', Bea plays a very important (If minor) role within the series. She consoles [[ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]], [[WhatTheHellHero confronts]] BoosterGold, and serves as the heart of the hero comunity, all while only speaking on the phone and later appearing "on-panel" for two small scenes. Unfortunately, she is only ''ever'' addressed as "Bea," and is never called by her superhero name, last name, or shown in her costume. The series does not make it easy to identify which character she is in the DCUniverse.

* In the first arc of the 2010 relaunch of ''BirdsOfPrey'', the Birds wind up fighting a mysterious Asian woman dressed [[WomanInWhite all in white]] who identifies herself as the White Canary. The team has absolutely no idea who she is and theorize that she might be either [[{{Batgirl}} Cassandra Cain]] or [[DarkActionGirl Lady Shiva]], two candidates [[OhCrap that do not soothe their thoughts]]. Ultimately, it is revealed that she is the sister of the Twelve Brothers in Silk, a {{reveal}} that came at the end of five issues and after numerous "Who is she?" questions, except the Twelve Brothers in Silk themselves have not been seen, or even ''mentioned'', in seveal years, appearing in only a handful of issues of ''BOP'' in a self-contained arc. There was also nothing in her appearance or fighting to serve as a hint to the reader, despite Black Canary claiming to have figured it out from body-language clues, and after her reveal there is no mention of her true identity again for the next two issues, remaining only the White Canary for the remainder of her appearance in the series. If a reader had skipped a bare two pages of Issue #4 they would never have learned her identity at all.

* The first film of TheMummyTrilogy doesn't seem to mention Ardeth Bay's name anywhere. His first speaking scene in the sequel comes complete with two characters greeting him by name, as if to make sure you know what it is.

* ''Seven Samurai'' has had at least two sets of English subtitles; in one of them, two of the title characters are never named.

* The Cigarette Smoking Man from ''TheXFiles''. It makes sense that none of the characters know who (or say) this mysterious figure's name, and it's not in his interests to tell them, but it meant he was just known by {{Fan Nickname}}s, at least until Mulder referred to him as "Cancer Man".
* A running gag in season 6 of BuffyTheVampireSlayer was that no one could remember Andrew's name. He was always "that other guy." His biggest claim to fame was being "Tucker's brother."

[[AC:Literature]]
* In ''The Merry Men'', a famous short-story written by Robert Louis Stevenson which went on to inspire Joseph Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'' (which in turn was adapted into ''ApocalypseNow''), the name of the protagonist - Charles Darnaway - is only mentioned once or twice, and deep into the book. Unfortunately, this book is also frequently used in Scottish schools for English classes, which leads to many students having to search [[TheOtherWiki Wikipedia]] for the protagonist's name.
* While most of these are the result of not seeing names ''enough'', the ''HonorHarrington'' series sometimes strays into this via an overabundance of names. Each character will generally be introduced with full name, rank, and title the first time they appear. In later appearances, they'll be referred to interchangeably with any one of the four (First name, Last name, rank, or title, or some combination thereof), which can make it seem like four different characters are being addressed, when it's all the same person. Combine this with having to keep track of several ships and their whole crews (on both sides), and it's easy to forget who's who.
* Due to its having LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, it can be hard to keep track of who each of the characters in ''TheSilmarillion'' are (particularly considering that several can go unmentioned for whole chapters at a time). The worst offenders are the House of Finwë, whose members often have very similar names (there's Celegorm, Carantir and Curufin, Amrod, Amras, Aegnor and Angrod, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Finrod and Fingon).

[[AC:Video Games]]

* This happens to Luigi constantly in the ''MarioAndLuigi'' games, especially in ''SuperstarSaga''.
* ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'' has a few [=NPCs=] that no one seems to be able to remember the name of. For starters, what's the champion of the Imperial City Arena's name? The Grey Prince, yes, but what about his ''real'' name? It's Agronak gro-Malog, for the record. Also, Dar-Ma's mother is ''always'' called just that in the community, but never by her real name. The kicker here? [[WallBanger Every NPC's name comes up when they're selected in-game.]]