Line #87 Main/FakingAmnesia


1	[[quoteright:223:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amnesia_stuff.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:223:Dad isn't fooled...]]
3
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6	%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.
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8	%%
9	->'''Mrs. Burns:''' Right, what's this about losing your memory?\
10	'''Bertie:''' Um ... yes. It just seems to keep um ... going.\
11	'''Mrs. Burns:''' Really? So you don't remember Angela's invitation?\
12	'''Bertie:''' What invitation?\
13	'''Mrs. Burns:''' That's a pity, because there's a film you wanted to see at the weekend. I expect you've forgotten that too?\
14	'''Bertie:''' ''Pirates of Blood Island''!\
15	'''Mrs. Burns:''' Ah, so your memory ''is'' working!\
16	'''Bertie:''' I ... um ... remember some things. But other things I forget.
17	-->-- ''Literature/DirtyBertie'', "Worms"
18
19	When a character pretends to suffer from amnesia, or some other kind of memory loss.
20
21	The motivation for doing this varies: someone who has recently acted like a jackass or gone through an embarrassing situation may simply not want to relive it with others. A victim of MindControl may seek an excuse to not talk about any pain they may have caused friends and family. A more nefarious character may fake memory loss to remove suspicion from themselves for a crime they committed, or to refrain from divulging sensitive information to their enemies.
22
23	The amount of memory a character may claim to have lost can range from just a few [[LaserGuidedAmnesia days]], months, or even entire lifetimes. This can often depend on how vital it is to keep quiet about the incidents in question.
24
25	Faking amnesia is usually more believable to others when the individual has recently gone through some kind of trauma, like a [[EasyAmnesia blow to the head]] or DemonicPossession. A suspicious character may attempt to trick the faux amnesiac into mentioning something about the events to prove that they remember it after all. If the faker accidentally slips up and gives themselves away, they may make a big show about their "miraculous recovery." A character who really had amnesia at some point may recover but keep it secret and feign to still have amnesia, to take advantage of it (for example, because AmnesiacsAreInnocent).
26
27	This can sometimes overlap with FakeDefector, if the character is faking memory loss for the sake of temporarily joining their enemies.
28
29	A sub trope of ObfuscatingDisability. Compare MemoryGambit, in which a character arranges to actually have their memories removed to further their plans. Not to be confused with AmnesiacLiar, in which an individual who truly has amnesia is fooled into believing a falsehood they told before acquiring the condition. PhotoIdentificationDenial can also be a factor if the person faking amnesia is shown pictures of their family and friends.
30
31	----
32	!!Examples:
33
34	[[foldercontrol]]
35
36	[[folder:Animation]]
37	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': In Season 2 episode 50, the villain Big M. has an evil plan that involves him faking a case of amnesia. The joke's on him, though, as he later sustains a collision and actually ''does'' get amnesia.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
41	* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''-esque {{hentai}} ''Alien from the Darkness'', the lone survivor of a derelict ship pretends to have amnesia, and is thus unable to tell her rescuers what happened to the rest of her crew-mates. This is all to hide the fact that she is in fact the host to the alien being that killed them all.
42	* The water fairy Athena Glory in ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' does this as a prank to her student, Alice.
43	* ''Manga/{{Arisa}}'' has the titular character pretend to have developed [[TraumaInducedAmnesia amnesia after she]] [[DrivenToSuicide threw herself out of a window]].
44	* In ''Manga/BokuraNoKiseki'', Harusumi pretends to be unable to remember his [[{{Reincarnation}} past-life identity]] to keep himself safe from any enemies he might "inherit" from his previous life as Princess Veronica. The bluff is maintained because everyone has gaps in their past-life memories and another classmate, Zeze, also claims he can't (and doesn't want to) remember.
45	* Inverted in ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Touma loses his memory but passes it off as a joke so Index doesn't feel bad.
46	* In the second series of ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Lelouch adds this to part of his masquerade early on in order to throw off suspicion that he has regained his memories.
47	* ''Manga/DrStone'': When Yo returns after having run away in the night, he finds that his old bosses have been deposed. He pretends to have amnesia to cozy up to the new regime. No one believes him, but they need help so they don't make an issue of it.
48	-->'''Yo:''' Sweet! So does that mean all my crimes are cleared?\
49	'''Chrome:''' ''[flatly]'' What crimes.\
50	'''Niki:''' Does that count as a confession?
51	* In episode 26 of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', after a fight with some baddies, Hayate ends up with a blow to the head, rendering him unconscious. Ayumu, being there when it happened helped Hayate tend to his wounds. When Hayate woke up, Ayumu then asks whether he likes her or not. Hayate then ends up faking amnesia in order to avoid answering the question. HilarityEnsues.
52	* In an episode of ''Literature/OkamiSan'', Ryoko suffers from [[EasyAmnesia actual amnesia]], where she thinks she's thirteen. When she later gets better, she pretends not to remember the entire day due to being embarrassed. [[DeliberatelyCuteChild Ringo]] catches her when she remembers eating.
53	* ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'': [[spoiler: D-Boy initially appears to have amnesia]], but turns out to be faking it. Late in the series, he starts losing his memory for real.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Comic Books]]
57	* ''ComicBook/AgentX'': Taskmaster accuses Alex Hayden of being [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Wade Wilson]] pulling this trick. [[spoiler:This ends up being a subversion, as while it's unclear whether he is Deadpool or not, the amnesia is very real. Then, it turns out Alex Hayden isn't even Wade!]]
58	* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': In ''Recap/AsterixAndTheActress'', Latraviata, when she is impersonating Panacea, does this as an excuse to justify why she is visiting the village, and why she fails to recall past events or recognize people the real Panacea should know.
59	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Earth-2]] ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} was revealed to have been suffering from AmnesiacDissonance the whole time she'd been Catwoman, and when she regained her original memories she forgot about her time as Catwoman. In a later {{retcon}}, she admitted to making this up in order to make her reformation easier.
60	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': About [[EasyAmnesia half]] of ComicBook/NormanOsborn's amnesiac relapses are fake.
61	%%* ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'': In ''ComicBook/SuperboyNew52'', Superboy's cover story in the "small town" simulation.
62	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': In the story ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'' Batman suspects that Kara is pulling this trick. [[spoiler:However it is subverted: she really suffers from memory loss owing to kryptonite poisoning]].
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
66	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin once tried this as an excuse for his terrible grades. His dad wasn't fooled.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Fan Works]]
70	* ''Fanfic/TheEndOfEnds'' accuses Terra of this.
71	* ''Fanfic/ImNobody'': Roxas fakes having amnesia because it's easier to explain his genuine ignorance of the world that way - he is in a different dimension and was literally created a month ago. He drops the deception when his friends Axel and Xion join him in the new dimension and explain everything to the Normandy crew.
72	* ''Fanfic/MyLittleWesker'' has the titular villain do this to keep the ponies from finding out about his DarkAndTroubledPast, and more importantly, his former status as the BigBad of his [[Franchise/ResidentEvil home series]].
73	* ''Fanfic/RWBYEpicOfRemnant'': When Gudako and her Servants end up in Remnant, Angra Mainyu covers up their group's ignorance about the world by claiming their recent battle left holes in their memory.
74	* ''[[Fanfic/SecondChanceMoDaoZuShi Second Chances]]'' eventually reveals that [[spoiler: Wei Wuxian]] was doing this.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
78	* ''Film/{{Cure}}'': Mamiya seems to exhibit short-term memory loss, and acts constantly confused. It's all a lie to disguise his [[TheSociopath sociopathy.]]
79	* In the French movie ''[[Film/LeGendarmeEnBalade The Gendarme to Stroll]]'', Gendarme Fougasse suffered only from a short amnesia after an accident, but he likes so much the convalescent home he's staying in, he pretends in order to remain longer.
80	* ''Film/MyAmnesiaGirl'': When Irene sees Apollo again in a grocery store three years after he abandons her at their wedding and attempts to make up with her, she claims that she has amnesia and doesn't know him, which drives the plot.
81	* In ''Film/{{Tron}}'', Flynn, when befriending Ram and Tron, uses the excuse that he suffered some memory disorientation while being transported to the Game Grid to hide the fact that he's actually a User that got beamed into the computer world by the MCP.
82	* ''Film/WhileYouWereSleeping'' plays with this: Peter Gallagher's character, upon waking up from a coma, doesn't remember his fiancée (because they really aren't engaged, his family just thinks they are), so his family assumes that he's amnesiac. He figures out there's been some sort of mix-up, but he continues playing along with the amnesia story to avoid upsetting the family too much.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Literature]]
86	* ''Literature/{{Airhead}}'': Emerson Watts, after undergoing an involuntary BrainTransplant into the body of teen supermodel Nikki Howard, is forced by the large corporation Nikki had a contract with to take over her life, despite the two girls' very different personalities and interests. Naturally, Em resorts to this trope, especially as Nikki's collapse at the [=SoHo=] Stark Megastore opening (due to the congenital brain defect that killed her) is publicly known, giving her an explanation that won't sound like the stuff of science fiction.
87	* In the ''Literature/DirtyBertie'' story "Worms!", Bertie pretends to have a very selective form of amnesia to try and get out of going to [[NosyNeighbour Angela]]'s party, but it doesn't work.
88	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/GoingPostal,'' one of the board members of the Grand Trunk Company tries this, [[spoiler:faking a fit and then claiming amnesia when accusations are levied against the company board about how they exploited and took advantage of the engineers that built the Grand Trunk]], but it's implied that no-one is fooled. [[spoiler:It doesn't help that the man in question even mumbles about how he "couldn't possibly testify in court."]]
89	* In ''Literature/TheLegendsongSaga'' Glynn does this to hide her ignorance about Keltor. She ‘regains’ her memory as she learns more and can create a cover story.
90	* In ''Literature/MassEffectRetribution'', when a rescue squad recovers a kidnapped character and asks for his name, he is unable to answer and claims that amnesia is the cause. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he has been implanted with alien tech by Cerberus, allowing his body to be remote-controlled by the Reapers. The claim of amnesia was used by the Reapers to avoid the question as they were at that time unable to learn his name by reading his mind. It works horrifyingly well.]]
91	* The eponymous protagonist of ''Literature/{{Papillon}}'' feigns having amnesia after being caught receiving contraband coconuts and cigarettes while in solitary confinement. The warden is frustrated by the inability to get a name and other details from Papillon and orders him to finish the final four months of his sentence without a dinner meal. Despite nearly dying of malnourishment, Papillon remembers to continue the game upon his release and "mistakes" the end of his solitary time as a pardon from the PenalColony altogether.
92	* Bobby Pendragon, from ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'', feigns amnesia to get the Tribunal of Rayne to trust him. [[spoiler: He fails to trick them. It's later revealed that they played along for completely different reasons.]]
93	* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
94	** In ''Literature/JediApprentice: The Hidden Past'', a dictatorship's favorite punishment is to destroy the memories of anyone who causes trouble. Some of them are left to wander the streets, but the worst troublemakers are shipped to dangerous worlds with floating cameras following them and broadcasting what happens. Thirteen-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up being put through the procedure. Thanks to the Force he is able to resist and retain his memories, but he pretends to remember nothing in an act of ObfuscatingStupidity.
95	** Similarly, in ''Rebel Force'' someone who learned how to make amnesiac assassins [[CriminalAmnesiac captures Luke Skywalker]]. Thanks to the Force -- and Obi-Wan's spirit -- helping, he remembers everything, but fakes it and does a very good job of acting, for days, in order to lull Soresh into thinking it worked so he could turn on him when the time was right.
96	* The title character from the Creator/RobinMcKinley novel ''Literature/{{Sunshine}}'' pretends she has PTSD that made her forget or block her memories after escaping from being held captive by vampires. She ''does'' have PTSD, but she hadn't forgotten anything; she just didn't want to talk about it or explain A) why she saved a vampire and B) ''how'' she saved a vampire. That is to say, by using her magic that she hadn't used since childhood to make it so a certain vampire could walk under sunlight, which everyone agrees is impossible.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
100	* Used by Mrs. Slocomb in a later episode of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' when she pretended to have forgotten everything since early childhood and spent the majority of the episode acting like a schoolgirl. The ordeal was a ploy to scare the management with a possible lawsuit.
101	* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', Morden pretends not to remember what happened to the ''Icarus'' when Sheridan interrogates him about it.
102	* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', Walt pretends to not remember anything so he won't have to explain where he's been or what he's done for a period of time. He ''does'' admit to his psychiatrist that he's faking it (so that he can be released from the hospital rather than being held for evaluation), but also points out that doctor/patient confidentiality prevents the psychiatrist from telling anyone else.
103	* Xander pulls this in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E6ThePack The Pack]]", after being possessed by the spirit of a hyena. After Buffy and Willow save him, he tells them that he can't remember a thing and hopes he didn't do anything "too embarrassing". Giles, however, sees right through it.
104	-->'''Giles:''' I've been reading up on my animal possession and I cannot find anything anywhere about memory loss afterward.\
105	'''Xander:''' Did you tell ''them'' that?\
106	'''Giles:''' Your secret dies with me.\
107	'''Xander:''' ''Shoot me, stuff me, mount me''.
108	* ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}'':
109	** After Beckett is shot by a sniper, Castle admits his feelings for her. After she wakes up in the hospital, he asks if she remembers anything about the shooting. Beckett claims that she doesn't. At the end of the episode, though, after a psychiatrist asks her what she remembers, she admits that she remembers everything. Castle later finds out and is not amused.
110	** One episode features the "recovers but keeps it secret" variant with a witness who had been mentally stuck in the 1970's.
111	* Señor Chang of ''Series/{{Community}}'' fakes a condition called "Changnesia" for the better part of a season.
112	* In the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Fallen Idols", a high school cheerleader goes missing after a DeadlyPrank on her cheating boyfriend. When she's found heavily injured later, she pretends not to remember anything, but Grissom quickly calls her out.
113	-->'''Grissom:''' I wish I could get selective amnesia. There's a lot in my past I'd like to forget about.
114	* In ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', a seriously-hurt woman is found at the site of a ferry accident. Her face is beyond recognition, and she has no memory of who she is. Alex dubs her Ava, and Sloan makes her a new face. Eventually, though, Alex figures out that her memory has returned, but she kept on playing the amnesiac, as her former life sucked.
115	* Inverted in an episode of ''Series/HumanTarget''. A client who has amnesia takes part in a sting to trick the bad guys by pretending not to have amnesia. To do this he has to convince them that he was faking it. It makes sense in context.
116	* In ''Series/IZombie'', Blaine takes the second version of the zombie cure and loses his memory. He becomes a much more pleasant person, and Peyton falls for him again. Ravi's attempt to cure the amnesia fails to work, but Don E suspects that Blaine is lying and tells Ravi. Ravi tells Peyton, who asks Blaine. He admits that he did lose his memories for a few days, but then everything came flooding back. He decided that he liked who he was as an amnesiac far more than his typical persona. Unfortunately for him, Peyton doesn't buy it and leaves, setting Blaine back onto the dark path. Of course, at that point, he can't hide the truth any more, as Major has also taken the cure, which means that everyone will know anyway in a few days.
117	* In a ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' storyline, Darcy Tyler woke up from a coma with no memory of the fall that put him there, or by extension the argument he was having with Isabelle Hoyland minutes earlier. By the time his memory did return, he had realised that Izzy had framed him for robbing her flat, so he pretended to still be amnesiac, even taking a polygraph to prove that he didn't remember he robbery, while revealing the truth to Izzy to turn the screws on her about the secret he'd confronted her with that day (that the baby she had been pregnant with wasn't her boyfriend's). He ends up getting off the robbery charge with a good behaviour bond, and he leaves town after sending a letter exposing Izzy.
118	* An episode of ''Series/PrivatePractice'' has a depressed woman ask to undergo shock therapy in order to be happy again. It appears to work, except she doesn't remember her fiancé anymore. Violet, an experienced psychiatrist, calls bullshit on that, and the woman eventually admits that she pretended, as she feels happy until he walks in the room. In the end, the doctors support her story and tell the fiancé to leave her be.
119	* In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "Partners", Hutch apparently gets amnesia from a car crash at the beginning of the episode. It's played as a standard amnesia story for the rest of the episode, with Starsky trying to jog his memory through a ClipShow, until Hutch admits in the last five minutes that he was faking because he was so angry at Starsky for crashing the car.
120	* ''Series/{{Supergirl}}'': Mon-El falls ill after CADMUS releases Medusa. He pretends after waking up that he doesn't remember kissing Kara while he was sick.
121	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
122	** Dean fakes a case of DeathAmnesia after being pulled out of hell by Castiel.
123	** A later episode has Dean actually losing his memories from a curse. Rowena saves them in the nick of time, but Dean pretends for a few seconds afterward that he doesn't recognize Sam.
124	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'': In ''Series/KousokuSentaiTurboranger'', Pink Turbo decides to fake memory loss to join the bad guys after taking a blow to the head in a battle, in a gambit to acquire an antitode for the poisoned Blue Turbo.
125	* In a late-season arc of ''Series/{{Wonderfalls}}'', Heidi Gotts gets bumped on the head and decides to fake amnesia because so many people think [[EasyAmnesia that's exactly how amnesia works]].
126	-->'''Heidi Gotts:''' I wasn't faking it at first! I really did still think we were married!... for a few seconds...
127	* In ''Series/TheXFiles'', Mulder jokingly pretends to not know who Scully is for a brief moment in the episode "Deadalive".
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Video Games]]
131	* ''VideoGame/EvenForEternia'': Arisu doesn't actually take Snow's memory of her sister because he wants Snow to still have a motivation to kill Rubellum, who he knows will become a thorn in his side. Snow only pretends to forget about her sister in order to lull the party into a false sense of security.
132	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
133	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Tidus is pretending to be amnesiac about Spira [[FishOutOfTemporalWater while in reality he doesn't know anything about Spira]]. Because he's at risk of being imprisoned for heresy like his dad, he have to keep his act or he'll be caught. Auron, who is in on the act, encourages him to keep up appearances until they reach Zanarkand.
134	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', Vanille pretends that she's forgotten a substantial plot-relevant swath of memory in order to avoid having to share her DarkAndTroubledPast (and its ramifications for their current situation) with the rest of the party. Her partner Fang, who really ''has'' forgotten, eventually tricks her into admitting it by pretending that she's ''also'' been faking her own amnesia.
135	* In ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaRebirth1'', while pursuing the defeated Black Heart, Neptune runs into Noire (who is really the un-transformed Black Heart). When Neptune realizes Noire is badly hurt, Noire pretends [[BlatantLies very badly]] to have amnesia and not to remember what happened to her. [[OnlySaneMan IF]] sees straight through it, but [[TooDumbToLive Neptune]] and Compa both fall for it.
136	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
137	** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', Kairi claims to remember "nothing at all" about her homeworld. The way the scene is framed in classic Japanese cinematography indicating she's not being truthful. [[spoiler:She later owns up about it... while inside of Sora's heart, no less!]]
138	** Averted by Xehanort. [[spoiler: It's assumed that he lost his memory after the fight against Aqua at the end of Birth By Sleep, but Braig in a flashback in Dream Drop Distance thinks he never lost his memory at all. The truth is he really did lose his memory, but he also recovered it quicker then people think.]]
139	* At the end of ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'' Sly pretends to have amnesia in order to get close to Carmelita Fox (and avoid arrest). She tells him that he's her partner.
140	* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'', [[Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam Tobia]] fakes amnesia to avoid explaining his situation to the others, more specifically the ones who come from Tobia's past in the UC Gundam timeline.
141	* In the UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', [[spoiler:Patty recovers her memory as soon as she sees the graves of Seifer and her crew at Renansula Hollow, but she feigns having amnesia for the rest of the story even after she finds the Maris Stella until she has to confront Seifer's monster form at the Atherum when she reveals the whole truth, stating that she didn't want to inconvenience the group since they were busy with dealing with Alexei's schemes.]]
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
145	* Archer in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' claims to not remember which Heroic Spirit he is in order to carry out his plan to kill Shirou while making it seem like he was just another casualty of the Holy Grail War. (A Main/DoubleSubversion, as he mentions that at first he really didn't know who he was, but he remembered fairly quickly. He just never let on that he had.) [[spoiler: He's a Shirou Emiya who entered the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor after he had his ideals shattered.]]
146	* Played with in ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''. K [[spoiler: can be one of two people, depending on the timeline. Kyle really is amnesiac, but on one particular timeline Akane pretends to be Kyle and in her case amnesia was a lie.]]
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Web Comics]]
150	* ''Webcomic/FateTypeRedline'': Kanata fakes amnesia to avoid having to explain that he's from the future and that Tsukumo [[KidFromTheFuture will one day be his grandmother]]. He eventually comes clean to Saber, and [[spoiler:Rider]] listens in the conversation, but nobody tells Tsukumo.
151	* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Lucrezia [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061117 pulls this]] whilst [[GrandTheftMe possessing Agatha's body]], telling Agatha's rescue party that she's been drugged and can't remember any of them. She manages to pull it off for a while, too, since no-one imagines for a second that it could be anyone ''other'' than Agatha talking to them. It isn't until she encounters someone that knew the original Lucrezia and recognizes her mannerisms that it all goes downhill. What makes it especially believable is that Agatha ''was'' essentially kidnapped by the Prince of Sturmhalten, so Lucrezia claiming that she was drugged doesn't raise any undue suspicion.
152	* In ''Webcomic/LostOpportunity'' Louwrens does this after being transported to an alien (but somewhat familiar) planet and transformed into an anthropomorphic dog.
153	* ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate'': Nara [[https://mis.thecomicseries.com/comics/21/ recommends that Chiaki feign amnesia]] rather than claim to be an [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Unbound]]. Chiaki obliges when [[https://mis.thecomicseries.com/comics/23/ introducing herself to her new classmates]].
154	* Played for laughs in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'': when Animal Control shows up to capture Sweetheart, Unity panics and feigns amnesia. She's apparently done this before.
155	* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'': [[spoiler:Kyle]] was faking amnesia ([[spoiler:[[http://latchkeykingdom.thecomicseries.com/comics/1229 "double" amnesia]], i.e. having lost both his shadow and yuman memories]]) in order to get closer to Rose, who ''did'' forget most of her past as a shadow after copying Willa's memories.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Web Videos]]
159	* In ''Series/FlandersCompany'' season 4, both Hippolyte and Caleb pretend to be amnesiac in the alternate universe. It's Hippolyte's idea, at first because he thinks the true story would be too unbelievable. Afterward, [[spoiler:they don't want their status of supervillains to come into light in a society full of superheroes]].
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Western Animation]]
163	* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Helga pretends to have amnesia. She did originally have amnesia, but recovered from it in the morning. Her mother told her that Arnold took care of her that day, which prompted her to fake it so he would continue to take care of her.
164	* Ambiguous but heavily implied to be the case with Terra in the SeriesFinale of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''. When Beast Boy claims she was so happy as a Titan she comments that things were never the way he remembered them, and Slade tells Beast Boy she chooses to not remember.
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Real Life]]
168	* During the Nuremberg Trials and the lead-up to it, former Nazi Party deputy Rudolf Hess pretended that he had lost most of his memories, making a show out of not recognizing the other defendants. None of the prosecutors nor any of his former colleagues were buying it.
169	* On a 2006 episode of ''The Late Show With Conan O'Brien,'' Conan shows Harrison Ford clips from the ''Star Wars Holiday Special,'' asking if he remembers it. Ford has his head turned away, shaking his head at the questions as though he was having a Vietnam flashback.
170	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FakingAmnesia