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1->''"Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend."''
2-->--''Literature/TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles'' by Creator/AgathaChristie
3
4The shining gem of the NonSerialMovie, an antagonist who is inevitably related (especially romantically) in some way to one of the characters. The trouble occurs when they revisit, and the current situation (say, a character's new LoveInterest) is one that doesn't suit them at all. For maximum effect, TheReveal pulled off near the very end gives a little twist to the "villain" as well as some surprising insight to a relevant character. These work well for such a movie because it is much easier to add {{backstory}} without affecting things later, and is often never mentioned again in the television series proper.
5
6Subtrope of ChildhoodFriends. Compare BeleagueredChildhoodFriend. Contrast ForgottenFirstMeeting. A specific sub-type of this trope is the VengefulAbandonedToy, who has become bitter after being abandoned or forgotten by the child who owns them.
7
8----
9!!Examples:
10[[foldercontrol]]
11
12[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
13* Fiore in the first ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' movie. He befriended Mamoru when he was amnesiac and hospitalized, and years later he returned to Earth to meet him again...
14* Forms the basis of one of the ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' movies: Ataru made a ChildhoodMarriagePromise to a girl he frequently saw on the playground. Fast-forward ten years, and we discover that not only was she an alien princess (with an entire army at her disposal), she's never realized that the proposal was meant as a joke. Understandably, Lum isn't appreciative of this state of affairs; neither is Ataru, but that's because he isn't getting any tail out of it.
15* Ukyou was introduced to ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' in this role. Specifically, she was Ranma's former childhood friend who wanted to get revenge on Ranma and Genma for stealing her father's okonomiyaki stall many years ago. However, she quickly pulled a HeelFaceTurn and become one of Ranma's suitors.
16* Sara's long-lost brother Ralph in ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'' is revealed near the end of the first episode, after the Union has been praising him and Sara herself chasing after him for years, to be the most fearsome villain the series had to offer.
17* The demonic Duel Monsters card [[{{Hermaphrodite}} Yubel]] in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was revealed to have been owned by Juudai back in the day. He didn't forget [[AmbiguousGender them]] on purpose, though, having his memory suppressed due to the nightmares he suffered when they were in pain up in space.
18* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'''s {{backstory}}, they were best friends, but eight years later, [[KnightTemplar Suzaku Kururugi]] and [[WellIntentionedExtremist Lelouch Lamperouge]] are on opposite sides. Neither is an [[AntiVillain outright villain]]... nor are they [[AntiHero full-blooded heroes]]. This isn't even a completely straight example either, as they manage to remain friends at school thanks to SecretIdentity antics throughout the first season...until the WhamEpisode breaks things.
19* Very similar situation in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', which has Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato fighting each other despite having been the best of friends earlier in life (something which causes both massive amounts of {{Angst}}).
20* Koujirou Saeki from ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'', in regards to the Fuji brothers.
21* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' has [[spoiler: Odin, the leader of Ragnarok, aka Ryuuto Amamiya]], who was one of Kenichi's childhood friends.
22* Mendou in ''VisualNovel/WhiteAlbum'' has aspects of this, only she is a benevolent, and not a hostile figure (as far as these things can be counted).
23* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', we find out pretty early on in the series that Utena met Touga and Saionji when she was young. Shortly after that, she met Dios. Shortly after ''that''... [[spoiler:she met Anthy]].
24** Justified in that she only saw the boys once before the series and probably wasn't even paying attention because she very depressed and traumatised [[spoiler: after her parents's deaths]]. In the case of [[spoiler: Anthy]], she was [[spoiler: given LaserGuidedAmnesia.]]
25* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' [[spoiler:Hideo Kuze]] is this to the Major.
26** In the 2015 ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise'' [[TheMovie movie]], turns out that [[spoiler: Lt. Col. Kurutsu is actually a young girl whose body failed badly upon receiving cyberization and she's been stuck in a special facility for years. The adult body we see of her is a remote drone. And she was friends with Motoko Kusanagi when she was also a patient at that facility.]]
27* A variation in ''Manga/PokemonAdventures''. [[spoiler: Ruby and Sapphire]] both remember having a childhood friend, but they don't remember what the other ''looks'' like. As such, they don't recognize each other when they reunite five years later and get off the wrong foot. Justified by the fact that they both had their personalities completely flipped since they were kids.
28* Makarov, the BigGood of ''Manga/FairyTail'' and master of the titular guild, recognizes Grimoire Heart's master Hades as [[spoiler:Precht, his predecessor as the master of Fairy Tail]].
29* Shiroemon in ''Manga/{{Dorabase}}'', who befriended Kuro during their days in school. They broke off the friendship after Shiro refuses to stay as he is (being good at nothing). From what is known from the flashbacks, he believes that nobody can be counted on to succeed by one's self after [[FreudianExcuse what he's been through]]. He is initially presented as a JerkAss, selfish character who openly shows disrespect towards his teammates. However CharacterDevelopment kicks in soon enough and he gets better, and his relationship with Kuro being more rivalry than dislike, but he is still in the [[HeroAntagonist Whiters]], Dora's WorthyOpponent ArchEnemy.
30* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the masked man Tobi's identity is revealed as [[spoiler:Uchiha Obito]], the childhood friend of one of the main characters (who was fighting him at the time): [[spoiler: Kakashi Hatake]]. Naturally, the person is so shocked that [[DespairEventHorizon he completely loses his will to fight]] and it takes quite some effort from the others to bring him back on track.
31* In ''Manga/TokyoRevengers'', [[spoiler: TheReveal is that the BigBad Kisaki knew Takemichi and Hinata for years and had been lusting for Hinata ever since, [[UnknownRival with everything he did being for the purpose of one-upping Takemichi for her affection]]. The reason she keeps getting killed over and over is because Kisaki was pulling an IfICantHaveYou every single time after being rejected by her, as he believed he was EntitledToHaveYou.]]
32* In ''Manga/CheekyBrat'', Sho and Shizuka were basketball teammates in their elementary school years, though they separated not long after that. Come high school, they meet again on opposing teams but the former doesn't recognize the latter. With a bit of a nudge, he does remember and is amazed at how different he's become.
33* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', Wolfgang Grimmer [[spoiler: remembers virtually nothing about his childhood in the orphanage except for one friend he made, Adolf Reinhart. Roberto, the secondary antagonist of the story, is revealed to be Reinhart during the climax. The two never meet as adults but are on opposite sides of the story and both die during the final chapters.]]
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35
36[[folder:Comic Books]]
37* ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfClarkKent'': 90s ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' villain Conduit may have started this as a trend in comic books. An old schoolmate who always felt overshadowed by Clark growing up (with an emotionally abusive father not helping matters), his grudge turns murderous when he figures out the truth and assumes Clark was only better because of his powers.
38* Tommy Elliot / Hush from ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' - a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's who turns out to be the villain behind the arc introducing him. His jealousy of Bruce stemmed from him ''hating'' his parents and envying the "freedom" Bruce received. And, blaming Bruce's father for saving the life of one of his parents, preventing him from being free.
39** Another Batman example is Dan Kingdom / "The Enforcer" from the early 70s "Manhunter" arc. Bats finally figures it out (due to an idiosyncratic fighting style) and delivers a pretty savage beatdown while noting that his opponent was completely the Enforcer now and no longer his old friend Dan Kingdom: "The Council may have planted a clone's body to throw us off the trail, but it was still ''you'' who died."
40* In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Eddie Brock was Peter Parker's childhood best friend, but moved away after both his and Peter's parents were killed in a plane crash. A home movie causes Peter to remember Eddie and seek him out, which eventually leads to Eddie's transformation into Comicbook/{{Venom}}.
41* In ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' 515-518, readers were introduced to Charlie Weiderman, the only kid at Midtown High who was a bigger nerd than Peter Parker, but whose abusive background drives him insane after he unintentionally grafts a skintight vibranium suit to his body.
42* In Creator/DarkHorseComics' ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' series ''Empire'' and ''Rebellion'', Imperial Lieutenant Janek "Tank" Sunber was [[TheParagon Luke Skywalker]]'s ChildhoodFriend. While Luke and their mutual friend [[SacrificialLion Biggs]] defected to [[LaResistance the Rebellion]], Tank remained loyal and became an AntiVillain who sought to capture Luke for [[ArchnemesisDad Darth Vader]] while being torn between his loyalties to his friends and to his men.
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45[[folder:Fan Works]]
46* Played with in ''Fanfic/TheLastSon''. ComicBook/EmmaFrost has been a recurring foe of Superman and his allies, but it's not until Book Four that it's revealed the two had some history together: they met at age 13 when a young Clark Kent saved her from a fire, and struck a friendship for a while. Unfortunately, Selene caught wind of this and decided to manipulate Emma's father [[INeverGotAnyLetters to intercept Clark's letters, making Emma believe he'd forgotten about her.]] The revelation almost [[DrivenToSuicide drove Emma to jump off her apartment]], but thankfully Superman talked her out of it, beginning her HeelFaceTurn.
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50[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
51* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': [[spoiler: Spinel, the movie's villain, turns out to be a former "playmate" of Pink Diamond's who went mad with jealousy after realizing Pink Diamond had purposefully left her behind in her garden and promptly forgot about her for thousands of years.]] Steven sadly admits that, [[LackOfEmpathy considering the type of person his mother was]], this revelation isn't shocking.
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53
54[[folder:Live Action TV]]
55* In the season 2 episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E7LieToMe Lie To Me]]", Billy Fordham--"Ford"--an old friend of Buffy's from LA, shows up in Sunnydale. He has figured out she's a Slayer... and that's just for starters. He makes a deal with vampires to bring them Buffy and some [[VampireVannabe vampire wannabes]] to feed on, so that they will turn him in exchange. He's trying to avoid dying of cancer.
56** "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E7ConversationsWithDeadPeople Conversations With Dead People]]" had Holden Webster, an old classmate of Buffy's, recently being turned into a vampire. They have a long friendly conversation before fighting to the death.
57* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has Mels, who grew up with Amy and Rory as their best friend, but whom the Doctor (and audience) have never met before. After she explains she skipped appearing at their wedding, she pulls a gun on the Doctor in order to "[[TitleDrop Let's Kill Hitler!]]" but gets fatally shot during the escapade. [[RunningGag This is where it gets complicated]]... [[spoiler:as Mels begins to regenerate]].
58** We then get TheReveal that Mels is actually [[spoiler: Amy and Rory's daughter, Melody ([[TimeyWimeyBall named after herself]]), who was kidnapped by the Silence and raised to kill the Doctor. After an unforseen event caused her to regenerate from a little girl at the end of "Day of the Moon", she decided to spend her second incarnation growing up alongside her parents. Which brings us to her newly regenerated third incarnation... River Song, whose future-self both Amy and Rory have met ''many'' times beforehand, and whose name comes from a garbled translation of "Melody Pond".]]
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60
61[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
62* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has Gerrard, hero of the ''Weatherlight'' saga, pitted against Volrath, evil evincar of Rath and Gerrard's jealous adoptive brother from his youth.
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64
65[[folder:Video Games]]
66* Misha of the first ''[[VideoGame/ArTonelicoMelodyOfElemia Ar tonelico]]'' game spends a good half the game trying to convince [[IdiotHero Lyner]] that she and he grew up together. It takes most of the game before he remembers - and it's up to the player's choice eight hours ago whether or not she's the [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Unlucky Childhood Friend or Victorious Childhood Friend]] (barring going for the secret LoveInterest...).
67* ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'', [[spoiler:with Wendy, where she wasn't even forgotten; her best friend had merely got a new dog. Wendy was so afraid of losing Jennifer [[{{Yandere}} that this gave her reason to resort to blackmail, bullying and eventually murder to bring them back together.]]]]
68** More literally, [[spoiler:everyone, especially Brown. When Jennifer was found after the massacre, she had amnesia, and only remembered years later.]]
69* In ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is Mickey Mouse's older half-brother who was lost to Walt Disney over a legal dispute and replaced by Mickey himself. It’s not pretty when he and Mickey first meet, but Mickey eventually [[HeelFaceTurn gains his trust.]]
70* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin'': [[spoiler:While everyone else in the "Masked Circle" group suffers from ForgottenFirstMeeting, the last member, Jun, still does remember that they nearly killed TeamMom Maya and built up a grudge after forgetting the "nearly" part... and became the enemy known as the Joker for the first 3/4ths of the game.]]
71* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
72** Used in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' when it's revealed that all of the SeeD members in the main party had grown up together in the same orphanage and that the sorceress they were up against was their former matron, but most of them had forgotten. A JustifiedTrope, as amnesia is an established side effect of letting Guardian Forces take up space in the user's brain.
73** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV Shadowbringers'', the villain Emet-Selch knows from the beginning that[[spoiler: the player character is the reincarnation of his dearest friend. Since he doesn't have much hope that the Warrior of Light could remember anything Emet-Selch is shocked to see an image of his friend superimposed over the player, and goes into denial. During the events of Patch 5.3, the player (and by extension Ardbert) are revealed to be the reincarnation of the forgotten member of Amaurot's Convocation of Fourteen, Azem, who refused to participate in both Zodiark and Hydaelyn's summonings. However, they still don't have any memory of their life as Emet's friend.]]
74* ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' state that [[spoiler:Lobo]], one of the villains was this to [[spoiler:Christophe]], with this being a big part of the former's StartOfDarkness. This plays a part in [[spoiler:The Demon Path, where if Revya states that s/he trusts him, he bursts into maniacal laughter and states that only fools trust]].
75* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', one of the characters that joins the group no matter what path is taken is the Avatar's childhood friend, Silas. In the ''Birthright'' and ''Revelations'' paths, however, the group has to fight him before he joins. Either way, the [[PlayerCharacter Avatar]] initially doesn't remember him, since he was banished from the Nohr castle several years ago for taking him/her outside. [[spoiler:Reaching A-Support with him reveals that the servants and retainers did their best to make the Avatar forget Silas so they wouldn't cry about missing him.]]
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78[[folder:Visual Novels]]
79* ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}'' features a non-villainous example. Kotomi Ichinose was Tomoya's childhood friend, yet after [[spoiler:Kotomi's parents died in the plane crash]], Tomoya stopped coming over to her house because Kotomi would not come out. The next time they would meet was when Tomoya wandered into the library in his senior year. (This happens the same way in both the VisualNovel and the {{anime}}).
80* Shiki doesn't remember [[spoiler:SHIKI]], his childhood friend and one-half of the BigBadDuumvirate in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', due to some LaserGuidedAmnesia. This is because [[spoiler:SHIKI succumbed to his familial curse and stabbed Shiki to death when they were children, but SHIKI's sister Akiha managed to bring Shiki BackFromTheDeath at the cost of his memories and half of her own life force. Following this, SHIKI has been disowned and {{Unperson}}ed by his father]].
81* In ''VisualNovel/DengekiStryker'', [[spoiler:Real!Haruna]] shows up as a foe as she had [[spoiler: given her memories of Yuuki to the memory collector to become a stryker and is hired to kill them.]]
82* Lowe from ''VisualNovel/TokyoChronos'' claims that he's one of Sakurai's childhood friends. Not only do Sakurai and his ''other'' childhood friends not remember him at all, but he's such a nasty delinquent that they can't believe they'd ever have someone like him in their group. But it turns out that Lowe ''was'' friends with everyone in the group... [[spoiler:because he's technically Sakurai, being the worst parts of him given form by the Chronos World.]]
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85[[folder:Western Animation]]
86* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': In the Season 5 episode "SPHINX Rising", [[spoiler:The Monarch finds a picture of himself and Dr. Venture as young boys playing together. The Monarch is ''extremely'' visibly distressed by this. It gets even worse with the revelation that the two [[CainAndAbel are half-brothers]].]]
87-->"''I don't remember any of this!''"
88[[/folder]]

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