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1[[quoteright:300:[[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Changeling.jpeg]]]]
2[-[[caption-width-right:300:You can't go home again if ''[[EvilTwin "you"]]'' never left.]]-]
3
4->''"You say you don't have any objectives? That's tragic, you know, but you are still confused. The fact that you are empty means that you can fill that emptiness with as much as you want. You happy person, where's a better future than that?"''
5-->-- '''Touko''', ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners''
6
7What defines "you"? The concept of identity, never mind [[TheHerosJourney the search for it]], is a complicated question that fiction tries to answer. Beware though, fiction likes to throw us curve balls.
8
9Is it your memories? Those can be [[LaserGuidedAmnesia removed]] or [[FakeMemories altered.]] (Oh, are there [[EasyAmnesia ever]] [[MemoryWipingCrew so]] [[MindVirus many]] [[ForgotTheCall ways]].) How about your personality? Well, that [[CharacterDevelopment changes over time naturally]] like it or not, but then again [[DeadPersonImpersonation you can play someone else]] and find [[BecomingTheMask you like being them better]]. It may even be [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody outright altered whether you like it or not]]. Is it your body... or your [[WasOnceAMan humanity]]? Less luck there, if it isn't a [[FreakyFridayFlip body swap]] it's a [[GenderBender gender swap]] or [[WhatHaveIBecome something]] [[EmergencyTransformation much]] [[TransformationTrauma worse]]. Does the soul have anything to do with this? Are you still "you" if you [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnate]]?
10
11Then again, most of the previous changes are negative, but what about ''positive'' alterations? FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome and WhatMeasureIsANonSuper make you wonder just how valuable you are when you gain... or lose... faculties. TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody, after all.
12
13Don't let our meandering college philosophy depress you. After all, every non-nerve cell in your body is replaced in seven years (some die and get replaced, some go through mitosis and divide into two... wait, would that make those the same cell or two new ones? Does the original count as dead after that? Argh!), and change -- the evolution of a personality -- is natural. So you might as well wonder if you are the same "you" from five minutes, days, years, or decades ago. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero ...wait, why are you crying?]]
14
15Not to be confused with an AssimilationPlot, in which one's identity is subsumed into a HiveMind. Neither is it the same as EmptyShell, in which any ability to function as an individual is lacking. Compare SplitPersonalityMerge, where two personalities become one, MentalFusion, where separate minds briefly become one, LostInCharacter, where an actor becomes lost in a role, and SecretIdentityIdentity in which it's possible for a character to completely lose their base identity in favor of their outward persona.
16
17See also QuestForIdentity where an identity loss is the starting premise of the story. Can lead to or be part of an IdentityBreakdown. GrandTheftMe can happen if said identity was stolen. Living in a society where you can't have a real identity is IndividualityIsIllegal. If this is a character's backstory, it might be a PreInsanityReveal.
18----
19!!Examples:
20
21[[foldercontrol]]
22
23[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
24* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Matsuri often squares his GenderBenderAngst by saying he is "not really [himself]" so long as his body remains female. Usually, he's very casual and flippant about the issue, only stressing that he needs to change back before dating Suzu. Then [[LiteralSplitPersonality he's split into a boy a girl]], both are quickly convinced only the girl is "the real Matsuri", and the latter takes the idea ''very'' poorly.
25* This is one of the driving forces of ''Manga/BlueDrop: Tenshi no Bokura''. The protagonist's male best friend had his brain downloaded by aliens and copied into the body of a female alien, and his real body was cremated. Over the course of the series the copy- and thus the human and masculine identity- slowly fade away, leaving behind the [[BlueAndOrangeMorality most definitely not human]] original inhabitant of the body. Worst of all, the human identity doesn't fade away entirely, and by the end, the creature that is left is too human to retain its alien identity, and too [[BlueAndOrangeMorality alien]] to retain its human identity.
26* From ''Manga/CaterpillarGirlAndBadTexterBoy'', the titular girl Suzume Kikuo voices her fears about this. After she was [[ForcedTransformation turned into a giant caterpillar]] she can't live normally or do everyday tasks. She also expresses that she can't taste things anymore and is afraid that, if she stays as she is, she'll lose what makes her "her". As the story progresses, protagonist Akane notices her starting to act out in ways unusual to how he knew her before, more and more frequently.
27* Light's [[spoiler:MemoryGambit]] in ''Manga/DeathNote'' could be seen as an example of this- when he [[spoiler:[[LaserGuidedAmnesia relinquishes ownership of the Note]]]], he ''becomes'' himself, minus all Kira-related CharacterDevelopment, but plus the character development of having encountered [[TheRival someone just as smart as himself]] (L ''may'' be smarter, but he handicaps himself with rules so it's hard to tell) and having something interesting going on in his life. Being totally selfish, he wouldn't have become Kira, gambling with his life and self, if he hadn't been bored to the depths of his soul, so there is a distinct difference even from the bright-eyed Light in the early chapters, let alone Kira at his height. Is this still 'him'? Maybe, maybe not.
28* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
29** As Envy said, the tortured souls that compose his body perished a long time ago in mind and body. This may be true for all other souls that make up the Philospher's Stone. Exception being the souls inside [[spoiler:Hohenheim]], who had spoken with them and kept them from losing their minds, and [[spoiler:Kimblee, who was eaten by Pride and his soul trapped inside him, but he found the other souls' wails of agony to be as soothing as a lullaby and kept his mind up until all the souls were released.]]
30** Al is also drawn into a HeroicBSOD by Barry by implying that his memories and body were just crafted by Ed.
31** Happens for real with [[spoiler:Pride]], who loses his memories and personality, and assumes the role of [[spoiler:Selim Bradley]].
32* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'':
33** This is an effect of the conditioning given to the cyborgs, where they are turned into blank slates who can be programmed to perform any function needed and it ensures loyalty to TheHandler. Prolonged overexposure to the conditioning medication causes the girls to develop memory problems, seen most prominently with Angelica, the first cyborg to be created and thus the first one to start showing symptoms of conditioning poisoning. As time goes on, the other girls begin experiencing this to varying degrees. [[spoiler:Henrietta gets it worst of all when she starts experiencing flashbacks to the DarkAndTroubledPast that originally got her picked up by the Social Welfare Agency. The doctors' only idea to keep her functioning is to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind-wipe her to "factory settings", so to speak]], and by this time, her handler Jose is so worn down from his work and constantly having to placate Henrietta's affections for him that he can't even muster any argument. After the procedure, Henrietta's original personality is erased and she becomes little more than an emotionless robot.]]
34** It also happens when the girls are first turned into cyborgs, as all of them are plucked from near death and it's best to condition over their mental trauma, although Rico still remembers her life before the Agency found her and Triela knows that she was found in Amsterdam. Other than Rico, it's treated as a ''very bad sign'' if a girl starts remembering her previous life.
35* Carefully analyzed in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', where the entirety of [[spoiler:Fate's DarkMagicalGirl]] role stems from being considered a mere tool by her "mother" and having the identity of her genuinely loved dead sister, for which her "mother" hates her to no end for having her own personality.
36* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', the orphanage Kinderheim 511 existed solely to do this to children of criminals and political undesirables in East Germany. [[GoneHorriblyRight They bit off more than they could chew with Johan, though.]]
37* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
38** The driving force behind Kabuto's villainy. Kabuto was orphaned and suffered a head injury that robbed him of his memories at a young age, so he doesn't even know his original name or family. He was taken in by a kind orphanage matron where he was named Kabuto. Soon after Danzo employed him as a spy, which meant adopting new cover identities on a regular basis. When an assassin came for him, he was horrified to realize it was the orphanage matron who didn't recognize him, sending him into a full-blown identity crisis. Orochimaru arrived at that point, explaining that Danzo had manipulated the matron with fake pictures; he suggested that Kabuto should find his own identity in life, ultimately becoming Orochimaru's second-in-command. Orochimaru's death left Kabuto adrift once again until he eventually decided to focus on attaining power surpassing any other ninja in an attempt to bring meaning to his nameless existence.
39** "Tobi" attempts to invoke this about himself, burying his old identity under layers of ObfuscatingStupidity and other lies. When it turns out he's neither the harmless goofball nor the stoic Uchiha Madara, he claims that he doesn't ''have'' a real self and is just a vessel for his master plan. However, this is simply how he runs away from his painful past.
40** Anyone caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and eventually turned into White Zetsu, lose their original selves' personalities and defining features.
41* In ''Manga/NobunagaNoChef'', the title chef, Ken, [[TheAce has extensive knowledge of high-class cuisine and Japanese military history]] so he knows what foods he can and can't make, the outcomes of battles, who his boss Oda Nobunaga is and how he (Oda) will die -- and that's it. He lost his memory when he "fell" into the past and the only other person who might know ("Ken! You must return to the Heisei era!") is killed. He gets the occasional flashback but these aren't terribly helpful since he doesn't remember [[spoiler: who that guy was who taught him military history as a boy and what a buffet is]].
42* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', on the island of Dressrosa [[spoiler:the sentient toys were once humans transformed into toy creatures by a Devil Fruit power. It seems that a majority of those close to the transformed victims not only don't recognize the victim, they ''forget the person even existed.'']]
43* [[spoiler:Oz Vessalius]] from ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' suffered an identity crisis very early in life after [[spoiler:his father completely rejected him]]. Being the [[CheerfulChild type of]] [[StepfordSmiler person]] that he is, he ''was'' able to eventually bounce back from that blow, [[BrokenHero although not entirely]]. As of Retrace LXXIV, however, [[spoiler:he seems to have lost his sense of purpose as well as any semblance of self-worth, all of which is the result of [[BreakTheCutie everything]] that [[MagnificentBastard Jack]] [[BreakThemByTalking did]] to him in the previous chapters.]]
44* This is the CentralTheme of the PsychologicalHorror flick ''Anime/PerfectBlue''. Our heroine is a young performer named Mima, who's making a career change from being a [[ContractualPurity squeaky-clean]] IdolSinger to a serious actress. The transition is rough, not least because some of her fans take this as a personal betrayal, as if the cheerful, cutesy idol singer is a completely different (better) person from the more mature and withdrawn TV star. Throughout the movie, Mima struggles with her own self-image, the inherent uncertainty and fluidity of life as an actor, people trying to force different identies upon her without her consent, and people trying to outright ''steal'' her old identity, as she no longer wants it. The SanitySlippage that ensues leads to Mima (and the audience) being [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness unable to trust her own eyes]], and even she's left wondering who she truly is. It's all summed up by the ArcWords, which also happen to be her first lines in her first acting job.
45-->''Excuse me. Who are you?''
46* In ''Manga/TheSecretAgreement'', while Kyuusai treats Yuuichi's blood finally awakening as the finding of an identity with the clan (which steals other people's life force in order to live), Yuuichi feels like his identity and all the meaning in his life has just been wrenched away. Particularly since it means his love for Iori is a delusion meant to enable Yuuichi to kill him, Yuuichi doesn't know how to navigate between what he thinks are real feelings and what his uncle says he must do.
47* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'':
48** This is one of the central points in the series. Lain is a painfully reclusive girl who barely speaks to anyone, but what about the Lain who spends every night drinking and hooking up at the clubs? Later, when some of TheMenInBlack are asking her some questions, she asks "Who are you?" They turn the question around and ask her [[spoiler: when her father was born.]] She can't answer, because [[spoiler: her family is fake and she was never human in the first place]].
49** This is also her source of angst in the final episode when she wonders who she is after [[spoiler: erasing herself from everyone's memories, discarding her physical body, and altering history so she was never there]].
50* Sasami of ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' had this. After a major fall when Ryoko invaded Jurai, she was rescued by Tsunami and bonded with her. For over 700 years, she wanted to tell someone the truth, that she was nothing more than a vessel and that the real Sasami was dead, but always stopped because she was afraid that if she did, they'd abandon her. Thanks to a mistake on her part, the others learn the truth, but quickly reassure her that they'd still love her. However, when Sasami passes out from all of the excitement does Tsunami reveal the truth - she never died that day. The trauma from the fall and rescue caused her to think that. She reassures everyone that when Sasami's older and can handle the truth, she'll learn it.
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Comic Books]]
54* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', Beautie thinks her ignorance of where she came from makes her hollow.
55* This is part of the hook of the Creator/VertigoComics version of ''ComicBook/HumanTarget'': Christopher Chance has no real sense of his own identity after spending his life impersonating other people. Even worse is his onetime pupil Tom [=McFadden=], who managed to lose all memory of his original identity after some time impersonating Chance (and in turn impersonating a few others along the way) -- there's a scene where he struggles fruitlessly to think of something about himself besides what he can see in the mirror.
56* ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'': The title character is repeatedly warned "ego-death is coming for you", implied to be this. Issue 13 ends with [[spoiler:them apparently committing a HeroicSacrifice by changing their very identity, complete with farewells to their human friend before doing it. When Loki finally reappears eight months later, they don't seem to have any memory of their friend. They ''do'' remember that she is their friend though, and they explicitly choose this and their brotherly love as the core of their new identity.]]
57* In Alan Moore's ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'' Michael Moran often feels pathetic in comparison to his alternate form/second personality, the titular Miracleman. Over time he gets less and less time to spend as himself, creating the sense that Miracleman is slowly and inadvertently taking over their body. [[spoiler: In the end, Michael realizes that this is exactly what's happening and then proceeds to write up what is essentially a suicide note. He then walks to a nearby secluded hilltop and tearfully says his transformation word one last time; when the transformation happens, Michael is gone forever and Miracleman never returns to his mortal form again.]]
58* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' #296-299 had a storyline where Superman finds himself powerless as Clark Kent and spent most of it sticking to one identity while trying not to fall back on the other. In the end, he had come to a realization:
59-->'''Superman:''' I tried to decide whether '''Clark''' or '''Superman''' is more important... and realized that to do away with '''one''' would be to '''kill''' half of myself -- '''whoever''' I really am! So even '''before''' I got rid of my power problem, I'd decided... meek, mild-mannered '''Clark Kent''' will still walk the streets of the city, while up in the sky... the world will still watch and thrill to the sight of -- '''A JOB FOR SUPERMAN!'''
60* After absorbing the powers and memories of ComicBook/MsMarvel and realizing that [[PowerIncontinence they aren't fading away]] as her [[PowerCopying transfers]] normally do, Rogue turns to the ComicBook/XMen for help as she finds herself unable to clearly sort out which thoughts are actually ''hers''.
61* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When ComicBook/SteveTrevor learns he's the transplanted Steve from another dimension whose memories were all crafted by the Amazons (without his or Diana's knowlege) to replace the presumed dead Earth-One Steve he's quite unsettled. He ends up merging with what is left of the Earth-One Steve and feels like a more complete person for it, being quite glad to have [[GhostMemory real memories]] now.
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:Fan Works]]
65* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10427729/1/Blank-Slate Blank Slate]]'', opens with James and Lily Potter 'escaping' their deaths, but at the cost of an initially-unknown party erasing their memories and sending them to a random field some distance away before anyone else could find them. Despite their loss of memory, to the extent that they have completely forgotten about magic, they retain enough 'memory' to realise that they aren't strangers to each other, forming a new life together as Jacob and Eva Andrews until their daughter Amelia receives her Hogwarts letter and they are recognised by Professor [=McGonagall=], the two starting to remember parts of their past lives even before they are given a potion to restore their memories.
66* ''Fanfic/EncryptWithinTheDarkToSaveTheClockworkOfAHeart'': What essentially happens with Ai during the start of the story. He knows from his few fragmented memories that he had a close connection to Yusaku before and still acts like his goofy self, but feels he isn't complete and unsure why he would partner up with someone like [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Yusaku]].
67* ''FanFic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': Doa has no idea who she is or how she got to the moon. [[spoiler: Until chapter 6, where it's all explained to her... and she subsequently overcomes this the next time she's killed and reawakens.]]
68* [[TheMedic Glory]] suffers this in ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons'' when the Killing Joke (not the [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke comic book]], but a virulent, mutated, radioactive strain of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E9BridleGossip Poison Joke]]) transforms her into a clone of Rainbow Dash. She finds herself losing most of her intelligence as Dash's harebrained adrenaline junkie personality overwrites her own calm, rational, intellectual one. And to make things worse, Rainbow Dash was her civilization's equivalent of [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Emmanuel Goldstein.]]
69* In ''Fanfic/ForeverHeMan'' Prince Adam essentially dies once the Power Sword is destroyed, and a lot of He-Man's idle time is spent grappling with what that means.
70* It has been implied by WordOfGod that this is what happens to those who become Warmongers, of original ''Fanfic/FreedomDiesWithMe'' and ''Splatoon: Crimson Gaze'' fame. The condition is treated as an extreme Fugue state; the old personality "dies" and what replaces it is a violent and embittered parody of who they were. This reaches its logical endpoint with "Ferals", where even that facade is dropped and the victim reverts to primal instincts, and the mysterious "[[EmptyShell Blanks]]".
71* ''FanFic/{{Intercom}}'' features a much more "child-friendly" version of this. Mostly because the one dealing with it IS a child. Riley Andersen has to come to terms with the fact that her emotions have personalities, wills, etc, and is seeking an understanding of how much they are or aren't responsible for how she thinks.
72* In ''Fanfic/{{Justice}}'', Lex comes to this conclusion about the Joker as the clown's encounter with Sanji costs him [[PutTheLaughterInSlaughter his laughter and smile]], the two major things that identify him. Without them, the Joker becomes far more deadly and unpredictable as he desperately tries to find something to make him laugh again, making criminals far more fearful of him than they were before.
73* While ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' fanfics adore this trope, the "Brotherhood of Shadow" fan-made expansion pack cranks it up with virtually ''every'' major character abandoning, obliterating, and adopting new identities. A Twi'lek named Channa Mae was found by Jedi Master Solomon, who nicknamed her "Matilda." When the Mandalorian Wars came, Channa Mae abandoned Solomon and the Jedi, as well as the nickname, to fight for Revan's cause. After the war, she abandoned even the Channa Mae identity to become "Shadow," Revan's assassin/aide/secret apprentice. [[spoiler: When Revan "died," Shadow found her Force connection severed and became Sera Degana, a crewman on a smuggling vessel. But, then Revan and Solomon come back into her life...]] Another example is Kobayashi, [[spoiler: who was once a Jedi apprentice, and lost his own Force connection after his master was killed]], then took on a new identity as a scout and smuggler. Solomon also abandons ''his'' identity [[spoiler: after being critically wounded and thought dead on Taris. His goal is to kill Revan - and Shadow -- to avenge his former Padawan and his niece (who Channa had to kill in self-defense)]]. The Brotherhood of Shadow itself cements it all -- they were an elite Sith order who were critical in repelling the Rakatan invasion of their world, seeing themselves as a single unit, not as individuals. [[spoiler: When the first Sith Lords betrayed them, the entire Brotherhood was locked in a mind-trap. Over the millennia, they truly did become a single mind - one looking for a host]].
74* ''Fanfic/NeverSayNever'' enforces this on two female characters as punishments:
75** During the events of the first chapter Mukuro Ikusaba, masquerading as her twin sister Junko Enoshima at the time, is forced by the real Junko (who is also the Mastermind) to continue playing the game as Junko, where if she gets her actual identity revealed she'll be executed.
76** Celestia Ludenberg is hit with this way harder at the end of chapter 3, as for her punishment everything that made her Celestia is destroyed before her eyes (Aoi Asahina, who was hit really hard by her betrayal, personally drags it out). She's forced to resume her ''real'' identity of Taeko Yasuhiro.
77* In ''FanFic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'', sometimes Mega Man is so busy being Mega Man that he forgets he can be Rock.
78* Poor Rei in ''Fanfic/NeonMetathesisEvangelion''. [[spoiler:After she has sacrificed herself and EVA-00 against Bardiel, she is resurrected with her soul reunited, but not reintegrated, so to speak. Thus she questions who she is: Rei I? Rei I in the EVA? Rei II? A fully new Rei III?]] Though there is one thing certain for her: "I am not her." (Lilith)
79* In ''Webcomic/PeopleTurningIntoSmithClones'', [[spoiler: Ava’s boyfriend Charlie slowly starts to suffer from this as he spends more time as a Smith clone, as the virus slowly compels him to infect the people he loved the most.]]
80* ''Fanfic/{{Ripples}}'' has this start to happen to Will once she's forced to accept that she's not in a LotusEaterMachine, but has actually been spending years TrappedInThePast. This is especially due to the fact that, aside from her own memories, there's no evidence for the existence of "Will Vandom", while there's plenty for "[[SecretIdentity Van Rivers]]".
81* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10195891/1/A-Wee-Bit-of-Gaz A Wee Bit of Gaz]]'', Gaz [[AccidentalMurder accidentally kills]] a leprechaun while trying to force him to give her a pot of gold. As punishment for this, she's transformed into a leprechaun herself and sentenced to a year of servitude in the leprechauns' home dimension. Unfortunately, due to NarniaTime, a year on Earth is equal to ''20'' for the leprechaun dimension, meaning that while she's made human again upon her return, Gaz is now an adult in a world expecting her to still be a child; with no way to prove her identity, she's reduced to living and working under an assumed name in the Skool as a janitor.
82* ''WesternAnimation/EquestriaGirls'' fanfic ''Fanfic/YouCallThatACostume'' combines this with BecomingTheCostume when a spell transforms the Rainbooms into the character they dressed as down to the last detail.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
86* In ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', Yubaba binds people to her service by stealing their names and memories. Even Chihiro, who is there for less than a day, already begins to forget her real name.
87* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'', [[spoiler:Spinel uses a [[SinisterScythe Rejuvenator]] against the Crystal Gems, wiping their memories and reverting them to their "default" personalities. Pearl becomes cheerfully subservient (and imprints on Greg as her master), Ruby and Sapphire are back to being a standoffish bodyguard and a prescient fatalist respectively, and Amethyst regresses to a child-like state imitating everything she sees and hears. And after Steven turns Spinel's Rejuvenator against herself, he discovers that the vindictive MonsterClown he just fought started out as a fun-loving goofball. Fortunately, Steven discovers that the Gems' personalities haven't been wiped, only suppressed, and making them [[CongruentMemory relive their most important memories]] brings their old selves flooding back. But he doesn't know what made Spinel go bad, and ''her'' old self is the only one who knows how to turn her DoomsdayDevice off...]]
88* In the {{Novelization}} of ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', after gaining her giant red panda form, Mei initially feels like she has lost her identity as Ming's daughter.
89--> After explaining the red panda curse to me, Mom had assured me that she still loved me. As I lay there, I heard loud and clear that it wasn’t me she loved. It was a girl named Mei-Mei.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
93* ''Film/{{Casper}}'' expands Casper's backstory, which involves him slowly losing his memories of his former life when he became a ghost. He does have recollections when he finds his old toy room, but it might just be a matter of time until he forgets who he is again. The idea of ghosts losing the identities of their living selves also becomes a tearjerker when Kat's father turns into a ghost and cannot remember who his own daughter was before he was resurrected in the Lazarus machine.
94* ''Film/DarkCity1998'' goes hog-wild with this trope. Every resident in the city (except Dr. Schreber, and even he's not truly spared) is not who they think they are. Every night, The Strangers will go in and mix up a new batch of memories for every person in The City. There is no telling how many years this is going on, and it's highly unlikely that there's any copies of each person's ''original'' memories, and thus personality.
95* This is a major theme of ''Film/DontLookBack2009'', as growing inconsistencies between Jeanne's memories and reality cause her to start question who she really is and how many of her memories are actually real.
96* In the sci-fi film ''Film/{{Eleven}}'', by Makodap, the main character Pete Baxter attempts to leave a future hotel without paying his bill. Before he can leave, a woman called Miss Stevens gives him a gift of scotch, upon drinking it and phoning for a call girl, Pete is [[PainfulTransformation transformed]] into the woman he ordered, and slowly starts to lose his mind, becoming her mentally.
97* This is the crux for much of the drama in ''Film/RegardingHenry''. The title character [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain survives a gunshot wound to the head]], only for the resulting pinched artery to affect his memory. Cue the rest of the movie depicting him [[QuestForIdentity coming to terms]] with [[TraumaInducedAmnesia not remembering anything about his life before the shot]].
98* ''Music/TheWall'' shows this symbolically. If you see a group of people wearing masks, such as on the train during "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2", or during the rally in "Run Like Hell", then this is what it means.
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder:Literature]]
102* ''Literature/AllMySinsRemembered'': This is the problem facing Otto [=McGavin=], and indeed all Prime Operators employed by the Confederacion, by the end of the book. A long career of having his real identity subsumed by false or stolen personalities has caused him to suffer a crisis of identity as his mind tried to reconcile his true memories with the various implanted ones used to shield him from detection on missions. He's ultimately left howling in madness as his handlers lament his fate due to him being one of their best agents, ultimately retiring him by permanently locking him in suspended animation.
103* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/CountToTheEschaton Count to a Trillion]]'', the princess's revelations leave Menelaus wondering who he is.
104* In ''Literature/TheDemolishedMan'', [[spoiler:The reader only at the end discovers that "Demolition", the punishment for murder, is the erasing of all your memories. This is because they feel that anyone who flouts the system has the drive society needs, but obviously they don't want murderers running around. So your memories are erased and you can become a productive member of society]].
105* In ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'', TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody and being [[{{Animorphism}} turned into animals]] means the mind is changed as well. That makes the situation test subjects find themselves in more bearable but also causes this trope. Semi, in the form of a manta ray with [[AnimalEyes human eyes]], worries about this; she finds herself going into random daydreams when she wants to focus and forgetting things like that she has ElectronicTelepathy, but it's worse for Miranda, especially after Semi starts to get dosed with the cure and Miranda isn't. After a point Semi becomes convinced that Miranda's gone and only an animal remains. In the climax of the book Miranda proves that to an extent this was ObfuscatingInsanity - she was losing her sense of who and what she was and couldn't think straight, so she didn't think of getting help, but she retained some of her goals and still [[PseudoRomanticFriendship remembered Semi]].
106* 1930s pulp hero Literature/DocSavage maintained a secret installation where he used brain surgery and memory modification to 'cure' captured villains' criminal tendencies and turn them into productive members of society -- practices that would be considered torture and brainwashing [[ValuesDissonance nowadays]].
107* In ''Literature/TheExecutionerAndHerWayOfLife'', some people have Pure Concepts attached to their souls. A Pure Conce[t grants incredible power, but erodes the memories and personality of the wielder each time its used. Eventually, a user loses their entire personal identity and acts as nothing more than an avatar of the Pure Concept they wield.
108* ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'':
109** Flat Escardos summons Jack the Ripper as his Servant. However, unlike the ''Literature/FateApocrypha'' version, this Jack is an incarnation of the ''legend'' of the killer, and as thus unaware of the real identity of the Whitechapel murderer. The result is a hollow, bloodthirsty spirit that perfectly disguises as anyone, since, well... Jack could have been ''anyone''... a doctor, a prostitute, perhaps an organized group; even a demon, maybe...
110** Soldier 1 was raised from infancy as a soldier, and was never treated like a child, but a weapon. By the time the story starts, he's an EmptyShell fully devoted to his mission, whatever it is. He really doesn't have a concept of empathy or any idea of how to interact with others outside of combat. His Servant Watcher intends to break him out of this mindset; their first conversation has the boy renounce the title his superiors gave him and name himself Sigma.
111* ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'':
112** A major theme in the series. Shiki wakes up after a two-year coma and is only able to feel " " - literally nothing, emptiness. She is unable to connect herself to the "her" from her memories, and no longer [[spoiler:has the "split personality" that she had been born with to keep her company]]. Her finding something to continue living for is a major issue for the rest of the series.
113** Also done on a lesser scale with Tohko, who at one point [[spoiler:created an ''exact'' duplicate of her body, down to the last detail, which made her realize that her own individuality was completely meaningless, as that body could exist as her on its own. She links it to her consciousness and sets it to wake up the instant her current body dies, so it quite literally ''is'' her, complete with memories and everything]].
114* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'', Phaethon is suing for his father Helion to be declared dead, because the current Helion was resurrected from a recording an hour before the last version died. Helion repeatedly tries to reconstruct his last hour so he can figure out what he was thinking. What deeply disturbs Helion is not so much the possibility of being declared dead with his son inheriting all as the possibility that he really isn't the real Helion. [[spoiler:In ''The Golden Transcendence'', Daphne reveals to him the secret he was missing to reconstruct himself, and that he could not reconstruct it because he was afraid of losing his identity when his last version had [[HeroicSacrifice willingly lost his identity and life]]. After the Transcendence, a [[ItWasAGift gift]] is given to Helion: a priority routine to transmit his information, so that the last thing to be transmitted will be his fear of losing himself and another such resurrection will not trouble him.]]
115* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
116** Dementors essentially do this to their victims. Just being near them for a few minutes is enough to [[EmotionEater drain the happiness out of you]], and prolonged exposure leads to depression and the loss of will to live. Receiving a Dementor's "kiss", which steals your soul and leaves you with no sense of self at all, is seen as a FateWorseThanDeath.
117** Memory charms are a means of rewriting a person's memories, and thus (in extreme cases) creating new identities for them.
118* Navaeli from ''Literature/HeraldsOfRhimn'' doesn’t remember much about her life before her Heraldry; only what Silamir has told her, and a lullaby her mother used to sing. Eventually, Morekai helps her fill in some of the blanks from her early childhood. While Navaeli has become a very different person since then, shaped by years of wandering and Silamir’s endless demands, Morekai still thinks of her as Airasia, the child she died as.
119* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': Intercision separates a person from their daemon. At best this means they become incurious and weak-willed, and at worst it means they hang around ghoulishly and then die.
120* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Features heavily in ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}}'' with [[spoiler:Peeta Mellark]]. The character in question is tortured, brainwashed, and turned into a weapon against the rebellion in general and Katniss in particular. Katniss [[spoiler:realizes that she's lost the Peeta she knew and had fallen in love with even though he's physically still alive. Lucky for her he eventually gets better.]]
121* In ''Literature/InCryptid'', one variety of [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent merfolk]] is born looking and behaving human. But shortly after puberty, any exposure to water will bring forth their oceangoing nature. Saltwater makes it happen faster; and the land memory erodes as fast as the sea traits return, eventually leaving a typical merperson out of myth who may only barely remember anything about those they knew and loved on dry land.
122* In the ''Literature/ImperialRadch'' novel ''Ancillary Sword'', [[spoiler:Lieutenant Tisarwat]] must rebuild her personality and sense of self after [[spoiler:the ancillary implants connecting her to [[HiveMind Anaander Mianaai]] are removed]].
123* In ''Literature/IronCouncil'', monks devoted to a god of secrets must forfeit knowledge about themselves in return for new insights. One such monk who travels with the Council starts out not knowing his/her own sex, [[spoiler:and is later forced to yield up more and more of his/her self-knowledge in order to guide the group, eventually fading into oblivion from this trope.]]
124* In ''Jackrabbit Messiah'' by Geoph Essex, the [[CharacterTitle title character]] has a bit of trouble staying in one place, to the point of ''losing his own sense of self'' when his [[spoiler: [[SecurityBlanket iconic costume]]]] is taken away. Even his [[HelpfulHallucination hallucinatory best friend]] will disappear when this happens, leaving him completely without any link to his own identity.
125* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Mana mutation scrambled [[spoiler:Eric's]] mind, and even after recovering from it he feels like a different person. Kallen consoles him by saying that everyone's identity changes as they grow older and that his mutation did less to change him fundamentally than he thinks.
126* Happens in the sci-fi novel ''The Lord of the World'' by Russian author Alexander Belyaev. Ludwig Stirner, after realising that he cannot go on with his plans, [[spoiler:releases Elza from the thoughts and feelings he programmed in her mind and apologizes to her]]. Finally, he decides the best way to deal with himself is [[spoiler:to use his own machine against his mind to create a new identity, locking his true self deep within his subconsciousness, thus "ending Stirner's life" as he put it]].
127* Creator/MikeResnick's short story "Me and My Shadow" posits a world akin to that in ''The Demolished Man'', where convicted criminals are "erased" and given benign personalities. The narrator is one of these--except for the part where he still has a little voice in his head that tells him to kill people. And his new personality as an accountant is meticulous enough to make sure that this time, he won't get caught...
128* ''Memory'' by Linda Nagata explicitly answers one of the above questions: if you reincarnate, you're not really the you that you once were. You have the same [[OneTruePairing soulmate]] (of whom there's one and only one [[StrangledByTheRedString even if you can't stand each other]]), and you're likely to retain some old skills without any idea of how you learned them, but you can change your identity for better or worse, pulling yourself back from the MoralEventHorizon or dropping down into it.
129* The main character of ''Literature/TheMentalState'' suffers a psychological trauma that instills a sociopathic mindset in him. The difference between the kind and friendly person he once was and the devious cynical manipulator he has become is so pronounced, that he calls himself by two different names. 'Zachary' refers to his former life, and 'Zack' refers to his current one.
130* Creator/WilliamGibson in ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' provides the example of Armitage / Corto. Corto begins as part of a US operation in Russia but is betrayed by the US, mauled by air defenses, and later made to testify falsely by his superiors. Soon after, he disappears into the criminal underworld and emerges as Armitage, a man who literally sits in his hotel room staring at the floor when not working. It's a JustifiedTrope, since [[spoiler: a rogue AI brainwashed Corto into becoming Armitage, and it eventually unravels spectacularly.]]
131* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', Padraic, an exiled [[TheFairFolk faerie]], tricks novice practitioner Maggie Holt into giving him her name, taking with it her identity. Padraic becomes Maggie Holt, and recognizable as such to everyone that Maggie knows, while Maggie becomes the nameless girl in the checkered scarf, slowly falling apart spiritually without the name that is the center of her being.
132* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': The children of the Musser family are deliberately shaped by a combination of emotional abuse and magical oaths to become the spitting image of their parents, with the final test being becoming a WillingChanneler of the consolidated personality echoes of Musser relatives, by which point, even if the Musser heir fails and becomes an EmptyShell, nobody will truly notice the difference. The present Musser family head, Abraham, holds on only to a childish desire to one day direct a movie as the only sign he was ever something other than his family's pattern.
133* After spending eighteen years near-catatonic due to losing the ability to feel positive emotions, the protagonist of Greg Egan's short story "Reasons to be Cheerful" undergoes a neurological experiment that gives him the capacity to consciously choose to enjoy or not enjoy things. Cue ([[{{Wangst}} w]])angst over the fact that all his preferences are artificial, eventually leavened by the conclusion that everyone else's preferences are artificial too, and he's just more aware of it.
134* ''Literature/TheRingworldEngineers'': Nessus gains leverage over Chmeee by dosing him with (hitherto unknown) Kzinti [[LongevityTreatement boosterspice]]. Because the rejuvenation process would make him look younger and remove his scars, he would lose his rather comfortable identity in Kzinti society unless he is provided with evidence to support his story. Chmeee also considers his scars to be part of his personal identity as a warrior, and the loss of them to be almost like [[EveryScarHasAStory losing his memories of the fights where he got them]].
135* ''The Second Trip'' is about a new person, who was a criminal who had his memory erased and a new personality implanted in him. It is his "second trip" in life.
136* Several characters in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' go through this.
137** [[spoiler: Arya Stark]] ends up joining "The Faceless Men" a guild of assassins that trains all its members to become 'no-one'. On the outside she claims it, but on the inside, she struggles to let go of her original identity. Her storyline has her regularly shifting from one name/identity to a new one in order to remain safe and anonymous. Significantly, many identities require her to alter her appearance, beginning with Yoren cutting her hair short so she can pose as a boy. The most prominent ones are [[spoiler: Arry the boy heading North for the Wall; Weasel the steward girl working for Weese; Nymeria "Nan" the girl cupbearer to Roose Bolton; Squab the escaped servant from Harrenhal; Salty, the girl sailing to Braavos to become a Faceless Man; Cat of the Canals, a street urchin; Blind Beth, a blind beggar girl; the Ugly Girl, who receives Arya's first assassination target; Mercedene "Mercy," a mummer girl who is late for her rape.]]
138** [[spoiler: Sansa Stark]] lives under a pseudonym as 'Alayne Stone', [[spoiler: Littlefinger's bastard daughter]], and starts thinking of herself as Alayne rather than [[spoiler: Sansa.]]
139** [[spoiler: Theon Greyjoy]] is tortured until he forgets his previous identity, instead taking on the identity of 'Reek'. He struggles between the two identities, but eventually regains his original identity.
140* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
141** In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', there is a DeepCoverAgent named Gara Petothel who was trained from an early age to create a personality and a life, fully immerse herself in it, complete objectives including forming and betraying the closest of connections, and shed it without a qualm. To the point where later she can't even remember if her previous identities had friends and interests. At some point, the handler who saw her between missions died before she came back into a splinter of Imperial service. There Gara became disgusted with her commanding officer's [[WeHaveReserves handling of his crew]] and arranged for his escape craft to be spotted by New Republic forces, then assumed a new identity and waited to be contacted, getting put into a New Republic fighter squadron. But something was different this time - she was affected by the PowerOfTrust and genuinely [[TheMole defected.]] She tried to throw away who she'd been and just be Lara Notsil, pilot, but [[ResignationsNotAccepted she couldn't]], and eventually her past came crashing in on her.
142---> "All the furniture that made up the way I'd thought and felt about things all my life started coming loose in my head. Nowadays it slides around and breaks into pieces and I have no idea what parts of it are real and what aren't. It hurts, and a lot of the time I don't know who I am anymore."
143** Tahiri in the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' fears that this will happen to her after some [[MadScientist Shapers]] partially turn her into a [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]], especially when she realizes she sometimes ''thinks'' in the Yuuzhan Vong language, and it gets even worse later when her Vong side morphs into a full-fledged EnemyWithin. She ends up resolving the issue via SplitPersonalityMerge, essentially creating a ''third'' identity combining the best elements of both.
144* In ''Literature/ThisIsNotAWerewolfStory'', Raul considers getting {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed to be like the death of your human self, and by extension considers [[spoiler:Vincent, who trapped him for months]], to be a sort of murderer. Near the end of the novel, he also begins to fear that his mother has stayed in wolf form for so long that "[[WhiteWolvesAreSpecial White Wolf]]" may be all that's left of her.
145* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'''s sequel, Laura feels ''empty'' after losing her memories of the first book and Mal, and has no idea why because she can't remember--but she feels very strongly that her "normal" life is like a dream.
146* In the ''Literature/WarlockSeries'' novel ''Forerunner Foray'', Ziantha faces "erasure" if the Patrol catches her.
147* In ''The Wereling Trilogy'', most people who are turned into werewolves become violent and no longer identify with other humans.
148* In ''Literature/WizardOfThePigeons'', Wizard doesn't remember anything about who he was before he became a wizard. He's not the only one; becoming attuned to magic goes hand-in-hand with letting go of your previous life, memories, and basic perception of reality.
149* One of the major characters in ''Literature/WorldOfPtavvs'' is a telepath who seeks to understand aliens by absorbing their memories and worldviews, which become just as "real" to him as his own. Only the fact that he's still in his own body allows him to know which memories are his. Then he absorbs memories from another telepath, an alien who has much more experience with other species than he does, and spends most of the book identifying as and acting like that alien--first thinking he was somehow switched into another body, then being unable to emotionally accept that he's really an [[PunyEarthlings inferior human]] rather than an advanced alien. [[spoiler:He snaps out of it when he discovers that he needn't feel inferior--the alien is actually incredibly stupid]].
150* ''Literature/TheWorthingSaga'':
151** This trope is explored in quite some depth as it relates to memory. Every time someone enters [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]], their memories are completely wiped from their brain, and must be restored from a recording. Such recordings are rather fragile, and if yours breaks, you'd best restart your life from the beginning and relearn what you've forgotten, as trying to live with someone else's memories, knowing that they made choices that your instincts tell you are wrong, tends to cause insanity.
152** The setting also has telepaths, who're subject to a lesser version of this trope. The memories of other people are just as real to them as their own, and if they happen to [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead find a memory they'd rather not have]], too bad--it's a part of them forever. The knowledge that they're still themselves tends to ward off insanity, though.
153** One story in the setting, "Lifeloop", deals with this trope from an entirely different direction: the relationship between actors and their roles. The main character acts in real-time, unscripted porn films that are filmed over the course of several days, and has learned to fit herself perfectly to her roles. The actor she's matched with for one assignment breaks the fourth wall and confesses that he loves her, not the character she's playing. She goes along, improvising with him, but completely fails to realize that he isn't acting as well.
154[[/folder]]
155
156[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
157* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Connor got his mind wiped and given different memories, changing reality so that he was happy and well-adjusted.
158* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
159** Death of personality has replaced capital punishment for crimes like murder (though not treason, still). A machine [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wipes the personality and memory]] of a murderer and [[FakeMemories replaces them with a new set]], letting them live out a life of willing hard community service with an assumed identity without them ever being the wiser. A telepath is present to perform scans before and after, so as to ascertain that the process has worked, but does not carry it out themself.
160** The [[spoiler:Vorlons and the Shadows]] leave the galaxy when they are asked their own [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Armor Piercing Questions]] and they realize they don't have answers to them anymore.
161* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' a number of characters suffer identity crises of various types. The Eights get the worst of this: Boomer [[spoiler: almost shoots herself]] because she 'doesn't know who she is anymore'. She [[spoiler: and other 'sleeper' Cylons]] have serious identity crises when they [[spoiler: discover that they've been Cylons the entire time]] and that [[spoiler: all their memories from before their placement are falsehoods implanted by Cavil or other Cylons.]]
162* ''Series/BigSky'': [[spoiler:Legarski]] forgets the last three years as a result of brain damage, and this includes his criminal history apparently. When he wakes up to find himself accused of murder and sex trafficking, he's incredulous, repeating "I'm a Montana state trooper" then horrified when he realizes this must be true. The decent guy he used to be is all that's left it seems.
163* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' dealt with this in "Tabula Rasa": a serial killer awakens from a three-year coma with total retrograde amnesia. The BAU tried to prove him guilty, but a couple of them raise the point that even if they did prove that the man named Brian Matlof was responsible for the murderers, the Brian Matlof sitting in court could be argued to be a different person. Eventually [[spoiler: his memories return, and he escapes, returning to one of the bodies to verify his own memories. When the BAU arrive, he threatens to kill himself, believing that he'll get the death penalty anyway, but Hotch says "if you really believe that you're a different person, prove it. Do the right thing", and Matlof decides to plead guilty instead, avoiding the death penalty]].
164* ''Series/DarkMatter2015'': At the beginning of the show, the crew agree that they are not defined by their past actions as [[PsychoForHire ruthless mercenaries]], as they don't remember any of them. They decide to instead use their skills and equipment for what feels right to them as they are now without those memories, [[ThatManIsDead declining to even use their original names]] except when necessary, instead [[YouAreNumberSix going by One through Six]] in the order they awakened from stasis with amnesia. Although they all retain certain personality traits. For example, Two is the ''de facto'' captain of the ship, and was captain as Portia Lin before she lost her memories as well. The one who has changed the least, as Four notes in Season Three [[spoiler:when he recovers his original memories as Ryo Ishida]], is Five (an innocent-seeming TeenGenius girl whose presence amongst these hardened criminals starts out as [[MysteriousWaif a mystery]]), the only one whose birth name is initially unknown anyway as she has no rapsheet in the computer.
165* In ''Series/TheDeadZone'', Johnny encounters a former spy that had assumed so many different identities during his long career that he began to doubt that he'd even ever existed as a real person. He apparently feels this so intensely that it manifests in Johnny's psychic visions as him literally disappearing one piece at a time.
166* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
167** The Doctor and other Time Lords' ability to [[TheNthDoctor regenerate]] is an interesting twist on this: the many incarnations of the Doctor have entirely different looks and some personality traits that are unique to each, yet they somehow remain fundamentally the same character.
168** The Tenth Doctor, while insisting to Rose that he's still the Doctor, admits that everything about himself ''besides'' that is "untested". His [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion first full episode]] is largely about him trying to figure this out. Come the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndofTime end of his tenure]], he notes that regeneration still ''feels'' [[PainfulTransformation like dying]], with "some new man" walking off.
169** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature "Human Nature"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]] explores the trope, where the Doctor's MemoryGambit creates a completely new and separate "John Smith" identity with his own personality and memories, who is ''terrified'' at the idea that restoring the Doctor's memories will kill him.
170** It's seen in what happens to victims of Cyber-conversion. The memories remain, but what this form (called "Human.2" by the Cybermen) lacks is emotions and a true understanding of what happened to them. It has been seen that those Cybermen who are made to realize the truth generally blow up, as they cannot live in that form.
171** [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol "A Christmas Carol"]]: The [[TheScrooge antagonist]] has a MacGuffin device with isomorphic controls which only he can operate, and he is unwilling to help save a crashing space ship. The Doctor meddles with his past, changing his memories and character in the process. When he finally succeeds in changing him to someone willing to help, the controls no longer respond because they no longer recognize him as the same person.
172* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' has an unusual example in Bran Stark. He retained all of his original memories just fine, but he also had multiple lifetimes worth of other memories uploaded into his mind as well, many from well before he was born. As a result, he becomes extremely distant even to his closest companions and family and when confronted, does not deny that ThatManIsDead.
173%%* Done in a rather heavy-handed way on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', in the episode "I Am Sylar".
174%%** More is sure to come in volume 5 once [[spoiler: "Nathan" cottons on to the truth]].
175* [[TheChessmaster Blood]] [[ManBehindTheMan Stalk]] of ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' induces this trope in people by erasing their memories and, if it serves his plans, also switching their faces. He does it either for funzies or to manipulate people, but for most of the [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs time]], it appears he manipulates people for funzies. His idea of fun is watching people be awful and dishing out some psychological torture.
176* In a different vein, the TV series ''Series/NowhereMan'' had as its title character a man whose existence has been erased.
177* Touched on at intervals in ''Series/QuantumLeap'' via the "Swiss cheese memory" effect. In the pilot, Sam can barely remember his name, though it's temporary. Later he forgets that he can play piano, [[spoiler: that he's married,]] and never does figure out where he learned to roundhouse kick. The same happens to [[spoiler:Al when he becomes a leaper]] in "The Leap Back", but Sam is quick to fill him in.
178** A much worse loss of identity happens in "Shock Theater", in which Sam leaps into a patient undergoing electro-shock therapy. Atmospheric conditions combine with the shock to knock Sam's "ego" out of his head and for the rest of the episode he assumes the identity of several former leapees.
179** A more subtle one takes place for the leapee; we learn very little about him and don't even see his reflection, so he's even more lost than the other leapees that Sam replaces. FridgeHorror ensues: after Sam leaps out, delusions and disassociative personality disorder will feature on the patient's medical history, which they didn't before. Those were Sam, not him, but who will believe it?
180** After this episode it becomes possible for Sam's mind to merge with someone else's, with the result that during "The Leap Back his personality isn't entirely his own. It happens again with a more sinister cast in "Lee Harvey Oswald" and Sam fears he's losing himself.
181[[/folder]]
182
183[[folder:Music]]
184* Music/{{Supertramp}}'s "The Logical Song":
185-->''"Please, please tell me what we've learned''
186-->''I know it sounds absurd''
187-->''Please tell me who I am."''
188* The [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Gumi]] song "Copycat" about a girl who erases her personality and remakes it in the image of whatever the people around her are like in order to please them, until she eventually starts to forget who she was in the first place.
189-->I've become what you like
190-->I am what you wanted, ''right?!''
191-->Sacrified all I've known
192-->I have taught myself to let go
193* This [[CreatorThumbprint pops up quite a bit]] in Music/DavidByrne's lyrics.
194** "Somebody":
195--->Somebody, somebody took away our name.\
196Somebody, somebody tell me who I am.
197** "Angels":
198--->I can barely touch my own self. How could I touch someone else?\
199I am just an advertisement for a version of myself.
200* Music/DanielAmos: The album ''Music/VoxHumana'' has a short story in the liner notes where the narrator reaches an unusual conclusion: loss of identity comes not from changing too much, but from the complete lack of change.
201-->The person who doesn't learn and does not act, I thought, disintegrates within. It is the chaos of growth, of taking new forms, that is the shield against those who spend all their time earning, spending, and amusing themselves.
202* Music/{{Starset}}'s "Carnivore": The narrator of the song finds himself dwelling on who he is and feels that he could never be enough, yearning for the titular carnivore to tear him apart at the seams and erase what makes him himself.
203--> Carnivore, carnivore!
204--> Won't you come digest me?
205--> Take away everything I am.
206--> Bring it to an end!
207* Tsumiki's ''phony'' is all about this trope to a "T". The "narrator" in the song believes they are somebody else entirely and wants to find themselves again.
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
211* According to reincarnation doctrine, deceased souls are brought back to life in another body... but that doesn't mean they come back as a whole person or animal with any memories intact. The Dalai Lama is found each time by placing a young child in front of a wide selection of toys; he'll play with the same ones every time. So something is kept intact (then again, the Lama is said to be able to willingly decide if he reincarnates or not, so there's a belief that he has more control over this than a less enlightened person).
212[[/folder]]
213
214[[folder:Philosophy]]
215* A related philosophical question is called "The Ship of Theseus": if each plank in the ship is replaced when it starts to rot, and over time one-by-one every single plank is replaced, at what point (if ever) does it stop being the same ship? [[note]] This is also known as George Washington's axe (my grandpa replaced the handle, and my father replaced the head). Furthermore, there's a Kerryman joke to that effect: a Kerryman boasts that he's had the same axe for the past fifty years - with the handle and head replaced, respectively, five and eight times. [[/note]] Specifically, this trope is about the [[ContemplateOurNavels philosophical problem]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_%28philosophy%29 personal identity]]. The general notion is that people stay more or less the same throughout their lives, ''despite'' changes to their bodies (if these changes do not drastically change the way the body functions). Just ''what'' makes several iterations the same person is central to the debate. The debate itself is notorious for the heavy use of [[AppliedPhlebotinum science-fiction]] examples, such as:
216** DestructiveTeleportation: if a [[Franchise/StarTrek teleporter]] dematerialises you and reconstructs you elsewhere, are the iterations the same person? What if it's {{Twinmaker}} style and the original is never deconstructed, but a [[AlternateSelf duplicate]] is made?
217** {{Brain|InAJar}} and/or [[FreakyFridayFlip mind]]-transplants: are you still the same person when you have a completely different body?
218** Related to CloneAngst, provided the clone has the same memories as the original.
219* A crucial part of TheHerosJourney, frequently manifested in [[SymbolicHeroRebirth the belly of the whale]].
220* TruthInTelevision: Lobotomies, a surgical procedure where the frontal lobes are removed (or a few vital areas are sliced), essentially destroying the personality of the individual concerned.
221** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage Phineas Gage]]
222** It seems to depend. During the period where lobotomies were a popular treatment for troubled teens, a "doctor" developed the non-skull-breaking technique of sticking a thin rod ''[[EyeScream through the eye socket]]'', swerving around the eyeball, and stirring it around in the frontal lobe. There's a picture of said doctor merrily doing this to two patients at once. Results varied wildly. Some people hardly seemed affected at all, aside from being very pissed about it. Brains are complicated things that can form new connections to make up for some damage. That's how despite losing brain cells every year, humans don't peak in intelligence at twenty-five and get stupider from that point on. Brain cells can take up a lot of slack.
223** Lobotomies, in their original form, certainly have a well-deserved reputation for being dangerous and damaging the subject's personality, but modern developments (such as the cingulotomy) are apparently far less so and can be far more successful in alleviating mental disorders without disrupting an individual's personality. The book ''Opening Skinner's Box'' by Lauren Slater devoted a chapter to psychosurgery where she pointed out that cingulotomy surgery tends to be much more effective than conventional psychopharmacological drugs in treating long-lasting mental disorders, but the former is still stigmatized as highly unsafe and invasive, so surgery is rarely carried out. In the US, an individual with severe mental disabilities must demonstrate that a large variety of drugs have had no effect in alleviating their suffering before a cingulotomy will be considered.
224* There's also ''The Myth of Fingerprints'', where fingerprints from say 8 years ago are identified as Alice, but since the entire body regenerates it's not really the same person after enough time passes. Even brain & nerve cells do replace themselves, but they do it so slowly that the effect is negligible, which is why it took so long for scientists to notice.
225** That logic was played with by Terry Pratchett in one of the ''Discworld'' books. Sgt. Colon, in an attempt to look somewhat more intelligent, makes the 7 years comment. Nobby then raises the tattoo question. Fred's response is that those cells came from other people's tattoos, which might qualify as fridge squick[[note]]In reality tattoos are in the skin rather than on it, and as cells in the skin weaken and are replaced, they come apart and get cannibalized for parts. If that doesn't happen, they undergo mitosis and divide into two cells, genetically "you" but not the same cell as before. Ink stays in that layer. Tattoos do not cause "ink cells" to form[[/note]]. Colon, at least, is excused for ignorance.
226* Query: if the nerves connecting the two lobes of the brain are cut, what happens to the self, or the sense of self? What happens to "I"?
227** Very little, as it turns out. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosotomy Corpus callosotomies]] are rarely but regularly performed to alleviate severe epilepsy. Speech and memory are affected some, and a few glitches may become evident when information would normally cross those nerves, but the sense of self is usually entirely intact. This is because other pathways between the hemispheres remain intact. Information transfer is reduced, not eliminated.
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder:Radio]]
231* In the ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho054TheNaturalHistoryOfFear The Natural History of Fear]]", the setting is a Creator/GeorgeOrwell style {{dystopia}}. The state Editor, who's in charge of "revision", has the Doctor's voice, but he acts like a completely different person. When it's revealed that "revision" is pretty much an irreversible lobotomy followed by a brand new personality implant, we get some idea of what may have happened to him and his companions... to add to the MindScrew, it's the only Creator/BigFinish episode that has only a cast list instead of a proper credits list.
232[[/folder]]
233
234[[folder:Roleplay]]
235* ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'':
236** Benjy was already questioning aspects of himself and his gender before he underwent his superpower transformation. Being turned into a bug monster just heightened his introspection.
237** Jae has spent so long molding herself into [[RebelliousSpirit whatever her parents don't like]] that she's not entirely sure who she is anymore.
238[[/folder]]
239
240[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
241* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
242** Getting bitten by an Ophidian (snake-like creatures commonly found as slaves of the evil serpentine Yuan-ti) results in a not-so-pretty transformation process. After two weeks, the victim fully transforms into another Ophidian, with no memory of its previous existence.
243** Similarly, a Mind Flayer larva devours the brain of a host humanoid, and absorbs the host body as part of its own, in a process called ceremorphosis. The newborn creature has no memory of its host's existence. However, mind flayers scare other mind flayers with stories of the Adversary, a mind flayer who retained its host's personality and, in revenge, dedicated itself to destroying mind flayer society from the inside.
244** Also true of some varieties of slaad (embodiments of ChaoticNeutral), of bodaks (featureless beings similar to but distinct from doppelgangers), and of many varieties of undead. This seems to be associated with magical creatures that are either evil or so chaotic as to be completely beyond conventional morality.
245** When dealing with undead, it tends to vary depending on the type. A mindless undead like a zombie is just an empty body, and with the proper magic, a person could be resurrected with a new body that exists alongside the zombie, since the soul left the body upon death. A vampire on the other hand must be slain to bring back the person -- the vampire has the memories and personality of the original, but is twisted into evil and the person brought back will be the original again.
246* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'', this is one of [[MindRape many]], [[BodyHorror many]], ''[[NightmareFuel many]]'' reasons you should be careful around [[TheVirus the Exsurgent virus]] ("careful" here meaning either "avoid at all costs" or "[[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure kill as thoroughly as possible]]"). ''X-Risks'' goes into detail on how it feels to be an infected sleeper agent, and it could basically be compared to having your personality gradually overwritten with that of some alien monster. Your human side is used mostly as a disguise for the entity within, kept around only as long as it's useful and driven to actions that don't make sense and sensations that you shouldn't be getting (phantom-limb pains in limbs humans don't have, for example).
247-->''[[DrivenToSuicide Please kill me now]]...Use that plasma cutter. [[KilledOffForReal Melt my stack.]] Destroy my body. Burn it all. The void is getting out. I can feel it.''
248* The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' uses this often as an example of what happens when your KarmaMeter bottoms out.
249** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' -- hit Humanity 0 and your [[EnemyWithin Beast]] takes over, reducing you to a predatory draugr that cares only about feeding.
250** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'' -- hit Harmony 0 and the human half of your spirit decays entirely as some other type of spirit fills the gap, turning you into a ''zi'ir''.
251** ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' -- hit Clarity 0 and you disappear into anything from constant hallucination to utter catatonia [[spoiler: and if you do it when you're Wyrd 10, you become one of the [[TheFairFolk Gentry]].]]
252*** Also, this game takes the trope much more literally, as the page image implies; the vast majority of changelings can't return to their former existences because they have literally ''lost their identities'', as the Gentry create [[EvilTwin Fetches]], magic-spawned {{Artificial Human}}s, to adopt the lives of those they take as slaves. As a result, the changelings find their old identity has been taken from them, so they are forced to make new lives for themselves. Well, that, or [[MurderIsTheBestSolution try and kill the Fetch to steal their identity back]]...
253** ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' -- hit Synergy 0 and your soul departs entirely, leaving your [[OurGhostsAreDifferent geist]] to use your body as a flesh puppet to fulfill its strange desires. There's also the Ocean of Fragments, where you can take a dip into the waters and lose pieces of your identities. Starting with the smallest motes, you'll then lose formatives, truths, and finally natals. And after that, there's one last thing you can lose, the statement "I am." No one knows what happens to those who lost that very last thing, but they never return. On the other hand, you can also grab other identifiers, so you can reconfigure your self as you see fit. Of course, it won't be easy nor practical, but it's definitely an option.
254** ''TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse'' plays around with it; whereas the default for most supernaturals is Morality 7, most Arisen rise from their slumbers with Memory 3, meaning they're little more than divine murder machines in service to the Judges. It's only as they remain awake that they start remembering who they were over the years... only to have to face the possibility of forgetting it all ''again'' with the inevitable return to the tomb.
255** ''TabletopGame/DeviantTheRenegades'' doesn't make it part of the KarmaMeter... because it's a default for the characters. Deviants have been so broken by being [[PlayingWithSyringes remade]] that they can only really define themselves by external principles or relationships; the "they" has been carved out.
256** In the fanmade ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'', Geniuses are essentially humans who have tapped some inhuman well of Inspiration that allows them to perform mad science. The problem is that if they start losing their connection to humanity, represented by their Obligation rating, that Inspiration starts to eat away the human side and replace it, leaving something with superficial traits of the real person but no real drives left beyond the need to create Wonders - [[HumanResources and the people around them only register to it as raw materials.]]
257* In ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'', the lifepath example in ''Antithesis 1i'' features a girl who nobody listened to, who found that people ''would'' listen if she repeated the sounds made by the local environment. So she kept doing so, until one day, she realised she no longer knew who she was or what she would say - she had become nothing but the voice of Morrowen Hollow. And then the Voice, the pattern of sound, took on a life of its own.
258* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'' features a SanityMeter with five separate variables. Self represents approaching this trope from one of two ways - either losing yourself in utter cynicism until you'd betray your old ideas ("Getting hardened,") or else taking so many blows to your sense of self you are just a wreck ("failed checks.") In either case, maxing out either end of this meter means there's virtually no "you" left in there.
259* The Stormcast Eternals of ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' are elite warriors forged by Sigmar from the souls of particularly noble and powerful heroes of any race, that they may continue to battle the forces of Chaos long after death. However, forging the Stormcasts pissed off [[OmnicidalManiac Nagash]], who thought Sigmar was muscling in on his domain over the afterlife, so he put a curse on the Stormcasts to try and get their souls back to him: whenever a Stormcast Eternal is killed, a portion of their soul goes to Nagash, so as time goes on the Stormcasts will become more and more like automatons and lose whatever personality or identity they had when they were first created.
260* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'': Chaos Champions have so thoroughly rejected their humanity through a lifetime of atrocities and been so physically and mentally warped by Chaos that they can remember only fragments of their old identities. Most take new names and [[ThatManIsDead cast off their old lives]] completely.
261[[/folder]]
262
263[[folder:Theatre]]
264* Reconstructed in ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'', when Gretchen points out that being unable to remember anything about her life is actually kind of liberating, as she can't remember anything bad about it. [[spoiler:She even considers giving up her memories ''again'', when she regains her memories only to remember her life wasn't that great]].
265* This is the most important theme of Robert Bolt's play ''Theatre/AManForAllSeasons''. In his introduction to the play, Bolt explains how taking an oath is committing one's whole ''self'' to the statement. A man can lose his family, his job, and his wealth, but if he is willing to draw a line in the sand and say "I will ''not'' do this thing, under any circumstances", then he probably has a clear sense of who he is.
266--> '''Thomas More''': When a man takes an oath, he is holding his own ''self'' in his hands. Like water. [''Cups hands''] And if he opens his fingers ''then''-- he needn't hope to find himself again.
267[[/folder]]
268
269[[folder:Toys]]
270* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'':
271** The plan of the BigBad Makuta Teridax involved trapping the entire Matoran population of Metru Nui into metal spheres, which, over time, deteriorated their physical bodies and wiped their memories clean. The Turaga elders had to reteach everything to them, however one Matoran, Ahkmou, accidentally ended up with Teridax himself, who proceeded to forge a new, evil identity for him.
272** Another example is what happened to the Toa Mata. Due to their malfunctioning canisters, they drifted for such a long time in the ocean that their muscles rotted away ([[FridgeLogic even though the canisters were sealed]]) and their body parts got jumbled together. When they awoke and [[PullingThemselvesTogether put themselves back together]], it took some time for their lost identities to reemerge, however only their leader Tahu got his full memories back eventually.
273[[/folder]]
274
275[[folder:Video Games]]
276* ''VideoGame/AbsentedAgeSquarebound'': Without her Heart Fragments, Karen is in danger of losing her identity. [[spoiler:What this means is that if the Gangers take her Heart Fragments, they can become "Karen" while the real one is doomed to wander the Driftworlds as a ghost. When a Ganger steals her first and most important fragment, it's considered closer to being Karen than Karen herself, making it so that the rest of the Heart Fragments gravitate towards the Ganger while rejecting the ghost Karen.]]
277* Big Daddies in ''VideoGame/BioShock'' normally are mind-wiped as they're mutated and surgically grafted into their diving suits, but [[AndIMustScream some unfortunately retained their minds]].
278* This is essentially what the [[ResurrectiveImmortality Undead]] of ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' are fated to go through if they die too much or go too long without a quest to keep them motivated. They'll gradually lose their memories and wither into zombie-like Hollows who [[InsaneEqualsViolent prey upon those still healthy]]. This can be avoided and even reversed (assuming one hasn't gone ''fully'' Hollow), however, if they can get their hands on a steady supply of [[LifeEnergy Humanities]] to replenish the ones that leak out of them as they die and fall into despair. This may even be why Hollows attempt to attack humans and healthy Undead in the first place, driven by instinct to try and plunder Humanities as a futile attempt to heal their broken state.
279* [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Exos]] from ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' grapple from this. They were created by BrainUploading human minds into robot bodies, but many of them don’t retain their memories of being human; Cayde-6 only knows anything about his life as a human through the journals of past iterations and occasional flashbacks, while the Stranger gives no indication of knowing she used to be [[spoiler:Elsie Bray]]. Further, Exos that suffer extreme damage or crippling mental issues often have to reformat themselves, which basically involves wiping their memories and starting over from scratch. The number in their names (e.g., Shiro-4) represents how many times they’ve reformatted, with most only being able to do it about 20 times before it starts to damage them. This raises some pretty horrifying implications about Banshee-''44'', and explains why [[ShellShockedVeteran he’s so mentally scarred]].
280* ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' has this as a potential side effect of the Demon Virus. The hardiest and strongest [[WasOnceAMan once-human]] enemies are almost all consumed by their demonic identities. More interestingly, this happens to Varin Omega once the virus hits; he [[DoNotCallMePaul abandons the name]] along with his original personality, instead declaring himself "Colonel Beck". [[spoiler:This is because his memories of his past life have ''fully'' returned, instead of the bits and pieces anyone else in the Junkyard has.]]
281* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', when you initially get control of Poo, he has an encounter where a spiritual being strips away his body and identity, and even though it's framed as a battle, you can't keep going unless you don't resist.
282* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
283** This was a major plot revelation in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVII'' when we discover that [[spoiler:Cloud Strife, due to psychological trauma and denial, had altered his own memories and adopted the persona of his dead friend Zack Fair, losing his own identity in the process.]]
284** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': Explicitly the fate that awaits any l'Cie who fails to complete the Focus given to them by the Fal'Cie. They slowly degenerate into mindless Cie'th, monstrous and aggressive creatures with tainted crystals jutting out of their bodies. Given the Fal'Cie tend to give VERY vague instructions when it comes to what they want done, this fate is far more common than success (and even what you get if you succeed is not that great).
285* The main theme of ''VideoGame/GeminiRue'' with the government ([[spoiler:and {{Yakuza}}]]) operating a special center where the criminals ([[spoiler:or just enemies of the Boryokudan]]) are mind-wiped and re-trained for a time before a final wipe and the creation of a new identity and plastic surgery. One of the protagonists, Delta-Six (AKA Charlie) is one such mind-wiped individual at Center 7, whose eventual fate is to be [[spoiler:turned into the second protagonist Azriel Odin, a Boryokudan assassin; but his conscience takes over, and he becomes a cop instead]]. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:Azriel is mind-wiped as well and left a blank slate; however, Echo-Five believes he is now free to be himself]].
286* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
287** A main theme in ''Videogame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', where [[spoiler:Kairi's nobody,]] Naminé, was used by Organization XIII to rearrange and implant new memories into Sora's heart to make him a controllable pawn. Also happens to [[spoiler:Sora's nobody,]] Roxas, whose memories are wiped by Ansem the Wise and placed in a simulated world with a completely new identity.
288** Xion counts too. [[spoiler:Her memories are just a copy of Sora's.]]
289** As well as [[spoiler:Xehanort (or Terra's body with Xehanort's Heart)]], whose memory was erased after being beaten by Terra's possessed armor and transported into Radiant Garden in ''Birth By Sleep''.
290** ...and the villains, who appear not to remember Sora and his gang despite him kicking their asses in the earlier games.
291* The Big Bad of ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'', Queen Sectonia, [[TragicVillain is a victim of this]]; because of [[TheCorrupter Dark Meta Knight's influence]], she went on a long GrandTheftMe spree that, according to the Pause Screen Description of [[TrueFinalBoss her Soul form]], caused her to forget her true form [[spoiler: and, as implied by ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamBuffet'', her true name (Joronia)]].
292* ''[[VideoGame/KohanImmortalSovereigns Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns]]'':
293** The Ceyah faction, who have abandoned Kohan society in search of greater power and adopted new identities; some go so far as to change their appearance by altering their form or donning a mask.
294** The sequel adds new wrinkles to this by adding the Fallen faction - Kohan who have gone so far over the line that even the Ceyah want nothing to do with them; Ceyah who join the Fallen often abandon their ''Ceyah'' identities and mutate even farther. The Fallen's leader Abbadon is an extreme example of this; not only has he mutated into a city-smashing monster, but he gains the power to ''force'' the Fallen transformation in others, Ceyah or otherwise.
295* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'': Raziel goes through a fair amount of this. Wraith Raziel (who [[AmnesiacDissonance doesn't remember his mortal life]] at all, just his vampiric and wraithly existences) meets Sarafan Raziel and learns that his mortal self is a [[ColdBloodedTorture Sadistic]], [[HolierThanThou self-righteous]] KnightTemplar douchebag. Vampire!Raziel was still a KnightTemplar but working for Kain instead of the Sarafan. Wraith!Raziel is still a KnightTemplar at points, but he's the poster boy for UnwittingPawn and CharacterDevelopment has left him with higher moral standards than his human or even vampiric self. He even calls his [[IHatePastMe former human self]] out [[EvenEvilHasStandards for his sadism]], tells him "[[ThatManIsDead I renounce you]]" and then kills him(self?). [[YourHeadAsplode Ouch]].
296-->'''Human Raziel:''' You're a righteous fiend, aren't you?\
297'''Wraith Raziel:''' [[{{Irony}} Apparently I am...]]
298* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
299** This is one of the early signs of Reaper indoctrination. The ability of victims to think clearly and maintain a sense of self degrades and they eventually become little more than slaves of the Reapers, believing them to be gods and the only good thing in the universe. And then come the [[UnwillingRoboticisation Dragon's Teeth]].
300** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': Any kett who's been [[BodyHorror Exalted]] suffers this to some degree, depending on the kett. Some remember every detail of their past life with total clarity but have no more emotional connection to it and some only vague flashes of memory.
301* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
302** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', after the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Cyborg Ninja]] slices off Revolver Ocelot's hand, he has a FreakOut upon seeing Solid Snake: He starts to bang his head against the floor while exclaiming that he's losing himself. To fix it, he picks a fight with Solid Snake, egging him on to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan hit him]]. It works, because he ''has'' been on the receiving end of Solid Snake's punches before, as [[spoiler:Gray Fox]]. Muscle memory trumps brainwashing.
303** And in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', [[TheReveal someone learns rather bluntly that]] [[spoiler: they're nothing more than a fake created to take the heat and assassination attempts off of the real deal.]] The problem? [[spoiler: [[TomatoInTheMirror That someone is Big Boss, or rather his phantom we played throughout the game]], who lost all their memories and sense of identity to become a sort of collective identity of Big Boss himself and further the legend. By the end, he only smirks at realizing his role and accepts it regardless of the truth.]]
304* In the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' fan module Excrucio Eternum, the elf girl Songbird has literally no sense of self because she has been in a cage her entire life, and has been brainwashed to refer to herself as "it".
305* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': [[spoiler:Mario gets his identity and body stolen in the middle of a boss fight by a Duplighost called "Doopliss". It seems that this even rendered him unable to pronouncing the word "Mario" since Vivian can't understand his answer when she asks him for his name.]]
306* ''VideoGame/Persona2'' turned this into even more horror with the Joker's curse. Sure, kid! Call in and get any wish you want! ''[[SchmuckBait Any wish!]]'' What they don't tell you is that if you're too weak or overuse the power, Joker drains you of your dreams, hopes, and wishes, turning you into a Shadow Self that gradually fades into oblivion as you lose your identity to Joker's crystal skull. Funny thing, you see: the power to change reality ''is'' being fueled by your identity as an expendable resource. By rejecting reality and coasting by with Joker's power, you're weakening your connection to reality and getting closer to fading into a Shadow Self.
307* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'''s entire story revolves around this trope, The Nameless One lost his identity every time he died in a specific manner. Trying to recover just who it is you 'are' through the multitudes of former yous who have existed across time is a cornerstone of the entire game.
308* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', Birkin suffers from this after his G-Virus induced [[OneWingedAngel transmutation]].
309* In ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', a jinn known only as the Unbound did this to ''itself'', literally eating its name so that such could not be [[IKnowYourTrueName used to command it]]. Regardless, King Solomon managed to successfully trick it in order to imprison it.
310* Present in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' [[spoiler:as part of Mastema's curse upon Michael, Uriel and Raphael, fitting the three with masks blotting their identities and power they were unable to remove by themselves. Eventually, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero with the help of the Samurai]], Gabriel springs them and removes the masks.]]
311* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance'': This trope is the ultimate fear of Lamia Loveless. When she asked the question "What is left from a soldier, when you take away their mission?", which got rebuked with the answer: "There's still human left!", she slowly starts noticing her identity as a normal soul (despite being ArtificialHuman). Further interaction and she finally learns to value her own identity but feared that she would one day turn into a mindless doll, which prompts Kyosuke to promise her that he'd destroy her the moment she ever turns that way... But then, comes the ODE and Duminuss, all who attempted to rob her identity of a new human being and try to turn her into a mindless doll, like the way she was created, and almost succeeded permanently if it wasn't for Axel's interference (and a bit of her willpower).
312* This happens in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. [[spoiler: The protagonist is not a faceless player-insert, but their own person with their own personality at the whims of you, the player. If you take the Genocide route, the protagonist is slowly consumed by the vengeful spirit of the Fallen Child. By the end of the playthrough, the pacifistic, kindhearted Frisk is fully replaced by the sociopathic, omnicidal Fallen to the point where their facial features and even their shirt change to that of the Fallen.]]
313* For Bastion in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Loss of Identity is part of the process to ascend into a proper Kyrian. [[{{Psychopomp}} As the ones who guide mortal souls to the Shadowlands after death]], the Kyrian have to be impartial in their duty. To facilitate this, Kyrian aspirants are lead through rituals to purify themselves of every aspect of their past lives, from getting new physical bodies to letting go of their past memories. They're still encouraged to be individuals, but as new, purer versions of themselves unburdened by who they had once been. Some Kyrian are opposed to the process of giving up their past lives, however, and have formed a splinter faction called the Forsworn to try and dismantle the current order of Bastion.
314[[/folder]]
315
316[[folder:Visual Novels]]
317* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
318** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', this is part of [[spoiler:Ini/Mimi Miney's]] motivation to murder. [[spoiler:She was in a horrible car accident in which the real Ini, her younger sister, was killed. She gave them Ini's photo to reconstruct her face with because she was ashamed of being the nurse whose mistakes (she partially blames on [[AssholeVictim the victim]]) killed patients. Then in her breakdown, she despairs that she had to keep living as her sister for the rest of her life.]]
319** Done in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' where [[spoiler:the phantom, an international spy and assassin who caused the HAT-1 incident and is the murderer of Clay and Metis, and a MasterOfDisguise who wears layer upon layer of LatexPerfection masks, claims that he can no longer remember his own name or face due to spending nearly all his time disguised as other people.]]
320* Shirou of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' suffered this during the fire ten years ago, where he lost all of his memories and even sense of self. Shirou's entire personality is built on his guilt from surviving and his admiration of how happy Kiritsugu had been when he saved him. When Archer points out how empty his dream and personality are it nearly destroys Shirou.
321* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', Nero Chaos long ago lost his human identity in favor of a collective. The collective is also losing its identity and turning into chaos. Currently, he simply intends to live long enough to figure out exactly what ''that'' is.
322* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', part and parcel of [[spoiler:Sayo's]] emotional crisis leading up to the Rokkenjima Massacre was the fact that [[spoiler: they were essentially trying to be three different people at the same time]] and realized that they would eventually need to come clean and pick one, while at the same time hating themselves for tricking [[spoiler:people they loved]] like that.
323[[/folder]]
324
325[[folder:Web Animation]]
326* A number of characters suffer this throughout ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
327** In Volume 3, Ozpin asks Pyrrha to take up the remaining powers of the Fall Maiden and is warned that doing so might cause her to lose her identity as it was entirely possible that the current holder, lying in stasis, may overwrite her old identity in doing so. Pyrrha already has problems with the fact that no one sees her as anything except an expert Huntress in training, so this just compounds things. [[spoiler:This is rendered moot when Cinder kills the woman, stealing the rest of her power, and murders Pyrrha.]]
328** Since Volume 5, this has been Oscar's worry. As the latest host body for Ozpin's spirit, he's warned that in time, their souls will merge and that may mean that Oscar will lose who he is to Ozpin. While he resolves to do as much as he can as himself, the fear that Ozpin will take over still lingers within him.
329** GenkiGirl Nora suffers from this during volume 8, after several arguments with her best friend/love interest Ren leave her realizing that, ever since the pair had met, it'd always been "Ren and Nora" and never "just Nora". She claims during this period that she only knows how to "be strong and hit stuff, and when [[spoiler:her overcharging herself to take down a forcefield leaves her horribly injured and unable to do even that, she's left wondering what's left that she's even good for anymore.]]
330[[/folder]]
331
332[[folder:Webcomics]]
333* In ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'', Anthony becomes Blitz (a name Credenza gives him when he can't remember his own) after his mind is completely shattered and his memories lost when Raven's possession attempt goes horribly wrong. His former colleagues come across him weeks later and point out how he'd changed entirely, more or less becoming another person.
334* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'': Extensive use of someone else's identification can [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/472.html apparently]] lead to this.
335* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':
336** Depending on how you look at things, Ellen is either Elliot's OppositeSexClone or a magical curse given human form. She has all of Elliot's memories up to the point when she split off from him, and initially believes herself to ''be'' Elliot, then [[CloneAngst snaps]] and tries to become a [[HarmlessVillain villain]] ([[PokeThePoodle with the emphasis on "tries"]]), then becomes a DeathSeeker, and finally [[spoiler:develops her own identity as Elliot's "sister."]]
337** This trope is the reason that Justin refuses to allow himself to be permanently transformed into a girl (he knows that a girl being attracted to guys would earn him less ridicule than being a guy attracted to guys, not to mention [[IncompatibleOrientation easier in another aspect]]). Even if it would make his life easier, he still identifies as a man.
338** The Immortals ''have'' to do this, as their lives lead to emotional and mental instability if they don't periodically wipe their memories, which is described as being like reading those experiences out of a book.
339* In ''Webcomic/FarOut'', [[http://kimiq.com/farout/en/2013/02/06/farout-page-23/ the central robot starts to realize what he wants to be, though he has no clue who he is, or was.]]
340* In ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'', it's one of the major plot points. The titular anti-hero/villain is undergoing eternal punishment for his sins (which, as it later turns out, include [[spoiler:wiping out the entire human race]]) - but his last wish in life, which was also part of the punishment, was not to remember anything. A major motive in the comic is Jack gradually regaining his memories - and the source of many people wondering, is he still the same person when he remembers everything?
341* In ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'', Ash is turned into a girl and history is rewritten to reflect that Ash had always been a girl. Even though Ash has a good (apparently better) life, he believes that he can't give in because if he does, it's tantamount to suicide for boy!Ash. Worse, if the misfile is exposed and covered up, he won't have a choice anymore. Ash is constantly proving to himself that he's still the Ash he remembers instead of the Ash that the rest of the world remembers.
342* In ''Webcomic/{{Oceanfalls}}'', this is potentially what happened to [[AmnesiacHero Nino]], if the implication that [[spoiler:the Phantom is his old self]] is correct. Later becomes a DiscussedTrope between him and Kaji, [[spoiler:another amnesiac, who explains to Nino that he's found that no matter what is forgotten, [[AvertedTrope a fundamental core part of a person still remains the same]], like their most fundamental values and beliefs. Kaji advises that Nino should locate the core of who he is, so that, whether he never remembers or [[IHatePastMe he finds his memories undesirable]], he won't lose himself in the process]].
343* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'':
344** Lil Evil foolishly washes himself with the waters of the Lethe [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2011-09-24 and wants to know who he is.]]
345** When he has, thanks to AmnesiacDissonance, forged a new life, [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2013-03-14 it perplexes Seymour, who asks who he is.]]
346** The orange devil girl coped for a long time without even realizing. [[http://sinfest.net/view.php?date=2014-02-17 however, when introducing herself to the fembot, she realized that she didn't know her own name.]]
347* In ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'', this happens to Trace twice: first when his mind is destroyed, and again when he loses his memories. It's theorized that his nice side is real because that's how he was before lost his mind for the first time.
348* In a recent storyline of ''Webcomic/TheWotch'' (which generally tends to gloss over this trope), Ivan wrestles with this after he is [[GenderBender transformed]] as DisproportionateRetribution for snooping and trespassing by Miranda West, and eventually comes out for the better by reasserting his goals.
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351[[folder:Web Original]]
352* In ''Literature/ArcanaMagi'', this happens to Alysia. To the point that she believes her new identity IS her real identity, even though she still has some of her real original memories intact.
353* One of the main themes of ''Literature/SixChances'' where a PsychicLink that connects the main characters' memories cause them to question who they really are.
354* The brutish but human Agent Maine in ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' becomes the ruthless, savage killing machine known as [[ImplacableMan the Meta]] as a result of his AI [[TheCorrupter Sigma]]'s influence on him.
355* ''WebVideo/UnwantedHouseguest'': This is what [[spoiler: Doctor Litchfield does to his patients.]]
356* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:Taylor]] suffers mental deterioration from [[spoiler:Panacea tampering with her brain]] that erodes her memories and her sense of self and eventually results in a complete loss of identity.
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359[[folder:Western Animation]]
360* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has the Ice King, who WasOnceAMan, and lost his memory and most of his personality as he lost his humanity to an ArtifactOfDoom. It's implied he might still be in there somewhere but buried so deep not even he knows it anymore.
361* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' has one short where Olive Oyl invites Popeye over for a good meal; Wimpy, ever the BigEater, disguises himself as Popeye to get the food himself. Despite the LatexPerfection of the disguise, he still manages to come off as an OddballDoppelganger, yet Olive is fooled, and Popeye himself suddenly laments the possibility that he is not himself.
362* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In Creator/DonHertzfeldt's far-future [[CouchGag/TheSimpsons couch gag]], the design of the characters and the show changes so radically that by the year 10,535 the Simpson family has been reduced to a disturbing collection of caricatured mutants that can only sputter broken catchphrases and hock merchandise.
363* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Missing Identity", where [=SpongeBob=] misplaces his name tag and treats it as SeriousBusiness.
364* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Lapis Lazuli has been encased in a mirror for millennia, so it's shocking she still has a sense of self when [[spoiler:she's released by Steven.]] Ironically, after being imprisoned in various places a few more times, she agrees to form a monstrous fusion called Malachite with [[spoiler:Jasper]], even though she's aware she'll likely have to allow the other to take the reins. However, this is flipped on its head when she [[spoiler:takes control of the fusion using her water manipulation and, once again, imprisons herself and the other at the bottom of the ocean. She's shown fighting for control of the fusion in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E13ChilleTid "Chille Tid"]], and delivers this line which hints at the beginning of her losing her sense of self, something that can happen when one's been fused for too long:]]
365-->'''Lapis Lazuli:''' I'm ''not'' Lapis anymore. [[WhamLine We're Malachite now]].
366* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', Fixit tries to "repair" Cyborg by taking away all that made him human and replacing it with fully mechanical parts and a mechanical brain. Cyborg is justifiably freaked out, because, without his humanity, he'd be just an emotionless machine with his memories. Eventually, it is Cyborg's humanity that causes Fixit to remember what ''[[WasOnceAMan he]]'' lost.
367* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': One of the Shen Gong Wu, The Monkey Staff, turns the user into a being with a similar appearance, strength, agility, and balance to a monkey. However, if used at a particular time, the user will believe that he or she is an actual monkey, and his or her human memories will be erased until the staff is taken away.
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