History Main / VictoryGuidedAmnesia

* Occurs when [[spoiler: Zach and Jenny]] return from the Door At the Edge of the Universe in the first volume of Creator/ScottMcCloud's ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}''

* [[spoiler:The good aliens]] do this to the protagonists of ''Film/DudeWheresMyCar'' and all the innocent bystanders who watched them [[spoiler:save the universe]]. This has the side effect of [[ResetButton completely undoing]] all of their CharacterDevelopment. And then they send them gifts thanking them for doing what they don't remember doing, prompting yet another "How wasted ''were'' we last night?"

* ''Film/{{Pokemon}}'':

* In ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', when a Promethean reaches [[BecomeARealBoy the New Dawn]], they make a roll that basically determines whether they've been acting more human than Promethean (bonuses for fulfilling Vice or Virtue, penalties for using Transmutations). If they succeed, they've been leaning towards human and remember everything; if they fail, however, they've been leaning towards Promethean, and everything pertaining to the Pilgrimage is boiled away. Leaving them with a strong case of amnesia and likely no record of existence... [[BittersweetEnding but the universe no longer hates them]].

* A variant occurs in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[spoiler: Ed deconstructs [[TheDragon Pride]] and reconstitutes him as a helpless human baby. In the epilogue, he's grown up to be a seemingly ordinary child, with no memory of the horrible things he did as a homunculus]]. In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], [[spoiler:Al gets his body back at the end and is happy - but has no memory of the events of the series]].
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** At the end of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', Mewtwo erases all memories of him and the clones he created from the protagonists, to both protect himself from Team Rocket's boss and maintain some semblance of continuity.
** Unfortunately the former doesn't take, as seen in ''Anime/PokemonMewtwoReturns''. At the end of that movie, he lets the protagonists keep their memories at their request [[spoiler: He ''does'' get the one he missed the first time around, erasing all memories of the incident ''except for the fact that he lost''.]]. Later movies don't even ''try'' the latter.

* [[spoiler: Kudou Yoji]] in ''Anime/WeissKreuz Gluhen'' ends the series with a case of Victory Guided Amnesia following a DisneyDeath - arguably the best-case scenario, given the character's state throughout the series.

* Invoked in ''LightNovel/CoffinPrincessChaika''. Having run out of fuel for her magic, [[spoiler:Chaika chooses to use her own memories as fuel for the spell that destroys [[BigBad Arthur Gaz]] for good]], leaving her with severe amnesia. The DistantFinale shows her still recovering, with Tohru's help.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has a subverted example at the end of the series' very first arc. When Index goes BrainwashedAndCrazy on her friends, she casts the spell "Dragon Breath" that causes feathers to fall from the sky. Coming into physical contact with just a single one is instantly fatal. When Touma undoes her brainwashing with his [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]], he gets distracted by relief and one of the feathers graze his head. He survives due to PlotArmor but as a result of brain damage, all of his memories are destroyed ''permanently''. He's fully aware of what happened but he can't undo it so he keeps it a secret and pretends nothing's wrong to keep his TrueCompanions from worrying. He's so good at it in fact that neither of his [[UnwantedHarem primary]] LoveInterests figure it out until ''very'' late into the novels.

* Humanity as a whole gets this in the finale of ''Manga/{{Dragonball}}''. The human race spent the arc being terrorized, then killed by Majin Buu. In the final battle, the whole of Earth contributes its power to Goku's Spirit Bomb to destroy Buu once and for all. When the dust clears, all that remains is Fat Buu, a part of Buu that had befriended Mr. Satan and turned good. Because of this, protagonists use their next chance to wish on the Dragonballs to make humanity forget about Buu, so that Fat Buu can live peacefully on Earth.

* Creator/MarvelComics' ComicBook/TheSentry - the world's greatest hero - saved the world from The Void, then makes everyone forget they ever heard of or met him, and he forgets he's a {{superhero}}. It takes The Void returning for him to remember, and slowly others do too. Note that is entirely {{Retcon}}... The Sentry was created with this BackStory already in place. It eventually turns out that [[spoiler: it is actually backwards - his regaining his memory is what causes The Void to return, as it is his EnemyWithout, and the whole amnesia thing was a MemoryGambit to keep The Void from being able to manifest]].

* Franchise/{{Tintin}} and his friends didn't so much save the day in ''Flight 714'' as save themselves from the bad guys, but either way their memories (as well as those of the bad guys) are wiped [[spoiler: by aliens]] at the end of the story, leaving only Snowy in the know.
* ''ComicBook/XMen:'' In issue #4, Professor Xavier calls in the Human Torch to help fight the Juggernaut, and once everything's over wipes Johnny's memories, because Johnny can't be trusted to keep the X-Men's existence a secret.

[[folder:FanFiction]]

[[folder:Film — Animation]]
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the Second Dimension]]'', due to [[spoiler: being a series with [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption failure is the only option]], it had to have this to everyone in the cast besides OWCA members and the Second Dimension counterparts at the end of the movie]].
** Lampshaded in the beginning [[AsYouKnow when Major Monogram tells Perry]] ("No need to remind you but I'll do it anyway...") that if his cover is blown, then either he would have to be relocated to somewhere else or have their memories of that day be erased.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

** At the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames "The War Games"]], after calling down the DeusExMachina — [[spoiler:the Time Lords]] — companions Jamie and Zoe have their memories of all their adventures (bar the first) with the Doctor wiped and are sent back home.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]]: Donna Noble gains [[spoiler:the Doctor's memories and brain power and uses it to defeat the Daleks]]. Afterwards, the Doctor reveals that the [[spoiler:mind of a Time Lord]] is too much for a human brain to handle and, to save Donna's life, he wipes her memory of everything she experienced since meeting him. He warns her family that if she ever finds out about her adventures her mind will destroy itself.

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Clues" deals with the crew realising they've lost an entire day, though they didn't really win or lose the "battle" fought during that day - they just reached a stalemate for which one of the requirements was a mind wipe. The first attempt failed because Data was immune; the second time, the crew agreed to it (and Data agreed to help cover it up), but they missed some details. The ''third'' time, they fixed those details and it finally worked.

* The good ending to ''VideoGame/Manhunt2'' shows Daniel waking up on a roadside not even remembering his own name. Fortunately he has an envelope on him that gives him a new identity and tells him the address where he lives. After he's [[spoiler: had a malfunctioning microchip in his brain containing the personality of a remorseless serial killer which lead to him killing his best friend and his entire family]], forgetting everything and being given a fresh start is pretty much the best ending you could hope for.

* The bad ending of ''[[VideoGame/ShadowHearts Shadow Hearts 2]]'' has [[spoiler:Yuri lose his memories and identity as a result of a curse literally wiping his soul clean. In the ''good'' ending, he commits suicide before that can happen. This lets him retain his personality (if not his memories) and his love for Alice, which lets him travel back in time to be by her side again]].

** Lampshaded in the beginning when Carl tells Perry that if his cover is blown, then either he would have to be relocated to somewhere else or have their memories of that day be erased.

* In ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', when a Promethean reaches [[PinocchioSyndrome the New Dawn]], they make a roll that basically determines whether they've been acting more human than Promethean (bonuses for fulfilling Vice or Virtue, penalties for using Transmutations). If they succeed, they've been leaning towards human and remember everything; if they fail, however, they've been leaning towards Promethean, and everything pertaining to the Pilgrimage is boiled away. Leaving them with a strong case of amnesia and likely no record of existence... [[BittersweetEnding but the universe no longer hates them]].

* Gaara after [[GenderFlip her]] brush with death in the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Echoes}}''.

* Due to [[spoiler: being a series with [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption failure is the only option]], [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the Second Dimension]] had to have this to everyone in the cast besides OWCA members and the Second Dimension counterparts at the end of the movie]].

* Creator/MichaelCrichton's ''Literature/{{Sphere}}''. Doubles as a ShootTheShaggyDog. The ending to ''Sphere'' is open to interpretation. I always thought [[spoiler:the one chick that seems to be more in control of her manifestations decided to keep her power and use it to make the others forget]]. But it's hard to tell exactly what's going on because of the fact that the narrator gets/claims amnesia.

* Pharaoh Atem in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' wiped his own memory and all existence of his very name from history after his initial defeat of Thief King Bakura and Zorc, only to have to scramble to regain both millennia later after both baddies return.

You are one of the BigDamnHeroes. You've stormed the Evil Stronghold, rescued the DamselInDistress, killed TheDragon, defeated the BigBad, and even put the SealedEvilInACan they were worshiping in its place. Too bad you won't be aware enough of your own faculties to enjoy your victory. For some reason, one of the common rewards for a hero's victory is a one-way, all expenses paid trip to the Land of the Empty Mind, courtesy of AppliedPhlebotinum Airlines.

* In ''Webcomic/NonPack'', VillainProtagonist Karen is fighting for her life against her rival [[{{Gangbangers}} Gangbanger]] Honey, who gets the upper hand when he takes PsychoSerum that causes him to turn into a monster. However, Karen temporarily turns into an even bigger monster and kills him, due to the implied intervention of the setting's CrystalDragonJesus. Afterwards, Karen loses consciousness and her teammate Doc gets her to a hospital. When Karen comes to, she has no memory of HulkingOut and killing Honey. Doc tells her most of what happened, although he leaves out the BodyHorror part.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "The Why of Fry": Nibbler wipes Fry's memories after he saves the universe from the brainspawn.

* At the end of ''[[Franchise/{{Peanuts}} It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown]]'', Charlie Brown doesn't remember that he worked up the nerve to kiss the Little Red-Haired Girl at the Homecoming dance and subsequently was the life of the party.

* Both {{lampshade|Hanging}}d and {{defied|Trope}} in "Ariel", an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers''. Zachary Foxx, Nico and Nico's mentor Ariel have just saved Xanadu, a world of beings with PsychicPowers, and its leaders (the Circle of Thought) from an EldritchAbomination. We get this exchange as the episode ends:

* ''VideoGame/{{Implosion}}'' ends with [[spoiler:[[TheHero Jake]] (who controls his Warmech-[=III=] Avalon remotely by using his subconscious mind) dying after performing a TakingYouWithMe attack in order to stop [[EldritchAbomination The Queen]] from [[ColonyDrop using her psychokinesis to crash The [=AZA=] full of [=XADA=] aliens to Earth]], leading to his brain operated with an [=AI=] system implant and ends up alive but completely loses his memories and his identity, thanks to his self-destructive attack. [[note]]Though, it's {{foreshadowed}} in the tips from the loading screen: When the player Warmech's [=HP=] hits zero, the pilot link will be severed, which leads to the brain death of the player who controls The Warmech.[[/note]]]]

* Occasionally happens in the ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'' games.