History Main / NightmareOfNormality

May also overlap with LotusEaterMachine if the experience is treated as [[TheFinalTemptation calming and seductive]], PsychologicalTormentZone if it's treated as a hell, or LaserGuidedAmnesia if their memories of their life before the illusion are erased.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The two-parter "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Silence in the Library]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest of the Dead]]" frequently interrupts the main adventure in the planet-spanning library with the doings of a nameless little girl. Apparently living in a mundane 21st century neighborhood on Earth, she can somehow see the Doctor's visit to the Library in her dreams -- or on TV -- and even has the power to control certain events there with the TV remote; furthermore, the mysterious Dr. Moon actually warns her that her real life is just an illusion. [[spoiler:The twist is that the girl is actually the Library's computer core, CAL -- a.k.a. Charlotte Abigail Lux. Having been uploaded to the computer as a child to save her from terminal illness, she is normally capable of near-godlike control over the planet, but when the [[LivingShadows Vashta Nerada]] appeared and began attacking the patrons, CAL tried to rescue all four thousand visitors by saving them to her database -- only to end up suffering a system overload in the process. As a result, she's accidentally inflicted this trope ''on herself'', living out her fantasies of being an ordinary little girl in a virtual reality environment.]]
** In "Turn Left", a parallel world is created around Donna Noble where she took a different job offer and never met or traveled with the Doctor. Not only does she lose said job anyway, but because she wasn't there to stop the Doctor (as she did in "The Runaway Bride") he drowns and is unable to regenerate. From there, the world descends into an ApocalypseHow scenario due to the Doctor not being there to stop the alien threats that occurred in Season 3 and 4, with Donna and her family becoming poor refugees [[spoiler: after London gets blown up by the Titanic]]. It takes Donna going back in time to stop herself from taking the other job offer to finally break the parallel world.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' two-parter "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Silence in the Library]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest of the Dead]]" frequently interrupts the main adventure in the planet-spanning library with the doings of a nameless little girl. Apparently living in a mundane 21st century neighborhood on Earth, she can somehow see the Doctor's visit to the Library in her dreams -- or on TV -- and even has the power to control certain events there with the TV remote; furthermore, the mysterious Dr. Moon actually warns her that her real life is just an illusion. [[spoiler:The twist is that the girl is actually the Library's computer core, CAL -- a.k.a. Charlotte Abigail Lux. Having been uploaded to the computer as a child to save her from terminal illness, she is normally capable of near-godlike control over the planet, but when the [[LivingShadows Vashta Nerada]] appeared and began attacking the patrons, CAL tried to rescue all four thousand visitors by saving them to her database -- only to end up suffering a system overload in the process. As a result, she's accidentally inflicted this trope ''on herself'', living out her fantasies of being an ordinary little girl in a virtual reality environment.]]

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. This is the case with "Michael Kenmore" who, it's revealed over the course of his [[Recap/StargateAtlantisS02E18Michael introductory episode]], is actually a Wraith given HeelFaceBrainwashing. Unfortunately the treatment doesn't hold.

* In the final confrontation of the ''ComicBook/CaptainBritain'' plot arc "ComicBook/ACrookedWorld", the eponymous hero faces off against reality-warping prime minister [[ChaoticEvil Mad Jim Jaspers]]. Though at first Captain Britain seems confident in his ability to go on fighting, Jaspers unleashes his powers on him -- and next thing he knows, Brian Braddock is waking up from a coma with no sign of his powers, briefly indicating that his adventures were just delusions. This lasts only for a page before Jaspers wakes him up again; apparently, he did this just to demonstrate how meaningless the good Captain's powers are in the face of a RealityWarper.

-->-- '''Allison Hargreeves,''' ''Series/{{The Umbrella Academy|2019}}''

One of the more common variants features the victim being plunged into a MentalWorld in which they can live out their days as if nothing special had ever happened to them, hence the "nightmare." In some cases the victim may be so taken in by the illusion that they suspect nothing and willingly assimilate; in others they may find it upsetting, even humiliating, and rebel against it.

One way or another, regardless of whether this has been inflicted through an illusion, a [[{{Gaslighting}} delusion]] or through good old-fashioned MindControl, a breakout will be attempted sooner or later - often allowing the victim to turn the tables with the powers they were forced to deny.

* After the events of the first season of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' [[spoiler: Lelouch has his mind wiped of the knowledge that he is Zero]].
* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', when the protagonists fight the Anti-Spiral, they get trapped in a dimension in various fantasies, some being dreams they wish could come true (Yuko getting with either Kamina or Kittan before they died, Viral wishing to have a family but can't due to his beastman nature keeping him from reproducing etc.) For Simon, he finds himself back in his teenage years in a world where Kamina is still alive and they're petty jewel thieves rather than the badass mech pilots and revolutionaries who successfully helped humanity rise from the underground depths. What's more, the dream version of Kamina is a pathetic bootlicker who cowers at the first sign of trouble. Eventually the spirit of the ''real'' Kamina arrives and helps Simon break through the illusion.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'': Trey magically steals from Yuma his catchphrase "I'm feeling the flow!" and every success through it, regressing him to the depressed coward who never (among other things) met his SpiritAdvisor Astral and became a proper Duel Monsters player. Without his fighting spirit, Yuma is too scared and almost forfeits the Duel which Trey doesn't acknowledge, and can't even stay on his feet until [[spoiler:Astral and the Emperor's Key]] break the spell.

** As it turns out, this is the hidden twist behind "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho014TheHolyTerror The Holy Terror]]": here, [[spoiler: Eugene Tacitus]] is discovered to have complete control over the void-like PocketDimension, having created the Castle and all of its inhabitants as a manifestation of his perfect fantasy world; however, he's also been imprisoned within the Castle as punishment for [[spoiler: murdering his son]], and has lost all memory of both his powers and his life before incarceration after centuries of ritualization. By the time the Doctor meets him, he's employed as a lowly bureaucrat and truly believes himself to be "worthless" - up until his perfect world suddenly turns BlackBugRoom with the arrival of [[HumanoidAbomination the Child]], the living incarnation of his crime. [[spoiler: It's never made clear if some alien entity is punishing Eugene for his crimes, or if his own subconscious is torturing him.]]
** Combined with HeelFaceBrainwashing in "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho049Master Master]]". Here, the Doctor has made a deal with [[HumanoidAbomination Death]] to erase the Master's memories and give him a new life in the human colony of Perfugium, where he can be at peace away from Death's influence. Now unaware of the Time Lord powers he still possesses, the Master assumes he's just an ordinary human being with [[NightmareFace a disfigured face]], takes on the name of [[MrSmith John Smith]], and even becomes a well-respected doctor in the town. Unfortunately, the fact that he's still a Time Lord causes problems: the Master's personality is ''not happy'' about being pushed out of the limelight, and though he's not able to control John directly, he's able to use John's telepathic powers to [[TheCorruptor subtly encourage people around him to succumb to their darker natures]]. [[spoiler: Add to that the fact that Death is actively manipulating the setting to her advantage and the Doctor's hopes of redeeming the Master permanently are dead in the water by the story's end.]]
** The final story of "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho091CircularTime Circular Time]]" begins with Nyssa (years after leaving the TARDIS for good) meeting the fifth Doctor in a dream: believing himself an ordinary human being, he is now married and has retired to an isolated farm with his wife and children. However, he's snowed in by a blizzard and continuously haunted by a strange white figure circling the building... along with a disembodied EvilLaugh. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the story is set during "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani The Caves of Androzani]]", and the Doctor is just about to regenerate. However, the Master is psychically interfering with the process in an attempt to trap him in a DyingDream and keep him from regenerating. Fortunately, the Doctor has been telepathically reaching out for help from his former companions, hence Nyssa's presence in his dreamworld: once she destroys the illusory farmhouse and reminds the Doctor of who he really is, the psychic energies of her, Adric, Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion all combine to overwhelm the Master's interference and usher the Doctor into his next regeneration -- finally explaining the visions he experienced in "The Caves of Androzani".]]

* In the final confrontation of the ''ComicBook/CaptainBritain'' plot arc "ComicBook/ACrookedWorld," the eponymous hero faces off against reality-warping prime minister [[ChaoticEvil Mad Jim Jaspers]]. Though at first Captain Britain seems confident in his ability to go on fighting, Jaspers unleashes his powers on him - and next thing he knows, Brian Braddock is waking up from a coma with no sign of his powers, briefly indicating that his adventures were just delusions. This lasts only for a page before Jaspers wakes him up again; apparently he did this just to demonstrate how meaningless the good Captain's powers are in the face of a RealityWarper.
* ''ComicBook/SensationalWonderWoman'': Played for laughs but when Diana finds herself in a MindPrison courtesy of Dr. Pyscho, Diana's greatest subconscious fear is apparently being a married 1950s-style housewife.
* In an anniversary issue of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' during Barry Allen's tenure as the titular speedster, the villain Abra Kadabra sought to pull this on Barry by putting him in a situation where he'd be tricked into thinking that the iconic lightning-chemical bath, instead of giving him his powers, actually left him with horrible skin-burns. Kadabra even set up illusions of Barry's friends coming in to try and convince him that he'd never been a superhero, but rather that he'd been in a coma following his hospitalization. Near the end, though, Barry managed to defeat Kadabra after noticing a key detail that the villain had overlooked. [[spoiler:Kadabra had brought in an illusion of Professor Zoom to taunt Barry, something which, if the supposed reality was true, should be impossible, as Zoom's origin was inspired by the Flash — basically, if the Flash never existed, then logically Zoom shouldn't exist either.]]

* ''Fanfic/ThePowerOfSeven:'' Chapter 70 [[spoiler:sees Harry basically trapped in one; the dream he was sent into via the Draught of Living Death has him stuck in a version of the life he would have experienced if Hogwarts hadn't been real, still living with the Dursleys and attending Stonewall High as an average student in ill-fitting clothes who's forbidden to do anything but come straight home after school, with no friends or any particular drive to do better]].

* In ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'' (2019), the Kree make Vers believe that she has no powers. They tell her that her abilities come from a Kree implant. In the end, she discovers that she is imbued with superhuman strength, energy projection, and flight, and that the implant was actually suppressing her powers.
* In the first half of ''Film/{{Glass}}'', [[Film/{{Unbreakable}} David Dunn]], [[Film/{{Split}} Kevin Wendell Crumb]], and [[EvilGenius Elijah Price]] are captured and put in a mental hospital, where their doctor tries to convince them that none of them have any actual superpowers.
* Invoked in ''Film/ShutterIsland'' and combined with CuckooNest for good measure. In the climax, it appears that heroic US marshal Teddy Daniels is going to be brainwashed into believing that he was just a helpless mental patient all along, just so he won't break the news of the conspiracy going on at the eponymous BedlamHouse. Daniels even has to keep drawing attention to the fact that he's a marshal just so he can hang on to the fact that he still has authority. [[spoiler: And then it's completely subverted when it turns out that the entire film has been a massive roleplaying scenario created to break him out of his delusions: nothing in the story has been real, and "Daniels" AKA Andrew Laeddis was insane all along.]]

* Crops up in LotusEaterMachine form in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}: The Ellimist Chronicles.'' After crashing on an ocean world, Toomin is forcibly connected to a planet-wide HiveMind known only as [[EldritchAbomination Father]] and finds himself in an illusion of his carefree life back on Ket. In exchange for amusing Father through games of skill and chance, Toomin is provided with an imaginary life where he remained an ordinary gamer and never became the heroic leader of the Ketrans; here, he can be reunited with his friends, marry Aguella, start a family and grow old. He doesn't really enjoy it, especially since he knows full well it isn't real and everyone he's ever known and loved has died; however, he agrees to Father's terms because [[HeroicBSOD the games are all he has left]]. [[spoiler: In the end, Toomin escapes the illusion by winning at enough games to hijack Father's nervous system and absorb all of the entity's collected knowledge, thus paving the way for Toomin's transformation into [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien the Ellimist]].]]
* The big twist in the first of ''Literature/TheCurseWorkers'' novels is that [[spoiler: Cassel]] isn't [[MuggleBornOfMages the token muggle of the family]] after all: [[spoiler: he's actually a [[BalefulPolymorph transformation]] worker, and has been brainwashed by his brothers into forgetting his powers -- except on occasions when they need an assassin who can effectively kill people [[PerfectCrime without leaving any kind of evidence]]. As such, reclaiming his powers and saving one of his past victims forms a major part of the story from then on.]]
* ''Series/ForeverKnight'' has a tie-in novel called "Imitations of Mortality," where Nick becomes increasingly trapped in a dream world where he's human. Strangely, he's increasingly tired while awake and has to find out what's causing it all.
* ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'': Happens in "Volunteers of Eternity", when [[SummonEverymanHero Max]] travels from Echo back to our world, but upon arrival, assumes that his adventures in Echo were AllJustADream. Fortunately, this delusion falls apart as soon as he tries using the [[FantasyKeepsake magical powers]] he learned in Echo. In the next novella, it is revealed that said delusion was the result of an insidious psychic attack launched at Max by the villain-of-the-week while he was traveling between the worlds.
* A common practice at [[WizardingSchool Brakebills School of Magical Pedagogy]] in Lev Grossman's ''Literature/TheMagicians''. Because the study of magic is so intensive, the faculty take pains to weed out anyone who doesn't live up to the college's high standards via a ridiculously difficult entrance exam: those who fail have all memory of Brakebills and what little knowledge they have of magic expunged, before being sent on their way. As it turns out, this is the fate of Quentin Coldwater's friend Julia; however, following a great deal of SanitySlippage, she manages to unearth what really happened and begin studying magic as a Hedge-Witch, as ''The Magician King'' demonstrates.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's short story "[[https://www.unz.com/print/Unknown-1941apr-00084 They]]". A man suffering from paranoid delusions and megalomania is locked up in an insane asylum. He believes that he is an immortal being and that the entire universe is a false reality that he has been trapped in by unknown enemies. The KarmicTwistEnding is that all of his beliefs are correct: he is a supernaturally powerful being brainwashed into thinking that he's a normal human.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' two-parter "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Silence In The Library]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest Of The Dead]]" frequently interrupts the main adventure in the planet-spanning library with the doings of a nameless little girl. Apparently living in a mundane 21st century neighbourhood on Earth, she can somehow see the Doctor's visit to the Library in her dreams - or on TV - and even has the power to control certain events there with the TV remote; furthermore, the mysterious Dr Moon actually warns her that her real life is just an illusion. [[spoiler: The twist is that the girl is actually the Library's computer core, CAL - AKA Charlotte Abigail Lux. Having been uploaded to the computer as a child to save her from terminal illness, she is normally capable of near-godlike control over the planet, but when the [[LivingShadows Vashta Nerada]] appeared and began attacking the patrons, CAL tried to rescue all four thousand visitors by saving them to her database - only to end up suffering a system overload in the process. As a result, she's accidentally inflicted this trope ''on herself,'' living out her fantasies of being an ordinary little girl in a virtual reality environment.]]
* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E13FarBeyondTheStars Beyond The Stars]]" features Captain Ben Sisko abruptly going from the respected administrator of the eponymous space station and Emissary of the Prophets... to a sci-fi writer on Earth in the 1950s, struggling against the racial prejudice and brutality of the time. However, he isn't aware of who he really is at first, being fully taken in by the illusion, only becoming aware of it in apparent hallucinations of his life in space. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that this is a vision from the Prophets intended to inspire him not to lose hope in his fight against the Dominion.]]
* In the final episode of ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse,'' the surviving Crain siblings are lured into the Red Room and trapped in their personal LotusEaterMachine: Theo finds herself in bed with Trish and without her powers, fully assimilated by the illusion. Though she enjoys the fact that she can be touched without [[HatesBeingTouched experiencing disturbing stimuli]] for a change, she eventually asks for it to stop -- whereupon the illusion turns ''nasty.'' [[spoiler: In the end, she has to be rescued by Nell's ghost.]]
* Overlaps with CuckooNest in ''Series/Legion2017.'' During the apparent final confrontation with the Devil With The Yellow Eyes in "[[Recap/LegionS1E5Chapter5 Chapter 5]]", David and his allies are plunged into a mental recreation of the asylum from the beginning of the series and convinced that they are mundane, powerless human beings. Completely assimilated by the illusion, they remember nothing of their real-life experiences and regard any idea of their powers as facets of mental illness; amusingly enough, David actually seems quite content with his new life, believing himself to be well on the way to recovery. [[spoiler:Oliver Byrd ends up having to awaken most of the group from the brainwashing so they can attempt a breakout, while David rediscovers himself after the Devil tries to pull a GrandTheftMe on him and -- with a little help from his subconscious -- breaks free with a massive telekinetic blast.]]
* As with the original novels, ''Series/TheMagicians2016'' features Julia failing the Brakebills entrance exam and having her knowledge of magic erased, before eventually regaining it by joining a gang of Hedge-Witches. However, following an angry confrontation with Quentin, she and fellow Hedge-Witch Marina [[AdaptationalVillainy take revenge on him]] in "[[Recap/TheMagicians2016S01E04 The World In The Walls]]" by trapping Quentin in a dream of a mental asylum and making him believe that his entire Brakebills experience was just a hallucination - all just to give him a taste of life without magic. [[spoiler: It turns out that Marina is actually using this as a BatmanGambit to steal something from the campus; after realizing that Quentin will end up trapped forever, Julia chickens out and tries to save him - only to end up getting kicked out of the Hedge-Witches as well for "betraying" Marina.]]

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back To Reality]]," the boys from the dwarf end up getting a dose of hallucinogenic venom from the Despair Squid, sending them into a illusory scenario in which the events of the series were just a virtual reality game they were playing over the course of the last four years. Most of the four are even more pathetic than ever before as a result: Rimmer is no longer a hologram, but is a homeless man and lacks what little achievements he possessed on Red Dwarf [[spoiler: and he's also Lister's half-brother]]; Kryten is a cyborg traffic cop with zero authority [[spoiler: and eventually, a death on his conscience]]; Cat's arguably been hit the hardest up front, having gone from an effortlessly-cool evolved cat to a hopeless dork by the name of Dwayne Dibbley. Lister's the odd one out, being rich and successful... but only because [[spoiler: he's actually a mass-murdering official in the totalitarian government that runs the world.]] Essentially, the illusion is meant to force the crew to the DespairEventHorizon, and it's up to [[BenevolentAI Holly]] to snap them out of it before all four of them commit suicide.
* In the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Labyrinth", a Phantom wraith traps Clark in a mental nightmare dreamscape where all of his powers and previous interactions with friends and foes are actually part of a paranoid schizophrenic delusion resulting from a psychotic break five years prior. The wraith, who is masquerading as Clark's treating physician Dr. Hudson, nearly succeeds in convincing Clark that a lobotomy-like operation will relieve his delusions. However, [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter Martian Manhunter]] is able to sneak into the dreamscape as a fellow patient and convince Clark to kill Dr. Hudson and free himself from illusion.
* In ''Series/{{The Umbrella Academy|2019}}'', it's eventually revealed that Alison Hargreeves was once ordered to use her CompellingVoice to delude [[spoiler: Vanya Hargreeves AKA Number Seven]] into becoming a {{Muggle}} for all intents and purposes. For good measure, the victim was regularly supplied with superpower-neutralizing mood-suppressant drugs, disguised as medication for a non-existent anxiety disorder. [[spoiler: Disaster strikes when one of the villains of the series discovers Vanya's powers and steals her prescription with the intention of using her against the rest of the Academy -- turning the shy TokenMuggle into an ApocalypseMaiden.]]
* ''Series/{{Wandavision}}'':
** It's eventually revealed that anyone who enters [[{{Dreamville}} Westview]] is immediately incorporated into the dream world and made to conform to the conventions of the sitcom era being explored that episode, often forgetting their old lives in the process; the only exceptions to the rule are Wanda and Vision themselves, who are fully aware of their powers [[spoiler: because Wanda's responsible for creating and maintaining the dream world in the first place]]. Among Wanda's circle of friends, however, Geraldine actually used to be [[spoiler: Monica Rambeau, an astronaut and BadassNormal agent of S.W.O.R.D.]] before the Hex transformed her into another powerless sitcom resident.
** In the finale, [[spoiler: Wanda brainwashes [[BigBad Agatha Harkness]] into the NosyNeighbor persona she previously used to disguise herself in Wanda's dreamworld, condemning the witch to spend the rest of her life as a bubbly sitcom character with no memory of the power she used to wield - until such time as Wanda needs her advice.]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' crossover game ''Midnight Circus,'' one of the unfortunate supernatural beings who've been "recruited" into the lowest ranks of the eponymous CircusOfFear is Dimitri Babinov, a [[BearyFriendly Gurahl]] [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent werebear]]. Following his enslavement, he's been gradually worn down by the corruption field until he's forgotten his old identity, his powers and even the basic ability to shapeshift, and now truly believes himself to be a tame bear. These days, [[MonsterClown Koba the clown]] most commonly uses him as a performer and (occasionally) an executioner. However, if you can get through to Babinov, it might be possible for you to awaken him - resulting in an immediate RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Koba.

* Appears in the climax of ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'': [[spoiler: the game [[FissionMailed seemingly ends]] - complete with credits - when Jesse is infected by [[EldritchAbomination the Hiss]], sending her mind into a nightmarish illusion where she never became the superpowered director of the Federal Bureau of Control, but instead lives out her days as an office temp at the FBC (which isn't even the paranormal research organization it is in reality, but instead a mundane homeland defense group). In sharp contrast to her stoic, confident former self, she's shy, demure, and constantly bullied by just about everyone in the building, forcing the player into an endless MiniGame of collecting coffee cups and delivering mail. However, with a little encouragement from [[AlmightyJanitor Ahti]], Jesse gradually begins to notice that something's wrong; after figuring out what's going on, she finally breaks free by rediscovering the power of Polaris within her, backdooring into the [[InnBetweenTheWorlds Oceanview Motel]] with help from [[BunnyEarsLawyer Dr Darling]], and unleashing her renewed powers on the Hiss.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheDarkness 2'', Jackie Estacado finds himself occasionally suffering delusions of being a patient in a mental hospital, where all his friends and enemies are either patients or staff, and his life as an AntiHero empowered by the Darkness was just a delusional fantasy. Eventually, the Darkling (disguised as a janitor) reveals that this is just the Darkness trying to keep Jackie distracted in situations where he's been injured enough to end up in the Hell realm it presides over - because if Jackie ends up in Hell ''this'' time, [[spoiler: he'll find that Jenny is being held prisoner there.]] Eventually, [[TheFinalTemptation Jackie is given a choice]] between staying in the asylum [[LotusEaterMachine with an illusory Jenny to comfort him]], or jumping from the balcony to his "death" to escape the illusion [[spoiler: and rescue the ''real'' Jenny.]] It's up to you...
* During the mission to save the Circle of Magi in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins,'' you and your companions are lulled into an enchanted sleep by a Sloth Demon. Emerging in [[DreamLand the Fade]], all of your companions end up being trapped in their own respective dreams and nightmares -- some of which are essentially this trope:
** [[ManChild Alistair]] has been convinced that he abandoned the life of a heroic Grey Warden and is living happily with his sister and her many, many kids, having finally achieved his dream of having a loving family of his own. You break him out by drawing his attention to the the blanks in his "memories" within the fantasy.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' springs this on the players during the mission to Vault 112: upon discovering James imprisoned within one of the Tranquility Loungers, you take a seat in one yourself in an attempt to rescue him..... only to end up in the virtual-reality neighborhood of [[LotusEaterMachine Tranquility Lane]], [[StepfordSuburbia a suburban cul-de-sac modeled on 1950s-era sitcoms]]. Here, you're not only stripped of all your equipment but [[FountainOfYouth regressed to the age of ten]] - meaning that all those hard-earned skills and powers you earned out in the Capital Wastelands are now effectively useless. For good measure, it eventually becomes apparent that the Loungers are equipped with mechanisms that can [[MindRape erase your memory and alter your personality]], ensuring that the illusion of normality is utterly unbreakable for most of the residents; fortunately, you're spared the extra mile of mental manipulation for as long as you remain amusing to Vault 112's overseer, [[PsychopathicManchild Stanislaus Braun]]. [[spoiler: Breaking out requires you to either indulge his sadistic whims or sabotage the scenario from within.]]
* The big twist of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': [[spoiler: the player is actually the legendary Sith lord Darth Revan, having been captured by the Jedi after being betrayed and nearly killed by Darth Malak; essentially, the Jedi set you up with FakeMemories of being an ordinary human being - either a soldier, a scout or a smuggler, depending on the player's choice. However, you weren't intended to remain this way forever, as it was hoped that with Bastila's guidance, you could pinpoint the way to the Star Forge using the fragmentary memories that you retain and even become a Jedi - which you end up doing.]]
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV:''
** After being captured by Zinyak, the Boss wakes up to find themselves in a MindPrison based on 1950s suburbia; here, he's brainwashed into believing that they're a mild-mannered StandardFiftiesFather-type, [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul happy in their mundane sitcom life]], incapable of the Boss's usual feats of spectacular violence - to the point that the game actually prevents you from driving dangerously, and though they're still President, it's a totally powerless celebrity position. Fortunately, the brainwashing eventually breaks down, allowing the Boss to break free with Kinzie's help.
** After being captured by the Zin, Kinzie is plunged into the same MindPrison: here, she's reduced from a badass hacker with borderline administrator-level control over the simulation to a passive, subservient and completely oblivious sidekick to Cyrus Temple - wearing a poodle skirt, no less. It takes the Boss firing up stereos all over town with rebellious music to snap Kinzie out of the illusion, whereupon she unlocks her simulation superpowers and kicks Cyrus's ass.
* Invoked by [[EldritchAbomination the Black Signal]] AKA John in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld.'' Having caught you trying to access his memories, he inflicts a PokeInTheThirdEye that forces you to replay memories of past incidents and battles, including a scenario in which you were never bonded with one of [[EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity the Bees]] and became one of [[TheChosenMany Gaia's Chosen]]. From here, John taunts you by suggesting that you're just an ordinary human being who accidentally swallowed a bee and is now in hospital, dreaming of being special. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for John, replaying your memories eventually results in him encountering a vision of Lilith, hammering his TraumaButton so hard he turns the MindRape on ''himself.'']]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/MobPsycho100'', Mob and Reigen are hired, along with other psychics and exorcists, to purge an evil spirit from a girl. Mob tries to fight against it by going into the girl's body but the spirit, named Keiji Mogami, turns the tables and puts Mob into a mental image of his neighborhood - only without his powers - where he's constantly beat up by images of people who knows. Keiji's plan being to drive Mob over the DespairEventHorizon to get him to want to kill once he gives his powers back. It's only thanks to Dimple managing to break into the mental world and stop Mob that saves him from the brink and puts him back on focus to save the girl. What's more during all of this, while 30 minutes pass in the real world, to Mob in the mental one ''six months had gone by''.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation:'' Downplayed in the case of [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-239 SCP-239]]. An eight-year-old girl with reality-warping powers, she's been convinced that she's actually a witch and can only cast "spells" from a pre-approved list, all as part of an effort to limit her powers to manageable levels. Not ''quite'' down to completely normal levels, but definitely a drastic power loss given that she's actually GooGooGodlike -- and while uncontrolled, has managed to do things like ''summon Santa Claus.'' [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this approach no longer works, and 239 is now being kept in a medically-induced coma in order to avoid a potentially apocalyptic incident.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE30PerchanceToDream Perchance to Dream]]" begins with Bruce waking up one day to find himself living a life where he ''isn't'' Batman; his parents are alive, he's engaged to Selina Kyle, and is otherwise living the happy life he's always dreamed of. He almost writes off his life as Batman as delusion until he notices he can't read anything and realizes he's trapped in a dream world. He spends the rest of the episode being hunted down by the dream Batman, all the while desperately trying to convince ''himself'' that he isn't going insane, before finally waking himself up by committing suicide in the dream world (he was betting on YourMindMakesItReal not being in play, and figured death was the more merciful fate if it was). [[spoiler: It turns out he was the victim of a LotusEaterMachine set up by the Mad Hatter.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In the context of the series, this is invoked on agents that turn 13 so as to keep them from turning against the agency by decommissioning i.e erasing their memories, specifically so they can leave without the knowledge of the ins and outs of the organization which can make them a threat if they go evil (Chad and Cree being examples of this, having left KND before this could happen). The movie, ''WesternAnimation/OperationZERO'', uses this as a plot point as Grandfather was defeated back in the past by wiping his memories, turning him into a docile old man. Father uses a gadget that re-commissions KND agents to restore his memories, bringing his terror back into the world. Sector V beat him by launching their moon base in such a way that it crashes on Grandfather and puts him right into the decommissioning chamber, wiping his memories once again.

* The ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E13FarBeyondTheStars Beyond The Stars]]" features Captain Ben Sisko abruptly going from the respected administrator of the eponymous space station and Emissary of the Prophets... to a sci-fi writer on Earth in the 1950s, struggling against the racial prejudice and brutality of the time. However, he isn't aware of who he really is at first, being fully taken in by the illusion, only becoming aware of it in apparent hallucinations of his life in space. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that this is a vision from the Prophets intended to inspire him not to lose hope in his fight against the Dominion.]]

* In ''Manga/MobPsycho100'', Mob and Reigen are hired, along with other psychics and exorcists, to purge an evil spirit from a girl. Mob tries to fight against it by going into the girl's body but the spirit, named Keiji Mogami, turns the tables and puts Mob into a mental image of his neighborhood - only without his powers - where he's constantly beat up by images of people who knows. Keiji's plan being to drive Mob over the DespairEventHorizon to get him to want to kill once he gives his powers back. It's only thanks to Dimple managing to break into the mental world and stop Mob that saves him from the brink and puts him back on focus to save the girl. What's more during all of this, while 30 minutes pass in the real world, to Mob in the mental one ''six months had gone by''.

[[folder: Tabletop Game]]

The other, less dreamlike variant involves more straightforward mental manipulation, and features [[LaserGuidedAmnesia all knowledge of the victim's true nature being either suppressed or completely expunged]]: they can be allowed to roam free from then on, as they will have [[ForgotAboutHisPowers lost all knowledge of any special abilities they possessed]] and remain completely unaware of any great quests or vendettas that once defined their lives. In this case, the nightmare is of the purely metaphorical kind... though it does run into problems if the victims accidentally rediscover their abilities - for of course, their powers themselves haven't been destroyed, only the ''[[HowDoIShotWeb knowledge]]'' of them.

* Overlaps with CuckooNest in ''Series/{{Legion}}.'' During the apparent final confrontation with the Devil With The Yellow Eyes in "[[Recap/LegionS1E5Chapter5 Chapter 5]]", David and his allies are plunged into a mental recreation of the asylum from the beginning of the series and convinced that they are mundane, powerless human beings. Completely assimilated by the illusion, they remember nothing of their real-life experiences and regard any idea of their powers as facets of mental illness; amusingly enough, David actually seems quite content with his new life, believing himself to be well on the way to recovery. [[spoiler: Oliver Byrd ends up having to awaken most of the group from the brainwashing so they can attempt a breakout, while David rediscovers himself after the Devil tries to pull a GrandTheftMe on him and -- with a little help from his subconscious - breaks free with a massive telekinetic blast.]]

The other, less dreamlike variant involves more straightforward mental manipulation, and features [[LaserGuidedAmnesia all knowledge of the victim's true nature being either suppressed or completely expunged]]: they can be allowed to roam free from then on, as they will have [[ForgotAboutHisPowers lost all knowledge of any special abilities they possessed]] and remain [[AngelUnaware completely unaware of any great quests or vendettas]] that once defined their lives. In this case, the nightmare is of the purely metaphorical kind... though it does run into problems if the victims accidentally rediscover their abilities - for of course, their powers themselves haven't been destroyed, only the ''[[HowDoIShotWeb knowledge]]'' of them.

-->-- '''Alison Hargreeves,''' ''Series/{{The Umbrella Academy|2019}}''

* ''Anime/TheBigO'': The second season begins with Roger going up against the forgien bots that come to attack Paradigm City. The fight ends up going badly and Roger... is somehow transported into a world where he's nothing but a homeless bum as opposed to the suave negotiator and wanders the street running into other characters who don't regconize him and have different roles then he knows. The implication being this was apparently everyone's former lives before whatever event caused the mass amnesia that swept over the world, though of course this show never clearly answers this. Regardless he eventually regains his resolve and awakes back in his world with renew vigor to battle against the bots.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' two-parter "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Silence In The Library]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest Of The Dead]]" frequently interrupts the main adventure in the planet-spanning library with the doings of a nameless little girl. Apparently living in a mundane 21st century neighbourhood on Earth, she can somehow see the Doctor's visit to the Library in her dreams - or on TV - and even has the power to control certain events there with the TV remote; furthermore, the mysterious Dr Moon actually warns her that her real life is just an illusion. [[spoiler: The twist is that the girl is actually the Library's computer core, CAL - AKA Charlotte Abigail Lux. Having been uploaded to the computer as a child to save her from terminal illness, she is normally capable of near-godlike control over the planet, but when the [[LivingShadows Vashta Nerada]] appeared and began attacking the patrons, CAL tried to rescue all four thousand visitors by saving them to her database - and ended up suffering a system overload. As a result, she's accidentally inflicted this trope ''on herself,'' living out her fantasies of being an ordinary little girl in a virtual reality environment.]]

** It's eventually revealed that anyone who enters [[{{Dreamville}} Westview]] is immediately incorporated into the dream world and made to conform to her sitcom life, often forgetting their old lives in the process; the only exceptions to the rule are Wanda and Vision themselves, who are fully aware of their powers [[spoiler: because Wanda's responsible for creating and maintaining the dream world in the first place]]. Among Wanda's circle of friends, however, Geraldine actually used to be [[spoiler: Monica Rambeau, an astronaut and BadassNormal agent of S.W.O.R.D.]] before the Hex transformed her into another powerless sitcom resident.

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Back To Reality," the boys from the dwarf end up getting a dose of hallucinogenic venom from the Despair Squid, sending them into a illusory scenario in which the events of the series were just a virtual reality game they were playing over the course of the last four years. Most of the four are even more pathetic than ever before as a result: Rimmer is no longer a hologram, but is a homeless man and lacks what little achievements he possessed on Red Dwarf [[spoiler: and he's also Lister's half-brother]]; Kryten is a cyborg traffic cop with zero authority [[spoiler: and eventually, a death on his conscience]]; Cat's arguably been hit the hardest up front, having gone from an effortlessly-cool evolved cat to a hopeless dork by the name of Dwayne Dibbley. Lister's the odd one out, being rich and successful... but only because [[spoiler: he's actually a mass-murdering official in the totalitarian government that runs the world.]] Essentially, the illusion is meant to force the crew to the DespairEventHorizon, and it's up to [[BenevolentAI Holly]] to snap them out of it before all four of them commit suicide.

A very specific form of {{brainwashing}} -- or [[SanitySlippage delusion]] -- suffered by characters who are important, special, superhuman or supernatural in some way, this trope can be deployed in a variety of ways.

* In ''Manga/MobPsycho100'', Mob and Reigen are hired, along with other psychics and exorcists, to purge an evil spirit from a girl. Mob tries to fight against it by going into the girl's body but the spirit, named Keiji Mogami, turns the tables and puts Mob into a mental image of his neighborhood only without his powers where he's constantly beat up by images of people who knows. Keiji's plan being to drive Mob over the DespairEventHorizon to get him to want to kill once he gives his powers back. It's only thanks to Dimple managing to break into the mental world and stop Mob that saves him from the brink and puts him back on focus to save the girl. What's more during all of this, while 30 minutes pass in the real world, to Mob in the mental one ''six months had gone by''.
* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', when the protagonists fight the Anti-Spiral, they get trapped in a dimension in various fantasies, some for the most part dreams they wish could come true (Yuko getting with either Kamina or Kittan before they died, Viral wishing to have a family but can't due to his beastman nature keeping him from reproducing etc.) For Simon, he finds himself back in his teenage years in a world with where Kamina is still alive and they're petty jewel thieves rather than the badass mech pilots and revolutionaries who successfully helped humanity rise from the underground depths. What's more, the dream Kamina is a pathetic bootlicker who cowers at the first sign of trouble. Eventually the spirit of the ''real'' Kamina arrives and helps Simon break through the illusion.

** As it turns out, this is the hidden twist behind "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho014TheHolyTerror The Holy Terror]]": here, [[spoiler: Eugene Tacitus]] is discovered to have complete control over the void-like PocketDimension, having created the Castle and all of its inhabitants as a manifestation of his perfect fantasy world; however, he's also been imprisoned within the Castle as punishment for [[spoiler: murdering his son]], and has lost all memory of both his powers and his life before incarceration. By the time the Doctor meets him, he's employed as a lowly bureaucrat and truly believes himself to be "worthless" - up until his perfect world suddenly turns BlackBugRoom with the arrival of [[HumanoidAbomination the Child]], the living incarnation of his crime. [[spoiler: It's never made clear if some alien entity is punishing Eugene for his crimes, or if his own subconscious is torturing him.]]

** Combined with HeelFaceBrainwashing in "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho049Master Master]]". Here, the Doctor has made a deal with [[HumanoidAbomination Death]] to erase the Master's memories and give him a new life in the human colony of Perfugium, where he can be at peace away from Death's influence. Now unaware of the Time Lord powers he still possesses, the Master assumes he's just an ordinary human being with [[NightmareFace a disfigured face]], takes on the name of [[MrSmith John Smith]], and even becomes a well-respected doctor in the town. Unfortunately, the fact that he's still a Time Lord causes problems: the Master's personality is still active and ''not happy'' about being pushed out of the limelight, and though he's not able to control John directly, he's able to use John's telepathic powers to [[TheCorruptor encourage people around him to succumb to their darker natures]]. [[spoiler: Add to that the fact that Death is actively manipulating the setting to her advantage and the Doctor's hopes of redeeming the Master permanently are dead in the water by the story's end.]]

* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' springs this on the players during the mission to Vault 112: upon discovering James imprisoned within one of the Tranquility Loungers, you take a seat in one yourself in an attempt to rescue him..... only to end up in the virtual-reality neighborhood of [[LotusEaterMachine Tranquility Lane]], [[StepfordSuburbia a suburban cul-de-sac modeled on 1950s-era sitcoms]]. Here, you're not only stripped of all your equipment but [[FountainOfYouth regressed to the age of ten]] - meaning that those hard-earned skills and powers earned out in the Capital Wastelands are now effectively useless. For good measure, it eventually becomes apparent that the Loungers are equipped with mechanisms that can [[MindRape erase your memory and alter your personality]], ensuring that the illusion of normality is utterly unbreakable for most of the residents; fortunately, you're spared the extra mile of mental manipulation for as long as you remain amusing to Vault 112's overseer, [[PsychopathicManchild Stanislaus Braun]]. [[spoiler: Breaking out requires you to either indulge his sadistic whims or sabotage the scenario from within.]]

** [[BoisterousBruiser Oghren]] has ended up lost in a nightmare of his life before you met him: back to being a dishonored warrior and a drunkard, he's relentlessly picked on by his fellow dwarfs, regarded as an embarrassment wherever he goes, and unable even to summon the will to fight back. All he can do is keep drinking and hope that everyone will go away sooner or later. You awaken him from the illusion by inspiring him to get angry enough to resist the sense of futility and fight back.
** [[{{Golem}} Shale]] is returned to the village square where [[spoiler: she]] was stuck for 30 years as an inanimate statue. You awaken [[spoiler: her]] by talking about the fact that the golem control rod no longer works on [[spoiler: her]].
* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' springs this on the players during the mission to Vault 112: upon discovering James imprisoned within one of the Tranquility Loungers, you take a seat in one yourself in an attempt to rescue him..... only to end up in the virtual-reality neighborhood of [[LotusEaterMachine Tranquility Lane]], [[StepfordSuburbia a suburban cul-de-sac modeled on 1950s-era sitcoms]]. Here, you're not only stripped of all your equipment but regressed to the age of ten - meaning that those hard-earned skills and powers earned out in the Capital Wastelands are now effectively useless. For good measure, it eventually becomes apparent that the Loungers are equipped with mechanisms that can [[MindRape erase your memory and alter your personality]], ensuring that the illusion of normality is utterly unbreakable for most of the residents; fortunately, you're spared the extra mile of mental manipulation for as long as you remain amusing to Vault 112's overseer, [[PsychopathicManchild Stanislaus Braun]]. [[spoiler: Breaking out requires you to either indulge his sadistic whims or sabotage the scenario from within.]]

** After being captured by Zinyak, the Boss wakes up to find himself in a MindPrison based on 1950s suburbia; here, he's brainwashed into believing that he's a mild-mannered StandardFiftiesFather-type, [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul happy in his mundane sitcom life]], incapable of the Boss's usual feats of spectacular violence - to the point that the game actually prevents you from driving dangerously, and though he's still President, it's a totally powerless celebrity position. Fortunately, the brainwashing breaks down, allowing the Boss to break free with Kinzie's help.

** It's eventually revealed that anyone who enters [[{{Dreamville}} Westview]] is immediately incorporated into the dream world and made to conform to her sitcom life, often forgetting their old lives in the process; the only exceptions to the rule are Wanda and Vision themselves, who are fully aware of their powers [[spoiler: because Wanda's responsible for creating and maintain the dream world in the first place]]. Among Wanda's circle of friends, however, Geraldine actually used to be [[spoiler: Monica Rambeau, an astronaut and BadassNormal agent of S.W.O.R.D.]] before the Hex transformed her into another powerless sitcom resident.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' two-parter "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Silence In The Library]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest Of The Dead]]" frequently interrupts the main adventure in the planet-spanning library with the doings of a nameless little girl. Apparently living in a mundane 21st century neighbourhood on Earth, she can somehow see the Doctor's visit to the Library in her dreams - or on TV - and even has the power to control certain events there with the TV remote; furthermore, the mysterious Dr Moon actually warns her that her real life is just an illusion. [[spoiler: The twist is that the girl is actually the Library's computer core, CAL - AKA Charlotte Abigail Lux. Having been uploaded to the computer as a child to save her from terminal illness, she is normally capable of near-godlike control over the planet, but when the Vashta Nerada appeared and began attacking the patrons, CAL tried to rescue all four thousand visitors by saving them to her database - and ended up suffering a system overload. As a result, she's accidentally inflicted this trope ''on herself,'' living out her fantasies of being an ordinary little girl in a virtual reality environment.]]

** It's eventually revealed that anyone who enters Westview is immediately incorporated into the dream world and made to conform to her sitcom life, often forgetting their old lives in the process; the only exceptions to the rule are Wanda and Vision themselves, who are fully aware of their powers [[spoiler: because Wanda's responsible for creating and maintain the dream world in the first place]]. Among Wanda's circle of friends, however, Geraldine actually used to be [[spoiler: Monica Rambeau, an astronaut and BadassNormal agent of S.W.O.R.D.]] before the Hex transformed her into another powerless sitcom resident.

* Appears in the climax of ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'': [[spoiler: the game [[FissionMailed seemingly ends]] - complete with credits - when Jesse is infected by [[EldritchAbomination the Hiss]], sending her mind into a nightmarish illusion where she never became the superpowered director of the Federal Bureau of Control, but instead lives out her days as an office temp at the FBC (which isn't even the paranormal research organization it is in reality, but instead a mundane homeland defense group). In sharp contrast to her stoic, confident former self, she's shy, demure, and constantly bullied by just about everyone in the building, forcing the player into an endless MiniGame of collecting coffee cups and delivering mail. However, with a little encouragement from [[AlmigtyJanitor Ahti]], Jesse gradually begins to notice that something's wrong; after figuring out what's going on, she finally breaks free by rediscovering the power of Polaris within her, backdooring into the [[InnBetweenTheWorlds Oceanview Motel]] thanks to [[BunnyEarsLawyer Dr Darling]], and unleashing her renewed powers on the Hiss.]]

* After being captured by the Zin in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV,'' Kinzie is plunged into another one of Zinyak's {{Mind Prison}}s - namely TheFifties-era suburban paradise that the Boss escaped from earlier in the game: here, she's reduced from a badass hacker with borderline administrator-level control over the simulation to a passive, subservient and completely oblivious sidekick to Cyrus Temple - wearing a poodle skirt, no less. It takes the Boss firing up stereos all over town with rebellious music to snap Kinzie out of the illusion, whereupon she unlocks her simulation superpowers and kicks Cyrus's ass.