Basic Trope: Antagonist turns out to be a former friend of one of the good guys.
- Straight: Noien, a Magnificent Bastard who's been bothering the heroes for some time, reveals his identity — Noien is actually Noel, Carol's childhood friend!
- Exaggerated: Noien is Noel! Carol's old BFF who mysteriously vanished from her life without a trace! And they had a Childhood Marriage Promise together!
- Downplayed:
- Noel was just a classmate of Carol's in school. They didn't really know each other that well and he was always kind of a jerkass anyway.
- Noel is an undercover agent working for the FBI/CIA/equivalent, though there's still heavy Jurisdiction Friction between his group and Carol's.
- Justified:
- Noel was very meek and unnoticed, but Carol, being the nice girl she was, hung out with him because she didn't like seeing him alone. She forgot about him because she had too many other friends at the time, and can't really remember any of her friends from childhood that didn't grow up with her.
- Noel made sure that he was forgettable as a child, even if he didn't know what he was going to do in the future.
- Carol was only a toddler, you can't expect her to remember that far back.
- Inverted: Carol's new BFF is revealed to be the Alpha Bitch who picked on her in grade school.
- Subverted:
- Carol believes that Noien is in fact Noel when he talks about their shared childhood. But it turns out that Noien is in fact a stalker who's been following her since her birth.
- Carol only forgot about Noel because she is suffering Laser-Guided Amnesia.
- Double Subverted:
- ...But then it turns out said stalker really is Noel.
- An Alternate Universe shows that Carol would have forgotten about Noel anyway.
- Parodied: Noien is revealed to be... somebody Carol walked by once who fell in Love at First Sight and is mortified when she doesn't remember him.
- Zig Zagged: Depending on the Writer, Carol behaves as if she kept in touch with Noel all along or didn't.
- Averted:
- Carol has never seen Noien in her entire life, and neither has the Noien.
- Noel doesn’t become evil.
- Enforced:
- "Carol needs an emotional moment here. I know! We'll reveal that the Big Bad and her have history together. The audience will eat that up!"
- The creators did not plan exactly who Noien was going to be revealed to be. When the time came to for The Reveal, it just so happened that Noel's actor was available.
- Lampshaded: "Wow, you've changed... You're taller, you're not six years old any more... Oh, and last time I saw you, you weren't evil. Love what you've done with your hair, by the way."
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz tracked down Noel and deliberately turned him against Carol and her friends as a weapon.
- Exploited: Noien makes a Heel–Face Turn and helps the heroes defeat Emperor Evulz.
- Defied: Despite apparently being forgotten, the friend remains loyal.
- Discussed: "Noien looks strangely familiar. Do you think he's my long-lost friend?"
- Conversed: "So all this time, Noien was Carol's old friend? What a surprise!"
- Implied: Carol has a photo album which shows her playing with a boy resembling Noien.
- Deconstructed: The story goes into some detail about the kind of person who would utterly forget their friends. Carol was so obsessed with answering the Call that she gradually started ignoring poor Noel entirely, causing their friendship to end and her to forget him. Carol looks rather callous and unheroic when the reveal happens as a result.
- Reconstructed: Carol has made many friends on her adventures, and besides, Noel drifted away largely on his own.
- Played For Laughs: Noel goes on a dramatic speech about why he turned on Carol, only for Carol to casually reveal she doesn't remember him at all, leading Noel to a comical temper tantrum.
- Played For Drama: Bob kills Noel, and forces Carol to watch.
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