Amnesiac Hero

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Wherein the hero has amnesia. He can't remember a thing, except oddly his own name. Sometimes, although rarely, the hero cannot remember his name. Then an someone has to say "Well, we have to call you something!" and they have to make up a name for themselves. Usually, the Amnesiac Hero:

  • Has amazing fighting skills, and has no idea how he got them. This makes his origin even more mysterious.
  • Is found by a handsome/beautiful soon-to-be Sidekick, who helps them on their journey to remembering who they are.
  • Has a dark and depressing past that they probably don't want to remember anyway.

Amnesiac Heroes are common in RPGs and horror games, and are always the heroes in Ontological Mysteries and Quest for Identity. Even if those plots aren't being used, it's a easy way to get the player up to speed, as they're just being introduced to the setting, while the character lives there and should otherwise know about it already.

Compare You Wake Up in a Room and Selective Memory. Gameplay-Guided Amnesia can be a temporary version of this. See also Easy Amnesia, Laser-Guided Amnesia, and Identity Amnesia. Protagonist Without a Past is where this isn't even addressed.


Examples of Amnesiac Hero include:

Anime and Manga

  • Alice from Pandora Hearts fits this to a "T". She's the most powerful chain in the Abyss who knows only her name, and she inevitably goes on a quest to find her lost memories (though she soon discovers that she may have forgotten them for a good reason).
  • Mikage from the manga Torikago Gakyuu is this as well, although he doesn't even remember his name. He's given only the surname "Mikage" by a teacher who promptly reveals to him that he is from a parallel world.
  • Kirika Yuumura from Noir.


Comic Books


Film


Literature


Live Action TV


Video Games


Web Comics

  • Trace of Two Kinds is this. We've been told some choice details of his past, and his current goals are so drastically different from his old ones that the world may be better off if he stays this way.
  • The Hero of RPG World is also amnesiac, such that he doesn't even remember his own name (Everyone Calls Him Hero).


Web Original