Becoming the Mask: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

'''Options:'''

 

Contrast [[Beneath the Mask]] where the audience is only given a peek. Similar in style to [[Amnesiac Dissonance]], but without amnesia. May involve [[Oblivious Guilt Slinging]]. Compare [[Secret Identity Identity]], [[Fake Real Turn]], and [[Going Native]]. If the character does not even respond to his old name anymore, that is [[That Man Is Dead]]. When a ''literal'' mask starts to change someone's personality, it's [[Evil Mask]]. Contrast [[Lost in Character]], where a character who is a professional actor lives and breathes a role. Do not confuse with [[Becoming the Costume]] or [[Becoming the Boast]]. Some spoilers ahead. Has overlap with [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]].

 

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': {{spoiler|Erika.}} She was a android built by Dr. Hell. However, she suffered from amnesia and had forgotten her origins. She genuinely believed she was a normal girl, and when she was told her true nature, she rejected it. And the end she helped [[The Hero]] Kouji {{spoiler|and she died cause it.}}

* Zero from ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]''. She ended up fusing with the person she was emulating.

*** Note that she still tried to deny, right up to the breaking point. The Straw Hats were already in the middle of The Government's stronghold (Luffy himself had personally wrecked over 1000 rank and file soldiers, [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] style. But then, he's Luffy. He's either in [[Idiot Hero]] mode or Roaring Rampage of Insert Emotion Here). So Robin STILL tries to talk them out of it. Luffy insists that they're going to rescue her anyway, and then she can leave the Straw Hat Pirates if she wants. And then... [[Tear Jerker]] ensues. Robin's tears, specifically, in a moment of [[Not So Stoic]]. Also, Pirate on Elite Assassin Team action.

** Nami as well. She had only intended to use Luffy for all he was worth before leaving. But the longer she stayed with them, she grew to like being part of the Straw Hats (especially compared to her experiences with Arlong). Eventually, she betrayed them and cheerfully took off with Going Merry. But when on her own, she broke down and cried.

* Kurama of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' was a kitsune before he died and inhabited the body of an unborn human child. He planned to run away from his human "mother" Shiori Minamino when his demonic powers returned, but realized that he loved her too much to leave.

* In ''[[Shugo Chara]]'', {{spoiler|Mr. Nikaidou}} is a spy for Easter who infiltrates the school. While he has no compunctions with backstabbing the heroes whatsoever, he is eventually defeated, and following the ensuing [[Defeat Means Friendship]] he immediately goes back to the school, performing the role he was using as his guise with no-one the wiser.

** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: Haruhi expects and desires the above tropes to be in place in her school. Him being the secret minion of Koizumi's Organization is not part of those tropes, and therefore those aspects are slowly being edited out of the equation. He's not so much 'becoming the mask' as he is [[Fridge Horror|having his personality slowly re-written by Haruhi's subconscious]].

** Heavily implied for [[Stepford Smiler|Koizumi]] [[Dissonant Serenity|himself]] as well.

* In ''[[Superior]]'', the [[Big Bad]] female lead feigns hopelessness to gain the hero's trust and kill him. A few days later she realises she has a ''huge'' crush on him.

* Between ''[[Tsukihime]]'' and ''[[Melty Blood]]'', [[Meido]] Kohaku goes from sinister [[Chessmaster]] with no emotions who is planning the downfall of the Tohno family through drugging them; to really being the lovable goofball she pretends to be; who possibly makes robots and rides around on a broom in her spare time.

** Note, however, that the robots and broom-riding may have been influenced by Tatari, and she's STILL trying to play everyone like saps. She's just more...nice...about it.

** In Hisui's route it's revealed that she ''was'' becoming the mask, she just followed through on her plan anyway because she had no idea what else to do. In her own route, the mask starts to crack when Shiki pays attention to her and she reveals she honestly has no idea how she really feels anymore, so she leaves for a little while and becomes/reverts back to a very sweet, kind person.

* ''[[Kare Kano|Yukino Miyazawa]]''. Her public ''mask'' which she created soon after she started school, was designed to elicit praise from those people around her. Playing the role of the ''perfect girl'' was so stressful that she had to unwind by turning into a slob at home. When Arima discovered her secret and blackmailed her, keeping her ''mask'' on became so uncomfortable that when she and Arima feel in love, she decided to throw her mask away, only to slowly discover that she acted perfect for so long that a lot of her mask persona became part of her true nature.

** Arima also wore a ''mask'' of perfection but unlike Yukino, he never took his off, because he feared that his true nature was so awful that everyone would reject him if he took it off.

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', [[Alternate Character Interpretation|this might have happened]] to {{spoiler|Ichimaru Gin}}. He started out as a sweet kid who would go out of his way to help out his only friend and fellow orphan {{spoiler|Matsumoto Rangiku}}. {{spoiler|After Rangiku was brutalized by Aizen's men, Gin decided to worm his way into Aizen's trust in a bid to kill him. The first thing he did was kill one of the men responsible and take his place in Aizen's squad. Things just got worse from there. After spending decades acting the part of a scheming and bloodthirsty [[Smug Snake]] that someone like Aizen would ''want'' as a second-in-command, Gin pretty much became one for real though he never lost sight of his original goal.}} The only times he drops the mask and shows signs of his past self are the times he is forced to confront {{spoiler|Rangiku}}.

* In the manhwa ''[[Aflame Inferno]]'', creatures called Tedlars can only interact with the human world by taking over a human's body, subsequently killing the human doing so. As the Tedlars usually have to live the same life the possessed humans do to avoid detection (not to mention they have access to all the humans' memories), it's quite possible that they become the human they took over themselves. However, usually Tedlars don't stay too long in one body, avoiding this.

* Possible example in Shinigami from ''[[Soul Eater]]''. He tells Asura that he took on his current silly appearance and demeanor to avoid scaring the children he wanted to recruit to his school, but that he 'got used' to it. The odd flashbacks depict him as far more ruthless and direct in his dealings with his enemies, although this may be due to the fact that he was free to do as he pleased rather than (as now) leave it all to humans. However he's not become so much Lighter and Softer that he can't [[Let's Get Dangerous|get dangerous]] when needed. ''[[Wild Mass Guessing|May]]'' have something to do with his being an [[Eldritch Abomination]] and [[Truly Single Parent|how]] he chose to deal with it.

* [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Possibly]] Uzumaki ''[[Naruto]]'', who acted happy-go-lucky and goofy in order to attract attention, and never seemed to stop.

* Yukki and {{spoiler|Yuno}} in ''[[Mirai Nikki]]''. {{spoiler|Both of them were faking their love and using each other. Yukki used Yuno for protection and Yuno used Yukki for an emotional crutch. But over time the fake aspect became less and less fake and more like genuine love.}}

 

* [[Batman]] himself: Bruce Wayne is now merely [[Secret Identity Identity|Batman in disguise]] and not the reverse, and even his subconscious calls him Batman, as seen in ''[[Batman Beyond]]''. Like everything with [[Batman]], how much this is true varies [[Depending on the Writer|from writer to writer]].

** Summarized in the novelization of ''[[Knightfall]]'', Alfred explains to Tim Drake that Batman uses the cowl to become a different personality, hearkening back to primitive beliefs that wearing the mask of a god is to literally become that god.

** Batman probably keeps the Bruce Wayne persona because it's the last little bit of humanity he has left. In ''Bruce Wayne: Fugitive'', he tells the rest of the Bat-family that he's dumping the Bruce Wayne identity to be Batman 24/7, seeing it as a liability. Nightwing, in particular, doesn't take that well and goes at it with him. It takes encounters with both Superman and Catwoman to realize that he kinda does need Bruce Wayne.

** In some incarnations, becoming the mask may be what led Dr. Harleen Quinzel to become Harley Quinn. In her origin story, ''Mad Love'', the possibility was brought up that she interned at Arkham Asylum to cash in on the infamy of its highly abnormal inmate body. Ultimately, she really does end up giving a damn about [[The Joker|a certain patient.]]

** Only the first incarnation of the Thunderbolts counts as this. During ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' the new Thunderbolts team was no longer "Reformed villains trying to actually be the heroes they'd originally pretended to be" and was instead "a bunch of violent thugs we stuck mind control chips into so we could use them for black ops" who they [[Idiot Ball|put under the direction of]] [[Norman Osborn]] and by ''[[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]]'' had morphed into "Norman Osborn's especially vicious group of thugs because the Dark Avengers weren't bad enough."

** The ''[[Heroic Age (comics)|Heroic Age]]'' incarnation, on the other hand, is a specific attempt by the Avengers to induce this. They're using incarcerated supervillains to do good in the hopes that they'll start liking it, and then try to redeem themselves.

* Walter Kovacs from ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'', a formerly abused but relatively normal superhero, takes on the persona of his alter ego Rorschach after an event of [[Despair Event Horizon|intense psychological trauma]], becoming a [[Principles Zealot]] in the process.

** Rorschach later describes the early years of his hero career as "I wasn't Rorschach then. Then I was just Kovacs. Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach". During his bail hearing he refused to respond to anything other than "Rorschach". He also refers to his mask as his face, and once referred to removing it as "removing the skin from my head". He's kinda sensitive about it.

** "It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. It was Rorschach who opened them again." If that doesn't ''define'' this trope, nothing does.

** It was portrayed wonderfully with the art too, when the reader sees Rorschach in the past, he stands differently and looks odd compared to the Rorschach we know in the present. There's something very human about him that adds a quiet tragedy to the man we know now.

* The [[Vertigo Comics]] version of ''[[Human Target]]'' written by Peter Milligan was all about this. The main character, Christopher Chance, was so good at imitating the people he was meant to protect that he needed post-hypnotic triggers to resume his "normal" personality.

* Magica De Spell goes through this in the [[Donald Duck]] story [http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+98051 "Date with a Munchkin" by Kari Korhonen], where she kidnaps Daisy Duck and takes her place in order to get close to Scrooge McDuck's [[Number One Dime]]. During her time as Daisy, she receives Donald's affection for Daisy and takes a liking to their romance. (It helps that she's accidentally also dosed ''herself'' with the [[Love Potion]] she's using to forestall Donald's suspicions.) It culminates in a Duckburg ball where Magica originally intended to steal the dime, but chooses not to leave Donald's side. However, Daisy has escaped her restraints and crashes the ball, confronting Magica. When Donald takes Magica's side, believing that she's the real Daisy, Magica ends her illusion and flees the scene rather than break Daisy's heart. She later reflects that although she didn't manage the theft, she has experienced "a new feeling," and maybe that's worth something.

** Magica manages it again in "[http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2003-014 A Gal For Gladstone]": she hexes away [[Born Lucky|Gladstone Gander]]'s luck so he'll have to work for Uncle Scrooge, then disguises herself as a wholesome girl and seduces him to get close to the dime. She's genuinely touched by his devotion, though, and ends up giving up her chance at the dime [["Friend or Idol?" Decision|in order to save his life.]]

* [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] ''[[Superman]]'' had a story in which Clark Kent tries to prevent the demolition of his old home. Pete Ross assumes it's because he's afraid the workers will find something that'll give away his secret identity, but it's really because of Supes' sentimentality. Pete's last line is pretty much the trope. (Remember, this is when writers had decided that Superman was the "real" identity and Clark Kent a mere disposable mask.)

* V from ''[[V for Vendetta]]''. Who he is under the mask is unimportant, as the mask is a symbol of what he truly is.

* [[Captain Atom]] was originally a government agent pretending to be a superhero so as to spy on the Justice League. Eventually he found himself becoming a superhero for real, leading to his [[The DCU/Awesome|Crowning Moment Of Awesome]], seen [http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/438240.html?#cutid1 here].

* In the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' story "This Man, This Monster," an unnamed scientist steals Ben Grimm's appearance, voice, and power in order to kill Reed Richards, whom he both envies and considers motivated solely by glory. However, in the course of working with him on a dangerous research project, the scientist becomes so convinced of Richards' selflessness that he sacrifices himself to save his life.

* In ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Classic Star Wars]]'', a set of Star Wars newspaper strips, Vader once hires an actor to pretend to be Obi-Wan in order to lure Luke into a trap. The thing was, the actor was [http://images.plurk.com/b0d529cc5abbc00dbd5811d8a4a0e444.jpg moved] by how Luke respected him, and started having thoughts like "[http://images.plurk.com/f0e09d57ca3c1997a3e5cdb3909b89b8.jpg What would the real Obi-Wan do?]" He still led Luke into the trap, but then sprung it, dying himself. From Luke's [http://images.plurk.com/be74a4045fe984953b521dfae22b2c81.jpg utter lack of reaction] before the panel at the top of the page, it's a little ambiguous whether Luke was really oblivious about what was going on.

 

* Claymade's ''[[The Dark Lords of Nerima]]'' is particularly insightful examination of this trope when a wounded [[Our Demons Are Different|Youma]] from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' is taken in by the ''[[Ranma ½]]'' crew.

* [[The Reveal]] in the middle of Chapter 3 of the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6085808/1/Finding_Freedom Finding Freedom]''. You thought that the [[Beta Couple]]'s main reason for being added in the previous chapter was to give the other main character a boyfriend too or to be the cute established couple? Think again.

* [[Halo (series)|John-117]] in ''[[Company 0051]]''. As such, he certainly doesn't appreciate [[Reluctant Retiree|the having to be out of armor]], and to make matters worse the armor in question is kept by a scientist [[Cargo Ship|who seems to have a bit of a fetish for it...]]

* Explored in the ''[[Mass Effect]]''/''[[Terminator]]'' crossover ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6338566/1/Drift Drift]'', where [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] has spent a couple hundred years carefully developing an entire personality construct based on her "Allison" memories, effectively becoming an otherwise indistinguishable human. It turns out that Cameron has apparently been using the Allison persona for so long that elements of her have influenced other parts of her "brain," like her combat programs - which she finds quite troubling, because she is apparently unable to actually do physical maintenance on her processors.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]''. RJ the raccoon.

* This was the plot of the [[James Bond]] movie ''[[From Russia with Love]]''; the [[Bond Girl]] was sent by SPECTRE (under the guise of SMERSH) to seduce him into a trap. She pretends to be a Russian cypher clerk who's fallen in love with Bond's picture, only to fall for him for real.

* A variation occurs in the [[Woody Allen]] movie ''[[Zelig]]'': the protagonist becomes the mask ''involuntarily'', taking on the traits of whoever is around him, be they Nazis, pilots, or Greeks.

* ''[[Undercover Brother]]'' has Brother become Anton Jackson to infiltrate The Man's company. He becomes the mask due to mayonnaise and the White She-Devil. When he returns to normal, the White She-Devil goes through a similar transformation and does a [[Heel Face Turn]].

* ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town]]'' and [[The Remake]] feature a reporter who stages a [[Rescue Romance]] with the main character to advance her journalist career and then falls in love with him.

* ''[[Smokin Aces]]'' features an interesting inversion of this: after {{spoiler|FBI Agent Freeman Heller goes undercover as Mafia Hitman Primo Sparazza, the higher-ups at the FBI became wrongfully convinced that he had become the mask, and tried to have him murdered. Heller survived the assassination, and to retaliate against the Bureau that betrayed him, really did become the mask, eventually becoming the head Mafia Don.}}

* ''[[Point Break]]'' stars [[Keanu Reeves]] as an FBI agent who goes undercover as a surfer to get close to a suspected bank robber. The inevitable occurs.

** A similar plot happens in [[The Fast and the Furious]]

* Kichi's mother begins to worry that this has literally happened to her after she dons a demonic mask in an attempt to scare her daughter straight in [[Onibaba]].

* In ''[[Plan B]]'', Bruno attempts to seduce his ex Laura's boyfriend Pablo as part of a convoluted plan to win Laura back, only to [[Queer Romance|end up developing genuine romantic feelings for Pablo]].

 

== Literature ==

*** Yes and no with the hellhound. While the dog definately DID prefer Earth to hell in the end, the reason he took the smaller form wasn't as a disguise but because whatever the Anti-Christ named him, would define him and Adam chose the name 'Dog'. So he became the perfect embodiment of a dog, changing him from the very start.

* The plot of ''[[The Assassins of Tamurin]]'' centers around the [[Femme Fatale]] protagonist realizing that, contrary to what the [[Cult]] she's grown up in has taught her, she's been on the wrong side. Not only does she really fall in love with the king she's been spying on, she believes his plans, not [[The Chessmaster]]'s, are best for the kingdom.

** And [[Legacy of the Force|a later book]] by Allston mentions Donoslane Excursions, whose name is based on Donos' and one of Notsil's fake identities (rather, the one she decided to live by after her identity crisis), Kirney Slane.

** Another example, from some older comics: Darth Vader hires an actor to act as Obi-Wan to lure Luke into a trap, but the actor starts to see why Luke admires the figure he acted as so much, culminating in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

** The [[Hand of Thrawn]] Duology has the Devist family, a number of clones of [[Ace Pilot|Soontir Fel]] who kept together and secretive to avoid the [[Fantastic Racism]] that comes with [[Cloning Blues|being a clone]]. They were set up as a cell of [[Deep-Cover Agent|sleeper agents]], supposed to answer the call when the Empire needed them, and in the mean time they became farmers. But like Soontir before them, they [[Farm Boy|loved the soil]], and loved it more than the Empire. When they scramble in their TIE interceptors and [[Catch a Falling Star|save]] Han and Leia, they don't report them, and are eventually talked into helping the New Republic with the Camaasi Document crisis.

*** Fel himself states that they and the other cells were ''designed'' to do this - to develop stronger loyalty to each other and their world than to the Empire that quite literally created them. This way, when a threat [[New Jedi Order|came past the galaxy's edge]], they would be able to fight it without too much worry about ideological ties. Pity the villains dug most of the cells up to act as cannon fodder well before that...

*** Luke seems particularly prone to this trope. It's the only thing anyone remembers about ''[[Dark Empire]]''. That and the Emperor's clones.

** Lowbacca in ''[[Young Jedi Knights|Diversity Alliance]]''. He isn't [[Fantastic Racism|racist]], but he can see where the titular group gets their ideas from. Even though they're basically the [[Flanderized]] version of the Black Panthers.

* In the little known sequel to ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', ''Rupert of Hentzau'', the protagonist who had impersonated the King of [[Ruritania]] in the first book finds himself forced to masquerade on a permanent basis in the sequel although he is assassinated shortly after this happens.

* Occurs in reverse in [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] ''[[The Great Divorce]]''. A man who keeps trying to impress his love interest slowly becomes "The Tragedian", a false personality given to [[Large Ham|hackneyed dramatic gestures]], and his real, honest (if average) personality gradually shrinks away to nothing. Ironically, she loved him as he was.

*** Rare outside of ''[[Discworld]]''. Pratchett is relatively fond of this in some respects.

** His criminal instincts remain, but he acquires a strong drive to use them for good. (He was a sort of [[Anti-Villain]] before, but has definitely graduated to [[Loveable Rogue]] over the course of his new career).

*** From the same book, {{spoiler|The command staff who became just as eager to punish women}}, as {{spoiler|Jackrum}} eventually warns Polly to avoid the same pitfall.

*** Earlier, Polly herself, when she has infiltrate the fortress [[Recursive Crossdressing|recursively]] [[Disguised in Drag]], gets caught because she still walks like a boy.

** The story is [[An Aesop]] about the fact that what you do is more important than what you believe. You are good or evil based on your acts, not whether or not you think you are good or evil. As for the protagonist, he was asked to become a Nazi by an American agent and the information he provided the Allies throughout the war was of great help. The problem he has is illustrated when near the end of the war a Nazi friend tells him he knew the protagonist was a spy but never reported him because whatever damage he did as a spy would be more than offset by the help he was giving the Nazis in his cover role. Obviously, that would bother any anti-Nazi person, which he was.

** ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'', by the same author, has a religion created by two men to keep a country happy. They decide to have the religion outlawed, with one playing the role of President, the other [[The Messiah]]. Eventually, of course, the President gets too deep into his role and starts executing heretics.

* [[Agatha Christie]] pulled this one with Dr Rathbone from ''They Came to Baghdad'': a con man who established a philanthropic society to make money, but ended up believing in what he preached.

* [[G. K. Chesterton]]'s book ''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]'' has a character who was an actor that portrayed an anarchist philosopher as a joke, and did such a good job of it that he convinced everyone watching that he really was the philosopher and even bested the philosopher himself in a debate, resulting in the real philosopher getting tossed out into the street. He is then forced to continue playing his role, even when {{spoiler|he was elected to the Council of Days.}} By the time he meets the protagonist, he's been playing the part of an old man for so long that he can't stop.

* In [[The Hunger Games]], this occurs when {{spoiler|Katniss pretends to be in love with Peeta just to keep them both alive in the arena. By the end of the second book, at the least. At the end of the first she's prepared to kill him to save herself. Contrast the end of the second, where she's totally prepared to die so he can continue living. At the end of Mockingjay, she chooses Peeta over Gale.}}

 

* One episode of ''[[Castle]]'' deals with this. {{spoiler|A con artist dates a rich girl in order to get her money while his partner finds her way in as a servant. The guy falls in love with the rich girl, however, and tries to break off the con. His partner kills him and tries to get away with it, but Castle and Beckett trick her.}}

* In season 2 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Mohinder is originally working with HRG to infiltrate the Company, but eventually switches sides and betrays him, joining the Company for good.

** It's a popular (if not obligatory) concept in Sylar/Mohinder [[Fan Fiction]] that the two became infatuated with each other while Sylar pretended to be Zane during their roadtrip to Montana. Angst ensues.

** Sylar receives an involuntary Nathan mask at the end of season 3.

** Later, {{spoiler|Boomer}}, another copy of Number 8 {{spoiler|seduces/manipulates Tyrol to get him to help her}} but she hesitates to go through with it and soon regrets her actions.

** Another minor example is {{spoiler|Kat}} whose real name was Sasha. In her previous life, she used to be a drug runner and a smuggler which is where her piloting experience came from. When the Colonies were nuked, she took the name and identity of another woman that she knew was dead and worked herself a fake background and all. By the time her previous life caught up with her in Season 3, she was fully immersed in the identity she built herself.

*** Another Buffy example: Jenny Calendar {{spoiler|is revealed to be Janna, a member of the clan of gypsies who cursed Angel with his soul, after he experiences 'true happiness' with Buffy and reverts to the evil Angelus. It's heavily implied that her love for Giles ("I didn't know I would fall in love with you") led to her Becoming The Mask, and after she is killed by Angelus, she's buried under her assumed name of Jenny Calendar.}}

* An unusual example of this takes place in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' episode "Allison from Palmdale." Cameron, suffering a glitch due to damage to her chip, briefly adopts the personality of Allison Young, {{spoiler|the resistance fighter whom she was modeled after and whose personality she copied, before going off to assassinate John Connor.}}

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'', the Scorpioworm assumed the identity of {{spoiler|Kamishiro Tsurugi}}, but prior to the beginning of the series somehow came to believe himself to be {{spoiler|Tsurugi}} to the point at which even he is shocked when the mask slips.

* Played out interestingly in ''[[Prison Break]]'': T-Bag (who is someone who ''definitely'' can't redeem himself, despite being [[Magnificent Bastard|awesome]]) has this with his fake identity of Cole Pfeiffer, a charming top-salesman. He actually hopes to leave his past as a convict behind, because he really seems to love his role. In the end, {{spoiler|it doesn't work.}}

* In ''[[My Name Is Earl]],'' Earl at first only tried to make up for all his past bad deeds because he believed "karma" would punish him otherwise. But eventually, he starts to really ''care'' about people.

** Same with Billie, who at first hides among the Camdenites (radical Amish) while plotting revenge against Earl. However, the simple lifestyle eventually wins her over, and she joins their community, giving Earl all her money.

* ''[[Oz]]''. Undercover cop Desmond Mobay, posing as a Jamaican drug dealer, gets hooked on drugs and murders a corrupt cop turned inmate who threatens to blow his cover. Another prisoner, convicted copkiller Augustus Hill, realises who Mobay is and calls him out over his hypocrisy. Mobay beats Hill unconscious, but then confesses to the murder, realising he's become one of the criminals he's supposed to be fighting.

* ''[[The X-Files|The X Files]]'': An alien invader, infiltrated as a human baseball player, eventually decided he was a better person that way. When another alien came to execute him and ordered him to show his real face, he answered that [[Tear Jerker|it ''was'' his real face.]]. Even his poisonous blood has somehow changed human when he is killed.

** An interesting case with a nerdy British young man who became a test subject of an experiment similar to the Intersect project, except this one involves completely replacing the subject's personality with a new one in order to create a perfect [[The Mole|mole]]. Unfortunately, it ends up working a little too well. The man becomes one of the most powerful criminals in the world, being none other than {{spoiler|Alexei Volkoff}}, a [[Magnificent Bastard]].

* Although he never forsook his real loyalties, undercover fed Vincent Terranova often formed strong personal connections with the criminals he investigated on ''[[Wiseguy]]''. His friendship with Sonny Steelgrave was so genuine, Vinny openly admitted he would have allowed the mob boss to escape, had Sonny not personally beaten a man to death in front of a hidden camera.

** Blon also shows signs of getting too into the part earlier when her escape plan causing destruction on a global scale is discovered by The Doctor & Co. When queried why no human authorities had notice a nuclear power plant in the middle of the city designed to go apocalyptic?

{{quote|'''Blon''': London doesn't care -- the South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice? Oh? I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native!}}

** On the other hand, pretending to be a hitman who happens to look identical doesn't work out so well.

* ''[[Angel]]'': Lilah admits to Angel in season 3 that she became her "game face" long ago.

** Also Santana who was also a spy at first but has admitted that Glee club is the best part of her day.

** Quinn's case is a lot more complicated than a simple straight playing of the trope. For one, it could be argued (and the show gives glimpses of this) that her previous identity as [[Alpha Bitch]] and [[Seemingly-Wholesome Fifties Girl]] was more of an act than her role in the Glee Club, but she didn't realize it until she got pregnant and Glee was the only thing remaining from her former life. Certain scenes suggest that Quinn was under a lot of pressure from both Sue and her parents to live up to certain expectations, whereas Glee gives her more of a chance to truly express herself. So it may be more of a [[Secret Identity Identity]] - maybe we don't always know which part is "real" and which is the mask.

'''Nate:''' I think we lost Eliot until the playoffs. }}

** This was also the in-show reason for [[Put on a Bus|Sophie's absence]] when [[Real Life Writes the Plot|Gina Bellman went on maternity leave.]] Sophie had worked under so many different personas as a grifter that she wasn't sure who she was anymore, and she needed time to really find herself. Sophie isn't even her real name, it is merely the name she had adopted as her primary identity.

* In Season 2 of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', Allison Georgia Doren, disguised as a replica of Francie Calfo, actually falls in love with Will Tippin and is visibly upset when she is forced to kill him.

** In a Season 2 episode the wife of an American mathematician (guest star [[Christian Slater]]) turns out to be a Russian agent who fell in love with him for real. It also turns out {{spoiler|her husband was an NSA agent and knew his wife was all along.}}

* ''[[Fringe]]'': One shapeshifter at least (maybe two) got very attached to their family.

** Another example occurs with {{spoiler|Fauxlivia, who impersonates the real Olivia in order to gain Peter's trust and eventually begins to develop genuine feelings for him.}}

* A similar thing happens in the ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' episode ''All Dogs Go To Heaven'' {{spoiler|a skinwalker disguises himself as a family dog, waiting for the call to attack and turn the family. He eventually grows to love the family, and almost dies to defend them}}.

{{quote|'''Fake Tuvok:''' Logic suggests that neither of us has the advantage.

'''Tuvok:''' Your logic is flawed (''blinds him with a flashlight''). }}

** Another episode has Peter going undercover to the point that he starts to really enjoy his fake job.

* Detective Inspector Zain Nadir of ''[[The Bill]]'' is warned of how this can occur to undercover detectives who stay in a role for too long. This somewhat happens to him too when he becomes romantically involved with a drug dealer.

* In the ''[[New Tricks]]'' episode "Only The Brave" it turns out the murderer was [[Reverse Mole]], Knowles, who had gone native in the gang he was sent in to investigate.

* In ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', Jesse has two of his junkie friends infiltrate his 12-step program to sell meth to the other addicts. They don't have much success. Later Jesse learns that his dealers are actually doing the steps for real and taking pride in their recovery.

 

== Music ==

* The ''Trans Siberian Orchestra'' song "Promises to Keep" contains, in reference to the "Christmas Spirit," the lines:

{{quote|And if our kindness

You're gonna fill up the walls within. }}

 

* One medieval legend is a very literal taking of the trope, that of an ugly man who for years wore a mask that made him beautiful until when he finally took it off he found that his face had grown into the mask's shape, making him truly handsome.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]] too, who in a sense ''is'' his mask. In fact, if you saw him bare-faced, you might not even know who it is.

* The guys behind ''[[Wrestlecrap]]'' have suggested this is what happened to Jim Helwig, also known as The [[Ultimate Warrior]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** This is actually literal, since most Aspect Warrior armour features a mask.

* The [[Promethean: The Created|Promethean]] [[Karma Meter]] represents this: the better they are at acting human, the more likely they are to internalise it. Thus, they have a higher chance of succeeding in the roll [[Humanity Ensues|to be reborn as a human]].

* Personamancers in ''[[Unknown Armies]]'' base all their magic around pretending to be other people (or screwing with other peoples's self-identification). They charge their magic through pretending to be other people. Here's the catch: to gain the power for such an act, they have to ''really believe'' they're somebody else, at least a little. And gaining recognition as themselves kills their power. One of the quickest ways to gain power is to pretend to be somebody else into a mirror for one hour. Do that every day for years and eventually, you start to buy it...

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

* Charlie Baker from ''[[The Foreigner]]''. By the end of the play, {{spoiler|Charlie has become the Foreigner to the point that he remains in character around Froggy, the one character who knows he really speaks English.}}

* In [[Martin Guerre]], Arnaud du Thil is intitally reluctant to assume the identity of his friend Martin, but as the musical progresses he grows to love Martin's village, life, and especially his wife Bertrande. By the time he is put on trial for 16th century identity theft, he seems to really consider himself 'Martin Guerre' and even sings a reprise of Martin's song, 'I'm Martin Guerre.'

 

== Video Games ==

* Cait Sith in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', who joins the party as a spy and then grows to care about them and joins them for real.

** Only superficially fits as an example. {{spoiler|Reeve}} was already sympathetic to most of the party's issues, but sincerely did not trust Avalanche. He didn't so much change personality wise, but realize that Avalanche was operating on the same wavelength he was.

** Morrigan also has some elements of this, pretending to like the male player character in order to get into bed with him and then actually falling in love.

* The whole plot of ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Advance'' pretty much revolves around this, depending on who the protagonist is. If it's Axel Almer, he got amnesia after doing the dimension jump to infiltrate the protagonist group and had enough time to befriend them and leave a good impression, and when it came to his time to return, he realized that his group was wrong and elected to stay on the new group, fighting his previous superior. Same thing happened to Lamia Loveless, except that she got no amnesia, but her orders usually come too late, and she already blended with the society, making her realize she has a conscience and values it, thus making her reject the fact that she's a mindless doll and betray her superiors. And the protagonist's reaction to them? Forgiving as ever.

* In [[Skyrim]] A wizard sets up a [[Scooby-Doo Hoax]], masquerading as the guardian spirit of a Nordic burial ground to keep superstitious locals from discovering that he's attempting to loot the tomb. After six month of failing to solve a puzzle-locked door, he goes insane and becomes convinced he's an actual guardian spirit.

* [[Crysis (series)|They call me... Prophet.]]

 

== Web Comics ==

* There's an interesting mental disorder in ''[[Mary Sue Academy]]'' called Character Shock Syndrome Sue. It's where a Mary Sue become the character they portray. {{spoiler|Jessica Pluto suffers this.}}

* The "bad" version happened in the backstory of ''[[Juvenile Diversion]]'': Courtney "infiltrated" the cheerleaders to get revenge on them, then promptly became just as much of a bitch as them.

 

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' version three this happened to Dominica Shapiro, who initially joined the group SADD on the off chance their plan would work, with the intent on a double cross if not, but gradually became more and more part of the group properly.

* In Chewbot's [[Let's Play]] on ''[[Oregon Trail]]'', "[[Plague and Treachery On The Oregon Trail]]", it's revealed that {{spoiler|Susan was a British spy sent to overthrow America from the inside, but she eventually came to love the family she created as a cover, and abandoned her assignment.}}

 

== Western Animation ==

** She didn't actually stay with them, but helped them form a counter-offensive, when she found out what her race was really planning to use the Earth as a hyperspace bypass in an interplanetary war, which would destroy it. Feeling guilty of betraying both the Justice League, and her homeworld of Thanagar, she decided to leave the team before they announced their desicion on whether she can return.

* Terra (in the [[Animated Adaptation]] only) of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' really began to feel at home with the team and fell in love with Beast Boy. She tried to compromise by saving him and letting Slade kill the others, and, well, you can guess [[Redemption Equals Death|how it turned out]].

* The assassin droid Zeta in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' replaced an accountant, as he was investigating money laundering by a terrorist organization. Once he completed the mission he ended up running into the guy he was impersonating. Per protocol, he should have eliminated the man on the spot. The aforementioned time spent with the man's family affected him to the point that he could not bring himself to deprive him of that experience, and so went rogue instead (leading into his [[Spin-Off]] series, ''[[The Zeta Project]]'').

* The ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'' cartoon has evil shapeshifter Ron Kar finds himself sympathizing with the good guys, and even willingly helping them, after his [[Memory Gambit]] infiltration is exposed.

* Taken to ludicrous extremes by Roger in ''[[American Dad]]''. {{spoiler|He creates a new identity to seduce a shop girl and allow him to steal a pair of gloves he likes. Then the stress of actually caring about someone causes Roger's mind to split into two - the persona he created, and himself. Apparently his persona carries on for quite a while before Roger notices extra bills on his credit card, at which point Roger tries to destroy this man's life.}}

** Not to mention the little roleplaying activity that he and Francine improvised for themselves...

* Seymour Skinner in ''[[The Simpsons]]''. In the episode "The Principal and the Pauper", it's revealed that {{spoiler|he is actually Armin Tamzarian. He served with the real Seymour Skinner in Vietnam and took over Skinner's identity when he was apparently killed. Twenty years later, the real Skinner shows up in Springfield to reclaim his identity. But the townspeople decide they prefer to keep the Skinner they're used to. The real Skinner is banished from town, Tamzarian is put back in Skinner's identity, and it's ordered that nobody will ever mention this incident again.}}

** Well, they ''do'' when it's either [[Rule of Funny|funny]] or [[Deadpan Snarker|to shut Skinner up]].

 

== Real Life ==

* This is literally Psychology 101 material. When you act out a role, it naturally becomes less and less of an act, as seen with method actors and army drill sergeants. Everyone does it to some degree.

** On the subject of psychology, this happened to psychologist Philip Zimbardo during his famous [[wikipedia:Stanford prison experiment|Stanford Prison Experiment.]] The realization that he was beginning to think like one of the sadistic prison guards he was trying to learn about was part of his motivation for ending the controversial experiment early.

* The late great [[Peter Sellers]] had said on numerous occasions "There is no 'Me'; I do not exist." Beyond just being a great actor, he literally could ''become'' his role and have a bit of a hard time shaking it. The great Sir Alec Guinness and legendary Lon Chaney Sr. were said to have similar psychologies.

** Heath Ledger was also rumored to have that psychology.

* Social Constructionist theories of society claim that any aspect of society (education, religion etc.) only has a function because it is ascribed by the population. A kind of Becoming the Mask for concepts.

** Which begs the question of whether being "socially constructed" makes it any less a part of oneself than being "natural". People are social beings and naturally have a part to play. Why are social constructs "artificial" and non-social instincts "natural" when they both come out of humanity? And why is being "natural" better than being "artificial"?

** He also said that those who are afraid that they can't "love their neighbor" should just act as if they did and the rest would take care of itself.

** Lewis loved this one. He said that the whole point of ritual and formalised prayer was that you could 'dress up' as a saint - and thereby become one.

* In Model UN (and similar programs), enough time representing the same country/person (or ones with similar views) can start to do this to you.

* ATF agent William Queen spent two years undercover as Billy St. John, a member of the Mongols motorcycle gang, and admits he grew to liking the gang he was in and found them kinder than many law abiding folks he knew. He felt somewhat sorry for turning them in when his job investigating and spying on the gang was over.

* [[Multiple Choice Past|One explanation]] for [[Soapbox Sadie|leftwing agitator]] / [[Con Man]] Ward Churchill (best known for writing an inflammatory essay praising the 9/11 hijackers, or at least villifying the people they killed and claiming the incident as a legitimate act of war) posing as a [[Magical Native American]] for several years and gaining a university professorship as part of some kind of [[Positive Discrimination|affirmative action]]-type scheme. He claimed he'd originally planned to admit the ruse as soon as he got the job in order to point out the inherent racism of the university's hiring practises and the government's various "Indian Affairs" schemes, but found himself growing into the role and believing he could do more good as a teacher. [[Money, Dear Boy|The fat paychecks he was getting from the school probably had a lot to do with it, too, though]].

* In ''The Chrysanthemum and the Sword'' the Japanese code of honor is described as being like this.

* Joe Pistone, a.k.a Donnie Brasco, would arguably qualify as a subversion. While he admits he retains some "wiseguy" habits from his six-year undercover stint and felt some closeness to mob mentor Sonny Black, his daily interactions with real-life Mafiosi more or less reinforced his negative view of the Mafia and its members.

** Just as forcing a smile can make one feel better, holding back a smile can lessen the impact of happiness. People who freeze their faces with anti-wrinkle chemicals such as Botox are shown to not feel as sad or as happy as other people.

* Lalla Ward once said in a ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' interview that the reason she and [[Tom Baker]] [[Romance on the Set|got married]] was because they played the Doctor and Romana [[Like an Old Married Couple]], and then mistook that for actually being in love.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Heel Face Index]]

[[Category:Fame and Reputation Tropes]]

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:In Another Man's Shoes]]

[[Category:Identity Index]]