Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Difference between revisions

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The catch of course is that they also can't positively prove they are who they say they are, and a [[Genre Savvy]] character will instantly suspect them. Usually the mole will play patriotic and use the benefit of the doubt, or "innocent until proven guilty" to get their mission accomplished. One especially evil twist is for the mole to claim to come from a village his [[Big Bad]] boss personally razed explicitly to create this cover, and uses it to earn the sympathy and acceptance of the heroes by claiming to want revenge. It helps if the heroes are [[Genre Blind]] characters or [[Horrible Judge of Character|horrible judges of character]].
The catch of course is that they also can't positively prove they are who they say they are, and a [[Genre Savvy]] character will instantly suspect them. Usually the mole will play patriotic and use the benefit of the doubt, or "innocent until proven guilty" to get their mission accomplished. One especially evil twist is for the mole to claim to come from a village his [[Big Bad]] boss personally razed explicitly to create this cover, and uses it to earn the sympathy and acceptance of the heroes by claiming to want revenge. It helps if the heroes are [[Genre Blind]] characters or [[Horrible Judge of Character|horrible judges of character]].


A determined investigator will usually try to find someone who can prove if the mole is who they say they are. Like a family member, another survivor, records, or the corpse of the person they're impersonating. The odds of finding these records vary, but usually come just too late. This trope may be paired with [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]], [[Fake Memories]], and an implanted [[Split Personality]] to create a persona wholesale to sell the role, though these tactics have a [[Tomato in The Mirror|high risk of agent meltdown]] and [[Becoming the Mask|conversion]].
A determined investigator will usually try to find someone who can prove if the mole is who they say they are. Like a family member, another survivor, records, or the corpse of the person they're impersonating. The odds of finding these records vary, but usually come just too late. This trope may be paired with [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]], [[Fake Memories]], and an implanted [[Split Personality]] to create a persona wholesale to sell the role, though these tactics have a [[Tomato in the Mirror|high risk of agent meltdown]] and [[Becoming the Mask|conversion]].
{{examples}}
{{examples}}


== Anime ==
== Anime ==
* Averted in ''[[Tenchi in Tokyo (Anime)|Tenchi in Tokyo]]''. {{spoiler|Sakuya Kumashiro is a "shadow" created by Yugi, and inserted into Tenchi's class -- all of her classmates are given [[Fake Memories]] of her being the most popular girl in school, but she herself has ''no'' memories at all of any period before she met Tenchi. She doesn't even realize this until Tenchi starts inquiring into her background late in the series.}}
* Averted in ''[[Tenchi in Tokyo]]''. {{spoiler|Sakuya Kumashiro is a "shadow" created by Yugi, and inserted into Tenchi's class -- all of her classmates are given [[Fake Memories]] of her being the most popular girl in school, but she herself has ''no'' memories at all of any period before she met Tenchi. She doesn't even realize this until Tenchi starts inquiring into her background late in the series.}}
* ''[[Durarara]]'': Kazutano, an illegal immigrant living in Japan, once claimed his birth certificate was burned during the [[World War II]] firebombings. He's too young for that story to be at all credible, though.
* ''[[Durarara]]'': Kazutano, an illegal immigrant living in Japan, once claimed his birth certificate was burned during the [[World War II]] firebombings. He's too young for that story to be at all credible, though.
* In [[The World God Only Knows]], Elsie uses her supposed status as illegitimate daughter of Keima's father to convince his mother to let her live with them. Since his father is pretty much never home, there was no way to really confirm the story, though the fact that he couldn't prove it false outright does raise some interesting questions.
* In [[The World God Only Knows]], Elsie uses her supposed status as illegitimate daughter of Keima's father to convince his mother to let her live with them. Since his father is pretty much never home, there was no way to really confirm the story, though the fact that he couldn't prove it false outright does raise some interesting questions.
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== Fan Fiction ==
== Fan Fiction ==
* Subverted in the ''Symphony of the Sword'' subseries of ''[[Undocumented Features]]'': [[Revolutionary Girl Utena|Utena Tenjou]] and those of her friends from [[Magic Knight Rayearth|Cephiro]] who make it to Midgard are given elaborately detailed and otherwise ''genuine'' identities by Gryphon and MegaZone, who are for all practical purposes the legitimate government of Zeta Cygni.
* Subverted in the ''Symphony of the Sword'' subseries of ''[[Undocumented Features]]'': [[Revolutionary Girl Utena|Utena Tenjou]] and those of her friends from [[Magic Knight Rayearth|Cephiro]] who make it to Midgard are given elaborately detailed and otherwise ''genuine'' identities by Gryphon and MegaZone, who are for all practical purposes the legitimate government of Zeta Cygni.
* Inverted in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' self-insert ''[[Mass Vexations (Fanfic)|Mass Vexations]]''. [[Author Avatar]] Art arrives in the ''ME'' universe, and knows that nobody will believe him if he tells them he literally teleported into the Citadel from an alternate dimension where everything that Art now sees around him was part of a video game. Thus, he makes up a cover story about having taken a ton of stims before smuggling himself onto a ship headed to the Citadel to avoid suspicion. He's not actually a mole for anyone, fortunately.
* Inverted in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' self-insert ''[[Mass Vexations]]''. [[Author Avatar]] Art arrives in the ''ME'' universe, and knows that nobody will believe him if he tells them he literally teleported into the Citadel from an alternate dimension where everything that Art now sees around him was part of a video game. Thus, he makes up a cover story about having taken a ton of stims before smuggling himself onto a ship headed to the Citadel to avoid suspicion. He's not actually a mole for anyone, fortunately.
** Not to mention, it doesn't entirely work- he ends up making both Kaidan and Jacob suspicious of him. Neither works it out, but they don't stop suspecting him, either.
** Not to mention, it doesn't entirely work- he ends up making both Kaidan and Jacob suspicious of him. Neither works it out, but they don't stop suspecting him, either.


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* ''[[Total Recall]]'' has a double-example of this. Arnold's character initially infiltrated the Martian resistance, convincing them to trust him and believe that he was betraying the [[Big Bad]]. The [[Big Bad]] then captured him and erased his memory to stop him from revealing all of his secrets to the resistance. It later turns out that this was just an elaborate ruse to help him infiltrate ''deeper'' into the resistance, since they are then convinced he really had a major secret to reveal.
* ''[[Total Recall]]'' has a double-example of this. Arnold's character initially infiltrated the Martian resistance, convincing them to trust him and believe that he was betraying the [[Big Bad]]. The [[Big Bad]] then captured him and erased his memory to stop him from revealing all of his secrets to the resistance. It later turns out that this was just an elaborate ruse to help him infiltrate ''deeper'' into the resistance, since they are then convinced he really had a major secret to reveal.
* ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'' has this with {{spoiler|Mr Orange}}. The made-up cover incident in question is referred to as "the commode story".
* ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'' has this with {{spoiler|Mr Orange}}. The made-up cover incident in question is referred to as "the commode story".
* In ''[[Salt (Film)|Salt]]'', a Russian operative claims that Evelyn Salt was a deep cover agent who was planted in America at the age of 12. They faked a car crash to kill an American family living in Russia and replaced the daughter's corpse with their agent. Because her supposed family is dead (and her other relatives haven't seen her in years) there's no one to dispute her identity.
* In ''[[Salt]]'', a Russian operative claims that Evelyn Salt was a deep cover agent who was planted in America at the age of 12. They faked a car crash to kill an American family living in Russia and replaced the daughter's corpse with their agent. Because her supposed family is dead (and her other relatives haven't seen her in years) there's no one to dispute her identity.




== Literature ==
== Literature ==
* Done in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Friday (Literature)|Friday]]'' by the protagonist and many other "artificial persons" who need cover stories. Her "birthplace" is Seattle (destroyed in an earthquake) and Friday cynically comments that the recent destruction of Acapulco in a corporate war means that a lot of artificial persons will end up being "born" there as well.
* Done in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Friday (novel)|Friday]]'' by the protagonist and many other "artificial persons" who need cover stories. Her "birthplace" is Seattle (destroyed in an earthquake) and Friday cynically comments that the recent destruction of Acapulco in a corporate war means that a lot of artificial persons will end up being "born" there as well.
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Brothers in Arms]]'', Elli Quinn spots the bad guy partly because his cover identity is from a planet wrecked by a tectonic disaster. Indeed, it's implied that only amateurs use that planet for a cover identity any longer, as every professional intelligence agency in the Nexus considers 'survivor of Frost IV' an automatic red flag requiring double-checking.
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Brothers in Arms]]'', Elli Quinn spots the bad guy partly because his cover identity is from a planet wrecked by a tectonic disaster. Indeed, it's implied that only amateurs use that planet for a cover identity any longer, as every professional intelligence agency in the Nexus considers 'survivor of Frost IV' an automatic red flag requiring double-checking.
* In ''SS-GB'' by [[Len Deighton]] the hero finds a fake ID on a member of [[La Résistance]]. The town listed as his birthplace had its records office destroyed in the war. The hero notes that lots of fake IDs use that town.
* In ''SS-GB'' by [[Len Deighton]] the hero finds a fake ID on a member of [[La Résistance]]. The town listed as his birthplace had its records office destroyed in the war. The hero notes that lots of fake IDs use that town.
* {{spoiler|Trent, the offspring of the [[Big Bad|sorcerer Vade]]}} in Ursula Vernon's ''[[Black Dogs (Literature)|Black Dogs]]'' purportedly escaped from an evil magic user {{spoiler|AKA his father}}. In the time this character was in captivity, he/she claimed to have his/her [[Break the Cutie|innocence destroyed]] by all the cruelly calculated murder and remains inconsolably guilty for things that were not really his/her fault. This character pretty much becomes [[The Woobie]] to some of the other characters for these reasons. However, it is later revealed that this person's {{spoiler|kind and compassionate}} persona is just a {{spoiler|suppressed and memory-wiped}} part of his/her personality {{spoiler|as part of his father's [[Xanatos Gambit]]}}, later on it's revealed that {{spoiler|his new, crueler personality is also a fabrication of his father, and}} this character's [[True Self]] is somewhere between these two extremes.
* {{spoiler|Trent, the offspring of the [[Big Bad|sorcerer Vade]]}} in Ursula Vernon's ''[[Black Dogs]]'' purportedly escaped from an evil magic user {{spoiler|AKA his father}}. In the time this character was in captivity, he/she claimed to have his/her [[Break the Cutie|innocence destroyed]] by all the cruelly calculated murder and remains inconsolably guilty for things that were not really his/her fault. This character pretty much becomes [[The Woobie]] to some of the other characters for these reasons. However, it is later revealed that this person's {{spoiler|kind and compassionate}} persona is just a {{spoiler|suppressed and memory-wiped}} part of his/her personality {{spoiler|as part of his father's [[Xanatos Gambit]]}}, later on it's revealed that {{spoiler|his new, crueler personality is also a fabrication of his father, and}} this character's [[True Self]] is somewhere between these two extremes.
* ''[[Lensman]]''. When Kinnison infiltrates the Boskone hierarchy, the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|Arisians]] (unknown to him) adapt his cover even to the extent of correctly aging the ink on all the documents, knowing that he'll actually be up against their own evil counterparts, the Eddorians.
* ''[[Lensman]]''. When Kinnison infiltrates the Boskone hierarchy, the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|Arisians]] (unknown to him) adapt his cover even to the extent of correctly aging the ink on all the documents, knowing that he'll actually be up against their own evil counterparts, the Eddorians.
* In the [[Expanded Universe]] of ''[[Star Trek Voyager]]'', it's explained that Tuvok is able to infiltrate the Maquis by making a false cover story of how his family was killed by Cardassians on a border planet. He further endears himself to them by giving up a Starfleet Intelligence operative and putting a big hole in the ''Hood'' (but not killing anyone) when all was said and done.
* In the [[Expanded Universe]] of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', it's explained that Tuvok is able to infiltrate the Maquis by making a false cover story of how his family was killed by Cardassians on a border planet. He further endears himself to them by giving up a Starfleet Intelligence operative and putting a big hole in the ''Hood'' (but not killing anyone) when all was said and done.
** And in ''[[The Original Series]]'' novel ''Time Trap'', the Klingons do this repeatedly to surgically-altered agents, giving them false memories to match. Spock figures out the plot when he notices a suspicious number of people in critical positions who are from disaster areas.
** And in ''[[The Original Series]]'' novel ''Time Trap'', the Klingons do this repeatedly to surgically-altered agents, giving them false memories to match. Spock figures out the plot when he notices a suspicious number of people in critical positions who are from disaster areas.
* One [[Captain Future]] novel featured the Captain trying to pass off as a pirate from a ship which was destroyed. There is a minor problem when he meets with a guy who really served on that ship, but he manages to convince those around him that it's because the real pirate was a gunner - and he was a mechanic, so they had no interaction.
* One [[Captain Future]] novel featured the Captain trying to pass off as a pirate from a ship which was destroyed. There is a minor problem when he meets with a guy who really served on that ship, but he manages to convince those around him that it's because the real pirate was a gunner - and he was a mechanic, so they had no interaction.
* In the ''[[Merchant Princes]]'' series by Charles Stross, Miriam Beckstein manages to become the Widow Fletcher, returning from the New British Empire with her "deceased husband's fortune." The corrupt lawyer who affirms her identity lists her hometown as Shreveport, which was completely destroyed in the last World War. She [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] just how weak her identity is, and how basic SEC due diligence checks would completely shred it, but nobody in New Britain bats an eye at it.
* In the ''[[Merchant Princes]]'' series by Charles Stross, Miriam Beckstein manages to become the Widow Fletcher, returning from the New British Empire with her "deceased husband's fortune." The corrupt lawyer who affirms her identity lists her hometown as Shreveport, which was completely destroyed in the last World War. She [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] just how weak her identity is, and how basic SEC due diligence checks would completely shred it, but nobody in New Britain bats an eye at it.
* In [[James Bond (Literature)|James Bond novel]] ''Moonraker'', Hugo Drax is really a Nazi officer who adopted the identity of one of the countless British servicemen missing in action in the aftermath a large battle in [[World War Two]].
* In [[James Bond (novel)|James Bond novel]] ''Moonraker'', Hugo Drax is really a Nazi officer who adopted the identity of one of the countless British servicemen missing in action in the aftermath a large battle in [[World War Two]].




== Live Action TV ==
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' had [[Tomato in The Mirror|Sharon "Boomer" Valerii]], whose "family" perished in a notorious mining accident on Troy. She believed it, and even kept pictures of it [[Broken Masquerade|post tomato]] for a while.
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' had [[Tomato in the Mirror|Sharon "Boomer" Valerii]], whose "family" perished in a notorious mining accident on Troy. She believed it, and even kept pictures of it [[Broken Masquerade|post tomato]] for a while.
** If you haven't seen the season three finale yet, don't highlight: {{spoiler|Tory, Anders, Ellen, Tigh, and the Chief all have their own [[Fake Memories]], though none have mentioned Troy-like accidents. It's likely they've all had their parents "die young" in order to explain their absence. Although strange in the case of Sam Anders. Even orphans have to grow up somewhere and sports stars' old acquaintances are frequently interviewed in the real world.}}
** If you haven't seen the season three finale yet, don't highlight: {{spoiler|Tory, Anders, Ellen, Tigh, and the Chief all have their own [[Fake Memories]], though none have mentioned Troy-like accidents. It's likely they've all had their parents "die young" in order to explain their absence. Although strange in the case of Sam Anders. Even orphans have to grow up somewhere and sports stars' old acquaintances are frequently interviewed in the real world.}}
** {{spoiler|It's also likely that something unfortunate happened to everyone Tigh was supposed to have served with in the first war. Before you say it, he didn't serve with Adama in the first war. That's a common misconception}}.
** {{spoiler|It's also likely that something unfortunate happened to everyone Tigh was supposed to have served with in the first war. Before you say it, he didn't serve with Adama in the first war. That's a common misconception}}.
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== Video Games ==
== Video Games ==
* This is {{spoiler|Grasshopper's}} ending in ''[[Twisted Metal]] 2''. {{spoiler|She's an android in the shape of Calypso's late daughter, who was killed in a car accident. When she gets close to Calypso, her programming kicks in and she explodes. She does seem remorseful for killing Calypso, even crying and asking him to hold her when it happens.}}
* This is {{spoiler|Grasshopper's}} ending in ''[[Twisted Metal]] 2''. {{spoiler|She's an android in the shape of Calypso's late daughter, who was killed in a car accident. When she gets close to Calypso, her programming kicks in and she explodes. She does seem remorseful for killing Calypso, even crying and asking him to hold her when it happens.}}
* Interesting variation in ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]''. Early in the game, the party meets a girl named Ria, who wants them to help her get revenge on a guy named Demitel for killing her family. When the party finally meets Demitel, he reveals that he killed the entire family, including Ria. After you beat Demitel, the whole truth comes out - Ria was {{spoiler|borrowing the body of her friend Arche, whose name was dropped earlier, to avenge her family, after which she passes on and Arche becomes the party's [[Black Magician Girl]].}}
* Interesting variation in ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]''. Early in the game, the party meets a girl named Ria, who wants them to help her get revenge on a guy named Demitel for killing her family. When the party finally meets Demitel, he reveals that he killed the entire family, including Ria. After you beat Demitel, the whole truth comes out - Ria was {{spoiler|borrowing the body of her friend Arche, whose name was dropped earlier, to avenge her family, after which she passes on and Arche becomes the party's [[Black Magician Girl]].}}
* ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'' has the Denton brothers, whose parents were killed in some sort of vague accident or terrorist attack. Turns out {{spoiler|their parents were either actors employed by the [[Ancient Conspiracy]] or they were artificially aged clones with fake memories, depending on how the player interprets certain dialog and messages}}.
* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' has the Denton brothers, whose parents were killed in some sort of vague accident or terrorist attack. Turns out {{spoiler|their parents were either actors employed by the [[Ancient Conspiracy]] or they were artificially aged clones with fake memories, depending on how the player interprets certain dialog and messages}}.
* In ''[[Ace Attorney (Visual Novel)|Ace Attorney]]'' Melissa Foster claims that she has no identity papers because she recently fled an unnamed country that had exploded into civil war. {{spoiler|Of course by now you already know she's Dahlia Hawthorne so the lie is revealed quickly.}}
* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' Melissa Foster claims that she has no identity papers because she recently fled an unnamed country that had exploded into civil war. {{spoiler|Of course by now you already know she's Dahlia Hawthorne so the lie is revealed quickly.}}




== Western Animation ==
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[WITCH (Animation)|W.I.T.C.H.]]'' - the sob story that Miranda gives Elyon.
* ''[[WITCH (animation)|W.I.T.C.H.]]'' - the sob story that Miranda gives Elyon.
* In ''[[Justice League]]'', the backstory that Hawkgirl originally gave was that she was a Thanagarian police detective, and that she had been accidentally teleported to Earth by a stray Zeta Beam. And that Thanagar was too remote for her to find her way back (it's so remote that they hadn't even heard of the [[Green Lantern]] Corps)--and too remote for her teammates to check her story and find out why she's really on Earth.
* In ''[[Justice League]]'', the backstory that Hawkgirl originally gave was that she was a Thanagarian police detective, and that she had been accidentally teleported to Earth by a stray Zeta Beam. And that Thanagar was too remote for her to find her way back (it's so remote that they hadn't even heard of the [[Green Lantern]] Corps)--and too remote for her teammates to check her story and find out why she's really on Earth.
** In the episode "Twilight of the Gods" has a subtle hint of [[Foreshadowing]] on this; when the League infiltrates Brainiac's base, Jon Stewart suggests that Brainiac's database may have information on Thanagar, including its location. In retrospect, you realise how desperate Shayera was to direct Jon away from that line of thinking.
** In the episode "Twilight of the Gods" has a subtle hint of [[Foreshadowing]] on this; when the League infiltrates Brainiac's base, Jon Stewart suggests that Brainiac's database may have information on Thanagar, including its location. In retrospect, you realise how desperate Shayera was to direct Jon away from that line of thinking.
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