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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Rouge:''' Do you actually believe that... you're the real Shadow?
'''Shadow:''' No doubt.
'''Rouge:''' Even your memories might not be real, you know?
'''Shadow:''' Even if my memories are not real, it's still me, Shadow.
|''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]''}}
{{quote|'''Official''': Doctor, am I right in thinking you can create experiences, implant them into a subject, who will then believe that they really happened?
'''Dr. Havant''': Of course. In fact, creating an illusion of reality is quite simple.
|''[[Blake's 7]]'', "The Way Back"}}
Sometimes when [[Laser
In these cases they implant
Of course, [[Pygmalion Snapback|this never works as planned.]] Like an itch they can't scratch, the character with tampered memories will notice things aren't as they should be and scratch at the false memories like a scab, questioning their [[Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story|"Past"]] and [[Broken Masquerade|searching for the truth.]] Or go crazy trying. Occasionally, a hero will leave a [[Note to Self:]] or instructions for friends to help. The irony being that the false memories tend to lead the character right back to the people who erased them with enough of an advantage to take them out.
A darker, more sinister version of this trope is when the character in question realizes his memories don't add up, but doesn't know ''[[
Quite common in video games, probably because [[Easy Amnesia|amnesiac heroes]] are extremely convenient for the format. Occasionally used as part of a more radical attempt at making someone into an [[Unperson]].
Related tropes include [[Manchurian Agent]], [[Memory Gambit]], [[Amnesiac Dissonance]], and [[Tomato in
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''Everybody's'' memories in ''[[
* Appears several times in ''[[
** Used by Rukia for cover ups, and likely by other Shinigamis. In this case it's [[Played for Laughs]] because the replacement memories she gives you are at least as outlandish as the events they were meant to cover up. (Anything goes as long as it doesn't compromise the [[Masquerade]]). Memorably used on [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Orihime - it was implied that the "memories'" weirdness was because the device simply allowed the person's brain to fill in the blanks, making the weirdness a product of Orihime being, well, Orihime.
*** Was also subverted later at the start of a filler arc in which Orihime and Chad were kidnapped by a monster. They manage to get Orihime back, and she said that she and Chad had a tea party, which everyone immediately assumes is Orihime being Orihime. Later, when they do get Chad back, he corroborates.
** {{spoiler|Tsukishima has the power to implant memories in those he stabs, making them believe they were always his friends. It's used to agonizing effect to cause Ichigo's friends and family think he is their ally and Ichigo the one acting strange: Tsukishima even takes Ichigo's place in their adventures; they think he was the awesome hero who, among other things, defeated Aizen (instead of Ichigo), rescued Orihime from her [[Abusive Parents]] to raise her (instead of her brother Sora), and took care of Chad and gsve him his [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]] (instead of Oscar, his "Abuelo"). And you better [[Mind Rape|NOT try to fight what he makes you believe...]].}}
* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''. a [[Mind Screw]] series if there ever was one, is largely built around exploring this trope: Lain Iwakura, with the ability to alter humanity's collective memory, is forced to deal with the questions of what reality ''is''. Eventually she {{spoiler|writes herself out of existence by removing all memories of herself from the world.}}
* Used in the first ''[[Ghost in
* ''[[Code Geass]]'': The second season begins with Lelouch living a quiet, peaceful life. {{spoiler|Only after C.C. makes contact with him does he remember being captured and given
** Not only that, but ''everyone'' in the school is given exactly the same fake memories to make the effect even stronger. They all believe that Lelouch is nothing more and nothing less than a fellow student, and that {{spoiler|Rolo is his brother, whereas Nunally is merely a pretty and kind Britannian princess that later becomes the Viceroy of Area 11.}} And ''then'', {{spoiler|Shirley has her true memories back via [[Anti
** Similarly, {{spoiler|[[Action Girl]] Anya Earlstreim has her memories rewritten to cover up how she's the [[Soul Jar]] of Lelouch's mother, Empress Marianne. It ''really'' fucks up with her self-worth, as the poor girl never knows which memories are hers or not.}}
* ''[[Read or Die
* In ''[[Kaiba]]'', this is done to {{spoiler|Neiro}}. A few other characters, too. In fact, the villain gets rather memory-rewriting-happy.
* In ''[[
** Later on, {{spoiler|Shiori secretly takes Asuna's place by copying all of Asuna's memories, so that Shiori believes that she's Asuna. Yes, she has fake memories of fake memories.}}
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has {{spoiler|Fate}} and her memories of a happier childhood with {{spoiler|a kinder [[Evil Matriarch|mother]]. The memories themselves ''are'' real, but they belonged to someone else: Alicia Testarossa, the little girl [[Cloning Blues|that she was cloned from]].}} [[Heroic BSOD|She doesn't take the realization that they're not her own very well]].
* In ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' {{spoiler|Fei Wong Reed did this to Fay as a part of his [[Gambit Roulette|crazy elaborate plan]]. He made Fay believe that he sacrificed his brother's life to escape from the hellish imprisonment the two had endured for most of their childhood.}} Though in reality {{spoiler|Fay's brother gave his life willingly in exchange for Fay's freedom.}}
** Also used in the anime, during the filler episodes, where Chaos uses fake feathers/memories to convince Sakura that she's known Chaos since she was a child. {{spoiler|Of course, then it turns out that Chaos is actually just a big bunch of Sakura's feathers.}}
* Rosamia from [[Zeta Gundam]] is eventually brainwashed into believing Kamille is her long-lost brother, and then has her memories altered again to think that her classmate Gates is her brother instead.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Barry the Chopper taunts Al with suggestions that his memories aren't actually real, and he's just an artificial being created by Ed. {{spoiler|His memories are, in fact, real, but it takes several episodes until he finds out.}}
* In ''[[Kikaider]]'' in the four part OVA {{spoiler|It is revealed that Reiko was actually a robot without anyone, including her, knowing. All of her memories were made up and the false memories was purposely made to lead her and her friends to their doom.}}
* Chibiusa does this with disconcerting frequency to Usagi's family in the second season of ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. Somewhat justified as she doesn't alter their memories ''too'' badly and doesn't alter their personalities either: she only makes them believe she's the family niece, rather than Usagi's [[Kid From the Future]].
** At some point she's also ''at the receiving end'' of it, and it's '''much''' uglier. {{spoiler|She's captured [[Heroic BSOD|while at a very low emotional point]], and then Wiseman uses this to make her believe her parents hated her. The [[Mind Rape]] leaves her liable to his manipulations and, after being forcibly infused with Dark Energy, she becomes [[Dark Magical Girl|Black Lady]].}}
* Happens a couple of times in ''[[Darker
** Gemini Of The Meteor has {{spoiler|Suou who finds out she is not exactly who she thought and was given
* In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'',
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', Yusuke Fujiwara gives everyone fake memories of him being their childhood friend so he can infiltrate the school grounds. Judai Yuki was unaffected and eventually confronts the guy.
* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' {{spoiler|Albert Maverick, the CEO of [[Show Within a Show|HeroTV,]] has the [[Differently
* In ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Wolverine of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] is notorious for this; for a while there, anything he wasn't amnesiac about was probably a Fake Memory. The confusion has mostly been cleared up by now, however.
* Cyclops had a number of these for years, regarding his family and the nature of the accident that damaged his brain and powers, partly due to the real head trauma and partly due to Mister Sinister's tinkering.
* The [[Retcon
* ''[[Runaways]]'' takes this trope to an extreme. It turns out that sixteen-year-old Victor Mancha is actually
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'', the reason why Scott thinks that he was a blameless paragon of virtue in high school, even though he was a dick, was because
** Though
* [[
* One [[Image Comics]] hero was later discovered by one of his teammates to be a vicious assassin who'd [[Memory Gambit|been given a fake heroic personality in order to infiltrate and betray the good guys]] ... only he'd done such an effective job as a hero that his evil [[Mission Control]] never had the opportunity to revert him to his true nature. The woman who found this out naturally decided it was better if he '''never''' got back his real memories.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfiction ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7733386/1/Harry-Potter-and-the-Puppet-of-Time Harry Potter and the Puppet of Time]'', Draco's grandfather Abraxas Malfoy does this to a very young (and orphaned) Luna Lovegood, the rest of the Malfoys, and ultimately to ''himself'' in order to perform an illegal blood-adoption ritual on her and to essentially counterfeit an entire history for her as Aquila Malfoy, the legitimate daughter of Lucius. Ironically, he does this as a side effect of a vision received and related to him by a six-year-old Draco which itself is a Fake Memory implanted in Draco by his far-future self, who was trying to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].
== [[Film]] ==
* Used in the movie ''[[Push]]'', by people called [[Department of Redundancy Department|Pushers]]. At one point Kira is made to think that her entire relationship with Nick was a false memory that ''she'' gave ''him'' and she's been pushing his thoughts the entire time they were together. She even believes that ''she made up the existence of Coney Island''. The reality of a photo taken at Coney Island is the key evidence that causes her to realize that this was a fake memory.
** Kira is a very powerful Pusher do and once causes one of the guys guarding her to kill his partner by convincing him his partner killed his little brother in a rather gruesome way. The kicker? He never had a brother.
* In ''[[Blade Runner]]'', the new experimental replicants have literal
* In ''[[Total Recall]]'', the main character has visions of a life on Mars that contradicts his memories of a quiet blue-collar life on Earth. He starts to regain his earlier memories with the help of a [[Note to Self:]], but it turns out ''those'' were fake memories, too, all part of an [[Gambit Roulette|elaborate]] [[Manchurian Agent]] plot. But then, you never really know whether it was [[All Just a Dream]] anyway.
** And in the book it was based on, people could ''buy'' as entertainment, fake memories of being an action hero working for the government. Problems arose when those memories turned out to be real for the protagonist... Or were they?
* ''[[Dark City]]'' had an entire city of people whose memories were removed, remixed, and reinserted thousands of times. One police detective figures it out and commits suicide to escape.
* In ''[[The Island]]'' the clones are revealed to be given fake memories of a life from before they were cloned, tailored to perpetuate the lie, and apparently drawn from a rather limited pool.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Inception]]'' is a process of implanting false beliefs or ideas into a person's mind, which is usually regarded as impossible. However, the plan is to infiltrate a person's dream and make him believe he's on a [[Vision Quest]] but instead of finding his true feelings hidden in his subconsciousness, the
== [[Literature]] ==
* In A.E. van Vogt's ''World of Null-A'' may be the first example in literature of this trope. Gilbert Gosseyn has a false memory of marriage to Patricia Hardie, who turns out to be the daughter of the leader of a conspiracy that has secretly seized control of the world government. The memory was implanted by
* In ''[[The Golden Oecumene
* In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' novel ''Azure Bonds'', the protagonist Alias is confused to find that people she knows don't remember or recognize her; it develops that ''all'' her memories are fake, because {{spoiler|she's a magical construct who was only given life a few days ago}}.
** Her "father" was punished for his sins by the Harpers by having all memory of him purged from the realms. Pretty much nobody remembers who he was or the songs he created. It was designed to be the perfect punishment as he was trying to ensure his works would never be forgotten.
* Tahiri Veila of ''[[Star Wars]]''{{'}}s
** Later in the series, she actually ''meets the woman whose memories they were originally.''
* Everybody in the City of Elua (but Imriel) in ''[[
* In ''The Traveler in Black'', [[John Brunner]] uses this in one city; an evil magician takes a seat on the city Ruling Council, the better to cause the citizens to make a choice that will increase Chaos in the area. His plan includes implanting
* As a side effect of making the subject [[Ret
* Routinely done to [[Muggles]] who have witnessed magic in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books.
** A rare version occurs in ''[[Harry Potter
** A more traditional example was featured in the same book where it's revealed via Pensieve flashback that {{spoiler|Voldemort framed his uncle Morfin for the murder of the Riddles by committing the murders with his wand and magically implanting the memories of the murder in Morfin's mind so that ''he'' believed he had killed them. When the authorities arrived, Morfin confessed to murder on the spot, proved it by giving details only the murderer would know and showed them his wand as proof. He was then sent to Azkaban and Dumbledore only managed to find the real memory through a very powerful
** And in ''[[
* A peculiar version occurs in Orwell's ''[[Nineteen Eighty
** -and of course, recall the previously forgotten and forbidden memory when required by the party to do so. The definition of
* The "screen memories" experienced by people after they encounter aliens in ''[[More Information Than You Require]]''.
* ''[[The Princess 99]]'' has an example of altered ''and'' fake memories since [[Well
* [[Thursday Next]] spends most of the novel ''First Among Sequels'' convinced that she has three children: Friday, Tuesday and Jenny. Jenny is eventually revealed to be a fabrication, placed in Thursday's mind by mnemonomorph Aornis Hades to torment her; Thursday's family have been playing along, laying a place at the dinner table for Jenny and telling Thursday she just left the room and so on, to try and save Thursday from the trauma. The full-on [[Nightmare Fuel]] comes at the end of the scene, where Thursday has already forgotten the conversation and asks where Jenny is, making one wonder just how many times her family have had to go through this.
* In the ''[[
* In ''[[Star Trek: String Theory]]'', a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Nacene]] inserts herself into the starship ''Voyager’s'' crew, and takes the form of Captain Janeway’s sister. Everyone suddenly has an entirely altered set of memories, in which the sister was aboard the ship all along.
* In ''The Lost Hero'', the first book in ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'' series, ''everybody'' at the Wilderness School is given fake memories of [[The Hero|Jason]] having been there for the whole school year. He even gets a fake best friend and girlfriend.
* In ''[[
* Happens '''accidentally''' to Ross Murdock, main character of [[Andre Norton]]'s ''The Time Traders'', when a heavy blow to his head causes him to [[Amnesiac Hero|forget his real background]] — but, being a [[Time Travel]]ing secret agent in 2000 B.C., he still recalls and '''believes''' his current cover identity as trader Rossa.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[
** In "Superstar", everyone gets fake memories of Jonathan being Sunnydale's own resident [[Marty Stu]].
** The introduction of Dawn at the start of Season Five. Not only does she believe she's Buffy's little sister, everyone else believes it, too. "You've always had to take care of Dawn."
** Connor is given a set of fake memories when he's removed from the cast of ''[[
* An early ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode, the whole team was made to believe Daniel was dead. Naturally, the truth was uncovered through hypnosis.
** Another example - "The Fifth Man" in which an alien with this as a power becomes the fifth member of the team, there all along. Unusually, he's a friendly alien seeking to ally with them, and the pheromone that lets his species do this is extracted and used in a later episode to allow Daniel to infiltrate a Goa'uld summit.
** In another episode, the team discover a village on toxic planet protected by a force field. Each villager also have a direct mental link to the city computer (like an always available
** And yet another (it appears that ''Stargate'' loves this trope): SG-1 was given "memory stamps" to believe they're part of a tiny colony working day and night to keep their civilization going during a massive ice age. Truth is, {{spoiler|the ice age is on the wane, but a privileged class is keeping the workers at it for the extra energy. SG-1 found out and had to be hidden away. Teal'c jinxes the attempt because he forgets he needs to meditate and his symbiote makes him ill.}}
** And one more: Mitchell is implanted with fake memories to frame him for a crime. Turns out that {{spoiler|the real murderer erased his own memories of the crime, then grieves over the victim's death and helps SG-1 track down the real killer.}}
* In the two-part ''[[
** Use of the Chameleon Arch is also noted in the episode {{spoiler|"Utopia", with the Master having Arched himself to escape the Time War.}}
* The ''[[
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' has a particularly effective example, where Chief O'Brien is punished (by aliens) for a crime he didn't commit, and the punishment is to simulate 20 years of prison in his mind while only a few hours pass in real life. The charges are eventually dropped, but only after the 20 virtual years have been played out in his mind. In this case, O'Brien is fully mentally aware (after a few hours of rehabilitation) that his memories of prison are fake, but he still feels guilty about certain things he did in his mind. The guilt has a profound effect on his emotional state, {{spoiler|nearly driving him to suicide}}.
** Subverted in a different episode where O'Brien realizes his memories don't correlate with reality and something real nasty is going on. Turns out that {{spoiler|O'Brien himself is not real, he's a hidden assassin with fake memories, they were just strong enough for him to uncover the whole deal before dying}}.
* It even happened in ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'', where they revealed that {{spoiler|Mack Hartford was in fact a robot and his memories were implanted by Andrew Hartford, the worst father ever.}}
* ''[[
** A problem with this trope is lampshaded when Rimmer wonders how he could have his appendix out twice, and why he ended up dumping this girl who wanted him to get a proper job and a stable relationship -- something Rimmer wants but Lister hated.
* The ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' episode {{spoiler|"Through a Glass, Darkly"}} involves an accused kidnapper/child killer. False memories of his crimes have been implanted not only in the minds of the victims, but also in the alleged culprit. Even Frank is misled.
* In the "Workforce" episode of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]],'' the crew is brainwashed to believe that they belong on the planet they are being forced to work on.
** In "Course: Oblivion" the ''entire crew'' discovers their memories are fake. {{spoiler|They're actually not the ''Voyager'' crew at all, but Silver Blood duplicates who ''think'' they're the originals.}}
*
* The point of the ''[[Dollhouse]]''.
* In mid '90s TV series ''[[Nowhere Man]]'' a man comes out of the bathroom to rejoin his birthday party. No one knows who he is. It's a conspiracy. He travels around much like the Fugitive, even visiting his mother at one point. She doesn't know who he is. All the while he is being pursued by some secretive organisation who clearly must have manipulated everyone. In the end we learn he isn't who he thought he was. Everything up until he left the bathroom were implanted memories.
* As of the end of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' Volume 4 {{spoiler|Sylar has been implanted with the suggestion that he is Nathan Petrelli, if not with the man's actual memories. His ability to read the history of any object he touches, and his ability to shapeshift will presumably fill in the blanks}}.
* During season 4 of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' a man was implanted with fake memories to make him believe he was Arvin Sloan.
* In a season 4 episode of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', [[Meaningful Name|Dean "Smith" and Sam "Wesson"]] work for a large corporation, where they stumble upon a deadly ghost. After they instinctively work to get rid of the ghost, and both quit their jobs to "hunt" full-time, {{spoiler|the angel Zachariah, who was disguised as their boss, appears and explains to Dean that he gave them fake memories to show Dean that hunting is in his blood; no matter ''who'' he is, he is always a hunter.}}
* This is done to John in an early episode of ''[[
* In one episode of ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'', this was used by a murderer to make someone else believe they had committed the crime. Especially tricky because not only would the person with the fake memories admit to the crime under Confession, but once the heroes had figured out that fake memories were involved, the killer ''planted the memories of planting the previous false memories'' in yet another innocent person.
* Integral to ''[[
* ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'': The evil conspiracy in "The Set-Up" manufactures untraceable assassins by [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashing]] random people and giving them memories that make them want to kill the target.
* Season 2 of ''[[Haven]]'' appears to indicate that {{spoiler|Audrey's memories are fake and that she's really Lucy, when the real Audrey Parker shows up}}.
* In one episode of ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'', a young woman "recalls" that her father sexually abused her in her youth after a psychiatrist "recovers" memories of the abuse. In typical SVU fashion it goes downhill from there, with the father being
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[Dilbert]]'' had false memories from "helpful" people mocked in a few times after Dogbert decided to become a pop psychologist [http://dilbert.com/strip/1991-07-30]: Ed as a prospective [[Alien Abduction|alien abductee]] [http://dilbert.com/strip/1998-04-12], Dilbert's skydiving [http://dilbert.com/strip/2000-04-10] [http://dilbert.com/strip/2000-04-11]. [http://dilbert.com/strip/2014-04-13 Do you remember being a robot that was designed by aliens?] And then there's [http://dilbert.com/strip/2000-02-26 Bob Flabeau].
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** There is also a less powerful spell call [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/modifyMemory.htm modify memory] that still has power perversion possibilities.
** Beholders remember that they were born as the direct offspring of their god and that their god looks exactly like they do (Beholders can very considerably in appearance, and hate beholders that don't look like them).
* The Fetch from ''[[
* ''[[Stars Without Number]]'' has "Memory Editing" among the [[Psychic Powers]]; its prerequisite is Telepathy core technique improved to the top skill level (from "generally aware of the subject's state of mind" all the way to "[[Mind Probe]] fishes out the full answer along with the context").
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The main issue driving James Sunderland through ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' is that he has immersed himself in a fantasy quest based completely around a fabricated recollection of his wife's death, which has replaced the truth in his mind.
* Halfquake (including the comics): All victims (including the
* This is the premise behind ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'s'' [[Tomato in
*
** Also, in the second game, "[[
* ''[[
* Part of the conflict regarding the "School Kids"
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', main character Ashley's generic tragic [[Backstory]] is picked apart through the game to explain his [[Cursed
* As in the page quote, there's some questions throughout the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series about whether the Shadow you play as is in fact the "real Shadow". In ''Sonic Adventure 2'' these questions come about when Rouge finds information on the original Project Shadow, the Biolizard. The question is never actually answered, but the caption before fighting Biolizard refers to it as "the prototype of the ultimate life", meaning that there is a final product: Shadow the Hedgehog. In ''Sonic Adventure 2 Battle'', this is modified to suggest that the ultimate lifeform is either Shadow or Sonic the Hedgehog, although only Shadow has reason to suspect this. In ''Sonic Heroes'', it comes up again, as several Shadow Androids are discovered, leading Rouge to believe that Shadow is a robot himself. It's finally settled in (what else?) ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'', but only if you take long enough at the final boss to hear Eggman tell you that you're the real Shadow. The various endings throughout the game vary between Shadow accepting himself as real, or as an android.
** {{spoiler|To sum up: Biolizard is created as an ultimate life form. Shadow is then created as the ultimate life form as well, using extra alien DNA. So, Shadow is a more advanced prototype then Biolizard. Then, Shadow nearly died, got recovered by Eggman with Amnesia. He used Shadow's template to create a bunch of robots. So, Shadow's fake memories are real memories.}}
** At least one of his memories is for sure fake: in Sonic Adventure 2's Last Story, {{spoiler|his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] was set off by Gerald changing his memory of the promise he made to [[Dead Little Sister|Maria]].}}
* The ''[[Crusader:
* The main character's life before coming to Rapture in ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'' has {{spoiler|Hiroko, who was implanted with fake memories of being a [[Knight Templar|Temple Knight]] in order to conceal the fact that she was forcefully used in an experiment as the surrogate mother of [[The Messiah]]}}.
** ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' 2 has a horrific form of these, {{spoiler|coupled with [[Demonic Possession]]. Turns out there's this virus that can transform you into a demon. Certain cases are worse than others, some reaching the degree where your mind is essentially overwritten and then it's just the demon driving your body. The worst part? The four or five cases where the victim's mind is permanently obliterated? All of them turned into ''angels''.}}
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia
* In C. E. Forman's [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''Delusions'', {{spoiler|the PC is an android, implanted with fake memories about everything.}}
* {{spoiler|Takumi}} in [[Chaos
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]: Duodecim'', this is how Kefka brainwashes {{spoiler|Kuja}} into becoming a full-on antagonist for the next cycle, rather than the [[Anti
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]] II'', Darth Vader and a hallucination of Rahm Kota taunt the protagonist on how he's not Starkiller, redeemed Jedi and the founder of The Alliance To Restore The Republic, but a clone.
{{quote|
* As a general rule, any event referenced in ''[[Gemini Rue]]'' that isn't explicitly shown onscreen has at least a chance of having been artificially implanted. {{spoiler|In the end, Kane is the only surviving main character who knows anything of his real backstory.}}
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* The main cast of ''[[
**
* This is one of the [[Epileptic Trees|many, many,
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Almost everyone in ''[[
* All of the supersoldiers in the e-novel ''[http://neldak.blogspot.com/ E.H.U.D.: Prelude to Apocalypse]'' have these, as well as liberal amounts of [[Easy Amnesia
* Numerous [[Gender Bender]] stories involving Magic Transformations have the world reality-shift around the main character, so that everyone sees things as if they had progressed naturally from the beginning in the new reality.
* Paradise by Jon Buck has a bit of an aversion, when characters are TG'd the past is retconned by "[[Random Omnipotent Being]]", but they keep their, no longer true, memories... in one story this leads to an oddity. As a woman discovers that she dated someone that in her male life she never actually met.
* The cast of ''[[Sevenshot Kid]]'' is lousy with this.
* A mixture of someone else's memories and
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Legion of Super
* ''[[Goldie Gold and Action Jack]]'', "The Goddess of the Black Pearl" has the villain using a herb to give {{spoiler|Goldie Gold, the personality of the Goddess of the Black Pearl. This would be under [[Demonic Possession]], but the fake king is really Tylar, the Art Director.}}
* The original Ultimen of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' had implanted memories, covering for the fact that they're all less than a year old. In this case, the memories were supplemented by minimizing contact with their "families."
* On ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' [[Magnificent Bastard|Magneto]] has Mastermind alter [[Scarlet Witch]]'s memories so that she no longer wants revenge on him.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Incorrect memories can be formed under a number of circumstances, especially periods of high stress or adrenaline. There is a video of a police officer firing a full magazine, reloading, and firing again, in front of a dashboard camera the officer set himself, and then thinking he only fired his gun twice.
* Anton-Babinski syndrome, or Anton's Blindness, is a condition in which an individual is blind to a large degree, but makes up an entirely false imagination, experience, and memory of vision. It's very rare, but interesting enough to be seen in ''[[House (TV series)|House]] MD''.
** Human visual analysis was proved to be error-suppressing. If a little part of the eye's field of vision is partially blocked by something immovable ''relative to the eyeball'', this part is filled with "repaired" texture extrapolated from the rest of the scene. Sorry
** The reverse can also happen. A person can see completely, but is fully convinced they are blind. (It's tested by having people who are actually blind/them go through a room. They either have close to 0% success, or close to 100% success at key tasks, while people who are actually blind have about 50% success.)
* While it's not clear exactly how much of the events fall under this trope, a number of the 1980-1995 accusations of Satanic ritualistic abuse of children in the United States and elsewhere involved testimony that was simply impossible, which the individual did not remember until after being questioned.
** Much of the "recovered memory" testimony was discredited after a psychologist testified that the techniques used for "recovering suppressed memories" were exactly the ones she had been using in research to create false memories.
** Furthermore, extensive police research produced no evidence whatsoever, despite of that according to the testimonials the conspiracy worked almost openly, using easily recognisable vehicles and facilities. Many real-life "Satanic" organizations - occult lodges, and suchlike - were forced to divert a great deal of their limited resources to protect their members from the phenomenon with varying levels of success. Needless to say, they weren't the least bit amused. Poor Satanists.
** What's worse, many of these testimonies provided by children were produced by essentially ''brainwashing'' the child. They were often asked leading questions about ''how'' they were abused, rather than ''if'', or suggesting answers to them when they couldn't think of anything, or even just telling the kid that they'd been abused even when they denied it. If the child didn't give them anything, they would simply repeat this process over a number of days or intermittently over weeks, until the child began to believe it.
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*** There's also a connection to the process of refutation. When we receive information, we accept it as true, for lack of a better word, for a split second. Only after accepting that information can we examine and compare that to other information we know in order to refute that information, because, of course, it takes longer to think about and evaluate such a suggestion than to hear it and accept it. If we don't have sufficient information to refute this new suggestion, or if the process of refutation is simply disrupted or prevented from occurring properly (such as in the hypnosis examples) then we are inclined to accept that information as true. Because it happens so fast, we don't realise there's anything false about the memory. Someone mentions the STOP sign, we see a stop sign in our minds when we accept the information, and, having no information to contradict this, we assume that we are experiencing a memory of seeing the sign, and agree to having seen it.
** Heck, just lack of information can cause you to create multiple, contradictory memories of the same event. Good luck finding out which one is true without outside information.
** Even if you weren't even at an entire event, if a relative or friend mistakes you for being there and insists that you were there, you can end up creating your own memories of those events because you begin to second-guess yourself. "I wasn't there, I'm sure of it...was I?" Eyewitness testimonies used to be the most solid evidence in a case, but the need for something much more factual is vital or else it is just
* The ease with which false memories can be implanted actually borders on [[Nightmare Fuel]]. There are quite a few cases of bad lineup procedure causing witnesses to 'rewrite' their memories, resulting such absurd things as people getting wrongly convicted merely because they happened to have a ''sign'' above their head, or were the right answer to "Which of these is not like the others?" Perhaps the worst part is that the witnesses may even be flat-out ''certain'' that their choice from the line-up is the right person, despite whatever later evidence proves.
* It's recently been theorized (and partially proven) that memory is as malleable as ''sand''. Instead of having a perfect copy of a memory, it's possible to recall a memory, specifically have someone change a part of that memory through forceful suggestion, and then believe that that's actually what happened. While scary, it has practical applications: soldiers suffering from PTSD can be asked to relive the memory, then use specific drugs (in this case, beta blockers) to rewrite the memory and remove the shellshock. It's not an instant fix, however, requiring multiple treatments.
* Related to many of the above, there's such a thing as recovered memory therapy, based on a notion originated by Freud which even he rejected as impossible that a majority of women are abused sexually as children. These
* Experiments have been done on this, though the people conducting them have to be very careful to give the subjects proper therapy after implanting false memories. One example is of a woman who caused a man to believe he had been lost in a mall at the age of five and told her all of the details with startling detail and sureness for a fake memory. He had a difficult time believing it was fake, to say the least.
* Try it sometime. Talking to a friend or family member, start telling them about a news report that never happened. Supply just a few details and they'll start remembering it. You don't need any special expertise to live this trope.
* Contrary to popular belief, your brain does ''not'' record everything that ever happened to you, so attempts to "uncover" stuff you don't remember will lead to
** The notion that your brain records everything is taken from prodigious savants who do have a very high rate of memory recall
*** What's interesting is that savant-abilities can be induced with magnetic pulses aimed at certain areas of the brain. These pulses work by ''impairing'' those portions and forcing others to take over-and they appear to bring other abilities with them.
* When the film ''[[Back to The Future]]'' was first released on VHS, a [[To Be Continued]] caption was added at the end to set up the coming sequel. Many people "remember" seeing this caption when the movie was originally in theaters and the filmmakers have had a hard time convincing them that this would be impossible. At the time, most of the films directed by [[Robert Zemeckis]] had flopped and so his only hope for ''Back to the Future'' was that it would make its money back. There were certainly no sequels planned at that stage.
** Similarly, many people remember seeing the scene on Tatooine between Luke and Biggs in the original
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[[Category:Memory Tropes]]
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