Forgettable Character: Difference between revisions

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Memories of families and friends are a wonderful thing, though there are times when a character is missing or rather forgotten. At times, even the whole world, universe, [[Alternate Reality| alternate reality]]'s characters forgets that a certain character exists as though he (or she) in question wasn't born, when this happens this is a forgotten character.

Although the [[Hero]], [[Anti-Hero]], or rarely [[The Big Bad]], at times wants to be forgotten to [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies|not imperil others]], so his or her foes would not harm those in any way shape or form, so he leaves his family and friends. An [[Up to Eleven]] example, is that the character in question didn't exist at all, it does not explain all the interactions and stopping the fate of the world ending earlier.

The milder examples are the insanely [[Ridiculously Average Guy|mundane]] that not one of his friends or foes remembers this particular character, especially if the world he lives in is fantastical or a world populated with superheroes and villains. The latter can get overshadow, especially if he or she don't have any thing of a role or cool power.

* [[Shrinking Violet|Canada]] of the [[Axis Powers Hetalia]] series, the interactions that he had with other characters usually involved them forgetting who he was, his existence, or worst, mistaking him for [[Boisterous Bruiser|North America]].

* [[Jewelpet|Jewelpet Sunshine]] had three examples, Nejikawa who was forgotten by his classmates at least once. Yaginuma was a debatable case, because of his limited screen time. And Katori, whose peers keep on forgetting that she's there, because she's tiny.

* [[The Generic Guy|Tetsuo Ishimaru]] of [[Eyeshield 21]], were his teammates keep on forgetting that he exists. Tetsuo even breaks the fourth wall just to comment on this.

* In [[Saki (manga)|Saki]], this trope was nearly a superpower to Momoko Touyoko. She's invisible to anyone in the vicinity, since she barely leaves an impression. There's was even an incident when she was playing Mahjong with three players, but they've forgotten that she's there despite that she is ''sitting next to her''.

* In [[Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei]], despite being the [[Class Representative]], Kagero Usui had a property to just slip away from the other characters' memories. Just because his [[Prematurely Bald]] head was his only distinctive feature. - He takes great pains to hide most of the time.

* Akari Akaza of ''[[Yuru-Yuri]]''.

* In [[Office Space]], no one noticed that Milton, the quiet office drone, was gone. Also, for several years before he was actually fired from the company, to top it all off, was that everybody forgotten to tell him the news. Also, Milton continues to work there with no employment file, because the payroll system glitched and continues to send him his monthly salary (No one even noticed this as well).

* Randy from [[Liar Liar]], whom Fletcher Reede doesn't even bother to try remembering.

* In [[Harry Potter]], Peter Pettigrew (aka Wormtail) was known as the quiet yet unassuming guy in the Marauders gang. This trait was what made Sirius Black trust him to be the Potter family's Secret Keeper {{spoiler|as no one suspected that Peter and the rumored Death Eater spy in the anti-Voldemort organization the Order of the Phoenix were one and the same}}. Also, he was supposedly killed by Sirius, yet there was no physical or magical evidence that he was even dead. Not a single character thought that he might have survived Sirius's attack {{spoiler|or even considered that anyone other than Sirius might be the bad guy}}.

* In [[Blindsight]], the Captain was this trope. It's so bad that the protagonist treats this as a huge reveal that the Captain was in charge (It's no secret that the Captain was an AI, plus the protagonist is a walking [[Sherlock Scan|Sherlock Scanner]], who forgets the Captain's existence since it doesn't leave any clues).

* In [[Dragaera|Vlad Taltos]], Kragar is so utterly forgettable that no one will notice him, even though he's standing in the same room, speaking to them, and hasn't moved.

* In the novel, [[Nobody]] (By Jennifer Lynn Barnes), the Nobodies, the titular group, need a timer to remind them who they are looking for in case when one of them goes rogue, since this trope is their biggest power and weakness.

* In [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'s sixth season, the [[Terrible Trio]] which consists of Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew, who was a new character. The creators wanted to add Tucker as the third member, but his actor can't be contacted. This played a part in making the character of Andrew as Tucker's younger brother who has similar powers, and was gone when he summoned flying monkeys to attack the school. By ''Buffy'' standards, this incident was totally mundane that none of the cast remembers it or Andrew, now it's a [[Running Gag|gag]] to refer to him as "The other guy" or "Tucker's brother."

* In [[Doctor Who]] had the alien race known as the Silence, who had the power to invoke this trope. The minute a person or different alien turns away from one of them, their existence were forgotten. They're instantly remembered the next time when the same person lays eyes on them again. This was seen as the Silence using this for infiltration, though their original purpose was {{spoiler|confessors for an intergalactic church.}}

* In [[Arrested Development]], not one of the Bluth family (except for George-Michal, the sometimes boyfriend) remembers Ann Veal's real name; they usually refer to her as "Bland," "Egg," "Annabell," "Yam," or "Her?" It's not done out of malice, it's just that Ann Veal was so forgettable.

* In [[Friends]], both of Ross's parents forgotten about Ben, since they were gushing over Emma.

* Inverted in ''[[Star Wars]]'' d20's [[Living Force]] campaign. The recurring character spacer playboy Zav Zerivax can never remember the heroes, regardless of their renown stats or previous interactions with him. The meta reason for this due to how the campaign was set up since tracking NPC relations took a lot of effort (as the player character may have run each scenario under a different [[Game Master|judge]] and/or the same scenario in separate session experiencing mutually exclusive interactions) and Zav is ultimately a minor (albeit recurring) background character<ref>Most recurring characters either had their relationship marked on the character sheet, or were written in a way that passing the scenario was impossible to win if they were enemies or dead and assumed any PC who played the preceding module was friendly with them.</ref>.

== Theater ==

* The Princess from [[Sakura Samurai]] had her royal subjects forgot about her and her own existence (Except for the friendly kappa that the player talks to). Justified since she was kidnap.

* In some of the [[Super Mario|Mario]] games, Mario's younger twin, Luigi, suffers from this occasionally. Like in the [[Super Mario 64]] DS remake, the Toads honestly admitted in front of him that he's not as memorable as Mario.

* The [[Ace Attorney]] games had Winston Payne. In the past, he was fear as a rookie murderer, now Payne was unremarkable that most of the characters forgotten just who he was. Even when Detective Gumshoe just mentions him to Miles Edgeworth, one of Payne's fellow prosecutors (Who Payne insists that he mentored Miles when the latter was younger), now Edgeworth assumes that Winston was just one of the janitors.

* In [[Fire Emblem Awakening]], there's [[Mighty Glacier|Kellam]] and this trope was [[Lampshaded]] in his support conversations constantly and showing up in the gameplay: one would've never guessed that he'd be reclass into an Assassin.

== Western Animation ==

* In [[The Simpsons]], there's many examples, like:

** The [[Running Gag]] which had Mr. Burns forgetting who Homer was, though this was [[Characterisation Marches On|dropped mostly]] in later seasons.

** Homer just as often forgetting about Maggie. Sometimes referring her just as "the baby", other times forgetting about her completely.

* In [[Futurama]], the running gag was that Scruffy had to reintroducing himself to people. Just to the point that "I'm Scruffy, the Janitor" also became his [[Catch Phrase]]. In addition, the other characters are just as forgettable to him, since he doesn't remember them either.

* In [[South Park]], "The Last of the Meheecans" episode, where the boys play a Border Control rpg, and the Mexican side won. It takes a long time, until Cartman realizes they forgotten about Butters (and even then only because he can win as the Texan side). The others wonder how this happened, Craig [[Lampshaded|reminds them]] that Butters is easily forgettable.

* In [[As Told by Ginger]], Noelle was chosen to test the vanishing powder, mainly because she was not significant to miss. This was subverted later on, when it's reveal that Noelle is a cool [[Cloudcuckooland|cloudcuckoolander]] (by [[Freaky Is Cool|their standards]]) and became an [[Ascended Extra]] with more substance.

* This trope happens often in [[Scandinavia and The World]], one example was Denmark, who always forgets about the Faroe Islands, his own room mate exists...Also, the guy owes him money. Also, Norway is apparently oblivious to Kven, even if the guy is right in front of him.

* In [[70-Seas]]'s side-story was centered around a "forgettable" character. During a bid for attention, he committed burglary and was arrested, even doing that doesn't work, and to top it all off, he was released. Never mind that he ''dropped" a stolen diamond in front of the police.

* Too many historical figures are lost to history's pages, since they're not named, recorded, and such. Even though a few managed to do something the current day remembers them for.

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