Forgettable Character: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Sometimes the [[Hero]], [[Anti-Hero]], or (rarely) [[The Big Bad]] 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. Usually, he leaves his family and friends. An [[Up to Eleven]] example is when the character in question didn't exist at all, which does not explain all the interactions and "stopping the fate of the world ending" earlier.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* [[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]].

== Comic Books ==

* [[The Flash]] managed to do this once, so that his girlfriend wouldn't be put at risk by everybody knowing his secret identity. Alas, the magic that made him a Forgettable Character was too powerful, and even he forgot about himself.

== Film ==

* 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, there's the [[Terrible Trio]] of Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew, who was a new character. The creators wanted to add Tucker as the third member, but his actor couldn'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 so mundane that none of the cast remembers it or Andrew; it became a [[Running Gag]] to refer to him as "The other guy" or "Tucker's brother."

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has the alien race known as the Silence, who have the power to invoke this trope. The minute someone turns away from one of them, their existence was 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.

== Tabletop Games ==

* The ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' games had Winston Payne. In the past, he was feared 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.

== Web Comics ==

** Denmark always forgets about the Faroe Islands, his own room mate. The guy owes him money.

** Norway is apparently oblivious to Kven, even if the guy is right in front of him.

* In ''[[70-Seas]]'', a 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.

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[South Park]]''{{'}}s "The Last of the Meheecans" episode, the boys play a Border Control RPG, and the Mexican side won. It takes a long time, until Cartman realizes they had 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.

== Real Life ==

{{reflist}}