Grand Theft Me: Difference between revisions
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[[File:S Body 7197.png|link=Regular Show|frame|Get out of my body!]]
{{quote|''"No, I Robotboy! Protoboy take body, pretend be me!"''
|'''[[Robotboy]],''' "The Old Switcharobot"}}
When one character forcibly and deliberately swaps bodies with another.
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Except when stealing a body for its super-powers, the perpetrator seldom cares much about the victim, choosing whoever seems young, strong, attractive, and convenient. Often this is [[The Hero]], and it sets up an episode plot. Sometimes, the perpetrator holds a [[Tournament Arc|competition]] to find the strongest in the land, with this as its hidden grand-prize. Other times, the target is the perpetrator's own offspring, who may or may not willingly volunteer; this is especially heinous if the offspring was a sympathetic character.
'''Grand Theft Me''' almost always involves stealing the victim's identity as well; with the second type, in fact, that's the whole point. A common strategy is to name the patsy as one's heir, then do the swap and kill the old body off. Alternatively, the old body can be committed to a mental hospital, since no one will believe the ranting of an old man who thinks he's a twenty-year-old. If the replaced person is a main character, this often sets off a [[Spot the Imposter]] plot.
Oftentimes, this is conducted in secret, and the villain reveals his true identity after a whole story spent as someone else. Especially disconcerting if his new body is the [[Girl of the Week]]. (See [[Showing Off the New Body]].)
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It was first featured in modern fiction in the [[H. G. Wells]] story [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Late_Mr._Elvesham The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Keroro Gunso]]'', alien invader frog Kururu, following the orders of his commander Keroro, creates a Gashapon machine that steals the body of the one who activates it, allowing anyone else to swap bodies with that person afterwards.
** In the manga, Keroro switched bodies with Natsumi and irritated her to the point where she attacked him in her own body. {{spoiler|That was actually his plan since the start. He recorded the footage and gave it to his father, claiming that he was the one attacking a human girl in the video.}}
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* The manga ''Seinei'' (''Baptism of Blood'') by Kazuo Umezu. An aging movie star suffering from a disfiguring skin condition has her brain transplanted to her young daughter, and assumes the girl's identity {{spoiler|-- or so the reader is led to believe. [[The Reveal]] is a cop-out that makes no sense whatsoever}}.
* Inverted in ''[[Birdy the Mighty]]'', where a powerful warrior accidentally mutilates a regular guy so she allows him to take over her body (however she maintains the ability to take command again at any point).
* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|
* {{spoiler|Azalie}} uses white magic to trade places with {{spoiler|Childman}} in ''[[Sorcerer Stabber Orphen]]''. The reasons for this are very, ''very'' twisted: it's in part {{spoiler|revenge because she believes he tried to kill her when she became Bloody August}}, in part {{spoiler|an [[Evil Plan]] against the Tower of Fangs in itself}}, and in part to {{spoiler|be close to the man she's been in love with ever since she was a teenage girl.}}
* ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'': Chapter 39 shows that {{spoiler|Glen has no permanent body of his own and must possess others to continue ruling the Baskerville household. 100 years ago, Gilbert was chosen to be his host.}}
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** Cassian therefore has his dream, but he has the face of a man he really, really hates, has lost his own physical skills and identity, and has to live in hiding. He can't take the High Priest's identity firstly because he couldn't pull it off, secondly because the man was a major figure in the evil cult of evil, and thirdly because he committed a lot of very public crimes before dying. Cassian apparently hides in the sewers of London for a few volumes before reappearing in the finale to be mysterious and helpful.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Vertigo Pop]]: London'', an aging British rock star, an amalgam of Mick Jagger and some others, picks up a young indie-rock protege, and attempts to use a magic hookah he picked up from a guru in the sixties to switch bodies with him. To set it up, he builds a career for the kid, while faking an increased dementia that he ''is'' the kid, so when the swap happens, they'll lock him up. He relents, and takes himself to find the guru. At this point, the guru is now a young woman.
* An excellent story, from the anthology ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]'': in a certain land, [[Asskicking Equals Authority|a tournament is held every so often to choose the strongest man to be the new king]]. Entrants must be vital and free of diseases. Every winner becomes a cruel tyrant, but the hero of the story (called weak and frail all his life) wants to become ruler and end the reign of evil. He wins, and at his "coronation", he's drugged, bound, his skull is cut open by robot surgeons (after he wakes up), his brain is crudely removed over his screaming protests, and the brain of the previous king is transplanted from his freshly-dead, used up, obese corpse. In death, however, the hero is victorious. The stress of the surgery sets off his congenital heart defect, and the tyrant is slain.
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** In the [[Elseworld]]s miniseries ''The Golden Age'', the Ultra-Humanite is revealed to have {{spoiler|joined the Nazis, transferred his brain into the body of a captured American hero, and returned to the US as America's favourite returning son. He runs for Congress and then holds a search for a truly exceptional young hero to become America's Greatest Ever Hero, Dynaman. Unbeknownst to the people, and especially to the new young hero, he's also [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|saved Hitler's brain...]]}}
** In ''Superman Batman Generations'', another [[Elseworld]], it's revealed that Ultra transferred his brain into the body of Lex Luthor after the pair were nearly killed in the very first story. This may well be a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on the fact that, in the very beginning, Ultra and Luthor were extremely similar (bald evil genius scientists who battled Superman).
* In an episode of ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' entitled "Tick vs. Science," Chairface Chippendale uses the mind transfer device created by J.J. Vatos to hijack The Tick's body.▼
* In the Image series ''[[Invincible]]'', a villain duo named the Mauler Twins have made this their entire gimmick, as they have perfected a method of cloning, accelerated aging, and memory transfer that is perfect. ''Too'' perfect—both of the "twins" constantly argue over which one of them is the clone and which is the original. This is somewhat necessary: When one of them is, by virtue of his scars, definitely the original, he refuses to do any work and treats the other one as inferior until the other clone poisons him and clones himself anew, setting everything back the way it was.
** Another character hires them later in the series to do the same for him, because he was born with so many crippling deformities that he's spent his entire life in a fluid-filled jar—even the air is poison to him. A bit closer to the original trope in that they clone someone else for him to transfer his mind into, but also a bit more different in that when the process is done, the clone kills the original, with his full consent.
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* In ''[[Hack Slash]]'', the {{spoiler|horribly-burned Laura}} does a [[Body Swap]] with Vlad for this purpose.
* [[Wolverine]] villain Cyber did this to come back to life. He chose a powerful and dimwitted young mutant named Milo to be his new body and later had adamantium laced into his skin. This bit him in the ass because his new body also had a heart condition that caused Cyber to go into cardiac arrest. So Cyber needed heart surgery; something that was pretty much impossible thanks to his adamantium skin.
* [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] villain the Red Skull uses this as his form of immortality. At first he used a clone of Cap, pointing out that it was doubly suitable not only to tweak his nemesis but also because Cap is a "perfect Aryan." Since then, he's had to find other "hosts."
** In ''Captain America: Reborn'', the Skull even attempts to do to this to a resurrected Cap, {{spoiler|who had just been pulled out of time. It didn't stick.}}
* Loki did this at one point in [[Thor]]- using {{spoiler|Sif's}} body, while she was stuck in the body of a dying, elderly Midgardian.
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* In ''[[The Metabarons]]'', {{spoiler|Honorata transfers her consciousness into the body of Oda, her son Aghnar's wife. Aghnar isn't aware of this until after Oda-Honorata already bears him a son. Things get worse from there.}}
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fanfiction ''[
==
▲* In the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fanfiction [http://m.fanfiction.net/s/7881431/1/ Parasite], {{spoiler|it's revealed that Nations that die in accidents are reborn by stealing a body from one of their citizens, with said body morphing to look like the Nation and the body's former inhabitant being erased from existence. They don't like this, but there's no choice in the matter.}}
== Film ==▼
* In ''[[All of Me]]'', an heiress (Lily Tomlin) who was sick all her life wished to migrate into a younger, healthy body, that of a volunteer, upon her imminent death. The volunteer thought it was all superstitious nonsense, and only wanted to be named as the heir. Of course, it all went to hell, and the heiress ended up sharing brain-space with her lawyer, played by [[Steve Martin]].
* This is the basic plot of [[B-Movie]] and ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' subject ''The Atomic Brain''; a bitter old, rich woman hires a [[Mad Scientist]] to develop the technology to move her brain into one of three beautiful, disposable housekeepers.
* in the [[Syfy]] original movie
* Also the central plot of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode ''The Brain that Wouldn't Die'', although there involves a woman's head (aka "Jan-in-the-Pan") being transplanted onto a new body.
* This is the villain's plot in ''[[Being John Malkovich]]''; all the major characters including Malkovich himself are more-or-less tricked into doing the work for him.
* At the very end of the credits for [[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]: The Last Stand, there is an [[Easter Egg]] scene in which {{spoiler|Professor Xavier, who was killed during the movie, is revealed to have implanted his mind into the body of a man who had been earlier revealed to have a functioning body, but no working mind. It is ironic because Xavier had lectured to a class earlier in the movie about the ethical dilemmas involved in such a transfusion of soul, so to speak.}}
** Actually, in the comics, {{spoiler|Xavier had a twin brother at birth. Because Xavier's power was so strong even then, he mind wiped his sibling and the comatose 'mindless' patient is implied to be that twin (Obviously for the more dedicated comic fans). The implication is that Xavier uses the body of the brother he inadvertently destroyed and if a 4th film is made, he will be back and still conveniently wheelchaired (fifty some years of atrophy can be hard to get over!}}
* [[Roger Corman]]'s film adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ditches [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s subversion and plays this trope straight.
* In ''[[Child's Play (film)|
* In ''[[Fallen]]'', starring Denzel Washington, this is the villain's major ability. Specifically, he (the serial killer's spirit) can transfer to any person and take them over as long as they're within range. At the end of the movie, after {{spoiler|Denzel lures him out to a secluded cabin and poisons himself so that the spirit won't be able to transfer to a new body, the killer reveals he's able to possess animals as well.}}
** {{spoiler|It was actually revealed earlier in the movie, when he possessed a cat (otherwise having him possess one at the end would have been the worst kind of [[Ass Pull]]). It's possible he can only possess humans and cats, which would make more sense as to why he thought he'd be unable to find anything to possess in the woods.}}
* Of course, the plot of ''[[Freejack]]'', with the added bit of [[Time Travel]]; the host is kidnapped from the timestream moments before his historical death in a horrific car crash, so no one would miss him.
* In ''[[The Matrix]] Revolutions'', Bane's mind gets [[Your Mind Makes It Real|overwritten]] by Agent Smith. Bane's body becomes Smith's gateway to the real world.
* In both the film and play ''[[Prelude to a Kiss]]'', a dying old man switches bodies with a bride on her wedding day.
* ''[[Scanners]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Revok and Vale in a psychic duel, and Revok completely destroying Vale's body, but there's a hint that Vale may have psychically switched bodies at the last second. Either that, or Revok ate Vale's consciousness, just as he said he would. "Everything you are is gonna become me."}}
* The [[Twist Ending]] of ''{{spoiler|[[The Skeleton Key]].}}''
* Ra in ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' was an elderly, decrepit alien before taking over the body of a teenage Egyptian boy.
* The villain does this in ''[[X-Change]]''. The protagonist also goes through several bodies and even steals one.
** [[Robert Sheckley]]'s novel ''Mindswap'' also fits the trope and is likely the inspiration for the movie.
* In ''[[The Hidden]]'', an alien slug takes over the bodies of humans as unsuspecting prey.
** And treats it like a joyride. It just wants to listen to death metal, drive expensive cars, rob banks, and blow things up. For fun.
* Unique variant: in ''[[Surrogates (film)|Surrogates]]'', the remote-control body of {{spoiler|Peters}} is hijacked by not one, but two different characters, one of whom had {{spoiler|Peters'}} real body murdered in order to use the robot as [[The Mole]].
* The central theme of the film ''[[Face Off]]''.
* ''[[The Mephisto Waltz]]''. An elderly musician and his daughter use Satanic magic to transfer his mind into a younger man's body so [[Parental Incest|they can openly have what no one will realize is an incestuous relationship]]. '''Physically''', it won't be. {{Spoiler|Then the victim's wife steals the daughter's body with the same spell.}} Tagline for the film: "Brace yourself for the ultimate transplant. The human soul." Based on a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* Robert Adams' ''[[Horseclans]]'' series has the Witchmen; twentieth-century scientists who transfer their minds into new bodies to stay alive [[After the End]]. At first, this requires mechanical help, but they later learn to do without that.▼
▲== Literature ==
▲* Robert Adams' [[Horseclans]] series has the Witchmen; twentieth-century scientists who transfer their minds into new bodies to stay alive [[After the End]]. At first, this requires mechanical help, but they later learn to do without that.
* A more benevolent version of this is the main driver for the aliens in ''[[The Host (novel)|The Host]]''
* In Ira Levin's ''[[This Perfect Day]]'', leader and programmer Li Wei Chun's head (and brain) have been put on the body of an athlete, who volunteered for the honor.
* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth]]'' novels, the ability to do this is the Sea Hag's magic talent; she's lived hundreds of years by stealing the bodies of [[Vain Sorceress|young women]]. She can't do it if her target knows what she's doing, but she raises them herself to make sure they don't.
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation
* In the ''[[Miles Vorkosigan]]'' books by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]], raising clones for brain-transplant purposes is a major industry in Jackson's Whole.
** Speaking of Bujold, in ''[[Chalion|The Hallowed Hunt]]'' the 'offspring' version of this trope was used. {{spoiler|Earl Horseriver, descendant of the last Hallowed King, ''is'' in fact the last Hallowed King. A spell to keep him going to fight the invasion five hundred years ago by transferring his consciousness sequentially into each of his male blood heirs is still in effect -- and he can't stop it. [[Nightmare Fuel|Think]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|about it.]] }}
* Doro of Octavia Butler's ''[[Patternist]]'' series has this power; his lack of limitations on it makes him a nigh-unstoppable force.
* In the [[Orson Scott Card]] short story
** Also used by Card in the conclusion of the [[Ender's Game|''Ender'' Quadrilogy]] when {{spoiler|Ender's soul is divided and housed in two other bodies, representing his brother and sister as teens, which he accidentally created when AI [[Green Rocks|Jane]] took him into the sub-ether. Eventually, worn out by keeping track of three separate lives, his old body dies and his soul goes full time to the creation representing his brother as a teenager. Ender's friends deliberately drive his "sister" past the [[Despair Event Horizon]] (with her consent) so her body will be free for Jane to inhabit.}}
* In ''Axolotl'' by Julio Cortazar an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130825025129/http://www.bountyfishing.com/blog/images/axolotl.jpg axolotl] switches minds with the protagonist. Before they switched the protagonist was drawn to the axolotl and was [[Contemplate Our Navels|philosophizing on how fluid identity is]] and how [[Mind Screw|he and the axolotl are the same]].
* In ''[[The Light of Other Days]]'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and Stephen Baxter, one of the main characters is the son of an industrialist. Actually, he's a clone of the industrialist, and when he fails to grow up into a suitable heir, plan B is to overwrite his brain pattern with his father's. The attempt is foiled.
*
* In Edmond Hamilton's short story ''The Avenger from Atlantis'' (also titled ''The Vengeance of Ulios''), the protagonist pursues his mortal enemy for thousands of years; both he and his quarry transfer their brains to numerous bodies to keep up the chase.
* In ''Fallen Dragon'' (2001) by [[Peter F. Hamilton]], the rulers of one planet take over the bodies of young criminals. The offer their technique to the leader of the corporation [[Space Pirates|raiding their planet]], but he is unimpressed because they don't do anything with their pseudo-immortality except maintain their power. The B7 council that secretly controls Earth in ''The Naked God'' does something similar by copying their memories to cloned bodies and instantly destroying the old one, unaware that those bodies also have souls that will pass on to The Beyond.
* In the [[Robert A. Heinlein|Heinlein]] novel ''[[I Will Fear No Evil]]'', an aging millionaire has his brain transferred into a young
** This leads to some quite odd scenes, like where the main character is having sex with the former occupant of the body's former lover and his former friend and lawyer.
{{quote|(Oh, God, Eunice! Why didn't you ''tell'' me?) (Tell you what?) (That for a woman it's so much ''better!'')}}
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* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' the necromancer Capiorcorpus, which Harry translated as the Corpse Taker, specializes in doing this. As far as we know only living people despite the name.
** The literal Latin translation of "corpus" is "body," so the name actually makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, Harry learned Latin via a correspondence course.
***
** In ''Ghost Story'' {{spoiler|Capiocorpus' ghost tries to get the power to manifest in the real world. She could then use her abilities to take whatever body she wanted, effectively coming back to life. Harry speculates this is the same method her mentor Kemmler used to return to life six times.}}
* In ''[[Hopscotch]]'' anyone can swap bodies with anyone else. One of the protagonists rents his body out to people who want to avoid unpleasant experiences.
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* In Alastair Reynold's ''[[Revelation Space]]'', {{spoiler|The captain}} has done this to {{spoiler|Sajaki}} some time prior to the events in the book, requesting that the alien Pattern Jugglers overwrite his victim's mind with his own. A fanatical cult in the novella ''Turquoise Days'' hopes to use the same technique to sacrifice themselves voluntarily to allow their leader's personality to replace their own.
* [[George R. R. Martin]]'s short story {{spoiler|"The Pear-Shaped Man"}}.
* [[James H. Schmitz]] does the “heir” version in the ''[[Federation of the Hub]]'' story [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811222544/http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671578790/0671578790___7.htm “The Symbiotes”].
* ''Beyond lies the Wub'', a short story by [[Philip K. Dick]]. An Earthbound rocketship stops on Mars to take on food animals, including a wub—a large, slovenly Martian pig. It turns out the wub is a sentient telepathic alien interested mainly in eating and philosophical discussion. The captain is determined to kill and eat the wub regardless, believing it to be a threat, and blows the wub's brains out despite the objections of his crew. The story ends with the captain enthusiastically tucking into cooked wub, watched glumly by the crew, who are further shocked when their 'captain' continues the philosophical discussion the wub was having "before we were interrupted".
* In books two and three of Thorarinn Gunnarsson's
* In "When True Night Falls", book two of C. S. Friedman's ''[[Coldfire Trilogy]]'', the Undying Prince survives this way.
* Two [[Christopher Pike]] books, {{spoiler|''The Immortal''}} and {{spoiler|''The Blind Mirror''}}, use this as a twist- without the transferred soul initially remembering their true identity.
* In [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s ''[[Morgaine Cycle]]'', the qhal (and their predecessors) could use the Gates to transfer their minds into new hosts. {{spoiler|This tended to leave the two personalities struggling for control.}}
* The more modern version is done in ''[[House of the Scorpion]]'' by Nancy Farmer, where {{spoiler|Matt turns out to be a clone raised only for his organs}}.
* In Glen Duncan's ''[[I, Lucifer]]'' struggling writer Declan Gunn's body is possessed by none other than Lucifer himself, so that old Luce can sample the mortal life and a chance for redemption.
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* In ''Darkship Thieves'', Nat is convinced his lover Max has been possessed by the recently deceased father's ghost. He's right: Max was a clone of the father created specifically so that the elder could discard his old body and transplant his brain into a younger, healthier one. The father had achieved near immortality by murdering his sons over and over. But he screwed up in this generation by not realizing Max had a secret, gay relationship with Nat and thus [[Something They Would Never Say|acting out of character]] to him. {{spoiler|The protagonists learn that the entire society is founded on this. The ruling oligarchs are the men who figured out how to do this and have been ruling the planet together for centuries.}}
* A book of [[wikipedia:Felix, Net i Nika|a series popular only in Poland]] does that in its seventh part. The main antagonists of the story, if they can be called that, are three sisters. The story itself is set in modern times, yet the sisters were already non-young adults around the times of the Second World War, and don't look older than sixty in the story itself. How did they do it? This trope. {{spoiler|They took over the bodies of another set of triplet sisters, in a pharmaceutical way. The last chapter of the book itself is all about saving the protagonist girl, since one of the sisters' body has some sort of a spinal disease and she's looking for a replacement, finding the protagonist a replacement. A matter-warping, intelligent [[Mineral MacGuffin|huge mass of rock]] controlled by the sisters is also involved.}}
* One very strange no-sex "Sex Story" [https://web.archive.org/web/20150130134755/http://www.asstr.org/files/Collections/Alt.Sex.Stories.Moderated/Year2004/49003
* In ''[[The Wish List]]'' {{spoiler|Belch eventually takes over the body of Meg's [[Abusive Parent|father Franco]].}}
* The [[Edgar Allan Poe]] Story, ''Ligeia,'' which has a twist. {{spoiler|Not only does the old wife steal the new wife's body, she also transforms the new wife back into her old form.}}
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* A rare positive variation appears in the ''Ghostly Companions'' collection of stories by Vivien Alcock. In "A Change of Aunts", a horrifying revenant that used to be a nursemaid who [[Driven to Suicide|drowned herself]] in a pond [[My Greatest Failure|after she let the children in her care die]] when she visited her lover attacks Meg and William's abusive Aunt Gertrude when it catches her beating the children. The undead nursemaid steals Gertrude's body for herself and leaves Gertrude trapped in her old rotting immobile corpse in the pond. [[My Greatest Second Chance|"Gertrude" treats the children with great care and kindness.]] When Meg realizes what happened, she understandably decides to leave her abusive aunt to her [[Fate Worse Than Death]].
* In the distant backstory of [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Chalion|The Hallowed Hunt]]'' we discover that {{spoiler|the last true Hallowed King linked several spells upon his warriors to himself in preparation for a battle against the invading Darthacans, then to insure a lucky blow would not break them bound a spell to his own soul which would transfer it to his son if he were slain.}} The latter part worked, ''[[Up to Eleven|too]]'' [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|well]].
* In John Wyndham' short story "Pillar To Post", the protagonist is a paraplegic, who frequently takes drugs to cope with the pain, and who suddenly finds himself in a healthy body very far in the future. People of the future society live virtually forever by swapping bodies with the "feeble minded" of whom there are very many in the future. But then the original owner of the body, who engaged in mental time travel, takes back his body and the protagonist in back in the original, paralyzed and pain-wracked body - but he finds a way to return. Thereby, the two of them change places again and again, each trying to leave a "booby trap" which would destroy the paralyzed body while it is inhabited by his rival. The contest if finally resolved in a rather immoral way, by {{spoiler|letting a present-time mental patient be moved into into the paralyzed body and be burned to death}}, leaving the two contestants in possession of two healthy bodies... [https://web.archive.org/web/20071219115116/http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/seeds-of-time-the-john-wyndham
* Bob Shaw's story "Waltz of the Bodysnatchers" takes place in a future society in which a murderer is sentenced to change places with his or her victim, who is thus brought back to life and inherits the murderer's body. The story's cast of cynical and scheming characters abuse this legal provision by finding creative ways of manipulating a younger and healthier person into murdering them and getting caught...
* The ''[[Transformers: TransTech]]'' story "I, Lowtech" involves the main character being convinced he's somehow been swapped into a different body while someone else is parading around with his, even though there's no tangible evidence that actually happened. {{spoiler|Eventually turns out he's right, and it happened courtesy of a Decepticon with the ability to seamlessly manipulate other people's sparks, but by then [[Cassandra Truth|his quest to prove he's right]] has already driven him to insanity.}}
* In ''[[Hush, Hush]]'', fallen angels spend all their time tracking down nephilim and forcing them to submit to possession for two weeks out of every year. The nephilim all hate this, but are targeted because they won't die from it, unlike humans. {{spoiler|At the end of the story, Patch possesses Nora [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|without her permission, and without warning]]. It's to fight off someone threatening her, but she still finds it terrifying.}}
* In Timothy Zahn's "Soulminder" stories, a technology is developed that can draw a person's essence from their body and store it elsewhere before returning it. It's meant to assist in lifesaving procedures, but naturally it doesn't take long for somebody to catch on that it also enables Grand Theft Me. Unfortunately for the first person who tries it, a dying crime boss, it turns out that placing your soul in someone else's body causes you to start taking on ''their'' personality, and he's so transformed that he eventually turns himself in.
* [[H. G. Wells]]' short story "The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham" is a [[Dead Man Writing]] account by the victim, who insists he's not the real Elvesham, but a much younger man with whom Elvesham swapped bodies by means of some odd drug. He hopes this testament will get out and serve as a warning to the body-thief's next intended victim. At the end, he mentions that he's taking what he believes to be poison. A postscript by an unidentified third party comments that the document is written in a hand very unlike Elvesham's usual. Also, Elvesham's will left his fortune to the younger man ... but {{spoiler|the heir was killed in a traffic accident even before "Elvesham" poisoned himself}}....
* In Norman Spinrad's ''Agent of Chaos'', it's briefly mentioned that instead of faking identification documents, the Brotherhood of Assassins replaces innocent people with "Brothers, altered, where necessary, to be their exact duplicates." And then uses their identity papers.
* In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''Exiles of the Stars'', some [[Human Popsicle|preserved aliens]] steal the bodies of several humans and use them to dig up their ancient technology. {{Spoiler|The victims get rescued by a "Moon Singer", a human with a talent for ethical [[Freaky Friday Flip|body-swapping]].}}
* A. E. Van Vogt's short story "Dear Pen Pal" features a mysterious alien criminal who writes to a human from his prison cell. The alien turns out to have developed a method for body-swapping {{Spoiler|and tries to scam the human into using it so he can escape. It works out well - for the 'victim'}}.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==▼
▲== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' Sam takes over somebody's body in the past and that person takes his body in the present. Usually, the person in the present simply waits or sleeps through the experience, but one person escaped the facility and caused some trouble with a Grand Theft Me of his own.
** At least, that was how the concept of leaping ''started out.'' The "rules" grew rather murky in the show's final seasons, sometimes hinting that Sam was taking on a person's ''appearance'' rather than inhabiting his or her physical body. (In one episode, for example, Sam leaps into a double amputee...but is still able to walk.)
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** Welcome aboard Chameleon Tours. We'll miniaturize you, steal your identity, and slowly drain the life from you. Hmm… what's that Police Box doing on the runway?
** Happens to {{spoiler|the TARDIS}} in "The Doctor's Wife". As a slight twist, the body snatcher stuffs the original inhabitant into a specially prepared brain-drained slave, not its old form.
* The ''[[Angel]]'' episode "Carpe Noctem." This includes a unique [[Mistaken for Gay]], when the guy in Angel's body briefly believes Angel is gay.
** Also, {{spoiler|Illyria taking over Fred's body to live again in season five.}}
* Of course, ''[[Star Trek]]'' recycled this plot over and over:
** The last episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''
*** I always assumed it wasn't because she was a woman, but more that she was batshit insane, and blamed the fact that she couldn't be a captain not on her own inadequacy, but on her gender.
**** This is supported by the fact that in
*** The episode "Return to Tomorrow" has the aliens of the week temporarily take over the bodies of Kirk, Spock and a female crewmember in order to build themselves new bodies. Unfortunately, the one in Spock's body has no intention of returning it.
** In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Dr. Ira Graves somehow is able to download his personality onto Data.
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**** The hosts do live much, much longer than usual, but, as evidenced by Lord Yu, there comes a point when a Goa'uld can no longer take a new host and the old body starts to suffer from the maladies of old age, like senility.
** Done slightly more seriously in the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "The Long Goodbye".
** And done significantly more seriously in ''SG-1''{{'}}s ninth season, except it is Daniel and Vala who (accidentally) seize control of bodies, only to (accidentally) leave just before {{spoiler|getting them killed}}.
*** Later in the season, Vala jumps into Daniel's body from the Ori galaxy to warn [[SG-1]] of the coming Ori invasion.
** ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' has the traveling stones, which allow for voluntary mind transfer. But on several occasions, once the swap occurs, the new occupant does things the original would never have condoned. When the original swaps back in, [[Hilarity Ensues]].
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* ''[[Cleopatra 2525]]'' has an episode, "In Your Boots", where recurring villian Creegan does this to Hel.
* On ''[[Lost]]'', the Man in Black can do this after {{spoiler|being turned into the smoke monster}} by assuming the form of those who have died. He most notably does it to {{spoiler|Locke}} during the last two seasons.
* ''[[Charmed]]'' - A few cases of this but one in particular is ''Freaky Pheobe'' where an evil witch named Mara takes over Pheobe's body.
* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' had an episode where Lister allows Rimmer to use his body for a week with the promise of Rimmer getting him into shape (in return, the Holographic Rimmer is able to touch, smell, and taste for the first time since his death). When Rimmer spends his time eating and sleeping (causing Lister to actually ''gain''weight), Lister demands his body back—only to have Rimmer outright steal it the next time he falls asleep.
* [[Mind Rape|Forcibly done]] to Sylar by Matt Parkman to contain Nathan's mind, on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. Of course, this being Sylar, he quickly turns the tables by hiding out in Matt's mind and taking over ''his'' body and torments Matt's sanity in hopes that Parkman will be desperate and terrified enough to reunite Sylar's mind with his body. Matt, to his credit, attempts a [[Taking You with Me]] but it doesn't work and Sylar is reunited with his body anyway.
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* ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' had at least four different people intermittently possessed by at least three different entities - both good and evil - all of which entities did so to hide who they were and what they were doing.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Yayati, after the curse of his father-in-law that he should become old and infirm, asked his sons to exchange their youthful body with his. All refused except the youngest son, Puru, who was crowned after his reign. Puru was the ancestor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas in the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. His brother Yadu was the ancestor of the Yadavas - thus the ancestor of Krishna.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
* This is how immortality works for Body Thieves from ''[[New World of Darkness|World of Darkness: Immortals]]''.
** The spell "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Steal Body]]" (from the ''[[Mage: The Awakening|Free Council]]'' sourcebook) causes this, with a caveat: ''"The mage rips soul from body and possesses the target’s now-vacant form, leaving the victim and the mage’s former body dead."'' Any mage who is a Master of Death and a Disciple of Life is capable of casting the spell, including the protagonists. Out of all other spells that extend life, this is the only one that allows a mage to actually live forever without becoming a soul-eating Tremere Lich, and it neatly avoids the logistical problems of [[Undead Tax Exemption]]. The mage still has to commit murder every several decades, but that's still preferable to eating a soul every month.
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* ''[[The Dark Eye]]}'' has a (rare) body swap spell that can be used for both cases. Without further interference it's temporary, but in case one of the bodies is killed, the swapped soul stays in the other one permanently.
* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', Makuta Teridax {{spoiler|Steals Mata Nui's [[Humongous Mecha]] body which contains the entire Matoran Universe.}} On a smaller scale, he also briefly possessed Matoro's body and an old robot, and Lewa once had his body stolen by an [[Eldritch Abomination]].▼
==
▲* In [[Bionicle]], Makuta Teridax {{spoiler|Steals Mata Nui's [[Humongous Mecha]] body which contains the entire Matoran Universe.}} On a smaller scale, he also briefly possessed Matoro's body and an old robot, and Lewa once had his body stolen by an [[Eldritch Abomination]].
* In ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'', a hidden conversation suggests that [[Cute Witch|Deneb]] is like this, but it's not that surprising. It does, however, add a whole new dimension of [[Squick]] to her character.
* In ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', this happens to [[Heroic Mime|Serge]]. Apparently, someone needed to get around the whole [[Chosen One]] business, and switching bodies with Serge seemed like the best way to do it. Things get [[Mind Screw|even more confusing]] later on.
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* In ''[[Fable]]: The Lost Chapters'', [[Big Bad]] Jack of Blades is revealed to be an ancient entity living inside his mask, who has spent aeons influencing the world by moving from host body to host body.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] [[Dirge of Cerberus]]'', {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Hojo did this to Weiss.}}
* This is the specialty of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]''{{'}}s [[Big Bad]] Ultimecia, who possesses every sorceress she can get her hands on: {{spoiler|Edea, Rinoa and Adel, in that order}}. Luckily everyone makes a full recovery and Ultimecia is defeated. (Besides, she borrows instead of steals.)
* In ''[[Myst
* The (eventually revealed) main plot of ''[[Space Quest
** Not the first time Roger had to fight this Trope, either. In the fourth (or twelfth game... [[Time Travel]] is involved), he has to fight Vohaul, who is possessing his [[Kid From the Future]].
* In ''[[Albion]]'', the Iskai species does this regularly: The Trii of a newborn has some unique abilities during the first week of its life; if an adult Iskai (assuming it's a female in this case) touches the newborn's Trii against hers, she can transfer her entire self into the spirit of the child. She can then begin life anew in her newly acquired body, while the former, adult one dies at the same instant. This act is commonly referred to as the Sebai ritual. The child is obviously never asked.
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* This is probably the case in the biggest [[Reveal]] in ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 3'', where [[Big Bad|Dr. Weil]], prior to the start of the series, {{spoiler|stole ''Zero's'' original body, turning it into the [[Ax Crazy]] Omega}}.
* In ''[[Ico]]'', this is {{spoiler|what the Evil Queen plans to do to Yorda, and why Ico has to rescue her.}}
* In ''[[Dragon Age
** {{spoiler|The Archdemon, upon being slain, automatically does this to the nearest Darkspawn, making it impossible to kill -- unless a Grey Warden strikes the final blow (which forces the Archdemon's spirit to travel in the Warden). Since Darkspawn are essentially soulless, the Archdemon can possess another darkspawn with no problems. Attempting to do the same to a Grey Warden destroys both of their souls.}}
* The villains of ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers]] of the Sky'' has this as {{spoiler|Dusknoir's back-up plan; he's going to lure Grovyle to a frozen tundra whose trees have the power to ''[[Deader Than Dead|destroy souls]]'', kill him, take over his body, travel to the past to befriend the guild, and then ''destroy everyone there''. Or at least was, until he pulled a [[Heel Face Turn]] at the last moment.}}
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' - Having become a [[The Heartless|Heartless]] years before the first game began, Xehanort possesses Riku once Maleficent has unwittingly carried out most of his plan for him (his idea of a reward is to force her into her dragon form and sic her on the heroes).
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* Sigma attempts this on X in the climax of ''[[Mega Man X|Mega Man X3]]''.
* Happens to Adell in the worst ending of ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'' {{spoiler|when the [[Omnicidal Maniac|Real Overlord Zenon]] takes over his body, and then makes him [[I'm a Humanitarian|eat his little brother and sister]].}} Nightmare fuel, indeed.
* Kaine in ''[[
* Reptile falls victim to this in his ending in ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance]]'', which sees him getting possessed by the newly reborn Dragon King, Onaga. While still in Reptile's body, Onaga goes on to serve as the [[Big Bad]] for the series' [[Mortal Kombat: Deception|next installment]].
* A few instances in the [[Warcraft]] universe:
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** The priest ability Mind Control is essentially this, except temporary.
* ''The Makeshift Miracle'' may have one of these, or it may be [[Demonic Possession]].
* In the "Old Money" arc in ''[[Bruno the Bandit]]'', Bruno marries rich old Lady Decrepta, only to later find out she's {{spoiler|Maledict's sister and through a certain spell, she and her original husband's souls could be transferred to new, younger bodies again and again.}}
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': The main purpose of the [[Girl Genius|Geisterdamen]] seems to be finding a new body for their Goddess, and when they get their hands on [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060123 Agatha]....
** After a subsequent encounter:
{{quote|'''Agatha''': [She] just visits.}}
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*** {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|Except]] [[Magnificent Bastard|not]] }}
* In ''[[Drowtales]]'', Queen Diva'ratrika uses this idea to {{spoiler|transplant her aura inside a slave's body as part of an escape plan to get out of the trap built by her [[The Evil Prince|3 traitor daughters.]] It's unclear if the goal was to take over another body entirely, in which case it would be a partial failure, but her knowledge and influence remains - that is until Liriel}} gets herself drunk to shut down the [[Hearing Voices|voices in her head]]. (The whole story starts [http://www.drowtales.com/longestwait.php?cid=1 here].
* ''[[Fans]]''' evil mad scientist Professor Fitz has made a career out of doing (or trying to do) just [https://web.archive.org/web/20080919085156/http://www.faans.com/index.php?p=1722 this].
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', this is Sirleck's current goal.
* In ''[[A Modest Destiny]]'', this benefits the heroes when {{spoiler|Maxim's soul}} possesses the just-vacated body of one of the villains. While treated as a happy ending at first, this is eventually [[Deconstructed]] when his wife eventually reveals how uncomfortable she is with the arrangement. Sure, it's her husband's soul inside, but it's ''still'' the villain's body, and she's worried that evil still runs [[In the Blood]].
* The title character of ''[[Mulberry]]'' once tried to perform this on [[Sarah Palin]], but she ended up switching bodies with {{spoiler|[[Hillary Clinton]]}} instead.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* A ''heroic'' version of this occurs in the end of ''The Winds of Change'' where {{spoiler|[[The Professor]], who'd spent the entirety of the story as an [[Brain Uploading|uploaded brain]], takes over the [[Big Bad]]'s body after trapping his mind}}.▼
* In''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'', [[Our Elves Are Better|Ato]] submits to demonic possession so that the heroes can have a guide to lead them through an alternate dimension filled with demons.▼
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' episode "Out of the Past", former [[Rogues Gallery]] member Ra's Al Ghul's [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|daughter Talia]] offers old Bruce Wayne access to the Lazarus Pit, and a shot at eternal youth, saying her father wished to pass on his secrets. Of course, Talia is Ra's, and plans to swap again to the newly-youthified Bruce. Talia, apparently, gave up her life willingly for her father. The setup's very reminiscent of [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s ''The Thing on the Doorstep'' (see).
** Of course, we only have Ra's word to take on whether Talia's sacrifice was voluntary. In fact, he simply says that he "called upon Talia to make the ultimate sacrifice". Based on the way Ra's tends to "call" on people, one imagines this has less to do with humble request-making and more to do with strongarming goons.
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* The [[Mickey Mouse]] [[Classic Disney Shorts|short]] ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbT7lhl9kpU Runaway Brain]'' features him being a volunteer in a scientific experiment to earn some money. But it involves exchanging his brain with a [[Frankenstein's Monster]]... after it's done, the [[Mad Scientist]] dies, and the "monster in Mickey's body" decides to go after Minnie. I'm not responsible for [[Nightmare Fuel|consequences]] if you click the link.
* In ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'', Mary Jane was kidnapped by Miranda Wilson, an actress turned cyborg, so the latter could replace Mary Jane's mind with hers. In a twist, her plan failed because she was tricked by Mysterio into believing that mind transferring technology even existed.
* In ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures
* In an episode of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', Mozenrath tries to swap bodies with Aladdin since he (Mozenrath) is dying, but due to interference, both are stuck in Aladdin's body.
* ''[[Pirates of Dark Water]]'' features an episode in which Ren switches places with Bloth and Konk switches places with Niddler; Bloth orchestrated this with the assistance of his soothsayer Morpho as a way to get Ren's shipmates to trust him and get his hands on the treasures.
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* Queen La actually does this to Jane Porter in her final appearance in ''[[The Legend of Tarzan]]''.
* ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]'': The witch Circe does this to Ariel in the episode "Island of the Body Snatchers".
* Katrina Moldoff does this to Batman in the ''[[Batman: The Brave
* The
▲* In an episode of ''[[The Tick (animation)|The Tick]]'' entitled "Tick vs. Science," Chairface Chippendale uses the mind transfer device created by J.J. Vatos to hijack The Tick's body.
▲== Web Original ==
▲* A ''heroic'' version of this occurs in the end of ''The Winds of Change'' where {{spoiler|[[The Professor]], who'd spent the entirety of the story as an [[Brain Uploading|uploaded brain]], takes over the [[Big Bad]]'s body after trapping his mind}}.
▲* In''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'', [[Our Elves Are Better|Ato]] submits to demonic possession so that the heroes can have a guide to lead them through an alternate dimension filled with demons.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Body Snatcher]]
[[Category:Switcheroos]]
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