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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Hagrid:'''''"Yer a wizard, Harry."''
''' Harry''':''"[[Parrot Expowhat|I'm a what?]]"''|''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (
The main character must be special somehow. The hero who would save the world cannot be just a [[Farm Boy|farmer's son]]. In the rare case that the hero is not [[The Chosen One|prophesied to do something]] or the [[Luke, I Am Your Father|current villain's relative]], he or she is probably a powerful being, even a god, but [[Amnesiac God|does not know it]].
The reason the character's true identity is hidden may range from [[Moses in
Often, this is an [[Awful Truth]] that [[You Are Not Ready|must be withheld at all costs]], because the character is unlikely to be able to [[Superpower Meltdown|control their immense powers]] or [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|use them responsibly]] at this point in time, or [[Go Mad
May lead to [[Amnesiac Dissonance]]; may overlap with [[Luke, I Am Your Father]] in case the character is a god's relative. A particularly nasty revelation — for example, a [[Robotic Reveal]] — may drive the poor protagonist [[Go Mad
Subtropes include [[Amnesiac God]]. Often the result of a [[Changeling Fantasy]]. Related to [[Tomato in
{{
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Tenchi Masaki from ''[[Tenchi Muyo!
* In the 2006 ''[[
* ''[[
** Kyon asks himself this at the end of "Mysterique Sign."
* Lain of ''[[
* In ''[[
* Ares of ''[[Vagrant Soldier Ares]]'', suffers from [[Easy Amnesia]] and can't remember his previous life as Sebastian, bastard son of the king of Chronos.
* The protagonists of ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
** {{spoiler|Don't forget that Asuna was the princess for almost [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|a hundred years]] before she was rescued.}}
* In ''[[
* In addition to learning she's a Super Powered hero of Justice, [[
* [[First Episode Spoiler|At the beginning of the series]] ''[[
* Saya starts off like this in ''[[Blood+
* In ''[[
* Roughly translated, the title of ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh
* In ''[[
* In Osamu Tezuka's ''[[Metropolis (
* Defied in ''[[
* Happens in ''[[
* In ''[[
== Comic Books ==▼
* From the ''[[Transformers (Franchise)|Transformers]]'' [[Transformers Timelines (Franchise)|fan club comic]] Skyfall, Landquake, Breakaway, Topspin, and Heatwave turn out to be {{spoiler|parts of Nexus Prime, one of the Thirteen original Transformers}}. This was actually revealed ''before'' Topspin and Heatwave were introduced. ▼
* [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]]'s origin in more recent decades has this element. He gets a mostly normal early childhood, then starts developing special abilities then eventually encounters or is told about his rocketship which also eventually transmit a message or series of messages from Jor-El which usually tells him he has a great destiny. Typically he has at least two if not three of these in his origin.▼
* Sometimes [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]]'s origin has this element. He's raised by a human and typically knows about his abilities. The moment this trope kicks in is when he learns that he's the King of Atlantis.▼
* [[The Mighty Thor]] plays this trope too. Don Blake learns that he's actually Thor cast in a frail mortal form to be taught a lesson in humility by his father and at this time he gains the ability to tap into his divine powers. ▼
▲== [[Comic Books]] ==
▲* From the ''[[
▲* [[
▲* Sometimes [[
▲* ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'' plays this trope too. Don Blake learns that he's actually Thor cast in a frail mortal form to be taught a lesson in humility by his father and at this time he gains the ability to tap into his divine powers.
== [[Film]] ==
* Luke Skywalker, of ''[[Star Wars]]'' fame, gets a double-dose of this. He lives the first nineteen years of his life completely unaware of his Force abilities. More importantly, though, he is [[Luke, I Am Your Father|unaware of his lineage]]; his aunt and uncle choose to tell him that his father was a "navigator on a spice freighter" and Obi-Wan and Yoda actively conceal the fact that his father is actually Darth Vader, the evil Emperor's right-hand man, formerly known as Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, [[The Chosen One]] who was to bring balance to the Force.
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Angel Heart]]'', a private eye hired by "Loius Cypher" to track down a vicious killer who made a deal with the devil. Turns out that that pivate eye is himself the killer, each horrible murder he discovers along the way was actually done by himself, and "Loius Cypher" ...
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the third ''[[Green Rider]]'' book, ''The High King's Tomb'', the protagonist finds out that {{spoiler|she's the avatar of the god of death. Said god possesses her just long enough to save the day, then erases her memory so she can go back to a normal life}}.
* [[Harry Potter (
** Near the end of the fifth book, Harry learns about {{spoiler|the prophesy that got Voldemort to start hunting him down}}.
* In [[
* The first [[Book of Amber]] starts with this.
* In the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series, a young autistic boy is revealed to be {{spoiler|one of the living conduits through which the Universe is supplied with supernatural energy}}. The other characters can never tell him because the knowledge would kill him instantly.
* [[Percy Jackson
** The first ''[[The Heroes of Olympus
* ''[[Inheritance Cycle
* Megan Whalen Turner's ''[[The
* In ''[[
* In Tamora Pierce's Immortals quartet, main character Daine's mysterious one-night-stand of a father turns out to be {{spoiler|Weiryn, god of the hunt}}.
** Furthermore, she learns in book three that {{spoiler|Her mother was declared a goddess after her untimely death}}, doubling the fun and irony of Daine's outcast status back in her hometown.
* In ''[[The
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Deltora Quest]]'', Lief is {{spoiler|the true heir, his father, Jarred, is actually Endon in disguise in a bait-and-switch plot to confuse the Shadow Lord.}}
* In the ''[[Belgariad]]'' series, by David Eddings, Garion learns after ''several books'', first that he is {{spoiler|a sorcerer}}, then that he is {{spoiler|the last descendant of Riva, and is thus crowned King of the kings of the West}}. Later it gets worse as he learns that {{spoiler|he is fated to fight an evil god all by himself.}} Still, there were clues...
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* The little boy who was nicknamed Wart in ''The Sword in the Stone'' turned out to be {{spoiler|King Arthur}}.
* Lirael, in ''[[Old Kingdom|Lirael]]'', turns out to be {{spoiler|the daughter of the last Abhorsen, the half-sister to the current Abhorsen, and the new Abhorsen-In-Waiting.}}
* Corran Horn, in the ''[[X Wing Series]]'', finds out that he's the grandson of a Jedi; the man he's called Grandfather all of his life was that Jedi's partner, who married his wife after the Jedi died.
* Thomas from ''The Maze Runner'' actually {{spoiler|helped design the maze that he's trapped in}}.
* In the ''[[Eighth Doctor Adventures]]'', the Doctor {{spoiler|loses his memory after destroying Gallifrey, and his companion Fitz devotes a lot of effort in some books to stopping his memory being jogged; it turns out this is a good thing as his brain had been used for a zipfile of the Time Lord Matrix}}.
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** Also, [[The Mentor|I]] will never admit I am Merlin.
** {{spoiler|In the end he's the ''only Old One left in the world,'' and all his human friends have had their memories of magic wiped.}} Being the youngest sucks.
* ''[[Goosebumps]]'' protagonists in the end would discover they were [[Tomato in the Mirror|not humans but actually ghosts, aliens, dogs, robots, monsters, etc.
* ''[[
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
▲* ''[[Reaper (TV)|Reaper]]'': In the season finale, it's revealed that Sam is {{spoiler|the Antichrist}}. Not that {{spoiler|he's the only one}}.
* The '90s ''[[Doctor Who]]'' TV Movie features the Eighth Doctor amnesiac after his regeneration.
** After {{spoiler|the metacrisis}} at the end of new series 4, {{spoiler|the Doctor wipes the time she's spent with him from Donna's memory. If she ever remembers anything about the Doctor or her time traveling with him, her brain will overload and she'll die.}} Of course, for Tennant's "going-away" episode, {{spoiler|her memory gets triggered, and as soon as her brain is gonna fry, gold light comes out of her head and knocks out all the Master look-alike who are going to get her. The Doctor's response to this? "You didn't think I'd leave my best friend without a defense mechanism, did you?}}
** The two-parter "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" sees the Doctor turn himself human and wipe his own memories to protect him and his companion. Inevitably the companion has to reveal his true identity- and after a brief "I'm ''who''" this 'John Smith' is absolutely terrified at the fact he's actually an alien, and that he'll have to 'die' to save everyone's lives.
** The Doctor wasn't the only Time Lord to do this. Of course, {{spoiler|Professor Yana's reaction to his real identity- the Master- is to go evil, go on a killing rampage, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|become England's Prime Minister]], before killing 1/10th of the population of Earth.}}
* Parodied in a sketch on ''[[The State]]''. The priest and nuns at a Catholic orphanage tell a young man on his eighteenth birthday that he's really a [[Superman|super-human alien]] [[Expy|from another planet]]. They tell him to "go out there and fight for truth and justice", and he jumps out the window...and falls. They then proceed to laugh their asses off, then decide to "do another one before lunch".
== [[Oral Tradition]] ==
* Many variants of the Arthur myth have King Arthur raised as a much lower-ranked if not common boy before proving himself in battle and being told of his lineage, or finding out upon the whole "sword in the stone" business. <!-- MOD: ''Fate/stay night'' is not Oral Tradition. See Gender Flip/Visual Novels for the content related to that series that used to be here. -->
* [[Older Than Feudalism]], from [[Classical Mythology]]: Paris or [[
** The play about Oedipus has him raised by another king. His hamartia ([[Tragic Flaw]]) was his uncontrollable temper that drove him to club his father to death at the crossroad, to disregard Teiresias, and to jump to conclusions about Creon. His
▲* [[Older Than Feudalism]], from [[Classical Mythology]]: Paris or [[Oedipus the King (Theatre)|Oedipus the King]], who were both prophesied to bring destruction and so were brought up as peasants instead of princes. Naturally, [[You Can't Fight Fate|this didn't thwart their destinies.]] Oedipus's revelation was possibly the biggest tragic [[Heroic BSOD]] in theater ever, and led him to gouge his own eyes out.
▲** The play about Oedipus has him raised by another king. His hamartia ([[Tragic Flaw]]) was his uncontrollable temper that drove him to club his father to death at the crossroad, to disregard Teiresias, and to jump to conclusions about Creon. His [[I Am Who?]] moment segued beautifully into his [[Heroic BSOD]] and exile.
* Theseus, also. The son of Aethra (herself the daughter of a king) and King Aegeus (and also the god Poseidon ... however that works), he was only told his true heritage when he was strong enough to lift a massive boulder and reveal Aegeus's sword.
** Actually,
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The White Wolf [[Tabletop RPG]] ''[[
* And Scion's progenitor-game ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Baldur's
* ''[[Beyond Good
** [[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls III
** {{spoiler|This is [[Subverted Trope]] by the way the prophecy works in ''[[
** {{spoiler|Of course, it also depends on how you interpret things. There's a large possibility that the Daedra Prince Azura engineered the whole thing from the start, including the original prophecy and trying to guide people to fulfill it. The cave full of "failed Nerevarines" certainly doesn't discredit this possibility. The player character can even take a similar position of his own when speaking to Dagoth Ur at Red Mountain.}}
** {{spoiler|I wouldn't say it's subverted that much. Given the fact that some of the prophecies were ''really specific'', one going so far as to declare that the Nerevarine would be an Outlander, which contrasts most of the failed Nerevarine's stories.}}
** {{spoiler|It's subverted because the question is, is the player REALLY the Nerevarine, or has the Daedric Prince Azura been manipulating him his entire life to make it appear to be? For example, there are a good number of "failed Incarnates", who were previous incarnations who didn't succeed. Several of them were not Outlanders, which was a key point of the Prophecy. How could they have been Incarnates if they didn't meet the foremost requirement of being born outside of Morrowind?}}
* Two sequels later, in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', the Player Character eventually finds out that they are a Dragonborn; a
* ''[[Arcanum:
* Zero struggles with various levels of amnesia in the ''[[
* {{spoiler|Luna}} from ''[[Lunar:
** But she is arguably the most important character.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Castlevania: Chronicles of Sorrow
** Then the direct sequel, ''Dawn of Sorrow'', states this early on in the game, spoiling it for anyone who played it before ''Aria of Sorrow''.
* Kratos from ''[[God of War (
* In ''[[
* The eponymous character in ''[[Lufia]]'' is {{spoiler|Erim, Sinistral of Death}}. This also applies to {{spoiler|the blue-haired female party member}} in ''[[Lufia:
* Subverted in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* In ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'', the Wisp is the soul of the late king, as well as the Arbitrator. This is absolutely no secret to the player, as Maria and Meria inform you of this ''very'' early on. The question of "Yes, but what does an Arbitrator ''do?"'' [[How Do I Shot Web?|isn't explored until much later on]]. It leads to a bit of dramatic irony, as the player can piece things together a lot easier than the Wisp itself, which seems rather reluctant to remember much.
** Also the case with Garlot in ''[[Blaze Union]]''--he is the first pureblooded descendant of the demon god Brongaa to be born in centuries. He doesn't know this because his
** ''Three times'' in ''Gloria Union'' - {{spoiler|Ishut discovers that he is a reincarnation of the King of Euforia, and that he's the long-lost twin brother of the Emperor of Lukia.}} Also, {{spoiler|Ruru is Symphonia.}} Whether or not any of these facts are discovered may or may not depend on route.
* Arx Fatalis featured, as I recall, partway through the game, the revelation that the main character was in fact a form of supernatural manhunter, sent specifically in order to prevent a particular deity from manifesting on the material world in which the game is set. The amnesia in this case, I believe, was said to be normal, usually being dealt with by virtue of a contact on the destination world. Alas, in this case, said contact ended up dead, and our protagonist started off in a goblin jail...
* Zidane of ''[[
* The ''[[Tales
** Cless from ''[[
** Lloyd from ''[[
** And in the [[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
** In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
** One-upped in ''Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky'', where it turns out {{spoiler|that not only does the hero have [[My Significance Sense Is Tingling|the Dimensional Scream]], but they actually came from the [[Bad Future]] to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] with their partner, Grovyle}}.
* A large driving point behind Xion, and to a lesser extent, Roxas, in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
* Parodied in ''Dragon Knights III'' (''Xentar'' Knights in Western release.) Desmond's legendary prowess is revealed to be his birthright as the son of the God and Goddess of Good. To ensure he'd be prepared for his destined battle with the son of the Gods of Evil, they bestowed on him effeminate beauty and irresistibility to women, so he would always be faced with trouble. To disguise his nature as a god, they cursed him with foul body odor and laughable genitals. They did not offer to revoke those curses after the battle.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Inverted in ''[[Ghost Trick:
* ''[[
▲== [[Web Comics]] / [[Web Original]] ==
* Achilles of the [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]] began his career as a superhero because of this trope, when he found out that his entire life up until that point (all twenty-three years of it) had been manipulated and engineered by his father, whose identity he didn't even know up until that point. Who was his father? [[Evil Overlord|Lord]][[Big Bad|Doom]].▼
▲* ''[[Inverloch (Webcomic)|Inverloch]]''
** When Acheron discovers that {{spoiler|he ''is'' Kayn'dar, and the elf they've been chasing is the real Acheron, who swapped bodies with him.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Last
* ''[[Dept Heaven Apocrypha (Roleplay)|Dept Heaven Apocrypha]]'''s Nessiah is {{spoiler|a reincarnation of a variation of [[Yggdra Union|his canon self]]}}. [[It's a Long Story|It's A Long Story]], but remembering this greatly contributes to his [[Sanity Slippage]].▼
* In ''[[Concession]]'', Artie is told at a key moment that he has power he was never aware of, and manages to use it in self-defense (prompting a [[Fourth Wall]]-breaking complaint from Joel).
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Ends]]'', angyls are a supposedly superior race, lording it over ordinary humans (in as much as anyone in the postapocalyptic wasteland could be said to be "normal"). The protagonist, Jason, struggling with the core [[Ontological Mystery]] of the story, {{spoiler|abruptly discovers that he, and everyone else, are ''all'' angyls.}}
== [[Web Original]] ==
▲* Achilles of the [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]] began his career as a superhero because of this trope, when he found out that his entire life up until that point (all twenty-three years of it) had been manipulated and engineered by his father, whose identity he didn't even know up until that point. Who was his father? [[Evil Overlord|Lord]][[Big Bad|Doom]].
▲* ''[[
* In the weblit ''[[Addergoole]]'', most of the characters (at least the students) have human mothers who raised them and mysterious fathers they've never met. Those fathers turn out to be Ellehemaei, variously known throughout history as angels, demons, faeries, and the like.
* In ''[[Above Ground]]'', the main character Lilith who has grown up underground her whole life, discovers {{spoiler|that she is not actually human in that she has telepathic powers.}}
* In the [[
* In ''[[Greek Ninja]]'', when Sasha finds out she is the reincarnation of Eli of Thrace.
{{reflist}}
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