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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Nina''': You got it wrong. My name is not Anna, I'm Nina.<br />
'''Dr. Tenma''': For now, but that wasn't your name back when you were brought into my hospital.|''[[Monster (
[[Easy Amnesia|Amnesia comes easy in fiction]]. It is also [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|conveniently specific]]. A taste of [[Applied Phlebotinum]], a particularly shocking [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia|traumatic event]], or even a simple [[Tap
In most cases, the character has simply lost his memories, no longer remembering his name, [[Amnesiac Lover|loved ones]] or where he came from. This is often the cause for a [[Quest for Identity]].
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* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', after {{spoiler|C.C. loses her memory and goes back to her mental state as a slave girl}}.
** Debatably, this also applies to Lelouch at the start of ''R2''. Since he's {{spoiler|forcibly}} forgotten about his mother, sister, and being Zero, he [[Becoming the Mask|becomes his civilian-identity mask]], a [[Brilliant but Lazy]] student who cuts class to gamble on chess games. He's still dissatisfied with the world as it is, but since he no longer has an outlet, he's got a lot of bottled-up rage.
* ''[[
** Even without his memories he notes that Kira thinks a lot like him, and acts the same way he would act. The evil Light is not so much a different person, as the same person under a different set of circumstances.
* In ''[[Fate/stay
** Though in this case amnesia is just an excuse, since Archer doesn't want Rin to know neither his identity ({{spoiler|since he is the [[Future Badass]] version of Shirou, a heroic spirit called EMIYA}}) nor his real goal ({{spoiler|which is to kill Shirou to create a paradox which would hopefully erase himself from existence}}). He doesn't remember everything about his past life since he would have spent too much time trying to save people and then fighting as a Counter Guardian, but he know who he is, and the only consequence Rin's messing up summoning preparation had was wrecking a room.
** One particularly [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious]] doujin had Shirou and Rin switch bodies. Rin completely believed she was Shirou Emiya because {{spoiler|Saber [[Tap
* Elie, one of the main characters in ''[[Rave Master]]'' is actually {{spoiler|[[Dark Magical Girl]] Resha Valentine, who faked her death and put herself into a deep magic induced sleep to defeat an enemy predicted to appear 50 years in the future}}. Not that she remembers this thanks to either {{spoiler|possibly erasing her own memories as a side effect of her deep sleep}} or Sieg Hart blowing up the building she was in. When she's introduced she tells Haru that she's actually looking for someone who knows her.
* Senri from ''[[
* ''[[Ayashi no Ceres]]'''s Tooya is the victim of this trope. {{spoiler|A plot point, as he is later revealed to be the [[MacGuffin Girl|personification of the highly-coveted hagoromo]].}}
* Averted in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. Although {{spoiler|Asuna Kagurazaka}} is shown to have a drastic shift in personality between her self-induced amnesia at the conclusion of the backstory and the kicking off of the plot (she went from [[Emotionless Girl]] to a [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Tsundere]]), it is shown to have happened over the course of several years, implied to be the consequence of frequent interactions with a [[Rich Bitch]] [[Ojou]].
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* This is what happened to {{spoiler|Seiya's older sister Seika}} in ''[[Saint Seiya]]''.
* Kirika Yumura of ''[[Noir]]'' starts out with this. She only knows what her name is due to it being printed on her student ID, and a comment from Chloe towards the end of the series implies that not only is 'Kirika Yumura' not her real name, it was entirely possible that nobody remembered what her real name was.
* ''[[Monster (
* [[To Aru Majutsu no Index|Kamijou Touma]] forgot a lot about who he was when he took a feather of St. George’s Sanctuary to the face and it is irrecoverable. He forgot a lot of people he knew; he forgot why he said people were indebted to him; school; he even forgot what his parents looked like ({{spoiler|plot point}}). While a thank you letter had allowed him to obfuscate competence and convince everyone that he's fine, at least twice he had to gamble that he should have known someone because they [[Highly-Conspicuous Uniform|dressed weirdly]]. {{spoiler|Eventually, he fesses up to someone about it.}}
* ''[[Noein]]'s'' resident [[Ax Crazy]] psychopath Atori gets amnesia after nearly dying in combat, and becomes a gentle, if somewhat out of it, young man who enjoys spending time with Miho, since she reminds him of his [[Dead Little Sister]] Sarah. He does regain his memories later on, but by that point, spending time with Miho and the rest of the group has softened him and reawakened his sense of morality.
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* Happens with Getafix in one of the ''[[Asterix]]'' books.
* The recent ''Taskmaster'' mini reveals that Tasky suffers from this because of his photographic reflex ability. When he finally does remember who he was(A SHIELD agent named Tony Masters, oddly enough a named he used as an alias in the Agent X days) and thet he has a wife named Mercedes Merced. He loses his memories again when he's forced to copy the abilities of another fighter to save Mercedes' life.
* In an issue of ''[[Young Justice (
{{quote| '''Impulse:''' Great Scott! I'm moving at superspeed! Oh, yeah; I'm Impulse.}}
* One [[Archie Comics]] story had Veronica bump her head in an airplane due to turbulence, and wake up believing herself to be the heroine of a novel she was reading.
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** The [[Fridge Logic]] kicks in when you realize Stan was a student there to begin with, and that the "snob" persona is his REAL old self, whereas his regular foolish self is a product of amnesia. And Ollie knowingly keeps him in this state, with no recollection of his friends, family and old life, simply because Stan is easier to deal with that way. (Of course, [[Negative Continuity]] is in effect.)
** And Stan Laurel had an English accent anyway, being from Northern England.
* In ''[[Primal Fear (
** Subverted because {{spoiler|Norton's character didn't have amnesia/split personality at all}}.
* In ''[[Resident Evil (
** Interestingly, both regain their full memories at the same instant.
* ''[[
* In [[
* The whole plot of ''[[The Bourne Series (
* In the 2011 film [[Unknown]], Liam Neeson's character awakens from a coma after a car accident only to find that no one, not even his wife, recognizes him. Turns out that {{spoiler|he's actually an assassin, and the person that he thinks he is is actually only the cover identity given to him for this particular mission.}}
** And in the ''2006'' film ''Unknown'', the entire cast awaken in a warehouse with no memory after they were exposed to a toxic gas. Figuring out who's who becomes a pressing matter when they discover that A) they're all locked inside, B) some of them are kidnappers who'd abducted the others, and C) the kidnappers' armed and ruthless accomplices will be arriving in a few hours.
* In ''Blackout'', Keith Carradine's character is in a car accident that leaves him an amnesiac and the other man who was in the car dead. As only one of the men's identities is known, Keith takes on that one, and becomes a sweet guy who marries his nurse, adopts her kids, and has a baby with her. Everything is going swimmingly until {{spoiler|everyone, including Keith, suddenly realizes he's actually the other guy - a crazed serial killer.}} Oops.
* [[Arashi no Yoru
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', an episode from the [[Older Than You Think|Ancient]] [[Indian Languages|Sanskrit]] epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'' that was later [[Ascended Extra|Expanded]] into a theatrical drama by the Indian playwright Kalidasa around the 1st century BC, is probably the [[Ur Example]] of this trope. It's a [[Boy Meets Girl|Girl Meets Boy]] story about a woman named Shakuntala who meets Dushyanta and marries him, only for him to get cursed with [[Lase Guided Amnesia|Amnesia]] and completely forget her. The only way to lift the curse is to show him the ring that he gave her, but she loses the ring in a river. She eventually finds the ring by the end of the story, makes him remember, and then they live [[Happily Ever After]].
* Subverted in the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] novel ''Father Time''. It seems that the Eighth Doctor, of whom it was once said that "he [[Why We're Bummed Communism Fell|lives in hope]]" of a communist revolution, and reacts worse to accusations of being bourgeoisie<ref>the [[Gorgeous Period Dress]] is not helping your case, Doctor!</ref> than threats against his life, but now has amnesia, has become "[[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]]ism personified", and has a proper 9-to-5 job eliminating redundancies from companies, which is to say, getting people laid off<ref>[[Karl Marx Hates Your Guts]] is not actually applicable, but he sure does</ref>. However, it is in short order revealed that he's doing it because he has [[Children Raise You|adopted a young girl]]<ref>a la [[Monster Is a Mommy]], if you, like him, would probably [[Why Don't You Marry It?|marry]] Karl Marx given the chance</ref>, and, [[Ditzy Genius]] that he is, doesn't see the full implications of what he's doing and merely sees it as a fun challenge. As in the rest of the novels in which he has amnesia, his personality remains fundamentally the same as before.
* In ''[[The Bourne Series (
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* One of the foes from the ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV show was King Tut, a meek and mild-mannered Egyptology professor who became a [[Criminal Amnesiac|criminally inclined]] Pharaoh whenever he got hit on the head.
* One episode of ''[[
* An ''[[I
** Other episodes had Major Nelson getting the bump on the head and forgetting who Jeannie was.
* On ''[[Family Matters]]'', several episodes revolved around Steve Urkel's cool, sophisticated alter-ego, Stefan Urquelle. He was created via [[Applied Phlebotinum]], not accident, but the plot is the same. Eventually, a clone of Urkel was transformed into a permanent Stefan.
* Parodied/subverted in a sketch from ''[[The Kids in The Hall]]'', where a rural rube (Dave Foley) is kicked in the head by a cow as he reaches for a penny. He becomes a bit "off" from the experience, so his brothers try to re-create the accident. Unfortunately, the second blow to the head kills him.
{{quote| '''Mark McKinney:''' I don't know what went wrong. Always seemed to work on ''[[The Flintstones]]''.}}
* On ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'', Rob Petrie was demonstrating a breakaway violin to Buddy and Sally, but accidentally smashed a real violin on his head. Later we discover that he was missing the whole evening, because he was hanging out at some party with a girl under the name "Strativarius".
* On ''[[Married...
* In the episode "Slowly I Turn" of ''Dr. Shrinker'' (one of the features of the Krofft Supershow, 1976-77), the fat loser character Gordie hits his head and is convinced by the bad guys that he is the mad scientist, Dr. Shrinker. Even numbered blows to the head revert him back to normal; additional odd-numbered blows turn him back into the Dr. Shrinker persona.
* This is pretty much the premise of ''[[Samantha Who]]''.
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* In the [[Hustle]] episode "A Bollywood Dream", [[The Mark]], a sweatshop owner and all around jerk, has an accident, loses his memory temporarily, and realizes he doesn't like the person he used to be. {{spoiler|When he decides to give all his money to charity and go follow his childhood dreams of being an actor, the team has no choice but to call the con off.}}
* ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'': "Step-ins", ghosts who take over newly dead bodies for a second chance at life, usually go insane because A) the ghosts lose everything except for whatever they were obsessing with when they died (generally a loved one) as soon as they wake up and B) all the information they have (if any) is for someone else's life. Interestingly the two step-ins we meet weren't fixed by a smack to the head; one could only get help after he talked to the title ghost whisperer who only learned about all this an episode earlier, the other {{spoiler|had to have a near-death experience}}.
* The ''entire town'' of Storybrooke in [[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]] is under a curse that made them forget that they are characters from fairy tales. It's implied that the [[God Save Us From the Queen|Wicked Queen]]/Regina Mills remember, as does Rumplestitzkin/Mr. Gold. [[Prince Charming|Prince James]]/David Nolan gets a double whammy as he can't recall either his fairy tale identity or his Storybrooke one.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The Nameless One in ''[[
* In ''[[Escape
* In [[The Legend of Zelda]] game ''Twilight Princess'', your childhood friend/possible love interest Ilia loses her memory from getting hit with an arrow.
** [[Fridge Logic|Whereas you get hit in the head with a club and are just fine.]]
** [[Hand Wave|Link is too]] [[Badass]] [[Hand Wave|for amnesia.]]
* ''[[Overlord]]'': {{spoiler|The Overlord himself is one of the heroes who defeated the previous Overlord, but lost his memory after taking a nosedive of the nobody-could-survive-that variety. In a subversion on par with the theme of the series, the Overlord makes no efforts to redeem himself or return to his old self after the reveal.}}
* A controlled form of this process is used as an alternative to capital punishment in the world of ''[[
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World
* Sophie in ''[[
* [[Knights of the Old Republic]] {{spoiler|This is pretty much the premise of the player character, if intentionally invoked on the part of the Jedi Council.}}
* ''Infinity'' series:
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* ''[[Manhunt]] 2'' has Daniel Lamb, a scientist in prison with no memories of his life. He's been given help by Leo Kasper, an inmate. {{spoiler|In the end, it is revealed that the latter is a [[Split Personality]] implanted by Danny himself. By the time Danny woke up in his battle with Leo, he has no memories again of who he is, so Dr. Whyte gave him a new name and address so that no one would come after him again}}.
* Drek in [[Diver Down]] has this. He doesn't remember his name, his purpose, or why he's being chased, which drives most of the plot.
* Ysuran, an elven necromancer in [[
* The fairy-like Riftwalkers in [[
* [[Umineko no Naku Koro
* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' has a cruel variant of this with [[Troubled but Cute|Fenris]], a bitter fugitive slave who hates the former master who used him as a bodyguard and personal warrior. His earliest memory is of the horribly painful ritual that gave him the ability to phase through objects and erased his previous memories. {{spoiler|As it turns out, he was raised in slavery as Leto...and he asked for and ''fought'' for the "privilege" of having this done to him. He is utterly horrified to find out that he essentially destroyed his OWN identity, willingly.}}
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* In ''[http://www.melonpool.com Melonpool]'', severe bonks to the head cause Mayberry to believe he is any number of characters from the original ''[[Star Trek]]''.
* The inhabitants of ''[[The Ends]]'' are reborn without memories in an endless cycle. The protagonist, Jason, has managed to recover a portion of his identity and is now [[Quest for Identity|questing for the remainder]].
* ''[[
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', Lil Evil drinks from the Lethe. Reaction? [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4035 Agh! Who's that weirdo in the river?]
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Flintstones]]'' often had Fred switch to an alternate persona as a result of a bowling ball to the head. Years later, an episode of ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney
* An episode of ''[[
* In the ''[[Danger Mouse]]'' episode "Lord of the Bungle", during a mission in Africa Penfold takes a blow to the head and briefly believes himself to be a Tarzan-style "king of the jungle".
* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Cow Days", Cartman hits his head after being thrown from a bull, and believes himself to be a Vietnamese prostitute.
* One episode of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' featured a trio of sirens hypnotizing Jack into thinking he was a waiter named Brent Worthington and spoke with a [[Keanu Reeves]] accent.
* In the [[Donald Duck]] cartoon ''Donald's Dilemma'' (1947), Donald is hit on the head by a flowerpot knocked off a high windowsill and instantly becomes a [[The Fifties|50's-era]] crooner, and goes on to become famous. But he forgets about and ignores poor Daisy, who eventually goes to a psychologist and explains the whole thing in flashback. He tells her to choose between the two Donalds, and she chooses to drop another flowerpot - complete with the flower from the original blow - on his head while he's onstage singing to cure him.
* Related to the above: An episode of ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[A Pup Named Scooby Doo]]'', Shaggy loses his memory and believes that he's a fictional superhero, Commander Cool.
* A ''Pith Possum'' segment of ''[[The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show]]'' was based around this.
* ''[[Generator Rex]]'': {{spoiler|Rex himself. Not much is known about the circumstances surrounding his amnesia, but one thing we ''do'' know is that his personality has changed between blackouts. For example, when he led a small gang of [[EV Os]] in Hong Kong, he was a backstabbing traitor, a far cry from the hero he currently is. It is unknown right now whether the Rex we see in the present is at all like the Rex from before his blackouts.}}
* An episode of ''[[
|