Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: Difference between revisions

* Professor Binns in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' is constantly mistaking everyone for the students of centuries past. It's implied that he's so out of it, he doesn't even realize he died.

* ''[[The Animals of Farthing Wood]]''. After Mole dies, Badger is pretty old and out of it by this time, so when he encounters Mole's son, Mossy, he mistakenly believes that Mossy is his father. Weasel, wanting to be kind to Badger is his last few years, asks Mossy to keep up the charade to spare his feelings.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Feet of Clay|Feet of Clay]]'', Old Mrs Gammage has been going to the same pub for decades. Now deaf, blind and senile, she's completely failed to realise it's become an undead hangout. The "monsters" are too nice to tell her the truth, so when we see her she's cheerfully calling a bogeyman "Charlie", and asking about his plumbing business.

** In ''[[Discworld/A Hat Full of Sky|A Hat Full of Sky]]'', old Mr Weavall keeps calling Tiffany "Mary" after his daughter, who died years ago.

* In ''[[Xenogears]]'', the two main protagonists, Fei and Elly {{spoiler|have been re-incarnating since the dawn of "history" 10,000~ years before the start of the game}}. As such there are several characters (such as [[Big Bad|Krelian]]) who are functionally immortal who {{spoiler|knew their previous incarnations}}. Emerelda was {{spoiler|also created by one of their past incarnations as a [[Replacement Goldfish]] for the child Elly was incapable of having at that point in history}}. Emerelda refers to Fei as "Kim" {{spoiler|because she actually believes that Fei is Kim}} and is a legitimate case of this trope in action. Krelian meanwhile {{spoiler|knows full well that these are seperate people from the ones he was friends with 500 years ago, but calls them Lacan and Sophia anyway because its his way of keeping their memory alive}}.

* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'': {{spoiler|the protagonist}} believes {{spoiler|he's Alex Mercer, suffering from [[The Corruption]]. He's not; he's a strain of [[The Virus]], unconsciously mimicking its first meal}}.

** It's made explicit by the end of ''[[Halo 3]]'', where Guilty Spark comes out and ''says'' {{spoiler|that humans ''are'' the [[Precursors|Forerunners]], or at least their direct descendants}}. This does not, however, stop him from going [[Ax Crazy]] when he realizes that in order to save the galaxy from the Flood, {{spoiler|Master Chief is planning on destroying "his" Halo ''again''}}.

* A drunken [[Boisterous Bruiser|Oghren]] from ''[[Dragon Age]]'' can do this to the player character, mistaking him/her for {{spoiler|his ex-wife's lover}} Hespith and insisting that he won't let "some kind of moss-biting poetess" march into the [[Player Character|Warden's]] camp.