Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Difference between revisions

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* Chapter 10 of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Records Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' revealed that Lily's amnesia was due to the trauma of her life as a lab experiment, which caused her memory to deteriorate as she tried to escape her grim reality by retreating into the [[Happy Place]] of her mind.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', this is the reason why Al can't remember {{spoiler|the Doors of Truth.}}

* Happens to {{spoiler|Ran Mouri}} in one of the [[Detective Conan]] [[Non Serial Movie|Non serial movies]], ''Captured in her Eyes'', after {{spoiler|she not only catches a clear view of the murderer, but is almost shot to death by him and the other local [[Action Girl]] Satou [[Taking the Bullet|takes FOUR bullets for her]].}} The victim spends a good part of the movie in an [[Heroic BSOD]], barely able to take care of herself and others, and the trope is lampshaded as her doctor says she might be afraid to recover her memories due to the events that made her go amnesiac. {{spoiler|She doesn't recover until the [[Big Bad]] tries to kill both her and Conan ''in exactly the same way''; she reacts by [[Badass Boast|loudly declaring her martial arts expertise]] and curbstomping her rival.}}

* Happens to {{spoiler|Ran Mouri}} in one of the [[Detective Conan]] [[Non-Serial Movie|Non serial movies]], ''Captured in her Eyes'', after {{spoiler|she not only catches a clear view of the murderer, but is almost shot to death by him and the other local [[Action Girl]] Satou [[Taking the Bullet|takes FOUR bullets for her]].}} The victim spends a good part of the movie in an [[Heroic BSOD]], barely able to take care of herself and others, and the trope is lampshaded as her doctor says she might be afraid to recover her memories due to the events that made her go amnesiac. {{spoiler|She doesn't recover until the [[Big Bad]] tries to kill both her and Conan ''in exactly the same way''; she reacts by [[Badass Boast|loudly declaring her martial arts expertise]] and curbstomping her rival.}}

** Also happens to a boy named Touma Tachihara in the fifteenth movie (''Quarter of Silence''), and the key to solve the mystery relays on him getting his memories back.

* Kai Hiwatari of ''[[Beyblade]]'' lost his memory after trying to use Black Dranzer when he was too young led to the destruction of the Abbey. It's not clear if this is due to emotional trauma, or physical trauma from debris.

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* [[The Bourne Series]] (like the novels) is based around this concept. In the movies Jason Bourne {{spoiler|fails to kill his target because there are young children present (and he knows he would have to kill them too). He is then shot and left for dead.}} He awakens with no memory of who he is or that he is an assassin.

* ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'' is based on this trope: The main charcter lives a normal life as a small town schoolteacher and mother of a young girl. However, she don't have any memories prior to waking up on a beach seven years ago. After a car accident, she discovers that for some unknown reason she's [[Knife Nut|VERY]] good with knifes. And step by step, her old life is starting to [[Amnesiac Dissonance|come back]].

* This is the inciting incident for the domestic drama ''Regarding Henry'', starring [[Harrison Ford]]. In it, the title character [['Tis Only a Bullet In The Brain|survives a gunshot wound to the head]], only for the resulting pinched artery to affect his memory. Cue the rest of the movie depicting him [[Quest for Identity|coming to terms]] with [[Loss of Identity|not remembering anything]] about [[Missing Time|his life before]] the [[Trauma Induced Amnesia|shot]].

* This is the inciting incident for the domestic drama ''Regarding Henry'', starring [[Harrison Ford]]. In it, the title character [['Tis Only a Bullet In The Brain|survives a gunshot wound to the head]], only for the resulting pinched artery to affect his memory. Cue the rest of the movie depicting him [[Quest for Identity|coming to terms]] with [[Loss of Identity|not remembering anything]] about [[Missing Time|his life before]] the [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia|shot]].

* Jeanne, the protagonist of ''[[Don't Look Back (Film)|Don't Look Back]]'', is unable to remember anything about her life prior to a traumatic car crash when she was 8 years old.

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* The first season of ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' had this happen to Teri as blatantly obvious padding. After escaping the terrorists who held them hostage, Teri tells Kim to stay in the car while she figures out where they are. Car goes over the side of the embankment and explodes, Teri collapses, and wakes up with no memory of who she is.

* Claire on ''[[Lost]]'' lost her memory of her kidnapping by Ethan and the Others, requiring hypnosis to recall some details.

* The Eighth Doctor of [[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]] suffered from this in his only onscreen appearance and spends a good fourth of the movie recovering from it slowly. Of course, returning from the dead {{spoiler|several hours after one has died}} apparently does that to you, even if it's not unusual for the Doctor.

* The Eighth Doctor of [[Doctor Who]] suffered from this in his only onscreen appearance and spends a good fourth of the movie recovering from it slowly. Of course, returning from the dead {{spoiler|several hours after one has died}} apparently does that to you, even if it's not unusual for the Doctor.

** And he does it ''[[Why Don't You Marry It|again]]'' in the [[Expanded Universe|spinoff novels]], after he [[Shoot the Dog|destroys Gallifrey]] (the first time, not the time that the Ninth Doctor spends his tenure angsting about). Oddly, he never really gets his memory back. Both fans and a character [[What an Idiot!|who has actually been making a concerted effort to prevent him from remembering]] lost their patience eventually.

*** It [[Retcon|finally gets revealed]] that it's not trauma-induced at all; as he points out, he didn't get it when he was destroying entire ''universes''. In fact, he suffers amnesia because {{spoiler|he's storing the entire Matrix in his mind, ready to [[Reset Button|recreate Gallifrey]]}}.

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* Used by the player character Daniel in [[Amnesia the Dark Descent]], hence the name. He writes a note to himself prior to taking a drug which causes him to lose his memory, and as you play the game you begin to learn why he did it {{spoiler|He opened up a [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] and then in an attempt to remove the curse placed on him, he ended up helping a guy kill those whom he thought were criminals and murderers. Except it turns out to be innocent people he may have been slaughtering.}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Cloud Strife suffers a perfectly understandable case of [[Trauma Induced Amnesia]], considering the incredible [[Trauma Conga Line]] he suffers before the game even '''''starts''''' -- he's already: (1) endured a lonely, alienated childhood; (2) been told he's too weak to become a SOLDIER; (3) watched his hero Sephiroth destroy his hometown and nearly murder both his childhood crush Tifa and his good friend Zack; (4) suffered over four years of sadistic experimentation by [[Complete Monster]] Hojo; and finally (5) is forced to helplessly watch Zack die in a gutwrenching heroic last stand to protect him.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Cloud Strife suffers a perfectly understandable case of [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]], considering the incredible [[Trauma Conga Line]] he suffers before the game even '''''starts''''' -- he's already: (1) endured a lonely, alienated childhood; (2) been told he's too weak to become a SOLDIER; (3) watched his hero Sephiroth destroy his hometown and nearly murder both his childhood crush Tifa and his good friend Zack; (4) suffered over four years of sadistic experimentation by [[Complete Monster]] Hojo; and finally (5) is forced to helplessly watch Zack die in a gutwrenching heroic last stand to protect him.

** Though in his case, its less amnesia and more broken memory. He was in a weird state after being experimented on, and created new memories from listening to Zack tell Cloud his story. After Zack died, he was able to pull himself together, yet his memories were still screwed up.

* In ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', Luke has [[Trauma Induced Amnesia]] from a kidnapping seven years ago that wiped out all of his memories of the event -- as well as all memories of events prior to the kidnapping -- while Guy has amnesia about {{spoiler|the death of his family}}. In Luke's case {{spoiler|it's subverted once it turns out that the Luke that got kidnapped wasn't the one his family got back -- and the recovered one didn't exist prior to the kidnapping.}}

* In ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', Luke has [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]] from a kidnapping seven years ago that wiped out all of his memories of the event -- as well as all memories of events prior to the kidnapping -- while Guy has amnesia about {{spoiler|the death of his family}}. In Luke's case {{spoiler|it's subverted once it turns out that the Luke that got kidnapped wasn't the one his family got back -- and the recovered one didn't exist prior to the kidnapping.}}

* The PC of ''[[Geneforge]] 5'' has this, from what information the player is able to gather. Many significant NPC's from throughout the series claim to vaguely recognize you, and new characters describe your past behavior from senseless rage to [[Superpower Meltdown]]. Though [[Wild Mass Guessing|speculation is rampant]], the true identity is only answered by the [[Shrug of God]]. Maybe it's just a device to justify re-explaining everything previous players should know, but new players wouldn't, and explain why the PC wouldn't have any defined relationship to previously famous NPC's.

* This happened to Shadow the Hedgehog following his apparent death in Sonic Adventure 2, when he fell after teleporting Space Colony A.R.K. back into a stable orbit. Understandable, as there was presumably head trauma involved. {{spoiler|Apparently, the robot Eggman used to stop Shadow's fall was a bit clumsy.}} His quest in the next two games was to regain his lost memories. Poor Shadow, since he had only [[Heel Face Turn|overridden the fake memory intended to make him destroy the world]] a few minutes prior to his apparent death.

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* In ''[[Heavenly Sword]]'', Kai is repressing the memory of {{spoiler|her mother's murder at the hands of Flying Fox}}, until she is forced to remember. To elaborate, being forced to remember in this case consists of {{spoiler|Flying Fox actually ''[[Dead Guy On Display|putting Kai's mother's emaciated corpse on display]]'', knowing that Kai will discover it.}}

* Ashley Riot, protaganist of [[Vagrant Story]], begins the game believing that he once had a wife and son who were murdered by thugs at a family picnic, but [[Manipulative Bastard]] Sydney proposes an alternate theory: Ashley murdered an innocent woman and her child during the course of his duties as a soldier, and through a combination of this trope and military brainwashing, convinced himself they were his family to help himself cope with the grief. [[The Un-Reveal|The game's writers deliberately left it vague as to which version of his backstory is correct]].

* Some of the events of ''[[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed II]]'' have been supressed in Ezio's memories, and only become available to Desmond in [[Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Video Game)|Brotherhood]] when he has achieved a greater level of sync. These memories include giving a [[Viking Funeral]] to his father and brothers after their execution, finding out his girlfriend Christina has left him for another man and delivering an [[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her]] speech to her new fiance, getting snubbed after trying to reignite his love for Christina during the Venezia carnival, and Christina dying in his arms after being attacked during the bonfire of the vanities.

* Some of the events of ''[[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed II]]'' have been supressed in Ezio's memories, and only become available to Desmond in [[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|Brotherhood]] when he has achieved a greater level of sync. These memories include giving a [[Viking Funeral]] to his father and brothers after their execution, finding out his girlfriend Christina has left him for another man and delivering an [[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her]] speech to her new fiance, getting snubbed after trying to reignite his love for Christina during the Venezia carnival, and Christina dying in his arms after being attacked during the bonfire of the vanities.

* In [[Skyrim]], a priestess from a cult of cannibals claims that the Dovahkiin lost a sibling when they were a child, and [[I'm a Humanitarian|took a bite out of the corpse out of curiosity]], making the two of them [[Not So Different]]. If the Dovahkiin denies any knowledge of this event, she claims that most people block out the memories of their first incident of cannibalism out of revulsion. Whether or not she's telling the truth is left up to the player to decide.

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[[Category:Memory Tropes]]

[[Category:Trauma Induced Amnesia]]

[[Category:Trope]]