History Main / AmnesiacDissonance

* There is an instance or two where ComicBook/TheJoker, Franchise/{{Batman}}'s enemy, loses his memories and becomes a regular family man. This self is always consumed by his madness returning.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse character ComicBook/TheFalcon went through something like this in a storyline where it was [[RetCon 'revealed']] that he was actually a [[ScaryBlackMan former street hustler named 'Snap']] who had been brainwashed by the ComicBook/RedSkull to be the perfect new partner for Comicbook/CaptainAmerica, supposedly so that the Skull could then activate a post-hypnotic suggestion later to make him betray Cap. This was later {{Ret Con}}ned so that "Snap" was the fake memory.
* Early on in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', Professor Xavier mindwiped ComicBook/{{Magneto}} and convinced him that he was a baseline human who taught handicapped children and was having a relationship with a human woman (with whom he eventually moved in). It worked...for a while.
* When a de-aged, amnesiac ComicBook/{{Magneto}} turned up in the normal ''ComicBook/XMen'' titles in the '90s, he spent a considerable amount of time worrying about his past actions and whether he was destined to repeat them. This was ultimately resolved when he was [[RetCon revealed to be a clone instead]]. [[spoiler:[[ExpendableClone And then killed off]]]].
* Marvel Universe's villain ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}. It was revealed that his Photographic reflex ability comes at the cost of his personal memories. When he's able to remember who he was [[spoiler:(A ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} agent named Tony Masters and that he's married to the woman that was tagging along with him in the adventure who is also a SHIELD agent)]] he regrets all the bad things he has done as Taskmaster. Sadly, in order to protect [[spoiler:his wife]] Mercedes, he has to [[LimitBreak use his ability to its limit]] by combining every move he had learned along with copying the fighting style of the guy attacking them in order to defeat him, causing him to forget himself again.
* Earth-2 ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} had been suffering from amnesia during her criminal career. When she recovered, she was willing to go to prison for her crimes. (Later, during a story where Batman sprang her from jail to help him, she [[RetCon revealed]] that she had made up the amnesia to make her HeelFaceTurn plausible; in reality, she had wanted to quit.)

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Super Sonic is haunted for a long time by recurring nightmares of a demonic creature destroying the world and saving him for last. Eventually, he discovers these are actually representations of his past destructive urges, remembering in full that he was once the evil, chaotic Super Sonic. This leads him to refuse to use his powers lest he become corrupted by them once more - indeed, each time he taps chaos energy or his inert powers, he reverts to his crazy self. [[spoiler:His desire to not become a demon again ends in tragedy, as he turns evil again after draining the energy from Chaos - and he is promptly merged back with Sonic, seemingly ending the pacifist Super Sonic's life.]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** Subverted with Post-Crisis ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}. Kara suffered from amnesia when her rocket landed on Earth in ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'', and ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 for a while]]'' she wondered whether she was a good person or an evil person pretending to be good. Eventually she remembered everything [[spoiler:and it turned out that she was really a good person]].
** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', the Phantom Zoners' psychic manipulations force Charlie Kweskill to remember that he used to be a Kryptonian criminal known as Quex-Ul before losing his memory and becoming the Daily Planet's mousey layout designer.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Violine}}'', two of the villains, Van Beursen and Muller, have a HeelFaceTurn after going into a cave filled with amnesia-inducing gas. [[spoiler: the other main villain, Marushka, is implied to undergo this at the end of the story]].

* ''ComicBook/HackSlash'': Cassie's love interest Samhain, a potentially-redeemable Slasher, turns out to be Akakios, the first Slasher and leader of the [[AncientConspiracy Black Lamps]], after treacherous underlings cast an amnesia spell on him. After he got his memories back he became the BigBad of the final arc and never got redeemed, forcing her to kill him.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': When [[spoiler: Doctor Eggman]] appears in Issue #5, he's suffering from [[IdentityAmnesia total amnesia]], with no knowledge of his past deeds. He's also lacking in his past ambitions, instead being a helpful neighbor and mechanic to the village which takes him in. However, it's [[AmbiguousSituation left unclear if he's really amnesic, or just faking it]]. [[spoiler: Issue #11 reveals that it's legitimate, as shown by his terror at [[MadScientist Doctor Starline's]] promise to restore his old persona, which he succeeds in doing during the following issue. Though ironically, what fully triggers the return of Eggman's memories and identity as a villain is a ''paternalistic instinct'' at the sight of a roughed-up [[MagnumOpus Metal Sonic]].]]
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Circe mind-wiped herself and took on what she intended to be a temporary mortal identity to mess with Ares' current plans and break Diana's heart as a false friend. Her plan went awry when she came to value Diana's friendship so much that she tried to refuse her own identity even after she knew beyond a doubt she was Circe and her memories returned. Her attempt to save Diana and ComicBook/{{Artemis}} failed and Temi died because she tried to do so in her mortal guise without her full power. All of her subsequent interactions with the Amazon were colored by this friendship, as Diana is now one of the only two people besides herself that she cares for even if they're usually fighting.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'': Abe Sapien ends up learning that his original human pre-amnesia self was, alongside all his associates in the Oannes Society, [[spoiler:an [[BigBad Ogdru Jahad]] worshipper who wanted to bring about the apocalypse and rule over what remained]]. He doesn't take it well.
-->'''Oannes Member''': Caul, the real Caul, understood! He would be right beside us!
-->'''Abe''': ''Then thank God he's dead!''

** Ysuran begins ''VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance'' with a bad case of amnesia and a spellbook from which he learns the art of necromancy; probing into his past reveals that he's a former terrorist and ally of the Eldreth Veluuthra, a faction of elf supremacists, who was struck with amnesia when his mentor learned the truth about him and tried to stop him. Upon learning this, he [[ThatManIsDead swears off his former identity]] and decides to use his [[DarkIsNotEvil powers of darkness]] [[TheAtoner for the good of the realms]].

* In ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'', Alita eventually discovers that she was a ruthless terrorist before her body was discovered in the Scrapyard at the beginning of the series. In fact, she's directly ''responsible'' for the {{dystopia}} she'd been rebelling against.

* Happens several times in ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'', subverted with [[spoiler:Setsuna and Sara: Setsuna regains some of Alexiel's memories but manages to maintain his identity as a separate person from her, and Sara never regains any memories of her life as Gabriel]] but played agonizingly straight with [[spoiler:Kira.]]
* For the first two seasons of ''Anime/BloodPlus'', Saya goes through this after meeting Haji, and starts to remember when she went [[UnstoppableRage berserk]] in Vietnam and older memories.

* Villetta Nu of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' goes through this when her battlefield injuries leave her amnesiac. One of the enemy, Kaname Ohgi, takes her in, conceals her past from her, and keeps her hidden from his comrades. Slowly, she grows infatuated with him...[[spoiler:until her memories resurface and she shoots him with his own gun before rejoining her old allies. In spite of this, Ohgi risks his life to confess his love to her, and in the end, Villetta is able to reconcile her identities and marry him.]]

* Inverted and averted in ''Manga/DeathNote'': Protagonist Light gives up his memories of being the mass-murderer "Kira" as part of a MemoryGambit, then his mind wiped self tries to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] by joining a task force devoted to capturing Kira. Although he still keeps his intelligence and ''says'' that his thought patterns are similar to Kira's, his personality changes to that of a decent person rather than the self-righteous, prideful WellIntentionedExtremist[=/=]KnightTemplar he was before that would be willing to use the Death Note. Even if he doesn't sympathize with Kira because he wants to clear his name, the personality change was the series' only notable headache. [[spoiler:But when he gets his memories back, there's no dissonance -- just a PsychoticSmirk. Everything that happened went "Exactly as planned."]]
** A jarring difference is the way he treats Misa. While he was perfectly happy to seduce and manipulate her when they first met, amnesiac Light vigorously opposes L's efforts to do the same.
** Light confronts a troubling question: ''could'' he actually be Kira? To answer this question to his satisfaction, he must contemplate: ''could'' he, ''would'' he ever use the Death Note? Would he kill another person? After genuine, intense introspection, Light reaches a conclusion -- No. He would not and could not. [[DramaticIrony He is wrong]].

* In ''Manga/ElfenLied'', when Lucy loses her memories, she goes from being a violent mass murderer to an innocent, harmless and ''extremely'' [[ManChild child-like]] Nyu.
* In ''Literature/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'', after both undergoing a HeroicSacrifice, Kururi and Eliza lose their memories. After getting a magical treatment to 'loosen' their memories so they can return gradually, Eliza has a crisis where she essentially reverts to her childhood self before her BreakTheHaughty and DefrostingIceQueen developments alongside Kururi take place, since she recalls those memories and not those with him, and thus she returns to being a petulant RoyalBrat, instead of her current YamatoNadeshiko {{Housewife}} persona Eli, splitting up with Kururi and trying to go back to her now ruined parents. After a HostageSituation where Kururi rescues her, the trauma of seeing him stabbed InTheBack returns the rest of her memories all at once and they make up.
* [[spoiler:Agni and Judah]] in ''Manga/FirePunch'' completely lose their memories at least once. With vague recollection of their past idendities, they think what they've done was too horrible.

* Though he didn't exactly turn evil, Sho in ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'' had this happen in the infamous arc where [[spoiler:he killed his father after said father had been forcibly turned into a Guyver-killing Zoanoid that ripped out Sho's brain]]. Notably, Sho was affected by this for some time: he built up a mental block about his powers that only subsided when his love of and duty towards Mizuki overruled his guilt.
* In the ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' manga, Keiichi falls asleep, and forgets he [[spoiler:kills Mion and Rena.]] He wakes up quickly and sees the [[spoiler:bloody sight.]] This is not in the anime or sound novels, though.
** One example that did occur in all adaptations is when in a later arc, Keiichi [[spoiler:recalls said act, which he forgot by virtue of [[GroundhogDayLoop not living in the world in which it occurred.]]]]
** Although he wasn't so much "Amnesiac" as [[spoiler:an alternate dimensional self.]]
* In ''[[Anime/PrettySammy Magical Project S]]'', Sasami's friend Misao has the split personality of Pixy Misa created by Rumia. Since she has no memories of being Pixy Misa, she's completely clueless. Pixy Misa seems to be aware of being Misao, though, and the series often plays this up for laughs, such as when Pixy Misa tricks Sasami into believing she's "kidnapped" Misao (by using a giant screen to cover her transformations, all the while Misao is ''completely'' confused as to what's going on). [[spoiler:After Misao discovers that she's Pixy Misa and had been fighting her best friend all along, she has a mental breakdown over the conflicting personalities.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', nearly played straight with filler character Menma. Formerly a bandit, he became kindly and even heroic after losing his memories. However, the trope falls apart when it's revealed that he lost his memories during a HeelFaceTurn.
* Atori in ''Anime/{{Noein}}'' goes from AxCrazy PsychoElectro to a mild, almost childlike guy after losing his memory. When his memory is restored, he becomes rather unstable, but stays a good guy because he wants to [[LickedByTheDog keep protecting the children.]]

* Mara from ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', despite being a demon, is shown to be extremely gentle and kind after she loses her memories. Unfortunately for the protagonists, she was holding Keiichi's sister hostage before she lost her memories, making it necessary for them to restore her memories.
* In ''Literature/ScrappedPrincess'', Sim, a cute little amnesiac waif, is taken in by the main characters. She is later abducted by the Peacemakers, ancient humanlike machines out to kill the protagonists, and revealed to be one of them who had been uncompressed from her storage state erroneously. When she is fully uncompressed, she is called 'Cz', has the form of an adult and remembers her original function as the protagonists' enemy, though she retains her 'Sim' memories.
* Akira in ''Anime/EdenOfTheEast'' wakes up [[NakedFirstImpression naked]] in the middle of Washington D.C. with a cell phone and no clue who he is or how he ended up there. As he tries to figure out what's going on, he at first gets the impression that he was a terrorist, but it's a bit more complicated than that...
* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** [[spoiler:Jellal]] gets called out for all his past crimes by Erza during the Oracion Seis arc when she's trying to prove she's not going to fall for his tricks again and buy his lie about having amnesia. Except he really does have amnesia, and since neither of them know that [[spoiler:he was brainwashed into committing those crimes]], and he's actually a good person at heart he's horrified to learn what kind of a person he was. [[spoiler:He slowly regains his memories over the seven-year {{Timeskip}} Erza spends trapped in suspended animation, including the memories of his brainwashed days, but he still remains a good guy.]]
** [[spoiler:Natsu]] as of chapter 416 is blissfully unaware of his past life [[spoiler:as E.N.D aka Etherious Natsu Dragneel, the most powerful and dreaded Demon ever created by Zeref.]] Chapter 436 further ups the ante by revealing that [[spoiler: Natsu was originally dead ''400 years ago'' and revived as E.N.D. -- by Zeref '''''Dragneel''''', his older brother]].
* Teito in ''[[Manga/ZeroSevenGhost 07 Ghost]]'' [[spoiler:flees the military, abandoning a promising career, when he remembers that Ayanami, one of the top military officers, killed his "father."]]
* Neo Roanoke in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' comes down with a bad case of amnesiac dissonance once he's taken prisoner aboard the ''Archangel'' and meets Captain Murrue Ramius, who [[spoiler:was his lover back when he was the heroic AcePilot Mu La Flaga]]. Unfortunately, this and Neo's feelings about the unpleasant things he'd been doing prior to that point are given very little screen time, though he ''does'' regret the actions he commited in his amnesiac state.
* Kurando from ''Manga/PopcornAvatar''. When he was little, he was much more energetic and prone to perverted pranks. When he temporarily regresses to that mental age, he makes such an impression on the girls in his class that they continue to be terrified of him after he reverts back to normal.

* Bruno from ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' is a kind-hearted ButtMonkey who's eager to remember who he was before he befriended the protagonists. [[spoiler: It turns out that he's actually Antinomy, who's opposing the heroes as part of the WellIntentionedExtremist's plan to destroy the city. He decides that he trusts the heroes more, and acts as a StealthMentor to them by pretending that he's gone back to the antagonist's side.]]
* This happens a whole lot in ''Manga/PandoraHearts''. For example, Gilbert, who has been tracking down and fighting the Baskervilles for the entire manga, finds out that [[spoiler: he was actually the heir to the leader of the Baskervilles in the first place.]]
* In ''Anime/FZeroGPLegend'', this trope is taken to the logical extreme when [[spoiler: Miss Killer, Black Shadow's most trusted and competent subordinate, is revealed to be Haruka Misaki, protagonist Ryu Suzaku's ''girlfriend''. She had been trying to get revenge on Zoda for almost killing Ryu, when she fell into a trap intended for Zoda and they were both cryogenically frozen. When Haruka and Zoda were thawed by Black Shadow, he erased her memories and raised her anew as his minion.]]
* Catarina in ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' was a bitchy spoiled brat until she accidentally hit her head and got knocked out for a few days, after which she woke up with memories of her past life and could no longer take herself so seriously. She instantly reformed only to realize that she had somehow reincarnated into an otome game villainess with terrible fates in store for her.
** In the AlternateUniverse spinoff ''Verge of Destruction Arc'' Catarina didn't get her PastLifeMemories back until several years later, and so ended up becoming a bullying AlphaBitch, much to her subsequent embarrassment. She also discovered she was much, ''much'' closer to her impending dooms.
* ''Manga/HybridXHeartMagiasAcademyAtaraxia'': Ragrus started out as an extremely cruel and sadistic villainess, and hated her opponent Silvia's guts until Silvia knocks her out. Ragrus wakes up with amnesia and becomes really sweet, innocent, and one of Silvia's biggest fans. Then ''everyone's'' memories are tampered with and makes Silvia and Ragrus think they are best friends. Once everyone gets their memories back, though Ragrus regains her strength and harshness, she remains friends with Silvia and clearly values their time together, [[{{Tsundere}} even if she won't admit it out loud]].

* In the anime film ''Anime/{{Colorful|2010}}'' [[spoiler:"I", a forsaken spirit that possesses a boy called Makoto, is more vocal and forward then Makoto ever was much to the surprise of his classmates, prompting "I" to wonder what kind of person Makoto was. "I" as it turns out ''is'' Makoto.]]
* The title character in ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'' loses his memory shortly after crashing on Earth (probably when he got electrocuted by the power station while trying to eat it), and is unaware that he is actually a WeaponOfMassDestruction until his built in self-defense protocols start getting activated. When he believes Hogarth is dead, the next army attack seems to undo the dent in his head and his full military programming comes back online (though he still reacts based on self-defense, targeting the greatest threat which is actively attacking him). When [[spoiler:it turns out that Hogarth isn't dead]], he helps the Giant remember their time together and that he has a choice in his own actions.
* Invoked in ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings''. [[spoiler:The Moon King is a cruel and sadistic man who despises human emotion and weakness. After his defeat at his grandson's hands, he loses his memories, and is told by the townsfolk that he is Kubo's grandfather, one of the kindest and most compassionate men any of them have ever met]].

* The eponymous character in ''Film/AngelHeart'' discovers that [[spoiler:the evil murderer that he was hired to find was [[TheKillerInMe himself]]]], and not only that, he also found out that he had [[spoiler:[[SurpriseIncest had sex with]] [[ParentalIncest his daughter]]]].
* ''Film/BlindHorizon'': "Frank", the main character, tries to warn people about a plot against the President which he knows of [[spoiler: since in fact he was one of three hitmen hired to kill him]].
* Throughout ''Film/TheBourneSeries'', Jason Bourne is horrified to learn what a merciless killer he was before his amnesia. The amnesia works as something as a mental-reset button, as he'd been brainwashed into becoming the assassin. As a result, post-amnesia he is TheAtoner.

* Played with in ''Film/DarkCity1998'': J. Murdoch has no memories, and the only evidence he can find about his past points to him being a serial killer. He's horrified, and soon becomes convinced that it can't be true, that he isn't a killer. Turns out he's right, and the truth is even stranger: [[spoiler:RealityWarper aliens had staged the evidence, and implanted everyone around him with false memories -- and they've been doing so for years. Murdoch's own amnesia is because he had somehow rejected the latest attempted memory transplant.]]
* The protagonist of ''Film/TheLongKissGoodnight'', a former assassin who ended up as a housewife in a small city.
* ''Regarding Henry'', where Creator/HarrisonFord plays an AmoralAttorney who gets shot and loses his memory. He's appalled at what a jerk he discovers he was.
* In ''Film/{{Overboard|1987}}'', Goldie Hawn plays a RichBitch who loses her memory after falling overboard her yacht. Kurt Russell plays an average joe handyman who convinces her that she is his wife (he's widowed) in order to get revenge for unpaid work on the yacht. The two characters fall in love and when Hawn's character eventually regains her memory she must decide whether to go back to her previous life or remain with her new family. Notably, she doesn't automatically become nice when she gets amnesia. She's still pretty much a bitch until living a life where everything isn't handed to her teaches her some humility.

* Happens in ''Film/ResidentEvil2002'' with [[spoiler: Spence. Gas released by the Red Queen's defences causes him (and Alice) to lose their memories. He spends most of the film as a good guy but, when he regains his memory, he also reverts to his original personality - an amoral shit whose theft of the T-Virus started everything.]]
* Douglas Quaid, the central character in ''[[Film/TotalRecall1990 Total Recall]]'', discovers that before he had his memories rewritten he was Hauser, TheDragon to the movie's BigBad, and that he had been on a mission to destroy the people on whose side he had since come to fight. Quaid is shocked and disgusted by this revelation and refuses to become Hauser again, [[IHatePastMe going as far as calling his former self an "asshole"]].

* [[spoiler: Martin Harris, Creator/LiamNeeson's character]] in ''Film/Unknown2011'' turns out to be a terrorist/mercenary-assassin; [[spoiler:when he suffered amnesia after a car accident, he woke up convinced that his cover identity was his real past, leading to him thwarting his successor to the Martin Harris identity as he attempted to complete the original assassination]].
* Film/XMenFilmSeries:
** Seen in ''Film/X2XMenUnited''; Stryker claims that he and Wolverine were partners before Wolverine lost his memory.
--->'''Stryker:''' You were always an animal, Wolverine. I just gave you claws.
** Based on [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine the prequel film]], [[spoiler:Stryker appears to have been projecting his own moral vacuum onto a member of the subspecies of humanity he despised]].

* Roland from ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'' is a {{cyborg}} SuperSoldier with LaserGuidedAmnesia, who only remembers that his violent past life was somehow bad for him and refuses to kill people, even as he's haunted by memories of friends, lovers and family that are full of holes and have no context. As Roland becomes more violent over the course of the book he begins recovering more and more memories of his old life and therefore more and more memories of violence, which helps making him even more violent in the present day. This slippery slope disturbs him greatly. [[spoiler:In the final chapter, going all-out against an invading army unlocks all of Roland's memories and reminds him that he was a terrorist who planned and executed a nuclear FalseFlagOperation on American soil. The ensuing dissonance of his former memories drives Roland [[AteHisGun to blow a hole in his own head]] rather than go back to who he used to be.]]

* In Creator/RobertLudlum's ''Literature/TheBourneIdentity'', the amnesiac David Webb comes to believe that he is professional contract killer Jason Bourne, which was in fact only a cover assigned to him by the CIA before the incident that caused his amnesia. When the BigBad comes to realize that something of this nature is occurring, he begins setting Webb/Bourne up to reinforce this belief.

* In Creator/EvanHunter's novel ''Buddwing'' a man wakes up in a park with no idea who he is. He creates a name for himself based on seeing a Budweiser truck and an airplane and goes searching for who he is and what has happened to him. At the end [[spoiler:he realizes that his wife committed suicide because of his dickishness and the shock gives him amnesia ''again'' and the story starts all over again. In the movie "Mister Buddwing" he realizes that his wife is in a hospital, not a mortuary, and he goes to her and apparently reconciles.]]

* Creator/DianaWynneJones' ''Literature/CastleInTheAir'': It turns out that one of the characters has been given amnesia and memories of a different life in order to teach him a lesson.
* ''Literature/DanganronpaZero'': {{Exaggerated|Trope}}. The protagonist, Ryouko Otonashi, is a somewhat ditzy girl who is [[SmittenTeenageGirl hopelessly in love]] with her childhood friend, Yasuke Matsuda, and suffers from severe anterograde amnesia to the point of having to write down her memories in a notebook. [[spoiler:When the amnesia wears off at the end, she finally remembers that she is actually [[Characters/DanganronpaJunkoEnoshima Junko Enoshima]], the insane [[HopeCrusher despair fetishist]] whose murders and machinations not only kickstarted the entire ''Danganronpa'' franchise, but caused "[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history]]".]] To say the contrast is a stark one is a severe understatement.
%%* Happens to Corwin at the opening of [[Creator/RogerZelazny Roger Zelazny's]] ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber''.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: The Eighth Doctor, [[RunningGag amnesia-prone as he is]], runs into this problem in the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' after a particularly [[TraumaInducedAmnesia nasty]] and [[MythArc long-lasting]] bout. It's brought up near the end of the series's run by his companion Fitz that perhaps he remembers much more than he lets on, but doesn't want to accept [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed the implications of the cause of his amnesia]]. Later, he would turn down multiple offers to restore his memories, to the point it became quite suspicious. [[spoiler:Turns out, the first time he destroyed Gallifrey, he uploaded its population into the Matrix, which he placed into his own head, causing the multiple memory shorts. Restoring his mind would have doomed the Time Lords.]]
* In ''Literature/DontLookBack'', amnesiac protagonist Sam experiences this when she discovers from other people that she used to be an AlphaBitch before her disappearance and her best friend's death. Because she doesn't remember how cruel she could be and is ashamed at what she hears about it, she tries to use her current amnesia to her advantage by becoming a nicer person again and reconnecting with estranged friends she had previously discarded.

* Happens in the ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' novel ''Empyrean Age'': A high-ranking, slave-keeping [[TheEmpire Amarrian]] official suffers amnesia due to a botched assassination attempt. He is found by a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, which includes [[LaResistance Minmatar]] members, who naturally react to his presence with revulsion. While he eventually resumes his position, he [[BecomingTheMask keeps]] the nice guy persona he developed during the story.
* At the beginning of Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'', Phaethon learns that he is suffering from LaserGuidedAmnesia and is told he has committed horrible offenses. A Neptunian urges him to flee to have his personality repaired, pointing out that his self-chosen name [[MeaningfulName shows]] that he is not by nature as acquiescent as he acts.

* [[Creator/PGWodehouse P.G. Wodehouse's]] novel ''The Indiscretions of Archie'' does this for laughs: Archie befriends a man who has lost his memory during the war and, horrified, suspects that his name may be Lancelot.

* Thomas from ''Literature/TheMazeRunner'' trilogy is so afraid of having to deal with this that he constantly refuses even the possibility of having his memories restored. [[spoiler:He gets his way and he never actually learns what kind of person he was]].
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's fantasy novel ''[[Literature/WorldOfTheFiveGods Paladin of Souls]]'', the supporting character Goram is a menial servant, well meaning but rather slow-witted, who does not remember his previous life before he was captured by an enemy nation and enslaved. By the end of the book the protagonist, Dowager Royina Ista, discovers that part of his soul--"his memories and his wits"--was stolen from him by sorcery, and she is able to restore his lost self to him. As she herself completely understands, he is ''not'' at all happy about this, but deeply anguished; the man he used to be was a nobleman, and also (as Ista herself puts it) "...swordsman, bravo, quondam murderer, destroyer of lives--not just of enemies', but friends'--shall I go on? The sort of fellow whose funeral's orations are all on the theme of ''Well, that's a relief''." Having lived for several years in his amnesiac state in the company of men who are not only of noble birth and skilled fighters, but also men of integrity and true honor, the restored Goram is well aware of what a very mixed blessing the restoration of his old self is, and it seems likely that he will be a genuinely repentant and reformed man for the remainder of his life.
%%* Pretty much the plot of ''[[Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries Chasm City]]'' by Creator/AlastairReynolds.
* In Larissa Ione's ''Rogue Rider'' when Reseph remembers what he did while he was [[HorsemenoftheApocalypse Pestilence]] he suffers a sanity break as the pure evil of the actions he remembers are such an antithesis to his true nature.
* The entire plotline of K. J. Parker's ''Literature/TheScavengerTrilogy'', although Poldarn quickly figures out that he probably won't like what he remembers.
** The problem isn't just that he has issues with who he was before he lost his memories. It's also that the amnesia fades over time, [[spoiler:so he repeatedly regains memories too late to stop himself causing a tragedy and/or realises too late that the tragedies he purposefully caused were committed upon his former friends and loved ones,]] giving him issues with what he did as an amnesiac. [[spoiler:Even more Amnesiac Dissonance is (mostly) averted by the fact that he doesn't remember the horrible deaths he has died in previous incarnations except in dreams. He is (possibly) both the final reincarnation of everyone in the novel and the god Poldarn who is fated to cause the Apocalypse without knowing he is the god Poldarn. Making him both culprit and victim in different incarnations of every atrocity in the series.]]
* In a short story by Creator/VivianVandeVelde, a young prince wakes up in a field staring into the eyes of a witch, who tells him perhaps this will help, and leaves. He struggles to survive in the nearby city, selling everything he has on him and eventually working for a living. Finally, he comes across some people who recognize him and take him home. Due to his complete amnesia of anything before, and the fact that he now understands how difficult other people have it, he's a much nicer person. Everyone who knew him before keeps complimenting him on his niceness in a way that's not quite complimentary. Even worse, his ArrangedMarriage fiancée has the same eyes as the witch who [[CursedWithAwesome cursed]] him, a fact he tries hard not to think about too much.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': In [[Creator/DanAbnett Dan Abnett's]] Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''Traitor General'', [[spoiler:Sturm]] is deeply indignant about his treatment by Imperial forces. Without the mindlock on his memories, he realizes that he [[HeelRealization had been treated justly]] and [[RedemptionEqualsDeath deserved to die]].

* In ''Ancestral Night'' by Creator/ElizabethBear, Farweather seems to expect that once she's forcibly removed the court-mandated block on Haimey's memories, Haimey will realise that everything she thought she believed was a lie, and switch to the side of the psychotic pirate. Instead, Haimey takes responsibility for her past self's actions, while also being clear that remembering them does not make her that person, and that, since the memory block was voluntary, that person ''chose'' to become the person she is now.

** "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E04PassingThroughGethsemane Passing Through Gethsemane]]" centers around a mind-wiped SerialKiller who lives as [[spoiler:a monk in a religious order]]. Upon discovering his past, he's aghast. How can he pray for forgiveness when he doesn't even know his sins? Ultimately, he decides the only way he can atone is [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath through death]]. And so, despite his superior's pleas that he accept the mercy of a new life, he allows himself to be crucified by the families of his old victims.]] In an [[{{Irony}} ironic]] TwistEnding, [[spoiler:the leader of the lynch mob is sentenced to mind-wipe, and joins the same religious order. The aforementioned superior requested him specifically so as to exercise forgiveness for Brother Edward's murder]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'':

** Subverted in the case of Angel's son Connor, who didn't get a full-color memory restoration when the Window of Orlon was broken in the Season 5 episode [[Recap/AngelS05E18Origin "Origin"]], but a vague remembrance like a dream. As the major impression is that his experiences from Seasons 3 and 4 were very unpleasant, and he still has his FakeMemories of growing up with a normal family, he seems happy enough with who he is now.

* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' had a serial killer attempting to escape police, only to fall several stories down and end up in a coma. He awakes years later, with no memory of his former life or his actions. Most people believe he's faking, but his amnesia is sincere...until his memories begin returning. [[spoiler:He escapes and is tracked to the park he worked at as a ranger, the police believing he's trying to kill one more time. In actuality he dug up a previously-unfound body to confirm whether his memories were real. He turns himself in on discovering this, admitting to all his crimes in exchange for life rather than a death sentence due to his sincere regret for his actions]].
* In the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Seeing Red", a young man was found with a bullet in his head that gave him temporary amnesia of recent events, only recalling that other people were hurt. The characters find the crime scene with two dead women and it eventually leads to a recently released convict. While it seems like the convict was the one who did the crime at first, [[spoiler: it turns out that it was the young man with the gunshot wound in the head who brought the gun to threaten one of the girls who was his ex. When the other girl defended the ex, the young man started beating on her head as the convict ,who was her brother, entered. In an attempt to defend the girl (who was dead at this point), he shot twice at the young man, one bullet going through the ex in the process.]]
* ''Series/DarkMatter2015'' starts out with six people waking up from stasis on a spaceship with no memories, then finding out that they (apart from Five, [[MysteriousWaif a teenage girl]] who, unlike the five adults, has no wanted file in the ship's database and it's a mystery what she was doing among them) were ruthless mercenaries hired by corrupt [[MegaCorp Mega-Corps]] to wipe out planetary populations. They decide to help the people they were hired to kill instead. Despite learning their given names from their wanted files at the end of the pilot (again, apart from Five), they continue to call themselves [[YouAreNumberSix One through Six]] based on the order they woke up, since they [[ThatManIsDead don't consider themselves to be the same people]] anymore. One, Two and Six are particularly horrified to learn their original selves were criminals, while Three and Four are more indifferent but still not eager to do things that are outright evil.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]], [[spoiler:the Master]] hides from [[spoiler:the Time War]] by transforming himself into a [[spoiler:human being]] and erasing his memory, becoming [[spoiler:the mild-mannered, philanthropic Professor Yana]]. His original memories are stored inside [[spoiler:a watch which, when he opens it decades later, restores his memories to him -- and in an instant, he turns against everyone he'd been working with as Yana and hatches a plan to conquer the universe.]]
* On ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', Echo gradually comes to realize that Caroline, the original personality in her body, wasn't necessarily such a good person all the time, and is no longer sure if she wants her old memories back. This may have been a response to the audience finding Caroline, who was a member of an AnimalWrongsGroup, to be a rather unsympathetic heroine.
** Although, as Adelle notes, Caroline isn't evil -- she's an idealist (which, Adelle ''also'' notes, can be ''worse''). Echo isn't that different from Caroline, but comes off more sympathetically.
* PlayedForLaughs and LampshadeHanging in an episode of ''Series/DueSouth'' where Benton, in a state of amnesia, reacts with total bemusement to the other characters' explanations of what he is normally like, and the quirks that they have all by then gotten used to, like his living in an unfurnished apartment where he sleeps on the floor. ("Why am I living like this? Am I being punished?")
* Lucas from ''Series/EmeraldCity'' seems like a nice guy, but if Mombi's right about his sword meaning he was one of the Wizard's guards -- a force known for their brutality -- he didn't used to be. [[spoiler:Given the brutal way he kills her, she probably is]].
* In the ''Series/{{Endgame}}'' episode "The Caffeine Hit", Casey Roman, suffering from stroke-induced amnesia, hires Arkady Balagan to find out who he is and where his vaguely-remembered wife is. Casey is horrified to learn that he's a CorruptCorporateExecutive in the middle of a bitter divorce brought on by his multiple affairs, including one with his best friend's wife. Even worse, the search for the missing woman turns up evidence that someone was trying to kill her (and may have succeeded), and Casey, as the prime suspect, can't remember whether he's guilty or not. [[spoiler: Balagan and company expose the real murderer in time to save the intended victim. Said murderer is not Casey.]]
* Inverted on ''Series/GeneralHospital'' in 1996 after Jason Quartermaine wakes from his coma with no memory of his life. All of his family and friends' efforts to educate him result in him being inexplicably disgusted with how much of a PuritySue he was--straight-A pre-med student, varsity athlete, steady girlfriend, etc. He turns into a very different character as "Jason Morgan", becoming local mob boss Sonny Corinthos's enforcer, and this new identity sticks for the rest of the series.

* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'': One of the true horrors of the game is realizing what a depraved monster the player character Daniel was before he gave himself amnesia. No wonder he chose to forget, even though it would make killing Alexander a lot easier if he knew what he was supposed to do and why.
** Its side story, ''Justine'', is a [[spoiler: morality test set up by Justine, to see if she remains a manipulative sadist even after losing her memories]]. Whether this turns out to be the case depends on the player's choices.
** The same thing is true in its sequel, ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs''. Indeed, Mandus may be even ''worse'' of a monster than Daniel was, and he only clings to sanity whilst he can still fixate entirely on his need to rescue his missing kids. [[spoiler: And when he finds out that ''[[OffingTheOffspring he murdered them]]'', well, it's no wonder he's willing to perform a HeroicSacrifice if it means he can take the Machine with him in the bargain.]]
* Ysuran in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAllianceII'' begins the game with a bad case of amnesia and a spellbook from which he learns the art of necromancy; probing into his past reveals that he's a former terrorist and ally of the Eldreth Veluuthra, a faction of elf supremacists, who was struck with amnesia when his mentor learned the truth about him and tried to stop him. Upon learning this, he [[ThatManIsDead swears off his former identity]] and decides to use his [[DarkIsNotEvil powers of darkness]] [[TheAtoner for the good of the realms]].
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'': The unique[[note]]If you don't choose him during character creation, he dies off-screen[[/note]] player origin "The Dark Urge" begins as an amnesiac whose only link to the past is their psychotic urge to brutally murder everything around them. After their loyal (and insane) manservant tracks the party down and reveals that the Dark Urge used to be a serial killer, you'd think that their loss of memories mattered little in the end. You'd be wrong: [[spoiler:the Dark Urge was ''worse''; as the former leader of the Cult of Bhaal, they were ''so'' monstrously insane and irredeemable that Bhaal himself ''seriously considered naming them his heir''. Put it into perspective: the god of ''murder'', who was so afraid of dying that they had sex with everything and then ordered their bastard children to devour one another with the intention of inflicting GrandTheftMe upon the survivor, looked upon the nation-destroying carnage of the Dark Urge and ''accepted them as his child'' because they were ''that'' impressively evil. In losing their memories, they are capable of choosing to defy Bhaal and atone for their past sins, where they would be incapable of even thinking about regret in their past life.]]
** One of your party members, [[spoiler:Shadowheart]], turns out to have been abducted as a teenage priest initiate and then methodically brainwashed and indoctrinated into worshiping their original patron goddess' rival. The amnesiac dissonance was the ''point'', as the rival goddess wanted to prove she could corrupt ''anything'' her sister birthed.
* Soma Cruz from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' and its sequel ''Dawn of Sorrow'' is an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, except for the whole "being the {{reincarnation}} of {{Dracula}}" thing -- something he has to resist succumbing to when he "remembers".
* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' subverts this. [[spoiler: Several {{NPC}}s recognize Quote as "a soldier from the surface", or make references to squads of war robots that came to the island ten years ago and massacred the Mimigas. The obvious conclusion for the player (and several in-game characters) is that Quote was one of those killer robots--rather unsettling since Quote is currently trying to ''save'' the remaining Mimigas. But, if you complete the sidequest to save Curly Brace and restore her memories, then she remembers that Quote was comrade-in-arms ten years ago. And unlike all the other combat robots, they hadn't fought the Mimigas; their mission had been to destroy [[ArtifactOfDoom the Demon Crown]].]]
* In the ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' DLC ''The Ringed City'', you encounter a Hollow who asks you to call him "[[BilingualBonus Lapp]]". Due to his Hollowing, he has lost all memories of his past, including what his real name is, and he seeks the Purging Monument in the titular Ringed City to reverse his Hollowing and remember who he was, since he's so far gone that Purging Stones no longer work on him anymore. Throughout the DLC he is very nice and friendly towards you. At one point he tells you were some good treasure is, and if you die trying to get it, he'll be waiting at the bonfire when you respawn, having gotten it ''for'' you. Along the way, he'll let slip that he's worried that his old self may not have been quite as nice as his current one. If you locate the Purging Monument he seeks and tell him where it is, he will be very grateful and promises you from the bottom of his heart that no matter what kind of man he turns out to be once he regains his memories, he will be a true friend to you always. The next time you see him he'll be back to his old self: [[spoiler:''Patches''. Who immediately tricks you into getting booted off a cliff as per usual. Although dropping off said cliff ''is'' the only way to progress through the area, and Patches will be summonable for the next boss, so he may actually be keeping his promise to you in his own way.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', one of your partners is part of a zealous organization that does this to its recruits - former criminals who agree to having their memories wiped so that they may seek redemption. You meet him when you're dungeon crawling in a place where one of his companions is hiding, having just turned traitor. [[spoiler:Turns out the guy betrayed his organization after finding the trigger phrase to regain his lost memories. When your partner tries it out for himself, he's horrified to discover that he was just some farmboy nobody who was forcefully indoctrinated into the Order as a disposable grunt. In the DLC, the Order has gone off the deep end and is industrializing the memory wipes on their own city, turning the former average joes into amnesiac bloodthirsty zealots.]]
* In the [=PS2=] game ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|Cursed Memories}}'': it is revealed that [[spoiler: the "God of Demon Overlords" Zenon]] really isn't the BigBad. She had gotten tired of her role and [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnated]] herself into the character who had thought she was [[spoiler: her daughter, [[{{Tsundere}} Rozalin]].]] Whether she turns good or evil after recovering her memories [[MultipleEndings depends on the character's actions up to that point]].
* Played with in ''VideoGame/DeadInVinland''; [[spoiler: party member Brother Angelico is a sweet, gentle, idealistic, and devoutly religious monk, but he doesn't remember that he's a SelfMadeOrphan and also a SerialKiller. He's committed all his crimes in a dissociative state or possibly demonic possession -- it's left MaybeMagicMaybeMundane -- and the only thing he's aware of is that he has recurring nightmares about blood and an awful lot of people he's known have died mysteriously.]] Unlike most examples, these evil deeds aren't only in the past; [[spoiler: if you keep him in your party long enough after you've accomplished one of the major quests, he murders another party member, and his true nature is revealed some time after.]] It's a one-two PlayerPunch, especially if [[spoiler: you played out the RomanceSidequest between him and Kari so that they have a RelationshipUpgrade ]].

* Terra from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' suffers from a variation from the start. Kefka had put a slave crown on her and used her powers for all sorts of casual slaughter with her being utterly oblivious about this. Once it comes off and people mention what she's done, she comes down with massively crippling guilt for a large part of the game. Combined with her fears of being less-than-human, she makes a very effective [[TheWoobie woobie]].
** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' mirrors this by having Terra learn that in a past cycle, she was brainwashed and forced to fight on the side of Chaos.
*** And ''Duodecim'', the prequel, plays through that cycle, revealing that it was [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vaan]] who helped snap her out of it.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Kuja]] in duodecim was ''this'' close to joining the good guys until Kefka ruined his plans and manipulated him into dying in a battle with Lightning. First thing when Kuja was revived in the next cycle, Kefka put it in his head that he loathed Zidane and wanted nothing more than to kill him.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Jecht]] is also a victim of this trope. In the original ''Dissidia'', he's one of the warriors sided with Chaos and acts as TheRival for his son Tidus. However, he really isn't all that villainous, and is a gruff but good-natured guy. Near the end of the story, it's revealed that he actually used to be on the other side in previous cycles; but was captured and Brainwashed to be used as a pawn in The Emperor's schemes.
*** ''Duodecim'' reveals that he fought alongside Yuna for the Warriors of Cosmos in the last timeline, while Tidus was brainwashed into serving Chaos. Ultimately, Jecht sacrificed himself to save Tidus's life, and the Warriors of Chaos retrieved his body just before he could die in order to reprogram it.
* Inverted several ways in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' with [[TeenGenius Morgan]], the son/daughter of the [[PlayerCharacter Avatar]] from the future. Whereas the other twelve children all come from a future where [[BigBad Grima]] plunged their world into chaos, Morgan - an amnesiac - is implied to be from another timeline, which itself is noted in all of his/her endings. The subversion comes from the fact [[spoiler:that both male ''and'' female Morgan exist in the Future Past DLC, which is nearly identical to the timeline the other twelve children are from, only even bleaker. Here, both Morgans are the children of the avatar but enslaved by Grima who took their parent's body.]] There is no hint in-game, though, that either one is from [[spoiler:the Future Past timeline]].
** It gets even more complicated when one takes into account that Morgan's other parent can be ''any'' character in the game, including the children characters themselves. Since an Avatar/child pairing is impossible in the future timeline due to the Avatar's fate in the original timeline, this only brings up more questions.

* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' spends a lot of time setting this up, displaying the seemingly nefarious doings of pre-death Sissel and making the protagonist wonder if he was really that bad of a person. Of course, the man in red is certainly a monster.[[spoiler:.. but Sissel's not the man in red.]]
* In ''The Granstream Saga'', the game alludes to a dark lord who once reigned a century ago. Near the end of the game, we discover that this dark lord is in fact [[spoiler:a previous incarnation of the game's hero Eon.]]
* Becomes a {{Discussed|Trope}} and DefiedTrope in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1''. Neptune is fully aware that she could only form her band of TrueCompanions due to her amnesia, and while she "knows" who she truly is, having her memories restored would mean recalling ''millennia'' of murderous resentment towards her now closest friends. [[spoiler: For this reason, she refuses to have her memory restored, much preferring the life and memories she's already made.]]
** This is quite possibly a CallBack to the first game in the series, which ''Re;[=Birth1=]'' is a ReMake of. In that game, Neptune ''does'' have the possibility to regain her memories, and doing so is actually a neccessary step to get the True Ending. Upon doing so, Neptune does indeed remember the milennia she spent battling against the other [=CPUs=], whom she had become friends with during her amnesiac journey. This, combined with TheReveal that [[spoiler:Arfoire is the previous True Goddess and the creator of the four [=CPUs=]]], causes her to have a minor FreakOut. However, [[TrueCompanions Compa and IF]] are able to make her calm down, and due to having regained her memories, Neptune is able to convince the other [=CPUs=] to join her cause in defeating Arfoire (after [[DefeatMeansFriendship defeating each of them in a one-on-one duel]]).
* In ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'', one of the main playing characters is an elderly German scientist called Nimdok who has a failing memory. The BigBad of the game, mad and omnipotent supercomputer AM, sends him to confront his past... where it is revealed that he [[spoiler:was working for the Nazis, directly under the command of Josef Mengele in a death camp, doing barbaric experiences on dozens of innocents. On top of that, it's hinted he was a jew who gave up some of his people to survive.]] Apart from that, Nimdok is a kind old man who is horrified by what he discovers in the camp and feels sorry for the detainees here.

* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series averts this trope, but only temporarily. The vampire-wraith Raziel discovers that he and his brothers used to be vampire-slaying priests. At first he embraces his former humanity, but upon traveling into the past, he discovers they were [[WellIntentionedExtremist just as bad as]], ([[KnightTemplar if not worse]]) than, the vampires they hunted. Raziel renounces and kills his former self, setting the stage for his eventual resurrection as an amnesiac vampire.

* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', [[EnemyMine Bowser teams up with the Mario Bros.]] to retrieve Peach's voice from [[BigBad Cackletta]]. Along the way, however, an incident with a cannon results in Bowser getting separated from them and losing his memory. When they see each other again, Bowser is working for the thief Popple under the name "Rookie" and vaguely recalls that seeing Mario and Luigi makes him feel really mad. Which is how he ''usually'' feels about them, but he totally forgot about the recent team-up. Not to mention that, both at the beginning of ''Superstar Saga'' and the [[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG last time]] he teamed up with Mario, he insisted on "recruiting" Mario as one of his minions; for Bowser to willingly work ''under'' someone like Popple would be anathema to him with his memories intact.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'':
** Much of Zero's story in the games comes from villains attempting to resurrect his "true" personality as a ruthless killing machine. Although even if he ''does'' succumb [[spoiler:via the Bad Ending in ''X5'']], it's shown that Zero's "true" personality, while certainly more malevolent, is a different beast from what he was introduced as pre-amnesia. The pre-amnesia Zero was AxCrazy and TheBerserker who ripped people to shreds indiscrimately, while "Awakened" Zero is [[SoftSpokenSadist much calmer and rational]] and mostly focused on killing ''[[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou one]]'' person (that being X).
** Zero suffers this again in the transition between the ''X'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series. While he stays a hero in between both series, his memory was lost during hibernation, including one crucial detail: [[spoiler:that the body he was inhabiting was a duplicate.]] Though there's very little of the "dissonance" part in the ''Zero'' series though, since most of the few people who knew that Zero used to be evil have been dead for hundreds of years. Almost everyone remembers him as a mythical hero [[spoiler:and almost no one knows that "Omega" is in fact Zero's original body]]. The exceptions are X (who doesn't care since he knows who his best friend really is) and [[BigBad Dr. Weil]].

* ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'': This is [[AmnesiacHero Seimei]]'s biggest fear, and for good reasons -- he keeps being blamed for horrible shit he doesn't remember ever doing, and since he's amnesiac, that means that he ''could'' have done all of those things without remembering having done them! And no, nobody believes that AmnesiacsAreInnocent. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, part of his fear has been confirmed in that he has committed one single '''''soul-splitting''''' crime in his past -- namely, forcibly removing all [[EnemyWithin evil motives]] from his head. This had resulted in the BigBad coming into existence, but if Seimei just left things as-is, he would have actually become a bad person.]]
* Initially, ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' doesn't even provide a framework for this trope--the game begins with your being disinterred and declared the Overlord, and apart from indications that you were quite evil [[ProtagonistWithoutAPast your past is treated as unimportant]]. You are informed, however, that the seven [[FallenHero heroes]] who oppose you previously defeated not you, but "your predecessor". [[spoiler:You were the eighth hero, fallen in battle and left for dead. How much of a shock this is depends on [[KarmaMeter how you've been playing]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', [[spoiler:Ryoji]]'s only reason for being is to serve as the vessel by which Nyx will [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the world.]] In a subversion, despite the fact that it is against his will, he accepts it as inevitable and gives the Main Character the option of killing him (and erasing SEES' memories of the Dark Hour) to spare them the agony of having to watch the Fall unfold before their very eyes.
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' has lost his memory multiple times. He slowly, steadily recovers memories from ''several'' past stages, each with their own moral codes (or lack thereof). There's an especially well-written scene, if you've taken the [[KarmaMeter good path]] to that point, where he recalls a [[MoralEventHorizon particularly heinous moment]] from his ManipulativeBastard stage and [[HeroicBSOD breaks down in horror at his past selfishness]].
** It's also revealed, if the right actions are taken, that [[spoiler:the protagonist's first self was responsible for possibly more evil than the rest of the incarnations put together prior to becoming TheAtoner.]] In fact, that turns out to be the reason for the immortality thing: [[spoiler: Whatever the First Incarnation did, it was so bad that a ''lifetime'' of doing good would not be enough to atone for it. The solution was to have many lifetimes, but due to the amnesia thing that didn't work so well.]]

* Alex Mercer of ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' hunts down and kills dozens of people and killing several thousand in the crossfire in a combination of a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and investigation of [[TheVirus the Infection's]] release and his own transformation, only to find out that [[spoiler:the real Mercer was not only one of the very scientists he'd been tracking and killing, but also solely responsible for both. Funnily enough, this means that he was ''less'' evil as a HumanoidAbomination; the original Mercer only cared about himself, while Virus Mercer slowly starts to grow a conscience.]]
** The game also plays with the trope in that [[spoiler: Virus!Mercer is not actually Human!Mercer, as Human!Mercer actually died and Virus!Mercer was created from his corpse. The reason he has no memory isn't [[TraumaInducedAmnesia trauma]], it's that they were never his memories to begin with.]]
* In ''[[VideoGame/LaPucelle La Pucelle Tactics]]'', two of the characters have lost their memories two years ago. Both of them are now demon hunters on the side of light. Turns out, [[spoiler: one of them is actually the "Dark Prince", the emissary of the in-game equivalent of the Devil, and was dead set on destroying all humanity.]]
* Played with in ''Reveil - Death in the Circus'': At first the game seams similar to PsychologicalHorror games like ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' or ''VideoGame/LayersOfFear'', the protagonist has memory problems, suffers horrifying hallucinations, the layout of his house seems to [[MobileMaze change as he travels through it]], examining various objects leads him to recognising some while not recognising others and of course there's an implication that the protagonist has done something terrible and is in denial about it, then late in the game comes the reveal that [[spoiler: he's an unwilling test subject for a psychological experiment meant to cure mental diseases by implanting FakeMemories who escaped and murdered the laboratory staff and got stuck in an AmnesiaLoop.]] So while he technically did commit murder, more times than it originally appeared in fact, [[AssholeVictim it was in a justifiable circumstance.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'': All throughout her story, Eris struggles with her amnesia, [[spoiler:but insists that the doppelganger that is tormenting people is wrong about enacting her own will. When the two recombine, it turns out the doppelganger was telling the truth all along, and she embraces her mission willingly.]]

%%* [[spoiler: The major plot twist]] in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', it turns out that [[spoiler:the player character was actually Darth Revan prior to being mind-wiped by the Jedi.]] No matter whether [[spoiler: Revan turns to the light or the dark side, [[PronounTrouble the ex-Sith]] [[ButThouMust always ends up]] killing Darth Malak.]] They do, however, at least give both choices a ''motive'' for doing so. [[spoiler: A light side Revan is protecting the galaxy from their former apprentice, while a dark side Revan is reclaiming their usurped throne.]]
** However, the sequel ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' suggests this may be less extreme than thought, as Kriea suggests that [[spoiler: her former apprentice was a WellIntentionedExtremist who knowingly and willingly turned to the Dark side in order to protect the galaxy. She also believed that the Jedi didn't rewrite Revan, but rather reset him to who he was before he became a sith lord, with a light side Revan leans more towards [[TheHero well intentioned]], and a dark side Revan leans more towards [[KnightTemplar an extremist]].]] However, considering this is coming from [[ConsummateLiar Kriea,]] this should be taken with a massive grain of salt.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance'', Amnesiac Axel Almer, who serves a stint as protagonist, is actually TheDragon of the BigBad and the MadScientist's lover. He comes to grips with this and proceeds to betray his former comrades, who thought he was just being a really awesome spy. Not a spoiler, as the other protagonist's route warns you of this immediately. The Original Generation games, which chose to go with the other protagonist when covering Advance's arc, had Axel complete a HeelFaceTurn as himself, then later get amnesia in ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier EXCEED'', and go from the other aspect; Axel's change in personality from a serious-minded badass to a goofy CasanovaWannabe... who is ''still'' badass.
** This is also the stint of Cobray Gordon in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3''. Certain event causes him to lose his memories and join the team. This gets more complicated as he's under the threat of [[spoiler:The dead Ingram Prisken trying to take over his body]].

* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ''/''Jigoku-hen'', multiple characters do not recall certain members from absent series in this game. For example, when the eponymous ''Anime/AquarionEVOL'' makes its debut, ZEUTH and ZEXIS feel a stinging sensation, forgetting about the original ''Aquarion'' cast.

* Played with strangely in ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]''. CR-S01 is a surgeon committed to saving lives who was seemingly a bioterrorist behind an attack on Cumberland College prior to his amnesia. However, despite the fact that he can't remember how he did it or why, he's ''fully aware of this fact'' -- it's actually his knowledge of what he might have done before, absent any of the memories that drove him to it, that motivates his HeelFaceTurn. [[spoiler:Then finally outright subverted when it turns out he was never responsible for the attack in the first place, and he was never a villain]].
* In ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal Black'', Roadkill's driver is an amnesiac who came to in the wreckage of a gangland bombing, and finds himself covered with one of the gang's tattoos. He enters the tournament in the hopes that Calypso will restore his memory. In his ending, [[spoiler: it's revealed that he was an undercover FBI agent, and saved dozens of lives in the bombing incident. He is, in fact, a hero... and he's standing in front of one of the world's most wanted criminals, who shoots him dead.]]

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': This occurs during the starter quests for the Death Knight class. You, the Death Knight player, start the game following orders from [[BigBad Lich King]] & pals. You run about destroying a town, slaughtering its townsfolk and torturing its guards. Then you're given an order to kill a hostage NPC, but when you confront him/her, he/she turns out to be an old friend of yours who reminds you of your past before you became a pawn of the Lich King--when you were a hero. After you finish the NPC off, you begin your transformation into an AntiHero.

* Tanya, who is the android love interest from the [[ScienceFictionVisualNovels science fiction visual novel]] ''VisualNovel/BionicHeart'', learns that [[spoiler:her creator used a serial killer's brain in building her]], which explains why she has century-old memories. Unsurprisingly, she has a HeroicBSOD from the revelation.
* It's made clear early on in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' that everyone has had ''years'' worth of their school memories of their removed, with [[PlayerCharacter Hajime]] unable to even remember his Ultimate talent. Upon finding out that [[spoiler: they used to be the remnants of Ultimate Despair, the insanely violent followers of Junko Enoshima and the ones responsible for [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Tragedy]]]], they are understandably horrified.
* Happens again in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony''. This batch of characters finds out, to their horror, that [[spoiler:they are just that: fictional characters. Their killing game is a reality TV show based on the massively popular ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and all of them willingly signed up for it, knowing full well that they would be mindwiped and implanted with [[FakeMemories fictional backstories and personalities]] of ''Danganronpa'' characters. Audition tapes of their pre-mindwipe selves show them to be the epitome of NiceCharacterMeanActor, with the boy who would become the heroic Kaito saying he plans on killing everyone else and becoming famous for it, and the boy who would become our protagonist Shuichi requesting to be made into an Ultimate Detective specifically because no Ultimate Detective on the show so far has killed anyone yet and he wanted to be the first. The tape cuts off just before he starts to describe what he would like his own execution to be should he get caught]].
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', protagonist Gillian Seed is an amnesiac police agent who is assigned to take out the [[ReplicantSnatching identity-stealing]] [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots androids]]. [[spoiler: However, by the game's end, he finds that he ''and his wife'' were both scientists who worked on the Snatchers. Though to be fair, his wife was captured to do it while Gillian was TheMole for the CIA, investigating Russia's secret projects.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/HatePlus'', security AI *Mute is utterly shocked by the rude and unladylike behavior displayed by her pre-reset self. In particular, she's aghast at the fact old *Mute would argue with the male Councilors of the ''Mughungwa'' without the slightest bit of deference or respect, something completely at odds with new *Mute's Confucian, StayInTheKitchen [[DeliberateValuesDissonance values]].
* In ''VisualNovel/CrossChannel'', [[spoiler:Yutaka Shinkawa was, like most of the Shinkawa family, one nasty piece of work. More specifically, he was a violent and sadistic bully and rapist, and the PlayerCharacter, Taichi Kurosu, was the main target of his depravity. After years of abuse at the Shinkawa family's hands, Taichi eventually snapped and massacred the family, and though Yutaka ultimately survived Taichi's murder spree, [[SoleSurvivor as the only one to do so]], he was crippled and lost his memory in the process. The amnesiac Yutaka was adopted into the Sakura family, and freed from the influence of his rather monstrous family, he would turn out to be [[NiceGuy a kind and decent young man]] and an upstanding big brother to his adoptive sister, Kiri. Years later, however, Yutaka's memories of his past began to re-emerge and remembering what an awful person he was before completely ''broke'' him, sending him into a despair-incuded mental breakdown and eventually causing his suicide.]]

* Captain Sam Sweetmilk from ''WebAnimation/StarshipGoldfish'': we know that one year ago he erased his memory of a traumatic event, which somehow reduced him to an IdiotHero, meaning whatever he erased required [[TraumaCongaLine removing almost everything he knew]], it's implied his current desire to be InHarmsWay is him subconciously knowing what he went through and still wanting to kill himself.
* The ''WebAnimation/MyStoryAnimated'' video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34AQGo-PTXU I Lost My Memory And Was Shocked When I Found Who I am]]" features the RealLife (or so it claims) story of a girl who woke up in a hospital having lost her memory in a car accident... and when she got home, was horrified to discover she was an AlphaBitch.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': When [[spoiler: Doctor Eggman]] appears in Issue #5, he's suffering from [[IdentityAmnesia total amnesia]], with no knowledge of his past deeds. He's also lacking in his past ambitions, instead being a helpful neighbor and mechanic to the village which takes him in. However, it's [[AmbiguousSituation left unclear if he's really amnesic, or just faking it]]. [[spoiler: Issue #11 reveals that it's legitimate, as shown by his terror at [[MadScientist Doctor Starline's]] promise to restore his old persona, which he succeeds in doing during the following issue.]]

** One of your party members, [[spoiler:Shadowheart]], turns out to have been abducted as a teenage priest initiate and then methodically brainwashed and indoctrinated into worshiping their original patron goddess' rival. The amnesiac dissonance was the ''point'', as the rival wanted to prove she could corrupt ''anything'' her sister grew.

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', one of your partners is part of a zealous organization that does this to its recruits - former criminals who agree to having their memories wiped so that they may seek redemption. You meet him when you're dungeon crawling in a place where one of his companions is hiding, having just turned traitor. [[spoiler:Turns out the guy betrayed his organization after gaining the ability to regain his lost memories, and had been horrified to realize that he was just some Average Joe who signed up for a job. Your partner eventually does the same thing, ''finding'' the same thing. Subversion! ... Maybe. It's unclear whether the organization actually ''does'' take in former criminals that way.]]

* Played with in ''Film/{{Dark City|1998}}'': J. Murdoch has no memories, and the only evidence he can find about his past points to him being a serial killer. He's horrified, and soon becomes convinced that it can't be true, that he isn't a killer. Turns out he's right, and the truth is even stranger: [[spoiler:RealityWarper aliens had staged the evidence, and implanted everyone around him with false memories--and they've been doing so for years. Murdoch's own amnesia is because he had somehow rejected the latest attempted memory transplant.]]

* Played with in ''Film/DarkCity'': J. Murdoch has no memories, and the only evidence he can find about his past points to him being a serial killer. He's horrified, and soon becomes convinced that it can't be true, that he isn't a killer. Turns out he's right, and the truth is even stranger: [[spoiler:RealityWarper aliens had staged the evidence, and implanted everyone around him with false memories--and they've been doing so for years. Murdoch's own amnesia is because he had somehow rejected the latest attempted memory transplant.]]

* Trace from ''Webcomic/TwoKinds''. He went mad as a result of {{Necromantic}} and TheDarkArts, but was subject to AmnesiacsAreInnocent due to an enemy god. Interesting in that the ''only'' person not aware of his past is Trace, nearly everyone else is well aware of who he is/was and are ''openly terrified'' of him. It's gotten to the point that Trace has decided that he's better off '''''not''''' knowing who he was. But when his SuperPoweredEvilSide starts poking through anyways, he determines that the best way to resist it is to learn his full past before it can take full control.
%%* The eponymous character of ''Webcomic/{{Zap}}''.
* ''Webcomic/MSFHigh'': Students at MSF High can surpress painful memories as part of their 'second chance'. If these memories are discovered, this can occur.
* In ''ComicStrip/{{Fleep}}'', Jimmy is rather horrified to infer that he used to be a terrorist, and that the building he's trapped in was collapsed by a bomb he set off. What's interesting is that he never actually ''remembers'' any of this -- so he ends up inferring what he did well before he figures out ''why'' he did it.
* Jack of ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'' was a genocidal dictator in life but when he died and became the GrimReaper and AnthropomorphicPersonification of [[SevenDeadlySins Wrath]] his memories were erased. Now, he's a [[DontFearTheReaper pretty nice guy]] all things considered.

* In ''Webcomic/RomanticallyApocalyptic'', it's revealed [[spoiler:[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Pilot]]]] was a private investigator hired to assassinate Snippy before a bomb went off in his face and left him both amnesiac and insane. When he regains his memories, he becomes scarily competent and utterly determined to complete his mission.

* In ''VisualNovel/CrossChannel'', [[spoiler:Yutaka Shinkawa was, like most of the Shinkawa family, one nasty piece of work. More specifically, he was a violent and sadistic bully and rapist, and the PlayerCharacter, Taichi Kurosu, was the main target of his depravity. After years of abuse at the Shinkawa family's hands, Taichi eventually snapped and massacred the family, and though Yutaka ultimately survived Taichi's murder spree, [[SoleSurvivor as the only one to do so]], he was crippled and lost his memory in the process. The amnesiac Yutaka was adopted into the Sakura family, and freed from the influence of his rather monstrous family, he would turn out to be [[NiceGuy a kind and decent young man]] and an upstanding big brother to his adoptive sister, Kiri. Years later, however, Yutaka's memories of his past began to reemerge and remembering what an awful person he was before completely ''broke'' him, sending him into a despair-incuded mental breakdown and eventually causing his suicide.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', [[EnemyMine Bowser teams up with the Mario Bros.]] to retrieve Peach's voice from [[BigBad Cackletta]]. Along the way, however, an incident with a cannon results in Bowser getting separated from them and losing his memory. When they see each other again, Bowser is working for the thief Popple under the name "Rookie" and vaguely recalls that seeing Mario and Luigi makes him feel really mad. Which is how he ''usually'' feels about them, but he totally forgot about the recent team-up.

* In ''VideoGame/FZero Falcon Densetsu,'' this trope is taken to the logical extreme when [[spoiler: Miss Killer, Black Shadow's most trusted and competent subordinate, is revealed to be Haruka Misaki, protagonist Ryu Suzaku's ''girlfriend''. She had been trying to get revenge on Zoda for almost killing Ryu, when she fell into a trap intended for Zoda and they were both cryogenically frozen. When Haruka and Zoda were thawed by Black Shadow, he erased her memories and raised her anew as his minion.]]

* In a short story by Vivian Vande Velde, a young prince wakes up in a field staring into the eyes of a witch, who tells him perhaps this will help, and leaves. He struggles to survive in the nearby city, selling everything he has on him and eventually working for a living. Finally, he comes across some people who recognize him and take him home. Due to his complete amnesia of anything before, and the fact that he now understands how difficult other people have it, he's a much nicer person. Everyone who knew him before keeps complimenting him on his niceness in a way that's not quite complimentary. Even worse, his ArrangedMarriage fiancée has the same eyes as the witch who [[CursedWithAwesome cursed]] him, a fact he tries hard not to think about too much.