History Main / DeathAmnesia

[[folder:Film]]

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

!!Examples

* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', Bankotsu does not remember anything between his death and resurrection. He thinks this means there is no afterlife, and thus [[StrawNihilist he can do whatever bad deed he feels like, since people don't get punished or rewarded for what they do]].

** Season 7’s Groundhog Day time loop episode plays along with this, dealing with the group being stuck in a time loop, repeating the events leading up to their deaths over and over again while also growing closer and closer to oblivion every loop, dealing with the ship’s time drive exploding at a certain time every loop and dealing with sabotage in the ship. The only two people that end up remembering the loops are Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson but due to rules laid out in the episode, when Daisy is killed in the loops, she will forget about her knowledge of the loops and have to relearn it all over again, not helped by the impending danger, so the group has to make sure that she doesn’t die to retain that knowledge. The sabateour is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler: Enoch, who was programmed instructions to prevent the removal of Jemma Simmons’ memory wiping device, placed for the protection of her husband Leo Fitz, at all costs, even though its removal is essential to fix the ship’s time drive.]]

* When Eric comes back in ''ComicBook/TheCrow'', he remembers very little of his former life except for Shelly, the names and faces of the people who murdered the two of them and an insatiable drive for revenge. The movie version wasn't able to portray this aspect of the story as well because Brandon Lee's accidental death occurred before some of the expository scenes were to be filmed.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': When King Sombra is brought back to life, the last thing he remembers is getting blown to bits by the Crystal Heart's magic. [[spoiler:He eventually gets killed again by Princess Cadence and Xenilla. When he's brought back to life again, he wakes up screaming because he thinks he's still in that fight until he's calmed down.]]

->'''[=McCoy=]''': You really have gone where no man's gone before. Can't you tell me what it felt like?\\
'''Spock''': It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference.\\
'''[=McCoy=]''': You're joking!\\
'''Spock''': A joke... is a story with a humorous climax.\\
'''[=McCoy=]''': You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', Bankotsu does not remember anything between his death and resurrection. He thinks this means there is no afterlife, and thus [[StrawNihilist he can do whatever bad deed he feels like, since people don't get punished or rewarded for what they do]].

* The titular {{ComicBook/Spawn}} wakes up on Earth with very little memories of his past. He does slowly gain his memories back as time goes on. This is actually done on purpose by Malebolgia; all Hell-Spawns are sent to Earth with their memories scrambled as to keep them lost and confused.
* When Cecil was brought back as a ghost in ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' he didn't remember anything about an afterlife... which confuses others because in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse ''[[CrossoverCosmology all afterlives exist]]''. Gwen thinks it was so awful Cecil is suffering from trauma amnesia. "Terrible Eye" thinks he forgot because the afterlife is so abstract the human mind cannot grasp it.

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' fanfiction ''[[Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon Abraxas]]'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonMonsterX Vivienne Graham]] has no memory of being dead inbetween the moment that Ghidorah's middle head ate her alive and her regaining her faculties thanks to San reviving and turning her into a hybrid, to the point where she isn't really even certain [[spoiler:until around Chapter 5]] whether she actually died for a while or was merely comatose throughout it all. [[spoiler:San attempting to view Vivienne's memories and [[TheNothingAfterDeath seeing a complete nothing]] confirms that Vivienne was temporarily dead, and she doesn't remember because she had a temporary CessationOfExistence]].

** In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', when the Klingon mythological hero Kahless returns, Worf asks him about the afterlife, and Kahless claims he is unable to remember, since he is a traveler between worlds and is only able to retain knowledge of the world he currently inhabits. It turns out that he's actually a clone (he probably still ''thought'' the explanation was what he'd said, since he wasn't aware he was a clone at that point).
** On ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Neelix once had an existential crisis over this. His people hold that there exists a wonderful afterlife where he would be reunited with his family... but the fact that he remembers nothing after dying temporarily leads him to question his faith and reason for existence.

** A variation - Dean wakes up from a coma with no memory of his NearDeathClairvoyance sequence.

* When Cecil was brought back as a ghost in ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' he didn't remember anything about an afterlife... which confuses others because in the MarvelUniverse ''[[CrossoverCosmology all afterlives exist]]''. Gwen thinks it was so awful Cecil is suffering from trauma amnesia. "Terrible Eye" thinks he forgot because the afterlife is so abstract the human mind cannot grasp it.

** Season 7’s Groundhog Day time loop episode plays along with this, dealing with the group being stuck in a time loop, repeating the events leading up to their deaths over and over again while also growing closer and closer to oblivion every loop, dealing with the ship’s time drive exploding at a certain time every loop and dealing with sabotage in the ship. The only two people that end up remembering the loops are Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson but due to rules laid out in the episode, when Daisy is killed in the loops, she will forget about her knowledge of the loops and have to relearn it all over again, not helped by the impending danger, so the group has to make sure that she doesn’t die to retain that knowledge. The sabateour is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler: Enoch, who was programmed instructions to prevent Jemma Simmons’ memory wiping device from being removed at all costs which ends up being essential to fix the ship.]]

** Season 7’s Groundhog Day time loop episode plays along with this, dealing with the group being stuck in a time loop, repeating the events leading up to their deaths over and over again while also growing closer and closer to oblivion every loop and dealing with sabotage in the ship. The only two people that end up remembering the loops are Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson but due to rules laid out in the episode, when Daisy is killed in the loops, she will forget about her knowledge of the loops and have to relearn it all over again, not helped by the impending danger, so the group has to make sure that she doesn’t die to retain that knowledge. The sabateour is eventually revealed to be [[spoiler: Enoch, who was programmed instructions to prevent Jemma Simmons’ memory wiping device from being removed at all costs which ends up being essential to fix the ship.]]

** As well as this, when Coulson is finally revived a second time as a Life Model Decoy, it is made clear that he only remembers his time prior to being placed in the digital Framework in Season 4, with the events revolving his death and the last year of his previous life being unknown to him. This is quickly fixed as he is quickly recalibrated with these memories not long afterwards, causing him to freak out from the memories themselves and the shock of being killed and revived again.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnon Vivienne Graham]] has this. It's indicated she had a temporary CessationOfExistence when she was briefly dead, and after she's reborn as part of [[AdaptationalHeroism Monster X]] she doesn't know for sure for a while whether or not she really did die when Ghidorah ate her.

* This is the norm in ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity''. When a person dies, their soul is (usually) sent to The Wheel, lingering in The In-Between for a time and reincarnating in a newborn child. Both the PlayerCharacter and BigBad are both exceptions. The PlayerCharacter is a Watcher, someone who can perceive wayward souls not yet scooped up by The Wheel; this trait remains after death, or rather will, since they become a Watcher at the beginning of the game. The villain, Thaos ix Arkannon, remembers his past lives each time he reaches adolescence, enabling him to [[TheChessmaster formulate plots that take centuries to bear out]]. He was given this power by [[GodOfEvil Woedica]], the god of vengeance.
** The [[VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire]] sequel expands on the Watcher's unusual interaction with The Wheel, with the prologue taking place in the In-Between with the Watcher NotQuiteDead after the destruction of their Keep, Caed Nua.

* This is the norm in ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity''. When a person dies, their soul is (usually) sent to The Wheel, lingering in The In-Between for a time and reincarnating in a newborn child. Both the PlayerCharacter and BigBad are both exceptions. The PlayerCharacter is a Watcher, someone who can perceive wayward souls not yet scooped up by The Wheel; this trait remains after death, or rather will, since they
become a Watcher at the beginning of the game. The villain, Thaos ix Arkannon, remembers his past lives each time he reaches adolescence, enabling him to [[TheChessmaster formulate plots that take centuries to bear out]]. He was given this power by [[GodOfEvil Woedica]], the god of vengeance.

Any case where a character who comes BackFromTheDead remembers nothing about the afterlife. Usually done to [[OffscreenAfterlife preserve ambiguity]] about what the universe's afterlife is actually like, but sometimes we actually see the character in the afterlife before they come back with no memory of it. The logic is likely that if [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the soul]] exists, there's no reason for memory brain cells to record anything if the GhostInTheMachine is elsewhere while experiencing things; it would be less explainable if they did remember. An alternate explanation is that they went to paradise, and if they remembered it once they were revived, they wouldn't be able to continue living a mortal life without knowing that bliss. In some cases, it turns out they don't remember because [[TheNothingAfterDeath there was nothing there]], or [[CessationOfExistence there wasn't one at all]].

* ''LightNovel/SevenSensesOfTheReUnion'': Asahi Kuga gets killed as a child. Six years later, she is inexplicably brought back, but does not remember any afterlife and in fact thinks it was the same day she got killed.

* When Eric comes back in ''Comicbook/TheCrow'', he remembers very little of his former life except for Shelly, the names and faces of the people who murdered the two of them and an insatiable drive for revenge. The movie version wasn't able to portray this aspect of the story as well because Brandon Lee's accidental death occurred before some of the expository scenes were to be filmed.

* When Cecil was brought back as a ghost in ''Comicbook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' he didn't remember anything about an afterlife... which confuses others because in the MarvelUniverse ''[[CrossoverCosmology all afterlives exist]]''. Gwen thinks it was so awful Cecil is suffering from trauma amnesia. "Terrible Eye" thinks he forgot because the afterlife is so abstract the human mind cannot grasp it.

* Mormons believe that prior to being born on earth, our memories of the "premortal existence" is forgotten. Other spiritual traditions such as the aforementioned Chinese spiritualism also believe in similar traditions.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Church promises Sarge that he won't suffer this... if he gives Church 5 bucks.

* When Cecil was brought back as a ghost in ''Comicbook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' he didn't remember anything about an afterlife... which confuses others because in the MarvelUniverse ''[[CrossoverCosmology all afterlives exist]]''. Gwen thinks it was so awful Cecil is suffering from trauma amnesia. "Terrible Eye" thinks he forgot because the afterlife is so abstract the human mind cannot grasp it.

* The titular [[{{ComicBook/Spawn}} Spawn]] wakes up on Earth with very little memories of his past. He does slowly gain his memories back as time goes on. This is actually done on purpose by Malebolgia; all Hell-Spawns are sent to Earth with their memories scrambled as to keep them lost and confused.

* Played with in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', as seen above. Spock seems willing to explain what it was like to die and be resurrected to Dr. [=McCoy=], it's just that he can't. Apparently only two people who have died can discuss being dead.[[note]]Overlooking the fact that in the Original Series, both [=McCoy=] and Scotty were killed and resurrected[[/note]] He's also unwilling to make metaphors that aren't precise.
* In ''Film/DragonballEvolution'', Master Roshi says after being resurrected by Shen Long that he was "in a wonderful place that he doesn't remember." He then proceeds to describe what happened there, in detail. This is the least of the movie's problems.

* One of the mooks in ''Film/The6thDay'', after being killed and then cloned (his clone having memories scanned from the corpse of the original version), says that he didn't have any sort of post-death experience. He didn't consider that his original self's brain would have been unable to form memories while he was dead, or that any kind of afterlife would be separate from his physical existence.

* In ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' by Creator/BrandonSanderson, people who die a particularly heroic death are sometimes sent back to the living with a purpose. Only, they don't remember the afterlife, they don't remember the purpose, and for an extra twist they don't remember their previous life or death either.

* ''Series/PushingDaisies'': The last thing anyone resurrected by Ned remembers is the way they died.
* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Tony's coma dream flows steadily out of his memory, with the exception of the beckoning light.
* ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'' died in the season 1 and season 5 finales. The first time, when she was briefly clinically dead, she appeared not to remember anything from that short time. The second time, after having been dead for several months, she first confessed to Spike that she believed she had been in Heaven or something resembling it, then, in "Once More with Feeling", told the rest of the gang while under the control of that episode's phlebotinum. When she is drawing what she remembers, she shows a white light in a black area. While this seems like a cliche, she is trying to describe it using her limited human senses.
* Darla, from ''Series/{{Angel}}'', claims to remember nothing between her death as a vampire and resurrection as a human, even though various hells clearly exist within the series, most likely because she [[OurSoulsAreDifferent lacks a soul]]. Her later ghostly appearance to Connor may suggest some more hopeful alternative, however.
* John Locke from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' claims to remember nothing after his death. Subverted by the fact that it's not really him.
* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'': The afterlife exists as a physical location, [[spoiler: the binary planetary system of Fire and Water]]. Not only do none of the characters who died and get resurrected remember being there, but the dead themselves don't remember their former lives at all. They simply 'wake up' and either suffer or waste their days in idle pleasure for the rest of eternity. [[spoiler: Or at least they would have if the main characters hadn't blown heaven and hell up, because that's the kind of show Lexx is.]]
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Happens to Daniel Jackson when he comes BackFromTheDead - he can't remember what it's like to be [[AscendToAHigherPlaneofExistence ascended]]. Initially he can't remember details of his life before ascension either, but gets those back.
** This is explicitly because the other Ascended wiped his memory, though: everyone else who gets bumped back to mortal gets to keep all their handy-dandy Infinite Cosmic Knowledge. Until it overloads their puny human brain, of course.
** He does have occasional flashbacks, such as remembering that Teal'c son and mentor are trapped on a Goa'uld penal colony. He had to perform a Kelno'reem (Jaffa meditation ritual) to remember the details, though.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', when the Klingon mythological hero Kahless returns, Worf asks him about the afterlife, and Kahless claims he is unable to remember, since he is a traveler between worlds and is only able to retain knowledge of the world he currently inhabits. It turns out that he's actually a clone (he probably still ''thought'' the explanation was what he'd said, since he wasn't aware he was a clone at that point).
* On ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Neelix once had an existential crisis over this. His people hold that there exists a wonderful afterlife where he would be reunited with his family... but the fact that he remembers nothing after dying temporarily leads him to question his faith and reason for existence.
* In a sort of "backwards" pre-death use of the trope, in ''Series/FlashForward2009'' many individuals who do ''not'' experience a flash forward during the blackout believe this to be an indication that they will die within the next six months.
* The creators of ''Series/JohnDoe'' claim that this is the reason why the titular character can't remember anything about his life before being found by fishermen. This was supposed to have been TheReveal, but the show was cancelled before it happened. John was part of an experiment to kill a person and bring him back in order to get all the knowledge of humankind that one is supposed to receive in the afterlife. The experiment worked but had side-effects, such as the amnesia and colorblindness (WordOfGod is that the latter is due to all that knowledge overloading the visual centers of John's brain).
* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', William Bell's consciousness is temporarily recovered using a "soul magnet." None of the other characters bother to ask him what death was like, perhaps due to them assuming this trope. [[PlotHole Or maybe not.]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Beric Dondarrion has been killed and revived six times. When Melisandre asks him what the afterlife is like, he says he only remembers dying and coming back.
** When Jon Snow is brought back to life, Melisandre asks him what the afterlife is like, but he says the last thing he remembers is getting killed.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': In "Ex Libris", a bookworm named Charlene Hughes is murdered. When her ghost comes back, she doesn't even realize that she's dead and tries to go about her business. Since she was kind of anti social, she didn't notice that only people like the Charmed Ones could see or hear her. She only figures it out when she tries to go home and sees her family mourning for her.
* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' featured an UNSUB who was revived after drowning, having had the classic near-death experience (passing through a tunnel, bright light etc.). He drowned and revived others in an effort to learn more about the afterlife. At the conclusion of the case the hyper-rational Spence discloses that he had the near-death experience when he was killed and revived and the more emotional Prentiss discloses that following her near-death she experienced nothing.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Phil Coulson seemingly remembered a beautiful light after his death and resurrection prior to the start of the series. However, it eventually turns out that these were FakeMemories [[spoiler:to cover up the horrific trauma of his resurrection]]. He is very annoyed that this means he doesn't actually remember anything about the afterlife. When his old friend May is killed temporarily and brought back a few minutes later for medical reasons, he keeps badgering her about what she saw.
-->'''May:''' You want to know what I saw, Phil?\\
'''Coulson:''' Yeah.\\
'''May:''' I saw you.\\
'''Coulson:''' ''[looks at May in shock]''\\
'''May:''' Don't let it go to your head.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': When Brittas initially returns from the dead, he not only does not remember his time in the afterlife, but that he even died in the first place. Once he is told that he died at one point though, it does all come flooding back to him.

* This is why reincarnies are so often willing to sin again in ''VideoGame/{{Reincarnation 2008}}'' - when they jump through a reincarny portal, all memories of Hell are erased.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'', ghosts that are summoned back to the living world are unable to remember their afterlife, to them no time has passed between that moment and when they died or were previously summoned. [[spoiler: This becomes a plot point in the final case. The killer uses this trait in order to trick the ghost of the victim into thinking that he was still alive. This is used to make a witness report seeing the victim alive hours after his death, during which time the killer has an unbreakable alibi.]]
* Something like this occurs in ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}''. Guardians who are chosen to be resurrected apparently have little to no recollection of what their past lives were like before they died. In fact, it's forbidden to even go searching for information about your pre-Guardian life, so as to keep Guardians on task with the whole "defend humanity against the Darkness" thing.

* ''Webcomic/ItsWalky:'' Tony remembers no afterlife after being resurrected 2 years after his death, but an afterlife is shown towards the end of the series.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', Archon Lilith [[http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%203/110 ponders]] her lack of memories of an afterlife during the brief time she spent [[NeverSayDie croaked]].

* This is why reincarnies are so often willing to sin again in ''VideoGame/{{Reincarnation}}'' - when they jump through a reincarny portal, all memories of Hell are erased.

* One of the mooks in ''Film/The6thDay '', after being killed and then cloned (his clone having memories scanned from the corpse of the original version), says that he didn't have any sort of post-death experience. He didn't consider that his original self's brain would have been unable to form memories while he was dead, or that any kind of afterlife would be separate from his physical existence.

* After Dr. Beaumont brings John Ellman back from the dead in ''Film/TheWalkingdead1936'', he is desperate to know what lies beyond death. However, Ellman either cannot remember or cannot express (or perhaps is forbidden from expressing) what he experienced, and anything he does say is frustratingly vague. The one thing he does know is that Beaumont [[UnwantedRevival should not have brought him back]].