History Main / MemoryGambit

* Lelouch Lamperouge in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' uses his mind-controlling power on himself to forget his real plan in order to [[spoiler:save his kidnapped sister Nunnally from the [[PsychicPowers mind-reading]] Mao]]. He goes as far as allowing himself and the audience to think [[spoiler:his sister is dead]] (mainly to satisfy his [[ChewingTheScenery scenery-chewing]] impulses) before his forgotten plan springs into action.
* Light Yagami in ''Manga/DeathNote'' allays suspicion that he's the serial killer everyone is looking for by exploiting the rule that anyone who relinquishes the ownership of a Death Note also loses all memory of owning it unless that person later touches the same Death Note, [[BatmanGambit even counting on his amnesiac self to genuinely join the side of good]] in tracking down the new owner of the Death Note. When he touches the Death Note again and restores his memories, '''eight episodes''' after putting his plan in motion, he gives a PsychoticSmirk and utters the [[MemeticMutation iconic phrase]], "JustAsPlanned."

** During ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'', it is revealed that Batman has his computer set to speak mnemonic trigger words to him at preset times. Though he doesn't know why he set it at first, hearing the word unblocks the subconscious memories of his secret project to develop countermeasures to [[spoiler:the rest of the Justice League members]]. When he is finished working, or if certain mind readers come within a hundred miles, another trigger is used to suppress the memories until the next session, so that said mind readers would never be able to accidentally glean this information from him. Typical [[CrazyPrepared Batman]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:it also served as the perfect cover for Talia ''stealing'' all those countermeasures -- she simply programmed the computer to speak the amnesia keywords if Batman ever discovered it had been tampered with]].

* During the Silver Age, ComicBook/{{Superman}} pulled one of these, using mind-altering and shape-shifting technology to infiltrate a planet filled with his most dangerous enemies, who had banded together into the ultimate LegionOfDoom, The Superman Revenge Squad. Their security, of course, included mind-reading machines. The Man of Steel ended up with a nasty case of AmnesiacDissonance courtesy of the Squad for his trouble, and was only just barely saved by ThePowerOfLove. Awww...

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Circe hides herself as a (criminal) mortal in order to get close to Diana, which requires creating new memories for herself of her life as a mortal and forgetting her true identity in order for her disguise not to be seen through by Diana or Ares. This backfires as she ends up befriended Diana and reforming, and even after she is forced to face the truth of her identity and become Circe again she still cares for her greatest foe.

* In ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMysteryGillen'', this is TheReveal. Loki devised the whole Kid!Loki thing to set himself up with a new life free of the baggage of his past and arranged events so that his child self would have no choice but to restore Loki's original memories. Kid!Loki does so, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech but he mocks Loki's desire to turn over a new leaf:]] by enacting such a scheme in the first place, [[ChronicVillainy Loki had already proven that he could never change.]]
* In the first ''ComicBook/TheSentry'' miniseries from Creator/MarvelComics, the eponymous hero has suffered amnesia for years, AND nobody remembers he existed either. He sets out to find out who did this. It turned out it was [[spoiler:himself, since, for some reason, knowledge of his existence allowed a dark force known as The Void to exist. He ends up erasing his memories away again at the end]].

* In the ComicBook/XMen, a diary of future events was hidden, and the location then wiped from the memory of the person who hid it so that enemy telepaths would be unable to pry its location from an unsuspecting mind. Of course, a needlessly elaborate double-blind keyword system was established to restore the memories when required.
** Also in ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' Vol 3 31, Xavier makes himself forget what happened when a mutant from the future required his help to RetGone an unbeatable mutant.

* In ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', deep-cover Invisibles sometimes erase their own memories to make them truly convincing moles, only recovering them when reaching their target situation acts as a trigger. Notably, this included at least one member of Division X. One arc suggests that Boy may be an Archon agent who tried the same thing, but it turns out to be a FalseCrucible test.
* In ''ComicBook/LockeAndKey'', Tyler suggests to the BigBad that he has hidden the Omega Key and removed his memory of the hiding place using the Head Key. How he intends to find it again himself has yet to be revealed...
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'' series, it seems that when Fenris has nothing else to destroy he must turn on himself. [[spoiler:So he fed his memories and potency to a number of other gods, and comes back to collect them after Creation starts falling apart.]]

* Law enforcement in ''Anime/{{Kaiba}}'' realize this trope ''can'' be used, though it never actually is. An officer is suspicious of Vanilla because he's stopped [[TanksForTheMemories backing up his memories]], noting that people have a tendency of doing this after they've experienced a life event that may cause them to seriously consider committing crimes.

* One of these is key in ''Literature/DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom''. [[spoiler:Debra takes advantage of the short-term memory wipes caused by re-uploading to concoct a scheme to get Jules out of the way just long enough so she can conquer the Hall of President. When she returns based off of earlier [[TanksForTheMemories memories]], she has no idea what she's done. And she would have gotten away with it, too, if Dan hadn't decided to spill the beans]].

** In the Franchise/BerniceSummerfield novel ''The Mary-Sue Extrusion'', [[spoiler: Benny]] does this to themselves as part of a MemoryGambit to rescue [[spoiler: her cat]] from a planet of [[MindRape mind-controllers]].

* Light Yagami in ''Manga/DeathNote'' allays suspicion by exploiting the rule that anyone who relinquishes the ownership of a Death Note also loses all memory of owning it unless that person later touches the same Death Note, [[BatmanGambit even counting on his amnesiac self to genuinely join the side of good]] in tracking down the new owner of the Death Note. When he touches the Death Note again and restores his memories, '''eight episodes''' after putting his plan in motion, he gives a PsychoticSmirk and utters the [[MemeticMutation iconic phrase]], "JustAsPlanned."

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' trades his memories about the Fairies' existence for their help in ''The Eternity Code'', but leaves himself plenty of triggers to bring them back. All but one of them are dummies, however, which he actually ''intends'' for Faeries to discover, because [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow he knows they know]] he'd try to leave himself triggers. So after they find over a dozen of dummies, they are lulled to believe that that is it, and Artemis happily regains his memories in the next book, ''The Opal Deception'', using the only real trigger.

* ''Fanfic/DeathNoteEquestria'', being ''Manga/DeathNote'' with [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic ponies]], naturally has [[VillainProtagonist Twilight]] eventually carry one out against [[HeroAntagonist L]]. Due to the GambitPileup in this story being even more complicated than in canon, the Memory Gambit is similarly more complicated than the canon one. [[spoiler: It still results in L's death and Twilight's victory.]]

* In "Game of Doctors" Chapter 16: [[{{Egopolis}} Master]][[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9868669/16/Game-of-Doctors -World]] [[spoiler:the 9th Doctor erases his memory as part of a plan to download information on the Master's Cyberman planet into a memory stick in his head.]]
* In Geas of Gryffindor by Kirinin, Draco Malfoy uses this tactic for a Gringotts heist, with Snape's assistance. Kirinin is fond of memory manipulation tropes -- arguably this is the "final move" in one of their other fics, [[spoiler:Game of Chess]].

* ''Fanfic/ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton'': As part of the [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Miraculous]] team's BatmanGambit to discover Hawk Moth's identity in Chapter 22 of ''To Rule Alone, To Build Together'', [[spoiler: Rose agrees to get herself Akumatized in order to lure Hawk Moth out of hiding, then allows her memory of the conversation be erased so that he won't pull that thought from her head and realize that he's being played]].
* ''Fanfic/TwoLetters'': [[spoiler:Past-Marinette did this as part of her plan to screw everyone that had made her life so hard, lying to her future self in a letter in order to ensure the latter would follow on with the plan while remaining convinced of the righteousness of it.]]