That Man Is Dead / Video Games

That Man Is Dead in video games.

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• AI: The Somnium Files: In the Golden Ending, Amnesiac Hero Kaname Date regains his memories but discards his old identity and chooses to keep his current one. He was a Killer Cop named Falco who became a victim of Grand Theft Me after he decided to go clean. When he gets his memories and body back, his love interest Hitomi is glad to find that he was Falco the whole time, but he tells her not to call him that because he is Date now.
• Assassin's Creed:
  • In Assassin's Creed, when Altaïr is preparing to go on the final Jerusalem assassination, he apologizes to Malik for his actions in the past, which resulted in Malik losing his arm and his brother. Malik's response is to refuse to accept Altaïr's apology, and Altaïr stoically chooses to accept his rejection. Malik then points out that the Altaïr standing before him is not the same man who he was before, having grown wiser and more humble than the arrogant man he was before — and thus, he has nothing to apologize for.
  • In the ending of Assassin's Creed Origins, Aya renounces her old identity, saying that she has killed Aya and is now Amunet.
• Baldur's Gate:
  • In Baldur's Gate II, Jon Irenicus gives a peculiarly sympathetic response to being called Joneleth.
    "Do not call me that. I lost all right to that name when the Seldarine stripped me of everything that was elven, as you well know."
  • In Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, after recovering from Amnesiac Dissonance and remembering his past as a terrorist, Ysuran tells his mentor "Ysuran Aoundril is dead; I am simply 'Ysuran' now."
• Batman: Arkham Knight has a side mission involving Knight Templar Azrael, who is being subconsciously controlled by the Order of St. Dumas. When Batman confronts him with his real name Michael Lane, he responds "Lane is dead. I am Azrael, knight to the Order of St. Dumas!" This is enforced if the player makes Azrael try (and fail, obviously) to kill Batman, but becomes averted if Azrael instead fights his programming and swears to bring the Order to justice.
• In Batman: The Telltale Series Season 2, depending on how you treat them, "John Doe" may end up embracing villainy and becoming the Joker. While tormenting you in a fun house with twisted games, one of them entails placing stickers representing various people, including Bruce Wayne, on prop headstones to decide who was responsible for killing whom. One of those headstones is for "John Doe", to which the proper sticker to put on is the one representing Bruce, whom the Joker personally blames for making him into the man he is now.
• Battle for Wesnoth: When the reflection pool is visited in the final scenario of Descent Into Darkness, Mal Keshar's memories of Drogan and Dela would call him by his human name Malin. The lich replies that it's not his name.
• A variant is employed in Battle Realms, during the confrontation between Kenji and Zymeth in the Dragon campaign. Kenji's father was a king and Zymeth was said king's Evil Chancellor (until Zymeth framed Kenji for killing his father, forced him into exile, had the rest of the family killed and took over most of the kingdom).
  Zymeth: You've grown up. Where's the young pup I caught sulking behind the curtains in the Serpent's throne room?
  Kenji: Long gone. Where is my father's most trusted advisor?
  Zymeth: ...Also gone. Perhaps we've both grown up.
• BioShock had a rather famous one from "Atlas", who, up until the death of Andrew Ryan, pretends to be your ally while subtly controlling your actions.
  Atlas: It's time to end this little masquerade. There ain't no "Atlas", kid. There never was...Name's Frank Fontaine.
• In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Hakumen states that the name "Jin Kisaragi" means nothing to him now. In Calamity Trigger, one of his ending paths has him making sure that that name is dead by fighting him as a sign of his complete abandonment to his past.
• In Blaze Union, Gulcasa finds his childhood friend Jenon's insistence on calling him by his fake name Garlot extremely upsetting and continually tries to make him stop, to little effect. A similar exchange occurs between Nessiah and Eater in another route, when Eater tries to call Nessiah by his original name "Aries"; Nessiah cuts him off, offended.
• At the end of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, after Jack is scarred by Lilith as he's absorbing the knowledge from the Vault, he launches into a terrifying, insane rant about how he's going to get vengeance on everyone who wronged him and will set the world on fire. At this point, Athena says that the "hero" who saved Elpis and willingly stayed behind to cover his employees' retreat was dead, replaced by the monster known as Handsome Jack, the Big Bad of Borderlands 2.
• Both Dracula in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and his vampiric offspring, Alucard in later games, will respond with this trope whenever addressed by their old human names.
  Dracula: Don't you dare call me that! EU SUNT DRACUL!
  Alucard: (to Dracula) Trevor died a long time ago father. I am Alucard.
• Chrono Trigger:
  • Downplayed. Major antagonist Magus was once Janus, a boy from the Kingdom of Zeal. When confronted again, he just replies to "You're Janus" with "...".
  • Robo was created by Mother Brain as Prometheus, but he rejects his name when rebelling against her.
    Atropos: Mother remade me to eliminate humans more efficiently! Step back, Prometheus!
    Robo: My name is Robo.
  • Averted by Frog, originally Glenn until a curse turned him into a frog man, when he reassert his identity.
    Frog: My name is Glenn!
• The Coffin of Andy and Leyley invokes this at the end of the first act; Andrew Graves (the "Andy" of the title) insists that he and Ashley (aka "Leyley") abandon their childhood nicknames to symbolize moving on from their old lives, as they've gone from the (relative) innocents they used to be to full-on cannibalistic Serial Killers. There's also a hint that Andrew wants to take some control regarding the siblings' toxic, co-dependent relationship, as he sees "Andy" as an Extreme Doormat who caved to "Leyley"'s every whim, and thinks that abandoning the nicknames will force Ashley out of their old dynamic. However, in the second act, Ashley's needling (especially in the "Decay" route) indicates that Andy isn't as dead as Andrew would prefer.
• In Cyberpunk 2077, Alt Cunningham is a Virtual Ghost whose consciousness had been trapped within cyberspace for over half a century, and as a result she no longer sees herself as human and asserts that her previous identity is no more. Despite this, she has her Not So Stoic moments where traces of her original personality leak through as a result of The Masochism Tango with Johnny.
• Darksiders
  • Archangel Abaddon after becoming The Destroyer refers to who he was before his fall as this, sadly recounting how he once returned the feelings his subordinate Uriel had for him before stating "he foolishly chose duty above all, and died for it."
  • Downplayed in Darksiders II, as while Absalom does acknowledge his former self, he states that he's discarded that identity and is The Corruption now. Death seems to acknowledge this, as while he admits to the Crowfather's spirit that he would have spared Absalom if he could go back to that fateful day, he only offers a moment of hesitation to finish off the Humanoid Abomination Absalom has become.
• Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening: "Mary died a long time ago. My name is Lady."
• Dragon Age:
  • When confronted in Dragon Age: Origins, Wynne will claim the abomination Uldred has gone mad. In response, he chuckles and says "Uldred? He is gone! I am Uldred and not Uldred. I am MORE than he was."
  • In Dragon Age II, three of Hawke's four non-DLC love interests feel this way about their birth names.
    • Fenris has this reaction to being called "Leto" by his sister, stating that he considers the person he was before his lyrium tattoos were bestowed, (which wiped his memory), to be long dead. Fenris also experiences some Amnesiac Dissonance upon discovering that he fought to be chosen for the procedure, in exchange for his sister and mother's freedom from slavery.
    • The comics reveal that Isabella's name at birth was Naishe, but stopped identifying as such after her mother sold her for refusing to convert to the Qun.
    • World of Thedas Volume II explains that Anders stopped identifying with his birth name when his magic manifested. After being rejected by his father and forcibly taken to the Circle of Magi, Anders refused to speak to anyone, even to give his name. Everyone referred to him as "that Anders boy" because one of the few things they knew about him is that his father was originally from the Anderfels. After a while it just became his name.
  • Played with in Dragon Age: Inquisition by allowing the player to choose which of a character's two identities go this way. The Iron Bull's personal quest forces him to choose whether to remain with the Qun or leave them to fully embrace his mercenary captain identity. If he remains with the Qun, he settles fully into his Hissrad identity, saying that "the Iron Bull" never really existed. If he defects, he embraces the Iron Bull and completely lets go of Hissrad.
• In Dragon Quest XI, Erik's sister Mia doesn't like it when he calls her that after finding her in the gold palace. She's Gyldygga now, scion of Mordegon, and spreader of the Gold Fever.
• All over the place in Final Fantasy XII:
  • Balthier was born Ffamran Mied Bunansa and takes up a new identity after realizing how twisted his father, Dr. Cid had become thanks to an obsession with nethicite.
  • Judge Gabranth was born Noah fon Ronsenburg and gave up his birth name, believing he no longer had any right to use it for a self-perceived failure to defend his nation from the Empire he now serves.
  • Reddas was originally known as Judge Zecht, a high ranking and influential figure in the Archadian Empire before becoming disillusioned and running away to start a new life.
• Greil in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. When the Black Knight refers to him as Gawain, he responds: "That was my name, once. But I... threw it away."
• Most heroes in Freedom Force retain some ties to their original identity, but Tombstone completely refuses to be Nathan Graves, as is observed when he's introduced.
• One ending in Guilty Gear XX has Venom try to call Faust "Dr. Baldhead". Before he can finish the name, Faust smacks him and declares, "That is not who I am any more."
  • Also, Sol Badguy despises his past identity as Frederick Bulsara, the scientist who created the Gears, and calling him by his old name is a real good way to piss him off. In STRIVE, it ends up getting inverted after Asuka R. Kreutz/That Man removes the Flame of Corruption from him, effectively "killing" Sol Badguy in name.
• In Jay's Journey, the heavily-disguised character of Shade has a number of flashbacks focusing on one Tezla Concerto. At one point, Atolla (who knew Tezla) makes the claim that Shade is Tezla, but Shade denies this and says that Tezla is dead. This is actually a subversion, however; in a hidden scene, it's revealed Tezla really is dead. Shade is Tezla's sister, Tanya.
• In the Kingdom Hearts games, Squall Leonhart changed his name to Leon out of shame at not being able to prevent his home world from being overrun by The Heartless. Mildly lampshaded as Yuffie tends to keep using his real name.
  Yuffie: I think you might've overdone it, Squall!
  Leon: It's Leon.
  • Terra-Xehanort drops a similar line in the Final Episode of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep:
    Terra's heart has been extinguished... smothered by the darkness within him!
• The King of Fighters: As The King of Fighters XV indicates, Krohnen really doesn't like being called K9999, refusing to answer to his old name, and even intimidating his own teammates into calling him "Krohnen". It even extends to a meta level - in SNK's official character database, Krohnen's original identity has no bio.
  Ángel... The name's Krohnen. Next time you screw that up, you'll regret it.
• In Kingdom of Loathing, Rene C. Corman, a one-time boss, stated, "There is no Bigg. There never was a Bigg."
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has variation five, the "just a mask" variation, with Crow Armbrust - "...But at the end of the day, I'm C. That's the real deal. The Crow Armbrust you've known all this time... he isn't real. He never was."
• The Legend of Zelda series: For the most part, in-game dialogue makes reference to Ganondorf when he is in his human form, and Ganon after touching the Triforce and becoming the Demon King. Interestingly, Ganondorf has only ever been shown using his human name, so it's possible that "Ganon" could just be a name his enemies made.
  • Subtle example in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when the mysterious Old Man reveals his true identity. He says "I was Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule....the last leader of Hyrule" rather than "I am Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the former king of Hyrule," indicating that he feels so much shame about his role in Hyrule's doom that he doesn't like to acknowledge who or what he was when he was alive (though the subsequent text boxes still give "King Rhoam" as his name).
• A curious case in Lobotomy Corporation and its sequel Library of Ruina. All of the Sephiroth were renamed from human names to Sephiroth names upon being stuffed into a robot body. However, when they regain a human body in the sequel, they refuse to use their former human names for the reason that is this trope.
• In the end of Lost Isle, the villagers go out looking for their hero Morvayn. When they ask the Big Bad what has become of him, this is his response:
  Morlach: Don't interrupt me! Morvayn is no more, there is only Morlach now.
  • Darkflamewolf even took this opportunity for a little laugh:
    Darkflamewolf: Don't interrupt me! I'm the mega-villian [sic] giving my evil monologue! You will listen to me!
• Lunar Knights draws on this trope toward the end of Chapter 4. When Ernest recognizes Lucian as Sartana, his old war buddy, Lucian responds with one of these.
• Mass Effect:
  • Jacob Taylor's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2 has this. When Jacob learns what his missing father has been doing for the ten years he was presumed dead, he's so disgusted that he refuses to acknowledge him as the same man. No matter how you end the mission, he will tell Shepard "I've already mourned the man he used to be" in the aftermath.
    Jacob: You were a better man dead. As far as I'm concerned, you still are.
  • In one of the possible endings for Mass Effect 3, Commander Shepard becomes a new AI with complete control over the Reapers. Shepard considers their previous human life a completely separate person, but promises to honor their sacrifice by protecting the galaxy.
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: "I am Raiden. Jack is no more." Or "Jack is dead." By the time in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he eventually is changed back.
  • At the very end of the series, Solid Snake gives up his codename and starts going by David again.
  • Inversely, at the end of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Jack finally embraces his Face–Heel Turn when he wants people to refer to him as Big Boss from now on.
• Nobody Saves the World: At the very end of the game, the Calamity offers to return Nostramagus to his regular form and give him back his memories, but he decides to continue living as "Nobody" rather than accept a Deal with the Devil, especially since his past self was an arrogant asshole and an all-around unpleasant person.
• Used rather terrifyingly in Parasite Eve, where after opera actress Melissa Pierce is taken over by her mitochondria and mutates into the Big Bad, she calls herself Melissa one last time before correcting herself and declaring her name to now be Eve. The way it is worded heavily implies that Melissa was fighting against Eve, but failed and figuratively died as she was completely taken over.
  Melissa/Eve: I'm Melissa... No... I am... I'm... I am EVE!
• The introduction to The Path of Thanatos states that when a man named Kale returned to the lands he was exiled from he'd been long dead. "In his place was Thanatos."
• Persona 3 has this at the start of the final boss battle. When facing the Nyx Avatar, Yukari refers to him as Ryoji, a nod to how he - briefly - was an Amnesiac God. The Nyx Avatar responds "That was my name for a time. I didn't mind it."
• Psychonauts 2:
  • While exploring the Shattered Sanity of Ford Cruller's mind, the segment "Cruller's Correspondence" has you helping Ford mail a letter to his lover and former team-mate Lucrecia "Lucy" Mux, from before she became Maligula, only to get a postcard reading " Lucy is dead. She's never coming back."
  • When Raz meets Bob Zanotto, Bob gets mad when Raz brings up his former fellow Psychonauts Truman, Ford, and Helmut.
    Bob: Stop it! Right now! I don't wanna hear any of those names ever again, you hear me?! They're all... lost. Dead.
    Raz: But Bob...
    Bob: Especially that one!!
• Near the end of Radiant Historia, Eruca asks the protagonist who he identifies as, since he was born Ernst, but has no memories of the time and now goes by Stocke. At this point both are valid for him, and the player can choose either; if they choose Stocke, he says that Ernst should rest in peace and the current crisis is Stocke's burden.
• In RosenkreuzStilette, Grolla's grandfather and mentor, Raimund Seyfarth, who had passed away four years prior to the game's storyline, was revived by Graf Zeppelin as a Grim Reaper-like wraith and a guardian of his castle bridge. When your character reaches him at the end of Zeppelin Stage 3 and recognizes his voice, he states that his name was the name he carried as a mortal but states that said name is of no use to him now.
• Part of Rowdy Reiko's back story in Rumble Roses is that she had killed her former self Reiko Hinomoto.
• The ending of Shadow the Hedgehog has the titular character declare this as he tosses away a photo of his past life into deep space. This is especially notable as the entire game was about his Quest for Identity.
  Goodbye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog.
• It's the same name, but the first form of Skies of Arcadia's final boss says "The Ramirez you knew is already dead, Fina!" to the party right before going One-Winged Angel. In this case the two identities are Fina's kindhearted older-brother figure and Galcian's ruthless right-hand man.
• Used tragically in Starcraft when Sarah Kerrigan becomes the Queen of Blades.
  James Raynor: Sarah, is that you?
  Kerrigan: It was.
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope: When Edge challenges him, the Apostle of Creation shrieks "Faize is gone! Faize is nowhere! You will not address me by that weakling's name!"
• Star Wars Legends:
  • In Knights of the Old Republic, you get a few chances to say variations on this yourself, when dealing with a Dark and Troubled Past.
  • The Force Unleashed: Toward the story's end, the protagonist tells his pilot and love interest (who had only known him by the call-sign "Starkiller" up to this point) his real name before turning from his evil ways.
• Super Paper Mario: Omnicidal Maniac Count Bleck is revealed to have once been Blumiere, who became Bleck after losing his love Timpani and becoming corrupted by the Dark Progonosticus.
  "The man known as Blumiere died long ago. Now there is only Bleck!"
• Lamia Loveless, in Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, either the OVA or OG Gaiden, while breaking free from the Bartoll for the first time: "I am... W17... no, I am...! Lamia Loveless...!!"
  • Variation: Sanger Zonvolt in Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden. First is "I am Sanger Zonvolt, The Sword Of Magus!!". But one Heel–Face Turn and the next time he says that, it becomes, "I am Sanger Zonvolt, The Sword That Cleaves Evil!!". So, That Title Is Dead.
• Used in Tales of Vesperia in regards to Raven and his previous identity as Captain Schwann.
  Raven: Sorry, but you buried that poor schmuck alive yourself. I'm Raven. Pleased ta meet ya.
  • Also in Tales of Destiny 2 with Judas discarding his old identity as Leon who is Back from the Dead thanks to the Big Bad.
• In Twisted Metal, Marcus Kane's split personality Needles took over and killed his wife and kids.
  Mrs. Kane: Marcus no!
  Needles Kane: Marcus doesn't live here anymore.
• Ubersoldier 2 reveals the Nazi Super-Soldier and enforcer who menaced you repeatedly in the first half to be Dietrich von Schneider, your ally Maria Schneider's brother and an earlier product of the Ubersoldier project. You defeat Dietrich in a boss fight, and in the aftermath Maria tries helping her brother regain his memories. It... doesn't work.
  Dietrich: "I'm not Dietrich Schneider anymore, Maria. Your brother's dead."
• In the Golden Ending of Undertale, Asriel Dreemurr says something like this. You've spent most of the game thinking of him as Flowey, the soulless flower, but at that moment, he had temporarily recovered from his affliction. But because Flowey acts so differently, he wants you to think of them as different people. Which is to say, for the moment, Flowey is dead, but soon he'll come back, and Asriel will be dead again, this time permanently.
• In Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, playing as a Malkavian allows you to ask Velvet Velour who 'Susan' was. After chewing you out for going inside her head, she states coldly that Susan was a weak woman who died.
  • You can also invoke it literally when attempting to convince Samantha (a friend from your living days) that you're not... you.
• Jack from Wild ARMs in regards to his old life as Garret, a knight of Artica. In fact, reminding him of this is a good way to piss him off.
• In World of Warcraft, Bolvar Fordragon has words to this effect after donning the Helm of Domination and becoming the new Lich King. His voice even gains the Lich King's signature Power Echoes to emphasise the point.
  Tell them only that the Lich King is dead... and that Bolvar Fordragon died with him.
• KOS-MOS in the last moments of Xenosaga, Episode 3: "I am not Mary. I am KOS-MOS!!"
• X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse has both Beast and Angel saying this upon being brainwashed by Apocalypse.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, Sol Chevalsky claims this about how he used to be.
  My past means nothing to me. I am no longer Pegasus. I am Sol Chevalsky!

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