I don't think there is a subtrope specifically for that, but considering we also have Death Amnesia (and more specifically Ghost Amnesia), I feel like the instances of "character is unaware that they're dead and it doesn't lead to a reveal" that doesn't qualify as part of Death Amnesia may be too narrow.
Edited by number9robotic on Feb 5th 2024 at 8:04:48 AM
Thanks for playing King's Quest V!
It would lead to a reveal to ghost but there is no amnesia of their former life as they believe they are still alive. And no amnesia of their afterlife either as they never returned to the living. There's Discovering Your Own Dead Body which is a very specific form of how ghosts come to their realisation. I was looking for the more general trope. E.g. I remember a game where the hero has to make a roaming ghost become aware of their death so that they can pass on to the afterlife.
There's been a request
on Trope Finder for a trope about a ghost not realizing they are dead (while the audience is in the know, I assume) and Dead All Along has been suggested.
I am doubtful because the trope description, while somewhat fuzzy, suggests there must be a twist in it for the audience. In the first paragraph it talks about The Reveal that the character is dead which would disqualify the example given above. Also, the last paragraph makes the comparison to Tomato Surprise, another trope about an audience-related twist.
Does this trope cover twistless (to the audience) examples or are we missing a trope for that? Merging the two scenarios under one trope feels like treating The Reveal and Dramatic Irony / Internal Reveal to be the same thing.
Edited by eroock on Feb 5th 2024 at 5:50:14 PM