rdfs:comment
| - The ploy of taking over a dead person's identity. This can be for any number of reasons. Perhaps the character was a drifter, with no identity of their own worth speaking of and enticed by the possibility of assuming the role of their recently deceased acquaintance. They may have promised to protect the person's loved ones, want to escape their old life, or less heroically intend to con their new "family" out of money. If anyone questions their changed appearance, accent, or other details, there's often a Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story they can use to explain it away.
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abstract
| - The ploy of taking over a dead person's identity. This can be for any number of reasons. Perhaps the character was a drifter, with no identity of their own worth speaking of and enticed by the possibility of assuming the role of their recently deceased acquaintance. They may have promised to protect the person's loved ones, want to escape their old life, or less heroically intend to con their new "family" out of money. If anyone questions their changed appearance, accent, or other details, there's often a Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story they can use to explain it away. Usually the impostor will end up Becoming the Mask, falling in love with the life that isn't his, and be exposed. Happily, though, he will regain the trust he lost by some act of heroism, and remain among his new loved ones. Whether it's with his own or the new name varies. More maliciously, a villain will do this after they kill the other person. A common occurrence in murder mysteries is for the killer to do this in order to throw off the time of death and give themselves an alibi. Having such an impersonation can create Dramatic Irony if the audience is aware of the ploy, or a plot twist if they are not. Occasionally the impostor will be played sympathetically, in which case they may be forced to assume the dead person's identity to escape death themselves. Or, in a subversion, they could have been misidentified after a mass-casualty incident, and refrained from pointing out the mistake due to fear of prosecution, sympathy for the dead person's loved ones (who believe the deceased "miraculously survived!"), or even amnesia. Compare My Sibling Will Live Through Me. Contrast The Mole, Rags to Royalty, The Real Remington Steele, Prince and Pauper. Contrast Lost in Character, where a professional actor takes on a role and forgets their original self. If you don't just take the other person's identity, but also their appearance, it's Replicant Snatching. If it's a temporary thing, a sort of masquerade where characters pretend the dead one is alive, it's an Of Corpse He's Alive situation, or the El Cid Ploy. If you're a time traveler, and are doing this so history stays on track, its You Will Be Beethoven. Examples of Dead Person Impersonation include:
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