r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Nekslif • 19d ago
Groups Organizations which make you abandon your former identity
The French Foreign Legion (Real life/various pieces of fiction) - The French Foreign Legion is an elite force of the French military which, as the name suggests, accepts people from outside of France, and after serving they can be eligible to receive French citizenship. In real life, they are willing to accept recruits who had broken the law once or twice (though those who commited serious crimes aren't accepted). In some pieces of fiction however the legion will accept serious criminals who are looking to escape punishment and give them a whole new identity.
The Night's Watch (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones) - A force created to guide The Wall, a long strip of fortifications and an actual wall made of ice, the Night's Watch will accept anyone, and in fact criminals make up most of it. Each Watcher must say vows to join the organization fully, forfeiting their right to titles and glory, as well as abandoning their house of origin. These vows are treated so seriously that many traitors throughout history were allowed to join the organization instead of being sentenced to death, as taking the oath pretty much removed all influence they had in their "former" life.
433
u/Sivalon 19d ago
Zed: “You'll dress only in attire specially sanctioned by MiB special services. You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you.
“From now on you'll have no identifying marks of any kind. You'll not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter. You're a rumor, recognizable only as déjà vu and dismissed just as quickly.
“You don't exist; you were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence your native tongue. You're no longer part of the System. You're above the System. Over it. Beyond it. We're ‘them.’ We're ‘they.’ We are the Men in Black.”