How would a story character, who is believed to be suffering from amnesia, but did not actually exist prior to being found and brought to the hospital be able to discover this fact about his/her self, without adding another paranormal or science fiction plot element. How the character came to exist is not discoverable.
The story character is adult, well educated, well dressed at the time he/she was found.
The location/time is a contemporary European of North American city.
A search of birth records and fingerprints?
That would only prove that the person was not born in the US (or whatever country is being used). All it would take is one hospital, one county office, one courthouse to burn down anywhere in the country during the right time frame to introduce doubt.
It would be harder for a baby born today, but all the investigators would be able to say for sure was the person was not born in a country with reliable electronic records. He could have been born to English parents on Holiday to Peru.
That would only prove that the person was not born in the US (or whatever country is being used). All it would take is one hospital, one county office, one courthouse to burn down anywhere in the country during the right time frame to introduce doubt.
It would be harder for a baby born today, but all the investigators would be able to say for sure was the person was not born in a country with reliable electronic records. He could have been born to English parents on Holiday to Peru.
Yeah. I pretty much knew that when I posted. I literally can not think of a non science fiction/fantasy explanation for it.
Given the constraints you have laid out, it is not possible. You can't write about the current world as it is today and then try to introduce an impossible plot item without giving it some sort of backup, the story will fall apart.
There simply is no system of universal registration available today that could conclusively prove a person did not exist before they appeared in the hospital.
You will have to introduce another plot point that will allow you to get there.
You will have to introduce another plot point that will allow you to get there.
I agree. The problem is keeping those plot points away from the paranormal.
Without adding another element, they can't based on this part:
but did not actually exist prior to being found
They can't. Among the myriad of reasons, education makes the top five.
Education, formal or informal, requires memorization of facts. It also requires time. For time to be perceived, there has to be a progression. One second, to a minute, to an hour etc.
Some paranormal, medical, or science fiction element or elements would be required.
Of course it's possible to leave a hole in the story and simply say nothing, but I doubt that works out well.
but did not actually exist prior to being found and brought to the hospital
I guess I would have to know what "did not exist" means. Do you mean one second he wasn't there and then, poof, he exists?
I guess I would have to know what "did not exist" means. Do you mean one second he wasn't there and then, poof, he exists?
Poof, he exists, then he is found unconscious and taken to a hospital.
A person with good memory transported to a parallel universe identical in every detail but the fact of his existence could easily see the absence of record trail. Even then conclusive proof he didn't exist couldn't be provided.
A person with personal memory wiped on such a transfer (with seems workable hypothesis how such a person might come into existence without rabbit hole of questions about God-like creators who were able to rig his neural network to resemble educated individual) wouldn't even know where to look for the absence of the records.
Or does he? While he doesn't have meaningful memories of facts, he apparently have skills, even the clothes that were on them offer clues.
Still, proving a negative is logical impossibility.
Perhaps it could, somewhat, be proven that he couldn't arrive at the location of discovery by any known means (within or near a very well guarded area maybe), but even that's slippery and inconclusive.
All that is possible is to collect increasing numbers of contradictions and oddities. Perhaps he has accent and/or collection of language skills characteristic to a specific small and normally well documented region. Perhaps he has evident education provided by just a handful of schools, perhaps he has proprietary knowledge of a business insider, perhaps the clothes are made from exclusive material seemingly by a specific designer. Maybe he has signs of medical procedure provided by only few specialists.
The cross-diagram of such clues could narrow possible life pathways enough for lack of record to become daunting. The person could have been a super-spy traveling and changing appearance regularly, but even that possibility should have left discoverable track, nobody can be that good.
It can never be conclusive, and it can't be any single event, just a long list of disappointing results leading to conclusion that "the hypothesis of my existence prior to discovery in the hospital is implausible."
Even then conclusive proof he didn't exist couldn't be provided.
If a version of him already existed in the Parallel universe, encountering himself would be fairly conclusive proof that one of them is not what he seems to be even if it's not proof of the how or the exactly what.
If a version of him already existed in the Parallel universe, encountering himself would be fairly conclusive proof that one of them is not what he seems to be even if it's not proof of the how or the exactly what.
Yes, but suppose his version in this dimension suffered spontaneous abortion at six weeks making mother believe she just missed a menstruation, well, somehow and forget about it.
(ETA: lol, or just... condom didn't break.)
There's no trace, just the changes in the world that didn't happen, and even most of those may be substituted by extra effort or redirection of other people, or even replacement who is just a few months younger and still plenty different.
Or does he? While he doesn't have meaningful memories of facts, he apparently have skills, even the clothes that were on them offer clues.
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that even normal real world amnesia doesn't usually effect basic skills / knowledge.
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that even normal real world amnesia doesn't usually effect basic skills / knowledge.
Partially true to my knowledge. There were some cases in a study I read a while back that touched on that. The skills and knowledge were there, but the memory of them was not. Re-establishing the mental pathways to the knowledge restored the skills / knowledge.
Personal experience with it after a head injury fell in line with that. I still do not recall the specifics of the accident, nor several days after it.
Some PTSD patients have similar conditions, but it's more along the lines of being blocked rather than lost memories.
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that even normal real world amnesia doesn't usually effect basic skills / knowledge.
That was my assumption. Research on amnesia will be necessary.
Research on amnesia will be necessary.
I was going to do research on amnesia, but forgot about it.
There out there somewhere was legend about a man who appeared in a hotel in Japan a bit confused and without a trail of his arrival, but passport full of visas, passport issued by a country that doesn't exist on this version of Earth. He supposedly vanished without a trace soon after, but allegedly there's police protocol documenting the case or something.
Now, if you can work how that man could prove he fell try the cracks of multiverse and not just a prankster, you will have first half of your answer.
encountering himself would be fairly conclusive proof that one of them is not what he seems to be
Not necessarily. All it would prove is there is someone who looks like him. It would not prove or disprove that the two of them are the same person.
Not necessarily. All it would prove is there is someone who looks like him. It would not prove or disprove that the two of them are the same person.
Not exactly as the OP described, but what if the person was born one of twins, possibly identical, but only the other twin was registered and allowed to grow up 'normally' whilst this twin was kept severely cloistered, educated selectively but anonymously, obviously highly unlikely, but not an impossibility.
It would not prove or disprove that the two of them are the same person.
But DNA testing would.
Many people frown upon prologues. Probably because they're written as info dumps rather than engaging. However, this is one instance where a prologue is justified.
It doesn't matter what POV you're writing the story in. Write a prologue from a 3rd-person omniscient POV. Let the reader know what no character in the story knows. How this character came to be and that his memory got wiped out.
This assumes it's never discovered in the story. If it is, something has to trigger a part of the character's brain to give him a clue that he's different.
How the character came to exist is not discoverable.
A should have said;...by current scientific means.
A should have said;...by current scientific means.
You haven't been clear as whether his origin is Science Fiction or paranormal.
If it's science fiction, his existence is the result of by story standards "current scientific means" so under that circumstance it's absurd to say that the how of his existence is not discoverable by "current scientific means".
You haven't been clear as whether his origin is Science Fiction or paranormal.
The characters origin is an mystery.
mystery
Mr. E = MRE = meals ready to eat. He was intended to be eaten by cannibals (if humans) or aliens who have sufficiently advanced technology to store DNA and produce humans by "magic".
How would a story character, who is believed to be suffering from amnesia, but did not actually exist prior to being found and brought to the hospital be able to discover this fact about his/her self, without adding another paranormal or science fiction plot element. How the character came to exist is not discoverable.
"...be able to discover this fact about his/her self..."
It's actually quite simple: the MC can't. Why not leave it a mystery since the MC can only answer specifics with "don't know" or "can't remember".
Why not leave it a mystery since the MC can only answer specifics with "don't know" or "can't remember"
I assumed by the question that the author wanted the reader to know it wasn't a simple case of amnesia.
I assumed by the question that the author wanted the reader to know it wasn't a simple case of amnesia.
I assumed more or less the same given that the question was "How would a story character, ... be able to discover this fact about his/her self,...".
Someone who "did not actually exist prior to being found" suddenly appearing out of literally nowhere is impossible without some SF element (like aliens who dropped a 'created' person) or some paranormal event where a new person is 'split' or cloned from an existing person but of course without the background/DNA. Some readers might not like it that the how/why is kept a mystery but that's the only way if the author wants to avoid the SF/paranormal explanation.
Someone who "did not actually exist prior to being found" suddenly appearing out of literally nowhere is impossible without some SF element (like aliens who dropped a 'created' person)
Or Jason Borne.
Or Jason Borne.
He forgot his identity after being shot but with enough effort his background could be retrieved although the CIA would probably kill every effort in retrieving that background. And that still leaves the point that he didn't appear out of nowhere as a person that didn't exist before. Simple logic dictates that a grown person can not appear out of nowhere without a reason. He could have been 'grown' in some kind of hydro-phonic tank (which would be SF) but that still means that someone had to create that tank and seeded it, ergo a background to his appearance. The closest I can think of is that the MC mutated from someone else leaving that background behind and leaving the MC without a background, that's still SF though.
And that still leaves the point that he didn't appear out of nowhere as a person that didn't exist before.
That's why I asked where he came from.
It's fiction, it doesn't have to be watertight.
If a US hospital is treating a live John Doe with amnesia, a story striving for realism is probably going to be all about the hospital trying to work out who to charge or else the assumption that the person is an illegal?
Someone walking up in a motel room with no memory and perhaps some interesting luggage would afford an opportunity for a story where that person tries to discover their history on their terms?
Someone walking up in a motel room with no memory and perhaps some interesting luggage would afford an opportunity for a story where that person tries to discover their history on their terms?
Interesting approach. It eliminates coming up with plausible means for our character to fall through the cracks and become a cold case for the medical and legal system.
How to integrate our character into society so that he can continue his quest for his own identity will be a challenge.
Thanks to all of you for your responses.
Based on your comments I've developed a draft opening paragraph/introduction to the character/story and a possibility for a piece of evidence that convinces my character he has no past to remember.