For a more extreme fictional example of this, I’m reminded of K.J. Parker’s Scavenger trilogy, which begins with a man waking up on a battlefield, left for dead. He has taken a head injury and lost his memory. On his travels through the world, trying to discover who he was, everyone he meets, however helpful they seem, uses him for their own ends. Apparently he was known as the wickedest man in the world, but everything he does to get away from his past life just brings him back into it, spreading death and destruction wherever he goes.
For a more extreme fictional example of this, I’m reminded of K.J. Parker’s Scavenger trilogy, which begins with a man waking up on a battlefield, left for dead. He has taken a head injury and lost his memory. On his travels through the world, trying to discover who he was, everyone he meets, however helpful they seem, uses him for their own ends. Apparently he was known as the wickedest man in the world, but everything he does to get away from his past life just brings him back into it, spreading death and destruction wherever he goes.