Oh man, this is one of my favourite ever tropes. I think one thing that can make it super compelling is when a character really *wants* to reveal their true identity to someone they care about, but can't - that was what created so much of the tension in NiF for me.
I'm currently watching Secret of the Three Kingdoms and it's a great example of the trope overall, because it's about an emperor's secret twin brother who's been raised as a commoner, and all of a sudden has to begin impersonating his brother when he suddenly dies. And if his secret is revealed it will bring down the dynasty and result in a huge numbers of deaths, so it's incredibly tense.
Also, the cnovel Modao Zushi is another really good example - the main character transmigrates into someone else's body and has to conceal his true identity, because in his past life he was sort of public enemy number one. (The guy who's been in love with him since they were teenagers works out the truth pretty quickly, though!)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2019-01-19 08:19 pm (UTC)I'm currently watching Secret of the Three Kingdoms and it's a great example of the trope overall, because it's about an emperor's secret twin brother who's been raised as a commoner, and all of a sudden has to begin impersonating his brother when he suddenly dies. And if his secret is revealed it will bring down the dynasty and result in a huge numbers of deaths, so it's incredibly tense.
Also, the cnovel Modao Zushi is another really good example - the main character transmigrates into someone else's body and has to conceal his true identity, because in his past life he was sort of public enemy number one. (The guy who's been in love with him since they were teenagers works out the truth pretty quickly, though!)