So the game paints it out to seem as though every time TNO dies, he loses his memory. He never loses his memory when he dies in-game, but I assumed that this was just a suspension of a plot device in order to make the game playable.

But I'm on my second playthrough, and this time picked up Nordom. When talking to him about TNO's amnesia, I had the option to say something like "But I've died several times since awakening in the mortuary and I haven't lost my memory." He responds, with his typical logic, that if every time TNO loses his memory, he's died, but he can die without losing his memory, then death is related, but not the cause.

So does the game ever go into detail about what exactly causes TNO's amnesia? Does he have to be killed by TTO in some way?

The last time he lost his memory he was killed by shadows (which are from the people who had to die instead of him).

I believe it's said at some point that a death which does a lot of damage to TNO is much more likely to cause him to lose his memory than more mundane deaths (like just being stabbed or getting zapped by cranium rats). It's also been established that getting killed by shadows (sent by TTO) has also resulted in TNO losing his memory on at least one occasion, although it's not clear whether the simple act of being killed by shadows causes him to lose his memory, or whether it's a result of the shadows just really messing him up when they kill him.

From my memory (which admitted is bad), THIS incarnation you're playing finally got "rid" of the curse of losing your memory when you die. They never really explained why as far as I can tell.

The rest of the incarnations unfortunately lose their memory when they die.

this. there was a memory in the game, about paranoid incantation. he found a sage for his condition. the sage told him that after a certain amount of deaths, dying won't cause losing memory.

I thought it was the one prior to the paranoid one (The one who planned it all out, got Morte and that other guy into your servitude etc.) who found out. Though the paranoid one definately knew it too, I just thought he found out from the previous guys notes and things.

But yeah, for some reason (read: gameplay) your initial incarnation is the first that is able to retain memories.

I just loaded up the final confrontation with TTO, and I can confirm that TNO reveals that he no longer loses his memories after dying. TTO's initial reaction is surprise, followed by a threat to imprison TNO.

It appears that TNO did get over his amnesia somehow or other. I definitely would like to hear more about the memory that Corax mentioned.

I vaguely recall something similar to what Corax mentioned (vague as in, some faint memory about a reference to the effect of the number of deaths on TNO), but back then I interpreted it to mean that after a certain number of deaths he would stop losing his memory because, in effect, there wouldn't be any memories left to lose.

I always thought that amnesia only set in under certain, very specific and rare conditions, which include (1) Death by shadows (2) Death by TTO (3) Any kind of death within the Fortress Of Regrets. I know that for the most part all your foes in the Fortress are shadows, but TNO could conceivably be killed by tripping and breaking his neck, or by being betrayed by party members etc. (so long as the death occurs within the Fortress walls). Then also, perhaps, (4) A death by some supernatural force or person, such as maybe Ravel or Trias.

I've wondered this myself. In fact, learning the truth about TNO's amnesia was a big focus focus in my latest playthrough. I can only confirm this: Not true, because the first time he is killed is just after Ravel's ritual, when Ravel wanted to ascertain whether she had succeeded. It is implied that she killed him by strangulation (a very "clean" death), and is explicitly stated that he woke up with amnesia afterwards. Again I have to disagree, because you can be killed by some shadows that spawn randomly at night (for me that happened in Clerk's Ward), with no memory loss afterwards. As far as Fortress of Regrets goes, it is speculated that TNO may truly die there because the place is isolated, and there are no other living beings that may die instead of TNO once all the party members are dead.

First I thought it had something to do with the sheer willpower and desire to learn the truth, but even smarter incarnations have reached the Fortress of Regrets, died and woke up with no recollections of that place.

Perhaps this is merely some leniency with regards to game mechanics in order to make dying a bearable gameplay event.

Then again, the location could have something to do with it. The death that kmonster was referring to was the death in the Alley of Lingering SIghs, right? And let's face it, that's no ordinary alley! Cripes! I completely forgot about that little detail; which begs the question: Why did TNO not die completely and outright in any of the previous deaths within the Fortress, when the other incarnation made it inside yet failed and were killed? Were some party members still left and therefore 'sacrificed' when the other incarnations died?

I think at the end in the dialog with the Transcendent One, there is implied that the closer the incarnation gets to the truth, the more he learns about himself, somehow the less memory he loses.