Tainted Forgotten


No health

Stats

Damage	3.5 (* 1.50)	－
Tears	1.36	－
Shot Speed	1	－
Range	6.5	－
Speed	－	1.0
Luck	0	0

Starting Items

Pickups	None	None
Items	None	None

Unlock Method

Use (etc.) to open the hidden closet in

Home as

The Forgotten

Tainted Forgotten is a character added in The Binding of Isaac: Repentance. He is the alternate version of The Forgotten. Tainted Forgotten is unlocked by reaching Home and using either the Red Key or the Cracked Key to access a special room in the left hallway while playing as The Forgotten.

The character is split into two parts, both existing at the same time. Tainted Soul resembles The Soul and is directly controlled, but cannot attack in any form except through the skeletal Tainted Forgotten. Tainted Soul cannot obtain red heart containers; it can only obtain soul, black, or bone hearts.
Tainted Forgotten is completely invulnerable, immobile and does not have a health bar. Colliding with Tainted Forgotten will cause Tainted Soul to hold it over its head, and pressing any of the fire buttons will throw the skeletal body in a given direction.
- Tainted Forgotten performs a bone swing attack while thrown for 3x damage, and deals an additional 5 points from body impact. While on the ground, Tainted Forgotten can continue swinging the bone or charge up for a bone throw attack in a similar manner to the ordinary Forgotten.
- Tainted Forgotten can be thrown with 360 degrees of movement using an analog stick or mouse controls.
Enemies almost always target Tainted Soul alone, but Tainted Forgotten's body can also be used to block enemy projectiles and movement.

Both Tainted Forgotten and Tainted Soul can pick up items and consumables, unlock doors and chests, and pay for items (both in shops and devil deals). However, Tainted Forgotten will only do this if it is thrown into the object it is interacting with. Tainted Forgotten is automatically held by Tainted Soul upon entering a room. Bombs placed and consumables and trinkets dropped will spawn on the location of Tainted Forgotten only. Tainted Forgotten can be thrown through doors to enter adjacent rooms, and being invulnerable, curse room doors can be passed through safely.

Many items prioritize the position of Tainted Forgotten over that of Tainted Soul. For example, familiars and orbitals will follow Tainted Forgotten, thus not granting any protection to Tainted Soul.

Changes to the speed stat are only half as effective.

Strategy and Items

Invincibility effects like Book of Shadows, My Little Unicorn or The Gamekid show the effect on Tainted Forgotten, despite Tainted Soul being immune to damage as well.
All contact damage attacks such as Aries and The Virus are tripled in strength for throwing Tainted Forgotten. The damage is added on top of the normal 5 points its body impact does.
- Conversely, Tainted Soul cannot deal any contact damage at all.
- This makes Midas' Touch very good, as the petrifying effect can be activated without cost and it can do up to 69.9 damage, or 609.9 with Deep Pockets.
- Serpent's Kiss is very good for generating health as you are constantly throwing Tainted Forgotten dealing contact poison.
Pluto is a direct downgrade on Tainted Forgotten, as the large size down only affects the skeleton and not Tainted Soul. This makes its hitbox smaller and also harder to pick up.
Uranus is quite good for Tainted Forgotten, as the impact from being thrown will often send the just frozen enemies sliding off to hit a wall or more enemies. This can lead to very fast room clears if enemies are clustered together.
Mars can be used to control Tainted Forgotten from a distance with the dash, allowing the bones to reposition and attack every so often without putting the soul in danger.
Area of effect damage such as Monstrance and 120 Volt apply their effect to Tainted Forgotten making them incredibly powerful for large crowds and stationary bosses.
Care should be taken when fighting enemies spawned in devil rooms with devil deals, because throwing the Tainted Forgotten into a devil deal will purchase it, with potentially fatal results.
Resurrecting from items such as Lazarus' Rags and Ankh will cause the player to instantly die upon resurrection. However, Guppy's Collar does not cause this to happen.
When Gnawed Leaf is available, Tainted Soul will become invulnerable to every enemy attacks a few moments after throwing or holding Tainted Forgotten. Paired with a damaging Orbital Familiar or contact damage, it is easy to beat the game without being hit once.
- It is unknown if this interaction is bugged or intentional.
Error: The given collectible ("E Coli") does not exist. is an excellent option for Tainted Forgotten, offering a semi-frequent instant kill on weaker enemies Tainted Forgotten is thrown into.
False PHD is a good damage source in exchange of shot speed, since this stat is useless for Tainted Forgotten.
Kamikaze! The explosion happens on Tainted Forgotten not Tainted Soul allowing unlimited use with no downsides as long as you keep your distance.
Some pills don't work because they apply their effects to Tainted Forgotten. Paralysis is one example.
White Pony can be used only when Tainted Soul is holding Tainted Forgotten or when Tainted Forgotten is just thrown. Doing so will make a trail of holy light beams behind Tainted Forgotten as it moves instead of executing the usual charge attack. This makes it possible to deal much more damage with one charge as the player can move the Tainted Forgotten on top of an enemy to make every light beam land on them.
Stitches will only teleport Tainted Forgotten, which can be used to more accurately reposition Tainted Forgotten without putting Tainted Soul in a difficult position.
Portals created by Ventricle Razor can be used both while Tainted Soul is holding Tainted Forgotten, which will warp them both, and when Tainted Forgotten in thrown in the portal by itself, which will warp only the bone pile and can be very effective for repositioning, especially during boss fights.
Using How to Jump while throwing Tainted Forgotten will drastically increase its launch distance.
Throwing Tainted Forgotten into a door will cause the player to enter that room. This can be done to avoid taking damage when exiting Curse Rooms.
When placing a bomb, the bomb will always appear at the current position of Tainted Forgotten, not Tainted Soul.
The Ipecac shot when using the Horf! pill will shoot out of Tainted Forgotten, not Tainted Soul.
Be careful of Mom's Hands, because they can grab Tainted Forgotten. This will deal no damage but will still cause teleportation back to the starting room.
Tainted Soul can open Mimic Chest without taking damage.
Tainted Soul can activate the stop button in Greed Mode without penalty.
- Tainted Forgotten's body can also be used to activate the button.
Tainted Soul can pass through the mirror in Downpour II without touching the white fire.
- If Tainted Forgotten is thrown into the white fire, it transforms into the Lost and can die after taking damage twice.
Tainted Soul has an extended invincibility period that allows it to donate a full heart to Blood Donation Machines and Devil Beggars for the price of a half.
Items that inflict Fear like Mom's Perfume and 2Spooky should be avoided, because enemies will flee from the Tainted Forgotten instead of the Tainted Soul, making it harder to hit enemies.
Charmed enemies may pursue Tainted Forgotten instead of other enemies, which can be ideal for bringing and keeping them within range of its melee attack.
Tear effects from items such as Euthanasia and Sulfuric Acid can activate both on the body throws and on the melee attack.
Using a Cracked Key or Red Key will open the door closest to Tainted Forgotten and not Tainted Soul.

Strange Attractor will cause enemies to be pulled towards Tainted Forgotten. This is very useful, since it makes dealing damage to enemies easier and protects Tainted Soul, pulling them away and blocking more of their shots. This is especially effective during the Beast fight.

Despite the fact that Lemegeton wisps surround the 'invulnerable' Tainted Forgotten, they still take damage unless the Tainted Soul is invulnerable.

Item interactions

Birthright: Gives Tainted Soul the Recall item to retrieve Tainted Forgotten immediately.
- Birthright + Car Battery: Recalling the Forgotten causes it to begin slowly moving towards the Soul for 5 seconds, before rapidly speeding up back to normal speed. The Forgotten can attack freely while moving. The Soul is invincible while the Forgotten is floating. As the cooldown of Recall is 3 seconds it can be spammed to provide infinite invincibility as long as the Forgotten is not reclaimed by the Soul, almost guaranteeing the victory.
Brimstone: Replaces the bone throw by a short range brimstone orb.
Dr. Fetus: charging an attack will spawn a bomb underneath Tainted forgotten. Using a regular attack after that will result in a usual Forgotten interaction, sending said bomb in a chosen direction.
Epic Fetus: After being thrown, Tainted Forgotten can prep a missile to be thrown in an arc to a crosshair controlled with the tear buttons. Unlike how Epic Fetus normally functions, the missile will not be released until the fire buttons are released. Doesn't affect the melee club attack at all.
Genesis: Effectively removes all your items, touching the generated items as Tainted Soul does not grant them to the soul (though it still grants them to the forgotten).
Godhead: Stat increases are applied, thrown attacks gain homing, but both the melee and thrown attacks do not have the damaging aura.
Ipecac: Tainted Forgotten's bone club will cause explosion when hitting enemies.
Isaac's Heart: Causes the heart to follow Tainted Forgotten like other familiars, however Tainted Soul does not become immune to damage like other characters and both he and the heart can take damage simultaneously.
Jupiter: Acts solely as a speed boost with no fart effects.
King Baby: Follows Tainted Forgotten instead of floating around the room. Shooting familiars still fire towards enemies automatically.
Lead Pencil: Will fire the Lead pencil shot on the 15th swing of the bone club. Holding down the fire button will cause Tainted Forgotten to both swing and charge the bone club. Swinging, then charging and firing, counts as two swings.
The Ludovico Technique: Spawns a floating tear that slowly and loosely floats towards the Forgotten. If struck with a melee attack, it will grow in size and be launched outwards, dealing damage if it strikes something, before moving back towards the Forgotten.
My Reflection: All projectiles that would be affected by this item will return to where Tainted Forgotten is.
Panic Button: Active item is used whenever Tainted Forgotten touches an enemy, regardless of damage taken.
Venus: Perpetually charms enemies close to Tainted Forgotten, which synergizes well with the fact that charmed enemies can home in on it, keeping them charmed and in melee range (and away from Tainted Soul) until killed or distracted by another target.
Tech X: If thrown, Tainted Forgotten's club is surrounded by a ring-shaped laser

Unlockable Items

Polished Bone - Defeat Isaac, ???, Satan, and The Lamb as Tainted Forgotten.

Death - Defeat Ultra Greedier as Tainted Forgotten.

Soul of the Forgotten - Defeat Hush and Boss Rush as Tainted Forgotten.

Golden Battery - Defeat Mega Satan as Tainted Forgotten.

Decap Attack - Defeat Delirium as Tainted Forgotten.

Hollow Heart - Defeat Mother as Tainted Forgotten.

Isaac's Tomb - Defeat The Beast as Tainted Forgotten.

Trivia

Loading the console command "restart 40" it is possible to play as Tainted Soul without Tainted Forgotten, however, you cannot fire and without the presence of Tainted Forgotten, the game is only possible to beat this way because of RNG, and Tainted Soul will have the health of The Lost and the game crashes if you die.
Tainted Soul bears resemblance to a scrapped character from Antibirth called Edith. The mechanic used by Tainted Forgotten also resembles one planned mechanic Edith was going to have.
- In fact, in post launch interviews, one of the lead developers of Repentance, Kilburn, has confirmed that Tainted Forgotten is what the original concept of Edith eventually turned into during the development of Repentance. This was further confirmed by Edmund McMillen.
Certain transformations such as Guppy revert the sprite of Tainted Forgotten to appear to be standing upright.
Tainted Soul can go through the mirror in Downpour II without needing to turn Tainted Forgotten into The Lost.
Tainted Soul can go through the entrance to the Mausoleum without losing any health while not holding the Forgotten.
The achievement for unlocking Tainted Forgotten is "The Fettered", a possible title for the character.
- "Fettered" means "bound" or "shackled", which may be linked to how Tainted Forgotten cannot move on his own and only through Tainted Soul.

Bugs

Bug!	Tainted Forgotten does not get their active item charged when a Battery Bum pays out, unless the Battery Bum is paid by throwing the bones at him. They can still pick up dropped batteries, but the direct charges from the bum are not applied.

Bug!	When fighting against Mom's Heart / It Lives, if Tainted Forgotten is not picked up before the appearance of the entrances to Cathedral and Sheol, the player will automatically progress to whichever entrance Tainted Forgotten rests on (potentially ruining an entire run).

Bug!	If the Clicker active item is used to transform from any tainted character to Tainted Forgotten, only the bones will spawn (without Tainted Soul), making it impossible to move and effectively ending your run.

Bug!	If the Bones part of the Tainted Forgotten is thrown into the minecart which leads to Knife Piece 2, the scene of the minecart going through the door will play out, but will not transition into the next room, softlocking the game. Restarting the game with Alt + F4 and continuing the run will fix this.

Bug!	Activating the D12 can reroll the bone pile body of the Tainted Forgotten and make it disappear, leaving the bone club behind. If this happens pressing the attack buttons has no effect. The club can still be picked up and thrown but it only has the base throwing damage. Leaving the room returns the bone pile body to normal.