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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"What I'm about to tell you, you might not want to know. Even so, you absolutely must hear it. [...] Given who you are and how you've lived, what I have to say may tear at your hearts..."''
|'''{{spoiler|Leder}}''', ''[[Mother 3]]''}}
[[You
Convenient excuse to keep vital information from the hero(es). Alternatively, a mocking cry by the jaded [[Anti-Hero]] to illustrate his belief that the main hero is too innocent/pampered/naive to be trusted with the truth about the mission or about people that he's grown to trust or care about.
Compare [[You Are Not Ready]] and [[Forbidden Fruit]]. Contrast [[You Didn't Ask]]. If they're being obnoxious about it, it's [[Figure It Out Yourself]]. See also [[These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]] for when you really shouldn't know. Can also be a case of [[You Do NOT Want to Know]]. Compare [[Heel Realization]], which is an awful truth, but not one anyone else kept from you. Often invokes [[Schmuck Bait]].
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{{examples}}
* [[Magical Girl|Himeno Awayuki]] of ''[[Prétear]]'' was told that she "doesn't need to know" the [[Backstory]], but forced the Leafe Knights to reveal it
▲== Anime & Manga ==
▲* [[Magical Girl|Himeno Awayuki]] of ''[[Prétear]]'' was told that she "doesn't need to know" the [[Backstory]], but forced the Leafe Knights to reveal it anyway -- specifically, that their enemy is the previous Pretear, who turned evil because of her unrequited love for Hayate, and that she herself may end up turning evil as well. Cue [[Heroic BSOD]]. In the anime version, the consequences were [[Brought Down to Normal|even worse]].
** In the manga, her stepmother unleashes another one on Himeno: Himeno's late mother died because her frail body couldn't handle the strain of pregnancy and childbirth. In other words, Himeno killed her own mother.
* In the manga version of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', part of what inspires Aion's [[Evil Plan]] is the
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Dr. Marco refuses to tell Ed how the philosophers stones are made {{spoiler|[[Powered
** Far worse in the manga and second anime. Along with the fact that {{spoiler|the Elrics didn't even bring back their mom}} the government's true intentions are so dark that even the {{spoiler|[[Serial Escalation|even the president's son, the borders of the nation, and the layout of the capital have a malicious purpose.]]}}
* In ''[[
** Sasuke was far happier thinking {{spoiler|his brother just went around killing family members because he was bored than when he found out that he had really been acting under orders from Konoha}}. He was a lot saner then, too.
* In ''[[Bokurano]]'', the main characters were originally told [[And You Thought It Was a Game|what was going on was a game]] to ensure they would fight in and against [[Humongous Mecha|giant mecha]]. The prospect of defeating the enemy was a lot easier when they didn't know doing so would {{spoiler|[[Artifact of Death|kill them regardless of success]]}}. And when they thought the enemies were {{spoiler|aliens instead of [[Alternate Universe|alternate dimensional humans]], and that they killed 10 billion people with each win}}. They were, however, [[The End of the World
* Anyone who wants to become a [[Magical Girl]] in ''[[
** ''Two'' things, as of Episode 8. {{spoiler|The warning that [[Frozen Face|Kyubey]] gave the girls about needing to keep their [[Soul Jar|Soul Gems]] clean by charging them with Grief Seeds? If they don't regularly purify the corrupted gem and it darkens completely, it becomes a Grief Seed and then ''explodes'', [[And Then John Was a Zombie|transforming them into a Witch]]}}. Just in case that wasn't horrifying enough, {{spoiler|this is apparently inevitable. Ultimately the gem ''will'' darken completely no matter what the girls do, and every magical girl is doomed to become one of the [[Eldritch Abomination
*** And just to make things even ''worse''? {{spoiler|Apart from witches created from former familiars that grew their own Grief Seeds after their parent witch was killed, every single witch that the magical girls have fought was once a magical girl herself. Every magical girl became a magical girl through making a contract with Kyubey}}. This basically means that {{spoiler|Kyubey creates witches, and that all the bad shit witches do to people and all the horrible things magical girls have to go through to stop them are ultimately Kyubey's fault. There's a REASON that a lot of people despise the little fucker}}.
*** To top it all off, the ''reason'' {{spoiler|Kyubey}} is doing all of this? ''{{spoiler|The entire universe is dying.}}''
*** Madoka eventually provides an out of sorts for this by {{spoiler|using her wish to destroy [[The Corruption]] and ensure that no [[Magical Girl]] has to become a Witch, [[Cosmic Retcon|past, present, or future]]. Unfortunately they just disappear instead - being a magical girl still sucks. Madoka herself [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]] (basically ''[[Abstract Apotheosis|becoming a concept]]'') because her wish turned her into a witch...which she then erased because of her wish. The paradox caused her to be [[Ret-Gone]] from reality - only two people know she ever existed.}}
* A [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]] example: Continued use of Spiral Power will eventually lead to an event called the Spiral Nemisis, which will give birth to a super-galaxy that will rip the universe apart.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Just as [[Aloof Big Brother|Sesshoumaru's]] finally getting used to the idea that [[BFS|Tetsusaiga]] was meant for [[The Hero|Inuyasha]] and [[Healing Shiv|Tenseiga]] was meant for him, he learns the
* In ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* In the TV series, Connor had already regained the memories of his real life, but in ''[[
* In [[Alan Moore]]'s run on ''[[
** And well before that, at the ''start'' of Alan Moore's run, Swamp Thing found out that [[Retcon|he'd never been Alec Holland]], just [[Tomato in
* The conclusion of ''[[Watchmen (
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* A large part of the premise of ''[[The Matrix]]''.
** And thanks to the technology available, they can actually unlearn the awful truth.
* Most famously invoked by [[Jack Nicholson]] in ''[[A Few Good Men]]'':
{{quote|
'''Kaffee:''' I want the '''truth!'''
'''Col. Jessep:''' ''You can't '''handle''' the truth!'' }}
** And parodied by Sideshow Bob in ''[[The Simpsons (
*** Also on Third Rock: "You want the truth? You want the truth? Well, ''I'' can't handle the truth!"
* NSA agent Patellis' excuse for their secrecy in ''The Forgotten''.
{{quote|
'''Agent Patellis''': The truth? The goddamn truth won't fit in your brain. }}
* ''[[Men in Black (
** On a larger scale, this was part of the point of the [[Masquerade]] in the first place. Something about constant threat of [[The End of the World
** Probably nothing to do with this whole article, but one of the Men In Black video games had a weapon called "Awful Truth."
** And in the original movie there was this gem from K:
{{quote|
* In the Korean movie ''[[
== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'':
** In ''[[Harry Potter
** This also plays a rather large role in [[
** The
*** Of course, this was all necessary for Dumbledore's plan to work. In the first place, he wasn't even sure that {{spoiler|Harry would survive, though he had guessed Harry might due to events in ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (
* ''The Prayer Of Miriam Cohen'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]] unfolds this trope. Not in very flattering way, though.
* In Catherine Asaro's ''The Misted Cliffs'' [[Backstory]], Dancer left her husband with her son to return to her abusive father, who battered both her and her son, Cobalt. When he was grown, Cobalt rescued his father and found him to be a loving and affectionate man, but his mother refuses to explain. At the end of the book, Dancer explains to her son's wife, Mel, {{spoiler|that there is reason to think that her son is not her husband's but his half-brother's child, and under the law, they would have executed her and her lover and her son. And they can not tell Cobalt because it would break him}}.
** In the sequel ''The Dawn Star'', his dying grandfather tells Cobalt a secret. Throughout the book, Mel is terrified that the grandfather guessed and told him. At the end, Cobalt reveals that he had said that {{spoiler|Dancer was not, in fact, his daughter}}.
* Sort of inverted in ''[[Forgotten Realms|Silverfall]]'': mentor desperately wishes her [in]subordinate could understand.
{{quote|
'''Thalaera:''' Will I be maimed?
'''Qilue:''' Hurt, perhaps; maimed, no.
'''Thalaera:''' Hurt?
'''Qilue:''' Truths have sharp edges. Learning the truth often hurts. }}
* Overlapped with [[You Do NOT Want to Know]] in the ''[[X Wing Series]]''. When Donos found out, his first impulse, which he acted on, was to try to ''kill'' Lara. And anyone else in the way.
* In ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' the title character is warned by the soothsayer Tiresias that he really doesn't want to know the truth, but tragic pride gives Oedipus the persistence to find out.
* In ''[[
** Notably used with [[Action Girl|Murphy]], as that's what led to his realization that some times people need to be told the truth. For the first three books, she's wary of him because he's so ambiguous all the time and nearly gets herself killed on a number of
* [[Dichter Und Denker|German philosopher]] Oswald Spengler's non-fiction book ''[[
* In the ''[[Warhammer
{{quote|
** The Grey Knights themselves are an example. Any average Imperial citizen who learns of their existence is killed out of hand. Even [[Super Soldier|Space Marines]] who learn about the Knights without authorization are [[Mind Rape|mind-scrubbed]] to remove the truth.
* In the ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' novel ''The Warrior's Apprentice'', Elena searches for her long lost mother. She finally learns her mother's identity {{spoiler|when said mother takes bloody revenge on Elena's father for repeatedly raping her when she was a prisoner of war.}} Likewise, the main plot of ''The Vor Game'' is triggered by Gregor learning that his late father was a rapist, a murderer and generally a [[Complete Monster]].
* In the ''[[Ender's Game]]'' book ''Shadow of the Hegemon'', Bean learns from a posthumous letter the
* Speaking of ''[[Ender's Game]]'', the fact that Ender was {{spoiler|not playing a game but committing genocide}} is a prime example.
* In the ''Spellsinger'' spinoff, ''Son of Spellsinger'', the Grand Veritable is a magical, sentient lie detector that can not stop declaring the truth. Fun ensues as it wrecks relationships across the Bellwoods.
* In Ursula K. Le Guin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", a child is brutally tortured to maintain the prosperity of the eponymous city. At some point in their lives ''every'' citizen of Omelas sees the child and learns of the connection between the child's suffering and the city's wellbeing. The title refers to the people who can't live with the
* Even aside from the substantial amount of philosophical musings on this trope (where it is nearly referenced by name), [[Sergey Lukyanenko|Sergey Lukyanenko's]] ''[[Night Watch (
== Live Action TV ==
* The
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* ''[[Dexter]]'' is essentially a Thirty Awful Truth Pileup, both for the eponymous character and those close to him. In
* ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'': The big reveal(s) at the end of the programme could qualify as The Awful Truth to the character(s) it applies to.
* King Uther's refusal to tell Arthur the truth about his magical birth and the death of his mother(s) in ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''. Arthur seemed to find out in the episode "Sins of the Father", but came to believe Merlin's statement that Morgause lied to him completely instead of only partially.
* The eponymous event in ''[[The Event]]'' is apparently a truth so awful that the CIA director didn't want to tell ''the president'', much less the viewers.
{{quote|
'''President Martinez''': "''I'm the president. I need to know!''" }}
* This is a major plot point of ''[[The X-Files]]''. The tagline for the show is "the truth is out there", and Mulder spends nearly a decade trying to uncover it. When he does, he finds out ''why'' it's been kept hidden from society for sixty years. He was reluctant to even tell Scully, as the Truth is {{spoiler|aliens are invading the world in 2012 to colonize it, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it.}}
** Subverted earlier with the truth about his sister, Samantha. The quest to find his sister was the reason Mulder got started on the X-Files, and a when not trying to find out The Truth, he is trying to find out what happened to her. After an extremely confusing plotline, we find out {{spoiler|Samantha died in her early teens after years of medical experimentation}}. It is classified as an awful truth, but Mulder is simply satisfied to finally know what happened to her. The episode is aptly named "Closure", and when Scully asks him at the end of the episode how he is dealing with it, he replies "I'm free."
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Beast Below" all subjects of Starship UK are required to "vote" when they turn 16 and every five years thereafter. The are taken to a room were there shown a video then allowed to either protest, or forgot that {{spoiler|their civilization is [[Powered
* Poor, poor Phillip of ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]''. First he found out that his family is really the mafia providing people the [[Transformation Trinket
** Not to mention Terui Ryu, who finds out that the person who gave him the gear needed for him to be Kamen Rider Accel also gave the Weather Memory to Isaka, the man who killed his family. Then he finds out ''why'' she did that.
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* Played with and subverted by ''[[FoxTrot]]''. Peter has just broken Jason's incredibly difficult-to-build lunar module model, due to [[Too Dumb to Live|practicing baseball in Jason's room.]] Jason is rightly pissed, and tells Peter that in a day, he will visit an awful punishment on Peter, refusing to tell him what it is. [[Batman Gambit|For the next four strips, Peter runs and hides in the backyard, is forced to eat sticks and leaves, spends the day lying in dog crap, and is grounded, all while trying to avoid Jason]]. When the time is up, he goes to Jason and laughs about how ''Jason'' never got him, then goes [[Oh Crap|bug-eyed]] when he realizes what happened.
** And another: Jason gets a Darth Vader mask stuck on his head. After all other attempts at removing it fail, [[Bumbling Dad|Roger of all people]] saves the day by showing him where to press on it.
{{quote|
'''Roger:''' I used to wear one when the movies came out.
'''Jason:''' You mean, you were a fan before I was?
'''Roger:''' Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
'''Jason:''' [[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!]] }}
== Tabletop Games ==
* The fact that the [[
** There is also the equally terrifying possibility that humanity would fight the supernaturals and ''[[
* ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[Warhammer
** Chaos is the prime example of the
== Video Games ==
* Experienced [[Shell Shocked Senior]] Auron from ''[[
** The less-obvious reasoning behind this masquerade is that Auron simply saying {{spoiler|"Hey, killing Sin the traditional way just perpetuates the circle of violence"}} wouldn't be enough to change anything, and would more likely result in the party ''accepting'' the situation. By only revealing certain key bits of information as the journey continued, Auron was able to direct them on the path he tried to take before: {{spoiler|the rejection of tradition and an attempt at a new world}}. Almost [[Magnificent Bastard]] levels, when you think about it.
** Besides, indiscreet revelations of the
** He actually outright states that {{spoiler|Jecht turned into Sin}} very early on but it doesn't take because he doesn't explain the story behind it.
** Before this, the entire rest the party takes quite a long time to reveal to Tidus that Yuna's journey as a summoner is intended to end with {{spoiler|her death summoning the Final Aeon.}} Understandably, Tidus doesn't take it well.
{{quote|
'''Lulu''': It was just... too hard to say. }}
* A major component of ''[[
** Kevin {{spoiler|programmed the original KOS-MOS to kill him so he could become the Red Testament.}} He died in Shion's arms and she was haunted by the memory for years.
** The fit of agony and rage Shion felt upon her parents' deaths is what {{spoiler|summoned the Gnosis into the universe in the first place.}} Febronia knew this but spent the better part of 3 games slowly guiding her to where she could retrieve this repressed trauma.
* From the previous page quote, Alex Mercer spends the majority of the game ''[[Prototype (
{{quote|
* In ''[[
** Turning the evil ending into a case of [[Gone Horribly Right]].
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' pulls a complicated
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' pulls some good ones. First, the set-up; all spacefaring races get into space by use of Element Zero, which, when hit with electricity, alters the mass of matter temporarily (the eponymous mass effect.) Interstellar travel is based on the [[Portal Network|mass relays,]] giant mass-effect devices left behind by [[Precursors]] who vanished fifty-thousand years ago.
** ''[[Mass Effect 1|Mass Effect]]:'' {{spoiler|The [[Precursors]] found the mass relays just like the current civilizations did, because they were left behind by a race of [[Abusive Precursors|sentient machines]] who return to the galaxy every fifty thousand years and destroy all intelligent life. Because interstellar society functions based on the technology they left behind AND CONTROL, they have little trouble in the act and the galaxy is powerless to resist. This is actually a ''cycle'' of extinction, and based on evidence dating back millions of years, the cycle has repeated ''over seven hundred times.''}}
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*** {{spoiler|Also the species that are not suitable to be turned in Reapers, are turned into mindless slaves. We find this out with the Collectors which are actually Protheans.}}
** ''[[Mass Effect 3]]:'' {{spoiler|The Reapers exist to ensure that some organic life (the non-space-faring life they skip during each cycle) will always exist somewhere. They were created with the belief that if any society is allowed to continue existing beyond a certain point after discovering interstellar travel, they will eventually create synthetic life, who in turn will eventually turn on their creators and wipe out organic life. The death they bring and the atrocities they commit is something they believe necessary for organic life to exist at all.}}
* In the final chapter of ''[[
* Hey, [[Umineko no Naku Koro
* In ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', after barely making it to the hotel where he and his deceased wife spent so much loving tie together, James finally realizes that {{spoiler|he killed her, and that the guilt of whether it was to spare her suffering or to move on with his life has driven him insane, and all the horrors he saw were a combination of his own psyche and the malign forces behind Silent Hill destroying him}}.
** Worse yet, {{spoiler|given his father's statement in Silent Hill 4 (James didn't return from Silent Hill), it seems that the ending where James kills himself may be the true ending, though given that the law may be less than forgiving for the murder he committed, he may simply have gone into hiding, possibly with his new foster daughter}}.
* Subverted in the first ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic (
* ''[[Corpse Party]]'': {{spoiler|Naomi}} is already in bad shape from {{spoiler|Seiko's suicide}}... Then {{spoiler|she finds out that Seiko didn't commit suicide, ''Naomi herself'' killed her}}. We later find out that it was only {{spoiler|[[Haunted Technology|Seiko's text]] that kept Naomi from crossing the [[Despair Event Horizon]]}}.
== Webcomics ==
* ''[[
{{quote|
'''Tagon:''' That means you don't really want to know. }}
* ''[[
* [[Wham! Episode|Chapter 31]] of ''[[
* In ''[[Cyanide
* A side story in ''[[Jack]]'' ''[
** Worse still, {{spoiler|he finds out by running into one of the ''hundreds'' of other damned souls whose fate he now shares.}}
== Web Original ==
* [[Atop the Fourth Wall
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[
** Hank discovers that {{spoiler|Dermott's sister who he just had sex with, was really his MOTHER, and that Rusty was his dad. Yes, he had sex with his half-brother's mom.}} Fortunately, Sphinx is right next door with the mindwipe machine! {{spoiler|Hank cheats on it a bit by leaving himself a message saying he had sex, but leave out the Dermott's mom part. And makes a Total Recall joke at his own expense.}}
** The identity of Hank and Dean's mom is strongly implied to be this.
** Triana has a portal to an extradimensional realm in her bedroom closet, and gets repeatedly mindwiped by her father every time she forgets.
** Two-Ton 21 {{spoiler|is not really seeing 24's ghost, but is just hallucinating him out of grief and guilt.}}
* ''[[
** Not just genocide of the ''people''; the plan was to send a wave of fire over the entire, continent. People, plants, animals, buildings... "scorched Earth policy" taken to an utterly terrifying level.
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** '''''[[Big No|NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]]'''''
*** '''AND YOUR ''GRANDPARENTS.'' '''
**** '''''[[Go Mad
***** '''SEARCH YOUR VHS TAPES, YOU ''KNOW'' IT TO BE TRUE!'''
* People have known and admitted to the issue of bullying and have been hard pressed to stop it for years. Yet when bullying does occur in front of their faces...[[Adults Are Useless|it is quite often shrugged off as "natural"]].
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* Chances are, you are more likely to be raped [http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-offenders by someone you know] than a total stranger. 38% of the time it's going to be a ''friend'', someone you already know and trust. There's an also 4-out-of-10 chance that you'll be raped in ''your'' home than anywhere else. And guess what? [http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates 15 out of 16 rapists will walk free].
** Factoring in [[Artistic License Statistics|unreported]] [[It Got Worse|rapes?]]
* One reason those who are against corporal punishment
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Truth and Lies]]
[[Category:
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