History Main / KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge

* The eponymous Index of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': a girl with [[PhotographicMemory perfect memory]] who memorized 103,000 [[TomeOfEldritchLore grimoires]] and therefore has an almost complete knowledge of all magic, including the forbidden stuff. She has some kind of immunity to the usual [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow mind destroying effects]] reading those grimoires has, which is why the organization she belongs to had her read them: easy access to all the knowledge they wanted. Unusually for the trope, she's a 14 year old girl rather than some ancient creature.

* Creator/BoomStudios' ''ComicBook/FallOfCthulhu'' story introduces the Harlot, an obscene Eldritch horror who parodies a burlesque madame. She offers incredible and unspeakable knowledge, but in return the student becomes [[spoiler:her property kept inside a wicker box.]] The Harlot is depicted as a rival and opponent of Nyarlathotep.

* Nyarlathotep from Creator/HPLovecraft's Franchise/CthulhuMythos is characterized like this in most of his original appearances. Both in "The Haunter of the Dark" and "Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse" he is a gatekeeper to secrets beyond human ken, and must be appeased with human sacrifices in order to relinquish some of this knowledge, and in ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath'' he protects the Gods of the Earth from any mortal molestation. In his original appearance in the prose-poem "Nyarlathotep" he instead grants humanity information in abundance as a figure of science, leading to the entire world [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Going Mad From The Revelation.]]
* The Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novels have the Library of St John the Beheaded, which collects and stores forbidden texts (both in the sense of banned-by-the-mundane-authorities and in the sense of Knowledge For Which TheWorldIsNotReady). It's definitely got the isolated or hazardous location part of the trope down pat; on Earth, it was hidden away in TheCityNarrows, and in TheFuture it will be located on an asteroid as part of the Braxiatel Collection, which stores texts for which many worlds are not ready. In principle, it's an aversion of the usual some-things-man-should-not-know corollary: the founder believed that all knowledge is useful if handled carefully, and potential researchers are vetted very carefully before being offered access to the collection. (The Doctor, of course, holds the first ticket the Library ever issued.) In practice, though, pretty much every time it's appeared in a story it's because somebody's found a way to use information from the Library to cause trouble.
* ''[[Literature/ZeusIsDead Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure]]'' has The Moirae of classical mythology (a.k.a. The Fates), though they're not evil so much as they are very, very detached. And strict. [[spoiler: Apollo manages to get some information out of them, but only at the cost of his own skill with prophecy.]]

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* Tren Krom in ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}''

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* Several players in ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'' have claimed to be or actually are this.
** The_Serpent is/was the only player with knowledge of the psi-godmodder artifacts.
[[/folder]]

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons,'' the ancient demon named Dagon (a reference to H.P. Lovecraft) lives within the Abyss, but holds a vast array of information due to his age and intellect, to the point he's become the shadow ruler behind the Prince of Demons' (Demogorgon) entire war stratagem and survival.
* Orabilis, the End of All Wisdom, in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', a demon lord who spends his time building libraries, and killing demons who [[HeKnowsTooMuch learn things they're not supposed to]].

* The Pillar Of Skulls in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' is one.
* ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'': Christopher Mills knows that [[spoiler: Garcian's the main personality, not Harman, and also knows that the government is controlled by the Secretary of Education. This gets him killed.]]

* The Keepers are one of the three factions in the mythology of the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series and represent Neutrality between the chaos of the Pagans and the order of the Hammerites/Mechanists. They are an ancient order of scholars who have been recording all knowledge of the mystrious runes, that seem to have a great power over the city, but also include agents who are masters of stealth and spying. But as the third game reveals, even they have their own dirty secrets which are no less dark than those of the other two groups.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', the Brotherhood of Steel ''thinks'' they're this. It's more justified in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', where they kept the secrets of advanced pre-War tech out of the hands of people who might misuse them, like [[UtopiaJustifiestheMeans Unity]]. In ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' it's less justified, as their status has diminished somewhat in the wake of the NCR's rise to power, where we see more of their tendency to raid towns, steal any tech more advanced then a lightbulb and kill anyone who resists, all in the name of "keeping advanced technology out of the wrong hands". By ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' they're basically glorified raiders in power armor, and their zealous adherence to their antiquated dogmas and methods is slowly killing them.
** In ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'', the Good or Neutral Karma ending of ''Old World Blues'' sees the Courier becoming the new guardian of the [[MadScientistLaboratory Big Empty]], releasing new and old technology to help the people of the Wasteland on an as-needed basis.
** The Courier also becomes this if they keep the secret of [[KillSat Archimedes II]] from the NCR and/or Legion.
* In ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', Darth Thanaton is the member of the Dark Council who controls the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. [[spoiler: That is, until the Sith Inquisitor defeats him and inherits his place on the Council.]]

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' a giant worm girl was forced to guard the "secrets of the universe". She then lured hundreds of kids into finding it, [[spoiler:the secret was there was no secret.]] When Mindy found it, she now has to take her place in guarding the secret, while the worm is free.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', the Brotherhood of Steel ''thinks'' they're this. It's more justified in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', where they kept the secrets of advanced pre-War tech out of the hands of people who might misuse them, like [[UtopiaJustifiestheMeans Unity]]. In ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' it's less justified, as their status has diminished somewhat in the wake of the NCR's rise to power, where we see more of their tendency to raid towns, steal any tech more advanced then a lightbulb and kill anyone who resists, all in the name of "keeping advanced technology out of the wrong hands". By VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas they're basically glorified raiders in power armor, and their zealous adherence to their antiquated dogmas and methods is slowly killing them.
* In ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'', in the Good or Neutral Karma ending of ''Old World Blues'', the Courier becomes the new guardian of the [[MadScientistLaboratory Big Empty]], releasing technology to help the people of the Mojave Wasteland on an as-needed basis.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. An InvokedTrope with the Clonemasters. The Terran Federation feared that cloning would need to genetic stagnation, or be used as a weapon against them. Aware however that knowledge can't be unlearned, the Clonemasters were created as a pseudo-religious organisation to restrict the knowledge, yet have it available as a GodzillaThreshold against an enemy with a CloneArmy. To ensure the maintenance of their own ethical standards, the Clonemasters clone themselves and indoctrinate the clones in their own belief system.

A subtrope of KnowledgeBroker, the Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge is a being, organization, or even an EldritchAbomination that contains and ''sometimes'' trades information considered either dangerous, blasphemous, epically ground breaking, or any combination of the three. Naturally however, this knowledge comes at a price that makes the trope akin to the DealWithTheDevil, and generally leads to disaster for any party involved and then some.

* ''VideoGame/Stellaris'' has an entire faction of these, two if you buy the expansions. The first are the Keepers of Knowledge, an ancient and decrepit empire of scholars and hoarders who will occasionally reward you if you send them scientists (consenting or otherwise) and punish you if you research certain proscribed tech. The others are the Curator Enclaves, and they are far more friendly. They actively help you destroy pan-galactic threats and monsters, they send you scholars to help your research if you make the effort to befriend them, and offer a colossal 1/5th increase in research speed if you pay them a tithe.

* The Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novels have the Library of St John the Beheaded, which collects and stores forbidden texts (both in the sense of banned-by-the-mundane-authorities and in the sense of Knowledge For Which TheWorldIsNotReady). It's definitely got the isolated or hazardous location part of the trope down pat; on Earth, it was hidden away in TheCityNarrows, and in TheFuture it will be located on an asteroid. In principle, it's an aversion of the usual some-things-man-should-not-know corollary: the founder believed that all knowledge is useful if handled carefully, and potential researchers are vetted very carefully before being offered access to the collection. (The Doctor, of course, holds the first ticket the Library ever issued.) In practice, though, pretty much every time it's appeared in a story it's because somebody's found a way to use information from the Library to cause trouble.

* Nyarlathotep from Creator/HPLovecraft's Franchise/CthulhuMythos is characterized like this in most of his original appearances. Both in ''The Haunter of the Dark'' and ''The Dreams in the Witch-House'' he is a gatekeeper to secrets beyond human ken, and must be appeased with human sacrifices in order to relinquish some of this knowledge, and in ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath'' he protects the Gods of the Earth from any mortal molestation. In his original appearance in the prose-poem ''Nyarlathotep'' he instead grants humanity information in abundance as a figure of science, leading to the entire world [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Going Mad From The Revelation.]]

* Hermaeus Mora from ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' games both acquires and ''is'' forbidden knowledge (and ''impossible'' knowledge -- one of the descriptions of him paints him as formed from detritus concepts ejected from reality). "His" plane of Oblivion, Apocrypha, is a constatly shifting ocean of black ichor and what little land there is are broken cathedrals holding towers of books kept in repair by the Seekers and Lurkers. Hermaeus Mora also has 7 black books that contain ancient spells available for the Dragonborn to read.

* Nyarlathotep from Creator/HPLovecraft's CthulhuMythos is characterized like this in most of his original appearances. Both in ''The Haunter of the Dark'' and ''The Dreams in the Witch-House'' he is a gatekeeper to secrets beyond human ken, and must be appeased with human sacrifices in order to relinquish some of this knowledge, and in ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath'' he protects the Gods of the Earth from any mortal molestation. In his original appearance in the prose-poem ''Nyarlathotep'' he instead grants humanity information in abundance as a figure of science, leading to the entire world [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Going Mad From The Revelation.]]

* Nyarlathotep from Creator/HPLovecraft's CthulhuMythos is characterized like this in most of his original appearances. Both in ''The Haunter of the Dark'' and ''The Dreams in the Witch-House'' he is a gatekeeper to secrets beyond human ken, and must be appeased with human sacrifices in order to relinquish some of this knowledge, and in ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' he protects the Gods of the Earth from any mortal molestation. In his original appearance in the prose-poem ''Nyarlathotep'' he instead grants humanity information in abundance as a figure of science, leading to the entire world [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Going Mad From The Revelation.]]

* Hermaeus Mora from ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' games both acquires and ''is'' forbidden knowledge (and ''impossible'' knowledge -- one of the descriptions of him paints him as formed from detritus concepts ejected from reality).

[[folder:Multiple media]]
* Tren Krom in ''{{BIONICLE}}''

* In ''LeagueOfLegends'' Nasus holds knowledge of the magic of life and death, although he does teach it to people who are judged worthy by his brother Renekton. The number of people who weren't worthy and wanted the power eventually drove Renekton insane and he started slaughtering first them, then everyone.

* The Pillar Of Skulls in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' is one.

* ''{{killer7}}'': Christopher Mills knows that [[spoiler: Garcian's the main personality, not Harman, and also knows that the government is controlled by the Secretary of Education. This gets him killed.]]

* In ''{{Sarab}}'', the Hubs are the only places science may be learned and they are very exclusive.

* In ''StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', Darth Thanaton is the member of the Dark Council who controls the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. [[spoiler: That is, until the Sith Inquisitor defeats him and inherits his place on the Council.]]

Regarding what form the forbidden knowledge takes, a TomeOfEldritchLore is almost expected to the exception. However, sometimes the knowledge can come in the form of a living creature, memory, or (in a more modern setting) a large selection of files on a super computer. Whatever form the knowledge comes in, it usually (but not always) feels like SealedEvilInACan.

Finally, the Keeper usually lives in an isolated or hazardous area of the society or region it lives in, a better way to test would be knowledge seekers of their worth and capability to become puppets for the Keeper's whims, sometimes turning said keeper into a ChessMaster.

The general moral of stories that revolve around this trope is usually that somethings are best left not being known, or that with knowledge comes power, and with power that holds no compassion comes the damning corruption most Keepers of Forbidden Knowledge hope to inspire.

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons,'' the ancient demon named Dagon (a reference to H.P. Lovecraft) lives within the Abyss, but holds a vast array of information due to his age and intellect, to the point he's become the shadow ruler behind the Prince of Demons' (Demogorgon) entire war stratagem and survival.

* The Pillar Of Skulls in ''PlanescapeTorment'' is one.

* ''[[Literature/ZeusIsDead Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure]]'' has the Moirae of classical mythology (a.k.a. The Fates), though they're not evil so much as they are very, very detached. And strict. [[spoiler: Apollo manages to get some information out of them, but only at the cost of his own skill with prophecy.]]

* Creator/BoomStudios' ''FallOfCthulhu'' story introduces the Harlot, an obscene Eldritch horror who parodies a burlesque madame. She offers incredible and unspeakable knowledge, but in return the student becomes [[spoiler:her property kept inside a wicker box.]] The Harlot is depicted as a rival and opponent of Nyarlathotep.

* BoomStudios ''FallOfCthulhu'' story introduces the Harlot, an obscene Eldritch horror who parodies a burlesque madame. She offers incredible and unspeakable knowledge, but in return the student becomes [[spoiler:her property kept inside a wicker box.]] The Harlot is depicted as a rival and opponent of Nyarlathotep.