History Main / ReleasedToElsewhere

* A sci-fi short story had the human race AfterTheEnd living in small colonies in the arctic regions (and possibly outer space) run by androids, [[FalseUtopia with the inhabitants kept happy through brain implants]] to prevent disruption that could tear the barely-functioning colonies apart. Some humans are resistant to the implants however, and an android decides to evict a juvenile delinquent who is causing too much trouble. The android tells the youth the truth about the implants, but says it's a SecretTestOfCharacter -- those who have the will to resist the implants are taken up to live in the space colonies, where they're even given women to breed more superior humans. Thus the kid leaves the colony with an arrogant smirk instead of being dragged out kicking and screaming, so people are glad to see the back of him. Once out of sight of the colony, the android murders the kid and buries his body.

* The subject of a George R. R. Martin story titled ''The Hero''. The titular character is a decorated war hero who wants to retire to Earth, so his commanders kill him. The author sent it in with an application for being an objector to {{Vietnam|War}} and, as such, wasn't sent.

** This is played with early on (well before the official Reveal) when a character admits that if they just yelled [[spoiler:"THERE IS NO URINETOWN! WE JUST KILL PEOPLE!"]], there'd be no dramatic tension.

* Played with in ''Corky Romano'': While Corky, a veterinary assistant, is on leave posing as an FBI agent to help his Family, a wiseguy fills in for him at the vet clinic. A boy comes in with a stone-dead white mouse and says, "Mister, something's wrong with Sniffles!" The wiseguy takes the dead mouse into the back, throws it in a wastebasket, picks a live white mouse out of a cage full of them, goes back to the waiting room and says, "Here you are, kid, he's fine, he just needed a new liver."

* Invoked and then subverted in Eoin Colfer's book ''Airman''. It is repeatedly stressed that being 'released' from the prison island means executed, so when the protagonist is told that his cellmate has been released he assumes this is what happened. [[spoiler:Turns out he actually was just released.]]

* Inverted in ''Assassin's Apprentice'' by Robin Hobb. After Fitz's psychic bond with a puppy (considered a perversion and a use of evil magic) is discovered by Burrich, the puppy is taken away and Fitz is convinced through all of his childhood and into his adult life that the puppy was killed. It wasn't; Fitz meets with the dog later on in a different kingdom, where he had been given to the royal family as breeding stock for their hunting dogs.

* On one episode of ''Series/QI'', the Soviet practice of training dogs to go under tanks with bombs in WorldWarII was raised at one point. A photo of a dog running towards a tank with what appeared to be a bomb strapped to it's back popped up, and at the audience's reaction Phil Jupitus was quick to (jokingly) reassure them that that ''specific'' dog was okay, he was on a farm now, and he was very happy.

** Mocked in Stephen Colbert's ''I Am America! (And So Can You!)'': he rants at length about how he hates his childhood dog for moving to a farm without him. Along with [[FridgeBrilliance his grandfather]].

* In ElTigre, a bunch of heroes were eaten by a giant super villain named El Mar Verde and the title character was told they went to go live on a farm where they could chase rabbits.

** It's revealed what happens in ''Fear''. It is (UnderStatement) not pretty.

In ElTigre, a bunch of heroes were eaten by a giant super villain named El Mar Verde and the title character was told they went to go live on a farm where they could chase rabbits.

--> ''Vicky (sobbing)'': ...my mom said my pet turtle ran away. But he didn't run away. TURTLES CAN'T RUN!!!

* The main character in ''Film/{{Moon}}'' has a three-year contract at a mining station on the moon. When it's time to go home, he is shown a short video thanking him for his service and instructing him to enter a stasis pod for the trip to Earth. [[spoiler:In reality, he is a clone, the pod instantly incinerates him, and a new clone is awoken to begin another three-year tour.]]

* In a Magazine/{{MAD}} parody of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePheonix'', Harry is told that [[spoiler: Sirius was sent to a farm where he can run around with all the other godfathers.]]

* ''KamenRiderWizard'' has an example in episode 15 where the title character doesn't want to reveal to a girl that her friend was really a monster and that he killed him, so he claims that he went to America. [[TropeBreaker Fortunately, she never asks for his email address.]]

* In a Magazine/{{MAD}} parody of ''HarryPotter and the Order of the Pheonix'', Harry is told that [[spoiler: Sirius was sent to a farm where he can run around with all the other godfathers.]]

* The deaths of [[spoiler: Charity Burbage and Rufus Scrimgeour]] are covered up in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' by saying they resigned from their posts (Muggle Studies Professor at Hogwarts and Minister for Magic, respectively).

* A variant: Richard Adams' ''WatershipDown'' features a rabbit warren that is farmed by humans. Rabbits are routinely captured and killed by the humans. The rabbits of the warren are in deep, deep denial about this, so it is a great taboo to ask where another rabbit is or speculate that someone has gone missing. To talk openly of the wires is [[IncrediblyLamePun everybunny's]] BerserkButton.

* The short story "Kittens" by Dean Koontz is about a girl who lives with her religious family and owns a cat. The last time the cat had kittens, they disappeared and the parents told her that "God took them". When the cat had a new litter of kittens, the girl hid and saw [[spoiler:her parents drowning them, one at a time, in a bucket of water]]. The girl later asked her parents if the new litter was taken by God as well and when they said yes she [[spoiler:''drowns her baby twin brothers in the bathtub'' for revenge]]!

* Don't know if this fits precisely, but the in Soviet Union a common sentence was "10 years of corrective labor camps without the right of correspondence". At least, that's what the family was told. In reality, the person was shot right away, and the government had ten years to think of a good natural cause as the official excuse.
** Though being sentenced to hard labor in Siberia was tantamount to a death sentence anyway ...
*** Specifically, genocide expert R J Rummell calculated that approximately ten percent of the inmates in Soviet gulags died every year. Of course, that doesn't mean you were ''guaranteed'' to die within ten years, but the odds of your survival were not at all good.
**** Assuming the odds of surviving a given year were random, 10% fatalities each year gives an inmate an approximately 35% chance of surviving a ten year sentence. Not good odds, but not insurmountable, either. (Realistically, the odds would be better at first, and get progressively worse as the prisoner's health deteriorated under the strain, so this is only a rough estimate.)

** [[spoiler:The ending]] reveals that this also counts as [[spoiler:[[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If You Kill Boxer, You Will Be Just Like Jones]]]]. Except [[spoiler:[[BigBad Napoleon]]]] is arguably ''[[CompleteMonster worse]]''.

* Subverted in an episode of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex. While a Tachikoma was wandering around the city on it's own, it comes across a little girl named Miki, who claims to be looking for her lost dog, Locky. The two of them decide to look together, spending most of the day with each other. Miki finally tells the Tachikoma that she knows that her parents were trying to soften the blow by saying that her dog ran away, but she knew he had died. She even lead the Tachikoma to the graveyard where Locky was burried. It seems that going out into the city to look for Locky, or at least pretend to be looking for him, was her way of coping with the loss. Being with Tachikoma cheered her up a little, but she says she's not ready for any new pets yet.

* ''Just Ray'' Harris fled Boston according to his son in MysticRiver, but knows Harris is still alive because he sends $500 every month without fail. Later it is revealed what really happened to ''Just Ray'' and the true source of the money.

'''Tony Stark:''' *ironically shakes terrorist's hand* [[GenreSavvy No they won't.]]\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', the Neo-Sapiens regularly round up subjugated humans on Earth to work as slaves on Venus. Some of the protagonists get themselves captured to catch a trip to Venus to rendezvous with LaResistance there. [[spoiler:Turns out prisoners "sent to Venus" are actually [[HurlItIntoTheSun ejected into the sun]], as the genetically engineered Neo-Sapiens have no use for human labour. Our heroes barely escape with their lives.]]

* In VForVendetta, senior citizens are relocated to "retirement communities" when they reach a certain age. Those in the government (and it may even be common knowledge) know that they're actually gas chambers...and even the "gas" part is another euphemism. It's actually just a couple of guys with lead pipes.

The other characters may be comforted by this news, but the audience knows that it's all a horrible lie. Bob was dead as soon as they took him away. The hospital was just a ruse to keep his friends from realizing that his execution was planned from the start, right down to the disposal of his corpse.

Features a lot in {{Dystopia}}n settings, particularly those that [[CrapsaccharineWorld pretend]] to be a {{Utopia}}, and the revelation of the truth does not often happen until late in the story, meaning that most of the examples listed here will be spoilers. When the revelation of the AwfulTruth actually happens, it's usually the moment the government of the setting [[KickTheDog Kicks the Dog]] or crosses the MoralEventHorizon and its true evil is revealed.