History Main / TooMuchForManToHandle

* In Discworld/AHatFullOfSky, this is the BigBad's entire motive for possessing Tiffany. Possessing people helps it stave off the crushing pain of being simultaneously aware of every blade of grass or speck of dust in the entire universe.

* This is what happens in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' if a mortal gets the knowledge of the Ancients/Ascended, either through an ascended being retaking mortal form without having his mind wiped [[spoiler:(see the fate of Orlin after he tried to help contain the Prior Plague)]], or a mortal being subjected to an Ancient Knowledge Device. His brain literally cannot handle all the information and it starts to degrade his mind.
* JoanOfArcadia once complained that she was tired of doing the oddball tasks God gave her without knowing the point of it all. God replied that people aren't meant to see the big picture, that they only see their part in it because that's all they can process. Joan insists on getting the full view of where her latest task leads and God obliges. Joan sees a rapid flash of images that showcase the results of her actions and she quickly blacks out from sensory overload.

* ''AllStarSuperman'' plays with this. When [[spoiler:Lex Luthor gets the power of Superman, he breaks down and sees why Superman is such a good person. Someone with this much power would have to be a good person, because he is constantly aware of all the suffering in the world]].

* The titular scrolls from ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' are divine artifacts from outside space and time. If a mortal attempts to read them they usually go blind, go insane, or simply die. There's an order of monks who spend their whole life preparing to glimpse an Elder Scroll through study and meditation, knowing that the knowledge they attain will permanently blind them, but also give them glimpses of the distant past or future.

* Happens to Edward in ''FullmetalAlchemist Anime'', when he came into direct contact with large quantities of unrefined Philosophers Stone.

* ''AllStarSuperman'' plays with this. When [[spoiler:Lex Luthor gets the power of Superman, he breaks down and sees why Superman is such a good person. Someone with this much power would have to be a good person]].

* The basic premise behind ''BruceAlmighty''.

* The titular scrolls from ''TheElderScrolls'' are divine artifacts from outside space and time. If a mortal attempts to read them they usually go blind, go insane, or simply die. There's an order of monks who spend their whole life preparing to glimpse an Elder Scroll through study and meditation, knowing that the knowledge they attain will permanently blind them, but also give them glimpses of the distant past or future.

* Ursault the All-Seeing from ''[[ForgottenRealms A Little Knowledge]]'' by Elaine Cunningbam has a great and clean prescience... and all he saw was one infinite maze of [[ForWantOfANail possibilities that change everything]] both for good and ill, depending on other possibilities, that... and so on. Since even his trained mind could keep only a very little part of the picture, this was more annoying than useful. Others considered him MadOracle because if he was asked for a prediction, it habitually dissolved into babble of endless conditional forks.

Related to but different from ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, as it is more the reaction/effects of said Things.

** In the original Phoenix arc, Professor X said that when Jean Grey realized that the Phoenix power was too great for her to handle, she created a psionic circuit breaker in her own mind to keep it from overwhelming her.

* Detective Chimp had a reaction like this to the helmet of Doctor Fate.

** In ''Elminster's Daughter'' Caladnei was bold enough to demand from Elminster ''and'' Simbul to talk the way everyone can hear instead of a mindlink they obviously used. It turned out that there were more than two participants and when Mystra agreed with this request, Caladnei (and everyone present) learned the hard way why exactly direct contact with deities is rarely used even by priests strong enough to do it every day. They were barely able to move after this fun -- and she was ''nice''.

* Tetsuo from ''{{Akira}}'', whose immense power proves to be too much for him to control, causing him to suffer a horrific mutation.

* Happens to [[spoiler:Irina Spalko]] in ''[[IndianaJones Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'', during [[spoiler:the contact with the aliens, where she asks them for ultimate knowledge and her brain is essentially incinerated by the sheer amount]].

** Doom seized the power of the Silver Surfer for himself, and it drove him mad. HeGotBetter.

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* In Discworld/AHatFullOfSky, this is the BigBad's entire motive for possessing Tiffany. Possessing people helps in stave of the crushing pain of being simultaneously aware of every blade of grass or speck of dust in the entire universe.

* In the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Parting of the Ways", [[spoiler:Rose absorbs the Time Vortex to become the Bad Wolf and can't control its powers effectively]].

* In ''Forbidden Planet'', Dr Ostrow uses the Krell brain-boost machine and it makes him really, really smart but he dies a few minutes later.

* Shiki in ''{{Tsukihime}}'' started seeing the lines of Death Perception after he got in an accident. Pro: He now has the ability to destroy almost anything by simply cutting the lines. Con: The human brain was not meant to process the world in such a way, and if he doesn't wear a special pair of glasses his health degrades.