| 1 | [[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/MenageA3 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/darksecret_ma3_7334.png]]]] |
| 2 | [-[[caption-width-right:350:She's quite nice really, [[EuphemismBuster but keeping secrets is hard work.]]]]-] |
| 3 | ->''"My swashbuckling fop cannot take the flaw Dark Secret: Not Gay."'' |
| 4 | -->-- #90 of Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Some characters have some dark, terrible secret in their pasts that they don't want anyone to know. Sometimes they killed someone close to them. Sometimes they're secretly a double agent. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Sometimes they took the last cookie from the cookie jar.]] It doesn't matter how big or small the secret is, it just matters that the person keeping it thinks that it's vitally important that it stay hidden. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | There are two standard reactions to these coming out. Either everyone involved is shocked and horrified and lives are ruined. Or it's almost an anticlimax either because [[EverybodyKnewAlready they've known all along]], or it just wasn't as dark a secret as the keeper thought it was. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | When it's a whole town that's doing this it's a TownWithADarkSecret. When you get even bigger in scale you get an EmpireWithADarkSecret. When it's society-wide in general, you get {{Masquerade}}. MyGreatestFailure is a particularly common type of Dark Secret, and it is often an element of a DarkAndTroubledPast or a MysteriousPast and revealed in a TroubledBackstoryFlashback. Related to TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason. See OpenSecret for when your secret is not so secret. When they cause you to be suspected of unrelated crimes, they become the BigSecret. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Supertrope to ComingOutStory, a whole plot trope where the Dark Secret is being LGBT+. May overlap with BeneathTheMask if they care about hiding their true personality from everyone else. HideYourOtherness may overlap with this if [[FreakinessShame the reasons for it are personal]]. If the secret is something you can lock up, it will lead to a WhatsInsidePlot. Compare OldShame, which also sees a character trying to hide something from their past, however it's due to shame and embarassment rather than it being legitimately troubling or ruinous of their life and others'. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | This being a trope about secrets there will be '''Spoilers''' ahead. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | |
| 18 | !!Examples |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 23 | * ''Franchise/{{Berserk}}'': Griffiths's secret was that he initially financed the Band of the Hawk by prostitution himself. |
| 24 | * ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'': Lucy harbors one of these. [[spoiler:Specifically, the deep-dive neural port she has on her brain stem. Not only is it a dead giveaway of her DarkAndTroubledPast being conscripted and exploited by Arasaka, it also would make her a target for both the corporation and dodgy fixers such as Faraday.]] She goes out of her way to prevent this secret from getting out, and only shows it to her boyfriend David when she has to hack into an Arasaka executive alone with him. |
| 25 | * ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': It's revealed that Meicoomon [[spoiler:is actually the {{Reincarnation}} of '''Apocalymon''', the GreaterScopeVillain of the original ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' anime.]] |
| 26 | * ''Manga/DontMeddleWithMyDaughter'' |
| 27 | ** For the first 10 chapters, Clara is the only one who ''[[LockedOutOfTheLoop doesn't know]]'' that her mother was the original "Eighth Wonder" because Athena hid it from her. She feared what Clara might think of her if Clara ever found out [[RapeAsBackstory why she retired.]] |
| 28 | ** In chapter 16, Hana reveals that Blowjob was created 20 years prior to the manga's main story, by [[spoiler: the Japanese government]]. They attacked [[BigBad Zenovia]] when she first descended to Earth, then [[spoiler: used her as a BreedingSlave to create an army of superbeings]]. Zenovia was eventually rescued, but remained bitter over the ordeal and eventually [[PayEvilUntoEvil sought vengeance against all of humanity.]] |
| 29 | * The dark secret held by Hime in ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' is the main drive of the entire series: [[spoiler:she opened the [[SealedEvilInACan Axia Box]], releasing the Phantom Empire]]. |
| 30 | * In ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'', this is the source for many a murder case in this franchise, and [[YouKilledMyFather the culprit(s) would likely be linked to the one(s) being harmed/killed in said secret in some way, which serves as a/the motive for their murders]], with few exceptions. |
| 31 | * ''Anime/{{Kiznaiver}}'': Each Kiznaiver had a dark secret, their first mission as a team is "to get to know each other", with the threat of being destroyed together with the hospital they are locked in if they do not tell the others something that they never told anybody else. |
| 32 | ** Katsuhira: [[spoiler:He is actually happy he is in the Kizna project, because he thinks it might bring him close to others]]. |
| 33 | ** Chidori: [[spoiler:She was in love with Katsuhira when they were younger]]. |
| 34 | ** Yuta: [[spoiler:Was FormerlyFat]]. |
| 35 | ** Nico: [[spoiler:Doesn't really believe in fairies, she pretends to do so people will think she is weird and not be cut off by [[TallPoppySyndrome being rich, cute and smart]]]]. |
| 36 | ** Tenga: [[spoiler:has fear of dogs]] |
| 37 | ** Maki: [[spoiler:killed someone, though it's MetaphoricallyTrue]]. |
| 38 | * ''Literature/KokoroConnect'': Taichi decides to reveal a dark secret about himself to Inaba, in an attempt to engender some trust between them. His secret? [[spoiler:He's masturbated to her picture.]] Inaba freaks out in a confusing mix of emotions ("I'm disgusted and shocked and... strangely kind of touched?"), but it does help snap her out of her funk. Later she decides to return the favor by telling him a dark secret of her own: [[spoiler:she's masturbated to his picture as well.]] She then grins broadly at Taichi's flustered reaction. |
| 39 | * Soubi in ''{{Manga/Loveless}}'' never tells Ritsuka anything about his past, especially the parts of it that involve Seimei. There's a reason for that. A twelve year old kid doesn't need to know that his beloved older brother was a [[spoiler:sociopath who physically and emotionally abused his best friend/mentor/partner.]] |
| 40 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness The Five Elders]] go out of their way to hide [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower the World Government's]] deepest, most terrible secret: [[spoiler:there is a [[ShadowDictator shadow ruler]] who [[TheHighKing sits upon the Empty Throne]]]]. Anyone who catches wind of this is killed on the spot or hunted down to the ends of the earth. |
| 41 | * Very early into ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'', you find that [[spoiler: Isabella, the caretaker,]] is harboring one of these. More specifically, [[spoiler: the orphanage where she raises the children is actually a farm where they're being prepared for consumption by demons.]] |
| 42 | * ''Anime/{{Sarazanmai}}'': Whenever the three boys-turned-kappas defeat a kappa zombie, two things happen; the zombie kappa's most secret desire that led to its transformation is exposed, and the three boys go on a mind trip where they learn each other's deepest secrets. The boy whose secret gets exposed usually lets out a pained wail at others learning about it. |
| 43 | * How Tsume got his scar in ''Anime/WolfsRain''. When his old pack was [[spoiler:attacked by humans, he ran away, leaving his friends to die because he was afraid. He was exiled]], and in the process he got his scar. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 47 | * In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', [[spoiler: Joker claims that Batman has a secret that he has hidden from the entire Batfamily. It remains to be seen if Batman does have one or if it's just a bluff]]. |
| 48 | * In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', ComicBook/LexLuthor pretends he is a good guy and a philanthropist, backing the Justice Society and treating ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} like a daughter. However, ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} knew that he [[spoiler:murdered baby Kal-El several years before the beginning of the story and got many people murdered, including her own parents]]. And she saw that everyone found out about it. |
| 49 | * In the second story-arc of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' Nightmare Moon II claims that [[spoiler:Rarity]] has one, which is part of why she [[spoiler:choose her to be her new vessel]]. |
| 50 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Justice League Of America 2013}}'', Amanda Waller knows who Stargirl's biological father is and will have him answer for his actions if Stargirl does not comply. |
| 51 | * The small-town America of ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' seems quiet because most of the citizens are silently carrying one of these. At least a dozen citizens are in a love triangle of one kind or another. Thang Vang stole an item of enormous emotional importance from her employer. The sheriff [[spoiler:crashed his bike while drunk, killing his wife]]. The Check brothers [[spoiler:murdered their transgender father]]. These are all from before the Revival sets off the action of the series... |
| 52 | * Promotion within the Mueller organization of ''ComicBook/CleanRoom'' requires confessing these. They are recorded with one's personnel file in a red envelope. In the event of DemonicPossession the secret will be triggered to cause massive psychological trauma that ejects the demon. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/TheRedTen'' has the Alliance which is an expy of the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''. Each member of the Alliance has a dark secret and it all falls apart with the death of Red the World's Greatest Detective and here it is: |
| 54 | ** [[spoiler: While interrogating her archfoe Oxymoron, he asks Red some ArmorPiercingQuestion such as "Where does Master Mage get all the blood for his blood magic". This leads her to investigate and discover the secrets of her comrades and she plans on taking them down. She gets shot in the head for her trouble and Oxymoron is framed as the killer]] |
| 55 | ** [[spoiler: Justice America the Ultimate Human actually killed Red. He's the brother of an expy of Lex Luthor and was uplifted by alien technology to be little more than a corporate enforcer. Besides Red, he's also murdered his reporter girlfriend and other girls before he was introduced to the world. He gets comeuppance when he's exposed to an engineered virus that removes his invulnerability and he's beaten to death]] |
| 56 | ** [[spoiler: Mold is debuted as a friendly alien shapeshifter. He's actually a pedophile in prison, who's also a brilliant inventor. The corporation behind the Alliance free him for one of his invention and he's given the identity of Mold. Was puppeted to be a weapon by the hero killer and was killed by Justice America in self-defense]] |
| 57 | ** [[spoiler: Mazu had her aquatic minions drown a love rival in a bathtub. The rival's lover gets the blame for the crime despite being innocent. Mazu gets lured to a dry room and disembowelled by Mold in the form of that rival]] |
| 58 | ** [[spoiler: Master Mage fuels magic by murdering prostitutes. He's killed when his magic staff is tampered to open a portal to Hell]] |
| 59 | ** [[spoiler: Bellona is the queen of the Amazons and had been trying for centuries to have a daughter. She lures sailors to their island and kills them after sex, if she finds out that she's having a boy she has it killed. Dies in a fight with Justice America when her jaw is blasted through]] |
| 60 | ** [[spoiler: Magnitude is a brilliant scientist and SerialKiller. He keeps going out with women to shrink them down and crush them into microscope slides. When Bellona finds out, she fights him and he swallows her alive, where she guts him from within]] |
| 61 | ** [[spoiler: Androika killed her inventors when she's first brought online, she self-destructs when her killer uploads virus in her]] |
| 62 | ** [[spoiler: Orion is not supposed to inherit the power belt from the alien cop, it was his identical twin brother. The brother used the belt to save Orion from thugs, later a drunk Orion snatched the belt from his brother and accidentally pushes him off a cliff. In a panic from all the people dying, he flees to outer space where he's caught by space police who punish him by taking his belt while he's still in Earth's gravitational field and he burns on reentry.]] |
| 63 | ** [[spoiler: Throttle was a junkie who gained his speed powers when he got doused by chemicals during his attempt to rob a chemical plant. He's still on drugs and accidentally ran into a car while high, killing the family. He's murdered when his drugs have been poisoned.]] |
| 64 | ** [[spoiler: Oxymoron is actually in love with his nemesis, Red and is the one to set her on the trail of her comrades. He's been on the prison island the whole time and he helped design the plans to take down the Alliance. He gets his neck snapped as he's too psycho to leave alive and to fulfill a promise]] |
| 65 | ** [[spoiler: Red's ex-sidekick Crimson Kid is the killer. He received a post-death message from Red telling him about her investigation. She wants him to take the Alliance down but leave them alive. But he's opted to kill them instead and he's also executed Oxymoron as he's promised his replacement who got murdered by Oxymoron on her first outing]] |
| 66 | * The ''Tiger Division'' miniseries from Creator/MarvelComics, has team founder Taegugki having a major secret. He's much older than he looks as he was born during the Korean War. Unfortunately during the reconstruction period, he and a friend became thieves at an early age before eventually forming a fairly violent gang of young thugs. Their crime spree lasted for over a decade until Taegugki's {{Magitek}} mishap that gave him his powers. |
| 67 | * ''ComicBook/YoungJustice2019'': |
| 68 | ** Somewhere between the end of the New 52 Teen Titans run and the first issue, [[Characters/WonderGirlCassieSandsmark Cassie Sandsmark]] is going through something that makes her not want to use her powers. Before she joins the battle, she's obviously crying because of it. [[spoiler:Issue 2 reveals that [[TheChooserOfTheOne Zeus tried to recruit her to be a guardian of the realm]], [[RefusalOfTheCall she refused because she was tired of people telling her what she should be]] and TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive.]] |
| 69 | ** Issue 4 seems to suggest that [[spoiler:Dark Opal has been running Gemworld in secret]]. |
| 70 | * ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' is an entire event centered around the uncovering of numerous dark secrets in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and dealing with the consequences thereof. We learn that [[spoiler:the Hulk's creation could have been prevented if Bruce Banner had simply bothered to read the emails Tony Stark sent after discovering Banner's method of radiation control meant the resultant explosion would've been far bigger than it was, Thor and Loki have a sister, Angela, who was presumed dead after the forces of Heavn, the lost tenth realm, took her, and that another person, Cindy Moon, was bitten by the same radioactive spider that created Spider-Man and was placed into a secret bunker by old Spider-Man foe Ezekiel.]] |
| 71 | ** The premise is also PlayedForLaughs in ''[[https://imgur.com/gallery/2htY6 The No-Sin Situation]]'', in which various characters reveal secrets more along the lines of embarrassing than dark (e.g. Black Panther being an Music/AvrilLavigne fan). |
| 72 | [[/folder]] |
| 73 | |
| 74 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 75 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13887970/1/The-Brother-s-Grimm The Brother's Grimm]]'': Upon learning about Seymour Murphy and how his hatred of engines lead him to team up with Sailor John to terrorize Sodor, Bernard (Emily's brother) reveals that [[spoiler: HE was the engine who accidentally killed Murphy's father, which lead to Murphy's hatred and future actions.]] |
| 76 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/DearJournalImCrazy'': Doug treats his schizophrenia as one, as he is afraid to tell Patti or Skeeter about it for fear that he might accidentally hurt them. Luckily, he finally gets the courage to tell them, and they end up completely understanding of his situation. |
| 77 | * ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures'': There are more than a few dark secrets: |
| 78 | ** Hago is [[spoiler: Nala's father. He actually covered this up by altering Sarafina's memory, leading her to believe that a lion called Muerto was her actual father. He doesn't reveal it to his daughter until ''The Return of Hago'']]. |
| 79 | ** Zazu reveals that he [[spoiler: inadvertently caused his father's death in ''Darkness Falls'']]. |
| 80 | ** Haiba certainly [[spoiler: keeps his murder of Tama quite a secret. He comes clean in ''The Message'', only to be rewarded with permanent scars from Simba]]. |
| 81 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan story ''Fanfic/FluttershyIsFree'': Fluttershy is [[spoiler:half-Changeling, and has the Changeling powers of [[EmotionEater emotivory]] and [[TheEmpath empathy]].]] She tries to tell Rainbow Dash, but RD doesn't believe her. |
| 82 | * ''Fanfic/ForgedDestiny'': [[RPGMechanicsverse In a world where one's class is always displayed above their head,]] Jaune was born a Blacksmith, a member of the Labour Caste, but desired to be a Hero, something that became possible once he obtained a [[MacGuffin magical amulet]] that changed the words above his head to "Knight". What would happen if his secret were ever revealed is unknown, as such an act may have never been done before. [[spoiler:[[TheReveal Once his secret is exposed,]] the rest of the guild no longer trust him as he neglected to inform them of his true Class and he is expelled from [[HeroAcademy Beacon.]] It is stated that if the king of Vale ever heard that Jaune not only disguised himself as a Hero but was actually ''succeeding'' as one, he would be made an example of so as to deter the rest of the lower Caste from ever staging a revolt.]] |
| 83 | * "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/32369281/ darkly, darkly, dawn glittered in the sky]]" features Sansa Stark (''Series/GameOfThrones'') being reborn in 1960s Britain as the twin sister of Lily Evans (''Franchise/HarryPotter''), leading to her family forming a closer bond with the young Severus Snape as opposed to him 'fixating' on Lilly. The year before Lilly, Severus and Sansa start at Hogwarts, [[spoiler:Sansa kills Severus's abusive father Tobias, subsequently working with Severus and her sisters to dispose of Tobias's body. All four agree that they will never tell another person what they did, letting the adults believe that Tobias ran away after he struck Sansa because he realised how much trouble he'd be in for assaulting an innocent girl]]. |
| 84 | * ''Fanfic/FracturedFates'': Towards the end of the second trial, Monokuma reveals one the victim had: that [[spoiler:Kaneki was [[ILetGwenStacyDie indirectly responsible for the death of her little sister]] when the two were young.]] |
| 85 | * ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': Twelve years before the beginning of the story, [[spoiler:Misato was ordered executing Kaji.]] His death was covered up and nobody other than her knows what happened to him. |
| 86 | * ''Fanfic/OldWest'': The serpentine lovers [[DeterminedHomesteader Grace Glossy]] and [[{{Outlaw}} Rattlesnake Jake]] both have a certain secret they want to take to their graves yet are at different points forced to confess to each other. |
| 87 | ** Grace had laid ten eggs but has only one child. The other nine were [[spoiler:killed in their eggs by robbers who were then killed by [[MamaBear the furious Grace]]]]. After [[spoiler:burying the bodies]], she has presented herself as a law-abiding woman who disdains outlaws like Jake initially. Jake's absolutely disgusted when he learns this, thinking Grace hypocritical for thinking him the same as [[spoiler:the baby-killing robbers]]. |
| 88 | ** Jake says himself to have come from Hell. Only when he's bedridden does he confess that Hell to have been [[spoiler:a rattlesnake round-up he was caught in by humans right after he lost his mother and tail as a child. He escaped with Reth the Carpenter's help after witnessing other snakes getting killed and skinned. The sadistic human was the first creature Jake killed, and he began his career as a contract killer after that]]. |
| 89 | * ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverHell'': Blitzo, Stolas, Loona and Rufus need to get into the Archive, and old and ancient library filled with secrets and information untold to normal hellborn, but are stopped by it's dutiful and powerful librarian Pendergast. The librarian makes them a deal, if they reveal to him four personal secrets and they weigh as much as what they seek, he will allow them entry. So each take a turn to reveal a painful truth: |
| 90 | ** [[spoiler:Rufus reveals he had an affair on his wife with his assistant named Karl; when Karl was outed as being gay, Rufus not only refused to help his lover but volunteered to shoot him to save himself. When he attempted to make amends in Hell, he only further destroyed their already ruined relationship by beating him to a pulp and destroying his place of work.]] |
| 91 | ** [[spoiler:Stolas admits to almost letting Octavia die when she was a toddler. She was playing around, while he was too tired and distracted to pay attention, and almost fell into a large pit. Stolas managed to pull her to safety just in time, though dislodged her shoulder, causing the little child to fear him for a week. He blamed the incident on a servant, who was shortly killed by Stella once she found out.]] |
| 92 | ** [[spoiler:Loona attempted to find her mother, seeking closure for having been abandoned, using much of I.M.P.'s early resources to track her down, causing the company great hardship. When she finally found her mother, she was so shellshocked to discover she had made a new life, now happily raising a pair of twins, that she couldn't face her. She spied on them until she was discovered, becoming devastated by how afraid her mother seemed of her, after which she finally left in a broken mess.]] |
| 93 | ** [[spoiler:Blitzo may or may not have killed his parents, and caused the accident that destroyed his circus and ruined most of Fizzarolli's body. Growing up in a circus with a sick mother and a strict, alcoholic, abusive and bitter father, who would regularly beat his own children, Blitzo hated his father and eventually grew up wanting to kill him. Shortly after that, the rope holding his father mid-performance snapped and he fell to his death, which also resulted in a fire that took the circus, his mother and most of Fizzarolli's body along with it. It's left ambiguous if Blitzo did try to kill his father, or if it was all just convenient timing.]] |
| 94 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/WalkAMileinAnothersShoes'': Izuku must hide that he's been blackmailed into spying for All for One. |
| 95 | * ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': [[OriginalCharacter Jessika]] [[spoiler:lusted after [[FieryRedhead Asuka]] in a very creepy way. She memorized every tiny detail of her body and she fantasized about all naughty, perverted things that she wanted to do with and TO Asuka]]. However she never wanted that her friend found out about it. |
| 96 | * ''Fanfic/{{Intercom}}'': The emotions, when they first introduce themselves to Riley, don’t mention any of the events that happened during the film (though Fear almost let it slip when he said that Riley might become "apathetic again" in chapter 5). So this secret of how Joy and Sadness got lost hangs over the emotions while still trying to have Riley like them. It finally comes to light in Chapter 15, thanks to Forgetters Bobby and Paula SayingTooMuch. |
| 97 | * In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''Series/{{Angel}}'' fic "[[http://www.geocities.ws/debnockels/newadditions/homebeforedark01.html Home Before Dark]]", when Buffy assists Angel in stopping the raid on Caritas in "[[Recap/AngelS03E03ThatOldGangOfMine That Old Gang of Mine]]", Lorne takes the opportunity to reveal what made Gio leave Miami; he and his younger cousin Lietta were attacked by vampires, and when Lietta fell, Gio deliberately chose to leave her behind to distract the vampires when he had time to help her get up and get to safety. |
| 98 | * In Creator/AAPessimal's take on the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Assassin Miss Alice Band has a terrible dark secret known to only a very few. No, it's not [[HideYourLesbians that she's a lesbian]]. Everybody knows this and only a few think it's an issue. In her childhood, a horrific act of abuse happened to her at school. Against her will, she was forced ''to learn the tuba'' in her school orchestra. She carries the scars - and the tuba - as an adult. |
| 99 | * ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': Subverted when [[spoiler:the Keeper of Secrets -a daemon of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe- reveals that Shinji finds his guardian Misato attractive]] and Shinji thinks that information is neither secret nor important. |
| 100 | -->“That is the best you can throw at me? Those are the terrible Secrets you Keep? That I’m a horny fourteen year old living with a sexually aggressive and experienced woman and I wouldn’t mind getting in her pants? By the Warp, this shocking revelation changes everything. Quick, call up the Gods; we have to get this critical piece of information to them in time!” |
| 101 | * ''Fanfic/DarkSecrets'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin unsurprisingly]] has one: that [[RonTheDeathEater Ron is a Death Eater]]. |
| 102 | * ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': |
| 103 | ** The early part of the story has the truth of what happened at the village of Carhaiz years before the start of the story, on the mission where Caleb's father went missing. According to the Rebellion's propaganda, the village was the site of a new weapon Phobos' forces were creating, and they valiantly destroyed it. It's eventually revealed, however, that in truth, [[spoiler: Carhaiz was the nobility's attempt to create a society for the smallfolk free of being controlled by either Phobos or the rebels, who viewed such a hope as a detriment to their goals, so they slaughtered the village.]] |
| 104 | ** The first epilogue chapter reveals that a thousand years ago, something was done on Meridian to secure peace that was so terrible, only the council of Kandrakar and the Escanor Queens have been allowed to know about it, all of whom have treated it in a IDidWhatIHadToDo sort of way. [[spoiler: Jonathan Ludmoore learned of this and was banished to Earth, under a curse that kept him from speaking of it to anyone, in order to keep him quiet. This is the origin of his family's grudge against Kandrakar.]] |
| 105 | * ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': |
| 106 | ** Page Turner has been keeping one from the griffon who raised her for her entire life, and from Night Blade for fourteen years, at the time the story starts. The spirit of Balance indicates that the longer she keeps it, the worse off things will be. [[spoiler:He's right, as after it's revealed she's a Changeling/unicorn hybrid, Night Blade sees her in her true form and freaks out, mistaking her for an impostor and nearly beating her to death before he comes to his senses.]] |
| 107 | ** Chapter 29 of the sequel ''Picking Up the Pieces'' reveals, via Discord, that Rex's apprentice Secured Connection is hiding one that, if it came out, would see her lynched within the hour. The Guard Captains, on hearing this, decide they need to take her into protective custody for her own safety, but then find that she's somehow managed to escape the guards who were already watching her for her own protection (as an associate of Rex). |
| 108 | * In ''Fanfic/FromMuddyWaters'', Izuku is desperate to keep his parentage under wraps, lest he be thrown out on the streets for his father, All For One, to grab. He also limits his usage of his Quirk to strength and enhancement Quirks, lest he catch All Might's attention and expose himself to the world. |
| 109 | * ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' has [[spoiler:the Night of the Hunt and The Good Hunter's [[EldritchAbomination true nature as a great one]]. The reason why he keeps his mouth shut is not because he fears that everyone would think ill of him, but rather he is sparing them from [[GoMadFromTheRevelation a more horrifying fate]]. While a select few (Celestine, Olga, and Kyril's four apprentices) eventually have the privilege of getting closer to his secrets than anyone else, and hence realizing what he had to endure to become the hardened killer he is today, they still don't understand the full picture. In particular, they only have an idea that he is [[HumanoidAbomination far from human]], but not exactly what he is. It is implied that the only person who has full knowledge about him is [[TheConfidant Evetta]], who's been with him throughout the whole night.]] |
| 110 | * In ''Fanfic/ThreeStrikes'', Trigger was completely unaware of her family’s secret past until Full Band’s snooping revealed it to her, particularly that her father is the infamous [[spoiler:'Solo Wing Pixy.']] |
| 111 | * In ''Fanfic/{{Ripples}}'', the origin of the Changelings is this. The first Queen of Meridian (Escanor) made a deal with Augustus (yes, THAT UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}) in which she would give him gold and magic and in return he would give her his political opponents/various criminals in Roman society. Escanor then used horrific experiments to [[WasOnceAMan turn these prisoners into the first Changelings]], using them as her shock troops to unite Meridian under her banner. One of the things that prompts [[KnightTemplar Allora]] to launch her coup is Weira planning to not only pardon most of the Changelings but publicly reveal the truth about their origins. |
| 112 | * ''Fanfic/FellHorizon'': Alear is secretly a Fell Dragon, being one of Sombron's many children. Unlike in [[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage canon]], she has all of her memories intact, and absolutely dreads the possibility of people finding out the truth of her origin. [[spoiler:It finally comes out in Chapter 24 when Alear admits that Veyle, who is already known to be a Fell Dragon, is her sister, and due to poor timing, Alear spending the past few chapters undergoing SanitySlippage, and PoorCommunicationKills, she ends up taking Veyle and fleeing after while her friends are left feeling hurt and betrayed]]. |
| 113 | [[/folder]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 116 | * In ''Film/TheGuardiansOfTheGalaxyHolidaySpecial'', Mantis knows that she and Peter have the same father, the Celestial Ego, who killed any of his offspring who did not display Celestial powers. Mantis was only spared because she was useful to Ego. Subverted in that after he finds out, Peter tells her that getting a ''sister'' is the best Christmas present he could get. |
| 117 | * The movie ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' is built on a dark secret shared by a group of friends after they accidentally kill someone with their car. |
| 118 | ** A similar secret is kept by the protagonists of ''Film/UrbanLegend'', involving the invocation of an urban legend to scare someone, leading to a fatal car crash. |
| 119 | * In ''Film/TheLastWitchHunter'', people tend to keep dark secrets reveal of which would benefit the plot greatly. |
| 120 | ** The Axe and Cross hides one from Kaulder: [[spoiler:the hunter's continued eternal life depends on the life of Witch Queen's heart, meaning the heart was never destroyed and the Queen can come back to life.]] |
| 121 | ** Chloe is [[spoiler:a dreamwalker, meaning she can access a memory Kaulder needs to solve the mystery of the plot, but hides it because it's Dark gift and she once accidentally hurt her little brother with it.]] |
| 122 | * The hereditary curse in ''Film/TheLodgers'', along with its nature, origin and all that results from it, is rooted in an abominable family secret unknown to the outside world. |
| 123 | * ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'''s DarkSecret is the decision by the parents of Elm Street to take the law into their own hands and kill Freddy Krueger, who was known back then as the "Springwood Slasher" and liked to kill children. |
| 124 | * ''Film/OneMissedCall'' has [[MunchausenSyndrome Munchausen's By Proxy]] as the dark secret of one character. |
| 125 | * ''Film/PromNight1980'' begins with [[KidsAreCruel four children causing the death of a classmate]] by scaring her [[DestinationDefenestration out a window]], vowing to tell no one of the incident. Six years later, it’s [[TitleDrop prom night]], and a mysterious figure appears to take revenge on the teenagers for the little girl’s death. |
| 126 | * In the movie ''Film/TheWatcherInTheWoods'', a group of friends have kept the secret of Karen's disappearance since they were children, and are haunted by it. |
| 127 | * In ''Film/GourmetDetectiveRouxTheDay'', the investigating detectives are looking into the disappearance of the chef's book of a prestigious restaurant that closed over a decade ago, containing the secret recipes used by the family who owned that restaurant. In the course of the investigation, it's revealed that the family kept using absinthe in many of their ingredients even after absinthe was officially listed as dangerous and banned from use in food, as they didn't want to risk losing customers by switching to a subtitute. |
| 128 | * ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'': M is so ashamed over how she handled Elektra King's kidnapping that she sealed Elektra's file so that no one else can access it. When Bond requests the classified information as an employee, M flatly refuses with a stern warning ("I will not tolerate insubordination, 007"), so he resorts to using their implicit mother-son relationship (the gentle way he asks, "What happened?") before she willingly discloses a painful part of her past. |
| 129 | * ''Film/TheWorldOfKanako'': Kanako appears to be a nice girl until she disappears. Her father Akikazu finds out that she [[spoiler:was involved into a prostitution ring and blackmails their members, she teamed up with school bully Matsunaga to set up the narrator and was at least indifferent with Ogata's fate, she dealt drugs in school and helped old men get to young school girls.]] In the very end, she makes clear [[spoiler:to her teacher which murders Kanako that she absolutely regrets nothing.]] |
| 130 | * ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': By 1973, Charles Xavier had never revealed to anyone--not even Raven, Erik or Hank--that as a nine-year-old kid, he thought he was going insane after his telepathy became active, and he didn't learn until he was twelve that he could in fact read other people's minds. |
| 131 | * In the Japanese film ''Film/ZeroFocus'', Sachiko, now the respected wife of a prosperous businessman, was once a prostitute who serviced American soldiers after the war. [[KeepingSecretsSucks She kills two people]], Kenichi and his brother Sotaro, to keep this secret. |
| 132 | [[/folder]] |
| 133 | |
| 134 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 135 | * In ''Fallen'', one of the stories set in Tim Lebbon's Noreela fantasy setting, the Voyagers Nomi and Ramus have a falling out and revealed actions they took against each other but previously kept secret. Nomi had deliberately gone to a high ranking member of the Voyagers to cancel an expedition that Ramus had long been planning to prevent Ramus from rising further and to make him available for her current expedition. Ramus revealed that he caused Nomi's ex-lover to leave her when he lied to the guy that he had a sexual relationship with Nomi. This then leads Nomi to reveal the darkest secret, what Ramus believed to be a cancer forming behind his eyes, is actually a supernatural parasite. She became infected in her second voyage and went to a powerful shaman to help her. The only way to save onself is to transfer the infection to someone you know well and like. Afraid of an agonizing death, Nomi agrees and has the parasite infect Ramus instead. |
| 136 | * ''Literature/TheDinosaurLords'': Princess Melodia and Duke Falk share a secret, that neither wants anyone to know. [[spoiler: In an act of DisproportionateRetribution for Melodia initially wanting to have sex with Falk but later changing her mind and as a TakeThat to her lover Jaume who's had male dalliances, Falk had Melodia framed for sedition against her father. After imprisoning her, he rapes her anally. Besides shame, Melodia wants to avoid telling because Falk has become her father's chief bodyguard and Falk doesn't want anyone to know as Emperor Felipe would have him tortured to death if the rape became known]]. |
| 137 | * "Literature/TheHound1924": The well-kept secret of the narrator and St. John is their appetite for graverobbing and corpse-snatching. They've done it many times already, enough to set up a small museum full of grotesqueries some of which the narrator refuses to describe. After St. John is murdered, the narrator leaves their shared home and destroys the museum to prevent discovery. Even when he's resolved to kill himself and such discovery of the collection would no longer affect him, he expresses satisfaction that he had it destroyed beforehand. |
| 138 | * ''Literature/KingdomOnFire'': Quite a few. |
| 139 | ** In ''Literature/AShadowBrightAndBurning'', Lord Blackwood reveals to [[TheProtagonist Henrietta]] [[spoiler:that his father, Charles Blackwood, helped Mary Willoughby and Howard Micklemas open the portal to release the Ancients into the world]]. |
| 140 | ** In ''Literature/APoisonDarkAndDrowning'', Howard Micklemas reveals that [[spoiler:he, Mary, and Charles opened the portal to try and save Henrietta's father, William Howel, after he got sucked into the Ancients' world in 1822. However, by then, he'd been in the Ancients' world so long that he was warped and twisted into a creature that's now known as R'hlem]]. |
| 141 | * Zoe from ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Titan's Curse]]'' is [[spoiler:Atlas's daughter]]. |
| 142 | * In Daphne du Maurier's ''Literature/{{Rebecca}}'', the heroine's husband has a dark secret. She believes he can't love her because he's still thinking of his first wife Rebecca who was supposedly drowned in a sailing accident. Turns out he had [[spoiler: murdered Rebecca himself -- and she had goaded him into it]]. |
| 143 | * In the [[Literature/WizardAndGlass fourth]] ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' novel, Roland's friends must see his dark secret to proceed along the Beam. They find out [[spoiler:he shot and killed his mother, upon seeing Rhea's reflection in the Wizard's Glass]]. |
| 144 | * In the first Creator/ElleryQueen novel, "The Roman Hat Mystery", the murder victim is a blackmailer. No one familiar with the rules of Golden Age mystery novels will consider "murderer is being blackmailed" a spoiler. The secret worth killing over? [[spoiler:One of the murderer's ancestors married a black woman. The line is so diluted that there are no visible signs of African descent in the murderer's appearance, but that "drop" of blood would ruin him socially and professionally.]] |
| 145 | * In the both the books, and the 90s TV adaptation of Creator/PGWodehouse's ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' stories, Jeeves reveals British fascist leader Sir Roderick Spode's terrible secret to Bertie: [[spoiler:Spode owns a ladies' fashion boutique]]. Should this become widely known it would ruin his reputation. |
| 146 | --> '''Bertie''': You can't be a successful Dictator and [[spoiler:design women's' underclothing]]. One or the other. Not both. |
| 147 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter '': [[spoiler: Dumbledore]] was responsible for the death of [[spoiler:his sister Ariana (possibly even directly- there was a magical fight and even ''he'' wasn't sure who cast the fatal blow)]] when he was a teenager. Everyone knows she died but they don’t know how exactly it happened, it was assumed she was just sick. Only [[spoiler:he, his brother Aberforth, and Grindelwald]] know for a fact what happened and two of them are dead by the time [[spoiler:Aberforth]] tells Harry, Ron, and Hermione. |
| 148 | * ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'': |
| 149 | ** Piper thinks she'll have to betray her friends. |
| 150 | ** Hazel is directly responsible for Gaea bringing back Alcyoneus. |
| 151 | * ''Literature/ALandFitForHeroes'': Are you a member of the Trelayne Knights? Then you [[spoiler: will not only have been a victim of of a ritual initiation gang-rape but you will also be a perpetrator of said crime the next year on the newbies that come after you. This is done to force every member of the knights to unite by covering up the gang-rapes together. This secret is especially heinous given that the Trelayne Trade League is deeply homophobic.]] |
| 152 | * The reader is every bit as aware of it as she is, but Gara Petothel / Lara Notsil, in the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', is a DeepCoverAgent who's gone through a private HeelFaceTurn, and is unhappily aware that the [[HeroicBSOD badly damaged]] pilot who she's falling in love with is damaged because of her actions. |
| 153 | * In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, many cats' forbidden relationships. The parentage of kits born to said forbidden relationships. Visiting the Dark Forest. |
| 154 | * The Missus and John-the-dig in ''Literature/TheThirteenthTale'' can't let anyone know there is [[spoiler: a third girl in Angelfield]], or else Charlie's rapes and incest will become open public knowledge. |
| 155 | * In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Harry treats his possession of [[spoiler:the coin containing Lasciel as this. When he finally speaks of it to Michael, he already knows.]] |
| 156 | ** In ''Ghost Story'', Molly's secret is that [[spoiler:she helped Harry- her mentor and Chicago's main protector against supernatural predators- kill himself]]. Her guilt over this fucks up her psyche and relationships with people, but she can't tell anyone for fear that they'll hate her as much as she does. |
| 157 | * The International Patents Office is the most powerful institution in Rod Duncan's ''The Fall of the Gaslit Empire'' trilogy. They came to prominence after "The Great British Revolution" which divided Britain into the Anglo-Scottish Republic and the Kingdom of England and South Wales. The purpose of the Patent Office is to protect humanity by preventing "unseemly science" from advancing and causing harm. The Patent's Office has a DarkSecret.[[spoiler: The Patent Office did extreme historical revisions including eliminating mention of the Napoleonic War, which weakened Britain to the point where a Luddite revolution was possible. Additionally the Office did not just prevent the development of new technology, they actually forcibly regressed technology of the past. For example the breech-loading guns of the Napoleonic War is LostTechnology as the guns in the late 20th century are now front-loading, flintlock muskets and pistols. Meanwhile the Office uses some of the prohibited technology, including electrical lighting, for their own benefit. The protagonist's discovery of the Office's secret in 2009 will eventually lead to the Gaslit Empire's collapse ten years after.]] |
| 158 | * ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'': "China Sorrows, China Sorrows. She's the one, she's the one. [[spoiler:Nefarian Serpine killed Skulduggery Pleasant, but China Sorrows led his family into the trap.]]" |
| 159 | * ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': The Knights Radiant were an order of magical knights tasked with protecting humanity from the apocalypse. Thousands of years before the story, they abandoned their oaths, as well as their unspeakably powerful arms and armor, for unknown reasons. The current religion claims that they used tricks to pretend divine powers and a holy calling and fled when the charade was discovered, but we see the event at one point, and it's clearly [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere something else entirely]]. In the second book, ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', [[spoiler:Taravangian]]'s Diagram says (in code) "Hold the secret that broke the Knights Radiant. You may need it to destroy the new orders [[OrderReborn when they return]]." |
| 160 | * ''Literature/MurderAtColefaxManor'': [[spoiler:The manor is the base of a cult for an EldritchAbomination and all but one of the manor's staff are in on it.]] |
| 161 | * ''Literature/ShamanBlues'': The reason Konstancja ran off from Witkacy was that [[spoiler:she was pregnant with his child, and was terrified what kind of a parent a depressed junkie would be. She only tells him about it because Wiktoria starts to display the same powers he has.]] |
| 162 | * ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'': Nikita hides the fact that she's a [[TheBerserker berserk]], which in the world of the story is basically equivalent to a magical SuperSoldier. If her mother was to find out, she's turn Nikita into a virtual slave to be let off the leash whenever someone had to be killed. |
| 163 | * ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'': The abbey of Lissen Carak hides the fact that all of the nuns there are sorceresses, as well as the interdimensional gate in their basement. By the end of the first book, however, the former is pretty much an OpenSecret. |
| 164 | * ''Literature/ChainLetter1986'': The plotline is similar to ''Literature/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' in that a group of friends killed a man with their car, and agree to never tell anyone about it. Then, they start getting blackmailed. |
| 165 | * Half the main cast in ''Literature/TheOverstory'' are hiding the secret that they were all involved in an arson during which [[spoiler:one of their group was accidentally killed.]] |
| 166 | * ''Literature/PosterGirl'' The real reason Sonya is so determined to find Grace Ward [[spoiler: is that she was the one who sold the poor girl out to the regime in the first place.]] |
| 167 | * ''Literature/ForgesOfMars'': Roboute Surcouf's darkest secret isn't the fact that he shot and killed his captain during his time in the Imperial Navy, or that he spent a year living amongst the [[SpaceElves Eldar]] after they rescued him from a wrecked ship. [[spoiler:It's the fact that he's a fraudulent rogue trader with a counterfeit Letter of Marque, which he forged himself.]] |
| 168 | * ''Literature/CradleSeries'': The Dreadgods are four immensely powerful dreadbeasts. Normal dreadbeasts are animals [[TheCorruption corrupted]] by [[CannibalismSuperpower Hunger madra]], gaining immense power which quickly destroys their bodies. The Dreadgods are perfected dreadbeasts, so powerful that they are more akin to living natural disasters than monsters. Only the Monarchs, the most powerful [[SupernaturalMartialArts sacred artists]] in the world, can hope to fight them--and even then, killing them is impossible. Millions die to them every year. In book 10, we find out that [[spoiler:Hunger aura is a corruption caused by the Monarchs. The Monarchs are ascendant beings who are ''supposed'' to leave the world, but who have selfishly decided to stay. The more Monarchs there are, the more powerful the Dreadgods. If all the Monarchs left, the Dreadgods would starve to death within a few decades. It is impossible for a Monarch not to know this, as the world continuously tries to force them to ascend]]. Any time anyone gets close to this truth, the great powers of the world force them to [[MagicallyBindingContract swear an oath on their soul not to reveal anything]], and if they refuse they are forced to ascend. |
| 169 | * Aliaa is agrees to pay for Seeker's miracle with three "truths" in ''Literature/TheAngelOfKhanElKhalili'', but Seeker finds the girl's first two confessions (that she lied to her family about where she was spending the night, and that she's stolen from her employer) to be lacking in weight. It's only with prompting from the supernatural creature that Aliaa finally confesses to [[spoiler: being the one who set the fire at the garment factory that nearly killed all her coworkers and mortally wounded her sister Aisha]], and Seeker declares their bargain met. |
| 170 | -->"I am Seeker," the angel declares, her voice thundering. "I search for truth. I am drawn to it. Do you think your small mortal soul can conceal itself from me? Do you think I cannot see what you keep secreted in its innermost chambers?" |
| 171 | * ''Literature/TheSunneInSplendour'': In the novel, [[UsefulNotes/EdwardIV King Edward IV]] married Eleanor Butler before he married his queen, Elizabeth Woodville. He's haunted by this, and the usually genial Edward does not react well to anyone bringing up Butler. Elizabeth, understandably, is enraged when she learns the truth, as it means their marriage is invalid and their children illegitimate. When Edward discovers that his brother George, Duke of Clarence, knows about Butler he has the half-mad George executed to keep the secret. But neither Edward or Elizabeth have the heart to kill the elderly priest who married Eleanor and Edward, and so [[UsefulNotes/RichardIII Edward's youngest brother eventually finds out.]] |
| 172 | [[/folder]] |
| 173 | |
| 174 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 175 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'', with Ivanova secretly being [[spoiler:a rogue telepath]]. Sheridan also has a secret, in that he's a member of a military conspiracy to [[spoiler:overthrow [[PresidentEvil President Clark]]]]. Then there's Delenn... you know, with Babylon 5 being a [[CityOfSpies Space Station of Spies]], it's safe to say that there are many people with dark secrets. |
| 176 | * ''Series/{{Belgravia}}'': The plot hinges on the revelation that Sophia Trenchard died giving birth to a child, the son of Edmund, Viscount Bellasis. Sophia's mother Anne admits the truth to Edmund's mother the Countess of Brockenhurst out of guilt over keeping the secret and the rest of the story progresses from there. |
| 177 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Tara's attempts to hide her [[HumanDemonHybrid part-demon-ness]] in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E6Family Family]]" almost result in her friends being killed. Still, they stand up for her anyway and eventually determine that Tara's family lied to her about her heritage. |
| 178 | * In the fourth season of ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'', Destiny and Ava discover a huge secret about Camp Kikiwaka's founder Jedediah Swearington: when he started to suffer misfortune, he decided to quit the camp and start up the rival Camp Champion. |
| 179 | * In the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode ''The Hen House'' the victim was killed for discovering that her murderer was really [[spoiler:a Nazi pretending to be a Dutch Jew]]. |
| 180 | * In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]", the group learns that Shirley had been hiding the fact she was a barfly during a more troubled time of her life. |
| 181 | * An episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had the Nazi pretending to be a Jew. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him he married a Jewish woman and raised his own son as a devout Jew to keep his cover story up]]. |
| 182 | * An episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has an episode in which a schoolboy with neo-Nazi beliefs is murdered. [[spoiler:He was growing out of racism after making friends with the school's black janitor. The suspects were other neo-Nazis who not only found out, but for some reason concluded he was also in a homosexual relationship with the janitor.]] The boy was murdered because he discovered an even darker secret: [[spoiler:his new friend was actually [[RetiredMonster a leader in the Rwandan genocide]]]]. |
| 183 | * The whole premise of ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. His secret is [[SerialKiller quite dark indeed]]... |
| 184 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/DowntonAbbey''. The butler Mr. Carson has a deep dark secret that will lose him Lord Grantham's respect, which turns out to be... [[FauxHorrific that he used to be a song-and-dance stage performer when he was young]]. When he confesses this in anguish, loudly curses himself for being worthless, and declares that he will resign in disgrace, Lord Grantham merely sighs and says "Oh, do stop being so melodramatic. You're not playing [[Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities Sydney Carton]], now are you?" |
| 185 | * ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': During Niles and Maris' acrimonious divorce, Niles' lawyer discovers that Maris has been lying about the source of her family's wealth. She's spent decades claiming that the money came from timber when it actually comes from making ''urinal cakes''. Maris would be humiliated if her high society social circle learned the truth, so Niles uses his newfound knowledge to force her to settle the divorce once and for all. |
| 186 | -->'''Niles:''' All these years, the doyenne of Seattle's elite looking down her nose at everyone in sight, she owes it all to this. She's managed to have her urinal cake and eat it too! |
| 187 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 188 | ** Cersei and Jaime's {{twincest}}. |
| 189 | ** Ned promises his bastard son Jon Snow upon returning from King's Landing, they'd finally discuss his mother. Ned [[OffWithHisHead never made it back]] for that talk but it was finally revealed that Ned [[spoiler:is actually Jon's uncle and his sister Lyanna birthed him, while his true father is Rhaegar Targaryen. Out of respect for Lyanna's wishes]], honorable Ned Stark lies not only to his wife and his best friend but the entire world, in order to protect Jon. [[spoiler:To make things even ''more'' complicated, Jon is not a bastard of theirs either; Rhaegar did not kidnap and rape Lyanna. Instead, the two were in love, with Lyanna leaving willingly with him to elope after he annulled his marriage to Elia Martell. Since Rhaegar's children with Elia were killed at the end of the rebellion, that makes Jon the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, trumping all other claims, including that of his aunt/lover Daenerys. Needless to say, if this secret were to ''ever'' become public, it would change the political landscape of Westeros on a monumental scale.]] |
| 190 | * The dark comedy ''Series/{{Imposters}}'' has con artist Maddie going after a rich mark, marrying them and then leaving with almost all their money. Ezra, Richard and Jules (a woman) all fell victim and in each case, Maddie left behind a video admitting to what she did. She then warns them that if they come after her, she will reveal the secret each one of them has which will just end up destroying not only them but their families. Despite this, the trio decide to still team up to hunt their mutual "ex" down. |
| 191 | * In ''Series/TheMentalist'', J.J. [=LaRoche=] has a Tupperware container hidden in a safe, which is later stolen and retrieved, as the contents of the plastic container would ruin his career and reputation. [[spoiler:It's the tongue of his mother's rapist.]] |
| 192 | * ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'': [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Anton Mercer]], father of Trent, the White Dino Ranger, [[spoiler:[[JekyllAndHyde has a split personality]], the BigBad Mesogog]], and his son is aware of it. When the rest of the Rangers find out, they're pretty angry about Trent not telling them. |
| 193 | * ''Everybody'' in ''Series/{{Quantico}}'' has a dark secret, to the point that it's a frickin' joke. |
| 194 | * ''Series/Reboot2022'': Invoked. Hannah writes a "dark secret" for Reed's character Lawrence, which gets him excited about the script. Said "dark secret" is revealed to be a daughter from a previous relationship. |
| 195 | * Several characters in ''Series/ScreamQueens2015'' have some dark secret that they don't want getting out. Chanel #3 [[spoiler:believes that her father could be Charles Manson]], Chanel #5 touches herself to [[spoiler:''Dora the Explorer'']], and Chad is extremely ashamed of his [[spoiler:lactose intolerance]]. Kappa keeps an entire room filled with the evidence of their more disturbing acts, [[NoodleImplements most of which we don't learn the whole story of]], but there is one event that leads to different people's own secrets. [[spoiler:In 1995, members of the sorority allowed a girl to die in a bathtub in order to continue a party being hosted in Kappa House. Dean Munsch, to save her own career, helped cover the incident up.]] In episode 8, we learn Wes'. [[spoiler:His wife was the president of Kappa at the time of the Bathtub Baby incident and the guilt drove her to a life of drugs and crime. To protect Grace from the truth he went as far as to burn down their house and created an ideal image of her mother.]] |
| 196 | * ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': |
| 197 | ** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E04Equilibrium Equilibrium]]" concerns a dark secret of the Trill, specifically regarding [[spoiler:Joran, one of the hosts to the Dax symbiont. The violently unstable Joran was joined with Dax for six months before being joined with Curzon (the predecessor to Jadzia), with a memory block implanted into Dax to [[{{Unperson}} wipe all memory of Joran]]. However, Joran is just the tip of the iceberg, as it's revealed that as many as half of the Trill population is eligible to be joined... but there aren't enough symbionts to go around, and a power struggle to acquire symbionts would ensue should this secret come to light]]. |
| 198 | ** The dark secret in Constable Odo's past, revealed in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E08ThingsPast Things Past]]", is that [[spoiler:when he was the chief of security during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, he allowed innocent Bajorans to be charged with, and executed for, crimes they didn't commit]]. |
| 199 | ** Dr. Julian Bashir has a dark secret of his own, revealed in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E16DrBashirIPresume Dr. Bashir, I Presume?]]": [[spoiler:he is an [[{{Transhuman}} Augment]], having been subjected to genetic experimentation as a child, not dissimilar to [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Khan Noonien Singh]]]]. |
| 200 | * ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': |
| 201 | ** Simon Tarses in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E21TheDrumhead The Drumhead]]" has one that he lied about on his Starfleet application because he feared that he would be suspected because of it. The events of the episode [[FantasticRacism validate that fear]]: [[spoiler:he claimed that his grandfather was Vulcan, when he was actually ''Romulan''. This is arguably more politically than genetically relevant, as Romulans and Vulcans are the same species, or at least very closely related, but Vulcan is a key and founding member of the Federation while Romulus is the centre of ''the'' original rival empire to the Federation. Thing is, once this is found out that's the ''only'' thing driving the proceedings against Tarses -- his personal feelings and political leanings about Starfleet and the Federation aren't even looked at]]. While the future of his career is uncertain at the end of the episode (the investigation dramatically falls apart, but he ''did'' still lie on his Starfleet application), ExpandedUniverse materials tend to take pity on the poor fellow and have it eventually recover. |
| 202 | ** In her final appearance in the series, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E6DarkPage Dark Page]]", Lwaxana Troi is revealed to have a dark secret: [[spoiler:in addition to Deanna, she had another, older daughter named Kestra who fell into a river and drowned during a family picnic when Deanna was still a baby]]. |
| 203 | * In ''Series/StormOfTheCentury'', many of the residents of Little Tall island have Dark Secrets. The BigBad, being a mind reading demonic sorcerer, lets them know that he knows just to freak them out. He also reveals some of these secrets to the other residents [[ForTheEvulz for kicks]]. |
| 204 | * In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS01E05BloodyMary Bloody Mary]]", the ghost's victims all have a secret they do not want anyone else to know, a guilt for another person's death. It is revealed that Sam also has a secret he has not shared with Dean during this episode. |
| 205 | * In ''Series/SwitchedAtBirth'', Regina knew about the switch and had a private investigator keep tabs on Bay for some time. |
| 206 | * ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt'': Subverted by the blue-eyed, blond Jacqueline's dark secret that she's actually a Native American woman. Only the loathsome people in her aristocratic WASP circles would find that objectionable. |
| 207 | [[/folder]] |
| 208 | |
| 209 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 210 | * ''Music/EvilliousChronicles'': In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj_tReFezkw Flower of the Plateau]]", Mikulia [[spoiler:kills two people, an ex-suitor/client and [[OffingTheOffspring her own son]], to hide that she used to be a prostitute]]. |
| 211 | [[/folder]] |
| 212 | |
| 213 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 214 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' has a Disadvantage called Secret. If it's revealed, the character loses the Secret, but gains Disadvantage(s) (or loses Advantages) worth twice as many points as the Secret. |
| 215 | * The GURPS Disadvantage was inspired by ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' and its system of Disadvantages. The current edition has Social Limitations that include things like Guilty Secret, Dark Secret, Embarrassing Secret, and so on. |
| 216 | * Similar to the ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' example; the TabletopGame/BattleTech RPG ''A Time of War'' has the negative trait "Dark Secret". These can range from things that could harm the character socially up to something that could trigger an interstellar conflict. Should it be discovered the PC can expect to gain Enemy, negative Repuation and {{B|ountyHunter}}loodmarked traits. |
| 217 | * The ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' had a one point flaw called Dark Secret. That it's only worth one point tells a lot about the setting. |
| 218 | * ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'' has the Dark Secret disadvantage, in three levels depending on the severity of the secret. It also has the Secret advantage, which (among other things) may mean you know someone else's Dark Secret. |
| 219 | * Almost everyone in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has their own dark secret, but the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter ''really'' don't want anyone to know ''half'' their chapter joined the other side during the Literature/HorusHeresy. {{Iron|y}}ically, it's implied in other fluff that not only are the Inquisition fully aware of the Fallen Dark Angels, but they don't really care too much. That means their self-appointed mission to keeping the Chapter "secret" a secret and the numerous atrocities they commit in its name are utterly pointless and simply alienating the rest of the Imperium. |
| 220 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' it is assumed that every PlayerCharacter has one of these (after all, sane people of good upbringings do not run the Shadows). The players can instead choose from a wide variety of Negative Qualities at character creation that decides exactly ''what'' kind of dark secret you harbor, and how much it burdens you day-to-day as well as the fallout if someone discovers it. The smallest dark secrets (1-5 karma) involves things like 'a MegaCorp [[BigBrotherIsWatching has a file on you]]' or 'a big regret in your past that gives people blackmail material on you'; the big ones (20+ karma) involves things like '[[UndercoverCopReveal secretly an undercover cop]]' or 'actually a CorporateSamurai hiding in the Shadows' which are practical death sentences if the wrong people (like your party) find out. |
| 221 | [[/folder]] |
| 222 | |
| 223 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 224 | * In ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', Delia keeps her past relationship with Giovanni secret because she's terrified of how Ash will take the news. |
| 225 | [[/folder]] |
| 226 | |
| 227 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 228 | * In ''VideoGame/HelloNeighbor'', this is the main plot. The protagonist, Nicky Roth, is trying to break into the basement of his neighbor, Mr. Peterson, who is keeping [[spoiler: his own son, Aaron]] locked down there. |
| 229 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'''s DLC revolves around your quest to discover Byrgenwerth's worst atrocity, which they've long since buried and which has caused the creation of the [[IronicHell Hunter's Nightmare]]. A fellow hunter named Simon (and appropriately called 'Seeker of Secrets') points you in the right direction after warning you that the Healing Church (a Byrgenwerth offshoot) will try to stop you. Note, the secret is ''not'' how all hunters will inevitably go AxCrazy and that all of the first few generations of hunters (and Healing Church clergy, for that matter) have succumbed to this fate- that's confirming what the main game already hinted. It's also not that the Church's early experiments turned patients into featureless blobby lumps- that's just a sideline and you'll only be attacked by two anonymous church hunters for peeking. The ''real'' secret, which you have to fight Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower to reach and that will get you repeatedly invaded for discovering, lies in the third and final area: the Fishing Hamlet. [[spoiler: The Hamlet had a mutually beneficial relationship with the Great One Kos. When Byrgenwerth found out, they sent some of their scholars and the first few hunters over to massacre/experiment on the inhabitants, and they either ended up killing Kos or violating her corpse (and may have killed her unborn child). For this, the survivors cursed all of Byrgenwerth's successors to fall to bloodlust and the Hunter's Nightmare. The unborn child exists in a strange limbo as the [[ThatOneBoss Orphan of Kos]].]] |
| 230 | * ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars II: Lords of Winter'' reveals that the [[SapientCetaceans Liir]] have been harboring a dark secret: the [[spoiler:Suul'ka]] are really Liir Elders who have refused to die and became DrunkWithPower. The bit about the [[spoiler:Liir killing all Suul'ka with a bio-engineered plague]] is complete bull. |
| 231 | * The DarkSecret of Nathan Drake, the BadassNormal treasure-hunting descendant of Sir Francis Drake, is revealed in ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'': [[spoiler:he was never an heir of Sir Francis, merely a ward of the state with a history obsession and a ChangelingFantasy. Not even his ParentalSubstitute or his fiance knew, but the desire to prove himself as Sir Francis' heir is Nate's driving motivation for the first and third games.]] |
| 232 | * ''VideoGame/DeadSecret'': Harris Bullard's notes reveal that he has a deep, dark secret that he has been intent on hiding for decades. And that someone calling themselves 'the Woodcutter' has found out said secret and has begun to blackmail him because of it. [[spoiler:Harris' dark secret involves him taking on the identity of a dead squad member of his; with him actually being Josie Herrera's biological father being a mere by-product of said secret.]] |
| 233 | * ''Franchise/DragonAge'': |
| 234 | ** Thedas is full of these. Every single organization, race, and country with high repute has at least one dark secret. Others don't even bother keeping their "darkness" secret. |
| 235 | ** After ''Awakening'', the existence of both the talking, sapient Darkspawn known as the Disciples and their creator, the Architect, are kept a secret to the rest of Thedas by the Grey Wardens. |
| 236 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': The Seekers' initiation is outright horrifying: [[spoiler:first they are lobotomized with a magical process called Tranquility. Then they have an emotional substitute injected into them by a spirit of emotion in the fade]]. That's right, they [[spoiler:''had the cure to Tranquility all along''. Yet they kept it a secret from the Chantry, the templars, and the mages. This omission basically triggers the Mage-Templar war and the collapse of the Chantry.]] |
| 237 | * This is the main drive of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''[='s=] ''Heavensward'' expansion: [[spoiler:the heroes learn that Ishgard's 1000-year war with the dragons was actually caused by King Thordon I and his 12 Knights, who murdered a dragon desiring their power then stealing Nidhogg's eyes. The main expansion and the first three major patches afterwards are about revealing the truth and forcing both sides into peace.]] |
| 238 | * All over the place in ''VideoGame/DeadInVinland'', including some real doozies. The PlayerParty tends to be... untrustworthy. |
| 239 | ** Eirik [[spoiler: never warned his family of his suspicions about his true parentage: he's the bastard son of the old jarl, and the men who nearly killed his family and chased them into exile were trying to eliminate the heir's potential rival. Eirik's GuiltComplex kept him silent about this matter even after the fact. He also participated in a Viking raid in his youth, which he regrets.]] |
| 240 | ** Tomoe [[spoiler: broke her own code of honor as a samurai. Her husband and children were killed by attackers, but rather than staying and fighting to the death to avenge them she fled for her life.]] |
| 241 | ** Knut [[spoiler: was actually exiled from his homeland because he beat a man to death for looking at his wife Solveig, a fact he hasn't even told her. He also beats Solveig.]] |
| 242 | ** Yaghoub [[spoiler: isn't actually a merchant -- or at least that's not his primary occupation. He's a Hashhashin, and the new jarl hired him to kill Eirik. He also kidnapped Parvaneh several years ago, knowing that a cruel king wanted to take her as his bride and would likely murder her soon after. He's kept her in a GildedCage all this time, protecting her from the king's agents but also keeping her prisoner against her will.]] |
| 243 | ** Eustache [[spoiler: WAS a monk... once. His father, a French nobleman, was assassinated, so Eustache left the monastery, became a swordsman, and vowed revenge. He became a warrior in the service of a count who refused to take action against the killer... so Eustache killed him and burned his castle to the ground, then discovered the count had put out the hit himself. Eustache then spent a decade as a pirate.]] |
| 244 | ** Angelico [[spoiler: is in fact a devout monk... but his Dark Secret is a secret even from him. He's a SelfMadeOrphan who killed his abusive father at an early age and has killed numerous other people since, either in some sort of dissociative state or under some sort of DemonicPossession. He doesn't remember doing this and has no idea why he has lots of scars and people he knows keep dying mysteriously...]] |
| 245 | * ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' At first glance, Zero acts like a typical AntiHero who still does what is needed to set things right. [[spoiler: However... As ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' reveals as the story progresses, '''especially''' if you use Zero himself throughout the story, you'll discover that, not only was he the [[PatientZero original source of the Maverick Virus]], he also was, unbeknownst to Zero himself, [[MagnumOpus created by Dr. Wily himself]] to be the next-generation rival to Mega Man X originally. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Maverick Virus got passed to [[FaceHeelTurn Sigma]] after Zero nearly brutally took down Sigma, only stopped after an intense stimulus renders Zero temporarily stunned so that Sigma cracks Zero's forehead jewel, knocking out the [[AxCrazy then-rampant Zero]] and thus begins the events that lead to the Mega Man X stories and beyond.]] |
| 246 | * ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': |
| 247 | ** [[spoiler: Tychus Findlay]]. The Dark Secret in question is [[spoiler:his deal with Mengsk: he kills Kerrigan, he's free.]] As he says at the end of the Wings of Liberty chapter: |
| 248 | ---> "I made a DealWithTheDevil, Jimmy..." |
| 249 | ** In the secret mission "Piercing The Shroud", it is discovered that [[spoiler:the Dominion is behind the Zerg-Protoss Hybrids, which play a very important part in Zeratul's missions. Yep, that's right: it seems that the Dominion (with some dirty help) wants to bring [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The End Of The Universe As We Know It]].]] |
| 250 | ** Mengsk's ''other'' dark secret is his role in the fall of Confederacy, namely that his hand was on the button that [[ApocalypseHow murdered eight billion humans and toppled their government]], leaving him free to take over what was left. Given the magnitude of the crime, he's understandably kept it under tight wraps since becoming Emperor. Raynor's Raiders, naturally, [[CantStopTheSignal have an opportunity to blow it wide open]]. |
| 251 | ** And a very large one for the Protoss: [[spoiler:The majority of the Xel'naga never uplifted the Protoss, nor the Zerg, because (A) they have a strict AlienNonInterferenceClause, and (B) [[GenocideFromTheInside Amon murdered most of them and enslaved the sole survivor]]. Amon uplifted them specifically to watch them war against each other, and then merge them into abominations of his own making.]] |
| 252 | * ''VideoGame/VermintideII'': When the whispering daemon in "Blood in the Darkness" taunts the characters, it reveals that every one of them has one: |
| 253 | ** Markus: Kruber is a ShellShockedVeteran who feels he is losing all sense of morality after sending his comrades-in-arms to their deaths. He has considered selling out his new allies for coin and turning to Chaos to save himself. |
| 254 | --->'''Nameless Voice''': What's your blood-price for the elf? The zealot? The wizard? I know you've thought about it. How heavy would the purse have to be? |
| 255 | --->'''Markus''': Go annoy someone else. |
| 256 | ** Bardin: Bardin's mistakes on a mission left him gravely wounded by a Gutter Runner and unable to warn a Dwarf stronghold of a Skaven attack, and as a result many of his people were slaughtered [[OutlivingOnesOffspring including his son Mordin]]. He was punished by the other Dwarfs and too cowardly to take the [[DeathSeeker Slayer oath]], so he built an elaborate identity because "[[AdventurerArchaeologist Holdseeker]]" sounds more comforting than "[[TheExile Exile]]". |
| 257 | --->'''Nameless Voice''': Ziflin Deeps. A word from you, and so many would still be alive. But you ''weren't'' there, were you? |
| 258 | --->'''Bardin''': ''[annoyed growl]'' |
| 259 | ** Sienna: Sienna has killed multiple people in her wild pyromania for the thrill of it. She burned a templar to death who was hunting a "witch", and later found that the templar was ProperlyParanoid and the witch really was a dangerous Chaos-worshipping monster. She also burned the entire town down in the process of killing this templar. |
| 260 | --->'''Nameless Voice''': You do remember Rambler? He helped you harness your gifts, and you burned him alive for it. |
| 261 | --->'''Sienna''': It's the past, it's done. |
| 262 | ** Victor: Saltzpyre's faith in Sigmar is actually faltering significantly behind his fiery rhetoric. He doubts Sigmar is actually real and wonders if he can even do anything to avert the impending collapse of the Empire. Also, he tortured and burned an innocent girl in the past due to overzealousness on his part, and the guilt is consuming him. |
| 263 | --->'''Nameless Voice''': You didn't save that Skaggerdorf burghermeister's daughter, did you? She pleaded for mercy as you drove home the stake. |
| 264 | --->'''Victor''': ''[bitterly]'' Leave me alone! |
| 265 | ** Kerillian: Kerillian heard a prophecy that Ubersreik would play a part in Athel Loren's fall. Interpreting it as the people of Ubersreik attacking her home and arrogantly believing that she could avert the prophecy alone, Kerillian launched an ambush on an Imperial military convoy sent to reinforce the city, killing dozens of Imperial soldiers and weakening the city... just in time for the Skaven to launch their attack. Ubersreik fell and Athel Loren was the next target in the Skaven's crosshairs. Her ego caused a SelfFulfillingProphecy, she has got many innocent people killed and doomed her forest home, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it's all her fault and she knows it]]. Kerillian feels that she could be very easily convinced to turn to darkness, and murder her human allies in their sleep. |
| 266 | --->'''Nameless Voice''': Count your kills all you like. Repay Ubersreik's slaughter a dozenfold, a hundredfold. It will change nothing. |
| 267 | --->'''Kerillian''': ''[fearful]'' [[BreakTheHaughty Lileath... Lileath, preserve me...]] |
| 268 | * Every rival in ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' has one of these that the VillainProtagonist can find out and use to ruin the rival's reputation. The secrets themselves can range from merely embarrassing (Komako tried GoingCommando for a few years because she read shrine maidens did the same) to career-damaging (Sonoko has a past as a delinquent with a long rap sheet that could ruin her budding detective career). |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 272 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' has a number of these. Figuring out what they are is the whole point of the game. |
| 273 | ** The sequences with Psyche-Locks involve a person's secrets/lies being locked up with spiritual locks and chains when confronted with a statement or question the person refuses to answer and may go to great lengths to keep that secret hidden. The more locks that appear, the more desperately the person wants to hide their secret. Phoenix can see the locks due to the Magatama item he carries and presenting the right pieces of evidence when questioning the person gets them to "unlock" themselves and reveal the truth. [[spoiler: While a typical Psyche-Lock is colored red and can easily be broken, there's two occasions where the locks are ''black'' and can't be broken by normal means. Phoenix first sees the black locks during ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' when he asks Kristoph Gavin why he killed Shadi Smith, Kristoph refuses to answer and 5 black Psyche-Locks appear, which Phoenix describes as cold and dark and probably cannot be unlocked. The black locks appear again in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' when Athena is accused of killing her own mother several years ago and the suppressed memory of the event causes her to throw up 5 black Psyche-Locks. Phoenix finds out from Pearl that the black locks mean that someone has a secret buried so deep within their hearts that they are not consciously aware of it and if the Magatama user tries to brute force the locks open (not approaching the topic gently in other words), the person's spirit can become broken beyond repair, and they are traumatized for life. Luckily, Phoenix gets past Athena's locks without any damage to her mental state.]] |
| 274 | * In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', Monokuma shows each character their dark secrets and threatens to reveal them unless there's a murder. While there is a murder and thus most secrets remain a RiddleForTheAges, four are shown to the player: |
| 275 | ** Makoto Naegi (revealed immediately, as he is the PC): [[EmbarrassingDampSheets Wet the bed until he was in 5th grade.]] |
| 276 | ** Mondo Owada:[[spoiler: His brother Daiya saved his life from Mondo's own recklessness and died in the process, and Mondo lied about what happened to take over leadership of the Crazy Diamonds.]] |
| 277 | ** Chihiro Fujisaki: [[spoiler: [[WholesomeCrossdresser Is actually a boy masquerading as a girl]].]] |
| 278 | ** Toko Fukawa: [[spoiler: Has a secret SplitPersonality, namely SerialKiller Genocider Syo/Genocide Jack.]] |
| 279 | * Amanda from ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'' is attracted to her own father and has been since she was very young. |
| 280 | * Multiple characters in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' have these: |
| 281 | ** The protagonist and Tamara are covering up their role in the Barbarossa incident, and just how much they knew what would happen beforehand. |
| 282 | ** Dr. Mosely has her secret identity as Zeta, the rogue scientist. |
| 283 | * In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', there's Keiichi's [[spoiler: habit of shooting kids with a BB gun]], Rena's [[spoiler: psychotic episode]], Satoko's [[spoiler: unwitting murder of her parents]], the Sonozaki family's [[spoiler: complete lack of a DarkSecret, despite all their posturing]], and the fact that Rika is [[spoiler: stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop]]. The entire series being based on ThePowerOfFriendship, all of these are eventually revealed and EasilyForgiven. |
| 284 | * Amy from ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'' was in an abusive relationship around the time of her sister’s death. Neither Melody nor Arnold knows. |
| 285 | [[/folder]] |
| 286 | |
| 287 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 288 | * ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'': |
| 289 | ** Calgar is hiding the secret to Ultramarines' invincibility, and the mere possibility that someone may figure it out makes him panic. |
| 290 | ** True to the lore, the leaders of the Dark Angels chapter is [[TheParanoiac paranoid]] about anyone learning about the Fallen, but [[NervousWreck Azrael]] takes it to [[BadBoss ridiculous extremes]] by siccing [[AxCrazy Asmodai]] on two Dark Angels who innocently ask about the Fallen when Azrael mentions them in their presence (and they were recently inducted into the inner circle, too, which means they were ''cleared'' to learn about the Fallen in the first place). |
| 291 | * ''WebAnimation/MurderDrones'': It's immediately made obvious that [[TokenEvilTeammate V]] not only doesn't have the same memory issues that [[NiceGuy N]] does about their pre-disassembly drone lives, but also has a far clearer picture about everything that's currently happening than most of the cast. The fifth episode ultimately has [[spoiler:Uzi cut out the middleman and directly hack her brain (alongside N's) to figure out some of this information]], by which point it's been all but stated that V refused to explain things due some of the associated memories being traumatic. |
| 292 | -->'''N''': She's hiding mystery stuff and being overdramatic about it! |
| 293 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 294 | ** Jaune got into Beacon with forged transcripts. He can't actually fight and has no idea what Aura is until Pyrrha teaches him. |
| 295 | ** Blake is a Faunus and was part of the terrorist group known as the White Fang. |
| 296 | ** Professor Ozpin, Ruby's uncle Qrow Branwen and the other headmasters of the Huntsmen Academies are part of a secret brotherhood that are tasked with guarding both the four maidens and the [[AncientArtifact Relics]] that they can access [[spoiler:from a dark cabal led by Ozpin's archnemesis [[BigBad Salem]] who is the current master of the Grimm.]] |
| 297 | ** Ozpin is only one of many reincarnations of the ancient hero Ozma with Oscar Pine being his latest life and [[spoiler:both he and Salem used to be lovers in the ancient past before a falling out led to them becoming enemies.]] |
| 298 | ** After learning about their past, the heroes learn that [[spoiler:Salem herself can't even be killed due to her immortality and that despite being the leader of the group fighting against her, Ozpin revealed that he doesn't even have a plan to deal with her.]] |
| 299 | ** Salem's latest Grimm, The Hound, has the ability to speak [[spoiler:due to having a [[WasOnceAMan Silver-eyed Faunus]] as it's core.]] |
| 300 | [[/folder]] |
| 301 | |
| 302 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 303 | * ''[[Webcomic/{{Baalbuddy}} Baalbuddy's]]'' [[https://twitter.com/baalbuddy/status/1425060942036017190 comic]] for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' shows the dark secret relationship between lalafells and goblins, and the elezen who [[HeKnowsTooMuch stumbles upon the truth]]. |
| 304 | * In ''Webcomic/DeviantUniverse'', while many characters have their own from their [[BackStory backstories]] or side comics, [[spoiler: Christina Rogers being responsible for the Genocide Wave is considered in-universe to be the most notorious one.]] |
| 305 | * In ''Webcomic/DocRat'', Doc pops the question to Danielle before she learns [[spoiler:he's already married.]] |
| 306 | * Characters in ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' and its {{spinoff}} ''Webcomic/StickyDillyBuns'' are mostly pretty open about sex, but there are things that even they prefer to keep quiet... |
| 307 | ** Amber doesn't want her parents to know about her past career as a porn star. How well she can keep this from them if her straight acting career takes off remains to be seen. She also obliged her younger sister Ruby to preserve this secret for several years, which has caused the very truthful Ruby a lot of stress. |
| 308 | ** Meanwhile, Ruby tries to keep anything faintly embarrassing or just slightly unconventional about herself, such as her brief (and quite creditable) adventure in male disguise, or her liking for {{yaoi|Fangirl}}, secret from Amber. Apparently, her self-image as the serious, respectable one in [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry their relationship]] is vitally important to her, or she assumes for some reason that Amber would taunt her mercilessly given half a chance. |
| 309 | ** Tracy, who works as a webcam girl and who let herself almost be drawn into an orgy by her porn star friends at one point, doesn't want these facts known at the games company office where she's working as an intern. When Gary, who knows these secrets, turns up there for a job interview, Tracy's usual niceness slips a little as she persuades him not to say anything. |
| 310 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Mrs. Kitsune is very much aware of the magical world. She is absolutely determined to not let Nanase know that she's in on it. |
| 311 | [[/folder]] |
| 312 | |
| 313 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 314 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'', the KnightInShiningArmor Sir Victor harbors the secret that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Duke Igthorn]] is his brother. However, after Igthorn tries to {{Blackmail}} Sir Victor into letting him into Castle Dunwyn in the middle of the night, he decides to reveal said secret to the inhabitants of said castle. While they are shocked by the revelation at first, [[TheGoodKing King Gregor]] declares that a man must be judged by his own deeds and not by who he happens to be related to.]] |
| 315 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:Marcy knew all along what the Calamity Box would do and stranded herself, Anne, and Sasha in Amphibia on purpose. She did it because she'd learned that she was going to move due to her father getting a new job out of state, and she wanted to run away to a place where she could have fun with her friends forever]]. The secret is outed by King Andrias in the season 2 finale, causing Anne to tear up and Sasha to pull away in disgust. |
| 316 | * ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'': Beakley kept hidden for years that [[spoiler:Webby isn't her granddaughter, but a F.O.W.L. creation that Beakley rescued.]] Course, there was something that even Beakley didn't know: [[spoiler:Webby is a clone of sorts to ''Scrooge [=McDuck=]''.]] |
| 317 | * ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': In TheMovie, we find out that [[spoiler:Rigby, having been completely and utterly rejected from College University, forged an acceptance for himself and a rejection letter for Mordecai and replaced Mordecai's acceptance letter with the rejection forgery so that he can reject his acceptance letter and stick with a dejected Mordecai so they can be friends forever.]] |
| 318 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': [[spoiler:Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond]]. Only Pearl knew this, but was forced to keep it a secret due to a {{geas}} placed on her thousands of years ago. Rather understandably, when the other Crystal Gems found this out, they did ''not'' take it well. |
| 319 | * In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', half the team has them, which the Light are holding over their heads. The solution? [[spoiler: After a bit of angsting, they just tell each other. They're a team.]] |
| 320 | [[/folder]] |
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