History Main / LyingToProtectYourFeelings

* In Season 2 of ''[[Anime/YuGiOhGX Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'', after Chazz is freed from Sartorius' mind control, he can't remember what he did when he was brainwashed or even how it happened. When he sees his crush Alexis is still a member of Sartorius' cult, he concocts this YouAreWorthHell[=/=]StarCrossedLovers scenario in his head where Sartorius used their "love" to manipulate the two of them. This is not even close to true (he was broken by his desire to become strong enough to defeat Jaden, and he himself brainwashed Alexis later when she tried to stop him from taking over their dorm), but Ojama Yellow convinces his two brothers to let Chazz fill in the blanks in whatever way makes him feel better.

* ''ComicBook/TheInternship'': [[spoiler:In Volume 3, the day after his birthday, Cooper asks River if they overheard him...doing anything strange. As to why he asked, Coop and Andy basically had sex in private after they left the others to party. River answers that they didn't, when, in truth, River ''did'' overheard them, remarking that it confirms what they suspected about Cooper's issues. They then proceeded to tell everyone else at the party about it, and everyone agrees that they keep it all to themselves so as not to hurt Coop's feelings.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheFuryOfAShatteredMirror'': By the time that the ACT OF [[spoiler:FUTILITY]] arrives, it's clear that something bad has obviously happened to [[spoiler:Kim and the others]]. However, the Voice of the Hero refuses to tell Harry, as telling him the truth [[spoiler:is what broke him in the first place]].

* In contrast to her canon self from ''Manga/FairyTail'', Kagura in the ''Fanfic/AlternateTailSeries'' knows her brother Simon is dead but not that Laxus[[note]]who takes the place of Jellal[[/note]] killed him. Mira withheld the truth because just recently an amnesiac Laxus helped them against the Oracion Seis earlier and that Kagura remembered Laxus[[note]]or rather, his Edolas counterpart[[/note]] helped her years ago in trying to find her brother before leaving her at Cait Shelter.

* ''Fanfic/LearningHowToBeAPrincess'': {{Discussed}} during "Boscha's Investigation". Camila explains to Luz that she kept her LockedOutOfTheLoop regarding her magical heritage because she thought that would protect her. Luz snaps back that it only made her feel like even ''more'' of an outcast, as her powers made her a natural WeirdnessMagnet. What's worse, her lack of knowledge or control over her magic ultimately led to an accident that got her ''expelled'' -- and then and only then was Camila willing to reveal the truth. This has naturally strained their relationship.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/790699 Seven Minutes]]" is a ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' fanfic where Jack manages to temporaily revive Ianto with the Resurrection Gauntlet after the latter's death at the hands of the 456. Before dying again, Ianto tells Jack that he was reunited with his dead father and girlfriend in a beautiful afterlife and that he'll await Jack there, completely aware from his time dead that the afterlife is in fact TheNothingAfterDeath and that he and Jack will never see each other again, but wanting to give Jack some hope.

* This plays an important role in ''ComicBook/ThroughTheMoon''. Lujanne tells Callum that "White lies are illusions you build with your words to protect the hearts of those you love". He uses this as a justification to convince Rayla to lie to Lujanne about the moon nexus. Later Rayla uses this as a justification to lie to Callum by agreeing to leave together in the morning, only to sneak off alone in the middle of the night.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Bustafellows}}'', in Crow's route, after [[spoiler: Crow's split personality attached and strangled Teuta]], Crow was horrified by his actions and incredibly guilt-ridden but Teuta reassured him that she wasn't afraid of him at all. Later, Hevetica speaks to her in private and she admits she was lying and was actually terrified.

* ''Film/ThePrestige'': After Angier's wife drowns in a magic trick gone wrong, his assistant/mentor Cutter tries to comfort him by lying that drowning is a painless way to die (it is actually immensely painful). Angier believes it... [[spoiler:which [[GoneHorriblyRight causes]] him to start mass-murdering his ExpendableClones by drowning them in tanks once they have [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived their usefulness]], under the belief that it is merciful.]]

Compare DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou, ThePowerOfLegacy, MotivationalLie, IDidntTellYouBecauseYoudBeUnhappy, LetThemDieHappy, EmptyPromise. Contrast HonestyAesop and BrutalHonesty.

-->-- ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive''

Compare DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou, ThePowerOfLegacy, MotivationalLie, IDidntTellYouBecauseYoudBeUnhappy, LetThemDieHappy, EmptyPromise. Contrast HonestyAesop.

This may involve a DarkSecret (if the liar has a personal secret), as well as LockedOutOfTheLoop (if the person the liar is concerned about has a secret that not even that person knows) or ObviouslyNotFine (if their attempt to hide what's going on is painfully obvious). Related to TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife; whenever you feel that revealing yourself to your loved one would create problems and break feelings, you'd have no choice but to lie and hide it as much as possible.

* ''ComicBook/TheInternship'': [[spoiler:In Volume 3, the day after his birthday, Cooper asks River if they overheard him...doing anything strange. As to why he asked, Coop and Andy basically had sex in private after they left the others to party. River answers that they didn't, when, in truth, River ''did'' overheard them, remarking that it confirms what they suspected about Cooper's issues. They then proceeded to tell everyone else at the party about it, and everyone agrees that they keep it all to themselves as not to hurt Coop's feelings.]]

''ComicBook/TheInternship'': [[spoiler:In Volume 3, the day after his birthday, Cooper asks River if they overheard him...doing anything strange. As to why he asked, Coop and Andy basically had sex in private after they left the others to party. River answers that they didn't, when, in truth, River ''did'' overheard them, remarking that it confirms what they suspected about Cooper's issues. They then proceeded to tell everyone else at the party about it, and everyone agrees that they keep it all to themselves as not to hurt Coop's feelings.]]

* In his later years, [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary]] began utilising a [[CatchPhrase (much-derided) standard phrase]] whenever asked to publicly voice an opinion on something: ''"Es war sehr schön, es hat mich sehr gefreut"'' ("It was very nice, I liked it very much"). Urban legend has it that he started with that phrase after Eduard van der Nüll, an architect working on the (at the time rather controversial) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_State_Opera Vienna Court Opera House]], [[DrivenToSuicide hanged himself]] after the Emperor himself was heard [[TakeThat publicly mocking]] it (referring to it as the "[[ShockingDefeatLegacy Königgrätz]] of architecture"). Rather than risking another life by unwittingly unleashing that kind of stigma, Franz Joseph decided to lie on the side of caution.

[[folder:Films]]

** Given a different twist in the original novel, ''A Slight Trick of the Mind.'' Again, Holmes has no memory of meeting Mr. Umezaki. [[spoiler: However, he ''also'' realizes that he must have done so and that he has burned the volume of Watson's diaries that contains the record of this encounter, probably because that volume included politically sensitive information]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei lies to her parents that in order to remain calm she thinks of them because she had just told them that the people she thinks of (her friends) are the people she loves most in the whole world.

** [[spoiler:Lying about your father Alec's death will cause a WhatTheHellHero moment when they finally wake up.]]
** [[spoiler:Lying about Habitat 7 results in the twin calling you out later, but they have already come to terms with it when you meet.]]
** [[spoiler:However, [[BrutalHonesty telling the truth about both]] will [[HeroicBSOD instantly severe the connection and cause their vitals to take a slight drop.]]]]

* In the ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode "Leela's Homeworld", it's revealed that Leela is a sewer mutant whose parents abandoned her on the surface so that she could pass as an alien and be spared the shame of being a mutant.

* ''Film/{{Flipped}}'': This is Bryce's excuse when Juli caught him intending to throw away her eggs, besides his accusation of salmonella. Angered, Juli decides to never ever talk to him again. Much to Bryce's dismay.