History Main / AwfulTruth

* The 80's revival of ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1985}}'' did an episode titled "The Need To Know", in which this trope is deployed; a man returns to his small town bearing the Truth of Existence, a short phrase which [[GoMadFromTheRevelation drives anyone who hears it instantly insane]].

* In ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'', The Weapon was created specifically with the task of locking down [[spoiler:Cortana]] for retreival and deletion, and she was to be deleted herself upon completing said mission. However, she admits to not knowing ''why'' she was given this mission, going so far as to ask "What did [[spoiler:(Cortana)]] do that was so wrong?" Towards the end of the game's plot, she gets her answer, and needless to say, her reaction to the news is... Not positive.

* In ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'', The Weapon was created specifically with the task of locking down [[spoiler:Cortana]] for retreival and deletion, and she was to be deleted herself upon completing said mission. However, she admits to not knowing ''why'' she was given this mission, going so far as to ask "What did [[spoiler:(Cortana)]] do that was so wrong?" Towards the end of the game's plot, she gets her answer, and needless to say, her reaction to the news is... Not positive.
-->'''The Weapon:''' [[spoiler:I'm ''her?!'']]

** When Bran realizes his accidental warging of Hodor in the past lobotomized Hodor of higher thought processes, he is horrified and can't bring himself to look away for the rest of the episode.
** Daenerys learning from Ser Barristan and later Tyrion that her father was really the bad guy during the "War of the Usurper". She takes a while to come to terms with it:

** Jon learns perhaps the biggest one in Season 8. Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark were his parents. That means that a) Ned Stark, the father he looked up to all his life was actually his uncle, b) he dealt with his BastardAngst for all his life but he wasn't a bastard actually, c) his mother was DeadAllAlong and buried under his feet, d) the woman he loves is actually his ''aunt''. [[SurpriseIncest D'oh]].

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': The society of [[{{Precursors}} the Old Ones]] was super advanced in terms of technology, far more than the primitive tribes that exist in the current world. However,a swarm of "peacekeeping" robots created by Faro Industries glitched out. These robots could hack enemy defenses, eat biomass to refuel, and self-replicate, all while being un-hackable themselves. Humanity's only hope was in Project Zero Dawn, a mysterious superweapon that would shut down the swarm and save the Earth. Millions, if not billions of people signed up for Operation Enduring Victory, fighting the ever-growing swarm with minimal training in a desperate attempt to delay extinction long enough for Zero Dawn. The awful truth is that [[spoiler:saving the planet was impossible; there was no way to shut down the swarm before they ate all biomass on Earth, leaving the world nothing but a lifeless rock, filled with several million hibernating robots, "waiting for something to eat." Zero Dawn's true purpose was to calculate the shutdown codes after the swarm had gone into hibernation, then re-terraform the Earth and eventually repopulate it. Every human living in Aloy's time is descended from a human born in a lab]]. This was bad enough that recruits for Project Zero Dawn had the option of euthanasia (after a forty-eight hour waiting period and therapy) if they couldn't deal with it.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic ''FanFic/StoriesAndTalesFromDimension63'', Luke and Lars [[note]]Luna and Lucy's rule 63 counterparts in this dimension[[/note]] learn that not only has their sister has swapped bodies with Lincoln from the canon dimension, but Luke also knows that unlike Lincoln, she doesn't show signs of wanting to go back home anytime soon.

** Batman and Gordon decide at the end of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' not to let the public know about [[spoiler:Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face so that the people of Gotham do not lose hope]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:this Awful Truth gets revealed by Bane]] in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.

*** A recurring story is how the original elven homeland was destroyed by the Tevinter Imperium. [[spoiler:It was not. A survivor of that time reveals that the elves destroyed themselves in a civil war. Tevinter just enslaved the survivors out of opportunism. The vallaslin? The markings Dalish elves wear as a mark of adulthood? Arlathan nobles put them on their slaves as tribute to the nobles' patron gods. Last, the elves say that their gods, including [[TopGod Mythal]], were imprisoned by Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf. The truth is that Mythal and Fen'Harel were and remain good friends. Mythal was betrayed and murdered by someone else and her remains possessed Flemeth, who Mythal saw as a kindred spirit. ''Trespasser'' reveals that their "gods" were just a bunch of ''very'' powerful mages who let that power go to their heads and that ''they'' were the ones who killed Mythal because she tried to get them to stop abusing their power. Fen'Harel only sealed them away to stop the madness, and in the process stripped the entire elven race [[WitchSpecies of their magic]].]]

* ''Series/DarkMatter'': In the series premiere, the protagonists awaken from stasis aboard their spaceship with no memories and name themselves [[YouAreNumberSix One through Six]] in the order they woke up. Traveling to their programmed destination, they find a mining colony where the settlers are in conflict with the corrupt MegaCorp Ferrous Corporation who want to take their land, and fear that Ferrous have hired [[TheDreaded Dreaded]] mercenaries rumored to be half-alien called "the Raza" to kill them, but are expecting reinforcements sent by a man named Hrothgar to defend the colony. Since protagonists' cargo hold is full of weapons and their resident NiceGuy One discovered a sun pendant in his quarters that matches what Hrothgar's people are supposed to have, he assumes he and his crewmates are the promised saviors. Meanwhile, the ship's android has been attempting to recover the wiped databanks onboard: [[spoiler:discovering that except for MysteriousWaif Five, the crew are all wanted murderers and [[PsychoForHire Psychos for Hire]] guilty of everything from kidnapping and piracy to terrorism, there are no aliens, and the ''Raza'' is the name of their ship. They have the pendant and the weapons shipment because they intercepted and killed Hrothgar and his people before they could reach the colony. [[AmnesiacDissonance Naturally, the crew are taken aback]], and One in particular has a hard time with the idea that he used to be a murderous lowlife criminal. See the Quotes for this trope]].

* ''Series/DarkMatter'': In the series premiere, the protagonists awaken from stasis aboard their spaceship with no memories and name themselves [[YouAreNumberSix One through Six]] in the order they woke up. Traveling to their programmed destination, they find a mining colony where the settlers are in conflict with the corrupt MegaCorp Ferrous Corporation who want to take their land, and fear that Ferrous have hired [[TheDreaded Dreaded]] mercenaries rumored to be half-alien called "the Raza" to kill them, but are expecting reinforcements sent by a man named Hrothgar to defend the colony. Since protagonists' cargo hold is full of weapons and their resident NiceGuy One discovered a sun pendant in his quarters that matches what Hrothgar's people are supposed to have, he assumes he and his crewmates are the promised saviors. Meanwhile, the ship's android has been attempting to recover the wiped databanks onboard: [[spoiler:discovering that except for MysteriousWaif Five, the crew are all wanted murderers and [[PsychoForHire Psychos for Hire]] guilty of everything from kidnapping and piracy to terrorism, there are no aliens, and the ''Raza'' is the name of their ship. They have the pendant and the weapons shipment because they intercepted and killed Hrothgar and his people before they could reach the colony. Naturally, the crew are taken aback, and One in particular has a hard time with the idea that he used to be a murderous lowlife criminal. See the Quotes for this trope]].

* ''Series/DarkMatter'': In the series premiere, the protagonists awaken from stasis aboard their spaceship with no memories and name themselves [[YouAreNumberSix One through Six]] in the order they woke up. Traveling to their programmed destination, they find a mining colony where the settlers are in conflict with the corrupt MegaCorp Ferrous Corporation who want to take their land, and fear that Ferrous have hired [[TheDreaded Dreaded]] mercenaries called "the Raza" to kill them, but are expecting reinforcements sent by a man named Hrothgar to defend the colony. Since protagonists' cargo hold is full of weapons and their resident NiceGuy One discovered a sun pendant in his quarters that matches what Hrothgar's people are supposed to have, he assumes he and his crewmates are the promised saviors. Meanwhile, the ship's android has been attempting to recover the wiped databanks onboard:
-->[[spoiler:'''One''': What's going on?]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Two''': The Android managed to recover a significant amount of data related to this ship and its crew.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Six''': Well, that's good. Isn't it?]]
-->[[spoiler:'''The Android''': Marcus Boone (mugshot of Three) - Murder, Assault, Kidnapping, Piracy. Griffin Jones (mugshot of Six) - Murder, Assault, Smuggling. Jace Corso (mugshot of One) - Murder, Assault, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Theft. Ryo Tetsudo (security camera footage of Four) - Murder, Assault, Piracy. Portia Lin (security camera footage of Two) - Murder, Assault, Arson, Theft, Piracy.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Two''': Turns out the Raza aren't a race of aliens. "The Raza" is the name of this ship. We're not here to help these people. [[PsychoForHire We're here to kill them.]]]]
-->[[spoiler:'''One''': No! That's impossible! That can't be right. Can it?]]
-->[[spoiler:'''The Android''': I recovered the information from a fragment of the ship's logs related to the crew list. There's no reason to doubt its veracity.]]

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' plays this straight when Kara attempts to figure out [[spoiler: how she came back from the dead]] and when, in the Season 3 finale, Colonel Tigh keeps trying to figure out what the TerribleTicking that he, Sam Anders, Chief Tyrol and Tory Foster keep hearing is all about. Turns out, [[TomatoInTheMirror they did not want to know]]. They got better. Averted when Kara finally discovers the meaning of the prophecy that she will "lead them all to their end."

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' plays this straight when Kara attempts to figure out [[spoiler: how she came back from the dead]] and when, in the Season 3 finale, Colonel Tigh keeps trying to figure out what the TerribleTicking is all about. Turns out, [[YouDoNotWantToKnow they did not want to know]]. They got better. Averted when Kara finally discovers the meaning of the prophecy that she will "lead them all to their end."

* According to an April 2014 study, [[http://time.com/61940/recreational-pot-use-harmful-to-young-peoples-brains/ even recreational cannabis use among youths use may be harmful to the brain.]]
* [[ParentalSexualitySquick Your parents had sex!]]
* You, [[BreakingTheFourthWall yes, you,]] and everyone you know, will eventually die. It could happen at any time, for any reason, and there's not much you can do about it.
** People have been trying increasingly harder to avert this recently. Genetics is a fairly new field, and gene editing is even newer. Contrary to the age-old view that [[ImmortalityImmorality immortality is evil]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C25qzDhGLx8 these people posit]] that ''death'' is a genetic disease and immortality is merely the cure.

** Chapter 39 ends with Penny about to tell Noel the truth about who they are, but not before warning her that she will not like the answer. At the start of Chapter 40, she reveals that they [[spoiler:are Murakumo Units: {{Artificial Human}}s and {{Living Weapon}}s created for the sole purpose of destroying the world]]. The revelation leaves Noel realing.
*** Then in Chapter 46, she gets another awful revelation: [[spoiler:she's a clone of Ragna and Jin's younger sister, Saya, who was tortured and had her soul broken apart to create her and the other Murakumo Units]].