History Main / AwfulTruth

* In ''Manga/{{Saki Achiga-Hen}}'', Kirame overhears a conversation between her school's mahjong club president and her best friend that she wasn't chosen to be on the team for her skill, but because she never falls below 0 points, enabling her to stay in the game no matter how strong the vanguard player is, while her teammates recover the points in the following rounds. She doesn't get upset, but is instead happy that someone has a use for her talent.

* In ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'', one contestant suffers [[DamagedSoul brain damage]] after she [[OnlyMostlyDead "dies"]] and has to be resuscitated, and the other contestants reach an unspoken agreement to keep the victim ignorant of her condition because her symptoms are [[DownplayedTrope mild enough]] to allow this.

* Played for laughs and subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother's Little Helper". When SpecialGuest Mark [=McGwire=] admits that Bart was right and Major League Baseball ''is'' behind a conspiracy that is watching everyone, and they ask him why, he replies, "Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?" They choose the latter option.

* ''Destiny is a Hazy Thing'': Kushina learns (from Naruto) that Minato put in a brainwashing function in Naruto's seal that would've turned him into the optimistic (IdiotHero) messiah we see in canon had the seal not been messed with. Doubly tragic because Kushina thought Naruto was lied to and sided with Minato.

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_qMagfZtv8 music video]] for the song "Just" by ''{{Radiohead}}''. A man lies down in the middle of the street, refusing to get up or tell anyone why, because if they knew, they would do the same.

* In {{Madlax}}, the fact that [[spoiler: a very young Margaret had to kill her BrainwashedAndCrazy father Richard when he tried to kill her after a plane crash]] is a truth so awful... that [[spoiler: she created two alternate personalities (Madlax herself and Laetitia) to escape it. And she doesn't admit it to herself until the penultimate episode of the anime.]]

* ''MagicKnightRayearth'' starts out as a fairly standard story about three teens who get TrappedInAnotherWorld and tasked with [[SaveThePrincess rescuing a princess]]. Just as they're getting close to their goal, they find out that their ''real'' mission is to [[spoiler: [[ICannotSelfTerminate kill the princess.]]]]

* In the [[{{Denouement}} dénouement]] of ''[[AuntDimity Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday]]'', Derek's cousin Simon and his father father finally tell him that his mother died of cancer, and that she wanted it kept from him (Derek was seven at the time) because the disease and its treatment had a drastic effect on her appearance. The Earl says: "She lost her hair, her fingernails, her teeth. Her skin turned gray, her body shriveled. You were her darling child, the only one she would ever have.. She didn't want you to remember her that way. She wouldn't let me tell you...." Derek grew up believing his father had alienated his mother ("My mother spent the last year of her life in London because my father was a heartless swine. I vowed then and there that I would never be like him."). He took the dismissal of his beloved nanny [[spoiler: who showed signs of insanity and was having an affair with the Earl's valet]] as further evidence of his father's cruel nature, and he changed his name and avoided his father for twenty years.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', Naked Snake's mission is to kill The Boss, his EvilMentor who [[TurnCoat had defected to Soviet]] and instigating nuke detonation in Russia. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed by EVA that [[FakeDefector The Boss only defected to gain Volgin's trust,]] to gain access to [[MacGuffin Philosopher's legacy,]] so she can bring it back to America, The nukes is important to gain Volgin's trust, but [[DidntSeeThatComing nobody had foresee]] [[AxCrazy that Volgin will used it on his homeland.]] Because of this, to prevent World War III, [[TheScapegoat The Boss must die.]] [[SilentScapegoat She knows it,]] [[HeroicSacrifice and willingly go along with it.]]]] Then, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Operation Snake Eater is just one ploy to get [[TheParagon The Boss]] [[UnusualEuphemism out of the equation,]] since [[UngratefulBastard they (CIA)]] fear [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels her charisma.]] Said ploys including denying her help for spying Russian space-faring development, sending her to space with faulty equipment, denied her support when she's on mission on Pig Bay, [[LetsYouAndHimFight forcing her and The Sorrow to fight each other....]]]] No wonder [[FutureBadass Big Boss]] is such a bitter man.

* ''VideoGame/YsSeven'' has returning {{Ys}} hero Adol arrive to Altago and by a series of events, becomes a Dragon Warrior. Simply enough, he goes around the land to visit the shrines and collect the blessings of the Dragons, especially in the growing phenomena that's been happening (giant monsters appearing more commonly, Iskan fever outbreaks, ect.) Two curve-balls come your way though; [[spoiler: first is that TheAce Dragon Knight Scias and InnocentFlowerGirl Tia are the [[BigBad Big Bads]] of the story, who framed you for killing the king in the first place.]] A little later, the Moon Dragon warns you that what he'll reveal if accepting to fight and win, you're not going to like. [[spoiler: The fate of Altago is that it always faced a ResetButton whenever the balance of the land was broken. The necessary action to fix all the phenomena is to start anew, which the Iskan Elders are always tasked with. The Dragons select a Dragon Warrior to stop this as a proxy for the life on Altago... but only out of courtesy. It's almost expected/guaranteed that the Dragon Warrior will lose, even with the Dragons' blessings, as it has happened an untold number of times before since Altago was first made.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', the Awful Truth of the ''Berserk'' setting isn't that [[spoiler:GodIsEvil. Nor is it YouCantFightFate. The Awful Truth is that humanity wouldn't have it any other way. They ''need'' an evil "god" to dictate their lives because the alternative is worse: that their suffering is meaningless and they have no one to blame for it but themselves. They needed it so badly that they subconsciously made it true.]]

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Just as [[AloofBigBrother Sesshoumaru's]] finally getting used to the idea that [[InfinityPlusOneSword Tessaiga]] was meant for [[TheHero Inuyasha]] and [[HealingShiv Tenseiga]] was meant for him, he learns the truth: [[spoiler: Tenseiga is merely a cast-off piece of Tessaiga, separated from Tessaiga so that Sesshoumaru could master the Meidou Zangetsuha technique and then transfer it back to Tessaiga, meaning that the attack form he earned due to his compassion for [[BrokenBird Kagura]]'s [[TearJerker death]] isn't his to keep - it's destined for Inuyasha's use.]] Sesshoumaru takes the news badly, concluding it's proof he was the [[TheUnfavourite outcast son]] and that his father was [[ParentalFavouritism training Inuyasha to kill him]]. Even Inuyasha and his friends think this was [[AbusiveParent far too cruel]]. [[spoiler: Sesshoumaru does eventually calm down enough to realise his father's [[GoodParents true]] [[CruelToBeKind intention]] was for him to [[BigBrotherMentor guide]] Inuyasha not be killed by him, and therefore [[SinkOrSwimMentor decides]] to [[DieOrFly sacrifice his claim to both swords forever]] as part of a HiddenPurposeTest to see if Inuyasha is [[OnlyTheWorthyMayPass strong enough to handle the technique]].]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' pulls a complicated Awful Truth on the protagonist. Solid Snake has started to show indications of accelerated aging; by the time the game starts, he's going on 42 years old, and looks older than his parents (who should be over 80 by then). Otacon explains that it seems like a classic case of Werner's Syndrome, except the tests for the condition say that Snake doesn't have it. They speculate that it's because Snake isn't "normal," meaning that there must have been some fluke in the cloning process that created him, possibly exacerbated by the nanomachine-based artificial virus he was injected with to assassinate certain people by coming into contact with them. In fact, his brother Liquid even suggested as much, saying that the problem arises from the genetic sample that created them being taken when Big Boss was old himself, in his 50s. When Snake finally finds someone who can figure out what's going on, the truth is ''much worse'' than any of the speculation: [[spoiler:the premature aging is ''natural,'' it's an intentional alteration made during the cloning process to ''give him an expiration date,'' which means there is ''no way to fix it'' and he will die of old age within six months, probably before turning 42. Worse, the nano-virus in his blood is ''being damaged'' by Snake's aging, and unless he kills himself long before he dies "naturally," the virus will lose its ability to differentiate between the people it was coded to kill and the people it was not, meaning Snake will cause an ''epidemic.'']] The second problem is solved [[spoiler: so Snake doesn't have to kill himself to stop the epidemic,]] but the first problem is most assuredly not, and the only reason we don't watch [[spoiler: Snake die on-screen]] is because the ending fades to black instead of fast-forwarding six months.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' pulls a complicated Awful Truth on the protagonist. Solid Snake has started to show indications of accelerated aging; by the time the game starts, he's going on 41 years old, and looks older than his parents (who should be over 80 by then). Otacon explains that it seems like a classic case of Werner's Syndrome, except the tests for the condition say that Snake doesn't have it. They speculate that it's because Snake isn't "normal," meaning that there must have been some fluke in the cloning process that created him, possibly exacerbated by the nanomachine-based artificial virus he was injected with to assassinate certain people by coming into contact with them. In fact, his brother Liquid even suggested as much, saying that the problem arises from the genetic sample that created them being taken when Big Boss was old himself, in his 50s. When Snake finally finds someone who can figure out what's going on, the truth is ''much worse'' than any of the speculation: [[spoiler:the premature aging is ''natural,'' it's an intentional alteration made during the cloning process to ''give him an expiration date,'' which means there is ''no way to fix it'' and he will die of old age within six months, probably before turning 42. Worse, the nano-virus in his blood is ''being damaged'' by Snake's aging, and unless he kills himself long before he dies "naturally," the virus will lose its ability to differentiate between the people it was coded to kill and the people it was not, meaning Snake will cause an ''epidemic.'']] The second problem is solved [[spoiler: so Snake doesn't have to kill himself to stop the epidemic,]] but the first problem is most assuredly not, and the only reason we don't watch [[spoiler: Snake die on-screen]] is because the ending fades to black instead of fast-forwarding six months.

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'': Hey, Ange? You know how you're pretty sure that your AxCrazy aunt killed your beloved parents and brother? Well, it turns out [[spoiler:that your aunt [[SilentScapegoat just sorta went along with it]] because she didn't want you to find out that ''your parents'' were the AxCrazy murderers who killed everyone, your brother went along with it, and your aunt only killed your parents in what was more or less self-defense. Oh, and they never cared about you. Or Did They? [[UnreliableNarrator Bernkastel]] (the one responsible for all your misery) says they didn't, who knows?]] [[StoicWoobie Hope that cheers you up a little]]!

* In Ursula K. Le Guin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", a child is brutally tortured to maintain the prosperity of the eponymous city. At some point in their lives ''every'' citizen of Omelas sees the child and learns of the connection between the child's suffering and the city's wellbeing. The title refers to the people who can't live with the Awful Truth anymore and leave Omelas forever.

* Series/{{Dexter}} is essentially a Thirty Awful Truth Pileup, both for the eponymous character and those close to him. In Season 1 he discovers that the reason he is being singled out by the Icetruck Killer is that [[LukeIAmYourFather the two are brothers]]. Which wouldn't be terrible in and of itself, but it comes with the realization that Harry Morgan didn't quite tell [[ObliviousAdoption the whole truth and nothing but the truth]]: Dexter watched his mother [[DarkAndTroubledPast die]]. Also, Harry's a liar. [[spoiler: The [[BigBad Big Bads]] of Seasons 2 and 3 get awful truth reveals, usually coinciding with their crossing of the MoralEventHorizon. In Season 4, Debra finally finds out the truth about Harry]].

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Beast Below" all subjects of Starship UK are required to "vote" when they turn 16 and every five years thereafter. The are taken to a room where they're shown a video then allowed to either protest, or forget that [[spoiler: their civilization is PoweredByAForsakenChild]]. Everyone seems to choose the mindwipe, and the few that do protest are fed to the star whale.

* [[http://www.2birds1blog.com/2009/12/what-fuckity-fuck-fuck.html Narwhales]] are real!

A truth so awful vital information must be kept from the players/characters. Alternatively, a mocking cry by the jaded AntiHero to illustrate his belief that the main hero is too innocent/pampered/naive to be trusted with the truth about the mission or about people that he's grown to trust or care about.

* In ''{{Manga/Saki}} Achiga-Hen'', Kirame overhears a conversation between her school's mahjong club president and her best friend that she wasn't chosen to be on the team for her skill, but because she never falls below 0 points, enabling her to stay in the game no matter how strong the vanguard player is, while her teammates recover the points in the following rounds. She doesn't get upset, but is instead happy that someone has a use for her talent.