History Main / DarkSecret

* Soubi in {{Loveless}} never tells Ritsuka anything about his past, esspecially the parts of it that involve Seimei. There's a reason for that. [[spoiler: A tweve ear old kid doesn't need to know that his beoved older brother was a sociopath who physically and emotionally abused his best friend/mentor/partner.]]

* ''{{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.
* The old WorldOfDarkness had a one point flaw called Dark Secret. That it's only worth one point tells a lot about the setting.

* Similar to the ''{{GURPS}}'' example; the 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 [[BountyHunter Bloodmarked]] traits.

* In the both the books, and the 90s TV adaptation of PGWodehouse's ''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.

* How Tsume got his scar in WolfsRain. [[spoiler: When his old pack was 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.]]

* Zoe from [[PercyJackson Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Titan's Curse]] is [[spoiler:Atlas's daughter]].

* In the both the books, and the 90s TV adaptation of PGWodehouse's 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.

* The reader is every bit as aware of it as she is, but Gara Petothel / Lara Notsil, in the 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.

* StarcraftII

* In the ''ColdCase'' episode The Hen House the victim was killed for discovering that her murder was really [[spoiler: a Nazi pretending to be a Dutch Jew]].

* AceAttorney has a number of these. Figuring out what they are is the whole point of the game.

* PowerRangersDinoThunder: Trent, the White Dino Ranger, is the son of [[spoiler:Anton Mercer, a.k.a. [[BigBad Mesogog]]]]. When the Rangers find this, they're [[{{Understatement}} a bit amused]].

* How Tsume got his scar in WolfsRain. [[spoiler: When his old pack was attacked by humans, he run away, leaving his friends to die because he was afraid. He was exiled, and in the process he got his scar.]]

Some characters that just 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. 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.

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', with Ivonova 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 [[DarkSecret dark secrets]].

* An episode of ''{{CSI}}'' has an episode where a school boy with neo-Nazi beliefs is murdered. First we discover [[spoiler: he was basically growing out of racism after having made friends with the school's black janitor (who had survived a massacre]]. Making the suspects other neo-Nazis (who not only found out, but for some reason [[spoiler: concluded he was also in a homosexual relationship with the janitor]]). Then it turns out [[spoiler: the janitor was really the perpetrator of the massacre who had become TheAtoner and [[SympatheticMurderer hoped he could at least save the victim]] by putting him on the straight and narrow. The kid found out and he ended up killing him by accident while trying to stop him going to the police]].

* In the both the books, and the 90s TV adaptation of PGWodehouse's 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 as a hard-line right-winger.

* In [[StephenKing Stephen King's]] ''Storm of the Century'', many of the residents of Little Tall island have [[DarkSecret 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]].

* In [[StephenKing Stephen King's]] ''Storm of the Century'', many of the residents of Little Tall island have [[DarkSecret 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 because he loves being a total dick.

* Zoe from [[PercyJackson Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Titan's Curse]] is [[spoiler:a daughter of a Titan]].

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', with Ivonova 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 [[DarkSecret dark secrets]].

-> '''Bertie''': You can't be a successful Dictator and [[spoiler:design womens' underclothing]]. One or the other. Not both.

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. Often an element of a DarkAndTroubledPast or a MysteriousPast and revealed in a TroubledBackstoryFlashback. Related to TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason. See TheNotSecret for when your secret is not so secret. When they cause you to be suspected of unrelated crimes they become the BigSecret.

This being a trope about secrets there will be '''Spoliers''' ahead.

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. Often an element of a DarkAndTroubledPast or a MysteriousPast and revealed in a TroubledBackstoryFlashback. Related to TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason. See TheNotSecret for when your secret is not so secret.

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