History Main / MetaphoricallyTrue

* Ozpin of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' falls back on this, though he's benevolent in his actions. Of course, this has led to a ''lot'' of people getting hurt or killed because he refuses to reveal the entire truth. For instance, in the Volume 6 premiere, he warns the team of how powerful and dangerous the Relic of Knowledge is. He just never bothered to reveal ''how'' it's dangerous: [[spoiler:it attracts Grimm like a moth to a flame]]. This lack of exposition ended badly for the heroes.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i29nOso8jqo Recent body work / NEW PAINT!!!!!]] [[spoiler: The car has had its side bashed in, and is being pulled onto a tow truck. One wheel isn't turning.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNMml0zFrEE Slight water damage / NEW UPHOLSTERY!!!]] [[spoiler: The car's going through a flood (the footage is from Hurricane Katrina).]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmVj6TV_xww Minor smoke damage / This car is HOT!!!]] [[spoiler: The car's on ''fire''.]]

* Everything Ryuk says in ''Manga/DeathNote'' is true. The problem is that he ''never'' gives you the entire context. Like him telling Light that humans who use the Death Note cannot go to neither Heaven nor Hell [[spoiler: actually means there's [[CessationOfExistence no afterlife for anyone]]]]. Though Light already figured that to be the case on his own.
** Subverted in two alternate endings. In one [[spoiler: Light ends up a Shinigami. In the other, he's sent to a place WORSE than Hell. The Shinigami realm, where he has to relive every death he caused, THEN cease to exist. He takes it in stride. It gives him enough time to kill the Shinigami King]].

** [[ManipulativeBastard Nona]] gets away with a lot of these. Notably, her entire plot of giving Decim [[spoiler: human emotions]] is ''technically'' true, but while everyone interprets this as her programming him to have them, it turns out she’s just going about it by [[spoiler:having him work alongside a human]].

* ''Manga/MedakaBox'': The BigBad Ajimu tells Zenkichi that he's actually more heroic than Medaka, because in the past, she killed her father. [[spoiler: Medaka later clarifies that she was the reward for something called the Jet Black Wedding Feast, which her father figure won, causing him to get killed.]]

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Doctor Strange, who never, ''ever'' lies... but as is repeatedly and irritably observed, never tells the whole truth, either. For instance, he is telling the literal truth when he says that the ring he's giving Carol in the finale of Book 1 is magical and will help protect her. He just omits to mention that [[spoiler: it's Alan Scott's old Green Lantern Ring]]. Death of the Endless notes that he "always tells the truth and almost never tells the whole truth."
* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron'': Lelouch gives one to Allura when [[spoiler: he decides to return to Earth]], saying it is because [[spoiler:he wants to make sure his sister Nunnally is safe from his father]]. Unlike most examples, everything he says is ''completely'' true, but he leaves out that he has ''other'' reasons to [[spoiler:head back to Earth - namely, that he wants to overthrow Britannia to prepare the planet for when the Galra arrive]].

** In ''Fanfic/KiraSweetheart'' Rem tells L that Misa and Light were possessed and corrupted by [[ArtifactOfDoom the notebook]]. Later L tells Light [[spoiler: he's already caught and executed Kira.]]

* Maledict pulls this on Tsali in the climax of ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos''. [[spoiler: He manipulated both Tsali and the Metarex to fight each other -- but they were the ones who destroyed the galaxy and did all the killing, not him.]]

* When Elsa questions her friend Kyra in the ''Frozen'' fic ''Fanfic/TheAlphabetStory'' on whether she's in love or not, Kyra says that there's no ''man''. While that is true, it doesn't mean she isn't in love with anyone. Elsa asks her if Kyra'd tell her if she was in love with someone, to which Kyra replies that Elsa would be the first if she decided to reveal her feelings or someone. This is also [[LoveConfession half-true]] as is Elsa the object of her affections.

** In the first series, ''BIONICLE Chronicles'', each book opens with a backstory discussing the mythological lore of the series: the Great Spirit Mata Nui, essentially the god of the Matoran, created the Matoran on the island named in his honor and was then placed into eternal slumber by his vengeful brother Makuta. The series gives us no reason to assume the story is less than literally true...until the prequel series ''BIONICLE Adventures'', in which it's revealed that the myth was, at least in part, a lie created by the Turaga to protect the Matoran from the painful truth about their lost homeland of Metru Nui. Later series go even further with this, revealing that even the Turaga didn't know the full story: while Mata Nui was put to sleep by Makuta, the myths neglected to mention that [[spoiler: Mata Nui was actually the AI of a HumongousMecha whose colossal body formed the entire Matoran universe, and that "Makuta" (actually a single member of a greater organization) put him to sleep not by sorcery, but by introducing a virus into his operating system]].
** The Ignika, Mask of Life, the Macguffin of the ''BIONICLE Legends'' saga, is a legendary mask that had the power to bring even Mata Nui back to life. [[spoiler: What it neglects to mention is that, unlike other masks, it is one of the few masks that required a sacrifice; it siphons life from one being into another and while it can mutate and change beings, it cannot actually create life. Worse still, it has a built-in failsafe that if the quality of life within the universe drops below a certain threshold, to prevent further suffering the Ignika will start a countdown to unleash a wave of death, killing everything within the Matoran Universe to spare them from more suffering. This was so bad that the aforementioned Makuta had to eject the Ignika from the Matoran Universe after his takeover, because his rule would indeed trigger that failsafe. It's even lampshaded in-universe; The Mask only has the title of "life" because it holds dominion over life and death, and given it's actual powers it could easily be called the Mask of ''Death'' instead.]]

** In [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc the first game]], him stating that [[spoiler: the sixteen students were the only people to be inside Hope's Peak Academy since the start of the killing game and nobody else ended up entering it. However, one of those said students was hiding throughout the killing game and the surviving students only met her by the end of the killing game]].
** He ended up stating that the Funhouse from ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' ended up having [[spoiler: the memories of the students inside there. However, it was actually inside a room there in which in order to get inside it, one must go through the Final Dead Room]].

** From both of the first two games, he went on to state that there is a {{Mole}} in the group. However, [[spoiler: the first Mole was blackmailed into being TheMole, and the second Mole was actually a spy for the ''good guys'' and working on the same side as the students]].

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', Phoenix is told by Matt Engarde that [[spoiler:"I never killed anyone"]] without triggering Phoenix's [[LieDetector Magatama]]. It later turns out that [[spoiler:Matt hired hitman Shelly [=DeKiller=] to do the deed instead,]] making this a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial as well. If Phoenix had asked if [[spoiler: Matt is responsible for the victim's death]] then most likely it would've triggered the Magatama.
* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', the [[LanguageOfTruth Red Truth]] can be twisted in this manner. Like how in EP 2 Kanon [[spoiler: was confirmed to have died in a locked room, despite his body not being there. The truth is that Kanon as a real person never existed and was instead just a character and role that Yasu played. Kanon could, therefore, be "killed" without leaving a body just like an author killing of one of his characters. In other words, since Yasu was still alive no body was left behind in the room while [[AmbiguousGender his/her]] role Kanon was "killed" and therefore allowing the that red truth to be used]].
* Might as well be named "Kirei Truth" after the I-tell-no-direct-lies priest from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. Spending 3 routes while only telling one direct lie (which is a joke, and he's instantly called out on it) while still [[spoiler: manipulating the protagonist and turning out to be the BigBad in two routes and TheDragon in a third]]? Yeah, he's very good at this.
** A particularly remarkable example happens late into the ''Fate'' route. Shirou [[spoiler: discovers the existence of an eighth Servant participating in the war]] and reports this to Kirei. Kirei is surprised to learn this and promises that he'll do something about it. [[spoiler: He's genuinely surprised, but it's because the Servant is ''his'' and he wasn't supposed to show up yet, and the thing he did about it was sent that Servant to kill Shirou and Saber before they learn too much.]]

* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy'' has this trope as [[spoiler:[[TheSociopath Felix's]]]] primary trait, having only admitted to lying once in the series[[note]]That the Reds and Blues were great soldiers.[[/note]]. It just goes to show how dark a villain who never lies can be. For instance, upon being picked up in a supposedly derelict dropship, he tells the crew that they won't find anyone else aboard. [[spoiler:Of course, [[InvisibilityCloak it doesn't mean they aren't there…]]]]
** He won't kill you. [[spoiler: His partner will.]]
** For those who don't wish to join his cause, he'll let them off the ship. [[spoiler:''Straight out the airlock into the cold, dark, unforgiving vacuum of space''.]]

* In the final book of ''Literature/{{Dangerverse}}'', as part of his scheme to infiltrate the Death Eaters Draco Black formally renounces that name and takes the name of "Reynard Beuvoi". This apparently allows him to claim that [[ThatManIsDead Draco Black is dead]] and have it detect as the truth to magical analysis.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The parable about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant blind men and the elephant]], where each man touches a different part of the elephant and declares that he knows its true form, explores the multifaceted nature of truth: one's subjective experience can be unassailably true, yet fail to account for the full picture (and thus, in the spirit of this trope, is only true in an esoteric sense).
* During the Battle of Copenhagen, in order to ignore a recall signal from his senior officer, Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson held a spyglass to his near-blind eye, and reported, "I really do not see the signal." This is suspected to be where the saying "To turn a blind eye" comes from.
* [[http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/fanta.asp It is true that Fanta was invented in Nazi Germany]]. However, it is ''not'' true that Fanta was invented ''by'' Nazi Germany, as in following some order or plan envisioned by the Nazi government, as it is often reported.
* "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." -- UsefulNotes/BillClinton[[note]]Clinton received oral sex from White House intern Monica Lewinsky which, while largely considered inappropriate, did not constitute "sexual relations" as the term was defined.[[/note]] (See TechnicalVirgin)
* "The government does not torture people" -- UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush [[note]]The Bush Administration coined the term "[[InsistentTerminology enhanced interrogation techniques]]" as a euphemism for the treatment of its prisoners. It's arguable whether this was even metaphorically true, since it was a mostly semantic distinction, but in any case, the Human Rights Convention [[ObviousRulePatch updated its definition of torture]] to resolve any ambiguity.[[/note]] (See EnhancedInterrogationTechniques)
* A large number of proposition bets used by grifters can be solved by looking very carefully at the wording. For example, "I bet you that I can take a brand new deck of cards, make the ace jump out of the pack and fly across the room, then write your name on your forehead." If you hear this said aloud, most people assume that the ace will do all of the actions listed. Looking more carefully at the syntax of the sentence reveals that the actions can be done by the person making the bet rather than by the ace. (Incidentally, the usual way to win the bet is to flick the ace up from the bottom of the pack -- where it usually is in most new, unshuffled decks -- catch it, throw it across the room, and then take a pen to write the person's name on their forehead.)
* Politics as a whole can rest on this; for example, take this example of a [[http://twitter.com/#!/TomHarrisMP/status/12848387174965249 British MP]] claiming that his party had not broken an election promise, as the law would not take effect until after the next election (but was voted on comfortably three years into Parliament).
* There's a free picture that comes on some [=iPod=] Touches that says "I didn't slap you, I high-fived your face." Technically true, since in a high-''five'' only one hand needs to be involved.
* A billboard for Music/RebeccaBlack touted that her ''Music/{{Friday}}'' video had over 100 million views on Website/YouTube, trying to make it look like she was popular. While the part about the views is true, most of the people who watched it clicked the dislike button. In fact, this is a truism for any kind of measure based solely on views, including Nielsen ratings and box-office receipts. Just because people ''watch'' something doesn't mean they ''like'' it.
* A senior producer at EA-Maxis commented on the rocky launch of ''VideoGame/SimCity2013'', stating "[[https://web.archive.org/web/20130310124256/http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9342980.page What we saw was that players were having such a good time they didn't want to leave the game, which kept our servers packed and made it difficult for new players to join.]]" While it may have been technically true that players that got in were indeed playing the game that they just bought (whod've thunk?), it glossed over the fact that the major source of complaints was the need to log onto a cloud server in order to play what was, ostensibly, a single-player game in the first place; let alone having set up servers with a population cap (either due to hardware limitations or software issues) that was estimated to be between as much as twenty to as little as ''five percent'' of even the number of users that preordered, let alone day-one purchases on top of that.
* An old, possibly apocryphal story about [[ChildSoldiers underage soldiers]] in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar says that when they went to join up, many of them would write "18" on a piece of paper and stick it in their shoe. When the recruiter asked how old they were, they could join without having lied, as they were "over 18." The same story is told in most of Europe in regards to soldiers signing up in WWI and WWII.
* [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mental_reservation article]] on this sort of deception, mostly on the history of those who, for religious reasons, employed it as the result of [[WillNotTellALie being technically unwilling to lie]].
* In a 1988 campaign speech, UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush pledged that if Congress wanted to raise taxes, he would tell them: "Read my lips: no new taxes". He was elected and true to his word, there were no new taxes... but the population of the US got very irate over the fact that he raised all of the ''existing'' taxes.
* An old standby for people making a journey -- "We're not lost; I know exactly where we are..." This is related to InsistentTerminology. The trick, of course, is in knowing where "where we are" ''is'' in relation to ''anywhere else''. In a similar vein, Daniel Boone once said, "I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days."
* Before being revealed as Watergate scandal source Deep Throat, W. Mark Felt stated "I never leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein or anyone else!" This is [[MathematiciansAnswer actually logically true]]; since he met only with Bob Woodward, he could not have met with Woodward AND anyone.
* When feature development for ''Videogame/MechWarrior Living Legends'', a ''Videogame/{{Crysis}} Wars'' [[GameMod mod]] was forcibly shut down after the release of update 0.7.0, the newer, [[DavidVersusGoliath competing]] ''[[AllegedlyFreeGame Mechwarrior Online]]'' developers almost immediately stated ''"They [[ArmyOfLawyers agreed to shut down by mutual agreement!]]"''
* [[ThePeteBest Pete Best]], annoyed at the royalties his former bandmates and their imitators were getting, once released an album called "Best of Music/TheBeatles". When people complained (it was all original music) and talked about lawsuits, he pointed out the technical truth of the name: "[Pete] Best [formerly] of The Beatles".
* This is how the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_parody DHMO (dihydrogen monoxide, more commonly known as water) hoax]] works: water's 'harmful' effects are mentioned alongside a smattering of ScaryScienceWords, but it's neglected to say the effects only happen if you drink too much of it or that there's no cause-and-effect between the two.
* In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously in ''[[http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/409/352/case.html Bronston v. United States]]'' that sworn testimony that is "literally truthful but technically misleading" ''cannot'' be prosecuted as perjury. The prescribed remedy, instead, is more adroit and specific followup questions by the examining lawyer. In their defense, the Court was somewhat dubious of sustaining a perjury prosecution on the basis of a possible misunderstanding. To provide further context, Bronston's testimony was only technically incomplete, but on its face only answered a specific part of the question, and the lawyer in question failed to ask an obvious followup question.
-->"Q. Do you have any bank accounts in Swiss banks, Mr. Bronston?" "A. No, sir." "Q. Have you ever?" "A. The company had an account there for about six months, in Zurich." (Bronston had had a personal Swiss account as well previously, but note that the subject at hand was ''the company's'' bankruptcy.)
** Cases like this are the reason most competent lawyers will press any witness who answers a "yes or no" question with anything other than "yes" or "no".
* Cryptic crossword puzzles have clues that only make sense when read in a highly constrained manner, typically involving wordplay, anagrams, and the like. [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword details]].
* When Creator/MilaKunis was asked how old she was when auditioning for ''Series/That70sShow'', she replied that she'd turn eighteen on her birthday. Which of course, was true, but it wasn't her ''next'' birthday. They felt the response was in character and cast her even though they were looking for someone older [[DawsonCasting to play a high-schooler]].
* Back before railroads had crossing gates, they had actual flagmen who would stand at an intersection and swing a lantern to warn approaching traffic of the train. In a lawsuit over damage and injuries due to a collision at night the flagman, who might have been intoxicated at the time, testified that he did swing his lamp to try and warn the approaching motorist. This may or may not have been true, but he failed to mention that his lamp was not lit.
* In the Middle Ages to early modern period, there was much debate over what, from a Catholic perspective, counted as lying. For instance, there was the story of a bishop of Alexandria fleeing persecution by the Romans, who didn't know his appearance. Coming upon him with his students, they asked where he had gone. The man told them back the way he had just come. Some defended this, since it was ''technically'' true.
* UsefulNotes/JamesGarfield was shot in 1881, but the bullet was barely a flesh wound -- he died of a raging infection, caused by WorstAid because of WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut. Naturally, his assassin Charles Guiteau decided to ''use this as a defense in court'', admitting to the shooting but arguing that it was the doctors who really committed the murder. He was convicted anyway, because it was his shooting that prompted the doctors to do anything at all.
* Frankie Laine, the man who sung the title song for ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', was told the film was a "Western about a black sheriff dealing with racism". What he didn't know was that the film was a ''comedy'' and he wound up giving [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously a heartfelt, sincere performance]]. Creator/MelBrooks didn't have the heart to tell him after hearing the song and Laine didn't find out the truth until he actually saw the movie. Which, to Brooks's relief, became hilarious when Laine found it ActuallyPrettyFunny. In addition, Brooks's casting call was for "a Frankie Laine-type singer", so he was very much surprised (and happy) when the real Frankie Laine auditioned.
* A common line often mentioned regarding a well-known employee/manager/cast member/etc in any business suddenly disappearing from work and not showing up from that day forward is to issue a statement along the lines that the "staff member has left the company to pursue other business interests/jobs" and leave it at that. Often times, this is because the staff member in question was [[MortonsFork offered the option to resign with dignity or be fired and escorted off the premises over some screw up on their part]]. Alternatively, the staff member in question may have just issued the heads of management a [[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt spontaneous notice of resignation]], who rather not reveal any potential [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech parting words]] that was issued by the employee. Similarly, a common reason given for leaving a job, especially among politicians, is "to spend more time with my family." While this may certainly be a benefit of such a decision, it's rarely the sole (or even primary) reason; more likely it's a cover-up for something the person would prefer to keep hidden.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpacePOP'' was advertised as having 15 million channel views, 50,000+ subscribers and approximately 300,000 hours of viewed programming. While this is ''technically'' true if you add up the numbers, viewership averages at 100,000 to only 10,000 views per episode, decreasing sharply over time. Each episode is only 3 minutes long not counting compilations, for a total of only 375 minutes, or 6 hours and 15 minutes.
** It was also stated in a press kit to be outperforming ''Toys/MonsterHigh'' and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' at the same stage in the brand life cycle. The former was on DVD, [=YouTube=], and Netflix and the dolls sold very well, which indicates they didn't add together the numbers as they did for their own show, while the latter's [=YouTube=] videos weren't official uploads so no accurate data could be found.
** [[https://i.imgur.com/2P4uqbX.png Skewed comparisons]] to competing brands were also listed that downplay or ignore qualities the other shows do have, and the team page doesn't mention that Genius Brands' credentials seem solely based on the executive producer/CEO, Andy Heyward, who worked at [=DiC=] before it got liquidated. Similarly, while Steve Banks was ''a'' writer for season 4 of [=SpongeBob=], Paul Tibbitt was the showrunner then, and nothing is mentioned of Erin Downing, who wrote the tie-in books the first 78 episodes of the cartoon were largely based on, at all.
* "The theory of natural selection doesn't explain the origin of life." This is actually true, but it's also completely irrelevant. Natural selection applies only to living systems, not nonliving matter. Even people who should know better (such as Sir Anthony Kenny, in his history of Western Philosophy) have used this line as an equivocation.
* "The theory of UsefulNotes/{{Evolution}} [by natural selection] is "just" a theory". It is a ''scientific'' theory, which requires a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory standard of procedure and backing evidence]], not an opinion or undemonstrated speculation (i.e. what the people who say this sentence want to imply). And nope, scientific theories don't get "upgraded" to laws when they are "proven".[[note]] "Law" denotes the scope of a scientific proposition, not it's empirical backing. A law and a theory can conceivably have the same degree of proof, but a law will deal with a broad, general scientific observation while a theory will deal with a narrower scientific explanation. Contrast, for example, the Law of Universal Gravitation, that observes that all things with mass exert and are subject to gravity, and the Theory of General Relativity, which tries to explain why.[[/note]] This is also an example of the FourTermsFallacy.
* The relationship between UsefulNotes/LasVegas and the world-famous Las Vegas Strip is built on this trope. To clarify, many of the casinos and even the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign located on the Las Vegas Strip are ''NOT'' located within the actual ''city'' of Vegas itself, [[NonIndicativeName but rather in a nearby unincorporated community named Paradise]]. However, both Vegas itself and the surrounding metro area (including Paradise and the Strip) is called the Las Vegas ''Valley'', making the association of the Strip and its attractions with Vegas ''technically'' accurate.
* Presumably as an attempt at cross-promotion, Atlantic Records issued a promotional single of Music/PhilCollins' "Groovy Kind of Love" with a song by a newer artist on the label as the BSide: Namely "Cool On Your Island" by [[Music/ToriAmos Y Kant Tori Read]]. After the group disbanded but before her own solo career, lead vocalist Music/ToriAmos traveled to Germany and was detained by police because she had been in the company of a friend who was in possession of marijuana: During interrogation, Tori stated she was a professional musician who had been "on a record with Phil Collins", and that impressed police enough that she was let go.
* UsefulNotes/ElizabethII once vacationed at Balmoral and went on a walk in plainclothes with a security guard. She encountered American tourists [[KingIncognito who didn't recognize her]] and who asked if she had ever met the Queen. She replied that she had never "met" the Queen, but her bodyguard had. The tourists then requested that she take a group photo of them with him on their camera.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** After Roy, Haley, Elan and V attempt to escape from Azure City's prison, [[LawfulGood Durkon]] -- torn because he's being relied upon as the truthful one by a KnightTemplar who would act unreasonably if told the truth, but he doesn't want to lie either -- fools Miko with two examples of this trope back-to-back. One by saying that the '''five''' of them had never left their cells (because Durkon had stayed behind), then claiming that the cell door wasn't secure because of a mechanical defect (if you count "being able to be picked by a rogue" as a mechanical defect).
** O-Chul pulls one too. When asked by Hinjo if he made the decision to destroy Soon's gate, he answers he did make that decision, and it was his blade that did the deed, and he will say no more lest he [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead speak ill of the dead]]. [[spoiler:After making said decision, the tide of the battle turned and it was no longer required. Miko ended up with his sword and destroyed the gate anyway -- the resulting explosion killed her.]]
** There's a later subversion with the Oracle. Belkar's asked if he would get to cause the death of one of the following: Roy, Miko, Miko's horse, Vaarsuvius or the Oracle himself. The Oracle simply responds [[MathematiciansAnswer "Yes"]] without ever saying which. [[spoiler:On Belkar's return visit, the Oracle claims this prophecy has already been fulfilled. He argues, using [[InsaneTrollLogic increasingly dubious logic]], that Belkar caused the death of Roy, (a ''somewhat'' plausible argument) then also that he indirectly caused Miko's death, (really reaching for that one) and that he killed Miko's horse (which is complete BS). Belkar finally loses patience and fulfills the prophecy then and there -- by stabbing the Oracle to death. The dying Oracle then reveals that he didn't actually believe any of the stuff he was spouting, he was just trying to weasel out of being stabbed (though fortunately DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist).]]
--->'''Oracle:''' [[spoiler: Yeah... I wasn't really buying those theories either... Worth a shot though...]]
** Redcloak does this, too, explaining why [[spoiler:he killed Tsukiko]] without admitting that the major part of his reason was that [[spoiler:she had figured out he's been deceiving Xykon for the entire duration of their partnership and had decided to reveal this to Xykon]], but without actually ''lying'' about anything either.
* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'':
** [[http://irregularwebcomic.net/119.html A strip]] uses this trope to explain Obi-Wan's high opinion of the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy.
** [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2341.html And another one]] makes fun of the original quote. Sadly, it doesn't link to this page.
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': "That's Jedi for "I lied my butt off," isn't it?" Later used in reference to the original... [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0448.html because the DM's opening exposition was what the people believed rather than the truth.]]
* Parodied on [[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/?cid=429 a page]] of ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic''.
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' a pair of [[TheMafiya Mafiya]] henchmen leave Riff and Torg "free to go." If being tied to railroad tracks fits into your definition of "free."
* Seen in [[http://betweenfailures.com/2008/04/01/262-drink-soda/ an exchange]] from ''Webcomic/BetweenFailures''. Nina thought [[http://betweenfailures.com/2008/01/22/212-up-to-here/ Thomas was getting chewed out by their manager]], but what he actually got was... [[http://betweenfailures.com/2008/02/13/228-prelude-to-a-kiss/ more pleasant]].
* ''Webcomic/Collar6'': Laura discovers Sixx's wealth and says "I thought you said you worked in a hotel?" Sixx replies. "I said I worked in the hotel business. By which I meant I own a few... hundred."
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
** Doc Scratch, ''constantly''. As he puts it:
--->'''Doc Scratch:''' Lies of omission do not exist. The concept is a very human one. It is the product of your story writing again. You have written a story about the truth, making emotional demands of it, and in particular, of those in possession of it. Your demands are based on a feeling of entitlement to the facts, which is very childish. You can never know all of the facts. Only I can. And since it's impossible for me to reveal all facts to you, it is my discretion alone that decides which facts will be revealed in the finite time we have. If I do not volunteer information you deem critical to your fate, it possibly means that I am a scoundrel, but it does not mean that I am a liar. And it certainly means you did not ask the right questions. One can make either true statements or false statements about reality. All of the statements I make are true.
** Most notably, he tells Rose that The Tumor has sufficient power to destroy the Green Sun (the main villain's power source), that setting it off at the site of the Green Sun would lead to his death, and that destroying the Green Sun would kill him. Then she and Dave go to the site of the Green Sun and [[StableTimeLoop find it empty, and the Tumor opens to reveal it channels exactly the amount of mass-energy the Green Sun contains]]...
** Aradia, who admits she's taking a page from Doc Scratch's book, likewise never lies "[[https://www.homestuck.com/story/2085 but thr0ugh 0missi0n]]." She tells the other trolls that playing Sgrub is their only hope of surviving the end of the world; she doesn't tell them it's ''causing'' the same, and never did say they would ''win''.
** The narrator gets in on it, too. As Gamzee watches Jade's second prototyping from the CRITICAL MOMENT, the caption reads "[[https://www.homestuck.com/story/3219 The most important character in Homestuck fondly regards the miracle of a new beginning.]]" [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4109 [S] Cascade]] reveals that he has Li'l Cal (used to make Doc Scratch) in his lap, and is ''also'' watching Doc Scratch's body, which [[https://www.homestuck.com/story/4111 soon after]] rises as Lord English.
* ''The Repository of Dangerous Things'' have [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Repository_of_Dangerous_Things/4863929/ Davis trying to write a resume]].
* ''Webcomic/LeftoverSoup'' has Jamie [[http://leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=496 saying]] "The last guy who pointed a gun at me and asked for my wallet wound up in two different body bags." That did happen, but the guy actually killed himself in drugged stupor while celebrating how he turned the police against Jamie.
** Also, Jamie is unaware of it at the time but the real truth turns out to be that the guy who actually mugged Jamie gave police a false ID and then killed the guy who's ID it was, staging it to look like that guy killed himself by accident while high.
* Pumpkin Cake from ''Blog/SliceOfLife'' is fond of using these.
-->'''Carrot Cake:''' Did you send this to the Princess?\\
(Displays letter from Pumpkin offering free cupcakes for life in exchange for magic lessons.)\\
'''Pumpkin Cake:''' Technically, ''Spike'' sent it....
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'':
** This is Sigrun's go-to method for covering herself and others. Between the [[CuttingCorners run-down state of their equipment]] and the ''even more'' run-down state of everything the GhostCity locations they are visiting, the phrase "it was already broken when we got here" has become associated with her.
** Reynir did this when he first met Onni in the mage-exclusive dreamspace. Due to not knowing what the members of the crew other than Tuuri and Lalli look like, hearing Tuuri's name from Reynir's mouth made Onni assume he was one of them. Reynir answered "yes" to this, when in reality he was on his second day ''as a stowaway'' to the crew. And literally in the middle of becoming aware of the mage powers that would make him a more active member later on.
* In ''Webcomic/ChampionsOfFaraus'', when Skye asks [[TheBlacksmith her father]] what happened to his shop when Dorawn was attacked, Arthur replied: "I didn't get a lot of trouble". The ImagineSpot flashback shows him [[CurbstompBattle not having "a lot of trouble" giving the cultists trying to attack his smithy a beat down.]]
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': Coyote has never, in all his time as the foreign tyrant leader of the Gilette forest, told a direct lie. He lives up to his reputation as a trickster, as he uses all sorts of underhanded schemes up to and including ''MindControl'' to keep his critics from asking the wrong questions.
* In ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast,'' about [[spoiler:[[http://www.batb.thecomicseries.com/comics/669 Beauty's mother being "taken" by illness]]]]:
-->"Well...that's not so far from the truth. Albeit a little...creatively stated."
* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'':
** Sam likes to do this. For example, take [[https://web.archive.org/web/20030320114229/http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00625.htm his statement]] that he met up with a bible salesman, exchanged business cards, had lunch, paid for both meals, and was directed to a lucrative contractee. [[spoiler: The bible salesman is a smuggler, they stole each others' wallets, each was scammed out of the cost of both meals by a GenreSavvy waiter, and then he bugged Max enough that Max shoved him somewhere more profitable just to shut Sam up.]]
** Sam is on the receiving end when he asks a maintenance worker if all the bodged machinery on the transfer station is normal. The worker assures him it is, then thinks "Probably not normal for other places, but it's normal for us."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan comic [[https://derpibooru.org/images/1005054?q=my%3Afaves%2C+sci-twi%2C+celestia Twilight Strangeness]], the Mane Five chase Twilight to her castle, and meet Princess Celestia, who tells them that Twilight isn’t there. What she doesn’t tell them is that ''Princess'' Twilight isn’t there, and that the one they were chasing was Twilight’s human counterpart from ''WesternAnimation/EquestriaGirls''.
* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': When Duane confronts Sette about lying to him and tricking him into Cresce she tries to claim she was only stretching the truth and was telling the truth from a certain point of view. Duane doesn't buy it and Sette was definitely outright lying.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the episode "Night of the Ninja" of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Bruce explains to fellow prisoner Summer that they escaped because Batman arrived and took down the bad guy. Hey, his voice changed so it was mostly true...
* In ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', this exchange between the titular duo and Mr. Manners who has come to class to teach etiquette is technically true, hilariously so, when he chastizes them for making farting noises while he's trying to speak:
--> '''Mr. Manners:''' Um, excuse me boys but it's rather rude to make noises and interrupt me when it's my turn to speak!
--> '''Butthead:''' Uh... we were doing this ''long'' before you came in, sir.
--> '''Beavis:''' Yeah! ''You'' interrupted ''us''! Butthole!
* In 1980 when CBS first aired the special ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's Bustin' Out All Over'', TV listings and promos stated that in a separate segment after a thirty-year chase, the Coyote finally catches the Road Runner. In that segment (since billed as the short subject "Soup or Sonic", the Coyote chases the Road Runner through a series of pipes that progressively gets smaller that both come out small. They retreat the other way, and the Road Runner regains his size while the Coyote is still tiny. The Coyote doubles back and, yes, he does grab the Road Runner's leg. However, when he sees the Road Runner giant size in contrast to himself, he holds up the following signs:
-->"Okay, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him..."\\
"'''Now''' what do I do?"
* As the above Amulet of Eternal Life, Xanatos, from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', discovered a cauldron which allowed a person to live "as long as the mountain stone". He was smart enough to test it first. [[LiteralMetaphor Yup]], ''[[TakenForGranite stone]]''.
* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'': Jason explains why he seeks the Golden Fleece; it can allegedly span across the widest chasm, make flowers grow in the desert, and even turn an old man's hair from gray to black. Jason is initially disappointed when the Fleece's powers turn out to be considerably less than advertised, but he eventually reasons that it has spanned the chasm between him and his estranged crew, and made the flower of hope bloom in the desert of despair. (And he's noticed some highlights in his hair.)
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': When the team in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E4TaskForceX Task Force X]]" argues they have no chance against the League, Clock King declares they are going to infiltrate the Watch Tower at its weakest roll call of supers. When Captain Boomerang ask him to define "weakest", Clock King plays a PhotoMontage of ComicBook/CaptainAtom, Franchise/GreenLantern and ComicBook/MartianManhunter with [[ScareChord ominous music]]. Nobody feels better about it. Technically, Clock King is correct, as only three League members would be their weakest point from a personnel standpoint. Apparently them being three of the strongest individual members of the League doesn't change that assessment (the infiltrators really need to avoid confronting ''any'' of the League members, so numbers are more important than individual power).
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama'': Eric tells Kim that his "mission" is to take her to the prom. Well, [[TheMole it is]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In the episode "The Last Roundup", Applejack, who prides herself on her commitment to honesty, is faced with an insoluble dilemma when she's forced to promise to tell her friends why she refused to come back home but finds the reason so shameful she doesn't want to tell anyone. [[LoopholeAbuse The best she can do is to promise she'll tell them at breakfast the next morning -- and then never show up for breakfast, claiming that makes the promise she had no intention of fulfilling not false]].
** Like Xelloss above, Discord has never lied in any of his appearances, save one little "I'm innocent." He's never told the entirety of the truth, however, such as when he says he "can't claim responsibility" for something that ultimately turns out to be a plan of his that went off thousands of years later than planned or, in his first appearance, told Applejack that their quest would split the group up, which is something he caused himself.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' has an example in [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E1Pilot the pilot episode]]. To get Morty to open fire on some alien armed guards, Rick tells him that the guards are [[JustAMachine just robots.]] However, the one Morty hits screams in agony and bleeds out, leading to this exchange:
-->'''Morty:''' They're not robots, Rick!\\
'''Rick:''' It's a figure of speech, Morty. They're bureaucrats; I don't respect them.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' turned it into a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOBeD1GC_Y full blown musical]] for their Star Wars special.
-->'''Luke:''' Could you be a little bit more specific because [[[SiblingIncest Leia and I]]] kinda made out.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "Marge Gets A Job", Marge decides to apply for a job at the nuclear plant, but the only experience she has to list on her resume is homemaker. Lisa helps her pad it with work experience like "chauffeur", "seamstress", "worked for the Carter administration" (she voted for him twice), and "curator of large animals" (cue a bulging, hairy Homer).
** "Realty Bites" had [[AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz]] training her in how to be [[ShadyRealEstateAgent a successful realtor]], even in regards to TheAllegedHouse.
--->'''Lionel Hutz''': There's "the truth" (''shakes head'') and "the truth." (''smiles wide'') Let me show you. (shows pictures of homes for sale)\\
'''Marge''': That house is awfully small.\\
'''Hutz''': [[InsistentTerminology I'd say it's awfully... cozy]]!\\
'''Marge''': That's dilapidated.\\
'''Hutz''': Rustic.\\
'''Marge''': That house is on fire!\\
'''Hutz''': [[RefugeInAudacity Motivated seller]]!
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' reveals that Captain Rex of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' had survived into the Imperial Era and had been living out in retirement. When the titular rebels come for his aid, Kanan Jarrus (a Jedi and an Order 66 survivor to boot) doesn't trust Rex at all, mostly because [[FantasticRacism he's a clone]], and it was the clones that betrayed the Jedi. Rex points to a scar on his head, indicating the inhibitor chip that made the clones carry out Order 66 was removed, leaving him to reveal that he never betrayed his Jedi. When ''The Clone Wars'' returned, it was revealed that this trope was in play: [[spoiler: he DID carry out Order 66 and almost killed Ahsoka; it's just that Ahsoka wasn't a Jedi, ergo he never betrayed "his" Jedi (presumably Anakin), not to mention it was Ahsoka that removed his chip in the first place, preventing him from carrying out the order any further, and to top it off he also did everything in his power to resist the Order giving Ahsoka the vital clue she needed in order to free Rex and save herself]].
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', "We Need to Talk". Garnet tells Greg she believes he can [[FusionDance fuse]] with Rose Quartz if he does it in his own way. He fails to actually physically fuse — but the attempt leads to a moment of new openness and trust and connection between the pair, which is one of the most important aspects of fusion. Both Garnet and Amethyst recognize the result as a "fusion", even though nothing happened physically. This is lost on [[LiteralMinded Pearl]], however.
-->'''Pearl:''' Why are they still dancing? It didn't work!\\
'''Garnet:''' ''[quietly]'' Yes it did...\\
'''Pearl:''' ''[incredulous]'' What?\\
'''Garnet:''' ''It worked.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' canon, CuteWitch Marisa Kirisame notoriously steals books from the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library. She claims it's not stealing because all the inhabitants of the Scarlet Devil Mansion are youkai, who will live many times longer than her, and they can simply take the books back when she dies. She calls it "borrowing without permission". Luckily, the Youkai don't mind; or at least; don't mind beyond mind-boggling BulletHell duels, but that's the standard operating procedure. It's also worth pointing out that while Marisa claims the youkai can have their books back when her human life ends, in some games' backstories it's mentioned that she's working on an Elixer of Life, to prolong her life ''without losing her humanity''. Trust Marisa to pair a Metaphorically True with LoopholeAbuse.
* In the RogueLike game ''VideoGame/{{Ragnarok|Roguelike}}'', an Amulet of Eternal Life turns you to stone. That makes a certain kind of mythic sense, but it's not "life" as we'd recognize it.
* ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'', another RogueLike, has the gauntlets of peace -- and their artifact counterpart, the Gauntlets of Eternal Peace --, which make it almost impossible to hit anything while you're wearing them. The "peace" either means you can't kill anything, or you will die quickly and be at peace since (duh) [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Everything Is Trying To Kill You]] and you won't be able to fight back. Even better, the gauntlets are [[ClingyMacGuffin autocursing]]. At least they give you a moderate defense and armor boost while you search desperately for that scroll of uncursing.
* If you haven't played ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' it wouldn't be much of a spoiler to say that you shouldn't fully trust ''anything'' that ''any'' Jedi has to say to you. Indeed, their self-serving tendencies of filtering truth through "certain points of view" is significantly responsible for their eventual downfall.
** In the first game, on the other hand, the only real example of this trope is Jolee's claim that "the Jedi left me" (and he doesn't consider himself a Jedi any more at this point). The other Jedi certainly do tell some outright lies, but don't continue to defend them as 'true' once they're exposed as lies. There is also at least one case of ExactWords where a Jedi who knows about the biggest coming plot twist talks to you about something else in a way that passingly refers to the secret by necessity but sounds innocuous and avoids revealing it.
** While this an important plot point in the first game, [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords the second game]] takes it to the point of {{deconstruction}} with Kreia and the rest of the Council; almost everything a player may think they know about the background of this game has to pass the litmus test of "but did I hear that from [[UnreliableExpositor Kreia]]?". Similarly, Atton is often used as the writer's mouthpiece on any particular topic, but his word shouldn't be taken too seriously either, as [[spoiler:he used to be a Sith torturer who willingly and enjoyed torturing Jedi into turning to the Dark Side]].
** HK-47 gets in on it too, if you ask him about how many Jedi he's killed during the Jedi Civil War:
--->'''HK-47:''' I have found many Jedi to be arrogant practitioners of pacifism when it is convenient for them. Also, their tendency to never directly answer a question is rather annoying.
** Further twisted with Kreia, in that she only ''claims'' to always speak the truth. You can call her out on the fact that ''she could be lying about not lying'', and she is proud that you noticed without really discussing the point further. Most fan interpretations are built on which parts of Kreia's speeches are true, half-true, and outright false.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'':
** Uzuki offers Neku a way out of the game if he kills his partner Shiki. However, before Neku can deliver the killing blow, he's stopped by Mr. H, who says that since his life is tied to his partner's, he'll die too...
--->'''Neku:''' All that about letting me out of the game -- that was all a lie!\\
'''Uzuki:''' Like, that is so rude! I do not lie. If I erased you, that's still letting you out of the Game!
** Unfortunately, there's no similar way to weasel out of her claim that Shiki was a spy for the Reapers. No-one calls her on this.
** At one point, Game Master Konishi tells Neku and Beat that she's going to hide in the same place for seven days, while they try to find her. However, she's able to move all over the city, because the "one place" she chose was [[spoiler:Beat's shadow]].
* A rare positive version courtesy of ''VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode'': When it was announced that the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 installment would be limited to three [[HumongousMecha mecha]] per series, fans were upset - until the game's director posted on his blog, revealing that [[MidSeasonUpgrade Mid-Season Upgrades]] and [[MechaExpansionPack Mecha Expansion Packs]] would fall under the heading of their base machine and therefore only count as one, meaning they can fit in more playable while still maintaining the whole "three per series" idea.
* ''Videogame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' has Death's Ring, which massively increases your stats and whose description is "One hit kills instantly." It is indeed true. Take one hit and ''you'' will instantly die.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** Long ago, the continent of [[{{Wutai}} Akavir]] had its own race of Men a little different from those in Tamriel. However, it is said that these men were "devoured" by the Tsaesci, an Akaviri race of "[[SnakePeople snake vampires]]". One theory states that this means the men were ''[[ImAHumanitarian literally eaten]]'' by the Tsaesci. However, another source regarding the Tsaesci uses "devour" and "enslave" interchangeably when it comes to what the Tsaesci did to the red dragons of Akavir. "Devour" is likely just a colorful metaphor for enslavement and/or cultural absorption.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', one of Vivec's stories of his involvement in the death of Nerevar indicates that the official Temple stance of it not being his fault is a ''literal'' HalfTruth: Vehk the God was not to blame, but Vehk the Mortal is. Since Vivec ("V'vehk") is [[MindScrew both of those]]...
* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', Belleza befriends the protagonists, who take her with them to Temple of Pyrynn to find the Red Moon Crystal. She gains their trust by telling them a sad story about herself: that her father was a sailor who was killed in the Valua-Nasr war, and she was left orphaned and with a hatred of war. This much is true. [[spoiler: What she did not mention at that point is that her father was a Valuan sailor, not Nasrean, and she is in fact an admiral of the Valuan Armada. Her hatred of war was also not a lie; she believes that Valuan hegemony will bring stability and end the war.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush is told that Blood Island is the place where he will die. After drinking alcohol mixed with medicine, he goes into a coma-like state for a few hours. It doesn't actually kill him, but it is enough for the island to document him as legally dead (at least twice). The official explanation is that he does die, but because it's a family-friendly [=LucasArts=] adventure game, he recovers.
* [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] in ''[[VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic Might and Magic: Heroes VI]]'' are [[CannotTellALie incapable of lying]], but they are capable of deception by not telling you ''all'' of the truth. [[spoiler:Kiril learns this the hard way when he agrees to accompany the angel Sarah on her pilgrimage through hell as her protector, and ends up imprisoned in hell as a result; Sarah decided that the best way for Kiril to protect her is by her selling his soul, without his consent, to the demon sovereign Kha-Beleth in exchange for safe passage through his realm.]]
-->'''Sarah:''' I never lied to you, but certain truths had to be ignored to set Elrath's will in motion. Forgive me.
** Hilariously subverted in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic X'', which takes place in the aftermath of ''Heroes VI'': the intro highlights this aspect (as well as [[ExactWords certain]] [[AmbiguousSyntax related tropes]]) of angels, and then at the end of the expansion (which acts as an additional chapter to the game) you meet a scheming angel responsible for a fair chunk of your troubles... who turns out to be quite bad at this, flubbing her attempts and making it obvious to everyone around her what's really going on. Her schemes only worked because she was [[BigBadDuumvirate working with a human who]], being human, could straight-up lie.
* The bulk of Niko's phony resume for Goldberg, Ligner, and Shyster in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' -- although there are several outright lies to puff up his credentials, most of it is composed of statements that are technically true, but either worded so vaguely that they're meaningless or deliberately framed in a misleading matter.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** Fantastic convinced the NCR to give him a job fixing an advanced power plant through this trope:
--->'''Fantastic:''' They were going door to door asking if anyone knew any scientists. I said look no further. They asked me if I knew anything about power plants. I said as much as anyone I'd ever met. They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics. I said I had a theoretical degree in physics. They said welcome aboard.
** Dr. Borous in ''Old World Blues'' claims his genetically engineered [[MixAndMatchCritters Nightstalkers]] and [[WickedWasps Cazadores]] are as "docile as they are sterile". This is entirely true, though not in the context he intended (Borous believed the answer was "completely", whereas the PlayerCharacter at this point knows the answer to be [[GoneHorriblyWrong "not at all"]]).
** The King, who believes the School of Elvis Impersonation was in fact [[AllHailTheGreatGodMickey a temple]]. The reasoning behind it is... surprisingly coherent.
---> '''The King''': Near as I can tell, [this building] was some sort of religious institution. Oh, I know it says "school" out front, but everything in here seems to be related to the worship of some guy from back in the day. People used to come here to learn about him, to dress like him, to move like him. To BE him. If that's not worship, I don't know what is.
* Coming up to the reveal, Creator/{{Capcom}} had said that the 5th character for ''[[UpdatedRerelease Ultra]] VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' had '''never''' appeared in a ''Street Fighter'' game before. Decapre had actually appeared in a cutscene for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3'', and looks and plays similarly to Cammy, but otherwise she's never been playable before, meaning that Capcom wasn't lying for the most part.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', [[ExpositionFairy Fi]] tells you that the environment [[spoiler:in which the final boss is faced]] disables your [[SwordBeam Skyward Strike]]. This is correct; a different, lightning-charged projectile attack that can be performed in that environment, though activated and utilized in much the same manner, is distinct from a Skyward Strike.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The developer claims that its conclusion "has provoked a bigger fan reaction than any other video games' conclusion in history." It's true. They fail to mention, however, that it was a hugely ''[[BrokenBase negative]]'' reaction.
* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'', when Nima Cruz and Miles Chadwick need to trek further into Isla Nublar to make contact with Denis Nedry and suddenly come across a huge electric fence, Nima, unaware of what [=InGen=] has been doing lately, expresses surprise at such a structure having been built on the island. Miles tells Nima that the place is "kind of like a zoo" with "all sorts of animals". Of course, if they had just looked a few meters to the right, they would have seen that the zoo pen they have just come across belongs to ''Dilophosaurus''.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'', when Sly defeats the BigBad, Clockwerk, his LastWords to Sly,''"Cooper! You will never be rid of me! Clockwerk is... Superior!!!"'', are mainly just that, until the [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves sequel]]. [[spoiler:Clockwerk, (or rather, his lifeless body frame piloted by a [[HijackedByCthullu hate-filled Neyla]]) ends up collapsing on Bentley and as a result, paralyzes him. In the end, his final words become true as now Sly has to be reminded of him every time he looks at his friend who's now confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'', Mephiles tells Silver that Sonic is the Iblis trigger, and therefore the cause of Silver's current BadFuture. After being warped back in time by Mephiles, Silver tries to kill Sonic to prevent his BadFuture from ever occurring. [[spoiler:However, it is Sonic's death that is the event that causes Iblis' awakening in the first place.]]
* ''VideoGame/SphinxAndTheCursedMummy'' has Sphinx be given a magic Gem of Invisibility. He's then immediately warned by his mentor that the gem is a trap. It will ''technically'' turn him invisible...and then kill him right afterward. Fortunately, the Mummy is already dead and can get around this little problem.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', the role of Emerl the Gizoid in the destruction of the Nocturnus Clan (as the person who was previously accepted to have caused the event in question) is called into question with the revelation that [[spoiler:the Nocturnus Clan was pulled into the Twilight Cage]]. Nestor the Wise theorizes in-game that it was with the creation of Gizoids as powerful as Emerl that the Nocturnus Clan became sufficiently dangerous to justify what was done to them - so Emerl ''inadvertently'' caused the Clan's destruction, rather than the conventional meaning.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' quest "Death to the Dorgeshuun", Zanik initially earns the sympathy of the [[FantasticRacism Human Against Monsters]] group by telling them that the city she's from is full of goblins. Zanik is a cave goblin in disguise, and the city she's referring to is [[MonsterTown Dorgesh-Kaan]].
** The quest "Temple at Senntisten" begins with Azzanadra trying to gain permission from the Digsite administrators to restore a long-abandoned temple of Zaros. You have to convince the administrators that Azzanadra's human disguise is a respectable archaeologist and worth entrusting with the project, by recommending his expertise in ancient magicks and pyramid interiors, and omitting the part where he's actually a Mahjarrat who was [[SealedBadassInACan sealed in said pyramid]] untold centuries ago for [[PersonOfMassDestruction practicing said ancient magicks]].
* The Check text for the final boss of the Genocide run in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler:Sans, describes him as "the easiest enemy" who can only deal 1 point of damage and has 1 HP. While this is literally true, it greatly understates the problems his boss fight entails. For the former, Sans' attacks hit every frame, thereby bypassing MercyInvincibility, meaning that he hits for 1 damage ''thirty times per second'' and also applies a stacking DamageOverTime effect with every hit. For the latter, Sans is the only foe in the game who ''[[NonchalantDodge dodges your attacks]]''. All things combined, he is ''[[ThatOneBoss the]]'' single hardest boss in the game [[SNKBoss by a wide margin]]]].
* Nintendo did this with their trailer for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', which showed Zelda crying into Link's arms in the middle of a rainstorm. Many fans believed that they were going to witness why Zelda was crying over how everything she did was a failure and some fans hoped Link would do something to comfort her. In actuality, it's a flashback showing [[spoiler: Link and Zelda fleeing from the Guardians corrupted by Calamity Ganon, followed by Zelda breaking down over how she couldn't awaken her powers in time to save the champions, her father, and the entire Hyrule kingdom. By the time Link holds Zelda in his arms, the flashback ends and the player doesn't get to see what happens after]]. While Nintendo wasn't exactly lying in the trailer, the scene was just presented out of context for the sake of hype.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', Master Xehanort warns Terra that his mentor Master Eraqus plans to kill his friend Ventus, sending Terra off on a rescue mission. And it's true, Master Eraqus was about to murder the young man before Terra intervened. What Xehanort left out was the motive. [[spoiler:Master Xehanort planned to use Ventus in a ritual of sorts to obtain the X-Blade and Kingdom Hearts. Master Eraqus, grief-stricken, felt he [[NecessarilyEvil had to kill Ven]] to thwart Xehanort's plans. Terra's battle with Eraqus due to [[PoorCommunicationKills their mutual refusal to explain themselves in the heat of the moment]] weakened the master enough for Xehanort to finish him off.]]
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' have you go on a quest to save the world by preventing the seal on alchemy from being broken, less the world be destroyed by its sheer power. When a priest asks you if you will accept the responsibility of saving the world, choosing no has the game state that [[NonStandardGameOver the world slowly drifted towards its fated destruction.]] The sequel reveals that not saving the world would destroy it, but [[spoiler: it would be from the world crumbling into nothingness ''because'' alchemy was sealed. In other words, alchemy is the world's life force and without it, the world starts to wither and break apart piece by piece. You're also told that releasing alchemy ''could'' destroy the world as well, which leaves the party with a big catch-22; do nothing and let the world wither away or release alchemy and risk destroying the world anyway. Thankfully, the sequel after shows that everything worked out once alchemy came back, though ''The Lost Age''[='s=] ending shows it required divine intervention]].
** Near the end of the first game, Saturos offers to exchange captive Sheba's safety for Ivan's [[OrphansPlotTrinket Shaman Rod]]. When your party gives up the Rod, Saturos turns around and orders Felix to bodyguard Sheba with his life-- he never said anything about setting her ''free'', just that he would ensure her safety. [[note]]since Sheba starts the next game enthusiastic about continuing Saturos's mission, it's also possible that if she'd been set free she would have joined him willingly[[/note]]
* For the teaser of patch 4.3 in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the developers were insistent that they would not show the patch's new trial because it contains massive spoilers. The trailer shows the player character fighting a pair of elderly civilians, a familiar antagonistic person, and then it's followed by a supporting character appearing to fend off a major villain. All the above ''is'' a part of the new trial, but the spoiler itself is still hidden since the trailer never shows who you would be actually fighting. [[spoiler: The trial is against Yotsuyu who has transformed into a primal. The second phase of the fight has her memories of people that antagonized her materializing and attacking her, which is what the trailer showed while keeping her off-screen.]]
* Most of the villains in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series aren't wrong in what they say at all. They just derail their morals into insane, radical variants that would inevitably bring forth suffering to others.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', The CorruptPolitician BigBad Masayoshi Shido [[spoiler:[[NotSoDifferentRemark claims that he's not that different]] from the Phantom Thieves that they wanted to reform society and asks him to join them. While it's obviously a ruse, he's actually trying to reform society by getting himself elected... but if he gets elected, he will turn Japan into a dictatorship and there will be hell to pay for it alongside the world]].
* ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' uses this as its ''entire'' premise.
** All of the movies in the game are not inherently wrong in their settings; they follow the tropes of their genres strictly. It's just that they are derailed and twisted into perverse versions of what they actually are.
*** ''Kamoshidaman'' is a superhero movie about a superhero punishing evil in the city and fighting villains...except that the "superhero" decides who is evil and who isn't, and anyone who opposes or disagrees with him are the evil villains threatening his city. To make things worse, he bullies his citizens into absolute submission by silencing all critique.
*** ''Junessic Land'' features a group of [[HerbivoresAreFriendly herbivorous dinosaurs]] trying to gather ThePowerOfFriendship in order to fight against the stronger carnivores... except ThePowerOfFriendship, in this case, is actually being used ''against'' any herbivores who disagree with their plan.
*** ''A.I.G.I.S'' features a robot resisting against an A.I. god... who is the [[DesignatedHero "Hero"]] of the movie, and the robot is the [[DesignatedVillain "Villain."]] This is always the other way around in these movies.
*** The fourth movie [[spoiler:mixes elements of a biopic and a musical, and it surely appears as cheery as a standard musical. It's just that all of its lyrics are about a LossOfIdentity and it depicts a biopic of someone getting their life ruined instead of a success story]].
** Then there's the BigBad [[spoiler:Nagi/Enlil. Much like Zen in the prequel, she genuinely wishes for the happiness of the people that she protects from pain and suffering; she just does it by having them watch movies of pure negativity with absolutely no encouraging morals and positivity, with all of the people they depict being portrayed as failures in an unsympathetic fashion]].
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has plenty of exposition that is technically true, but framed very differently, in large part because which house's story route you're on can drastically change what information is available to the characters. For example, in most routes, Seteth will claim [[spoiler:Edelgard took the Imperial throne in a bloodless coup]]. This isn't wrong, but playing that character's route will reveal [[spoiler:Edelgard politely asked her terminally ill father to hand over power, which he did willingly; Edelgard then promptly arrested any dissidents because she's acutely aware how little she could trust her own court, hence the "coup" rumor]].
** This crops up with respect to historical events as well, largely because [[spoiler:Seiros has been massaging the truth of the War Of Heroes and Crests to protect the last few Nabateans. To make matters worse, the only other source of information on events back then, "those who slither in the dark", do the same, but they're intentionally deceptive.]] For example, Edelgard states on her route that the Heroes' Relics are not gifts from the Goddess and were made by human hands. This is true, but it leaves out one very big detail that is only revealed on the Golden Deer route: [[spoiler: the Relics were made from ''the bones of the Nabateans'', who were massacred entirely for this purpose, and the humans who created them were backed by "those who slither in the dark".]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel I'', when Machias asks as to whether Rean, Gaius, or Elliot were nobles whatsoever, the latter two denied it fully but Rean's response is that "he doesn't have any noble blood on him" which Machias does buy (since Machias was introduced in the story as hating all nobles) but Elliot notices the dodge. Rean does feel bad about it later and does come clean (he's adopted by nobles but as far as Rean knows at the time, he was a commoner) but to Machias, he felt that he was lied to. Notably, under the rules of Erebeonia's class system, an adoptive noble has all the rights and privileges of somebody born into the nobility, so Rean is for all intents and purposes a noble.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' pulls this with Kingseeker Frampt and Darkstalker Kaathe. Frampt says your destiny is to succeed Gwyn while Kaathe says it's to replace him. While either option at the end is ''technically'' true, succeeding Gwyn requires burning yourself alive as fuel for the Kiln of the First Flame and replacing him means taking up the mantle of the Dark Lord for the Age of Dark, despite the fact that Kaathe's guidance is what led to the destruction of New Londo to begin with. As a result, you can't honestly trust what either of the serpents is telling you to be true, [[ButThouMust yet you have to make a choice between which version of your "destiny" you're willing to believe in]].
* ''Videogame/FallenLondon'' may require your character to partake in this, with enough frequency that it even has its own stat, which handily provides a name for the capacity to "mislead the listener without a single false word": Mithridacy. The skill also covers ''spotting'' these misdirections when they're thrown at you.
-->'''Descriptor for high Mithridacy:''' You are an artist of implication, allowing people to think what you are not able to say.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': In the Isle of Armor expansion, you have to earn the "secret armor of the Master Dojo," which turns out to be [[spoiler:the legendary Pokémon Kubfu]]. Not a suit of armor in any sense, but it's meant to stand by you and protect you ''like'' a suit of armor.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', as the party is touring Shin-Ra Headquarters, they come across holographic presentations from the Shin-Ra executives. One of them belongs to [[MadScientist Professor Hojo]], who [[BrutalHonesty very bluntly]] tells the tourists that his research is beyond their comprehension. Given that his research involves creating bioweapons using the [=DNA=] of an EldritchAbomination, he’s not completely wrong.
* ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObraDinn:'' You can get the hidden achievement "Captain Did It" by blaming Captain Witterel for all the deaths aboard the Obra Dinn. This is, according to the achievement description, "Loosely true, in the eyes of Company and Crown". As the captain of the ship, the safety of his crew and passengers was legally his responsibility, so in the eyes of the Crown their deaths ''are'' on his hands.
* In ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'', the Nora tribe believe that their goddess, the All Mother, had created humanity, and saved them from the metal devils. They’re right in a sense. [[spoiler:Its revealed that humanity was wiped out by the metal devils, when the robots went out of control in an event called the Faro Plague, and Gaia was created to create a virus that would shut down them down, and would rebuild the destroyed world with machines, and repopulate it with cloned humans.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Discussed on ''Series/TheAmazingRace 19'' by Marcus when talking about keeping that he had been a professional football player a secret. Technically, as a tight end, it was his job to protect the quarterback, so it was not lying to say he was in "protection", and as he was retired at that point if asked if he was a football player, it was technically correct if he said no.
* ''Literature/{{Aquila}}'' has a scene where an archaeologist explains, referencing the [[AncientAfrica ancient African]] proverb about truth being an elephant surrounded by three blind men, that he simply gave the boys a point of view not involving copious amounts of money.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** The [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Minbari]] claim that they never lie, and a mere accusation of doing so warrants "a lethal response". While the humans initially take this at face value, Mollari, having been told otherwise by Lennier, explains that the Minbari are allowed to tell white lies to save someone else from embarrassment or [[HolierThanThou dishonor]]. Even other Minbari are irritated at the Grey Council following this trope. Kalin says at one point that the Grey Council "never tells you the whole truth."
** A good example of Minbari half-truths comes with Delenn early in Season 3. She is shown footage of a Shadow vessel and is asked if she had ever seen a ship like it before. Delenn says no. When she is later questioned about this by she replies that whilst she was well aware of what the ship was, that was the first time she had actually seen one.
** Similarly, she and Kosh claim to Sheridan that the Shadows killed his wife and her fellow crewmates, and even showed him a video to that effect. Later, when she shows up, Delenn claims that she wasn't lying because she assumed that's what they would have done. When Sheridan presses her on why she didn't tell him she didn't actually know for sure, she admits that he would've tried to stage a rescue and she couldn't allow that to happen. And then it is revealed that while her body is alive, his wife was forced into being a WetwareCPU for a Shadow vessel. Because of this, the woman she was, the woman John loved, [[DeathOfPersonality is gone forever]]. Note that Delenn did not, in fact, know that last bit.
* ''Series/TheBlacklist'': Liz and the team are told by others (and suspect themselves) that Raymond Reddington is Liz’s biological father. And that ''is'' true. [[spoiler:It’s just that [[Creator/JamesSpader James Spader’s]] character ''isn’t Raymond Reddington''; the real Reddington [[PosthumousCharacter actually did die in that house fire]] and the one we’ve been following is an imposter.]]
* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the crew gets captured by an enemy that can keep them from lying, so they resort to evasions to prevent them from finding out that Orac is a computer.
-->'''Tarrant:''' If he's not on the ship, I don't know where he is.\\
'''Caliph:''' How tall is he?\\
'''Tarrant:''' (''gestures to waist level, Orac's "height" when on a table'')\\
'''Caliph:''' A dwarf?\\
'''Tarrant:''' We never think of him as one.\\
'''Caliph:''' What is the color of his hair?\\
'''Tarrant:''' He hasn't got any. A bald dwarf shouldn't be too hard to find.
* ''Series/TheDailyShow'': Creator/JonStewart lampshaded this in his [[http://www.cc.com/video-clips/9zlhgb/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-the-great-gaffesby criticism of RNC Chairman Michael Steele]].
-->'''Fox Reporter:''' (''archive footage'') How much did you have when you took the reins?\\
'''Michael Steele:''' (''archive footage'') About $20 or so million.\\
'''Fox Reporter:''' (''archive footage'') And now you're down to three? So I realize you spent a lot of money for the campaign...\\
'''Michael Steele:''' (''archive footage'') Yeah, we spent a lot of money, but I mean, Greta, you can't look at it in terms of what you begin and what you end.\\
'''Jon Stewart:''' (''amused'') "...you can't look at it in terms of where you begin and where--" That is some [[LampshadeHanging Jedi bullshit]] right there, Michael Steele. "Yes, Greta; if you want to look at the budget in a linear, arithmetic way where we started with a high number and ended with a very low number, but what you're forgetting is children's dreams and [[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows rainbows]], you can't put a price on that -- is that a ''quarter'' [[WhatHaveWeEar behind your ear]]? Wait, a dove, '''[[SmokeOut SMOKE BOMB]]''', Steele out."
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** Usually, when Matt Murdock has to lie to cover up an injury that he sustained as Daredevil, he'll typically lie by omission. For instance, in the third episode of season 1, he shows up at the office sporting a visible bruise over his right eye from his fight with the Russians the night before, prompting obvious remarks of concern from Foggy and Karen, but he brushes off the injury saying "[[CutHimselfShaving I just, uh, wasn’t paying attention last night. It’s my fault]]," which is technically the truth (the Russians had lured him into a trap) but just enough of a lie that Karen and Foggy are led to think Matt walked into a door.
** Wilson Fisk kills Anatoly [[OffWithHisHead in brutal fashion]] for interrupting his date with Vanessa. Days later, when he meets up with Madame Gao, Nobu, and Leland Owlsley, they demand an explanation for ''why'' he killed Anatoly. Fisk contemplates for a few seconds as he tries to come up with an explanation that allows him to save face and then says, "It was a...a personal matter..." without much more detail.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** A straight in-story example in the old series. The Black Guardian tells Turlough that the Doctor is evil and must be stopped. When called out on it he claims he was not actually lying because "the Doctor's good is my evil".
** Creator/RussellTDavies was accused of this during his time in charge of the show, particularly with respect to foreshadowing the season finales:
*** Series 2 continually said that Rose was going to die, and Rose (narrating) introduces the final [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts two-]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday parter]] as "the story of how I died". [[spoiler:She doesn't die. She is taken to a parallel world and is presumed dead by the authorities.]]
*** In Series 4 [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd finale]], we are repeatedly told "One will still die." [[spoiler:Nobody dies. Donna suffers a metaphorical death, erasing all of her CharacterDevelopment and her relevance to the show.]]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]: The Pandorica is a prison that was thought to be mythical, containing some terrible monster. The Doctor described it thus: "There was a goblin or a... trickster. Or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or... reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world." It opens, and it's empty. It turns out that [[spoiler:the Doctor IS the monster. The description of it is how the Doctor is viewed by his enemies. To a Dalek, that's an accurate description of him]].
** A Meta-Example with show-runner Creator/StevenMoffat. In the lead up to Series 8, Moffat said there were no plans to bring back the Master. [[ExactWords And that was because the Master had switched genders and was now going by the Mistress, or "Missy" for short.]] In fact, Moffat, being a TrollingCreator, loves to do this with his audience.
* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', Crichton hits on this trope as a way of fooling the Scarran heat probe, which forces people to tell the truth. For example, while disguised as a Peacekeeper defector, he tries to get access to his captive Sebacean girlfriend by propositioning a Sebacean nurse, and he gets caught by a Scarran:
-->'''Scarran:''' Why the deception?\\
'''Crichton:''' Cos -- horny! Looking for a Sebacean woman.\\
'''Nurse:''' You attacked me and attempted to release one of the patients.\\
'''Crichton:''' No offense, but she's sexier than you are.\\
'''Scarran:''' What would you have done had you gotten here?\\
'''Crichton:''' Taken her back to my ship. [[PardonMyKlingon Frelled]] her. Made babies.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': In the pilot, Simon asks Mal [[ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation what Jayne's job is.]] Mal answers, "Public relations." Jayne's usual method of relating to the public involves a very large gun named Vera. Then again, the majority of the public they relate with are thieves, scoundrels, and murderers...
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 1, Episode 3 has Iris ask how Barry doesn't gain weight, despite his BigEater tendencies (necessary to keep him from passing out due to his SuperSpeed enhancing his metabolism). As she doesn't know he's the Flash at this point, he merely replies that [[{{Understatement}} he's been jogging]].
* A ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode had Phoebe play for sympathy by saying her mother was killed by a drug dealer:
-->'''Monica:''' I thought she killed herself?\\
'''Phoebe:''' And she was a drug dealer.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Viserys Targaryen spends most of the first season complaining about how Khal Drogo promised to make him king of the Seven Kingdoms again. After Viserys finally confronts Drogo in a violent way, Drogo [[FalseReassurance assures him]] that he will give him "a golden crown that men will tremble to behold." [[spoiler: Then Drogo dumps a pot of molten gold over his head, which kills him horribly]].
** Again in Season 1 Ned Stark before parting ways with Jon Snow says that serving the Night's Watch has been for centuries a noble cause for the Starks, pointing out to Jon that "''You may not have my name, but you have my blood''", which makes sense since Jon is his illegitimate son. [[spoiler: But makes even more sense since Jon has indeed Stark's blood...on ''his mother's side''.]]
** Used rather cruelly in the season finale. After Ned Stark is arrested attempting to overthrow King Joffrey, his daughter Sansa, Joffrey's fiancee, pleads with the king to spare his life. Joffrey agrees to [[ExactWords "show mercy"]] if Ned confesses to treason. [[spoiler:Ned publicly confesses, and Joffrey has him beheaded. In response to Sansa calling him out on this, Joffrey says he ''did'' show mercy... by giving Ned a clean death instead of having him drawn and quartered.]]
** A real-life case with everyone's statements about whether [[spoiler:Jon Snow]] was really killed at the end of Season 5. [[spoiler:Several cast and crew members stated that Jon really was killed, but left out that this didn't mean he was ''permanently'' dead. They also tried to play off Kit Harrington and Carice van Houten being spotted together when Season 6 started filming by saying they just happened to be working on separate projects in the same area...in addition to the scene where Mellisandre resurrects Jon. Finally, Kit Harrington just went rogue and spilled that Jon would be coming back.]]
* Deconstructed in ''The Wedding Bride'', a fake movie from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' about [[spoiler:Stella's failed relationship with Ted from her ex-boyfriend's perspective, making ''him'' the good guy getting TheWoobie Stella out of a loveless marriage when in reality, it was nothing like that]]. We see the real reaction of [[spoiler: the said guy who was left at the altar, Ted]].
** The Season 9 DVD set for the show claims the finale as one of the most talked-about in TV history. While true, it does leave out that the discussion was caused by the significant BrokenBase that said finale brought about.
* ''Series/Hawkeye2021'': While being held captive by the Tracksuit Mafia, Clint claims that Ronin is dead and that Black Widow killed him. When asked how he knows this, he says that he was also there. Of course, Clint actually is Ronin, and is referring to the scene in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' where Natasha convinced him to abandon his VigilanteMan rampage.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Dungaree Justice", the article 32 hearing of Mac’s dubious actions in "People v. Mac" takes place and it is discussed to what extent she had lied in the earlier episode.
-->'''Lt. Commander Alan Mattoni''': Major Sarah Mackenzie, having taken a lawful oath in a trial by court-martial that she would testify truly, did willfully, corruptly and contrary to such oath, testify falsely regarding the killing of her husband, Christopher Ragle.\\
'''Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb:''' Sir, Major Mackenzie did testify that she shot and killed her husband. There was no lie there.\\
'''Lt. Commander Alan Mattoni:''' But she omitted certain details, including the fact that Lieutenant Colonel Farrow was present at the time.\\
'''Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb:''' She took the blame, sir, to protect an innocent man.\\
'''Lt. Commander Alan Mattoni:''' A lie of omission, no matter how noble the intention, is still a lie.\\
'''Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb:''' Yes. But for it to be perjury, it must be material to the case. Murder charges against Major Mackenzie and Lieutenant Colonel Farrow were subsequently dismissed. Therefore, I submit: the detail of Colonel Farrow's presence was not material, and the omission of said detail should not be considered perjury.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Much of the background Halbrand “revealed” to Galadriel is accurate in a very broad, vague sense, but deeply deceptive in truth, though coached in a way that likely reflects his SelfServingMemory; he is, in a way, a "king" of the Southlands appointed by Morgoth, and has indeed done horrible, horrible things that Galadriel and other people would cast him out for it... he’s just leaving out how direct his relationship to Morgoth was and the actual scale and personal nature of his offenses.
-->'''Halbrand/[[spoiler:Sauron]]:''' I told you I found this on a dead man.\\
'''Galadriel in shock:''' LittleNo... No, on the raft, you saved me.\\
'''Halbrand/[[spoiler:Sauron]]:''' On the raft, ''you'' saved me.\\
'''Galadriel:''' You convinced Miriel to save the man of Middle-earth.\\
'''Halbrand/[[spoiler:Sauron]]:''' ''You'' convinced her. I wanted to remain in Numenor.\\
'''Galadriel:''' You fought beside me.\\
'''Halbrand/[[spoiler:Sauron]]:''' Against you enemy. And mine.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** In one of the [[ItWasHisSled most well-known twists]], John Locke, at the conclusion of his first flashback episode, is revealed to have been a cripple in a wheelchair prior to crashing on the island and miraculously regaining his ability to walk:
--->'''Tour Guide:''' You misrepresented yourself.\\
'''Locke:''' I never lied.\\
'''Tour Guide:''' By omission, Mr. Locke. You neglected to tell us about [[TomatoSurprise your condition]].
** Another example is the cover story told by the survivors who [[spoiler:escape the island]]. They claim that [[spoiler:Boone died of internal injuries from the plane crash, Charlie drowned, and Libby did not survive long either]], all of which are technically true, but leave out massively important context details: [[spoiler:Boone died because he was inside a smaller plane when it fell from some trees while he was trying to use its radio, Charlie drowned saving Desmond by sealing the door, preventing the Looking Glass station being flooded, and Libby did not survive for long... as a result of injuries from an accidental gunshot wound from Michael (who had just killed Ana Lucia in cold blood)]].
** When Jin and Sun learn [[spoiler: Ana Lucia and Libby]] are dead, they ask [[spoiler: Michael]], the killer, how they died. He tells them, [[ExactWords "They were murdered."]]
** Benjamin Linus is distrusted by every character on the show for his pathological penchant for this trope. "[[spoiler:John Locke]] is dead" is somewhat different than "[[spoiler:John Locke]] is dead ''because I killed him''." Similarly, when Jack asks him, "Did you know [[spoiler:Locke killed himself?]]", Ben can honestly answer, "No." Though sometimes Ben just [[ILied straight out lies]].
** Sayid was a Communications Officer in the Iraqi military. He [[ColdBloodedTorture encouraged people to communicate]].
* Adam and Jimmie of ''Series/TheManShow'' got dozens of women to sign a petition to end Women's Suffrage (the right to vote) by phrasing it to sound like they meant "suffering". Things like, "Women have been suffraging in this country for decades, and nobody's done anything to stop it!"
* ''Series/MastersOfHorror'': In the episode "Family": When the Fullers confront Harold [[spoiler:about his murder of their daughter, he recalls that they told him she died of cancer. Their reply: "You ARE cancer."]]
* ''Series/MillionYenWomen'': The main household consists of Shin and five women who have been invited to live with him by an unknown person. One night, Minami, one of the women, decides to take Shin to her workplace. Once there, one of Minami's employees asks her who Shin is, prompting her to answer that Shin is her husband and that she lives with him, four girls and a cat. Aside from the fact that the household adopted a cat in the first episode of the series, it is true that all four of the other women are ''technically'' younger (26-17) than both Shin (31) and Minami (30), making them the "parents" of the household.
* On ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', a show about a bunch of "problem teens" on community service (who develop superpowers), the inevitable conversation soon arises -- "what did you do to end up here?" While most of them admit to plausible-sounding crimes (drunk-driving, arson, drug possession etc.) Nathan constantly insists -- to the point where it becomes a RunningGag -- that all he did was steal some "pickin' mix". As we later find out, the incident actually did ''start'' with him stealing some sweets. He neglected to mention, however, that he subsequently ran riot in the bowling alley, trying to hurl himself down the back of one of the bowling lanes and causing a fair bit of criminal damage. When he was finally restrained he refused to pay for the damages (or co-operate in the slightest), persistently mocked the security guard, and eventually attacked the guy with a stapler. However, it's entirely possible that Nathan really doesn't think he did anything wrong beyond eating the pick'n'mix.
* Very well done in ''Series/{{Nikita}}'', where Alex is hooked up to a brainwave-reading lie detector that can't be fooled. She gets around it by stringing together several statements that are each individually true, but together paint a very different picture than what actually happened, and gets herself free from suspicion.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** When Granny tells her granddaughter Red that her red cloak keeps the Big Bad Wolf away/protects Red from the Wolf, she was speaking the truth. [[spoiler:After all, the cloak is enchanted to prevent Red from turning into the Big Bad Wolf.]]
** Mr. Gold told Regina that "something tragic" would happen to Kathryn. When Kathryn shows up alive and Regina asks Mr. Gold why she isn't dead, he reminds her of what he said and points out that her abduction ''was'' tragic.
** Rumplestiltskin telling Regina that magic cannot revive her lost love. It's "technically" true, considering that both magic AND science are needed to revive the dead, even if they CameBackWrong.
* ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'': Ed privately tells Stede that he's never really killed anyone as a pirate. When he ends up confessing that [[spoiler:he murdered his abusive father]], he insists he wasn't fully lying as he never killed anyone since, and certainly not any ''innocent'' person. [[spoiler:Then Calico Jack exposes ''that'' as a lie too, as Ed once set a ship he raided on fire, leading to the deaths of many of it's innocent passengers. An ashamed Ed then insists again to Stede that he wasn't lying because he didn't actively or deliberately murder any of them, [[DistinctionWithoutADifference they just died in the fire he started]].]]
* Inspired by a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_parody real-life hoax]] originating in the 80s, on ''Series/PennAndTellerBullshit'', the duo use this trope to get environmental activists to sign a petition to ban water. They sent someone to a gathering of them to get names for a petition to abolish the use of "dihydrogen monoxide" -- which means water. They went around saying all kinds of technically true things about water (things like "its a chemical solvent", which is true, and "over six thousand people are killed by this stuff in the US every year", which is also true) while making it sound like a toxin. They got lots of names. The point of the exercise was to demonstrate how many people would sign a petition without bothering to check any of the facts first.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Sauron being a ManipulativeBastard is a master of these. He very rarely outright lies but his statements bend the truth all out of shape. [[spoiler:The backstory he tells as Halbrand is broadly, vaguely true but deeply deceptive and he lets silence imply the rest for Galadriel. He is, in a way, a "king" of the Southlands appointed by Morgoth, and has indeed done horrible, horrible things... he’s just leaving out how direct his relationship to Morgoth was and the actual scale and personal nature of his offenses.]]
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In the episode "Threads", pretty much everything "Jim" says to Daniel before his true identity as [[spoiler:Anubis]] is revealed. H never actually lies, but words the truth in an incredibly misleading way to get to Daniel to trust him.
-->'''Daniel:''' Why are you talking to me?\\
'''"Jim":''' Oh, you mean because these other snobs won't even look at you? I'm different, like Oma.\\
'''Daniel:''' Really? 'Cause I kinda got the impression that you two don't quite see eye-to-eye.\\
'''"Jim":''' What, that little...? ''[laughs]'' Oh, that was nothing. We both operate somewhat outside the normal rules and regulations. Sometimes we disagree on how far outside we should go, that's all.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The [[PlanetOfHats Ferengi]] have this trope as a point in their "Rules of Acquisition".
---> 126. A lie isn't a lie, it's just the truth seen from a different point of view.
** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The First Duty" Wesley and his squad are facing an inquiry about the death of one of their members. Seeing that Wesley is obviously feeling conflicted, the leader tells him that he doesn't have to lie, he can simply not volunteer the actual important information. Yes, the accident ''did'' occur after the loop. It's just that between the loop and the crash, they had deviated from the approved program and tried a test run of a DangerousForbiddenTechnique. Picard [[WhatTheHellHero is not satisfied]] with Wesley's claim that he told the truth and gives him an ultimatum: Tell the ''whole'' truth or Picard will do it.
** A possible interpretation of the end of "The Most Toys" where Data apparently outright lies to Riker about whether or not he attempted to shoot Kivas Fajo: when Riker asks him about the transporter picking up a weapon's discharge (Data was beamed away just as he was about to shoot Fajo), Data replies "Perhaps something happened during transport". Something did happen, namely ''Data pulling the trigger''. Riker's expression indicates he's not entirely buying this, however.
** In a ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode, Garak was dying because an Obsidian Order anti-torture device in his brain was breaking down, and as Bashir struggled to remove or replace it, Garak gave several wildly varying accounts of the event that had gotten him kicked out of the Order and left on Deep Space Nine. At the end of the episode, Bashir demanded to know which version was true.
--->'''Garak:''' My dear doctor, they were ''all'' true.\\
'''Bashir:''' Even the lies?\\
'''Garak:''' ''Especially'' the lies.
** As it turns out in the [[Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch relaunch]] novel ''[[Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineAStitchInTime A Stitch in Time]]'', they actually were almost all true. Kinda. The book is written by Andrew J. Robinson, the actor who played Garak, and thus ''from a certain point of view'' it's Garak's autobiography.
** Vulcans are [[SarcasmMode always]] honest, except when they're deceiving, misleading, or flat out lying.
*** In the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]] episode "The ''Enterprise'' Incident", Spock explains to the Romulan Commander that the Vulcan reputation for being truthful is overblown. They'll lie just like anyone else if they have a [=[=]logical[=]=] reason to.
*** In one early episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Tuvok tells Chakotay that he is always honest, to which Chakotay points out that he wasn't being honest when he pretended to be a Maquis in order to infiltrate Chakotay's ship. Tuvok then counters that he was being honest to his principles and within the defined parameters of his mission. Chakotay recognizes this as a load of crap.
*** In another episode, he flat out lies to intimidate a prisoner. Janeway bluffs that she is gonna send the prisoner off to some people she's scammed (the prisoner, not Janeway). She asks Tuvok to tell her about the conditions of that world's prisons, and Tuvok wildly invents a tale of deplorable conditions where most prisoners don't survive long enough to be put on trial. The prisoner knows just enough about Vulcans to believe the story that they never lie, so she caves in.
*** The trick is that in both these cases, Tuvok had a perfectly logical reason to lie. We might reasonably assume that most Vulcans would not lie, for example, to spare a friend's feelings (from the Vulcan perspective, allowing emotions to influence a decision is illogical), or get out of a tedious duty (the duty needs to be done, so procrastination would be illogical), and other species would remember those instances of honesty as unusual, even extreme. Vulcans (clearly) have the capacity to lie if the situation warrants it, they just won't do it unless there's a logical reason why it's necessary; since most lies that a human would tell wouldn't be necessary from a Vulcan point of view, it gives the (not quite correct) impression that Vulcans don't or can't lie.
* A lot of the lies and half-truths that Scott and Stiles of ''Series/TeenWolf'' have been using to hide the werewolves would fall into this category. Stiles even gets caught in an ExplainExplainOhCrap moment by his father when the alibis start blending together.
-->'''Sheriff Stilinski:''' So you lied to me?\\
'''Stiles:''' That depends on how you define lying.\\
'''Sheriff Stilinski:''' Well, I define it as not telling the truth, how do you define it?\\
'''Stiles:''' Pff... reclining your body in a horizontal position.
* In the British documentary, ''X-Rated Ambition: The Traci Lords Story'', the narration mentions Lords' 1984 Penthouse issue was the magazine's biggest seller ever. It neglects to mention ''why'': It was the infamous Vanessa Williams issue.[[note]]Prior to winning the Miss America crown, Williams had done some nude modeling, including a non-explicit set with another woman. Penthouse ran the photos after Williams' win, causing the pageant to strip her of the title. She got over it, and, in a lucky break for Williams, since Lords was under-aged at the time of the pictorial, copies of said can not be legally owned or traded.[[/note]]
* ''Series/WallenbergAHerosStory'': Wallenberg claims to be half-Jewish as opposed to one-sixteenth Jewish.
-->'''Wallenberg:''' All right, I'm one-sixteenth. Call me a liar for a fraction.
* ''Series/TheWarOfTheWorlds2019'': This is rejected by the priest who resists the idea that faith in God and Country didn't defeat the Martians, but "decay and rot". When this is pitched as humanity building up a resistance to disease through the sacrifice of generations, he just dismisses this as spouting Darwinism.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Common in Christian novels such as ''Literature/LeftBehind'', where the MoralGuardians and TheFundamentalist are the target audience, and lying, even to the minions of Satan and/or to save lives, is forbidden by God, and woe to any book with a protagonist or "hero" who lies. But God only has a problem with complete lies. Deliberately deceiving someone is fine, as long the liar can explain to himself why the statement is technically true. Suffice it to say that there's plenty of debate over when/if it's always wrong to lie, especially considering that the verse often quoted as "Thou shalt not lie" [[BeamMeUpScotty actually says]] "Thou shalt not ''bear false witness against thy neighbor''", which is a lot more ambiguous.
* Brenish ''lives'' here in ''Literature/{{Below}}'', and especially loves lies of omission. He repeatedly questions the authenticity of the treasure map he knows is fake, even well after it's fooled both Gareth and the Expert and [[DungeonCrawling the quest]] is underway. Whenever he finds a cache of items, he leaves something out but gives up the rest. (In one case he says the item he pocketed ''could have been'' destroyed and its pieces lost among the floor debris.) And his trade offer to Lila, while sincere and a fair deal is embellished to stratospheric heights.
-->'''Brenish:''' The late spellbinder [[spoiler:Dexter the Unctuous]], a man of wide renown, bestowed upon me two talismans of great power.
** The lofty-sounding but insulting title is one the man would not have chosen for himself, but others would; his truly wide renown was for being [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk a slimeball]]; the meanings of "talismans" and "great power" are stretched paper-thin; the binder didn't make them; and Brenish got them from his corpse. He's also saying this to a mind reader.
* In one of Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/BlackWidowers'' stories, "Truth To Tell", a man who is suspected of stealing money and bonds from his company denies his culpability several times using the same phrase: "I did not take the cash or the bonds." He swears he is telling the truth. The club's incomparable waiter Henry solves the case by asking "Did you, by any chance, take the cash ''and'' the bonds?" The man doesn't answer, but he doesn't have to.
* ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'':
** In every ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' novel, there is a prophecy for the quests the heroes undergo. All of them have double meanings, leading the heroes to believe one thing, but then for the plot to turn out completely differently, but in hindsight, still true to the prophecy, just in an entirely different way.
** In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', Mars pretends to have never met Percy by using this trope. Technically it was the Greek war god Ares that met Percy, not the Roman war god Mars ... even though they are the same person. Sorta.
* ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}'': Christopher from ''Literature/TheLivesOfChristopherChant'' is very fond of these, and his friend the Goddess isn't above half-truths either,
* Creator/AgathaChristie liked to use this trope in her works. The most famous example might be ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', which features ten individuals who have all had a hand in killing someone. Technically speaking, they're not guilty of actual murder -- they didn't shoot or poison their victims -- but their actions did lead to their eventual deaths, which leads a mysterious murderer to administer a twisted form of law on them:
** Anthony Marston, a young, carefree, attractive man, ran over two children in his car. He's the only member of the group who actually directly killed an individual, though he did so unknowingly; the murderer kills him first because Marston himself isn't haunted by guilt, and the killer [[CriminalMindGames wants the victims to squirm]].
** Thomas and Ethel Rogers were the caretakers of an elderly woman and just so happened to be out of the house one night when she badly needed medicine; she died because they didn't reach her in time.
** General [=MacArthur=] discovered that his wife was having an affair with a soldier under his command; he sent the young man on a suicide mission, knowing there was virtually no chance of his surviving.
** Emily Brent, a strictly Christian woman, kicked her young maid Beatrice out of the house when she discovered that the girl had become pregnant; the desperate Beatrice drowned herself.
** Justice Wargrave sentenced a man to death without getting as full a picture of the evidence as possible.
** Dr. Armstrong operated a patient while drunk, knowing full well that he wasn't able to perform surgery properly but doing so anyway.
** Blore, a police officer, gave false testimony in exchange for a promotion; the innocent man he sent to prison died not long after being incarcerated.
** Philip Lombard abandoned a tribe of natives he was traveling with while working in Africa; like Marston, he admits his culpability, but he technically didn't ''kill'' anyone.
** Vera Claythorne, originally a governess to the half-brother of the man she loved, allowed the child to swim out to a rock in the ocean, knowing full well that he wasn't strong enough to resist the undertow.
** [[spoiler:The real tenth death turns out to be Isaac Morris, an AmoralAttorney who was used by the killer to make the necessary arrangements for the murder plot. Morris introduced a young woman to drugs, which led to addiction and eventual suicide.]]
** Additionally, the killer follows an IronicNurseryTune in the methods they use to off the others, but some of their methods only very loosely correspond to the poem's lines: for example, to fulfill the "a bumblebee stung one" line, they used a cyanide-filled syringe to "sting" someone to death.
* ''Literature/{{Circleverse}}'': In ''Literature/TheWillOfTheEmpress'', when Briar Moss is asked how he managed to locate his foster sister, his answer is "I forgot. I have a terrible memory for secrets I don't wish to tell."
* In Vivian Vande Velde's ''The Conjurer Princess'', the morally questionable wizard whose talent is seeing the future tells one of the adventurers that if they go on a quest, he had better be prepared to die. Said character walks out of the party but later returns for a BigDamnHeroes moment -- and is captured, put on his knees in front of an executioner... and ducks away at the last second. Prepared to die, indeed. [[spoiler: Extra half-truth bonus points because it was the ''other'' adventurer who died on the quest.]]
* In a novel by Creator/AlbertECowdrey, a megalomaniacal criminal wants revenge on the human race for his imprisonment. Before he's allowed out of prison, he's asked a few questions, and there's a machine that can tell whether he's telling the truth or not. When asked if he regrets his behavior, he says yes (meaning he regrets that his mistakes got him caught). When asked if he wants to harm anyone or something like that, he says "I do not wish to harm any human individual."
* In Kylie Chan's ''Literature/DarkHeavens'' series, Mr. Chen is a wealthy Hong Kong businessman. When asked the source of his wealth, he prefers to reply that he does some martial arts training and various circumstances for the government, as well as some fieldwork before his daughter is born. If he's asked whether he means the Hong Kong or continental Chinese government, he says "above either," generally taken to mean he's with the UN. Inevitably, people assume he's a spy, and to THAT question he says he can't discuss it. In fact, he's a god in the CelestialBureaucracy and being, amongst other things, the god of martial arts, he spends a lot of time teaching it to other gods.
* In Taylor Anderson's ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}: Distant Thunders'', several [[CatFolk Lemurian]] marines take their traitorous former king ashore. When they return, the marine in charge of the group swears to [[NumberTwo Jim Ellis]] that they left the king all their spears and provisions, claiming that he should survive for some time. He also swears that the king will not die by their hands. What he omits is that the spears were used to pin the king's arms and legs to a tree, and his belly was sliced to allow his entrails to be pulled out and hung on the branches to attract predators. The food was also left for this purpose. To be fair, the king deserved this.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/SmallGods'', Vorbis explains to Brutha that the claim that the Omnian priest sent to convert the Ephebians was killed by these ungodly savages represents a "deeper truth". According to Vorbis, this is ''much truer'' than the mundane truth, that the Ephebians listened, threw vegetables, then sent him away, and he was killed by the Quisition as an excuse to start a holy war. Of course, Vorbis is a practitioner of DoubleThink, so this trope is nothing to him.
** In ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky'', "never lie, but don't always tell the truth" is among the pieces of advice Miss Tick gives Tiffany.
** ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'': "Upon my oath, I am not a dishonest/violent man." [[spoiler:Kind of hard to be a violent or dishonest man when you're actually a woman.]]
** ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'': "No monk here knows [[FantasticFightingStyle deja-fu!]] I'd soon hear about it if they did." This is true. [[spoiler:None of the Time Monks know how to use time itself as a weapon in martial arts. The smiling old man who's always sweeping in odd corners, however, is not a Time Monk...]]
** Carrot does this surprisingly frequently when negotiating with hostile characters. However, he has never (as far as anyone can prove) told a direct lie. In fact, he has a tendency to use the truth as a weapon. Both he and Angua have told someone impeding their progress that unless the person stands down, they'll be forced to carry out the orders they were given regarding resistance and that they'll regret it terribly if they do, but they won't have any choice. In the circumstances, an implied threat is very clear -- ShameIfSomethingHappened. However, the orders on both occasions were "leave the offending party alone, and see if you can find a workaround in this morass." The people they're sort-of threatening never notice.
--->''Sergeant Colon was lost in admiration. He'd seen people bluff on a bad hand, but he'd never seen anyone bluff with no cards.''
** The witches at the end of ''Literature/WyrdSisters'' are quite clear in their own minds that they've told everyone the truth; Tomjon and the Fool are half-brothers, and Verence is the older. If people want to assume [[spoiler:that Verence is therefore the illegitimate son of the King and Mrs Fool, and entitled to claim the throne if Tomjon doesn't want it, rather than Tomjon being the illegitimate son of the elder Fool and the Queen, that's their problem]].
** "If the Hogfather does not return, then the sun will not rise tomorrow." No, instead a sphere of burning gas would. [[spoiler:Although while Susan thinks this trope is in effect Death reveals that something much worse would happen.]]
** Vimes uses this in ''Literature/FeetOfClay'' when some arsenic is planted in his desk along with whiskey to frame him as a poisoner; he has the presence of mind to pour out the whiskey instead of drinking it, give the arsenic to the Watch alchemist, and swap it for some sugar when he does the FingertipDrugAnalysis in front of Lord Downey, then say that it's a dangerous substance in an INeverSaidItWasPoison gambit. When it's revealed to be sugar, Lord Downey yells "You said it was dangerous!" Vimes says "Right. Eat too much of it and see what it does to your teeth!"
* One damned soul in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' asks Dante if he will clear the ice from his eyes after he tells his story. Dante responds that if he doesn't, may he "go to the bottom of the ice". As it turns out, the entrance to Purgatory is reached by traveling below the ice...
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' series, AntiHero Vlad Taltos is a mob boss required to testify "under the orb" (that is, under magical lie detection) when a neighboring boss disappears. Among other applications of this trope, Vlad tells the prosecutors, "As far as I'm concerned, he committed suicide." [[spoiler:Treating Vlad the way he did, he brought his murder on himself]].
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** Faeries cannot lie. Dresden notes, and tells one to its face, that the fact that they can't lie in no way has hampered their ability to deceive. In fact the inability to lie means most of them are very skilled at being subtly misleading.
** Colin Murphy has a field day with this trope in ''Literature/GhostStory'', luring Dresden into doing a job for him by claiming that three of his close friends and associates will die if he doesn't, and they are in great danger. It turns out that all mortals tend to die sooner or later, no matter what wizards do (and his friends with their ChronicHeroSyndrome are [[InHarmsWay in danger anyway]]), and that Murphy's boss (who is an Archangel and can extinguish galaxies with an errant thought) is less than pleased at being drawn into the deception by proxy, though he's also somewhat reluctantly impressed.
* In Frank Herbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', Baron Harkonnen suborned the Suk doctor Yueh by taking his wife, Wanna, hostage, and torturing her. If Yueh betrayed Duke Leto, the Baron promised him that "I'd free her from the agony and permit you to join her." Subverted in that, as the Baron reveals that he's already killed Wanna and has Yueh killed as well, the doctor tells him "You think I did not know what I bought for my Wanna." [[spoiler: Yueh had already taken the opportunity to implant a poison gas pellet in Leto's tooth and instructed Leto to use it to [[TakingYouWithMe assassinate the Baron]]. The Baron survives, but his [[TheDragon Mentat]] isn't so lucky.]]
* In the ''Literature/{{Flashman}}'' novel ''Royal Flash'' Flashman swears that he will let a {{mook|s}} who has tried to kill him go, if he tells him what he wants to know. The mook tells and Flashman lets him go ... over a cliff and into a chasm. [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo He said he would let him go!]]
* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'':
** In ''Literature/TheHuntersBladesTrilogy'', the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orc King Obould Many-Arrows]] convinces his race's patron god Gruumsh, ChaoticEvil god of destruction and slaughter, to make him into a Chosen by promising he will use that divine power to lead orcs to a position of unparalleled power and respect. Gruumsh eagerly complies... only to find out afterward that Obould is a VisionaryVillain. That position of unparalleled power and respect is real, but it's not the all-conquering horde that Gruumsh had envisioned; it's founding the first-ever legitimate orc kingdom, forcing the other races to respect orcs as having their own sovereign rights, rather than being vermin to burn out whenever they grow too annoying.
** In ''The Knights of Samular'' by Elaine Cunningham, [[KnightTemplar Renwick Caradoon]] used such tricks to twist the Abyss out of [[DealWithTheDevil his contract]] with an incubus lord and -- after this bright idea went bad anyway and he needed help -- fool already suspicious Blackstaff (which may be more impressive).
--->''"A prideful wizard, a summoning went awry," Renwick said, genuine sorrow and regret painting his tones. "But before her death, my niece gave me the means to banish the demon."\\
Khelben gave him a searching look, and Renwick felt the subtle tug of truth-test magic. It slid off him easily; few spells recognized a lie fashioned by placing two truths next to each other. Let Khelben think Nimra was the prideful wizard who had summoned the demon.''
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Dumbledore throughout the series. In ''Order of the Phoenix'' this is justified since he fears Voldemort may be able to listen in on Harry's thoughts.
** Sirius Black has his moment as well. When he finally gets a chance to talk to Harry, instead of telling him straight away that he's innocent, he says he killed Harry's parents, for no other reason than that he feels guilty for their deaths. Actually, all he did was insist on making Peter the Secret Keeper. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This backfires.]]
** Lord Voldemort tells Harry that his {{Muggle|s}} father abandoned his witch mother because he found out she was magical. While this is technically true, Voldemort neglects to mention (or is unaware of the fact) that [[spoiler:the only reason his father was attracted to his mother was that she used a love potion to brainwash into marrying her and rape him. He ran off after she stopped drugging him with it in hopes that he would actually fall in love with her or at least stay for the child]].
* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has the elves, who, as Brom says, are masters of saying one thing but meaning another. They are able to do this because speaking in the ancient language prohibits one from lying, though they can still say something that they believe to be true. [[TheHero Eragon]] uses this technique at one point in an attempt to conceal his actual feelings regarding [[OurElvesAreDifferent Arya]].
* ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'':
** Tatsuya does not consider himself part of the Yotsuba clan. He's directly descended from them (in a society where SuperpowerfulGenetics are ''very'' important), and he [[MadeASlave does a lot of work under duress]] for them, but emotionally [[IHaveNoSon he is disowned]] and very happy to be that way. So when Mayumi notices Tatsuya's strong magic and asks if he's from a clan, he answers convincingly that he isn't...and apparently believes it to be true himself.
** Maya did not give birth to Tatsuya, but she considers herself his mother because [[spoiler:he was born to fulfil her prayers for a child who could get revenge on the world]] ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe]]) and their magics are similar. (It isn't an example of FamilyOfChoice, either- she was complicit in abusing him and hasn't spoken to him in at least a decade.) This is because Maya is insane, as Tatsuya- [[{{Hypocrite}} of all people]]- lampshades.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': After snatching his SpellBook away from his {{muggle|s}} apartment mate and needing a mundane explanation, Eric says, “After high school, I had the acting role of a mage in a mercantile company. My roommate sent me this when I lost it.” This sentence is absolutely true, but it implies that he went directly to this company after high school instead of years afterward and only joined at a high school age due to a FountainOfYouth effect, as well implying that it was an acting/theater company that had a mercantile attitude instead of being a literal [[HiredGuns mercenary]] company with a mercantile attitude.
* Schmendrick the Magician in ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn''. As the narrator puts it, he's not lying, just arranging events in a more logical way.
* In the ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' stories, it is a vital plot point that humanity (and the other allied races of civilization) be LockedOutOfTheLoop, because of the [[HeroicBSOD consequences of realizing the truth]]. Even so, Mentor of Arisia goes to extraordinary lengths to keep Kim Kinnison from learning the truth without openly lying to him, right up to and including [[spoiler:altering Kinnison's perception of what species Fossten is]]. Causing endless problems in fandom, as Smith admits to in his essay ''The Epic of Space''.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** This comes up several times, mostly to do with how the Men of Rohan and Gondor have muddled ideas about Lothlórien and Fangorn from the fact that their legend describes them as "perilous" and "dangerous". As Gandalf explains, [[GoodIsNotNice both those things are true]], but that doesn't make them ''malevolent''.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' contains a summary of the events of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' at the end, and states that Frodo destroyed the One Ring. This is not exactly accurate, as the Ring is destroyed more or less by accident after Frodo succumbs to the Ring and fails to destroy it. That being said, Frodo still deserves credit for getting the Ring to the spot where it can be destroyed, and Word of God has stated that no one has enough willpower to willingly destroy the Ring regardless.
* In the ''Mageworld'' novel ''Literature/ThePriceOfTheStars'', the enigmatic old man that answered to 'Professor' pretty much lived on the trope. For example, when the Adept Llannatt Hyfid asked him if he knew the hidden asteroid base he operated out of was Magebuilt he responded "I did, Mistress. But that was long ago... five centuries and more," leaving those present who were not aware that he was himself a renegade Magelord and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld far older than he looked]] to draw their own conclusions.
* The ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'':
** Drona is convinced to lay down his weapons after hearing that his son, Ashwatama, is dead. Before doing so, he asks Yudhishtara, who notably cannot tell a lie, if this is true. Yudhishthira replies, "Yes, Ashwatama [[spoiler: the elephant]] is dead" -- with the keywords muttered under his breath. You see, [[spoiler: the son was still alive, but the Pandavas had killed an elephant with the same name.]] Before the start of the battle, the Pandavas proposed a number of rules, on which both armies agreed, that would ensure that everyone fought honorably. About every single rule is broken within the first days of battle by the heroes of both sides.
** In the Menon translation, Prince Bhima utilizes this trope when going undercover. Someone remarks suspiciously that Bhima doesn't ''[[HeroicBuild look]]'' like a cook, and Bhima replies that he can cook many dishes. This is true, but there's a great difference between being ''able'' to cook and being ''a'' cook.
* {{Inverted|Trope}} in the Creator/AnnLeckie story [[https://www.annleckie.com/2016/03/21/short-fiction-marsh-gods/ "Marsh Gods"]]. {{Physical God}}s CannotTellALie, but one god ''can'' manipulate people into adopting a secret system of slang so that when it's put to a GodTest by outsiders, it can fail by making putatively untrue statements like "I eat 'gravel' for breakfast!"
* ''Middle School Blues'':
** This young adult novel contains a [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] example of this trope. The set-up is this: Cindy's friend Jeff has run away from home, Cindy thinks she knows where he is, but she doesn't want to tell anyone because she doesn't want to raise his parents' hopes if she's wrong. She decides that she has to check it out for herself. Cindy goes to investigate, after telling her parents that another friend, Becca, asked Cindy to spend the day at her house. When she's caught, her parents accuse her of lying about going to Becca's house. Cindy insists that she didn't lie, she had been asked to spend the day at Becca's, and she never said that she was going there. Her parents are distinctly not amused by this, and explain that being deliberately misleading is no different from lying.
** Cindy herself is on the receiving end of this when she goes back to school the next day to find the AlphaBitch telling everyone that Cindy ran away to be with Jeff...
* In Holly Black's ''Literature/ModernFaerieTales'', pixie Kaye invokes this to fulfill a quest to find a faerie who could lie, which is impossible. She succeeds by claiming SHE can lie. [[spoiler:She can lie... on the ground.]]
* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' the names of the Ministries (Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Love, Ministry of Plenty, Ministry of Peace) can be perfectly true from The Party's point of view, rather than ironic. Minitru doesn't falsify or lie, it corrects the past to show the new truth, which having been corrected has now always been the truth; Minipax maintains ''internal'' peace by continually waging ''external'' war; the goal of Miniluv is for everyone to love Big Brother and The Party via HappinessIsMandatory; and Miniplenty is in control of Oceania's economy, which appears to actually be very strong but is directed almost solely towards creating weapons and large public gestures which do not actually improve the lives of the population but keep their minds occupied.
* The Creator/JohnDicksonCarr novel ''The Nine Wrong Answers'' has authorial footnotes that use this trope to an almost gleeful extent, to the point that the final one points out that at no time did previous footnotes ''technically'' lie about niceties like [[spoiler:whether a man who was poisoned actually died, and whether a man really was who he was claiming he was]]. (Although some critics maintain that Carr slipped in a few places and really ''did'' make the "incorrect" claims.)
* In ''Literature/TheOverstory'', Olivia tries to sound more impressive to a boyfriend by saying that her father is a human rights lawyer (he is actually an intellectual property lawyer). Olivia notes that what she said is ''sort of'' true.
* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', Padraic, an ancient [[TheFairFolk Faerie]], specializes in this due to [[CannotTellALie not being able to lie]], telling vague truths out of context when he cannot rely upon ExactWords.
-->'''Padraic''': An accomplished liar remembers his lies. I cannot, of course, lie, but I do tell half-truths, and a half-truth could be said to be half a lie.
** Since practitioners lose their powers if they lie or break a promise, this is true of nearly every character in Pact. It's often weaponized, both to fool people, and by deliberately challenging what someone has said, sometimes leading to duels over bending the truth. For example, Duncan Behaim told Blake that he could keep him in the police station until midnight. Blake manages to leap out a window, thus making Duncan a liar... except that he'd bled quite a bit beforehand, so technically some of Blake was still inside the station.
** Many practitioner societies keep one or more people on hand who never Awaken, purely so that they can lie to others.
* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'', Penny's mother is a LivingLieDetector with analysis abilities that make Sherlock Holmes look like a chump. Penny hides stuff from her either by letting her make her own assumptions, telling her things that are completely true but missing some key details ("I was out with my friends," not "I was out with my friends robbing a bank"), and pretending to hide embarrassing things so she won't ask more questions (during the climax, her plan if she gets caught sneaking out is to [[ConfessToALesserCrime "admit" she was on a date]]).
* A character in Sherwood Smith's ''A Posse of Princesses'' defends himself with this after revealing a major deception, but the protagonist will have none of it:
-->'''Rhis:''' He can explain all he wants about how everything he said was strictly true, but it only works if you know the real truth.
* The ''Literature/PrincipiaDiscordia'' either plays this straight or subverts it depending on your own point of view, in this exchange in an interview with UsefulNotes/{{Discordianism}}'s founder, Malaclypse the Younger (Mal-2):
-->'''Interviewer:''' Is Eris true?\\
'''Mal-2:''' Everything is true.\\
'''Interviewer:''' Even false things?\\
'''Mal-2:''' Even false things are true.\\
'''Interviewer:''' How can that be?\\
'''Mal-2:''' I don't know man, I didn't do it.
* In ''The Legend of Luke'' from the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' series, Vilu Daskar (evil pirate captain) promises to let some of the prisoners free if they tell him where treasure is, neglecting to mention that the last time he made this promise, he set them free by tying weights to them and throwing them overboard. [[spoiler:Fortunately, the heroes don't fall for it, and the whole treasure story was just a plan to trick Vilu Daskar anyway.]]
* In ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' novel ''Prince of the Blood'', [[TricksterMentor Nakor]] pulls this after being threatened with a death sentence for possessing a red-and-gold speckled falcon. Said falcon is the symbol of the royal family of the land of Kesh, nearly extinct and held with the same regard as a sacred cow. Nakor explains himself by claiming that he was the falcon's transport/bodyguard and he was merely aiding the bird's quest to visit the Empress on her birthday and repopulate the royal mews, which at that point had been reduced to three female falcons.
* ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'': Merlin uses these quite a lot to maintain the {{Masquerade}} without actually lying (since he will need to tell everyone the truth eventually). For example, he frequently says that he lived in the Mountains of Light for many years, neglecting to mention that he was a robot powered down in a hidden cave under the mountains for that period. Another one is when introducing the concept of Arabic numerals, he says that they were taught to him by "a wise woman" (presumably Nimue's elementary school teacher).

* ''Literature/ScavengeTheStars'': When Amaya asks her EvilMentor Boon if he was responsible for killing her father Aran Chandra, Boon responds by stating that "he guess he did". [[spoiler:It's revealed later that Boon is Aran and that he had metaphorically killed himself]].
* ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'':
** The Druids are well known for only telling the heroes they recruit exactly as much as they think the heroes need to know and no more. Allanon, the Druid who started this tradition, justified it with the fact that his father gave a full briefing about the Sword of Shannara to Jerle Shannara, who then failed to properly wield it to defeat the Warlock Lord. The incomplete briefing he gave to Shea 500 years later allowed Shea to win.
** Also done in the second book of the series, ''Elfstones of Shannara'', in a very sympathetic way. The dying King Eventine Elessidil asks his son about Amberle, his beloved granddaughter, who he has learned has just returned from her quest with Wil Ohmsford to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. His son hesitates, then tells his father, "She's safe. Resting." [[spoiler:While this isn't exactly a lie, she's actually been turned into a ''tree''.]] The old king, relieved, is able to die peacefully.
* In ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' Clarice Starling tells Dr. Hannibal Lecter that her father was a marshal. Later on, when she is recounting to him how the man died, Lecter catches enough clues to easily deduce that the man had actually been a night watchman. Starling's defense is that the official job description had read "night marshal".
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** In Karen Traviss' ''[[Literature/RepublicCommandoSeries Republic Commando]]'' series, Walon Vau exploits this trope to lie convincingly to a Jedi, telling him that Kal Skirata was not working for "the enemy"... but referring to a different enemy than the one the Jedi was asking about.
** Deliberately played with in ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}''; Mace keeps coming up with crazy plans, and is generally direct and honest with everyone. The standardized response to his plans is "Are you ''crazy''?" [[spoiler:However, it turns out that the mysterious tape his former apprentice and daughter-figure sent him pretending to be going mad and/or at risk of joining the Dark Side was deliberately intended to lure him to the planet. Ironically, she ''does'' actually fall.]]
** At one point in Literature/NewJediOrder, Wedge Antilles employs this to scare away some {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s, saying that Rogue Squadron has spotted a [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] fighter in orbit, possibly a scout, and the planet will be a war zone soon. After the meeting, Rogue Leader Gavin Darklighter is confused because he hasn't heard any of this, and Wedge replies that the Rogues ''did'' spot a ship (several hours ago and it was just a shattered husk from an earlier battle), that type of fighter ''is'' often used as a scout, and the Vong ''will'' be coming sooner or later.
-->'''Gavin:''' Sir, how you can be so deceptive without actually lying is beyond me.
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' author Stephanie Meyer (in)famously claimed that vampires are unable to reproduce. When Bella later got knocked up, she went back and used weasel words to try and claim she actually meant that only ''female'' vampires can't have kids all along (evidently by claiming an obscure definition of "have").
* In David Weber's ''[[Literature/TheWarGods War Gods]]'' series, [[RebelliousPrincess Lady Leeana]] asks her mother for permission to go riding. The mother wants to make sure that Leeana is planning on taking her guards along, and Leeana assures her mother that she knows that she won't be able to go riding unless her bodyguard goes riding too. [[spoiler: She's planning to run away from home, and she knows that unless she gets rid of her bodyguard by sending him out riding on a long errand, he'll try to stop her.]]
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** Fireheart and Graystripe are caught coming back onto [=ThunderClan=] territory after sneaking away to check on [=RiverClan=] (who are suffering because the river is flooded). When asked to explain themselves, they claim that they wanted to see how far the floods went, which was true, but not the whole truth.
** ''The Ultimate Guide'', which was written by an author particularly sympathetic to Ashfur, omits his betrayal and attempted murder of Firestar (attempting to frame Brambleclaw in the process) by saying that he "was not a friend of Firestar".
* In Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' the Aes Sedai tried to get people to trust them by swearing an unbreakable oath to "Speak no word that is not true." It prevents them from directly lying, but because they think they have OmniscientMoralityLicense, they become {{Literal Genie}}s prone to FalseReassurance. People have long grown weary of their games and warn each other, "The truth they speak may not be the truth you think you hear." At least one character notes that their honesty oath has ultimately given them a reputation for ''dishonesty''. However, when an Aes Sedai speaks very plainly, you can usually depend on it being the truth, at least as far as she understands it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' reveals how the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse version of Nick Fury lost his eye. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', Fury tells Captain America that he lost his eye to someone he trusted, but [[spoiler: he actually lost it to an alien cat that he adored (and was trusting not to eat him), making his earlier statement this]].
* In the non-canon ''Manga/CaseClosed'' movie ''Shinichi Kudo Returns! Showdown with the Black Organization'', Ran sees Ai Haibara hugging Shinichi (both temporarily at their normal ages) and becomes suspicious and jealous. To calm her down, Ai gives a fake name and claims that she'd hired Shinichi to help her with some dangerous men who were trying to get revenge on her for something, and that she was hugging him out of fear. Technically that's true - she was being pursued by Gin and Vodka, both of them wanted revenge on her for escaping them, Shinichi was helping save her from them, and she really ''had'' been hugging him out of fear.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' it's revealed that the cover story of the events at the end of the previous film has it that Batman killed Harvey Dent. This is actually true, Harvey Dent died from a fall after Batman shoved him off a roof, but it leaves out the important part: he did so because Harvey/Two-Face was about to kill Commissioner Gordon's son.
* At the end of ''Film/FortApache'' reporters are interviewing now Colonel York about the upcoming military campaign and mention the painting in Washington of the previous CO's, Thursday, charge against the Apaches. York replies that the description the reporter gives is correct in every detail. The obvious inference is that the painting is an accurate description of the battle, which the viewer already knows is untrue, and York is lying to the reporter. However, it could be taken to be his commenting on the reporter's description of the painting, which is accurate.
* In ''Film/InsideMan'', Dalton Russel's opening monologue is phrased so that it sounds like his bank robbery failed and he is in jail. However, he warns the listener, "Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself." And at the very end of the movie, we find out that Dalton has actually spent the last three days imprisoned inside the bank's inner walls as part of his scheme, and the scheme itself comes off perfectly.
* ''Film/{{Kinsey}}'': He was filming animals to make a visual record of mammalian behavior. He never said which mammal species he was focusing on (''Homo sapiens'', as it turned out).
* The protagonist of ''Film/LiarLiar'' is cursed to always tell the truth for 24 hours (while being the defending lawyer in a case he can't win without lying). He tries to get around this and postpone the trial by beating himself up in the bathroom, and then being as vague as possible (without lying) when asked who did it. Oddly, this is the only time in the film that he manages to do this; every other time, he blurts out the whole, unedited truth, and even twice is compelled to add "figuratively speaking" to his description of his boss as a worthless, steaming pile of cow dung.
--> '''The Judge:''' Who did this?\\
'''Fletcher:''' [[SelfDeprecation A madman, your honor! A desperate fool at the end of his pitiful rope!]]\\
'''Judge:''' What did he look like?\\
'''Fletcher:''' About 6'2", 180lbs. big teeth, kinda gangly.
* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', Morpheus nearly loses his faith in the Oracle because she is unable to help him see past what ''he'' believes will end the Man/Machine war by the concluding movie, ''The Matrix Revolutions''. It is only for [[TheChosenOne The One]] to know what must be done in the matter of prophecy through a bit of ProphecyTwist and some FridgeBrilliance by the audience, later.
* In Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress1974'', everything [[spoiler:Princess Natalia Dragomiroff]] says to Hercule Poirot. They had to lie to throw him off the trail, but honor dictated they couldn't do it outright so they "merely" gave the nearest equivalent answer. For example; Mr. Whitehead became Mr. Snowpeak.
* In ''Film/TheNorthAndTheSouth'', when Orry and George are in a tavern having a beer, the bartender suggests they sit back-to-back so if someone asks the if they'd seen one another drinking, they could say they had not.
* In ''Film/ThePhenixCityStory'', it is argued InUniverse that a grand jury finding that there is no gambling in Phenix City could be construed this way--after all, it's only gambling if the player has a chance of winning, and the games in Phenix City are so heavily rigged that there isn't.
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'':
** In the [[Film/SawI first film]], Lawrence says that newspapers dubbing the Jigsaw Killer as such is inaccurate, because technically speaking, he never killed anyone directly; he just puts them in situations where death is very likely. The point is really moot, as almost any jurisdiction would consider putting someone in such a situation to be murder, combined with other possible crimes like kidnapping. ''Film/SawII'' does at least have the {{Jerkass}} detective Eric call Jigsaw out on this defense: "putting a gun to someone's head and forcing them to pull the trigger is still murder." Plus, that ignores one of the flashbacks to Lawrence's explanation of Jigsaw, in which the latter lures Sing into a booby trap, resulting in his death; this was in turn preceded by a very straightforward attempt to murder Tapp by slashing his throat.
** In ''Saw II'', like Lawrence, Amanda states that Jigsaw is not a killer for the same reasons, though this is pretty much a {{Foreshadowing}} to her being his apprentice, which is revealed at the end of the film.
* Used in several of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' films, mostly by Spock.
** The later instances are call-backs to the first, from ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', where Spock informs Captain Kirk by communicator that "going by the book, like Lieutenant Saavik, hours would seem like days" before reporting that the ''Enterprise'' would need two days to have secondary power restored... "By the book, Admiral." After Kirk's away team gets stranded on Regula I by Khan:
--->'''Kirk:''' ''[opening communicator]'' Kirk to Spock, it's two hours, are you ready?\\
'''Spock:''' Right on schedule, Admiral.\\
''[soon, on the ''Enterprise'']''\\
'''Saavik:''' I don't understand. We were immobilized. Captain Spock said it would be two days.\\
'''Kirk:''' Come, come, Lieutenant. You of all people go by the book: "If communications are being monitored during battle..."\\
'''Saavik:''' "...no uncoded messages on an open channel." ''[turns to Spock, astonished]'' You ''lied''.\\
'''Spock:''' I exaggerated.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] repeatedly in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', for example:
--->'''Spock:''' Mr. Scott, I understand you are having difficulties with the warp drive? How much time do you require for repair?\\
'''Scotty:''' There's nothing wrong with the bloody th--\\
'''Spock:''' Mr. Scott, if we return to spacedock, then the assassins will surely find a way to dispose of their incriminating footwear, and we will never see the Captain, or Dr. [=McCoy=], alive again.\\
'''Scotty:''' Could take weeks, sir.\\
'''Spock:''' Thank you, Mr. Scott.\\
'''Valeris:''' A lie?\\
'''Spock:''' An error.
** This one, though, eventually comes back to bite Spock in the hinder:
--->'''Kirk:''' I want the names of the conspirators.\\
'''[[spoiler:Valeris]]:''' I do not... remember.\\
'''Spock:''' A lie?\\
''' [[spoiler:Valeris]]:''' ...A ''choice''.
** Played with in ''Film/StarTrek2009'', when [[spoiler:Spock Prime meets his young counterpart, after telling the young Kirk not to mention him because of NeverTheSelvesShallMeet]].
--->'''Spock:''' You lied.\\
'''[[spoiler:Spock Prime]]:''' I implied.
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' continues with Spock's mastery of this; needless to say, playing poker against a Vulcan is only slightly smarter than picking a fight with one.
*** [[RunningGag Given a further nod]] when Spock and Kirk are being dressed down by Admiral Pike. When Spock cites his LoopholeAbuse, Pike angrily dismisses it as a technicality. Spock counters that, "I am Vulcan, sir. We embrace technicality."
*** [[spoiler:Khan]] has the ''Enterprise'' at his mercy and wants his crew, who he had hidden in torpedoes before the film, back; Spock informs him that "Vulcans do not lie. The torpedoes are yours." [[spoiler:Khan]] accepts this and beams the torpedoes aboard his ship. [[spoiler: Spock did not mention that he had already had Khan's crew of Augments removed from the torpedoes, and that the torpedoes were armed and seconds away from detonating.]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Obi-Wan tells Luke that the statement "Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father" is, indeed, true "[[ThatManIsDead from a certain point of view]]." This is a {{Retcon}}, but it's a [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools pretty good]] {{Retcon}}. It's true that Vader killed loads of Jedi and other innocent people, including very young children, it's true that Obi-Wan feels betrayed and horrified and hates what Anakin became for it, and it's believable that the old man wouldn't want to immediately tell Luke that his dad is actually an evil Sith Lord who killed his mother and is the main enforcer of the despotic regime that Luke hates (for Luke's sake, if for no other reason). Further helping things is that Sir Alec Guinness' acting in ''Film/ANewHope'' ends up coming off, likely through sheer luck, like Obi-Wan isn't being entirely truthful with Luke; in particular, take notice of how he [[HesitationEqualsDishonesty briefly hesitates]] when Luke asks what happened to his father. You can practically see him asking himself what would be the best thing for him to say. That hesitation is amazingly lucky for the {{Retcon}}.[[note]]It was originally intended that Obi-Wan ''was'' telling the whole truth -- in the first draft of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', written by Creator/LeighBrackett, Luke's father even appears as a Force ghost. Creator/GeorgeLucas introduced the twist in the second draft, which he wrote after Brackett's death, as a way of improving character motivations. So what Kenobi told Luke was true, [[StealthPun ''WHEN'' he told it to him]].[[/note]]
** Incidentally, Luke learns to use this metaphorical truth later on to guilt trip Vader in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' when the former allows himself to be captured. During their confrontation, it's clear Luke is getting under Vader's skin and the latter admits Luke essentially has points but says he doesn't have much of a choice in following Palpatine. As a sort of last low blow before he's taken away, Luke is clearly disappointed in him and tells him "then my father is truly dead". It's not clear whether this means Luke came around to Obi-Wan's perspective of it, at least for that moment, or that it was just to burn Vader one more time. Either way, it works, and Vader is clearly shaken and hurt that his son would tell him his "father" -- not just "Anakin" -- is truly dead.
** While this looks weaselly, it does fit later hints that the Jedi see the Sith as something like the walking dead, former people who've been turned into monsters by the Dark Side. Mace Windu says "which was ''destroyed'', the master or the apprentice?" -- not, say, ''slain''. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon referred to Darth Maul as "[[ItIsDehumanizing it]]", while Yoda later warns Obi-Wan that Anakin is "gone" and has been "consumed" by Darth Vader -- a line probably written for the purpose of bolstering the point-of-view of Obi-Wan's original statement to Luke. Even more so, throughout the final fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin, you can see Obi-Wan constantly trying to reach his friend and former apprentice and bring him back to his senses. It's only by the end of the fight where he seems to come to the conclusion that his friend is no more. It's likely the same train of thought Luke had in the above capture scene later on.
** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' further supports this idea, with Kylo Ren [[ThatManIsDead saying that he destroyed his former identity.]][[note]]Strictly speaking Kylo isn't a Sith; he's deliberately invoking this trope as part of his Darth Vader obsession.[[/note]]
*** Darth Vader himself says the same thing [[BrokenPedestal to his former apprentice]] in the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' episode "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E20TwilightOfTheApprenticePartII Twilight of the Apprentice, Part II]]".
---->'''Vader:''' Anakin Skywalker was weak. [[ThatManIsDead I destroyed him]].\\
'''Ahsoka:''' Then I will avenge his death!
** And reinforced in ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' where, when Kenobi addresses Darth Vader as Anakin and apologizes for what he has done, Vader replies that Anakin is dead, and that Darth Vader killed him, not Kenobi.
** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', after Anakin stands up in the Vader suit for the first time, his first question to Sidious is "Where's Padmé?", having last seen her unconscious after force-choking her. Sidious replies that in his anger Anakin had killed her. This has the desired effect of driving Anakin to despair so that he will embrace the Dark Side more closely. It is, however ''technically'' true, insofar as Anakin's betrayal ultimately causes Padmé to lose the will to live, to say nothing of the aforementioned force choke -- something that Sidious was probably aware of.
*** According to the novelization it's literally true, and she died from internal damage caused by the choke; the droids that gave the "lost the will to live" explanation [[WesternAnimation/RobotChicken are just terrible doctors]].
*** The junior novel even has Sidious internally reflecting on this, taking pleasure in the fact that he won't [[ConsummateLiar even need to lie]] in order to break Vader's spirit.
---->'''Sidious''': And now for the final touch. The words that will forever bind him to the dark side. They won't even be a lie. Not really.
*** Anakin himself turns out to be not much better than Obi-Wan at this when he tries convincing Padmé over to his side, saying that the Jedi were taking over the Republic and that he saw Mace Windu try to assassinate the Chancellor. Conveniently leaving out the part about Palpatine being a Sith Lord who has been plotting to take over the galaxy. [[DragonWithAnAgenda He does, however, tell her that he plans to overthrow him so that they can rule the galaxy together themselves, and probably do a better job at it than Palpatine would.]]
** A second Obi-Wan example concerns R2-D2. When Luke says the R2 claims to belong to Obi-Wan he responds "I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid". This is technically correct since R2 was never actually his property but he leaves out the fact that he knows exactly who R2 is and who he does belong to.
** In one of the first lines in the entire saga, Raymus Antilles tells Vader that the ''Tantive IV'' did not intercept any transmissions of the stolen Death Star plans. Forty years later, we learn this to be technically true; in the final scene of ''Film/RogueOne'' (2016), [[spoiler:Leia receives the plans in a physical format. It also makes Vader's phrasing odd, since he was present at the time]]. However, Vader may have simply viewed it as a DistinctionWithoutADifference.
** When Yoda is dying, he tells Luke that "the last of the Jedi, you will be." However, in Legends there was plenty of other surviving Jedi. Some had fallen to the Dark side, such as [[VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII Jerec]], so they arguably no longer count as Jedi. However, other Jedi were merely in hiding. Some came out of hiding to help Luke reestablish the Jedi Order. In Canon, the statement is currently closer to the truth, as the only other known survivors of Order 66 alive at the time of ''Return of the Jedi'' are Ahsoka and a minor EU character named Naq Med, both of whom left the Jedi Order before Order 66, and [[spoiler:Grogu a.k.a. the Child]], who ''Series/TheMandalorian'' explains was a barely-trained youngling when it all went down.
** In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', Kylo Ren claims that part of the reason he turned to the Dark Side was that Luke tried to kill him in his sleep. When confronted about this, Luke admits that he almost did after already sensing the darkness within him, but stopped himself at the last minute. The problem was that Kylo had already woken up and saw him with his lightsaber still on, so he of course retaliated in self-defense. As far as they're all concerned, Kylo wasn't so much lying as he was [[RashomonStyle simply explaining what he saw through his own perspective]], and it's not like he would've been able to tell the difference.
** In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', Kylo Ren tells Rey her parents were nobodies, filthy junk traders who abandoned and sold her off for drinking money and died. In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', while he claims to have never lied to her, he also tells her [[spoiler: her parents chose to be junk-trader nobodies, in spite of having a background that implied otherwise, and abandoned her in order to protect her from being found by her ''grandfather'' who is very much a somebody. Selling her for drinking money was part of the cover they used to drop her off and throw off the assassin who was after her and they died keeping the truth from said assassin]]. To be fair, it's implied he didn't know that part anyway until [[spoiler: grandpappy Palpatine himself apparently told him]].
* Near the end of ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt'', Tina Turner is shown as reduced to a lounge act, implying this is what she's reduced to make ends meet and showing how far she fell before her big come back with the eponymous album. The film neglects to mention a RealLife detail: When this happened to the real Turner, it was her idea, to make sure people knew she hadn't retired or vanished since her infamously nasty split with Ike Turner.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Hippolyta's story about Ares is misleading but technically true if not taken at face value. [[spoiler:He does act as TheCorrupter to humanity, but the way the story was told to Diana made her think that he used supernatural means to influence them, when actually his methods are closer to giving people fire and watching them burn themselves and everything around them.]]
* Garry King from ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' almost entirely speaks in this and InsaneTrollLogic. He often makes plans in the loosest and most roundabout way, so that he never ''technically'' breaks them, and it's a running gag that he's "never wrong". Not "always right", "never wrong". It's futile to argue with the man sober, let alone drunk.
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Logan goes to Charles' school to find him, but he is greeted by Hank, who says that there are no professors in the place. Logan believes correctly that he is lying, as Charles eventually appears there. However, he is so broken and enraged that he doesn't resemble his usual self anymore. Hank reaffirms that there are no professors in the school.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

** In the [[Film/SawI first film]], Lawrence says that newspapers dubbing the Jigsaw Killer as such is inaccurate, because technically speaking, he never killed anyone directly; he just puts them in situations where death is very likely. The point is really moot, as almost any jurisdiction would consider putting someone in such a situation to be murder, combined with other possible crimes like kidnapping. ''Film/SawII'' does at least have the {{Jerkass}} detective Eric call Jigsaw out on this defense: "putting a gun to someone's head and forcing him to pull the trigger is still murder." Plus, that ignores one of the flashbacks to Lawrence's explanation of Jigsaw, in which the latter lures Sing into a booby trap, resulting in his death; this was in turn preceded by a very straightforward attempt to murder Tapp by slashing his throat.

'''Galadriel in shock:''' [[LittleNo]]... No, on the raft, you saved me.\\

'''Halbrand/[[spoiler:Sauron]]:''' You convinced her. I wanted to remain in Numenor.\\

* The Check text for the final boss of the [[KillEmAll Genocide run]] in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler:Sans, describes him as "the easiest enemy" who can only deal 1 point of damage and has 1 HP. While this is literally true, it greatly understates the problems his boss fight entails. For the former, Sans' attacks hit every frame, thereby bypassing MercyInvincibility, meaning that he hits for 1 damage ''thirty times per second'' and also applies a stacking DamageOverTime effect with every hit. For the latter, Sans is the only foe in the game who ''[[NonchalantDodge dodges your attacks]]''. All things combined, he is ''[[ThatOneBoss the]]'' single hardest boss in the game [[SNKBoss by a wide margin]]]].

* At the end of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'', when Sly defeats the BigBad, Clockwerk, his LastWords to Sly,''"Cooper! You will never be rid of me! Clockwerk is... Superior!!!"'', are mainly just that, until the [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves sequel]]. [[spoiler:Clockwerk, (well, his lifeless bodyframe piloted by a [[HijackedByCthullu hate-filled Neyla]]) ends up collapsing on Bentley and as a result, paralyzing him. Though the threat of Clockwerk is now gone after the destruction of the Hate Chip, Sly has to be reminded of him every time he looks at his friend, whose now confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.]] In the end, Clockwerk ends up being right: "You will ''never'' be rid of me!"

** Old Earth Creationists, (and adherents of other religions in regards to their religion's specific origin stories) attest that the story of Genesis and other Biblical tales can be interpreted this way. Science can disprove the phrase "God created the Universe in seven days six thousand years ago" in any literal sense, but there are numerous metaphorical interpretations of these stories that could make them true in a way.[[note]]For example, the phrase "let there be light" could be referring to the development of human sentience and presence of mind, as opposed to literally referring to light[[/note]] [[OlderThanTheyThink There is actually legitimate precedent for this view, as the Hebrew word used for "day" in the original language of Genesis does not necessarily refer to a literal 24-hour period, and could simply refer to any increment of time.]]

* Ozpin of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' falls back on this, though he's benevolent in his actions. Of course, this has lead to a ''lot'' of people getting hurt or killed because he refuses to reveal the entire truth. For instance, in the Volume 6 premiere, he warns the team of how powerful and dangerous the Relic of Knowledge is. He just never bothered to reveal ''how'' it's dangerous: [[spoiler:it attracts Grimm like a moth to a flame]]. This lack of exposition ended badly for the heroes.

* Similarly, Ozpin of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' also falls back on this, though he's a little more benevolent in his actions. Of course, this has lead to a ''lot'' of people getting hurt or killed because he refuses to reveal the entire truth. For instance, in the Volume 6 premiere, he warns the team of how powerful and dangerous the Relic of Knowledge is. He just never bothered to reveal ''how'' it's dangerous: [[spoiler:it attracts Grimm like a moth to a flame]]. This lack of exposition ended badly for the heroes.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy'' has this trope as [[spoiler:[[TheSociopath Felix's]]]] primary trait, having only admitted to lying once in the series[[note]]That the Reds and Blues were heroes.[[/note]]. It just goes to show how dark a villain who never lies can be. For instance, upon being picked up in a supposedly derelict dropship, he tells the crew that they won't find anyone else aboard. [[spoiler:Of course, [[InvisibilityCloak it doesn't mean they aren't there…]]]]

* ''[[Film/Pinocchio2022Disney Pinocchio]]'': While riding on the coach bound for Pleasure Island, Pinocchio asks the Coachman if he'll become a real boy there. He [[ForcedTransformation knowingly]] responds, "You won't be a puppet anymore, that's for sure."

This trope occurs when a statement is [[BlatantLies clearly false]] -- at least according to the most obvious meaning of the words -- but FromACertainPointOfView it could be considered true.[[note]]"[[Administrivia/RenamedTropes From a Certain Point of View]]" was the original Trope name.[[/note]] The justification for calling it 'true' generally hinges on a shaky technicality which most people would not consider valid (e.g. the statement "Japan conquered the world" is clearly false in any literal sense, but Japanese culture is very popular worldwide, which you could say is a form of conquering). One way to make this trope work is to play with the ExactWords, but particularly bad cases may require a PersonalDictionary or outright InsaneTrollLogic.

** The former {{Trope Namer|s}} is ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', wherein Obi-Wan tells Luke that the statement "Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father" is, indeed, true "[[ThatManIsDead from a certain point of view]]." This is a {{Retcon}}, but it's a [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools pretty good]] {{Retcon}}. It's true that Vader killed loads of Jedi and other innocent people, including very young children, it's true that Obi-Wan feels betrayed and horrified and hates what Anakin became for it, and it's believable that the old man wouldn't want to immediately tell Luke that his dad is actually an evil Sith Lord who killed his mother and is the main enforcer of the despotic regime that Luke hates (for Luke's sake, if for no other reason). Further helping things is that Sir Alec Guinness' acting in ''Film/ANewHope'' ends up coming off, likely through sheer luck, like Obi-Wan isn't being entirely truthful with Luke; in particular, take notice of how he [[HesitationEqualsDishonesty briefly hesitates]] when Luke asks what happened to his father. You can practically see him asking himself what would be the best thing for him to say. That hesitation is amazingly lucky for the {{Retcon}}.[[note]]It was originally intended that Obi-Wan ''was'' telling the whole truth -- in the first draft of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', written by Creator/LeighBrackett, Luke's father even appears as a Force ghost. Creator/GeorgeLucas introduced the twist in the second draft, which he wrote after Brackett's death, as a way of improving character motivations. So what Kenobi told Luke was true, [[StealthPun ''WHEN'' he told it to him]].[[/note]]

** The original trope name could just has easily been called Vulcan Truth instead of Jedi Truth. Vulcans are [[SarcasmMode always]] honest, except when they're deceiving, misleading, or flat out lying.

** While the Jedi Truth is an important plot point in the first game, [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords the second game]] takes it to the point of {{deconstruction}} with Kreia and the rest of the Council; almost everything a player may think they know about the background of this game has to pass the litmus test of "but did I hear that from [[UnreliableExpositor Kreia]]?". Similarly, Atton is often used as the writer's mouthpiece on any particular topic, but his word shouldn't be taken too seriously either, as [[spoiler:he used to be a Sith torturer who willingly and enjoyed torturing Jedi into turning to the Dark Side]].

* In the first series of Toys/{{BIONICLE}}, ''BIONICLE Chronicles'', each book opens with a backstory discussing the mythological lore of the series: the Great Spirit Mata Nui, essentially the god of the Matoran, created the Matoran on the island named in his honor and was then placed into eternal slumber by his vengeful brother Makuta. The series gives us no reason to assume the story is less than literally true...until the prequel series ''BIONICLE Adventures'', in which it's revealed that the myth was, at least in part, a lie created by the Turaga to protect the Matoran from the painful truth about their lost homeland of Metru Nui. Later series go even further with this, revealing that even the Turaga didn't know the full story: while Mata Nui was put to sleep by Makuta, the myths neglected to mention that [[spoiler: Mata Nui was actually the AI of a HumongousMecha whose colossal body formed the entire Matoran universe, and that "Makuta" (actually a single member of a greater organization) put him to sleep not by sorcery, but by introducing a virus into his operating system]].