History Main / TreacheryCoverUp

* ''VideoGame/TheiaTheCrimsonEclipse'': [[spoiler:If the Ancestral Archives quest is done after beating Mishra at Altilliah's Heart, the final scene of the quest will be extended so that Dael tells King Coeus about Halcon's true nature as an evil, world-devouring alien. However, this information can't be made public, since Altillian society would collapse into mass panic if they knew their "spirit guide" was manipulating them and that they would never get a new home. According to the developer, this truth is still confidential in Ending E, since Ariathale's destruction means the Altillians have no alternatives for survival other than relying on Halcon. Averted in Endings A-D and X, where the Altillians have the option to move to Ariathale after Halcon's demise.]]

* Zigzagged in the ''Fanfic/AlternateTailSeries'' regarding Laxus (who takes Jellal's place as the puppet leader of the Tower of Heaven). While Mira is honest to Kagura about some of the actions that Laxus committed, she withholds that he killed Simon, Kagura's brother, when the latter tried to protect her, instead of telling her that it was the mastermind controlling Laxus that was responsible. This is because Kagura thought that the same Laxus helped her years ago in her search for her brother before dropping her off at Cait Shelter.

* In ''Literature/HouseDivided'', a rogue operation reveals that the general in charge of the [[spoiler:Joint Chiefs of Staff]] has been murdering enemies, both domestic and foreign, for years. The administration covers this up and makes an excuse for his resignation, helped when the wounded villain is found to have terminal cancer.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8859608/1/Gray-So-Quiet Gray So Quiet]]'', when Obito arrives at the Gate to the Pure World, [[RelatedInTheAdaptation his sister Mikoto]] asks him why he told Sasuke that his father Fugaku was leading the Uchiha Coup instead than Mikoto. Obito admits that he wanted to preserve Sasuke and Itachi's image of Mikoto as a compassionate mother, rather than someone ruthless enough to overthrow the Hidden Lead.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8859608/1/Gray-So-Quiet Gray So Quiet]]'', when Obito arrives at the Gate to the Pure World, [[RelatedInTheAdaptation his sister Mikoto]] asks him why he told Sasuke that his father Fugaku was leading the Uchiha Coup rather than Mikoto. Obito admits that he wanted to preserve Sasuke and Itachi's image of Mikoto as a compassionate mother, rather than someone ruthless enough to overthrow the Hidden Lead.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8859608/1/Gray-So-Quiet Gray So Quiet]]'', when Obito arrives at the Gate to the Pure World, [[RelatedInAdaptation his sister Mikoto]] asks him why he told Sasuke that his father Fugaku was leading the Uchiha Coup rather than Mikoto. Obito admits that he wanted to preserve Sasuke and Itachi's image of Mikoto as a compassionate mother, rather than someone ruthless enough to overthrow a village.

** The trope also gets played with: [[spoiler:Alexandria's]] true crimes are are covered up with a ''different'' set of crimes, because [[spoiler:she was a renowned hero, and the government wanted to avoid people being dispirited by her death, but couldn't afford to expose her true actions.]]

* The Catholic Church practically had this trope ingrained as ''tradition'' with how commonplace it became in regards to child sexual abuse by the {{pedophile priest}}s in its ranks. The Church had a history of covering up child molestation cases for at least several ''decades'' by quietly transferring caught priests and silencing victims and their families, if the victims themselves didn't already repress the memories, all for the sake of maintaining their goodwill among churchgoers. When the first major news story on the coverups came out in 2002, it reveled just how heavily the Church had come to accept this silencing for the sake of preserving their image, and later revelations in the following decades only made the situation even more apparent.

* By the end of ''Film/IronMan'', the government has concocted a story to cover up most of the final battle, including that TreacherousAdvisor Obidiah Stane disappeared in a plane crash whose wreckage was never found. It's doubtful that their TreacheryCoverUp story ever got a chance to play out, though, since [[spoiler: Tony completely breaks their script at the press conference and outs himself as Iron Man]].

* In Creator/HBeamPiper's story [[http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/8/8/1/18814/18814.htm "The Mercenaries"]], the leader of a freelance scientific research team executes a traitor in their midst. The death is passed off as a suicide to protect the team (and incidentally assures that the deceased will be remembered for his genuine scientific contributions). It's understood that the ''real'' story will be read between the lines... thereby protecting the team's reputation for trustworthiness and ability to take out its own trash.

The villain has betrayed his team, or his country, or the entire human race. Now, he's been defeated... but there's just one complication. If the traitor's guilt is revealed, there will be consequences -- perhaps his friends will seek revenge, or perhaps good people will also be dragged down, or maybe the traitor in question was a RegretfulTraitor and his old friends still mostly think well of him, or perhaps the people's confidence in the whole system will be shaken as a result of these actions.

* This happens in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Pyramids}}''. Teppic, the current Pharaoh of Djelibeybi, always believed his was a noble lineage. However, in a prophetic dream, when he meets the founder of the nation, he finds [[spoiler:the founder was a camel thief who was running away from guards]]. Suffice it to say, he never tells anyone this, even Ptraci who eventually [[spoiler:becomes Pharaoh in his stead]].

* Prince Serg in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor''.

** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by Admiral Fujitora at the end of the Dressrosa arc. After hearing the aforementioned Smoker's frustrations about the Alabasta incident, he ensured that the government could not repeat this for Dressrosa (and give him the credit) by publicly broadcasting the truth (that the Straw Hats and their allies were the ones who brought down the Donquixote Family and saved the kingdom) to all neighboring islands ''before'' reporting the incident to his superior, meaning that the Government has no choice but to publicly acknowledge the real version of the story. Said superior, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki/Akainu, was ''not'' happy.

* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', [[spoiler:Admiral Graham's plan to seal the Book of Darkness away with Hayate]] is largely overlooked outside of the upper echelons of the TSAB, and he [[KarmaHoudini merely resigns]], only being officially accused of breaking into Bureau systems and interfering with the investigation. This extends into the Film adaptation of the series, treated as a ShowWithinAShow in-universe, which excises Graham from the plot entirely.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': After Haazen's manipulations are revealed in ''Comicbook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', the Jedi realize that they cannot let anyone know a Sith rose within their own ranks, or that he was able to spark a small-scale civil war. So they keep it a secret amongst themselves, and blame the damage to the Coruscant Jedi Temple on the Mandalorians.

* In ''FanFic/DirtySympathy'' this is why [[spoiler: Edgeworth]] won't extradite Klavier and Apollo back to the U.S. All their cases would be put into question, endangering innocents like Wocky Kitaki and Vera Misham. Their convictions could overturned, which could allow [[spoiler: Kristoph]] his freedom since his initial conviction is dependent on a crime he didn't commit and Phoenix would lose his creditability and the progress he made.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2419807/1/The-Riddle-of-Jim-Lillian The Riddle Of Jim Lillian]]'', Hermione claims that it was Draco Malfoy who killed Ron, Neville and Luna, tortured Ginny, broke Harry's wand and leaked the Prophecy to Voldemort. In the final chapters, however, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Ron was the one who committed most of those crimes, with Ginny accidentally killing him when she attacked him in a rage after he revealed his treachery. Harry convinces Ginny and Hermione to lie that Draco - who has already committed numerous crimes as a Death Eater - committed Ron's crimes to protect the Weasleys, who would be vilified as the family of the traitorous Ron and blame themselves for Ron's turn to evil.]]
* In ''Fanfic/MyMirrorSwordAndShield'' despite Emperor Lelouch telling the truth that Sir Raleigh murdered Princess Euphemia, no one believes him due to [[NotMeThisTime Lelouch's previous execution of noble hostages.]] Sir Raleigh goes down in history as martyr [[WrittenByTheWinners while Suzaku, the one who avenged her, goes down as her murderer.]]

* ''Film/TheBlueMax'': General Count von Klugermann whitewashes or covers-ups Bruno Stachel's crimes because Germany needs a war hero since revolution is becoming more likely. Otto Heidemann is outraged at these cover-ups, but agrees to stay silent since the military and political leadership agree with Klugermann. Heidemann knows that very few officers will take his side if confronted with political pressure. [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060177/quotes]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Max]]
* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': Harvey Dent was horribly burned by the Joker, who kidnapped him and put him in a room full of gasoline, and driven to near insanity because [[spoiler: the Joker lied about where Rachel was and where Harvey was, so Bruce manages to save Harvey, who gets half his face burned off because that half was doused in gasoline, while Rachel dies because the cops couldn't get there fast enough. While he is in the hospital, the Joker comes to him and manages to convince him to go after all the corrupt cops in the police force and even betray JIM GORDON AND BATMAN, the only good cops left, in order to avenge Rachel. Because he figures that he and Rachel each had a 50/50 chance of surviving, due to which one would be rescued by Batman, he gives all of the cops a 50/50 chance on whether they live or die as Two-Face. At the end, when he is holding a gun to Gordon's son, Batman tackles him and knocks him off a 20 foot height, killing him. But if he was reported as a villain, all 150 criminals he convicted would go free, so Commissioner Gordon and Batman agree to tell the press that Batman killed the traitorous cops, so that Harvey can die a hero. As a result, the Dent Act is passed, allowing the police to clean up Gotham's streets, further making it impossible to report on the terrible things Harvey did. Until ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', when Bane finally blows the whistle on it all.]]

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.S._Seawolf_(novel) U.S.S. Seawolf]]'': The president of the United States prevents his son, Linus Clark from being court martialed for negligence. Despite the official story, many in the military know the truth and lose all trust in the current administration.

** ''Literature/PathOfTheFury'' (''Literature/InFuryBorn''): Alicia Dierdre [=DeVries=] of the Imperial Cadre “drop commando” unit resigns after [[spoiler: Wadislaw Watts]] is allowed to escape a court martial in exchange for his assistance in destroying a Rishathan espionage network. Nobody in the imperial government wants a court martial since it will humiliate the Cadre. Later averted when the Terran Emperor tells [=DeVries=] that [[spoiler: Fleet Admiral Subrahmanyan Treadwell, Vice Admiral Amos Brinkman]], and the rest of the secessionist conspirators will be court-martialed.

*** After Arnold Giancola and Yves Grosclaude are killed in air car accidents, Eloise Pritchart refuses to cover up the public revelation of diplomatic forgery in the long term. Nevertheless, she orders a short-term cover up until reliable evidence can be obtained. The primary problems are obtaining legal evidence and avoiding accusations of the government arranging [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident convenient]] [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch accidents]] for the main suspects.

** When Hollyleaf apparently dies in the tunnels after trying to escape from her Clan and everything that had gone wrong, Lionblaze and Jayfeather cover up her treachery by telling the Clan she had died chasing a squirrel into the tunnel, so that she would be remembered as a brave hunter rather than Ashfur's killer.
** It's hard to judge whether or not they did this for [[spoiler:Hawkfrost]]. They did cover up the fact that [[spoiler:Brambleclaw]] killed him, but there is conflicting evidence on whether or not they covered up why he was killed. In ''The Sight'', some warriors have a conversation about the mysterious circumstances of his death, and say that his Clanmates mourned him, and [=RiverClan=] seems relatively ignorant of his treachery in other books, which would suggest he did get a cover-up. But then in ''After Sunset: We Need To Talk'', Cloudtail says to a [=WindClan=] patrol [[spoiler:that Hawkfrost tried to kill Firestar]], which suggests everyone knows about it.

* ''[[Literature/CiaphasCain Choose Your Enemies]]'': According to the Imperial histories Vail quotes, the Eldar fled the Ironfound System after a member of the Imperial ruling class pulled TakingYouWithMe with a fusion bomb. Cain is disgusted by the cover-up -- the person in question was running a Chaos cult and got munched when the daemon-summoning worked, the Eldar left because Vail and Cain helped them take out that daemon, and the fusion bomb was an Inquisitorial precaution to make sure they'd gotten all the cultists.

* On ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' SAMCRO does this all the time. They need to present an unified front to both their allies and enemies so all disputes and betrayals are handled internally and a cover story is presented to the outside world. From the beginning a major plot element is the fact that if the truth about John Teller's death ever came out, it would be impossible to cover up and it would destroy the club.

** In "Sins of the Father", Worf's father is made a scapegoat for treason actually committed by Duras' father, because the Klingon government does not dare offend Duras' powerful family. When they did actually get around to cutting the family out (after Worf killed Duras), it resulted in civil war in the 2-part episode "Redemption".

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the Imperium of Man has tried to bury all records of the Literature/HorusHeresy, under the logic that citizens would only be upset to learn that in the Imperium's golden age fully half of the [[SuperSoldier Adeptus Astartes]] Legions went renegade, bowed to the Chaos Gods, and nearly destroyed human civilization. How effective this cover-up has been [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the edition and writer]], so in some cases Horus is known as an arch-heretic, while in others Imperial forces are shocked when Chaos Space Marines start firing on them.

*** While the evidence is that the Inquisition doesn't care about that, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation that may very well be]] because of the Dark Angel's self appointed mission to hunt their traitors. They feel they don't need to bother trying to punishing them for something they're attempting to repent for. They also [[BullyingADragon don't need to piss off]] one of the oldest and strongest chapters, as very little left to really tie to them to Imperium, so they might even [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere decide to go]] [[AchillesInHisTent their own way]] if pushed enough.

* Happens at one part during ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', and staying true to the series premise, is much more twisted than usual: ('''extra big spoiler''') [[spoiler:to get a spy close to BigBad Volgin, the Boss is given the mission to pose as a defector and gaining Volgins trust by bringing him two "stolen" nuclear bombs as a gift. But apparently nobody had thought that Volgin would use them against a KGB facility. To cover up that the US government practically gave the nukes to Volgin, Naked Snake is given the mission to kill her, so that nobody will ever suspect that her defection was fake. Being loyal to her country to the end, she accepts death by the hands of her former pupil and best friend. Snake learns about it only after he had killed her.]]

** In the original game, Lloyd and the party remain quiet about [[spoiler:Governor General Dorr]] collaborating with the Desians by [[spoiler:enabling the people of Palmacosta to be taken to the ranch so that he can get his wife turned back to normal]], so that the city can get through the crisis while trusting its leadership. Lloyd gets [[WhatTheHellHero a significant across-the-board drop]] in the party's RelationshipValues if you decide to say that you're not OK with this. [[spoiler:Palmacosta ultimately gets destroyed at the end of Disc One]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}'', if you side with James, the hero covers up the fact that the prophet Mithras [[spoiler:was the omnicidical demon Marduk in another form]].

* In ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'', a CIA team is in Dubai as {{Agent Provocateur}}s stirring up the local populace against the rogue US Army regiment that took control of the city following a natural disaster. The agent in command, however, wants to attack the city's water supply so that everyone, soldier and civilian alike, dies before the rest of the Middle East learns what atrocities American soldiers committed to preserve martial law, which he thinks will lead to war with the entire region.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', [[spoiler:Leonardo Lionheart]] tries to defect to the villains' side, but [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves ends up dead by their hand]]. In the Volume 6 premiere, it's revealed that Qrow and Ozpin covered up his betrayal, and [[spoiler:Leo]] is officially remembered as a hero who fought to the death to protect the school. When Yang calls Ozpin out on the lie, he explains that while [[spoiler:Leo's]] actions were reprehensible, he thinks that one terrible mistake at the end of a person's life should not undo the good of a lifetime's worth of service, and that the people of Mistral therefore deserve better than the truth.

* Anthony Blunt, one of the Cambridge Five (a group of KGB moles in Britain's intelligence services) wasn't charged after he agreed a plea bargain and named agents he'd recruited. He was in charge of the Queen's portraits and got a knighthood. Subverted as he was then outed in 1979 and stripped of said knighthood.

->[''Team RWBY is calling out Ozpin on his constantly keeping secrets'']\\
'''Weiss''': You know, I'm getting real tired of people choosing what's best for me.\\
'''Yang''': Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about [[spoiler:[[TheMole Lionheart]]]] too?\\
'''Ozpin''': Yes. As a matter of fact, I believed the Kingdom of Mistral [[ThePowerOfLegacy deserved better than the truth]]. And I believed [[spoiler:Leonardo]] deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not for the [[{{Understatement}} unfortunate missteps]] he made in his final years.\\
'''Yang''': Missteps?!\\
'''Ozpin''': What [[spoiler:Professor Lionheart]] did was reprehensible. I am not here to argue differently, but does one lapse in judgment truly negate all of his good? Do we not all have regrets? You may have met [[spoiler:Professor Lionheart]], but you never met the man he was before [[BigBad Salem]] found him.
-->--''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', "Uncovered"

Subtrope of InternalRetcon. Compare NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead and ThePowerOfLegacy. The inversion is the DeceasedFallGuyGambit, where a dead person is made a scapegoat for crimes or actions they didn't do.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', [[spoiler:Leonardo Lionheart]] tries to defect to the villains' side, but [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves ends up dead by their hand]]. In the following episode, Qrow notes that the former's treachery won't become public knowledge.

* The Mueller investigation may wind up being this.