History Main / TheGreatestStoryNeverTold

* The movie ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster Goes to Mars'' features a song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT08pkkF_MY Home Again]], which lampshades this trope by describing that [[EarnYourHappyEnding all they need is to be home safe; they consider it their "prize" and accept that not many people will ever know about what they did.]]

* While it is not emphasized, in the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series, most of the cataclysmic events that Garret is again and again embroiled in never reach the general public's attention. In fact, the only people who know about most of his exploits are [[AncientTradition the Keepers]], whose very existence itself is unknown to NormalPeople. Also, Garret himself is referred to as "The Greatest Thief the World Has Never Seen".

* The subtitle of ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' refers to the late-game missions, which involve [[spoiler:rescuing the kidnapped leaders of both Osea and Yuktobania and preventing two atomic bombings, one doomsday scenario, and a ColonyDrop]], all while flying as the Ghosts of Razgriz--a unit whose [[NoSuchAgency very existence is denied by the government]] for a decade thereafter.

** All of the [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Legion of Substitute Heroes]]' Silver Age adventures ended with the Substitute Heroes having a magnificent adventure that nobody would ever learn of.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Jaime Lannister is villainized as the Kingslayer for [[TheOathbreaker murdering the king he had sworn to protect]], even though everyone knew the king was [[TheCaligula insane]]. What they didn't know was that [[spoiler:King Aerys was so insane that he had [[TakingYouWithMe rigged his entire capital to explode if his army was defeated]], and Jaime killed him to save the lives of the half-million people who lived in the city.]] The reason Jaime never told anyone this is (probably) that even though he broke his oath to protect the king, he still has a lot more honor than people give him credit for, and it could be he saw no reason to break his oath to keep the king's secrets. A need to be liked isn't really a part of his character, but he is still too [[{{Pride}} proud]] to make excuses for his actions. It's also implied that the guilt he feels over all the ''other'' things he stood by and watched Aerys do plays a part (ironically nobody besmirches his honor for standing by and watching innocent men be burned alive, strangled to death, etc). In the TV show, Jamie makes it clear that he just doesn't think anyone would believe him.

At any rate, [[StatusQuoIsGod none of the other characters (or at a larger scale, history itself) have to change their opinions about him]]. This can overlap with the WildWilderness trope often as no one outside the setting would know who the heroes were or what they did. In worst cases, by dealing with the greatest story never told, TheHero had missed the less-urgent but more well-known events and thus the public thinks of him as a FallenHero.

* ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' tells the story of Senator Ransom Stoddard, who came to the western town of Shinbone as a naive lawyer and got himself robbed and beaten by the titular outlaw menacing the town, of whom the Marshall is too scared to do anything. Ransom goes on to bravely stand up to and defeat said outlaw in a duel, in pushed into running for office on the story of his duel, and wins, becoming that rare combination of a good man ''and'' a politician. [[spoiler: Only, Ransom didn't kill Liberty Valance. It was the last cowboy in town, Tom Doniphon, who saved Ransom's life - Ransom is a terrible shot. But, as the present-day editor of the Shinbone Star paper says, "this is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Stoddard doesn't take it well.]]

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' tells the story of William James Moriarty, why he became a criminal murderer, and what his noble motivations were...and why they were excluded from John Watson's narrative.

* The League of Losers from the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse''. After a time-traveling supervillain called Chronok wipes out pretty much every superbeing on the planet thanks to future knowledge and technology, a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits group of little-known heroes]] (and one villain) are the only survivors. They manage to stop Chronok before he can kill everyone, saving the entire timeline...and are stuck in the alternate future. Not only will nobody in the 'core' reality ever know who saved the world, but they also won't even know it needed saving.

* Creator/MelBrooks' adaptation of ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe''. An actor impersonates several Nazi officers, including Hitler, and when the whole deception is over, he remarks to himself, "My greatest performance ever...and no one saw it."

* ''Literature/TalesFromAlcatraz'': It is heavily implied that the dramatic (and fictional) escape attempt from the first book will be hidden from the public due to the embarrassment of how the escapees manipulated the warden and only got foiled by a group of the guards' kids.

* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'': Isaiah Bradley was a Korean War veteran who was given the SuperSoldier serum and had many adventures saving lives and even once defeated the Winter Soldier in a fight. Because the government didn't want the world to know about a Black Captain America, he was betrayed, imprisoned, and experimented on for over 30 years. When he managed to escape, he was embittered to learn he had not been recorded in history but decided to live as a civilian instead of fight it. [[spoiler:In the episode "One World, One People", Sam Wilson manages to get Bradley an exhibit in the Smithsonian that tells his story, cheering him up.]]

* Patrick [=McLanahan=] from Creator/DaleBrown books experiences both this and FamedInStory. While he is recognised as a hero for such events as the counterattack against the [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain American Holocaust]], there are also many of his world-saving missions that the public will never know about until he's dead if not years after due to being black ops.

** [[spoiler:[[DragonWithAnAgenda Gin]] spends an entire century as Aizen's NumberTwo for the sole purpose of [[BestServedCold finding a way to kill him]] in retribution for [[ItsPersonal stealing a fragment of Rangiku's soul]], only to ultimately fail and die in front of a crying [[LoveInterest Rangiku]]. While this stalls Aizen long enough that Ichigo gains the power to defeat him, virtually no one knows what he did or why he died.]]

* One of the many, many spinoffs to ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' was a miniseries called, ''Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of D.R.E.A.M.'' in which the eponymous character -- who mostly exists in the main series as comic relief -- saves the Earth from a madman who wants to use Morpheus' dream-sand to conquer it. Predictably, nobody in the Dreamworld believes a word of it.

** In ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' Annual 15 from 1981, Doctor Octopus attempts to extort New York City by poisoning the ink in the entire ''Daily Bugle'' morning run. Spider-Man and ComicBook/ThePunisher thwart him in the paper's print room. J. Jonah Jameson intends to run a story valorizing his own part in the standoff, but Robbie reminds him that any story that even implies a chance that the paper could be poisoned will keep people from buying it. Jameson winds up running a standard anti-Spidey editorial on the front page.

-->As for [[ComicBook/TheSandman Destiny]], he is said to keep his own counsel and to be very busy, and is seen by only a few persons throughout eternity. Only the Endless saw him more than Superman. But he would probably assure you that many lessons were learned from the day two men would never forget, though they mentioned them to none.\\

At any rate, [[StatusQuoIsGod none of the other characters (or at a larger scale, history itself) have to change their opinions about him]]. This can overlap with the WildWilderness trope often as no one outside the setting would know who the heroes were or what they did. In worst cases, by dealing with the greatest story never told, TheHero had missed the less-urgent but more well-known events. And thus the public thinks of him as a FallenHero.

* ''Literature/{{Momo}}'': The title character defeats and destroys the Grey Men, humanoid parasites who were turning men into joyless husks by tricking them into giving them their time. Their disappearance instantly causes people to feel happier and carefree. However, they never knew why; and they would have not believed it, either. Only Momo's friends knew and believed what she had saved humanity.

* The anime of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' was originally intended to only run for one season, with [[spoiler:Usagi's final wish for a normal life reviving her, Mamoru and the other girls but with no memories of meeting each other or of anything else that happened. Had the show ended there, this means that they fought and died to save the world, but nobody will ever know including themselves (though Artemis has hope that they will all meet again).]]

** "I'm oddly full for some reason." Oz was going out of control as a werewolf and was placed in the school basement, where he eats the gang leader after Xander makes him switch off the bomb.

** The Fish-Man Island Arc, the Straw Hats save the entire island from being destroyed and prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people by a coup staged by the New Fish-Man Pirates and Vander Decken IX, who planned to begin a genocidal campaign on the human world afterwards (although it's questionable if they actually would've succeeded, [[CurbStompBattle given how easily the Straw Hats demolished them]]). Due to how far removed Fish-Man Island is from the rest of the world (being located on the ocean floor, ten kilometres from the surface), no knowledge of this conflict ever gets found out on the surface. But at the very least, the inhabitants of Fish-Man Island are eternally grateful.