History Main / TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow

''[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere No, this Description of These Are Things Man Was Not Meant To Know Here should not be!]]''

** Rowling later goes to say that the room actually contained... [[http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/30766/what-is-in-the-locked-room-in-the-department-of-mysteries a fountain of love potion.]] Which the researchers would take to "[[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow study the effects of love]]".

%%'''[[spoiler: Epsilon!]]Delta:''' "[[ArcWords Memory is the key]], [[Machinima/RedVsBlue Caboose]], but not everything that is locked is meant to be unlocked.

[[caption-width-right:250:It, uh, [[LiteralMinded doesn't have to be this literal]].]]

* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' contains a reference to such a thing: "a horrific reality -- a reality that our world is not designed to comprehend ... hellish epiphany." [[spoiler: This refers to a character's realisation that she's in a game. Turns out that's not a fun thing to realise, nor one that's good for your sanity.]]

Oh, and if you're ''really'' unlucky, screwing around with this might have [[BizarroApocalypse irreversibly damaged the structure of reality]]. [[SarcasmMode Have fun]].

** According to the Guide, there's a theory that if any one person ends up knowing both the Ultimate Answer and the Ultimate Question, the universe will end and be replaced by something even more bizarre and incomprehensible. There are other theories that state that this has already happened several times.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the existence of [=SkyClan=], an exiled fifth Clan, is kept secret from all cats ([[spoiler: Well, at least until the sixth story arc.]]) until they die and join [=StarClan=], since [=StarClan=] feels too guilty about how [=SkyClan=] was driven out. Upon learning of [=SkyClan=], Firestar is so shocked he nearly loses faith in [=StarClan=] altogether,

* In ''Fanfic/TheVow'', the destructive potential of fireworks that [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2 Lord Shen]] starts researching obsessively is regarded as this by his parents and the [[{{Seers}} Soothsayer]]. It is for that reason Shen's parents haven't researched fireworks further as they are dangerous already when used to entertain people.

* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'':
** The true nature of the Shadows Who Watch, Make, and Rule, beings beyond even [[TopGod the Elders]], is this, as Celestia refuses to divulge ''what'' they are because it'd likely drive a normal pony insane. Nyarlathotrot and his twin Fillimon are the AnthropomorphicPersonification of their dark side and light side respectively. [[spoiler:[[HumansAreCthulhu They're the Readers, Writers, and Hasbro.]]]] It's implied Celestia, Luna, Discord, and the other gods are all aware of a ''lot'' of these, being deities who helped ''make'' the universe.
** [[EldritchAbomination The Outer Concepts]] literally ''are'' this. Their entire purpose for existing is to give mortals a healthy fear of the unknown so they don't accidentally tamper beyond their death for the good of themselves and existence.
** The heroes have some of these shared with them, either of their own request of necessity, throughout the series. They're only shared with them because Celestia and Luna know they've grown enough they can handle it. The biggest of these is likely [[spoiler:the fate of the Lost Age.]]

--> '''Mr. Krabs:''' ''(tied up, while Plankton is about to read the secret Krabby Patty formula/recipe)'' I'm telling you! You won't be able to handle the truth! There are some things in this world that weren't meant for mortal eyes!

--> '''Mr. Krabs:''' [[TalkLikeAPirate Aye]].
--> '''Plankton:''' I don't care! Drum roll, please! ...The secret recipe for one Krabby Patty is: a pinch of salt... three teaspoons of chopped onions... a cup of love... mixed together with [[SecretIngredient the most important ingredient of all]]: four heaping pounds of freshly ground... ''(turns page, sees picture of himself) '''[[SapientEatSapient plankton]]!?'''''

* This mindset is {{enforced|Trope}} by Imperial law in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. The Ecclesiarchy and the Adeptus Terra work to actively suppress knowledge of Chaos and the other forces in the galaxy that pose the most serious threats to the Imperium from the general populace, on the grounds that if everyone beyond the Imperium's armies really knew how badly everything in the galaxy was out to get them, the resulting panic and despair would tear the Imperium asunder.

** Many, many years later (perhaps a thousand), as related in ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'', Lazarus Long goes back to the planet of those aliens and kills them. Apparently, the [[MoralDissonance only reason he does so]] is to "prove" that HumanityIsSuperior.
*** And [[InformedAbility we don't even get to see him do it!]]
*** He had, in the past, told several different versions of the story and his Tellus Tertius family is sick of it.

You still wish to go further? You don't believe that we honestly do this for your own safety? Sigh. Well, don't say we didn't warn you. Here are the tropes that this SuperTrope unleashes upon you!

''[[DescribeTopicHere No, this Description of These Are Things Man Was Not Meant To Know Here should not be!]]''

* [[EldritchLocation The Nightmare Realm]] of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is one of these. [[spoiler: Fiddleford [=McGucket=]]] accidentally got sucked into it for a brief time, and when he came out, he was so horrifically traumatized that [[spoiler:he deliberately and repeatedly wiped his own memory to the point of permanent brain damage, reducing him to [[CrazyHomelessPeople "local kook"]] Old Man [=McGucket=].]]

--> '''Mr. Krabs:''' I warned ya.

** Invoked by Elizabeth -- and Theo in the PSP re-release -- who refuses to tell the player [[IAteWhat what was in the takoyaki they just ate.]]

* In ''Literature/TheRevival'', the antagonist is obsessed with seeing what happens after death before he dies himself. It turns out you doon't want to do that, because a) you won't like it, and b) ''something'' will look back at you. Besides, the special electricity he uses to do this also isn't good for you at all because it's connected to that other side. He avoids using it on himself, sending someone else in his place, but it doesn't really help when you're going ''that'' far.

* In ''Literature/TheRevival'', the antagonist is obsessed with seeing what happens after death before he dies himself. It turns out you doon't want to do that, because a) you won't like it, and b) ''something'' will look back at you. Besides, the special electricity he uses to do this also isn't good for you at all because it's connected to that other side. He avoids using it on himself, but sending someone else in his place, but it doesn't really help when you're going ''that'' far.

** Similarly, in ''Literature/TheLangoliers'', anyone who passes through the time rip while awake ends up being disintegrated.

** In the database, "[REDACTED]" merely means that the reader of the document doesn't have a sufficient security clearance to read what was blocked out. However, the term "[DATA EXPUNGED]" means that the information ''has been entirely removed from the Foundation's database except for a select few, and is generally unpleasing information''. The trope is played straight if it appears in the description of the SCP or one of the events related to it. [[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-579 SCP-579]] is notable for having nearly its ''entire'' file [[NothingIsScarier expunged]].

*** [[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-1128 SCP-1128]] will attack humans who know what it looks like.

*** SCP-2718. It's death, or more specifically, the knowledge of what happens to you after you die. One of the senior O-5 council members died years ago of a stroke during a holiday in the Galapagos islands and they used some unknown way of remaking him at the quantum level to figure out what lies beyond. [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream There is no heaven or afterlife. You just lie there, aware of your body breaking down and rotting, a pain that transcends mortal understanding and continues and only intensifies even after the nerves are gone.]] This is the fate that awaits ''everyone''. It's heavily implied that simply ''knowing'' this ''makes'' it your afterlife too. [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Thanks for reading!]]]]
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-5000 SCP-5000]] is an ApocalypticLog detailing the Foundation discovering ''something'' that led them to believe that [[KillAllHumans ending the human race]] was the best course of action, prompting the writer to go on a ResetButtonSuicideMission. It's never ''explicitly'' stated what exactly they found, but their instructions for dealing with it [[GoMadFromTheRevelation led to waves of suicides among the senior staff]], and left the survivors with “[[TheSoulless something […] missing from them. Some spark.]]” and unanimously dedicated to exterminating humanity. [[spoiler:It's revealed that through their efforts to map out the collective human psyche, the Foundation wound up uncovering something seriously wrong with humanity - the basic aspects of sapience such as pain and [[HumansAreBastards empathy]] were the result of a [[EldritchAbomination mind-controlling entity]] [[MindRape invading the human subconscious eons ago]], and in their eyes, [[WellIntentionedExtremist wiping out humanity would have been more ethical than letting it go through with whatever it had planned]].]]

* [[BigBad Zeref]] of ''Manga/FairyTail'' is the living proof of what happens when you delve too deeply into taboo magic. He wanted desperately to [[spoiler:bring his younger brother Natsu BackFromTheDead]], and in the process not only studied various forbidden magics, but also created several magical theories most sane mages would never touch. The price? He was {{Curse}}d to [[spoiler:kill anybody he could ever care about or even being in the same general area]] as him, with [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality]] to boot as well as live long enough to see many of his works be misused. However, this immortality also bought him time [[spoiler:to succeed in his original goal of bringing his brother back]], and he didn't become [[ThenLetMeBeEvil evil]] until much later. After that, his continued studies into the taboo were [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable to find a way to kill himself]] [[spoiler:[[RetGone which he eventually figured out]]]].

** According to The Guide, there's a theory that if any one person ends up knowing both the Ultimate Answer and the Ultimate Question, the universe will end and be replaced by something even more bizarre and incomprehensible. There are other theories that state that this has already happened several times.
** ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'': The most horrible torture device in the normal universe is the Infinite Perspective Vortex, which works by showing you the whole universe, and how insignificant you are. And it's powered by a fairy cake. It IS possible to survive the Infinite Perspective Vortex by being the ''most important person in the ([[AlternateUniverse current]]) universe'', but you'll walk away an even bigger JerkAss after being told by a machine that the universe revolves around you.
** Give a witness too much truth serum, in a court, and he'll tell "the whole truth". ALL of it. Oddly enough, the guy who comes to know all the truth doesn't seem to become mad (mostly) - those who hear from him, though, do. This may be because he knows ''all'' the truth, whereas the listeners only know the part they hear. Oddly enough again, most of the good bits are about frogs.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger:'' The religious order hide the Tesseract because they feel it's "not for the eyes of ordinary men". Unfortunately for everyone else, the Red Skull doesn't apply as "ordinary".

-->'''[[spoiler:Leviathan:''' [[AC:You have come too far!]]]]