History Main / VillainsNeverLie

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the Joker repeatedly states that he's "a man of his word" and is constantly believed. However he lies all the time. He lies about how he got his scars, changing the story each time he tells it. He tells Dent that he doesn’t plan ahead, but then brags to Batman that he would never risk losing Gotham in a single fight without a backup scheme. Then when challenging Batman and the police to get to Harvey and Rachel before their bombs explode, [[spoiler:he switches the locations of the two hostages, leading to the latter's death]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': In "Friends on the Other Side", Doctor Facilier does a read on Naveen and concludes, "You just wanna be free, hop from place to place. But freedom...takes green!" Naveen believes the witch doctor is going to bring him into a great fortune, when in actuality, Facilier is being very blunt in declaring he will turn Naveen into a frog.

** For some reason [[FridgeHorror (that Regina's description of the incident might be believable in this world aside)]], Rumplestiltskin believes the Evil Queen Regina when she tells him that his LoveInterest Belle was DrivenToSuicide, despite being perhaps the most qualified person to know exactly how manipulative and wicked Regina is, given that he taught her to be.

** Hades tells Regina that [[spoiler: the Olympian Crystal has the power to completely destroy your soul which appears to be the fate of Robin Hood.]] Three episodes later Henry tells her that he believes Hades was lying, which she too decides to believe. Since this is the man who faked a HeelFaceTurn [[LoveRedeems due to the love of Regina's sister,]] Henry was probably right.

** For some reason [[FridgeHorror (that Regina's description of the incident might be believable in this world aside)]], Rumplestiltskin believes the Evil Queen when she tells him that his LoveInterest was DrivenToSuicide.

* An interesting case is Morgause from ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'', who convinces Prince Arthur to visit her home so that she can conjure up the spirit of his dead mother. On meeting the late Queen Igraine, Arthur learns the truth about the circumstances of his birth: that his father Uther made a deal with a sorceress to help them conceive, which resulted in Igraine's death thanks to [[BalancingDeathsBooks the nature of the spell]]. This enrages Arthur so much that he races home to Camelot and almost kills his father, only for Merlin to talk him out of it by suggesting to him that Morgause had made the whole thing up and that the spirit of Igraine wasn't real. The twist is that although Morgause ''could'' have conjured up a fake Igraine (the show is never clear), the audience knows (thanks to conversations between Uther/Gaius) that everything Igraine told Arthur about his birth ''was'' in fact completely true. Even more interestingly, '''Merlin''' knows the information was true but has to lie to Arthur to protect him.

** Following the deaths of her husband Khal Drogo and their unborn child due to Mirri Maz Duur's BlackMagic in season 1, Danaerys Targaryen repeatedly says that her dragons are the only children she will ever have and no one questions the accuracy of this statement until Jon Snow asks in the season 7 finale who told her this. When Dany replies, "The witch who killed my husband", he points out that a murderer with a grudge is probably not the best source of information.

** Post-season one, Danaerys repeatedly says that her dragons are the only children she will ever have and no one questions the accuracy of this statement until Jon asks who told her this in the season 7 finale. When Dany replies "the witch who killed my husband", he points out that a murderer is probably not the best source of information.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn And The Wasp"]], this provides a clue to the identity of the culprit. While interviewing everyone about what they were doing at 4:15 PM, only [[spoiler:Reverend Golightly]] was telling the truth, while everyone else lied about their activities and were goofing off at the time.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In season 3, Wilson Fisk gets Ray Nadeem wrapped around his thumb by feeding him a constant stream of reliable information about other criminals...who conveniently happen to have corrupt connections that Fisk wants to take for himself. Once he's certain Nadeem has been thoroughly manipulated, Fisk sends Nadeem and the rest of the FBI after Matt Murdock, claiming that Matt used to work for him (and which is partially true, since he had James Wesley hire Nelson & Murdock to defend one of his hitmen). Nadeem doesn't stop to think that this conflicts with public records that show that Nelson & Murdock was instrumental in sending Fisk to prison, simply because Fisk’s testimony on other things has proven itself to be reliable up to this point. He does come to realize Matt is innocent and Fisk is a liar after Jasper Evans is killed while preparing to claim that Fisk paid him to shank him, but by this point, Nadeem is in too deep with Fisk to get out.

* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': Despite Amelia refusing to believe her, her rival Edwina makes it clear that she knew the former's mother Freya in school, and she's not as innocent as Amelia believes since she used to do anything to beat Edwina, even with dirty tactics. Amelia then starts questioning if Edwina was right after [[spoiler:discovering that Freya was the infamous thief, The Purple Fox.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', a dying Admiral Karath whispers the game's major plot twist to Carth in hopes of shaking him up a little. Carth, naturally, immediately turns to Bastila and yells, "You knew! You and the whole damned Jedi Council!" Bastila actually confirms it as soon as he says this, though, so he was actually ''right'' to be mistrustful - and the circumstances leading to said revelation already heavily foreshadowed this to the player. And depending on how you answer an inquiry a little further on, ''you'' can confirm the same truth as well. There is also a wealth of evidence that Carth is an untrained Force-Sensitive, which can come with low-level LivingLieDetector abilities.
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords,'' meanwhile, [[spoiler:Kreia]] tells the PC all sorts of things. Some of them are true. Some of them are not. Have fun figuring out which is which. There's still debate in the fandom about what her actual end goal was, since she gives multiple mutually exclusive explanations.
* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIf'': In the World of Pride, you will find a couple of classmates TakenForGranite. The villain comments that smashing the statues ''might'' free them. The game [[KickTheDog forces you or your partner to pick the]] IdiotBall and do so. [[LiterallyShatteredLives The guy laughs in your face when the result becomes apparent.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'''s legendary MindScrew was initiated by one of these. Cloud actually does insist that Sephiroth is lying when he says Cloud [[TomatoInTheMirror isn't who he thinks he is]], but since [[spoiler: his own version of events isn't right either, and thus there is evidence even in his own memory that seems to support the even more false but still truth-tinted alternative]], the doubts eventually [[HeroicBSOD overcome]] him.
* In the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series, one of Bison's character traits is that he does not lie, ever - unless you count Cammy's ending in ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Super Street Fighter II]]'', which was a mistranslation on the part of Capcom.
* The AffablyEvil Ur-Quan Kzer-Za in ''VideoGame/StarControlII'' never lie about their intentions and always do what they say they will. They believe that lying is for the weak,
[[AC:"And the Ur-Quan are not weak."]]
* In ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', Grand Inquisitor Jia helpfully informs you that [[spoiler:the apparent EvilChancellor is actually completely loyal, and the evils of the Lotus Assassins are condoned by the Emperor himself]]. God forbid the leader of the evil Secret Police force would let you get the wrong idea, after all.
* The Black Knight in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' told Ike the truth about his armor and how to penetrate it, and Ike believed him. Somewhat of an inversion, in that the Black Knight was actually telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in that instance.
** He does this because he likes to have interesting fights. Invincible armor takes the thrill away...
* in the RPG [[HGame h-game]] "Monster Girl 1,000", during a rebel faction's assault on the [[spoiler: City of Magic Weavers]] to assassinate [[spoiler:the true source of woe in the world that is [[DemonInPlainSight Eris and one of her major subordinates, Eden]]]], [[spoiler:Juliet, who is [[LastOfTheirKind another Devourer Demon survivor]] of the continental purge that Eris and her forces are responsible for many years ago,]] truthfully tells Ray that [[spoiler:Eris and her lieutenants are the real cause of the current discourse throughout the world.]] Ray, at first, adamantly denies it and a bit later says that even if what [[spoiler:Juliet is saying is the truth, Juliet and her "Rogue Faction"'s actions places them as opponents to Ray and company.]] After a [[spoiler: [[WillfullyWeak mock battle]] after Juliet demonstrates her power by leveling the administrative building where Eden would most likely be with [[MeteorSummoningAttack a very large meteor]]]], unfortunately [[spoiler:Eden was out at a local spa before the meteor destroyed the building, and in the end the only thing that the rebel group did was solidify to the public eye to view them as nothing more than terrorists, and Eden gets away completely scot-free, with only killing merely one of Eris' [[MesACrowd multiple selves]] as a meager, yet pointless success in the long run for them.]]
* Akasim from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ'' cannot lie because of his Sphere of the "Truth Seeking Goat."
* In ''Franchise/SilentHill'', a lot of the vital information concerning [[CatchPhrase what the hell]] is going on is given to the player character by people who are less than inclined to be honest with you:
** In ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' Harry gets played for an UnwittingPawn by Dahlia the whole game, and he believes her until the point where Dahlia reveals that [[spoiler: Cheryl is actually Alessa]].
** ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' gives us this [[MindScrew terrible]], [[ParanoiaFuel awful]] question from [[SmugSnake Vincent]]: "Monsters? They look like ''monsters'' to you?" When Heather reacts with horror, he claims that he was kidding, but DAMN.
** TheReveal in ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'' - [[spoiler: that Alex [[TomatoInTheMirror was never in the army]]]] was given through his [[WellDoneSonGuy father]]. Even on [[WMG/SilentHillHomecoming this very wiki]], the debate continues.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In the NewGamePlus for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', the "Hero's New Clothes" that Link receives at the beginning are said to be invisible to all but the honest, with everyone else seeing his starting pajamas instead. Ganondorf, however, can see the clothes just fine.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'', a [[CreepyChild strange-looking]] [[ObviouslyEvil girl]] tells him that she and her sisters are all being held captive on the Ghost Ship and of course they don't know where Tetra is, but could he please rescue them all? Of course most players are probably suspicious of this all from the start, [[ButThouMust but gameplay insists]].
* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain''. Kain is a class V AntiHero / VillainProtagonist who never lies. Unfortunately, the people he doesn't lie to almost always assume he's lying, to disastrous results.
* ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo''. As The 40th Day draws to a close, Salem and Rios have Jonah cornered; Jonah promptly tells them he's sitting on a nuke that will wipe out half the city if it goes off, but, keeping with the social-experiment theme of his actions, he'll disarm it if Salem or Rios kills the other instead of him. [[spoiler: As is likely easy to guess despite the spoiler tag, there's no nuke.]]
* [[spoiler:Myrkul]] in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'' when talking to [[spoiler:Kaelyn]]. The main character can even lampshade it. The trope is subverted in your own case, however: [[spoiler:what Myrkul tells you in the same conversation later turns out to be a complete lie.]]
* Some in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fandom have taken this approach where [[spoiler:Morinth]] is concerned. After [[spoiler:Shepard kills Samara in cold blood,]] [[spoiler:Morinth]] claims that her mother was "tyrannical" and "a monster" and deserved to die, along with the statement that she'll never pose Shepard any threat, [[DracoInLeatherPants and for some reason,]] a few people have taken this and a few other of her lies at face value. [[spoiler:This includes the lie that Shepard would be safe if he/she and Morinth decided to meld, which has been ''proven'' to be wrong.]]

%%* In VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}, [[spoiler: Daud says the trope almost word for word. He's telling the truth. ]]
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': Early on, the heroes meet a young woman named Bellena who leads them to the Red Moon Crystal. She explains that her motivation is that her father was a sailor who was killed in the Valua-Nasr war, and she doesn't want to have anyone else die in pointless conflicts. When the heroes re-emerge from the dungeon with crystal in hand, "Bellena" reveals her true identity as [[TheDarkChick Belleza]], along with several armed Valuan soldiers, [[MacGuffinDeliveryService before taking the Crystal from them]]. Fina confronts Belleza on her backstory and asks if it was all a lie, but Belleza actually defends her story and claims that she never lied to them: her father really did fight and die in the Valua-Nasr war, but what she didn't tell them was that her father was on the ''Valuan'' side. She also claims that she never lied about hating war; she doesn't want anyone else to go through what she went through, and if she has to lead TheEmpire into conquering the world to end wars for good, [[WellIntentionedExtremist she'll do it]].
* Discussed and defied in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. After reaching Skyhold, the Inquisitor can point out that what [[spoiler: Corypheus]] says about [[spoiler: entering the Black City]] and what the Chant of Light says are similar, but do not match completely. Giselle will remark that, while the Chantry is a tool of men and might have erred in speaking of it, that doesn't mean [[spoiler: Corypheus]] is right and truthful. He might well be [[SelfServingMemory choosing to remember things in a manner more flattering to himself]], or have confused memories after being sealed away for a thousand years.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': Invoked by Risky Boots, [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/772072-shantae when she first shows up]] in ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse''. And yes, she can and will.%%Links aren't context. Explain.
* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'': Zoltun Kulle, the renegade Horadrim, flat out tells you he'd never lie because he finds the truth to be far more entertaining. Indeed, of all the things he says little, if any of it, is a full on lie. It's all extremely manipulative, of course. He barely even bothers to pretend that he won't betray the hero(es) at the the first opportunity.
* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': In the current state of the Lands Between, none of the really evil factions see the need to deceive you or hide what they're doing. It helps that most of them [[BlueAndOrangeMorality honestly believe]] they're doing the right thing.

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', where the FinalBoss Dark Star [[LukeIAmYourFather claims to be protagonist Travis Touchdown's father]], and after a moment of trying to remember, Travis seems to remember him. [[spoiler:Then Travis' hitherto-unmentioned step-sister Jeane [[BaitAndSwitchBoss comes out of nowhere to punch through Dark Star's ribcage]] and remind Travis that no, that guy ''isn't'' his father - Travis saw both his real parents die right in front of him as a kid. Dark Star [[{{Troll}} simply liked lying like that to get into his opponents' heads]] so they'd be unable to focus on the fight, and therefore easier to kill.]]
* In ''Videogame/Borderlands2'', Handsome Jack will rarely tell an ''outright'' lie. He'll omit the truth and twist it, but he almost never tells a true lie... which makes the rare moments when he does it to your face all the sharper and uglier.
* Frequently abused by villains in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, who love to say things that are MetaphoricallyTrue or the actual truth--[[ExactWords just not the whole truth]]-- or a [[MetaphoricallyTrue slanted version of it]]. Maleficent in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' used this to devastating effect on the protagonists by making them question Terra's brushes with [[TheCorruption the darkness]] until it becomes a SelfFulfillingProphecy, [[spoiler:something Xehanort was counting on]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
** At the end of the 2.0 storyline for ''A Realm Reborn'', [[spoiler:Gaius]]' speech at the final of [[spoiler:Praetorium]] was often interpreted by fans as either false-but-sincere opinions on the state of Eorzea, or as deliberate lies to confuse the heroes. [[spoiler:Ignoring the part of Gaius' own leviathanic megalomaniacal visions on leadership, the remaining]] half of the speech rang true: In patch 2.4 and the arrival of both Shiva, the official anniversary short stories and The Coils of Bahamut raid, the players would learn that, indeed, [[spoiler:the Eorzean gods as called upon Carteneau by Louisoux are no different than those of the beasts — eikons every one! Further, Louisoix did so because he lacked the strength or vision to do otherwise, but this is a rather hypocritical jab, since the Empire intended to deploy Bahamut, an eikon, against Eorzea in the first place. It's also more than a little hypocritical because Gaius himself is exploiting eikons to power the Ultima Weapon--without them, it would be a dangerous mecha, not a superweapon.]] This is further complicated by events from the much later patch 6.1, where we learn [[spoiler:the Twelve really do seem to exist, independently, and they repeatedly insist that they are NOT primals, but refuse to give any further information about their origin. It's even speculated that Ramuh could be the Sylph interpretation of Rhalgr, and thus Gaius may have had it backwards, that is, the "eikons" might actually be species-specific interpretations of one of the Twelve.]]
** In ''Shadowbringers'', the Ascian Emet-Selch occasionally visits the party, offering dubious information or challenging old assumptions. [[spoiler: Turns out, nearly everything he says is completely true. It's just almost always told with extreme bias, full of massive omissions, or full of deceptive leading statements or impossible but plausible-sounding conditions. The greater irony, however, is that the story of ''Shadowbringers'' reveals that Emet-Selch wasn't the only one: both Lahabrea's crazed ranting and Elidibus' doomsaying were completely true, from an Ascian perspective, and not even particularly deceptive, we just didn't have enough information to understand what they were actually saying at the time.]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor "The Next Doctor"]], while facing involuntary conversion into their new leader, Miss Hartigan protests that the Cybermen merely told her she would be heralded if she helped them. In response, they [[ExactWords hail her as the CyberKing]]. She adds that she was specifically promised she would never be converted, which the Cybermen admit they straight-up lied about.

** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'': Darth Vader telling Luke "No. ''I'' am your father." Again, actually true. Luke's acceptance is justified by the Force, which allows a Jedi or Sith to divine the truth of a statement -- Luke initially doesn't believe Vader, leading Vader to say, "Search your feelings; you ''know'' it to be true!" and Luke still remains skeptical enough to ask Yoda point-blank in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' to confirm it. According to Creator/GeorgeLucas, after a discussion with a psychologist, he learned that most people would automatically assume that Vader was lying, and was trying to trick Luke somehow. He added the scene with Yoda confirming it to convince both Luke and the audience that Vader was in fact being truthful.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', a dying Admiral Karath whispers the game's major plot twist to Carth in hopes of shaking him up a little. Carth, naturally, immediately turns to Bastila and yells, "You knew! You and the whole damned Jedi Council!" Bastila actually confirms it as soon as he says this, though, so he was actually ''right'' to be mistrustful - and the circumstances leading to said revelation already heavily foreshadowed this to the player. And depending on how you answer an inquiry a little further on, ''you'' can confirm the same truth as well.

* in the RPG [[HGame h-game]] "Monster Girl 1,000", during a rebel faction's assault on the [[spoiler: City of Magic Weavers]] to assassinate [[spoiler:the true source of woe in the world that is [[DemonInPlainSight Eris and one of her major subordinates, Eden]]]], [[spoiler:Juliet, who is [[LastOfTheirKind another Devourer Demon survivor]] of the continental purge that Eris and her forces are responsible for many years ago,]] truthfully tells Ray that [[spoiler:Eris and her lieutenants are the real cause of the current discourse throughout the world.]] Ray, at first, adamantly denies it and a bit later says that even if what [[spoiler:Juliet is saying is the truth, Juliet and her "Rogue Faction"'s actions places them as opponents to Ray and company.]] After a [[spoiler: [[WillfullyWeak mock battle]] after Juliet demonstrates her power by leveling the administrative building where Eden would most likely be with [[MeteorSummoningAttack a very large meteor]]]], unfortunately [[spoiler:Eden was out at a local spa, and in the end the only thing that the rebel group did was solidify to the public to view them as nothing more than terrorists, and Eden gets away completely scot-free, with only killing merely one of Eris' [[MesACrowd multiple selves]] as a meager, yet pointless success in the long run for them.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': In 2.0, [[spoiler:Gaius]]' speech at the final of [[spoiler:Praetorium]] was often interpreted by fans as either his false-but-sincere opinions on the state of Eorzea, or as deliberate lies to confuse the heroes. [[spoiler:Ignoring the part of Gaius' own leviathanic megalomaniacal visions on leadership, the remaining]] half of the speech rang true: In patch 2.4 and the arrival of both Shiva, the official anniversary short stories and The Coils of Bahamut raid, the players would learn that, indeed, [[spoiler:Eorzea's faith was being used by Ul'dah, Gridania and Limsa Lominsa an instrument of deception]] and that [[spoiler:the Eorzean gods as called upon Carteneau by Louisoux are no different than those of the beasts — eikons every one!]] By the way, Louisoux only [[spoiler:summoned the Twelve as he lacked the strength (or vision) to save Eorzea otherwise.]]

** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', when the Avengers finally capture Thanos, they demand to know where he hid the infinity stones, so they can reverse what he did. He reveals that he destroyed the stones to keep anyone from reversing his wish. In denial, the Avengers refuse to believe him, but Nebula states that Thanos is many things, but he's not a liar.

** ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'': Count Dooku tells Obi-Wan plainly that the Senate is controlled by a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious. Yoda and Mace Windu say they're reluctant to believe this. Then Windu is shocked to learn that Palpatine is the second Sith in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Of course, Dooku doesn't bother to mention that ''he's'' a Sith Lord, which makes it a lie by omission as well.

** Lucifer states in "Sympathy for the Devil" that "Contrary to popular belief, I don't lie. I don't need to."

* In ''Film/DraculaUntold'', a pre-vampire Dracula is desperate to save his kingdom and family from the wrath of the Ottoman Empire, so desperate he goes to a cursed cave that keeps a vampire prisoner. Once Dracula meets the vampire played by Charles Dance, he begs to be turned into a vampire, and use the power to save everything he loves. The vampire reveals all the consequences and tragedies that will be fall Dracula if he accepts, and even reveals that if Dracula becomes a permanent vampire, somehow he will be free to leave the cave and become a blight across the land once again. Dracula asks why the vampire is being so truthful, and the vampire responds that it's because the truth is so much worse than any lie he could tell.

** In the spinoff ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'', [[Ui and her friends]] investigate the magical girl and Witch phenomena in-depth, looking up various suicides and deaths in the city that could be related. In the end, they interview [[spoiler:Kyubey]] for a whole afternoon. It goes on its usual way of witholding key facts and using ExactWords. Because of the investigation, however, they are able to deduce that [[spoiler:magical girls become Witches]]. Later on, [[spoiler:they use Kyubey's ExactWords against him, stealing his power to COLLECT grief, TRANSFORM it into energy, and MATERIALIZE it in the universe to fight entropy. This allowed them to create the Doppel System. He might have held back the truth about Witches, but didn't expect them to use the rest of his exposition to their advantage.]]