| rdfs:comment | - Somebody is involved in something dirty, or just did something nasty. Could be The Government, could be The Mafia or The Syndicate, could be General Ripper, a Corrupt Corporate Executive or an Ancient Conspiracy. No matter what bad guy was involved, somebody saw it all, heard it all, or somehow caught wind of what's going down (or what went down), and the bad guy in question has found out about the witness. The most common motive for bad guys to go after innocent people and the reason that the FBI has the Witness Protection Program. Examples of He Knows Too Much include:
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| abstract | - Somebody is involved in something dirty, or just did something nasty. Could be The Government, could be The Mafia or The Syndicate, could be General Ripper, a Corrupt Corporate Executive or an Ancient Conspiracy. No matter what bad guy was involved, somebody saw it all, heard it all, or somehow caught wind of what's going down (or what went down), and the bad guy in question has found out about the witness. Since the witness now knows too much, the bad guy's entire scheme may come crashing down, so they aim to "silence" the witness in some manner, through bribery, blackmail, intimidation, or even murder. A common variant is that the person who purportedly knows too much doesn't actually know anything at all (or at least, doesn't understand what knowledge they have) -- but the overly paranoid conspirators believe that they do, thus leading to their campaign of persecution. An excellent MacGuffin. This then leads to the ironic conclusion that if they'd just relaxed and left the person alone, they'd have succeeded, but since the hero eventually gets sick of being relentlessly persecuted, they then kick all kinds of ass in getting all up in the bad guys' business and completely scuttling their plans. If it isn't the hero getting persecuted, it will likely be someone the hero cares about, which will usually prompt either a bodyguard scenario as the hero tries to protect them against the bad guys, or a Roaring Rampage of Revenge if the loved one is killed. The most common motive for bad guys to go after innocent people and the reason that the FBI has the Witness Protection Program. See Revealing Coverup, Killed to Uphold the Masquerade and Have You Told Anyone Else?. See also Leave No Witnesses for those situations where a roomful of people all Learn Too Much at once. Examples of He Knows Too Much include:
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