Big No



"McLeach: Your bird's dead. Someone shot her; shot her right out of the sky.

Cody: NO!!!

McLeach: What do you mean, "no?" You calling me a liar?"

- The Rescuers Down Under

The moment when a character realizes that something awful has happened, or notices that something awful is about to happen, and screams "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" It can also be used when a character is angrily refusing to do something.

If the character is rushing to prevent the something-awful from happening, a slow-motion effect can be employed to draw out the tension of the moment, sometimes to the point of drawing out the "No" into a comical bass growl. This trope is very susceptible to becoming Narm, but does raise the question of exactly how a character should handle a crisis without coming off as a psychotic (by going catatonic), a monster (by cracking a grim joke), or a potty-mouth (by swearing one's head off).

Used both seriously and for comic effect. Very common on sitcoms. Sometimes the Big "NO!" ends the episode with a Cliff Hanger.

Nearing the point of becoming Narm and a Discredited Trope, though a good actor can still pull it off. Some variants still have credibility, including a shorter but still intense "No", and a panicked "No no no no no!" Or you can just go for the simpler Skyward Scream. Occasionally the character will shout something other than "No!" -- usually shouting the name of the character that something bad is about to happen or has just happened to. This is slightly less discredited.

Language matters a lot. For example, Big "NO!" is commonly played straight in Japanese media, due to the equivalent iya's higher screamability. But not very common in Russian, due to the equivalent nyet's very low screamability.

When a villain screams the Big "NO!", it's usually as his plans are crashing down around his ears. And also usually the last thing he ever says.

Often combined with a Futile Hand Reach.

Large Hams will pull one out a Giant "NO!" if given the opportunity.

A Sub-Trope of Big Word Shout.

Compare/contrast with Big Yes, Little No, Big "Never!" and Rapid-Fire "No". Has a Sub-Trope cousin, Slow No. See also Death Wail, Big OMG, and Howl of Sorrow. Not to be confused with a certain mecha series with a similar-sounding title.

See here for a side-by-side comparison of a LOT of No's. Here's two more with a ton more famous ones. And see here for a hilariously useful Instant-Noooo.

The thing that makes this trope so effective is the fact that most people identifying the word "no" with something going wrong. So when we hear a character screaming with a very loud "nooooooooo!", it really gets to us. People with different psychologies are not as affected by this and may view the scene as comical instead of as the emotional moment it may be intended as. When this shot of a character exclaiming negatively while in slow motion, the scene may be even more dramatic (although this is usually a sign that the character is dying).

A closely related trope is Say My Name, which is often substituted for this.

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Tabletop Games

 * The Mystara supplement The Five Shires actually turns this trope into a defensive weapon for classic D&D halflings. Within the boundaries of their homeland, halflings threatened by spells can cry "No!" once a day, sacrificing some of their life force in the process, and potentially negate the impending spell's effects. Things like this happen when Ed Greenwood writes your gaming material....
 * Every gamer ever after a high level, carefully munchkined, self inserted, or valued for some other reason character dies. For best results, have them role a one, resulting in falling on their own sword. Or quarterstaff.

Theater
"Conley: He said no, no, and his eyes were wild and his face was red he said NOOOOOOOO!"
 * Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? features one of the best Big Nos of all time, when Martha cries out "Nooooooooo!" after George finally announces their son is dead. Elizabeth Taylor in the film version makes a magnificent cry that has to be seen to be believed.
 * In The Phantom of the Opera, it is fairly common to hear one when the Phantom snaps during the "All I Ask of You" reprise. Depending on the actor, this can be a literal Big No, several small ones, and/or an inarticulate cry of rage.
 * When Mimi dies of consumption at the end of La Boheme, her boyfriend Rodolfo rushes to her side sobbing and crying her name.
 * At the end of Rent, when it appears that is dying, Roger sings out a rather long "NOOOOOOOO!" to segue into "Your Eyes". Thus adding insult to injury.
 * Bill Francouer's Babes in Toyland gives the Big No to Barnaby and his henchmen, the villains of the show, shortly after their defeat sequence.
 * In the musical version of Ragtime, Coalhouse Walker does a ridiculous big NOOOOOOO!, followed by a nice long angry reprise.
 * Some versions of Miss Saigon actually go out on this trope, with  after the curtain falls. Other versions thankfully replace this with an actual closing number.
 * In the version of Hamlet in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, the scene where Hamlet kills Polonius involves Polonious, in 'slow motion', saying, "NOOOOOOO, iiiit wiiiill huuuurt, ow, Iiiii toooold yoooou."
 * In Parade, in "That's What he Said," in which a man makes a vivid (and false) testimony about the lead raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl.

Leo: NOOOOOOOO!"


 * Lucy has one of these in 13 when Brett asks Kendra out.
 * Parodied in Urinetown.
 * Also parodied in Bat Boy the Musical.
 * In Spring Awakening some Melchiors have been known to pull out this trope, and off-Broadway Melchior used to have one.

Web Original
""So can his new game Spore possibly live up to that legacy? In short, no. In long, noooooooooooooo..."(total length: 17 seconds)"...ooo.
 * Necro Critic did this when he found out there was more to Ehrgeiz than just the terrible fighting game. This one lasted past his 30-second long end screen and continued even after stopping for air.
 * The end of the season 3 finale of AH Dot Com the Series: after it's revealed that they inadvertently overwrote the location of the Planet of the Nymphomaniacs in the ship's memory banks, the entire crew lets out a Big No so loud it literally echoes off distant galaxies and is heard in other dimensions.
 * A popular internet meme is RAEG, where a template comic strip is drawn on, with the ending of a grotesque face shouting "FFFFUUUU--" in situations like a no smoking sign, being caught watching porn, etc.
 * The Leet World's Chet usually greets the death of his drinking buddy Player with a cry of "Player, NOOOOO!" However, since the show is set inside a Video Game, dead characters are usually back in action next round. A notable exception is when Player is injured by Ahmad's grenade, as this took place outside the challenge levels where death is permanent. Lampshaded in the episode "Thunderhead" when Player breaks cover runs into the line of fire. Westheimer shouts "Player, No!" and Chet comments that it sounds better when he says it.
 * The Angry Video Game Nerd: In the "Christmas Carol" episode: "NOOOOOOO! NO! NO! NO!", when the Ghost of Christmas Future shows him his tombstone, in the style of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.
 * In the Zero Punctuation review of Spore, Yahtzee delivers a deadpan Big No. Twice. Both times in his inimitably snarky manner.

So I guess what I'm asking is, 'Can brightly coloured monstrosities really compare to Batman?' Short answer, Nooooooooo..." (interrupted by closing music)"

"Nostalgia Critic: No... it's not true... it's impossible!!!
 * Julian and Tarquin from The Chin Review are really, really attached to their cheese and wine.
 * In the Whateley Universe, Phase does this once, upon learning something horrific about herself during powers testing.
 * At the end of the Five Best and Worst Sonic Games countdown, Stuttering Craig does one, when he finds he can't turn off the music to Sonic R.
 * The Nostalgia Chick does this on being exposed to the Christmas Shoes song in her "Top 10 Disturbing and Inescapable Christmas Songs" special. The Nostalgia Critic also shouts this frequently. A notable one is when he finally finds out that The Star Wars Holiday Special does, in fact, exist... and that he has to review it.

Darth Vader: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!

Nostalgia Critic: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

"NO! NOOOOOO!"
 * She also does it when  during the Kirk VS Picard review.
 * The Nostalgia Critic gives a series of these in his Drop Dead Fred review. Some of them are comparatively small "no"s, but he makes up for it with quantity.
 * The Nostalgia Critic has "I HAVE A NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO THIS SCENARIO!!! I HAVE A NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO THIS SCENARIO!!!" This while making fun of Tombstone's Big No. However he actually lists this trope as one of his favorite clichés.
 * Rob (dressed as Emperor Palpatine) tells Doug (dressed as Darth Vader) that he must review the 1999 animated movie The Legend of the Titanic. Guess the result.
 * In The Batterys Down Courtney has one of these when Jake says he's quitting musical theatre.
 * Raocow did this seemingly unintentionally. Made extra hilarious by how loud, deep, and scary it is compared to his regular voice.
 * Also from a Let's Player, Chuggaaconroy's occasional Epic No. To be fair, it isn't a long, drawn out "NOOOOOOOO" as much as a deep, harsh "NO!", which in context is a rejection, not the cry of despair seen in movies/other media. Chuggaaconroy parodies himself in this video at about 11:46. "And there's Luigi's Epic NOSE!"
 * Let's Plays of I Wanna Be the Guy will often have this. Even the creator of the game himself has been pushed this far. Here's a much more dramatic one
 * As does Let's Play Sonic 2006.

""Unfortunately for Junior, he's getting shipped to St. Understated, Thoughtful Conclusions Academy. Life's gonna be rough.""
 * The Yogscast Let's Play of Minecraft resulted in this in the Shadow of Israphel arc, upon finding out that the airship crashed into and completely destroy the two players' Yogcave, complete with an epic zoom out.
 * 5 Second Films has a fourth wall-straining example (also counting as a case of Skyward Scream) in "Boarding School". Lampshaded in the description:

"Chad: You picked the wrong day to mess with me, nerd! (beats him up)"
 * Also a quieter-than-usual (but angry) example as an opinion on planking.
 * The Annoying Orange: Orange at the end of More Annoying Orange and Cheese at the end of A Cheesy Episode.
 * Spoony reacts this way in the "Party Mania" review first to suffer an eternity of a party in Canada and the second time when he will lose his 'wiener'.
 * He mocks the use of one in Tekken: Blood Vengeance, arguing that they hadn't really reached the Noooooo! stage of a relationship given their three minutes of screentime.
 * NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
 * Two in Water Human, both very dramatic and ending abruptly. First, the Water-Human cries out over corpse, before realizing that it's weird to angst so much over a guy he knew for less than a minute. Later on Water-Human and a prison warden cry over the Large Beetle, who claims to have a heart attack, but then reveals he was just kidding.
 * Chad Vader does this when he finds out that his girlfriend Libby has been deported, only for the Marshmallow Bandito to harass him.

"Marik: I'll just work on my tan. Wait. I'm a vampire. I no longer have a tan. NOOOOOOOO!"
 * Marik Plays Bloodlines:

"Beh Lem: "To be saying nooooooooooooo in slow motion!"
 * The end of the "Sloppy Roethlisberger" episode of EPICMEALTIME has Harley accidentally breaking and spilling an entire bottle of Jack Daniels, with this being the appropriate response from someone in the background.
 * A couple of times throughout Nakar's Let's Play Ultima series, but most memorably right at the end of Ultima VI.

Death Cannon: *BOOM*"

"Tom: I hate Christmas..."
 * Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl: After Lenore dies, Ragamuffin shouts one while he begs to Lenore's corpse to not leave him.
 * The Ladybug from Last Dance of Ladybug also gives one after she was injured by a kid.
 * Twice in Two Best Friends Play. One was Pat's response to the thought of paying for all of Vampire Rain, and the other is when Matt found out they were going to play Shaq Fu.
 * Gronkh often shows this reaction, for example on various occasions when being killed in Minecraft, (most often by a creeper, for example here).
 * Shiny Objects Videos: In "Fishsticks", being the World of Ham that it is, a Big No was all but inevitable.
 * In the Eddsworld episode "Zanta Claws II", Tom has only recently gotten a present of . Zanta however is about to kill the real Santa. Tom takes the shot while letting off one of these. The shot hits his eyes, reflects off them and hits a chandelier, crushing Zanta at the cost of his eyes.

"Lani: OH MY GOD A TANK!
 * In the Team Four Star Let's Play of the Left 4 Dead 2 custom campaign "Detour Ahead." Just after barely surviving most of the finale, Gan gets two in:

Gan: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


 * Said tank promptly killed Kaiser and incapped the rest of the team within 7 seconds of Lani's warning.
 * Cloud8745 from YouTube provided a pretty epic one during a challenge run of Kirby's Dream Land.

TV Tropes Has Already Ruined My Life? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!