Darkest Hour: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

During the course of a [[Story Arc]], your characters can go places, have adventures, fight bad guys, and right wrongs. They've loved and lost and learned...and then something happens. Something that they never expected. The bad guys ''win''. The people ''turn against them''. [[The Hero]] ''[[Anyone Can Die|dies]]''.

And they don't have time to mourn or plan or get over their losses, because more bad things are happening. This is the point in a narrative when there's no hope, when the characters are at the edge of the [[Despair Event Horizon]]. It is frequently invoked for the strongest testing of [[The Hero]]'s character: [[What You Are in the Dark]].

 

 

This usually precedes a [[The Day of Reckoning|Day of Reckoning]] [[The Climax|climax]] where only a few things can happen:

 

* There's a [[Hope Spot|spot of hope]] that is then cruelly crushed, which leads to a [[Downer Ending]] or a [[Bittersweet Ending]].

* The author is [[Earn Your Happy Ending|ultimately going for a happy ending,]] but is feeling cruel enough to add a [[Hope Spot]] ''anyway'' before the heroes emerge from the mire.

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', there's an entire episode devoted to this in the Cell Saga where Cell powers up a massive Kamehameha wave to destroy the Earth as a badly injured Gohan and the rest of Z warriors look on helplessly.

** Because of Gohan's own arrogance, his father sacrificed himself {{spoiler|in vain}}; Trunks is lying in a pool of his own blood; Vegeta, the only other person even ''remotely'' capable of standing up to Cell has been incapacitated with a single blow; and, [[It Got Worse|to top it all off, Gohan only has the use of one of his arms.]]

** Piccolo Daimao had killed Goku's best friend Kuririn, with him failing to avenge him, now his [[Old Master]] Muten Roshi is also dead along with Chaotzu, Piccolo got his wish for eternal youth, and worst of all, he killed Shenlong himself so that he is no longer challenged.

** Sensui's power far exceeds Yusuke's being and S class while Yusuke was a B+ at best. Knowing he has no chance in hell of ever beating Sensui, Yusuke opted for a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] letting Sensui kill him thus boosting the the power levels of Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei up to A class.

** 3 A Class fighters against an S Class was still a very one sided [[Curb Stomp Battle]] in favor of Sensui. It took two [[Deus Ex Machina]] just to beat him.

* At the end of season one of ''[[Tower of God]]'', this happens for both Baam and his team in different ways. {{spoiler|Baam is betrayed by Rachel, debasing everything he worked for until now, because all he wanted was to be with her, which also destroyed a large part of his trusting nature, and for the team… well, the one that held it together died. Rak and Androssi didn't even bother to show up for the announcement of death, but they all decided to help Rachel achieving her goals to cherish Baam's memory.}}

** ''[[Great Mazinger]]'': In the anime it happened in the last episode: the Mykene bombarded the Fortress of Science, Kouji and Tetsuya were forced to fight separately, Tetsuya was defeated {{spoiler|and nearly got killed}} and Prof. Kenzo Kabuto {{spoiler|died.}} And in the [[Gosaku Ota]] episodes it was worse AND [[It Got Worse]].

** ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'': In the finale of the first season, [[The Hero]] was defeated and forced into hiding with his [[Humongous Mecha]], his [[The Lancer|lancer]] was shot down, his [[Love Interest]] was dying, the base was taken by one of the [[Co-Dragons]] of [[Big Bad]], and the Professor was tortured.

* By the last episode of ''[[Scrapped Princess]]'', Pacifica has sustained a mortal wound, Prince Forsythe has given ''himself'' a mortal wound, Shannon and Zefiris have been dragged off by the surviving Peacemakers, and for good measure, the Royal Forces start blasting the place. It ends well.

** Well after stopping his parents' [[Assimilation Plot]], he starts up his [[Thanatos Gambit]] for world peace. What is he regretting other than being a [[Cosmic Plaything]]?

* This takes place in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' after a disastrous battle with Aion leaves the [[True Companions]] broken.

** In the manga, Rosette is nearly killed when Chrono goes into an [[Unstoppable Rage]]. Chrono realizes what he's doing in time to save her life, but Aion uses it as his chance to incapacitate him. Azmaria is then kidnapped, Aion leaves the rest badly injured, and Chrono is so distraught that he [[Heroic BSOD|forces himself]] into an [[Angst Coma]] so he won't take any more of Rosette's lifespan. It ends once Rosette and Chrono decide to follow Aion to his base of operations.

** In the anime, Rosette is kidnapped by Aion and brainwashed to take part in his plans. Chrono manages to free Joshua from the horns, but they've damaged his mind so much he barely remembers anyone, and in the process Chrono is frozen in time. Thing spiral out of control from there, and don't get better until Chrono's final fight with Aion, and even then, the rest of the series is grim up until the [[Tear Jerker|ending.]]

* There's one at the end of each ''[[Slayers]]'' season.

* The result of a [[Gambit Roulette]] orchestrated by the main villain, Tamaki's [[Evil Matriarch]] grandmother, in an attempt to separate him and Haruhi in ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]''.

* In ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'', the main one comes when Sakura believes she's lost to Yue; she has a lucid dream in which the catastrophe actually takes place, and friendships... well, ''no longer exist'', at least for the people Sakura was close to.

* In ''[[Pluto]]'', when all of the seven great robots of the world have been destroyed. Except for Atom, who may be insane at that point.

** Another one is the Elric brothers' first meeting with Father and the aftermath. Basically, they've found out the horrible secret of their country and they're led to believe there's nothing they can do to stop it. One of the chapters in this arc is even called "Inside the Belly."

** As if that wasn't enough, the final showdown between Ala Alba and Kosmo Entelechia has gone wrong. Horribly, ''horribly'' wrong. Negi is incapacitated (bad), so the rest of the team pull off a daring rescue (good). Half the attacking group is turned to stone in the clusterfuck (bad), but at least they've stopped the world-ending ritual and stolen the artifact, rescued the princess and saved the world, right? [[It Got Worse|Uh, no]].

* One for every ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' part:

** Part 6 - Pucci upgrades his Stand to one that can reset the universe, and he plans to make a world where the Joestars never existed. The only one stopping him is a kid with no offensive abilities whatsoever.

** Part 7 - Valentine has all the corpse parts and merges them with Lucy, giving him complete immunity to Johnny's attacks, Gyro's strongest attack doesn't work and gets him killed, and then Diego shows up...

** The little black circle things? Those are seeds. In a world that seems to be undergoing an ice age and random geological phenomena. I'll buy the "reset button" but that doesn't really explain anything about the doppelgangers / protagonist look-alikes. Seems to suffer from Anime Ending Syndrome, which is to say it doesn't make much sense even on a symbolic level.

* The last part of the manga ''[[Hellsing]]'' develops with the city of London destroyed by vampires and crusaders, with Alucard far away in a ship, and the Hellsing manor almost destroyed and under the attack of vampires. The situation doesn't get better until Alucard arrives (which actually makes things ''worse'').

* The Water Seven and Sabaody arcs in ''[[One Piece]]'', both storylines in which the Straw Hat Pirates have come close to annihilation.

** Those are tame compared to The Marineford arc. The marines succeed in executing Ace, Blackbeard kills Whitebeard and steals his powers, Luffy has sustained a massive amount of damage and sacrificed part of his lifespan in vain, and several villains from previous arcs have now been freed from prison ([[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|by Luffy himself, no less]]), and as the cherry on top, Luffy lost his brother despite all the sacrifices he made.

* By episode 11 of ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', Homura is the only magical girl left alive and is fighting a losing battle against Walpurgisnacht even after unloading a small army's worth of firepower on it. After repeating the same six weeks who knows how many times, she finally gives up hope... {{spoiler|cue [[Wishplosion]] courtesy of her beloved Madoka.}}

* ''[[The End of Evangelion]]'' carries this trope to its logical extreme. It's pretty dark.

* ''[[SD Gundam Force]]'': Most of Neotopia's population is [[Taken for Granite|turned to stone]], Commander Sazabi has stolen Captain's soul drive, and is preparing to rule over the world with it.

* The approaching end of the Fullbringer arc in ''[[Bleach]]''. All of Ichigo's Nakama are either fighting against him due to the [[Big Bad]]'s [[More Than Mind Control]] or are critically injured, the guy who he thought was a friend turns out to be working with the big bad the entire time, the powers he worked to attain throughout the arc are taken from him, and after getting stabbed through the heart he finds his father behind him, seemingly the one who did it.

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Sango and Miroku waiting for the Wind Tunnel to absorb them while their despair consumes the light within the Shikon no Tama leaving it in darkness.

* ''[[High School DxD]]'''s Darkest Hour occurs in the 11th volume when Opfus had 75% of her powers drained from her. Then they're trapped in an alternate dimension surrounded by grim reapers. They were able to destroy the statues and were already about to get out of that place when Opfus gets kidnapped by a newly-rebuilt Shalba Beelzebub, and Ise has to rescue her. {{spoiler|The volume ends with Ise getting hit with a [[Achilles' Heel|dragon-eater Samael blood coated]] on an arrow, leaving him to die in that place. That's not all however; Hades starts a war on the Underworld, Azazel's been accused of cooperating with terrorists even though he's the one who wanted peace in the first place, and every single member of the Occult Research Club suffering a [[Heroic BSOD]].}}

 

* Among other incidents, unprecedented amounts of crap hit the fan at the end of chapter 100 of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' - right in the middle of the Ultimate [[Cloning Blues|Clone Saga]]. To whit: Peter has already found at least one violently insane clone of himself and has tangled with a mysterious Spider Woman; Mary Jane has been kidnapped by another warped and insane clone of Peter who intends to transform her to make her "just like him" (and as of the last page of the chapter has apparently succeeded); Nick Fury has shown up outside Peter's house to arrest him with an army of "Spider Slayers"; Gwen Stacey has mysteriously returned from the dead, but panics and transforms into Carnage (the monster that killed her in the first place) when Fury shows up; Peter was forced to tell Aunt May his secret when she discovered him with Gwen, driving her lash out at him for lying to her all along and telling him she doesn't want to have anything more to do with him, before the repeated shocks (Gwen transforming into Carnage being the straw that broke the camel's back) cause her to have a heart attack; and Peter's supposedly long-dead father Richard Parker has apparently shown up, with Peter shocked to realize that May had known about him for a while and had kept Richard's return a secret. That's a LOT of crap to be going down at once and [[It Got Worse|it still has to get worse]] before it gets any better. And while I could say it all turns out alright, that would be what we call "a lie". ("Mostly alright" is about as close as we can get.)

* [[Final Crisis]] for entire DCU.

** ''[[Blackest Night]]'' followed immediately. And ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' happened just a couple years ago too. It's been a pretty rough few years for the DCU.

* ''[[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]]'' for the [[Marvel Universe]].

* ''[[Elf Quest]]'': In the "Kings of the Broken Wheel" arc, Cutter watches helplessly as Rayek abducts Leetah, Skywise, Suntop and Ember 10,000 years into the future.

* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comics have had a few points over the years that qualify:

** The destruction of Knothole in issue 175, which includes the first time Eggman's ever managed to [[Curb Stomp Battle|outright]] [[The Bad Guy Wins|defeat Sonic in a fight]].

** About midway through the Iron Dominion Saga, the Iron Queen [[Brainwashed and Crazy|hacks NICOLE]], allowing the Dominion forces to seize control of New Mobotropolis and send the Freedom Fighters running.

 

== Fan Works ==

* ''[[My Little Avengers]]'': Chapter 14 and roughly the first third of chapter 15 -- [[Big Bad|Loki's]] [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Dark Avengers]] have managed to defeat the Avengers, and a threat on Pinkie Pie's life gets Big Macintosh to surrender Mjolnir and Thor's power to Loki, who proceeds to pervert the [[Power of Friendship]] to strip the other Avengers of their powers as well. The Dark Avengers then assault the royal palace, banishing Luna to the moon and taking a depowered Celestia prisoner, with Loki proclaiming himself the new ruler of Equestria. {{spoiler|Fortunately, Big Mac gets a [[Rousing Speech]] from a ponified [[Stan Lee]], and he proceeds to do the same to his teammates, using the ''real'' [[Power of Friendship]] to restore their powers. They then take the fight to Loki, setting the stage for the [[Final Battle]].}}

* The 15th chapter of a different [[crossover]] fanfic, ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'' certainly fits. The griffins manage to seize Canterlot and the castle becomes the only save area. Many ponies were injured during their raid, some died. Tornado Swirl and Overdrive lost every one of their wingmates, the Stingray squadron was wiped out completely, Blueberry died a [[Cruel and Unusual Death]] and {{spoiler|Carrot Top [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|dies in Derpy's arms]]}}, much to her despair. The situation is so crushing that even [[Plucky Girl|Cloud Kicker]] bursts into tears!

 

== Film ==

** Ironically, just before, Harvey had stated that "Things are always darkest just before the dawn". If he only knew...

* ''[[Firefly|Serenity]]'': The title ship is grounded on Mr. Universe's moon. Book is dead. Wash was killed by the Reavers. They've got one seriously ticked off Operative on their tail and the Reavers are descending upon the ship. Zoe even states outright that [[Kill'Em All|they're not getting out alive]].

*** And let us not forget; '[[Downer Beginning|This is our darkest hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope.]]'

* [[The Movie]] version of ''The Odyssey'' has one where ''all'' of Odysseus' men drown in a shipwreck and he washes ashore to Calypso's island where she makes him her sex slave for ''seven years''. [[Homer]]'s original is told [[Anachronic Order]], so it's harder to pinpoint there.

* In ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'', when the Faun has forsaken Ofelia and her mother has died, leaving her all alone with her [[Complete Monster|supremely evil stepfather]].

* Shows up in both ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' movies: Twice in the first actually. the first is when the Busters are eating Chinese takeout and Ray says that the business has just run out of money with that meal. That is exactly when the Sedgewick Hotel calls desperately for their services to which Janine at the front desk goes, "We got one!" as the enterprise is saved. The second one was when [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] Walter Peck has the containment unit was shut down, thereby causing the firehouse to explode and releasing all the ghosts that the title characters had caught to wreak havoc upon the city while Peck has the unmitigated gall to arrest the Ghostbusters for doing something that he alone is responsible for.

* This occurs during the original ''[[Godzilla]]'' when [[Eyepatch of Power|Dr. Serizawa]] is torn between using the Oxygen Destroyer or keeping it a secret. It's not until he's shown the tragedy caused by Godzilla's rampage that he finally decides to use it...but only once.

* During the animated ''[[Transformers]]'' movie. They even call it by name.

* ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'' has two: one for the film as a whole, and one for the [[Final Battle]] (which was so big, [[Joss Whedon]] had to plot it out like a film in its own right).

** The first time comes when {{spoiler|the Helicarrier is barely functioning after [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] Hawkeye's attack and the Hulk's rampage; Thor is gone, Banner is gone, Iron Man's armour is a hair's breath from completely crapping out, Black Widow is inches from a [[Heroic BSOD]], Agent Coulson is dead, Loki has escaped, and S.H.I.E.L.D. '''still''' has no idea where the Tesseract is.}}

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]'' (both the book and the movie), the boy gets a little upset at the part where Westley is dead and Buttercup supposedly marries Humperdinck. What's the point of reading this story? That's not how it's supposed to end! It takes him ''years'' to realize just how deeply that moment affected him.

** In ''Philosopher's Stone'', Harry throws away for his House any realistic competition in the House Cup and resolves to give up saving the Stone.

** In ''Chamber of Secrets'', the school is under intense lockdown, devoid of hope, and Cornelius Fudge and Lucius Malfoy have banished the people who would be of most help.

** In ''Prisoner of Azkaban'', Harry has failed in his rescue, a vile man has escaped into the ether, and everyone believes he has been magically confused into believing utter lies.

** In ''Order of the Phoenix'', [[Harry Potter/Characters|Umbridge]] is swiftly [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|taking over and souring everything]] great and good about Hogwarts. This ends when the trio find a way to fight back.

** In ''Half-Blood Prince'', The Cave.

*** To say nothing of the final battle against Voldemort and the revelation of Harry's destiny.

* [[Older Than Dirt]]: The death of [[The Hero]]'s [[Dead Sidekick|best friend, Enkidu,]] in ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' triggers the first [[Heroic BSOD]].

* Katie MacAlister's ''Aisling Gray'' series ends book three at such a low point that it took this troper at least a year to pick up book four.

* The ending of ''[[Sword of Truth|Soul of the Fire]]'' sees Kahlan hanging to life by a fragile thread and having lost the child she was carrying, Richard believing that the Imperial Order is impossible to defeat, and a general lack of ''anything'' good having come from the events of the book, with Richard, Kahlan, and Cara quietly leaving in utter defeat.

* In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''Jargoon Pard'', Kethan is [[Switched At Birth]] for a woman's daughter, because [[Heir Club for Men|only a son can inherit]]. At the climax, this is revealed to the woman and his parents; they reveal that actually, they knew it for a long time, practically from infancy, and still consider her their daughter. Kethan nearly despairs, because his purported mother no longer wants him, because she can no longer use him. After the fight, however, his parents eagerly lay claim both to their biological son and the daughter they raised.

* ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]'': Matteo and his friends have come up with a clever plan to arrest the ranking officials of the LRA without any violence. And then half his friends are wiped out in a single move when the LRA decides they've got too many mouths to feed.

 

** "A Good Man Goes To War", where the Doctor rose so high, and saw everything taken away, when {{spoiler|Melody is taken away from under his nose, so she can be raised to kill him}}.

* The end of the ''[[Chuck]]'' episode "Chuck Versus Sarah" is arguably the most depressing moment of the series. Not only has Sarah lost her memory, but after seeing her video logs, she starts to realize just how crucial the last five years of her life were and how different she became after falling in love. She sets out for Quinn with the knowledge that killing him won't actually make that any better, and Chuck watches the love of his life walk away from him knowing that she remembers almost nothing of their time together.

* The end of the episode "Spiral" in season 5 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Hellgod Glory has kidnapped Buffy's little sister/cosmic [[MacGuffin]] Dawn/The Key, and is going to use her to end the world. Plus, Giles is badly injured and the gang are stranded in the middle of nowhere.

* In ''[[Angel]]'', argubly one of the darkest moments is the end of season three where Wesley has betrayed the team and been abandoned, Cordelia has [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]], and Angel's been trapped at the bottom of the sea by his own son.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' season 5 leads up to this: despite defeating Apophis once and for all at the start of the season, one by one, Earth and its allies are targeted for destruction by Anubis; the Tollan are destroyed, the rebel Jaffa and Tok'ra are scattered, and Earth escapes a [[Colony Drop]] unscathed (barely). Anubis turns out to have Ancient technology that can rival the Asgard, and Thor gets his brain sucked out. Oh, and Daniel Jackson is dead. They're screwed, and the next season doesn't give them much more hope.

** Season ''four'' ended with such as well. Teal'c last seen being taken by Apophis' [[Dragon]]. Then, because of the effects of [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?|the sun blowing up]] on [[Subspace or Hyperspace|hyperspace windows]], the ship belonging to SG-1 is flung ''galaxies'' away, with zillions of years at maximum hyperspace between them and home. Just after that sank in, [[It Got Worse]]: Apophis comes through the same window and is ''literally'' right on top of them, his command ship docking with theirs the way theirs would dock with a pyramid.

** In the first episodes of season 3, the ''New Caprica'' arc. Most of the insurgency's leaders are held prisoner on the planet. The free ones, Saul, Anders and Galen are increasingly desperate, with Galen getting careless after Cally is arrested and Saul unhinged after being tortured. Starbuck is missing, held prisoner by Leoben and subjected to [[Mind Rape]] with no way to reach her husband or allies. On the Fleet, the two Battlestars are undermanned and have no viable means of penetrating the planetary defence. William and Lee are in increasing disagreement on what to do, feeling hopeless and unable to help the people they love.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' has the episode ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Hour of the Wolf]]'', where [[The Hero]] is dead after his [[Heroic Sacrifice]], but didn't even manage to kill [[The Dragon|Morden]]. Garibaldi has been captured by someone, the Vorlons are done with what little diplomacy they did before, the League is taking their cues from [[Dying Like Animals]], Londo sees his premonition of Shadow ships over Centauri Prime become true and Emperor Cartagia is planning on turning the Centauri homeworld into [[Omnicidal Maniac|a giant funeral pyre]] to light his way to [[A God Am I|godhood]]. The Vorlons and the Shadows haven't started shooting yet, but they've thrown out the rules of engagement so it's [[It Gets Worse|only a matter of time]].

* The two-part opener of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' series four is called "The Darkest Hour." Furthermore, the tagline for the season as displayed on the posters is: "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." It's also a line of dialogue in the first episode, as said by Prince Arthur.

* The [[Power Rangers Samurai]] episode ''The Tengen Gate'' ends with team leader Jayden poisoned and captured by a monster, the rest of the Rangers injured and unconscious, and [[Sixth Ranger]] Antonio left standing alone in despair.

 

== Music ==

* Without question the ''absolute'' darkest hour in [[Ludo]]'s rock opera ''The Broken Bride'' is when the Time Traveller is at the apocalypse and decides to destroy his Time Machine, marooning himself there and severing himself from his beloved wife forever, to release the only things that may have a chance at destroying the [[Zombie Apocalypse|zombie-making, soul-devouring]] Dragon: [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Pterodactyls.]]

* Shinedown references this in their song, "The Sound of Madness." Potentially subverted, though, as the following line gives a potential Hope Spot:

* ''The Manual'' ([[The KLF|the Timelords]]' guide to creating a #1 hit single, no money or talent necessary) tells its user to schedule a week in the recording studio actually creating the single, and warns that Tuesday will be wrecked by depression and self-doubt. The only solution is to press on: by Wednesday, everything should start to make sense again.

* Pretty much the point of Wednesday 13's song, "We All Die:"

 

 

== Theater ==

* ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'': "''[[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]! All helpful urges should be circumvented - no good deed goes unpunished! Sure, I meant well, well look at what well-meant did!''" [[Dead Little Sister]], [[Villain with Good Publicity]] as powerful as ever, {{spoiler|Beloved teacher reduced to bleating, love interest in chains and torment, and best friend is accomplice to all this.}}

* Two in ''[[Man of La Mancha]]'': One is for Aldonza, after being gang-raped by the muleteers. Then Don Quixote himself [[Heroic BSOD|suffers this after]] the Knight of the Mirrors breaks his spirit.

* [[Spring Awakening|Melchior comes home to find his]] love interest and their unborn child have been killed by a failed abortion, making it all his fault, and he's reminded that best friend committed suicide, and it's ''also his fault'', indirectly. And this is not helped in the original German play, when {{spoiler|the ghosts of his friends actually appear to ''try to make him commit suicide and join them.'' Some friends.}}

 

== Video Games ==

** During the second arc with Queen Elencia. Ludvec kidnaps Lucia, the Greil Mercenaries and Bastian are nowhere to be found, your main army with the most competent warriors are sidetracked and delayed by an enemy ploy and Ludvec surronds your last stronghold with a massive army of traitors and usurpers.

** In the Third Chapter, thanks to Skrimir's idiocy, Naesala's treachery and [[Magnificent Bastard|Begnion's bastardry]], the Gallian forces are trapped in enemy territory with the world's superpower on one side and Daein, which holds quite a few old friends, closing in on the other. They are forced to stage a full scale retreat losing the territory they gained and some of it they started with.

* ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' has this just after you confront Queen Zeal in the Ocean Palace. {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|Lavos]] woke up, knocked out the entire party with one attack, [[Killed Off for Real|obliterated Crono]], and destroyed Zeal. Schala teleported the party out with her magic, but she was caught in the Ocean Palace as it collapsed. The Epoch is gone, the time gate out of 12,000 BC is still sealed (and without Schala, there's no hope of breaking the seal), and Dalton and his troops are declaring sovereignty over what's left of the world. Just to add to that, the closest thing the party has to an ally is the person they've spent the first part of the game trying to kill}}.

* In ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', after the visit to [[Disc One Final Dungeon|Fort Dragonia]]. {{spoiler|Lynx pulls a [[Grand Theft Me]] on Serge, turns his party against him, stabs Kid when she figures out what's going on, and throws Serge into a dimensional void. Even after Harle helps Serge out, he's still stuck in Home World, separated from all his friends, stuck in Lynx's body, while Dark Serge is doing god-knows-what in Another World.}}

* The beginning of the final day of ''[[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All]]'', case 2-4. {{spoiler|Maya's been kidnapped by a professional assassin, who wants him to get an acquittal for the client-of-the-week in exchange for Maya's life. Phoenix then has to spend the first day breaking one of the biggest [[The Woobie|woobies]] in the series to achieve his goal, only to find out that his client is [[Complete Monster|guilty-as-all-hell.]] On top of that, just when the player thinks they found out where Maya is being kept, the assassin slipped right out of the police's grasp, leaving them back to square one on where to find her, the player is given a [[You Bastard]] moment by said woobie, and now Phoenix has to decide between proving his client guilty or saving Maya's life. All while the client is standing there and mocking you.}}

* This was both literally and figuratively the case in ''[[Dark Souls]]'' before the player character escapes the northern undead prison. The First Flame is dying, and when it does all light and fire shall go out with it. As a result much of the world is suffering through endless nights. The world has also be devastated by a curse of undeath called the Dark Sign and many, many civilizations have collapsed as a result.

 

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', as might be expected from such a plot-heavy series of its length, has at least three examples.

** The first is at the end of Chapter 12, when Gwynn is in an apparently irreversible coma, and Torg and Zoë are trapped in pre-Norman Britain in an [[Evil Dead|Army of Darkness]] parody.

** Oh, and that Gate? It gets destroyed during the battle. And while that may mean that the villains can't harness its powers, it now means that there's a gaping hole in reality ''and'' the seal containing the Snarl has been significantly weakened. Oh, and while Vaarsuvius may have come to his/her senses, he/she still owes his/her soul to the IFCC, who still seem interested in using him/her as a pawn. On the bright side, however, O-Chul's capture allowed him to befriend [[Minion with an F In Evil|the Monster in the Darkness]], and seems to have started it down the path to a [[Heel Face Turn]], so some good came of this mess.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' Act Five Act Two: [[Munchkin|Vriska]] kills [[Wheelchair Woobie|Tavros]]. [[Royal Brat|Eridan]] has a [[Face Heel Turn]], blinds [[Mad Oracle|Sollux]], murders [[Rebellious Princess|Feferi]] and [[Team Mom|Kanaya]] ([[Our Vampires Are Different|she gets better]]), and dooms the troll species to extinction by destroying the Matriorb. Then [[Monster Clown|Gamzee]] runs out of sopor pie, sobers up and goes [[Ax Crazy]], killing [[Genius Bruiser|Equius]] and [[Catgirl|Nepeta]]. There is also that little matter of [[Hero-Killer|Jack]] [[Big Bad|Noir]], who has so far killed [[Crazy Awesome|Bro]], [[Spirit Advisor|Davesprite]] ([[Not Quite Dead|also gets better]]), [[The Hero|John]] ([[Physical God|also gets better]]), [[Black Magician Girl|Rose]] ([[Kiss of Life|also gets better]]), [[The Lancer|the actual Dave]] ([[Kiss of Life|also gets better)]], [[Timey-Wimey Ball|an alternate Dave]] ([[Running Gag|does not get better]]), the dreamselves of every troll, Mom and Dad, wiped out the populations of three entire planets, and [[Earthshattering Kaboom|destroyed all fourteen planets]] of the trolls' Medium. With Gamzee apparently neutralised and Eridan and Vriska killed by Kanaya and Terezi respectively, though, it looks like everyone may finally have the time to work on getting themselves out of this mess.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'': In [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-09-27 the ninth part of the Sister II arc] Nanase futilely tries to talk to Abraham to convince him to spare Ellen's life but he cuts her fairy doll avatar down. This hurts her unimaginably as she can feel everything but she creates another avatar and tries again. Abraham thinks he is fighting puppets controlled by the elf he defeated earlier and refuses to even acknowledge what she is trying to tell him believing it to be trickery. Instead, he cuts the avatars down as fast as Nanase can create them each time causing her physical pain but she keeps trying over and over again. All this while every mortal being in the area who could possibly help her has either been put into a deep sleep by Abraham or is unaware of her plight.

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'' - the butchers are still on the loose, Princess Peach is still missing, and to make matters worse, [[Complete Monster|Kirby]] has escaped from jail.

* [[Whateley Universe]] example: the story "Christmas Elves". One chapter ends with Fey trapped and powerless in a magical circle so she can be mindslaved, Shroud gone, and Generator locked to a table and stabbed through the heart so hard that the athame goes through her and is stuck in the table.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]] - The Movie'': The city's being destroyed by mutated monkeys, the entire city of Townsville hates them, and Mojo Jojo is holding their father hostage.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has two potential candidates. One is the [[Wham! Episode|"Crossroads of Destiny"]] where Zuko does not complete his [[Heel Face Turn]], Azula backshoots Aang with lightning, nearly killing him, and the previously impenetrable Earth Kingdom Capital Ba Sing Se falls to the Fire Nation. Another is the [[Hope Spot|"Day of the Black Sun"]] where Sokka [[Gondor Calls for Aid|tries to lead an invasion]] of the Fire Nation during a solar eclipse. Instead, we learn that Azula knew about the invasion all along and the Fire Nation was ready. The end result was that the invasion failed, virtually all the troops were sent to prison, and the few remaining children had to hide out in the Western Air Temple.

* Every season of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' has one of these occur during the season finale.

** Season 1: The Teen Titans are infected with nanobots that will kill them upon Slade's command. To save their lives, Robin swears to serve Slade as his apprentice.

** Not to mention that the protagonist and titular character has gotten rid of his ghost powers and the villain offers everyone another hope spot...in return for being named ruler of the world.

* The concept of the "Darkest Hour" is a major part of [[Transformers]] philosophy, signifying a threat that seems to blot out all hope in the universe. The way to avert it is to bring all Transformers together against whatever threatens them - thus the phrase "Till All Are One". The animated movie is ''the'' example of this, but it recurs throughout different continuities.

** In the season finale, the Changeling Queen Chrysalis manages to defeat both the Mane Six ''and'' Princess Celestia, and take over Canterlot in a preparation for her horde to conquer Equestria. She's only defeated when {{spoiler|Cadence uses [[The Power of Love]] to supercharge Shining Armor's shield spell, which banishes the changelings from the city [[Pokémon (anime)|Team Rocket style]].}}

 

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[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]

[[Category:24-Hour Trope Clock]]