Darkest Hour: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"You and I, Sam, are still stuck in [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall|the worst places of the story]], and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: 'Shut the book now, dad; we don't want to read any more.'"''|'''Frodo''', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]], The Two Towers, Book IV''}}

{{quote|''"You and I, Sam, are still stuck in [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall|the worst places of the story]], and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: 'Shut the book now, dad; we don't want to read any more.'"''|'''Frodo'''|''[[The Lord of the Rings]], The Two Towers, Book IV''}}

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]]''.

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** 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.

* ''[[~~Re Boot~~]]'': The city is completely ruined, only the principal office has any power, and it's impossible to repair the city. The remaining population is holed up in the principal office and doesn't have the supplies to last very long. And to make matters worse a game has landed which will crash the entire system when the User wins. The only way out of this mess is to invoke a [[Deus Ex Machina]] and pray for the User to intervene as the system crashes and everything fades to black. A couple of key strokes from the User and everything is fixed, including bringing back the dead.

* ''[[ReBoot]]'': The city is completely ruined, only the principal office has any power, and it's impossible to repair the city. The remaining population is holed up in the principal office and doesn't have the supplies to last very long. And to make matters worse a game has landed which will crash the entire system when the User wins. The only way out of this mess is to invoke a [[Deus Ex Machina]] and pray for the User to intervene as the system crashes and everything fades to black. A couple of key strokes from the User and {{spoiler|everything is fixed, including bringing back the dead}}.

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' has had two of these moments, both in original and second [[Grand Finale]]s. In the first, Kim is devastated from being played by Drakken, who is about to unleash an army of powerful robots all across the world. In the second, Kim has been captured by [[Alien Invaders]] while the planet is overwhelmed by [[Tripod Terror|alien walkers]]. The second is probably the closest the world has ever been to being taken over.

* At the end of the first episode of season two of ''[[My Little Pony: ~~Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony~~ Friendship Is Magic]]'', [[The Bad Guy Wins|Discord has won]], most of the heroes have been [[Break the Cutie|broken]] and [[Mind Rape]]d, the Elements of Harmony, the ''only'' thing that can possibly stop him, are in his grasp, and he's unleashed a storm of corruption and suffering upon Equestria.

* At the end of the first episode of season two of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', [[The Bad Guy Wins|Discord has won]], most of the heroes have been [[Break the Cutie|broken]] and [[Mind Rape]]d, the Elements of Harmony, the ''only'' thing that can possibly stop him, are in his grasp, and he's unleashed a storm of corruption and suffering upon Equestria.

** And in the follow-up episode, Discord reveals to Twilight that [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|she led them into the trap because she didn't think the riddle through to the end]]. Despite that, Twilight ''does'' manage to assemble the Elements of Harmony—only for them to fail. The Mane Six go their separate ways and Twilight [[Despair Event Horizon|actually gives up]] and is ready to leave Ponyville. It takes a timely intervention from Celestia to snap her out of it.

** 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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== Real Life ==

* [[The Black Death]], so far the most horrific plague ~~mankind~~ ever had to face. In a span of three-four years, the population of Europe was reduced of ''one third''. The general perception was that the Apocalypse was coming.

* [[The Black Death]], so far the most horrific plague Europe ever had to face. In a span of three-four years, the population of Europe was reduced of ''one third''. The general perception was that the Apocalypse was coming.

** ~~WRONG.~~ The ~~worst~~ ~~plague~~ ~~was~~ the ~~one~~ that ~~happened~~ to the Native Americans that wiped out 90 percent of their population at some point in between Columbus and the pilgrims.

** The Black Death pales beside the plague that was suffered by the Native North and South Americans that wiped out 90 percent of their population at some point in between Columbus and the pilgrims.

* [[The Other Wiki]] attributes Winston Churchill as the [[Trope Namer]] for this phrase, having used it in speeches for the period of [[World War II]] where France had just fallen to the Nazis, they had turned against Soviet Union to the east and were launching [[The Blitz]] against Britain.

{{quote|[[Stiff Upper Lip|"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves,]] that if the [[The British Empire|British Empire]] and [[The Commonwealth|its Commonwealth]] last for a thousand years, [[Famed in Story|men will still say]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|'This was their finest hour.'"]]}}

* The Cold War, for humanity as a whole. In a reversal of all indications from history, two powerful nations in an arms race, itching to defeat the other, ''did not go to war in a period of 40 years.'' With enough nuclear weapons to render the Earth uninhabitable many times over, and events like the Cuban Missile Crisis bringing tensions to alarming levels, where the public kept track of something called ''The Doomsday Clock'', the Cold War ended peacefully.

* The [[Cold War]], for humanity as a whole. In a reversal of all indications from history, two powerful nations in an arms race, itching to defeat the other, ''did not go to war in a period of 40 years.'' With enough nuclear weapons to render the Earth uninhabitable many times over, and events like the Cuban Missile Crisis bringing tensions to alarming levels, where the public kept track of something called ''The Doomsday Clock'', the Cold War ended peacefully.

** The Cuban Missile Crisis deserves further special mention, here. It's one of the closest instances of nuclear war to date. The solution that ''prevented'' nuclear war was not even possible at first, and was a longshot from the beginning, relying on military and political leaders, as well as the personnel up and down the line on both sides, to put their faith in the hope that the other side (and even their own) would avoid nuclear war at all costs. Leaders on both sides, especially at the worst parts of the crisis, were well aware that [[The End of the World as We Know It]] was ''likely'' if they didn't pull through.

** The [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] deserves further special mention, here. It's one of the closest instances of nuclear war to date. The solution that ''prevented'' nuclear war was not even possible at first, and was a longshot from the beginning, relying on military and political leaders, as well as the personnel up and down the line on both sides, to put their faith in the hope that the other side (and even their own) would avoid nuclear war at all costs. Leaders on both sides, especially at the worst parts of the crisis, were well aware that [[The End of the World as We Know It]] was ''likely'' if they didn't pull through.

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[[Category:~~Darkest Hour~~]]

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