Darkest Hour: Difference between revisions

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:

* 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.

 

 

It should go without saying, but "'''Here there be spoilers!'''"

** 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.

** Starting at the middle of season 4… Ooooh boy. The Fleet finds Earth after years of searching, but the whole planet is a radioactive wasteland. The friendly cylons have been all but decimated, with only one sheep surviving. Galactica herself is wounded and falls apart with old age. People fall prey to suicidal and auto-destructive behaviors, a situation that culminates in a bloody mutiny. The one child that symbolizes humanity's future is kidnapped by the bad cylons… and ''it keeps getting worse'' until the beginning of the [[Series Finale]].

* ''[[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.