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{{trope}}
[[File:Cell Doesn't Want To Work!.png|350px|thumb|link= Cells at Work!|Morale among red blood cells is at an all time low. Half of the work force has lost a sense of meaning in their duties.]]
{{quote|''"It wasn't just the baby that died that day; something inside Sick Boy was lost and never returned."''
|'''Renton''', ''[[Trainspotting]]''}}
The line that, once crossed, destroys any last remaining sense of hope. It could be for a cause, a person, a situation, or simple survival. A character has given up on it, and there is no going back. It can lead soldiers to despair—or even [[Driven to Suicide|suicide]]. It can turn an [[Ideal Hero]] into an [[Anti-Hero]] or [[Face Heel Turn|an outright villain]], or even, in some cases, ''[[Heel Face Turn|vice versa]].'' It is a vital element of [[Tragedy]].
Coming ''near'' this line is quite common in fiction; frequently, at the end of the [[Three Act Structure|second act]] or the 45 minute mark of a drama or the first hour of a film, the protagonist comes [[Darkest Hour|dangerously close to the edge]] before a [[Rousing Speech]] or [[Deus Ex Machina]] or the like comes along. It makes for a [[Downer Ending]] if the protagonist does fall over the edge. Frequently, this is when the [[What You Are in the Dark]] test hits him. Alternatively, many stories have a hero "Fighting the Good Fight" and meeting someone who'd [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|been at it longer and lost all hope]].
This is often a goal of some wars. You break the enemy's morale, and you can win even without military success.
Related to [[Heroic BSOD]] and [[Heroic Safe Mode]], except the hero usually comes back from those. A [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] is often a character who crossed this line long ago. It can result in the character entering an [[Angst Coma]], being [[Dumb Struck]], suffering [[Death
May be preceded with a [[Hope Spot]], just to really twist the knife. And a [[Downer Ending]] might follow in really dark stories.
Might be accompanied by a [[Despair Speech]]. Compare [[Hope Is Scary]]. Contrast [[Heroic Spirit]].
'''IMPORTANT:''' This is about a character losing all hope, not merely getting depressed, upset, or bored.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': [[The Hero]] Kouji almost, ''almost'' crossed it during the Mazinger-Z vs Great General of Darkness movie. After several Mykene Warrior Monsters have easily destroyed four major cities (Paris, London, New York and Moscow) they strike Tokyo. He launches Mazinger-Z to fight them... and he barely walks out of it alive. The Warrior Monsters easily rip his mecha apart and turn Tokyo into burning ruins as he is unable make anything to stop them. Back in the [[Home Base]], he learns MORE Warrior Monsters have visited while he was away. His [[Home Base]] are in ruins, [[Love Interest]] Sayaka and [[Vitriolic Best Bud|victriolic best friend]] Boss' [[Humongous Mecha]]s have been destroyed, and worst of all, his little brother Shirou got hurt cause collapsing ceiling and is in coma. Later, Kouji was sitting on -the remains of- his room, and he cried as he said he knew he could not win and he was going to die in the next battle; poor Sayaka, who was eavesdropping, also cried as hearing him.
** It was way, WAY worse in one of the first chapters of ''[[Shin Mazinger Zero]]'', where he '''did''' fully cross it. Straight after {{spoiler|seeing his grandfather murdering his father and murdering Sayaka after raping her, and losing one of his arms}} he was thrust in Mazinger-Z and his body absorbed by the machine. Turned into a raging [[The Berserker]], he began fighting Mechanical Beasts in spite of he not even knew what they were or whence they came, and his negative emotions -pain, rage, despair, sadness, loneliness- fed Mazinger-Z until {{spoiler|its sleeping consciousness woke up, transformed into an [[Eldritch Abomination]] by poor Kouji's despair, and it burnt the world to ashes.}}
* Shinji crosses this line in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' when he is {{spoiler|[[Shoot the Dog|forced to kill Kaworu]]}}. He's pretty much a [[Woobie]] for the entirety of [[The Movie]].
** Asuka is declining steadily throughout the series, specially after being on the receiving end of [[Mind Rape]], but she gets better. Then [[It Gets Worse
** Ritsuko also hit this {{spoiler|after realizing that she'll never be loved by Gendou (like her mom before her) and destroying the Rei clones.}}
* Griffith of ''[[Berserk]]'', broken in body and mind after a year's worth of torture, loses all hope of becoming captain of the Band of the Hawks again when it's discovered that he will never recover from his injuries. Then, just after he resigns himself to living a peaceful life with Casca, he discovers that she's moved on and is now in a relationship with Guts. Griffith loses it completely. This drives him to activate his Crimson Behelit, summon the Godhand, and cross the [[Moral Event Horizon]].
** Hitting one's emotional nadir this way is all but a requirement for mortal bearers of Behelits in general. It ensures that one is in the proper frame of mind to accept the offer of the Godhand to make the Sacrifice (and thus cross the bearer's personal [[Moral Event Horizon]]) to become a demon. And provided the Behelit comes into contact with blood, a member of the Godhand can also use it to manifest in the physical world, such as when [[Horny Devils|Slan]] manifests in front of Guts using [[Squick|a pile of troll intestines]].
** Guts comes perhaps the closest that any mortal can get to the
* This happens a ''lot'' in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* Judai of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' crossed this at the end of Season 3, and Season 4 saw the former [[Idiot Hero]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|"jaded"]] into a [[The Stoic|stoic]] [[Ineffectual Loner]].
* [[Sayonara, Zetsubou
*
* The plot of ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' is pretty much set off by [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Lucy]] crossing the line when she finds out that the cousin Kouta is going to a festival with instead of her is a girl. Not a good reason, but at that point she snaps and starts killing on purpose.
** It should be noted that this is actually the conclusion of a 8 to 10 years old process that began when her father abandoned her as a baby in the forest due to [[Fantastic Racism|her cat ear-shaped horns]]. She was found and sent to an [[Orphanage of Fear]], where she spent day and night [[Kids Are Cruel|tormented non stop by the other children]] and [[Adults Are Useless|emotionally neglected by the staff of the facility]], again, [[Fantastic Racism|due to her horns]]. Then, when she finally thinks she made a friend, said friend proceeds to betray the girl's trust by telling the bullies of a puppy she was caring for; after which the bullies proceed to beat the poor thing to death right in front of her. This was the breaking point for Lucy, who snapped, awakening [[Psychic Powers|her]] [[Combat Tentacles|vectors]] in the process, and slaughtered everyone in the room. ''Then'' she met Kouta, and the whole cousin issue was interpreted by the girl as another callous betrayal, driving her to a psychotically murderous rage that would become her standard mood from then on.
* In ''[[Ranma
* In ''[[Monster]]'', Johann gains power over people by pushing them over the line, putting them completely under his control.
* ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'': This is the entire point of the series. Li'l Slugger comes to those who have reached this point.
* Edward and Alphonse Elric from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' crossed this after their attempt to resurrect their mother [[Came Back Wrong|went horribly wrong]], traumatizing them both. It was only through the intervention of Roy Mustang, who told the boys that getting back their bodies was possible with the privileges of state alchemists, that they regained their will to live. Pretty much everyone else who has tried to bring those they love back from the dead with alchemy has reached this point.
* Suzaku Kururugi in ''[[Code Geass]]'' crosses this twice. First, when {{spoiler|his girlfriend Euphemia died in the worst way possible}}. Later, when he {{spoiler|nukes Tokyo under the influence of Geass}}. For all his loathing of the wrong means, he realizes that it's impossible for him to live according to his ideals.
** Lelouch was already sitting on the fence after {{spoiler|[[Spoiled Sweet|Shirley]] died in his arms and [[Sugar and Ice Personality|C.C.]] lost her memories}}, but he only crosses it once and for all after {{spoiler|his attempt at rescuing [[Ill Girl|Nunnally]] [[No One Could Survive That|seemingly gets her killed]], the Black Knights betray him, and he just barely survives thanks to Rolo's [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}} This leads a [[Do Not Go Gentle]] moment : "If anyone wishes to stop me, let them try. If there is anyone who can go beyond my despair...!". With matching [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYCXO1m8NNI soundtrack]!
** Not to say he got better afterwards. Not in the least. When his initial attempt to die by {{spoiler|sealing himself with his father didn't go as planned, he cooked up an even grander covert suicide scheme [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|that involved him being a tyrant and having many killed in order to do so]] [[Genghis Gambit|for the sake of also uniting the world]] so that there would be peace after his death}}.
** [[Alternative Character Interpretation|Arguably]], most of the show's villains and [[Anti
* Darcia from ''[[
** Kiba suffers [[Tear Jerker|a heartbreaking one]] as well. {{spoiler|After fighting an epic battle with the [[Big Bad]] for Cheza's safety, [[Interspecies Romance|his humanoid flower/girlfriend,]] and reason for living, ''disintegrates into millions of seeds in his own hands.'' [[Heroic BSOD|He never gets over it,]] and dies shortly after. [[Last of His Kind|He's also the last thing on earth to die.]]}}
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima|Negima!]]'' (first) anime, Negi himself crosses the horizon after {{spoiler|1=Asuna's death on her 14th birthday, when the [[Deal
** In the manga, {{spoiler|Negi's mother Arika}} found herself on the edge of it when {{spoiler|she was about to be executed under false charges of murder and treason, as well for taking the blame for Asuna's [[Anti
* Sasame reaches this point in ''[[Prétear]]'' when he realizes that {{spoiler|no matter how much he tries to reason with Takako, she can't come back from the dark side. [[Face Heel Turn|So he joins her instead]].}} It doesn't help that she nearly killed him during a battle.
** {{spoiler|Himeno's stepsister Mawata}} also reached the point after {{spoiler|the [[Face Heel Turn|face heel turned]] Sasame rejected her feelings in front of her family}}, which tops on her loneliness and hidden emotional turmoil coming from {{spoiler|her father's death.}} After that, she fell into such a despair that {{spoiler|Takako easily turned Mawata into the [[Barrier Maiden]] for the Fenrir tree, and Himeno [["I Know You
*
* This happens to {{spoiler|Lord Genome}} from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' in his backstory, when [[Go Mad
** One could say that the Despair Event Horizon is the ''fighting style'' of the {{spoiler|Anti-Spiral}}. His goal in battle is to eliminate the opponent's Spiral Power, which is defined as (among other things) fighting spirit and the will to live. As such, he intentionally fights just beyond his opponent's ability, and repeatedly gives them [[Hope Spot
* Flit Asuno from ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' wants to finish the fight against the UE so he could return to the Minsry Colony to live a peaceful life with [[Love Interest|Yurin]] [[Shrinking Violet|L'Ciel.]] {{spoiler|And then [[Enfante Terrible|Desil]] forces her to fight for his side '''and''' brutally kills her near Ambat, and Flit loses it completely. This drives him to become a savior not for mankind, [[Dark Messiah|but for the corrupt Earth Federal Forces.]]}}
*
*
* Yomi from ''[[Ga
* In ''[[Spice and Wolf
* In ''[[Spiral]]'', Kanone Hilbert crosses this upon realizing that the Blade Children can never be saved. His reaction is trying to kill as many of them as he can - including all of his friends ( {{spoiler|and half-siblings}}) and himself. After he is stopped, he doesn't cross back to the other side of the line: in the anime, he just leaves the country, still sulking; in the manga, the way he finally finds to "save" himself is {{spoiler|to have a meaningful death, which will give hope to the other [[Bla Chil]] and Ayumu}}.
* Souji Mikage from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' uses tactics that arguably predate those of Celestial Being, approaching young people who are
** {{spoiler|Prince Dios and his younger sister}} also crossed this in their backstories, which is what shaped them into {{spoiler|Akio Ohtori the [[Magnificent Bastard]] and Anthy Himemiya the Rose Bride.}}
* Once upon a time, there was a German boy named [[Shaman King|Faust]] (who was a descendant [[Faust|of]] ''[[Faust|that]]'' [[Faust]], by the way). He had a [[Victorious Childhood Friend]] named Elisa, a sweet and cute [[Ill Girl]]. Faust became a doctor and worked hard to develop a cure; after many years of research, he finally created the perfect medicine for her, and when she recovered they got [[Happily Married]]... [[Deus Angst Machina|and then she was shot to death by a thug.]] The despaired Faust began researching about necromancy to find a way to properly revive Eliza, but only managed to become a Shaman and have her as his spirit partner. Needless to say, [[It Got Worse]]...and specially for Faust's rivals.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': Fate Testarossa had a rather nasty case of this upon learning that {{spoiler|she was a clone, with all the memories of the original, and her mother hated her guts. Being cast aside, told she was never really loved, that her life was a lie, that she was truly despised, and told never to show her face again by the, admittedly abusive, mother she was completely devoted to}} will do that to you. Mind you, thanks to Arf's and Nanoha's companionship and combat therapy, respectively, she eventually snapped out of it in order to help and have one last word with her mother. Still counts, though.
** On that note, so did Yagami Hayate in A's, when {{spoiler|she was transported to the hopital roof to see Zafira and Vita beaten and subdued, and Signum and Shamal already gone. Then she see's what looks like her two new freinds erase the first two knights and taunted about it. All after being told that she would most certainly die in a short while due to the incurable condition of her body.}} Mind you, the people doing all this were purposely trying to set this off, in complete [[Break the Cutie]] fashion.
* In ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' 305, {{spoiler|Gon}} loses himself in rage and despair after being told that {{spoiler|Kite}} has been [[Killed Off for Real]] and ''can't'' be revived. When he realizes that the person who strung him along with the promise of a resurrection lied to him, he decides to {{spoiler|sacrifice his future potential to give himself enough power in the present to crush his enemy.}}
{{quote|
* ''[[Jyu-Oh-Sei]]'' brings us Third/
* Subverted in ''[[Bleach]]'' when [[Bishonen|Yumichika]] [[Blood Knight|Ayasegawa]] and [[Camp Gay|Charlotte]] [[Creepy Crossdresser|Cuulhorne]] fight. Cuulhorne's final technique takes the form of a single white rose inside a pitch-black rosebush, the [[Death
** Played straighter in the backstory of {{spoiler|Kaname Tousen}}, who decided to {{spoiler|have his [[Face Heel Turn]] when the best friend [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|he was in love with]] died at the hands of her own abusive husband, who [[Karma Houdini|wasn't punished]].}}
** The backstory of Maki Ichinose, who had a [[Face Heel Turn]] out of despair when his beloved Captain was killed by Kenpachi in his [[Klingon Promotion]] stage.
** 5th Espada Nnoitra Jiruga hit this at some point in the past and just kept on going. He's convinced that all of the Hollows are damned and that they might as well act like it. "None of us is finding redemption Nel."
** As of the X-Cution arc, {{spoiler|Tsukishima}} seems to actively want to make {{spoiler|Ichigo}} cross it. What's his method? {{spoiler|Modifying his family and friends' memories, which renders Ichigo desperate since they're his reason to fight... and yet they're defending Tsuki and believe that their dear Ichigo somehow has gone mad. it takes a MASSIVE gambit from Urahara, Isshin, and several Shinigamis to fix him.}}
*** {{spoiler|Jackie Tristan}} is all but stated to have crossed the
* ''[[
** Another good example is {{spoiler|Mami Tomoe in the third timeline. Learning the [[Awful Truth]] did ''not'' mix up well with her issues on loneliness and abandonment and, after seeing Sayaka turn into a witch and having to be killed by the group, she freaked out majorly: she then killed Kyouko by destroying her Soul Gem and was about to do the same to Homura (And presumably to Madoka, before eventually killing herself), so Madoka had to mercy kill her and put her out of her misery - almost crossing it herself in the process, but she manages to come back. And then she dies.}}
** {{spoiler|Kyoko's [[Jerkass
* The ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica
** Played straight: {{spoiler|Oriko Mikuni made the contract with Kyuubey '''after''' she had crossed the
** Subverted: {{spoiler|When Kyoko, Yuma and Mami witness Kirika's transformation into a witch and learn about the [[Awful Truth]], they're very broken and almost give up. ''Almost'', because Yuma goes [[Plucky Girl]] and gives the others a [[Rousing Speech]]. Mami and Kyoko regain their spirits, and they decide to fight on. [[Foregone Conclusion|And then Madoka dies at the hands of Oriko, so Homura resets time to start all over again]].}}
* ''[[Animal X]]'': Yuuji crosses the Despair Event Horizon when he finds out what happened to his first child: she was subjected to vivisection, died, and then her remains were kept on ice in a research facility. After that, Yuuji is quietly broken and makes remarks that show that he's reached a point where he doesn't much care if he lives or dies.
*
** Also, {{spoiler|Omi/Mamoru's mother Kikuno}} reached it in the backstory. {{spoiler|Her husband Reiji, aware that little Mamoru was an [[Heroic Bastard]] fathered by his younger brother Shuichi, refuses to pay the ransom for a kidnapped Mamoru and the little kid was soon believed to be dead. Kikuno, already unstable for being trapped in a loveless [[Arranged Marriage]] that [[Star
** For [[Ironic Hell|major irony]], according to the CD dramas {{spoiler|''Reiji'' himself}} hit the
* Jose in ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' crosses it when he loses an eye in a botched attempt to kill the terrorist who killed [[Dead Little Sister|Enrica]], and cyborg girl Henrietta is reset to factory settings, destroying her personality so she'll never be able to take Enrica's place. By the nuclear power plant strike, Jose was so far beyond the Despair Event Horizon that {{spoiler|after getting fragged, he has Henrietta finish the job and, as she does so, [[Taking You
* Most of the main plot of ''[[Trigun]]'' that made it into the anime (the manga had all this backstory stuff and Knives going [[One
** Meanwhile, the greatest one in a series full of them is when Vash and Knives were one year old, and [[The Reveal|found]] [[Strapped to An Operating Table|out]] [[They Would Cut You Up|about]] [[Humans Are
*** And ''then'', '''Vash''' tried to kill himself with a fruit knife at the first opportunity, and laughed somewhere between hysteria and mania upon thinking he'd accidentally killed Rem when she interfered. Knives, on the other hand, pretended to have [[Easy Amnesia]] and then proceeded to methodically enact a plan to [[Kill All Humans]]. The kicker is that Knives was always the nicer, more trusting one, before.
** Legato Bluesummers appears to have spent enough of [[Made a Slave|his childhood]] in this that when he started developing his mind-control powers he prioritized 'killing everybody connected to my life' over ''getting the fuck away'', and was consequently in the process of being [[Rape
** Several of the Gung Ho Guns have this in their backstories. One in the manga notably is in this [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnicide]] gig because he was a deformed beggar in July when Vash inadvertently blew it up, and the one good thing in his life (a lovely waitress who was kind to him) was killed, and his whole life since has been [[Training
** Since the point of [[Trigun]] is a [[Broken Bird]] [[Wide
* In chapter 115 of ''[[Medaka Box]]'', {{spoiler|Zenkichi}} collapses on his hands and knees in despair after he realizes {{spoiler|he isn't special to Medaka anymore.}} Chapter 116 reveals that {{spoiler|Ajimu}} masterminded this Despair Event Horizon {{spoiler|to make Zenkichi receptive to joining her Flask Plan as its first test subject.}}
* ''[[The Idolmaster (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', {{spoiler|Princess Esmeraude}} plowed through this when {{spoiler|her beloved Zagato was killed by the Knights, believing him to be the [[Big Bad]].}} She already was unstable after {{spoiler|having to send her brother Ferio away after giving him [[Laser
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
** Several characters were actually very close to this, as well. Nami, Robin, Zoro, {{spoiler|Hancock}}, etc.
* One half of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''{{'}}s innovativeness. The other being it's take on [[Hard Work Hardly Works]] that is rarely replicated in other battle manga.
** One line involves Kuwabara who's growth has often been linked to Despair Event Horizon only for him to mature in the end and decide to give up fighting with the three other main characters after he was manipulated by one of the [[Big Bad]], Sensui to slice the gate for demons to enter the human world.
** Another involves younger Toguro who, again, goes through multiple
** Kurama goes through another line of
** Sensui's
** ''YYH'' is just littered with this. One guy's
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* A Villain Protagonist equivalent (though more an Anti-Hero by this point) with Jackie Estacado of ''[[The Darkness]]'', he can handle the mob life, the killing and the people trying to kill him but after he {{spoiler|realises what a scumbag Uncle Frankie is and offers to testify against him Uncle Frankie responds by killing Jenny}}, of course the Character Development between the two at this point takes hold and the only 'rational' way for Jackie to get revenge is by {{spoiler|blowing himself, Frankie and Frankie's mob straight to hell in a flaming Inferno}}. Of course, YMMV.
* A curious [[Anti-Hero]] version occurs in ''[[Kingdom Come]]''; throughout the story, Superman is wary of encountering Magog, the [[Nineties Anti-Hero]] who in many ways replaced him in the public's regard, until he and the rest of the Justice League encounter him in the ruins of Kansas... only to discover a broken man torn apart by guilt and anguish over [[My God, What Have I Done?|his actions]] and the disastrous consequences they resulted in.
{{quote|''Proud?'' '''Proud?!''' '''''Proud''''' ''of being the Man of Tomorrow?!?''}}
* Walter Kovacs in ''[[Watchmen]]'' starts out a rather messed up, right-wing, but functional man, with a fairly normal life outside being a masked vigilante. Then he investigates the kidnapping of a little girl, and ends up {{spoiler|finding her dismembered and mostly-eaten corpse, upon which he suffers a complete psychotic break and burns her killer alive.}} From that point on, he's insane, [[Vigilante Man|murderous]] and barely capable of (or [[Death Seeker|interested in]]) taking care of himself, having [[Becoming the Mask|completely abandoned all identity outside of Rorschach]].
** The Comedian is a straighter example: When he discovers that reality is actually [[It Got Worse|much worse]] than his dark parody of it, he breaks into Moloch's apartment to tell him about it, but the Comedian's already so far beyond the [[Moral Event Horizon|point of no return]] that he only manages to confess to his sins before he [[Lampshade Hanging|realizes how ridiculous it is]] that his nemesis is the closest thing to a friend that he has.
* In the "Emerald Twilight" tie-in to ''[[The Death of Superman]]'' storyline, the destruction of Coast City by Mongul serves as the
** Then in ''[[Sinestro Corps War]]'', Sinestro declares his intention to invoke this in Earth's population by razing Coast City ''again''. But this time it's defied, as those who did live there, when warned of the coming danger, refused to evacuate and instead shined green lights out their windows in support of the Green Lanterns. This show of courage ended up having the exact opposite effect from what Sinestro wanted.
** In "The Secret of the Indigo Tribe", Hal meets Natromo, one of the creators of the eponymous Indigo Tribe. Natromo explains how he and Abin Sur created the tribe both in preparation for the [[
* After being savagely [[Dead Sidekick|beaten to death]] by The Joker, Jason Todd is resurrected, only to find that not only did Batman not avenge him by killing The Joker, he has also been replaced by Tim Drake as Robin. At this point he [[Face Heel Turn|completely snaps]], and becomes the [[Anti
* Happens to Nuke in the ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'' limited series.
* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] after [[Captain America (comics)|Steve Rogers]] is [[It Got Worse|killed]] at the end of ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''. He suffers a [[Heroic BSOD
* In ''[[Secret Warriors]] #24'', badass super-agent [[Nick Fury]] finally breaks {{spoiler|after he has let ''two'' teams of young agents die on his watch. Even worse, the second team was led by his ''own son'' Mikel Fury.}} While standing at the graves of the {{spoiler|second}} team, the agents of the Russian spy organization Leviathan come for him. He doesn't even try to resist.
* According to [[The Joker]], the "one bad day" he describes in ''[[The Killing Joke]]'' - where his career was ruined and his wife and unborn child killed - is what drove him past the line and [[Start of Darkness| then into utter madness.]]
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[[Aeon Natum Engel]]'' many people cross the horizon when the Migou sends their ACTUAL Warships (those Swarm ships that is nearly equal to standard NEG Ship? A mere gunboat by Migou Standards), and then the Migou themselves cross this line when Moloch shows up.
* In the ''[[Oneiroi Series]]'', Redcloak rockets past it when {{spoiler|his insane daughter rapes and kills him}}.
* In the ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' fanfic ''Chrysalis,'' the [[Big Bad|Queen]][[God Save Us From the Queen|of the Crowns]] shoves Zach over the line. He is [[Forced to Watch]] as she tortures his team in front of him and even {{spoiler|faking an execution of Niko}} while he is kept in a well-appointed prison. He attempts suicide. She forces her medical staff to keep him alive, explicitly stating that he's not going to do much of anything unless ''she'' wishes it. The final blow is a [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]] where she brutally overpowers him by [[Hannibal Lecture|pointing out his failure to save his wife, the League, or his Rangers]]. To save what little is left of his sanity, he goes into an [[Angst Coma]].
* In ''[[The Second Try]]'', Shinji and Asuka are forced to this line ''[[Peggy Sue|a second time]]'', the latter when going against Arael again, the former when he thinks Asuka is dead. {{spoiler|Thankfully, this gets averted both times.}}
* Vampire mate bonds and werewolf imprinting are said to be strong enough to cause this in ''[[Luminosity]]''. The actual trope is commonly avoided, as the vampire either commits suicide offscreen or becomes [[The Unfettered]], but when {{spoiler|Edward}} thinks that he's lost {{spoiler|Bella}}, all he does is ask to die.
* The [[Villain Protagonist]] of the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfic ''The Council Era'' endured this when he {{spoiler|witnessed his wife's death on a news network. As part of his grief, he destroyed his entire clutch, except one, who soon after hatched. When the same soldiers who killed his wife, and were searching for him (he'd gone AWOL) surrounded his home, Tyrin threatened to kill his one hatched child and then himself.}} There's also a potential [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] that his criminal actions in the story are because he's caught in a state of perpetual despair following his wife's death, and is taking it out on the world.
* In ''[[Revenge Road]]'', Hikaru returns to Japan for an audition as a last effort to get Kyosuke to notice her, and then seemingly meets Kyosuke, who appears to have grown distant from Madoka, there. She fails the audition and learns that the Kyosuke she was with was a fake, then snaps and [[If I Can't Have You|kills Kyosuke]] [[Murder the Hypotenuse|and Madoka]].
* Finally crossed by Mao in ''[[Code Geass: Mao of the Deliverance]]'' after a [[Trauma Conga Line]] that would have made [[The Determinator|anyone else]] give up a long, ''long'' time ago, and which he rides all the way through [[The Last Dance]].
* In ''[[Touhou Tonari]]'' this is what happens to [[Bad Powers, Good People|Yuyuko]] when she realises that her power has grown so powerful that it may kill [[Time Abyss|Yuk]][[Reality Warper|ari]] and it eventually lead to her [[Driven to Suicide|suicide]].
* The plot of ''[[Decks Fall, Everyone Dies]]'' takes place after the worst possible thing that could happen to the [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]] world: the fall of [[Card Games]].
* In ''[[Stars Above]]'', {{spoiler|[[Lucky Star|Kagami's]] going over this line will cause [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. In an [[Alternate Universe]], [[Apocalypse How|it's already happened.]]}}
* Rainbow Dash comes dangerously close to crossing it in ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'', but luckily, Medley manages to [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|snap her out]] of her [[Heroic BSOD]].
* ''[[Inner Demons]]'': Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both shoot past it after [[Big Bad|Queen!Twilight Sparkle]] cements her [[Face Heel Turn]] by using them in a [[Sadistic Choice]] against Rainbow Dash. In Fluttershy's case, it's so bad that {{spoiler|she actually attempts to [[Driven to Suicide|kill herself]]}}.
* Too many to count in ''[[The Unity Saga]]''. In fact, the Empire systematically imposes these on a number of Starfleet officers and others.
* So many characters in ''[[Bleach]]'' fic [[Winter War]] have either [[My God, What Have I Done?|crossed the line]] or are [[Break the Cutie|dangerously close]], it's almost impossible to keep track. [[Tear Jerker|Far too understandable]], given the [[Trauma Conga Line]] that is [[Crapsack World|their world]].
* Kasumi Tendo crosses it at the end of last extant chapter of the ''[[Ranma ½]]/[[Sailor Moon]]'' [[Crossover]] fic ''[[Relatively Absent]]'' after a [[Trauma Conga Line]] that ''starts'' with Ranma's apparent death, climaxes with the arrests of her father and sisters, and ends with the realization that the Yamada clan -- Ranma's mother's family, whom Kasumi had intended to ask to intervene to save her own family, probably knew about the arrests beforehand and may have been involved in them.
==
* In ''[[Braveheart]]'', this trope hits William Wallace after he found out one of the Scottish nobles he trusted betrayed him. His anger immediately turned into distress and he seemed to simply give up, which also later caused the noble to suffer from [[My God, What Have I Done?]].
* Perhaps the most [[Tear Jerker|heartwrenching example]] of this trope is the focus of ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'', in which [[Jimmy Stewart]]'s entire life is a spiral of quiet desperation which is slowly winding him up...until he finally SNAPS. And it is terrifying.
* In ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', the Joker gets {{spoiler|Harvey Dent}} to cross this, but [[Rousseau Was Right|doesn't succeed]] in getting the rest of Gotham City to follow, thanks to {{spoiler|Batman [[Heroic Sacrifice|winning the]] [[Zero-Approval Gambit|escalation war]] with Joker.}}
* The soldiers in ''[[28 Days Later]]'', had apparently crashed over this line before the events of the movie had even taken place.
* In ''[[Lawrence of Arabia]]'', the turning point of the movie is the capture, torture (and implied rape) of the protagonist by the Turks. The cocky, bemused [[Warrior Poet]] who believed to be invincible turns into a bitter, grim [[Anti-Hero]] after that.
* In the [[Monty Python]] film ''Now For Something Completely Different'': Parodied in the "Marriage Guidance Counselor" sketch. {{spoiler|At the end Mr. Peuty, in despair because his wife is making out with the counselor, walks out of the office, whereupon a [[Amusing Injuries|16-ton weight drops on him]] and the caption reads "So much for pathos."}}
* In ''[[Trainspotting]]'', Sick Boy, while morally ambiguous, still has his good points. That changes when Baby Dawn, now revealed to be his daughter, dies.
* ''[[Red Dawn]]''. Things are going well for the American guerrillas {{spoiler|until several of their group get killed trying to get a downed pilot across the front lines (the pilot also dies). Then [[Et Tu, Brute?|one of their group turns out to be a traitor]] and has to be executed by his friends. A change in Soviet tactics leads to more of them getting killed in an ambush, so they're down to only four people. The leaders of the group, the Eckert brothers, decide to head into their Soviet-occupied hometown and go out in a [[Bolivian Army Ending]], drawing troops into the town so the last remaining two can escape to the US lines.}}
* Hitler's reaction upon hearing "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxCNCDWaWyE Steiner didn't have sufficient forces]" in the movie ''[[Downfall (
* ''[[
* In ''[[Cloverfield]]'', right after the main character's brother dies on the bridge, you can see the exact moment that his mind breaks and self preservation stops mattering.
* ''[[Gettysburg]]'' showed General George Pickett cross this after the failure of his charge.
* Oh Dae-su of ''[[
** His reaction to his
* The President of the United States in ''[[Mars Attacks!]]'' has apparently crossed this line by the time he finally gives in to his General's request to fight back against the Martians using nuclear weapons.
* In ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'', Private Gomer Pyle is driven into a psychotic breakdown both by the original [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]], Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, and by the rest of his platoon, which ultimately leads to {{spoiler|Hartman's murder and his own suicide}}. The moment when Pyle hit the Despair Event Horizon was probably when {{spoiler|Hartman found a jelly doughnut in his foot locker just when things were starting to go well for him and proceeded to punish the entire platoon for it, which was then followed by the platoon taking it out on Pyle in the harrowing "blanket party" scene}}.
* In the spirit of one
* In ''[[
* The flashback scene in ''[[Tron
* In ''[[Black Death (
* ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]''; {{spoiler|when Wesley doesn't pull the [[Big Damn Heroes]] rescue she was expecting, Buttercup is on the precipice, and decides [[Driven to Suicide| to kill herself in the bedroom]] that Humperdink plans for their marriage bed; thankfully, Wesley is ''there'', and stops her.}}
== Literature ==
* High Lord Kevin falls into despair in the [[Backstory]] of ''
** Later on {{spoiler|the Giants of Seareach meekly let themselves be murdered}} out of horror over what had happened to some of them.
** Still later {{spoiler|Trell}} despairs also and commits his own Desecration {{spoiler|luckily on a much smaller scale than the original, so the damage is limited}}. His sanity doesn't survive it.
Line 166 ⟶ 165:
** Covenant himself comes very close to the Despair Event Horizon at the end of ''The Illearth War'', when {{spoiler|High Lord Elena, his daughter, dies in the struggle with High Lord Kevin's specter under ''Melenkurion'' Skyweir.}} Fortunately, Foamfollower is there to pull him back from the edge.
* In ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', {{spoiler|George Wilson}} goes over this line after {{spoiler|Myrtle}} dies.
* Denethor in [[
** Tolkien loved these. ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' in particular is [[It Got Worse|rife]] with them. Fingolfin passes the point of no return when it appears that the power of the allied Elven princedoms is destroyed, which leads him to {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|challenge]] the [[Big Bad]] to [[Combat
* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* In the ''[[Warhammer
** Ditto the ''Sons of Malice'', an entire traitor army that fights in [[Tranquil Fury|complete and]] [[Dissonant Serenity|utter silence.]] Said to be ''extremely'' unnerving.
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': In ''A Storm of Swords'', Catelyn Stark goes into {{spoiler|the Red Wedding, having lost her husband, her two daughters hostage,}} and believing two of her three sons are dead. {{spoiler|So, when eldest son Robb is cut down before her, she ''completely fucking loses it'', clawing at her face and [[Laughing Mad|laughing hysterically]] even as her treacherous bannermen round on her. When she's later brought [[Back
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty
** [[Room 101]] in general is designed to make someone cross the Despair Event Horizon, by using whatever the person fears most to make them betray whatever is most important to them after first wearing them down with a long period of torture.
* In Nick Kyme's ''[[Warhammer
* The ghosts of all his murder victims attempt to do this to Shakespeare's ''Richard III'' before the Battle of Bosworth, conveniently Lampshading it with the phrase "Despair and die." It doesn't really work because Richard is such a [[Magnificent Bastard]] as to be beyond all shame.
* The ''[[Warhammer
* The titular hero in ''[[
* Most of <s>
* From [[Oleg Divov]]'s ''[[Night Watcher]]'', with a strong helping of [[Tear Jerker]]: Igor Dolinsky's {{spoiler|lover was turned into a vampire. He didn't know it, and so, [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampirism being basically a STD]], he became a vampire himself. This led to a series of strange uncontrollable outbursts on his part, during one of which he raped his wife and tried to start a chainsaw massacre in the town (he was stopped in the nick of time). Realizing that something strange had happened to him, he resolved to combat it by tying himself up in the basement during full moons - and his amazingly dedicated wife helped, causing him to appreciate her more than ever. Only, as his condition got worse, he became
* In ''[[Memory, Sorrow
* In ''[[Otherland]]'', the suffering endured by the Other, the quasi-AI operating system of the titular network, comes to a peak after [[Psycho for Hire]] Dread takes over the system, torturing it to the point where it gives up all hope of preserving itself or its secret, and instead hatches a plot to [[Driven to Suicide|destroy itself]] [[Taking You
* In ''Use of Weapons'', happens in a rather nasty way to {{spoiler|the original Cheradenine in one of the flashback chapters when he discovers what Elethiomel did to his sister, complete with [[Title Drop]] for emphasis. It's strongly hinted that the same happened to Elethiomel as well which led to him becoming [[The Atoner]] and thus the events of the rest of the book.}}
* Before the events of the novel, Ista has already been driven over the
* Kiritsugu Emiya from ''[[Fate
* ''[[Darkness Visible]]'' has two notable examples. Most importantly, this is the reason why {{spoiler|the leader of the Dark Tide is trying to end the world. He crossed the event horizon when his wife died. Badly.}} Lewis crosses his own despair event horizon {{spoiler|in Hyde Park, when he realises that he will never survive the mental strain of closing all the rogue Thresholds. Being [[Stiff Upper Lip|British]], he gets on with it regardless, but quite without hope for his own survival. It is only thanks to [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Marsh]] getting him to a doctor immediately after his collapse that he lives.}}
{{quote|
* ''[[
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[
* At the end of the ''[[New Jedi Order]]'', the death of [[Big Bad|Supreme Overlord Shimrra]] sends the Yuuzhan Vong species (and particularly the warrior caste) over the Despair Event Horizon ''en masse'', with thousands of warriors committing [[Better to Die Than Be Killed|ritual suicide]] or [[Taking You
* Mme. Raquin in ''[[Therese Raquin]]'' experiences this when not only does she know that her niece/daughter-in-law killed her son, but she loses her one and only chance to expose Thérèse's crime.
* In the second ''[[Apprentice Adept]]'' trilogy, Fleta reaches this point after being told by pretty much everyone she knows that there's no way she'd be allowed to be with her love, Mach.<ref>Technically, Mach's mind in Bane's body. Long story.</ref> Not willing to settle for being Mach's kept woman, she decides suicide is the only answer, going so far as to demand a talisman from Adept Red that would [[Mode Lock|keep her from reflexively changing shape and saving herself.]] It takes a [[Power of Love|super-powered]] [[Anguished Declaration of Love]] from Mach to [[Deus Ex Machina|overcome the talisman and save her.]]
* [[Ciaphas Cain]] ('''[[Warhammer 40
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* On ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', Malcolm Reynolds lost all his idealism, along with any faith in God, at the battle of Serenity Valley.
** Though not as overt, River's dialogue indicates that she has no hope of ever being "normal" again. At one point, she even rails against the drugs Simon is giving her, saying that she ''hates'' being able to think clearly because she knows she'll just [[Through the Eyes of Madness|slip back into madness sooner or later]]. You can actually ''see'' the very moment River breaks in the ''R. Tam Sessions'', in the third video where the "counselor" tells River that her brother "is very busy." She stops, silently nods, then whispers "Yes...." and starts crying. ''[[Break the Cutie|(crack)]]''
* Halfway through season four of [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'' series'', the fleet {{spoiler|discovers that Earth has been destroyed}}, causing borderline cases of this for many characters, and a full-blown case for both {{spoiler|Dualla and Number Three.}}
* Series 3 of ''[[Torchwood]]'' has multiple Despair Event Horizons - as you would expect from a plot that involves {{spoiler|the governments of the world caving into an alien race's demands for 10% of the Earth's children. [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] [[Anti-Villain]] Frobisher is told by the [[President Evil|Prime Minister]] that, for PR purposes, his daughters will be among the 10% given to the aliens - so Frobisher takes a gun home and kills his wife and children, before turning it on himself. Then Jack, who has just had to [[Dying Declaration of Love|watch his boyfriend die pointlessly]], realises that there's a way to defeat the aliens after all... but it will mean killing a child. And the only child close to hand is his own grandson, who he is forced to murder in front of his screaming daughter. Safe to say, Jack doesn't hang around on Earth for very long after that.}}
* ''[[Dead Set]]''. {{spoiler|Space agrees to unlock the Diary Room so Kelly can make a futile attempt to fight her way out only after seeing a zombie Pippa (his former girlfriend) hammering on the glass outside.}}
* In ''[[Spooks]]'',<ref>''Serious'' series 9 spoilers, FYI</ref> {{spoiler|Lucas North}} pretty much shuts down when Harry tells him that {{spoiler|"Albany", the biological weapon blueprint he betrayed all his friends over, getting his [[New Old Flame]] killed in the crossfire as he did so...[[Pyrrhic Villainy|is a fake]]}}. [[Driven to Suicide|The "express elevator down" option off the top of the building they're on soon follows]].
{{quote|'''Harry''': Who are you, {{spoiler|Lucas}}? Who are you?
''' {{spoiler|Lucas}}''': ...I'm nothing. }}
* {{spoiler|Joseph Bede}} crosses it in the final episode of ''[[The Shadow Line]]''. {{spoiler|His wife, whose Alzheimer's treatment he intends to pay for with the proceeds from his drug deal, tries to kill herself and is hospitalised. This prompts him to leave his gun behind when meeting Jay, who he already know intends to betray him, which leads to his death.}}
== [[Music]] ==
* ''[[The Wall]]'' by [[
{{quote|
''I'm leaving you today.
''Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
''Goodbye, all you people,
''There's nothing you can say
''To make me change my mind.
''Goodbye. }}
* [[
* [[Jethro Tull]]'s song "Locomotive Breath" is about a man who has just crossed the Despair Event Horizon.
* [[Supertramp]] enjoys these. "Lord, is it mine?", "Rudy" (arguably), and "If everyone was listening" are about someone who's on the edge of that horizon, and in danger of going over.
* Many country and western
* "Scarsick" by Pain of Salvation follows a man who grows increasingly frustrated by the various facets of modern society shown to him through television. Eventually, he decides he's had enough and jumps off the roof of a building in an attempt to shock the people around him back to their senses... whether or not this works is left up to the listener.
** Also, in the same vein, the extra track off
* Roger Miller's "One Dying And A Burying":
* "21 Guns" by [[Green Day]].
* The entire premise of [[Depressive Suicidal Black Metal]].
* "Exitus" by [[
* Many of [[David Gray]]'s songs are either written from the other side of the horizon or are about trying to keep from crossing it, in particular "Holding On".
* The title track from [[
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dRgYd5Mxs0 "Dance with the Devil"], by [[Immortal Technique]]. The protagonist
* Van Der Graaf Generator's "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" seems to be the self-narration of a man who cross the horizon, and then commits suicide.
* [[Radiohead]] seem to have built their whole career on this.
== [[New Media]] ==
* [[Played for Laughs]] in the [[Riff Trax]] of ''Twilight''. Two girls are having a discussion in the high school's cafeteria, when one mentions, "We're talking Olympic sized." Mike Nelson is right on top of it, chiming in, "High school girls discussing [[Biggus Dickus|wang sizes]]. We have officially hit rock bottom, gentlemen."
** And in the 'Trax for the ''[[Star Wars Holiday Special]]'', while watching Harvey Korman debase himself in a miserably unfunny sketch, Mike sighs and says, "Well, Nietzsche was right; dead as a doornail."
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* In the [[Christianity#Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] tradition, giving in and passing the Despair Event Horizon (at least in regards to one's faith) is the sole sin that cannot be forgiven -- becoming convinced that one's own malice is greater than Divine Goodness is a repudiation of the Savior, and a challenge to God's infinite capacity for forgiveness. It is also a kind of vainglory that presumes one's sin and circumstances are uniquely special and beyond any other person's.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* [[Bret Hart]]'s [[Face Heel Turn|heel turn]] and reformation of the Hart Foundation was largely based on his growing disapproval of America's failing [[Real Life Writes the Plot|family]] [[Values Dissonance|values]] in the wake of Steve Austin's new wave of popularity. It got worse when Shawn Michaels and HHH formed D-Generation X.
* Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs took each other down all because of Lacey. Aries persuaded Lacey to leave her boyfriend and the Age of the Fall, only to have Jacobs lose even more of his mind and take Lacey out of ROH for good.
** The real damage to Aries was done after he won the feud with Jimmy Jacobs and moved on to Age of the Fall Lieutenant Tyler Black. The fans began to get behind Black after a series of matches against Nigel McGuinness and [[Bryan Danielson]] to the point where some of them began to boo A-Double.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''
** This is the Chaos God Nurgle's ''modus operandi'': prey upon those who have succumbed to despair and cynicism, especially if this anguish comes from a [[Plaguemaster|hideously-disfiguring disease]]. His victims wallow in self-pity until they fully embrace decay and entropy, find themselves perversely enjoying the experience, and begin worshiping him. In other words, through Father Nurgle you can fall past the Despair Event Horizon and end up [[Affably Evil]].
** For another ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'': Investigators (a.k.a. the PCs) wage a never
* It's implied in some articles about the Dirigible Engine Daystar in ''[[
* Being that they're both settings about personal horror, crossing the horizon is horribly frequent in ''[[
** [[Mage: The Ascension
** In a world full of unwilling monsters, [[Promethean: The Created|Prometheans]] probably have it the worst. The universe does not want them to exist. The very earth rejects them and the people are supernaturally urged to hate them. Learning to become human is a very difficult and bitter task, but many see it as a worthy goal to fight for... But many still fall to despair and pursue a very different goal: to become monsters. A Centimanus revels in their inhuman nature and uses their alchemical powers to dissolve and disintegrate.
** In ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* {{spoiler|Oersted}} in ''[[Live a Live]]''. {{spoiler|After being tricked, he finds that everyone has now abandoned him and considers him a demon, his only remaining ally is dragged away to be tortured, and is blamed for the death of said ally who expends the last of his power to set Oersted free. Oh, then he finds out that his best friend betrayed him to this fate because he was jealous. Oh, and the 'Aesop' which has been so far in the game? "Don't lose hope as long as somebody believes in you". That went ''[[Sarcasm Mode|well]]''. The last person who he hoped believed in him, the princess? After Oersted duels his traitorous friend and kills him, she asks why he didn't come to rescue her (''ouch''. He ''did''. Straybow only got there first by faking his death and ruining Oersted's life), declares that she loves said traitor, and ''kills herself''. That was the absolute last straw, the severing of his last tenuous tie to sanity.}}
* After {{spoiler|spending a year in coma and seeing the destruction of the world firsthand, Cid's death}} in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' proves to be {{spoiler|Celes'}} final straw, {{spoiler|[[Driven to Suicide|driving her to toss herself off a cliff]]. She survives by a miracle, and seeing Locke's bandanna tied around a pigeon's wing gives her a new reason to live.}} [[Guide Dang It|This event can be prevented]] by successfully playing a [[Mini Game]], but the path of failure is much better written.<ref>The developers seem to think so too, because the 'right thing' to do is willfully obscure, and the remainder of the plot tacitly assumes the character is dead.</ref>
** Several other characters get dangerously close as well. {{spoiler|Strago, believing Relm is dead, allows himself to be brainwashed by the Cult of Kefka, although he snaps out of it once he sees that Relm is alive. Setzer, after losing his beloved airship, is found drinking at the bar in Kohlingen, and it takes a [[Rousing Speech]] from Celes to bring him around.}}
* This is Seymour's motive in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''. After a fairly crappy childhood he hits when his mother (the only person who ever loved him) sacrifices her own life to give him the power to defeat Sin. His despair drives him to plot the destruction of all life in Spira because he sees it as the only way to bring an end to all suffering.
** It also turns out to be the motive for why {{spoiler|Yu Yevon}} originally created Sin a thousand years ago. Seeing that his beloved city of Zanarkand would be destroyed, he killed every living being in it and used their souls to create an eternal Dream Zanarkand, as well as an all-powerful destructive force (Sin) to provide the power needed to keep Dream Zanarkand alive.
** And in the sequel ''[[Final Fantasy X
*** Oh and the whole being forced to watch his beloved die on repeat for a thousand years might have also had something to do with it.
* It isn't clearly shown onscreen, but the backstory of ''[[
** {{spoiler|Kratos arguably claws his way back out of the Despair Event Horizon when he becomes disillusioned and meets his lover, Lloyd's mother, falls back in when he thinks they're both dead, and then claws back out again when he encounters Lloyd later.}}
** The [[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
* ''[[Tales of the World]]: Radiant Mythology'' has {{spoiler|Kanonno, after her home world, Pasca, was consumed by war and mana abuse despite her efforts as its Descender. She even committed genocide, which led to Pasca's rapid decline.}}
* ''[[
** Earlier on, Keisuke, already destabilized by a whole childhood of witnessing and suffering bullying, finally snaps when he sees Midori being nearly lunched to death to the people she was trying to save.He spends the following days going [[Knight Templar]] and killing anyone that commits any kind of injustice.
* Kratos from ''[[God of War (
* This is the entire premise behind ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'', as Revan is revealed to have deliberately subjected his Jedi Knights to brutal, dehumanizing battles until their
* Before ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' starts, Angel crossed this when {{spoiler|her boyfriend died in her arms from injuries sustained in a terrorist attack on his hospital, all due to fear of the new, possibly not even infectious disease she'd been working on finding a cure for.}}
* ''[[Breath of Fire]] IV'' has this in spades.
** Ryu's Despair Event Horizon occurs when the summoners of Chek (who all appear to be children) are massacred in front of him by [[Complete Monster]] Rasso. Ryu ends up having a [[Heroic BSOD]] which releases the Kaiser
** Fou-lu's Despair Event Horizon occurs with the third attempt by [[The Empire]] to kill him ([[The Emperor]] isn't exactly keen on the re-awakening of the local [[King in
*** We should also note here that this is also after no less than two previous attempts by [[The Empire]] to kill Fou-lu. Who is a ''literal'' [[God
** Cray's Despair Event Horizon occurs when he has to [[Mercy Kill]] his fiance Elina (whom he and Nina have been looking for)--because [[Karma Houdini]] [[Mad Scientist|FUCKING YUNA]] turned Elina into an [[Eldritch Abomination|artificial Endless]].
** The manga adaptation of ''[[Breath of Fire]] IV'' cranks these up to massively [[Tear Jerker]] levels, including {{spoiler|Ryu breaking down after his [[Unstoppable Rage|KAISER RAEG]] in tears and asking Nina why [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|Humans Are Bastards]]}}. In addition, in a transition between the Bad Ending and Good Ending of the original game (yes, both of the [[Multiple Endings]] were incorporated in a linear storyline) {{spoiler|Fou-lu is shoved across the Despair Event Horizon a second time in a [[Battle in
* ''[[Kane and Lynch]]'' ''revels'' in this.
* ''Hunter, in Darkness'', an interactive fiction, plays this one and plays it hard. {{spoiler|An early segment has you crawling, cut and bleeding, through a [[Claustrophobia|tight space]] with hundreds of feet of rock above and miles and miles of rock below. The game assures you repeatedly, even as you struggle ever closer to freedom, that this is it--your final resting place. [[Dying Alone|This is where you die]]. Your light has flickered out and the invisible narrator insists that ''you will never leave this place'', until finally you tear yourself away from the stone gullet and stumble blindly to freedom.}}
* ''[[Wild
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' has this as a fundamental aspect of managing your dwarves. They can become unhappy through a variety of reasons from simply not having any alcohol to drink through to the deaths of close friends or family. Getting a dwarf depressed enough will push them over the edge and cause them to lose their sanity. Depending on several factors this can be anything from a minor nuisance to extremely dangerous. If you're lucky, events can contrive to make this game-ending depending on your fortress design and how close other dwarves are to being over the edge themselves. Indeed, events can (or more usually, do) spiral out of control until your entire fortress is over the Despair Event Horizon.
* Hiroki in ''[[Canvas 2]]'' in regards to painting. Many of the routes actually deal more with helping ''him'' get over his problems than helping the heroine.
* In ''[[Dragon Age II]],'' the player can push Fenris over the Despair Event Horizon by agreeing to give him back to the blood mage who had previously enslaved him. He's so gutted by the betrayal that he doesn't even get angry, just bows his head and leaves with the slaver without a fight.
** implied with {{spoiler|Orsino at the end of the game, who seeing his fellow mages cut down one by one with no hope of surrender, finally gives in and uses blood magic in a 'taking you with me' type deal, this can seem to come out of the blue if you side with the mages and this happens right after you mop the floor with any templar that comes in.}}
* Happens many, MANY times in the [[Fire Emblem]] franchise:
** ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Seisen no Keifu]]'': {{spoiler|Lord Sigurd}} can [[Iron Woobie|hold himself up]] as well as possible when {{spoiler|his wife Diadora is kidnapped, his father Byron is falsely accused of threason and dies, ''he'' himself is accused of treason, and bth his sister Ethlin and her husband/Sigurd's [[Lancer]] Cuan are murdered.}} However, the moment he sees that {{spoiler|his kidnapped wife was actually [[Hypnotize the Princess|mindwiped]] into marrying Alvis, who once was his sort-of ally}}, he can only scream in utter horror and betrayal {{spoiler|right before Alvis himself burns him to death, and Sigurd's army is decimated shortly afterwards.}}
*** Sigurd's old friend and companion {{spoiler|Tiltyu}} doesn't fare much better. In the second part of the game we learn that {{spoiler|she}} crossed the
** [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Thracia 776]]: {{spoiler|Evayle}} once was close to this horizon. So much that whatever happened to her ( {{spoiler|the Basttle of Barhera}}), robbed her not only of {{spoiler|her husband and children}}, but of {{spoiler|her memories of having ever been Bridget, the lost princess of Jungby and a member of Sigurd's troops.}} Much to our relief, at the end of the game we learn that {{spoiler|some years after the second war of Grandbell, she recovered her memories and reunited with Patty and Faval.}}
*** Olwen and {{spoiler|Misha}} also were pretty close to it, once they learned about {{spoiler|the horrifying child hunts conducted by the Grandbellian empire.}} They both pulled through it via [[Heel Face Turn
** [[Fire Emblem Elibe|Fuuin no Tsurugi]]: The biggest example is {{spoiler|King Mordred of Etruria}}, who completely lost the will to reign and left the government to his advisors (many of them treacherous) after {{spoiler|his son and heir, Prince Mildain, died in an accident.}} And then {{spoiler|this is subverted in the end: Mildain actually reappears, having survived the ''ambush'' that almost killed him, and is reunited with his father, so we know that Mordred ultimately got better.}}
** [[Fire Emblem Elibe|Rekka no Ken]]: {{spoiler|Eliwood and Nils}} were both pretty close to cross this, once {{spoiler|Eliwood was tricked by Nergal into killing Nils's beloved sister Ninian with Durandal when she was forced into her Dragon form by Nergal himself.}}
*** {{spoiler|Renault}} ''did'' cross it several years ago, when {{spoiler|his partner and best friend was killed in battle.}} He was so utterly shattered that {{spoiler|he threw himself into battle blindly (and killed Lucius's dad in the process) and collaborated with Nergal in hopes to have his friend revived, among other things. He recovered a part of his sanity, however, and became [[The Atoner]] in the end.}}
*** Don't forget {{spoiler|Harken}}, an [[The Ace|Ace]] who was [[Broken Hero|throughly]] [[Broken Ace|broken]] after being {{spoiler|the [[Sole Survivor]] of Lord Elbert's decimated crew.}} We meet him as a powerful enemy whom the {{spoiler|Pherae}} charas must recruit as soon as possible [[Death Seeker|lest he fights them to death]], and his supports reveal how the horrors he witnessed and the helplessness he felt drove him into becoming an [[Empty Shell]] of the man he once was. For worse, some other supports (pecifically, with {{spoiler|marcus}} heavily imply that he had severe self-esteem {{spoiler|and abuse/abandonment}} issues ''before'' the whole [[Break the Cutie]] deal.
*** When we meet {{spoiler|Lord Hausen}}, the old man has crossed the
** ''[[Fire Emblem:
*** {{spoiler|Lyon}}'s advisor, {{spoiler|Knoll}} actually managed to ''return'' from the
* ''[[Persona 2]]'''s [[Complete Monster|Nyarlathotep]] actively attempts to force ''everyone'' in the game who raises a hand against him over the edge. [[Eldritch Abomination]] + [[A Form You Are Comfortable With|A Form To Actively Horrify You]] + [[Hannibal Lecture]] + [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] = this trope. Of course, the heroes' actions might [[Dare to Be Badass|make all]] [[Shut UP, Hannibal|his]] [[Talk to
* In ''[[
* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' {{spoiler|is a rare case where the heroine of a work truly falls past the line (in the backstory, due to witnessing her mother's death), yet manages to recover and succeed. Mostly, her lack of memory in he present is what enables her to function, while recovery requires her father's multi-part plan to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].}}
* In ''[[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow]]'', Gabriel crosses it right after a moment of utter triumph {{spoiler|when he ''kicks Satan's ass''}} when he sees that {{spoiler|Marie is about to leave for the afterlife forever and that he cannot go with her.}} Realizing that the hope he believed in was hollow, Gabriel collapses and cries silently. {{spoiler|Even centuries later, he has not recovered. As the immortal Dracula, all he does is hide in shadows while longing for a death that may never come.}}
* Shadow the Hedgehog can fall into this during certain endings of his [[Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)|titular videogame]] (i.e. discovering he is an android, believing he is an experiment gone wrong). However, other endings he'll completely avert it. Ironically, no matter what happens, he will always end the story by saying "This is who I am."
** Besides the Last Story, which he says {{spoiler|"Goodbye, Shadow the Hedgehog."}}
* ''[[King's Quest III]]'' explains that King Graham passed this when Rosella (his remaining child) was picked for the annual [[Human Sacrifice]] to the dragon plaguing Daventry. This is why it falls to "Gwydion" {{spoiler|(aka the lost Prince Alexander)}} to rescue her and the kingdom.
* ''[[
{{quote|
** Terumi literally feeds on others' despair to survive. He happens to be very good at causing this to extraordinary levels in almost everyone, and does exactly that, even if it's just for his own amusement. Every single ending, except his own, ultimately is a [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]] situation for the character. He uses his abilities to turn {{spoiler|Noel}}, the girl who is loyal to him and falsely believes him to be a force of good, into a sobbing wreck of self-loathing and hatred.
** His [[Motive Rant]], which is delivered after said [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]] situation basically sums up that he thinks everyone who have crossed the
* Gerald Robotnik crosses this ''hard'' in the Last Story of ''[[
=== [[Visual Novels]] ===
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' has a couple of primary examples:
** In the backstory, {{spoiler|Kotomine}} crossed the Despair Event Horizon after the death of his wife, abandoning his attempt at living a 'good' life and fully embracing the fact that he can only feel happy through hurting others.
** {{spoiler|Archer}} crossed the Despair Event Horizon after being betrayed by everyone he ever knew and finally, his own ideals. This leads him to {{spoiler|try to kill Shirou, his past self and living embodiment of his misguided ideals, at ''any'' cost}}. In the end, he {{spoiler|is beaten by Shirou despite being the superior opponent, his acknowledgment that those beliefs were not so mistaken after all}}.
** Finally, {{spoiler|Shirou}} goes through this in the Heaven's Feel route. {{spoiler|He gives up on his ideals to save Sakura, who happens to be eating people and is about to turn into a world destroying monster.}} He's not one to sit around, though, so he just takes up another cause with gusto.
** {{spoiler|Sakura}} also crosses this line somewhere in the final battle {{spoiler|against Rin}}, most likely around the time when she {{spoiler|gives Rin her speech about how much her life had sucked. Rin then responds with, essentially, [[What an Idiot!|"tough shit"]], sending her totally nuts.}} Depending on the player's choices, she either follows this up by {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|capturing and torturing Rin via making her experience the HELL she went through]], or by [[My God, What Have I Done?|being saved by her utter despair at (seemingly) killing her sister]] immediately after [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Rin finally realised that she couldn't bring herself to kill Sakura after all]], and instead [[Cooldown Hug|hugged]] her.}}
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* {{spoiler|Kohaku}} of ''[[Tsukihime]]'' also crosses the Despair Event Horizon after being raped several times by {{spoiler|SHIKI and his father in order to stop their inversion impulses}} and becomes [[Break the Cutie|utterly broken]], as revealed in the Far Side routes.
* {{spoiler|Keisuke's}} death in ''[[Togainu no Chi]]'' is this for Akira on Shiki's route. Even though he still puts up a bit of a fight against Shiki, it's nowhere near the same defiance he had before. He also doesn't care whether he lives or dies and decides that whatever happens to him is punishment for {{spoiler|killing Keisuke.}}
* Thee [[Bad Ending
** Subverted in {{spoiler|Lilly's Good Ending}}. How so? {{spoiler|After failing [[
* Junpei goes through this in most of the [[Multiple Endings|Bad Endings]] of ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
==
* In ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'', an ''[[Exalted]]'' webcomic, this is canonically how Abyssal Exalted get created, as shown in Renegade Deathknight Secret's backstory flashback. Her entire village is killed by a demonic plague, she's deathly ill, and just as she's given up all hope of living, the Neverborn show up and offers her Exaltation in exchange for servitude.
* ''[[Bittersweet Candy Bowl]]'', Lucy when {{spoiler|she thought Mike died}} and shortly after, when {{spoiler|she finally confessed her love for him and he rejected her.}} The first one came with [[Dissonant Laughter]].
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* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', {{spoiler|Eridan}} crosses both this ''and'' the [[Moral Event Horizon]] in the same scene. {{spoiler|He gives up any hope of beating Jack and defects to his side, killing off his unrequited love interest AND his species' only hope for revival in the process. This makes his Sgrub title, Prince of Hope, rather prophetic- it was later explained that "Prince" roughly translates to "Destroyer."}}
* Trudy crosses this in [[General Protection Fault]] after seeing Nick, (whom she had loved) propose to Ki, which Ki accepts. She had been starting to regret her actions, but this pushes her even further, and she attempts suicide in the next arc in which she appears.
* In ''[[Goblin Hollow]]'', {{spoiler|this is what happens to Penny's best friend, who sadly, [[Driven to Suicide|is swallowed by the Horizon.]] }}
* The ''[[Platypus Comix]]'' story "True Believers" has [[Spider-Man]] lose his wife, his home, and his job at the Daily Bugle all in ''the first 11 pages''. As a result, he asks Dr. Octopus to kill him. Unfortunately for him, [[Death Is Cheap]] in the [[Marvel Universe]], so not even murder can end his suffering.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'',
** [[Satan]] [
** [
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' has Vaarsuvius crossing the line after realizing the true extent of his/her earlier [[Moral Event Horizon]].
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Surprisingly enough, Ganondorf went over this in ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'' upon finding the pure evil that is {{spoiler|Ness and Lucas}}. He questions how heroes can even exist when such evil does.
* As the end of Pokecapn's legendary ''[[
** {{spoiler|"Because it's [[Michael Jackson|Thriller]]. Thriller night. And no one's gonna save you from..."}}
* In ''[[Dr.
* Happens a '''lot''' in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', more often than not later in the game, but given the [[There Can Only Be One|premise]], is it really that surprising?
** For example, Jacob Charles quickly shoots into this zone after his girlfriend is killed right in front of him, leading to him {{spoiler|attempting suicide.}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20160411073836/http://s10.zetaboards.com/SOTF_V2/topic/7292200/1/ Read it here.]
* Happens to cup in [[Channel 101]]'s "2 girls, 1 cup the show". Unlike most of the cases in this page, the result is hilarious.
* Oancitizen of ''[[Brows Held High]]'' is driven to this in his ''[[Ken Park]]'' review. [[Hilarity Ensues|Genocide ensues.]]
** He also does it with ''[[A Serbian Film]]'', complete with calling NATO to [[It Makes Sense in Context|fictionally bomb]] Serbia!
* [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in ''[[
{{quote|
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* An Alternate Universe in ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' showed a demoralized Supes enslaving Metropolis alongside Lex Luthor because he [[My Greatest Failure|couldn't save Lois Lane from a car bomb]].
** Similarly, in ''[[Justice League]]'', {{spoiler|Flash's execution by President Luthor}} led to another alternate universe's Justice League becoming the [[Knight Templar|Justice Lords]].
* In ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', after getting a second chance at living a normal life, {{spoiler|Mr. Freeze is betrayed by [[Big Bad|Derek Powers]] when his body begins to deteriorate back to requiring sub zero temperatures.}} It's around this point that he's crossed the line and eventually chooses {{spoiler|to stay behind when the building is collapsing on top of him.}} His last words in the episode? "Believe me, Batman, you're the only one who cares..."
** Also, in the "Return of the Joker" movie, we learn that {{spoiler|Tim Drake aka Robin was kidnapped, disfigured, and tortured into utter ''madness'' by [[The Joker]] and Harley Quinn, only revealing something similar of his original Robin personality after shooting the Joker dead ([[Bowdlerize|in the uncensored version]], that is). After the Joker and Batman's last battle, the broken and insane Tim had to go through intense therapy for years, and when we find him in person he's an embittered, sad man in his 50's who has grown sick of his past.}} And then, [[It Gets Worse]]...
*** It's not quite ''that'' bad. Tim did make a life for himself with a good career and a family. It's really only when he sees [[The Joker]] on the television that he shows signs of trauma {{spoiler|and the Joker chip in his neck might be part of it as well.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' saw his friends and family die right in front of his eyes. What comes as a result? {{spoiler|A [[Ax Crazy|completely]] [[Psycho for Hire|psychotic]] [[Complete Monster|ghost]] who goes on a ''literal'' roaring rampage (not of revenge). He's the only villain on the show to have been seen to commit murder.}}
* Hardy Har Har the hyena from ''[[Lippy The Lion And Hardy Har Har]]'' was pretty much born like this.
* Twilight Sparkle in the pilot episode and season 2 premiere of ''[[My Little Pony
* During the [[Time Skip]] in ''[[Young Justice (
== [[Real Life]] ==
* The Imperial Japanese military became increasingly desperate as the Allies began to draw the noose around the Home Islands. They recommended a [[Last Stand]] on a national scale, and began training schoolchildren to fight with sticks, but when the Emperor supported the decision to surrender, many military officers chose ''[[Driven to Suicide|seppuku]]'' as an alternative, inclusive of those officers who tried to stop the Emperor's broadcast and continue fighting without his Majesty's approval only to be arrested.
* [[Theodore Roosevelt]], when his son Quentin died in [[World War
** He had already come close to this thirty years earlier when his wife and his mother died '''on the same day''': Valentine's Day 1884.
* Many of "the Projects" in the US from the 1960s fell into this. Now many of the people living in them have no hope of ever improving their lives. The sad part is there are now up to 3 generations who have lived this way.
* Jason Russell dealt with massive amounts of [[Internet Counterattack|criticism from Ugandans and internet goers]] of the viral video "Kony 2012" for his organization's handling of finances and purpose of helping Ugandans. Then personal attacks against his Evangelical Christian background came to light and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjdH2LDH5LM he completely lost it.]
* This is essentially what depression is (the feeling that there is no hope).
** Also why many people commit suicide or want to commit suicide.
* Ravens usually mate in monogamous pairs for life. If one of the pair dies, it isn't uncommon for the other member to become despondent, sometimes even to the point of deliberately starving themselves to death. "[[Edgar Allan Poe|Quoth the raven, 'nevermore.']]"
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