Dwindling Party: Difference between revisions

When an author uses a Dwindling Party, it's to showcase just how ''dangerous'' the situation is. Not only [[Anyone Can Die|Can Anyone Die]], but in fact, ''[[Total Party Kill|everyone]]'' is dying! The reasoning is that as audiences grow attached to characters, the [[Emotional Torque]] from their death will resonate more and more with each passing, until it reaches fever pitch when The Hero confronts the cause of all the deaths.

Usually it works pretty well, though there are a few risks to using this trope. Namely, killing characters off too quickly or without [[Mauve Shirt|proper]] [[Characterization Tropes|characterization]] will not elicit the audience's [[Rule of Empathy|empathy]] at the deaths. Also, playing the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]] too straight will allow moderately [[Genre Savvy]] viewers to pick off the [[Trope Telegraphing|obvious]] [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]]s and avoid feeling urgency or attachment.

This trope is usually used only in the [[Action Adventure]] and [[Survival Horror]] [[Genre|Genres]]s because, lets face it, it's kinda hard to write a [[Love Dodecahedron]] when [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|everybody's dead, Dave]]. There are a few common set-ups to each, but they usually boil down to:

* '''[[Suicide Mission]]:''' The heroes know [[You Have No Chance to Survive|they have no chance to survive]], but give it their all [[Hero Secret Service|to ensure that the Hero makes it]]. Expect to see a conga-line of [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Sacrifices]]s.

* '''Exploration:''' See [[River of Insanity]] a.k.a. [[Doomed Expedition|Doomed Wilderness Expedition]], where [[The Captain]] is often the last man standing [[Karma Houdini|for some reason]], along with [[Send in Thethe Search Team]] and [[Total Party Kill]].

This is a pretty common trope in these genres. However, it does carry a few "common" twists that are often used to keep it fresh. While usually it's The Hero or [[Final Girl]] (plus [[Love Interest]] and/or [[Sidekick]]) [[Only the Leads Get Aa Happy Ending|who survive to the end]], sometimes the last survivor(s) ''aren't'' the ones you'd come to expect, but more the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality|"expendable"]] characters. It's also frequently used as [[The Cavalry]] by revealing one of the "expendable" characters survived and came back to help. Then again, whoever said [[Kill'Em All|someone]] should [[Total Party Kill|survive?]] A [[Downer Ending]] where everyone dies makes for pretty potent drama.

Another twist is to use this trope before or near the beginning of a story, leaving the Hero as the [[Action Survivor|last survivor]] of their [[Doomed Hometown|squad/family]]/[[Don't Go in The Woods|camping trip]]. What follows is their [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|rage fueled quest for revenge]] on whoever (or ''what''ever) killed the rest of the group. And thanks to the [[Inverse Ninja Law]], odds are they'll ''win''. Of course, it's also possible that their superiors or the authorities force them to go back to help rescuers against their will.

Related to [[Final Girl]]. When multiple characters say [[You Shall Not Pass]], leading to [[In the End You Are Onon Your Own]], its [[The Rest Shall Pass]]. This trope culminates in [[Everybody's Dead, Dave]]. Compare [[Minimalist Cast]]. Not to be confused with [[There Can Be Only One]], where characters in the setting are explicitly out to kill/eliminate each other. If the circumstances allow everyone to come back afterward, it's a [[Battle Royale With Cheese]]. Contrast with [[We Do the Impossible]], for a team that subverts Dwindling Party (mostly) ''and'' gets the mission done.

* ''[[Berserk]]'' does this with the Eclipse that ends the Golden Age arc (and the anime) with Griffith's [[Face Heel Turn]] leaving the entire Band of the Hawk<ref>with the exception of Rickert, who was not with the Band when it all went down and thus was the only other survivor</ref> branded for sacrifice. The Hawks' Raiders pretty much get slaughtered ''en masse'' by the monsters from hell, but as the horror continues, each of the important members of the Hawks go down one by one until only Guts and Casca are left. And then it all goes to hell.<br />This sequence also has an aspect of a [[Suicide Mission]] about it, in that two of the Hawks die trying to get Casca away; Pippin gets eaten holding off a bunch of monsters and Judeau takes a spike through the chest for Casca. They succeed insofar that Casca doesn't ''die'', [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|but...]]

* ''[[Angel Beats (Anime)|Angel Beats!]]''

* ''[[Wolfs Rain|Wolf's Rain]]'' in the final four episodes... down to [[Kill'Em All]].

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime)|Neon Genesis Evangelion]]:'' The cast starts getting picked off rather rapidly as the series draws near the end. First {{spoiler|Kaji, then Toji, then Asuka gets her [[Mind Rape|mind destroyed]], Rei [[Cloning Blues|gets her body destroyed]], Shinji gets his [[Heroic BSOD|soul destroyed]], most of NERV is killed, Misato is shot, Ritsuko is shot, [[Cruel and Unusual Death|Asuka is eaten]], [[Apocalypse How|Humanity is destroyed]].}} No so much [[Dwindling Party]] as much as [[Dwindling Party|Dwindling Race]] by the end of ''[[End of Evangelion]]''. By the end of the series only two children: {{spoiler|Asuka and Shinji}} are left on Earth.

* Season endings in ''[[Sailor Moon (Manga)|Sailor Moon]]'' tend to involve the cast getting picked off one by one, with a lot of [[Tear Jerker]] [[Heroic Sacrifices]], leaving the title hero to stand up on her own. Of course, as the main character explicitly has "resurrection" as one of her powers, this doesn't stick...as long as you're a main character.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Anime)|Zeta Gundam]]'' spends the last half-a-dozen episodes [[Kill'Em All|killing off]] the majority of its remaining characters, regardless of what faction they're a part of.

** ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (Anime)|Victory Gundam]]'' is the franchise's best example, since the (named character) death rate is constant to the point of making many viewers suffer from [[Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy]].

* The ending of ''[[RG Veda (Manga)|RG Veda]]''.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'', especially the ''Everybody Dies'' chapter.

* ''[[Simoun (Anime)|Simoun]]'' spends the first seven episodes gathering up [[The Squad|Chor Tempest]], then proceeds to decimate them via [[Heroic BSOD|Heroic BSODs]]s, other personal traumas, accidental {{spoiler|[[Time Travel]]}}, and bad cases of death. By the time {{spoiler|Chor Tempest is finally disbanded}} in the last episodes, only half of its members are still there. This is even lampshaded in the mid-season episode title "One by One."

* [[Garth Ennis]]'s ''[[Crossed (Comic Book)|Crossed]]'' has this. Some of the characters are killed by the titular sadistic, not-quite-zombie Crossed while others kill themselves or are killed by the other survivors.

== Fan FanfictionWorks ==

* Invoked and defied in ''[[The Dresden Fillies (Fanfic)|The Dresden Fillies]]'' - {{spoiler|Trixie}} lures the group into her castle full of traps exactly for this purpose but Harry pushes his powers to the limit to keep everypony alive.

* Happens to the main gang in the ''[[Calvin At Camp (Fanfic)|Calvin Atat Camp]]'' episode "Hobbes of the Wild."

* ''[[9 (Animation)|Nine]]'' We start with nine characters, and end with four. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|And it's all due to the lead's curiosity.]]

* The ''[[Doom]]'' movie killed off all the marines one by one.

* ''[[Sunshine (Filmfilm)|Sunshine]]'' uses the suicide mission format.

* ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]''. Jake, Neytiri, Norm, Max, Mo'at, and Selfridge are the only named characters to survive the movie. {{spoiler|Tsu'tey technically survives the battle but dies afterward. Eytukan, Grace, Trudy, and Quaritch die in the battle}})

* ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|AlienS]]'' has three humans and the android surviving. ([[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|Too bad for]] [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him|what]] [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome|followed]].)

* Whedon's commentary on ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'' states that he was deliberately evoking the Suicide Mission, killing off {{spoiler|two main characters from the show}} and seriously injuring everyone but {{spoiler|River Tam}}, who he put in an inescapable death trap. Then he let some of them live.

* ''[[Anaconda (Film)|Anaconda]]''

* ''[[The Thing (Filmfilm)|The Thing]]''

* ''[[The 13 th13th Warrior]]'' A few of the other warriors are dispatched in each battle scene till only the title character and two others remain. "Ibn" (as they call him!), Weath, Herger, Edgtho and Hatlaf(the boy) all survive. Plus characterization is given beyond Buliwyf and Herger. Weath is hinted at being a celt, a musician and has a family. Herger is one of the more educated members of the party. Edgtho is known as "the silent" just like in the book and is shown to be the group's dour-mannered scout and tracker.

* Variation in ''[[The Thing (Filmfilm)|The Thing]]''- both the 1981 John Carpenter film and the 2011 prequel. In both films, while a dwindling party does occur, the alien killing people off one by one also creates a perfect copy, and so with a few exceptions you're never totally sure who's already been killed. Some have even argued that at least one of the survivors is in fact a Thing.

* ''[[The Descent (Filmfilm)|The Descent]]''.

* ''[[The Cave (Film)|The Cave]]''.

* ''[[Dawn of the Dead (Filmfilm)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' in the original only two characters got out alive, [[Dawn of the Dead (2004 (Filmfilm)||in the 2004 film]] only four out the dozen characters made it out in a boat, but after the make it to land {{spoiler|they are attacked by another horde of zombies with their fates left unknown.}}

* This happens in the fourth [[Lone Wolf]] book, among others -- overothers—over the course of a simple mission to investigate a cult trying to bring back an evil god, your entire squad is slowly killed off, bit by bit. By the time you arrive there, you're alone.

* Of the five main characters ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' started with, only two are still alive. One of whom is [[Touched Byby Vorlons|immortal]] and [[Good Thing You Can Heal|dies as what comes close to a hobby]].

* While this is true of many horror pieces, Stephen King's ''Rose Red'' is notable for this, particularly with the sudden change in frequency of the deaths. Other than [[Intrepid Reporter|Bollinger]], no one dies in Part 1; in Part 2 [[Psychic Powers|Pam and Vic]] meet their ends; then in Part 3, in rapid succession, [[My Beloved Smother|Mrs. Waterman]], [[Smug Snake|Professor]] [[Flat Earth Atheist|Miller]], [[Deadpan Snarker|Nick]], and finally {{spoiler|[[Decoy Protagonist|Joyce]]}} are taken by the house.

* In the ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' [[Community (TV)/Recap/S2 /E11 AbedsAbed's Uncontrollable Christmas|animated Christmas episode]], Shirley, Jeff, and Britta are evicted from Planet Abed. Troy and Annie stay behind to [[Heroic Sacrifice|hold off Duncan]] and only Pierce makes it to the end with Abed.

* In murder mystery ''[[HarpersHarper's Island]]'', we go from a cast of 25 main characters plus a dozen extras to four survivors out of the main cast: {{spoiler|the [[Final Girl]] Abby, her [[Shallow Love Interest]] Jimmy, the little girl Madison with [[Infant Immortality]] and by extension her mother Shea.}}

* [[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]] has always killed off a lot of characters--onecharacters—one of the leads, Dean, is a leader in the television dying field all on his own--andown—and any single ghost episode sometimes does this. The zombie virus episode, 'Croatoan,' also did it, in proper tropey fashion. Since the end of season six, the whole show has been doing it, killing off or otherwise removing recurring cast members without replacing them with new players<ref> Lisa and Ben were mindwiped out, Balthazar murdered by Cas, Campbells massacred, Cas eaten, Bobby shot; everyone else had already bitten it, but they weren't ''replaced'', which makes the difference</ref> and paring things down until, as of December 2011, the main cast has been completely reduced to Ackles and Padalecki, just like at the start of season one. Almost the only other even recurring character still in play is the demon Crowley.

* ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'' more and more of the characters die frequently.

* ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]''

** In ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Philosopher's Stone (novel)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' (or "Sorcerer's Stone" if you're in the US), while they don't die the trio does indeed get whittled down to just one over the course of running the gauntlet to the mirror.

* ''[[The Three Musketeers (Literaturenovel)|The Three Musketeers]]'': The musketeers peel off one by one to hold off pursuers or deal with ambushes as the four travel to London, with only D'Artagnan reaching their destination. However, all three of his friends survive their [[You Shall Not Pass]] moments in one piece, and they are reunited as D'Artagnan travels home.

* John Peel's ''2099'' series killed off the entire human race except twelve children in the first book, and two children somewhat later in that same book. Every subsequent book killed off another two characters, until only two were left in book six. This editor is unsure whether those two survived for an [[Adam and Eve Plot]].

* ''[[Battle Royale]]'' has this in its very premise, with the twist that the party is killing ''itself''.

* ''[[All Quiet On the Western Front (Literature)|All Quiet Onon the Western Front]]'' is an early example, killing off its soldier protagonists one by one in every way the author can think of.

* Roland's [[True Companions|ka-tet]] in the last ''[[The Dark Tower|Dark Tower]]'' book.

* Happens in the B-plot ([[Meanwhile in Thethe Future]] style) in the first book of ''[[The Magnificent Twelve]]'', with the original Magnifica. The original group gets smaller and smaller, either by members dying, or crossing the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and subsequently losing their powers, until by the time the A-plot takes place only Grimluk's left. It gets to [[Tear Jerker]] levels when the [[Plot Line Crossover]] occurs and the reader pieces it together.

* ''[[Against a Dark Background]]'' generally whittles down its [[Five-Man Band]] of adventurers {{spoiler|leaving only Sharrow alive at the end}}.

* ''Eternity Road'' is [[Playing Withwith a Trope|kind of weird about this]]. At first, it looks like it's heading for an [[Everybody Lives]] ending, especially since the first death is a case of [[Never Found the Body]]. The first and second deaths both come out of nowhere, but after the second it sets itself up for a [[Dwindling Party]] scenario. {{spoiler|After the third death, the main character goes through a [[Heroic BSOD]] and resolves to keep everyone else alive--and they all make it out, even the whiny merchant who couldn't be lower on the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]] if he were wearing a red shirt.}}

* In ''[[The Odyssey (Literature)|The Odyssey]]'', Odysseus's party is picked off by the fantastical beings they encounter on their journey home. This was part of a curse Odysseus received, stating he would be allowed to finally return home at the end of his long adventure, but it would be at the cost of his men.

* In [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]]'s ''[[And Then There Were None]]'', the characters are at a ''dinner'' party (of sorts), and are killed off one-by-one, as [[Spoiler Title|you might be able to tell from the title]].

* In ''[[Lady of the Lake (Literature)|Lady of the Lake]]'', Geralt's [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] is decimated while [[Storming the Castle|storming Vilgefortz castle]]. Milva scores a [[Mutual Kill]] with the enemy archer leader, Cahir is killed by the [[Implacable Man]] Bonhart while defending Ciri, Angouleme dies in Ciri's arms from blood loss, and Regis (a vampire) is melted into glass by Vilgefortz himself. Add the fact that Dandelion quit the party before that and only Geralt leaves the castle alive. {{spoiler|However, he leaves with Yennefer (whom he freed from the castle) and Ciri (who entered the castle earlier).}}

* ''[[The Golden Apple (Theatre)|The Golden Apple]]'' has Ulysses gradually lose all his men over the course of the Big Spree, in a series of episodes loosely inspired by ''[[The Odyssey (Literature)|The Odyssey]]''.

* In ''[[Super Paper Mario (Video Game)|Super Paper Mario]]'', the last dungeon sees Bowser, Peach and Luigi staying back and facing O'Chunks, Mimi and Dimentio (that are ''doing the exact same thing'' for Count Bleck), and then falling into death traps.ItGetsBetter though.

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', during your second trip to the Tethe'alla Tower of Salvation, has each supporting character pull off a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] one at a time to help Lloyd rescue Colette. {{spoiler|Unknown to Lloyd at the time, they're all saved by either Zelos or Kratos, and return alive later to help out against the next boss.}}

* Happens in ''[[Romancing Sa gaSaGa 3]]'' when they trigger various (seemingly) fatal traps, but your members come back one by one when you fight the boss.

* Starts around the halfway point in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' and ends with {{spoiler|Noble Six (You)}}.

* The assault on the Shadowlord's castle in ''[[Nie RNieR]]'' leaves only Nier and Kaine alive in endings A and B. Then in endings C and D, only Nier OR Kaine will survive till the very end.

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online (Video Game)|The Lord of the Rings Online]]: Siege of Mirkwood'' storyline. You are send on a dangerous errand with Five Elves which compose "The Hidden Guard". Their number starts to dwindle pretty fast. But when you barely knew the first one to die and couldn't really relay to his death, the passing of the last victim is truly heartbreaking.

* This is possible in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]],'' though you have to be pure evil or comically incompetent to make it happen.

** The [[Dragon Age|original game]] also included it, but only in [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] and only from the enemy POV: in ''The Darkspawn Chronicles'', the Warden has died at Ostagar and Alistair leads their remaining party into the [[Final Battle]], leaving a member to defend every major point in the city. Then you, as a Hurlock Vanguard, come along and kill them all, one by one.

* In ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000: Space Marine]]''', the heroes begin with Tidus, Sidonis, Mira, Leandros, and Inquisitor Drogan among named characters holding Graia. By the end of the game, Drogan has been revealed as a daemon-possessed puppet, Sidonis has been gutted by Nemeroth, and Leandros has sold Titus to the Inquisition over a question of Warp-resistance.

* ''[[Phantasmagoria: aA Puzzle of Flesh]]'' gleefully uses this trope. By the time the game is over, only two people are still alive. Who are they? {{spoiler|Curtis and Jocilyn}}.

* [[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]] doesn't normally invoke this, but there are exceptions. The most notable is Arena mode, where the objective is literally to kill everyone on the opposing team, and respawning is not permitted until the next round. As a result, both teams lose their players one by one, and typically only one or two members on one team are still alive at the end.

* This is seen in the 2008 ''[[Turok (Video Gameseries)|Turok]]'' reboot. Of the two dozen or so Whiskey Company soldiers who survive the spaceship crash at the beginning of the game, only 3 (one of whom is the main character) end up surviving to escape the planet.

* Non-lethally inverted in Predator rooms in ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' and ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]''. The "party" is a number of gun-toting henchmen who are initially confident that they can kill the Batman (which they can if they find him). The room is full of vantage points, ventilation shafts, blind corners, and fragile walls that Batman can use to pick them off one by one, reducing the henchmen to an increasingly-smaller number of increasingly-terrified whimpering children.

* ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'' begins with [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|The Ninth Man]]'s death. In most of the endings, after the third room you go through, the bodies really start to stack up. {{spoiler|Although Snake lives in all of them... except the "Safe" Ending; play to the true end and [[Fridge Logic]] will take care of the rest.}}

* In ''[[Muv -Luv]]'' Alternative, the {{spoiler|squad infiltrating the original hive is essentially this.}}

* Recently, {{spoiler|the trolls}} in ''[[Homestuck]]''. At the beginning, there were 12. Then, {{spoiler|they started killing each other off. There were 6 kills and one spontaneous self-destruction, but two were revived, leaving 7 alive. Then, all of them except two were killed, but that was in an alternate timeline which was averted with the death of a sixth troll, bringing it down to 6. Then, one sacrificed himself, bringing it down to 5. He came back 'half-dead'. However, he and another troll stayed behind, leaving 4 remaining trolls to carry on. Technically, if you count the two humans, carapace and a firefly that have joined them, it's now up to 8, but there are only 4 remaining members of the original party.}}<br />

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', of all shows, provides an example of this (which is, albeit non-lethal, not any less tragic). The 2nd season pilot thematises how the 6 protagonists are lured into an enchanted maze by Discord, the antagonist, and get hypnotised and subsequently psychologically broken by him one. by. one. He even spares Twilight Sparkle, the last of the cast, just so she can see what he has done to the others.

* In "The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn", one of the [[Wham! Episode|most universally praised episodes]] of the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Animationanimation)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' TV show, the kids have to help [[The Mentor|Dungeon Master]] get to the eponymous locale to restore his powers so he can save them all from the [[Bigger Bad]]. So important is this quest that at various points one hero after another has to be left behind, either due to a separation that leaves them in a dangerous locale or to [[You Shall Not Pass|hold off some terrible threat]] so the others can go on. By the time they reach the dungeon and are facing off with [[Big Bad|Venger]], only [[The Cape (trope)|Hank]] and [[Team Mom|Sheila]] are left. Of course [[Everybody Lives|everyone makes it]] (albeit by the skin of their teeth), but it was one of the most suspenseful and exciting episodes of the series.

* This shows up often in [[Bad Future]] episodes. The {{spoiler|imaginary}} [[Bad Future]] episode in ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'', "Future Tense", has the band of heroes dying off left and right as they assault Xanatos' {{spoiler|who is also [[Dead All Along]]}} base. One of them gets a poignant death scene with [[Famous Last Words]], others are killed suddenly without a word for extra shock value, {{spoiler|and one turns out to be the real villain right before he is killed off.}} In the end, the only main characters left alive are Eliza and Goliath who is himself dying. {{spoiler|Thankfully it was [[All Just a Dream]] created by Puck in a bid to take the Phoenix Gate.}}

* In the [[Young Justice (Animationanimation)|Young Justice]] episode "''Failsafe''", the main party - the Team - die almost one-by-one. {{spoiler|Then they wake up, and find out that it was [[All Just a Dream]].}}

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