Eucatastrophe: Difference between revisions

All hope is lost, soon the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Evil Plan]] is about to come to fruition, and there's nothing the heroes can do to stop the [[Final Solution]]. Then WHAM! Something unexpected happens, and the tide turns in the heroes' favor, allowing them to overcome the villain and win.

 

 

Often, it's the cockiness from assuming inevitable victory is achieve that assures the villain's downfall. After declaring that [[Nothing Can Stop Us Now]], the villain might even ignore the hero to focus on putting the finishing touches to their plan or announce themselves the supreme [[Evil Overlord]], confident they've got nothing to worry about. This gives the heroes the opening to make a big, crippling blow when the [[Big Bad]] is least expecting it.

However, a eucatastrophe [[No Antagonist|doesn't require a villain]] at all—simply that after a long string of increasingly worse events for the protagonist, he gets an incredibly lucky break in the [[Darkest Hour]].

 

 

When this trope gets subverted and the villain still wins anyway, you have a [[Hope Spot]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

** At around the same time of Vegeta's attack, Goku (who recently [[Heroic Sacrifice|died to save the planet from Cell's self-destruction]]) appeared in spirit form to tell Gohan that he's really still strong enough to kill Cell, because his broken arm doesn't actually do anything to weaken him.

*** Cue a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]; Seeing both Goku (in spirit form) and Gohan doing the Kamehameha at the same time.

*** The Return: Well, teenage Gohan can go toe-to-toe with Broly now. Broly shows a tiny amount of what could be construed as fear when Gohan goes Super Saiyan... at which point Broly goes Super Saiyan 2. And proceeds to [[Won't Work On Me]] pretty much anything Gohan throws at him. He reacts a little bit to being drowned IN LAVA. The following is possibly the most intimidating [[Out of the Inferno]] ever. Because, y'know, LAVA. The Gohan / Spirit Form Goku team Kamehameha from the Cell arc? Yeah, that's how they take Broly down for the count. With Spirit Goku, Gohan, and Goten, Goku's other son.

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Often Dr. Hell and his followers were on the brink of winning, and only through of extreme competence and sacrifice of Kouji and his allies or of utter incompetence of Hell's minions, the situation was saved. It happened several times when they very nearly took the Institute over (the most prominent of them happened in episode 57) or invaded it successfully (episode 87), or managed to steal a sample of Alloy Z... However the most notorious of them happened in the last episode when {{spoiler|Archduke Gorgon's [[Robeast]]s destroyed Mazinger-Z and demolished the Institute. Tetsuya's [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment saved Kouji's life, but the villains finally were victorious against Mazinger.}} That story was greatly expanded in the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness movie.

** ''[[Great Mazinger]]'': Several of them. Two of them stand out:

*** In the last episodes of the anime and [[Gosaku Ota]] manga, the Mykene army struck the Fortress {{spoiler|and in the manga, Marquis Janus traped Misato and cut her in half}}, and attacked Mazinger-Z and Great Mazinger separately. Kouji and Tetsuya nearly got killed, and {{spoiler|Prof. Kabuto commited a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Tetsuya.}} The generals of the Mykene army laughed. [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|Five minutes later they were not laughing]].

** ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'': One of the best examples happened in the two-part finale of the first season. Grendizer had been beaten by two [[Robeast]]s and forced to hiding, Kouji's TFO had been badly damaged, [[The Dragon|Blackie]] had taken control of the Science Space Center and tortured Dr. Umon. When Duke returned, {{spoiler|he managed beat both mechas, saving his friends and destroying Blackie's command ship.}}

* It's an unwritten rule in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|and its]] [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|spinoffs]] that the protagonist can't win with more than 500 Life Points.

** Sometimes subverted or outright averted, most notably in [[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|5Ds]], when [[Badass Normal]] Crow wipes the floor with some security guards in about one turn. Also, Yusei {{spoiler|defeated Kiryu with 1400 LP on his second try}}, so the above rule might remain unwritten.

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', [[Big Bad|Aizen]] has {{spoiler|fused with the Hogyoku}}, [[Curb Stomp Battle|beaten the Court Guard Squads]], killed {{spoiler|[[Good All Along|Gin]]}}, and is just about to kill Ichigo's friends and take over the universe when Ichigo arrives as a {{spoiler|[[Physical God]]}} and {{spoiler|[[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu|defeats him at the cost of his powers]].}}

* ''[[Gundam ZZ]]'': Neo-Zeon is pretty much in total control for the entire series: the AEUG is barely hanging on and is little more than an annoyance to the revived Zeon. Then, just as Haman Karn is about to solidify her control over the Earth Sphere, an [[Enemy Civil War]] erupts and Neo-Zeon rips itself apart, allowing the Federation's previously-outmatched forces to come in and sweep up the pieces.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Classic Marvel tale where Kang The Conqueror realizes that all he needs to defeat the ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]]'' is to get a [[Evil Knockoff|Robot Spider-man]] to join the team. The robot's turned away because no one liked Spider-man, so it makes up a story about knowing where missing teammate [[Iron Man]] is. On the rescue mission the robot systematically separates and takes out all the Avengers, but before he can finish them off real Spider-man shows up upset at the impostor and in battle figures out how to shut off the robot. Predictably, Kang learns of his failure and hangs his head in shame.

** This plan worked so well though that when the robot got turned back on by accident it, once again, managed to subdue the current lineup of Avengers, and that wasn't even its goal this time. Luckily, [[Clone Saga|Spider-man's clone]] happened to be in the area.

 

== Fairy Tales ==

 

== Fan Works ==

** ''[[Blood in The Water]]'' has the biggest Eucatastrophe of them all. Effectively, Josh HAS won. Anna and Siobhan have been stalled by fighting Franz, who is attempting to kill them with his Lugia. Skyla is being deterred by a brainwashed Rico. Giovanni is attacking Mewtwo with Genesect. Josh himself has beaten all of Haleigh's Pokemon and forced Arceus to intervene, pissing it off enough to use Judgment and level the island, exactly what he wanted to happen. Arceus is pulled back into its own dimension thanks to Josh's [[Olympous Mons]], and there is pretty much no way to win. {{spoiler|But then Giratina pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] and sides with Haleigh, forcing it and Haleigh to engage Josh and his Rayquaza in an aerial battle above the ruined city.}}

 

* Scar from ''[[The Lion King]]'' takes this trope farther than most, [[Magnificent Bastard|as he not only succeeds in taking over Pride Rock,]] but actually holds onto this position for several years (despite a [[0% Approval Rating]]) until Simba returns.

** And he almost won there as well. The only reason he didn't is because his [[Fatal Flaw]], [[Pride]], came in as [[Just Between You and Me|he decided to let Simba in on "a little secret" before killing him]] leading to Simba's [[Unstoppable Rage]].

** Mozenrath keeps the tradition alive in the series.

* In ''[[Turtles Forever]]'', 2003 Shredder nearly manages to kill the Original Comic Turtles, nearly destroying every single universe, until he's done in by {{spoiler|Exploding Throwing Stars}} and {{spoiler|really bad timing by Bebop and Rocksteady, that's right, the 2003 Shredder was killed by ''Bebop And Rocksteady''.}}

* The final battle over Area 51 in ''[[Independence Day]]''.

** Also done masterfully in the new ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'', where the [[Ax Crazy]] Romulan ship nukes one planet, wipes out two fleets, and actually arrives in orbit over San Francisco and starts drilling not even 300 feet from the Golden Gate Bridge before the [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment.

* Probably one of the best-known examples is in ''[[Star Wars]] Episode IV: [[A New Hope]]''. The Death Star is about to [[Earthshattering Kaboom|blow up Yavin IV]] and the Rebel Alliance with it, their X-wing squad sent to destroy it have all been eliminated except for [[The Hero|Luke Skywalker]], who at the moment is about to be shot down by Darth Vader, when the [[Big Damn Heroes|Millennium Falcon appears out of nowhere]], knocking Vader's TIE fighter into space and allowing Luke to fire the shot to blow it up.

* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' manages to bring everyone to the brink of chaos and oblivion before a combo [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], and [[Big Damn Heroes]], as well as a pretty hefty personal sacrifice made by Batman himself.

* In the [[Robert Redford]] survival tale ''[[All Is Lost]]'', when the protagonist is alone, adrift at sea with not even a raft or a drop of water—that's when someone rescues him {{spoiler|by finally noticing that his flaming life-raft}}.

 

== Literature ==

*** The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, saved by Aragorn's arrival at Minas Tirith.

*** The Battle at the Black Gate - in which most of the main characters expected to die in an attempt to give Frodo a chance - is not the primary eucatastrophe. The real one is Frodo failing at the end of his quest and, in a wonderful twist of fate, Gollum destroying the Ring, which turns everything around by killing Sauron, which also confuses his armies, which allows Aragorn & co to win.

*** It's not ''quite'' as simple as the spoiler describes. However, the nature of the eucatastrophe ''is'' spelled out in black and white in {{spoiler|Harry's exposition to Voldemort}}, in which he describes in detail exactly how the pieces have been falling into place to {{spoiler|ensure that Voldemort will lose. Harry's victory}} is the product of him realizing what the pieces are and how they've fallen into place.

** Arguably played straighter earlier on in the book, when Voldemort overthrows the Ministry via his brainwashed pawn, starts having Mugglborns rounded up to be de-souled, and spreads the word that Harry was actually Dumbledore's murderer, thus getting a ton of people to persecute his most hated enemy. A good chunk of the book is Harry, Ron, and Hermione desperately trying to continue their quest while hiding from spies and "Snatchers".

* Likewise, ''[[Star Trek]]'' is pretty adept at bringing our heroes to edge of disaster before they win the day.

** The Borg in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' mop the floor with Starfleet, kidnap [[The Captain]], and make it all the way to Earth (as in, they park in orbit right above the Atlantic Ocean), before the ''Enterprise'' stops them at the last minute.

** Unlike the top two examples, the Dominion actually managed to ''fire shots on the Earth's surface'', and succeeded in [[Monumental Damage|messing up the Golden Gate Bridge]]. Additionally, several shapeshifters made it to Earth and other Federation worlds, causing massive panic. For a moment, it really did seem that the Federation would meet it's first defeat ever.

* The best ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' example comes at the end of season four, wherein Adam is only defeated by Buffy coming up with a spell to tap mystical ancient powers that give her the power, knowledge, and skills of Giles, Xander and Willow.

* Used magnificently in [[The Scarlet Pimpernel 1982|the Anthony Andrew's version of The Scarlet Pimpernel]] {{spoiler|when Percy comes back from the "dead", having supposedly been executed by firing squad}}. The look on Chauvelin's face when he turns around and sees him standing there is absolutely priceless.

{{quote|'''Percy''': My good fellow, I would never dream of depriving you of your moment of triumph. Alas, a moment was all I could spare.}}

 

== [[Music]] ==

* In the [[Rhapsody of Fire|Emerald Sword saga]], near the end [[Big Bad]] Akron has destroyed and conquered almost all the cities of Algalord, is holding the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Emerald Sword]] and is torturing [[The Hero]] and going to have him fed to water snakes. {{spoiler|[[The Dragon|Dargor's]] [[Heel Face Turn]] is the only thing that bring forth a happy ending.}}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193467 This] ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' card. The context is of fighting world-eating [[Eldritch Abomination]]s [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|and winning]].

 

* The plot of the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series revolves around this. the player is an ace pilot that acts as a tipping point in the war during gameplay. Where as the cut scenes revolve around the ramifications of the player's actions.

* ''[[Phoenix Wright]]'' can never go into a trial and win, he has to be getting his ass kicked until he comes to a point where everything seems hopeless. That's when he can turn things around. Possibly was the same for Mia Fey.

** On [[RuneScape]] Lucien has {{spoiler|completed the Ritual of Rejuvenation, sacrificing the weakest member of his species to recharge the powers of the rest, and he also has possession of the [[McGuffin|Stone of Jas]]}}, in his attempt to become [[A God Am I]]. Them the {{spoiler|Dragonkin kill him.}}

 

* During the "Holiday Wars" arc in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Bun-Bun actually succeeds in killing all the major holiday figures and acquiring their power. He's poised to take over the world and rewrite reality in his image, and the only [[MacGuffin]] that can return things to normal is in his possession. It takes two [[The Chessmaster|Chessmasters]] [[Thanatos Gambit|using their own deaths]] to launch a literally last minute [[The Plan|day saving plan]], as well as Bun-Bun's [[Living Shadow]] being a [[Unwitting Pawn]], to take him down.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' episode, World's Finest, [[The Joker]] comes to Metropolis with an enormous amount of kryptonite to make a deal with [[Lex Luthor]] to kill [[Superman]]. Both Luthor and Superman severely underestimate the Joker as just some wacky clown, [[Not So Harmless|until the Joker traps Superman in a room with acid and half of the kryptonite.]] By the end, the Joker is dancing over Superman's nearly lifeless body and is only stopped by Batman's timely intervention, a man who Luthor and Superman also underestimated.

* In the series finale for ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', [[Darkseid]] delivers an utter asskicking on Superman for almost the entire episode and constantly taunts him about how he's going to win. Even after Superman's [[World of Cardboard Speech]] and awesome [[Megaton Punch]], [[Genius Bruiser|Darkseid immediately turns the tide back into his favor by simply changing tactics]] activating an Agony Matrix that leaves Superman completely helpless. As [[Complete Monster|Darkseid]] pulls out a kryptonite knife to [[Nightmare Fuel|carve out Superman's heart for a trophy]] ([[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|and yes, this is a kids' show]]), [[Lex Luthor]] shows up with the Anti-Life Equation. For those who know the lore behind Darkseid and the New Gods, they know why this affects the outcome.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]