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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Erich''': "Have you noticed how we did really well at the start of [[World War Two|the war]] and the Allies nearly lost, but now things seem to be going a lot better for them?"
'''Hans''': "Yeah?"
'''Erich''': "Well, have you ever seen a film?"
'''Hans''': "...What's your point?"
'''Erich''': "Well, I've never seen a film where the good guys start off incredibly successfully, really nearly achieve their goals, then the baddies come back strongly but the good guys still eventually win; whereas I have seen a lot of films where the baddies nearly win at the beginning and then the good guys come back strongly and eventually win. [[Genre Savvy|I'm just increasingly uncomfortable about our place in the narrative structure of this war]]."
|''[[That Mitchell and Webb Sound]]'', in which two [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] start worrying that [[Heel Realization|they might actually be the bad guys]]}}
'''Eucatastrophe''' is a term coined by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] which refers to the sudden turn of events at the end of a story which ensures that the [[protagonist]] does not meet some terrible, impending, and very plausible doom. Something unexpected leads to good unraveling of the plot, often but not always due to a [[Deus Ex Machina]].
All hope is lost, soon the [[Big Bad]] will achieve [[Evil Plan|his/her goal]] of taking over/destroying the city/world/universe and there's nothing the heroes can do to stop them. Then WHAM! Something unexpected happens, and the tide turns in the heroes' favor, allowing them to overcome the villain and win.▼
▲All hope is lost, soon the [[Big Bad]]
Often, it's the
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]].
This word was coined by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] from Greek ''eu-'' (good) + ''catastrophe'' (overturning), as a variant of literary term [[catastrophe]]: the event which leads to the resolution of the plot. J. R. R. Tolkien's definition stresses that somehow things go good, not solely because a group of hard working [[Badass]] heroes are turning it around, but because of some intervention or action beyond the heroes' control—in effect, a miracle—that makes victory possible. This trope is very common in [[Fairy Tales]], where a [[Deus Ex Machina]] on a white horse comes to save the princess with [[True Love's Kiss]].
When this trope gets subverted and the villain still wins anyway, you have a [[Hope Spot]].
Compare [[You Can't Thwart Stage One
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Occurs in the Cell Saga of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', when [[Big Bad]] Cell who was thought to have died when he self-destructed comes back thanks to his regeneration [[From a Single Cell]] and is now even
** 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.
** In the movies, this is kinda Broly's thing. Example: Pre [[Villain Decay]] (well, we're talking about a show where the heroes are exponentially more powerful every season and the Return is about 10 years later), Broly is in an entirely different league from the heroes, to the point no one in the entire cast can so much as stand toe-to-toe with him and trade blows. Broly is so powerful that the [[Blood Knight]]
*** 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 [[
* ''[[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
** ''[[Great Mazinger]]'': Several of them. Two of them stand out:
*** In the [[Gosaku Ota]] manga episodes, Great Marshall of Darkness
*** 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
* Occurs in all five of the final battles of ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.{{context}}
* 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.
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*** ...Wait, why are security guards playing [[Serious Business|Duel Monsters]]?
*** [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|"This is Japan, Mokuba. Card Games are the ONLY LAW."]]
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's|5Ds]]'' had quite a few
** The "Waking The Dragons" filler arc also had Yugi win his first duel of the season with 1000 Life Points left.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' has one at the end when, following the Ruhenheim Massacre, {{spoiler|Johan very nearly coerces Tenma into shooting him and thus corrupting himself forever by [[Complete Monster|threatening to kill a young boy]] only to be shot in the head by the boy's father at the last minute}}.
* The goal of the bad guys in ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' is to destroy the digital world piece by piece and feed it to Lucemon, thereby [[Sealed Evil in a Can|freeing him from his prison]]. The heroes do all right at first, but then they come up against the Royal Knights, who ''repeatedly'' take out a chunk of the world and the heroes barely escape with their lives. Eventually the Knights succeed in taking the entire planet, forcing the heroes to take refuge on the moons. They're able to rally and take out the Knights at this point, but that still means Lucemon's back, and he's able to start an invasion of the human world before he's defeated.
* [[Digimon Xros Wars]] does it twice. First it seems DarkKinghtmone has completely absorbed his brother Bagramon till Bagramon fights back and absorbs him. Then Bagramon has the digital world and earth under his power, and prepares to destroy everything and remake everything in his will with the Code Crown power, {{spoiler|and just he is about to finish of Taiki Shoutmon appears and saves him, because the Code Crown chooses Taiki over Bagramon, and the tables start to turning in favor for the good guys there}}.
* Oh good ''Lord'', ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. In Chapter 104, {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]], Father, absorbs the souls of everyone in the country and eats [[God|the Truth]], making him powerful enough to conjure a sun in the palm of his hand.}} Luckily for the world, {{spoiler|Hohenheim had a circle in place to reverse it, leaving Father in a state of [[Superpower Meltdown]] due to not having enough souls to contain Truth.}} At which point [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesomeness ensued]].
* ''[[Tokyo Majin]]''. The heroes are up against a [[God Mode]] evil spirit (Yagyu Munetaka) who eliminates pretty much all the main & supporting cast
* In ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions]]'', [[Big Bad]] Kodai almost succeeded in opening the Time Ripple...{{spoiler|but it was an illusion -- [[Spanner in the Works|Zorua had luckily broken his illusion canceler when attacking him]]}}.
** Also, in the TV special ''Mewtwo Returns'', Giovanni came ''very'' close to success.
* In ''[[Project ARMS]]'', Alice has possessed Katsume, Ryo appears to have no choice but to kill them both, Keith White is quickly on his way to being a living god and destroying everyone on the planet to prove it, and the ARMS weapons - the only things that have a chance of stopping him - have been deactivated. {{spoiler|It's only after Kei is able to appeal to Azreal and get the ARMS weapons back up that things start to turn in their favor.}}
* 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.
* Just like a fairy tale, a eucatastrophe takes place in the finale of ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'', when {{spoiler|Utena finally drags Anthy out of her shell}}, and the scenery literally begins unravelling. As always, YMMV as to whether the [[Gainax Ending]] and {{spoiler|[[Pyrrhic Victory]]}} count as a true [[Happy Ending]].
== 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.
* This trope seems to be very common for Kang; in the "Kang Dynasty" storyline,
== Fairy Tales ==
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718151232/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/norroway.html The Black Bull of Norroway]'' is the example of eucatastrophe cited by Tolkien in his "On Fairy Tales": the heroine has, after a long and miserable quest, won her way to where the prince is. She can't get at him, though. She bribes the princess who intends to marry him, and gets to his bedchamber, to find that she can't wake him. (The princess drugged him.) She tries again. And again. And the third time, the prince had been told by some servants that someone had been begging him to wake up during the night, and doesn't drink the drug.
== Fan Works ==
* All three of Trigger Happy Fanboy's ''[[Pokemon]]'' fanfics have these. And considering the fact that they're all in the same universe, they live in a pretty deadly world.▼
** In ''[[Dance of Destiny]]'': {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Kyurem]]}}'s subordinate, Dialga, has Celebi immobilized between dimensions, Darkrai is beaten into the ground by [[Fire, Ice, Lightning|Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno]], Tianna is unconscious, and Axel is about to be eaten by the said [[Big Bad]]. Cue {{spoiler|[[Papa Bear|Rayquaza]]}} to fly in and engage {{spoiler|Kyurem}} in battle. Axel {{spoiler|manages to revive Arceus, who opens up a can of [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] on Kyurem, and then traps the Legendary in the Giant Chasm for all of eternity.}}▼
** In the ''[[Forget Shipping]]'' duology (''Let The Flames Begin/And Watch Cities Burn'') {{spoiler|Ghetsis has the Griseous, Adamant, and Lustrous Orbs, Brendan has been captured by Giratina in the Distortion World and is about to be eaten, and Lucas has lost to N. Team Plasma has subtly expelled Team Galactic from Shinnoh and pronounced themselves as the saviors of the region, Dawn and May are on the run, and Cynthia is too busy fending off Ghetsis's Hydreigon to do anything to help.}}▼
** ''[[Blood in The Water]]'' has the biggest
==
* 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 [[
▲* All three of Trigger Happy Fanboy's Pokemon fanfics have these. And considering the fact that they're all in the same universe, they live in a pretty deadly world.
▲** In [[Dance of Destiny]]: {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Kyurem]]}}'s subordinate, Dialga, has Celebi immobilized between dimensions, Darkrai is beaten into the ground by [[Fire, Ice, Lightning|Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno]], Tianna is unconscious, and Axel is about to be eaten by the said [[Big Bad]]. Cue {{spoiler|[[Papa Bear|Rayquaza]]}} to fly in and engage {{spoiler|Kyurem}} in battle. Axel {{spoiler|manages to revive Arceus, who opens up a can of [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] on Kyurem, and then traps the Legendary in the Giant Chasm for all of eternity.}}
▲** In the [[Forget Shipping]] duology (Let The Flames Begin/And Watch Cities Burn) {{spoiler|Ghetsis has the Griseous, Adamant, and Lustrous Orbs, Brendan has been captured by Giratina in the Distortion World and is about to be eaten, and Lucas has lost to N. Team Plasma has subtly expelled Team Galactic from Shinnoh and pronounced themselves as the saviors of the region, Dawn and May are on the run, and Cynthia is too busy fending off Ghetsis's Hydreigon to do anything to help.}}
▲** [[Blood in The Water]] has the biggest [[Near Villain Victory]] 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 [[Zero-Percent 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]].
* Jafar comes disturbingly close to triumphing over ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''. Once again in the sequel.
** 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]]''.
* Done '''so''' very masterfully in ''[[Star Trek II: The
** 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.
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** Count Dooku has the surviving Jedi on Geonosis trapped before [[Gunship Rescue|the Republican gunships arrive.]]
* ''[[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}}.
* In ''[[Kill Bill]]'', the Bride has quite a few close calls, the first and likely closest being in the first movie. Elle is seconds away from killing the helpless Bride via a lethal injection to her IV, but gets a call on her mobile from Bill telling her not to. In fact, had Elle not wasted a few seconds gloating, Bill’s call would have come too late…
== Literature ==
* [[J. R. R.
** ''[[The Silmarillion]]'': The final overthrow of Morgoth by the Valar, in response to the plea of Eärendil and Elwing.
** ''[[The Hobbit]]'': The Battle of Five Armies, saved by the arrival of the Eagles.
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** ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Two Towers]]'': Gandalf's arrival at Helm's Deep.
** ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Return of the King]]''
*** 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.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'', which [[J. R. R.
** Most obviously in ''[[
*** 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".
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* The Yeerks are just about always on the edge of victory throughout the entire ''[[Animorphs]]'' series.
* In the [[Mistborn]] trilogy, Ruin very nearly manages to destroy the world before {{spoiler|Vin becomes a god, and then kills him via [[Taking You with Me]]}}. Even so, the world would probably still have effectively died if {{spoiler|Sazed hadn't taken the powers of both Ruin and Preservation,}} and [[World-Healing Wave|fixed everything.]]
* The [[Inheritance
* At the end of The Promise by Chaim Potek, Reuven meets an old Reebe who is an exile to America after the Holocaust terrified when he hears of the Rosenberg case and thinks there will be a pogram. But the Reebe is overcome with joy on learning that Reuven is not himself in terror; for the Rebbe finally realizes he has met a Jew who takes for granted that he will only be punished if he commits a crime personally and not just for being a Jew.
* The [[Wheel of Time]] has this on a ''schedule''. At the end of every Age, the Dragon fights the Dark One; if he wins, this trope; if he loses, even bigger catastrophe. However, it's possible that the Father of Lies was, well, ''lying'' about having won the battle in prior ages. Or it could be future ages and he just doesn't know the difference - the books make it pretty explicit that he's just outside of the Pattern and would be pretty alien to all sorts of its characteristics.
** Innumerable ones in the books themselves. When the party splits up, there can be as many as several ''for each segment of the main characters per book''. That can come out to a dozen or so of this trope.
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* 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.
** So
** 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.
** The spell required that they be close by (no just popping a spell pill and rushing off to the enemy's lair) so they ''all'' had to infiltrate a fortified underground base safely, then successfully reach a room where they hopefully wouldn't be bothered by the ''rampaging monster hordes'' and then, even when the spell is activated, there's a) the possibility it won't work at all, b) the possibility it won't work as intended, c) the possibility of it not being reversible (effectively killing Giles, Xander and Willow while making Buffy almost a demigod, and the longer the spell is active, the higher than probability gets) and d) the (proven) possibility of bad side-effects. So, it was kind of an ace in the hole, not something anyone really wanted to do unless they had to.
** Seriously awesome when Buffy uses [[Physical God|Willow]]'s power and Giles' knowledge to turn missiles into doves.
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* 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
==
* 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.
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* ''[[Castlevania|Symphony of the Night]]'' might do this during the prologue battle with Dracula. If your health reaches 0, Maria runs in and casts a crap load of buff spells turning the fight into a [[Foregone Victory]].
* There isn't a final boss from a ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' game that ''doesn't'' do this. ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' and ''[[Mario & Luigi]]'' are immune. So far.
* Ganondorf in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'' scores a fairly impressive victory during the first arc of the
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'', Zant and the Twilight took over all of Hyrule except for the backwater province that also happened to be Link's home, and then got beaten back into its hidey hole, only to be later defeated and left slumped in his throne while Link goes to rescue Zelda.
* At one point in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'', ''every single playable character'' (and Master Hand) is dead (well, trophyified). Then Dedede's timed badges go off...
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', Heavens Feel. {{spoiler|First Saber is gone. Very gone. Then in quick succession, Archer dies, Berserker follows and Shirou loses an arm. Plus, Saber is [[Not Quite Dead]]... but that's not a good thing. Then Sakura is revealed to be the Shadow, plus Zouken Matou controls her. And Berserker is back, plus blind and insane... insaner.}} So many things go wrong that by the time you get to the end {{spoiler|you're down to Tohsaka and Shirou. Tohsaka has a weapon she isn't sure will work and Shirou has severe brain damage plus a limited amount of times he can project before he'll die. Luckily, Sakura}} makes things a bit easier {{spoiler|by killing True Assassin and Zouken for them.}}
* ''[[Mortal Kombat|Mortal Kombat 3]]'': To break it down, Shao Khan revives his dead wife on Earthrealm, allowing him to step through the boundaries separating it from Outworld and claim her, thus forcing a merger of the two realms without the need of the eponymous tournament. Not only that, but he immediately steals the souls of everyone on Earth, and sends out extermination squads to take care of [[The Chosen One
* The ''[[Fallout]]'' series does this in every episode.
** ''Fallout'': while you are hunting for the Master and the Vats, the mutant army is on the doorstep of Vault 13.
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** ''Fallout 3'': fortunately for the good guys, the Enclave doesn't know the code to activate Project Purity which results in the Brotherhood launching a desperate siege and pushing them out of there. However, the Enclave was about to use their [[Kill Sat]] on the Citadel afterwards so it counts as two.
** ''New Vegas'' has this as a ''possible'' ending; depending on how thoroughly you complete sidequests and make friends with folks that have a lot of firepower, the ultimate battle for Hoover Dam is either an unbelievably harsh battle of attrition, or a hysterically drawn out [[Curb Stomp Battle]] as all your allies come rushing in for one [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment after the other.
* At the end of ''[[Halo]] 2'' and the middle of ''Halo 3'', the Halos were activated and charging, and just a few minutes from firing and killing all life in the galaxy just before the heroes could push the off switch.
* The first ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect]]'' game had you racing against time to stop Saren and Sovereign from opening the {{spoiler|mass relay in the Citadel to let the Reaper fleet through and begin the massacre of all sentient life in the galaxy.}}
** Plus, there's still a Villain Victory in the cards, you just DELAYED it. {{spoiler|Soon as the Reaper fleet gets to the nearest Mass Relay, it's on like Donkey Kong, even without their usual instant-win switch. When they finally arrive in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', they head straight for EARTH. Thanks a lot, Shepard.}}
* The second Air Gem test in the [[Fan Remake]] of [[King's Quest II]]. The canonical games glossed over this point, but the kingdom is in ruins, the hero's kids have been condemned to death, and the hero himself is close to breaking...then in walks the [[Big Bad]] offering a [[Deal with the Devil]].
** Canonical ones in the series: walking into the wedding hall in [[King's Quest VI]] to see "Cassima" enthusiastically declaring her intent to marry the [[Grand Vizier]]. And in [[King's Quest IV]] when Lolotte nastily declares that Rosella will have the [[Standard Hero Reward]] of marrying her grotesque "son" {{spoiler|turns out he's just a prisoner, too}}, strips Rosella of all her possessions, and locks her up.
* In the [[Space Quest]] series : Roger is captured by Vohaul in [[Space Quest]] 2, shrunken down to miniature size, and shoved in a jar while Vohaul readies the launch of his clone army of life insurance salesmen. In [[Space Quest]] 5, Roger is stranded on the bridge of the Goliath, surrounded by Pukoids, and the ship's heading for Confederation space, ready to spread [[The Corruption]] to all of known space. If you prepared for this, then WD-40 and Cliffy show up for a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment. [[Space Quest]] 6 isn't as dramatic, but it is sad. After the [[Big Bad]] tried to kill Roger, Stellar shows up and pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. He can only bang on the door helplessly as she appears to succumb to the gas. Worse, Sharpei is going to get away with it because [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|she is the wealthy and well-connected widow of a famous admiral]] while Roger and Stellar are "just" a janitor and soldier.
* [[Pokémon]] had been slowly hedging in that direction for a while with the villains of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum coming ever closer to their goals. In Black and White, the bad guys {{spoiler|got their legendary}}. {{spoiler|They proceed to defeat the league champion}}, leaving them with the firepower and the moral authority to get the region {{spoiler|to release their Pokémon}}. In their castle ( {{spoiler|which has risen from the ground to surround the Elite Four headquarter}}, scientists are {{spoiler|hacking into the Pokémon storage system}}, elevating them to global threat. And while {{spoiler|N}} wishes to face you in a one on one battle first, the Sages are a little more pragmatic {{spoiler|and intend to take you six on one and quite likely kill you before you make it that far}}. And even if you do, {{spoiler|you still don't have, or don't know where to find, the opposite legendary, which might even the odds a little in that battle. You have the stone to awaken him, but no idea where or how to use it}}. Then {{spoiler|your childhood friend Bianca rounds up the gym leaders of Unova who hold off the sages, and the stone you've been carrying all along ends up working at the last minute.}} The rest is up to you.
* ''[[Command
** Of course, whether Kane and the Brotherhood are 'evil' depends on one's point of view.
** In Red Alert 2, the last Soviet mission is a desperate fight to destroy the Chronosphere in Alaska, before the Allies launch an invasion of Moscow.
** On [[
== Web Comics ==
* 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 ==
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*** Worse, Shego LEFT THE FREAKIN' BACKPACK with ALL of the gadgets IN THAT VERY ROOM!
** The [[Alien Invasion]] in the [[Grand Finale]] probably counts as well. It may actually be the closest in the series the world came to ending.
* Nox, the [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Wakfu]]'', seeks to {{spoiler|travel back in time to save the family he had failed 200 years prior to the show, an act which would also undo all of the myriad of atrocities he had committed up until that point in the pursuit of that goal. Despite the heroes' efforts he successfully drains the Sadida's Tree of Life, resulting in the death of their entire race, in a bid to power an ancient artifact that he believes will allow him to turn back time.}} In the final battle between him and [[The Hero]], Yugo, {{spoiler|it looks for a moment as if Yugo is going to win. However, Nox uses a momentary distraction to kill (well, maybe knock out, since he does the same thing to Yugo's dad in the second episode, and he lived) Yugo. With [[The Hero]] dead, Nox uses all the energy he had collected over the last 200 years to travel back in time. Unfortunately for Nox, that is barely even enough to travel back in time ''20 minutes''.}} In a bit of a twist {{spoiler|the ending might actually have been happier if it had been a complete villain victory instead of merely a
* This happens ''twice'' in [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]: {{spoiler|the Fire Nation ultimately wins the war at the end of the second season, forcing Aang and his friends into hiding on enemy territory. Later in season 3, the few remaining pockets of resistance unite for a surprise counter-attack on the Fire Nation capital; it fails, costing the Avatar most of his remaining allies.}}
** Frankly,the whole premise of the show runs on this trope, the Fire Nation have pretty much won the war at the beginning,it isn't until Aang is rescued from the iceberg that any credible threat arrives
* Played with on ''[[
* ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' episode "Shoot Out." The Queen has three Rangers in chains, displaying them like a trophy. The fourth is competing for his life in a [[Blood Sport]] where the Queen's new champion has shot and wounded him. The animation where she's on her feet cheering while her captives look on in dismay is wonderfully done.
* [[Transformers Cybertron]] uses this. {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Galvatron]] has the [[MacGuffin
** But there's still more. In the next episode, it's the [[Final Battle]]. {{spoiler|Optimus Prime versus Galvatron, to the death. Galvatron has Optimus knocked flat on the ground, face in the dirt of one of Cybertron's moons. As he brings his sword down for the killing blow, Vector Prime uses the planet map (his last physical link to the linear universe) to block Galvatron's blade as well as give Optimus Prime his sword Rhisling. Optimus uses it, combined with the power of the Matrix of Leadership, to [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|skewer Galvatron]], killing him. Galvatron gives his fitting [[Famous Last Words]] [[Final Speech]]: "[[Transformers: The Movie|I still function]]... you haven't... won... not while my... spark... still burns... [[Evil Laugh|ha ha ha ha ha ha...]]" before crumbling to ashes that are swept away by the lunar winds. }}
* [[Transformers Generation 1]]: The plot of ''Megatron's Master Plan''.
** And the last 3 episodes in "Rebirth".
* [[Beast Wars]] Megatron has been just a hair away from victory ''three times.'' {{spoiler|the first time he nearly erased the Maximals from existance by killing Optimus Prime four million years before he woke up. The second was when he found the repaired Nemesis and tried to use it to kill the Autobots still offline in the Ark. The third time he absorbed nearly all the sparks on Cybertron, became a god, and tried to remake Cybertron in his own image.}}
* Happened alot in ''[[Totally Spies!]]'', such as the second episode, "The New Jerry", with the Spies trapped in a space capsule and Tim Scam firing on the Earth with the Evapo-Blaster.
* Happens in Season 2 of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' "The Return Of Harmony". {{spoiler|Discord has [[Break the Cutie|emotionally broken]] and [[Mind Raped]] five of the Mane Cast already to the point the Elements Of Harmony -- the ''only'' magic that can defeat him -- are useless and driven Twilight Sparkle across the [[Despair Event Horizon]], completely shattering the mane cast's friendship. With the heroes crushed and beaten, Discord takes over Equestria, transforming it into a surreal [[World Gone Mad]] that's growing more chaotic by the moment, with Ponyville as his new "chaos capital of the world". However, his victory is snatched away from his grasp when Celestia sends Twilight all the letters her student had sent her over the last season, which restores Twilight's hope and motivates her to restore her friends to normal. Reunited, the group confront Discord and [[Hoist by His Own Petard|his own pride and belief the Elements of Harmony won't work]] causes him not to realize this until its too late. Discord [[Sealed Evil in a Can|is sealed away]] and a [[World-Healing Wave]] created by the Elements of Harmony restores Equestria to normal.}}
** Happens again in the Season 2 finale. {{spoiler|The Changeling Queen has destroyed the barrier protecting Canterlot, unleashed her hordes upon the city to feed off the love of all the ponies, and has even defeated Celestia in a straight-up fight by tapping into Shining Armor's love for Cadence. Even worse, the Mane 6 fail to reach the Elements of Harmony in time, and are captured by the thousands of changelings that now storm the city. Unfortunately for the queen, she forgot that Cadence and Shining Armor are still in the room, ''and'' that Cadence's magic is [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|the ability to make ponies love each other.]] The result is Shining Armor getting a massive injection of the [[Power of Love]], which gives him enough power to reset the barrier and blast all of the changelings out of Canterlot once and for all.}}
* 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.
* Happened ''all the time'' in ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', especially in season one, where Jeremie would often manage to hit the [[Reset Button| "return to the past"]] command to foil XANA's plan with mere seconds to spare. The number of times XANA's murderous schemes came close to succeeding is true [[Nightmare Fuel]] at times.
== Real Life ==
* [[World War II]] would probably have looked like one at the time (to someone who hadn't studied the whole economics of the situation): by June 3, 1942, Japanese carriers were running all over the Pacific on a conquest spree, Britain was the only nation still fighting Hitler in Western Europe, the Soviets were giving ground before the German army, and Rommel was advancing across the African desert. Over the next six months, the Axis learned all about places named "Midway", "El Alamein" and "Stalingrad".
** Similarly, the events of 1939-1940 that led to Hitler bowling over all opposition in Europe, except a small island (and a tiny part of another). Then came the German's first undisputed major defeat at the Battle of Britain.
** Let's not forget the millions of dollars in weapons, munitions, food and other essential supplies that that "small island" had coming in from its estranged stepson across the pond.
** Quite a few things worked for the Allies' favor though, such as their secret knowledge of the Enigma code, and the fact that they managed to capture or convert nearly every German agent on British soil.
** There's one crucial operation that saved Britain right after France fell. While most people who have heard of [[WW 2]] will know that Britain's navy was one of the strongest in the world they wouldn't realize the incredibly precarious position they were in. In May
** Amazing as it was it was also a ''huge'' [[Shoot the Dog]] moment considering the French sailors had been their allies merely weeks earlier and ''1,300'' of them were killed in the process. As much as the practical benefit it was also a display in front of the whole world about how strongly Britain was committed to fighting.
** Then there's the [[wikipedia:Dunkirk evacuation|Dunkirk evacuation]]. A series of Allied military blunders in May 1940 allowed the Germans to break through the French front lines and catch the Allied troops totally unprepared. The British army, in particular, was in a terrible defensive position at that moment. If General Guderian, the German commander who led the breakthrough, had been allowed to follow up his success, he could have swept north and rolled up the entire British army. Instead, his own CO chewed him out for taking "foolish risks", and Guderian resigned on the spot. He was persuaded to rescind his resignation and resume command, but several days had passed by that point, and the opportunity had been lost. Britain evacuated their soldiers from the continent in one of [[
** Actually, there was a [[WW 2]]
* [[World War
* Another example is the so called "Long Night" coined by Western intelligence in the [[Cold War]], dating from 1956 to 1979 more or less. It started with the fiascoes of 1956 - including the humiliation of the fall of Budapest and the Ike-induced rifts between the US and the Anglo-French -, continued straight through Vietnam and the resulting bloodbath, and ended with the fall of the Shah and the loss of one of the last remaining Western outposts in the Middle East. During this point in time, the general consensus amongst historians and strategists - West, East, and neither - was that if the Soviets rolled the dice, they probably would have won. That, or triggered an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]], all depending on whether the West was willing to retaliate.
* This is what the first part of the [[Korean War]] looked like: the North Koreans marched south, destroying or pushing away any and all Western allied resistance, to the point where they were trapped in a tiny split of land around Pusan fighting desperately to hold on to their final foothold on the Korean mainland against vastly superior North Korean forces, living hand-to-mouth for weeks under intense pressure. Termed "looked like" because (as many have pointed out), Pusan could have been evacuated in fairly good order if it were not possible to be held, and the amphibious invasion force that would eventually launch at Inchon was already well underway in planning and organization, so it is questionable to see what effect the actual conquest of Pusan would have had.
** The Pusan Parameter was defended by the US 7th Cavalry, which has a history of fighting to
* Mid-1920 in the Polish-Soviet war looked very much like this: after the Ukrainian offensive had collapsed due to arriving Soviet reserves, the Poles and their surviving Ukrainian allies were pushed deep into Poland itself, outnumbered, outgunned, and logistically cut off. The supplies it was dependent upon for survival were being waylaid by pro-Soviet forces (including but not limited to an Anglo-French dock strike, a rail strike in Czechoslovakia, and pan-Germanic inspired strikes at Danzig), the Soviet army had seized Prague - a suburb of Warsaw- and was now planning to take the main city, Budyonney in the south was moving towards Lwów, the Polish military was ill-equipped, outnumbered, and divided, and the Soviets only needed to break through the final line of Polish resistance before making it to the German mainland in preparation for what they believed would be a great, unified proletariat revolution, which the Western Allies - weary from the strain of WWI and beset by internal dissent - would have struggled to survive and overcome. Then ... well, the Miracles of the Vistula and Zamość happened.
* Speaking of Poland, the Second Siege of Vienna looked a lot like this at one point. A massive Ottoman Army was steadily advancing towards the city, blowing up its defenses with gunpowder and slowly starving and exhausting the city's inhabitants to death by cutting off all supplies and keeping the attack going day and night. To this day you can see cannonballs in the side of St. Stephan's Cathedral. Previous Austrian cities that had surrendered had gotten massacred, and it was looking like Vienna would follow suit. Then King Jan III Sobieski of Poland came roaring in with [[The Cavalry|the largest cavalry charge in history.]]
* The Mongol Empire would have likely smashed through Europe and then the renmants of Asia had Ogedei Khan not died suddenly.
* One Jewish historian wrote that he had a retrospective moment of this on visiting Israel and seeing a Jewish policeman-on horseback. He remembered reading of Medieval times when Jews could not ride lest their head's be higher then those of gentiles.
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