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Eucatastrophe (view source)

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'''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]]}}
|''[[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]] will achieve's [[Evil Plan|his/her goal]] ofis takingabout over/destroyingto thecome to city/world/universefruition, and there's nothing the heroes can do to stop themthe [[Final Solution]]. Then WHAM! Something unexpected happens, and the tide turns in the heroes' favor, allowing them to overcome the villain and win.
This is what we call a Near Villain Victory, where the bad guys look like they're going to win only to get defeated at the last moment.
 
ItThe most frequent form is a given'''Near thatVillain in battlesVictory''', betweenwhere the forcesbad ofguys goodlook andlike evil,they're [[Thegoing Goodto Guyswin Alwaysonly Win|theto heroesget willdefeated win 99% ofat the timelast andmoment. the villainsBecause will[[The beGood defeatedGuys inAlways the endWin]]. So, the writers will come up with scenarios that stack the odds in the villains' favor and give them minormajor victories, thus raising tension by getting the audience to think that ''maybe'' this time the hero won't save the day.
 
Often, it's the verycockiness ''fact''from theassuming villaininevitable victory is so close to victoryachieve that results in their downfall. They've gotassures the heroes on the run, maybe theyvillain'ves got every right to think they're going to win or already have..downfall.then theyAfter getdeclaring cocky.that [[Nothing Can Stop Us Now|Because they already declared victory]], they come to think the hero is no longer a real threat to them]]. Sometimes, theyvillain 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]].
Note: There is in fact a very real and very specific word for this trope. That word is [[wikipedia:Eucatastrophe|eucatastrophe]]. (It's also worthwhile to note [[J. R. R. Tolkien|who invented this word]]. Though [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR 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 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]]. Might overlap with [[Darkest Hour]]. Often used to set up a plot about coming [[Back From the Brink]] when it occurs in video games. If it gets bad enough, then [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now]]. In video games, the [[Instant Win Condition]] can easily result in this trope.
 
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