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Hope Springs Eternal: Difference between revisions
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The [[Big Bad]] is triumphant, the [[Eldritch Abomination]] has been released, and the [[Apocalypse Wow|world is in flames]]. There is no doubt about this. The [[Darkest Hour]] isn't upon us, no, it is far worse, we have entered [[The Dark Times]].
But the [[Ultimate Evil]] that the [[Big Bad]] has become [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|does not and cannot realize one thing:]] though the heroes who tried to stop him have failed, and may well have died, '''Hope lives on''', and with it, the [[Heroic Spirit]] survives. Even now, a rudimentary version of [[La Résistance]] is forming because word has spread that a [[Chosen One]] has appeared after being sent off like [[Moses in the Bulrushes]]. The now-dead heroes who opposed the [[Big Bad]] managed to [[Fling a Light Into the Future|send a weapon through time to the future]] that can defeat the [[Ultimate Evil]].
These stories about the [[Chosen One]] and the super-weapon might be true, but likely are not. Their truthfulness matters less than what it means that these stories exist at all: '''Hope lives on! ''' One day, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, maybe not in our lifetimes, but one day, [[As Long as There Is One Man]], [[Justice Will Prevail]].
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It is a [[Foregone Conclusion]].
A common message given by fiction and folklore. Only the most downer of [[Downer Ending
Compare with [[Hope Sprouts Eternal]], when the despair is due to desolation instead of defeat.
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{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[The Sandman]]: Preludes and Nocturnes'', Dream goes to Hell to retrieve his helmet. The demon Chonoronzon, who currently possesses it, challenges Dream to the ultimate game of "Can you top this?" Choronzon's final move was becoming entropy personified. Dream responded, and won, by becoming Hope.
* This is the schtick of the [[Green Lantern|Blue Lantern Corps]]. It's comprised of hand-selected individuals who have the ability to inspire great hope. Their unofficial leader, Saint Walker, was considered [[The Messiah]] by his people and was the first Blue Lantern.
** They ritualized this trope in their [[Badass Creed|Lantern Oath]]
{{quote|
''With strong hearts full, our souls ignite.''
''When all seems lost in the war of light,''
''Look to the stars'', '''for hope burns bright''' }}
* There is a certain ''[[Star Wars Tales]]'' story set in the far, far future of the galaxy. C-3PO has told a young boy the story of the films. The story ends with him destroyed, and the young boy taking up Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, ready to stand against [[The Empire|the new Empire]].
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* The tagline for ''[[Deep Impact]]'' was "Oceans rise. Cities fall. Hope survives." It fits that movie well, by the way.
* Hope is what sustains Andy Dufrense after his false-conviction and incarceration in ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]''. He and Red even get into an argument over having Hope in prison, with Andy saying it is necessary and Red saying that it is dangerous. Eventually, Red comes to Andy's point of view.
{{quote|
* {{spoiler|Gilraen}}, the narrator of the story in ''[[Born of Hope]]'', addresses Baby Aragorn as ''Estel'', which means Hope in Sindarin.
** In fact, this trope is just about the entire message of the movie.
* In ''[[Finding Nemo]]'', after they have escaped from a hungry shark and massive minefield explosions, Marlin and Dory are exhausted. Marlin is anxious to find his missing son, Nemo, but now he has lost his best clue for finding
* ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]'' uses this. The majority of the film features the Autobots getting their asses kicked across the galaxy. At the very end, they unite to make a last ditch effort to destroy Unicron and Light Their [[Darkest Hour]].
== [[Literature]] ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is Alexander Pope's ''An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733:
{{quote|
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come. }}
* The poem ''Hope Is A Tattered Flag'' is about this:
{{quote|
The ten-cent crocus bulb blooming in a used-car salesroom,
The horseshoe over the door, the luckpiece in the pocket,
The kiss and the comforting laugh and resolveâ??
Hope is an echo, hope ties itself yonder, yonder. }}
* In the [[Tanith Lee]] story "Red As Blood," one of the characters claims that Hope is the greatest evil released from Pandora's Box, because it gives people false comfort in time of troubles.
** Hope as double-edged sword is also a major theme of ''[[The Homeward Bounders]]'' by [[Diana Wynne Jones]].
* "[[Mistborn]]", by Brandon Sanderson. Keslier to the [[Big Bad]]: "I am that which you can never kill. I am hope!"
* One interpretation of "[[Arc Words|carrying the fire]]" in [[The Road]].
* As noted above, Stephen King's "''Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption''". Even carries the additional title "''Hope Springs Eternal''".
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. There are quite a few irredeemably evil entities attempting to oppress every other living entity, and most of them succeed for some period of time; so there's always a host of brave and wise elves, or outnumbered but courageous humans, or tough-as-nails dwarves, or determined hobbits, or powerful wizards, or even incredibly powerful godlike entities from across the sea preparing to come save the day. A few characters make speeches on hope (notably Sam to Frodo) which get everyone else back on their feet.
* Emily Dickinson wrote a poem about this:
{{quote|
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all— }}
{{quote|
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm— }}
{{quote|
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me. }}
* The end of Matt Stover's novelization of ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' notes that this is the Dark Side's weakness. Darkness is all-encompassing, powerful, and will never vanish...but a single candle can hold it back. Crosses over with [[The Power of Love]] as well. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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== [[Music]] ==
* Bob Dylan's ''To Make You Feel My Love'' is sung from the point of view of a man who is in love with a woman whose life has treated her harshly, and who has especially had bad luck when it comes to romantic relationships. The lyrics gently tell her to never give up hope, because there's still someone who loves her:
{{quote|
''Down the highway of regret''
''The winds of change are blowing wild and free''
''But you ain't seen nothing like me yet'' }}
* Garth Brooks' ''The Change'' is about doing the right thing, and never giving up. Ever. Or else evil, sadness, and hatred win.
{{quote|
''Then hope is never really gone'' }}
* Alluded to and dismissed in [[Within Temptation]]'s "Deciever of Fools". Hope springs eternal, but [[Crapsack World|it won't help much]].
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* And now for a depressing example: [[Manipulative Bastard|Tzeentch]] is the ''evil'' God of Hope in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] Fantasy and [[Warhammer
** The reason that Tzeentch can't be killed is ''[[Morton's Fork|because]]'' he is the God of Hope. Taken to an insane extreme, like all the Chaos Gods. The very thing that allows mortals to fight him and his forces IS him.
*** Here's something to help counterbalanace that: Tzeentch may be the ultimate manipulator, but you can take heart in one thing. ''He has no plans.'' All of his twists and turns, plots and schemes... they're all for their own sake. If Tzeentch ever had an actual ''goal'' that was accomplished, he'd probably cease to exist. Hope for the future, because Tzeentch can't.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Done very literally in the end to the video game ''[[
* The ''[[Fallout]]'' series. Sure, America, if not the world, is a post-apocalyptic wasteland full of radiation, disease and angry mutants that want to paint their walls in your brain splatters, but settlements are building and civilization is returning. The NCR, New Arroyo, Megaton, Rivet City for example. The DC wasteland has clean water, and Project Purity can be replicated (however the rest of America doesn't seem to really need it). And, hidden by those grimy orangey-grey clouds, is still a bright blue or starry sky.
* Pandora in ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] 3'' is a big believer of this. In the end, she even manages to get ''Kratos'' to agree with her.
{{quote|
** Taken to a literal extreme in the end. Amongst the evils in Pandora's Box was Hope. {{spoiler|It was inside Kratos ever since he used the box to fight Ares in the first game.}} Once Kratos' rampage is over, the world is pretty much destroyed (both literally and figuratively) by the deaths of the Olympians. {{spoiler|Athena, the last surviving god, tries to take Hope from Kratos, using it to rule what's left of the world. Instead, Kratos kills himself, releasing the power of Hope to every mortal.}} The last shot of the game is the sky clearing, implying the world will finally begin to recover.
* At the very end of the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series ''Defiance'', Kain muses that hope was the true gift Raziel bestowed upon him. Being a cynic, he calls hope a "cruel illusion" but one he can't help but believe.
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[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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