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Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Difference between revisions
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Did you feel like that story was pointless? It was. Sometimes an author will go one step beyond a [[Shaggy Dog Story]], and Shoot The Shaggy Dog. They won't just [[Kill'Em All]]; they'll make the characters' accomplishments a moot point [[Senseless Sacrifice|and their deaths completely senseless]]. They won't just have the protagonist die an agonizing death; they'll [[Groundhog Day Loop|trap him in a grim cycle of reincarnation]], and make him [[Failure Is the Only Option|a failure in every incarnation]]. Sometimes they won't ''even'' [[Kill'Em All]]; the protagonists won't even get to bring the [[Villain|Villains]] down with them. All in all, the only thing that's changed in the last 400 pages is that a few ineffectual people have died...some of whom were the protagonists.
Occasionally part of [[An Aesop]], to show ''[[Crapsack World|just how crappy]]'' the world becomes when you violate the lesson; frequently used to try and show a '[[Darker and Edgier|gritty]]', [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|cynical]] world. Sometimes, it's an attempt at tragedy that makes the mistake of nullifying itself by [[Darkness
'''NOTE:''' An ending in which [[The Hero Dies|the heroes die]] or are [[Bolivian Army Ending|implied to die]] does not, on its own, a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] make. This trope should refer to stories where the protagonists are ineffectual, accomplish nothing, fail to bring villains to justice, ''and'' they die.
The ultimate [[Downer Ending]]. See also [[Crapsack World]]. Compare [[Reset Button Ending]], which may lead to or be the cause of one of these. If the writer's a cynical bastard it might be a [[Black Comedy]]. Tends to result in a form of [[Darkness
Has nothing to do with [[Just for Pun|Shooting Shaggy's]] [[Scooby Doo|Dog]] (or for that matter, his [[The Scrappy|other dog]]). See also [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]] for a roleplaying equivalent.
'''Spoilers''' ahead, of course.
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[[Category:Shoot The Shaggy Dog]]
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