Diabolus Ex Machina: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"This is not the [[Deus Ex Machina|convenient plot twist that saves our heroes]]. This is the convenient plot twist [[It Got Worse|that makes them even more screwed]]."''|'''[[Word of God|Ryan MC]]''', ''[[Two Evil Scientists]]''}}

 

 

* Firstly, note that the Diabolus Ex Machina is often brought in simply because if the villain were to lose, [[Failure Is the Only Option|the work of fiction would be over]]. Like the Deus Ex Machina, it only applies if it comes out of left field.

 

If a movie ends with a [[Death By Sigh of Relief]] of the [[Kill'Em All|last surviving character]], it may be this (depending on sheer unlikelihood). Compare [[Diabolus Ex Nihilo]], [[Ass Pull]], and [[Cruel Twist Ending]]. Obviously, compare and contrast with [[Deus Ex Machina]]. Likely to be employed by writers who believe that [[True Art Is Angsty]].

* A minor example of ''[[Ai Kora]]'': Hachibei's plan of [[It Makes Sense in Context|making Tsubame wear boots filled with clay so he can make a mold of her feet and ankles]] fails when she lets a friendly rival male driver she just met in that chapter ''wear her boots'', just because she thought they were comfortable. [[Sarcasm Mode|Because when your first meet someone, naturally you exchange footwear, of course!]]

* ''[[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]]'' has a pretty brutal one at the end. {{spoiler|Kouji confronts and defeats Dr. Hell in one last climatic battle and it seems that Mazinger-Z stands triumphant. However, it turns out to be a [[Xanatos Gambit]] by ''Baron Ashura'', who sacrifices his/herself to allow the Mycene Empire to arrive on Earth. Cue [[Cliff Hanger]] Ending.}}

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' ends the Nirvana arc by arresting the reformed {{spoiler|Hoteye and Jellal}}, and heavily implying that the latter will be executed (he does get a deah sentence later too), then proceeds to top that by revealing that everybody the [[Token Mini-Moe]] grew up knowing, with the exception of one man who was [[Dead All Along]] were just illusions created to keep her comapny and she'll never see them again. Never one to out do itself, ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' then ends the S-Class arc with {{spoiler|a dragon coming out of nowhere and leaving the entire core cast presumed dead, and even when they're recovered seven years later the world has changed tremendously in their absence.}}

 

* Even [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] is not safe from this demonic influence -- in ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'', he drops by to ensure that Bond's marriage [[Cartwright Curse|becomes a SHORT one]].

** Then again, this does seem to follow naturally from the premise that Blofeld, as shown throughout the movie, is an [[Sophisticated As Hell|enormous dick.]]

*** At the beginning of ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'', Bond is visiting his wife's grave, complete with "We have all the time in the world." MI6 pick him up by helicopter, except it's remote controlled by... a bald man with a cat, who tortures Bond the way he tortured Blofeld in ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]''.

*** It's very carefully structured to be open to the interpretation that it leads on from either ''[[You Only Live Twice]]'' or ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]''. For one, it opens in Japan, where most of the action of the former occurred. Take that as you will.

* The film ''Whoops Apocalypse!'' follows a desperate attempt to stop a nuclear war, which would have succeeded were it not for a hypnotist routine being disturbed - a navy officer is programmed to believe there is a large fire in progress when the hypnotist snaps his fingers (desperately yelling 'FIRE!'). Owing to an unfortunate intervention, this is never undone. When the officer receives the good news that the missiles don't have to be fired, he is so relieved that he doesn't respond to the questions being asked - leading to somebody snapping their fingers to get his attention....

* ''[[The Wages of Fear]]'' has the only surviving driver from the deadly nitroglycerine convoy plunging to his death on his way home for no readily apparent reason.

* [[Adam Sandler]] delivers this on himself in the ''middle'' of ''[[Eight Crazy Nights]]'', by explaining his hate for the holidays with a flashback where a younger version of himself sparks a [[Miracle Rally]] for his basketball team. {{spoiler|They win the game, but younger Sandler finds out that his parents were absent because they were too busy being dead. The game was played during Hanukkah, hence his holiday hate.}}

* In the Korean melodrama ''Failan'', the male protagonist decides to honor his wife's memory (who he wed for purely financial reasons, and had neglected until her death) by turning his back on his gangster wannabe lifestyle, even turning down a request from a fellow gangster to take the fall for a murder and serve his subsequent prison sentence. {{spoiler|He ends up being garroted by that same gangster in an unexpected act of reprisal, while he sees his deceased wife (through the videos he was watching before the attack) as the life slowly drains from him (symbolized by the picture in the video gradually losing its color)}}.

** Just to make it worse, {{spoiler|Tamara's death}} doesn't make any ''sense''. The reason she gets trapped is that water is pouring into the ship through the stern hatch, and several bulkhead doors slide shut to contain the flooding. Given that there is only one way for water to get into the ship and the watertight bulkheads are working properly, ''there is no reason for her compartment to keep filling up.''

** To say nothing of {{spoiler|Sasha successfully landing their plane, only for the ice to collapse from underneath the front of it}}.

* Subverted in ''[[Cabin Fever]]'', in that the one guy who apparently survives is the [[Jerkass]], and just as you're thinking, "You mean the ''asshole'' lived?" he gets cut in half by machine gun fire.

* ''[[Remember Me]]'' had Robert Pattinson, playing the angsty Tyler, finally bonding with [["Well Done, Son" Guy|his father]]. While Tyler is waiting in his father's office, it seems everything will be fine... {{spoiler|until he gets killed in the September 11 attacks in said office}}.

* ''The Princetta'': The main characters return from their adventures and are all set to live [[Happily Ever After]], Malva and Orpheus get together... {{spoiler|and then Orpheus is murdered at the last minute.}}

* A rare good use: ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]''. The narrator is hit by a stray bullet on a day so quiet the official report was a [[Title Drop]]. It works because we've already established that Fate is a ''bitch'' towards soldiers. (The movie adds some Diabolus by making it the final day of the war.)

* The end of the ''[[Redwall]]'' series book ''Martin the Warrior'' does this to a degree that the flashback story it's based on ends on a [[Tear Jerker]]. Everything seems great, {{spoiler|Martin gets his father's sword back and kills his enemy Badrang the Tyrant...but right after it's revealed that the mouse Rose, Martin's friend and possible love interest for the entire book, was killed during their fight against Badrang. Martin then leaves his friends and promises never to mention his interactions with them again so they won't be put into danger.}}Of course then it fast forwards to the present day in Redwall where everything is okay and they discuss how Martin founded Redwall and was a great hero. But it still puts a damper on the entire ending and is one of the few Redwall books to do this.

* In Meredith Ann Pierce's ''Darkangel Trilogy'', Aeriel and {{spoiler|Irrylath}} have finally become an official couple after two years of [[Will They or Won't They?]]. So of course {{spoiler|it turns out that her body was actually destroyed and reformed into an immortal substance earlier that book, meaning that theirs is now a [[Mayfly-December Romance]]. This is [[Info Dump|Info Dumped]] by the [[Obi Wan]], who is now a ''voice inside Aeriel's head" who demands that she leave Irrylath and go [[Riding Into the Sunset]]. Because [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]], she agrees, and tells Irrylath to go marry the [[Romantic False Lead]]}} Nobody's too happy about this except the child bard who gets to turn the whole story into a pretty song.

* ''Seekers'', by Erin Hunter. A young polar bear, Kallik, is orphaned and alone. After much wandering and hardship she gets caught by humans, who plan to re-release her alongside Nanuk, a mother who'd lost her cubs, in the hopes that she would adopt Kallik. After some consideration, both bears decide that this is an acceptable arrangement. {{spoiler|Nanuk immediately dies in a helicopter crash}}

* In Lord Sunday, the final installment of [[Keys to the Kingdom]], Arthur finally collects the 7 Keys. Up until this point, the series has been fairly predictable, although things have been getting kind of real in the background, what with {{spoiler|the deposed Trustees being mysteriously murdered & some people dying from plagues}}. However, it's here where everything truly goes downhill for Arthur. All he wants to do is end the fighting, but {{spoiler|the Will has other plans. It uses him to bring in a tide of Nothing to destroy the Universe, because it turns out it's 1/2 of the Architect of said Universe, & wants to die, but it can't until its creation is destroyed. The main characters are frozen by the power of the Keys, unable to do anything to save themselves for the few moments they have until destruction.}} Fortunately, it gets better. It turns out that {{spoiler|they were frozen because the Atlas was recording the Universe for Arthur to recreate it.}} The catch? {{spoiler|Arthur's mother had died just moments before.}} A series that had been very light-hearted up until this point takes a sudden turn: Arthur went on that entire quest with the only result being {{spoiler|the death of his adopted mother.}} The closing dialogue of the main story? "Wow, Arthur! You won!" "Yeah...I guess we won." Freaking. Ouch.

* At the end of ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' it seems as though Harry will be able to leave his abusive foster family to live with his godfather, while an unconvicted criminal will go to jail. Then {{spoiler|Remus Lupin}} turns into a werewolf (it just having happened to be the night of the full moon, and him having forgotten to take the potion which would keep him safe), and in the confusion the criminal escapes {{spoiler|meaning the innocent man convicted in his place needs to go on the run rather than take in Harry. Although it later turns out that to live with the man in question would have compromised Harry's security from potential attackers}}.

* At the very end of "Nuclear Holocaust Never Again", the second book in the "Never Again" series by R. J. Rummel, things are looking pretty good. The heroes have managed to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] and have confronted the parents of the at-this-point still an infant villain, who have willingly [[Raise Him Right This Time|let the heroes adopt him so that he doesn't grow up to become a nuclear-war-causing dictator.]] Then, {{spoiler|John, Joy, and the child are blown up by a religious extremist's bomb.}} At least the world is safe, {{spoiler|[[Reset Button|until the sequel anyway.]]}}

* Shows up in ''[[Wolves of Mercy Falls Series|Shiver]]' in the form of {{spoiler|a white-tailed deer}}, of all things. {{spoiler|The deer appears in the middle of the road at exactly the wrong time, causing the crash that wrecks Grace's car. Both occupants survive, but with no way to keep Sam warm until help comes, he turns wolf for good. The characters are forced to try an incredibly dangerous plan to bring him back.}}

* ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' lampshades and ends up subverting the trope. Initially Dantes blames God and fate for all the terrible things that occured to him, but with the help of a fellow inmate, is able to reason out how certain ''people'' wanted him to suffer, not God. Thus, it becomes a core part of his philosophy that once he breaks out, he can't count on Diabolus to hand out random punishment. It has to be up to him.

* The ending of ''[[Malevil]]'' tastes a little of this, because of a [[Distant Finale]]. Some 575 pages are spent on a six-eight month period and the final 20 pages are a 3-year epilogue. More tragedy strikes in the final pages then the whole novel before because it covers a much larger span of time.

* At the end of ''[[My Sister's Keeper]]'', Anna finally gets medically emancipated from her parents... {{spoiler|and is then killed in a car accident, yet her kidneys--the organ she had been asked to donate earlier in the book, leading to the aforementioned emancipation quest--are perfectly intact to give to her sister, rendering her actions pointless.}}

** Not so contrived, actually; the best friend of [[Katherine Paterson]]'s son {{spoiler|was stuck by lightning}}, inspiring Paterson to write [[Bridge to Terabithia]].

* The end of Part 1 of ''[[The Sex Gates]]''. Lee and Rita are going to have a baby, Rita is finally opening a facility that should make the lives of technologically-deprived poor people much better... and then one of those same poor people fatally stabs her when he's supposed to be shaking his hand. They're forced to push Rita through one of the titular gates, which saves her life at the expense of [[Gender Bender|turning her into a man]] and [[Tear Jerker|destroying her unborn child in the process]] - and Lee loses his balance and falls through as well, turning into a woman.

** Another example -- a lesser one because it's a newly introduced, comparatively minor character, but still a punch in the gut -- is in the next season finale, "Posse Comitatus," when C.J.'s stalker is apprehended and she ''just'' begins a relationship with the special agent who'd been assigned to protect her... and he leaves her sight for a minute to pick up a candy bar and a flower from a convenience store, finds himself in the middle of an armed robbery and is shot and killed.

* ''[[Good Times]]'', James Evans, Mississippi. For a ''comedy'' titled "Good Times", Diabolus sure was busy [[Yank the Dog's Chain|depriving the Evanses from having any...]]

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' season finales tend to be based on unfortunate circumstances plunging the state of the world from bad to worse.

** The ending to the 2010 episode "Cold Blood". They've stopped the bad guys, got the humans and the Silurians at least on the right track to start living together in a thousand years, and are all set to escape when a crack in the space-time continuum appears, leading to not only the death of {{spoiler|Rory, but his erasure from existence. Luckily, he's revived in time for the season finale.}}

** The last of the 2009 specials, "The End of Time", involves a prophecy that the Doctor is soon to die. It concludes with the Doctor {{spoiler|vanquishing the Time Lords and sending Gallifrey back into the Time War, seemingly defying the prophecy. Then Wilfred Mott gets stuck in a box. Which is about to be flooded with radiation. And the door is locked. And it won't open unless somebody goes in the other side of the box. And there's no override. And the sonic screwdriver won't work.}} You can almost hear the writers straining to make this into a situation that requires the Doctor to sacrifice himself.

* ''[[Prison Break]]'' did this in the episode "Selfless" - Scylla had been stolen, everyone was free to go, the release papers had been handed over, and then {{spoiler|it turns out that the cop was playing them all along and they're in an even worse situation than they had been before.}}

** "Playthings". Sam wants his turn at being a martyr and, after getting drunk, forces a promise out of Dean that he would kill him when/if he turns evil. He's hung over the next day and we and Dean think he doesn't remember. But at the end of the episode, he brings it up again and they drive off in an uncomfortable silence. Add it on to them not exactly saving the day either and you've got one hell of a [[Downer Ending]].

** The Season One finale: John's been possessed and shot, Dean's been tortured, but everyone is alive and Sam is driving them to the hospital, and it looks like everything will be fine. Until a huge truck slams into the Impala, totaling the car, and the episode ends with all three men bloody and unconscious.

* The final episode of Series 3 of ''[[Primeval]]'' where humanity has been saved from evil Helen by a hungry raptor. However the Pliocene anomaly closes, trapping Danny 3 million years in the past.

* Col. Henry Blake was already written out of ''[[M*A*S*H|Mash]]''. He'd [[Retirony|gotten his discharge and left for home]]. But that wasn't enough, so at the end of his farewell episode, Radar gets the message that his plane was shot down. "There were no survivors."

** Shi-Ann in ''[[Survivor]]: Thailand'' tried to network with the other tribes when time came for the merge, only for instead, they're told they're living on the same beach... so when Shi-Ann's tribe loses, she's low man on the totem pole, so bye-bye Shi-Ann.

** Michelle in ''Survivor: Fiji''. Ten players in the game, and they're divided into two teams of five. Unfortuantely, Michelle's stuck with indifferent players and people on an alliance; not wanting to vote out their own alliance member, they gang up on Michelle, who was playing perfectly well...

*** For that matter, Parker and Alex. They weren't disliked ''as much'' as their partners, but because everyone had to play in groups, they merely voted out the ''one'' person they disliked the most.

* The [[Syfy]] adaptation of the short story "[[The Cold Equations]]" ends on this. The basic premise of the story is that a young girl has stowed away on a spaceship carrying urgently needed medical supplies to a distant colony - and, because of her added mass, there isn't enough fuel to land the ship without crashing (and killing everyone on board), so, according to regulations, the pilot is supposed to throw the girl out the airlock so the cargo can arrive safely. It's established fairly early on that the cargo weighs about the same as the girl, and that jettisoning either the cargo or the girl would save the ship. Near the end, the two of them discover that the cargo wasn't what they thought it was, and jettison it, so they're safe now. That's when Diabolus shows up. To the surprise of the pilot and audience, the ship ''still'' has too much mass, because they waited too long and are now closer to the planet. So [[Someone Has to Die]] anyway.

* The Series One finale of ''[[Sherlock]]'' has {{spoiler|Moriarty walk out fairly close to the end. Sherlock removes John's explosive-laden outer layers, [[Ho Yay|jokes are cracked]] and all seems to be right with the world. Then Moriarty comes back, and the series ends with Sherlock and John being aimed at by multiple snipers while Sherlock aims his own gun at the explosives, which are now at Moriarty's feet.}}

== Music ==

* [[Depeche Mode]] 's song "Blasphemous Rumors" is about a girl who tried to commit suicide at age sixteen. She fails, and learns to love life again. Then she dies in an accident.

 

 

{{quote|'''Player Character''': I remember being disappointed that the fortress's structure wasn't more architecturally sound.

'''Ammon Jerro''': Yes. That powerful and evil beings insist on causing destruction even as the die is an unfortunate habit. }}

** Due to gamer outcry at this being one of the dumbest endings in gaming history, one of the expansion packs, specifically ''Broken Steel'', changes this ending, allowing you {{spoiler|to send in say, a highly resistant super mutant, a ghoul who is actually healed by radiation, or a goddamn ROBOT! And if you go in yourself you don't die. You can still send in the girl though, if you want to be a dick.}}

*** {{spoiler|The game will still chastise you for being a coward, despite the fact that you found a way to accomplish your goal and get everyone out alive.}}

== Web Original ==

* The finale of ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]''. [[Mad Scientist]] [[Villain Protagonist|Dr. Horrible]] held at gunpoint with his own death ray? The gun explodes and he survives. The [[Made of Iron]] superheroic jerk Captain Hammer who fired it? Injured and humiliated, but survives. Naive heroine, Penny, on the far side of the room, who has just realized Dr. Horrible and Billy Buddy are one and the same and in love with her? Sorry, Penny. You get [[Jossed]] with Penny-seeking shrapnel.

** Diablous ex Machina struck once before. In ''Sims Big Brother 2'', there was a week in which 6 people were taken into the Solitary chamber, making themselves immune from the vote during Public Voting Week (in which ''everyone'' was up on the block, sans the 6 in the chamber). However, the person who lost all of the challenges was more or less screwed. They couldn't use any of the luxuries, couldn't compete for Head of household, were automatically nominated for three weeks in a row, had to eat an instant meal diet, and if any of those rules were broken, they'd be expelled. Dora unfortunately lost....meaning she had many of the worst weeks of her life in the house. Is it any wonder that after becoming the Unlucky Houseguest, she [[Suicide by Cop|asked everyone to nominate her and vote her out?]]

* [[Parodied]] in [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s review of ''[[Moulin Rouge]]:'' he spent practically the entire review complaining about the movie before the [[The Nostalgia Chick]] and [[Brental Floss]] convinced him it was fine as a [[Guilty Pleasures|guilty pleasure]]. But this being a review of ''[[Moulin Rouge]],'' it needed to end tragically, so he randomly shot Brental Floss and mourned his loss.

** Of course, this was mocking one of their complaints about the movie, namely that Satine's consumption--and her decision to break up with Christian instead of telling him about it--seem like this trope.

 

 

* ''[[Re Boot]]''. The final episode of the series has {{spoiler|Megabyte captured and our heros celebrating. But then it turns out the captured Megabyte was an alias (aka a decoy) and that Megabyte had infiltrated the Principal Office and then took over.}} Cue Cliffhanger.

* This trope is a recurring theme in ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'', where [[Failure Is the Only Option]]. Every time the Joes find something that will clear their names, it's a safe bet it will either get burned, blown up, smashed, stolen, or stabbed. {{spoiler|That is until the season one finale where the Joes returned to the Pentagon with all the evidence they needed to clear their names after destroying Cobra Mansion and defeating Cobra Commander, who survived and is ticked off by the way. The series is now on hiatus until the second live action movie is finished but it's doubtful the Joes will suddenly become wanted crinimals again when it resumes.}}

* ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' has a brutal one in the original [[Series Finale]] "Last But Not Beast", combining it with a massive case of [[Status Quo Is God]]. Dexter and his family have finally learned how to work together and were able to stop the monster Dexter accidentally unleashed from Japan. However, he accidentally mentions his lab, which causes Mom and Dad to remember it, too<ref>He had to reveal it to get them to work with him</ref>. What does Dexter do? Pull out a mind eraser gun, erasing the memories of the lab and everything after it! However, Monkey, who had aided the family earlier, loses his mask, making Dexter realize his pet monkey was the hero. So, Monkey goes and takes the gun and erases HIS memory, allowing Mandark, who was taken out early on, to claim victory and leaving Dexter to bemoan that he wished he destroyed the monster. And DeeDee says ''nothing about it''.

 

* Angel Juarbe Jr., a New York firefighter, won the reality show ''Murder in Small Town X'' while also winning the great respect of the viewers, in contrast to quite a few other contestants on the show. Three days after picking up his winnings, he was killed in 9/11 along with two other firefighters as they undertook a suicide mission to get a badly needed rope.

* A certain stuntman who rode a barrel over Niagara Falls later died from slipping on an orange peel.

* Jack Daniels died of a toe infection after kicking his combination safe in frustration.

* Similarly, Alan Pinkerton, a famed 19th century detective, died of infection after biting his tongue.

* A folktale about Zhao Yun's death (of ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' fame) begins with him getting undressed for a bath. His wife is impressed by how unscarred his skin is, despite decades of battle. He replies that he's never lost a fight and never even taken a wound. His wife, as a joke, pricks him with a needle. And he starts bleeding. And he doesn't stop. The story ends with him dead from loss of blood and her killing herself with his sword. This may be the reason Luo Guanzhong glosses over Zhao Yun's death in the book.

* [[Blues]] musician [[Stevie Ray Vaughan]] recovered from a nearly deadly addiction to cocaine and alcohol, returned to form with his comeback album ''In Step'' in 1989, then died tragically in a helicopter crash a year later (along with the pilot and the rest of the crew) after playing a concert in Colorado.

* The great explorer and soldier T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) died in the most ignoble way after the life he had led, in a motorcycle accident as he was pulling out of his drive.

* In 1980, Kenny Waters was sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime he didn't commit. His sister Betty Anne spent the next 18 years trying to get him released, even going through law school to able to defend him, at the cost of her marriage. She finally managed to get him released in 2001... only for him to die 6 months later from head trauma after falling off a wall. The [[Hilary Swank]] movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1244754/ Conviction] is based off this story, though the producers omitted the detail about the brother dying [[Sudden Downer Ending|for obvious reasons]].

 

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