Downer Ending/Literature: Difference between revisions

* M.T. Anderson's [[Dystopian]] future novel ''Feed'' ends with the protagonist watching over his completely <s> paralyzed</s> brain dead girlfriend. That's [[Tear Jerker|bad enough]], but it's also implied that shortly after the end of the book American society will collapse and then be wiped out by an [[The Federation|angry alliance of all the other countries in the world.]]

** M.T Anderson does this in a few other places, too. [[Thirsty]] has the main character going insane(and [[Horror Hunger|thirsty]]) after realizing his entire life was arranged to carry out a plan by an [[Eldritch Abomination]].

** [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''False Gods'': Horus assassinates two people, revealing his choice.

** Ben Counter's ''Galaxy In Flames'': A full-blown [[The Bad Guy Wins]], with the only consolation being that the good guys are not all [[Dying Alone]].

** [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Horus Heresy|Legion]]''. Let us count the ways. The Alpha Legion turns traitor to ensure Chaos destroys itself by eliminating humanity itself. The Imperial Guard they brought with them are either killed when they blow up their ships or doomed to die a horrible death on the planet itself. John Grammaticus [[Driven to Suicide|commits suicide by throwing himself out of an airlock]] because his best friend and his lover have betrayed him and he has doomed humanity to extinction. Oh, and all of this doesn't ''prevent'' the vision the Cabal have seen, [[Senseless Sacrifice|it]] ''[[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|ensures]]'' [[It Got Worse|it]].

** [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''Battle for the Abyss'': All of the heroes in the book die, many hating one another's guts after being relatively strong comrades to begin with. Almost all of them die pointless deaths, attempting just to slow down the planet killer they are trying to destroy. It takes an utterly suicidal attack to finally successfully board the ship, in which more than half of the remaining loyalists are killed or forced to turn their guns on one another by psychers. In their final moments they just about manage to succeed. Why is this a downer ending rather than a [[Bittersweet Ending|bitter one]]? No one will ever know of their actions, no one will remember their names or recall anything they did. They lost everything and had everything they were destroyed. Their ''victory'' was giving one loyalist legion a ''very'' slim chance at surviving a massed sneak attack by two traitor ones.

* "[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]."

* [[The Dresden Files]] aren't the happiest books in the world, but book 11 ends on a really depressing note. Sure, they found the traitor on the Council, but the whole thing was a set up to get the Black Council's guy on the Senior Council. Morgan, who was a [[Jerkass]] but a completely loyal one, is dead. Anastasia Luccio, the woman Harry has been dating, turns out to have been [[Mind Control|mentally coerced]] by the spy into the relationship in order to keep an eye on Harry. And Harry's half-brother, Thomas, has given into his vampire side after being tortured by the skin-walker and fed humans by it, and has returned to the White Court.

** If you think that is Downer Ending. Read the Next Book. For starters - {{spoiler|Harry's Car, Office and Flat gets blown up.}}. Oh and {{spoiler|Susan turns and Harry has to kill her}}....Oh and {{spoiler|he kills her for genocide-black-magic-ritual }}. OH and he is also {{spoiler|Winter Knight now}}....and {{spoiler|quite dead from getting shot in the heart by a sniper....just a few minutes after he starts some sort of romance with Murphy...OUCH...}}

* ''[[The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas]]'' definitely counts as the two main characters end up being gassed in a concentration camp while being completely unaware of what is going to happen to them. What makes it even worse is the fact that the non-Jewish boy was only in the camp to help his friend find his father who is "missing" and it is very clear to the reader that his father is in fact dead.

* ''Beggars Ride'' by Nancy Kress, last book of Beggars trilogy, ends in one of these. the Supersleepless are all dead(though samples of their sperm and eggs survive), most of the Sleepless die when Sanctuary is destroyed unreconciled with the Sleepers(though its better than if they had survived unreconciled), last bookd panacea(the Cell Cleaner which makes a person immune to almost all diseases, cancers, arthritis, skin blemishes, ect. as well as allowing said person to subsist on skin contact with dirt and sunlight) is unavailable to future generations, and an engineered virus(which is able to work around the Cell Cleaner) has infected a significant part of the population with a disease that causes a fear of novelty(worst than it sounds).

* ''[[Beachwalker]]'' ends with the protagonist losing her beloved patient, then dying herself shortly afterward. Made slightly less sad by the ambiguous sensation of fingers closing around her hand just as she dies, implying that they are [[Together in Death]].

* ''[[The Godfather]]''. Michael reasserts the Corleone family's dominance with a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] at the cost of his soul.

* Arguably, ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]'' is a successful blend of this trope and [[Earn Your Happy Ending]].

 

{{reflist}}