Diabolus Ex Machina: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Kite Runner]]'', by Khaled Hosseini. The protagonist and his best friend's son are getting along well and all set to move to America when {{spoiler|the main guy tells boy he might have to go back to the orphanage for a short time, and the little boy tries to commit suicide and stops talking.}}

* ''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.}}

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''The Cat Who Walks Through Walls''. All fictional universes are real alternate universes in their reality. One of the characters points out that a hero (a writer) is not permitted to resurrect the [[Big Bad]] of his favorite fictional universe because of this trope. The character asks if the hero can just retire as head of the training school but apparently the risk is that the story will evolve to need a serious villain, who will come into existence if written.

* 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.