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{{trope}}
The villain always loses, right? Actually... no. Sometimes the villain surprises us all and is victorious, even if only in the short term. However, usually when a villain wins, he has to put a tremendous effort in to do so and sacrifices a great deal, so much so that both he and the viewers may well be asking [[Was It Really Worth It?|if it was worth it]], resulting in a [[Pyrrhic Victory]]. Often this takes one of two forms: either it has taken so much effort, (and [[Kick the Dog|underhanded tactics]]) to win that it has left the good guys as the [[Doomed Moral Victor|moral victors]] with a better legacy, or in order to accomplish their goal the villain has had [[Lonely At the Top|to sacrifice the thing they cared for most]] and/or humanized them to the audience.
 
So while their efforts might have paid off, to answer the earlier question of whether it was worth it: frequently it is not.
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Needless to say, this is an [[Ending Tropes]], so '''beware the spoilers!'''
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Anime andManga ==
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*** Shinji, arguably, fits this trope better. In both endings this is what he wanted. In both endings he got better, but after getting what he wanted...well, Alexander the Great might have wept over no more worlds to conquer but thanks to Shinji there's no longer a world.
** Gendo certainly didn't get what he wanted. Rei rejected him in favor of Shinji, and it's implied that he is not reunited with Yui in the psuedo-afterlife that is Third Impact.
* Subverted in ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]''. One of the battles over Tokyo ends in {{spoiler|Suzaku firing a FLEIYA, which destroys most of the city, which is where Nunnally was at the time. Somehow, she lives. The worst part is that Suzaku swore up and down that he would never fire it, and only did so because he was getting torn apart by Kallen and [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|his "live" Geass activated]].}} This only works if you see Lelouch as a [[Villain Protagonist]] and not an [[Anti -Hero]].
* Seen in ''[[Hell Girl (Anime)|Hell Girl]]''. Yes, your contract with Enma Ai gives you what you want: to punish someone who's slighted you big time. However, by sending that person to Hell, you've condemned ''yourself'' as well, since when your life comes to an end, you will join them in Hell. See the mark on your chest? It'll remind you of the [[Deal With the Devil]] you made.
* Happens twice in ''[[Jo JosJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'', Cars, the main villain of Part 2, gets what he wants {{spoiler|which is to become the ultimate lifeform, which lives forever and can adapt to any environment or situation}}, but ends up {{spoiler|flung into space, where he will live forever, but slowly go insane from the boredom}}. Enrico Pucci in Part 6, {{spoiler|kills most of the heroes, obtains his vision of "heaven", if only for a moment... but then gets killed by a mere child, and the world then gets the [[Reset Button]]; and he's no longer in the universe, having never been born}}.
* Harry McDowell in the anime version of the game franchise ''[[Gungrave]]'' first just wanted enough power to live his life freely and protect the people important to him. With time he succeeds in rising to the top of [[The Syndicate|Millennion]] and making it more powerful than the law itself, but only by losing sight of his original goals and betraying almost everyone he cares about. He's driven to kill both Brandon, his best friend whom he relied on in all his life (leading to some spectacular [[Villainous Breakdown|Villainous Breakdowns]]), the fatherly prior head of the organization and his wife, Brandon's sweetheart. Twenty years later, though, he's finally able to face Brandon and come to terms with his life.
** Conversely, in the game's continuity he shows no remorse for killing Brandon/Grave (Harry in the game's storyline is depicted as little more than a complete prick). Either way he still wanted Mika, the innocent daughter of Grave's former love interest dead. {{spoiler|Harry even had Big Daddy used as a guinea pig and mutated him into an acid flame-spewing monstrosity, just to ''see what kind of effects Necro-Rise/S.E.E.D. would have on him'' and has no qualms about siccing Big Daddy on Grave as the [[Final Boss]] of the game. As a result, Harry dies, Grave lives, and moves on with his "life" with Mika.}}
* In ''[[Hellsing]]'' {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|The Major]] succeeds in defeating Alucard, even though [[Action Girl|Integra]] [[Shut UP, Hannibal|kills]] him in the end. Also, London ultimately rebuilds and life continues on like normal.}}
* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', having defeated two justified rebellions from the angels Zeus is sick of war and decides to retire and go into a long sleep.
 
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* In the ''Emperor Doom'' Graphic Novel, [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Dr. Doom]] succeeds in conquering the world by brainwashing everyone. By and large he's a fairly benevolent monarch and does much to solve many of the world's problems. Unfortunately, he's bored out of his mind, that when the one unaffected hero manages to break the spell on a few others, he lets the rebellion win. He'd rather be a conqueror than a [[Desk Jockey]].
** This is a running theme with Dr Doom; every time he manages to take control of a nation/planet, he'll spruce the place up very nicely and run it better than most governments ever manage, but will ultimately get bored of running it. Doom enjoys the challenge of taking over a nation and solving problems, not the mundane managerial work of keeping national status quo.
*** The exception is in ''Doom 2099.'' He conquers the United States, and actually intends to keep power, so he can fix the ''entire world.'' It doesn't end well for him, the country, or [[Kill 'Em All|most of the heroes.]]
* The end of the ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' plays with this: [[Iron Man]]'s reputation has essentially become mud because of his support of the SHRA, and it's only further compounded by [[Captain America]]'s death.
{{quote| "It was the right thing to do! And I was willing to get in bed with people we despised to get this done. And I knew the world favors the underdog and I would be the bad guy."}}
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{{quote| '''Raistlin''': I sacrificed myself to save ''myself''.}}
* In the [[William Gibson]] short story "Dogfight," the main character wins the aerial combat video game, but in the process alienates everyone he might possibly celebrate his victory with.
* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'': after 500 years of struggle [[Anti -Villain|Maedhros and Maglor]] ''finally'' get the two remaining Silmarils. In the process they lost their father, all their brothers, their kingdoms, their followers and, thanks to them committing genocide against other elves on three seperate occasions, they've made enemies of the entire world. And when they try and hold the Silmarils in their hands? They burn them due to all the evil they've done, so they can't even hold them without feeling unbearable agony.
 
 
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== Theatre ==
* The ending of [[Sophocles]]'s ''[[Antigone (Theatre)|Antigone]]'', in which the sympathetic [[Anti -Villain]] Creon succeeds in bringing his rebellious niece to [[Knight Templar|justice]] but at the cost of [[Driven to Suicide|his entire family]], makes this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
* [[Macbeth (Theatre)|The MacBeths]] killed King Duncan, forever destroying the mental peace of [[Lady Macbeth]] and turning Macbeth into a [[Fallen Hero]] who essentially [[Deal With the Devil|sold his soul to the devil]], all for a temporary victory. In the long term, what they accomplished was to make Banquo's descendants kings.
 
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* One of two inevitable outcomes of ''Nuclear War'' (the DOS game by New World Computing, not the actual political option). Either the last remaining ruler on Earth presides over a blasted wasteland, or the entire world is destroyed.
* In the first ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' game, {{spoiler|Ansem}} (Who you find out, in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'', is really {{spoiler|Xehanort's Heartless}}), successfully opens the door which he believes would lead to ultimate dark power, however {{spoiler|Sora tells him that "Kingdom Hearts is Light", and the villain ends up getting disintegrated when the door opens.}}
* In ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'', [[Well -Intentioned Extremist]] Teyrn Loghain's plan to take the throne of Ferelden works like a charm ... up until the point where it sparks a civil war and causes riots throughout the country. Ironically, in an effort to protect Ferelden from Orlesian occupation, he's forced to act just as badly as the former conquerors he once struggled against. This sends him into a deep depression and eventually sparks a [[Villainous Breakdown]].
* In ''[[Fallout New Vegas]]'', one of the ways to talk down [[The Dragon|Legate]] [[Authority Equals Asskicking|Lanius]] in the [[Final Battle]] is to convince him that even if he were to beat the NCR and conquer Hoover Dam, the Legion would inevitably fall via attrition (due to [[Rape, Pillage and Burn]] being a poor long-term way to sustain an army) or overextending themselves (much like the NCR themselves have done).
* At the end of ''[[Batman Arkham City]]'', when it looks like Batman might not [[Save the Villain|save]] [[The Joker]] from his TITAN poisoning {{spoiler|the clown [[Back Stab|backstabs]] him to try and get the cure, causing it to drop and smash on the ground. Joker dies about a minute later.}} Extra irony-points because {{spoiler|Batman really would have saved him.}}
 
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Villain on villain case: in ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'', the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] whose unfair treatment first turned Edward Nygma into The Riddler succeeds in continuing to make money off Nygma's intellectual creations, but lives his life in constant paranoid fear of Nygma coming to get him again.
** [[Batman Beyond]] does a similar thing with Inque's daughter {{spoiler|who screwed her over and tried to kill her. She now lives in fear of the vengeance of the assassin who can be anywhere, as anyone or anything, seeing her in every shadow.}}
* Speaking of Batman, ''[[Batman the Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' ends with Bat-Mite screwing over the show to get it cancelled so that a darker, more serious Batman series will be made in its place. The new series focuses primarily on Bat''girl'', and as [[Ambush Bug]] points out, a serious Batman series has no room for [[Silver Age]] silliness... like Bat-Mite himself. Bat-Mite realizes his mistake seconds before he is erased from existence.
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* ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'' Courtney finds out Gwen and her boyfriend Duncan kissed and vows revenge. She gets support from most of her team and eventually Gwen is voted off. However Gwen and Duncan remain a couple, while Courtney loses support from her team, fails in getting Duncan voted off, and gets voted off herself instead. And most of all, [[Love Martyr|blindly falls for Alejandro who is just using her]] and he loses anyway. So in the end, Courtney ends up with nothing and no one.
* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''. Lucius manages to push [[Wicked Weasel|the weavils]] off their land, but the mountain he was going to carve his face into ends up carved into a weevil head instead.
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S2 E15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000|The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]'', the Flim Flam Brothers win the contest with Applejack by producing far more barrels of cider than she and the rest of the Mane 6. {{spoiler|In the process, they not only manage to alienate the town with their [[Jerkass]] behavior, but also had to shut off the quality assurance of their machine to win. The resulting cider is so unappetizing that nopony is willing to buy or take for free. Faced with an angry mob, they have no choice but to pack up and leave.}}
 
{{reflist}}
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