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{{trope}}
[[File:mario-
{{quote|''"Imagine that [[Nintendo]] made a game where [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] defeats Bowser, and he finds Princess Peach, poisoned, lying on a bed, [[Dying Declaration of Love|telling Mario with her last breath that she loves him]]...and then the game ends. [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|This is sort of devious plot that child psychologists must concoct in order to increase their clientele.]]"''|'''[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/rodland/rodland.htm Hardcore Gaming 101]'''}}
A
Often done because [[True Art Is Angsty]] and because [[Mood Whiplash]] is an effective way of manipulating your audience, or as a way of adding depth to the main characters at the last moment.
The 3-way baby of [[Mood Whiplash]], [[Cerebus Syndrome]] and [[Downer Ending]]. See also [[The End of the World
As an [[Ending Trope]], expect spoilers.
'''If a work was dark or serious to begin with, it does not qualify for this trope and is simply a [[Downer Ending]].'''
{{examples}}▼
{{endingtrope}}
== Anime & Manga ==▼
* ''[[Excel Saga (Anime)|Excel Saga]]'' parodies this, like everything else, in one late-run episode, which is very dark and humorless compared to the other episodes and ends with Excel being shot and left to die. {{spoiler|It's actually around episode 23 of 25; the ''actual'' final episode (#26) was unaired due to [[Crosses the Line Twice|crossing the line]] ''way'' too many times. In fact, it was ''created'' with the intention to never be aired, and is not considered part of the actual story anyway.}}▼
▲{{examples}}
▲* ''[[Excel Saga (
* ''[[Mahoromatic]]''. It's a [[Foregone Conclusion]] that Mahoro would die; it's the whole premise. The ending is still ridiculously dark. [[Gainax Ending|And confusing.]]
* The last few episodes of ''[[
** Then again, the series was from [[Gainax Ending|Gainax]]...
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie]]''. Most of the story strikes the same balance that the Genesis games did, with a Saving The World plot that's still light-hearted. However, the "lighthearted" suddenly disappears near the end, with Metal Sonic making a [[Heel Face Turn]], [[Redemption Equals Death|falling into a lava pit]], [[Last Second Chance|and brushing off Sonic's attempt to save him]]. Afterwards, Sonic is a bit shaken up over
* ''[[
* ''[[Panty
* ''[[Master of Martial Hearts]]'': The first 4 out of 5 episodes will make you think that this OVA is just a silly, goofy, mushy comedy with some brutal fights between the main character Aya and her opponents in a tournament. Then the 5th episode comes in. To wit: {{spoiler|Aya ends up killing her opponent in a [[Berserker Rage]]. Then she finds out that every one of her friends was a [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]] who had manipulated her right from the beginning. They mentally broke all the losers of the tournament, making them into "perfect women" to be sold into sexual slavery. Aya's "friends" did this because her parents did the same thing to their parents, and they want to kill her to get back at her mother. Then Aya's mother shows up and kills them off, revealing to her that this is a [[Cycle of Revenge]] going back to their grandparents. So [[Kill'Em All]] ensues, with Aya limping away from the blown up building. Then her so-called best friend's mother gets a visit from someone that she is very scared to see...}}. There had been very few hints that something like this was going to happen. Yikes!
* The 1975 anime adaptation of [[A Dog of Flanders]], true to the original material, has the main character {{spoiler|freeze to death}} in the last episode. The series is quite positive and upbeat (and looks like ''Heidi'') otherwise, so to many children this came as quite a shock.
== Film ==
* ''[[Marley and Me]]''. The film actually ends with {{spoiler|the [[Death
* ''[[Roller Boogie]]'', a light-hearted roller-disco film, inexplicably ends on a downbeat note, with the main characters tearfully separating to pursue their futures in different cities.
* Notoriously, the original ending to ''[[Clerks]]'' would have ended with this. A lighthearted comedy about two lazy store clerks wasting a day shift? The original version ended with a robber entering the store and shooting the main character, killing him instantly.
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* ''[[This Island Earth]]'': Sure, the earth is saved, but the [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|entire Metalunan race is wiped out]] by the [[The Bad Guy Wins|Zagons]]. The Metalunans weren't really bad, just desparate. And the movie ends with [[Last of His Kind|Exeter]]'s ship crashing into the ocean in flames.
* The silent film ''Exit Smiling'' is a zany comedy about a terrible actress in a traveling theater troupe trying to save the man she loves from going to jail. She succeeds. But he never finds out she was the one who saved him, and he's so happy about being able to stay in town with some other girl he likes that she simply doesn't tell him. The movie ends with her crying quietly as he steps off the train.
== Literature ==
* In the final chapters of ''Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House'', one of the dolls is [[Killed Off for Real|burned to death]].
▲== Live Action TV ==
* In the final [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPTUA_wdp78 episode] of ''[[Dinosaurs]]'', the main character accidentally triggers an ice-age by over-industrializing the world. He then has to explain why they're all going to die to his youngest child. Cut to the outside of the house, where snow is piling over the entire house. In the final shot, a newscaster solemnly states that the snow is getting harsher, the days are getting darker, and there's no end in sight. He issues a formal "Good night". He reconsiders for a moment, then looks straight in to the camera with weary, uncertain eyes, and solidly states, "Good bye". [[Fade to Black]]. [[Tear Jerker|This show was supposed to be FUNNY, goddammit!]]
* In terms of individual seasons, ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' ends rather sadly. ''Turbo'', being based on [[Gekisou Sentai Carranger|a parody sentai]], was written as light-hearted (even compared to ''[[Power Rangers]]'' in general). However, the ending is downright depressing. It is, so far, the only season to end with the Big Bad actually ''winning''. The ending of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' came close, but the start of ''Zeo'' reversed most of its more serious consequences back to the status quo, whereas the start of ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' took the
* The finale of ''[[
** [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that [[Played for Laughs|playing the events of the finale for laughs]] this time would not have produced [[Dude, Not Funny|the best reaction]] [[World War I|given what they concerned]].
*** Also because for anyone with any emotional investment in [[WW 1]] (read: everyone in Britain above a certain age), the ending is actually [[Tropes Are Not Bad|incredibly touching, respectful and appropriate]]. Writer Ben Elton's uncle, an eminent historian specialising in the period, was outraged when he first saw Blackadder Goes Forth and practically disowned him for what he saw as trivialisation of the war. After seeing the final episode, he wrote his nephew a letter apologizing and praising him for the way it was handled.
* The finale of ''[[Roseanne]]'', where it's revealed that the entire last season was fictional, and that Roseanne wrote it to cope with the death of Dan.
* In the last episode of ''[[
* This trope began a season early in the BBC's version of ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. At the end of season two, {{spoiler|Maid Marian}} was brutally murdered at Guy of Gisborne's hands, changing an upbeat family show into something unimaginably bleak, and without any hope for a happy ending. Bizarrely, season three tried to regain its reputation as a family show, but the fed-up actors left for greener pastures, ensuring that the show ended with the deaths of {{spoiler|Robin Hood, Allan-a-Dale, Guy of Gisborne, and the Sheriff of Nottingham}}. Despite the gutted cast, there was an attempt to introduce a [[Legacy Character]] for Robin Hood, but the show was not commissioned for a forth series. The show ended with the remaining outlaws vowing to continue the fight against Prince John, but anyone with [[Fridge Horror|a rudimentary knowledge of English history]] knows how well ''that'' [[Foregone Conclusion|would have turned out]].
* Publicity for the last ever episode of largely light-hearted series ''[[Lovejoy]]'' focused on the return of [[Will They or Won't They?]] love interest Lady Jane and Lovejoy's wedding to [[Replacement Love Interest]] Charlotte. Instead, the [[Villain of the Week]] kidnaps Lovejoy on the way to the wedding as revenge for foiling his plot and Charlotte refuses to believe it, thinks she's been jilted and takes a job away from the area. What's more, Lovejoy's other two friends also take jobs away from the area and he's effectively evicted from his home/shop. The final scene of him packing his things into the back of his truck and driving off alone is actually quite depressing.
* ''[[Seinfeld]]'''s two-part series finale is arguably an subversion. The show itself was about [[Jerkass|selfish, horrible people]] [[Karma Houdini|coasting through life]], and the finale showed them finally [[Laser-Guided Karma|getting their comeuppance]]. Still, it divided fans of the show, who thought that it was a very dark way to send off one of the greatest [[
* Although ''[[Medium]]'' dealt with many bad things, it's overall ethos was generally that the bad guys always got caught and everything turned out well in the end. Which made the series finale {{spoiler|in which Alison's husband Joe is killed in a plane crash, most of the episode is taken up with a bizarre soap opera tale of it all being a ghastly mistake and an amnesiastic Joe is living in Mexico which turns out to be a dream and then Alison spending the next 40+ years of her life without the one person who has kept her sane throughout her psychic travails and who she has repeatedly been shown to depend on utterly and all alone because she never finds someone else or remarries}} all the more difficult to take. Even more so when the producers apparently thought it was a happy ending {{spoiler|because, well, those forty years don't matter when you get reunited when you eventually die. Right?}}
* [[True Life]] "I Don't Trust My Partner" had two couples talking about their trust issues. The audience sees Nikki and Shawny, the second couple interviewed, fighting for the extent of the episode, thanks to Shawny flirting with girls behind his girlfriend's back, and eventually going to couple's therapy to see whether they should move in together. Fast forward some months later, the show pans over to the new apartment the couple talked about renting, with their stuff inside. Problem is, shortly after they moved in together, Shawny suddenly died, because of a hernia problem, and Nikki went through a period of overwhelming grief. For a show that usually goes no further than a [[Bittersweet Ending]], this depressing conclusion came out of nowhere.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The true ending of ''[[
* [[Drawn to Life]]: The Next Chapter for the DS. Basically, all of the adorable animal characters in the village are killed, G-Rated style (they fade away). One of the characters, named Mike, fades away last. The voice of Mike's sister Heather is heard asking the Creator, the god-like figure in the game to bring her brother back, which at first seems like a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]]. Then, her message changes and she was really trying to say, "God, just bring back my little brother to me." It is now revealed that Mike and Heather are actually humans, and the whole story with the village of cute animal things was all just a dream that Mike was having. It wasn't a regular dream either, It turns out that Mike and his family were in a ''car crash, which killed his parents, injured his sister, and put him in a coma.'' The only thing about the ending that could be considered "happy" is the fact that Mike wakes up, and even then, he and Heather are still orphans. ''Damn.''
* ''[[Harvest Moon:
* ''[[Bit
* ''[[The Adventures of Sam
* ''[[
** In the original ending, things were a bit less... subtle. {{spoiler|In the bar scene at the end, Conker was supposed to shoot himself in the head. The only reason this was changed was because the creators were planning on a sequel.}}
* [[
* This isn't the ending of ''[[
** However, since it only happens in the middle of the story, it's more the game's way of saying that [[Wham! Episode|it's done pretending it's lighthearted, and things are going to get serious from now on]].
* ''[http://doobl.comicgenesis.com/d/20060623.html Doobl]''. What appears to be a normal family-friendly
▲== Webcomics ==
* ''[[Concerned]], the Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman'', is mostly a gag strip that ends with... [[Exactly What It Says
▲* ''[http://doobl.comicgenesis.com/d/20060623.html Doobl]''. What appears to be a normal family-friendly webcomic for a fair number of strips, then has the protagonist go crazy and slaughter the cast before killing himself. Meanwhile, in the news posts, the author's mother dies. He spends the remaining posts increasingly lashing out against the world. It ends with a newspaper clipping covering the author's suicide. {{spoiler|It turned out to be a hoax.}}
* [[The Last Days of Foxhound]] has everyone [[Doomed
▲* ''[[Concerned]], the Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman'', is mostly a gag strip that ends with... [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|oh, guess]]. Of course, it's still ''funny'' while doing so.
▲* [[The Last Days of Foxhound]] has everyone [[Doomed By Canon]]. As such, the last chapter is just a montage of their bodies. It's emphasized by how sudden it is -- cutting straight from the "preparing for battle" montage to the death montage. At least the ghosts of the dead characters show up to joke about their ineptitude, providing a relieving comical note.
* ''It's All Been Done'' ended with the main character and his wacky group of talking toys about to have an adventure when {{spoiler|he realizes the entire thing was an attempt to avoid dealing with his wife's death.}}
== Web Original ==
* The original ''[[Jerry]]'' short.
** The final ''Jerry'' short was also quite dark compared to the others.
* [[
* The 100th episode of ''[[Weebl and Bob]]'' actually ends with {{spoiler|the death of Donkey, Chris the Ninja Pirate's wife.}}
** Inverted in the following episode, which revolves around Weebl, Bob, and Chris attending Donkey's funeral. [[The Fun in Funeral|Cue Mr. Teeth.]]
{{quote|
* [[
* The flash series "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
== Western Animation ==
* The finale of ''[[Codename
* ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'' - Lumpus was never really the scoutmaster, he was a ''literally insane'' man who had locked the real scoutmaster away, presumably for the duration of the entire show, to steal his life. He is sent to an asylum. This twist is so dark and downright shocking that the entire cast except Lazlo can do nothing but stand in silence for a moment. [[Word of God]] claims that Jane Doe busted him out afterward and married him but it's still a [[Shocking Swerve]].
* The [[Classic Disney Shorts]] "Chicken Little" plays like a normal Cat-and-Mouse cartoon... until the end, where despite the Narrator's assurance to the audience that everything turns out alright, Foxy Loxy catches and eats all the chickens, turkeys and ducks, smiling smugly all the while. "Hey, wait a minute!" the Narrator exclaims. "This isn't right! That's not the way it ends in my book!" Foxy, leaning against his "[[Mein Kampf
* ''[[The Snowman]]'', which remains upbeat [[Sweet Dreams Fuel]] until the final moments, which reveals first that the Snowman has melted and died, then that it definitely wasn't a dream. The main character breaks down and cries. Cue credits.
** [[An Aesop|Appreciate your happier moments while you can]] as [[Easy Come, Easy Go|they don't last forever.]] Presumably, [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|even kids have to learn that at some point.]]
** Actually ended up subverted in a rather off-hand way in a cartoon based loosely on another children's graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, which takes place in the same universe.
{{quote|
* The classic ''[[
{{quote|
* The infamous (within its fandom, at least) "Holly Jolly Secrets" [[Christmas Special]] of ''[[
* If any episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
[[Category:Writer Cop Out]]
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