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World-Wrecking Wave: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
▲[[File:GreatFall_2298.png|link=MS Saga a New Dawn (Video Game)|right|Pretty sure the insurance company won't cover that, they were in the blast radius.]]
Natural disasters are scary enough, but what about ''super''natural disasters? One way to kick-start a story or motivate characters to pick up [[The Call]] is to threaten the setting with a '''World-Wrecking Wave'''. The Wave can have any of a number of triggers; it may happen when the [[Sealed Evil in
Once the wave stops rippling, the heroes will be faced with a world gone topsy-turvy. The effects can range from a [[
▲Natural disasters are scary enough, but what about ''super''natural disasters? One way to kick-start a story or motivate characters to pick up [[The Call]] is to threaten the setting with a World-Wrecking Wave. The Wave can have any of a number of triggers; it may happen when the [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] is released, some [[God of Evil|overwhelming evil force]] unleashes a powerful [[Curse]], the [[Cosmic Keystone]] is stolen or corrupted, or a scientific/technological device meant to better things [[Goes Horribly Wrong]]. The wave can have any or all of the following effects: natural disasters will be triggered, [[Mutants|mutations]] will affect animal, plant, and even human life, areas will enter the [[Dark World]] or become haunted and toxic, and millions of [[Mooks]] will roam the land and [[Everything Trying to Kill You|attack all humans]].
On the plus side, heroes can often [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]], by a piecemeal process involving healing the land one acre at a time, or all at once by healing the [[Fisher King]], going back in time to prevent the event, or using an opposing [[World-Healing Wave]]. Also, a World-Wrecking Wave may end up helping the heroes by serving as a [[Mass Super
▲Once the wave stops rippling, the heroes will be faced with a world gone topsy-turvy. The effects can range from a [[Cosy Catastrophe]] to [[After the End]], and affect anywhere from a town to a universe. It's worth noting that the World-Wrecking Wave '''won't''' [[Endofthe World As We Know It|destroy the whole world]] nor kill all humans, though it probably represents a big step towards [[Apocalypse How|some form of apocalypse]] or [[Villain World]]. The Wave is merely an event that whacks the entire setting closer to [[Crapsack World]] (or ''further down'' the same). Narratively, it isn't supposed to destroy the world either, it's an amped up [[Story Boarding the Apocalypse|way to show]] heroes that things can get much, '''much''' worse if [[Evil Only Has to Win Once|the bad guys get their way]].
▲On the plus side, heroes can often [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]], by a piecemeal process involving healing the land one acre at a time, or all at once by healing the [[Fisher King]], going back in time to prevent the event, or using an opposing [[World-Healing Wave]]. Also, a World-Wrecking Wave may end up helping the heroes by serving as a [[Mass Super Empowering Event]]... though some of those may be [[Lovecraftian Superpower|Lovecraftian Superpowers]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* One of these gets unleashed upon the ''[[Berserk]]'' universe when {{spoiler|Griffith uses the Skull Knight's dimension-warping attack to fuse the planes of existence together}}.
* Third Impact in ''[[End of Evangelion]]'' manifests using this trope. Wherever the wave passes, the oceans turn red, all people explode into LCL while their souls fly off into low orbit and the ground spontaneously sprouts billions of [[Creepy Cool Crosses]] with the entire scene overlaid by '''humanity's collective [[Death Cry Echo]]'''. It's utterly [[Apocalypse Wow|awesome]] and horrifying at the same time.
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s World-Wrecking Wave is [[Eldritch Abomination|The Kishin]] and his madness spreading through the world. His release divides the story between a previous and an after, and set up a world slowly being corrupted with the heroes desperate to find him and stop him before it's too late.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In the [[DCU]], the God-Wave created the gods out of a lifeless universe, and [[Meta Origin|its echoes]] created [[
* ''[[North Forty]]'' has a localized World-Wrecking Wave on the town. However, this was only because one of the two (accidental) instigators of the event focused on containing the negative effects with a barrier so they wouldn't be able to leave.
* The Ultimatum Wave, in the [[Ultimate Marvel]] [[Crisis Crossover]], ''[[Ultimatum]].'' (Guess what their favorite word is?) It was [[Giant Wall of Watery Doom|an actual wave]] and it ended with half the [[Ultimate Marvel]] cast dead.
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* The Firebird from ''[[Fantasia]] 2000''.
* Disney's ''Mickey and the Beanstalk''. After the golden harp is stolen, Happy Valley quickly turns into Grimy Gulch. Problems include drought and starvation.
* ''[[Sgt.
== [[Literature]] ==
* The world of the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series by [[Mercedes Lackey]] is defined in large part by an ancient event known as the Cataclysm, which was a humongous magical detonation that devastated vast portions of the landscape and left magical ruin behind. It took the form of a sequence of waves radiating around the planet, and was so powerful that it bent time itself, returning three thousand years later.
* In the [[Backstory]] of the first ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'', High Lord Kevin Landwaster enacts the "Ritual of Desecration", releasing one of these in a [[Despair Event Horizon|desperate attempt]] to defeat [[Big Bad|Lord Foul.]] His success is only temporary while seriously [[
* The Darke Domaine in ''[[
* In the ''[[Dark Tower]]'' novel ''[[Wolves Of The Calla]]'', Roland and the crew experience a "Beamquake" as one of the Beams holding up the dark tower gives way. Roland says, the land was destroyed for thousands of miles near where the beam snapped.
== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==
* ''Dark Conspiracy''. The release of extradimensional evil on of Jupiter's moons leads to an invasion of modern day Earth, resulting in the creation of areas called Demongrounds.
* ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' had six such events, called Maelstroms, ruin the Shadowlands. They were triggered by huge disasters or wars in the world of the living that caused huge numbers of ghosts to be thrust into the world of the dead at once. The sixth, final, and most destructive of them was quite different: a series of events triggered a [[Nuke
* ''[[
* Several of these happened in the backstory of ''[[Exalted]]''. Two notable events include the imprisonment of She Who Lives In Her Name, who decided to erase two-thirds of the things in Creation from existence [[If I Can't Have You|out of jealousy]], and the Balorian Crusade, when [[The Fair Folk]] harrowed the borders of Creation and drew vast chunks of the border back into [[Reality Is Out to Lunch|the Wyld]].
* ''[[Rifts]]'': The Great Cataclysm. A nuclear war, during [[When the Planets Align|a planetary alignment]], on the Winter Solstice, equaled a massive burst of magical energy akin to millions of human sacrifices. Every [[Ley Line]] activated at once, creating a catastrophic surge of natural disasters... which meant more people died, which meant ''more'' power flooded into the ley lines, which meant ''more'' disasters. In the end, humanity was left standing in the ruins of civilization, with aliens, other-dimensional beings, and demons all dragged onto Earth by the newly-opened portals, wondering what the hell just happened.
* 4th Edition [[Dungeons
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* ''[[Guild Wars]]'' Nightfall's actual nightfall events work like this, with demons being released in the world, and some areas becoming like the realm of torment.
* The different armageddon events if ''[[Fall From Heaven]]'s'' Armageddon counter rises, though spread out more over time.
* This is what happens in ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' when Shao Kahn takes control of a realm. In ''[[
* In ''[[Okami]]'', removing the sword sealing Orochi causes all of Nippon<ref>"Nippon" is "Japan" in Japanese</ref> to sink into darkness. Large swatches are filled with toxic smog that petrifies humans, plants and animals all over die, buildings are destroyed, and demons roam freely. Thankfully, Amaterasu's first celestial brush techniques, Bloom and Mend, allow you to repair a lot of this damage.
* Guess what the ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' expansion ''[[Exactly What It Says
* The plasma wall that surrounds the otherdimensional Schwarzwelt in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei
* The [[Science Is Bad|Scientist's]] special ability in ''[[Spore]]'' is the Gravity Wave, which instantly wipes out all life on a planet. Like the more dramatic [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Planet Buster]], using it will instantly be a mark against you in the eyes of any nearby space empires.
* [[Eldritch Abomination|The Destroyer]] from ''[[The Legend of Spyro Trilogy]]'' will let loose one of these in the advent it finishes it's treck around the world, destroying it in a wave of fire and ash. {{spoiler|Spyro reverses this by emitting a [[World
* The heroes of ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'' [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|accidentally unleash one of these after killing the final boss of the first game]] and the plot of ''Alpha Gaiden'' revolves around them trying to stop it from hitting Earth and getting trapped in a post-apocalyptic future where they apparently failed.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Bionicle]]'': the Great Catacylsm.
* ''[[
* The arrival of [[God of Evil|Trigon]] in ''[[Teen Titans (
* ''[[The Fairly
* Invoked by Jackal/Anubis in the ''[[
* Mainframe Entertainment was fond of the concept, using it in both ''[[
* In the second-to-last episode of ''[[Ben 10
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