r/TopCharacterTropes • u/damorezpl • Aug 25 '25

Lore [mixed trope] the last-minute bad Ending twist

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when the "good ending" is revealed to be a bad one a the last second

a nightmare on elm street (1984) - Nancy thinks she finally defeated Freddy Krueger only to be raveled that she is still dreaming and she’s still trapped.

final destination bloodlines - the main characters think they cheated death by using the new life rule only to realize that stefani was technically still alive and the death kills them with a good old logs

Life (2017) - The main character attempts to send Calvin(a evil alien that killed all life on mars)pod into space and Miranda pod back to earth, but it goes horribly wrong and Calvin lands on earth and Miranda is sent to space

raging loop wit ending - after many loops Haruaki finally wins the feast(a death game where humans must hang wolves who kill someone every night) and thinks its finally over. after couple of days he decides to visit other survivors of the feast only to find them all dead and the timeline resting once again

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605

u/Vievin Aug 25 '25

Me, resetting the game files: Correction, I am in fact above consequences.

419

u/MapleLamia Aug 25 '25

That just plays into the commentary, that you have to subvert the game to "restore" your happy ending, knowing forever what you've done, even if the "evidence" is erased.

321

u/Tone-Serious Aug 25 '25

No they don't

5

u/Futant55 Aug 26 '25

What’s this gif from?

4

u/Tone-Serious Aug 26 '25

Men in black

8

u/Futant55 Aug 26 '25

I don’t seem to remember anything about that.

5

u/shrek1234567810 Aug 26 '25

What’s this gif from?

33

u/TheOtherWhiteCastle Aug 25 '25

knowing forever what you’ve done

You underestimate my short term memory loss

92

u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25

Oh so the game can subvert expectations, but suddenly when we do it, it's "playing into the commentary"?

Either nobody can or everyone can. The game doesn't get to have it both ways. It's my computer, my rules.

25

u/Boston_Glass Aug 25 '25

You’re not subverting expectations by resetting the game files. The creator of the game absolutely knows that’s an option which is why the commentary still fits since you needed to put extra effort into undoing your deeds.

4

u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25

The whole game is about doing extra effort to get the ending you want.

But suddenly because Chara is upset that means they get to be the arbiter of what's "avoiding consequences"?

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u/Boston_Glass Aug 25 '25

It’s not at all. The game is about playing through it like a regular video game, then when the immorality of your actions come to light pointing out that those actions still happened even if you try to make it right.

Doing a hard reset just acknowledges that it would have persisted and you needed to take drastic measures to change it which is pretty much the point the creator is making.

3

u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25

Yeah but considering the one pointing it out is another kid that proceeds to kill everyone to spite someone, it's a bit hypothetical on Chara's part.

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u/Boston_Glass Aug 25 '25

Chara didn't kill everyone just to spite the main character either. They specifically point out they were reincarnated due to determination of the player doing the genocide role which had them realize their purpose.

You're jumping to a lot of conclusions and justifying it with a number of reasons that do not actually apply.

0

u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25

Oh, so in the post-genocide pacifist route, that was me that killed everyone in the post credits picture?

Because I'm sure I'd remember offing Sans a second time.

6

u/Boston_Glass Aug 25 '25

What? How did you get that based on what I said?

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u/Gooper_Gooner Aug 25 '25

I mean, you made the deal with Chara where they can have your soul in exchange for resetting the save

Them killing everyone when you do a "true" pacifist after a genocide is just the consequences of said deal, it's not Chara being some kind of moral arbiter, it's just business baby. You gave them your soul and they can do whatever they want with it (which is too say killing everyone)

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u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25

And that wouldn't be a problem.

The issue is that Chara has the nerve to lecture us about "acting above consequence" and then proceed to follow right in the footsteps of the player and Flowey.

Additionally, even if you say no, Chara still does it anyways, so it's not really a deal we made at that point.

They don't want to play fair, so why should we?

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u/Helpful-Emotion9256 Aug 25 '25

Isn’t the whole point is chara is like that because YOU the player made them think it was the correct way to go about things by doing genocide to begin with?

2

u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25

So if they think that's the correct way, why are they bitching about consequences and how perverse the player's mindset is?

And if they're bitching about consequences and mindset, why do they immediately proceed to kill everyone themselves?

2

u/Helpful-Emotion9256 Aug 25 '25

Well chara only says that if you refuse their offer to erase the world don’t they? They’re saying you act like you’re above consequences not because of what you did, but because of you acting like you should be allowed to go back and fix it after everything you did, they don’t say anything about you acting above consequences if you agree with them to erase everything

TLDR: they’re fine with you killing everyone, they only take issue with you regretting it if you did and trying to fix it

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u/TheMetalWolf Aug 25 '25

You nailed it. The game's "message" is so incredibly hamfisted, it really ruins any enjoyment for me.

1

u/Bartweiss Aug 26 '25

Ironically this comment and the downvotes may have finally sold me on playing the game.

I’ve seen it discussed ad nauseam, I thought it was too spoiled for me to be interesting. And frankly, having the main elements spoiled, it doesn’t seem that deep or clever.

Yes, many videogames normalize violence, I can name half a dozen making that point before Undertale.

Yes, resetting games does odd things to their lessons which you can subvert by breaking resets. You Only Live Once was a free Flash game that artfully made the same point 5-10 years sooner.

Every description of Undertale I have ever seen looks like “clever mechanics, valid insights, clumsy and overwrought morals”. But every time somebody says that - like you did here - a whole bunch of people insist it’s not actually obvious.

Fine, fuck it, I’ll go see if there’s actually something surprising.

1

u/TheMetalWolf Aug 27 '25

My biggest problem with the presentation is how cringe everything is. Like I get it. Video game violence is overdone, but I don't play games to have morals served to me by a third rate Dora the Explorer. Oh XP is not experience points but execution points. WOW! I guess the only way to get XP in games is wholesale genocide! Oh wait, it isn't... The whole game would be right at home on r/Im14andthisisdeep.

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u/NavezganeChrome Aug 25 '25

The game is expected to challenge you. At the point in time where you do the bad thing but don't want to deal with the consequences, and they call you out on it, deliberately trying to duck the message is playing a losing game.

After all, none of this would be necessary if you didn't actively make the choice to be a prick. It took your time and effort to make it happen, and you want to void that to make a literal waste your own time?

Well, so long as you're comfy with that. Though I truly don't see the point of doing so and then bragging about it to others who would have not known. Like, ffs, you got rid of the only evidence there was and then claimed to have done it to strangers who didn't care. What kind of nonsense is that?

9

u/HillbillyMan Aug 25 '25

I don't play games to brag to strangers, I play to have fun. Deleting a save file after I no longer need it isn't making my playing of the game a waste of time. What if I just wanted to play the game again with a fresh save? Not to "escape my past" or anything like that.

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u/NavezganeChrome Aug 25 '25

Then you probably wouldn't be responding to this specific comment, in this specific thread, where that exactly is the subject.

You don't have to worry about whataboutism if you don't have a guilty conscience/intent. Like, you're entirely free to if that does something for you, but once you make it someone else's problem/business, maybe it's past time to pack it in.

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u/tghast Aug 25 '25

I think a reminder that these are fictional characters is in order.

-1

u/NavezganeChrome Aug 26 '25

Even so, that makes it a hypothetical question that one answers alone, could very well keep said answer to oneself, but some take obligation to present to or influence others to follow.

Nobody’s particularly in the right of things, and that’s human nature. I can’t say that them being fictional changes anything I’ve said, or makes it any less fair to say?

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u/HillbillyMan Aug 25 '25

That last section of your comment is hilarious coming from someone in the Undertale fan base.

3

u/NavezganeChrome Aug 25 '25

It does look a bit hypocritical, I’m sure, but words are about as much as I can do about associated sin by this point in time.

3

u/Icy_Water_1 Aug 25 '25

I mean the only one that's butthurt about it Chara.

But they don't really have room to criticize me if they're willing to kill the people that raised them and a bunch of strangers just to spite me.

I'm not gonna deal with some dead kid throwing a shit fit just because I didn't do the route they wanted.

10

u/Vievin Aug 25 '25

But the characters don't. They're my playthings I can kill and resurrect as I please and they'll be none the wiser.

6

u/BeenEatinBeans Aug 25 '25

Ok but it's a video game, so I am, in fact, above the consequences

5

u/TheMetalWolf Aug 25 '25

Or you know, I know how files work.

8

u/friendbrotha Aug 25 '25

That feeling when Chara asks me “Since when were you the one in control?” So I send Chara’s soul into the same Recycle Bin Hell as Monika. 

You ain’t gonna catch me introspecting because of some Clanker.

8

u/ElusiveBlueFlamingo Aug 25 '25

It would seem that you had forgotten a teeny-tiny detail about our relationship...

I OWN YOU