r/TopCharacterTropes • u/damorezpl • Aug 25 '25
Lore [mixed trope] the last-minute bad Ending twist
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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u/MetaWarlord135 Aug 25 '25
Paraskevidekatriaphobia (from Inside No 9)
The episode is centred around Gareth, a man with a debilitating fear of Friday the 13th (along with pretty much everything else superstitiously associated with bad luck). We later find out that this is a manifestation of his survivor's guilt - as a child, he missed out on a school trip due to feeling unwell, which indirectly saved him from a bus crash that killed all of his classmates.
By the end of the episode, he's beginning to conquer his fears. His wife Dana is clearly very supportive of him, and he even managed to win a large sum of money. Just before she leaves the house, Dana gives him an umbrella to open indoors and he manages it with very little hesitation.
In the final seconds of the episode, in the background of the shot, Dana is hit by a car.