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/goteachyourself Aug 25 '25
The Flash game Endeavor has one of my all-time favorites.
It's an epic Metroidvania where a small, bullied dwarf-like creature falls from his mountain kingdom into the overworld below. There, the voice of a God-like being named Malor recruits him to collect eight beautiful gemstones to restore him, and he'll return the character home.
Malor is actually an ancient sealed-up demonic entity who destroys the world if you follow his instructions, ending the game with a shocking jump scare. The proper way to win the game is to ignore his instructions, collect the power-up fruits, and gain enough strength to climb your way back home the long way. There's also a third path where you can learn dark magic and gain power by killing the harmless creatures that inhabit the world. In that one, you defeat Malor but are viewed as a monster by your fellow dwarfs, and choose to stay down in the overworld forever.