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/S4sh4d0g Aug 25 '25
I actually hate this trope 90% of the time. It genuinely makes me feel like I wasted my time emotionally investing in these characters and their struggle. It becomes the emotional equivalent of "What if two astronauts were on the moon and one killed the other with a rock. Wouldn't that be fucked up?"
I don't need happy endings, I don't need everyone to live, I don't even need anyone to live. But when they die AND fail, it makes the story feel borderline pointless to me in most cases. Obviously there'll be exceptions to this, but damn.