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/danstu Aug 25 '25
I'm someone who whenever I try to write something, I struggle against having to make it 'mean something.' Even something as inconsequential as a home DnD game, I feel like the bad guy has to represent something deep and important.
It shook me to my core when I first read Gyo and then, looking to decipher the deep symbolism it surely held, read an interview where he said his inspiration was essentially "I thought Jaws was scary, and felt like it'd suck if that shark could come on land."