Tropescilloscope: Darkest Hour

The point in the story when all hope seems lost. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Reasonable Authority Figure Drowning My Sorrows Adaptational Badass Artistic License – Military Ambiguous Disorder An Axe to Grind Butt-Monkey No Ending Fish out of Water Kick the Son of a Bitch Wham Shot Redemption Equals Death Authority Equals Asskicking Framing Device Bullying a Dragon Artistic License – Physics Broken Pedestal Broken Aesop Evil Counterpart Only a Flesh Wound Drugs Are Bad The Oner Dissonant Serenity The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Music Stories Japanese Films Evil Is Petty Married to the Job Crazy-Prepared Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Small Name, Big Ego Vitriolic Best Buds Eiffel Tower Effect Bond Villain Stupidity Flashback The Load Sports Stories Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Rich Bitch Undying Loyalty Due to the Dead Impaled with Extreme Prejudice German Films O.O.C. Is Serious Business Cat Scare Logo Joke Rule of Cool Death by Sex Older Than They Look Television Movie Index Documentary Pay Evil unto Evil Mooks Karmic Death A Father to His Men Failed a Spot Check The Mafia Mercy Kill Sexy Discretion Shot He Who Fights Monsters Spanner in the Works Anachronic Order Body Horror Mugging the Monster Abhorrent Admirer Immune to Bullets Death by Irony Thriller Interrupted Suicide Early-Bird Cameo One-Word Title Italian Films The '80s Genre Savvy Eldritch Abomination Award-Bait Song Actor Allusion Make It Look Like an Accident The Ditz Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Decoy Protagonist '80s Hair Artistic License – Biology Christmas Movies Index Jerkass Has a Point Evil-Detecting Dog Almost Kiss Amusing Injuries Adaptation Distillation Ghost Fiction Red Right Hand Would Hurt a Child Freudian Excuse Ax-Crazy Parental Abandonment Didn't Think This Through Foil Line-of-Sight Name Dying Moment of Awesome Brutal Honesty Destination Defenestration World of Ham "Awesome McCool" Name Lighter and Softer Not Even Bothering with the Accent Our Zombies Are Different Genre Shift Spared by the Adaptation Big-Bad Ensemble Face–Heel Turn Big Brother Instinct Those Two Guys Action Girl Composite Character Cain and Abel Adaptational Heroism Alas, Poor Villain Black Best Friend Facial Horror Random Events Plot The Reveal Stylistic Suck Beta Couple Market-Based Title Too Dumb to Live Expy As Long as It Sounds Foreign Manipulative Bastard Horror Comedy Meet Cute Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Captain Obvious Bait-and-Switch Playing Gertrude Pet the Dog No-Sell Meaningful Background Event Crazy Jealous Guy Intrepid Reporter Arranged Marriage Big Fancy House Chewing the Scenery Evil Brit Only Known by Their Nickname The Big Guy Belligerent Sexual Tension folderlabel Disproportionate Retribution Papa Wolf It's All About Me Antagonist Title Broken Bird I Have Your Wife Smug Snake The Voiceless Cool Guns Madness Mantra It's Personal Product Placement Rape as Drama Soft Glass Even Evil Has Standards May–December Romance Sir Swears-a-Lot Amoral Attorney The Un-Reveal Mystery and Detective Films Parental Substitute Curb-Stomp Battle Not So Stoic Mythology Gag A.I. Is a Crapshoot Enemy Mine Bunny-Ears Lawyer Villain Protagonist Mind Screw Establishing Character Moment From Bad to Worse Cold-Blooded Torture Improvised Weapon Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Deliberately Monochrome Continuity Nod Shirtless Scene Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Vacation Films Villain Ball Bring My Brown Pants Mama Bear Knife Nut Meaningful Name Calling the Old Man Out Take a Third Option No OSHA Compliance What the Hell, Hero? Berserk Button Anguished Declaration of Love Air-Vent Passageway Suspiciously Specific Denial The Ghost Empathic Environment Creator Cameo Double Entendre Alpha Bitch Catch-Phrase Stealth Pun Parental Neglect Noodle Incident A Minor Kidroduction Hair-Trigger Temper Retirony Stealth Hi/Bye Offscreen Moment of Awesome Fainting Say My Name Accidental Murder Credits Gag Cat Fight Stepford Smiler Babies Ever After Cassandra Truth Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold The End... Or Is It? Dressing as the Enemy Only One Name The Smart Guy Improbable Weapon User One-Man Army Not Using the "Z" Word Bolivian Army Ending The Dog Bites Back Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Shown Their Work Skewed Priorities The '60s Getting Crap Past the Radar Not So Different No Antagonist Red Shirt Death Seeker Overly Long Gag Last-Name Basis Gold Digger All Just a Dream Hypocritical Humor Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Politically Incorrect Villain I Did What I Had to Do Match Cut Offscreen Teleportation Funny Foreigner Room Full of Crazy The Dreaded Throwing Your Sword Always Works Catapult Nightmare The Starscream Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Mr. Fanservice Animal Title Index Celebrity Paradox Red Oni, Blue Oni Closed Circle Brother–Sister Incest Male Gaze Action Survivor BFG Those Two Bad Guys Auto Erotica Recycled IN SPACE! Beauty Is Never Tarnished Kill 'em All Obstructive Bureaucrat Never Trust a Trailer B-Movie She Cleans Up Nicely Artistic License – Law She's Got Legs Peek-a-Boo Corpse Famous Last Words Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Badass Normal Real Life Author Avatar Freeze-Frame Bonus The Place The Mole Sanity Slippage Animal Motifs It Will Never Catch On Have a Gay Old Time Downer Ending Shell-Shocked Veteran Worthy Opponent Needs Wiki Magic Love Advertised Extra Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Beware the Nice Ones Exact Words Men Are the Expendable Gender Fourth Date Marriage Dark Action Girl I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Kill It with Fire NO INDOOR VOICE Dies Wide Open Plot Hole Overprotective Dad You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Adapted Out Four-Temperament Ensemble Love at First Sight Friend to All Children Bald of Evil Informed Ability Even Evil Has Loved Ones Dramatic Gun Cock As You Know Gratuitous English "Well Done, Son!" Guy Non-Indicative Name The Stoic A God Am I Race Against the Clock Insult Backfire Knight Templar Big Bad Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Sadistic Choice Despair Event Horizon Hate Sink Chekhov's Skill Damsel in Distress Killed Mid-Sentence Chase Scene French Films Here We Go Again! Mighty Whitey Agony of the Feet Red Herring Unusual Euphemism Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Film of the Book Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Homage Breaking the Fourth Wall Tap on the Head Storming the Castle Australian Movies Disguised in Drag Demonic Possession Protagonist Title Fun with Acronyms Self-Deprecation The Brute Suddenly SHOUTING! Pretty Little Headshots La Résistance Vomit Indiscretion Shot Twist Ending Adult Fear Those Wacky Nazis Film Series Names to Run Away from Really Fast Jump Scare Wretched Hive Large Ham Contrived Coincidence I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Adaptational Attractiveness Shut Up, Hannibal! Revenge Heroic BSoD Dropped a Bridge on Him Heroes Want Redheads Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Dull Surprise Hypocrite The Ace Spiteful Spit Stalker with a Crush Five-Man Band Stuff Blowing Up Mr. Exposition Properly Paranoid British Films Combat Pragmatist The Chick Blood Knight Taking the Bullet Bi the Way Anti-Hero He Knows Too Much War Is Hell Badass Bookworm Not Quite Dead Blackmail Action Prologue Posthumous Character Ominous Latin Chanting Film Noir Index Woman Scorned An Aesop Unusually Uninteresting Sight Bar Brawl Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Index of Film Westerns Betty and Veronica Covers Always Lie Comically Missing the Point Department of Redundancy Department Retcon One Steve Limit Country Matters Love Triangle Martial Arts Movie You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Ass Shove In Name Only Badass Boast Death by Adaptation Kick the Dog Alliterative Name Important Haircut Off with His Head! Anti-Villain Gilligan Cut Easily Forgiven Fire-Forged Friends Cool Car The Vamp Awesome, but Impractical Blatant Lies Genre Throwback Leitmotif Really Gets Around Cool Old Guy Femme Fatale Visual Pun Abusive Parents Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Slasher Movie Roaring Rampage of Revenge Fate Worse than Death Captain Ersatz Not What It Looks Like Hong Kong Films Heel Realization Slasher Smile Curse Cut Short Character Development Ironic Echo As the Good Book Says... Vampire Fiction Early Installment Weirdness Neck Snap Not So Above It All Half the Man He Used to Be Deadpan Snarker Badass Longcoat Lock and Load Montage Fiery Redhead Gender Flip Mad Scientist Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Meaningful Echo Costume Porn Extreme Doormat Adorkable Bad Boss Trailers Always Spoil The Alcoholic Wounded Gazelle Gambit All for Nothing Back from the Dead Daddy's Girl Double-Meaning Title Video Credits Manly Tears Earn Your Happy Ending Lampshade Hanging Same Language Dub Moment Killer Aluminum Christmas Trees Hidden Depths Bilingual Bonus Reckless Gun Usage Malevolent Masked Men Wrong Genre Savvy Pretty in Mink What Happened to the Mouse? Setting Update Green-Eyed Monster Reality Has No Subtitles Bare Your Midriff I'm a Humanitarian Paper-Thin Disguise Horror Films Foregone Conclusion Call-Forward All Men Are Perverts Everyone Has Standards Eagleland Sci-Fi Horror Eureka Moment Superhero Age Lift Adaptation Dye-Job Loophole Abuse Red Eyes, Take Warning Scenery Gorn Henpecked Husband Coming-of-Age Story Actually Pretty Funny My Greatest Failure Beard of Evil The Lost Lenore Take That! Flipping the Bird Well-Intentioned Extremist Death of a Child Conspicuous CG Defrosting Ice Queen Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Rousing Speech Slap-Slap-Kiss Major Injury Underreaction Psycho for Hire Re-Cut The Cavalry Once More, with Clarity! Villain Song Scary Black Man Adaptational Villainy Training Montage Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Our Vampires Are Different Dirty Cop The Smurfette Principle Missing Mom Manchild Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Car Fu No Celebrities Were Harmed Obfuscating Stupidity Casting Gag Chekhov's Gun Shout-Out Cloudcuckoolander Dirty Old Man Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism After the End Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Stock Footage Dark and Troubled Past Camera Abuse "The Reason You Suck" Speech Drill Sergeant Nasty Badass in a Nice Suit Dual Wielding The Bad Guy Wins Made of Iron Faux Affably Evil The X of Y Ambiguously Gay Man on Fire Fanservice Extra Toplessness from the Back Kubrick Stare Disappeared Dad The Chessmaster Works Set in World War II Darkest Hour Shipper on Deck Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Neck Lift Never Found the Body Heroic Sacrifice All There in the Script The Stoner "Shaggy Dog" Story Fantasy Films Bloody Hilarious Leaning on the Fourth Wall Silence Is Golden Aside Glance Science Fiction Films All There in the Manual Bland-Name Product Serious Business Rated M for Manly Took a Level in Jerkass This Is Gonna Suck MacGuffin Cool Old Lady Mistaken for Gay Villain Opening Scene Gainax Ending Refuge in Audacity Novelization The Remake All Girls Want Bad Boys Bury Your Gays Fan Disservice Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Laser-Guided Karma Romantic Comedy Unresolved Sexual Tension Historical-Domain Character A Date with Rosie Palms Would Hit a Girl Affectionate Parody True Companions Irony The Musical Naked People Are Funny Get Out! The Atoner Only Sane Man Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Armor-Piercing Question Historical In-Joke Ripped from the Headlines Evil vs. Evil Dirty Coward Deus ex Machina Determinator Boom, Headshot! Redshirt Army Yandere As Himself Woman in White Hoist by His Own Petard Psychological Thriller The Alleged Car Male Frontal Nudity Crapsack World Big Damn Heroes Film Noir It Can Think Scenery Porn Dwindling Party Straight Gay Let's Get Dangerous! The Stinger Rule of Funny Dramedy Tagline Dramatic Irony Developing Doomed Characters Russian Films The '50s Becoming the Mask Drives Like Crazy Camp Gay Bittersweet Ending Time Skip Artistic License – Geography Heel–Face Turn Loads and Loads of Characters The Sociopath Dogged Nice Guy Riddle for the Ages Diabolus ex Machina Together in Death Deliberate Values Dissonance And I Must Scream No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Funny Background Event Police Brutality Expository Hairstyle Change Psychopathic Manchild Anachronism Stew Intergenerational Friendship Off-into-the-Distance Ending Brainless Beauty Distracted by the Sexy Took a Level in Badass Reality Ensues Evil Is Hammy Serial Killer Rasputinian Death Only in It for the Money Face Death with Dignity Deal with the Devil Epic Fail Improbable Aiming Skills Fatal Flaw Did Not Get the Girl N-Word Privileges Villainous Breakdown Canadian Movies Demoted to Extra The Bully Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Biopic Wham Line Mood Whiplash The Faceless Oh, Crap! Karma Houdini Corpsing Creative Closing Credits Star-Crossed Lovers The Hero The Casanova Be Careful What You Wish For Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Cluster F-Bomb Slashed Throat Ship Tease Bound and Gagged For Want of a Nail Translation Convention Fat Bastard How We Got Here Dutch Angle Your Head A-Splode Disney Villain Death Grievous Bottley Harm Bottomless Magazines Pimped-Out Dress Frame-Up Call-Back Instant Death Bullet Historical Villain Upgrade Accidental Misnaming Every Car Is a Pinto Artistic License – Gun Safety Hero of Another Story Fake Shemp Victoria's Secret Compartment Sacrificial Lion Bavarian Fire Drill Fantastic Racism Ungrateful Bastard Title Drop Punctuated! For! Emphasis! An Arm and a Leg Foreshadowing Insane Troll Logic Deconstruction Punny Name Rewatch Bonus Idiot Ball Attempted Rape Guns Akimbo Taking You with Me 20 Minutes into the Future No Name Given Real Life Writes the Plot Artistic License – History Shoot the Shaggy Dog Grey and Gray Morality Break the Cutie Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Affably Evil And the Adventure Continues Hollywood Darkness Humans Are Bastards Punch-Clock Villain Made of Explodium Whole Plot Reference Spell My Name with an "S" Hell Is That Noise Tempting Fate Running Gag Exactly What It Says on the Tin Does This Remind You of Anything? Creepy Child Pragmatic Villainy Totally Radical Danny Peary Cult Movies List Put on a Bus Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Kids Are Cruel Dark Is Not Evil Does Not Like Shoes Domestic Abuse Big Eater Nothing Is Scarier Handicapped Badass Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Gone Horribly Right Shower Scene Reality Is Unrealistic Hollywood Law Rule of Three Chiaroscuro Extremely Short Timespan Heterosexual Life-Partners Silent Movie Disney Death Hero Antagonist Parental Incest Bloodier and Gorier Romantic False Lead Zombie Stories Book-Ends Batman Gambit Adaptation Name Change The Lancer Fingore Suspiciously Similar Substitute Public Domain Feature Films I Need a Freaking Drink Outrun the Fireball Precision F-Strike The Hero Dies Narrator Pre-Mortem One-Liner Soundtrack Dissonance Evil Laugh Chekhov's Gunman Up to Eleven Manic Pixie Dream Girl Left the Background Music On Evil Sounds Deep Determinator aka: The Determinator Scare Chord My God, What Have I Done? You Killed My Father Break the Haughty The Great Depression Villain with Good Publicity Maybe Ever After Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Unwitting Instigator of Doom Sassy Black Woman Anyone Can Die In Medias Res Pragmatic Adaptation No-Holds-Barred Beatdown From Nobody to Nightmare timeperiod Monumental Damage Sealed Evil in a Can Good Is Not Nice "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Rule of Symbolism Bowdlerise Mundane Made Awesome Better to Die than Be Killed Jitter Cam Naïve Newcomer Fanservice Brick Joke Groin Attack Smoking Is Cool Your Cheating Heart Nice Guy Motor Mouth Poor Communication Kills Plucky Comic Relief Bloodless Carnage Crucified Hero Shot Bond One-Liner My Beloved Smother Asshole Victim Sole Survivor Defiant to the End Big "NO!" Truth in Television Big Bad Duumvirate Death Glare Final Girl Central Theme For the Evulz The '70s Laughing Mad Ms. Fanservice Arc Words Unspoken Plan Guarantee Badass Grandpa Adaptation Expansion Race Lift Insistent Terminology Cool Shades The Quiet One Sequel Escalation Pyrrhic Victory Nice Hat Mexican Standoff Gory Discretion Shot Leave the Camera Running Driven to Suicide Military and Warfare Films Black Dude Dies First Jerk Jock Jerk with a Heart of Gold There Is No Kill Like Overkill Epic Movie Super Strength Word of God Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil The '90s Children Are Innocent Faking the Dead Police are Useless More Dakka Depraved Bisexual In the Back Arch-Enemy Sequel Hook Action Genre Tranquil Fury Never My Fault Fatal Family Photo Cowboy Cop Daylight Horror Ambiguous Ending Hooker with a Heart of Gold Light Is Not Good What You Are in the Dark Implacable Man Annoying Younger Sibling Black Comedy Rape The Power of Love Cruel and Unusual Death Guile Hero Big Applesauce Hope Spot Canon Foreigner Ascended Extra Vomit Discretion Shot Author Appeal Humiliation Conga Obviously Evil Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Spiritual Successor Based on a True Story Dark Reprise Retired Badass Apocalypse How Card-Carrying Villain Token Minority Blood from the Mouth You Have Failed Me Black and Gray Morality Honor Before Reason The Cameo Historical Hero Upgrade And Starring Imagine Spot Dumb Blonde Animated Credits Opening Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Adults Are Useless Unreliable Narrator Eye Scream Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Darker and Edgier Happily Married Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Evil Plan Wicked Cultured Morality Pet Show Within a Show Eyepatch of Power Sinister Minister Greater-Scope Villain The Dragon Gorn Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Jerkass Corrupt Corporate Executive Bad "Bad Acting" Black Comedy