Tropescilloscope: Darkest Hour

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

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