Tropescilloscope: Downer Ending

Ending a story on a sad or depressing note. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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