Tropescilloscope: Downer Ending

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

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