Tropescilloscope: Downer Ending

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

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