Tropescilloscope: Downer Ending

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

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