Tropescilloscope: Downer Ending

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

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