This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Velvet Assassin added, see for yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9KR6LaEbGw
WVI: Holy shit, guys, what the hell happened to spoiler tags?
Eakin: Ending tropes usually don't get spoiler tags since every entry is a spoiler by definition. However the should be a warning at the top of the page about this
Tribe Fan 695: Is the ending to The Empire Strikes Back really a downer? Maybe if Luke had lost his hand for good and they ended the movie before Lando and Chewie went off to save Han. But I always thought it had an aura of hope to it.
Fallingwater: I didn't know there was an other other ending to The Butterfly Effect where everything went well in the end. To whoever wrote that, you've made my life better. Thanks. *cries of happiness* (oh, also editing the final fantasy spirits within entry; Ari is still alive - her love interest dies.
Added an example of the web comic "Concerned", which was a downer ending, even though it was obvious that it would eventually happen based on the title. If anyone want to add links and stuff like that to it, feel free to go ahead and do so.
Ununnilium: I'm sorry, but I thought the first Cowboy Bebop example was more satisfying without being overly long.
Umm... I edited the Cowboy Bebop entery. Mostly because it was factually inaccurate - the show freaking DIDN'T kill "several major characters". Just the one. Also, I don't really understand the point or meaning of "it wasn't really melodramatic, just a function of a violent universe". So I'm reverting it.
Ununnilium: Fair enough. Shoulda said so in the first place. ^_^
Mister Six: My memory's apalling. Which likeable secondary characters died in the last few episodes of Cowboy Bebop other than Maria? And while nobody says "hey, Spike's dead!, isn't it pretty obvious that character died, what with the star going out and everything? Or is there any suggestion elsewhere that s/he (no spoilers here!) didn't?
Julia, Shin, Annie. Spike's death, or lack thereoff, is a cause of major controversy in the fan community. Not at all helped by the director making "well, maybe he survived and we'll do a sequel" jokes.
Mister Six: But the star goes out and it was set up in the first two-parter and everything! In any case, you don't take a sword slash across the gut, spend the dawn bleeding out and collapse at the 'mercy' of your sworn enemies after killing their boss and then dance all the way home.
(random passer-by): I'm not active in the CB fandom any more, but I previously had the impression that it was pretty much universally accepted that Spike dies at the end. It's tragic, but it's an animated film noir, and in film noir the protagonist at the end has to be imprisoned, die, or see the Femme Fatale he was falling in love with die, etc.. Happy endings are not allowed in film noir. As such I found the ending to be true to the genre and dramatically satisfying, though I can see why a lot of fans were displeased with it. Oh, and the recurring villain, Vicious, is a major character too, and he also dies.
That Other 1 Dude: I think that the last part, and the generally optomistic tone in the end credits qualifies this as a Bittersweet Ending (in fact it's already there)
Seems more like a potential Sequel Hook ending to me. The sum of his injuries are a destroyed eyeball, a shot and stabbed arm, and a laceration of unknown size to the stomach. The other injuries are not lethal, and stomach wounds are very slow killers. Even if the stomach wound was as grievous as it could be without being instantly crippling, he should have lived for a good day with no medical attention. This is also for regular people who lack his Hollywood Healing. Spike survives being shot repeatedly, being savagely beaten, and being blown up, each on multiple occasions, so the idea that he dies to wounds that are less than what he's survived before is irritating. It's not that he dies that gets me; it's that his death is so wishy-washy. Either it's a crappy ending or they're leaving the door open for a plot continuation.
The Wanderer: "Even if the stomach wound was as grievous as it could be without being instantly crippling, he should have lived for a good day with no medical attention". You might notice that it's the dead of night when Spike and Vicious fight, and it's at least morning when he finally collapses. So that's hours of not being treated right there, not to mention shock, infection from his sliced intestines and other organs, (should result in a massive sepsis infection) the possibility for disembowelment due to the sword cut, etc. And lots not forget the last couple of episodes before that: Ed has found and lost her father again and has gone wandering off by herself (except for Ein) with no one to watch over her, Faye has learned the hard way that you can't go home again, (and probably lost a possible love interest in Spike), Spike's dead, Jim, Julia is dead, Vicious is dead, Shin is dead, Annie is dead, jet is hurt and even for the survivors an era has come to an end.
However beautiful the song Blue is, it's pretty fair to call it a downer ending. The main thing that would qualify it as bittersweet, (IMO) is that at least some of those characters had one last chance at happiness, togetherness, and reconciling with the past and making peace with themselves.
crapface: pull out: seconds before Rimmer was able to undo the damage. because you see Rimmer balsing the Time machine before the ship explod
i thought buffy died in season 6
Xander77: Season 5. She came back in S6.
Frank75: This page is getting pretty long, we should split it.
alliterator: So, for some reason, I fixed most of this page (it was all messed up when I found it), but a lot of the spoiler tags are still missing. Please add in any you remember. I have no idea what happened.
WalterFlagg: Yeah, sorry, that was my fault. Was editing the page, then something happened and half it was gone. Fixed it though. Again, sorry for the trouble.
Danel: What's going on with the second split at the bottom? This page is formatted horribly.
Ankh: removed Portal example, as the main character actually escapes. However G La DOS is probably still alive to perform her twisted "experiments" and considering it also most likely to be set in the Half-Life universe, you're escaping to a world ruled by an alien dictatorship. So, you know, bittersweet.
TBeholder: For Witchblade anime, as victory through Heroic Sacrifice it can be considered Bittersweet Ending instead. That is, even if we'll ignore plot holes that looks more like hatches with flashing lights and screaming sirens. I was really astonished when no sequels were launched from there.
Justice Gundam: I don't know if the ending of the first Pretty Cure counts as a Downer Ending. I'd call it a Bittersweet Ending, since after all, the Dark King was defeated and the world was saved. Think we should remove it?
Removed:
- In the finale of Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed, after spending the whole series trying to find the Philosopher's Stone and get his brother's body back, gets killed by Envy; Al promptly sacrifices himself to bring Ed back, and Ed then returns the favor, landing himself in "our" world at the cost of Al's memories, as well as the actual years of Al's life, between the failed transmutation of their mother and the present. Both of them are still alive, but the price for their survival is astoundingly high, in keeping with the show's central tenet of Equivalent Exchange. The movie continuation makes it better, sort of, but the series ending was devastating.
The finale wasn't so much a Downer Ending as it was a Bittersweet Ending.
Lord Seth: Is Macbeth really a downer ending? Sure, Macbeth dies and all, but it's pretty obvious that things are going to improve for the kingdom afterwards. Seems more like a Bittersweet Ending.
Rebochan: Took out the following....
- The third season of the Sailor Moon could qualify for this trope. Particularly at the end when Sailor Moon tries to give Mistress 9 the Holy Grail, thinking it's Hotaru who needs it to overcome the demon. It isn't, unfortunately. Said Grail gets fed to Pharoah 90 who proceeds to start destroying the world and tossing senshi around like salad. Then Hotaru finally overcomes Mistress 9 and becomes Sailor Saturn....and proceeds to enter Pharoah 90's force field in order to kill it. Sailor Moon manages to power up and follow her into the offscreen battle...only to return from the battle badly hurt and with a reincarnated baby Hotaru, looking rather...shellshocked to say the least. On top of that, not only is the Grail never recovered, but Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune come back the next episode to kick her ass as a last test, and once they fully accept Moon as their leader, they have to leave and Hotaru is taken away.
- Surely the final season comes closer. You have to see essentially the entire cast killed off, individually, sometimes in fairly gruesome fashion. Sure, they get better in the last episode, but the last episode does nothing to change the morose, downbeat tone of the entire season.
- The original manga ending was even worse. Usagi sees Mamoru die at the beginning of the storyline, and basically convinces herself it isn't true. Then all of the sailor soldiers are killed by Galaxia and her minions, with Sailormoon helpless to stop, throughout the storyline. Even the cats, the Sailor Stars, and Princess Kakyuu are killed. Then she, Sailor Chibi-Chibi, and Eternal Sailor Chibi-Moon end up facing all of the other soldiers, plus Tuxedo Kamen, all brainwashed and evil thanks to Galaxia. Then Galaxia kills Tuxedo Kamen again after the others are beaten. Then Chibi-Moon vanishes, thanks to a time travel paradox that doesn't quite make sense. Then Sailormoon ends up jumping into the Galaxy Cauldron and sacrificing herself to stop Chaos. And finally, everyone is resurrected at the end, but Chaos isn't actually gone; all Sailormoon did was release it back into the universe properly. So uhm, yes. Downer, but minimally happy at the very very end.
That's a Bittersweet Ending...at best. In the anime, Sailor Moon literally saves the universe and even the villain with The Power of Love. In the manga, it's ambiguous as hell, but it still ends with The Power of Love triumphing - Sailor Cosmos wanted to destroy the Cauldron and thus end life from being reborn, but Sailor Moon chose a more difficult path that allowed life to continue. Then went home and married her no-longer-dead husband and was pregnant with her daughter in a happy ending in which you can even see the beginnings of the manga version of Crystal Tokyo. The manga is a bit bitter-sweet, especially regarding how the other girls will have to turn over their entire lives to serve Usagi and the lack of resolution over what happened to the Starlights and the cats, but definitely not a downer.
And Sailor Moon S ended with it being proven that the Grail wasn't necessary (the power of her friends belief in her was enough), that sacrifice was needless, and the world could be saved with The Power of Love. Hotaru was given a second chance at life, her father got to care for her as a free man, and Uranus and Neptune were soundly defeated and came to believe Usagi's philosophy in the end. I don't know how anyone could have gotten a downer ending over what is almost a Mega Happy Ending except for Pluto (who had to go into hiding over faking her death and all...).
- The Wham Episode of One Piece, much to the collective shock of the fandom. The entire group gets "poofed" by Kuma, (made worse by how Zoro was still critically injured and we had no idea what really happened to them) and Luffy is left in a dismal state of mind. And wanna know something else? It's even morepainful in the anime version.
- Sorry to be a bother but isnt that derailing the trope too much? What you are describing is a BittersweetEnding at worst and then you take things way out of context to reach that conclussion. You could say its a subversion or something...
Taken this out
- Fate ends with Saber (Gender Bender King Arthur) and Shiro winning the Grail War, but because they won, Saber must now disappear. The last thing she says to him before she goes is, "I love you." She then wakes up back in her own timeline, fatally wounded and moved from the battlefield by Bedivere; she asks him if it was possible to see the same dream if she fell asleep again. She instructs him to return Excalibur to the lake, and after he does, finally dies.The last line goes to Bedivere: "Are you seeing it, King Arthur? The continuation of your dream...?"
This is a clear Bittersweet ending. Yes, Saber is gone, and yes it is a Tear Jerker. But, Shirou is happy (or, at least, content) with the situation, as is Saber (before she dies), and so are most of the rest of the characters (except for Sakura). It's also a fairly upbeat and optimistic ending (contrasting with the thoroughly depressing HF normal ending, which *is* a downer ending, without a doubt). About the only thing bad about this ending is that Saber and Shirou aren't together (well, and Sakura's situation, but you only realise that once you've played HF, and thought about it a bit). Her problem has been solved (she no longer wants to redo the selection of the king), and he is happy and has moved on.
Also removed this, because it doesn't make sense without the above.
- Similar to Tsukihime's "A Story for the Evening", this is possibly followed up in the Realta Nua ending. It's implied that Shirou eventually finds his way to Avalon, where Arturia is.
Caswin: Can someone explain the meaning of this line to me? "Ever heard of 'magic realism'? Seriously, read fewer fantasy books if you're interpreting Kafka literally."
