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* ''Literature/LegendsAndLattes'': Viv has sunk her life savings into building her city's first coffee shop, and used a magical Scalvert's Stone to improve its chances of success. When the shop is burned down by Fennus and the Stone stolen, Viv is bankrupt and turns on her friends in anger. [[spoiler:But her friends don't give up on her, and with a lot of elbow grease and a few donations, they rebuild the shop together.]]
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* Most of Creator/JRRTolkien's work has at least one of these. But the ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' stands out specifically:
** Toward the End of the [[ForeverWar War of the Jewels]] came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which was [[HopeSpot inspired]] by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest for a Silmaril. The full power of the Noldor under High King Fingon, and his cousin Prince Maedhros, their human allies led by Hurin Thalion, The Dwarves out of Belegost and Nogrod led by their king, planned to clean out the orcs in the western part of the country. [[ForegoneConclusion They lost, badly.]] Primarily due to treachery among some of their human allies. This defeat essentially annihilated Elven and Human morale for decades, and more or less ensured that Angband would never be defeat without help from the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Valar.]] Things only got worse due to infighting over Oaths and one of the Silmaril before ultimately the Valar finally did send help.
** Toward the End of the [[ForeverWar War of the Jewels]] came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which was [[HopeSpot inspired]] by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest for a Silmaril. The full power of the Noldor under High King Fingon, and his cousin Prince Maedhros, their human allies led by Hurin Thalion, The Dwarves out of Belegost and Nogrod led by their king, planned to clean out the orcs in the western part of the country. [[ForegoneConclusion They lost, badly.]] Primarily due to treachery among some of their human allies. This defeat essentially annihilated Elven and Human morale for decades, and more or less ensured that Angband would never be defeat without help from the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Valar.]] Things only got worse due to infighting over Oaths and one of the Silmaril before ultimately the Valar finally did send help.
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* Most of Creator/JRRTolkien's work has at least one of these. But the ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' stands out specifically:
** Toward the End of the [[ForeverWar War of the Jewels]] came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which was [[HopeSpot inspired]] by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest for a Silmaril. The full power of the Noldor under High King Fingon, and his cousin Prince Maedhros, their human allies led by Hurin Thalion, The Dwarves out of Belegost and Nogrod led by their king, planned to clean out the orcs in the western part of the country. [[ForegoneConclusion They lost, badly.]] Primarily due to treachery among some of their human allies. This defeat essentially annihilated Elven and Human morale for decades, and more or less ensured that Angband would never bedefeat defeated without help from the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Valar.]] Things only got worse due to infighting over Oaths and one of the Silmaril before ultimately the Valar finally did send help.
** Toward the End of the [[ForeverWar War of the Jewels]] came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which was [[HopeSpot inspired]] by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest for a Silmaril. The full power of the Noldor under High King Fingon, and his cousin Prince Maedhros, their human allies led by Hurin Thalion, The Dwarves out of Belegost and Nogrod led by their king, planned to clean out the orcs in the western part of the country. [[ForegoneConclusion They lost, badly.]] Primarily due to treachery among some of their human allies. This defeat essentially annihilated Elven and Human morale for decades, and more or less ensured that Angband would never be
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* ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': The Bennetts hit this after [[spoiler:Lydia runs off with Wickham during her trip to Brighton. They’re not married, Mr. Bennett can’t find them, Mrs. Bennett is having a breakdown, Lydia is thoughtlessly bragging about the situation, the rest of the daughters are both powerless to do anything but try to comfort their mother and potentially tainted by association and they also have to deal with nosy neighbors and Mr. Collins’s CondescendingCompassion.]] It’s a relief both in and out of verse [[spoiler:Mr Darcy steps in.]]
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* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Literature/AMagesPower'': Eric and Kasile have been arrested on charges of sedition and locked in the castle dungeon. The Dragon's Lair is about to be raided so its members can join them. {{Power Nullifier}}s make Dengel's magical knowledge worthless. At this point Eric gives up and shouts for Tasio to send him back to Threa. Tasio doesn't arrive, and Eric realizes the AwfulTruth — Tasio ''planned'' this outcome. Not only will he not help Eric, he's laughing his ass off at his expense. [[spoiler: Then Siron arrives with a proposition.]]
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* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Literature/AMagesPower'': ''Literature/AMagesPower'': Eric and Kasile have been arrested on charges of sedition and locked in the castle dungeon. The Dragon's Lair is about to be raided so its members can join them. {{Power Nullifier}}s make Dengel's magical knowledge worthless. At this point Eric gives up and shouts for Tasio to send him back to Threa. Tasio doesn't arrive, and Eric realizes the AwfulTruth — Tasio ''planned'' this outcome. Not only will he not help Eric, he's laughing his ass off at his expense. [[spoiler: Then Siron arrives with a proposition.]]
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* In ''Literature/InSearchOfDorothy'', much of ''The Witch's Revenge'' has her nearly unstoppable and endangering many Oz citizens, capturing Trisha, and threatening to destroy the Emerald City. By the end, however, the Scarecrow realizes the Magic Shoes' weakness and begins to hatch a plan to defeat her.
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*** In this book, Voldemort cites his own Darkest Hour as the years between the first book and fourth book after he failed to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone, when he began to despair that any Death Eaters would find him and help him return to power.
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*** There's a secondary one during the climactic fight [[spoiler: at the Ministry]]. Voldemort's inner circle is there in force, at least half the party is wounded, and there's no sign of escape or support. [[spoiler: [[TheCavalry Then the Order of the Phoenix shows up.]]]]
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', The Cave. Dumbledore is in so much physical and emotional pain he can hardly stand, and theres literally an army of Inferi rising out of the water to attack him and Harry. [[spoiler: Even worse, the Horcrux they came there for was a fake]].
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', The Cave. Dumbledore is in so much physical and emotional pain he can hardly stand, and theres literally an army of Inferi rising out of the water to attack him and Harry. [[spoiler: Even worse, the Horcrux they came there for was a fake]].
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*** There's a secondary one during the climactic fight [[spoiler: at [[spoiler:at the Ministry]]. Voldemort's inner circle is there in force, at least half the party is wounded, and there's no sign of escape or support. [[spoiler: [[TheCavalry Then the Order of the Phoenix shows up.]]]]
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', The Cave. Dumbledore is in so much physical and emotional pain he can hardly stand, andtheres there’s literally an army of Inferi rising out of the water to attack him and Harry. [[spoiler: Even worse, the Horcrux they came there for was a fake]].
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', The Cave. Dumbledore is in so much physical and emotional pain he can hardly stand, and
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{{Darkest Hour}}s in literature.
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* The ''Literature/AgeOfFire'' series has its Darkest Hour start near the end of the penultimate book, ''Dragon Rule'', and run through nearly the entire final book, ''Dragon Fate''. [[spoiler: [=RuGaard=] is ousted as Tyr by [[WeUsedToBeFriends NiVom]] and [[ManipulativeBitch Imfamnia]] and sent into exile with his siblings, while their loved ones are [[IHaveYourWife held hostage]] to enforce their compliance. And while [=NiVom=] plots to TakeOverTheWorld, he's manipulated by Imfamnia, who it turns out is actually [[DemonicPossession possessed by the Red Queen]], who is working with [[FaceHeelTurn Rayg]] in order to decimate and enslave the dragon race, which [[NearVillainVictory nearly succeeds]].]]
%%* Katie [=MacAlister's=] ''Literature/AislingGray'' series ends book three, "Light My Fire", at an incredibly low point.
* ''Literature/TheAlienist'': Dr. Kreitzler leaves the team after the shooting at his home. This almost derails the investigation.
* In ''Literature/TheDaggerAndTheCoin'', the fall of Porte Oliva to the Antean army is this. Porte Oliva was supposed to be the place of safety where the refugees who had escaped Antea's earlier conquests would be safe. And the heroes even get a HopeSpot with the arrival of [[spoiler:Barriath Kalliam]]'s fleet to break the Antean blockade, and the [[spoiler:dragon]] Inys to help defend them from the Antean land forces. Then Inys is defeated and nearly killed, the city falls quickly, the heroes have to flee for their lives, again, and [[TheHero Cithrin]] falls into despair. It is after this that the tide begins to turn.
* Given the press of events (many of them bad news), these crop up fairly frequently in the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works. A partial list:
** Soon after King Brion's death, as he's troubled by vile rumours and worried about the Shadowed One, and having just been acquitted of treason and heresy, Alaric Morgan stands contemplating Brion's new tomb in ''Deryni Rising'':
--->...That the good and gentle Brion should end this way was not fitting. Life had been too short; the good done well, but not enough done, for lack of tiem. Why? Why had it been necessary for him to end this way?\\
''You were father and brother to me,'' Morgan thought dully. ''If only I had been at your side that day, I might have spared you this indignity, this useless gasping out of your life's breath! Now, with you gone...''
** Morgan again, late in ''Deryni Checkmate''. He's barely escaped from men who wanted to burn him at the stake, his people are in revolt against him, the ChurchMilitant has excommunicated him and his cousin (who's radiating his own misery over his threatened priestly vocation), his king and country are facing immenent invasion, his beloved sister Bronwyn and her fiance have died from a badly set love charm. He withdraws to the grotto on his castle grounds and overhears his bard weeping and composing a lament in honour of Bronwyn.
** Duncan has one that begins in Dhassa, once he learns his father's army is missing; he stares out the window wracked by guilt over his duty to his father (Duncan is now the elder Duke Jared's only heir) and troubled by conflict between his priestly vocation ("at once held and not held") and his Deryni powers. Then one of his father's pages arrives on a foundering horse and collapses, and Morgan [[CapitalLettersAreMagic Reads the boy's memories]] to learn of [[spoiler: Jared's betrayal at the hands of Bran Coris]]. Duncan doesn't entirely snap out of his funk until Richenda asks him to hear her confession two or three days later.
** When Derry realizes the extent of Wencit's control over his mind in ''High Deryni'', he tries to kill himself to avoid betraying Morgan and Kelson. His failure (caused by Wencit's implanted psychic compulsion) reduces him to weeping bitterly and stabbing the dirt floor of his cell with the dagger he cannot bring himself to use on himself.
** Morgan has another one in ''The Quest for Saint Camber''. Kelson and Dhugal are thought to be dead, Nigel is wasting away before his eyes, and RoyalBrat Conall looks set to be the next king. As Morgan meditiates in preparation for a ritual, [[NightmareSequence he has a vision of himself in the Haldanes' royal crypt looking down on Nigel's body on his funeral bier]].
* Fortune has one in ''Literature/{{Dragoncharm}}'' when the Maze [[spoiler: spits him out.]] He wakes up [[spoiler: on a mountainside, separated from Cumber and with no idea where he is]].
* ''Literature/DragonsOfRequiem'':
** By the end of ''Tears of Requiem'', [[spoiler:Benedictus]] is dead, and Dies Irae is still alive and ready to kill the last Vir Requis.
** ''A Dawn of Dragonfire'' ends with Nova Vita and Requiem in ruins (again) and most of its population killed. [[spoiler:Adia and Lord Deramon are killed during the invasion, Solina's wyverns still control Requiem's skies, and Princess Mori is kidnapped and taken to Tiranor]].
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry gets beaten so badly that his spine is broken. He finally decides to [[spoiler:give in and accept Mab's offer to become the Unseelie Court's Winter Knight]].
** In ''Literature/GhostStory'', when his apprentice is having ''her'' darkest hour, we learn that [[UnreliableNarrator what Harry actually did in the previous book]] was ten times worse. She realizes that Harry's choice was a mistake, and decides to scrap her original plan and do the right thing.
* OlderThanDirt: The death of TheHero's [[DeadSidekick best friend, Enkidu]], in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' triggers the first HeroicBSOD.
* In ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'', once [[spoiler:Gus reveals to Hazel that his cancer has returned]], you have a saddening feeling that it's going to be a downward spiral from that point. [[spoiler:[[TearJerker And it]] [[DiabolusExMachina is]].]]
* ''Literature/TheGauntlet2017'': Farrah, Essie, and Alex lost the final challenge by running out of time before they could rearrange the last two words, meaning they're now stuck in the game for good. [[spoiler:Then the clockwork monkey shows up and tells them that The Architect had so much fun watching them overcome his challenges that he's giving them a fourth one to do.]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'', Harry throws away for his House any realistic competition in the House Cup and resolves to give up saving the Stone.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'', the school is under intense lockdown, devoid of hope, and Cornelius Fudge and Lucius Malfoy have banished the people who would be of most help. And then Ginny is abducted.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', Harry has failed in his rescue, a vile man has escaped into the ether, and everyone believes he has been magically confused into believing utter lies.
** ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'''s Darkest Hour, oddly enough, is fairly early in, when Harry, in becoming a champion, is shunned by most of the school, including one of his best friends.
*** A secondary one occurs when Harry and Cedric Diggory are transported to a graveyard filled with Death Eaters, Voldemort is [[spoiler: resurrected ''and'' can touch Harry without being hurt by Lily's counter-charm, Cedric is killed]], and Voldemort challenges Harry to a DuelToTheDeath.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', [[Characters/HarryPotter Umbridge]] is swiftly [[TyrantTakesTheHelm taking over and souring everything]] great and good about Hogwarts. This ends when the trio find a way to fight back.
*** There's a secondary one during the climactic fight [[spoiler: at the Ministry]]. Voldemort's inner circle is there in force, at least half the party is wounded, and there's no sign of escape or support. [[spoiler: [[TheCavalry Then the Order of the Phoenix shows up.]]]]
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', The Cave. Dumbledore is in so much physical and emotional pain he can hardly stand, and theres literally an army of Inferi rising out of the water to attack him and Harry. [[spoiler: Even worse, the Horcrux they came there for was a fake]].
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', beginning with Ron walking out and ending with the Silver Doe.
*** From Scrimgeor's death onwards, the entire wizarding community faces its darkest hour.
*** To say nothing of the final battle against Voldemort and the revelation of Harry's destiny.
* "Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream": the [[ShootTheShaggyDog ending]] to the short story functions as this. On the other hand, most of the videogame functions as a Darkest Hour until the endgame.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Literature/AMagesPower'': Eric and Kasile have been arrested on charges of sedition and locked in the castle dungeon. The Dragon's Lair is about to be raided so its members can join them. {{Power Nullifier}}s make Dengel's magical knowledge worthless. At this point Eric gives up and shouts for Tasio to send him back to Threa. Tasio doesn't arrive, and Eric realizes the AwfulTruth — Tasio ''planned'' this outcome. Not only will he not help Eric, he's laughing his ass off at his expense. [[spoiler: Then Siron arrives with a proposition.]]
* ''Literature/TheLangoliers'': The plane has just flown back through the time rip, but the world is still lifeless. The plane barely has enough fuel to make it to LAX, but without reverse thrusters, it crashes into a terminal, not fatal for the survivors, but that likely means it's no longer suitable for flying.
* In Chapter 21 of ''Literature/ThePiloFamilyCircus'', Shalice the fortune teller has gotten her crystal ball back, ending the [[LaResistance Freedom Movement's]] attempt to destroy the circus and curtailing any future bids for freedom. For good measure, Kurt Pilo has had Winston tortured as negative reinforcement.
* In ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' (both the book and the movie), the boy gets a little upset at the part where Westley is dead and Buttercup supposedly marries Humperdinck. What's the point of reading this story? That's not how it's supposed to end! It takes him ''years'' to realize just how deeply that moment affected him.
* In ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' by Raymond E. Feist, the most prominent one of these is [[spoiler: the ending to ''A Crown Imperiled'', with Pug, Magnus, Miranda and Nakor supposedly being dead, Drakin-Korin has returned, an angel has been killed by a strange creature and the Kingdom of the Isles is seconds away from civil war.]]
* In ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'':
** ''Queste'': When Septimus is taken away from Jenna and Beetle in the House of Foryx.
** ''Darke'': After Jenna has told Septimus about Sarah being trapped in the [[SphereOfDestruction Darke Domaine]], he is completely broken.
* Most of Creator/JRRTolkien's work has at least one of these. But the ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' stands out specifically:
** Toward the End of the [[ForeverWar War of the Jewels]] came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which was [[HopeSpot inspired]] by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest for a Silmaril. The full power of the Noldor under High King Fingon, and his cousin Prince Maedhros, their human allies led by Hurin Thalion, The Dwarves out of Belegost and Nogrod led by their king, planned to clean out the orcs in the western part of the country. [[ForegoneConclusion They lost, badly.]] Primarily due to treachery among some of their human allies. This defeat essentially annihilated Elven and Human morale for decades, and more or less ensured that Angband would never be defeat without help from the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Valar.]] Things only got worse due to infighting over Oaths and one of the Silmaril before ultimately the Valar finally did send help.
* ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'': Matteo and his friends have come up with a clever {{plan}} to arrest the ranking officials of the LRA without any violence. And then half his friends are wiped out in a single move when the LRA decides they've got too many mouths to feed.
* The ''Franchise/StarTrek: Destiny'' trilogy by David Mack has its Darkest Hour (and arguably, the Darkest Hour of the entire Franchise/StarTrek franchise) at the end of the second novel, when enough Borg ships to lay waste to every planet in known space come screaming into the alpha quadrant and [[CurbStompBattle tear through the combined forces of Starfleet, the Klingons, the Cardassians, Romulans, Ferengi and Talarians as if they were made of tissue paper]].
* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The ending of ''Soul of the Fire'' sees Kahlan hanging to life by a fragile thread and having lost the child she was carrying, Richard believing that the Imperial Order is impossible to defeat, and a general lack of ''anything'' good having come from the events of the book, with Richard, Kahlan, and Cara quietly leaving in utter defeat.
* ''Literature/TrappedOnDraconica'': After Yusef betrays the Eastern Alliance this trope occurs. The only remaining military threat to Baalaria is gone, Daniar is lethaly poisoned, Ben and Kalak captured, and all their possible allies refused or tapped. Then Rana shows up.
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' ''Literature/BloodAngels'' novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', Rafen first, under psychic attacks, nearly [[DespairEventHorizon commits suicide]]. Fighting against the attacks, and a vision, free him from the compulsion but make his duty clear to him: he tries to blow up the city where his fellow Blood Angels are breaking with their Chapter. It fails, they pursue him. It ends only when they catch him in a factory, and it explodes.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the darkest hour comes when Scourge kills Tigerstar, who had been the BigBad up until then and declares that he and his clan are taking over the forest. Points for the book actually being called ''The Darkest Hour''.
* In ''Literature/TheWitling'', everyone but Pelio comes very close to death just before the climax of the book: The three witlings are in the descending ablation skiff (basically a reentry vehicle with a parachute) with Bre'en, a DefiantCaptive who would kill them all given the chance, and Samadhom, the TeamPet whose PsychicPowers are the only thing protecting them. And then Samadhom--who, by the way, has been Pelio's treasured companion and only friend for his entire life--passes out from blood loss due to an earlier injury. And then Bre'en kengs Yoninne, scrambling her brain. Oh, and Ajão is already slowly dying of heavy metal poisoning.
* ''Literature/TheWitchlands'': Merik is abandoned by Cam, who tells him that he's an self-absorbed jerkass fighting windmills before he leaves, sending the man beyond his DespairEventHorizon and leaving him with no allies. As he ponders abandoning his humanity completely, the strange connection he has with the villain is compelling him into a trap, and before he regains his senses, he's pulled into a tavern filled with bad guys out to kill him.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/WitchWorld'' novel ''The Jargoon Pard'', Kethan is SwitchedAtBirth for a woman's daughter, because [[HeirClubForMen only a son can inherit]]. At the climax, this is revealed to the woman and his parents; they reveal that actually, they knew it for a long time, practically from infancy, and still consider her their daughter. Kethan nearly despairs, because his purported mother no longer wants him, because she can no longer use him. After the fight, however, his parents eagerly lay claim both to their biological son and the daughter they raised.
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{{Darkest Hour}}s in literature.
----
* The ''Literature/AgeOfFire'' series has its Darkest Hour start near the end of the penultimate book, ''Dragon Rule'', and run through nearly the entire final book, ''Dragon Fate''. [[spoiler: [=RuGaard=] is ousted as Tyr by [[WeUsedToBeFriends NiVom]] and [[ManipulativeBitch Imfamnia]] and sent into exile with his siblings, while their loved ones are [[IHaveYourWife held hostage]] to enforce their compliance. And while [=NiVom=] plots to TakeOverTheWorld, he's manipulated by Imfamnia, who it turns out is actually [[DemonicPossession possessed by the Red Queen]], who is working with [[FaceHeelTurn Rayg]] in order to decimate and enslave the dragon race, which [[NearVillainVictory nearly succeeds]].]]
%%* Katie [=MacAlister's=] ''Literature/AislingGray'' series ends book three, "Light My Fire", at an incredibly low point.
* ''Literature/TheAlienist'': Dr. Kreitzler leaves the team after the shooting at his home. This almost derails the investigation.
* In ''Literature/TheDaggerAndTheCoin'', the fall of Porte Oliva to the Antean army is this. Porte Oliva was supposed to be the place of safety where the refugees who had escaped Antea's earlier conquests would be safe. And the heroes even get a HopeSpot with the arrival of [[spoiler:Barriath Kalliam]]'s fleet to break the Antean blockade, and the [[spoiler:dragon]] Inys to help defend them from the Antean land forces. Then Inys is defeated and nearly killed, the city falls quickly, the heroes have to flee for their lives, again, and [[TheHero Cithrin]] falls into despair. It is after this that the tide begins to turn.
* Given the press of events (many of them bad news), these crop up fairly frequently in the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works. A partial list:
** Soon after King Brion's death, as he's troubled by vile rumours and worried about the Shadowed One, and having just been acquitted of treason and heresy, Alaric Morgan stands contemplating Brion's new tomb in ''Deryni Rising'':
--->...That the good and gentle Brion should end this way was not fitting. Life had been too short; the good done well, but not enough done, for lack of tiem. Why? Why had it been necessary for him to end this way?\\
''You were father and brother to me,'' Morgan thought dully. ''If only I had been at your side that day, I might have spared you this indignity, this useless gasping out of your life's breath! Now, with you gone...''
** Morgan again, late in ''Deryni Checkmate''. He's barely escaped from men who wanted to burn him at the stake, his people are in revolt against him, the ChurchMilitant has excommunicated him and his cousin (who's radiating his own misery over his threatened priestly vocation), his king and country are facing immenent invasion, his beloved sister Bronwyn and her fiance have died from a badly set love charm. He withdraws to the grotto on his castle grounds and overhears his bard weeping and composing a lament in honour of Bronwyn.
** Duncan has one that begins in Dhassa, once he learns his father's army is missing; he stares out the window wracked by guilt over his duty to his father (Duncan is now the elder Duke Jared's only heir) and troubled by conflict between his priestly vocation ("at once held and not held") and his Deryni powers. Then one of his father's pages arrives on a foundering horse and collapses, and Morgan [[CapitalLettersAreMagic Reads the boy's memories]] to learn of [[spoiler: Jared's betrayal at the hands of Bran Coris]]. Duncan doesn't entirely snap out of his funk until Richenda asks him to hear her confession two or three days later.
** When Derry realizes the extent of Wencit's control over his mind in ''High Deryni'', he tries to kill himself to avoid betraying Morgan and Kelson. His failure (caused by Wencit's implanted psychic compulsion) reduces him to weeping bitterly and stabbing the dirt floor of his cell with the dagger he cannot bring himself to use on himself.
** Morgan has another one in ''The Quest for Saint Camber''. Kelson and Dhugal are thought to be dead, Nigel is wasting away before his eyes, and RoyalBrat Conall looks set to be the next king. As Morgan meditiates in preparation for a ritual, [[NightmareSequence he has a vision of himself in the Haldanes' royal crypt looking down on Nigel's body on his funeral bier]].
* Fortune has one in ''Literature/{{Dragoncharm}}'' when the Maze [[spoiler: spits him out.]] He wakes up [[spoiler: on a mountainside, separated from Cumber and with no idea where he is]].
* ''Literature/DragonsOfRequiem'':
** By the end of ''Tears of Requiem'', [[spoiler:Benedictus]] is dead, and Dies Irae is still alive and ready to kill the last Vir Requis.
** ''A Dawn of Dragonfire'' ends with Nova Vita and Requiem in ruins (again) and most of its population killed. [[spoiler:Adia and Lord Deramon are killed during the invasion, Solina's wyverns still control Requiem's skies, and Princess Mori is kidnapped and taken to Tiranor]].
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry gets beaten so badly that his spine is broken. He finally decides to [[spoiler:give in and accept Mab's offer to become the Unseelie Court's Winter Knight]].
** In ''Literature/GhostStory'', when his apprentice is having ''her'' darkest hour, we learn that [[UnreliableNarrator what Harry actually did in the previous book]] was ten times worse. She realizes that Harry's choice was a mistake, and decides to scrap her original plan and do the right thing.
* OlderThanDirt: The death of TheHero's [[DeadSidekick best friend, Enkidu]], in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' triggers the first HeroicBSOD.
* In ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'', once [[spoiler:Gus reveals to Hazel that his cancer has returned]], you have a saddening feeling that it's going to be a downward spiral from that point. [[spoiler:[[TearJerker And it]] [[DiabolusExMachina is]].]]
* ''Literature/TheGauntlet2017'': Farrah, Essie, and Alex lost the final challenge by running out of time before they could rearrange the last two words, meaning they're now stuck in the game for good. [[spoiler:Then the clockwork monkey shows up and tells them that The Architect had so much fun watching them overcome his challenges that he's giving them a fourth one to do.]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'', Harry throws away for his House any realistic competition in the House Cup and resolves to give up saving the Stone.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'', the school is under intense lockdown, devoid of hope, and Cornelius Fudge and Lucius Malfoy have banished the people who would be of most help. And then Ginny is abducted.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', Harry has failed in his rescue, a vile man has escaped into the ether, and everyone believes he has been magically confused into believing utter lies.
** ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'''s Darkest Hour, oddly enough, is fairly early in, when Harry, in becoming a champion, is shunned by most of the school, including one of his best friends.
*** A secondary one occurs when Harry and Cedric Diggory are transported to a graveyard filled with Death Eaters, Voldemort is [[spoiler: resurrected ''and'' can touch Harry without being hurt by Lily's counter-charm, Cedric is killed]], and Voldemort challenges Harry to a DuelToTheDeath.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', [[Characters/HarryPotter Umbridge]] is swiftly [[TyrantTakesTheHelm taking over and souring everything]] great and good about Hogwarts. This ends when the trio find a way to fight back.
*** There's a secondary one during the climactic fight [[spoiler: at the Ministry]]. Voldemort's inner circle is there in force, at least half the party is wounded, and there's no sign of escape or support. [[spoiler: [[TheCavalry Then the Order of the Phoenix shows up.]]]]
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', The Cave. Dumbledore is in so much physical and emotional pain he can hardly stand, and theres literally an army of Inferi rising out of the water to attack him and Harry. [[spoiler: Even worse, the Horcrux they came there for was a fake]].
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', beginning with Ron walking out and ending with the Silver Doe.
*** From Scrimgeor's death onwards, the entire wizarding community faces its darkest hour.
*** To say nothing of the final battle against Voldemort and the revelation of Harry's destiny.
* "Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream": the [[ShootTheShaggyDog ending]] to the short story functions as this. On the other hand, most of the videogame functions as a Darkest Hour until the endgame.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Literature/AMagesPower'': Eric and Kasile have been arrested on charges of sedition and locked in the castle dungeon. The Dragon's Lair is about to be raided so its members can join them. {{Power Nullifier}}s make Dengel's magical knowledge worthless. At this point Eric gives up and shouts for Tasio to send him back to Threa. Tasio doesn't arrive, and Eric realizes the AwfulTruth — Tasio ''planned'' this outcome. Not only will he not help Eric, he's laughing his ass off at his expense. [[spoiler: Then Siron arrives with a proposition.]]
* ''Literature/TheLangoliers'': The plane has just flown back through the time rip, but the world is still lifeless. The plane barely has enough fuel to make it to LAX, but without reverse thrusters, it crashes into a terminal, not fatal for the survivors, but that likely means it's no longer suitable for flying.
* In Chapter 21 of ''Literature/ThePiloFamilyCircus'', Shalice the fortune teller has gotten her crystal ball back, ending the [[LaResistance Freedom Movement's]] attempt to destroy the circus and curtailing any future bids for freedom. For good measure, Kurt Pilo has had Winston tortured as negative reinforcement.
* In ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' (both the book and the movie), the boy gets a little upset at the part where Westley is dead and Buttercup supposedly marries Humperdinck. What's the point of reading this story? That's not how it's supposed to end! It takes him ''years'' to realize just how deeply that moment affected him.
* In ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' by Raymond E. Feist, the most prominent one of these is [[spoiler: the ending to ''A Crown Imperiled'', with Pug, Magnus, Miranda and Nakor supposedly being dead, Drakin-Korin has returned, an angel has been killed by a strange creature and the Kingdom of the Isles is seconds away from civil war.]]
* In ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'':
** ''Queste'': When Septimus is taken away from Jenna and Beetle in the House of Foryx.
** ''Darke'': After Jenna has told Septimus about Sarah being trapped in the [[SphereOfDestruction Darke Domaine]], he is completely broken.
* Most of Creator/JRRTolkien's work has at least one of these. But the ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' stands out specifically:
** Toward the End of the [[ForeverWar War of the Jewels]] came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which was [[HopeSpot inspired]] by the success of Beren and Luthien's quest for a Silmaril. The full power of the Noldor under High King Fingon, and his cousin Prince Maedhros, their human allies led by Hurin Thalion, The Dwarves out of Belegost and Nogrod led by their king, planned to clean out the orcs in the western part of the country. [[ForegoneConclusion They lost, badly.]] Primarily due to treachery among some of their human allies. This defeat essentially annihilated Elven and Human morale for decades, and more or less ensured that Angband would never be defeat without help from the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Valar.]] Things only got worse due to infighting over Oaths and one of the Silmaril before ultimately the Valar finally did send help.
* ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'': Matteo and his friends have come up with a clever {{plan}} to arrest the ranking officials of the LRA without any violence. And then half his friends are wiped out in a single move when the LRA decides they've got too many mouths to feed.
* The ''Franchise/StarTrek: Destiny'' trilogy by David Mack has its Darkest Hour (and arguably, the Darkest Hour of the entire Franchise/StarTrek franchise) at the end of the second novel, when enough Borg ships to lay waste to every planet in known space come screaming into the alpha quadrant and [[CurbStompBattle tear through the combined forces of Starfleet, the Klingons, the Cardassians, Romulans, Ferengi and Talarians as if they were made of tissue paper]].
* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The ending of ''Soul of the Fire'' sees Kahlan hanging to life by a fragile thread and having lost the child she was carrying, Richard believing that the Imperial Order is impossible to defeat, and a general lack of ''anything'' good having come from the events of the book, with Richard, Kahlan, and Cara quietly leaving in utter defeat.
* ''Literature/TrappedOnDraconica'': After Yusef betrays the Eastern Alliance this trope occurs. The only remaining military threat to Baalaria is gone, Daniar is lethaly poisoned, Ben and Kalak captured, and all their possible allies refused or tapped. Then Rana shows up.
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' ''Literature/BloodAngels'' novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', Rafen first, under psychic attacks, nearly [[DespairEventHorizon commits suicide]]. Fighting against the attacks, and a vision, free him from the compulsion but make his duty clear to him: he tries to blow up the city where his fellow Blood Angels are breaking with their Chapter. It fails, they pursue him. It ends only when they catch him in a factory, and it explodes.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the darkest hour comes when Scourge kills Tigerstar, who had been the BigBad up until then and declares that he and his clan are taking over the forest. Points for the book actually being called ''The Darkest Hour''.
* In ''Literature/TheWitling'', everyone but Pelio comes very close to death just before the climax of the book: The three witlings are in the descending ablation skiff (basically a reentry vehicle with a parachute) with Bre'en, a DefiantCaptive who would kill them all given the chance, and Samadhom, the TeamPet whose PsychicPowers are the only thing protecting them. And then Samadhom--who, by the way, has been Pelio's treasured companion and only friend for his entire life--passes out from blood loss due to an earlier injury. And then Bre'en kengs Yoninne, scrambling her brain. Oh, and Ajão is already slowly dying of heavy metal poisoning.
* ''Literature/TheWitchlands'': Merik is abandoned by Cam, who tells him that he's an self-absorbed jerkass fighting windmills before he leaves, sending the man beyond his DespairEventHorizon and leaving him with no allies. As he ponders abandoning his humanity completely, the strange connection he has with the villain is compelling him into a trap, and before he regains his senses, he's pulled into a tavern filled with bad guys out to kill him.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/WitchWorld'' novel ''The Jargoon Pard'', Kethan is SwitchedAtBirth for a woman's daughter, because [[HeirClubForMen only a son can inherit]]. At the climax, this is revealed to the woman and his parents; they reveal that actually, they knew it for a long time, practically from infancy, and still consider her their daughter. Kethan nearly despairs, because his purported mother no longer wants him, because she can no longer use him. After the fight, however, his parents eagerly lay claim both to their biological son and the daughter they raised.
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