History Main / BolivianArmyEnding

* Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''Film/{{Ran}}'' has an archetypal example as Jiro and his castle is stormed. It is up to viewer's imagination whether Jiro will make it, get killed in action or commit seppuku off-screen.

* Subverted and parodied at the end of ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'', where having defeated the main villains in a showdown inside a church, the heroes discover that Roy's old friends, a gang of bandits, are waiting just outside for them. With no apparent way out, and only a recently-established precedent for the grace of God to go on, they steel one another for the task, say their goodbyes, and charge out the front door...where they find that the bandits have surrendered without a fight to an Indian tribe from earlier in the movie.

* One of the alternate endings (or rather, the 'original' ending) for ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' was intended to imply the survival of Hannah and Selena even after the death of Jim, by showing them walking away from it all, but came across as a rather bleak Bolivian Army Ending that didn't give a particular answer in favour of ambivalence.

* ''Film/WaynesWorld2'' references the trope when Wayne suggests a "''Thelma and Louise'' ending," which parodies the ending of that film.
* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' ends with the two surviving protagonists huddled under a bridge as the U.S. Army executes the HAMMER-DOWN Protocol-i.e. carpet bombing and possibly even nuking Manhattan. It is implied that neither the monster nor the protagonists survived, but the viewer is not allowed to know for certain. "It's still alive," can be heard after the credits. WordOfGod says it's dead. With a sequel now in development, this could easily go either way.

* The German film ''Film/{{Bandits|1997}}'' , an entertaining prisoners-on-the-run story, ends with the three remaining band members about to board a ship when the police finally catch up with them. Cut to the sound of gunfire and a shot of their hands reaching for the hand of their friend who died earlier. Damn!

* ''Literature/{{Alatriste}}'' ends with the main characters fighting in the Spanish side in the battle of Rocroi. They are given the choice of surrender, but the Spanish Tercio cannot accept it. The Other Wiki says Spanish defeat with 7,000 dead and wounded plus 8,000 captured of the original 27,000 Spanish soldiers. Final freeze frame, although WordOfGod says that the main character is killed with his squire escaping to tell the story; nothing is said of sidekick Copóns.

* ''Film/ThreeHundred'' ends in the same manner as the comic book on which it was based, showing the Greek army charging towards an inconclusive battle at Platea. Historically, the battle was a Greek victory, and this outcome is heavily implied by the narrator.

* ''Film/AssassinationNation'' invokes this and subverts it. The last shot of the four protagonists are them together, facing the rioters who want them dead, guns drawn on both sides. The scene ends in a standoff, but there's about a hundred rioters against four girls. The last scene of the film depicts an FBI agent talking to Lily's father, saying that the person they're holding is likely to face imprisonment for the rest of their life for their crimes. Turns out, they're talking about her brother Donny, outed as the hacker who instigated the violence - and Lily's father yells at him that people died from his actions - but that his sister (Lily) ''almost'' died - so she, at least, managed to survive.

* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': Despite the fact that the original was discontinued, the end of Chapter 33 feels like one of these. The Alliance Expeditionary Force depart to Thorn, among the army are five thousand men including Kyril, his four apprentice hunters, Bergen, Claudia's Dawn Templars, Alicia's Knights of Iris, and Olga. Meanwhile, the forces of Thorn, clearly in a tight spot, is nevertheless fighting hard against the Black Dogs' hordes of mutants, with Sanada Yukimura as commander cutting a path straight through the horde in a cavalry charge. Ultimately, whichever side comes out victorious, as well as whoever survives (other than [[ResurrectiveImmortality Kyril]], of course) in this BigBadassBattleSequence is unclear.

* In the [[DownerEnding Dark Side ending]] of ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed II'', after Starkiller's DiabolusExMachina clone [[KillEmAll kills him, his allies, and the Skywalkers & THEIR allies]], Sidious [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness intends to have him killed]] to uphold the RuleOfTwo and the game ends with him [[SpiderSense sensing]] a fleet of Star Destroyers closing in on his location.

* The first season of the anime ''Manga/HighSchoolOfTheDead'' ends with the protagonists, armed and confident, dramatically walking toward a zombie-infested highway, hoping to eliminate them all and escape on their vehicle. Of course, since season two follows, they live, and the plot thickens.

* In ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', ComicBook/{{Nova}} and [[ComicBook/GuardiansofTheGalaxy Star-Lord]] stayed behind in the collapsing Cancerverse to prevent ComicBook/{{Thanos}} from escaping. A memorial service for the two heroes was held, but their fates were never made explicit. Both Thanos and Star-Lord were revealed to have survived two years later, while the existence of a [[AffirmativeActionLegacy new Nova]] seems to suggest that his predecessor didn't make it. A few years afterwards, that Nova ultimately did come back.

* ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'' can end on such a note in one of two ways. Either Markus leads a violent assault to liberate the android recall centers and succeeds, or, with his back against the wall, he detonates a {{dirty bomb}} and forces the military to retreat and Detroit to be evacuated. In both cases, the story concludes with the President declaring war against the deviant androids and vowing to put a stop to their uprising at all costs.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames "The War Games"]] ends with the Time Lords capturing the Second Doctor, retrieving the TARDIS, sending the Doctor's companions back to the time and place he picked them up from with their memories of their adventures wiped (which, for Jamie, was an almost guaranteed death in battle) and then exiling the Doctor to Earth after asking him to pick a new face, which we don't see. The series was intended to be cancelled after this season but was UnCancelled due to the BBC producers not having a better idea for anything that would go in the timeslot, although it led to a [[{{Retool}} soft reboot]].

* WebVideo/SolidJJ's "Gangster SpongeBob" ends with the police storming in while SpongeBob and Patrick are ready for them with their guns cocked.

* A possible ending in ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' has the protagonist - having just had his HeelRealization - surrounded by a large group of elite soldiers. The soldiers are American soldiers sent to find and rescue anyone they can - and the protagonist is an American soldier. They initially try to talk the protagonist down. The player can choose to surrender and be taken back home, go out with guns blazing and die in the process, or succesfully kill all soldiers and have an even worse DownerEnding with Walker being alive ''and'' permanently insane.

** The ending of ''Half-Life 2'' is this trope too, which we only get to see in the beginning of ''Episode One'', though. After defeating Breen, Gordon and Alyx have to face the entire Citadel's compliment of Combine forces, plus off-world reinforcements. Whether they survive, of course, depends on the player's actions.
** [[BadassPreacher Father Grigori]] gets his own Bolivian Army Ending when you finally leave [[ZombieApocalypse Ravenholm]] in ''Half-Life 2'', as the last you see of the preacher is him fighting off a huge horde of headcrab zombies while [[LaughingMad laughing maniacally]].

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames "The War Games"]] ends with the Time Lords capturing the Doctor, retrieving the TARDIS, sending the Doctor's companions back to the time and place he picked them up from with their memories of their adventures wiped (which, for Jamie, was an almost guaranteed death in battle) and then exiling the Doctor to Earth after asking him to pick a new face, which we don't see. The series was intended to be cancelled after this season but was UnCancelled due to the BBC producers not having a better idea for anything that would go in the timeslot, although it led to a [[{{Retool}} soft reboot]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E3Orphan55 "Orphan 55"]]: Estranged mother and daughter Kane and Bella are last seen facing down a horde of Dregs as the Doctor and her companions are teleported away, with their survival looking unlikely.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* In the Literature/LoneWolf bonus adventure Aboard The Intrepid, if you make [[TooDumbToLive some truly terrible decisions]], you can end up fighting your first mate and entire surviving crew, a total of '''21 consecutive combats''' (and none of your opponents is a pushover). The book doesn't say what happens if by some unfathomable miracle you actually win, which ''is'' theoretically possible; presumably you drift aimlessly until your food runs out, you fall to a pirate attack or some other calamity you no longer have the manpower to prevent, or you decide not to put off the inevitable and take your own life. [[NonstandardGameOver This doesn't count as a successful completion]] for the adventure, which is really too bad, as it's by far the hardest ending to get in the entire series!

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''Roleplay/TheBalladOfEdgardo''
** The story ends in an inversion, as the roleplay itself freezes in the exact instant when Edgardo is about to punch [=Xer0=], the BigBad and generally [[JerkAss biggest dick]] in the forum, in the face with literally infinite power. Everything after that was the forumgoers going completely berserk on the out of character side of the board. The next day, the entire board was shut down due to "popular opinion".
** On a smaller scale, there is the fate of Goldnharl. After he betrays [=Xer0=] and promises to help Edgardo on his quest, a huge horde of angry players catches up to the heroes. Goldnharl stays behind to fight the players alone while Edgardo and Squid make their escape. Edgardo never found out whether Goldnharl survived that battle or not.

* At the climax of the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/{{Hare-Way to the Stars}}", Bugs escapes Mars after stealing one of Marvin's spaceships, but accidentally takes the container of dehydrated "[[InstantMassJustAddWater Instant]] [[InstantPeopleJustAddWater Martians]]" with him, splash-landing into a sewer in a large city. The Martians begin to grow as Bugs climbs out of the sewer, frantically replaces cover and [[BreakingTheFourthWall warns the audience to]] "Run for the hills folks, or you'll be up to your armpits in Martians!" before taking his own advice as the ground shakes with the aliens underneath.

* ''Series/{{Bottom}}'' habitually goes one step further -- the punch is thrown, connects, freeze frame, roll credits. In the finale of the TV series, this is turned UpToEleven by ...Go A Squad! - the pair are surrounded by an SAS squad, speak on the phone to the negotiators, repeat the line once quizzically, then again more confidently - and A Squad burst in, start firing, bullets connect...roll credits.

* Franchise/FinalFantasy

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' has one just after the main character finally manages to fight his way back to his homeland, seemingly pardoned for the false accusations against him and his family. The whole army, meaning, in Fire Emblem terms, ''the 20-odd named characters with emotions, custom relationships and children'' are seemingly all captured and executed on the spot. Then the ''second half'' of the game picks up with the next generation. Some of the first generation characters are implied or stated to have survived, but the fate of most is ambiguous.

** The end of the Whole Cake Island arc ended with the Straw Hats allies, the Sun Pirates and the Germa 66, fighting about some of Big Mom's pirates to give the Straw Hats time to escape Big Mom's territory. After getting confirmation they're out of the area, the groups about to retreat themselves...only for Big Mom to show up and ready to do battle. We're never shown what happened after that. It's revealed that the Sun Pirates did survive Big Mom with Jinbe managed to reunite with Straw Hats in Wano, but no news so far about the fate of Germa 66.

As some shows / films have ended on an unresolved {{Cliffhanger}}, it's worth noting the difference between the two. A cliffhanger is designed to create suspense and maintain the audience's attention so that they come back to continue the story. An unresolved cliffhanger, therefore, is an unintentionally suspenseful ending; the producers intended for the cliffhanger to be resolved, but outside events prevented this. The Bolivian Army Ending, however, is an ''intentional'' ending, and needs to work satisfactorily as such; while the exact details of what happened might be slightly ambiguous, it is often heavily implied what the outcome will be, and either way the audience is left under no illusions that the character's story is now over. The TropeNamer, for example, doesn't show the viewer the outcome of the two main characters confronting the Bolivian Army, but it is framed in such a way that the audience is left in little doubt what it will be regardless.

--> '''Dr. Ian Malcolm:''' Humans and dinosaurs are now gonna be forced to coexist. These creatures were here before us. And if we're not careful, they're gonna be here after. We're gonna have to adjust to new threats that we can't imagine. We've entered a new era. Welcome to Jurassic World.\\

[[folder:New Media]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1IWZOaRCY4 This Minecraft video ends with the hero surrounded by ghasts in a field of flames]]. Ironically, he actually ended up dying ten minutes after filming to a ZergRush by some Pigmen.
[[/folder]]

* The music video for Karma Police by Radiohead ends with the running man exhausted and the car on fire. The driver could easily kill the running man, but even still, he would die himself. And Nigel is gone, so there's even less of a chance for him.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': In "[[TheLastDance The Sun]]" ending, Johnny temporarily takes control of V's body to enlist the help of Rogue, raids Arasaka alongside her and ultimately completes his quest for revenge by killing Adam Smasher, though at the cost of Rogue herself. Following the splitting of V and Johnny, Johnny chooses to let V keep their body. V spends the following months managing the Afterlife and living the high life, having left their mark on Night City as a legend, but ultimately, with only weeks left to live before the effects of the Relic catch up to them, V takes on one last job: [[AstralFinale robbing an Arasaka casino on a space station resort]]. Whether or not V comes out of it alive, they don't care; after all, their number was called a long time ago.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', there is widespread evidence that Calamity Ganon and his forces inflicted a CurbStompBattle on the Hyrule kingdom 100 years ago as ''every'' fort, garrison and training camp seen around Hyrule is in ruins and taken over by monsters and littered with rusted weapons concentrated in small clusters, invoking this trope.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': The end of Goro Akechi's Confidant storyline cuts away just as he's about to battle a doppelganger of himself and several dozen mooks. Your MissionControl is completely unable to detect him and law enforcement NeverFoundTheBody afterwards, leaving his fate unresolved.

* In the ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'' canon side episode ''[=DedmosRebuilt.fla=]'' when Deimos is brought back alive by 2BDamned they are faced by some giants agents and ATP soldats coming out from hell to attack them, 2BDamned complain "God damn it Deimos," and the episode end here with a cut to black.