History Main / DescentIntoDarknessSong

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': "The jaws of the viper" starts with a solo violin -which is usually a theme reserved only for the Starks when they show their love for each other- played in background while Jaime and Myrcella hug, only to change to a dark tone when Myrcella dies in his arms. The fact that the next shot is of Ellaria Sand reveals that this is her theme about her revenge on the Lannisters for Oberyn's death.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' has "In the beginning", with the title being a ShoutOut to the book of Genesis, the soundtrack starts with a CherubicChoir, which captures the Paradisiac and innocent estate of the world. Than it continues with an epic climax showing an epic shot of Tirion, before the sudden ominous change in tonality symbolizing the destruction of the two trees of Valinor and the Elves quest to Middle-earth. The second part of the soundtrack is a DarkReprise of its lighthearted first half.

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' has "In the beginning", with the title being a ShoutOut to the book of Genesis, the soundtrack starts with a CherubicChoir, which captures the Paradisiac and innocent estate of the world. Than it continues with an epic climax showing an epic shot of Tyrion, before the sudden ominous change in tonality symbolizing the destruction of the two trees of Valinor and the Elves quest to Middle-earth. The second part of the soundtrack is a DarkReprise of its lighthearted first half.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': ''The jaws of the viper'' starts with a solo violin -which is usually a theme reserved only for the Starks when they show their love for each other- played in background while Jaime and Myrcella hug, only to change to a dark tone when Myrcella dies in his arms. The fact that the next shot is of Ellaria Sand reveals that this is her theme about her revenge on the Lannisters for Oberyn's death.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' has ''In the beginning'', with the title being a ShoutOut to the book of Genesis, the soundtrack starts with a CherubicChoir, which captures the Paradisiac and innocent estate of the world. Than it continues with an epic climax showing an epic shot of Tyrion, before the sudden ominous change in tonality symbolizing the destruction of the two trees of Valinor and the Elves quest to Middle-earth. The second part of the soundtrack is a DarkReprise of its lighthearted first half.

* [[spoiler:The Once-ler]]'s VillainSong from ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'' gradually becomes darker as the song goes on, starting in his casual worker clothes with his acoustic guitar, to wearing a flashy new business suit, to making huge, polluting factories, to [[spoiler:not caring if "a few trees are dying"]], while you see him [[spoiler:destroying said trees with the soundwaves from his new electric guitar]], and carelessly hacking down every tree left and right while the forest creatures run for their lives. Not only does the song get so much darker, his voice gets a distinct malevolent echo at the end.

* The "F.U.N. Song" from the ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' episode "Missing Blythe" is initally about Blythe's joy at studying the thing she loves the most, but as it become apparent that's the only thing the students care about, it becomes tiring and anxious before ending on a dull note: "Sometimes fashion can be... a... ''bore.''"

* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'': A very subtle, very quick version occurs during the mall confrontation scene where both Terminators find John at the same time. Because the movie is playing up the fact that either Terminator could be evil, you hear both of their themes play one after the other. First Arnold's strong metal percussion then the T-1000's low ominous moan. Then, as both of them meet each other with John in the middle, for a brief moment both play on top of each other, adding to the tension of which (if not both) Terminators are evil. Then Arnold saves John and the -1000's low moan completely takes over. ''He's'' our bad guy.

* ''Theatre/SixTheMusical'' has "All You Wanna Do", a poppy BadGirlSong where Katherine describes her various affairs with the men in her life. However, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome as the song goes on as Katherine laments that she was just a child that got used and abused by predatory older men]] until she is sentenced to death at nineteen by her husband Henry VIII.

* ''Theatre/SixTheMusical'' has "All You Wanna Do", a poppy BadGirlSong where Katherine describes her various affairs with the men in her life. However, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs hard as the song goes on as Katherine laments that she was just a child that got used and abused by predatory older men until she is sentenced to death at nineteen by her husband Henry VIII.

* "Living Dead" from ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'' is initially about Gretchen and the other dead citizens reveling in the fact that they are dead and have nothing left to lose. By the end, it turns into a lament, as Gretchen tries to convince herself not to care about the fact that she's dead and has nothing left.

* "Living Dead" from ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'' is initially about Gretchen and the other dead citizens reveling in the fact that being dead means they have nothing to lose. By the end, it turns into more of a lament, as Gretchen tries to convince herself not to care about her endless fate in the underworld.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I10uxTHryVc Doki Doki Forever]]'', a fan-made ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' song starts off sounding very happy and upbeat, with very sweet, almost saccharine, lyrics, reflecting how the game is initially a very sweet dating sim. However, the song gets progressively darker starting from the second verse, [[spoiler:very much like how the game gets progressively darker in the second act]]. The song remains upbeat, but gets more distorted and glitchy-sounding as it progresses, and there are also jumpscares and sudden cuts to disturbing images from the game, [[spoiler:such as Sayori's suicide]], which get more frequent as the song goes on. The lyrics also become more disturbing and often have dark double meanings, [[spoiler:such as Yuri's line 'Will you make the cut?" also referencing her self-harm]].

* {{Inverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''--"Poor Old Jack" starts as a slow, somber song, with the title character asking "WhatHaveIDone?" About halfway through, however, he becomes bitter and then, quite suddenly, cheerful, realizing that [[HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas his failed experiment]] still managed to get him out of his existential funk.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', Frollo's "Hellfire" song counts as a DarkReprise of "Heaven's Light", but it also counts alone as this trope. A sacred chant leads into the song, With composure, Frollo sings to the Virgin Mary, "You know I am a righteous man..." and then the song gets darker as he sings of how desire for Esmeralda tempts him. The accompanying chants turn [[OminousLatinChanting ominous]], and Frollo pictures himself condemned. He concludes: "She'll be mine or she will burn!"

* An instrumental example, [[MeaningfulName Rude Awakening,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRXax5YNlao No. 2]] by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival starts out mellow but becomes more and more spooky as the song goes on.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' has the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0kXVfqPrLs Clock Town theme.]] It starts out rather upbeat enough, as the town is mostly going about its business and the townspeople blissfully ignorant that anything's wrong. Sure, [[WeirdMoon the moon is up there glaring at them]], but it's way out there. What's it gonna do? The next day, [[ColonyDrop the moon is demonstrably closer than its original position]], and that night, closer still. The music is slightly darker to accommodate this. Then, by the third day, the music is outright apocalyptic, since the townspeople have all but fled or given up in terror, and the moon is so close it looks like it could cleanse the planet with one strong snort.

* From ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', the track '[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XpgchQnaUY I AM NOT A MORON!]]' fits this trope to a T: it starts out with triumphant, happy electronic tones, but halfway through it switches to a much more sinister tone played by brass and strings, culminating in a [[DarkReprise dark reprise]] of the turning point in the track, combining both orchestra and electronic music, ending in a much different place than it started. It’s fitting, as it plays in the scene where Wheatley is hooked up into the mainframe and promptly becomes DrunkOnPower, preventing Chell from leaving yet again before ultimately knocking her down an elevator shaft.

* "Big and Loud" from ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance''. When it's first sung, Darla Dimple is giving Danny advice to improve his act in order to be famous; once Danny has gone, the song is sung again in a more darker, sinister villainous fashion as Darla shows her true jealous nature against animals and wants them done.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPjVCIX5Fvs The Moon Rises]]," based on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic,'' is supposed to serve as a VillainSong for Nightmare Moon. It begins with Princess Luna rhapsodizing about the beauty of the night, but slowly becoming more bitter until she decides to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds make it last forever]].

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', the infamous FinalBoss theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDyCZiomOS4 "Cease to Exist"]] [[EldritchAbomination Giygas's]] and [[EnfantTerrible Pokey/Porky's]] first theme) starts off predictable and vaguely melancholic, then abruptly switches to frantic and disturbing.

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', the infamous FinalBoss theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDyCZiomOS4 "Cease to Exist"]] (better known as "[[FanNickname Pokey/Porky Means Business!]]", [[EldritchAbomination Giygas's]] and [[EnfantTerrible Pokey/Porky's]] first theme) starts off predictable and vaguely melancholic, then abruptly switches to frantic and disturbing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Frollo's "Hellfire" song counts as a DarkReprise of "Heaven's Light", but it also counts alone as this trope. A sacred chant leads into the song, With composure, Frollo sings to the Virgin Mary, "You know I am a righteous man..." and then the song gets darker as he sings of how desire for Esmeralda tempts him. The accompanying chants turn [[OminousLatinChanting ominous]], and Frollo pictures himself condemned. He concludes: "She'll be mine or she will burn!"

* ''Theatre/{{Six}}'' has "All You Wanna Do", a poppy BadGirlSong where Katherine describes her various affairs with the men in her life. However, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs hard as the song goes on as Katherine laments that she was just a child that got used and abused by predatory older men until she is sentenced to death at nineteen by her husband Henry VIII.

** The song "Do It for Her" from the episode "Sworn to the Sword" starts off as a typical TrainingMontage song, but gets progressively creepier as Pearl slowly goads Connie into thinking her status as a human means her life is of lesser value than Steven's.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', "Hell Isn't Good" starts out with Kenny, who [[TheyKilledKennyAgain died]] in an earlier scene, making his way to Heaven, with hopeful lyrics underscoring how Kenny is finally at peace. But when he finally reaches Heaven, the gates reject him and the heavy metal guitar and distinctive voice of [[Music/{{Metallica}} James Hetfield]] kicks in as poor Kenny falls screaming into the bowels of Hell.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Rarity's upbeat song "The Pony Everypony Should Know" from "Sweet and Elite" suddenly ends with her sulking and depressed in her room at the castle when she realizes she wasted all her time enjoying the highlife and never got to finish Twilight Sparkle's birthday gown.

* The "F.U.N. Song" from the ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' episode "Missing Blythe" is initally about Blythe's joy at studying the thing she loves the most, but as it become apparent that's the only thing the students care about, it becomes bored and anxious before ending on the dull note, "Sometimes fashion can be... a... ''bore.''"

[[caption-width-right:350:"I wish that he would whisper "ma chérie, je t'aime,"[softreturn]But all he wants to do is try to fix that plane...[softreturn]In the City of Love."]]