History Main / DwindlingParty

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Jake, Neytiri, Norm, Max, Mo'at, and Selfridge are the only named characters to survive the movie. [[spoiler:Tsu'tey technically survives the battle but dies afterward. Eytukan dies in the attack on Hometree, Grace is killed in between that attack and the FinalBattle, and Trudy and Quaritch die in the battle]].

** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' gets the biggest case of this: F.F. falls to Pucci in the swamps, Weather Report is killed by Pucci in Fort Lauderdale, then once Pucci acquires Made in Heaven at Cape Canaveral, he almost immediately kills Ermes and Anasui, then Jotaro shortly afterwards. Jolyne sacrifices herself to allow Emporio to escape on a lassoed dolphin, leaving Emporio to face Pucci alone after the universe resets.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'' has a villainous example with the Decepticons being picked off one by one, starting with Makeshift, Kickback, Hardshell and Breakdown in ''R1'' [[spoiler:Dreadwing doesn't count as he defected to the Autobots by the time of his death.]] ''R2'' has more being killed off, including [[spoiler:the Combaticons, Starscream, Skywarp, Barricade,Airachnid and the Constructicons.]] By the time the final act starts in ''R2'', the only remaining Decepticons left of the nearly four dozen introduced throughout are [[spoiler:Megatron, Soundwave (with Ravage and Laserbeak), Shockwave, Thundercracker, Slipstream, Knock Out, Sky-Byte, Steeljaw, Airazor, Divebomb, Shin Hyuga Shaing, and Predaking.]]

** In ''Literature/TheTowerofZhaal'' which is based on ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven.'' [[spoiler: In the end, only three out of the seven survive with one of them being hopelessly insane.]]

** In ''Army Of Terror'' the handful of Rebel {{Red Shirt}}s who accompany the [=POV=] characters after they prove ignorant of the NeverSplitThePatry trope are picked off by the monster [[spoiler: that they [[EnfantTerrible happen to be carrying]] and Hoole submits to the Kivan wraiths and needs rescuing.]]

* In the various voyages of ''{{Sinbad}}'', he would get shipwrecked or marooned on far off shores. If his fellow passengers or crew mates weren't all immediately killed, the locals would dine on them soon enough.

* In ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine''', the heroes begin with Tidus, Sidonis, Mira, Leandros, and Inquisitor Drogan among named characters holding Graia. By the end of the game, Drogan has been revealed as a daemon-possessed puppet, Sidonis has been gutted by Nemeroth, and Leandros has sold Titus to the Inquisition over a question of Warp-resistance.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion:'' The cast starts getting picked off rather rapidly as the series draws near the end. First [[spoiler:Kaji, then Asuka gets her [[MindRape mind destroyed]], Rei [[CloningBlues gets her body destroyed]], Tokyo-3 is all but destroyed as everybody from the school (including Toji and Kensuke) is either [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed]] or {{put on a|Bus}} [[BusCrash crash-course bus]], Shinji gets his [[HeroicBSOD soul destroyed]], most of NERV is massacred by the army, the Geofront [[NukeEm gets nuked]], Misato is shot, Ritsuko is shot, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Asuka is eaten]], [[ApocalypseHow Humanity is destroyed]].]] Not so much Dwindling Party as much as Dwindling Race by the end of ''End of Evangelion''. By the end of the series only two children: [[spoiler:Asuka and Shinji]] are left on Earth.

* A non-fatal example happened with Music/{{ACDC}} around the ''Rock or Bust'' era. Guitarist Malcolm Young co-wrote the songs, but dementia setting in forced him to leave before recording. When it was time to tour, drummer Phil Rudd got arrested. At a certain point in the tour, singer Brian Johnson was forced to take a medical leave due to threatened hearing (his replacement was quite the big name, [[Music/GunsNRoses Axl Rose]]). And all these departures made bassist Cliff Williams decide to retire from music altogether once the tour was over. (fittingly, the only member left so to say was FaceOfTheBand guitarist Angus Young)

* Played with in ''Film/BreakheartPas''. While not a straightforward use of the trope, Dr. Molyneux, all of Maj. Claremont's men, Rev. Peabody, and Rafferty end up killed by the conspirators as the film progresses, while Carlos and Banion are killed by Deakin. Of the remaining characters by then, only Deakin, Marica, and Maj. Claremont AREN'T involved in the conspiracy, and most of the rest of the fatalities of the conspirators takes place in the final fight.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

** And in ''Film/Alien3'', out of Ripley, the 3 staff members and 25 inmates of the [[PenalColony prison planet]] she crashed on, only ONE survived. [[spoiler: [[TheHeroDies And it isn’t Ripley.]]]]

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' (or "Sorcerer's Stone" if you're in the US), while they don't die the trio does indeed get whittled down to just one over the course of running the gauntlet to the mirror.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'': A crack team of {{red shirt}}s goes on a SuicideMission to liberate a HellholePrison captured by a psychotic warlord. The team starts with eleven members (twelve if you count [[HeelFaceTurn Snare]]) and by the end only [[spoiler: five]] are alive and active.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'' has a villainous example with the Decepticons being picked off one by one, starting with Makeshift, Kickback, Hardshell and Breakdown in ''R1'' [[spoiler:Dreadwing doesn't count as he defected to the Autobots by the time of his death.]] ''R2'' has more being killed off, including [[spoiler:the Combaticons, Starscream, Skywarp, Barricade,Airachnid and the Constructicons.]] By the time the final act starts in ''R2'', the only remaining Decepticons left of the nearly four dozen introduced throughout are [[spoiler:Megatron, Soundwave (with Rumble, Ravage, and Laserbeak), Shockwave, Thundercracker, Slipstream, Knock Out, Sky-Byte, Steeljaw, Fracture (with Airazor and Divebomb), Shin Hyuga Shaing, and Predaking.]]

* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10035862/1/Ghosts-of-the-Federation Ghosts of the Federation]], an [[VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight]] fic, features the crew slowly dwindling as their mission takes its toll on both them and their ship, [[spoiler: eventually culminating in a BolivianArmyEnding as they [[RammingAlwaysWorks desperately ram the Flagship]]]].

** Another villainous example is the Britannian Imperial Family. [[spoiler:The Decepticons' takeover of the empire leads to Charles being killed, along with one of his consorts Victoria. Castor and Pollux are later killed fighting Grimlock, and Charles brother V.V. dies when Megatron takes his Code.]] After Megatron [[spoiler:kills Schneizel, Anticlea, and Guinevere,]] the only family members left are Lelouch, Nunnally, [[spoiler:Euphemia, Cornelia, Rai, Marrybell, Odysseus, Carine, and Laila.]]

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'' has a villainous example with the Decepticons being picked off one by one, starting with Makeshift, Kickback, Hardshell and Breakdown in ''R1'' [[note:Dreadwing doesn't count as he defected to the Autobots by the time of his death.]] ''R2'' has more being killed off, including [[spoiler:the Combaticons, Starscream, Skywarp, Barricade,Airachnid and the Constructicons.]] By the time the final act starts in ''R2'', the only remaining Decepticons left of the nearly four dozen introduced throughout are [[spoiler:Megatron, Soundwave (with Rumble, Ravage, and Laserbeak), Shockwave, Thundercracker, Slipstream, Knock Out, Sky-Byte, Steeljaw, Fracture (with Airazor and Divebomb), Shin Hyuga Shaing, and Predaking.]]

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

* While this is true of many horror pieces, Stephen King's ''Rose Red'' is notable for this, particularly with the sudden change in frequency of the deaths. Other than [[IntrepidReporter Bollinger]], no one dies in Part 1; in Part 2 [[PsychicPowers Pam and Vic]] meet their ends; then in Part 3, in rapid succession, [[MyBelovedSmother Mrs. Waterman]], [[SmugSnake Professor]] [[FlatEarthAtheist Miller]], [[DeadpanSnarker Nick]], and finally [[spoiler:[[DecoyProtagonist Joyce]]]] are taken by the house.

** In the episode, "Remember Me", members of the crew keep disappearing from existence until there is only Beverly Crusher left. However, it turns out they were only disappearing from a sort of extra dimensional space where Crusher was trapped; outside of that pocket, they were never in any danger.
** This happens to the ''villains'' in the episode "Starship Mine" when Picard is trapped on the ''Enterprise'' with a group of thieves who are stealing highly explosive trilithium resin to sell to terrorists. Once Picard realizes what they're up to, he goes ''Film/DieHard'' and starts picking them off one by one.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' has the Hunted version in "Empok Nor", when a couple of drugged Cardassian soldiers left over from a failed experiment hunt down Miles and his engineering crew when they visit the abandoned station to scavenge spare parts. [[spoiler:The soldiers are killed, but then ''Garak'' gets infected and he's much deadlier.]] By the end, only Miles, Nog, and Garak are left.

* It happens in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Army Of Terror'' as the handful of Rebel {{Red Shirt}}s are picked off by the monster [[spoiler: that they [[EnfantTerrible happen to be carrying]] and Hoole submits to the Kivan wraiths.]]
** And again in ''The Doomsday Ship''. The two Arrandas, [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Dash Rendar]], TheCaptain of the ship, and several crewmen are left on a ship where [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou everything is trying to kill them]]. [[spoiler: All the unnamed members of the party are killed via EvilElevator, another falls down the elevator shaft the party is climbing after droids start throwing things at them, the last is [[ContinuousDecompression sucked into space through a hole put in the hull]], and Captain Hajj falls to his death while climbing through a tube when he's attacked by tiny acid-spraying robots. Dash falls victim to TheDoorSlamsYou and Tash almost asphyxiates, but they live.]]