History Main / EndOfTheWorldSpecial

* In the Warhammer 40000 Literature/HorusHeresy series, this trope is played with twice in the "maybe vision, maybe time travel" sort of way: first, [[BigBad Horus]] is whisked to the future where the Empire has been stagnating for thousands of years, the Emperor rules as a living god to all his subjects, and half the Primarchs (Horus included) seem to have been wiped from history. He decides to "fix the galaxy" by turning against his father...not realizing that he was being directly lied to, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy and that vision would come about]] ''[[SelfFulfillingProphecy because]]'' [[SelfFulfillingProphecy of his treachery]]. Later on, [[ReverseMole Alpharius]] has a similar experience, and has to choose between siding with the Emperor and watching all of Mankind continue to stagnate and bloat until Chaos implodes and destroys the galaxy, or side with Horus to help him win, the universe goes through ''hell'' for a couple of centuries, then Horus has a "MyGodWhatHaveIDone" moment and starts a(nother) self-hating civil war that wipes out the rest of humanity but saves the cosmos at large. He joins Horus, figuring a race-wide Seppuku was better than the end of everything; what actually happens is basically [[CrapsackWorld the worst parts of both outcomes.]]

* In ``Literature/{{Ra}}``, the Virtuals win the war and destroy Earth. One of the main characters is able to upload all of the inhabitants of physical Earth into a simulation of her own design. She chooses to give it perfect continuity with the real world as understood by everyone but the Wheel Group and the protagonists.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' ends with Link touching the Triforce and making a wish on it to revive several people that had died, and generally give a happy end to everyone he's met.

* Isaac Asimov's famous short story ''The Last Question'' ends with the computer acting as the last repository of the knowledge and ability of all intelligent life in the universe, having continued to increase in sophistication over the millennia, saying [[spoiler:"Let there be light!"]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* In ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'' by Creator/IsaacAsimov, the protagonist is faced with the choice of giving galactic power to the Foundation, the Second Foundation, or Gaia. He makes his choice and then there's another sequel where he tries to figure out ''why'' his choice was right.

* In ''Manga/FutureDiary'' God is dying and looking for a replacement. This is one of the privileges of the winner. Yukiteru ultimately wins, but is so broken up over [[spoiler: Yuno's death]] that he doesn't do anything but sit around for a ''thousand years''..
* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', Fakir breaks the control Drosselmeyer has over the town and decides to [[RewritingReality write his own ending to the story]] instead. It's implied that his ending simply restored the town and its people to the way they would have been without the story. However, the ending also says that Fakir is writing a ''new'' story...
* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Madoka made a {{Wishplosion}} that caused the universe to be recreated to accommodate her desire for no more witches, in the past, present or future. Similar to Lain example above, this also {{Ret Gone}}s her from reality due to the erasure of her own witch.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Parting of the Ways", Rose absorbs the [[GreenRocks time vortex]] and acquires godlike powers. Once she's used them to solve their current problem, the Doctor absorbs the energy into himself before it kills her (providing an excuse for him to "[[TheNthDoctor regenerate]]" into a different actor) and removes the inconvenient godlike abilities from the plot. Rose uses her powers to wipe out the Daleks (except for the ones who [[JokerImmunity survived in another dimension]]), to resurrect Jack Harkness ([[WhoWantsToLiveForever a little too well, as it turns out]]), and to write the words "[[ArcWords Bad Wolf]]" across time and space to [[StableTimeLoop cause this chain of events]].
** Then in "The Big Bang", the Doctor reboots the universe with Big Bang Two, but it's Amy who has the power to bring back everything that was erased by the crack, by trying really ''really'' hard and remembering. This includes her parents, and the Doctor himself.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{minus}}'', the eponymous character [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus119.html simultaneously resurrects every human and beast to have ever walked the earth]], crushing both the current inhabitants and the freshly-risen dead. Through a conference of the Smartest People Who Ever Lived, it is decided that everyone should just stay in the afterlife. The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien extraterrestrial creators of human life]] decide to turn the newly empty earth into a theme park showing what Earth was like right before everyone died, which is then visited by ghosts. And that's the end of the comic.

* Cyrus' goal in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' games is to use the legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh to destroy the universe and create one in which there is no suffering...and also no happiness, because he considers all emotions to be the source of weakness and suffering.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', Ben uses Alien X to restore the universe after the [[DoomsdayDevice Anialargh]] destroys it. Since Alien X is an omnipotent RealityWarper, he can remake the universe in any way he sees fit. He sees fit to remake it with no changes whatsoever.
** Except for a different mascot for his favorite smoothie shop and a [[AndYourRewardIsClothes sweet hoodie]].

* At the end of VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles, Shulk effectively becomes a god. He creates a new world for everyone to live in because the previous one was collapsing, but then relinquishes his power and becomes mortal because he wasn't very comfortable with the idea of a god controlling the path of fate, preferring people choose for themselves.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''s MultipleChoiceEnding includes four perspective outcomes:

** The Synthesis Ending, where Shepard jumps into and is vaporized by the massive energy stream in the center of the Crucible. This results in an energy wave firing from the Crucible that basically rewrites ''everyone'' in the galaxy into a single, new unified form of life. With no differentiation between organic and synthetic, the Reapers' no longer have the need to follow their directives, and join the reformed Milky Way to begin rebuilding and developing a Utopian society.

* In Peter F. Hamilton's ''NightsDawn'' Trilogy. Once Joshua Calvert finds the Naked God, a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien, or at least a machine left behind by such, it gives him the opportunity to save the world from the invasion of the dead and the opportunity to reshape the Galaxy as he sees fit. He promptly relocates the entire Confederation outside the Milky Way to form a tight star cluster, making interstellar travel much easier, thus forcing Humanity to become much closer socially and ideologically, as well as physically.

A more heroic example of the villainous ambition to remake the world InTheirOwnImage. In video games, can be a form of MultipleEndings and especially LastSecondEndingChoice. Related to ResetButton and OutsourcingFate.

Since the end of the world generally also takes place at the end of the story, there be [++'''UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''++] ahead (otherwise, the page would look like swiss cheese).

As a conclusion, the protagonist (or in rare cases, another character) has the power and opportunity to completely remake the world as he sees fit. This can serve as a final exploration of the character and his values, or of the overall message of the show. It can be thought of as the ultimate expression of the goal to TakeOverTheWorld.

A more heroic example of the villainous ambition to remake the world InTheirOwnImage. In video games, can be a form of MultipleEndings. Related to ResetButton and OutsourcingFate.

* The entire journey of ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' is to see who will summon the Dark Dragon first, and how they'll use it to recreate the world. In the end, despite Lucas pulling the last needle, the world is still destroyed, but the ending [[MindScrew implies]] everyone is still happy and it was for the better.

* [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] once did this to the entire multiverse by using the Ultimate Nullifier against Abraxas

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* [[ComicBook/TheFantasticFour Reed Richards]] once did this to the entire multiverse by using the Ultimate Nullifier against Abraxas

* At the end of the Franchise/{{Superman}} storyline ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'', Joker, being SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, destroyed the universe. Afterwards, Superman supervises Mr. Mxyzptlk rebuilding the universe, with the help of the Spectre.

* In ''{{minus}}'', the eponymous character [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus119.html simultaneously resurrects every human and beast to have ever walked the earth]], crushing both the current inhabitants and the freshly-risen dead. Through a conference of the Smartest People Who Ever Lived, it is decided that everyone should just stay in the afterlife. The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien extraterrestrial creators of human life]] decide to turn the newly empty earth into a theme park showing what Earth was like right before everyone died, which is then visited by ghosts. And that's the end of the comic.

* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', the protagonist has the option to rule the world as a transcendent being, as a conspirator, or to plunge the world into anarchy. In the sequel ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'', the player may choose to force transcendence on the people, ally with a secret government, ally with an anti-technology theocracy, or destroy everybody -- with unforeseen consequences.

* At the end of the main ''{{Nodwick}}'' (print comic version) story arc, Yeagar receives the power to make the world perfect for himself. Fortunately, it's been explained to him that anything he changes may cause undesirable side effects, so he restricts himself to tweaking a few details that change his party's immediate situation from "certain doom" to "a winnable fight".

* In the novel ''[[Literature/{{Foundation}} Foundation's Edge]]'' by Creator/IsaacAsimov, the protagonist is faced with the choice of giving galactic power to the Foundation, the Second Foundation, or Gaia. He makes his choice and then there's another sequel where he tries to figure out ''why'' his choice was right.