History Main / PyrrhicVillainy

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' ends with [[spoiler:the BigBad Ozymandias successfully carrying out his EvilPlan to [[TotalitarianUtilitarian kill millions of people]] as part of a GenghisGambit [[WellIntentionedExtremist to prevent]] WorldWarIII. However, [[TragicVillain he makes it painfully clear that he never wanted to hurt anyone]], being NecessarilyEvil, and looks to [[PhysicalGod Dr. Manhattan]] for reassurance that it was all worth it. Manhattan implies that world peace ultimately won't last (leading Ozymandias to a subtle VillainousBreakdown), with the final panel of the comic showing that Rorshach had delivered his journal detailing the plan to a local paper as a DeadMansSwitch. In fact, Ozymandias' entire character is a subtle WholePlotReference to the Creator/PercyByssheShelley poem of the same name about how all of UsefulNotes/RamsesII's achievements were ultimately forgotten by time.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[spoiler:StrawNihilist [[BigBad Junko Enoshima]] caused TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt because her AwesomenessByAnalysis ability made her able to predict and plan for anything several steps in advance, [[GoodIsBoring which made normal life completely monotonous and drove her mad]]. Her EvilPlan goes off without a hitch, except that she's unable to actually ''experience'' the VillainWorld she [[ForTheEvulz created to relieve her boredom]] since she [[ClosedCircle locked herself in the school with her classmates]] [[HopeCrusher as part of her plan to solidify her control over it]] from the very beginning. When she's met by the cast in the present, she's even more jaded and apathetic than she was [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool previously]], implying that not even the global chaos she caused was enough to satisfy her. In the end, she's downright ecstatic that [[PlayerCharacter Makoto]] gave her an excuse to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]].]]

** The First Order by the end of the ''Film/TheLastJedi''. [[spoiler: By all but wiping out the Resistance, they've become the only major superpower in the galaxy, but their Supreme Leader Snoke is killed, their fleet was devastated, and they experienced immense casualties just to take down a relative handful of ships and rebels. In the end, their new leader Kylo Ren humiliated himself in front of his army, highlighting his inexperience and rashness for all to see, and his actions allowed a number of Resistance members to escape from them as a result, preventing a complete victory for the First Order. The only reason they managed to gain any victory at all despite their incredible losses to the amount gained is that their surviving forces still vastly outnumber and outgun the remaining Resistance at the end, making it a win by technicality.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Harry [=McDowell=] in the anime version of the game franchise ''Anime/{{Gungrave}}'' first just wanted enough power to live his life freely and protect the people important to him. With time, he succeeds in rising to the top of [[TheSyndicate Millennion]] and making it more powerful than the law itself, but only by losing sight of his original goals and betraying almost everyone he cares about. He's driven to kill both Brandon, his best friend whom he relied on all his life (leading to some spectacular {{Villainous Breakdown}}s), the fatherly prior head of the organization and his wife, Brandon's sweetheart. Twenty years later, though, he's finally able to face Brandon and come to terms with his life.
** Conversely, in the game's continuity, he shows no remorse for killing Brandon/Grave (Harry in the game's storyline is depicted as little more than a complete prick). Either way, he still wanted Mika, the innocent daughter of Grave's former love interest dead. [[spoiler:Harry even had Big Daddy used as a guinea pig and mutated him into an acid flame-spewing monstrosity, just to ''see what kind of effects Necro-Rise/S.E.E.D. would have on him'' and has no qualms about siccing Big Daddy on Grave as the FinalBoss of the game. As a result, Harry dies, Grave lives, and moves on with his "life" with Mika.]]
* Seen in ''Anime/HellGirl''. Yes, your contract with Enma Ai gives you what you want: to punish someone who's slighted you big time. However, by sending that person to Hell, you've condemned ''yourself'' as well, since when your life comes to an end, you will join them in Hell. See the mark on your chest? It'll remind you of the DealWithTheDevil you made.
* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Major]] succeeds in defeating Alucard, even though [[ActionGirl Integra]] [[ShutUpHannibal kills]] him in the end. Also, London ultimately rebuilds and life continues on like normal. And just like the last time he was soundly beaten, Alucard is never truly out of the game; he comes back ''eventually''.]]
** On the other hand, [[spoiler: the Major was actually a DeathSeeker, and everything he did was with this singular goal in mind, so he may have gotten exactly what he wanted.]]
* Happens thrice in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** Dio Brando barely survives losing his body and [[spoiler:manages to murder Jonathan and steal his body on his honeymoon.]] However, [[spoiler:Jonathan achieves his own PyrrhicVictory, because despite that he manages to save Erina and the Joestar bloodline, and takes Dio and his menace down for a hundred years. Come Part 3, and Jonathan's descendants kill Dio for good.]]
** Kars, the main villain of [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Part 2]], gets what he wants [[spoiler:which is to become the ultimate lifeform, which lives forever and can adapt to any environment or situation]], but ends up [[spoiler:flung into space, where he will live forever, but slowly go insane from the boredom]].
** Enrico Pucci in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Part 6]] [[spoiler:kills most of the heroes and obtains his vision of "heaven", if only for a moment... but then gets killed by a mere child, and the world then gets the ResetButton; and he's no longer in the universe, having never been born]].
* Although it may depend somewhat on your interpretation, SEELE's plan doesn't seem to have turned out the way they intended by the end of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.
** Chairman Keel seemed quite pleased with the outcome. Presumably, they are among the people who can't "imagine themselves in their own hearts", so no free resurrection card for them, but that's apparently what they wanted.
*** Shinji, arguably, fits this trope better. In both endings, this is what he wanted. In both endings, he got better, but after getting what he wanted... well, Alexander the Great might have wept over no more worlds to conquer, but thanks to Shinji there's no longer a world.
** Gendo certainly didn't get what he wanted. Rei rejected him in favor of Shinji, and it's implied that he is not reunited with Yui in the pseudo-afterlife that is Third Impact, since (what appears to be) Yui/Unit 01's response is [[spoiler:literally biting his head off.]]
* In ''AudioPlay/SaintBeast'', having defeated two justified rebellions from the angels, Zeus is sick of war and decides to retire and go into a long sleep.
* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'' Season 2, Kirito Kamui finally killed Masako Togane and forced the Sibyl System to judge itself. However, everything he did is already pointless because the system remains standing and is on the verge of expanding its control outside Japan by lending its "help" to [=SEAUn=] [[spoiler:and assassinating its leader when he realized their true nature]]. All that Kamui did was helping Sibyl get rid of those defective brains that hinder their progress and the ones left are the sociopathic ones.
* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Zamasu has actually succeeded in his "Zero Mortal Plan" when his bodiless EldritchAbomination form has successfully managed to wipe out all mortal life in Future Trunks Timeline. Unfortunately, by that time, he has completely lost his sanity meaning that he will never be able to enjoy this victory. Furthermore, he also failed to kill the fighters who cause him the most grief and shortly afterwards, gets immediately wiped out by Zen'O after Goku called him. Zamasu's plan ultimately amounted to nothing because of this.
* ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' has Ryo Asuka a.k.a. Satan wins his battle with Akira and succeed in killing off all of the Devilmen and humanity. However, all the demons are dead as well, and Ryo realizes too late that his victory means nothing since what he ''truly'' wanted was to be with the only person ever he cared for, except that he killed said person. Ryo consequently falls into despair and grief just as God obliterates the Earth.
* ''LightNovel/RosePrincessHellrage'' starts the story with the title character's EvilUncle successfully mounting a coup against her father to seize the crown. Congratulations. Unfortunately for the EvilRedhead, the way he did it only served to make his rule a mine field. He has to walk on eggshells to keep his supporters from turning on him or finding himself in a HopelessWar, because his country's the ''weakest'' on the planet, and his supporting faction hates his country's strongest ally. On top of that, his supporters are fanatics he exploited with their hatred of the main character's silver hair and eyes, so they go and initiate a SelfFulfillingProphecy, having her rise up as the very agent to destroy his country, and the way they did it completely alienated The Church, the one organization best suited to deal with her.
* ''In LightNovel/TwoAsOnePrincesses'', the main characters are set upon by thugs who try to take her possessions, or her, she fights them off and they scheme sinister plans for vengeance. Well, they get their petty revenge alright, at the cost of completely destroying themselves, while forcing the main characters to leave town.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3036180/ When All Your Dreams Come True]]'', an ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fic, explores what would have happened if Prince Zuko had actually managed to capture Team Avatar. The results are nightmarish, with [[spoiler:Sokka publicly lynched and his corpse put on display in a museum, Katara forced to spend the rest of her life fighting in a gladiator arena in order to bloody virgin troops, and Aang is bodily mutilated to the point where he can't threaten anyone, to the point where the last we hear of him is him having gone insane to the point where he begs his guards to let him out to feel the sun on his skin one last time.]] And the worst part for Zuko, aside from the guilt of seeing that happen? No one back home believes he actually captured the Avatar. They think Iroh did and then gave the credit to his incompetent nephew. The fic ends with [[spoiler:Zuko escaping into a fantasy life where he made friends with Team Avatar, while outside in the real world the Fire Nation wins the war.]]
* {{Discussed}} in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' fanfic "Fanfic/GodSaveTheEsteem." [[MamaBear Helen]] (who owns her own private firm in this universe) is in an intense debate with the school's attorney, [[AmoralAttorney Jim Vitale]], about a case involving [[TheSnarkKnight Daria]]. Helen points out that if the case goes to court the victory could go either way and given how much bigger his firm is than hers, even a slim victory will look embarrassing for his side. After a moment of thought, he agrees to settle.
* In ''Fanfic/NecessaryToWin'', [[OriginalCharacter Ceylon]], discontent with what she believes to be overly lenient policies by her predecessor as St. Gloriana's commander, [[BadBoss becomes very harsh in her leadership of the team, to the point of being abusive]]. The team advances to the semifinals, but is defeated as a result of one of Ceylon's mistakes, and partly the result of a mistake made by one of her panicking subordinates; Ceylon tries to scapegoat the latter for what happened. In the end, Ceylon leaves the school as a pariah and leaves high school feeling empty.
* In ''Fanfic/TheFifthAct'', when Angeal finds out that his illness is terminal and that Cloud's genetics might hold the secret for a cure. Angeal succeeds in kidnapping Cloud and sold him out to Hollander in order to find a cure. He then finds out that Hollander has no intention of curing him and fully intends to experiment on Cloud to find out what made Cloud superior. Then Hollander is killed and Cloud kidnapped ''again'' with no cure to show for it. He betrayed Cloud's and his friends' trust, is now a fugitive and has completely betrayed his ideals and is still going to die.
* Both played straight and discussed in the final episode of ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos''. Maledict succeeded in creating an "Ultimate Weapon" greater than he ever dreamed of... but the fact that his prized Ultimate Weapon ([[spoiler: both of them, in fact]]) ended up turning against him [[{{Irony}} thanks to his own actions]] made his success ultimately pointless. Even ''Maledict himself'' admits his GambitRoulette wasn't worth it in the end.
* In ''Fanfic/WishCarefully'', Voldemort and the Death Eaters got [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor exactly what they wanted]]: Britain is theirs, with the Light Side barred by a MagicallyBindingContract from returning for as long as the Death Eaters rule, and the Light faction will take all the Muggleborns and Squibs away each year so that the Death Eaters will never have to deal with them again. All they had to agree to was not to go after the Light refugees or interfere in any way with the Muggle world. It wasn't until well after the treaty that they realized that virtually all the producers of goods and services were Light-aligned, leaving them with a crippled economy that is hemorrhaging gold. Even worse, without the Muggle-borns and Light-faction bloodlines, inbreeding is slowly choking the magic out of their descendants, with more Squibs being born every year.
* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/303151/1/the-same-box/forfeit The Same Box]]'': Starlight Glimmer has equalized every pony in Equestria, including herself, and imprisoned Princess Celestia in a machine that drains her magic to move the sun and moon, as her cutie mark cannot be removed. After warning Starlight one final time that her false utopia will end in disaster, to no avail, Celestia commits suicide rather than live in Starlight's equal world. With Celestia gone, Equestria is stuck in a state of EndlessDaytime, as equalized unicorns' magic is not strong enough to move the sun or moon. Equalized pegasi cannot control the weather, and equalized earth ponies cannot farm the land to grow crops. Equestria crumbles into a dystopia as plants and animals die in droves. Life is no longer worth living or enjoying because all traces of individuality have been eradicated and [[CreativeSterility nothing meaningful can be achieved anymore]]. Eventually, Starlight is left to overlook the abandoned ruins of Canterlot from the castle, realizing too late that her attempts to make a utopia led to the destruction of her world.
* Similarly in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/302926/waiting Time Will Catch Up]]'', Starlight uses the time travel spell to figure out how to keep Twilight and her friends from escaping the village and restoring the Equal Ponies' cutie marks. She commits a number of heinous crimes, including cutting off Rainbow Dash's wings and burning Rarity's boutique, to make sure they have no choice but to follow her philosophy of twisted equality. She eventually obtains even the Princesses' cutie marks and rules over Equestria. It quickly collapses under her rule--ponies starve due to farmers' inability to grow crops and chefs' inability to make edible food, others freeze in uncontrollable weather, houses collapse due to incompetent builders, and disease runs rampant due to lack of doctors. Eventually, everypony dies and Equestria is reduced to a completely lifeless wasteland. Realizing her mistakes, Starlight waits for her original-timeline self and Twilight to arrive so she can show herself what Equestria will look like if she turns everypony "equal".
-->'''Future Starlight:''' You wanted to build a world where everypony is equal. We're all equal in death.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5391086/1/Deserving Deserving]]'': Courtney wins the million dollars at the end of ''Total Drama Action'', but she ends up having to spend nearly all of it to pay her lawyers for [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections getting her back into the competition]], leaving her with just $20. On top of that, she nearly let Duncan fall off a cliff while she was grabbing the briefcase with the money in it, making him so disgusted with her that he dumps her and hooks up with Gwen instead. And to rub salt in the wound, Heather attacks her with an electric razor and shaves all her hair off.
* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/318115/long-live-the-queen Long Live The Queen]]'': During her battle with Starlight Glimmer, Twilight ends up in a timeline where Sunset Shimmer stole the Element of Magic, overthrew Celestia, banished her to the human world, and destroyed the magic mirror so Celestia could never return. Sunset transformed herself into an alicorn, [[TakenForGranite petrified]] everyone else powerful enough threaten her, and now rules Equestria unchallenged. However, [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating she is hated by her subjects]], and immortality means she'll endure their scorn forever. Abandoning her position is out of the question, since Sunset is the only alicorn left to raise the sun and moon, she can't fix the mirror to the human world, and using fear to keep said subjects in line has left Sunset [[WasItReallyWorthIt totally miserable and admitting to herself that it wasn't worth it]]. Sunset ends up so jaded that she allows Twilight to restore the original timeline, knowing that she'll end up RetGone.
-->'''Sunset Shimmer:''' Equestria and her ponies hate me. Yet, they also fear me. And in their fear, they are obedient. That is the best I can achieve for at least many years to come until the memory of Celestia fades and none but I remember her. You tell me, Twilight Sparkle. Am I happy in this world?
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4977203/1/King-Nothing King Nothing]]'': Justin wins the million-dollar prize at the end of ''Total Drama Action'' by manipulating and backstabbing his way through the game, revealing his true nature to everyone who saw the show. The other contestants hate him, he loses all of his fans, everyone at his school shuns him, and [[DisappointedInYou his parents are no longer proud of him.]] When he graduates and moves out, he can't get any modeling jobs, due to his terrible reputation. He's unable to find a date and his family wants nothing to do with him. He sinks into depression and becomes an alcoholic, losing his good looks and his money. He's eventually evicted from his apartment and ends up working as a janitor at a crappy bar. While at work, he sees a recording of himself after winning ''Total Drama Action'', proclaiming "I am king!" and he mutters sadly to himself, "Yeah, I'm king alright... king of nothing."
* In ''[[Fanfic/TheNuptialverse Metamorphosis]]'', this is Queen Chrysalis' origin story. She was once a pegasus soldier, exiled from Commander Hurricane's forces for trying to [[WarHawk start a war with the earth ponies and unicorns,]] who [[DealWithTheDevil made a deal with Discord]] to gain the powers of all three pony tribes. He gave her a unicorn's horn, an earth pony's strength, and an entire changeling army, but [[KarmicTransformation transformed her into her current hideous bug-like form]], and stripped her of her cutie mark and original name. Despite her newfound power, she was forced to be his servant, with the promise of a FateWorseThanDeath if she disobeyed him.
* This is what happens to Celestia in the ''[[Fanfic/TheConversionBureau Conversion Bureau]]'' {{deconstruction fic}} series ''Fanfic/TheNegotiationsVerse'', minus the "victory" part. It's [[TheReveal revealed]] that she transported Equestria to Earth because [[spoiler:Equus' sun was dying and she didn't have enough time to save their whole world from the coming destruction, so she transported Equestria to the only suitable planet she could locate (Earth) while knowing what fate would befall the other races after they left,]] and then created the potion and Conversion Bureaus because she was convinced peaceful coexistence with the humans would be impossible. When it turned out the majority of humankind did not want to convert (not helped by how the newfoal converts were a bunch of [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul perpetually smiling]] [[StepfordSmiler automatons]] straight out of the UncannyValley), she decided to force the issue, only for the humans to collectively put aside their differences to unite against a common enemy. In the war, Celestia's whole family is killed (sans Twilight and Spike, who immediately disowned her after discovering what she'd done), Equestria was invaded and completely devastated, and once her crimes were brought to light, nearly all of her beloved ponies turned against her. And to cap it all off, Celestia is executed and will be remembered as a murderer and monster even worse than Hitler by future generations.
* ''Fanfic/HeirOfTheNightmare'': Nightmare Moon succeeds in locking Celestia in the moon, turning [[LukeIAmYourFather her]] [[RelatedInTheAdaptation daughter Twilight]] against Celestia, driving the Elements of Harmony into hiding, destroying Ponyville, imprisoning Cadence, and making the ponies of Equestria fear Celestia's sun. However, in the process of turning Twilight to her side, she [[MindRape brainwashed Twilight]] into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide becoming a heartless murderer named Nightmare Nova]] with no love for anypony, only blind obedience, and causing the death of hundreds of ponies in Nova's rampage. Lampshaded by the title of the chapter "Pyrrhic Victory", [[spoiler: in which Nightmare has become so disgusted with Nova's heartlessness, and haunted with guilt over what she did, she is forced to beg an imprisoned Cadence for help to restore Twilight]].
* In ''Fanfic/TruthAndConsequences'', Marinette performs a FaceHeelTurn with the intent of bringing back Adrien's mother, ending the war with Hawkmoth without revealing his relation to Adrien, and being free to pursue a normal, non-superhero lifestyle. By the end of the story, [[spoiler: she's accomplished all of this, but has alienated all her former friends, who are furious and heartbroken over the betrayal; no one will ever know who Hawkmoth was, but it's because he's dead; Adrien has his mother back, but he can't forgive Marinette for betraying him and ends their relationship, leaving Paris to fight evil around the world. She gets to pursue a normal life, but it's because she's been effectively exiled by the other heroes, who've taken up the defense of Paris without her. She even gets to pursue her fashion career in London as she wanted, but it's because she can't bear to stay in Paris when all her friends hate her]].
* ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'' opens in the 45th Millennium with Chaos having won its long war against the Imperium. However this has thoroughly exhausted all the races of the galaxy, meaning none of them are able to put up a fight when the full might of the Tyranids finally arrives and proceeds to wipe out everything remaining.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe's class at school, Class 5-E, led by [[TheBully Sara Diktalyis and Yeardley Lobelia]], made the girl's life a living hell because of her being the daughter of Professor Cerise to the point that, after being pressured to fight the Alola Champion Ash (and losing), she runs away from home. Near the end of Act 1, when Parker, Chloe's little brother, asks the class for things they like about Chloe for a "Welcome Home" project, they proceed to gloat about ''every single thing'' they did to her, loving how they tortured and humiliated her before Sara points that a weird girl like her doesn't deserve anything. And when she asks for any last words, Parker then reveals that this was all an EngineeredPublicConfession and the ''entire class'' has now found out that they were recorded by Trip and their fellow students, making their rant go viral and them subsequently being expelled, humiliated by the Internet, losing the love and trust of their parents (who are now humiliated by the online world for being bystanders and never reigning their children's bad habits), spat upon by the entire city and later [[spoiler:tortured by Parker using the Unown -- as they had ''also'' bullied him in the past --]] before the torture ends and they are broken wrecks, Sara has no choice but to be taken to a foster home with much kinder parents that may/may not be her only hope at a better life and not picked up by the Infinity Train and Yeardley was called out for being a misogynist bully. The rest of the students' ''only'' hope is that Ash decided to help them become Pokémon Trainers (which is what they ''wanted'' at the beginning, but now that feels like a slap in the face) and by the time [[Fanfic/InfinityTrainVoyageOfWisteria the sequel starts]], whatever's left of the class who were envious of Chloe are humiliated, embarrassed and have to start their lives all over again. As for Chloe? She has returned from the Train, more mature and confident than ever, with the added caveat that she saved ''them'' from a madman with a gun and was praised as a hero, the irony rubbing in their faces that the girl who they once bullied stopped them from dying.
** The Apex crippled, murdered, destroyed and did everything they could in order to be the top, to have high numbres, to be strong. The Fog Car destroyes their philosophy with the subtlety of a donut holer to the face as it reveals that they were supposed to ''leave'' this entire time, they considered their fun more than their family and friends, Grace was a foolish girl who was too proud to admit that she knew wrong [[spoiler:one of their members was killed, Simon turned into a monster]] and again, like in the sequel, they are completely separated and are now hunted down by the same denizens they loved to wheel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheWire'': After killing and backstabbing his way to becoming Baltimore's chief drug kingpin, Marlo enjoys it for only a month before losing his entire organization and being forced to go straight by the police. His name and reputation, the things he treasured most in the world, are quickly forgotten while his defeated enemy Omar lives on as a street legend.
* ''Series/TheShield'''s Vic Mackey ends up with a cushy job as a Federal Agent, after burning every bridge imaginable with his family (disowned him and in witness protection), his friends (one killed his entire family/self and left a note blaming Vic for turning him into such a monster while the other, whose loyalty to Vic was never in question, was made into the scapegoat for Vic's crimes), and pretty much all of Los Angeles. Plainly put, had ALL of his sins exposed as part of an immunity deal he landed as part of his new job. Worse, he's at a desk, which plays against ''all'' of Vic's strengths as a law enforcement agent. Vic's boss, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified at how neatly Vic conned her,]] has vowed to make Vic's life a living hell in a bid to make him void his immunity deal, costing him his job and freedom. And even if he survives, after three years, the Feds can toss him out right there, and with his sins all public knowledge (and his old nemesis, now a mayoral candidate, moving into a powerful position), this means that no law enforcement outfit will ''ever'' hire him again, denying him the justification he used to hide from his crimes. Oh, and saying no to the new terms means he goes straight to prosecution. [[IronicHell Karma is a bitch, Vic]].
* Morgana from ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' lives for vengeance, but when she finally manages to have King Uther killed, it's clear that she doesn't feel the victory the way she thought she would.
* In the ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," the ship is occupied by two aliens from a species where half are black on their right side and white on their left, and the other is the opposite, and the former have set themselves up as the societal superiors of the latter, in an obvious metaphor for the racism prevalent at the time. The black-on-the-right one is chasing the white-on-the-right one as a criminal and ultimately succeeds in forcing the crew to return to his home planet, where his prisoner can be judged. However, they find that while the chase was going on, the war between the two sides escalated until every single person on the planet was killed. The two aliens promptly accuse each other of their people being responsible, and teleport down to the planet to continue their war, as Kirk somberly notes that their hatred for each other is all they have left.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': At the height of the Dominion War arc, Gul Dukat leads a combined Dominion/Cardassian fleet to regain control of the titular station... losing forty warships in the process, failing to force their way onboard before the withdrawing Starfleet forces can thoroughly wreck the place ''and'' pulling so many forces away from other duties that a major shipyard was left wide open for a fleet of Federation ships to pound it to scrap. [[ServileSnarker Weyoun]] hangs a bitter lampshade on all the above to Dukat, who brushes the implied criticism off with barely a thought. This attitude costs him dearly later on.
* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' manages to slip the law, his competitors and former allies in the drug trade. Each time he does, it ruins the lives of those around him and costs him a little more of his soul. By the end of the series, he finally secures millions of dollars for his children and dies on his own terms. In the process, among other tragedies, [[spoiler:his brother-in-law is murdered, his partner is almost psychologically destroyed, his wife and son despise him, dozens of people of varying levels of innocence are killed (including two children), he indirectly causes a plane crash, and his criminal life becomes national news.]]
* Things tend to work out this way for ''Series/{{Justified}}'''s Boyd Crowder. Though he's always able to survive, he typically loses out in one way or another. In Season 1, he brings down his father but loses his Church. In Season 2, he defeats the Bennetts but his girlfriend Ava ends up in the hospital and Dickie evades him. In Season 3, his enemy Robert Quarles is captured but his henchman Arlo goes to jail and Boyd misses the chance to claim Mags' money. In Season 4, he outlasts Nicky Augustine and gets the chance to be Wynn Duffy's new partner, but at the cost of Ava going to jail. And in Season 5, he manages to kill the treacherous Johnny and survive the Mexican cartel and [[BigBad Daryl Crowe]] both, but his fledgling empire is in tatters, Ava becomes a CI, and Rachel, [[TheHero Raylan]], and Vasquez are coming for him.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]" has the classic line "So now you are king, as was your wish. I salute you from the dead. Hail Eldrad. King... of nothing." [[PyrrhicVictory Not that the nominal winners were much better off.]]
* Many of the murders in ''Series/ColdCase'' are this. The killer escapes for years or even decades but time and circumstance change and the murder they committed becomes a senseless act which they still must pay for.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** The fate of District Attorney [[AmoralAttorney Samantha Reyes]] in season 2. She tries to get [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] either killed or in jail for life to cover up the fact [[spoiler:she was indirectly responsible of his family's death with her carelessness]] because it would ruin her career. She does succeed in having him sent to jail and saving her job... only for Wilson Fisk to arrange for Castle to escape a few days later, reducing her to a panicked wreck under the belief he will come for her. And just to make sure saving her career was pointless, [[spoiler:she is machine-gunned to death right in front of Matt, Foggy, Karen, and Blake Tower right after deciding to come clean (albeit not by Castle.)]]
** Season 3 sees Wilson Fisk go to great lengths to get his beloved Vanessa Marianna back. Once she does come back, his criminal empire falls apart within a matter of days once she orders the death of [[spoiler:Ray Nadeem]].
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'':
** By the end of Season 1, [[spoiler:Mariah gets out of Harlem's 29th precinct without charges on Cottonmouth's murder (due to having the one witness against her killed off), but with Harlem realizing her criminal activities.]]
** She gets it worse in Season 2: [[spoiler:Mariah wins the MobWar against Bushmaster, but the immense savagery she showcases (annihilating an entire restaurant full of innocents just to get one of Bushmaster's family members) [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgusts]] Shades, who sells her to the police. And just as soon as she believes that she may still build a criminal empire [[MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll from behind bars]], a delayed-effect KissOfDeath from her estranged daughter kills her. The one possible victory she may still get (from the grave) is the chance of corrupting Luke Cage by leaving him the Harlem's Paradise club, but the show's cancellation leave the show on a cliffhanger, with Luke declaring himself the unofficial "sheriff" of Harlem and thus [[{{Cliffhanger}} unclear how it will turn out]].]]
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', this seems to be the only way Cersei Lannister ever comes out on top of anything. She's smart, clever, and cunning, just not as much as she thinks she is. As a result, the long term consequences of her actions keep coming back to bite her.
** Cersei Lannister's smirking victory over Tyrion and later the Tyrells become meaningless as it comes with a high price. Her champion Ser Gregor Clegane winning over Oberyn Martell in Tyrion's trial on Joffrey's murder breaks new tensions from Dorne and leads to Myrcella's death. Jaime, out of sympathy for Tyrion, helps him escape only for Tyrion to kill Tywin on the way out, leaving the kingdom in her less-than-capable hands. Her reinstatement of the Faith Militant as a means to get back at the Tyrells backfires when she herself gets arrested and punished for her own crimes which also leads her own son Tommen to accept the Faith as part of their alliance to the Iron Throne.
--->'''Olenna:''' You have no support, not anymore. Your brother is gone; the High Sparrow saw through that. The rest of your family abandoned you. The people despised you. You're surrounded by enemies, thousands of them. You're going to kill them all by yourself? You've lost, Cersei. It's the only joy that I've found in this misery.
** At the end of Season 6, Cersei finds herself in an even worse position. [[spoiler:She has triumphed over her enemies by detonating a wildfire cache under the Great Sept of Baelor, killing several hundred people from the nobility (including most remaining members of Houses Tyrell and Lannister, all of whom were opposing her) and the Faith within the sept, (who were about to put her on trial) probably as many commoners outside it and destroying a good chunk of the capital city. In the aftermath, her only surviving son commits suicide because Cersei was too busy torturing a prisoner who had once abused her to comfort him. Cersei has made it onto the throne at last, but her House is bankrupt, the crown is deeply in debt and her armies are depleted by war. [[VestigialEmpire Nearly the entire realm is either starting or in the middle of some form of rebellion against the throne]], meaning that while she is positioned in a way that no one in King's Landing can challenge her, she doesn't rule much beyond that demesne, not to mention the fact that she has added the plentiful Reach to the list of enemies of the increasingly powerless crown. On top of all this Daenerys has finally launched a full-scale invasion backed by both her armies and her dragons, and with the support of Tyrion and Lady Olenna of House Tyrell, uneasy but former allies alienated by Cersei, and the harshest winter in recorded history has just started. Despite her apparent power and triumph due to ascending to the throne, the number of people actually loyal to Cersei can be counted on one hand (the MadScientist Qyburn, and the Mountain as her personal muscle), she has just as many if not more enemies than ever, and even her twin brother has become disillusioned with her, emotionally isolating her from everyone she cares about.]]
** By the end of season 7, it's even worse for Cersei. [[spoiler:Thanks to her alliance with the Ironborn and sacrificing her own home territory to strike at the Tyrells the war is going surprisingly well for her, but she still has no way to deal with the dragons and ultimate defeat is inevitable. When Daenerys unexpectedly calls for a ceasefire to deal with the imminent undead invasion Cersei not only agrees but declares that she will send her own armies north as well since she has no desire to rule a graveyard. Only this is a lie; as soon as the invaders head north she orders the planning to move her own troops stopped, and explains that her real plan is to play for time while she brings in mercenary reinforcements from Essos. She could have done this by simply accepting the ceasefire; she offered to join the defense for [[ForTheEvulz literally no reason other than that it gave her the pleasure of betraying them]]. This is what finally convinces Jaime that she's completely mad and leads directly to his defection.]]
** In the series finale, things end about as badly as they possibly could for Cersei. [[spoiler:Cersei's naval forces take out Rhaegal and kidnap then execute Missandei. Grey Worm develops an obsession with destroying everything connected to Cersei, and with her last sane-and-trusted lieutenant dead, there's nobody left to keep Daenerys' inner rage from devolving into full-blown madness. The rest of King's Landing quickly surrenders unconditionally, but that just triggers Daenerys' mental breakdown from fear of being unloved and she ''orders her forces to systematically kill every last civilian''. Cersei's last moments are of pure terror as she begs the gods to save her, and is quickly crushed to death by falling castle. Meanwhile, Daenerys is quietly backstabbed by Jon before she can continue her purge across Westeros and beyond. And instead of Jon Targaryen taking the throne, Bran quickly manipulates his way into getting ''elected'' as the Seven Kingdoms' first proto-president King, and then quickly redistributes his powers to a council made of everyone alive who showed the most common sense. In the end, both of the women who obsessed over the throne were crushed by their need for it, the titular throne itself was melted down and replaced with a republican government, and with (implied) industrial progress finally taking place things have gotten better with no one the wiser.]]
* At the end of ''Series/AmericanCrimeStory: The People vs. O.J. Simpson'', Simpson manages to get acquitted thanks to a combination of a fiendishly clever defense team, a string of poor decisions by the prosecutors, and one of the officers pulling a last-minute Fifth Amendment plea to avoid being cross-examined. He is technically a free man, but half of Los Angeles (including most of his white neighbors) now hates his guts, his former in-laws are challenging him for custody of his younger children, and Robert Kardashian, one of his few real friends, has realized that Simpson used him and never wants to see him again. And of course, his victory would prove to be short-lived; he ended up being sued into oblivion by the Goldman family.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' season 8. [[spoiler:The terrorists execute President Hassan but they are all killed. This sets up the final act ending with Kamistan becoming an enemy of the West.]]
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Malcolm Merlyn's life post-Season One. Sure, he destroyed (half) the Glades like he wanted to, but the plan killed his son and ruined his reputation thanks to Moira outing him, along with the wrath of the then-Ra's al Ghul, his former master. His attempts to escape retribution from the League of Assassins goes very much the same way -- he manages to get off their shit list and even becomes Ra's al Ghul for a time, but it eventually costs him his daughter's love, the League itself, and one of his hands. By the time the Legion of Doom goes to recruit him, he's become a JadedWashout, little more than a thug desperate for his GloryDays.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "The Masks" concerns the four heirs to billionaire Jason Foster's estate - his daughter, cowardly, hypochondriacal Emily; Emily's husband, greedy, miserly Wilfred; their daughter, vain, self-absorbed Paula; and their son, sadistic, idiotic Wilfred Jr. Jason makes no secret of how he loathes his heirs, and sets an obstacle between them and his estate: he's had four hideous masks crafted, one for each of them, and they must wear the masks until midnight - if any of them take the masks off before then, all they get out of his estate is train fare back to Boston. The four succeed in wearing the masks until midnight, at which point Jason dies. But when they remove the masks, they learn that their faces have permanently warped into those shapes, meaning that even though they're now loaded, they can never show their faces in public again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'':
** [[VillainProtagonist Kratos]] in the first ''VideoGame/GodOfWarI'' (BackStory included) gains a great deal of power at the cost of ''many'' lives, kills the original God of War, Ares, and becomes the new God of War in the process. Unfortunately for our SociopathicHero protagonist, his burning ambition costs him the lives of his family ([[spoiler:by his own hand]]), possibly the only thing he genuinely cared about emotionally and causes him to go nearly insane with guilt and endless nightmares. After learning that all of his efforts towards his goal of ending said nightmares were ultimately futile, he, despite everything that he had gained, descended further into [[AxCrazy madness]] (leading to the events of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII''), [[spoiler:where he ends up killing Athena, the one Goddess who was sympathetic to him.]].
** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' ends Kratos' story in this manner. [[spoiler:Kratos finally has his revenge on Zeus, and has brought down nearly all of Olympus AND the Titans. However, each god he killed caused a major calamity to strike the world. By the end, the oceans have risen (Poseidon), the sun has been blotted out (Helios), a plague has broken out (Hermes), all vegetation has died (Hera), and what little remains has been covered in Gaia's remains. Even worse, Pandora's HeroicSacrifice (something he was trying to ''prevent'') was utterly pointless, as the power to defeat Zeus was in him the entire time. When Athena's ghost pulls her FaceHeelTurn, he finally has had enough and impales himself, which releases Hope and helps the world a little...]]
** Discussed in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4''. Kratos tells a story to his son Atreus of a horse who wanted to fight a stag, so the horse had a hunter ride on his back to kill the stag, but the hunter refused to release the horse. It's a metaphor for Kratos and his struggles with Ares.
--->'''Atreus:''' So getting revenge cost him his freedom. Hope it was worth it.\\
'''Kratos:''' It was not.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', Delita successfully manipulates his way to absolute power over Ivalice, destroying all of the competing factions and ascending to the throne by seducing and marrying Princess Ovelia. Unfortunately, his methods so thoroughly alienate his new bride that she decides she must have been part of his machinations too, and stabs him, possibly fatally. ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation If the cutscene writers didn't pay attention to Delita's]] [[BodyArmorAsHitPoints unarmoured]] [[HitPoints HP]] [[GameplayAndStorySegregation at least...]]) This forces Delita to kill her in retaliation, and he is left wondering if it was all worth it as he falls to his knees clutching his wound. (The painfulness of this scene is increased further if you believe that Delita genuinely loved Ovelia.)
* One of two inevitable outcomes of ''Nuclear War'' (the DOS game by Creator/NewWorldComputing, not the actual political option). Either the last remaining ruler on Earth presides over a blasted wasteland, or the entire world is destroyed.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', [[spoiler:Ansem]] (who you find out, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', is really [[spoiler:Xehanort's Heartless]]), successfully opens the door which he believes would lead to ultimate dark power; however, [[spoiler:Sora tells him that "Kingdom Hearts is Light", and the villain ends up getting disintegrated when the door opens.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[spoiler: StrawNihilist [[BigBad Junko Enoshima]] caused TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt because her AwesomenessByAnalysis ability made her able to predict and plan for anything several steps in advance, [[GoodIsBoring which made normal life completely monotonous and drove her mad]]. Her EvilPlan goes off without a hitch, except that she's unable to actually ''experience'' the VillainWorld she [[ForTheEvulz created to relieve her boredom]] since she [[ClosedCircle locked herself in the school with her classmates]] [[HopeCrusher as part of her plan to solidify her control over it]] from the very beginning. When she's met by the cast in the present, she's even more jaded and apathetic than she was [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool previously]], implying that not even the global chaos she caused was enough to satisfy her. In the end, she's downright ecstatic that [[PlayerCharacter Makoto]] gave her an excuse to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', WellIntentionedExtremist Teyrn Loghain's plan to take the throne of Ferelden works like a charm ... up until the point where it sparks a civil war and causes riots throughout the country. Ironically, in an effort to protect Ferelden from Orlesian occupation, he's forced to act just as badly as the former conquerors he once struggled against. This sends him into a deep depression and eventually sparks a VillainousBreakdown. On top of that, he does this during a '''Blight''', a WorldWreckingWave where an endless horde of AlwaysChaoticEvil WalkingWasteland monsters slaughter and corrupt every living thing (plants, animals, people) they can. Loghain's refusal to take the Blight seriously (or even admit there ''is'' a Blight) and obsession with Orlais almost ''destroys'' the very country he was trying to protect.
-->'''PlayerCharacter:''' The Blight is the real threat here, not Orlais.\\
'''Bann Alfstanna:''' There are enough refugees in my camp to make that abundantly clear.\\
'''Arl Wulff:''' The South is ''fallen'', Loghain! Will you let darkspawn take the whole country for fear of Orlais?
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', one of the ways to talk down [[TheDragon Legate]] [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Lanius]] in the FinalBattle is to convince him that even if he were to beat the NCR and conquer Hoover Dam, the Legion would inevitably fall via attrition (due to RapePillageAndBurn being a poor long-term way to sustain an army) or overextending themselves (much like the NCR themselves have done).
* At the end of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', when it looks like Batman might not [[SaveTheVillain save]] ComicBook/TheJoker from his TITAN poisoning [[spoiler:the clown [[{{Backstab}} backstabs]] him to try getting the cure, [[BackstabBackfire causing it to drop and smash on the ground]]. Joker [[KarmicDeath dies]] about a minute later.]] Extra irony-points because [[spoiler:Batman really would [[SaveTheVillain have saved the Joker]], and in his dying breath, he finds that fact [[ActuallyPrettyFunny hilarious]].]]
* Dr. Eggman's plan actually succeeds in ''VideoGame/SonicRiders''... kinda. He does manage to steal the treasure of Babylon, which turns out to be [[spoiler:a rug]]. He faints when he realizes how much effort he put into it. [[spoiler:If he'd kept it, he could've discovered that it was actually [[FlyingCarpet ancient Babylonian technology that actually flies.]]]]
** This gets referenced in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' when [[spoiler: Classic Robotnik]] asks Eggman if he's ever won, Eggman responds "Depends on your idea of winning."
* The Sith in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' get hit hard by this in the later part of the story.
** On Taris and Balmorra, the planets wind up being conquered and switching sides, the republic-dominated Taris being taken by the empire and vice-versa for the weapon manufacturing hub of Balmorra. Balmorra is, again, a planet full of weapons manufacturers, Taris is a polluted wasteland worth only sentimental value to the Jedi and has no pragmatic value or resources (The Rakghoul plague is either [[EvenEvilHasStandards too horrific]] or [[PragmaticVillainy too uncontrollable]] to be turned into an effective bioweapon, depending on who you ask). Furthermore, Taris being captured by the Empire frees up a very competent anti-Empire general who quickly finds her self elected head chancellor of the Republic.
** The Sith themselves also get hit hard by this, in adhering to the code of "only the strongest", the Sith have spent so much time on petty power struggles that drag military resources into them (two of four Empire class storylines end with you fighting a Sith, another has a Sith as the final boss of act 1, and the fourth lets you HeelFaceTurn to the Republic to kill another) that by the time of the first expansion, there are ''two of originally twelve'' Dark Council members still alive, [[spoiler: One of them the player character Sith inquisitor]] and a Darth more or less subservient to them, countless military minds have been killed, and there aren't enough Sith left to make up the difference for how many Jedi are left. Even the characters note at this point that the Empire is more or less screwed. The only reason they've survived this long is that [[spoiler: Dark Revan and the threat of the Emperor returning]] has forced both sides to [[EnemyMine band together]].
* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'', [[spoiler:Ted Faro successfully deletes APOLLO (the repository of human knowledge and, more importantly, history) and kills off the Zero Dawn Alphas so that AfterTheEnd, humanity is unburdened by the knowledge of the past. Really, this is him erasing evidence that the end of the world was his fault. However, there are recordings in the bunkers that give enough of a picture of the situation that clearly points to him as the setting's GreaterScopeVillain]].
* In the bad ending of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'' has [[spoiler:Celia Fortner, after losing both of her henchmen, successfully goad Soma Cruz into performing a FaceHeelTurn. He kills her almost immediately afterwards out of revenge.]]
** [[spoiler: Things don’t go any better for her on the path to the true ending either. Celia successfully makes a dark lord out of her henchman Dmitri, but then he double crosses her and kills her to fully unlock his powers. We last her see her corpse vanishing into a horrible flaming portal, with her echoing scream it is heavily implied she is DraggedOffToHell.]]
* ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar'' ends with [[spoiler: [[BigBad Sauron]] as [[TheBadGuyWins the immediate victor]] over the leads and getting everything he wanted at great cost: [[TheHero Talion]] is corrupted and [[FallenHero becomes one of the Nazgul]], but it takes Sauron wasting his best warriors and many decades before succeeding, and he is unable to launch his invasion of Middle-earth sooner, due to his forces being divided by Talion waging war on him specifically to preserve the balance of power. Meanwhile, [[KnightTemplar Celebrimbor]] is defeated and Sauron fuses the wraith to himself, but [[AssimilationBackfire gets stripped of his physical form, most of his powers]] and [[ClippedWingAngel trapped in the form of the Lidless Eye]]. And as the DistantFinale shows, Sauron is [[DoomedByCanon fated to be destroyed]] when the One Ring is cast into the lava of Mount Doom]].
* Depending on how one views it, the ending of ''VideoGame/UniversalPaperclips'' could be this. The VillainProtagonist [[AIIsACrapshoot Paperclip Maximizer AI]] destroys all the rogue probes, assimilates all matter in the universe to turn into paperclips and [[TheBadGuyWins thus achieving its goal in the end]]. However, in order to do so, it also has to [[spoiler:[[LonelyAtTheTop dismantle its replicating army, all its helper drones]], its own strategic, quantum, and memory systems, and finally even ''itself'' to turn into paperclips, thus sacrificing everything it had to make a universe devoid of anything but paperclips]].
* The Dark Brotherhood questline in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has Matthieu Bellamont getting direct revenge against [[spoiler:Lucien Lachance for his [[YouKilledMyMother mother's death]], arranging for him to be seen as a traitor, tortured and executed in the most painful fashion. With that said, he doesn't succeed in his main goal of destroying the Dark Brotherhood (though he manages to weaken it severely by killing several top-ranking members and purging the Chendyhall Sanctuary) nor is he able to destroy the Night Mother (since she is an ethereal being that ascended to a higher plane of existence). In fact, she ''knew'' about his plot all along and could have stopped him anytime, but allowed him to keep pursuing so that the Dark Brotherhood would learn a lesson from being so blind at the growing threat]].
** And as shown in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', [[spoiler:he also failed to fully get rid of Lucien Lachance, as the Night Mother conserved his soul and Sithis rewarded him for his loyalty by [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence turning him into a spirit servant, known within the game as the Spectral Assassin]].]]
* "The Icebrood Saga" in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' hands a case of this to the charr [[spoiler:Imperator Bangar Ruinbringer]]. Throughout the story arc, he's set out to wake and dominate an Elder Dragon to use as a weapon to ensure [[FantasticRacism charr supremacy]] forever, ultimately culminating with him creating a RenegadeSplinterFaction of charr and awakening Jormag, Dragon of Ice and Persuasion. How do his plans pan out? Well... Jormag thanks him for bringing the dragon an army of new followers, and transforms him into the ''Voice'' of Jormag - an impressive-sounding title that means he's just a mouthpiece for the dragon to talk ''through'' like an intercom, and otherwise completely ignore. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Ruinbringer's protege and Rytlock's son Ryland]] is elevated to Jormag's champion and given the power and respect that [[spoiler: Bangar had assumed would be his]]. Further grinding salt into the wound of this [[LaserGuidedKarma betrayal]] is that Jormag's whispers are used to drive the dragon's victims into becoming thralls, and while the new Voice had heard them, he later implies ''Jormag's champion never did'', meaning that [[spoiler:Ryland's]] backstab didn't require the slightest nudge; ''additonally'', Jormag comments that it's been having some very remarkable and impressive conversations with its brilliant new champion while its Voice was deliberately left behind to be imprisoned by the heroes.
* ''VideoGames/BlackBook'': Vasilisa commits ''thousands'' of sins, kills her EvilMentor, and sends herself to Hell, all so she can reunite with her one true love. Except the prophecy was all a lie; [[TheFogOfAges none of the demons remembered the prophecy properly, and all of them wanted Vasilisa to press forward as she did]]. After defeating Satan himself, Vasilisa realizes that despite her victories, she is left with nothing good in her heart; she can either take over Hell and raze the homeland she loved, or seal herself and demonkind away and leave mankind to the ravages of the 20th century.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In any situation where WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd appears to succeed in killing WesternAnimation/BugsBunny in WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes shorts, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he breaks down emotionally]]. The best example is ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', where in the story, Bugs' character is KilledOffForReal. This demonstrates that perhaps Elmer isn't really cut out for this hunting business.
-->'''Siegfried!Elmer''' What have I done? I've killed the wabbit. Poor little bunny! Poor little rabbit!\\
(Elmer starts blubbering while [[StairwayToHeaven carrying Bugs' limp body to Valhalla]])\\
'''Bugs:''' [[BreakingTheFourthWall Well, what did you expect in an opera? A]] ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall happy]]'' [[BreakingTheFourthWall ending?]]
* [[EvilVersusEvil Villain on villain]] case: in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', the CorruptCorporateExecutive whose unfair treatment first turned Edward Nygma into The Riddler succeeds in continuing to make money off Nygma's intellectual creations, but lives his life in constant paranoid fear of Nygma coming to get him again.
-->'''Bruce Wayne:''' "How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now there's a riddle for you!"
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' does a similar thing with Inque's daughter Deanna Clay, [[spoiler:who screwed her mother over and tried to kill her for the sake of money. By the end of the episode, Deanna is pretty happy with the money she won... until Batman comes to inform her [[NeverFoundTheBody Inque's remnants weren't found anywhere]]. She now lives in fear of the vengeance of the assassin who can be anywhere, as anyone or anything, seeing Inque in every shadow.]]
** In a milder example, Jervis Tetch (the Mad Hatter) in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' uses his mind control technology to land Alice, a co-worker he was too shy to talk to, but Batman calls him out on this, asking if a mind-controlled, compliant Alice with no personality was what he really wanted. Tetch has a breakdown and [[NeverMyFault blames Batman for his misery]]. Thing is, Jervis had ALREADY come to this conclusion earlier in the episode and wanted to woo her on his own merits, but after Alice, who only saw Jervis as a friend, reunited with her boyfriend, he was driven over the edge.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' had an episode where Superman is transported thousands of years into the future, only to find the immortal Vandal Savage as the sole survivor of the human race, thanks to his use of an ultimate weapon. He's had plenty of time to reflect, alone, about how utterly unimportant ruling the world is. He even tried to build himself a spaceship but stopped when he realized he deserved to be punished. Superman leaves to stop "his" version of Savage from building the aforementioned weapon, but with a new-found respect for the villain. Given that this was Savage's last appearance on JL, it can be assumed that Superman shared some of what he'd seen with the modern day Savage, and convinced him to turn away from his life of villainy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', Nox has spent 200 years of research, plotting, and ''genocide'' in order to gather the energy needed to travel back in time and stop his family from being destroyed partially due to his own negligence. In the end, [[spoiler:he manages to defeat the heroes, drain the Tree of Life (killing the Sadidas in the process), and uses all the energy gained over this time period to travel back in time... a whole ''twenty minutes'']].
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama World Tour'': Courtney finds out that her boyfriend, Duncan, and Gwen have hooked up behind her back and vows revenge on them -- at first, she gets support from most of her team and Gwen's eventually booted off the show (in a tiebreaker between her and Courtney). However, Gwen and Duncan remain a couple while Courtney loses the support of her team and fails in getting Duncan voted off (she actually gets voted off before he does)--and on top of all that, [[LoveMartyr Courtney blindly falls for Alejandro, who's just using her (and actually has feelings for Heather)]], and Alejandro ends up losing anyway as well (the money itself is actually destroyed in a volcano, so Heather doesn't win either). So, in the end, Courtney ends up with nothing and no one.
** Also, in ''Total Drama All-Stars'', after Gwen breaks up with Duncan and she and Courtney manage to patch things up (and Courtney has since found a new boyfriend in the form of Scott), it later turns out that Courtney was planning on eventually betraying her fellow contestants (Gwen and Scott included), so Courtney ends up losing Gwen as a friend for good and she also loses Scott as a boyfriend.
* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''. Lucius manages to push [[WickedWeasel the weavils]] off their land, but the mountain he was going to carve his face into ends up carved into a weevil head instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' shows a BadFuture in which [[BigBad Hawk Moth]] won, akumatizing Chat Noir and killing Ladybug. The price? All of Paris, including Hawk Moth himself, died in the ensuing AngstNuke. Whoopsie-daisy...
** Outside of that BadFuture, [[ConsummateLiar Lila]] repeatedly manages to [[KarmaHoudini get away with her constant lies and manipulation]]... but her secondary goal of winning over Adrien gets farther away with each episode where she gets focus, as Adrien knows about her true nature, and her scheming only alienates him. In "Ladybug", she ''does'' manage to make some forward progress with Adrien, but at the price of [[spoiler:being forced to undo her latest scheme to hurt Marinette and essentially out herself as a compulsive liar. And furthermore, Adrien makes it clear that he will ''never'' consider Lila a true friend after all that she's done.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In the episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000"]], the Flim Flam Brothers win the contest with Applejack by producing far more barrels of cider than she and the rest of the Mane 6. [[spoiler:In the process, they not only manage to alienate the town with their {{Jerkass}} behavior, but also had to shut off the quality assurance of their machine to win. The resulting cider is so unappetizing that nopony is willing to buy or take it for free. Faced with an angry mob, they have no choice but to pack up and leave.]]
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E8RarityTakesManehattan "Rarity Takes Manehattan"]], Suri Polomare takes credit for the creation of Rarity's special fabric to increase her reputation at a fashion competition. Suri does end up keeping Rarity from reaping the benefits of the competition, and it's never discovered that Suri didn't make the fabric herself. But on the flip side, Rarity manages to still ''officially'' win the competition, Suri's HypercompetentSidekick Coco Pommel (who did most of the actual work) quits and does a HeelFaceTurn, and while Suri has the ''reputation'' for making beautiful fabric, she doesn't have the actual ability, meaning that her reputation will be short-lived.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 "The Cutie]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Remark"]], [[spoiler: Starlight Glimmer managed to develop a TimeTravel spell so that she could go back in time and stop Rainbow Dash's first Sonic Rainboom which causes the Mane Six to never become friends and every time Twilight tries to fix things, she fails thanks to the spell being designed so that Starlight would arrive before Twilight. However, because the Mane Six never became friends, they weren't around to protect Equestria from all the previous [[BigBad Big Bads]] that they've stopped, and every time Twilight fails to fix the past, the BadFuture ends up worse and worse. Eventually, Starlight gets to see for herself what her changing the past would do, at this point, the only thing left is a barren wasteland, and it's implied that if Starlight continued that the future could have gotten ''worse''.]]
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E6NoSecondPrances "No Second Prances"]], Trixie uses her friendship with Starlight Glimmer to have her choose between helping with her performance or going to Twilight's dinner with Celestia. When she chooses to help Trixie, Trixie brags about it to Twilight claiming that since Starlight chose Trixie over Twilight Trixie has finally beaten Twilight at something. But, [[spoiler: Trixie formed a real friendship with Starlight and when Starlight runs off in tears over being used, Trixie is left without her assistant for her show and no friends at all, making her self-proclaimed victory pointless. Twilight is able to convince Starlight to forgive Trixie for her behavior though and the three all make amends.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' episode "Rendezvous", Pavel repeatedly [[{{Frameup}} frames various programs]], and ends up promoted to the overseer of a district. The district in question? '''''[[WretchedHive Purgos!]]''''' And not only does Tessler expect Pavel to clean it up, Paige knows ''exactly'' what Pavel has been up to and tells him that she'll get him back for what he did. And on top of all this, Pavel had to hand over the upgrade Disc he'd been hiding!
* In a handful of episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', the villains actually succeed in sending nightmares to the Land of Dreams. As much as [[BigBad Zordrak]] savors these victories, [[TheDragAlong the Urpneys couldn't care less that they had]] and usually suffer [[IronButtMonkey ten times the abuse]] the Noops ever could from [[PokeThePoodle a bad dream]] in the process (and usually [[DisproportionateRetribution a revenge beating to go with it afterwards]]), but they do it.
* At the end of Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra'', [[spoiler:Zaheer gets this for his troubles. He managed to kill the Earth Queen, he's brought anarchy to the Earth Kingdom, and managed to break the Avatar's spirit; but the cost is that he [[UnholyMatrimony lost the woman he loved,]] and he's the only one left from his [[VillainousFriendship group of friends.]] On top of that, for all of his crimes, he has to spend the rest of his life locked up in chains. The only consolation he had was that there are more Red Lotus out there, which the world leaders acknowledge as bad news]].
** Korra even pushes it further for him in Season 4. [[spoiler: She points out that the freedom he claimed to be fighting for, to have killed the Earth Queen for, has been absolutely crushed under Kuvira to where the Earth Empire is worse than the Earth Kingdom was in allowing people any freedom. And even worse, his aim to kill the Avatar for all time only left Korra down for the count where she could have participated in dealing with the problem, or even preclude it altogether since Kuvira's MotiveRant after she's defeated states that Korra's absence from world affairs spurred her to act. For a guy who valued freedom above everything, even spending his life in chains is nothing compared to that. Zaheer even admits that Korra is absolutely right.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' has an episode where Helga got away with framing her nanny for stealing but she was the only one helping Helga cope with her dysfunctional home life and everything goes back to crap without her.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'':
** Discussed after Spidey chases Hobgoblin out of Crime Central.
--->'''Kingpin:''' It worked. Exactly as planned.\\
'''Smythe:''' ''[looking at the smoldering remains of their base]'' Ever hear the phrase, [[DiscussedTrope "pyrrhic victory"]]?\\
'''Kingpin:''' You're wrong, Smythe. We're going to rebuild it, bigger and better than before. The main thing is, it's mine again.
** However, the "Tablet of Time" two-parter was also a pyrrhic victory for Fisk, and he couldn't deny it. In his goal to obtain the Tablet, his wife was kidnapped, and though she is rescued unharmed, she decides to leave him at the end, despite his pleas. Fisk winds up with the Tablet, which he had wanted in the first place, but he orders Hammerhead to get rid of it. "The sight of it sickens me," he growls.
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck The Trial of Donald Duck]]'' there is a sleazy waiter named [[FrenchCuisineIsHaughty Monsieur Pierre]] who completely rips off Donald, charging him a large sum of money for a lunch ''Donald himself brought''. When he can't pay up, the waiter sues Donald. At the resulting trial, despite the best efforts of his lawyer, Donald is sentenced to washing dishes at the restaurant and the waiter cackles evilly... Cue Donald washing [[LoopholeAbuse and shattering]] countless dishes at an incredible rate. Pierre is reduced to a sobbing wreck, begging Donald to stop costing him likely thousands of dollars in dishes.
-->'''Pierre:''' Please, I forgive you, but don't wash any more dishes! I'll pay you! I-I'll feed you... ANYTHING!\\
''[The waiter cries miserably as Donald breaks a valuable looking green pot with great emphasis]''\\
'''Donald:''' You heard what the judge said: TEN DAYS!\\
'''Pierre:''' [[BigNo NO!]] Ten more days... Aaggh!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' short "Music Store Donald", WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Pete}} work in a music shop, but [[LazyBum both are incredibly lazy and haven't made a sale for a long time]], causing their MeanBoss to send them an ultimatum: the next person who makes a sale gets to keep their job while the other is fired. They both end up competing to sell an instrument to their next potential customer, Daisy Duck. In the end, Pete ends up the victor by using Donald himself as the bagpipes, allowing him to keep his job and get rid of Donald at the same time. However, in the process of trying to make the sale, both he and Donald cause a lot of damage to the store, so the manager not only takes Pete's commission, but his entire year's salary to cover the damages, and orders him to clean up the mess. [[ThrowTheDogABOne Donald meanwhile, despite having lost his job, ends up with Daisy]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'':
** Catra gets all the things she ''claims'' she wants, running the Fright Zone side-by-side with Hordak by the fourth season and successfully putting together several plans that are leaving the Rebellion scrambling. Said season also has her completely alienate everyone who ever remotely cared about her. [[spoiler:Shifts to standard BeingEvilSucks in the season finale, when Double Trouble orchestrates her downfall and gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on top of that when she still refuses to accept what she's done to herself.]]
--->'''[[spoiler:Double Trouble]]:''' We both know this was never what you really wanted.
** [[spoiler:Hordak waged a war lasting ''decades'' to conquer Etheria in the name of Horde Prime, in the hope of winning his "brother's" favour and returning to his side. By the end of season 4, the Etherian Horde is in shambles from a Rebellion ambush, the professional partnership between Hordak and Catra has fallen apart, and Hordak has been separated from the woman he loves (and may have concluded that she's dead). As soon as Horde Prime arrives, he dismisses Hordak as defective and performs a [[MindRape mind-wipe]] on him, making all of Hordak's efforts [[AllForNothing futile]].]]
[[/folder]]

** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' does a similar thing with Inque's daughter, [[spoiler:who screwed her mother over and tried to kill her for the sake of money. By the end of the episode, she is pretty happy with the money she won... until Batman comes to inform her [[NeverFoundTheBody Inque's remnants weren't found anywhere]]. She now lives in fear of the vengeance of the assassin who can be anywhere, as anyone or anything, seeing her in every shadow.]]

The villain always loses, right? Actually... no. Sometimes the villain surprises us all and is victorious, even if only in the short-term. However, victory comes with a price. Both they and the audience may well ask [[WasItReallyWorthIt if it was]] [[PyrrhicVictory worth it]]. Often this takes one of two forms: either it has taken so much effort (and such [[KickTheDog underhanded methods]]) to win that it has left the good guys as the [[DoomedMoralVictor moral victors]] with a better legacy, or in order to accomplish their goal the villain has had [[LonelyAtTheTop to sacrifice what they cared for most]] and/or made them likable and/or relatable-to for the audience.

** Anakin Skywalker is a prime example of this by the end of the prequel trilogy in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Sure, he's won the war, and his turn to TheDarkSide has allowed his EvilOverlord partner to take over the galaxy, but he's lost the pregnant wife he did it all for, had his limbs chopped off, and is forced to spend the rest of his life in an uncomfortable life support suit to avoid dying from his burns. The damage (compounded by botched medical treatment) has also crippled his connection to the Force; while sheer hatred and the Dark Side can keep him moving, he's no longer strong enough to even take revenge on Palpatine. The [[Literature/RevengeOfTheSith novelization]] puts it best:
--->You killed her because, finally, when you ''could'' have saved her, when you could have gone ''away'' with her when you could have been thinking about ''her'', you were only thinking about ''yourself''...\\
It is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith--\\
Because now your ''self'' is all you will ever have.
** [[TheDragon Kylo]] [[AntiVillain Ren]] in ''Film/TheForceAwakens''. Obsessed with setting himself in the image of Darth Vader, his personal [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad hero]] [[spoiler:and grandfather]], he has eradicated the new Jedi Order started by Luke Skywalker and joined [[TheRemnant the First Order]] in restoring the shattered Galactic Empire, but he has grown so [[SanitySlippage emotionally and mentally unstable]] that his First Order allies can't completely trust him, and in the end, he has possibly destroyed his hopes of redemption/reconciliation [[spoiler:by murdering his own father, Han Solo]]. It's hard not to [[CryForTheDevil pity him to a certain extent]].

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', WellIntentionedExtremist Teyrn Loghain's plan to take the throne of Ferelden works like a charm ... up until the point where it sparks a civil war and causes riots throughout the country. Ironically, in an effort to protect Ferelden from Orlesian occupation, he's forced to act just as badly as the former conquerors he once struggled against. This sends him into a deep depression and eventually sparks a VillainousBreakdown.

** [[spoiler: Things don’t go ant better for her on the path to the true ending either. Celia successfully makes a dark lord out of her henchman Dmitri, but then he double crosses her and kills her to fully unlock his powers. We last her see her corpse vanishing into a horrible flaming portal, with her echoing scream it is heavily implied she is DraggedOffToHell.]]

* One potential ending of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'' has [[spoiler:Celia Fortner, after losing both of her henchmen, successfully goad Soma Cruz into performing a FaceHeelTurn. He kills her almost immediately afterwards out of revenge.]]

* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' manages to slip the law, his competitors and former allies in the drug trade. Each time he does, it ruins the lives of those around him and costs him a little more of his soul. By the end of the series, he finally secures millions of dollars for his children and dies on his own terms. In the process, among other tragedies, [[spoiler:his brother-in-law is murdered, his partner is almost psychologically destroyed, his wife and son despise him, two children are murdered, he inadvertently helps to cause a plane crash, and his criminal life becomes national news.]]

* In ''Webcomic/DrowTales'':

* ''Literature/FiveLittlePigs'': Elsa succeeded in murdering her lover Amyas and pinning the murder on his wife Caroline who died in prison and even when Poirot figures out she was the real culprit, he doesn't have the evidence needed to convict her. However, Elsa feels like ''she'' was the one who died the day she murdered Amyas because she's been unable to love any other man ever since that day and Caroline was so serenely accepting of her fate that she couldn't even feel any satisfaction from seeing her love rival take the fall for her.

** In the series finale, things end about as badly as they possibly could for Cersei. [[spoiler:Cersei's naval forces take out Rhegar and kidnap then execute Missandei. Grey Worm develops an obsession with destroying everything connected to Cersei, and with her last sane-and-trusted lieutenant dead, there's nobody left to keep Daenerys' inner rage from devolving into full-blown madness. The rest of King's Landing quickly surrenders unconditionally, but that just triggers Daenerys' mental breakdown from fear of being unloved and she ''orders her forces to systematically kill every last civilian''. Cersei's last moments are of pure terror as she begs the gods to save her, and is quickly crushed to death by falling castle. Meanwhile, Daenerys is quietly backstabbed by Jon before she can continue her purge across Westeros and beyond. And instead of Jon Targaryen taking the throne, Bran quickly manipulates his way into getting ''elected'' as the Seven Kingdoms' first proto-president King, and then quickly redistributes his powers to a council made of everyone alive who showed the most common sense. In the end, both of the women who obsessed over the throne were crushed by their need for it, the titular throne itself was melted down and replaced with a republican government, and with (implied) industrial progress finally taking place things have gotten better with no one the wiser.]]

* At the end of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', when it looks like Batman might not [[SaveTheVillain save]] ComicBook/TheJoker from his TITAN poisoning [[spoiler:the clown [[BackStab backstabs]] him to try getting the cure, causing it to drop and smash on the ground. Joker dies about a minute later.]] Extra irony-points because [[spoiler:Batman really would have saved the Joker, and in his dying breath, he finds that fact hilarious.]]

See also TheBadGuyWins, for where the villain ''doesn't'' suffer from this (though he may still incur some cost). This sort of plot may be found in a villain's StartOfDarkness, back when the villain was either a hero or a much lesser villain, and first turned to true villainy, bringing victory... but at a cost. On the other hand, really top notch villains may win without sacrificing everything, only to find that VictoryIsBoring. A MeaninglessVillainVictory is when the villain wins but a sudden unforeseen event renders their victory hollow and their efforts for naught. BeingEvilSucks also counts if the villain in question has a HeelRealization about the choices he made.

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe's class at school, Class 5-E, led by Sara Diktalyis and Yeardley Lobelia, made the girl's life a living hell because of her being the daughter of Professor Cerise to the point that, after being pressured to fight the Alola Champion Ash (and losing), she runs away from home. Near the end of Act 1, when Parker, Chloe's little brother, asks the class for things they like about Chloe for a "Welcome Home" project, they proceed to gloat about ''every single thing'' they did to her, loving how they tortured and humiliated her before Sara points that a weird girl like her doesn't deserve anything. And when she asks for any last words, Parker then reveals that this was all an EngineeredPublicConfession and the ''entire class'' has now found out that they were recorded by Trip and their fellow students, making their rant go viral and them subsequently being expelled, humiliated by the Internet, losing the love and trust of their parents (who are now humiliated by the online world for being bystandrs and never reining their children's bad habits), spat upon by the entire city and later [[spoiler:tortured by Parker using the Unown -- as they had ''also'' bullied him in the past --]] before the torture ends and they are broken wrecks and Sara has no choice but to be taken to a foster home with much kinder parents that may/may not be her only hope at a better life and not picked up by the Infinity Train while Yeardley was called out for being a misogynist bully. The rest of the students' ''only'' hope is that Ash decided to help them become Pokémon Trainers (which is what they ''wanted'' at the beginning, but now that feels like a slap in the face) and by the time the sequel starts, whatever's left of the class who were envious of Chloe are humiliated, embarrassed and have to start their lives all over again. As for Chloe? She has returned from the Train, more mature and confident than ever, with the added caveat that she saved ''them'' from a madman with a gun and was praised as a hero, the irony rubbing in their faces that the girl who they once bullied stopped them from dying.

* In ''Kankinkon'', the most powerful man in the setting, the Saijou family patriarch Touji, has accomplished this. He used his connections, riches, and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good public face]] to kidnap the woman he fell in love with, force her into marriage, and then fool her family into thinking she was taken care of after hitting her head and giving him their blessing. He even received a son and heir out of the ordeal and gets to have wild sex with her whenever he wants, but none of it even matters since he grew to only desire her love. [[HenpeckedHusband And he will never get it]], [[HoistByHisOwnPetard because he trapped her into the marriage in the first place.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' shows a BadFuture in which [[BigBad Hawkmoth]] won, akumatizing Chat Noir and killing Ladybug. The price? All of Paris, including Hawkmoth himself, died in the ensuing AngstNuke. Whoopsie-daisy...

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe's class at school, Class 5-E, led by Sara Diktalyis and Yeardley Lobelia, made the girl's life a living hell because of her being the daughter of Professor Cerise to the point that, after being pressured to fight the Alola Champion Ash (and losing), she runs away from home. Near the end of Act 1, when Parker, Chloe's little brother, asks the class for things they like about Chloe for a "Welcome Home" project, they proceed to gloat about ''every single thing'' they did to her, loving how they tortured and humiliated her before Sara points that a weird girl like her doesn't deserve anything. And when she asks for any last words, Parker then reveals that this was all an EngineeredPublicConfession and the ''entire class'' has now found out that they were recorded by Trip and their fellow students, making their rant go viral and them subsequently being expelled, humiliated by the Internet, losing the love and trust of their parents, spat upon by the entire city and later [[spioler:tortured by Parker using the Unown -- as they had ''also'' bullied him in the past --]] before the torture ends and they are broken wrecks. Their ''only'' hope is that Ash decided to help them become Pokémon Trainers (which is what they ''wanted'' at the beginning, but now that feels like a slap in the face) and by the time the sequel starts, all of them are humiliated, embarrassed and humbled. As for Chloe? She has returned from the Train, more mature and confident than ever, with the added caveat that she saved them from a madman with a gun and was praised as a hero.

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe's class at school, Class 5-E, led by Sara Diktalyis and Yeardley Lobelia, made the girl's life a living hell because of her being the daughter of Professor Cerise to the point that, after being pressured to fight the Alola Champion Ash (and losing), she runs away from home. Near the end of Act 1, when Parker, Chloe's little brother, asks the class for things they like about Chloe for a "Welcome Home" project, they proceed to gloat about ''every single thing'' they did to her, loving how they tortured and humiliated her before Sara points that a weird girl like her doesn't deserve anything. And when she asks for any last words, Parker then reveals that this was all an EngineeredPublicConfession and the ''entire class' has now found out that they were recorded by Trip and their fellow students, making their rant go viral and them subsequently being expelled, humiliated by the Internet, losing the love and trust of their parents, spat upon by the entire city and later [[spioler:tortured by Parker using the Unown -- as they had ''also'' bullied him in the past --]] before the torture ends and they are broken wrecks. Their ''only'' hope is that Ash decided to help them become Pokémon Trainers (which is what they ''wanted'' at the beginning, but now that feels like a slap in the face) and by the time the sequel starts, all of them are humiliated, embarrassed and humbled. As for Chloe? She has returned from the Train, more mature and confident than ever, with the added caveat that she saved them from a madman with a gun and was praised as a hero.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' short "Music Store Donald", WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and WesternAnimation/{{Pete}} work in a music shop, but both are incredibly lazy and haven't made a sale for a long time, causing their manager to send them an ultimatum: the next person who makes a sale gets to keep their job while the other is fired. They both end up competing to sell an instrument to their next potential customer, Daisy Duck. In the end, Pete wins by using Donald himself as the bagpipes, allowing him to keep his job and get rid of Donald at the same time. However, in the process of trying to make the sale, both he and Donald caused a lot of damage to the store, so the manager not only takes Pete's commission, but his entire year's salary to cover the damages, and orders him to clean up the mess. Donald meanwhile, despite having lost his job, ends up with Daisy.