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4->'''Tank:''' Who... do you work for?\
5'''Bob:''' Uhh, Tom Nook.\
6'''Tank:''' What? HE SHOT ME!\
7'''Bob:''' Oh. You didn't do what he asked?\
8'''Tank:''' No, I did what he asked. He shot me anyway!
9-->-- ''WebAnimation/AnimalCrossingWildWorldAbridged''
10
11A series premise that allows the heroes or the villains to win minor battles along the way but prevents them from ever truly winning their overall "war" and achieving the SeriesGoal without ending or completely changing the series. They can't win, because then, of course, it would end the series.
12
13On shows with premises like these, there ''will'' be episodes in which the characters make an attempt to actually resolve the premise. The frequency of such eps can range from occasional (''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', "Timeless") to frequent (''Series/GilligansIsland'', ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'', ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''). Conversely, a character may briefly rise above his GenreBlindness and try to [[FailureGambit take advantage of the permanent state of failure]], consequently falling right into SpringtimeForHitler. When a show's impending end is known ahead of time to the producers, however, they may choose to go out with a GrandFinale, in which Failure is no longer the Only Option.
14
15A related trope is PerpetualPoverty; the show's plot is the characters making a living doing something [[AnthropicPrinciple entertaining to audiences]] such as [[BountyHunter catching criminals for money]] (or maybe ''[[ConMan being criminals]]''), and if they ever had a windfall they might actually choose to do something less troublesome and therefore less entertaining. Thus, if they ever ''do'' get their hands on a windfall they have to [[EasyComeEasyGo quickly lose it]].
16
17FissionMailed, HopelessBossFight, and StupidityIsTheOnlyOption are when this trope is applied to video games, where the player must fail, be defeated, etc. in order to advance the story. This is usually done by making the hero extremely weak at that point in time, or making the boss unbeatable due to superior level or some outside force, especially if it's still early in the game. Mind you, it is almost guaranteed that [[LordBritishPostulate somebody somewhere will come up with a hack or unorthodox strategy to get around this]], resulting in either [[{{Railroading}} a complete failure of the plot to acknowledge the player’s victory]], the game crashing, or some kind of EasterEgg.
18
19If the BigBad of a given work appears at the {{prequel}}, you can be sure that he will not die at the end: he has to live on, to be the big bad of the main work. In fact, ''all'' the initial conditions of the main work are unavoidable, including but not limited to the presence of the villain. Consider for example the first ''Star Wars'' trilogy, and the prequel trilogy. It is a ForegoneConclusion that Anakin would live on, that he would fall to the dark side, but also that most Jedi would be killed, that the Republic would turn into the Empire, etc. Any attempt of the heroes in the prequel to change this is doomed to failure.
20
21In cases of game shows with recurring contestants who keep bumbling their chances at winning a game, they are usually defined by the trope BornUnlucky (and if it gets ''really'' out of hand, they might be branded a MemeticLoser), but once the streak of bad luck is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d and starts to become an in-joke regarding when or if the contestant figures out how to finally win and is expected to lose (or they themselves expect to lose), it transitions into this.
22
23Related tropes:
24* DeathIsTheOnlyOption
25* EasyComeEasyGo (similar to this trope but PlayedForLaughs)
26* ForegoneConclusion
27* ImpossibleTask
28* JokerImmunity (when the goal is to kill, incarcerate or otherwise semi-permanently stop a recurring villain)
29* JustEatGilligan (when there is one simple action the character ''could'' take to avert this)
30* MortonsFork (two or more choices lead to the same bad outcome)
31* OntologicalMystery (when leaving a situation is mysteriously impossible)
32* RoadRunnerVsCoyote
33* StatusQuoIsGod
34* YankTheDogsChain (when victory seems right outside the hero's grasp)
35* YoYoPlotPoint (when the same issue is constantly resolved, and then screwed up again)
36* YouCantFightFate (If it is prophesied, any attempt to avert this fate would only result in it being sealed)
37* YouCantThwartStageOne (any attempt to stop a villain's evil plan before its final stages is doomed to failure)
38
39[[noreallife]]
40----
41!!Example Subpages:
42[[index]]
43* FailureIsTheOnlyOption/LiveActionTV
44* FailureIsTheOnlyOption/VideoGames
45* FailureIsTheOnlyOption/WesternAnimation
46[[/index]]
47!!Other Examples:
48[[foldercontrol]]
49
50[[folder:Advertising]]
51* It is a trope as old as advertising itself that anybody depicted using a competitor's product is doomed to failure.
52* Advertising/{{Trix|Rabbit}} [[CerealViceReward commercials]] — Goal: Eat a bowl of Trix. Despite many, many attempts, is only achieved when the company holds a vote, and the voters overwhelmingly support giving the rabbit some damn Trix. In an early commercial for Trix, he actually did get a bite of Trix. You can see the commercial [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsL6cb2EeCg here.]] Of course, it doesn't help that he gets the Trix and then proceeds to dance around, singing about the flavors, giving the kids plenty of time to steal it back. Trix used to have the Trix Vote every presidential Election year. Trix Rabbit won in 1972, 1980, and 1996. The election wasn't run again since 1996. One commercial was outright cruel about it, as the Rabbit DID get a bowl of Trix at one point, but as he goes to pour the milk, the carton was empty, [[CommercialSwitcheroo prompting]] "[[Advertising/GotMilk Got Milk?]]"
53* For years Nestlé Quik chocolate mix had its own rabbit mascot, the Quik Bunny, who was forever trying (and failing) to make his Quik last by drinking it slowly.
54* Cocoa Puffs had Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, who was always trying to avoid going "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" but never quite making it. (Although, there was ''one'' commercial where he turned the tables on one of the kids and made ''him'' go cuckoo for it.)
55* For that matter, that leprechaun never achieved his goal of ''keeping'' his Lucky Charms Cereal. It seems that kids love dicking around with cereal mascots.
56* Fred, Barney, and Barney sneak-swiping Fruity Pebbles. Fortunately, this ended around 2010, switching to Fred and Barney cheerfully eating cereal together, except with Barney testing to see what less than 64 pebbles on your tongue does.
57* Advertising/CharlieTheTuna will never be caught by [=StarKist=], no matter how many attempts to show off his "good taste" he tries.
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
61* Played for laughs in one of the shorts in ''Anime/AkameGaKill''. The short is a parody of dating sims while Tatsumi and Esdeath are trapped on a desert island. [[InterfaceScrew No matter what he clicks on the menu, the choice automatically goes to the one that makes Esdeath advance on him.]] At one point, Esdeath is slowly coming at him and all of the menu choices read 'Take Me Now'. Not even him clicking the option button works.
62* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' will end as soon as someone successfully assassinates Koro-sensei. Of course none of the assassination attempts shown in the first hundred chapters or so are going to work.
63** Slightly {{Subverted|Trope}} with the revelation of [[spoiler: Koro-sensei's real identity and [[ICannotSelfTerminate his inevitable fate]]]], since the class still has a slight chance of reversing it. And then it was [[DoubleSubversion subverted]] [[HopeSpot again]] in a heart-wrenching way.
64* ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler:'' Baki, and just about every other fighter in the series, dreams of beating [[WorldsStrongestMan Yujiro.]] ''Not. Gonna. Happen.'' The only fighter who's ever come within a thousand miles of beginning to give Yujiro a decent fight is [[OldMaster Kaku Kaioh,]] and that all went south as soon as Yujiro [[PowerCopying figured out the secret to his Xiao-Lee technique.]] Now the manga has ended and Yujiro's still undefeated. Seems like someone's the CreatorsPet.
65* In ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', the main characters are trying to get a manga published that will get an anime, so that Moritaka Mashiro's love interest Miho Azuki can star as the heroine, and they can marry after fulfilling their dreams. Not counting the many times they submitted one-shots or names that got rejected even before they could be considered for serialization, their first manga, Detective Trap, gets canceled and their second manga, Tanto, ends after they decide that they're unable to make it popular enough, and that it would likely be canceled before it got an anime. Their third manga, PCP, [[spoiler: defies the RuleOfThree when parental concerns that kids will imitate the "perfect crimes" prevents it from getting sponsors for an anime despite being popular. Eventually, though, they succeed in their goal with Reversi]].
66* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', this was deconstructed and then horribly, ''horribly'' reconstructed in the case of Griffith's dream of getting his own kingdom through winning the Kingdom of Midland's war against the Tudor Empire. All he had to do was wait around for the right moment to get [[StandardHeroReward Princess Charlotte's hand in marriage and the kingdom would be his.]] Of course, taking place in the [[CrapsackWorld Berserkerverse]], you knew that [[DiabolusExMachina this was too easy to accomplish.]] So after everything falls apart for Griffith [[spoiler: (which was actually partially his doing, since he took Guts' departure AFTER winning the war [[{{Yandere}} a little]] [[IfICantHaveYou over the top]], which led to his [[SexForSolace erratic behavior with Princess Charlotte]], which led to his horrible imprisonment and torture)]] and his dream looked all but destroyed... hey, whaddya know? Griffith has the chance to go after his dream again! ...By making [[MoralEventHorizon the most vile and horrible of all decisions that he could possibly make]]! [[SarcasmMode Hooray!]]
67* Subverted in ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' to earth-shattering effect, when [[spoiler:[[CardCarryingVillain Aion]] actually [[TheBadGuyWins successfully]] goes through with the Atonement Ritual]]. And failure is the only option for the heroes.
68* In ''Manga/CityHunter'', this is PlayedForLaughs regarding [[HandsomeLech Ryo]]'s ''numerous'' attempts at scoring with the ladies, which always end up failing, whether due to circumstances, the ladies themselves managing to weasel their way out of it ([[CowboyCop Saeko]] is especially notorious for this, much to Ryo's irritation), and/or someone else's intervention (usually [[ClingyJealousGirl Kaori]]'s).
69* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'':
70** The crew of the ''[=BeBop=]'': they're reasonably competent in fighting, killing, or catching bounty heads. But, some random technicality or accident always prevents them from actually getting the reward and escaping PerpetualPoverty -- and worse, any money they DO get is usually bled away to nothing by the bills run up by [[DestructiveSaviour Spike's destructive tendencies on the job]]. From the very beginning of the series:
71--->'''Spike:''' What happened to the million-woolong reward we got for that last guy?\
72'''Jet:''' The repair bill from that cruiser you wrecked... and the one from that shop you trashed... and the medical bill from the cop you injured...''KILLED THE DOUGH!''
73** And they always pass on the opportunity to get rich by less ethical means. For example, once they stumbled onto a secret that could make them billionaires, but when they blackmail the Gate Corporation with it, all they demand is that they stop trying to find an old man their resident kid hacker has befriended in online chess games... [[spoiler:who drops dead of old age a few minutes later anyway]].
74* According to WordOfGod, this was the inevitable fate for Yagami Light from ''Manga/DeathNote'': If the police found out that he was Kira, they would catch him and lock him up and [[{{Shinigami}} Ryuk]], realizing that Light could no longer provide him with any more entertainment, would've written his name in the titular ArtifactOfDoom, killing him. If, however, the police had not found out that Light was Kira and he had killed all who were threats him and erased all clues pointing in the direction of him being Kira, then Ryuk would've realized that VictoryIsBoring and, since Light could no longer provide him with any more entertainment, he would've written Light's name in the Death Note, killing him.
75* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
76** No matter how many times you throw yourself at the big bad of the week, you will always fail. [[OnlyICanKillHim Only Goku is allowed to vanquish the monster once and for all]]. The only few times this did not happen was during the fight with Vegeta who was taken down by Yajirobe, Great Ape Gohan and Krillin with Goku's Spirit Bomb, while he did defeat Frieza, then with Gohan who defeated Cell, and even then Goku assisted from beyond the grave. The only two times that Goku wasn't involved was [a] when Garlic Jr. returned from the Dead Zone, only to be sucked back into it when Gohan destroyed his source of power and [b] when Frieza came to Earth for the first time and was killed by Trunks.
77** This trope is lampshaded by Piccolo in the Saiyan Saga after he gets [[WhatTheHellHero called out for berating Gohan for getting frightened]] while fighting [[TheDragon Nappa]]. Piccolo silently admits that it doesn't matter how they do against Nappa, then realizes that if [[ArcVillain Vegeta]] is [[RankScalesWithAsskicking ordering Nappa around then Vegeta must be even stronger]], so even if Nappa is defeated, the heroes would have to face an even stronger villain. He was right, as not even Goku was able to defeat Vegeta.
78** [[GalacticConqueror Frieza]] obtaining his wish on the titular Dragon Balls for immortality during the Namek Saga turned out to be this. When Frieza did obtain all seven balls, he runs into a problem where he has no idea how to actually use them. Unlike Earth's Dragon Balls which could be used by anybody; Namek's Dragon Balls required a password which had to be spoken in Namekian, something he never anticipated as he killed every Namekian they came across. But on top of that the dragon the balls summoned, Porunga, only responds to wishes spoken in Namekian, something Frieza learned the hard way when he tried and failed to wish for immortality from Porunga, just for his wish to be ignored.
79* The entire premise of ''Manga/DropkickOnMyDevil'' focuses on Jashin-chan's quest to kill Yurine Hanazono, which always ends in failure.
80* ''Anime/EurekaSeven'': Renton's quest to sneak a kiss to Eureka. [[spoiler: He succeeds beyond that: Eureka reveals she loves him and shares a ''real'' kiss with him.]]
81* ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' -- Goal: Conquer Fukuoka/F City for the glory of ACROSS. Between Excel's energetic stupidity, Hyatt's penchant for dying and coming back to life (sometimes multiple times within an episode) and Il Palazzo's [[VillainsOutShopping side hobbies]], it doesn't look like the citizens will be subjugated any time soon. How far ACROSS progresses in this goal depends on the continuity.
82** In the manga: Il Palazzo starts an electronics company and floods Fukuoka with cheap and effective products, earning him a lot of influence in Fukuoka. Il Palazzo doesn't progress from there though, and starts to feel like he has gotten sidetracked.
83** [[Anime/ExcelSaga In the anime]]: [[spoiler: Il Palazzo gets rid of Excel near the end of the series and successfully conquers the city in the next episode]].
84** In both instances, Il Palazzo does a lot better once he [[spoiler:gets rid of Excel]].
85* The goal in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' is to create the Philosopher's Stone, and [[spoiler:once it's actually created, the only way for the brothers to accomplish their goal is to have Al die (don't worry, he gets better). Failure IS the only option, even until the end]].
86* ''Manga/GetBackers'': Aim to earn money to clear debt.
87* ''Manga/GirlsGoAround'' Goal: Get out of the Time Loops. Overall works, until the final chapter reveals the ''true'' goal of the time loop! [[spoiler: Goal: Have everyone manage to graduate from high school without one of them dying. Result: They can't. Initially, Kyousuke died. If Kyousuke is saved, Chihiro dies. When Kyousuke saves Chihiro, Shiina ends up getting run over by a car. If Shiina is saved, the Class Rep ends up dying. Class Rep survives, Izumi dies. And if Izumi is saved, Ootsuka dies... so Kyousuke decides to commit suicide since he can't save all the girls and won't abandon one... which results in Chihiro creating a time loop to prevent his death, beginning the cycle again.]]
88* In ''Manga/GreenWorldz'', Iwatobi always falls short of killing Acacia [[spoiler:in both the original and new timeline]].
89* Pretty much every story arc of ''Manga/HakaiouNoritaka!'' has him realize there's a powerful martial artist that wants to defeat him, try to make amends only to fail miserably, and try and set up things to avoid the challenge or otherwise give himself a decisive advantage only to end up having to fight anyway or the rule lawyering backfiring. This got particularly bad with [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong Goraev]], where the students' council president ''sabotaged Noritaka's otherwise successful attempt at becoming friends'' because Goraev had previously said Japanese are weak and wanted them to fight.
90* ''Manga/HaruhiChan'' - ''Nyoron Churuya-san'' : Ashakura will never get Kyon and Churuya will never get her smoked cheese, [[VerbalTic nyoro~n]].
91* ''Anime/HellGirl'': Hajime's goal: Stop people from using Hell Correspondence to send people to Hell, and thus damning themselves in the process. No matter how close he gets to stopping somebody from pulling the red thread on the Curse Doll, they'll always do it. Probably the worst example is in episode 18, [[spoiler: where a FatBastard RichBitch has been holding a little girl's dogs hostage and killing them whenever she suspects the little girl might be telling somebody about what she's doing. Both Hajime, the little girl's teacher AND two police officers manage to break into her house when they hear the little girl over the intercom begging the RichBitch not to kill the puppies one of the dogs had, and subdue her, uncovering the fact that she'd not only murdered her parents to get her inheritance, but also her infant son to keep him from potentially trying to steal her money. At first it seems that Hajime finally stopped somebody from pulling the thread, and was just moments away from taking the doll from her, when she discovers that the RichBitch had already drowned the puppies in the bathtub]]... There's one exception to the rule, and even then the show leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not the victim will simply try again.
92%% ''Franchise/LupinIII'': goes on the RoadRunnerVsCoyote subtrope.
93* ''Manga/MedakaBox'': This is Kumagawa Misogi's whole existence. He is someone who has failed at everything he's ever attempted, to the point that his whole character is defined by the very concept of "defeat". He can't even imagine himself truly winning; every gamble he takes is with the assumption that he'll lose. Thus, he's become a "veteran at losing fights", manuevering things so that he's defeated in certain ways that further his own goals. [[spoiler:However, it's gradually pointed out that the primary thing maintaining this unnatural losing streak isn't just bad luck. It's his own insanely defeatist attitude that ensures that he never feels like he's won at something.]]
94* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
95** Humanity was doomed no matter what happened. In one corner, the Angels trying to bring about 3rd Impact, in the second corner, SEELE trying to bring about 3rd Impact and lastly NERV (Gendo) [[RuleOfThree trying to bring about 3rd Impact]].
96** In the middle of the arena, we have Shinji who decides to settle it all quickly and initiates the Third Impact and kills humanity by himself, despite having fought to prevent this the whole time.
97* ''Anime/NerimaDaikonBrothers'' -- Goal: Get enough money to buy a dome for the band to play in. Even after defeating the villain and getting enough money to buy the dome, something happens (The people usually come back for their money), and the band ends up just as penniless if not in debt by the end of the episode.
98* Everybody from all races, even God himself, is incapable of breaking Sora and Shiro's undefeated streak in ''Literature/NoGameNoLife''. Even the siblings couldn't best each other over 500 matches of poker games and ended up no contest.
99-->'''Shiro:''' Blank never loses.
100* ''WATAMOTE ~[[Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!]]~'' is about the introvert main character, Tomoko, seeing that her years of playing Dating Sim games haven't helped her to become popular, tries to become popular though various means. Naturally she either screws them up or is unwilling to learn from her mistakes to try again. Later on in the series, this is averted: Tomoko slowly grows out of her problems, matures, and starts developing a social circle.
101* The main goal of Bash in ''Literature/OrcEroica'' is finding a wife. Each volume has Bash encounter a woman he has some chemistry with, only for them to not get together for various reasons. If he ever did get married, the series would end.
102* ''Manga/OutlawStar'' has Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking's desire to make it rich. Instead, partially due to the fact they are BlessedWithSuck in the form of having a Grappler ship (a very rare and large ship that consequently costs a fortune in docking fees, ammo and basic maintenance) that is sought after by the Kei Pirates (which means they're constantly getting shot up and thusly needing to spend ''more'' money on ammo and repairs), they're constantly on the edge of bankruptcy. The one time it looks like they might succeed, heading after an ancient sunken Outlaw ship containing a stolen shipment of {{Unobtanium}}, they succeed... and discover at the episode's end that, because the treasure comes from a time when the {{Unobtanium}} was harder to find and consequently it's purity level isn't up to current standards, it's actually worth ''less'' now than it was when first stolen, so their net gain is ''$0'' -- what money they did make from selling it was just enough to pay the bills and fix the damage the ship took getting it in the first place!\
103In the very end, Gene manages to survive the whole Galactic Leyline incident and gets ''just'' enough notoriety to get the honor of a nickname in the Outlaw's hangout Blue Heaven: [[spoiler:"I'll Pay You When I Make It Big". Yup, he's still at it, his nickname is a joke]]. At least it's not all thorns for him, though; he's used to space now and he's even got a girlfriend.
104* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
105** For nearly 25 years, Ash Ketchum has never been able to win a regional Pokémon League Conference in spite of winning the required 8 badges and training his team to be at the top of their game. Due to the cyclical nature of the show, the general assumption from fans is that if he wins a Pokémon League, he becomes Pokémon Master and the show will then end in spite of the fact the regional League Conference is not an indication of being the best of the best in the world. However, despite the loss record, [[SubvertedTrope Ash has been noticeably climbing up the ranks with each League participation]], culminating him into winning [[spoiler:the [[BrokenWinLossStreak Alola League]] and then later, the World Coronation Tournament which leads him being crowned as the World Monarch and officially [[WorldsBestWarrior the strongest Pokémon trainer in the world]]]]. Ironically, this is immediately followed up with [[EndOfAnAge Ash being retired as the main character]], despite admitting to himself that he isn't a Pokémon Master yet and [[AndTheAdventureContinues setting off on another journey with Pikachu]].
106** [[TerribleTrio Team Rocket]]. Since their goal is usually to capture Ash's Pikachu, they simply can't win. Ironically, several episodes make it appear that if they tried going after someone else's Pokémon (or tried a non-criminal path) they'd be successful. Unfortunately for them, the plot dictates that they must follow Ash and co. around the planet, so some outside circumstance will see them fall back to their old ways. [[spoiler:Unlike Ash, who ends his tenure as the world's best trainer, Team Rocket still remain as losers chasing after Ash and Pikachu when the final episode draws to a close.]]
107* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'':
108** Homura's goal to defeat Walpurgis Night and preventing Madoka from becoming a magical girl, and [[spoiler: has been doing this for about a couple of times now (maybe even a thousand), but Madoka still becomes a Magical Girl, and rarely a Witch]]. In an odd subversion, [[spoiler:Homura fails and Madoka becomes a magical girl in the finale, but because Madoka knew of the AwfulTruth behind the magical girls, her wish in trade for becoming a magical girl is to rid the world of that truth, messing up time and space to the point where she gets a CosmicRetcon and turns the world into a better place]].
109** [[spoiler:All magical girls, prior to Madoka's wish in the "current" timeline, fall victim to this trope because they all eventually gave in to despair and became witches themselves.]]
110** A more personal example is what WordOfGod says will happens if Sayaka Miki contracts and becomes a magical girl or not in a given timeline, If she doesn't, she lives; but if she does [[spoiler: she will always fall into despair and [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie become a witch]], or if she's lucky enough to not witch out, she will wind up dead by some other means which is what happens in the post CosmicRetcon universe]].
111* [[GenderBender Gender-bending]] series -- Goal: [[FirstLawOfGenderBending Un-genderbend]]. ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' and ''Manga/CheekyAngel'' both feature Music/MegumiHayashibara's character trying to get rid of a GenderBender curse. Other characters in ''Ranma'' try to get rid of other Jusenkyo curses as well; also, Akane's efforts to learn to swim or stop being a LethalChef, and Ranma's attempts to shoo off members of his UnwantedHarem.\
112''Ranma ½'' did have one exception: Ryōga; who, by the last chapter, only had lingering feelings for Akane, and was perfectly happy to let Ranma and Akane wed as long as he wasn't there (unfortunately, he was the only one that felt that way and [[NoSenseOfDirection ended up at the wedding anyway]]). The pig curse, on the other hand, is still there, but that just makes his girlfriend like him more. The whole Nodoka subplot was also resolved -- fitting, as the various reasons for the endless string of failures for Nodoka to see Ranma as a man are some of the ''most convoluted'' possible.
113* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei''. All of Nozomu Itoshiki's [[DrivenToSuicide attempts at suicide]] fail. He even survived having his name written in the ''Manga/DeathNote''!
114* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': The successful invasion of Pekopon (i.e. earth) would pretty much end the series...
115* ''Manga/ShamanKing'': From the beginning, Yoh's goal was to become Shaman King. Later on, it gets to the point where [[spoiler: Yoh admits that his brother Hao is going to win... period]]. There's only a matter of what to do next.
116* This trope runs all through Superbook, The Flying House, and their spin-offs and reboots. The usual premise of these stories being that somehow, kids from the present wind up in the days of the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. As the goal of these shows is to acquaint children with Biblical events, ultimately, everyone is DoomedByCanon, causing this trope to manifest itself in a couple of ways: 1) Even though the protagonists have foreknowledge of the events in the Bible that they are witnessing, [[CassandraTruth no one they meet will believe them]]. In variations on this, someone will believe them, but be in no position to actually do anything about it, or they simply will not be able to alter the past, no matter how hard they try. 2) Biblical figures will invoke ReedRichardsIsUseless hard. On occasion, the kids will meet someone who has access to enough power to send them back (Moses, Elijah, Jesus), and said people will either refuse their request, be called away on urgent business, or otherwise present an excuse why they can't have the kids sent back. Also invokes BrokenAesop: God has a plan, but in order for it to work, everyone has to be idiots, and {{contrived coincidence}}s have to happen all the time.
117* In ''Manga/TeasingMasterTakagiSan'' the protagonist has an adorable "war" going with his cute classmate, with each of them trying to get the other to blush and react to their antics. It's very obvious she is always going to win every single one of these contests, although "failure" is a relative term when you have the cutest girl in the class paying this much attention to you.
118* The Evil Organization Florsheim from ''Manga/TentaiSenshiSunred'' will never succeed at step one of their EvilPlan to defeat their ArchEnemy Sunred and then TakeOverTheWorld (step one being to defeat Sunred), because Sunred is [[ComicallyInvincibleHero so ridiculously powerful]] nothing they throw in his path would ever stop him. Sunred, on his end, will never bother to defeat Florsheim or chase them out of the city. He's long since retired from the {{Sentai}} biz, Florsheim [[HarmlessVillain are about as dangerous as a girl scout troop]], and they're the closest thing he has to friends since he retired.
119* Marie Kagura in the ''Manga/TonaGura'' manga has the goal of [[spoiler:restoring her "perverted" brother to his pre-puberty status as her friend and playmate. She does not understand that, even if he behaves himself, that boy is never coming back]].
120* Most of the cast of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' had differing and often conflicting goals which would never be achieved: Lum, to get Ataru to settle down; Ataru, to be free of Lum without actually losing her; Shutaru and the Stormtroopers, to get rid of Ataru; Ataru's mother, to be a respected member of the community; and so on.
121* All of the ''Anime/YuGiOh'' anime series are pretty bad about this. Even though they're playing a card game, of which the consequence of losing would normally only be a hit to the loser's ego (if that), ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' animes tend to have the heroes facing challenges where losing = death for various reasons (be they shadow duels or other), meaning that it's essentially a ForegoneConclusion that the heroes will win before they ever start their duel and failure is the only option for the villains.
122** ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'' was particularly bad about this. It was intended for Yuma to avert the usual InvincibleHero tendencies of the franchise by starting out sucking at the game and eventually becoming a master. However, because the show added the note that, if Yuma loses to a Numbers user (read: virtually every important person in the series), Astral will die, Yuma never loses a Duel if there's anything at stake, because otherwise the show would end. This turns his "growth" into a big-time InformedFlaw.
123** On the less meta side of this, Jaden's duel against Brron in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' is discovered to be this ''mid-duel''. In a nutshell, the loser of the duel dies. However, each time Jaden damages Brron, one of his captive friends are sacrificed. Meaning either Jaden surrenders and gets himself killed, or all of his friends die. Even worse, Brron's deck has several cards that ''force'' Jaden to damage him. By the end of the duel, most of Jaden's captive friends have been sacrificed, and although Jaden wins, he becomes his SuperPoweredEvilSide in the process.
124* While not the main goal, in several ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' episodes (of series featuring Nate as the main character), Nate tries to get his crush Katie to get a crush on him in return. Sadly for him, the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Yokai of the segment]] and their michiefs think otherwise.
125 [[/folder]]
126
127[[folder:Comic Books]]
128* ''The entire [[Franchise/TheDCU DC]] & Franchise/{{Marvel|Universe}} superhero universe'' is built around this. The popular villains; [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]], Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto, [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], etc. have [[JokerImmunity too much of the appeal of the comics to ever be dispatched for good]]. Decades of excuses as to why they can always come back have ultimately formed the basis of what these worlds are. [[ThouShaltNotKill Heroes have codes against killing]], even though this invariably results in an endless series of deaths of innocents when the villains strike again. This makes such codes look foolish and hypocritical. When villains are arrested, they either [[CardboardPrison escape prison with ease]], or are released by a corrupt and foolish justice system -- making the hero's commitment to law and justice look equally foolish. The result: While good wins at the end of most comics, the good seem to suffer far more and accomplish little in the greater scheme of things.
129** This also applies to any hero or villain whose motivation is IJustWantToBeNormal, including Characters/TheThing, [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan The Scorpion]], and the aforementioned Hulk and Swamp Thing. In ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'', Reed Richards actually tells Thing that the universe will never let him become human again for very long because that would make his story less interesting.
130* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Despite the occasional teaser to the contrary, Archie will never make a final choice between Betty and Veronica.
131* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
132** [[Characters/BatmanMrFreeze Mr. Freeze]] will never be reunited with his wife. Depending on the continuity, either her health will never recover to the point where he can thaw her out, or Batman and the police will keep foiling his attempts to help her, or she won't love him anymore because he's a supervillain, or she won't love him anymore because she ''herself'' has become a more villainous villain than he is. Any option is possible [[TragicDream except the one Mr. Freeze wants]], because then he has no motivation anymore.
133** No matter how many times poor [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Harvey Dent]] tries to reform, undergoing surgeries to restore his damaged face... he rapidly snaps back to his Two-Face persona, scarring half of his own face again. This fate follows him even in some stories ''out of regular continuity''.
134* ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer'': Groo's goal is to stop wandering. Since Groo causes chaos everywhere he goes, this will never happen.
135* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner Bruce Banner]] will never get rid of The Hulk. Heck, one time Bruce lost the ability to turn into the Hulk, he was savvy enough to observe he would be back. Sure enough. One story has Doc Samson and the army capture Bruce and place him in a chamber filled with NOX. General Ross (IIRC) says that they will lobotomize Banner to stop Hulk and Samson is shocked. Bruce says that he accepts this, since his only wish is to die. Samson says that it's both the wish of him and the Hulk and shuts off the oxygen valve, making Banner breathe pure nitrogen. The last screens of the comic show Banner's heartbeat slowing down, until he dies. [[spoiler:The last panel shows one, big, green, powerful heartbeat.]] The best case scenario Banner will ever achieve is his Merged Hulk/The Professor incarnation, the Strength of Hulk but the Mind of Banner and when he goes berserk he transforms into Savage Banner, Savage Hulk in Banner's puny body. He's not rid of Hulk but at least he can't hurt anybody as much as before.
136* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Iznogoud's schemes to depose the Caliph are destined always to end in failure, usually with the vizier himself much worse off than before. It even gets lampshaded in the theme song for the animated adaptation.
137-->Iznogoud the Grand Vizier. He never wins, this much is clear.
138* ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'': From 2020's "Carry the Nine" to 2024's "A Better World", a recurring plotline involved the radical plans of Accounts Judge Maitland, who had almost by accident discovered that moving money from putting Judges on the streets to educating citizens would actually reduce crime. But even though the story is clearly on her side, if her proposed reforms were actually adopted throughout Mega-City One, the strip would stop being ''Judge Dredd''. [[spoiler: She ends up assassinated, possibly with the collusion of Head of Street Judge Hernandez, and her project is discredited, ''definitely'' with the collusion of Hernandez]].
139* ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'':
140** Jimmy Five -- Originally Cebolinha -- with his ironically named "Infallible Plans". Goal: take over the street and/or a plush bunny from Monica. And it brings another example of this trope, by his friend Cascão/Smudge - Goal: not joining the scheme... and then the beatings after they fail ([[SpannerInTheWorks usually because Smudge screws up]])
141** For Cascão, there's also the goal of [[ThePigPen getting him to take a bath.]]
142* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': Averted, as [[Characters/MarvelComicsFrankCastle the Punisher]] knows full well that all the criminals he kills won't change a thing in regards to actual crime rates, or bring back his family, or ever bring him peace- he has simply made it his life's work to kill as many criminals as he can until he inevitably dies. This is something neither the criminals nor the heroes (especially [[Characters/MarvelComicsMattMurdock Daredevil]], who often ends up ''defending'' said criminals in court because he believes in due process, often ending up looking like a fool in the process) understand. DependingOnTheWriter, Frank Castle may even be punishing himself for failing to protect his family.
143* ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'': The "natural" inhabitants of Battleworld will never truly triumph over GodEmperor Doom and this goes double if you are one of the Barons. If you're not struck down by Doom himself, it's either his Thors or one of the heroes unwittingly putting a stop to their mad plans.
144* ''ComicBook/{{Sigil}}'': Tchlusarud is a Saurian warrior and the youngest of the Matriarch. His quests always end up in failure and humiliation. Since the Matriarch doesn't tolerate failure, she forces him to wear the armor of a commoner and later banishes him.
145* ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'': The titular alien hero is always trying to find a way to return to his home dimension. Several opportunities come up throughout the series, but Sleepwalker is forced to repeatedly give up his chance at returning home for reasons ranging from the need to protect civilians in danger, to defeat a group of {{supervillain}}s, to retrieving ComicBook/SpiderMan from another alien dimension.
146* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': Invoked from the villain's side. Mammoth Mogul can't defeat Sonic the Hedgehog? Fine. He'll just quit trying--he's immortal, after all, so he's easily going to outlast that annoying blue blur. And in the meantime he'll amuse himself making life difficult for Sonic in any way available short of outright attack.
147* ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'': The Spectre is a FallenAngel named Aztar who repented shortly after Lucifer's Rebellion. Recognizing that his heart was in the right place but his mind wasn't, God promised that Aztar would be let back into Heaven once he had punished every mortal sinner who escaped justice at mortal hands. Given human numbers, speed of reproduction, and rate of KarmaHoudini, Aztar is still at it.
148* ''ComicBook/SwampThing'': The original premise was that Alex Holland had been changed into a swamp monster in a freak accident, and was trying to find a cure. The original series, once the book's original creative team left and were replaced, did end with Swamp Thing cured but the condition was quickly overturned in haphazard fashion during a guest-spot in ''ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown''. His series was relaunched in 1980 and the focus once again became on Swamp Thing wanting to become human, which writer Creator/AlanMoore (who took over the book with #20) felt had to go and go for good since it left the series stuck in an endless loop of failure. He promptly spent his second issue of his legendary run on the series revealing that Swamp Thing was a plant elemental creature with Alex Holland's personality/memories and sealed the deal by producing the remains of Holland, having Swamp Thing meet Alex in heaven and having Swamp Thing pretty much not care about his life being a lie after a brief HeroicBSOD.\
149This is ironic, given that in spite of the popularity of Moore's run on ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' and his retcon, DC pretty much refuses to market Moore's version of the character in other media. Pretty much every Swamp Thing show, movie, cartoon uses the original "man to monster" origin for Swamp Thing and the Failure is the Only Option trope to drive the plot.
150* ''ComicBook/TheTombOfDracula'': So you get to be the protagonist in an issue of a series named after the villain? Yeah, good luck trying to kill him.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Comic Strips]]
154* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'':
155** Charlie Brown. Lucy Van Pelt. Football.
156*** At the end of the comic, Charlie Brown may have succeeded. Lucy was called inside when Charlie Brown was about to kick the football, so she asked Rerun to hold it. In the strip itself, when she later asked Rerun what happened, he said: "You'll never know!" However, [[WordOfGod Schulz]] said, after drawing the last strip, that he'd just realized "that little round-headed kid is never going to kick that football", we can presume the ball remains unbooted.
157*** In 1983, there was a strip that featured him choosing to walk away from Lucy and the ball, which certainly represents a kind of victory in itself. In the last panel of the strip Charlie Brown, having walked away from Lucy, sees a number of other kids holding footballs for him.
158*** There was one comic story where Snoopy took up magic tricks and turned Charlie Brown invisible. While in this state, he does manage to sneak up on Lucy and kick the football. It would be used in the animated special ''It's Magic, Charlie Brown.''
159** Charlie Brown and baseball-playing, kite-flying, writing with an ink pen, talking to the Little Red Haired Girl, etc. To elaborate, on one occasion he won a game, but had to revoke it because Rerun bet a nickel on it. On two occasions, he legitimately won games... only to later find out a girl on the team let him win. Though his team has won several times, except only when he is not able to make it. Or the time when a bug hit every team in the local league except his.
160** Linus and seeing the Great Pumpkin
161** Lucy and getting Schroeder's attention (same story with Sally and Linus)
162** Snoopy shooting down the Red Baron or getting one of his novels published.
163* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': The 2011-05-08 strip sums up the possibility of success for those who work at Dilbert's ruinous company.
164[[/folder]]
165
166[[folder: Fan Works]]
167* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'': Eudora vastly overpowers every one of the heroines regardless of which franchise they are from or whether they are original characters. Any attempt to beat her, either idiotically solo or in a group, would end in a humiliating defeat. Exemplified by Altalune [[spoiler: when she decided to stay in the past for a chance of beating Eudora in exchange for her own continued existence (pesky self-correcting timelines)]] -- she promptly gets curb-stomped so badly she would have died if not for [[spoiler: Daphne and Galadwen's intervention]]. This trope is made even more glaring when it's revealed not even Bloom, the bearer of the magic that created the Magix dimension, ever had a possibility against Eudora. Later, is revealed [[spoiler: Marion]] could defeat Eudora, but has been gathering power to fight an even more powerful evil.
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
171* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': After [[{{Troll}} Meeko]] breaks into his room and takes his food for absolutely no reason, Percy naturally wants revenge. As he receives a [[DesignatedVillain villain label merely because of association]], he never gets it. Even after [[spoiler:he disassociates himself with the villains]], he still never wins.
172* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': The captain seems like this (though it's worded more "Success is not an option") towards an EVE coming back positive.
173-->'''Captain:''' No probe's ever come back positive before....
174* In the ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' series, no matter how hard he tries, poor little Scrat is never going to get his hands on that acorn (or ''any'' acorn) for more than a few seconds.
175* In ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'' Mandrake complains that no matter how much they destroy, Queen Tara can regrow it all back with a wave of her hand. Of course, if she were gone and had no successor...
176* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', the 4*Town concert and the red moon ritual involving Mei's family that she is obligated to undergo are on the same night meaning there was never a possibility to go to the concert without her family's knowledge even if she had enough money to buy tickets for herself and her friends.
177[[/folder]]
178
179[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
180* Introduced in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', the ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario Starfleet Academy students undertake. In this scenario, students are confronted with a situation where the eponymous civilian freighter is crippled in the Klingon Neutral Zone and are presented with two choices; either abide by Federation rules and leave the ship to its fate, or attempt to rescue it, which causes them to be confronted by Klingon warships. There is no way to rescue the freighter or win against the Klingons, nor are the recruits expected to do either; the purpose of this test is, instead, to assess how the students act in a no-win situation. [[note]]You can technically "win" by following Federation rules and not going after the ship, but that requires [[PyrrhicVictory leaving the stranded crew to die]] which is hardly a resounding triumph.[[/note]]
181* Creator/LaurelAndHardy:
182** In the short ''Perfect Day'', all they're trying to do is go on a picnic, but one hilarious mishap after another ensures that their car never makes it more than a half-a-block from the house before winding up at the bottom of a giant puddle.
183** For that matter, very few of the comedy team's films end with them achieving success, usually because Stan does something utterly boneheaded to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
184* ''Film/TheLegacy'', a 1978 horror film. The two main characters cannot leave the mansion, no matter what they try.
185* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
186** The goal of the JSDF (Japanese Self-Defense Force) in nearly every film is to destroy Godzilla himself. Needless to say, they never do. And, this is even when they build weaponry specifically designed to kill Godzilla. IE: [[Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII Mechagodzilla]], [[Film/GodzillaVsSpacegodzilla M.O.G.U.E.R.A]], [[Film/GodzillaAgainstMechagodzilla Kiryu]], the [[Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus Dimension Tide]] satellite, etc. No matter what they try some twist comes along that repowers Godzilla and lets him destroy the weapon or they are forced to use that machine to ''help'' Godzilla against a bigger threat and the machine ends up being destroyed in the process. Or if he is seemingly destroyed, the final shot of the film reveals that he may have survived after all.
187** Averted in, ironically, the [[Film/Godzilla1954 very first film]] of the franchise, in which Godzilla was decisively killed at the end. The Godzilla who appeared in ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'' was explicitly called a "second Godzilla," a separate member of the same species. Later ContinuityReboot sequels often claim that the original Godzilla regenerated after all.
188* ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'': The whole bank robbery was one big blunder, [[spoiler: just like the protagonist personal life. There was hardly any money to steal, and the protagonist whole goal to leave the country with most of the hostages, scot-free, was nothing but wishful thinking]].
189* ''Film/DrStrangelove'', in which an [[GeneralRipper insane US Air Force General]] sends his nuclear bombers to attack the Soviet Union, without orders to do so, in the belief that a lightning strike will successfully defeat the Soviets. The President and his war cabinet overcome repeated crises in order to prevent the attack from going ahead, and are almost successful, but it is all for naught. A combination of systemic and personal failures on both sides leads to the end of the world. The theme of failure is subverted in a series of vignettes in which the last remaining bomber crew go to their deaths believing that their mission was a complete success.
190* The ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' series. Michael Myers is an indestructible psychopath who's apparently destined to wipe out his family's bloodline. No matter how much terror he wreaks or people he kills, he always gets blown away or shot down before he can accomplish this, and the only time he ever succeeded was in ''Film/HalloweenResurrection''. Ditto for poor old Doc Loomis, who's never able to put Myers down permanently.
191* No character in the ''Film/FinalDestination'' movies has ever succeeded in cheating Death (as in not a single one who was supposed to die didn't eventually die a violent death). In [[Film/FinalDestination2 the second movie]], it looked like there were two people who did succeed, but newspaper clippings showed they died violently afterwards anyway. A character from [[Film/FinalDestination5 the fifth movie]] managed to have someone else die in his place, but that person was going to die in a few weeks anyway, so he dies a violent death too. A second character manages to have someone die in his place (it's hard to explain) but he dies violently too because he was on a flight that his girlfriend was destined to die on.
192* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': While some characters do escape the traps, that's only the minority that are important enough to make it to the end of the film. The rest are sweet out of luck. Not only will they fail to escape whatever trap they are in, but they will experience the maximum amount of pain possible in trying to do so.
193* ''Film/PainAndGain'': The protagonists' various attempts to kill Kershaw by car crashing, explosion, running him over via a car and crushing his head with a car wheel all ended in failure. Not to mention the subsequent attempts to reach Kershaw in the hospital and hotel.
194* ''Film/{{Brute Force|1947}}'': No one can escape from [[TheAlcatraz Westgate Penitentiary]], no matter how hard they try.
195* ''Film/JohnWickChapter2'': John's quest to permanently retire from his assassin profession, as well as anyone's attempt at John's life, which invariably ends up with the would-be killer getting a bullet in the head or a knife stab. If you are targeted by John, consider your life forfeit.
196* ''Film/TrappedTheAlexCooperStory'': [[EvilWillFail Conversion therapy]]. As every real medical professional, and most people on the street, knows, CureYourGays simply does not work, has never worked and can never work.
197* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels; "The Clone War was the perfect trap. By fighting at all, the Jedi lost everything". The main problem faced by the Jedi was whether or not to support the Republic war effort. If they didn't, they'd lose support among the peoples of the Republic, and leave an entire army to the whims of possibly corrupt bureaucrats and generals. If they did fight, their order would have to militarize heavily, forcing an entire generation of Jedi (Including Anakin Skywalker, their eventual downfall) to become more violent and merciless, not to mention that it made the politicians mighty nervous, thus losing them popular support anyway.
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:Literature]]
201* ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'': The critics [[spoiler: eventually admit that they’ll never find Archimboldi, but know he's somewhere in Santa Teresa]].
202* ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'': The main premise. Foolishly accepting the challenge of a MysteriousStranger, the young Sir Gawain has to pay up and travel to the Green Knight to have his head chopped off. He either fails to make the journey, and is a failure as a warrior, chickens out and loses his honor, or makes it in time and gets killed. [[spoiler:Even though he panics at the last moment and tries to escape and also failed some of the tests of his honor on the journey, the green knight still appreciates that [[SecretTestOfCharacter he showed up at all and performed at most of the tasks very well]] and spares his life to allow him to return home.]]
203* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
204** BigBad Voldemort is a practically invincible MagnificentBastard against everyone else, but against Harry Potter? Anything from DeusExMachina to playing the VillainBall will happen to ensure he somehow fails. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain When he killed Lily Potter]], he effectively signed a contract with this trope. It may be true that AnyoneCanDie, but Harry inevitably has to survive to the next book. Prior to the end of the series, Creator/JKRowling liked to tease fans about the possibility of this being subverted in the last book, suggesting that the series might end with Harry's death. For years, fans debated whether Harry would survive or if he would be forced to destroy Voldemort in some kind of HeroicSacrifice. [[spoiler:''Both'' turned out to be true.]]\
205There's also the fact that LaserGuidedKarma is in effect. Many of Voldemort's past crimes and choices are implied to have influenced events to cause his ultimate downfall. [[spoiler:His drinking of unicorn's blood in the first book. The curse he placed on the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher position. His creation of seven Horcruxes also seem to have corrupted his body and possibly his mind, making him even more insane than he was as a kid. His killing of Myrtle and framing of Hagrid the first time he opened the Chamber of Secrets are the same circumstances that allowed Harry to find out and destroy the Basilisk and Voldemort's diary, which hinted Dumbledore at Voldemort's Horcruxes. His refusal to spare Lily not only set the prophecy in motion, but also made Snape turn against him completely. Voldemort is his own SpannerInTheWorks.]]
206** Also, Hermione's attempts to shut down Fred and George during ''Order of the Phoenix.'' The closest she ever got was stopping them from testing the things on other students by threatening to [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment write to their mother]]. While she got them to go along with that in an act of instant compliance (a reaction from the twins that had never been seen before or since), all it caused them to do was test their sickness sweets on ''themselves''.
207* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novels, Ibram Gaunt was promised that the first planet he conquered in the Crusade would be his. He told this to the Tanith First & Only, and that they could muster out on it. In the first novels, various factors ensure that no one will let him conquer a planet, or admit it if he did. It gets mentioned much less in later books.
208* ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' were allowed to succeed ''most'' of the time, but once the problems got big, like trying to keep an autistic savant from being sent OffToBoardingSchool or reform a racist family, the Aesop was always along the lines of You Can't Make A Difference When You're Thirteen Years Old. ''Little Sister'' was even worse about this, with Karen failing at nearly everything she tried to do because You ''Really'' Can't Make A Difference When You're Seven Years Old. The only time Karen actually succeeded was during a WholePlotReference to ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'', since you can't very well have your Mary Lennox surrogate not shake things up.
209* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
210** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Fëanor, the mightiest elf that ever lived, made the Simarils, jewels so beautiful that [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Morgoth]] (Sauron's boss) himself stole the jewels. He led an entire army of high elves across the sea, slaughtering the elven shipwrights to get the needed ships. When he does get to Middle-Earth, he is [[spoiler: killed by the Balrog Captain in the first battle. His oath to get the Simarils back kills five of his seven sons, and the oath forces his sons to attack friendly elven nations when Lúthien manages to retrieve one of the Simarils from Morgoth. After the final battle, the two remaining sons of Fëanor steal the two remaining Simarils; only for their holy light to burn their hands which had been stained with elven blood, to the point that one kills himself and the other throws away the Simaril to wander Middle-Earth in penance. In short, Fëanor is directly responsible for all occasions of elf-on-elf bloodshed, and the destruction of his sons]].
211** ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'':
212*** Túrin's sister died of sickness when he was young. His father was captured by Morgoth. His mother basically went insane. His other sister... that he didn't know he had... well, we'll get to her. He got sent away from home, and accidentally killed a noble (in self-defence, but he didn't think anyone would buy that, so he ran away before learning he had been pardoned). He lived as an outlaw for years, and eventually when he was recognized by yet another kingdom for his prowess in battle, he met a woman he fell in love with. Remember when we said "We'll get to her"? His sister had lost her memory, and was found by Túrin in that state; no one (including her) knew who she really was, so they got married. After a couple of years ... and having at least one child ... she recovered her memory and realized she was married to her brother, so she committed suicide. Túrin returned from battle to discover this, and then ''he'' committed suicide.
213*** After being captured by Morgoth, Túrin's father Húrin, was forced to watch what happened to his children and wife while powerless to do anything about it. He got out again just in time to find his insane wife the day before she died.
214** ''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'': The last king of Númenor Ar-Pharazôn, who in addition to be a power-hungry tyrant with an oversized ego is terrified of dying, decides to conquer the Undying Lands to prevent his own death. Ar-Pharazôn's attempt to invade the above of angelic beings goes as well as anybody (except him and his followers) would expect; but even if the king had impossibly won, he would have never reached immortality. The Undying Lands are called "undying" because their inhabitants are immortal Ainur and Elves; no mortal will become deathless if they move there, and in fact their lifespans will be shortened (a fact which the Ainur previously explained the Númenoreans, but the King's Men preferred to believe Sauron's lies).
215* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' -- Goal: Leave the army alive. [[spoiler: Yossarian does eventually succeed at the book's conclusion, but by deserting rather than being discharged.]]
216* Invoked as the basis for a brutally satirical short story in Creator/StanislawLem's ''Literature/MemoirsOfASpaceTraveller: The Further Reminiscies of Ijon Tichy''. Attempts to correct history and create a better world fail spectacularly due to a combination of mishap, incompetence, and malice; resulting in a thoroughly fouled-up world -- i.e. the one we currently live in.
217* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', the government says this to the rebels. Whether or not this is true is up to debate.
218* In ''Literature/TheRedTapeWar'', this comes in two flavors:
219** At the beginning, Millard Fillmore Pierce is dispatched to investigate an attack from one warring planet on a battleship temporarily dry-docked on a neutral world in the war zone. Before he can even start heading towards the planet in question, he stumbles on not one, but two interdimensional invasions. Guess what he hasn't even started on when the book ends?
220** Each chapter presents at least one problem for the protagonists to solve. The most dire of these must be solved by the next chapter, but attempts to solve any of the others are doomed to fail until the book is near its conclusion, leading to a steadily amassing pile of increasingly bizarre problems.
221* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': C.M.O.T. Dibbler is like a rat, firmly convinced that just around the corner, there will be cheese, even though every corner turned has so far been cheeseless. Some of his schemes worked, but were unfortunately tied to the near-destruction of the world. So he always reverts to selling sausages on the street.
222* Thanks to a curse, this is literally true for Kallor of ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen''. No matter how high he climbs, he inevitably goes down in flames, and takes everyone else with him.
223* It isn't just that Failure is The Only Option when it comes to trying to assassinate the Antichrist Nicolae Carpathia in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' book series; it's also that [[OnlyICanKillHim only Jesus Christ is able to defeat him]], as [[Literature/TheBible the Word of God]] dictates.
224* Invoked, enforced and conversed throughout the Creator/SvenHassel novels to the point it became a running joke -- regardless how brutal the victory was gained, how boring the inactivity is or [[DrinkingOnDuty how hard the Schnapps hit]] [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons the poor Wehrmacht trooper in the head]], someone, [[spoiler:usually Obergefreiter Joseph Porta]], would remind the others they fight for ''defeat'', they expect ''to lose'', they would ''never'' imagine the Reich could win, the war is ''lost'', usually ending with a drunk "Hail Defeat!" ([[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle pun based on the Third Reich slogan "Hail Victory!" -- ''Sieg Heil!'']]). [[spoiler:As most of the men in the 27th Panzer Regiment were [[CannonFodder convicts who had all reasons to hate the Third Reich]] and anything pertaining to it, losing the war meant their liberation as well.]]
225* ''Literature/TimeScout'': Things are looking very good for Skeeter at the end of ''Wagers of Sin''. At the start of ''Ripping Time'', he's working several menial jobs. Given his past, there really wasn't any way he could just become a hero.
226* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, the epilogue reveals that [[spoiler: Roland is stuck in an endless loop of finding the Dark Tower and being sent back to the middle of his journey]]. Although [[spoiler:this time he has an important PlotCoupon that he'd never been able to hold onto before, hinting that maybe he'll be able to finally win for good]].
227* This is how most of the characters in ''Literature/MyNameIsRed'' see the world. Things can only decay and get worse. The viewpoint is culturally informed.
228* Within ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', Sith or other Dark Side Force-users will always rise up again. Be it release of SealedEvilInACan, corruption of a young Jedu by a TomeOfEldritchLore or a whole forgotten Sith society from a HiddenElfVillage, the conflict between Light Side and Dark Side Force-users continues for millennia, plunging the galaxy into one large-scale war after another. If you think that Anakin/Vader destroying the Sith under the Prophecy of the Choosen One broke the cycle, think again.
229* ''Literature/YoungWizards'':
230** The whole series and the point for the existence of wizards deal with this trope. The Lone Power invented entropy and while everyone acknowledges it will be the death of the universe, they also know that the point of wizards is to slow down entropy as much as possible.
231** Exists on both sides of the wizards vs Lone Power battles. The Lone Power who exists outside of time, has already been redeemed, but its shadows still crop up. The wizards know that beating him in linear time won't make a knowable difference while the Lone Power knows it will ultimately lose and be redeemed.
232* In ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' the hero Jon-Tom's main goal is to get back to our world, while forced into adventures in the meanwhile. Mudge the Otter on the other hand just wants a simple life of gambling, drinking and sex but is also forced into going on these quests. Both are subverted as Jon-Tom finds [[spoiler: a gateway in which he can go between worlds whenever he wants]] but ultimately decides to stay in the fantasy world as it has grown on him. While Mudge willingly gives up his sleazy lifestyle once he realizes true love, as he doesn't want to risk offending his girlfriend, and wants to be a role-model to his future kids.
233* ''Literature/EscapistDream'' tells the story of a virtual reality world where geeks can live a life similar to a comic book, anime or video game, and the attempts of a few individuals to fix its many problems. All of their hardwork, from removing the computer bugs that’s been affecting the place, to waging war against a mad geek who tried to take it over, were all in vain in the end. Throughout the course of the book, they have to realize that [[spoiler: the deaths of many people inside (including young teenagers), would inevitably lead to the government closing the virtual reality world]]. Its destruction is further cemented upon [[spoiler: when two of the main protagonists ended up fighting each other and causing its destruction]]. These endings pretty much ties the theme of the book: that no matter how much the geeks try to escape the real world into a place made solely for them, the problems of the real world would continue to hound them and force them to face it.
234* ''Literature/HammersSlammers'' is a special case: The Slammers almost always "win" in the sense that they accomplish the specified military goals they were hired for, but no one who hires them ''ever'' comes out ahead for having done so.
235* ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'': [[AttentionWhore Wakatake]] ''never'' gets the spotlight he yearns. The rest of the team calls it "Wakatake Syndrome."
236* The ''Literature/JudgeDee'' FanSequel "Medecine chinoise à l'usage des assassins" (Chinese medicine for murderers) has a woman ask an apothecary for help with her philandering husband, getting an aphrodisiac to put in his dinner. The husband comes home, eats, feels the effects of the aphrodisiac... and promptly goes to see his mistress. The wife tries again, getting a potion that will sap his libido. The husband comes home, eats, falls asleep... and when he wakes up feeling refreshed, goes to see his mistress. [[MurderIsTheBestSolution The third try has a more permanent effect.]]
237* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': If a human who comes to Fantastica fails to find their way back to the human world, without exception they all eventually attempt to supplant the Childlike Empress as supreme ruler of Fantastica, losing their memories all the while through wishing. The fate of all who stay on this course is to wind up in the City of Old Emperors as nearly mindless creatures without memory or ability to speak, performing ridiculous meaningless activities forever.
238[[/folder]]
239
240[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
241* Myth/ClassicalMythology:
242** Sisyphus, a Greek king condemned to roll a boulder to the top of a hill, only to have it roll back down, for eternity.
243** Tantalus (The source of the word ''tantalize''), who is surrounded by fruit and water that always recede away when he reaches for them.
244* Myth/CelticMythology takes this to an incredible extreme, placing an elaborate system of taboos upon their mythic heroes that all but guarantee they'll incur the wrath of ''some'' deity or other sooner or later. The fate of Cu Chulainn, hero of the ''Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley'', is a prime example: he was invincible as long as he abstained from consuming dog meat. But before a major battle he found himself passing an old woman who offered him dog stew. It was either eat it, and [[BroughtDownToNormal become mortal]]; or refuse it, and violate SacredHospitality. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. (and his enemy Medb knew this.)
245[[/folder]]
246
247[[folder:Pinballs]]
248* Played with in Creator/SternElectronics' ''Pinball/{{Meteor}}''; you can't actually destroy or deflect the incoming projectile, but advancing all three missiles to it enables the Special (free game), which is the next best thing.
249* A meta-example occurred with Creator/WilliamsElectronics' "Pinball 2000" platform. Although ''Pinball/RevengeFromMars'' was a sales success and ''Pinball/StarWarsEpisodeI'' broke even, president Neil Nicastro decided to shut down the pinball division just six months later. More information is available in ''Film/TiltTheBattleToSavePinball''
250[[/folder]]
251
252[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
253* [[{{Kayfabe}} In-universe]], the "I Quit" match is said to be the specialty match for Wrestling/JohnCena. His character, an AllAmericanFace with massive [[KidAppealCharacter appeal to kids]], has "Never Give Up" as one of his mottos. So trying to make him quit in one of these matches is a fool's errand. This had previously been the option for [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]] when in an "I Quit" match. However [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] chose to TakeAThirdOption and play back over the stadium's sound system a recording from an interview featuring Mankind (in which he happened to speak the words) in order to have the words aired, and thereby "spoken" by his opponent. When Mankind points this chicanery out a few weeks later, the two did battle again in the now famous Super Bowl Halftime Empty Arena match, which ended with Mankind winning the title off the Rock by pinning him with a forklift.
254* During the Wrestling/AttitudeEra Wrestling/VinceMcMahon was constantly trying to put Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin in these situations. Arguably the most brilliant was putting Austin against Wrestling/{{Kane}} in a First Blood Match. The match stipulation is whoever bleeds first loses, however Kane wore a full body suit and a mask at the time, so he had no exposed skin to bleed from.
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
258* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
259** When Mr. Snuffleuppagus was first introduced, all attempts by Big Bird to get anyone else to see him, or to believe in his existence were destined to fail. This drove Big Bird crazy, along with a number of young viewers. Eventually, the producers relented and allowed others to see and interact with him, starting with small children. The decision was mostly based on the realization that they were promoting UnfortunateImplications - "adults will never believe you".
260** No matter where Mr. Johnson goes, he'll always get Grover to provide service for him. And the service is always terrible, even on rare occasions where his server is actually NOT Grover.
261** No matter how long the shows runs, Oscar will never be left alone in peace.
262** All Cookie ever wants is to prevent himself from eating the cookies with the letter of the day, but can't ever win.
263[[/folder]]
264
265[[folder:Radio]]
266* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' BBC audio story arc ''Hornets' Nest'' has the Doctor researching the enemy Swarm through time, each encounter giving him enough information to travel further back and battle them earlier. Obviously, he's doomed not to actually defeat them until he returns to ThePresentDay, BecauseDestinySaysSo; if he stopped them in [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain 1832]] then he couldn't have battled them [[TheThirties 100 years later]], which was where he learned about their actions in 1832. He is particularly annoyed when he realises he ''caused'' their earliest success, as the StableTimeLoop resolved itself through him.
267[[/folder]]
268
269[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
270* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. Defeating the Elder Gods. The only rules given for Cthulhu itself is that it consumes 1d6 investigators per round. Later editions give it a full stat workup, meaning that's it's not impossible to kill it, just desperately unlikely -- and part of that stat block specifies that being dead isn't permanent for him.
271** ''Call of Cthulhu'' is practically Failure Is The Only Option: The Game. Your characters ''will'' go insane. They might be killed by cultists, ritually sacrificed by cultists, [[ImAHumanitarian devoured by]] [[RuleOfThree cultists]], devoured by monsters, devoured by ancient evils, or they might commit suicide to avoid those fates, but they will almost certainly die too. Being alive and sane by a campaign's end is a rather momentous achievement.
272* In the official ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' worldwide campaigns, the bad guys (okay, the ''[[BlackAndGrayMorality worse]]'' guys) will lose. No matter what. Honestly, you might not even bother. It's like the creators have already thought up an ending in advance! True, they always lose. But as it is said in the Horus Heresy books they are destined to win. Well, Chaos at least. It is said that they will whittle away at the Imperium until eventually all of humanity is destroyed. Considering most every daemon or Chaos Space Marine can't die, this is easily understood.
273** In a particularly silly example, the ''Storm of Chaos'' Fantasy campaign: One small backwater village, intended merely as a speedbump for the bad guys, was held for somewhat like five weeks, finally forcing the Chaos players to find a way around it. In the fluff summary after the campaign, the village got merely a passing mention - as being easily overrun. The guys who'd spent the past weeks successfully defending it were somewhat annoyed, to say the least.
274** Abbadon the Despoiler in background, Justified in that the only way out of the Eye of Terror is to attack a heavily fortified sector of space that has entire planets populated by {{Badass Normal}}s plus with twenty Space Marine chapters on hand. (Note this is all before the Imperium starts to send reinforcements), then throw in the fact that Chaos is inherently self-destructive and it's no wonder Chaos always peeters out and fails in every Black Crusade... [[spoiler: Even when he ''does'' win the Cadian Gate in ''Gathering Storm'', Necron and Eldar interference means the Warp rift he hoped would consume Terra went way off target, Chaos being Chaos meant his army fragmented soon after the battle, and Guilliman's revival meant the Imperium was far better prepared and armed for when he prepared for Round 2.]]
275** Played quite blatantly with the Medusa V campaign. The Space Marines did, in fact, fail to achieve all their goals; leaving the Imperial Guard and Eldar roughly tied for first place, with the Eldar being the ones to kill the BigBad Ygethmor. Since the Space Marines are Games Workshop's major cash cow, allowing a Xeno race the victory simply would not stand; so they were declared to have achieved enough of their goals in both the planetary and space campaign to be granted the "moral victory"; thus keeping the Imperium in the first two slots, and pushing the Eldar to third.
276** Though in a larger context, even the forces of Chaos are doomed to failure, because the stalemate of eternal war has to be maintained to keep the game marketable. TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed can't be maintained if the world actually meets a definitive doom.
277** Tzeentch actually invokes the trope on himself and his forces. If his forces were ever to definitively win, then he would have no one to plot against, which would range from being boring for him to him literally wiping himself from existence. So, if his forces ever started to win, he would be just as likely to be the source of their downfall as his enemies.
278*** He is the only Chaos god this truly applies to. Khorne doesn't care who is dying, just as long as someone is. Slannesh and Nurgle just don't really require an antagonist for their worship.
279** Despite the issues with Games Workshop having to maintain a stalemate at least for the Imperium, if you focus on the setting itself, pieces of fluff from the Codexes and all the supplementary material, you realize this might as well be the motto of the Imperial Forces. They are faced with half a dozen threats which could single-handedly destroy them. In fact the only reason for the Imperium still existing is the fact said threats are fighting each other. If the creators of the game weren't forced to keep the cash flowing in by keeping the Spaces Marines as the victors, humans would be dead already.
280** The Orks actually invert this trope with their InsaneTrollLogic. Being a race of {{Blood Knight}}s, they believe there are only three outcomes to a fight: they win, they [[WarriorHeaven die fighting]], or they retreat (which isn't failure because they can just come back for another go).
281** In truth, it's more ''anyone who attempts to change the Status Quo'' who loses. But since VillainsActHeroesReact, most of the time the evillest side loses.
282** Interestingly played in Creator/{{Graham McNeill}}'s book Literature/IronWarriors, [[spoiler:where the titular Iron Warriors and thus Chaos actually win; but this keeps in spirit with the bad guys losing because in this book the Adeptus Mechanicus are even WORSE. To give an idea of how unusual this is, when he announced internally about the victory of Chaos in the story, the ''entire'' team assembled was shocked that he'd even consider to, much less ''actually'', have the Iron Warriors win.]].
283* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' - Goal: Survive. Failing that, see to it that one of your back-up replacement clones survives (this one is actually doable... sometimes). Failing ''that'', at least [[TakingYouWithMe get your enemies killed along the way]].
284** Secondary goal: Make it up to Ultraviolet clearance. This conflicts spectacularly with the GM's goal, which involves strapping targets to everyone's backs, and usually results in upwards of ''[[ExaggeratedTrope five hundred percent]]'' [[TotalPartyKill casualties]], thanks to characters coming in six-packs.
285** There are also plenty of other possible uses of this trope, such as requiring the players to test out a new form of grenade and provide accurate data on their explosive yield (with failure to do so being treason), but they have to return all grenades intact (with failure to do so being treason). And you can fail on ''both'' these fronts if an "ally" with Telekinesis activates them while they're still on your belt (which is also treason, but awesome treason).
286* ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': This trope applies to most of the Darklords, who have been stuck in an IronicHell for their sins. Generally, they have something they ''think'' will end their suffering, which they will periodically go after, and which [[YankTheDogsChain will without fail screw them over]]. Count Strahd will never be able to successfully romance Tatyana's latest reincarnation. Ivana Boritsi will never have a happy relationship since her kisses are ''lethally toxic''. Kas's dreams of conquest will never achieve anything but disaster and the list goes on. Unbeknownst to most of them, their ''actual'' win condition is to [[EpiphanicPrison admit that they reaped what they sowed]], but most will never achieve this state since if they were humble enough to actually do that, they would never have become Darklords to begin with - the requirement for that post is ''literally'' crossing the MoralEventHorizon. The sole exception was Lord Soth, who couldn't be used anymore due to license issues. In-universe, a magic mirror that kept replaying his crimes helped him overcome his chronic tendency to [[NeverMyFault blame everyone but himself]] and acknowledge that he was responsible for all of his pain and suffering. He then just stopped caring about anything. Eventually the Dark Powers released him since they saw that nothing they could do to Soth could possibly be worse than actually ''being'' Soth.
287* There have been a few times it looked like peace would break out at last in ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}''. Of course, the game ''is'' called ''Battle''Tech, so something will inevitably plunge the Inner Sphere into war again. The two largest Successor States form an alliance that looks like it will finally conquer the other States once and for all? Throw in a Clan invasion! New [[TheAlliance Star League]] formed to combat Clan invasion? [=FedCom=] Civil War! Civil war over? [[ChurchMilitant Blakists]] launch a Jihad! [[TheFederation Republic of the Sphere]] rises from the ashes and peace ensues? [=HPG=] blackout! It really never ends.
288* In TabletopGame/{{chess}}, it is not uncommon to end up in a situation where you would be at a great advantage... if only it weren't your turn. Instead, making any move at all (as you are forced to) would cause the enemy to gain an advantage or cause you to lose yours. This specific scenario is called ''zugzwang'', German for "compulsion to move".
289* Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' board game ''TabletopGame/AKlingonChallenge''; if the game isn't beaten in the allotted time, the accompanying VCR tape will show the ''Enterprise'' being destroyed. However, a text scroll then informs the players that the ''Enterprise'' went into a time-loop at the start of the game, and that it can only be broken via stopping the villain.
290* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' refers to Cain (yes, [[CainAndAbel THAT]] Cain) as the very first Vampire, and also the oldest "living" Vampire in existence. The older a Vampire gets, the more powerful they become. In one of the Splatbooks, you can find a stat list for Caine on the off chance the players should decide to battle the oldest Vampire on the planet. It contains two words:
291--> "You lose."
292[[/folder]]
293
294[[folder:Theatre]]
295* There is a lot of LampshadeHanging in ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'' on Pippin's persistent failure [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife to find something completely fulfilling to do with his life]].
296[[/folder]]
297
298[[folder:Theme Parks]]
299* No matter how well one scores in ''Ride/MenInBlackAlienAttack'' at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Florida]], the ride still ends in Agent J deciding not to let the guests into the MIB and neuralizing them.
300[[/folder]]
301
302[[folder:Visual Novels]]
303* ''VisualNovel/BoyfriendToDeath'': [[spoiler:No matter what you do in the first game, you'll always get a bad ending. At least this is averted for the sequel]].
304* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'': Sayori and Yuri's [[spoiler: suicides]].
305** On your third day in the club, your childhood friend Sayori confesses two things to you, a) that she has had lifelong depression and b) that she is in love with you. You're then given an option to reciprocate or to turn her down, but keep her as your dearest friend. The next day, if you picked the former option, you'll walk into Sayori's room to see her [[spoiler: corpse hanging from the ceiling]], and [[SurvivorGuilt blame yourself]] because you didn't realize that, before everything else, she wanted things to stay the way they used to be. If you pick the latter, the same will happen, but this time you'll blame yourself because you didn't give her the relationship that she wanted.
306** After the above happens, the game restarts, but the whole thing's ''wrong''. It's acting like Sayori never existed, everything and everyone except for Monika starts glitching in horrific ways, and your friend (or girlfriend, depending on which route you take) Yuri undergoes severe SanitySlippage, [[spoiler: later revealed to be due to Monika [[MindRape Mind-Raping]] her by messing with her code]]. She hands you a poem heavily implied to have been both written in her blood and covered in her cum, violently cuts herself out of the ecstasy of being in your presence, and begins loosing her grip on reality. She's somewhat aware that she's going insane, and [[ReluctantPsycho hates it]]. It all culminates in a very obsessive, disturbing love confession, and you being given a choice to accept or reject. No matter what you choose, the next thing she'll do is [[spoiler: take out a knife and stab herself thrice: the first two times in the gut, the last time in the heart]]. If you rejected her, it's because she was too heartbroken to take it. It's unclear why she'd do it if you accepted her, but consensus is that either a) she wanted protect you from what she was becoming, or b) Monika was right about her having a fetish for knives.
307* In ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'' you cannot get Rin's proper ending before getting her bad ending. Trouble is, [[spoiler:Rin's ending is also a huge failure and leads into the real final route]].
308* A unique in-universe example in ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'': In order for "true path" Sigma to learn information which he needs in the "true path", the only thing Sigma can do is [[spoiler:experience the events of timelines in which him and others are murdered, blown up, and succumb to suicidal urges. Although he himself doesn't realize this is what he's doing, the other timeline versions of himself all are oblivious to the entire thing. In other words, he has to experience multiple failures and deaths in order to gain what he needs to survive]].
309* ''VisualNovel/KanaLittleSister'' - Goal: save your most important person from succumbing to her illness and live happily ever after. There is actually no real way for the player to win in the end. In most endings the protagonist's [[spoiler:(adopted) sister dies despite his efforts]], whereas in the one ending in which [[spoiler: she survives she decides to leave him after a while]]. The only difference is the ''measure'' of defeat.
310* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' the Holy Grail War is fought between seven Master-Servant pairs over the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Holy Grail]] with six Servants needing to die before the Grail appears. The Servant Assassin can't possibly win because a) his Master is also a Servant, so the Grail wouldn't be formed until she died and if that happened he'd fade away too and b) he's bound to the Ryudou Temple gate so even if he did survive until the Grail appeared he couldn't go claim it. One of the Masters, Illyasviel von Einzbern is in a similar situation. She can't claim the Grail because [[spoiler: she ''is'' the Grail]].
311** Kirei Kotomine [[BeingGoodSucks can't enjoy good things like being married and his job in the Church]] but also has a fully functional moral compass that [[BeingEvilSucks fills him with self loathing for doing what he really likes, making people suffer.]] He's stuck never being happy one way or the other.
312** Speaking of the Einzbern family, it seems that no matter what they do in the Third Grail War[[note]]''Fate/Stay Night'' is focused around the Fifth[[/note]], they'll manage to lose said war. In the timeline of ''Stay Night'', they [[spoiler: summon the Avenger-class servant Angra Mainyu, who despite having the same name as the Zoroastrian god of evil, is actually one of the weakest servants that can be summoned, and gets killed very quickly; however, he corrupts the grail, leading to the events of ''Fate/Zero'' and ''Stay Night'']]. In the Third Grail War in the back story of ''Literature/FateApocrypha'', which is in an AlternateTimeline to ''Stay Night'', they instead [[spoiler: summon the Ruler-class servant Shirou Amasuka, yet despite having a servant who can ''[[StoryBreakerPower Command Seal the other servants into killing themselves]]'', they ''still'' [[EpicFail manage to lose the war]]]].
313** Assassin of Black and her Master Reika Rikudo from the aforementioned ''Apocrypha'' cannot hope to win the Great Holy Grail War either. Unlike the other Servants of Red or Black, they were a rogue pair that decided to win the Grail by killing the weakened Black Faction before defeating the Red Faction. Even ignoring how the Assassin class is the weakest in a Grail War, Assassin of Black can only operate at her best under a strict set of conditions. She simply doesn't have the power to defeat [[SuperPowerLottery many of the Servants]] one on one. Even assuming Reika and her Servant defeated the Black Faction, they'd have no way to claim the Grail since it's on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a mobile flying air fortress guarded with extremely powerful magic.
314* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, any true culprit will fail to get away with their crimes if Phoenix Wright is involved as the defense attorney in court. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d further in the third game's final case by Mia and Wright who told [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne]] that all the crimes that she has ever involved in has ended in failure.
315** This also happens to the heroes on a few occasions by virtue of ButThouMust. You won’t be able to continue a story until you’ve failed a certain case or investigation, even if you know you shouldn’t do certain stuff. Two noticeable examples from ''VisualNovel/{{Apollo Justice|AceAttorney}}'' are [[spoiler:leaving a crime scene despite being told not to so no one will tamper with it in Case 4-3 and Phoenix’s last trial in Case 4-4]].
316* In [=ClockUp=]'s ''Maggot Baits'', [[spoiler:all three endings--one Bad and two {{Bittersweet|Ending}}--have Shogo, the protagonist, dying]].
317* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'':
318** You have to vote for [[spoiler:Kaede]] as the killer in the first trial, even if [[spoiler:you know Tsumugi is the one who actually killed Rantaro]], because you're [[spoiler:not supposed to know it before reaching Chapter 6]].
319** This also has to happen during the sixth trial. [[spoiler:Once Shuichi rejects [[TrumanShowPlot Danganronpa]], he rejects both [[CentralTheme hope and despair]] as well.]] All the minigames during this part of the trial [[spoiler:make you answer the question "What must you never give up?", and with the answer being "hope", you have to fail all of them on purpose to progress]].
320** The Death Road of Despair is technically possible to clear during Chapter 1 (although very hard), but to progress the story, you have to fail it. [[spoiler:You'll get an opportunity to clear it in Chapter 5, where you can use the Electrohammers to disable traps.]]
321* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', it is possible to frequently save both the bacon of the PlayerCharacter and other characters the right skills are up to snuff. But alas, one of the {{Central Theme}}s of the story is failure, so there are a few important story events where everything inevitably goes sideways, and no ammount of skills can charge it.
322** [[spoiler:It is not possible to solve the case before the mercenaries hold their "[[KangarooCourt tribunal]]" and attempt to gun down the Hardie Boys. The most you can do is downplaying the trope by finding ways to mitigate the number of deaths. Confronting Ruby is the PointOfNoReturn, and the fight always breaks out upon your return to the Whirling-In-Rags.]]
323** [[spoiler: At the climax of the Tribunal shootout, your skill check to dodge Kortenaer's LastBreathBullet will always fail.]]
324** [[spoiler:In the final dream sequence, your skills throw everything they have into winning back Dora/Dolores' heart. They're beaten and humiliated, one after another.]]
325[[/folder]]
326
327[[folder:Web Animation]]
328* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue''. Most of the Blue's and Red's plans end horribly. The only time they really win is when they work together. When they are trying to kill each other, for obvious reasons, they can't.
329** In ''Revelation'' it's revealed that [[spoiler: Alpha was tormented by being placed in scenarios where it could never succeed. Also, because Tex was based on the Director's memory of a woman he loved, but her death was the thing he remembered most clearly, she also can never succeed; this is the reason why she never really accomplished her goals in Blood Gulch. She was designed to fail at the last moment]].
330[[/folder]]
331
332[[folder:Webcomics]]
333* ''Webcomic/{{Buildingverse}}'' ''runs'' on this, to the extent that there is a literal fail-field hanging around apartment 42.
334* ''Webcomic/GetMedieval'' - Goal: Build a signal device to attract someone who could get Asher (and Neithe) off ''this backwater planet'' (Earth, specifically 14th century France). When people weren't eating Asher's power sources (citrus fruits), the signal served as a beacon to mob hitmen already looking for Asher's dad, and was picked up by an archeologist already on the planet (who ended up getting ship-jacked by the aforementioned hitmen). The comic has an actual ending [[spoiler:where they succeed, but the BigBad gets a KarmaHoudini]].
335* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': [[AntiVillain Pandora's]] Goal: To make magic available too all mortals [[spoiler:so that her half-immortal son can safely use his powers to the fullest without breaking Immortal laws]]. The reason it will fail: 1) Magic itself has a sentient will of its own. 2) Magic wants to be known ''only'' by a select few individuals. 3) Should it ever become as widespread as Pandora wants, it would alter its own fundamental nature so as to cut humanity off from it completely, potentially for millennia. [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2225 She does not take learning this well]].
336* An in-universe example in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. In every successful session of Sburb, [[BigGood the White King]] is destined to lose his one-on-one battle with [[FinalBoss the Black King]] and have his staff taken from him (the White King may or may not die as part of this; it presumably depends on the session). Once the Black King has the staff he uses it to start [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Reckoning]], starting the final battle in which the players and their allies must defeat him and destroy the staff before everything is destroyed. [[spoiler: The Black King being killed by Jack Noir]] ''before'' this happens is when the Kids session goes completely OffTheRails.
337** As Skaia knows its own fate, it's always and indisputably set in stone from the start whether or not a session will succeed. If your fate is to be in an unsuccessful, or null, session, [[YouCantFightFate then everything in reality will conspire to make that session fail.]] Not even time travel will save you: Attempting to avert fate will create an offshoot timeline [[RocksFallEveryoneDies which will only end in far quicker and far more catastrophic failure.]]
338** Karkat has a minor HeroicBSOD on the same theme when he reflects that there are numerous Karkats from the doomed timelines that [[MemeticMutation got the tiger]], but that he, the alpha-timeline Karkat, did ''not''. Ergo, Karkat's failure is a necessary condition of the proper unfolding of fate.
339* ''[[http://revfitz.com/kick-the-football-chuck/ Kick The Football, Chuck]]'' - Goal: Charlie Brown must fight and overcome his cancer after being treated with chemotherapy. This fight is represented metaphorically with Chuck trying to kick the football Lucy has laid out for him. Seriously.
340* ''Webcomic/{{Megatokyo}}'' - Goal (for Piro and Largo): Find a way to afford plane tickets back to the U.S., abandoning most of the plot. Yeah, ''that's'' gonna happen. They only really attempt this once--Largo gets the money through blackmail, but they [[CrackIsCheaper waste it all on video games and anime merchandise]] (which is how they got stuck in Japan in the first place). They eventually get jobs, all the money from which is funneled into Largo's booze and computer parts; several chapters in, they've mostly forgotten about trying to go home.
341* ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' - Goal: Reverse the misfile. If Ash and Emily were restored to their original bodies and lives, the main dramatic tension of the series would disperse.
342* ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'': Called "cannot into [verb or noun]". A more exhaustive list can be found [[https://www.polandballwiki.com/wiki/Terminology under "terminology" on the Polandball wiki]].
343** Most famously, Poland cannot into space.
344** Greece cannot into monies.
345** Turkey cannot into EU.
346** Khazakhbrick cannot into [=BRICs=].
347* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Maxim 70. Failure is not an option - it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.
348* ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'' - Goal: Find a timeline or universe in which Jovia is alive. Subverted when, after failing to steal a time machine so he can save Jovia, Vanderbeam's future self travels back and gives him the time machine, which he received from his future self twenty years earlier. Then double subverted when Vanderbeam fails to put the time machine to any use.
349* In ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'', there's a game show called "Not Worth It", which features quiz questions so absolutely depressing to know the answer to that even when you win, [[DespairEventHorizon you lose]].
350* ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland'' - Goal: Convince the other roommate to buy groceries. Vaguely achieved with [[AssPull Bartleby]], but the groceries were taken away by Aorist. When Stephen and Sid finally get groceries together, the comic immediately ends.
351* ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'' strip #844 "Good Code" is a flowchart that explains how to write good code, or possibly not.
352[[/folder]]
353
354[[folder:Web Original]]
355* The Literature/WhateleyUniverse also falls under this with a few character arcs, generally intersecting with the FirstLawOfGenderBending. However, it is also subverted in at least one case. [[spoiler: Jade gets to become closer to being a real girl...using plain old surgery!]]
356* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has Contessa, a parahuman with the superpower of precognition, specifically allowing her to see the precise path to victory in any given situation. Unfortunately, the world also has the Endbringers, a trio of monstrous creatures that regularly destroy cities and are slowly driving humanity to extinction. Contessa's organization, Cauldron, has primarily been seen organizing evacuations. Zig-zagged: [[spoiler: Endbringers are immune to Contessa's power - and they were never the true threat anyway. But Contessa's power and the plans derived from it did turn out to be useless against the real enemy - Scion]].
357[[/folder]]
358
359%%[[folder:Web Videos]]
360%% Please add context, then uncomment.
361%% * ''WebVideo/Lonelygirl15'' - Goal: bring down the Order of Denderah.
362%%[[/folder]]

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